Demon’s Souls looks to finally be making its way to Europe, courtesy of Namco Bandai who are likely to be publishing From Software’s astounding PlayStation 3 exclusive later this year.

Originally released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan last February, Atlus picked up Demon’s Souls for an October release in October last year, with Namco Bandai set to become the third publisher when it launches in Europe.

A uniquely punishing role-playing game, Demon’s Souls is widely regarded as one of 2009′s finest games, and its mix of classic dungeon crawler traits with innovative online features and structure have won it countless fans. Our in-depth review will help flesh out the details.

There’s no word on a release date just yet, though Namco Bandai is set to make an official statement tomorrow.

Fantastic news if you’re not into importing games such as myself. I just hope it gets an Australia release which it should as Australia is a PAL territory…

Giddyup!

Demon Souls coming to Europe

It is from the same team behind the UK Official UK PlayStation Magazine. Each weekly episode will be priced at 99p or you could subscribe and save 30% and get it for £8.99 for 90 days.

Some Q & As:

What is FirstPlay?

FirstPlay is a brand new HD weekly interactive show that can be downloaded from the PlayStation Store each Thursday from spring 2010.

What will be in it?

HD Reviews and previews, screenshots, highlights from the PSN and downloadable content.

So is it like Qore, the online magazine in the US?

Yes and no. Qore is monthly and has an on-screen presenter, FirstPlay is weekly and uses voiceover to deliver the editorial. The key aim for FirstPlay is for it to have the same access and authority as the Official PlayStation Magazine but with the extra impact from seeing the games in HD.

Who makes it?

The same team behind the UK’s Official PlayStation Magazine.

Is it just for UK users?

Initially, yes. But there are plans to roll out to all PAL regions as soon as possible.

How much does it cost?

Each episode costs 99p, or you can save 30% by subscribing for £8.99 for 90 days.

Tell me more about the types of content

The best way to see what sorts of content are featured in FirstPlay is to hit the ‘Take the tour’ button and see for yourself.

What will the downloadable content be?

It will vary from week to week, but will include themes, free ‘mini’s and in-game items.

Will there be exclusive access to demos?

Not at launch. At time of writing, negotiations are still ongoing – but rest assured there are some very exciting plans in place.

How do the subscriptions work?

Once subscribed, users need to visit the FirstPlay area of the PlayStation Store each Thursday and the latest episode will be ready for you to download.

What happens if I miss an episode?

No drama. Each episode will be on the PlayStation Store for a few weeks before being removed, so if you’re away on holiday or just happen to miss a week’s episode, you’ll still have a reasonable amount of time to download it.

How big is each episode?

On average, about 1GB. There will be about 30-40mins worth of content in each episode, excluding downloads.

Can it be downloaded in the background?

Yes.

Will there be adverts?

Yes, as with most media channels, the best way to maximise quality and keep the price down is to host advertising. They will only run in front of video content, be a maximum of 30 seconds and will be skippable after viewing.

You can check out a video here, giving an insight into what to expect from FirstPlay and how it works.

I’m in two minds. It does look pretty good and if they can offer exclusive content, such as playable demos, dynamic themes, avatars etc, then it may be worth subscribing. I also like the idea of saving custom images from high res screen shots and putting them on your XMB as a wallpaper. Pretty cool.

However, to justify the extra costs, whatever content that is available will have to be fairly unique and exclusive for longer than a week or two, or else there would be no reason to pay for a service that basically offers the same type of content that is available free already. I definitely wouldn’t be happy losing what have been free playable demos to a service like this.

I think it’s a good idea in principle but it’s success will hinge on the type of content that will be available for it.

It’s a very welcome (from me) return to the old style of PoP games! What do you think?

I recently finished Assassin’s Creed II, so I was able to have a little play around with Uplay and my first impressions of it are pretty good. As stated in the video, you earn points by completing in-game tasks/missions. The points you earn differ depending on what you have done. For completing one of the last story missions in the game, ‘Escape The Hideout’, you can earn 40 points for example.

After you’ve earned your points in Assassin’s Creed II, you can choose to redeem them on bonus items for the game or keep them for any future Ubisoft game that supports Uplay. I had 100 points so decided to use 10 points/credits on a PS3 ‘Premium’ Assassin’s Creed II theme for my PS3. I could’ve used the points and got a map that allows you to gain access to the Auditore Family Crypt for 40 points or an Altair costume that would’ve cost 30, amongst other things.

It’s a pretty good service, which is easy to use and has a nice sleek look to it. Connecting to it takes a few seconds but it is still in BETA form so that is probably to be expected. I do have one major gripe though. Although you can connect to Uplay in-game easy enough, when I registered to join the Uplay website, I couldn’t find a way to log in using my PSN ID, so I had to create a new account. So now I have two accounts with Uplay, one that has 10 credits for joining Uplay and another, separate account, that has 90 credits, from what I’ve earned in Assassin’s Creed II. I can’t find any way to log in using my PSN ID or a way to add it to the account I created to access Uplay on their main site. :-/

If you don’t have a Ubisoft game that supports Uplay, which I currently don’t after trading in ACII, then you currently have no way to access the points you’ve earned in-game and redeem them on the Uplay website. It seems a strange oversight and hopefully they will rectify this. Or maybe I’ve missed something and you can log in or register using your PSN ID details…?

Overall, I like the idea of Uplay and I hope more games offer a similar service in the future. It’s a nice alternative to overpriced DLC that Jimmy covered here. You can’t really complain when you get something for free, right?

There will be a demo of PSP game Patchwork Heroes on the EU PS Store tomorrow. It’s from the makers of Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! so they have a bit of history with ‘quirky’ games.

Picture this: Your city is being invaded by a massive unmanned warship! Nothing on the ground has any effect at all… You only have minutes to save everything! What do you do? Your job is to get on board this monstrous warship and destroy it before it’s overwhelming firepower strikes the city!

Patchwork Heroes Demo Coming This Week