A new article from Yahoo about the conclusion of the DVD format war has some secret PLAYSTATION 3 sales figures buried within it. According to the article, Sony has sold 10.5 million PLAYSTATION 3 consoles since they launched the system in November 2006. That means they will probably reach their goal of 11 million by the end of March, if not more.
[PS3 Hits 10.5 Million Sold]
According to a forum member from the official PlayStation boards, he was able to get in touch with an insider who shared their information about development of PLAYSTATION 3 games. Those are the things needed for a game to be included into the PlayStation Home Network.
"A game must be able to integrate into Home, a game must support "Accomplishments". Right there, two important things, the PS3 system for achievements is called "Accomplishments", and Home is coming out VERY VERY VERY Soon."Accomplishments? Very very very soon? Sounds an awful like achievements for the PLAYSTATION 3 and GDC 2008 to me. We will find out this week.
John Hight, the director of product development in the Santa Monica Studios for Sony Computer Entertainment of America, was able to tell us a bit on the PLAYSTATION Network.
Some of the problems the PLAYSTATION Network are the pricing, size of games, and the availability of demos.
Games like flOw and Everyday Shooter are some very unusual games. They explain that they are not afraid to put something out there that is different. High explains the reason why the PLAYSTATION Network isn't overstuffed with arcade games such as the Xbox Live Arcade.
“We’re very careful about the stuff we add to our catalog. Early on as a company we decided it’s not going to be about giant numbers and ‘Hey, come to PlayStation Network and you’ll have 5000 games, maybe three of which you actually want. Go ahead and find that needle in the haystack.’ It’s more about each one of these experiences is something special.”
Hight goes on to explain the reason for a lack of a demo for every arcade game. “That’s a hotly debated thing. We did a demo on ‘Blast Factor‘ and I’ve got 600,000 people playing that demo but I haven’t translated that into 600,000 people buying the game. … I think the demo kind of hurt it in a way and people got satiated. They made a presumption that, ‘oh, ok, the whole game is going to be like this.’ It wasn’t true. The game actually has a lot of depth in each one of the levels. … We didn’t actually do a demo for ‘flOw.’ We did a movie. And it was a very conscious decision. Because we were kind of spooked with what we saw with ‘Blast Factor.’ We thought, wow, we don’t want people to just give up on it. … So if I artificially put a clock on it, is that time period right experience for you? Or for the average person? I don’t know. So we felt, nah, let’s not do it. Let’s try to tell people that this is a different experience and show them really great graphics and great music and hopefully we’ll just win them over on execution and if they buy the game then they’ll be satisfied with the experience itself. Because it’s really a subtle experience and I’m not sure a few minutes with a demo would do it justice.”
Thehy have more games coming on the horizon such as Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, which will be over 2GB.
At GDC this year, Sony’s PSN team will certainly be on the lookout for new games for the service. They’re looking for the unexpected. “People tell me: ‘Tell us what you want,’” Hight told me. “And I said at last GDC, ‘If I tell you what I want then I’m not going to get what I need.’”
[PlayStation Exec Talks PSN]
For those in Europe feeling a bit left out by not receiving the demo for Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, don't worry. This Thursday, February 21, 2008, Capcom announced that Europe will be seeing the demo for the game as well.
Thankfully, the US demos problems were resolved and should not be in the European version.
[Lost Planet demo out in Europe on Thursday]
Evolution Studios, the creators of MotorStorm, wants their racer to "dominate reaction racing for a long time".
When he was asked about the future of MotorStorm, Jed Ashworth said that the question "goes way beyond downloadable content".
"We have the aim of turning our launch-window title into a sustained, massive brand," he said. "We plan to dominate reaction racing for a long time. We'd never aim any lower."
Unfortunately, Ashworth was not able to comment on plans for Motorstorm 2 (perhaps this week at GDC?).
"The picture some people have of us all working on [MotorStorm DLC] is somewhat off the mark," he said. "We're a multiple-project developer now."
MotorStorm sold over 3 million copies worldwide. Will their sequel do the same?
[Evolution wants MotorStorm to dominate]
Well, after weeks of waiting from the last event, it is finally here. The Game Developers Conference 2008 has officially begun. Today is Day 1, and the event will be running five days ending on February 22, 2008.
Of course, the first few days are nothing compared to the last few, but stick with us for the hottest information on the show. Although we may not be there, we will still cover it like we are.
[GDC We've Arrived]
A man named Tim R., a regular player of the game we know as PixelJunk Monsters, e-mailed Q Games in need of more. He was told "There should be some news about an expansion pack over the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled."
Great news for game players and me, because I'm personally obsessed with it.
[PixelJunk Monsters expansion pack coming soon]
Even though it pretty much sucks to have to install 5GB of data for Capcom's upcoming Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, it seems it loads the game pretty fast. According to DBTechno, the loading times are pretty much non-existent throughout the majority of the game, and cuts load times drastically. I guess there is always some good in something.
[PS3 Lost Planet Load Times Are Lightning After 5GB Install]
The guys at Free Radical updated us today on the status of HAZE, reminding us that HAZE will not become a Duke Nukem Forever.
They tell us that they are very confident that HAZE is coming. They gurantee us that the extra features and such they've been adding in has made a big difference, and for the better.
Don't worry guys, it's coming, and probably soon.
[Some news about HAZE]
A small picture surfaced today of 3D Realms legendary Duke Nukem Forever, which has been in production for quite some time now. The graphics in this screenshot look really good though. Enjoy!
[Duke Nukem Forever: screenshot]
Trademork is reportingthat Activison is trademarking the name DJ Hero. No details were mentioned except that the trademark refers to "computer game software and related instruction manual sold together as a unit; interactive video game programs; computer game discs; downloadable software for use in connection with computer games; video game controllers; interactive video game comprised of a CD or DVD sold as a unit with a video game controller."
When we find out more, we will update you.
[DJ Hero]
If your still deciding whether or not to buy Rock Band (great game, by the way), and are worrying about the price, then you might want to check out Target this week. The game will be going for $149.99 instead of it's regular $169.99 which is a great savings of $20. So, decide quick, and start rocking.
[Rock Band bundle only $149 at Target this week]
