eat. sleep. game. » Sony

As Promised: Episode 1 of Rebel FM

Aegies — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:30:36 +0000

Won’t you please welcome Anthony Gallegos, Nick Suttner, Philip Kollar, Matt Chandronait, Ryan O’Donnell, Jade Kraus, and me, as we bring you the opening salvo of Rebel FM. It’s on, bitches.

Hey, look, it’s a torrent that won’t fucking destroy the site when you download from it!

And an RSS feed until the iTunes store picks it up.

PS: Yes, quality not so good for a lot of it, but bear with us. Things will be better next week. Promise. Even if we have to bring in a ringer to show us how it’s done.

God of War III will be climbing toward Olympus until Late 2009

Aegies — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 04:33:52 +0000

For anyone paying attention to next-gen game development, this should come as very, very little surprise:

God of War III won’t be released on PlayStation 3 for at least another two years. A reliable Sony source has told us that we shouldn’t expect to see Kratos blowing his fuse until around Christmas 2009 at the earliest, scotching rumours of a winter 2008 release. That really gets our goat!

Oh, a goat joke. I get it.

This isn’t surprising, because the development cycle on major games has gone through the roof, and lest you forget, God of War II hasn’t even been out for a year. Anticipating a late 2009 release for the title almost seems optimistic through that lens. If I had to bet money, I might even say Spring of 2010, unless of course Sony continues on the path it’s been on for the last 14 months. Sony needs Big Games on the platform, and really, God of War might be their biggest.

However, this:

Barlog also reckoned God of War III would be playable in 1080p and would feature Sixaxis functionality, including rumble support. Too bad we won’t see it for a looooong time.

…is laughable. Except for the rumble support. That we’ll definitely see.

-Aegies

On Publisher Blacklisting and 1UP

Aegies — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 07:03:03 +0000

Note: this post contains rumors which are unsourced, because they’re rumors. While I wouldn’t post about them unless i was fairly certain they had some credence, they should not be taken as fact, and should be approached with the appropriate amount of skepticism. The exception to this is the fact that the three studios in question did blackball EGM/1UP (as well as a number of other publishers in Europe as well), and Sony did fuck up last year and try to bully Kotaku into pulling a story.

A stir was caused this week when EGM’s Dan Hsu revealed in the magazine’s editorial section that they had been essentially blacklisted by three companies for what those publishers viewed to be low review scores. While I don’t know that anyone is too broken up about Midway’s Mortal Kombat studio or Sony’s sports studio picking up their toys and going home, everyone seems surprised that Ubisoft has pulled all marketing and has now refused to send any preview builds or early review copies of their games to EGM or Ziff-Davis publications. Ubisoft may not be quite the powerhouse they were a few years ago (releasing a lot of bad games for Wii and emulating the worst sequel tendencies of Electronic Arts circa 2002-2006 will do that), but they’re still a large publisher that puts out a lot of popular games.

So why? Well, Hsu is of the opinion that a 4.5 for Assassin’s Creed in the last issue (which was one score out of 4 that Ziff Davis has assigned to the game, including the three in the magazine and one on 1UP) was the “final straw”, and well, I’m inclined to believe that that’s true. However, the Ubisoft shenanigans don’t surprise me. While it’s not well known in the general gaming populace, rumors have swirled for a long time over the crazy, nepotistical and egotistical crap that happens at the highest levels of Ubisoft. Yves Guillemot is rumored to be an egomaniac, who routinely craps on his underlings while promoting family within the company to positions that were already filled, creating entire studios for family members to have new positions within the company, and generally running the company like a child.

The real problem here is really for the studios involved. Assassin’s Creed is a controversially love it or hate it game, and despite a lot of very conflicting reviews, it still sold phenomenally well. Why? Because magazines and online sources covered it relentlessly. Reviews on a game can only hurt it so much when such a massive amount of hype and anticipation is built within the media for a title, and save for possibly Game Informer, EGM is the most widely circulated gaming magazine around, and their credibility has only gotten stronger over the past 18 months.

Blacklisting sources for reviews that aren’t in line with your projections is an act of pissy ego that isn’t going to help you. Maybe in the past, that could gain leverage with media outlets, but in this case, EGM has called Ubisoft et al’s bluff and exposed them, a move which is oddly reminiscent of Sony’s own PR catastrophe last year. It didn’t work then, and it isn’t going to work now. I would venture a guess that this will be conveniently forgotten once Haze has come out and gotten bad reviews, and Ubisoft needs publicity for Endwar. At least, it will if their smart.

-Aegies

PSP gets a shit ton of improvements/add-ons in the coming months

Chufmoney — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 05:12:50 +0000

Finally the PSP is getting functionality that actually makes it stand out in ways that the DS doesn’t. Here is a list of improvements/add-ons, that are coming soon for the PSP:

Skype support (for PSP Slim only): VOIP support for the PSP will hit in the next few weeks. PSP owners will be able to call and receive calls from landlines and cellphones for an additional charge. It will come as a firmware update, but will apparently only be accessible for Slim owners. Sony points towards a memory difference between the two versions of the handheld as the cause.
PSP GPS: Sony is officially showcasing a PSP GPS system at the 2008 CES. GPS has been available in Japan, but is now going to come to other countries as well. Users will be able to download city guides, see real time 2D and 3D maps, as well as get driving directions. No pricing has been released at this time, but it is still awesome to see the potential use of the PSP as more of a powerful handheld device.
Blu-ray to PSP move download: Sony has been showcasing the PSP’s ability to download a lower-res version of a Blu-Ray movie through the PS3. This makes me actually kinda want some Blu-Ray movies….

