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It burns my eyes! My eyes and ears! In fact, now it’s in my mind and can’t come out! Aaaaah!
Sony have released a trailer for their long awaited and bound-to-be-fantastic reality TV show The Tester. The show sees contestants competing to win the job of being games tester for Sony, which is everyone’s dream job. It looks, from the trailer, like it’s going to be a roller-coaster journey packed with adventure, action, romance and drama. I can’t wait.
Check out the must-see video below, the show starts this month some time! Do what I did and pretend like it’s a fantastic parody, then slowly remember it’s not. This is not a joke.
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Undisclosed sources have apparently told Gamervision that the PSPgo, brunt of countless industry jokes, is looking to boost its much maligned media profile by relaunching in some capacity this year, complete with accompanying “marketing blitz”.
No doubt looking to grab some sort of foothold in the sales clash between not only Nintendo’s DS but also its own able-bodied brother, the flash media based handheld seems a likely candidate for a sales slash. Casual commentators also suggest the potential for partnered PlayStation Network sales incentives to lift it back into favourable, public eye.
Although gamers, shouting mixtures of expletives through tears at Sony’s unbridled cock-up, will continue to cry “JUST LET US USE OUR OWN FUCKING UMD’S”, it seems unlikely that the suspected reboot will really usher much past slashed retail price points or bundled PSN vouchers.
Gamervision suggests GDC as a potential springboard for Sony’s revised campaign. While details past hearsay are scarce, the continued chart absence of the little handheld that couldn’t suggests, with reasonable assurance, that the marketing teams at camp Sony are certainly being forced to consider something. Shame it isn’t a tightly vetted focus group to decide the best font for a “PRODUCT DISCONTINUED” poster. Now that would be met with market acceptance, cheers and graduatory hat launches worldwide.
In a rather odd marketing maneuver, Sony recently made the statement that the release of Heavy Rain is a “gamble”. I’m pretty sure this would fall under the category of “doing it wrong”, as Heavy Rain has become the shove-it-in-Microsoft’s-face game now that the Uncharted 2 craze has begun to recede.
Sony should be doing nothing but praising Heavy Rain for all the wonderful innovation it’s bringing to the PS3. There should be advertisements plastered on every site saying “Come buy Heavy Rain (and a PS3) and be freed of those Red Rings of Oppression Microsoft has bound you with!”
I’m always excited to see a new IP get some attention from the gaming press. A man gets tired of shooters featuring generic brawny men in gray and brown armor blowing up things in a gray and brown city. You realize someone originally had the idea of making a game about brawny men and gray and brown cities, and at the time that was a great and novel concept. Then the other developers realized that was a great concept as well, and ran it into the ground.
Unless you live under a rock without internet access, you probably know how much grief Apple has gotten recently with the news of the iPad. Many are calling the device stupid and useless, and even more are calling it “just a big iPod Touch“. Finally someone has come out in defense of the iPad, but it might surprise you who is doing the defending.
Sony’s Head of Marketing John Koller loves the iPad not because of what it’ll do for Apple, but what it’ll do for Sony. Recently Koller was quoted as saying “Apple’s entrance into the portable gaming space has been a net positive for Sony.” This might sound like nonsense, but since the release of the iPhone in July of 2008, sales of the PSP have actually risen.
What might cause such a strange correlation? Koller said “When people want a deeper, richer console, they start playing on a PSP.” Yep, Koller believes that people will get so disgusted with the iPad that they’ll crawl to their nearest electronics retailer to pick up a PSP. The mind power at Sony never ceases to amaze me.
Speaking to CVG about upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title Darwinia+, Introversion head Mark Morris claimed that PlayStation Network’s approval process puts small independent teams in a “weaker negotiating position” than rival platforms. Apparently Microsoft approve projects early after initial agreement providing teams deliver on promises at completion, whereas Sony hold clearance for launch till later in a title’s development cycle. “[It's] a problem because it means you have to invest a lot of time and effort and then … they could turn around and say ‘we don’t want it’.”
