Some good news this morning for PS3 owners across the pond: Though Sony Europe has promised that the demo for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune would appear on the European and Japanese PlayStation Stores November 22, Naughty Dog has dropped the region specificity on the American demo, opening it up for everyone.
According to Christophe Balestra, co-president of Naughty Dog, the whole ordeal originated from a lack of knowledge about the PSN infrastructure. He claims they didn't know that European and Japanese PS3 owners couldn't access the US PlayStation Store and download demos - an oversight that Balestra himself corrected with the quickness. Now if Naughty Dog can just get the game out without boobies in their opening logo (link NSFW), they should be in the clear.
It seems like having thorough, consumer-focused customer support is a huge deal in this iteration of the console war, which is why we were surprised to hear the woes of Ive, a Sony fanboy and owner of a broken PS3. According to Ive's story, he sent in his faulty system to be repaired, only to be told that his warranty had been voided by the massive amounts of dust that had accumulated within the casing.
Here's our favorite part of the story: When asked what part of the warranty says that a dusty system cannot be replaced, his helpful customer service representative told him that dust collection could either be considered customer abuse, or an act of God. We'd like to think that if the Lord did destroy Ive's PS3, he would do so with a plague of locusts, or perhaps a well-placed bolt of lightning. Dust collection just lacks that celestial panache, you know?
Update: The Consumerist has more on this, an apparent confusion within the realms of customer support. Dust obviously doesn't void your warranty, but it seems it was cited as evidence of neglect in this case (and forms of neglect do void the system's warranty).
Got a crazy craving for that sweet ADAM flavor that all the kids are talking about, but only own a PS3? According to 1UP's Quartermann's Nostradamian prediction you might be able to get your BioShock fix soon. In the latest rotation of EGM's rumor mill, the exclusivity of the underseas fiasco has been brought into question, and PS3 owners could find themselves frolicking through Rapture sometime in 2008. However, this report contradicts the statement of BioShock's lead designer Ken Levine that the game is not PS3 bound. 2K Games, would you kindly confirm or deny this rumor?
Quartermann also has great news for the feverish fans of FOXHOUND who were upset by the recent MGS4delay - a new Metal Geargame for the PSP is on it's way, ready to heal those wounds. Reportedly, Kojima Productions is working on the title right now, which will "take Snake back to the early days of his career." Not his career as a master of espionage, mind you, but his first career as a pastry chef in a small Rhode Island bistro.
Also rumored: Sega isn't letting the lukewarm reception of their two first next-gen Sonic games break their stride, as they're apparently hard at work on a new, "real" Sonic game. We don't know whether "real" means a return to the game's classic platforming roots, or if we can expect more creepy interspecies make-out sessions.
While it seems unlikely to be getting PlayStation rumors from a Nintendo site, Go Nintendo has a rumor roundup from the Japanese gaming magazine Game Lab, which drops the hint that Sony might be working on a pressure and touch sensitive mat to coincide with Afrika's eventual release.
We're not sure what happened to Afrika after it was shown off at last year's Sony presentation at TGS, but it managed to disappear faster than some endangered species. If they are working on a peripheral that facilitates some sort of innovative gameplay it could explain the long delay, but with no details out we have no idea how the game would actually work. Stomp your feet to cause a stampede? Run like a gazelle to escape the lions? Hopefully we'll know more soon, probably right before the game is released in 2012.
PS3 Vault really decided to try and put their console to the test by subjecting it to some pretty brutal treatment, including sticking the thing, while working, into a sauna for 108 hours. They report "to our surprise the only incident we noticed was a slight burning smell that came in around 64 hours." Boy, they really missed a chance to actually try grilling with this thing?
We have a feeling that if you tried that with the Xbox 360, you'd end up with a red ring of death and then some. A towel couldn't possibly save it from these conditions. Hit the link to see all of the abuse they subjected it to, and marvel at how it kept working. Please, don't try this at home unless you'd really like to toss your warranty out the window.
Variety magazine, a mainstay daily trade for folks in the entertainment business, has an article out about the scaled-down E3 and what it'll mean to the gaming industry this year. Basically it's a summary of everything you probably already knew about this year's E3, but it shows how all eyes will be turning towards the show this week, just as if it was E3 as usual. They cover the now-confirmed PS3 price cut rumor and speculate that Microsoft will most likely follow suit, or will possibly improve what's in the box, like maybe bundling that HD-DVD player finally?