Dunno about you, but all these PSP additions make me happy to own the system. I am not happy that I won’t be able to use Skype–though I don’t know how much I actually would have used it, but I still wish I had the option. Maybe I’ll just sell the phat PSP to Aegies…

Anyways, combine these new features with games like God of War: Chains of Olympus, and I think the PSP has a good year ahead of it.

Chufmoney

Well look at that. NPD numbers.

Aegies — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 05:45:08 +0000

Jayslacks says that he likes my NPD posts, and who I am I to deny him? Here we are, after the would-be megaton last week that we’d never get NPD numbers again EVAR. It’s a good thing too, because this month’s numbers continue to be interesting. These numbers are taken from 1UP and the confirmed sales numbers thread on NeoGAF. Say what you like about NeoGAF, but when it comes to NPD numbers, they have it immediately and accurately, and often with more in depth sales data then other sites provide. Anyway, enough meandering. Let’s get down to business. Here’s a quick warning: the post that follows, is long. Really long.

First, we’ll go over the hard numbers by month for each console. These are as follows (with last months numbers in parentheses):

Nintendo Wii – 519000 (501000)

Xbox 360 – 366000 (527800)

Playstation 3 – 121000 (119000)

Nintendo DS – 458000 (495800)

PSP – 286000 (284500)

PS2 – 184,000 (215000)

To start with, these numbers in comparison to last month are actually somewhat deceptive. The NPD reporting period for September took into account 5 weeks of sales data, and October was for 4 weeks. When broken down by week, the numbers for each console look quite different, and with one exception, much better than they initially appear.

Xbox 360

The 360 this month failed to hit the numbers it posted in September, and some people claim this is disappointing, citing the drop of 161,000 units as evidence that the sales bubble has burst. However, this is not the case for several reasons. First, there’s the previously mentioned shorter reporting period. When broken down weekly, the 360 sold 91.5 K a week in October, down from roughly 105 K in September, a drop of about 13 percent. Given that Halo 3 sales dropped by about 87 percent (specific numbers later), this is a pretty great carry over from the month before. Year over year, the 360’s sales are also significantly improved, as the console is up more than 60 percent from last October.

What does this mean? Halo 3 is clearly moving hardware, as the game continues at number 1 for the second month in a row. To argue otherwise at this point rings hollow. If the system sold 60 percent less a year ago and the price has come down only by 50 dollars, then something has changed. People are buying hardware for Halo 3, and if Microsoft renews the advertising push prior to Black Friday, we’ll see this continue for November and December numbers. Even after the lion’s share of the game’s sales numbers, Microsoft has continued with very strong momentum.

Microsoft has played their holiday hand more or less perfectly this year. The warranty extension in July has taken hold and allayed many people’s fears over the console, the price drop in August and the dark horse of Bioshock (which Microsoft certainly aided given 2K’s adamant assertions that the game will never be on PS3) along with a strong year for Madden got people excited, and Halo is proving to be the final necessary first party blow. I don’t necessarily think November this year will beat last year’s numbers, as there isn’t the big system pushing game that Gears of War was. However, with Mass Effect and strong third party titles and generally better accepted multi-platform releases, I expect that the momentum will hold and snowball for the rest of the year.

Nintendo Wii

Well, what can really be said? A lot, actually. First, the Wii didn’t just sell better than it did last month, it crushed its numbers from last month, selling 25 percent more per week for a total of 125 K weekly. However, the software numbers continue to ignore this for the most part, with a notable exception of Guitar Hero III, which was right behind the 360 version for number 3 in this month’s software charts. I fully expect Nintendo to sell about 25 percent more weekly this month as well, as there are even more rumors of increased stock. Now more than ever, I’m of the opinion that Nintendo is shrewdly manipulating stock levels in the US to stoke demand, as the Wii continues to be readily available in Japan while selling out here.

The PS3

In a way, the PS3 this month is similar to the Wii numbers wise in that the PS3 also posted a much healthier increase month over month than it would appear. While month to month hardware sales are up only 2000 units, weekly numbers are up by more than 20 percent. Unfortunately, this does include approximately 5 days of 40 GB and reduced price PS3 sales, making this sales increase bittersweet. The introduction of the 40 GB SKU is not off to a great start – anecdotally, the sales increases domestically and worldwide appear to be for the 60 GB SKU here in the states and the phased out 80 GB SKU overseas. The other downer is the continued inability to find a system moving title, as Ratchet and Clank failed to release anywhere near the top 10 , and does not appear to have had an appreciable effect on hardware adoption. I deny that I’m contradicting previous statements about Halo 3 here; 360 sales were significantly improved month over month upon Halo 3’s release, and it moved a lot of software. Ratchet has failed to do so, selling only 74,500 units in approximately 2 weeks of release.

