Hello, and welcome to another edition of the VSM, if you're not familiar with this article, it's posted once a month and attempts to give you an overview of recent Sony news as well as a look at game releases that are scheduled for release each month. This month we'll cover the following:

-The console war: last month's unit sales for each console of the past two generations, as well as the PlayStation Vita

-Upcoming game releases for all Sony systems

-PSN sales
and more. So without further ado, let's get on with the Sony talk.

Console War Coverage*

Another month, another battle. So who came out on top this time?

February 8th - 14th
PS4 - 185,361 (+8%)
XBox One - 90,207 (+7%)
Wii U - 55,636 (+26%)

PS3 - 47,618 (+8%)
XBox 360 - 28,839 (+10%)
Wii - 3,771 (+15%)

PS Vita - 27,674 (+7%)

This week saw the PS4 leading in console sales, more than doubling second place's sales, while the second place XBox One sold just under 35,000 more units than the third place Wii U. All was not lost for the Wii U this week however, as it gains a whopping 26% in console sales over last week. That's nothing to sneeze at...whatever that means.

Last gen consoles this week had the PS3 leading the way with over half of the last gen console sales, while the 360 lead the Wii in unit sales by over 25,000

Meanwhile the Vita is picking up speed this week in handheld land, climbing 7% in sales over last week.

February 15th - 21st
PS4 - 230,121 (+24%)
XBox One - 86,800 (-4%)
Wii U - 51,553 (-3%)

PS3 - 46,736 (-2%)
XBox 360 - 30,804 (+7%)
Wii - 3,570 (-5%)

PS Vita - 56,544 (+104%)

The PS4 leads the way this week with another 24% sales increase and over 140,000 more unit sales than second place, while the XBox One saw a slight decrease in sales from last week but still moved over 30,000 more units than did the Wii U which dropped by 3%.

Meanwhile the PS3 led the last gen consoles by just under 16,000, and the 360 moved roughly 37,000 more units than did the Wii.

The PS Vita takes a jump as unbelievable as it was unexpected in week-over-week sales, more than doubling last week's sales and moving a solid 56,544 units, and even manages to outsell one of the current gen consoles (Wii U) this week. Now to see how low it will fall after the bubble bursts. Still, things look up for the underappreciated system.

February 22nd - 28th
PS4 - 231,869 (+1%)
XBox One - 80,071 (-8%)
Wii U - 40,419 (-22%)

PS3 - 48,957 (+5%)
XBox 360 - 24,559 (-20%)
Wii - 2,917 (-18%)

PS Vita - 41,256 (-27%)

This week the PS4 leads again with around 151,000 more system sales than the XBox One, while the XBox One moved just under twice as many systems as the Wii U.

The PS3 leads the pack in last gen consoles this week nearly doubling second place, whereas the 360 outsells the Wii by around 20,000.

The PS Vita drops as expected, but not by nearly as much as expected, moving 27% fewer units this week than it moved last week, but that's still 77% more than it sold two weeks ago.

February 1st - 7th
PS4 - 195,306 (-19%)
XBox One - 98,943 (-9%)
Wii U - 36,181 (-6%)

PS3 - 43,675 (-11%)
XBox 360 - 23,096 (-6%)
Wii - 2,359 (-19%)

PS Vita - 35,456 (-14%)

In the last week of the console war coverage this month we see the PS4 closing the month out in the lead by nearly 100,000, while the XBox One nearly triples the Wii U in sales again, and the Wii U drops an additional 6% in week-over-week sales.

Meanwhile the PS3 leads in last gen systems with a 20,000 unit sales lead, and the 360 holds a secure second outselling the Wii by roughly ten times the sales.

And finally the Vita drops down another 14%, but that really doesn't mean much as all systems lost ground this week, and two of them dropped even farther in sales than did the Vita. The handheld manages to close out the month in better weekly sales shape than it started, and gain quite a large sales boost along the way.

*These numbers do not include used system sales

Software Sales*

February 8th - 14th
PS4 - 1,124,278 (+33%)
XBox One - 586,875 (+45%)
Wii U - 227,473 (No change)

PS3 - 992,551 (-2%)
XBox 360 - 686,412 (-2%)
Wii - 275,729 (-4%)

PS Vita - 189,132 (+18%)

This week in software sales, the PS4 takes a massive jump over the previous week increasing by 33%, while the XBox One takes an even more impressive jump in week-over-week software sales by gaining 45% on the previous week, and the Wii U remains in the same place as last week on sales.

