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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

PS3 Outsells 360 2:1 In Europe: Week Ending 28/10/07

Here are the hardware totals for the week ending 28/10/07. The PS3 continue's to sell well throughout Europe.

Weekly Totals:
DS 177,772
Wii 111,300
PS3 73,614
PS2 70,057
PSP 51,757
360 38,212
GBA 5,634

Hit the link to see the breakdown by region.

Source

Friday, October 26, 2007

EU & US PlayStation Store Update 25th Oct 2007

EU PlayStation Store Update:

Full Games & Apps:
EyeCreate (free)
Aqua Vita £1.99
Operation Creature Feature £3.49
PixelJunk Racers £4.99
The Trials of Topoq £3.49

Game Demos:
Tony Hawk
Ratchet & Clank

Game Add On's:
Folklore kidnapped pack £1.49
MotorStorm Halloween livery (free)

Games Videos:
Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection Online
Toy Home
Midnight Club LA
Metal Gear Online
The Eye of Judgment (introduction)

Movie & Blu-ray Trailers:
Courage Under Fire
Beowulf
Stardust

US PlayStation Store Update:

PSOne Games:
Spyro the Dragon $5.99

Full Games & Apps:
EyeCreate (Free)

Game Add-on's:
Piyotama Halloween Skin Add-On (Free)
Ninja Gaiden Sigma DLC $2.99

Game Videos:
Bionic Commando
Time Crisis 4

Movie & Blu-ray Trailers:
The Water Horse
P.S. I Love You
AC/DC Live at Donington
Reign Over Me

PS3 Wallpaper:
Eye of Judgment

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

PS3 Continue's To Sell Well In Europe: Week Ending 21/10/07

Here are the hardware totals for the week ending 21/10/07. The PS3 continue's to sell well throughout Europe.

Weekly Totals:
DS 171,260
Wii 70,322
PS3 64,087
PS2 57,152
PSP 54,449
360 37,303
GBA 2,286

Hit the link to see the breakdown by region.

Source

Friday, October 19, 2007

Sony Pumps £1m Into Ratchet TV Campaign.

Prime time Saturday night spots secured as SCEE gets behind ‘benchmark PS3 title’.

Sony is backing upcoming PS3 title Ratchet and Clank: Tools Of Destruction with a million pound TV campaign throughout the gifting season.

The platform holder has heralded the game as a ‘benchmark’ release for PS3 owners, and set its sights on a target demographic that covers the whole family.

"The ad will target 16-34 year olds, with a focus on Saturday night family programming, which draws upon a broad demographic of viewers, matching Ratchet And Clank’s target audience," Sony product manager Lucy Garnett told MCV.

"One of the strongest aspects of Ratch & Clank, has to be the quality of the visuals, and we wanted to showcase this in the TV ad, meaning it'll be made up of actual gameplay footage".

The megabucks TV campaign will kick off on November 16th and last for a full month.

This will be agumented with a wide-ranging online push, which will include heavyweight coverage on gaming sites including Gamespot, Games Radar, Eurogamer and TVG.

Sony promises that the title will also enjoy a strong presence on broader reach site such as Yahoo, Channel 4 and Sky Sports, to target a more mainstream audience.

"the title marries Shrek-style humour with a detailed and fun storyline to produce what we believe to be a benchmank PS3 title," added Garnett.

"It's this variety and depth that we hope will make it equally to young and old, novice or hardcore gamers, and people who want a title that can really showcase what the PS3 is capable of".

Source

PS3 Sales Jump 890% On Amazon.com.

With the price of the 80Gb PS3 MotorStorm Pack now slashed to $499, sales have skyrocketed. Consumers have quickly responded to the new price. The price cut for the holiday season has so far been well recieved.

Source

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Sony Forks Over Chip Production To Toshiba

In a joint announcement, the two companies said Sony would transfer to Toshiba its advanced 300-millimeter wafer line fabrication facilities installed in a plant operated by its subsidiary, Sony Semiconductor Kyushu Corp., by the end of March 2008. The facilities house the Nagasaki Technology Center, responsible for developing the Cell line.