Sony has announced very publicly that their sales numbers have jumped dramatically with the release of the 40 GB PS3. However, Sony is notorious for claiming numbers shipped to retailers as hardware “sold”, and I speak from personal experience that there are piles of 40 GB PS3s sitting at Best Buys and other retailers all over the country. We’ll see how numbers pan out next month, but I still doubt highly that the PS3 will be able to hit the benchmark it’s tried and failed for all year: outselling the 360.

Ratchet’s poor sales also make me worried for Uncharted’s chances at retail against a player base that has remained largely apathetic toward the system’s software. While Uncharted isn’t as cuddly as Ratchet was, adult themes didn’t help Heavenly Sword (which was also nowhere to be found in the top 10 this month). Sony is running out of cards to play, and if a spark doesn’t catch for the system soon, Sony is in for even more pain post holiday. Haze is not going to do well on the system, and if it does release this year, based on my time with it and the preview coverage it’s receiving, the game is going to get destroyed by all but the most enthusiastic PS3 and Free Radical fan sites.

Everything else
The DS continues to sell well. It’s cheap, and it has a good variety of titles. Its numbers are also up by about 15 percent from last month week by week. But what can be said at this point? As for the PSP, it continues to sell well after its redesign and the earlier price drop, and it had a sales increase of around 25 percent. It’s never going to beat the DS, but after Sony moved its focus away from being a media platform and made it a games machine, it’s found a good groove in the last 5 months. Finally, the PS2 sold only 2,000 more a week this month, and while Guitar Hero III performed well on the system, the 360 was right behind it with a significantly smaller user base (we’re talking combined sales of Guitar and non guitar SKUs of the game). We’re finally really seeing the fading of the system, several months after we thought it would happen. However, it’s still got some legs, and with a possible price drop and continued developer support (gotta love those Wii ports; Mercenaries 2 comes to mind), it will continue to anchor the gaming division for the time being. Its days as the lord of sales has passed though.

Software sales minutiae

Halo 3 dropped significantly, but it still handily trounced any other single platform title release for the month. Guitar Hero III sold incredibly well on the 360 and the Wii, but didn’t squeeze into the top 10 on the PS3. Wii Play retains a place on the top ten as usual, and the Orange Box made a much better showing than Half Life ever has on a console. I guess bundling 5 amazing titles in one disc will do that.

I think the more interesting numbers are the ones that aren’t on the top ten, or that we didn’t see at all. Metroid Prime 3 sales continued a spiral downward: the game sold 218 K in August, 167 K in September, and 45 K in October. This does not bode well for Wii owners hoping for additional hardcore titles for the system, as these numbers don’t justify the amount of development time or resources the title required. It just isn’t cost effective. Meanwhile, Project Gotham 4 sold a shockingly bad 38,300 copies, which can be largely attributed to Microsoft packaging a better driving game with 360 consoles. In this light, the departure of Bizarre as a second party developer makes more sense.

Nowhere to be found, finally, was the enormous budgeted Stranglehold. The title never posted good numbers, and has now evaporated. Not even the long delayed release of the PS3 version could bring up its awareness. I don’t expect Midway’s quarter to get any better, as Blacksite: Area 51 is releasing amidst technical difficulties on the PS3 and middling to average review scores, while Unreal 3 won’t likely sell large numbers on launch either. Regardless, expect next month’s numbers to be a catfight between the most tightly concentrated group of high profile releases this year. Games I don’t expect to find in the top 20 are Kane and Lynch, Hellgate: London, or the aforementioned Blacksite.

And that’s all for tonight. I’m tired.

-Aegies

Sony to support rumble with next firmware update

Chufmoney — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 02:10:21 +0000

ShackNews reports that PS3 firmware version 1.94 — included on Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction — will include rumble support. Players will be able to toggle the rumble support by pressing the Playstation button. However, rumble will only be enabled on the dual-shock controllers — the ones Sony has yet to release.

Most of you are very familiar with the statements that Sony has previously made regarding rumble. However, they have realized the error of their ways — or rather, worked out things with their legal issues — and is now ready to make your fingers vibrate once again.

Is this that important of a feature to y’all? Personally I enjoy the feature when it is there, but it isn’t something that I miss when I play my handheld games. Hell, it’s not even something I miss when playing Warhawk. I just don’t get it.

Chufmoney

NPD prediction time

Aegies — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 06:57:39 +0000

Well, it’s almost NPD time again, and this month should continue a trend for the interesting; July’s numbers showed the PS3’s inability to beat the 360 even after a hundred dollar price cut on one model of the system, while August showed a precipitous drop in PS3 sales from the previous month while the 360 posted solid numbers amid a phenomenal showing for both Bioshock and Madden 2008 on the system. Meanwhile, the Wii continued to coast along on word of mouth and the excitement of scarcity, while its highest profile title in months posted a surprisingly subdued first week of sales.

