Sony reaffirms lack of triple-A PlayStation Vita development

October 25th, 2015, 21:01 Posted By: wraggster

Sony Computer Entertainment exec Masayasu Ito has reiterated PlayStation's stance on developing big budget Vita titles.
Uncharted: Golden Abyss - strangely absent from the recent PS4 Nathan Drake Collection.

"Currently, first party studios have no titles in development for PS Vita. Since third parties are working very hard on PS Vita, SCE's own strategy is to focus on PS4."
In short: Sony has no plans for triple-A Vita game development and nothing of the kind is currently in production.
Ito's comments, made during a 4Gamerinterview translated by Dualshockers, chime with what PlayStation's Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida said back at E3.
"To be honest, I wouldn't say we will have big AAA Vita games from first party," Yoshida said, when asked why no big budget Vita titles were included in the company's E3 press conference trailer.
"We have so much amazing AAA content from third parties, we have to put lots of those smaller games, including our own, into the (E3) trailer."
Vita has found a niche as a platform supported by new indie releases and as a device that can be hooked up to PlayStation 4 and used for remote play.
But the handheld, despite Sony's best intentions, has never found much success as the home of big budget handheld games.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ta-development

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Sony reaffirms lack of triple-A PlayStation Vita development

October 25th, 2015, 20:54 Posted By: wraggster

Sony Computer Entertainment exec Masayasu Ito has reiterated PlayStation's stance on developing big budget Vita titles.
Uncharted: Golden Abyss - strangely absent from the recent PS4 Nathan Drake Collection.

"Currently, first party studios have no titles in development for PS Vita. Since third parties are working very hard on PS Vita, SCE's own strategy is to focus on PS4."
In short: Sony has no plans for triple-A Vita game development and nothing of the kind is currently in production.
Ito's comments, made during a 4Gamerinterview translated by Dualshockers, chime with what PlayStation's Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida said back at E3.
"To be honest, I wouldn't say we will have big AAA Vita games from first party," Yoshida said, when asked why no big budget Vita titles were included in the company's E3 press conference trailer.
"We have so much amazing AAA content from third parties, we have to put lots of those smaller games, including our own, into the (E3) trailer."
Vita has found a niche as a platform supported by new indie releases and as a device that can be hooked up to PlayStation 4 and used for remote play.
But the handheld, despite Sony's best intentions, has never found much success as the home of big budget handheld games.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ta-development

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

PS4 price cut confirmed, kicks in today

October 25th, 2015, 14:38 Posted By: wraggster

Sony has confirmed that £50 is being lopped off the price of PS4 in the UK today.
The machine’s new RRP is £299.99, as per the rumours earlier this week and in line with the discounted price of the Uncharted Collection bundle that Sony told MCV at the time was a “promotional price that will be available for a limited time”.
The price cut applies to the whole of Europe, where the RRP has now been reduced to €349.99. There are also new prices for Australia ($479.95), New Zealand ($569.95) and the United Arab Emirates (AED1399).
Said Sony today: “Since the launch of PS4 our aim has always been to provide players with the best gaming experiences at the best value, and we’ve been thrilled with the amount of players who have joined our world.
“We have some fantastic bundle offers for the holiday season. From limited edition consoles to some of the best games of the year – there’s something for everyone.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ps4-p...-today/0157704

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Twitch app arrives for PS4

October 25th, 2015, 14:26 Posted By: wraggster

Twitch's dedicated viewing app for PS4 has arrived on the North American PlayStation Store.
Polygon reports on the app's arrival following the company's announcement at its inaugural TwitchCon event last month. The free download weighs in at 54 MB.
The PS4 packed the ability to broadcast gameplay via Twitch at launch, but until now required use of the the console's built-in web browser to view streams on the service.
Twitch previously confirmed the app is also in the works for PS3 and Vita, stating it would arrive on the platforms sometime this fall.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/twitc...or-ps4/0157868

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Sony adds wishlists to PlayStation Store

October 25th, 2015, 14:24 Posted By: wraggster

PlayStation console owners can now add games they don’t yet own to a wishlist.
Titles added to this list can be set to two settings – Friends or No One. As of yet, it’s unclear how gamers will be able to share this with other users, or their friends. At the moment, consumers can only add games to their list.
It’s also only available on the web browser version of the store and not the on-console edition.
MCV has reached out to Sony to see whether wishlists will be coming to PSN Store on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/sony-...-store/0157894

