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We’re very happy today to announce that SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs is now offering free maps and weapons to all PS Plus users! You might remember that we gave away the classic SOCOM map “Abandoned” and a couple of exclusive shotguns as an incentive to pre-order the game through GameStop. All PlayStation Plus users can now download “Abandoned” and the shotguns free for the next month! For those of you without Plus yet, don’t worry–your time will come shortly. Recall the blog announcement a couple weeks back announcing that, as a token of appreciation, the PlayStation Network will be giving all users 30 days free PlayStation Plus membership, coming soon. After a month of PlayStation Plus availability, “Abandoned” and the shotguns will continue to be available for SOCOM Pro members.

But that’s not all. When we announced SOCOM Pro shortly before SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs hit stores, we promised that we’d be delivering the oft-requested M16 and AK-47 shortly after release. We’re happy today to not only say that they’re almost here, but that they’re being packaged alongside a set of new competitive multiplayer maps!

Dubbed the SOCOM Pro Assault Pack, this bundle will be available as a free download exclusively to SOCOM Pro members and features three all-new competitive multiplayer maps: “Red Line”, “Double Cross” and “Driftwood”, as well as two fan-favorite weapons, the M16 and AK-47. The maps, inspired by missions from the single-player campaign, have been designed to feature tighter spaces with intense 8 vs. 8 matches in mind (not that 32-player skirmishes aren’t a blast on all three maps).

Assault Pack Maps:

“Red Line” – A monorail depot highlights this small and highly war-torn urban location.

“Double Cross” – A plane has crashed into a small mountain village, leaving wreckage and burning debris scattered throughout the area.

“Driftwood” – A small fishing village with a tight layout results in intense close-quarter battles.

Assault Pack Weapons:

M16 – This highly accurate Spec Ops weapon is great at range and, with a suppressor gained at Mod Level 2, can be used in stealthier situations as well.

AK-47 – This Insurgent weapon is difficult to control but inflicts a high amount of damage. It’s also capable of holding a large amount of ammo at Mod 5, making a very deadly option for aggressive players.

And last but certainly not least, don’t forget that our Double XP bonus promotion is currently underway and affects not only every game type but both your player level and weapon progression!

“Abandoned” and the pre-order shotguns are now available for free to all PlayStation Plus members while the SOCOM Pro Assault Pack will be available this month as a free download exclusively for SOCOM Pro members, so be sure to check back for more news in the coming weeks. SOCOM Pro comes free with new copies of SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs, and is also available for purchase on the PlayStation Store for .99.

PSP news

On behalf of everyone at Zipper Interactive, we’re pleased to announce that SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs available for purchase in North America starting today! Expect to see it released in other territories all over the world throughout the remainder of the week.

In the SOCOM 4 solo campaign, players will guide the Operations Commander and his combined squad of U.S. Navy SEALs and Korean Special Forces across 14 missions set in war-torn Southeast Asia and a country on the verge of civil war. But SOCOM 4 doesn’t stop there – fans can also expect exciting competitive multiplayer with all-new maps, original gametypes and numerous modes of play in addition to user-defined custom cooperative campaigns that change every time you play them! Check out our launch trailer above to see what we’re talking about.

Outside of the game itself, we’re also offering fans a number of other goodies to celebrate SOCOM 4’s release. Log on to PlayStation Home, for example, and you can find up to five unique (and free!) SOCOM 4 shirts for your Home Avatar, as well as a special Bomb Technician outfit for .99! We’re also introducing a number of free SOCOM 4 PSN Avatars starting today and will have a free SOCOM 4 theme for your PlayStation 3 system next week.

Before we go – we do want you to play SOCOM 4, after all – we wanted to leave you with the patch notes for the update you’ll be prompted to download upon booting SOCOM 4 up for the very first time. Included within the patch are a number of updates from our S4 beta trial and a number of other changes that reflect the feedback we’ve received over the past month.

Thank you once again for all your support and feedback, we hope to hear from you some more on our official forums at SOCOM.com. Now go have some fun!

SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs Beta v1.02

April 19, 2011 TPPS: 41 MBs, DLS: 57 MBs

Gameplay

• Increased XP requirements to gain “Rank” levels
• Lowered XP bonuses for “Classic” mode “Wins”
• Decreased Weapon XP bonuses earned for “Kills, Assists,” and “Headshots”
• Adjusted “Classic” mode merit bonuses so that “Kills, Assists, Team Kills, Bomb Techs Killed”, and “Data Carriers Killed” are the only bonuses that are increased by “Classic” status
• (Single-Player Only) Widened allied “Revive” range so that it’s easier to resuscitate fallen teammates

Weapons and Gear

• Increased firing accuracy for all weapons and aim modes so that the first few shots are substantially more accurate (with variations by weapon)
• Increased horizontal and vertical recoil while in Reflex, ACOG and Low Variable Scope modes
• All long-range sub-machine gun damage has been lowered and maximum range has been decreased
• Decreased maximum throwing power and lowered throwing angle for all grenade types
• “Gear 1” loadout now automatically switches to “Gear 2” loadout when “Gear 1” loadout is depleted (and vice versa)
• Ammo counters now flash red when ammunition is low

Audio/Visual

• (Multiplayer Only) Camera position has been moved back to show more of the player-character
• (Multiplayer Only) Camera field of view has been widened by roughly 20%

Interface

• (Multiplayer Only) Character markers now float in closer proximity to teammates’ heads
• Updated “Vote Kick” user-interface so that it takes up less of the screen
• Revive actions now take priority over resupplying when allies are downed near ammo crates
• Fixed the display stats for the FDO-11 and IW80-A2 assault rifles to their appropriate values
• Post-game MVP screen now works properly

Technical

• (Standard Mode) Suppression game length is now 10 minutes
• (Classic Mode) Suppression round count is now 11
• (Classic Mode) Suppression round length is now 5 minutes
• (Classic Mode) Uplink round count is now 11
• (Classic Mode) Uplink rounds length is now 5 minutes
• (Standard Mode) Last Defense round count is now 1
• (Standard Mode) Last Defense round length is now 15 minutes
• (Classic Mode) Last Defense rounds count is now 11
• (Classic Mode) Last Defense round length is now 5 minutes
• (Classic Mode) Bomb Squad round count is now 10
• (Classic Mode) Bomb Squad round length is now 7 minutes
• Fixed issue that prevented Clan Challenge queue from properly working

Miscellaneous

• Made various PlayStation Move adjustments including latency reduction, less sensitive recoil countering, the added ability to pitch up while firing, tuning to the turn and pitch areas, etc
• Renamed PlayStation Move control schemes to “Standard Aim” and “Standard Arcade”

This isn’t all we have planned for future SOCOM 4 updates, as we are still collecting data from players just like you. In the mean time, talk about our changes with fellow SOCOM fans on our official beta discussion forum on SOCOM.com by following this link!

PSP news

On Tuesday, April 19, shooter fans will be dropped into the middle of a brutal revolution as they start their journey through SOCOM 4. You’ll have two great ways to play single player, multiplayer, and co-op: using the DualShock 3, or my personal favorite, the PlayStation Move sharp shooter.

Shame on you if you don’t have PlayStation Move or the sharp shooter already. But, you are in luck, because for a limited time, we are offering the SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs Full Deployment Edition. Get all the components you need to play SOCOM 4 with PlayStation Move in one slick package! We just received our first retail-ready Full Deployment Edition, so here is a peek at what this awesome bundle has to offer.

Inside the SOCOM 4 Full Deployment Edition, you’ll find:

• SOCOM 4 on Blu-ray Disc
• PlayStation Move motion controller
• PlayStation Move navigation controller
• PlayStation Eye Camera
• PlayStation Move sharp shooter

The Full Deployment Edition launches with SOCOM 4 on April 19 for 9.99 MSRP, providing over in savings compared to purchasing all the components separately. Only one question remains unanswered – how will you play SOCOM 4, with the DualShock 3 or the sharp shooter? Maybe you will be a true master of the game and finish it with both!

PSP news

The SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs testing pool is about to get even bigger! Starting tomorrow, at 12:00am Pacific, the SOCOM 4 voucher codes that were included as giveaways with Killzone 3 (and at our PAX East 2011 booth) become active. This new influx of players will join the existing crowd of previously introduced PlayStation Plus and Private beta testers, and will have all the same privileges as the one-week and two-week vets.