This summer has defied conventional logic, with solid sellers for June, July, and August. But September is where things are going to get really interesting. The 360 entered the month at a lower hardware price, and a new SKU released. Then of course, there’s the release of Halo 3, which many have long stipulated would be a mover of consoles for the platform. Meanwhile, one of the PS3’s most anticipated games debuted this month to terrible critical reception, and the weight fell on Heavenly Sword to pick up the slack and hopefully boost the PS3’s hardware numbers. Michael Pachter is now going so far as to predict that the 360 might even beat the Wii in sales numbers this month for the first time in almost a year:

Ahead of this week’s release of September sales data, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter predicts a 47 per cent increase over last year.
Halo 3, unsurprisingly, is seen as driving most of the sales growth for the month.
Pachter estimates sell-through of 450,000 Xbox 360 consoles, which would put Microsoft’s system ahead of Nintendo’s Wii for the month. He estimates sell-through of 425,000 Wii consoles and 150,000 PS3 consoles.

However, I think there are a few things Pachter is getting wrong here. I more or less agree with his prediction for 360 sales, but his prediction for Wii sales numbers relies on the model of continued supply constraint. The problem is the Wii is sitting on shelves in Japan, and continues to see a sharp weekly drop in sales; meanwhile, Pachter himself has stipulated that Nintendo has been quietly diverting stock to the United States in order to continue moving consoles. This increase in supply from a stagnating Japanese market could actually push Wii sales over 500,000 for the month, a likely possibility if Nintendo wanted to distract from the launch of Halo 3 and the renewed momentum of the 360. Meanwhile, there’s little in the way of software after Lair’s dismal showing to move PS3 hardware for September, and Heavenly Sword was unlikely to pick up the slack. Rumors of new, cheaper PS3s began to trickle out near the end of September, which may have also hurt the system’s sales last month.

Game sales wise, things are more up in the air. The real questions this month will be whether Metroid Prime 3 managed to move an appreciable number of units after its slow start, and whether Bioshock will continue to demonstrate the long tail sales numbers I expect it will. The number one game is virtually assured, but number two is anyone’s guess, as it could easily go to Madden, Bioshock, Metroid Prime 3, or maybe even WiiPlay if the system sells as many as I think it might. No matter who comes out on top, it should prove very interesting.

So, finally, what are my predictions? Here goes.

PS3: 150,000
360: 460,000
Wii: 480,000-500,000 (I know it’s a range, but sue me)
PS2: 190,000
PSP: 230,000
DS: 430,000

We’ll find out how full of shit I was in a few days.

-Aegies

PSP to get real DLC

Chufmoney — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:59:06 +0000

Gameindustry.biz has learned that the PSP will get original titles, via the Playstation Network, in 2008. The store will also carry demos of retail releases and PS1 titles. All the PSP merchandise is scheduled to be available to find, purchase, and download to the PSP, via any wireless hotspot.

According to the Gameindustry source, thirteen games are being developed internally for release in the Playstation Store. Sony is also hopeful that more developers will jump at the chance to make downloadable games, as the cutting out of the middle man — fuck you, Gamestop — will make it more lucrative for both Sony and the publisher.

While this sounds amazing in theory, I have my doubts as to whether it will actually happen as they say. Sony is not in a position where they can screw with retailers, as evidenced by the release of Warhawk in both retail and downloadable forms, making we here at ESG pretty sure that whatever games come out for download will be released in some sort of retail form as well (hellllooo game bundles).

Chufmoney

What TGS 2007 has taught me this year.

Aegies — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 04:11:50 +0000

I’ve been wracking my brain for the last week trying to figure out what it is that’s so turning me off of TGS this year. Something about it, and the Japanese gaming scene in general lately, has been nagging at me, worrying at the back of my mind, telling me that there’s some strange connection between a number of separate things. And finally, in the last day or so, it’s hit me: Fear. Fear is the connection here.

You’re probably wondering what the hell I mean by that. Let me see if I can explain.

I guess the main crux of my point is that put simply, the traditional Japanese gaming market is in the toilet. Sales for every system, even the mighty Wii, have been consistently sluggish over the last few months, especially in comparison with sales abroad. We’re not at the point where the 360 is probably going to sell more hardware in the US monthly than the Wii does in Japan monthly. Let that boggle your mind for a minute. The Wii had steam in Japan, but now it seems like it’s starting to lose it. Do I think that this means the Wii fad is over? No. But I’m beginning to think that the home console age in Japan is dying. The PS3’s sales have been up lately, coinciding with Hot Shots golf, but they’re still not good, and nothing seems to be pulling the console out of a slow drift elsewhere as the price cut for the old 60GB model lost most of its momentum after the first month. Not only that, but the PS3 has always been cheaper in Japan than anywhere else, and the country still can’t get themselves to gravitate toward it in any way even resembling their enthusiasm of the past for the brand.