Last gen system games had the PS3 losing 2% in weekly sales but still boasting a large number of sales, while the XBox 360 drops 2% as well, and the Wii drops 4%.

The PS Vita gains another 18% in software sales on the week, giving it a nice little boost. Hopefully the Vita is finally beginning to get some much deserved appreciation.

February 15th - 21st
PS4 - 1,482,553 (+32%)
XBox One - 441,643 (-25%)
Wii U - 235,721 (+4%)

PS3 - 922,293 (-7%)
XBox 360 - 676,209 (-1%)
Wii - 271,664 (-1%)

PS Vita - 392,358 (+107%)

The PS4 takes first in weekly software sales for any platform again this week, and leads new gen consoles by an cool million, whereas the XBox One drops another 25% on the week but still outsells the slightly improving Wii U game sales by a hefty 200,000 plus some change.

The PS3 drops slightly this week but manages to outsell the 360 in software by roughly 140,000 titles, while the 360 moves around 400,000 more games than the Wii.

The Vita software sales on the month closely mirror the actual system sales with a whopping 107% jump over the previous week. The reason for both system and software jumps this week for the Vita was a game called God Eater 2 - Rage Burst that happened to land a place as the third best selling game on the week, being surpassed only by The Order 1886 (PS4) and Majora's Mask 3D (3ds).

February 22nd - 28th
PS4 - 1,505,792 (+2%)
XBox One - 511,118 (+16%)
Wii U - 199,574 (-15%)

PS3 - 1,269,343 (+38%)
XBox 360 - 699,167 (+3%)
Wii - 285,675 (+5%)

PS Vita - 224,578 (-43%)

PS4 leads again this week with nearly three times the software sales of the XBox One, The XB One does however manage to jump 16% and more than double the Wii U in software sales.

Last gen systems have the PS3 leading in software sales, nearly doubling the sales of the 360, while the 360 moved over 400,000 more games than the Wii did once again.

Meanwhile PS Vita software sales drop as expected, but by less than half of what they were during the sales spike of the previous week, while the game to credit most of the Vita sales spike on drops from third to eighteenth this week; but that's still a nice spot. Will increased Vita sales remain a trend for a while longer? It's too early to say for sure, but it looks like the system sales will likely lower back down to the usual level for now, but expect to see the software sales to remain ever so slightly higher. After all, more Vita owners most likely means more Vita games sold, right?

Also of note is the fact that Vita software sales dropped significantly more than it's system sales did, which could possibly indicate an increased interest in the system after the sales spike. Time will tell.

March 1st - 7th
PS4 - 902,907 (-40%)
XBox One - 386,642 (-24%)
Wii U - 186,730 (-6%)

PS3 - 907,217 (-29%)
XBox 360 - 621,739 (-11%)
Wii - 283,573 (-1%)

PS Vita - 169,686 (-24%)

With the last week of game sales reflecting the same overall drop for each system that the last week of console sales did, we see the PS4 leading still despite a drop of 40%, moving nearly 550,000 more games than the second place XBox One, and the One dropping 24% but still moving just under 200,000 more games than the Wii U.

Last gen console games has the PS3 selling nearly 300,000 more games than the 360, and the 360 selling nearly 340,000 more games than the last place Wii.

And the Vita dops another 24% this week in game sales, but that drop perfectly mirrors the majority of software sales this week as well. All in all, the Vita is hanging in there quite nicely this month.

*Software sales do not include used game sales

Upcoming PS3 Games

NOTE: I have recently switched to two new sources for upcoming games, these sources have far more exhaustive lists of upcoming releases, so this month we'll be doing things a little differently; rather than listing details on all games found in the upcoming games list, I'll be listing all upcoming games that I know of and adding info on select games. These "select" will not reflect any bias on my part, rather they will reflect the readily obtainable information that I can find for each game, and only if said info is enough to warrant posting (ie. no posting "it's a sports game with these features" and the like). Also, only select games will be accompanied by trailer links (embedded videos are no longer permitted). This is being done in an attempt to take an extra step in the direction of making the VSM your one place for all information pertinent to game purchases for each month, and not as an attempt to remove content from the article itself.