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

PlayStation is not developing any first-party Vita games

October 25th, 2015, 14:22 Posted By: wraggster

Sony has revealed that it has no first-party titles for its Vita handheld in development as the platform holder shifts resources to the PlayStation 4.
In an interview with Japanese games publication 4Gamer –translated by DualShockers, thanks – SCE’s SVP Masayasu Ito said that Sony isn’t developing any triple-A games for the handheld and is instead relying on third-party studios.
Meanwhile, SCE’s internal development resource is being focused on the PlayStation 4.
“At the beginning the PlayStation Vita did not resonate with age targets under 20, but now the situation is changing and the popularity with younger demographics is increasing. Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition has provided a boost.
"In addition to that, a variety of third-party games are also planned for the future, and in order to further accelerate that flow, we decided to release new colours for the Vita this fall.”

He continued: “Currently, first party studios have no titles in development for Vita. Since third parties are working very hard on Vita, SCE’s own strategy is to focus on PS4, which is a new platform.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/plays...-games/0157900

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Sony Launches PlayStation Now, Charges £12.99 a month

October 11th, 2015, 21:40 Posted By: wraggster

Sony has launched PlayStation Now in the UK. It costs £12.99 a month and gets you access to more than 100 PS3 games that you can stream to your PS4, PS Vita, and PS3. If you don't want to pay monthly you can rent games for £2.99 each.
You can try the service out for a week for free but after that you PSN account will be charged.
You can read more about it over on the PlayStation page.

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Destiny: The Taken King tops PSN September charts

October 11th, 2015, 21:39 Posted By: wraggster

The best selling PlayStation 4 of last month was Destiny: The Taken King.
That's according to a post on the PlayStation Blog, which says that the latest expansion in Activision’s online shooter was No.1 on both the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 3 last month.
The Taken King’s Week One boxed UK sales were only 16 per cent of those of Destiny when it launched last September, and the shooter’s placement at the top of the PSN charts suggests it performed well digitally.
On both platforms Destiny outsold football behemoth FIFA 16 which debuted on PS4 and PS3 at No.2.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain sits in third place having debuted on September 1st. The title didn’t chart in the PlayStation Top Ten.
Meanwhile Rocket League falls to second place as its predecessor Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars falls to No.9 in the PS3 charts.
Below are the PSN charts for the month of September:
PlayStation 4
1. Destiny: The Taken King (New)
2. FIFA 16 (New)
3. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (New)
4. Rocket League (2)
5. The Last of Us Remastered (RE)
6. Mad Max (New)
7. PES 2016 (New)
8. Battlefield 4 (3)
9. Driveclub (RE)
10. Until Dawn (7)
11. Minecraft (9)
12. Goat Simulator (5)
13. Grand Theft Auto V (RE)
14. NBA 2K16 (New)
15. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (RE)
16. SOMA (New)
17. Killzone: Shadow Fall (RE)
18. NHL 16 (New)
19. Monopoly Plus (RE)
20. EA Sports UFC (13)

PlayStation 3:
1. Destiny: The Taken King (New)
2. FIFA 16 (New)
3. Grand Theft Auto V (RE)
4. Red Dead Redemption (RE)
5. Minecraft (3)
6. Grand Theft Auto IV (RE)
7. Goat Simulator (6)
8. Max Payne 3 (RE)
9. Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars (5)
10. PES 2016 (New)

PlayStation Vita:
1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories [PSP] (RE)
2. GTA: Liberty City Stories [PSP] (20)
3. Minecraft (6)
4. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker [PSP] (RE)
5. Resident Evil Revelations 2 (5)
6. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars [PSP] (RE)
7. Terraria (RE)
8. Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment (15)
9. Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (RE)
10. Manhunt 2 [PSP] (RE)
11. One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 (New)
12. Midnight Club L.A. Remix [PSP] (RE)
13. God of War: Ghost of Sparta [PSP] (RE)
14. The Warriors[PSP] (RE)
15. Tekken 6 [PSP] (RE)
16. Star Wars: Battlefront II [PSP] (RE)
17. FIFA 15 (1)
18. Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (RE)
19. Gran Turismo [PSP] (RE)
20. Titan Souls (RE)

