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Digital Reader brings comics to the PSP this December
After trotting out a mess of new information about PlayStation Home earlier today in Germany, SCEE prez Andrew House announced Sony's upcoming digital comics initiative on the PSP, the Digital Reader. According to House, Sony has worked out plans with Marvel to launch with "hundreds available, including the Marvel Comics stable." Additionally, the service will give PSP-owning comic fans access to Archie and Image comics. Unfortunately, he didn't specify if the service will be a free firmware upgrade to the existing PSP software or pricing for the comics themselves. But alas, GamesCom has just started! We'll poke around and see if we can get some more information as soon as the Sony press conference ends.
Live from Sony's GamesCom press conference
[12:14PM ET]: We're here, in Germany, waiting in a cocktail reception (read: holding pen) for Sony's much-anticipated GamesCom press conference to start. Keep this page live and we'll keep updating it. Ooh, snacks ... [12:33PM ET]: And we're inside the theater, have taken our seat, and are patiently waiting for things to start. We're sitting next to former Joystiqer Mr. Jem Alexander. He's asking, "Are you excited?" I'm saying, "I may be. Let's see the goods!"
LittleBigPlanet: Game of the Year edition coming Sep. 8, $59.99
Looks like the reports and retailer listings were accurate: LittleBigPlanet: Game of the Year Edition exists and it's coming to stores on September 8 for the same ol' $59.99 you can currently find the non-GOTY variant at. So what does your ... well, just your waiting get you above and beyond the existing release? Media Molecule has hand-picked 18 "extraordinary" level creators to each build a level "specifically for the GOTY edition." Not enough? Perhaps seven "packs" from the PlayStation Store – including the Metal Gear Solid Level Pack and Costumes Pack – would be enough to entice you? Says here that's "nearly a $30 value." Still not biting, eh? Lastly, a "limited supply" of LBP: GOTY discs will include a voucher granting you access to the ModNation Racers online beta, the next game in Sony's "Play, Create, Share" series. If you're still not convinced, we don't think the trailer after the break is going to change your mind, but we still think you should watch it. Sackboy ... he's just so cute.
Sony: PlayStation Eye can recognize faces -- right now
Interacting with games without using a controller is apparently a really big deal. Microsoft's got its "Project Natal" thing and Sony has its magic motion wand. Oh, wait. That's technically a controller. That you hold. Fear not, as, during the Develop Conference going on right now in the UK, Sony has revealed that the existing PlayStation Eye camera can recognize you -- well, specifically your face -- and track your skeletal movement without getting all touchy-feely.SCEE says that it already has libraries available for developers who want to integrate the technology into their games. Develop magazine's site quotes developer relations head, Kish Hirani, who divulged that the software was developed by SCEE R&D along with outside developers.While attending the conference, we also learned that it's capable of making out the movement of individual digits -- fancy-talk for fingers -- along with those of your facial bones. Sony has not commented on whether certain hand gestures will be edited out by the software. (Nothing can edit what you'll find after the break from your mind.)
Sony's Net Yaroze homebrew PS1 development community shutting down
If you've been feverishly coding away on a PlayStation 1 game for the past, say, eleven years in the hope of becoming the next Devil Dice, you should go ahead and shelve the project. Next month, Sony will finally shut down the European server for the Net Yaroze project.The Net Yaroze is a special black PlayStation console that allowed homebrew developers to run their own code on the system, interfacing with a computer via a serial connection. The mail-order-only system also included development software. Sony's servers allowed Yaroze users to discuss PlayStation development and even share their creations."We plan to make a copy of the site available for our original members," said SCEE's Paul Holman, who also said that some kind of get-together would be held for the Yaroze development community, all of whom are now left with nothing but extremely rare PlayStations.