So here it is: the updated Upcoming Releases section of the VSM. I hope you enjoy it, and find it much more helpful.

April 7th
Dark Souls 2: Scholar Of The First Sin.

April 14th
Gradius V

April 21st
Shovel Knight.

April 30th
Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare - Ascendance.


Upcoming PS4 Games

April 1st
Color Guardians

April 7th
Dark Souls 2: Scholar Of The First Sin.

April 14th
Mortal Kombat X.
Titan Souls.
We Are Doomed

April 21st
Shovel Knight.

April 22nd
Infinity Runner

April 28th
Tropico 5.
Omega Quintet.
The Golf Club: Collector's Edition

April 30th
Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare - Ascendance.


Upcoming PS Vita Games

April 14th
Titan Souls.
Bloxiq
Best of Arcade Games - Deluxe Edition

April 15th
Medieval Defenders

April 21st
Shovel Knight.

Game spotlight

Here we'll list the games that will be receiving extra attention with content such as screenshots and additional information.

Shovel Knight (PS3/4/Vita) : The hit game Shovel Knight is finally making his way to PlayStation gamers, and thankfully developer Yacht Club Games is making him available to all modern PlayStation owners. Additionally they are including PlayStation system specific content such as:

-God of War's own Kratos as a new boss

-Twitch integration

-cross-save

-an additional "Challenge" mode

and even more goodies await PlayStation Knight shovelers, though just what those other goodies are remains a surprise. With all of the added features it would actually make sense to buy this again for your PlayStation system.

Screenshots
Kratos battle



Additional gameplay shots



Additional images



Mortal Kombat X (PS3/4)
The newest entry in the long standing fighter series, Mortal Kombat X introduces several new features including the ability to choose between different variations of each fighter, new characters, "easy" fatalities that can be earned and used as an alternative for those who do not like having to (or simply cannot) pull off the lengthy and difficult button commands required to perform a fatality, and more.

Screenshots:



We Are Doomed (PS4)
This one easily wins the award for the cheeriest name so far this gen, as well as the most...different(?) graphics so far this year. We Are Doomed is a Twin Stick Shooter (the name makes sense now, right? Twin Stick Shooter: enough said) made by one-man-team Vertex Pop. The game utilizes some very odd graphics that are about as basic as can possibly be, and are somehow so plain they end up being almost pretty. It's weird to say the least. Below are some screenshots that may help you understand what I mean; the game has seemingly no shaders, no lighting effects, and no definition on any forms. Now that's not to say it looks bad, just different, and that could make or break it.
We Are Doomed has a heavy focus on risk/reward according to the developer, and not only rewards you for bold and sometimes crazy moves, but also requires some of them if you wish to succeed . The game has a planned PS Vita release in the future, but an exact (or even approximate) date has not been nailed down just yet.

Screenshots:



See what I mean?

Bloxiq
A Puzzler that looks to return to the good ol' days of puzzle gaming (y'know, before Candy Crush and the evil FaceBook alliance made everything a match three), Bloxiq is --as the name suggests-- a puzzle game based on blocks. The objective is to match four of the same color, but don't let that fool you, this game is actually about thinking and requires that each move is carefully performed. The puzzles are not randomly generated like most color matching puzzles today, so each has at least one correct solution. Furthermore, the game contains various types of special blocks that promise to get in the way of your merry block matching, adding to the brain bending work of clearing all 100 levels. A final note woth mentioning is that some of the developers have called the game "The Demon's Souls of the Puzzle genre", so you know it'll be frustratingly difficult at times, but what good puzzle game isn't challenging for the brain?

Bloxiq will go for $9.99, and has an estimated file size of estimated 360MB.

Screenshots:




PlayStation Nostalgia

This month we'll take a look back in time to the PSX' twilight years and revisit Tenchu 2: Birth of The Stealth Asassin. I myself only found this one about a year or two ago, but it definitely left a lasting impression, and I can certainly recommend it to anyone who has even a mild interest in stealth games.

So what exactly is Tenchu 2?
It's a Ninja game that actually attempts to deliver something of a more authentic approach to the Ninja style than most games before it did. For example, we have Shinobi, the wildly popular Ninja series from the eight and sixteen bit eras. But while Shinobi may have been one tough dude and had those cool Ninjitsu abilities and Shurikens, his ninja qualities ended there. The ninja was known for their silence and ability to remain undetected. Basically they were a mix between a hitman and a spy: their job was to get in, eliminate their target, and get out undetected, not run through and beat everyone to a pulp (sorry, Shinobi).