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/desti...charts/0157112

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

PlayStation Now launches in the UK for £12.99 a month

October 11th, 2015, 21:38 Posted By: wraggster

Sony’s streaming games service PlayStation Now has now officially launched in the UK.
Having entered beta back in June, Sony has now introduced a monthly subscription service priced at £12.99. Individual titles can be rented for £2.99 and the whole thing can be tried for free for seven days.
Over 100 PS3 games feature at launch including The Last of Us, BioShock Infinite, Slender: The Arrival, The Walking Dead, Dead Island: Riptide, Uncharted, Resident Evil 5, InFamous 2, Enslaved and Shadow of the Colossus HD.
PlayStation Now is available on PS4, PS3, Vita and PlayStation TV, as well as a number of Sony Bravia TVs and Blu-ray players. An internet connection of at least 5Mbps is recommended.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/plays...-month/0157153

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

The PS4 universal remote hits stores later this month

October 11th, 2015, 21:35 Posted By: wraggster


Sony America announced on Thursday that the wait for its PS4 universal remote is nearly over. The much-anticipated accessory is set to go on sale for $30 "later this month," according to a company post. The remote will serve to replace the DualShock controller for non-gaming applications. It will communicate via a Bluetooth connection and be able to control up to three additional AV devices. What's more, it will also be compatible with a number of existing streaming apps including Crunchyroll, HBO Go, Netflix (obvs), Twitchand YouTube. If you can't wait to purchase it in person when it actually hits store shelves, Amazon, Best Buy, Gamestop and Toys R Us all have it available for pre-order.

http://www.engadget.com/2015/10/08/t...er-this-month/

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

PlayStation Now's subscription option hits the UK for £13 per month

October 11th, 2015, 21:29 Posted By: wraggster


PlayStation Now still hasn't managed to shake its open beta label in the UK, but today it's moved into what could be its final phase, with Sony adding a new subscription payment option for its game streaming service. Previously, early adopters were only able to rent titles for two- or 30-day periods at a cost of between £3 and £10, depending on the game. As of now, though, you can sign-up to an all-you-can-play subscription for £13 per month, which could be right up your street should you have an appetite to explore the whole library. The subscription model was an inevitable addition that's been available sincethe start of the year in the US, where you can also make a longer-term commitment to get a slightly discounted rate. Now that the subscription model has come to the UK, interested users can also opt-in to a seven-day free trial to see what all the fuss is about, provided they own a PS3, PS4 or compatible Sony Bravia TV or Blu-ray player.


http://www.engadget.com/2015/10/09/p...bscription-uk/

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

PlayStation Plus October line-up revealed

October 4th, 2015, 14:10 Posted By: wraggster

Sony has revealed its free PlayStation Plus offerings for October in the ever evolving Instant Games Collection.

Starting 6th October, the new catalogue includes Double Fine's latest point-and-click adventure Broken Age and frenetic platformer Super Meat Boy for PS4 and Vita.
On PS3 and Vita there's the martial arts rhythm fighter Kickbeat and side-scroller Kung-fu Rabbit.
Sci-fi metroidvania adventure Unmechanical will be free on PS4 and PS3, while physics-based platformer Chariot will be free exclusively on PS3.
Here's the succinct checklist on what's coming and going on 6th October:
Coming:

• Broken Age (PS4/PS Vita)
• Super Meat Boy (PS4/PS Vita)
• Unmechanical Extended (PS4/PS3)
• Kickbeat (PS Vita/PS3)
• Kung Fu Rabbit (PS Vita/PS3)
• Chariot (PS3)

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

YouTube streaming hitting PS4 tomorrow

October 4th, 2015, 13:58 Posted By: wraggster

PS4’s 3.00 system update will be rolled out tomorrow, bringing with it the ability to stream gameplay to YouTube for the first time.
“You’ll see a new icon for YouTube on the Broadcast Gameplay Screen, accessible after hitting the Share button,” Sony said. “Now you can live stream directly from your PS4 to YouTube. Livestreams will be viewable across YouTube.”
The update also brings plenty more in the way of extra functionality to Sony’s machine.
These include sharing video clips up to ten seconds long directly to Twitter (double tap the share button to begin recording, tap again to stop), the chance to take PNG screenshots, a schedule of in-game events for titles in your library, game communities, messaging and group upgrades and the introduction of messaging stickers.
There will also be home menu access to other players’ video streams and video uploads.
In addition, PlayStation Plus is getting a dedicated section, accessible from an icon on the home screen. It will provide quick access to the month’s free games, PS Plus discounts, details of all previously redeemed PS Plus games and quick access to membership management.


