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PSP News is a News and downloads site for the PSP, PSVita, PS4, PS3, PS2 and PSOne, We have all the latest emulators, hack and custom firmwares, homebrew and all the downloads on this site, we also cover commercial gaming and console news., the latest homebrew and releases, Part of the
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June 30th, 2013, 22:32 Posted By: wraggster
Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Hitman: Absolution are on sale for a mere $12 at Best Buy right now.
While the deal includes free shipping, the game is no longer listed as available for shipping. Instead, those looking to save a few dollars on the game can opt to pick up a copy at select locations that still have it in stock. If the diminishing stock at our local stores is any indication, this deal many not last much longer
Best Buy (1), (2)
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June 30th, 2013, 22:23 Posted By: wraggster
Sony Japan president Hiroshi Kawano has said there are no plans to immediately shift from the PS3 to the PS4.
 The PS4 will launch late 2013, but Sony Japan president Hiroshi Kawano has confirmed inFamitsu (translated by Kotaku) that support for the PS3 will continue.
"It's been seven years since the release of the PS3," says Kawano, "and the console continues to sell at a constant pace, plus we have many upcoming titles. We have no intention of immediately shifting from the PS3 to the PS4."
The cloud service that will allow users to play PS3 games on the PS4 will launch in 2014, and Kawano says it will likely result in "some people [switching] consoles from the PS3 to the PS4." This switch will not be forced though - "it will be a gradual process, and to say 'we're releasing a new console, so trade in your old ones for it' would be a maker's ego talking, plain and simple."
Sony certified new PS3 models earlier this month, however a Sony exec has said the company has no plans for a PS3 price cut.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...will-continue/
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June 30th, 2013, 00:20 Posted By: wraggster
 Whether or not you pay for GameStop's annual membership plan, the planet's largest video game retailer is opening the doors of the Las Vegas Sands Expo and Convention Center to the public for its annual GameStop Expo this August, which this year features hands-on opportunities with both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. For a $35 general admission ticket, you'll get access to both consoles on August 28th -- long before their respective holiday launches -- as well as a chance to play a variety of upcoming games. Should you shell out a stone cold $90, you'll snag a copy of Madden NFL 25 for Xbox 360, gain early entry to the show (one hour) and "access to panel discussions with some of the biggest names in the industry." Per usual, attendees must be older than 17, and the event's a one-day affair. But then you'll be in Vegas, so... maybe stay for a few days.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/28/gamestop-expo-2013/
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June 30th, 2013, 00:02 Posted By: wraggster
Deep Silver has confirmed a release date and two collector's editions of Killer Is Dead, the new title by Suda 51.
The highly-stylised action game will arrive on Xbox 360 and PS3 on August 30th. It sees players brutally taking down various outlandish criminals and is reminiscent of Suda's previous titles such as Killer 7 and No More Heroes.
Publisher Deep Silver is readying two special editions alongside the standard SKU: the Fan Edition and Limited Edition.
The Fan Edition retails at £54.99 and comes with the Smooth Operator download pack, which contains an extra mission, new items such as X-ray specs and a new character for the presumably self-explanatory Gigolo Mode.
This SKU also features a poster, soundtrack CD, art book and exclusive packaging.
Meanwhile the Limited Edition costs £49.99, and includes the Smooth Operator.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/kille...tailed/0117907
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June 29th, 2013, 23:51 Posted By: wraggster
GAME Retail has cut the price of its GTA V special edition by £10.
The firm’s exclusive special edition is now available for £59.99, with an extra £5 off for customers who enter the code GTAFIVER at checkout (more information right here). The original price was £64.99.
MCV understand that this is just part of the retailer’s summer promotions, which includes a full sale. GAME is among a number of retailers currently running sales to help offset the drop in new game releases.
The GTA V special edition features a blueprint map of the game’s world, a steelbook and a series of bonus content.
