Sony again repostpones launch of Gran Turismo 5

January 14, 2010 – 8:51 am

Surprise surprise! Sony can’t get it’s FLAGSHIP games to work 3+ years later. And yes, I said WORK. It’s not a publishing issue, it’s not a “we want to add xxx car to the roster” issue, it’s not even a “how can we microtransaction end users to death” issue. They can’t seem to make it work with their own machine. Awesome.

TOKYO Jan 13 Reuters - Sony Corp 6758.T said it will postpone the launch of the latest version of its blockbuster racing game series “Gran Turismo” citing production-related matters in a potential blow to its videogame operations. “Gran Turismo 5″ designed for Sony s PlayStation 3 PS3 game console was due to be launched in March the final month of the current financial year. A new launch date has not been set.


source @ Reuters


Gizmodo’s Decade’s Worst Gadgets #11: Sony Qualia-017

December 28, 2009 – 3:21 pm

Sony Qualia-017 MiniDisc Player


Say you’re Sony. What do you do when the iPod has been beating your ass for three years and your weird little proprietary disc format is swiftly losing the hearts and minds of the American digital music enthusiast? You introduce a $1900 solid brass MiniDisc player, that’s what! I guess it’s better than hitting consumers over the head repeatedly with a soiled diaper, but not by much.

source @ gizmodo


Gizmodo’s Decade’s Worst Gadgets #4: Sony Clié PEG-NZ90

December 28, 2009 – 3:19 pm

Sony Clié PEG-NZ90


The Clié was a “Personal Entertainment Organizer,” which is a fancy way of saying that it was a multimedia PDA. An $800 multimedia PDA. What’s the point of being the most advanced Palm OS PDA at a time when no one really wanted PDAs? Its death in 2005 was a harbinger of the demise of the personal digital assistant age.

source @ gizmodo


Gizmodo’s Decade’s Worst Gadgets #25: Sony’s Mouse/Phone Thing

December 28, 2009 – 3:15 pm

#25

Sony VN-CX1A Mouse/VoIP Phone
Just because you can shove two functions into one device doesn’t mean you should. In fact, you generally shouldn’t! It’s also a little screwy that this was marketed to business people, since they’re the ones most likely to need to talk and use their computer at the same time.

source @ gizmodo


Gizmodo’s Decade’s Worst Gadgets #17: Sony’s UMD

December 28, 2009 – 2:50 pm

#17


Universal Media Disc
I understand Sony wanting to give the PSP its own special proprietary data format, I really do. But did they really expect me to buy movies on UMD? Limited storage meant that bonus footage had to largely be stripped from UMD releases, and exclusive PSP compatibility meant no one developed content for UMD anyway. Even Sony’s giving up on the technology, opting instead for flash memory in the PSPGo.

Source @ gizmodo


Gizmodo’s Decade’s Worst Gadgets #33: PlayStation Eye Toy

December 28, 2009 – 2:47 pm

#33


PlayStation EyeToy
There were never more than eight PS2 games a year designed for the EyeToy, and the majority of those ended up being hugely unpopular. Whatever functionality it had was either limited or unappealing or both, and now the only new titles EyeToy owners are left with have names like EyeToy Play: PomPom Party. So maybe it’s not all bad.

source @ gizmodo


Gizmodo’s Decade’s Worst Gadgets #42: Sony Memory Stick

December 28, 2009 – 2:44 pm

#42


Memory Stick:
A bit of a cheat here, since it debuted in 1998, but Sonys been torturing us with variations of its “why wont it just die already??” flash-memory format throughout the decade, so we call it fair game. Lets run down every iteration: Memory Stick, Memory Stick Select, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Pro Duo, Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo, Memory Stick Micro, Memory Stick XC. Whew Exhausting, confusing and redundant. The real question is, how many of those formats exist because the engineers screwed up on the older formats? Im sure some of you card-carrying IEEE members can figure it out.

source @ gizmodo


PS3 Motion Controller LAUNCH To Be “Really Exciting”

December 16, 2009 – 4:38 pm

This photo says everything that needs to be said about Sony and their ongoing handling of PS3 marketing. A guy in a suit, looking bored and unprepared staring down at a script that describes what it is to be “really exciting”.

Do notice that he says that the motion controller LAUNCH is going to be exciting. Not the controller itself or it’s games. That’s probably accurate given Sony’s launch history: because it’s not the quality of the products that brings in the cash, it’s the hype machine that beats into people’s heads that the product is a have-to-have that brings in the cash. Right? RIGHT?!?! /rant off

Sony’s John Koller:
“[They] are going to be the areas that will really define success, because they’re areas that quite honestly, I think Project Natal and the Wii are going to have trouble matching, from a differentiation standpoint. We look at motion control as being that much more than what exists on the market. The Holy Grail of gaming is placing you as a consumer into the game physically. When we provide further details, people will see exactly where we’re going, not only from a technological standpoint on the hardware, but also where the gameplay is transitioning. It’s going to be a really exciting launch.”

source @ PushSquare.com


Sony All But Admits to PSN Monthly Online Fees

December 15, 2009 – 9:03 am

Here we go again with Sony’s infamous bait-and-switch mess. This time, I’m going to let the quotes speak for themselves, complete with unspoken, but yet included truths. **truths are demarcated with 2 stars**


…In an interview with Nikkei Japan Sony Computer Entertainment executive vice president and chief technology officer Masayuki Chatani was asked how Sony was managing the high costs associated with running a service such as the PlayStation Network. “We would face difficulties if our business depended solely on the sell-and-forget model. After we sell the hardware **that we’re still taking a significant loss per console on** though we continue to sell **by sell I mean ‘push onto comsumers as if they have to have it to breathe’** products such as content and services ” he said. “We can **and soon WILL** also accept payment in a growing number of ways ” he added. “In addition to single-payment packaged software there are also schemes like monthly fees **like the ones we said we’d never charge you, but this statement is vague enough that we can deny anything you throw at us** or per-item charges.” Although there was little context to his answer it may be that in terms of monthly fees Chatani was only speaking in reference to specific titles such as massively multiplayer online games. However there have been persistent rumours that Sony may be considering an Xbox Live style subscription model **since Sony has no original ideas in it’s collective head** for the PlayStation Network a whole. Last month Kaz Hirari stated categorically that current services would continue to be offered free of charge although the company may begin to charge for unspecified new premium content and services - some using a subscription model.

Thank you. That will be all.

source @ gamesindustry.biz


Quantum Theory leaps from PS3 exclusivity to Xbox 360

December 7, 2009 – 11:42 am

So my newest theory (though months old and now well proven) on Sony’s lying “ps3 exclusive” hype machine is this:

  1. Pay companies with new highly-anticipated games to say “it’s a PS3 exclusive” for 3-6 months regardless of if they’re developing for other systems
  2. Run hype machine in public about such things - print, tv, billboard, whatever…
  3. Profit when game ultimately takes too long to dev and as such becomes an Xbox360 release first and let public sort out why it’s on 360 not only first, but at all

Impressive, yes? Insults go to you, the customer - the fools who don’t care as long as you gets yours. Grats f00lz! You’re supporting the cause for the world economy being what it is - selective ignorance based on reward. Pavlov would be proud!

Tecmos Gears of War clone is no longer a PS3 exclusive. During a recent interview in Tokyo, Tecmo revealed that Quantum Theory will also be coming to Xbox 360 in Spring 2010. Thats the same North American release window given to the PS3 version, which is currently 70% complete.

Source @ joystiq