http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/youtu...morrow/0156581

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

How PlayStation conquered Europe

October 4th, 2015, 13:51 Posted By: wraggster

"Three weeks after they bought my company, Sony introduced me to a busted photocopier with chips hanging out of it, and said: ‘This is the PlayStation’”
Ian Hetherington was the boss of Psygnosis – the developer/publisher that Sony acquired in 1993. And his first impression of Sony’s new console was not good.
“Quite frankly, it was not fit for purpose when we got involved with it,” he tells MCV.
“The Japanese view of it was you put the CD in, you load the software, you take the CD out. They still thought of it as a cartridge. We looked at the specs andupgraded the CD drive and the memory so that we had enough memory to stream.”
Sony did not have a good reputation in the games business before the launch of PlayStation. It operated a publishing and distribution division under the name of Sony Electronic Publishing, and its games were hardly setting the industry alight.
“We were almost a laughing stock,” recalls Alan Welsman, who began at Sony Electronic Publishing before leading the PR for PlayStation’s UK launch.
“We were distributing Sega and Nintendo products for a few years, and I was going out and seeing all the journalists across Europe with all these games. One game was Last Action Hero, and that got reviewed as a minus-six by one French journalist who said its only use was as a doorstop.
“Everyone said we’d be like Philips [which launched the failed CDi console] and that we would turn and run, because we were a hardware company, not a games company. But the purchase of Psygnosis meant that we were able to cement the software side with the hardware side, which shouldn’t be underestimated.”

The Japanese launch of PlayStation had gone down a storm in December 1994, buoyed by support from leading Japanese developers such as Namco.
Yet the US and Europe needed an entirely different line-up. To begin with, the man tasked with finding those games was a young Phil Harrison (pictured left) – who joined Sony Electronic Publishing back in September 1992.
“I was the first employee in Europe at the office, which was a spare room in my house in Sussex for quite a few months,” says Harrison. “And then we acquired Psygnosis in early 1993 and we just went from there.
“By December 1993, we did our first European developer event. That’s when we really started, showing these studios what was coming, what the specs were and what our plan was. What we were proposing technologically was such a leap forward that people were convinced that we were delusional. I remember [Argonaut Software founder] Jez San in particular challenging us and wanting to see the dev kits, because he was convinced they were running on a $100,000 Silicon Graphics workstation.”
Hetherington adds: “I did the keynote at that event, and we internally built the launch catalogue effectively. That involved recruiting people like DMA Design who did Lemmings, recruiting the Reflections boys who did Shadow of the Beast and then Destruction Derby, there was Martin Chudley at Bizarre Creations who did an F1 game, Traveller’s Tales who did a Pixar product. It was a purple period. These were all home-grown Psygnosis developers. And I think at the first Christmas we had 80 per cent market share in software sales.”
Of course, the game that would go on to define the launch of PlayStation was a certain futuristic racer.
“The thing that made PlayStation cool, beyond any shadow of a doubt, was Wipeout,” continues Hetherington.
“The music we put in was Chemical Brothers and Leftfield. It was a statement piece, it said this console is cool, it’s 3D and for the 18 to 25 age group.”
Ray Maguire, who was leading PlayStation UK at the time, remembers: “We weren’t producing the same kind of games as Sega and Nintendo. Our titles were just awesome and absolutely showed off the power of the PlayStation. Psygnosis and Phil were fundamental to that. CD music sales were roaring at the time, and having the ability to use the likes of The Chemical Brothers as part of the music allowed us to go to a 20-something audience.”
What’s more, the European team wanted as many games as possible on the format. And, despite objections from the US, made it easy for developers to build and release games for the system.
“We simplified the approval process to a one-step system,” says Chris Deering, the first European president of PlayStation.
“We had disagreements with the US. They thought we were too loose, they thought we should be more guarded with our approval process. But the Japanese were more on our side about this one. They were saying: ‘Why not let the consumer decide what games to buy?’”