Tenchu attempts to capture that essence of stealth and it does so amazingly well. Your greatest weapons in this game are patience, intelligence, and precision. While you can use various weapons and items, you'll almost exclusively rely upon a simple blade (or two, depending on which character you control). And above all else, you must be silent and exercise great caution to avoid being spotted, as being spotted does more than just reduce your score, it also ends up getting you killed if it happens more than once or twice. You see, these enemies are every bit as tough as you are, they have just as much HP as you and equally powerful weapons. Yep, they're equal to you in every way except one: they often have help, making it two or more against one whenever they spot you. Perhaps silence really is golden.

Two glimpses into the world of the Azuma ninja
The allows one of two characters: Rikimaru and Ayame. Each character has their own set of special stealth kill animations, strengths, stories, and levels/bosses. This is a key element in the game, as it adds to the replayability greatly by keeping things fresh, fight and level wise. Also nice is that the story you see with each character is the same, but from their perspective; now that is not to say that each character experiences the same story twists: they do not. Instead you see how the events in the story affect each of them, and since they go on different missions, you get entirely different experiences. So while one playthrough is enough to see the general story, you'll need two playthroughs to fully grasp it all and fill in the blanks. My only complaint is that Ayame's story is so good, but so rushed, like trying to condense Hamlett into a single scene. It's a tragedy, and much is lost. This is because the most compelling portion of her story is crammed into two or three cutscenes toward the end of the game. Saddening really.

Into every game, some bad must fall
The only real cons of the game are the boss fights. They don't make sense in the context of the rest of the games play style. You spend the entire game trying to avoid detection and direct combat, yet you're forced into a boss battle at the end of each level. A boss fight. It puts a direct emphasis on an aspect that the game is clearly designed to avoid, so when you finally get the stealth part down, you're thrust into an all out brawl against an over powered enemy, and if you lose you start the entire level over. This is frustrating to say the least, and I found it somewhat offputting (the boss fight, not the lack of checkpoints), but in the end it does serve a purpose, and that purpose is to mix things up on you so you don't end up getting bored of sneaking constantly and without interruption. In the third entry in the Tenchu series (Wrath of Heaven) I actually came to enjoy the boss fights, but that isn't something I'm sure I could say about the boss fights in Tenchu 2. Still, they do keep it fresh and aren't too big of a problem, so I can let that slide.

In conclusion
Tenchu 2: Birth of The Stealth asassin is a real gem, and one of the best PSX games ever made in my opinion. If you have a PlayStation and a few bucks to spare, or have the PSX item on here, I highly suggest giving it a shot. Be warned though, it requires a lot of patience and precise timing, but if you can sit still long enough to map out an enemy's movement patterns mentally (usually around twenty seconds or less), then you can easily make it past most of them. Also it requires an observant eye, after all you have to make sure no enemies are going to be around to see your next move! I could go on and on about this game, but I could never do it justice with words alone, you really do have to try it yourself to get what it's like. Seriously, why are you still reading this? Go play it.


PSN Sales

The following list is a very brief overview, and should not be considered exhaustive. For more information, look in the PLayStation store, or click here to visit the PlayStation Blog's Store Update blog

Discounts
The following games have been discounted by ten to twenty dollars:
PS4: Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag, Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag Gold Edition, Assassin's Creed Unity, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Deluxe Edition, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor Legion Edition, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor Premium Edition

PS3: Assassin's Creed Rouge

PS+ discounts ending soon
If you have PS+ and have not yet taken advantage of the discounts offered on the following, you'd better move quickly as these end on the 21st.

Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty - Alf's Mission DLC, Titan Souls (PS4 and PS Vita), We Are Doomed, Yorbie: Episode One

Free games for PS+ members this month
PS4:
Tower of Guns

Man this one looks sweet, and I don't even like the average FPS. I'd have paid the full price for Tower of Guns, and now you can get it for free? Why not?