While the ownership of the asset would go to Toshiba, Sony and its gaming unit, Sony Computer Entertainment, would jointly participate in the production process as a minority shareholder of 40% in a new joint venture to be set up in April with Toshiba, which would take the remaining 60%.

Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people) shares swooned after initial press rumors of the sale a month ago, but on Thursday afternoon, they were up 30 yen, or 0.55%, at 5,430 yen ($46.57).

The sale allows Sony to pass on the heavy cost of microprocessor development to Toshiba, Japan’s largest microchip maker. It could possibly lower Sony’s procurement costs for Cell chips if Toshiba can reap production efficiencies from commercializing the chips in a broader range of applications. Sony will also be able to invest the proceeds of the sale to bolster its world-leading position in image-processing chips for its digital cameras and cell phones.

For Toshiba (other-otc: TOSBF - news - people), buying the Cell line would give it a huge upgrade in the system chip business, where it is lagging far behind Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people) and Samsung (other-otc: SSNLF - news - people), with the anchor of having Sony as a reliable buyer.

Both companies said they would jointly advance the Cell chips to the next stage of technology: Toshiba was reported by Nikkei Business Daily as intending to roll out a 45-nanometer version of the Cell in two years and employing the cutting-edge chips in personal computers and flat-panel televisions.

source

EU & US PlayStation Store Update 18th Oct 2007.

EU PlayStation Store Update:

PSOne Games:
CTR: Crash Team Racing
Everybody's Golf 2
Syphon Filter 3

Game Demos:
DW: Gundam

Videos:
Uncharted - The Inspiration

Blu-ray Trailers:
Alien Vs Predator BD Trailer

Wallpapers:
Lair Good Dragon
Lair Bad Dragon

US PlayStation Store Update:

Game Demos:
Folklore “PlayStation Underground”
Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights

Videos :
Uncharted Tech Dive
Burnout™ Paradise Steel Wheels Trailer
Turok Dino Luring Trailer
Devil May Cry 4 TGS Short Trailer

Movie & Blu-ray Trailers:
Rails & Ties Trailer
Incubus — Alive at Red Rocks BD Trailer
Underworld BD Trailer

PS3 Wallpaper:
Eye of Judgement Wallpapers

Full Games:

Note :

Calling All Cars has been reduced to $4.99 until 10/25/07.

Sony & Toshiba Agree Chip Deal.

Sale of chip business to net Sony USD 858 million

Following rumours last month that Sony would sell its processor chip manufacturing facilities to Toshiba, the company has announced that it will enter into a joint venture instead.

The agreement, which should be completed by the end of March according to a report by Bloomberg, will see the transfer of manufacturing facilities to Toshiba, while manufacturing will come under the control of the Sony-Toshiba joint venture.

Sale of the facilities to Toshiba is expected to raise JPY 100 billion (USD 858 million), and the Sony share price had climbed 0.6 per cent by the close of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The move also follows Sony's announcement earlier in the month about its partnership with Infineon Technologies on the production of DRAM chips.

Source

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

PS3 Outsells Wii & 360 In Europe: Week Ending 14/10/07

Here are the hardware totals for the week ending 14/10/07. The PS3 outsold both the 360 and the Wii.

Weekly Totals:
DS 158,975
PS3 77,827
Wii 75,033
PSP 62,027
PS2 53,843
360 42,244
GBA 2,495

Hit the link to see the breakdown by region.

Source

PS3 Has 178% UK Sales Surge.

The launch of the new 40GB model and 60GB price drop sees sales of the console nearly triple.

On October 10, the 40GB PlayStation 3 went on sale in the UK, along with a new Value Pack for the 60GB machine, which includes two first-party games, and costs £349 (approx $710)--a £76 ($155) drop.

Sony's holiday push seems to be working. For the week ending October 13, there was a 178 percent increase in sales of the console over the previous week, according to Chart Track, the official UK game industry sales tracking body.

The week was the third biggest week for PlayStation 3 hardware since it was launched in the UK on March 23--the first and second being the two weeks after it was launched. However, the figures weren't enough to get the PS3 the top slot--the DS Lite sold the most number of units, followed by the Wii, then the PS3, and then the Xbox 360.