Financially, Morris claims “I would prefer a world where we could put our content out on 360 and PSN, because I think that being able to do that is really going to enable small developers to take risks.” Setting an achievable, personal sales goal, Morris added “as long as we do as well as Space Giraffe we’ll be OK”. Even though this “breaking even” asks reasonably little of the game purchasing public, one can’t help project a future where thoughtful game design would receive more than a handful of sales, something that could be helped immensely by co-operation cross-board by giants like Sony.
It’s a shame that innovative, independent teams feel cornered by the very process of development. In this age of digital distribution, it seems important for all major platform holders to take at least calculated risks. Darwinia+ and Introversion’s success relies on its eventual sales, something that is obviously eased by a increase in outlet services or potential digital “stockists”. Perhaps with a dual release across XBLA and PSN, Darwinia+ could have trumped Minter’s psychedelia and shot straight for Frogger gold.
The latest Japanese sales charts reveals not only that the standard PSP and its millennium variants have sold over 70,000 units to top the table, but that the digital only PSPGo battles equivalent relegation with measley sales of 2,027. Fishing for retail scraps behind even the decade old PlayStation 2 and source of Eastern hate the Xbox 360, the slidey-slidey, discless wonder shifted 35 times fewer consoles than its chunkier, crankier brother.
Collated by Japanese statistic tracker Media Create, Kotaku simplified the data for everyone, rendering the figures in an easy to digest pie, highlighting both the inevitable celebration and pawing misery felt by Sony’s gaming division on a near daily basis. Recently released Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep no doubt boosted sales for the system all round and it is perhaps the lure of myriad special boxed editions that handed the ‘Go it’s coffin nails this week. Somehow, it seems unlikely that limited zipped sets of soundtrack MP3’s and PDF concept art will ever capture consumer response in the same way as a tangible, gilded release.
How many times can we reasonably say “You’re Doing It Wrong” before Sony sits up and learns from the console’s continued, unbridled failure?
Finally. Someone decided to come along and fill the hole that WCG Ultimate Gamer left. Yes folks, we’re getting yet another tired, bland reality show about videogames. On the Playstation Network, no less.
The Tester is a reality show looking to find the next Playstation game tester. The Playstation Blog describes the exciting contestants as 22-to-36-year-olds “from all walks of life – from a student, to a paramedic, to a used car salesman…united in the passion needed to be the next PlayStation game tester”. My morning bran flakes sound more interesting than this show.
The show, “to be by hosted Meredith Molinari, model and host of multiple online music shows” (that’s really what it says), is produced by 51 Minds, the geniuses behind Rock of Love and The Surreal Life. Whee.
John Hight, the Studio Director of Sony Santa Monica, has revealed that those hoping to spend a long amount of time with current-gen Kratos are in for something of a disappointment.
In the realm of third-person action games few franchises have been able to combine accessibility, gorgeous graphics, and visceral thrills the way that the God Of War series has done. Many could argue that the original God Of War is one the greatest games to have graced the PS2. With a surly, almost hateful protagonist, whose potential for violence was matched only by his libido, this franchise has achieved many things.
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Oh Sony, you are a one. In a press release sent out today Sony have announced that their motion controller, “tentatively” named Motion Controller, will be launched this fall (co-incidentally the same time Microsoft’s Natal launches). In the statement Kazuo Hirai, Sony Computer Entertainment’s President and Group CEO gave generic statement of enthusiasm about the device as well as the soon-to-be-unveiled “groundbreaking interactive entertainment” that will be accompanying it.
The statement also reaffirmed the fact that you’re not just going to need to buy the Motion Controller, but also have a PlayStation Eye camera sitting around to make use of the wand.
But back to the important part; Motion Controller the motion controller. I can’t tell if this is a sign Sony have no clue what they are doing, or if they are the smartest grapes at the picnic. I know for sure this will be easier to explain to non-gamers with its Ronseal style name than “Project Natal” or “I run a website about videogames”. Though it could lead some (more cynical than I) to assume the games that come with it will be about as novel and original as “Motion Controller” the motion controller.
CES was a lot of fun this year. If I wasn’t at the Convention Center checking out super-huge TV’s and 3D goggles, I was getting free drinks at one of the many industry parties that were happening all weekend.
Of course, you —Negative Gamer’s loyal readers— were my first priority, so I took plenty of pictures at these parties, just for you. It’s like you’re really there!