Never Alone


PS3:
Dishonered



Aarus Awakening



PS Vita:
Killzone Mercenary



MonsterBag




END
That does it for the April 2015 edition of the VSM, I hope you enjoyed it. Be sure to join us next time when we'll cover the following, and more:

-Console War Coverage
-Upcoming Releases
-PlayStation Rumors*
-Top Genre Picks Of All-Time For PS3, PS4, and PS Vita

*Subject to availability

Until then, Keep on gaming, and keep it Sony

For the first time, I almost wish I had a PS3 and could at least try these games out. Good job Eirinn.

Kindof related, but, you know why I don't own a PS4 or really play anything on Xbox 360?

Cause every mature game has something outright indecent in it. (And there's no way I'm having that pop up in front of my two younger brothers going through ages 12 and 14 right now, I had enough trouble thanks to society's idea of "fun." Damn them.)

If play station understood this, I bet they would see a fairly large customer increase. There's a reason Nintendo sells so well. (C

Are there any good games you enjoy that don't have garbage like that, and that are being released for Xbox 360 as well? I don't have an Xbox one, and I'm enjoying Shadow the Hedgehog a lot on GC, I just want another game.

Nice job as always, Eirinn. I do have one question regarding PS3. I read somewhere that 2015 was the last year the PS3 would have material released for it. Do you know anything about this?

Just asking because if the PS3 doesn't receive material anymore, it will be the time for me to switch to PS4, and I still have some guides to write about PS3 games (I won't be able to have both consoles at the same time).

Sword legion : Thanks! I appreciate the feedback, as always.

As for your question, I know next to nothing about the XBox 360/One, sorry. :/ But I can actually list several good looking games for PS4 that don't have any indecency in them. In fact, Sony is actually trying to include family friendly content along with the more "adult" content this generation like they did on the PS2 according to Andrew House.
Here are a few from my personal wish list that are perfectly clean, with the exception of some language (no "strong language") in some of them: Lara Croft and The Temple of Osiris, Helldivers, Rogue Legacy, No Man's Sky, 1001 Spikes, Spelunky, Plants VS. Zombies: Garden Warfare, Little Big Planet 3, Pix The Cat, Tower of Guns, Rayman Legends, Risk, The Swapper, Disney Infinity, Shovel Knight.

There are a lot more than that too. Don't write the PS4 off just yet, it has it's fair share of clean games as well, it's just an unfortunate truth that most of the inappropriate titles are pushed to the forefront because they're so popular across multiple platforms. But you can rest assured if I play it, it's clean, in fact I was hesitant to break into the game scene this gen because I was unsure about just how many games I could actually play due to my content standards. Thankfully Sony came through for us and began carrying clean games again as well.
Also the PS4/Vita are seeing a huge push in Indie titles and most of those are clean titles to boot. If you want more examples, just take a look around the internet and you should be able to uncover plenty more.


EX Palen :
Thank you!

As for your question, I hadn't heard anything about this, so I looked into it for you. It has been confirmed by EA that they will be releasing games for the PS3 "until at least 2017". For an idea of how it usually works, the PS2 launched in 2000, but PSX games were made until 2004 the PS3 launched in 2006, but PS2 games were made up until 2013. So I wouldn't really expect PS3 games to cease production entirely until at least late 2017 or early 2018, and who knows, we may see PS3 games being released until 2019 or 2020 if it follows suit with the PS2. For now Sony is still making a ton of money off of the PS3, and with the fact that most of their customers are still using a PS3 (over 80,000,000 PS3 owners and only 20,000,000+ PS4 owners), as well as how strongly cross-play features are boosting sales, and finally that the PS3 is still selling around 45,000 systems and between 900,000 and 1,000,000,000 games each week, I think the PS3 will be supported for a long while. Do expect to see fewer and fewer games made for it each year though.

Eirinn : At least 2017? Good news. But as you say, very few games will be released in the next months. Mortal Kombat X is already available for PS4, but won't come to PS3 until June, to mention one example of what we can expect.

Well, if it's really going to be supported that long, then maybe I'll be able to see all Vision Gran Turismo. That was the only thing I was fearing, since there are still a bunch of holes to fill there, but there's enough time until 2017. The question is if Tekken 7 will be released for PS3, if not, maybe I should upgrade to PS4 and start Gran Turismo 6 from the beginning (unlikely for free time availability). 

I'll keep an eye on your next articles. Knowing what the PS4 and PS3 are getting as months pass will make the decision to upgrade or not to upgrade.