Chart Track director Dorian Bloch commented, "The PS3 60GB is proving very popular, even with the introduction last week of the 40GB model. Eighty-nine percent of purchasers opted for some form of 60GB model, since this is sold with at least two games for only £50 ($102) more than the 40GB model, and sometimes other extras...check some retailer Web sites and you'll find Blu-ray discs also included for £350".

Source

Thursday, October 11, 2007

EU & US Playstation Store Update 11th Oct 2007.

EU PlayStation Store Update:

Game Demos:
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
Fifa 08
The Simpsons

Game Add-Ons:
Ninja Gaiden Sigma Speed master £2.99

Video:
Fallout 3 Teaser Trailer
Lair - Mastering the Beast
Lair - Call of the Beast
Lair - World in Chaos
Lair - When Dragons Attack
Pixel Junk Racers

Blu-ray Trailers:
Men of Honour
Planet of the Apes

Wallpapers:
Pixel Junk Racers Box
Pixel Junk Racers Neon
Folklore
Lair Bad Dragon

US PlayStation Store Update:

Full Games:
Everyday Shooter = $9.99

Game Demos:
Ratchet & Clank
NHL 2K8
Conan

Videos:
Uncharted Behind The Scenes II
Folklore Launch Trailer
Fallout 3 Teaser Trailer

Movie & Blu-ray Trailers:
The Assassination of Jesse James
Spiderwick Chronicles
Walk Hard

PS3 Wallpaper:
Ratchet & Clank
Everyday Shooter

Blu-ray Showing Impressive Gains.

At the DisplaySearch conference held yesterday, attendees were treated to the latest information regarding the format war. Warner announced that '300' has sold over 250,000 copies on Blu-ray since it was released in July, twice as many as has sold on HD DVD. Sony also announced that the PS3 would soon be receiving a firmware upgrade to boost its Blu-ray interactivity functions.

On the whole, HD players have increased their market share, now at 5%, since August when it was only 1.3% of total DVD player sales. Additionally, HD players accounted for 27% of the revenue in the DVD player market. This trend is expected to continue through the upcoming holiday season.

Source

MGS4 In Europe Before Easter; Bundle Planned.

Metal Gear Solid 4 could well be appearing in Europe before Easter, with Sony and Konami planning a console-and-game bundle as well.

Speaking to Spanish website MeriStation.com, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe vice president James Armstrong said: “We are working on a PlayStation 3 bundle that includes Metal Gear 4 Solid and the new DualShock. We want it to hit the high street before Easter. That’s what we’re pushing for at the moment".

If true, it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise. With MGS4 easily being one of the most high profile games set to appear in 2008 and exclusive to the PS3, it’s only logical that Sony will be looking to cash in on this in the biggest way possible – and a bundle deal would almost certainly help to shift consoles.

No price was mentioned, but with the 60GB value pack now retailing for £349 and the new 40GB console (which is almost certainly going to be the only one left on offer by the time MGS4 is ready to roll here) costing £299, we suspect the price point to fall somewhere in between the two.

Source

Sony Paid £16 Million For Evolution Studios.

Chief exec Martin Kenwright earned GBP 12m from sale

Sony's acquisition of MotorStorm developer Evolution Studios and its PSP satellite Bigbig Studios cost the company £16 million (EUR 22.9m / USD 32.6m).

According to a report by the Liverpool Daily Post, chief executive and co-founder Martin Kenwright held a 75 per cent stake in the company, netting him GBP 12 million from the sale. Ian Hetherington, chairman and co-founder, held most of the rest of the shares.

The MotorStorm developer was snapped up by Sony last month, after the racing studio delivered one of the most critically acclaimed and best-selling titles for the PlayStation 3.

At the time, Michael Denny, vice president of SCE Worldwide Studios told GamesIndustry.biz, "We've enjoyed a highly productive and commercially successful relationship with Evolution and now there's a great opportunity in bringing them into part of the family to share further in terms of technology, production methodology and creative goals to make the experiences that these teams are creating even better".

Evolution was established in 1999, but co-founders Kenwright and Hetherington decided to leave the business following the acquisition.

Evolution is currently working a disc-based sequel to MotorStorm as well as further downloadable content, while Bigbig Studios is putting the finishing touches to Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice for the PSP.