This batch of shots came from the “It Won’t Stay In Vegas” party, held at the Atomic Testing Museum (which is an awesome place). Sony had a room set up showcasing lots of the PS3’s new and upcoming games, as well as a PSP-Go here and there.
Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg in conversation with G4TV has attempted to share in the press hubbub of CES’s recent 3D explosion, stating that “from the technical standpoint, we are fully 3D capable”. In a trademark, underhand put down, Greenberg extolled exactly what our recent poll suggested. “I think right now we’re unsure what level of interest there is from consumers to really want a 3D experience in the living room”. He followed, “many, many years from now when it becomes a reality we absolutely can support it”, in a veiled attempt at keeping wardrox and company on side.
Mirroring my own standpoint as to one of the inevitable failings of the medium, Microsoft’s spokesperson suggested “when I play games or watch TV, I’ve got my phone, I’ve got all kinds of things going on”, acknowledging “I think it’s just a different environment … I’m not in a dark theatre, wearing glasses”.
Casual commentators have suggested that tech displayed by Microsoft thus far is decidedly old in its approach to 3D and a far cry from Sony’s long discussed firmware update for the PlayStation 3. Whilst certainly not rendering Greenberg’s statement as incorrect, it does call into question just how “capable” the machine really is at present.
Via: MCVUK
After a small hiccup, Sony are gearing up for the first PlayStation Home update of 2010. For the cost of a real pint, Home users can purchase a digital recreation of a generic London pub, complete with “warm fire” and a view of the Thames. When bored of pondering just how €4.99 in real world money translates to perhaps the driest pub experience recorded, players can enjoy a round of darts. Competing for leaderboard highs, 30 champions will win “genuine Eclipse Pro Dartboards” whilst everyone else will realise the true extent of how dull throwing flighted tacks into a wall really is.
Fittingly, Home also receives a free clothing update. A single, Diesel branded “Be Stupid” shirt is available for both male and female avatars to wear as they guffaw in repetitive, pre-assigned motion at their premium “comedy beer pumps”.
For all the assertions that Microsoft’s Game Room is in some way copying Home, until Xbox Live rolls out communal, paid spaces in which nothing happens except friends list chat and “stop the line when it’s in the marker” recreations of public house sports, the social aspect of each service is not on level pegging.
After Sony’s CES press conference and their announcement that they would be making a push into 3D gaming, Microsoft has naturally decided 3D isn’t all that.
Xbox executive Aaron Greenberg has said that he thinks 3D is “great in the theatre” but when it comes to the upcoming technology in the living room, Greenberg said “I think we’re a long ways away from [it being great]”.
Sony’s 3D plans come in the form of 3D Blu-ray discs, as we reported yesterday. Greenberg has stated that because of the unpredictable nature of home entertainment; people walking past etc., compared to the theatre, 3D at home won’t be “the same experience”. Obviously, Greenberg isn’t impressed by much, with the him previously stating that the NXE was the “biggest moment in the history of the internet”.
Here at the Negative Gamer offices, we’ve had split opinion on the question of 3D. It seems to be one of those things that people either love, or really don’t, like Martmite.
It was like a business meeting of top executives… but with Taylor Swift singing a bit. Sony’s CES press conference has just finished and there are only two things of relative interest.
Sony seem to be putting every one of their eggs in the 3D basket. Every person attending the show was given a pair of glasses to watch the the painfully funky videos. Whilst the 3D effect was translated into “blur” when the conference hit uStream there were enough announcements regarding 3D to make its impact very much felt. Read more →
I’m not sure if you know this, but a few months ago Michael Jackson died. There was little in the way of media coverage, save for the release of a film entitled This Is It. The movie was a documentary comprised of footage taken during dress rehearsals for MJ’s last tour. The film showed Michael doing what he did best: put on some of the greatest musical numbers ever, all for the love and adoration of the millions, nay, billions who loved him.
This of course leads to this story, wherein Sony has decided to make a This Is It PS3 bundle. Lucky Japanese gamers who’ve been clamoring for this bundle since MJ’s death now have a reason to celebrate.
The bundle comes…bundled with the regular crap the PS3 comes with, This Is It on Blu-Ray, a “special PS3 wallpaper” (probably the hottest selling point), and videos of Thriller and Smooth Criminal. The Japan-only (for now) bundle will be released on January 27th, the date of This Is It’s Blu-Ray release.