"The path was strewn with the carcasses
of those that attempted to go after Nintendo
and Sega and failed. It was not a pleasant sight.
We were scared to go to battle with these guys."

- Chris Deering, former PlayStation Europe President

Sony’s famous 1990s tagline was Do Not Underestimate The Power Of The PlayStation, and that was probably because at the beginning, pretty much everyone did. Including Sony.
“I remember the very first business plan for PlayStation that we did in June 1995,” says Deering.
“We said that over the course of the first four years, the whole of PlayStation Europe would do 4m consoles and 13m game discs [laughs]. Do you believe that? By the fourth year, we probably did 8m in just that year. We had no idea that it was going to be this successful. We were up against these mighty, mighty end-of-level bosses in the form of Sega and Nintendo. You had 3DO and CDi and things like that go nowhere. The path was strewn with the carcasses of those that attempted to go after Nintendo and Sega and failed. It was not a pleasant sight. We were scared to go to battle with these guys.”
The existence of Sony Electronic Publishing in the years before PlayStation’s launch proved crucial. By distributing and publishing games on Nintendo and Sega consoles, Sony was building a relationship with the market, and learning a thing or two about the power of independent retailers.
“We learnt a lot about pricing, distribution, forecasting and basically creating the trade contacts that we would inevitably work with,” says Doug Goodwin, who was commercial director for PlayStation UK back in 1995.
“That work was done 18 months before the PlayStation launched, and it taught us how important the independent retail sector was.
“While it was important for us to secure listings with the more dominant High Street brands, such as Comet and Argos, the opinion formers were – without doubt – the independent trade. Gamers went into that environment and engaged with the store owners. They sparred with them in terms of gaming knowledge. And in that environment the endorsement, or a recommendation for our platform, was gold dust.”
Goodwin went out of his way to win over the indies. He treated them all like a multiple High Street chain. He took PlayStation on a regional tour to do product demonstrations, and even launched an intranet system where indies could plug in their data, and in return would receive point-of-sale materials – the sort of posters and standees usually reserved for the likes of Dixons.
“We were looking to engender hearts and minds, and we saw the indies as the biggest opinion formers in influencing the consumer,” says Goodwin.

"People don’t realise just how awful
the cartridge business was."

- Phil Harrison, former PlayStation Studios boss

Goodwin did several other different things in trying to support the trade back in 1995, including taking PlayStation games into Blockbuster. But the biggest thing that won over the retailers and the publishers back in the mid-1990s, was the strength of the disc.
“People don’t realise just how awful that cartridge business was,” says Harrison.
“You had to pre-pay for your cartridges and they took about eight weeks to arrive. The amount of cash you had tied up as a publisher was just extraordinary. You had to have all of your inventory locked up ahead of time. You’d either ordered too few because you were being conservative and the market would dry up or, more likely, you’d order too many and you’d have to cut the price to shift them. Just to own it in your warehouse costs as much as $14 a cartridge. It was a horrific business.
“With CDs, we could turn around re-orders within a matter of days.”
Cartridges had a minimum order of around 5,000. It was a very risky model, and the result was that publishers viewed PlayStation and its CD-based system as a more viable platform. Sony also helped publishers in destroying any unsold stock.
“We wanted publishers to want to put their games out on PlayStation first, because it was the more profitable console,” Goodwin adds.

"Sega got panicky when they saw the software
we were going to launch with, so they decided to
get the Saturn out first and they cocked it up."

- Simon Jobling, former PlayStation UK marketing director

The publishers and the retailers were on side ahead of PlayStation’s September 29th, 1995 European launch. But the single most important group to win over were the consumers.
PlayStation was already making a name for itself before its arrival. The Japanese launch had gone down well, while the first ever E3 in May was a huge success. It was here that US chief Steve Race delivered his famous one-word ‘$299’ speech – undercutting the price of Sega Saturn.
“There was a miscommunication the night before and the actual price hadn’t been approved by Japan when Steve Race said: ‘299’,” recalls Deering. “It wasn’t his fault, he was told to go ahead. But there were some really anxious moments after that speech. It turned out to be very fortuitous.”
Sega Saturn was having its own issues. Sega, panicked by the momentum of PlayStation, decided to bring the launch of its console forward by months. A move that backfired.
“The Saturn was supposed to launch after us, and they suddenly got panicky when they saw the software that we were going to launch with, and they decided to get it out first and they cocked it up,” says Simon Jobling, former PlayStation UK marketing director.
“They may have gone first. But they didn’t have the games.”
With Sega floundering and Nintendo's new machine over a year away, Sony had been gifted a golden opportunity to succeed where so many others had failed. And so PlayStation set out its plans to do an altogether different advertising campaign.
“I remember looking out of my offices on Sonic 2sday [launch of Sonic 2 in 1992],” says Goodwin. “They had a launch party at The Ark in Hammersmith. The strength of the brand and its punch capability was very impressive. We had to do something different.”