GTA V hits retail on PS3 and 360 on September 17th.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/game-...-by-10/0117953
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June 29th, 2013, 23:38 Posted By: wraggster
Ubisoft pleased with performance of standalone digital title
Far Cry 3 spin-off Blood Dragon has sold over 500k digital copies across PC, PSN and XBLA.
UbisoftCEO Yves Guillemot provided the figure in an interview with Games Industry, though didn’t mention how the units were split among platforms.
Guillemot did, however, mention that Far Cry 3 sales were boosted on PC based on Blood Dragon’s positive reception and that he was “very happy” with the performances of both titles.
The development team has already pitched a sequel for the standalone effort, and Guillemot also said that the game’s critical and commercial success as a companion product is something that Ubisoft will be looking into further.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...ts-500k-copies
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June 28th, 2013, 00:52 Posted By: wraggster
Earlier this month in North America Sony released its take on Nintendo's StreetPass withToro's Friend Network, the Vita's first social gaming app. Unfortunately, it never made its way to Europe, and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon."There aren't plans for an EU release of Toro," said Sony's Jawad Ashraf in a comment on the EU PlayStation Blog. "I hope that changes."Toro's Friend Network would have granted players a new way to connect with their friends from Facebook, Twitter, as well as strangers - which I'm told by The Simpsons is "just a friend you haven't met." The social game includes town building, "adventuring into the Friend Dungeon," (oh myyy!), styling your avatar, and American Psycho-esque card exchanging.We don't know why Toro's Friend Network is being held up, but we've posed the question to Sony and will let you know if we hear anything.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...work-in-europe
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June 28th, 2013, 00:46 Posted By: wraggster
The developer-led initiative to create PS4 has led to the console becoming as approachable to developers as the original PlayStation, a key system architect has claimed.
Mark Cerny, who has spent five years working with Sony to build the next generation PlayStation console, made the claim during a keynote address at the GameLab expo in Barcelona.
 He explained his reasoning using the term "time to triangle" - a phrase which essentially means how long it takes coders to create usable graphics with the hardware.
In a slide presented to the audience, he claimed that programmers commonly required one to two months to produce low-level graphics code on PlayStation One.
Cerny then claimed that the PS2 - a system remembered for its complex and sophisticated architecture - required three to six months of coding for studios to get going.
Later in the presentation, he remarked on a PS3 development meeting he had with Ken Kutaragi back in 2004. Kutaragi, the former head of Sony Computer Entertainment, told Cerny to focus less on "time to triangle" and more on the bigger picture of building highly sophisticated hardware.
"Triangle counts are misguided," was, according to Cerny, what Kutaragi had told him. As a result, the PlayStation 3 was the most complex system yet, requiring six to twelve months for studios to build usable graphics code.
Cerny said that, prior to Sony releasing the PS3, first-party PlayStation studios were struggling with the hardware.
"The third party teams were having an even more difficult time," he said.
At launch, the internal focus shifted from sharing technology (to help devs) to working on launch titles (to create games). Cerny said much of the direction in the creation of PS3 was "clearly a mistake".
Cerny, who says he spent an entire holiday in 2007 researching the history of x86 hardware to see if it was possible on a next-gen console, told the audience that his direction is different to Kutaragi's.
As the key PS4 system architect, Cerny said that in 2008 he sent a questionnaire for third parties to ask what features they wanted on future hardware.
After speaking with more than thirty teams from around the world, he said the most popular request from developers was unified memory - a requirement which the PS4 team fulfilled.
Cerny said the company was tempted to add an eDRAM chip to the system, as it would increase the memory speeds in further, but eventually declined as it would mean more work for studios to get running.
"The straightforward approach we have gives us excellent day one performance," he claimed.
Altogether, the "time to triangle" on PlayStation 4 takes about one or two months, Cerny claimed, which theoretically makes the system as developer friendly as the original PlayStation.