UK retailers lament PSP Go pre-orders, demand PSN cards
If PSP Go is considered a "ripoff" in America, what do our friends in the UK call it, where it may retail for more than double the cost of the current PSP? The official UK price has yet to be revealed, but the leading national retailer Game is taking pre-orders at a "guide price" of £230, a significant jump over the average retail price of £100 for the current PSP.The sticker shock may be scaring off customers, as independent shops are telling Edge some frightening pre-order stories. "I don't have a single pre-order for PSP Go at the moment," Chips' Don McCabe told the outlet. "We haven't got any [PSP Go pre-orders] at all," repeated Grainger Games' Chris Harwood. While the head of SCEE believes consumers will pay an early adopter premium, McCabe believes otherwise. "We can't see where that price justification comes in when effectively it's a lighter, slimmer PSP. It's got a bit more memory, but memory's not that expensive. It can't handle UMD so part of the mechanism disappears, so where does the price come from?"Retailers are not getting an added benefit for stocking the PSP Go. Margins on game hardware have been historically low and PSP Go looks to follow suit. In America, SCEA's Eric Lempel noted retailer enthusiasm due to the sale PlayStation Network cards at retail. UK retail partners currently don't have an equivalent revenue source, a problem that may hinder retail enthusiasm. "You need to see some sort of revenue streams coming off the back of these machines, otherwise from a retail point of view it's just not worth it," said McCabe.
SCEE: PSP Go takes advantage of early adopter 'premium'
Michael Pachter retracted one of the most correct statements he's ever made: the PSP Go is a "rip off" for consumers. The PSP Go takes away the expensive-to-manufacture UMD drive and replaces it with cheap flash memory -- and yet it still costs more than the current PSP-3000. Fun fact: You can buy a standard PSP and 16GB Memory Stick Duo Pro right now for less than a PSP Go.Sure, the new form factor looks nice, but Sony should have no manufacturing costs to pass down to the consumer. MCV asked SCEE's Andrew House if R&D or retailer markups were the reason behind PSP Go's high price. "Those aren't the factors," House admitted. "When you introduce a new piece of hardware you have the opportunity to say there is a certain premium that is associated with it, and we took that into account."Essentially, House is admitting you can charge more for technology when it's new. It's unsurprising, but it certainly leaves a bad taste knowing Sony can easily charge less for the PSP Go. Perhaps Sony will follow the iPhone's footsteps and suddenly drop the price of the PSP weeks after early adopters pay their "premium" price.
Ex-SCEE boss Reeves to keynote Games Convention Online, physics symposium
Choosing to title it "Schrödinger's Cat and Heisenberg's Dog: The Change from Offline to Online," former Sony Computer Entertainment Europe prez David Reeves will deliver his keynote address at Germany's Games Convention Online, which runs July 31 through August 2. The speech "will provide a view of when online sales of games overtake classic retail distribution," Reeves told Develop.It had been (wrongly) rumored that Reeves left Sony for a gig at APB dev Realtime Worlds, but we now know the hobbies he'll be taking up in his retirement: theoretical physics, quantum mechanics and watching The Big Bang Theory. We can't wait to hear how he manages to work those topics into a talk about online games. (10 bucks says Reeves' friends submitted the keynote's title without him knowing it.)
Media Molecule job listing for 'ground-breaking, AAA, PS3 title'
LittleBigPlanet-developer Media Molecule is "expanding." Stop looking surprised! After winning more gee oh tee why awards for it's maiden voyage than they probably had room for in their small Guildford-based studio, it's expanding! But, if a "job listing" is to be believed, this expansion isn't limited to an awards wing – it's also hiring a "Gameplay Programmer."This code wizard is expected to not only have 2+ years industry experience, but also to have "shipped a console game with an online component," an unsurprising requirement considering the studio's (admittedly singular) pedigree. The job listing states that MM is "working on a ground-breaking, AAA, PS3 title for Sony Computer Entertainment" – as much as we'd like to announce "LittleBigPlanet 2 totally confirmed" we're not convinced this description necessarily means a followup game. After all, with DLC still in production on LittleBigPlanet – which is a ground-breaking, AAA PS3 title for Sony Computer Entertainment – this could be related to maintaining LBP as a platform. But, of course, it's working on other games – expanding the PS3 development team to maintain the already shipped LBP doesn't make sense ... and the job listing does say the applicant "will be expected to maintain and improve the existing code and data structures." Existing code? Data structures? Oh emm gee! LittleBigPlanet 2 totally confirmed![Via PS3center.net]
New SCEE head thinks Wii owners will eventually 'upgrade' to PS3
The new president of SCEE, Andrew House, isn't wasting any time taking over the reins from David Reeves and causing a stir. After having been in his new office for only a little over a month, House is already making daring statements, telling Edge-Online that he believes Wii owners will eventually 'upgrade' to PS3. His logic is based off prior figures that pit the lifecycle of PS2 against that of N64 (he probably meant GameCube), citing Nintendo's console as the "entry level gaming device" and that data suggested consumers planned to "upgrade to a more powerful machine [read: PS2] later in the lifecycle when the price point was right for them." That's a rather interesting thing to say because, frankly, for most people, the price of the PlayStation 3 isn't anywhere near right just yet. Of course, House's scope is for the long-term and about inevitable future price cuts, but there's one thing he forgot to factor in: Microsoft. What's stopping people from upgrading to the Xbox 360, especially since Microsoft has drastically taken up a bigger share of the market since the last generation?