If you didn’t receive an early access voucher or don’t have a PlayStation Plus account, don’t fret! Starting April 5th, the all-access beta will be openly available for download through the PlayStation Store. While the beta download will be removed from the Store with the April 12th PlayStation Store publish, SOCOM 4 Beta servers will be up and running until April 13th.

Though our servers are open all day, every day we do limit what modes are available so that we can keep our testing focused. Here’s how the schedule looks this week:

• Tuesday (3/29) – Uplink, Classic Uplink, Suppression, Classic Suppression
• Wednesday (3/30) – Last Defense, Classic Last Defense, Uplink, Classic Uplink
• Thursday (3/31) – Bomb Squad, Classic Bomb Squad, Last Defense, Classic Last Defense
• Friday (4/1) – Sniper Alley (Custom), Last Defense Run ‘n Gun (Custom), Bomb Squad, Classic Bomb Squad
• Saturday (4/2) – Scrum (Classic), Sniper Alley (Custom), Last Defense Run ‘n Gun (Custom)
• Sunday (4/3) – Suppression, Classic Suppression, Scrum (Custom)
• Monday (4/4) – Uplink, Classic Uplink, Suppression, Classic Suppression

As always, our multiplayer beta includes two maps, Port Authority and Assault & Battery, and offers a variety of built-in game-types and custom game-types. Here’s a reminder of what’s what:

Suppression: SOCOM 4’s version of “team deathmatch.”

Last Defense: Capture controls points, discover the enemy base and destroy it.

Uplink: Steal enemy data and deliver it to your base.

Bomb Squad: Defend your bomb technician while he disarms enemy explosives.

Sniper Alley (Custom): An 8 vs. 8 version of Classic Suppression with higher damage. Weapons are limited to sniper rifles, shotguns, smoke grenades and poison gas.

Last Defense Run ‘n Gun (Custom): Faster movement speed and reduced damage are applied to 16 vs. 16 Last Defense with weapons restricted to only shotguns and SMGs.

Scrum (Custom): Suppression is given rule tweaks of no respawn, faster movement and higher damage, while sniper rifles, frag grenades, concussion grenades and poison gas are disallowed.

As seen in the schedule above, all built-in game-types (i.e. anything not listed as “Custom”) are playable in both the Standard and Classic variations. Standard mode is similar to the single-player experience, while Classic mode is similar to older SOCOM titles with increased movement speeds, round-based play, no player respawns and the lack of health regeneration. Our Custom types mix and match a number of game settings, delivering fresh takes on our core rule sets.

As before, after you’ve had a chance to play the beta, we’d love to hear your feedback! Once you’ve downloaded the beta and played a complete match, you’ll then gain access to our private beta forums on SOCOM.com where you can share your stories with other players and leave us your feedback. SOCOM has always been a very player-driven franchise and your opinions are very important to us, so please let us know what you think! We’ll see you again next week on the SOCOM blog with an updated schedule, or you can keep updated on our latest agenda through our in-game news feed.

PSP news

Everyone here at Zipper Interactive is pleased to announce that the wait will soon be over! As our headline says, SOCOM 4 is scheduled to hit stores in North America in just a few months on April 19th.

Earlier this week at the Zipper headquarters in Redmond, WA, we invited the media and 18 SOCOM community members to check out the latest version of our game. Not only did they get an update on the progress of our single-player campaign, they were also treated to an extensive look at several of our multiplayer modes, which, as any SOCOM fan will tell you, is absolutely the game’s bread and butter.

Early next week, we’ll have another update on the PlayStation and SOCOM blogs to let you know what members of the community thought about their visit to Redmond and their hands-on time with SOCOM 4. In the meantime, we’d love for you to check out our “Not For Self” multiplayer trailer by clicking on the video above.

Also, for you veteran SOCOM fans out there, head on over to GameStop.com and bring back classic SOCOM memories with another new trailer, this one for the GameStop pre-order exclusive “Abandoned” Map!

The good news is that this is just the beginning of an upcoming flood of SOCOM goodness. As we count down the days and weeks to April 19, you can expect plenty of news, details and media to get you hyped up for what we think is the best SOCOM game yet. Enjoy the ride!

PSP news