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Keep an eye on your PS3 with new theme
We've just discovered the best thing about the new PSN store. Yes, buying things through your browser is convenient, but this is better.Now, we can load up a video preview of new PS3 dynamic themes. That means that we can capture them as GIFs and make sure everyone sees what is going on in the lawless Wild West-style landscape of "premium" decorations for your PS3.And what is going on this week is this eye-searing, seeing eye, the "Santa Cruz Target" dynamic theme. Load this up, and finding your PS3 content becomes a game – a game of navigating the menu as quickly as possible before you fall into some kind of trance or get a massive headache. See it in motion – and be seen by it – after the break.
PlayStation Rewards program to offer free PSN bonuses for 'highly engaged' fans
Sony is preparing to launch a new incentives program called PlayStation Rewards. A closed beta for the offer is currently invite-only -- for "highly engaged" PlayStation owners -- but the full service will open up to include everyone next year. The program will reward players with a number of PSN bonuses, including "exclusive" avatars, dynamic themes and PlayStation Home content. In addition, Rewards will feature "member-only" sweepstakes, events and giveaways. At first glance, PlayStation Rewards seems to offer many of the same features as PlayStation Plus. However, the two services are separate from each other and will offer different bonuses. Rewards is free, and will be open to all PlayStation owners, regardless of Plus status -- although, Plus members are more likely to be offered entry into the service during the beta. Like Club Nintendo and Square Enix Members, PlayStation Rewards is tiered, separating its members into three groups: Select, Pro and Legendary. Playing games, downloading demos, using PlayStation Home, being active on the PlayStation.com Forums, answering surveys and buying content on the PlayStation Store are some of the ways in which members can increase their ranks in a Trophy-inspired leveling system.
Shatter soundtrack and dynamic theme hits PSN this week
Are you a hardcore fan of Shatter? So are we. That's why we're pretty excited that both the Shatter soundtrack and dynamic XMB theme are hitting the North American PlayStation Store this week. Featuring 14 tracks, the downloadable soundtrack will be available for $5.99 via the PSN. As a bonus, the soundtrack will come bundled with a dynamic theme and concept art. (The theme can be purchased separately for $2.99.) Of course, some may be turned off by the asking price of the bundle, considering it costs nearly as much as the game itself. For others, this is a small price to pay to support an indie PSN dev. Check out a video of the theme after the break.
Buy the Lord of the Rings HD trilogy on PSN, get a free dynamic theme
We're constantly looking for reasons to re-purchase the Lord of the Rings film trilogy -- a fact clearly evidenced by our ownership of the theatrical versions of the films, the extended director's cut of each movie, the Blu-ray version of the trilogy, and another set of each of those, so we can keep one in mint condition, and watch the other on a bi-weekly basis. A recent PlayStation.Blog post has informed us that we'll need to shell out for yet another version of the films: The HD, downloadable trilogy on the PlayStation Store. Not only does it curtail our need to purchase two versions of the bundle, but it also comes with a free, LoTR-based dynamic PS3 theme. We've already collected a number of background skins for Sony's home gaming console, but we have a feeling this one has a pretty good shot at ruling them all.
European PSN releases for March 25
[Famitsu] Last week's sale continues, joined by even more discounts. If you wanted to buy something on PSN before -- particularly a Sega product -- and it was too expensive, you should check the list this week. Odds are, it's cheaper now! In less bargain-oriented news, there's now a Mega Man 10 dynamic theme. Sony finally found the right weapon against which our resolve is weakest. Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)
Zombieland Blu-ray includes dynamic theme for PS3
Nine out of ten film experts agree that Zombieland was the best movie to come out last year, and expect it to make a strong showing at the Academy Awards. It should already be a no-brainer that you're going to purchase the film when it's released next Tuesday, Feb. 2 -- however, the Blu-ray version of Zombieland includes an unadvertised bonus that might influence you to drop the extra cash for the HD iteration. According to High Def Digest, if you pop the Zombieland Blu-ray into your PS3, you'll have the option to download a dynamic theme based on the film through the XMB's Game tab. The theme turns the browser's icons red, and changes the background into a rotating gallery of promotional art for the movie. It sounds like a really neat feature -- one that might influence us to purchase more Blu-rays should it become more popular.
Modern Warfare 2 dynamic themes in the works
We like PS3 dynamic themes. (We don't like paying so much for them, though.) However, ever since the initial batch of themes for LittleBigPlanet, WipEout HD and PixelJunk Monsters, we haven't seen many interesting themes for purchase. That's about to change with the upcoming Modern Warfare 2. Infinity Ward used Twitter to confirm that, like all games released in 2009, MW2 will feature both rumble and Trophy support. Additionally, they noted "some dynamic themes [are] in the works for the PS3 XMB."Considering the popularity of the Call of Duty franchise, it seems likely that the Modern Warfare 2 dynamic theme will be quite a popular item on the PlayStation Store. We can already see the hordes of people downloading the theme whilst they type up yet more annoying (and incorrect) PSN spam chain letters about how Call of Duty is becoming an Xbox-only franchise.[Via Examiner]
European PSN releases for September 10
We've been intrigued by Firmware 3.00's new dynamic theme functionality, but have been hesitant to actually spend any money on tricking out our menu's background. Fortunately, this week's European PSN update not only delivers the LittleBigPlanet dynamic theme, but also includes a free Wipeout HD dynamic theme -- which would be perfect for us, if we lived in Europe. You lucky jerks! Europe gets everything cool first.There's plenty of playable offerings in this week's lineup as well -- a puzzle/adventure game titled Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos, demos for Fat Princess, LittleBigPlanet, Katamari Forever and FIFA 10, the first batch of content for Guitar Hero 5, and the long overdue addition of George Takei in Pain. (Seriously.) Check out the entire list after the jump! Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)
Q-Games: Dynamic themes won't make money on PS3
One of the cooler features of firmware 3.00 is the ability to load dynamic themes onto the PS3. Unlike traditional wallpapers, these custom XMB downloads feature animated backgrounds that respond dynamically to the time of day, analog stick movement and SIXAXIS tilt. While these backgrounds are cool, they're also quite expensive. So far, each theme has cost $2.99.Yet, in spite of the high price, Q-Games' Dylan Cuthbert explains that developers are unlikely to recoup the cost of making a dynamic theme. "Remember that we'll be lucky to sell even a few thousand themes and so the cost of developing the theme (3-4 weeks of coder/artist time, checking, testing etc) will still far exceed any money we make from it," he explained.We have a solution for Cuthbert, though. Drop the price, and we're certain far more people would be willing to download a dynamic theme as an impulse buy.%Poll-34212%%Poll-34215%[Via Gamasutra]