Source

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

New PS3 SKU's Hit Retail.

40GB Model and new 60Gb bundles arrive on the high street



After the numerous price reductions and new SKUs that Sony has introduced in its PS3 hardware range across all its global territories, today marks the arrival of the new-look PS3 offer at UK retail.

Gamers looking to snap up Sony’s console can from today can choose between the 40GB model at £299.99 and the reduced price 60GB model at £349.99 – down from its previous price of £424.99.

For those who need reminding, the new 40GB model is slightly different to the previous machine Sony had on the market – as well as the reduced storage space, it also lacks the integrated memory card reader, two USB ports and its PS2 backwards compatibility.


The 60GB model remains fully-featured, and depending on which retailer gamers visit will come bundled with two games from a large selection of titles including Motorstorm, Heavenly Sword, Formula One: Championship Edition and Resistance: Fall of Man.

Source

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

In-Game Advertising To Keep PlayStation Home Free

For those of you who've been living under a rock for the past year or so, there's this new online service called Home that's coming to PS3's around the world early next year.

With all its fancy graphics and mountains of features, you'd expect Home to cost you a pretty penny. On the contrary, when Phil Harrison first announced it back in March at the 2007 Game Developers Conference, he informed the masses it would be absolutely free of charge.

How can Sony afford such a thing? Small micro-transactions were always cited as a way to counter development and upkeep costs of the online universe, but we were skeptical as to whether they could fully support Home. However, it appears in-game advertising will have a far greater impact (and therefore greater presence). In fact, in-game advertising is what is keeping Home free.

Darlene Kindler was recently appointed SCEA's head of in-game advertising strategies. She'll work in conjunction with Nielsen Media Research on the type of ads we'll be seeing in Home (and possibly future online PSN fare).

Don't worry, the ads won't be ludicrous and out of place - no coca-cola ads engraved in trees in the Fairy Realm of one of Home's online game rooms. We'll be seeing ads that are both "dynamic, [and] relevant".

What's your take on all of this? Would you rather pay for Home, or have to walk past a GAP billboard on the way to and from your Home Space?

Let us know in the comments section. As always, we'll keep you updated on all things PlayStation Home.

Source

GT5 Quiz- Can You Tell The Difference Between The Game And Real Life?

Do you think you tell the difference between real life and Gran Turismo 5? A comparison test has been created of 15 screens and their real life equivalents.

Take the test here. Its not as straightforward as you might think.

Netherlands's Largest Home Entertainment Retailer Goes Blu-Ray.

Free Record Shop, the Netherlands's largest home entertainment retailer, has announced that they have officially endorsed Blu-ray as the successor to DVD. Since Blu-ray has launched in the Netherlands, it has outsold HD DVD on an average of 4-to-1, showing business owners that the buying public is demanding high definition content, and they want that content on Blu-ray.

Source

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Epic: PS3 UT3 Could Release In December, With Extra Content.

Speaking on the UT forums, Epic' Mark Rein said:

"Yes, there is a chance it will come out in December.

In addition there is some good news as well. A little extra time in development means that now the PS3 version will have all of the same maps as the PC version which wasn’t previously expected to be the case".

Monday, October 01, 2007

Sony Financial IPO Raises £1.35 billion.

Investors pay the highest price in the available range

Shares for Sony Corporation's subsidiary, Sony Financial Holdings Inc, went on sale in Japan today, with a total of 800,000 shares traded at a price of JPY 400,000 (GBP 1692, USD 3462) each.
That's the top line in a possible range, the lowest price of which was JPY 380,000 (GBP 1608, USD 3289) each, demonstrating demand for what was on its announcement initially received with limited interest.

Following a pre-offering cut from JPY 415,000 (GBP 1756, USD 3592) the shares raised JPY 320 billion (GBP 1.35 billion, USD 2.77 billion) with the proceeds thought to be heading towards the corporation's electronics division.

Specifically that means a boost for the manufacture of Bravia televisions, and help for the Playstation department as well - a move which was previously thought to have been indicative of an impending price cut for the Playstation 3.

However, no such news was forthcoming at Sony's price-related announcement event, the Tokyo Games Show.

Source