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SCEA layoffs have 'no effect on game development'
Though initial reports stated Sony Computer Entertainment America had laid off 80 to 100 employees, Sr. Director of Corporate Communications Dave Karakker has told GameDaily BIZ that the actual number is closer to 50 or less and had no effect on game development.Karakker backs up his claim by noting that SCEA did not need to provide a WARN notification, which is required in the US for companies with over 100 employees that are expecting to lay off more than 50. A WARN notification must be submitted 60 days prior to the layoffs."Everyone got severances based on their tenure with the company," he said. Karakker likened the move to "normal business practice" and said that there was no "mass exodus."
God of War 3 has not begun production, other games take precedence
It seems the director of God of War II, Cory Barlog, wants to pay attention to other projects before the much-anticipated God of War III makes any sort of debut. On his blog, he talks about a lot of things, but he mentions how he's not paying attention to the trilogy and instead is working on his very own RPG opus -- A Family Ties game. Or something.So for those of you who were expecting some kind of surprise at E3 or Tokyo Game Show, we hate to be the bearers of bad news, but you'll be waiting a while to see Kratos and the Titans crushing the crap out of Olympus. Unless Sony pulls a Kojima and replaces Kratos with a different, less gruff and manly character. Possibly a Roman who likes to comb his hair and do cartwheels. That would be most unfortunate! We don't need another Raiden. Or ... do we?[via CVG]
SCEA lays off 80-100 employees [Update]
Sony's game division was first reported to be undergoing restructuring back in April and now, we're catching word that layoffs have begun. Two months back, only Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) was going to have to bear the brunt of restructuring by eliminating up to 160 jobs. Now, word is coming in about 80-100 layoffs from Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA). Apparently, much like an "American Idol elimination episode," teams were split amongst between those being asked to leave and those likely asked to take on the other team's workload. Severance packages were provided but no one was asked to "finish out the rest of the day," instead being told to come back after hours or ask management to collect their belongings. SCEA's PR man Dave Karraker, told Kotaku earlier that "it was necessary to analyze our current business and to restructure the company as necessary," which more or less validates the layoffs as a necessity. No official word from SCEA on if more layoffs were planned or what potential gaming fallout may occur from this restructuring.[Update: When asked if PS3 sales were the direct cause of the SCEA layoffs, Dave Karraker declined and said, "this move is not wholly related to any one product in our portfolio." So there you have it.]
Level 5 answers a few easy questions on Jeanne d'Arc
SCEA recently lobbed a few softball questions for Level 5, the talented team behind Jeanne d'Arc, a title we've had our eye on for some time now. The questions ranged from asking how long the game has been in development [2 years] to describing the overall world and story behind the game. The full interview has been included for your reading pleasure, after the break. New details on the combat system are given, which imply importance on stance and character position in order to maximize combat skills. One of the combat particulars "Burning Aura," deals additional damage by trapping enemies between two playable characters whereas "Unified Guard" involves lining up your characters side by side to lessen the blow of damage from bad guys. We're already hooked, how about you? Anyone else got this one on your immediate radar? Jeanne d'Arc should be hitting stateside in August.
SCEA admits PSP needs a few killer apps to motor sales
In the tell-us-something-we-don't-already-know department, SCEA's chief financial officer Robert Wiesenthal admitted software potential has been lackluster, and is considered to be slowing PSP hardware sales. "Clearly on the software side, any real killer title will galvanize the sales," he said. This mirrors similar thoughts from Hiroshi Kamide, director of the research department at KBC Securities Japan, who believes the PSP hardware is stellar while the compelling reason to own one is not. "Most of the software is knock-offs of PlayStation 2 titles and that won't do Sony any favours," he says. We tend to agree, which could explain why some of us are so smitten with the refreshing game play in one of the PSP's newest releases, Crush.Compelling reasons to own a PSP are definitely coming. For those that haven't yet seen our coverage of the recent Sony Gamers Day (SGD '07), we implore you to take a peek behind the curtain of planned content. This summer should prove even more rewarding for RPG fanatics with the Final Fantasy I and II remakes, Dungeons & Dragons: Tactics, Jeanne d'Arc and much more. It would seem developers have been already working on a solution to a problem Sony is, just now, admitting to. Better late than never, we suppose. So lets get that ball of content rolling!