So what does this theory have to do with TGS? Well, when people are afraid (and traditional Japanese publishers should be), they seek safety and the comfortable, and that is exactly what I’m seeing from the majority of Japanese publishers at TGS. If you look at the games on the show floor, there’s little different or surprising there; in fact, do a little digging for the list of coverage of games for Tokyo Game Show 2001, and it’s actually startlingly similar – right down to Metal Gear Solid playing a role as the game everyone wants to hear about for a Playstation console. We’ll see if there’s a continuation of the trend this year, but attendance has been lower every year for the event as well, as many otaku attend the event to get their hands on more anime memorabilia, and the rest of the country is less and less interested.

Finally, even the games themselves frequently speak to desperate moves in different directions by Japanese publishers to remain relevant: we have White Knight Story, a game whose visual design has become more westernized than ever, as well as the Last Remnant and No More Heroes, both games that seem to appeal to a western sensibility more than a Japanese one. Then there are the publishers who aren’t sure where their development should be directed, as Keiji Inafune tells Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft that although Dead Rising was a major success in the west, its poor sales in Japan have caused company executives to put a sequel to the title on the backburner.

Then you have the staunchly pro-PS3 stances held by both Square and Konami with their biggest guns, with trailers for Final Fantasy XIII showing prominently “PS3 only” and a Konami representative telling 1UP’s Shane Bettenhausen that they hope Metal Gear will “transfuse life into Sony’s war machine, the PlayStation 3”. Why would these companies place so much emphasis on the PS3 when the 360 holds such a massive install base advantage and a now ridiculous attach rate (somewhere around 7 games per console)? Because the 360 is never going to succeed in Japan. For a combination of reasons that are both cultural on the part of the Japanese and clueless on the part of Microsoft Japan. And if the 360 will never make a dent in Japan, then Japanese game developers who are terrified of competing with Nintendo on their own platforms for game sales have no choice other than to throw all they can behind Sony if they want the Japanese home console market to continue to be viable. This is why even with multiplatform games, the PS3 version is what people will see on the TGS floor.

The question is, will they be able to make it work? It seems like there’s a lot more excitement for Metal Gear Solid 4 over here (although the games generally sell better in Japan), while Square is hedging their bets with the aforementioned Last Remnant, a multiplatform game, and is releasing remakes of the Final Fantasy series on DS, while creating cell phone spinoffs of Kingdom Hearts and Parasite Eve. Japanese developers want the PS3 to succeed so they can sell games, something they can’t do on a non-selling 360, and something they can’t seem to do well amidst first party competition on the Wii and DS.

I suppose this is what we like to call “the calm before the storm”.

Aegies — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 19:49:53 +0000

Other names for it might be “really shitty news cycle” or “I hope someone sends us a link to a gaming cake”. News has been slow lately people. You can tell by checking any of the news sites; with the exception of some Pre-TGS predictions and complaining about the ubiquitous Halo 3 hype machine, we’ve been more or less bone dry on anything meaningfully related to gaming. There have been a few nuggets over the last few days though, and rather than try to scrape up something meaningful and lengthy for all of them, I figured I’d pick something at random and try to talk about it.

Sony finds a replacement for Dave Karraker as they anoint Scott Steinberg their new VP of Product Marketing: Dave Karraker had a hard year in the aftermath of a pretty rocky PS3 launch, but after some growing pains (like, I don’t know, blackballing Kotaku for not sitting on a rumor story breaking the news of Sony Home prior to GDC this year), he’s largely credited for bringing Sony kicking and screaming into the age of instant media coverage and scrutiny and the uncaged beast of the blogosphere (and man do I hate that word). This is a good thing, as accountability helps to keep big companies honest. Well, now he’s on his way out to a far less contentious place as head of marketing for Skye Vodka, and Sony has decided to bring Scott Steinberg, former head of marketing for Crystal Dynamics, Eidos, and Sega. Of course, it seems like he may have been with those companies during troubled periods of time, so we’ll see how he does. Either way, it’s going to be a trial by fire as Sony enters what many are forecasting will be a very important Christmas for them.

-Aegies

Taking the High Road

Chufmoney — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 05:34:12 +0000

Sony is a company that is easy to bag on these days, but still does do a lot of good things as well. After all, they have used their system to help figure out diseases. Now they have acted quickly to resolve issues for the PSN UK customers, giving them a full return on their purchase.

Sony had discovered that the recently released Spyro 2, MediEvil, and Crash Bandicoot 2 had technical problems that made the games unusable and took them offline. Now, when they could have just left people hanging out to dry, they instead are going to give them full refunds to the PSN accounts.

Now that’s customer service; when something breaks, you take it back and give a refund, not extend a warranty.

Chufmoney

[via Gamesindustry.biz]

Pachter Predicts PS3 499$ Price Here To Stay

Chufmoney — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 23:12:00 +0000

Wedbush-Morgan analyst, Michael Pachter, has decided that the 499$ PS3 SKU is here to stay. He stated that once the “2-3 million” unsold 60GB PS3s are sold, that “we expect the company to lower the price of its 80Gb model to $499 on a standalone basis.” Because the 80GB version does not contain the backwards compatibility Emotion Engine, they believe that the production cost of the 80GB unit will be equal to or less than the 60GB. They also predict a further price drop of the system to 399$ by early next year.