This ease of use benefits the "vital" third parties, and in particular indie developers, Cerny said.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...-claims-cerny/
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June 28th, 2013, 00:25 Posted By: wraggster
The PS4 was originally going to retail for $499 before Sony changed its mind not long before its E3 announcement.
That’s according to IGN, which says that the $499 SKU was to include the new PlayStation Eye camera.
IGN reckons that “in the months leading up to E3, Sony nixed plans to include the camera add-on with every system and shave $100 off its originally planned price of $499”.
MCV understands that Sony did indeed have more than one presentation ready for E3 so that it could choose which offer it would present to the world dependent on what Microsoft announced earlier that day at E3.
The result of this, IGN argues, is that “Sony has damned the [camera] to a future of fragmented consumer adoption and inconsistent software support” and that “the decision has also rendered a major design element of the DualShock 4 controller — the built-in LED Move tracker — largely useless”.
The other argument is that Sony has given consumers the power to choose which configuration they would prefer. The fact is that a number of gamers have no interest in camera or motion control, so not forcing them to pay for the tech seems sensible.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/sony-...report/0117797
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June 28th, 2013, 00:11 Posted By: wraggster
 PS3 had a weak launch lineup because developers found it so difficult to work with – a consequence of Sony’s ’99 per cent hardware, one per cent software’ focus, Mark Cerny has said.PS4’s lead system architect took to the stage at Barcelona Gamelab event today to tell the story of his career to date, revealing the hard lessons learned within Sony from the PS3 launch.He described working with PS3’s Cell processor as “like a puzzle,” which, if solved, had huge potential. Early on in the console development, Cerny was tasked with creating a tech demo with the hardware to show Sony’s internal teams, a test he believed he’d passed. But he conceded that he “wasn’t thinking about the practical realities of game development,” and while Cerny and his fellow firstparty teams had “cracked the code,” thirdparties were struggling.“Our feeling was that EA and Rockstar better watch out. This was, of course, completely the wrong attitude. Were were thinking abut about our games and not the platform,” said Cerny. He described Sony’s focus at the time as ‘99 per cent hardware, one per cent software,’ which led to a “weak lineup”.At PS3’s launch, “The entire dev environment was in a very primitive state,” continued Cerny. At this point, Sony’s priorities shifted – the platform holder realised that thirdparties were essential for PS3’s ultimate success, and there was “a complete turnaround in attitude.”With PS4, “we didn’t want the hardware to be a puzzle,” said Cerny. He wanted developers to encounter familiar hardware, but with potential to explore and get greater performance from it further into the console lifecycle. “The concept is that as game developers learn to use these techniques later on in the lifecycle, and we’ll see richer worlds.” Creating PS4 was a “fundamentally developer-driven process,” added Cerny.There’s plenty more about PS4’s creation elsewhere on the site, including an in-depth Shuhei Yoshida interview, and Michael Denny’s take on the creation of Sony’s next console.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/ps3s...ys-mark-cerny/
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June 27th, 2013, 10:23 Posted By: wraggster
After the 4.45 firmware update knocked some PlayStation 3s out of commission last week, Sony has fulfilled its promise of a fixed version. 4.46 is now available to download, while a series of steps has been posted to the support site to walk users through updating any consoles that installed 4.45 and then failed to reboot. Additionally, for users that successfully installed 4.45 and later complained of NAT and "IP fragment issues," a post on the support forum confirms that has been fixed as well. Owners of frozen consoles will need a USB memory stick with at least 168MB of space, although certain older models can also use SD, Memory Stick or Compact Flash cards. There's still no word on exactly what went wrong, but for instructions on how to configure the flash storage and reboot into safe mode so you can start gaming again, just hit the source link below.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/27/s...46-update-fix/
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June 26th, 2013, 23:41 Posted By: wraggster
 A Gran Turismo 6 demo will be released on July 2, Polyphony Digital has revealed. The announcement comes just over a month after the game was originally announced.The demo will include access to the qualifying stages of GT Academy 2013, a program designed to give skilled players the opportunity to race for real. Those who put up the best times before July 28 will move on to the next stage of the tournament. The demo will continue tobe available past that date, however.Players will race in Nissan cars, including the Leaf, 370Z and GT-R. Those who qualify past the beginner-oriented events will be qualified to race on the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit as a final test.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/gran...opping-july-2/
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June 26th, 2013, 23:36 Posted By: wraggster
Independent developers get same store front on handheld as on PlayStation 3
A new indie games category has been added to the PlayStation Store on Sony's Vita handheld console.