They also mention the biggies that will hopefully be shown off for the majors, including Killzone 2 for the PS3, Mass Effect for the 360, and Super Smash Bros. for the Wii. We're certainly hoping there will be more than three games at E3 this year, and if you could see our E3 appointment calendar for this week, you'd think we might be wishing there were only three. There's going to be a boatload of information later this week, so be sure to stay tuned.
We love how they say Nintendo basically doesn't have to do anything at E3, other than mention some game dates. Even Nintendo's George Harrison says "Nintendo goes as its own pace. It always does things its own way." As Fleetwood Mac would say, you can go your own way ... but you'd better be giving us some Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. dates when you do.
Have you ever had the immense pleasure of working in telemarketing? If you have, then we feel for you, and if you haven't then you've missed out on the singular pleasure that results from just one sale. Then you quit shortly thereafter and take ten showers with scalding hot water until you feel less dirty.
Most telemarketing employers offer up "incentive programs" to try and get you to sell more. Effectively, the program is something like "Sell five widgets, get a gift certificate to Sizzler," although some places make it even more insidious by giving you "points" that you can later redeem for things out of a catalog. We equate this program with the "skee-ball" economy system where 15,000 tickets (seems like a lot) boils down to three Hello Kitty erasers and a solar calculator shaped like a frog.
Sony is doing the same thing with Gamestop employees by offering them points if their store is the top seller in the district. If they accomplish that, they get 20,000 points that can be used on the Sony/Gamestop Rewards site (now there's a hot url) to buy things like games and ... games. According to Gamers Reports 20,000 points = roughly $350 in game points, or almost six games. Inspiring? We aren't sure about the games, but if they could redeem those points for anything in the store, it might work a bit better.
If we weren't excited enough about PlayStation Home before, we certainly are now. It's a week of leaked beta footage, and although you might not think it was possible ... this is even cooler looking than Bungie's baby (please don't kill us).
The graphics in this look pretty sweet, and make us believe that something like Snow Crash might actually be possible one day. The in-game PSP interface is pretty swanky as well, and we were able to glean a few things off of the tiny text, which required much squinting and gave us some Dead Rising flashbacks.
Besides the Evac arcade game seen being played in this footage (which looks new ... and reminiscent of Choplifter), we also noticed the following pieces of information on the in-game PSP:
Those dying to download Marl Oukoku no Ningyou Hime (and who isn't?) from the Japanese PlayStation Network will now find another payment option nestled in the aisles of the nearest convenience store. IGN reports that PlayStation Network Tickets will soon be procurable from convenience stores and post office ATMs across Japan, allowing those without a means of direct electronic payment to enjoy and more importantly, pay for the wares of the PS3's virtual marketplace.
The tickets will function in a similar fashion to Nintendo Wii Point cards and Xbox Live MS Point vouchers, with the exception that they'll be grouped in a non-bogus currency. Available in units of ¥1,000, ¥3,000, ¥5,000 and ¥10,000, the cards will contain a 12-digit code recognized by the PSN as a command to fill up your virtual wallet with the corresponding amount.
As for the possibility of PSN Tickets becoming available elsewhere, Sony offers, "We have no announcement regarding any changes to the electronic payment options on the PlayStation Store in North America at this time."
We already know that Ken Kutaragi had a vision for the next several PlayStations, but we didn't think they'd literally be right around the corner. Smarthouse claims that we'll be seeing the next version of Sony's game machine within 18 months, which seems way too soon to us. Upon closer reading, it is.
Despite Smarthouse's "it's a PlayStation 4!" it sounds more like the PS3.5 to us. According to the story, "The device will include the same chipset as the current PS3 but where it will differ from the current model is in the drive bay and in the attachment area. It will also include an extensive software suite for the managing of content being streamed to a TV or Hi Fi source."
Actually, it sounds a lot like the less than stellar PSX / Frankenstein system, set to make a return after a jolt of lightning that we like to call "poor PS3 sales."
Even though Ken Kutaragi is "retiring" from Sony (it saddens us to imagine security walking him to the front door, while he carries a cardboard box full of his belongings), he had already "envisioned" the PlayStation 4, 5, and 6, and probably also helped solidify his "graduation" by cornering people and going on about his PlayStation master plan for world domination.
