Version 3.61 is available for download on the PS3 now, and the PSN and Qriocity services will be back up and running as early as tonight.  Sony tells  it’s customers to change their passwords for their accounts, and  offer their apologies, as well as detail the returning services

Returning services include:
The ability to sign into the PlayStation Network or Qriocity service
The ability to play online games on PS3 or PSP
The ability to playback videos rented from the PlayStation store if within rental period
The ability to listen to use Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity on PS3 or PC
The ability to use third party services like Netflix, Vudu, Hulu, and MLB.tv
The ability to access the “friends” category on the XMB menu
The ability to use PlayStation Home

If you’d like to monitor areas where services will be back up, Sony has provided a nice little map for their customers to use to continue watching progress.

UPDATE: Most of the world has said services returned, including the US, Europe, and Australia. Playstation Store will be returning by the end of the month with multiple updates to catch up from the down time.

With the announcement on Bungies web site that Bungie will not be showing their new game along side Activision at E3 2011 Bungie is denying reports that they will be attending this years E3 at all.

Be sure to check back here on www.theflowshow.com between June 7-9, 2011 to get the latest and up to date news for E3 2011!!

Nintendo has confirmed that the Wiiii will make its first public appearance at E3 2011. TheFlowShow.com will be on hand to Demo a playable model of the new system and announce more specifications. This years E3 Expo will be held June 7-9, 2011, So be sure to keep it locked to http://www.theflowshow.com for all of the latest news!!

Rumored Specs:
1080p compatibility, custom-built tri-core IBM PowerPC chipset (Same setup on Microsoft’s Xbox 360), AMD GPU. The GPU should be able to give you 512 megabytes of memory.

Release date:
Spring 2012

Price:
$350 to $400

Mortal Konbat is BACK! With all of the crappy mk games that came out between Ultimate Mortal Kombat (UMK3) 3 and MK9 I was very skeptible that MK9 would actually be a good game. Right of the bat I was really impressed with the level and character design. MK9 is a very dark and vilent game witch is the exact same reason why I loved it as a kid. After playing it for about a week now I can honestly say that MK9 is one of the best MK games ever made. The combo system is very easy to understand, the game Looks and plays superbly!, Fatality’s are over the top!

My only complaint is the terrible online play. LAG LAG LAG… Online VS modes are virtually unplayable. One more minor grip I have about the game is about the MK9 arcade stick. It comes out in JULY.. Why would they wait 3 whole months to release it… Super bad move if you ask me.. So with all that said I would give MK9 a solid 4 out of 5! Go pick it up!!

Mortal Kombat 9 Fatalities
Finish Him!

Mortal Kombat 9 GamePlay
Game play

Mortal Kombat 9 Online Match
Online Match

The timeless classic Chrono Trigger has been rated by the ESRB for the PSP and PlayStation 3.

This means it will soon be a great time for fans of the classic RPG, as well as those sorry saps (including myself) who somehow managed to miss this game the first 88 times it was ported, since we can finally experience star Crono’s adventures in time for the first time, long after its time.

Time.

On a side note, check out this excerpt from ESRB’s official site:

Early Signs Ratings Busted

I’m by no means an expert on the passing of moral judgement on others (in fact, I’m rather opposed to it) but I find it interesting that the ESRB’s rating would go from “EVERYONE” to “EVERYONE 10+” then finally “TEEN” all for the same game title. Granted, the PSOne and DS versions of the game did add a few cinematic cutscenes which the original SNES version didn’t have but I don’t know that they contained anything worthy of a ratings change. Nevertheless, it begs the question: Will these new versions of the classic for PS3 and PSP have racier content than previous versions or has the holier-than-thou ESRB simply gotten even holier-than-they-used-to-be? Only time will tell…

Just for kicks, here’s a completely unrelated video I found while searching for “Chrono Trigger” (other than title this video has nothing to do with the game but I still think it’s pretty bad-ass):

Written By Quinn Aguirre for ‘the Flow’ www.theflowshow.tv

This past week has been a total blur. E3 is upon us and we here at ‘the flow’ have been swamped. From booking hotel accommodations, to getting car rentals and airfare to packing and getting cards and everything else, we’ve also been writing to keep you, the flowriders in the loop.