Reminder: Global servers, DLC for Resistance coming June 7th
Aside from being an inexhaustible source of adorable cat pictures, the internet is responsible for allowing gamers to reach across their geographical borders, embrace a foreign culture... and then shoot it in the face. It's a noble use of technology, one that has until now been somewhat restricted in Insomniac's Resistance: Fall of Man. A new downloadable update meant to demolish regional restrictions and implement global multiplayer was initially due by the end of May, but was shifted to this Thursday. Greg Philips of SCEA told CVG last week, "The reason for the delay is we (SCEA) needed a little extra time to get the global servers locked in and ready for thousands of players to come knocking. We would rather have a short delay and continue to deliver on our over the top, online experience." Apart from enabling men from all countries to fall, the update will introduce new multiplayer maps for purchase and "other enhancements" to the PS3's Chimera-blasting launch title. You'll be sure to see us online -- unless we're hiding around a corner with that lovely Bullseye gun. [Via PS3 Fanboy]
North American PLAYSTATION Store releases for the week
Sony continues to release a steady flow of Midway arcade classics over the PLAYSTATION Store. As we mentioned yesterday, this week's new downloadable title is Rampage: World Tour. Unfortunately, that's about it for this week. The only other thing is a video of the next Midway arcade release, Joust. Joy. Sony has also temporarily lowered the price on flOw. For a limited time, you can download one of the best PSN titles out there for only $4.99 (normally $7.99). Not much this time around, it's really a shame Sony didn't load up a bunch of the HD trailers from Gamer's Day. I'd LOVE to see the Uncharted trailer on my big screen.
PSP Store is 'long overdue,' Sony admits
SCEA president Jack Tretton has reiterated Sony's intent to launch some semblance of a 'PSP Store,' but his statements provide little assurance that the project is a priority. "I think the advent of a long awaited and quite frankly long overdue ability to deliver a downloadable service for the PSP will help us out a great deal," Tretton said during an appearance at Sony Gamers' Day. "Hopefully we'll have it out there by the fall."Tretton gave no further insight into the proposed venture, leaving us to wonder if he was merely referring to SOE's Station Launcher, a forthcoming service that will offer downloads of PSP-formatted movies directly to the handheld device (via PC). Of course, there would be obvious benefits to launching a portable counterpart of PS3's PlayStation Store, complete with PS1 games, demos, and trailers -- and, dare we suggest, full e-Distribution titles. All with just the flick of a WLAN switch. If only...[Via PSP Fanboy]
Designer gives inspiration for LocoRoco, hints at sequel ideas
Offering a peek into his inspiration for LocoRoco, designer Tsutomu Kouno once again touched base on its concept, design and production during a presentation at the Nordic Game Conference in Sweden. Fearing a "scolding," he didn't give too much away, though he did cite nature documentaries and the animal behavior of his pet fish as inspiration for some of the characters. I wonder what kind of game we'd be playing if he had a sloth as a pet?LocoRoco was the first game he worked on alone and wasn't initially approved on its first or second presentation. Only when a demo was shown on the third attempt did LocoRoco's approval come through. We can only imagine how frustrating those attempts at describing game play would have been on a mere PowerPoint presentation. As far as the sequel is concerned, Tsotomu Kouno said the sequel would contain, "new game play based on physical calculation and crowd AI" amidst other surprises. Ideally, the "use of color and music" is the central focus for the series, attempting "to create the fun and dramatic atmosphere of a live musical." Sounds great, as long as we don't end up playing Chicago: The Game Based on The Movie Based on The Play. Personally, we welcome new ideas, but prefer more the same game play that made LocoRoco so unique. It it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
Jack Tretton is unconcerned about PS3 sales
Any product compared to the runaway success of the Nintendo Wii is bound to feel some form of inadequacy. Yet, SCEA's Jack Tretton says he is "unconcerned" about the latest PS3 sales figures, despite the fact that every PS3 sold loses money and in comparison, the PS3 is still in third place. Mr. Tretton goes on to solidify his confidence in the PS3's abilities by saying, "we're into this for the next 10 years and beyond. A million units one way or another at this point isn't going to worry us." Mr. Tretton isn't alone in his convictions. Just last week, Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachtor believed the PS3 will be the victor of the current console race, due to it's integrated Blu-Ray player. Will Blu-Ray prove be the victor in the next-gen HD format? Early predictors on sales might indicate so, but we feel our trusty magic eight ball sums it up best. Ask again later.