His next project appears to be working on a net-based game console, which sounds both kooky and smart at the same time. But, does he mean a console that uses processes similar to the SETI program and Folding@home? Or does he mean some sort of a console that just lives online and all games are purchased online? He could possibly even be hinting at a Giant Crab Network that will specialize in, well ... you know.
Either way, it's all old-hat for Kutaragi, you had to have been integral to the design of the PlayStation 9.
National Public Radio on Friday's episode of All Thing Considered did a piece on the "retirement" of Ken Kutaragi. In less than thirty-seconds into the piece focus shifts from Kutaragi leaving to the PlayStation 3's less than stellar sales.
NPR beats the same drum as every other media outlet at this point. Finding a group of gamers in a GameCrazy store, it turns out that none of them own a PS3. When NPR asks the men why the PS3 isn't selling well, one responds, "Its just the price, the only thing that kills it is the price. Six-hundred, seven-hundred dollars out the door, that's a lot of money. If it was the price of the Xbox -- I'd get one."
Another gamer says that all the good titles aren't exclusive to Sony and that all the games he likes for PlayStation are all on the PS2. NPR tempers it all by saying we're only six months into a cycle that'll last many years.
So, Sony's been having a rough couple days ... eh, disregard that. Sony's been having a rough week. Fine, fine -- month. But there's a silver lining -- none of this has hurt Sony's brand power. AlixPartners, a global corporate-advisory firm, says after surveying more than 5,000 consumers that Sony is #1 in their minds.
The company's press release states, "The AlixPartners Brand Power Index draws a clear distinction between mere popularity, which a brand can achieve temporarily through discounting, etc., and true brand power, which the index measures on a consumer trust-versus-distrust formula." Sony came in first place followed by Johnson & Johnson and Kraft. Dell and Hewlett-Packard were the only other consumer electronics in the top ten and they were way at the bottom. No word on Microsoft or Nintendo brand power.
There's no arguing Sony's brand power and it's a good sign that in 5,000 consumer's minds it's the tops. Thing is with the PS3 nobody had issue with the brand power, just look at the sales of the PlayStation 2 -- that thing is still a money making monster. Not to mention at $130 the PS2 is worth every penny for a family. A DVD player and an amazing game console in one small neat little package. Sony's problem with the PS3 isn't brand, it's price. Forget us as gamers and techno-babble Blu-ray freaks who will fanboy flame-out and just spend money. Sony execs should talk to the single mother waiting at the bus stop in the morning, go to a neighborhood barbershop, find a sixth-grade elementary school teacher to talk to. Nobody will ever deny Sony's brand power, but people are stuck at $600 as a jumping-off point for a game console.
The Financial Times is reporting that Sony is "reconsidering" its pricing strategy for the PS3. Sony President Ryoji Chubacchi said yesterday, "We are re-examining our [PS3] budgeting process in terms of pricing and volume. Sales assumptions change and the market is competitive. We are in the midst of revisiting our strategy for the PS3."
Chubachi believes that Sony hit their target of 6 million consoles sold at the end of March. Some outlets are reporting that the March numbers actually show the sales to be less than 4 million. There is certainly a shift occurring in the business strategy of the PS3, but at this point the plan isn't clear.
Sony let Joystiq know, "There are no plans to adjust the price of PS3 in North America at this moment in time. As a normal part of our business, SCEA carefully monitors market trends and needs on an ongoing basis, but we currently have no announcement regarding any price drop in our territory."
It's refreshing these days when someone says what is on their mind, and doesn't pander to the corporate entity that they work for all the time. One voice that certainly isn't afraid of biting the hand that feeds him is David Jaffe, creator of God of War, and Game Director and Designer for Sony in Santa Monica. He pretty much chomps down on that hand with relish.
In a Bonus Round video interview with Jaffe on GameTrailers, he says "I probably would have taken the Blu-ray out and sold it for less money." Considering how Sony is really pushing the Blu-ray as one of the main reasons to own a PS3, he's certainly swimming upstream. Jaffe (pictured above with a Nintendo neckstrap *gasp*) is probably the only Sony employee openly questioning the Blu-ray inclusion.