While it certainly would be nice if Mr. Pachter was correct, we at ESG have some doubts. Sony may have gotten themselves a lot of good PR when they lowered the price, but we don’t put it past them to squander that with some idiotic decision. Hopefully Sony really does give the system out for 499$ due to the lack of hardware based backwards compatibility, but somehow I feel they will justify the higher price by pointing to the larger hard-drive. Or, they will continue to package the system with a bunch of items, like Motorstorm, controllers, etc., in order to justify continuing the 599$ price point.

Prove me wrong, Sony.

Chufmoney

Unlike Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony Announced New Things at E3…

Chufmoney — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:42:30 +0000

…even if a lot of it was crap. While Microsoft showed a lot of the same shit we’ve known about for some time, Sony and Nintendo actually had some revealing announcements. The only thing about their announcements that sucked was that a lot of the announcements sucked. Why the fuck do the Wii remote and nunchuck need a housing? And why, oh god why, has Miyamoto cursed us with a place-mat instead of a proper follow up to some great game. I thought that was the Nintendo way, copying what has sold before and releasing it again with a twist.

Not everything that Nintendo announced was total crap; some of it was actually pretty exciting. The games that intrigued me the most were the games that were going to feature online play: Mario Kart Wii, Medal of Honor Wii, and Fifa ’08. It wasn’t that these games looked particularly awesome, but I am curious to know how they will integrate the online play. Medal of Honor was touted by Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime as being capable of 32 player online mode, but I wonder if I will need to enter 32 unique friend codes just to set it up? And, if I don’t will there be dedicated servers or will the host’s Wii be able to be the game server? I doubt the latter and fear the first.

The Wii Zapper was a strange announcement to me. The Zapper not only was aesthetically displeasing, but it seemed so pointless. If it had been an entirely new controller and not just a housing for the Wii remote and nunchuck it would have made more sense. I guess the point of the peripheral is to create a more immersive experience. I ain’t buying it…yet.
If there was one trade show that managed to salvage itself thanks to its announcements it was the Sony conference. Sony not only showed off some awesome games, including Killzone, but actually started to sell me on how Home could be the next evolution in console integration. Home will not only give users the ability to take pictures with their phone and have them appear in their area, but will also allow players to start games from within its interface. I am not saying this is going to be better than Live, but it will certainly help it stand out as unique and slick.

The shows are definitely worth a watch. If nothing else you should read the 1up.com stories, which I helped contribute to, and hit us back with your thoughts.

Chufmoney

Sony Outsells the Current-Gen Competition in Australia

Aegies — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:38:16 +0000

I was going to make a kangaroo joke or something, but I thought better of it. Anyhow, according to Sony Computer Entertainment Australia Managing Director Michael Ephraim, their system has officially sold more than 50,000 units since its launch in March of this year, and save for last week, has outsold both the Wii and the Xbox 360 consistently.

“Since March 23, PS3 has been the number one-selling next-gen console in Australia, and this is GfK figures. We’ve now sold 50,000–and we’re very excited about the fact that it’s being sold in retailers that are gaming retailers as a gaming device and other things, but as you’ll notice it’s now being sold in Harvey Norman consumer electronic stores as a Blu-ray player.”

So, at least in one market, the HD movie playback is being used to good effect to sell the console, which is the only reason I can see (at this point in time) for the system to be outselling the significantly-cheaper Wii, and the less-significantly-but-still-much-cheaper-and-with-larger-games-library Xbox 360.

I can hear at least some of you out there saying “How is 50,000 consoles alot?” given that the Wii and often the 360 sell that many weekly here in the states; I’m glad you asked. Those numbers are actually pretty phenomenal given that Australia’s population is literally a 15th that of the United States. This number is also interesting because it’s the first time I’ve seen anyone from Sony cite actual sold-to-consumers sales figures, as opposed to the routine consoles-shipped number both Microsoft and Sony use in their official statements. So, congratulations Sony. Now get working on those other territories. And, you know, selling it as a game machine.

-Aegies

Sony, A Company Without a “rudder”?

Chufmoney — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 03:10:29 +0000

EGM has produced a rumor that alledges that Sony is possibly releasing a new version of the PS2 that would have motion controls. The rumor goes on to state that this new version of the controller would be available by Christmas.

Wired’s Chris Kohler inquired to Sony about whether or not this rumor was true, and unlike previous times when Sony has just not commented about a rumor Sony did in fact give a full denial. Despite that they have denied it, Chris Kohler wrote an interesting piece about why he feels that it would be a terrible move for Sony; his main argument being that he feels that Sony would be validating the Wii’s strategy and success. Definitely worth a read if you got the time (and if you are reading this site, I think you have the time).

Personally I have to agree with Mr. Kohler, releasing a pointing device of sorts would validate Nintendo’s strategy. However, if there were games that used the Six-Axis controllers, via the USB port, on the PS2, and which took full advantage of the motion controls, I wouldn’t be opposed. I would love to see my PS2 continue to see software, especially software with increased functionality. Hell, I’ll settle for PS3 ports that are just dumbed down visually and that use the Six-Axis. But then again, I’m just cheap and don’t want to drop the cash for PS3 just yet.