European and Japanese PlayStation Network releases for Friday May 11th
I'm going to keep this post fairly short. The less said about the following, the better. Here's what we Europeans will see grace our PlayStation Stores today. Warhawk trailer (free) Rocky Blu-ray trailer (free) Impressed? No, neither am I. Hopefully we'll see something a little more substantial next Friday. Funny, I remember thinking the same thing this time last week. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the Japanese store has been updated to finally include flOw. No bullet list needed. That's all they got. I guess comparing this to yesterday's American PSN update will just make us feel bad, though it's getting increasingly difficult not to.
SCEA expanding business to licensed merchandise
In order to expand its "business development organization", SCEA has announced that it's going to move into some uncharted territory in its seafaring history -- licensing intellectual properties. Grab your compass, mateys, because the sea ain't too kind to boxes o' hats emblazoned with Sony's name.Shelly Gayner has been appointed judge, jury and executioner of this newly-formed team. Acting as director, her goal is to increase awareness of the PlayStation brand by creating some consumable goods or something of the sort with first-party characters and other PlayStation properties. Shelly is well-trusted by her colleagues at SCEA to get the job done, so we're going to trust her as well. Who all would run out the door and buy some chewable Ratchet & Clank vitamins, some God of War cereal, an Uncharted: Drake's Fortune secret decoder watch and so on and so forth? We'd be all over that.
Why we're excited : Sony's new licensing department
SCEA recently announced a new licensing department to help permeate the Sony name amongst its many markets. It appears their intent is to "increase awareness of the company's brands and characters, and to expand collaborations with new and existing business partners." (The butchering of a beloved franchise like Twisted Metal by Uwe Boll has our stomachs in knots). Personally, we hope to see more creativity with this licensing department than just the standard action figures, messenger bags and film adaptations. We'd much rather prefer a more unique take on a proven franchise. Imagine Twisted Metal as an adult cartoon, stylized in the spirit of Frank Miller? But why stop at mere film adaptations? Why not the idea of collaborations between development studios? For example, a SOCOM-based strategy game, as told by Konami, made to fit the PSP? As long as we're allowing our imaginations to run a little wild here, how about EA's take on the Motorstorm or Jet Moto franchise, ala Road Rash? Portable, muddy and delicious Road Rash? Yum.While it may be quite a stretch to think Sony's new licensing department would allow such a top-selling IP to simply walk out the door and into the hands of an indie development team, it's not entirely unheard of. After all, look at Sega's collaboration with both Gearbox and Obsidian Entertainment on the Alien franchise and Disney's past collaboration with Square Enix for Kingdom Hearts?So, a question to you, dear reader. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if your favorite development studio took on the reigns of a first-party Sony title and reimagined it as a PSP title? Dare to dream, because you never know ...
PlayStation 3's Home beta rolling out in North America
Several members of the official PlayStation forums are claiming that the option to download and launch the North American version of the Home beta has appeared in the PlayStation Store. Invites to the closed beta of Sony's Game 3.0 get-together were sent out last week to a seemingly select few. The majority of posters within the relevant PlayStation forum thread have expressed disappointment at not making the cut, though they may just be temporary victims of a stuttered roll-out. The few chosen ones are in higher spirits, though seem confused by Home's appearance in the store's Blu-ray section.When asked to comment on the Beta's status, SCEA had naught to offer but a quote from a popular anime series, ".........." (Which is to say, more formally, that SCEA did not respond to a request for comment at the time of writing.)%Gallery-1950%[Via PS3 Fanboy]
Rubber duckies and trailers collide on PSN
At last! North Americans can now splash alongside Europeans in PSN's virtual tub. Anyone up for a game of Super Rub-a-Dub? ... Didn't think so. The tech demo turned 'bath-time nostalgia action-puzzler' has been tossed into the PlayStation Store pool today, treading water with (previously announced) Gauntlet II and some trailer filler. Here's a breakdown of the new content: Super Rub-a-Dub ($6.99); free trial also available Gauntlet II ($4.99) Super Stardust HD Trailer (free) Rampart Trailer (free) BlackSite: Area 51 Trailer (free) Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Movie Trailer (free) [Via SCEA press release]
