SCEA Marketing Manager Mark Valledor has initiated a weekly PS Blog update on the hot topics and answers to the questions LittleBigPlanet consumers have as follows:
First off, wanted to introduce “Sam_Protagonist” to everyone. He’s our global community manager for LittleBigPlanet and our eyes and ears for all things community. You can find him interacting on the EU and US forums providing updates to the community. Keep a look out for his forum posts and occasional LBP News Site posts for the latest updates.
So for our first installment of ‘SACK IT TO ME’ - we’ve decided to summarize some of the major topics the community wants answered…
Moderation The level moderation process is something we’re continually improving. The small percentage of levels moderated have been done so after the community has reported them using the Good Grief tool. We never moderat... More »
Responding to new rumors of a PS3 price cut in March 2009, a Sony Computer Entertainment America rep told Edge, "There are no plans for a price reduction on PS3 in March 09, and anything reported on or discussed otherwise is purely rumor or speculation."
Over the weekend, online magazine D+Pad cited an anonymous source who purportedly attended a Sony staff briefing in London where execs said the PS3 will have a more competitive price from March 2009 and beyond.
March 31, 2009 marks the end of Sony's fiscal year, during which the company expects to sell 10 million PS3 units, or about flat compared to the previous year.
Sony has repeatedly denied a PS3 price cut will take place before the holidays.
Currently, Xbox 360s retail from $199 to $399 and Wiis sell for $249 in the U.S. Standard 80GB PS3s sell for $399.
Sony confirms its recently announced network numbers include accounts from both the PlayStation 3 and PSP, but no duplicates; analyst estimates 50 percent of PS3s have gone online.
On Tuesday, Sony made a stir when it announced that its free PlayStation Network had attained 14 million "active users."
The number, revealed to celebrate the PlayStation 3's second birthday, was remarkable, as it appeared to match the 14-million-strong subscriber base for the pay-to-play Xbox Live. Microsoft's online service launched in 2002 and has been a central pillar of its strategy since the Xbox 360 launched in 2005, one year before the PS3.
Three days later, Sony has now clarified what exactly it counts as an active PlayStation Network user. "Seeing as PlayStation Portable does include PlayStation Network services (i.e. games store natively on PSP), yes those numbers do include all PlayStation Network registrations," said a Sony representative.
2008 has been full of ups and downs for the PlayStation 3. Whether or not Sony delivered on all their promises is questionable.
However, if there is one thing that can't be taken from Sony's next-gen console is the tremendous growth its software library has undergone over the past year.
In 2007, critics of the PS3 lambasted the console's software catalog. The system was victim of numerous shoddy ports, and lacked any defining title it could call its own. Then, early in the new year, Sony made the eyebrow raising announcement that they intended to drive sales not by slashing the price again, but by delivering quality software.
And, to the disbelief of even the most devout Sony fanatics, things did begin to change. The PS3 became the lead platform for many multiplatform projects, ironically, not because it was the most powerful platform, but because it was the most infuriating to develop for. Starting with Burnout Paradise in January, the differen... More »
At PlayStation Experience 2008, it was time for Round 3 of GamingIndians vs Atindriya Bose, Country Manager of Sony Computer Entertainment India.
This time around, he sheds some light on the new 80GB PlayStation 3 set to hit stores in December, the post warranty situation for the PS3, the long-awaited PSN launch, and news of Activision moving its PS2 game manufacturing to India.
To quote: GamingIndians: Can you tell me a bit about Sony’s policy towards post-warranty PlayStation 3s?
Atindriya Bose: Currently, we are giving you a new console at 50 per cent discount in case something goes wrong with your console after warranty has expired.
GamingIndians: Won’t there be a service facility?
Atindriya Bose: Not on an immediate basis. I think currently we are just touching figures of 20,000 with the PS3. Both the PS3 and PSP have quite complex service requirements, but at the moment, the PSP numbers allow us to go ah... More »
Over the months there has been a lot of inaccurate information circulating in regards to how exactly the PlayStation 3's Service Mode works, and as promised in our previous Dev updates here are some of the facts to help separate the rumors and speculation.
It is a fairly simple process as follows.. For starters, the PS3 is powered off, and a special USB dongle, known as the Jig, is connected. The PS3 is then turned on, and then off, once it has detected the Jig.
After this occurs, the PS3 is then turned back on, into "Service" Mode. From here, the PS3 is re-flashed using a Firmware Update on a USB stick, specifically designed to only install from the Service Mode. Once the PS3 is re-flashed with the software, it is then used in conjunction with a PC running customized software, specifically the DEX.exe and CEX.exe's.
There are a multitude of special PS3 firmwares, basically three major ones. The first is a Core System, followed by the Service Sys... More »
Total sales figures for both PS3 and XBox show that Microsoft's price cut was not enough to win the quarter.
Sony's recently revealed Q2 earnings report reveals that the PS3 has sold 2.43 million units worldwide during the three month period ending September 30th.
That's an improvement of over a million on its Q2 2007 sales figures and brings the number of PS3s around the world to a total of 16.84 million. Software sales for the console have also more than double from the same period last year to 21.1 million.
Microsoft recently reported that the 360 sold 2.2 million consoles worldwide during the Q2 FY period, just shy of PS3 sales despite a price cut which came into effect in early-mid September.
Q3 is going to be an interesting battleground, what with So... More »
It has been revealed that future Firmware updates may enable the PlayStation Portable to cope with more processing while using computational resources on the PS3 for areas where the PSP lacks resources.
So we could have some seriously strong interaction between the two systems - processor sharing, here we come baby!
To quote: SCE (Matsui) on future firmware updates:
In future updates, there are thoughts of raising the level of interaction, in the sense of “interactive entertainment”.
Among those ideas are enabling the PSP to cope with more processing while using computational resources on the PS3 side for areas where the PSP lacks resources, so we think that interaction between the two systems will be possible by having them successfully complement each other.
In addition, as with Life with PlayStation, we take the approach of making the PS3 something people will use from when they wake up, like switching it... More »
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