Sony added the indie games page to the PlayStation 3 version of the store last month, but the changes were only made on the Vita today.
The company was keen to point out on its official blog that it has 50 indie titles in development for the Vita, which will nearly double the 53 already available in the indie store at launch.
“At PlayStation, we’re proud to support indie development, and our unrestrictive policies make it easier than ever for developers to launch games on PS Vita,” wrote PlayStation's director of product planning and platform software innovation Don Mesa.
“We recognise that the unique perspective that indie developers deliver contributes to the success and future of the gaming industry. And we’ve learned as much from working with talented indie developers over the last several years as (we hope) they have learned from us.”
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...tegory-to-Vita
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June 26th, 2013, 00:59 Posted By: wraggster
PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate HD has been announced for Vita.
The remake of the PS3 and PSP tower defence game is being handled by Double Eleven, the UK-based studio behind the Vita versions of LittleBigPlanet and Limbo, in collaboration with series creator Q-Games.
The graphics have been remastered for Vita and touchscreen input added to provide more control of protagonist Tikiman, who must protect his helpless babies from waves of incoming monsters.
Set for release this summer, Monsters Ultimate HD promises to offer more than 30 hours of gameplay set across story and challenge levels.
The title will also feature the Encore expansion, plus all the extra towers, enemies, and levels from the Deluxe edition on PSP.
Double Eleven chief operating officer Mark South said in a post on thePS Blog that his studio "set out to make the definitive version of PixelJunk Monsters".
He added: "We agreed that our ultimate edition would stay focused on remaking the visuals for PS Vita's awesome OLED screen, introducing touchscreen controls that complimented the gameplay, and compiling everything featured in the PS3 and PSP versions.
"We also designed the Trophies to be an extra treat for those wanting even more challenge. Our best in-house players have taken three days solid to complete the game on the hardcore setting."
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...oming-to-vita/
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June 26th, 2013, 00:58 Posted By: wraggster
In a new interview, Ready At Dawn co-founder Ru Weerasuriya told the PS Blog that the game is a third person action adventure with shooting mechanics. He also referred to it as "a linear story-based game... what we call a 'filmic experience'."
Speaking about the game's London setting, Weerasuriya said: "It has a very interesting history, particularly at the end of the 19th century during the Industrial Revolution.
"There are obviously some things we're going to put in there that don't exist, and we've moved certain locations a bit, but... you'll be interacting with real people, real events and real places."
While he remained fairly tight lipped about what players will get up to, Weerasuriya said "moment-to-moment gameplay is really not what you might expect. We didn't want to make it single-tone, where you rely on one single thing in expense of the rest".
Ready At Dawn is best known for its technically impressive God of War games Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta on PSP, and Weerasuriya said the studio aims to push Sony's new console in the same way it did the platform holder's last-gen handheld.
"We've done well on a single platform. We've tried to push the boundaries of what could be done. That's the same mentality we're bringing to PS4. We're working on a single platform - we want to push it, we want to get everything out of it, and hopefully that's exactly what we're going to do - milk it for all it's worth."
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ails-revealed/
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June 26th, 2013, 00:54 Posted By: wraggster
Sony will release a playable Gran Turismo 6 demo on July 2, downloadable free via the PlayStation Store for PS3.