"Heartland should do for the PSP what Halo did for the Xbox"
In a revealing chat with Newsweek's N'Gai Croal, opinionated God of War and Calling All Cars developer David Jaffe spoke about his ambitious (but canceled) PSP game, Heartland. He revealed the political motivations behind the title, and why the game might have been too ambitious for its own good:"The game was very much a liberal person's response to the Bush administration and the war in Iraq ... [have players] feel what it must be like to have their own homeland occupied by another country. SCEA and I went back and forth over if we would ever say it was CHINA vs. AMERICA as they were a bit worried about being so literal ... As for Phil, his biggest issue was thinking a game so epic should be on PS3. But I was always pushing for PSP, saying that Heartland should do for the PSP what Halo did for the Xbox."Ultimately, Sony didn't provide the support that Jaffe needed to complete the game. Instead, Sony pulled resources from the title to place into the PS3 title, WarHawk: "If the team would have been the right size, we would still be in production with Heartland today. That was the main reason we killed it, not enough folks to make the game ... the main issue that made it clear that we could not continue was that WarHawk kept taking our team members as they were further along in production and were the top priority."Sony's admitted to focusing too much on PS3 at the cost of PSP development, and they've promised to change. With WarHawk nearing completion, could Heartland make a comeback?[Via 1UP]
PS3 in Australia: AU $25 million in non-record breaking sales
Though not record-breaking like its British counterpart, the Australian PlayStation 3 launch managed to rack up AU $25 million (US $20 million) in sales. An SCEA spokesperson told GameSpot AU that, while exact figures are not yet being released, that console sales has in the first three days "exceeded the previously published preorder number of 20,000 units," priced at AU $999.95 (US $805).Let's outline other Australian console sales: The Nintendo Wii is the current record holder, with 32,901 units sold in the first four days. It retails for AU $400 (US $322), equating to approximately AU $13.16 million (US $10.59 million) excluding software and accessory sales. Before Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360 was the champion with 30,421 consoles sold in the first four days. At AU $650 (US $523), that amounts to about AU $19.77 million (US $15.91 million), again excluding software and accessory sales. Microsoft estimated last year that they earned somewhere between AU $30 million and $40 million in total sales. Sony did hold the record before Microsoft and Nintendo with the PSP, which at AU $430 (US $346) managed an impressive 27,055 handhelds sold, equating to around AU $11.63 million (US $9.36 million) in hardware sales. The sales figures are probably not as impacting as SCEA had hoped, but at least they have the UK sales they can tout.
Jeanne d'Arc comes to US this August [Update 1]
Jeanne d'Arc has easily been one of our most anticipated games for the system. Sony Computer Entertainment of America has just announced a US release date for this strategy RPG, and it's a little sooner than we thought. This August, players will be able to take on Level 5's latest SRPG, based very loosely on the story of Joan of Arc. Check out our previous coverage of the game, and don't forget to look at the beautiful new English screenshots, after the break. [Update 1: Sony has opened a sparse, but beautiful, official website for the game.]
PSP Fanboy Theatre: Volume 10
Note: This edition was delayed due to an internet outage. PSP Fanboy offers the latest and greatest movie and game trailers, formatted for the PSP in this new weekly feature. Check it out every Saturday. PSP owners can download files wirelessly via m.pspfanboy.com. Instructions: Save all movie and thumbnail files to MP_ROOT/101ANV01/. Requires firmware 2.00 or above. Do NOT place in "VIDEO" folder. Firmware 2.80 or above do not need to download thumbnails. LittleBigPlanet [PS3] Download MP4 (25.5MB) | Download THM The following videos are featured after the break: Warhawk [PS3], fl0w [PS3], Home [PS3], Heavenly Sword [PS3]
GDC 07: fl0w top selling Network game; no sequel planned
With 110,000 downloads and counting, fl0w has managed to be the top selling PlayStation Store game so far. thatgamecompany wanted to create a new kind of game that broke through traditional conventions: considering its success so far, it appears that the experiment is working. Jenova Chen and the rest of the team don't plan on being content on the incredible success of their downloadable title. The team revealed at GDC that they are working on a new title, one which is guaranteed not to be a sequel to fl0w. Considering the support they've received from Sony, it wouldn't be surprising to see their next title land on the PS3 yet again: maybe they'd like to do a Cell-remake of Cloud?