Video: Meet the various faces of Heavy Rain
Pole dancers, zebra suits and hanging crosses, oh my! These are just some of the sights to spot in this new Heavy Rain trailer from E3. Take a very close look at some of those new faces; any one of them could be one of the four mysterious playable characters that were hinted at previously. We've already met Jayden, Mad Jack and Madison, but who are all the others? %Gallery-30067%
Amazon UK reveals inFamous PS3 bundle
Images of a supposed 80GB PS3 + inFamous bundle have been circulating the video game blogosphere for the past few weeks. Sony has been hesitant to comment on the package, but a recent online retail listing cleared up the confusion -- the bundle is real, and coming to Amazon UK on May 29. Those interested in simultaneously acquiring the shockingly good superhero title and the system on which it runs can grab both for £279.99. We've contacted SCEA to find out if this deal is coming stateside. Consider our fingers crossed.
Ghostbusters dev: Publisher changes not 'ideal'
We realize it's a surprise, but apparently Terminal Reality believes that constantly changing publishers isn't all that great. The Ghostbusters game has traveled a very rocky publishing road, starting with Sierra, then sitting in limbo following the Activision / Vivendi merger, then moving to Atari and then moving to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe for the European market. Adding to the mess, SCEE will initially release the game only on PS3 and PS2 in Europe, leaving the 360, Wii and DS versions for later this year. Speaking to GI.biz, Terminal Reality executive producer Brendon Goss said that the situation is not "ideal" as the developer prefers to create "a collaborative relationship" with publishers. He adds that all versions of the game are complete and he hopes that European release schedule won't cause confusion, which he said could harm sales of the game. In the face of the publishing decisions, which Goss said Terminal Reality had no say in, the team decided to focus on improving the game. We'll find out if that work paid off when the game releases this June.
Sony publishing Ghostbusters in Europe, PSP version resurrected [update]
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has announced that it will be publishing Ghostbusters in Europe this June, meaning that the game is now a PS3 and PS2 exclusive in the region. Not only that, but the rumored and debunked PSP version has also been confirmed for release later this autumn. The PS3 and PS2 versions are currently set for a June 19 debut. Eurogamer has confirmed with Atari that the deal is for timed exclusivity on Sony platforms, with all other versions being released "later in the year." It's certainly a strange move on Atari's part, especially when limiting their potential consumer base is being called "maximizing the launch of the Ghostbusters videogame across Europe" by Atari's VP of Worldwide Marketing. Pushing non-Sony versions further towards or, even worse, into Q4 won't do the 360, Wii and DS versions any favors. Update: Atari US has clarified its publishing plans for the North American region. The 360, PS3, Wii and DS versions will all be released in the US on June 16, as previously announced. The PSP version will be released worldwide in Autumn.