 According to Sony, "The demo is structured as a GT Academy-style driver training concept" that will teach you the art of pushing a sports car to its limits around a race track.
Vehicles in the demo will include a range of Nissan cars - Leaf, 370Z and GT-R, which you'll drive around UK's Silverstone circuit, which makes its debut in the series in Gran Turismo 6.
The arrival of the demo also marks the start of Sony's GT Academy 2013 competition, which sees Gran Turismo players race to win a position on a real-life Nissan race team.
Players will be able to set and submit qualifying times via the demo in the first round of the competition. United States, Russia and Germany will each have their own standalone qualifying competitions.
Other EU territories will be bundled together, including France, Italy, UK, Spain, Portugal, Benelux, Nordics (Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway) and CEE (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia).
See the PS Blog post for more details on GT Academy 2013.
Sony recently unveiled the Gran Turismo 6 Anniversary Edition. It will include the game, steelbook casing, in-game credits and 20 cars with special custom livery and performance enhancements, among other features.
The game is set for release in Q4 2013.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...my-qualifying/
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June 26th, 2013, 00:42 Posted By: wraggster
AMD's Saeid Moshkelani on his company's next-gen "clean sweep" and high-end PCs driving innovation
 AMD
Over the course of AMD's four decades in business, silicon and software have become the steel and plastic...
amd.com
AMD owns the next-generation of consoles. In the past, game consoles were more custom and piecemeal: a little IBM here, some AMD there, a tiny bit of Nvidia. With the reveal of the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U, it's clear that AMD has put significant legwork into locking its PC competition out of the game console market. At E3 2013, GamesIndustry International spoke with AMD corporate vice president and general manager of Semi-Custom Business Saeid Moshkelani about the milestone and AMD's place in the game industry.
"It is a very, very proud moment," replied Moshkelani when asked about AMD's position in the next generation. "They are very complex projects, very complex designs, and it doesn't happen overnight. It has been a journey of over two years in development to get to today."
The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One have semi-custom AMD Jaguar system-on-a-chips (SoC) at their core, while the Nintendo Wii U has an AMD Radeon graphics processor paired with an IBM PowerPC CPU. Moshkelani explained that all the chips we designed in concert with the platform holders, based on "very different visions and philosophies."
"There were different teams that were dedicated to these projects, working with the customer and collaborating with them to develop these chips," he said.
 Microsoft's Xbox One, open for all to see.
Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4 are expected to launch this holiday season. While Microsoft has had a rough time post-E3, Sony has raised sales estimates of the PlayStation 4 and GameTrailers recently reported that Sony has also allowed GameStop to take "unlimited" pre-orders on the PlayStation 4. We asked Moshkelani if AMD was prepared to handle the demand for both consoles on the manufacturing side.
"From a manufacturing perspective, in a year we ship tens of millions of units," he replied. "So we have a very strong manufacturing base for our APUs and discrete graphics. We leverage the same manufacturing infrastructure to develop for game consoles. So the volumes were not something that actually raised an eyebrow for us, because we're already in high-volume manufacturing."
Having a hold on the graphics side of all three consoles puts AMD in a unique position as a bridge between PCs and consoles. Moshkelani and AMD Global Communications Travis Williams both agreed that game development and porting between both platforms can be smoother with AMD's help.
"We are working with all of the major developers for PC games, as part of our strategy for PC products. It enables the developers to optimize their games on PCs by working with us. And then at some point, they can port those to consoles," said Moshkalani. "Historically, the consoles were all different architecture. Porting from PC to PowerPC architecture was not as easy. AMD makes it much easier to port games back and forth."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...roblem-for-amd
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June 26th, 2013, 00:38 Posted By: wraggster
Sony’s stinging attack on the Xbox One business model at E3 saw the PlayStation firm take pole position in the next generation console race.
Here, SCEE CEO Jim Ryan tells MCV why it hasn’t won yet...