"We went out to every kind of influential place
that we could get into, we did parties, we went to celebs,
and we just put them in front of the
PlayStation and said ‘have a go on that."

- Ray Maguire, Former PlayStation UK MD

The TV campaign centred around ‘The Society Against PlayStation’, which were a series of ads featuring an activist group warning against the ‘power of the PlayStation’.
“Those were… interesting,” says Harrison. “I look back on it really fondly, and I remember it caused a few people to scratch their heads, but the ad agency had this big idea for what they wanted to create. I did end up having ridiculous arguments with the ad agency about how many frames of gameplay would be in the ad. Because ad agencies don't win awards for showing gameplay, so they wanted to obviously show off the film they had made while we wanted to show off the game that we had made. It was a right royal rumpus for a while then it was pointed that we were paying the f***** bill and that they should do as we told them to.”
This TV ad was used throughout Europe, but all other PR and marketing was handled by the individual territories. And the UK team had some unique ideas on how to sell PlayStation.
“We went out to every kind of influential place that we could get into, we did parties, we went to celebs, and we just put them in front of the PlayStation and said ‘have a go on that’,” says Maguire.
Jobling adds: “We tried to focus on what we saw as the core proposition – which was the power of the machine. We sponsored speed boats and boxer Prince Naseem, it was all to build up in people’s minds that the PlayStation was powerful.
“We had this endorsement campaign where we sent machines to around 100 to 200 people from different walks of life, from fashion, music, sport and entertainment, amongst others.
“When it was announced that Sony was going into video games hardware, the general feeling in the industry wasn’t: ‘This is going to be a slam dunk.’ It was: ‘What the hell does Sony know about games?’ So the early marketing was all about establishing the credibility of Sony. The games helped, but we had to do a serious long-term branding job.”
The campaign would also get a bit edgy in places as it skewed to an older demographic. They gave away ‘postcards’ at Glastonbury, which would inevitably be used for rolling joints. They even installed ‘chill out rooms’ in clubs such as the Ministry of Sound, which were refrigerated rooms that featured some cushions, a TV and a PlayStation so that clubbers could cool down during nights out.
“It wasn’t as in-your-face as the Sega advertising,” says Deering. “This was more music-orientated, more about the druggie scene. It was on the money for the times. It really made a huge difference to the success of the brand, not just in the UK, but across Europe.”

"We received a letter on the second morning
after our graffiti campaign had hit the streets,
it was from the City of Westminster Council
and it said we had four days to get this graffiti off
or all hell would break lose."

- Simon Jobling, Former PlayStation UK marketing director

This ‘edgy’ marketing activity always flirted with going too far, and one day it actually did.
“We hired a street marketing agency to go around and graffiti lampposts and things like that, all around the City of London,” says Jobling.
“That sparked off one of those establishment issues. We received a letter on the second morning after our graffiti campaign had hit the streets, it was from the City of Westminster Council and it said we had four days to get this graffiti off or all hell would break lose. We got worried that Sony Corporation would hear about this, because this really wasn’t something they would approve of at all. So there was this panic where we were like: ‘Can we get this stuff off?’
"So we had these people scurrying around Westminster trying to clean this up, before Sony Japan could get wind of it.
Goodwin laughs: “We had a clean-up team that removed that graffiti instantly. We stretched the envelope, we stretched the legalities as far as we could, but we had to be very careful. Sony was really worried about PlayStation. It was a big step for them. Sony at the time was something your dad had. He had the Sony sound system. The Walkman had been a success, but consumers didn’t even really relate that with Sony at the time. Sony was not seen as a brand for the youth.
“But we had to be careful, because this was a global brand with significant presence. And even with what we did, we had to keep the integrity of what the Sony brand stood for, so we didn’t make any major mistakes that warranted Japan coming in and giving us a hard time.”
Jobling, Goodwin, Welsman and Maguire may have led PlayStation’s first launch in the UK, but there were other influential members of the team that really made an impact. Including marketing manager Geoff Glendenning.
“He was an unsung hero of the PlayStation launch,” insists Deering. “He was the one that took note of the Triangle, Square, Circle, X buttons, and he started using that as a sort-of underground code for the brand. To this day now those four symbols have become used universally by PlayStation. It became the Nike swoosh of PlayStation. He came up with that.”