I thought in retrospect since we arent going to be able to write individual articles for each thing that we are expecting and excited to see at E3 this week until after we get back, I instead figured it would benefit us as well as yall to make a ‘hopefuls’ list of what was expected, what we are excited for, and what rumors we think might be substantiated at the show. SO without further ado here is the hopefully list compiled by yours truely:

Zelda 2
Project Natal
Brink
Naruto Ninja Storm 2
Playstation Move
Socom 4
3d gaming
Gran Turismo 5
3-DS
Social Gaming
Star Craft 2
Farm Ville
Crackdown 2
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Gears of War 3
Dead Space 2
Metroid: Other M
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Assassins Creed: Brotherhood
Killzone 3
Little Big Planet 2
Halo: Reach
The Last Guardian (Project Trico)
Dead or Alive 5
Crysis 2
Metal Gear Solid: Rising
Castlevania: Lords of Shadows
Portal 2
Infamous 2
Half Life Episode 3
Civilization 5
Vitality Sensor
Golden Eye 2
XCOM
Mortal Kombat
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Bulletstorm
bodycount
Rock Band 3
Madden 11
Duke Nukem Forever
Sin and Punishment 2
Monster Hunter Frontier
Super Scribblenauts
PSP 2?
Persona 3 Portable
malicious
Mafia 2
Patapon 3? teaser site up~!
Comic Jumper
Mad Catz to have a crap load of new RB3 peripherals~!
Risk: Factions
APB: beta and lack of servers in Aussie
Spare parts
M vs C 3 Dante vs Deadpool
Kmart to have heavy deals
E3 week
Splatterhouse
tales of monkey island 2
sam and max episode 3
spec ops: the line
Drake in GOW3
La times has broken more info about natal
red man and method man
to hype crowd for
def jam rapstar at E3
conduit 2
lego HP years 1-4
Mortal Kombat
rabbids 3ds
xenoblade
Wii HD
Wii online modernized
mario clash from virtual boy 3ds port
Pikin 3
wii pulse / vitality
true wii fit sequel
DSi price drop
Wii party
new super mario bros 2
metroid returns to 2d
kindom hearts re: coded
F-zero wii
fifa soccer 11
jelly car 2
FF the 4 heroes of light
dragon quest ix
3DS digital distribution service
trine 2
rock of ages
etrian odyssey III
knights in the nightmare
PS2 to retire finally
mmo push
uncharted 3
sony discussing the 3d future
sly cooper 4
jaffe to reveil a new title (possible IP)
ac: brotherhood beta exclusive (possible ps3 only)
another agent tease
psp on ps3 demos
premium PSN unveiled
Fallout: Vegas
Magic: The Gathering - Duel of Planeswalkers (PC)
Max Payne 3
Castlevania Puzzle
hulu to XBOX / ipad
apple iphone 4
Parappa creator and OneBigGame make music game for charity
Fable 3
D.J. Hero 2
star wars the force unleashed 2
Devil’s Third

We hope that this list has you already salivating and we hope to bring you at least this much and MUCH more according to what we can all cover this week. So until then Flowriders, keep it tuned.., keep it exciting, and keep playing~!

~Q~

Metal Dew?

With the recent release of videos showcasing MGS: Peace Walker’s game play (destructible environments), promo tie-ins (Axe, Mountain Dew) and cross-game branding (Monster Hunter), I am taking time to discuss how much hype - both good, questionable, and bad - is surrounding this game.

Now the obvious good thing is that another Metal Gear game is in existence. Even though Hideo Kojima has constantly said he is leaving the franchise alone, we have yet another. Viewing the videos so far and seeing the destructible environments, the ability to team up with additional Snakes is a nice twist to a franchise familiar with surprises more on the plot side rather than game play. Seeing two Snakes share a card board box just brings back memories of being five and sneaking around with my cousin and taking out the kids at the play ground while we used the cardboard box as our decoy for total domination (gotta love imagination). New weapons, haystacks, and being able to air-lift incapacitated enemies are really nice additions.

Peace Walker Alternate Costume: Chocolate Snake (Not really.)

Axe body spray tie-ins? Mountain Dew? I can understand having a Sony cassette walkman, but I guess this is the quirkiness you come to expect from a Japanese title. Not to mention all the controversy surrounding the Famitsu ads. I am a huge fan of this series and I hate to see all the bad press surrounding this take away from the actual game. Although when you decide to just throw stuff in a game for money and not really think about how it may have a domino effect on reviews or publicity, well… “!” to you.

Monster Hunter on the other hand makes totally sense, Metal Gear Rex in the scaley flesh!