New demoscene hitting PSN: .deTuned
Click for high-resolution elephant people. Love it or hate it, there's no denying that Linger in Shadows was an interesting and innovative addition to the PlayStation Network. SCEA introduced a brand new kind of real-time interactive experience to PSN users that offered some bizarre mind-expanding imagery instead of "gameplay." While Linger in Shadows may have been the first demoscene on PSN, it's far from the last. Rusty Buchert, senior producer at Santa Monica Studios, has announced the next demoscene offering on PS3, and it looks even more bizarre. .deTuned comes from .theprodukkt, a team some of our readers may be familiar with due to their incredible 96kb-large FPS, .kkrieger. .deTuned looks to be a truly different experience, allowing users to create their own visuals based on music stored on the PS3's hard drive. Using the SIXAXIS, players will be able to manipulate the scene and even the music they play. It sounds like a rather intriguing concept, and we certainly want to see it in action. %Gallery-51595%
Rumorong: David Reeves denies move to Realtime Worlds
Shortly after he announced he was leaving his gig at SCEE, it was rumored that the outspoken David Reeves would move to a "senior position" at Scottish dev Realtime Worlds. Speaking to Develop magazine, Reeves has shot down those rumors, saying that he hadn't heard of the studio a week or so ago.Now, that's not to say the rumors are necessarily untrue. Even if he had never heard of the company, it's possible Reeves was being lead there by a series of omens and portents, or by a spectral white wolf, vision-quest style. But even with our abiding belief in the paranormal, it seems unlikely.
Ex-SCEE employee calls out PSP, says iPhone SDK 'is better'
Sebastien Rubens is a former Sony employee that called the SCEE Technology Group home. Now that he no longer works with folks behind PlayStation, he's more than happy to share a few pointers with regards to how the company conducts business. He's mainly concerned with the PSP SDK and the platform's submission process, he told Edge Online. Rubens said the PSP needs an improved SDK and even lauds the iPhone's over it, calling it flat-out "better." He goes on to say that things could be easier to use on the platform, and that SCEE is "slow to move" during the submission process. Rubens has a unique view, having been on both sides -- he left SCEE to start up Anozor, which recently published the PSN title, No Gravity.
David Reeves retires from SCEE, Andrew House gleefully takes over
The always outspoken and completely outré David Reeves has decided to retire from his post as President, CEO and Co-COO at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE). During his 14 years with the company, Sir Reeves has provided us with loads to talk about, even finding himself the proud owner of our 37th edition of 'CE-Oh No He Didn't!' The scuttlebutt is that Reeves could be leaving to share his talents with Realtime Worlds, but then again, maybe he's just out to step foot in the 40 remaining countries that he has yet to visit. At any rate, Sony has already selected Andrew House (pictured) to take over on May 1st, with a release noting that he will soon be responsible for "managing the PlayStation business across nearly 100 countries in the Europe / PAL territories, including the company's PlayStation2, PSP and PlayStation 3 platforms as well as PlayStation Network." Oh, and Mr. House -- we're fully expecting a 'CE-Oh No He Didn't!' quip from you within the first hundred days. Make it happen.Read - David Reeves outRead - Andrew House in
Sony producing more regionally targeted games for India
Sony Europe plans to release six new regional language games in India this year, reports the Business Standard. The company, which supposedly controls 80 percent of the gaming market, currently has a hit on its hands with regional title Hanuman. Atindriya Bose, country manager for Sony PlayStation, explained that Hanuman sold 10,000 units on its first day and that a good international title sells about 3,000-4,000 units on launch day, which "proved the potential of regional games."Hanuman is currently expected to sell 50,000 units in its first year, up from its original projection of 30,000 in sales. Even with that original sales figure, Bose expressed an international title may only sell about 15,000 units in one year. The company now plans to create more educational and entertainment titles, including a game about the "Mumbai underworld."[Via Develop] [Image]
Andrew House replaces David Reeves as President of SCEE
David Reeves (pictured) -- President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe -- will be stepping down and retiring, as of April 30 after 14 years at the company. Reeves will be succeeded by Andrew House, the current Chief Marketing Officer from May 1. House has been at Sony for 19 years, bouncing between Sony Corporation, Sony Japan, Sony America and, now, Sony Europe."It has been a wonderful ride with PlayStation," said David Reeves. "I never got to visit all 106 countries but managed 66. I have just two things to say on leaving: I want to thank all of those people who have supported SCEE and me personally in the past 14 years; you have been magnificent!" Likewise, Andrew House is "delighted to return to the PlayStation fold and excited to take on this new challenge. I have strong ties to the interactive entertainment industry and I believe there is huge potential for further growth of our business in the Europe/PAL countries and regions, particularly in the area of networked entertainment."We wish David Reeves good luck on his future endeavors and look forward to seeing how things change under House's leadership. Are we the only ones picturing Andrew House with a cane, gammy leg and a wicked temper? Thought not.