"We knew that if we cocked this up, it wasn’t just
a case of moving company, but moving industry.

- Doug Goodwin, former PlayStation UK commercial director

A decent price, strong games, a controversial advertising campaign, support from retail and love from the media – including Edge and The Face – helped PlayStation fly. It reached an older audience than Nintendo or Sega had managed and the machine was almost constantly sold-out in the lead up to Christmas.
That sell-out was partly driven by the fact Sony decided to launch PlayStation in ten European countries – which was more than its rivals ever did. A move that Deering insisted upon.
“The Japanese arm of Sony were looking at Europe through the eyes of their mates at Sega and Nintendo, who said that if you get France, Germany and UK, you basically have Europe and Europe is roughly half the US,” he says.
“Before I joined PlayStation, I had 20 years experience in international markets. I knew that Europe had the same population as the US and the same ?per-capita income as the US.
“I thought Nintendo and Sega were being lazy on producing translated versions. And they were dealing with distributors that were taking the mick with the video games industry. I remember saying to Ken Kutaragi [PlayStation CEO at the time] that Europe can have the same install base as the US. He laughed and said: ‘In your dreams, go for it.’ And it did happen. We localised in multiple languages, we worked hard and made it happen.”
PlayStation rolled into the market in 1995 and transformed the games industry. The business model, the target audience, the advertising – the industry changed overnight. Sony took on Nintendo and Sega’s duopoly and won, and its loyalty and support for Europe continues to pay dividends to this day.
“We knew that if we cocked this up, it wasn’t just a case of moving company, but moving industry,” says Goodwin. “Who is going to take on a failed format employee? We had to make this work. But it wasn’t pressure. This was pride.”
Jobling adds: “We were all committed to it and we all loved it. We worked hard, we went out, we had a good time, and we did a lot in a short amount of time. Yes we were tense about if we would pull it off, but from the day it hit the market it just went. It was the most fun I’ve ever had in a job.”
Hetherington concludes: “I still do a lot in video games today. But the best period of my career, by a country mile, was going from that busted photocopier to the launch of PlayStation.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/how-p...europe/0156799

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

PS3 has been discontinued in New Zealand

October 4th, 2015, 13:50 Posted By: wraggster

Sony Computer Entertainment New Zealand has confirmed the discontinuation of the PS3 in the region.
Videogamer reports that once the console’s current stocks are exhausted, there will be no more units making their way to the region.
"SCENZ will not be shipping anymore PlayStation 3 consoles to its retailers," Sony told ThoseGamers. "However the platform is still available in retail outlets throughout NZ and being supported with peripherals, great new releases and back catalogue software."
This is unlikely, however, to signal the machine’s wider demise.
While PS4 has been a bigger hit than anyone, including Sony itself, may have expected, the PS3 remains an enticing discount proposition that the company will almost certainly hope to keep on the market for some time yet.
PS4 came out in 2013. Following the PS3’s launch in 2006/2007, the PS2 continued to be manufactured right up until 2013, with a £99.99 RRP in its later years proving a big hit. It was only in 2014, for instance, when the FIFA series dropped its PS2 version, having supported the console all the way up to FIFA 14.
Were the PS3 to follow the same cycle, PS3 can expect to endure until 2020, although PS4’s exceptionally strong start to life may cut some years off that figure.
PS3 is currently offered in its third iteration, dubbed the ‘Super Slim’ (or the CECH-4000 if you’re of a more corporate bent). It can typically be found for between £100 and £200 pounds depending on the promotion or the bundle.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ps3-h...ealand/0156836

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Sony's big PlayStation 4 update

October 4th, 2015, 13:47 Posted By: wraggster

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

PS4 will get its own Twitch App next month

September 28th, 2015, 21:40 Posted By: wraggster

PS4 will get its own Twitch app later this year, just as the Xbox One received a similar streaming service app during March 2014.