What’s the aim for PS4 2m consoles sold by Christmas?
(Laughs). I think right now we have to content ourselves with the news that we will have a launch in Europe before Christmas and we have a price point. We are going to be aggressive, and the price point and marketing efforts will reflect that. But right now it’s too early to talk numbers.
But are we looking at a PS2-style pre-Christmas drought?
The whole process of moving from design and engineering to mass production, that is all on track. But until we hit mass production, we won’t know for sure.
You mention being aggressive. So this is not going to be a soft launch?
Oh my, no. It is going to be a proper PlayStation marketing event. In the UK, Fergal [Gara, managing director], Murray [Pannell, marketing director], and the team have been given their orders to go out and do a bang up job. And we’ll be investing accordingly.
The new UK team is focused on growing its share, but it has been fighting a losing battle with 360. Does PS4 give them a fresh start?
We have the building blocks in place to make a step-change in the UK. Because over the course of the cycle I don't think we got it right in the UK. We now have a number of things in place to help address that. And PS4 is hopefully the time all those things come together.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/the-s...to-win/0117669
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June 25th, 2013, 15:18 Posted By: wraggster
Title is first game to receive a Refused Classification rating
Saints Row IV has been banned from sale by the Government Classification Board, with suggested sexual violence cited as a major factor.
According to a statement from the board, "Saints Row IV, includes interactive, visual depictions of implied sexual violence which are not justified by context. In addition, the game includes elements of illicit or proscribed drug use related to incentives or rewards. Such depictions are prohibited by the computer games guidelines."
The new system has been in place for six months, finally allowing an adult rating for games, but Saints Row IV is the first game to receive a RC (Refused Classification) rating. Saints Row: The Third was granted a MA 15+ rating in 2011.
"Apart from today's decision, since the beginning of the year, the Board has classified 17 games R 18+ under the new guidelines," said acting director of the classification board Mr Donald McDonald.
Publisher Deep Silver and developer Volition are now planning to rework the title, according to an official statement.
"Deep Silver can confirm that Saints Row IV was denied an age classification in Australia. Volition, the developer, are reworking some of the code to create a version of the game for this territory by removing the content which could cause offence without reducing the outlandish gameplay that Saints Row fans know and love. Saints Row IV has been awarded PEGI 18 and ESRB M ratings where fans can enjoy their time in Steelport as originally intended."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-saints-row-iv
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June 25th, 2013, 15:17 Posted By: wraggster
Sony SVP of PlayStation brand marketing talks about Sony's E3 press event, PS Vita, the One Sony strategy, and how retail is still critically important
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment is a Japanese videogame company specialising in a variety of areas in the...
playstation.com
Sony Computer Entertainment America
us.playstation.com
GamesIndustry International sat down with Guy Longworth, Sony's senior vice president in charge of PlayStation brand marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment of America, the day after Sony's E3 press event to find out more about Sony's marketing plans for the fall. Longworth's task is to successfully launch the PlayStation 4 in the United States while boosting PlayStation 3 and PS Vita sales. It's a gigantic assignment, and Longworth is excited by the challenge. "I joined the company just under two years ago, and I'm relatively new to the gaming industry," Longworth noted. "It's just a phenomenal industry to be in. I literally go to bed every day and can't believe how lucky I am to do what I do."
Longworth was understandably pleased with the reception Sony received from its press event at E3. "We knew that it was a very important moment for our company, so we spent a huge amount of time preparing for it, as you can imagine," he said. "The team who actually executed and put on the production I just think are the best in the business. I've never seen anything like it in my career."
Parts of Sony's presentation were obviously put together after Microsoft posted its Xbox One policies prior to E3. Some of SCEA CEO Jack Tretton's remarks were very pointed, aimed at showing the differences (since minimized after Microsoft's policy change) between the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 policies. "Our strategy has been set for some time," Longworth explained. "It's not our job to talk about the competition, we're here to tell you what we stand for. And Jack [Tretton] very clearly told you what we stand for. We think that's the right thing for gamers, we think that's the right thing for our platform, and we're very happy to tell people about it."