OnLive, the streaming internet gaming service has recently come under flack from none other than the console makers. Representatives from the big three have spoken on a range of issues, but most interestingly the future of online and “cloud” services in the videogame industry.
Microsoft’s Neil Thompson, Sony’s Ray Maguire and Nintendo’s David Yarnton have sat down and had a chat with MCV, who all present basically the same idea, but with slightly differently phrased corporate speak. PlayStation UK boss Ray Maguire has said that despite the impressive (if yet unseen) technologies of services like OnLive, they won’t be able to compete with dedicated hardware such as the PS3. He said that:
When it comes to delivering an entertainment experience on par with the quality consumers have come to expect… dedicated games consoles remain the only systems powerful enough to do this.
Over the weekend several sites began reporting on an advert that appeared in last Friday’s MCV on page 17. The advert, for Little Big Planet PSP accessories, listed the PSP-4000 as being compatible. The PSP-4000 doesn’t exist. We gave the company behind the adverts, Accessories 4 Technology [Editor's note - the name of the company has been corrected], a ring to find out what’s going on.
A4T’s licence manager Angela Jones told Negative Gamer, after looking up the advert online, that it was a “mistake on our part” and that she wasn’t sure what had happened. She added that Sony weren’t, as far as she knew, releasing a new console.
Not that these words will squash the rampant rumour fires of the next PSP. What with Pachter saying it’s likely, developers chatting about it at TGS and Engadget’s reliable tipster. Sony, as with any big company, hasn’t admitted to a mistake and is instead telling any site that contacts them that they “don’t comment on rumour or speculation”.
Let’s all agree that for better of worse, the control scheme of Nintendo’s still laughably titled Wii changed current generation gaming. Motion control, taken as the latest “persistent fad”, is unfortunately here to stay for the immediate future with both Microsoft and Sony carting out their own waving variations like tin cans tied to a honeymoon bumper sometime in the next 12 months.
In a piece of all mouth PR, Sony’s John Koller talked up the company’s ball-in-a-cup motion wand to GamePro, boasting that “quite honestly, I think Project Natal and the Wii are going have trouble matching [it], from a differentiation aspect.” At least acknowledging the current lack of any solid evidence to back up the claim, Koller followed “when we provide further details, people will see exactly where we’re going”, “it’s going to be a really exciting launch”.
Gamers discontent with Activision and EA holding the monopoly on games released annually with little core difference outside of the cover art can soon look forward to a new competitor: Simon bloody Cowell. Cowell recently flapped his gums (over his startlingly white teeth) to UK men’s magazine GQ on his pre-eminent entrepreneurial partnership with Topshop’s Phillip Green. The pair coined the tentative though worrying moniker “new Disney” for their steamrolling talent show / primary colour tween clothing conglomerate, with Cowell keen to build an entertainment empire encompassing the games industry alongside his current stranglehold on television.
“I should have had 20 games [by now]“, boasted Cowell in reference to the unnerving global success of his despicably formulaic talent shows. With his usual casual modesty he followed “if you’ve got a game that’s worth more than our shows and we’re in 100 countries, something is a bit out of control.”
Phillip Green recently met with Sony CEO Howard Stringer at Cowell’s calculated setup to discuss an agreement over future videogames. Read more →
If you were one of the unlucky souls to be stricken by the “Hideout” bug within Assassin’s Creed II, Ubisoft has good news for you today. They’ve submitted a patch to Microsoft and Sony certification that addresses il purgatorio along with numerous other glitches found in the retail game. The patch will be released for PS3 owners today and on 360 this Friday. Also, of the many other bugs they’ve addressed, Ezio will no longer appear to walk in thin air or get stuck underwater with one of the game’s motley denizens.
Assassin’s Creed II felt much more open to playing missions, collecting items and fooling around out of sequence. In some ways it’s surprising there aren’t more of these game breaking bugs out there. It’s baffling that no one at Ubisoft, Microsoft or Sony caught the Mission 11 Autosave bug. If a game features an autosave system the developer and or certification teams should have tested them all.
Read past the break if you want the full patch notes, but be warned thar be spoilers contained within!