As reported by Gamespot, the upcoming app was revealed during the TwitchCon keynote. While PS4 already allows players to stream their videos to Twitch and watch Let's Plays of other PS4 games, this new app will let users watch other people's videos from all platforms through their console. They'll also have access to all of Twitch's chat functionality, including emotes.
The Twitch app will later make its way to PS3, Vita and PlayStation TV.
Twitch sure is busy as it's also developing a streaming video app for Oculus Rift and Gear VR.
One thing you won't be able to watch on the new app, however, is Rinse & Repeat, Robert Yang's satirical shower sim that was banned from Twitch.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...app-next-month

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Mobile Gaming Didn't Kill The Vita -- Sony Did

September 28th, 2015, 21:31 Posted By: wraggster

I have long been a fan of the PlayStation Vita. So this quote from one of Sony’s head honchos about portable gaming seriously saddens me.

Here’s Shuhei Yoshida at a recent Q&A, as transcribed by Eurogamer, when asked if Sony will ever develop a Vita successor:
“That’s a tough question. People have mobile phones and it’s so easy to play games on smartphones. And many games on smartphones are free, or free to start. I myself am a huge fan of PlayStation Vita and we worked really hard on designing every aspect. Touch-based games are fun - there are many games with really good design. But having sticks and buttons make things totally different. So I hope, like many of you, that this culture of playing portable games continues but the climate is not healthy for now because of the huge dominance of mobile gaming.”
This is nonsense. The climate is fine. Nintendo has sold over 50 million 3DSes and they don’t even have Minecraft. There’s no doubt that mobile gaming has had a huge impact on the traditional video game industry, but when it comes to the Vita flopping, Sony has nobody but themselves to blame.
Here is a partial list of reasons the Vita has failed:

• Sony decided to gouge customers by forcing them to use proprietary memory cards, then jacking up the prices to obscene levels. (A 32GB Vita memory card retails for £50; standard 32GB SDHC memory cards cost about a tenner.)
• Sony marketed the Vita as a portable system with “console-quality gaming,” then went on to pack it with shoddy spinoffs like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Call of Duty: Declassified, and Resistance: Burning Skies.
• Despite all this, a subset of hardcore gamers quickly realised that the Vita was a fantastic machine for indies and niche Japanese games. So what did Sony do? They decided to start marketing it as a portable accessory to the PS4—as if anyone would dish out extra to play Destiny on the toilet.
• Vita owners also realised that the machine is fantastic for playing old PS1 and PSP games. Sony saw how much money they could make there, and they immediately filled out the PlayStation Store, pleasing fans with truckloads of classic new games every week. Just kidding. They ignored it. Even today you need to use a silly shortcut just to get some old games working on your Vita.
• Remember the PS2? One of the most successful video game consoles in history? Chock full of great games that could be ported to the Vita in various ways? Someone should remind Sony of that.
• Remember BioShock Vita? lmao
• Sony has pretty much spent the past two years pretending the Vita doesn’t exist, ignoring it at every major trade show and convention. It’s embarrassing.

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Sony says 'climate is not healthy' for PlayStation Vita 2

September 28th, 2015, 21:23 Posted By: wraggster

The popularity of smartphone gaming may mean that Sony never releases another dedicated handheld console.

Eurogamer reports that Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida was asked at an EGX panel at the weekend whether the company plans on releasing a successor to the Vita at any stage in the future.
"That's a tough question," he answered. "People have mobile phones and it's so easy to play games on smartphones. And many games on smartphones are free, or free to start.
"I myself am a huge fan of PlayStation Vita and we worked really hard on designing every aspect. Touch-based games are fun – there are many games with really good design. But having sticks and buttons makes things totally different.
"So I hope, like many of you, that this culture of playing portable games continues but the climate is not healthy for now because of the huge dominance of mobile gaming."
The handheld market continues to be quite starkly divided, with portable machines dominating the marketplace in Japan but suffering declines in Western markets.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/sony-...vita-2/0156521

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

PlayStation Vita TV hack gives you a way to play more games

September 28th, 2015, 21:19 Posted By: wraggster

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here