Chufmoney

[via Game Life, via Evil Avatar]

So it begins: Manhunt 2 forbidden in the United Kingdom

Aegies — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:04:15 +0000

(Eds. Note: Well, it would seem the other shoe has dropped; the ESRB has just given Manhunt to an AO rating. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of outrage over the next few days about it, but really, if any game deserved an AO rating, it was this. You can read on to see why below, and you can argue with the point below that.)Kotaku has a good rundown of this story up, but the gist of it is this: After reviewing Manhunt 2′s script, and playing a thorough chunk of the title, using debug codes and a stable development build I would imagine, the British Board of Film Classification, an entity which regulates film and game content that contains material of a violent or overtly sexual manner, has issued a statement saying that the game will not be cleared for sale in the UK.

“Rejecting a work is a very serious action and one which we do not take lightly. Where possible we try to consider cuts or, in the case of games, modifications which remove the material which contravenes the Board’s published Guidelines. In the case of Manhunt 2 this has not been possible. Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing. There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game.

“Although the difference should not be exaggerated the fact of the game’s unrelenting focus on stalking and brutal slaying and the sheer lack of alternative pleasures on offer to the gamer, together with the different overall narrative context, contribute towards differentiating this submission from the original Manhunt game. That work was classified ’18′ in 2003, before the BBFC’s recent games research had been undertaken, but was already at the very top end of what the Board judged to be acceptable at that category.”

“Against this background, the Board’s carefully considered view is that to issue a certificate to Manhunt 2, on either platform, would involve a range of unjustifiable harm risks, to both adults and minors, within the terms of the Video Recordings Act, and accordingly that its availability, even if statutorily confined to adults, would be unacceptable to the public.”

David Cooke, BBFC Director

So, first, let’s review: the BBFC actually did play the title, as opposed to regulatory bodies that influence gaming content elsewhere; they also read the script of the game; and finally, they approved the original title. So it doesn’t seem like they avoided giving the game a fair shake. That being said, this decision still displeases me. Censorship bothers me, and what’s more, this decision won’t really prevent gamers in the UK from playing the game, which sort of makes it that much more ridiculous. The PS3 is not a region locked console for games, which means it would be fairly simple for someone to import the title, or even to pick it up elsewhere on vacation, or have a relative pick it up, etc., etc., etc. This is, more than anything, a political statement, and I don’t feel like content should be censored for that reason, nor can I think of any reason off the top of my head where I would.

However.

It would be irresponsible to absolve Rockstar, Take Two, Nintendo, and Sony from any responsibility here. This game is, on the Wii, the closest thing yet to the “murder simulators” that an easily panicked and reactionary public have been worrying themselves sick in public over, and it is exactly the opportunity that zealots like Jack Thompson and Joseph Lieberman have been dreaming about for the last 13 years. In my opinion, releasing this game, especially for the Wii, whose strategy has been to involve the non-gamer and the family, is incredibly irresponsible at this point in time. We are at a dangerous point in the culture war for video games, especially after the incidents at Virginia Tech that are still fresh in the minds of the general populace, and let’s not forget the New York gaming legislation. There are people who are looking for something like this to make their careers on, and there are people who have made their careers on topics like this running for President of the United States right now.

But what could they use against gaming? Well, why don’t we cherry pick some greatest hits from IGN’s preview of the title:

Consider for one moment that in Manhunt 2 you can, Wii remote and nunchuk in hands, use a pair of pliers to clamp onto an enemy’s testicles and literally tear them from his body in a bloody display; and if that weren’t enough, you’ll take one of the poor victim’s vertebrae along with his manhood. Or, if you’d prefer, you can use a saw blade and cut upward into a foe’s groin and buttocks, motioning forward and backward with the Wii remote as you go.

Jesus Christ. Or how about this?

You can even cut off a person’s head and wear it – yes, wear it – on your belt buckle; it dangles around as you run through the environments and you can hurl it at foes or toss it into hallways as a distraction device.

More than that, it’s shameless. Rockstar and Take Two aren’t stupid, and neither is Nintendo. Violence is the selling point of this game in a way that even the harshest shooter would shy away from. A big part of its appeal and a big source of the attention it receives is its home on the “family-friendly” Wii console. People are surprised and titillated by the prospect of a game with content like that on a Nintendo system, especially the Wii, and this is essentially their marketing campaign. Violence on a Nintendo console. The game doesn’t even need to be good at this point for it to sell, because it’s an oddity that some people won’t be able to resist. Rockstar and Take Two are releasing it because they know it will be controversial. They’re banking on it. And they’re risking public perception of the industry as a whole in doing so. They’ve made a habit of banking on controversy before, but they don’t have the plausible denial that they did prior to the “Hot Coffee” scandal to get away with it should the excrement truly hit the fan this time. They’re betting that the controversy will only help, and I think that this time they might lose. And if the backlash is strong enough, the industry might lose too.

-Aegies

Sony Finds Its Voice

Chufmoney — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 01:25:14 +0000

Sony has its own blog. Yes, they had Three Speech, but that was not a blog where all the employees of SCEA could talk to us, the community.