Sony's struggle for market share against Microsoft's Xbox One is made more difficult in some ways by the similarity of the two consoles. If you just look at the fundamental architecture, the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 are more similar than any two competitive consoles have ever been in the past. This implies that the services and the games and how the consoles are marketed becomes even more important. "Yes, I think so, to some extent," Longworth agreed. "The reality is that every time a generation changes the playing field is leveled. We actually think that we're going to have superior graphic fidelity, but the whole value proposition has to be right. It's not just about graphic fidelity. What are our policies? What are our principles? What do we stand for, and how do we communicate it?"
The PS Vita was the the first thing Sony talked about in its E3 press event, and the handheld console also received equal billing in Sony's E3 booth. The PS3 was also featured at the press event with an equal representation in the booth. Sony seems to be trying to push all three platforms equally as part of the PlayStation family rather than focusing all the attention on the PS4. "There's the PlayStation ecosystem; we're incredibly fortunate to have the PS3 that's seven years old and better than ever," Longworth said. "The Last of Us is an incredible game, one of the three top-rated games of all time. We've got Beyond: Two Souls coming, we've got Gran Turismo 6, it's a slate of great content still to come on PS 3."
"It's clear that the vast majority of the people want to go down to GameStop or Best Buy, they don't want to buy it online right now"
Guy Longworth
Longworth is also bullish on the PS Vita. "With Vita, we're only 15 months in to launch and now we think that with PlayStation 4 the opportunity for Vita is to be the absolutely perfect companion to the PS4," he noted. "What we're seeing is that once people get it in their hands and buy it, they're buying games and they love it. Now, it's not had as fast a start as we would like, that's common knowledge. But we do really believe in that platform and think that is has a significant opportunity. We think there's a number of things that we can do in the coming months and years that will make it a long-term sustainable business."
Is a price cut for the PS Vita one of those things? After all, Sony did cut the price of the handheld in Japan a few months ago. "You wouldn't expect me to come into pricing discussions unless we announce them at E3," returned Longworth. No, but pricing is a marketing tool, isn't it? "We're about value, we're trying to offer value," Longworth said. "You saw last night we were in a position we felt the value of the PS4 was very good at $399. With PS Vita we feel that $250 is the right price, and I'm not going to comment on where we might go in the future."
The fact that Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Entertainment played a role in Sony's press event seemed like a recognition that it is important to get all parts of Sony working together now, that selling movies and TV and music is an important part of the PS4's mandate. "Absolutely," said Longworth. "It's Kaz Hirai's strategy. He's been CEO now for a year, he comes from a a gaming background and he's an incredibly smart guy. His strategy is One Sony, and you can't get any more compelling proposition than Andy House [group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment] reporting straight in to Kaz and Michael Lynton, the two of them on stage together saying we are going to do this."
"We are wildly excited about this because we think that's a big differentiator for us," Longworth continued. "We don't have to go out and buy studios and content. We have them already; we have the biggest movie business in the world. We have a huge TV business and a big music business."
Digital distribution is going to be an issue for next-gen consoles, as Microsoft has already announced that new titles will be available digitally at the same time as they are available in stores. Certainly discs are an efficient way to distribute content, but how will Sony balance the needs of retailers with what's good for the gamers? "I think the reality is this: Our digital business is growing fast, and we have incredibly strong partnerships with our key retail partners as well," said Longworth. "What we try to do is offer a relatively level playing field and let the gamers decide. We're not trying to advantage them, we believe in consumer choice. It's clear that the vast majority of the people want to go down to GameStop or Best Buy, they don't want to buy it online right now. How that might change in the future is kind of hard to predict. People might be quite surprised, I think physical games will be around a lot longer than some people think."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...line-right-now
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