The new Sony blog will be, according to the information given to 1up.com, “from all levels of Sony — the executive, right on down to the lowly game tester.” More importantly those who post on the blog are supposed to be able to do so, ”without any editing or censorship by the PR guys.”

Exactly how the site is going to be used is still unknown. Hopefully, if nothing else, the blog will serve as the place where we can go to get all the information straight from Sony.

Sony hopefully will not screw this up. At least this will give more people at Sony a chance to voice their thoughts on the system and the company. Afterall, they can’t get any crazier than Ken Kutaragi…..or can they?

Chufmoney

[via 1up]

Killzone PSP DLC and What It All Could Mean

Chufmoney — Thu, 31 May 2007 01:59:02 +0000

Killzone received the downloadable content treatment today. Now, free of charge, those who own Killzone: Liberation can download four new missions and a new multiplayer mode. To learn how to acquire this downloadable content go to the killzone.com page where the instructions are provided.

For those of you who don’t own this game and own a PSP you could also wait because it should have a price drop soon due to the fact that it went platinum. I believe this means the game should hit that ever coveted 19.99$ price very soon. Also if you are still on the fence about the game you can get a demo from the playstation website.

But what does it all mean?! I insinuated in my title that I knew what it “could mean.” I believe that this could very well be something that in the next year becomes a unique selling point for the PSP. If the PSP really emphasizes its ability to give games downloadable content as well as game demos it could have the effect that Live has had for the 360. While the DS can go online and can download demos from demo stations in game stores there has yet to be an efficient way for DS gamers to get demos. Furthermore due to the lack of expandable memory for the DS there is a limit to what demos could be like. And, as far as downloadable content is concerned, the DS essentially cannot do it because it has no memory that the player has access to do whatever they want with it.

The PSP really needs to press this advantage if they want to gain more marketshare. Not the PSP is dead or even in need of saving, but if it wants to garner a larger install base it needs to show gamers that it can do some things better than the DS (besides graphics).

Just as we discussed on our latest podcast, I truly believe that from this generation on Internet integration via demos and betas will be something that will define the future of gaming. Players will become connected in more intricate ways with those who make the games. The PSP certainly has the best potential in the hand held market for pushing us forward on this path. Its time for them to seize that idea and run with it.

Am I reading too much into a little piece of DLC?

Chufmoney

Ubisoft is launching Haze on the PS3 first this fall, with other SKUs to follow.

Aegies — Wed, 23 May 2007 22:02:00 +0000

I’m sure that some will be pissed about this news (assuming that it actually happens), as Free Radical has a cult following that’s trailed after them following their departure from Rare and their work on Timesplitters. They also made the excellent action adventure game Second Sight, which unfortunately tanked.

Anyway. It would actually make sense for Ubisoft to push for a PS3 only release for Haze this fall. It’s a very crowded triple A lineup on the 360, with Halo 3, GTA 4, and likely Too Human, Assassin’s Creed, and others vying for retail attention. And the 360 is crowded with shooters, while the genre has remained thin thus far on the PS3 up to this point. What’s more, PS3 releases in general this year have been very thin, and I expect that several of Sony’s keey title from their Gamer’s Day in San Diego last week will likely be pushed back into next year. The next gen definitely seems to be the generation of delays, after all. Should things pan out that way, it would be an excellent opportunity for Ubisoft and Free Radical’s new franchise to catch attention in a slow release period on the system, and catch shooter-hype off Halo 3′s wake without actually competing with it. What’s more, should the game perform better on the 360, the PS3 version won’t be attacked for it when reviewers have nothing to compare it to. The only possible crick in the plan would be an install base that will likely remain low, at least until after Christmas.

-Aegies

Sony’s Stock Closes At Highest Since 2002

Chufmoney — Mon, 21 May 2007 20:16:10 +0000

So apparently not all is terrible in the world of Sony. Afterall they had a fantastic showing at the gamer’s day for both the PSP as well as the PS3. And even after the sad news about the April NPD numbers their stock still rose over 4% to close around 57$ in the Tokyo Stock Exchange. This occured after their stock received positive investor vibe due to their strong LCD tv sales.
Though I understand that Sony has been selling their Bravia TVs at a very good rate, I still find it strange that their stock rose after they reported that they lost millions upon millions of dollars due to the poor performance of the PS3. Perhaps investors are privy to some knowledge that I am not, but I would be afraid of banking my stock on TV sales when Sony might Spruce Goose their company with the PS3. I don’t mean to sound negative but I want to be realistic.

I want the PS3 to suceed, as does every other writer at ESG. But we’re worried that the PS3 is going to become this burden on SCE that they cannot recover from. Everyone from analysts to Ubisoft keeps spouting off about the need for a price cut but I wonder if Sony can afford to do that. Afterall they are already taking a substantial loss on the PS3 at its 600$ US price point. However, after seeing the loss of the Sony game division,coupled with the poor April NPD numbers (just above 80,000 PS3s sold), it makes me wonder if Sony can afford to not drop the price.

Chufmoney

[via Gamespot UK]