PSN store update 23rd July 2009

This weeks PSN store update 23/07/09, also the EU Blog will be testing the water with a weekly Store Update on Wednesdays from now on.

Downloadable Games

Crystal Defenders (£7.99/€9.99)
Combine classic tower defence gameplay and the world of Final Fantasy and this is what you get. Deploy class based troops in tactical positions in order to protect the crystals from wave after wave of monsters.
PEGI 7+

Shatter (£4.79/€5.99)
Shatter is indeed what this brick-breaking game is all about as you utilise power-ups and special attacks to defeat the enemies. With innovative controls and physics based effects, Shatter is a great mix of old-school gameplay with a modern twist.
PEGI 3+

Demos (free)

Crystal Defenders Demo
PEGI 7+

Add-On Game Content

WipEout HD – Fury Expansion Pack (£7.99/€9.99)
Eight new tracks, thirteen new ship models and three new playable modes (two of which are available online – Eliminator and Zone Battle Modes) are included in this pack.
PEGI 3+

Killzone 2 – Napalm & Cordite Pack (£4.79/€5.99)
Two new maps, and in each map you get the opportunity to play with some new weapons. In Suljeva Cliffside you can arm yourself with the Flamethrower, and in Arctower Landing the Boltgun comes into play.
PEGI 18+

Killzone 2 – Map Pack Bundle (£9.99/€12.99)
Combining all the maps from the Steel & Titanium, Flash & Thunder and Napalm & Cordite packs, this bundle features six maps for you to play online.
PEGI 18+

Overlord II - Battle Rock Nemesis (£3.19/€3.99)
With new audience events to select from, Battle Rock gives you extra practise rounds, and new opponents to fight.
PEGI 16+

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – Banff Springs (£4.79/€5.99)
Situated in the hilly terrain of Alberta, Canada, this famous course is now available for you to play, test your skill on the infamous ‘Devil’s Cauldron’ hole.
PEGI 3+

Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires – Additional Music Set 2 (free)
These additional music tracks are available to use via the game’s BGM Select screen.
PEGI 12+

Rock Band
Further your Rock Band experience with this selection from Kings of Leon, Rancid and Rise Against:

• Crawl by Kings of Leon (£0.99/€1.49)
• Molly’s Chambers by Kings of Leon (£0.99/€1.49)
• Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon (£0.99/€1.49)
• Kings of Leon Pack 01 (this combines all the above tracks in one pack) (£2.49/€3.99)
• Last One to Die by Rancid (£0.99/€1.49)
• Ruby Soho by Rancid (£0.99/€1.49)
• Time Bomb by Rancid (£0.99/€1.49)
• Rancid Pack 01 (this combines all the above tracks in one pack) (£2.49/€3.99)
• Prayer of the Refugee by Rise Against (£0.99/€1.49)
• Re-Education (Through Labor) by Rise Against (£0.99/€1.49)
• Saviour by Rise Against (£0.99/€1.49)
• Rise Against Pack 01 (this combines all the above tracks in one pack) (£2.49/€3.99)

PEGI 12+

Guitar Hero: World Tour
This week Guitar Hero offers tracks and a pack taken from the Vagrant Records label:

• All The World is Mad by Thrice (£1.59/€1.99)
• The Martyr by Sense Fail (£1.59/€1.99)
• Young Cardinals by Alexisonfire (£1.59/€1.99)
• Vagrant Track Pack (This pack contains all three tracks listed above) (£4.39/€5.99)

PEGI 12+

Videos (free)

• Killzone 2 Napalm & Cordite Trailer
• MAG Developer Diary: A Massive New War Is Coming
• MAG Developer Diary: The Shadow Wars

PlayStation Store via PSP and Media Go

Add-On Game Content (also available via the PS3 store)

Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce – Download Pack 3 (free)
Put your skills to the test with these new missions, this pack also includes the previous mission packs released.
PEGI 12+

Rock Band Unplugged
Further your Rock Band Unplugged experience with this selection of tracks now available:

• Casey Jones by Grateful Dead (£0.99/€1.49)
• The Boys Are Back In Town (Live) by Thin Lizzie (£0.99/€1.49)

MAG Information

Gameplay Information:

• First Person Shooter (FPS)
• Aiming for "T" Rating
• Wave Respawn
- You spawn in "timed waves" and you spawn in with your squad.
- Some lucky squads get to paradrop into the combat zone or ride in on APCs
• 256 players online
- Can be on screen at the same time, so it is not broken down into split areas of the map
• Strictly multiplayer - Online only
- Possibly only retail release (Ed Byrne stated, "MAG is too massive to be a mere downloadable title)
- No splitscreen (Mike Gutmann stated, "We've got huge environments and lots of streaming going on to achieve fidelity - split screen would cause some real limitations)
- There will be an offline training course to let you get up to speed with controls, weapons, and all the equipment
• Action Shooter at its core
• Long Term Goals
• Vehicles including ground and air combat (unmanned)
• Set in the near future, 20 years from now
- Many weapons in the game are weapons currently in experimental/testing phases
• Audio cues (like air raid sirens after anti-aircraft positions are destroyed) inform teams if the attacking team is making ground
• Game modes ranging from 64 to 256 players
• Biggest maps are appx. 1 square kilometre
- Maps are based on three global regions - Alaska, Central Asia, and Central America
• Matchmaking fast and streamlined
• Push to talk (PTT) mics
- Squad channel
- Command channel (allows squad leaders to talk amongst themselves, as well as platoon leaders)
- Company channel (allows platoon leaders to talk together with the OIC)
• FREE online play

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Player Roles:

• 8 player squads
- Inspiration from real life military operations
- 4 squads form a platoon, 4 platoons form the company
- Each squad, platoon, and company have specific objectives to complete along with secondary objectives assigned by OIC
- Allows for a team dynamic even when not in a clan, so the game is more approachable by casual players as well as hardcore players
• Lead by people who are "proven" to be good leaders
- Squad Leaders vs Even higher Chains of Command
- After reaching a veteran level, players can enlist in the leadership tree
- Squad leaders can plot waypoints and call in UAVs
- Proven squad leaders can be promoted to platoon leaders
- Leaders can issue FRAGO commands (Fragmentary Orders), in which they assign an objective by clicking a button that tells the squad to complete something like destroying a bridge
• Officer in Charge (1 per team, highest level of command)
- Has the ability to call on Strategic Maneuvers, which affect all players on one side or the other
- Tactical Asset Recharge is an example manuever that recharges the squads leaders abilities to call in air strikes, special abilities, etc.
- Abilities include satellite recon sweeps, enemy blockades, signals jamming, air bombardments, precision strikes, etc.
- Still a player on the ground like everyone else
- Players around him gain better abilities, like running faster, planting a bomb faster, etc.
• Leaders have access to the Command Network Interface (CNI), which is a tactical map overview that allows them to zoom and scan the map and show objective locations, etc.

Character Development:

• Character advancement tree to fine-tune your character
- Character development is about customization, personalizing, and specializing
- Not a linear progression benefiting the player (ex. not like COD, Battlefield)
• Character cusomization (face, voice, armor)
• Each player carries a primary weapon, sidearm, melee weapon, and three gear perks (smoke grenades, frags, med kits, rocket launchers)
- Can save three loadouts in your armory and switch freely when you respawn
• No set classes
- Free-form kit creation
- You earn skill points and decide how to spend them
- Another example is sprinting where you can increase sprint duration by sinking EXP into it if you're the kind of player that wants to get around in a hurry
• Earn double experience for completing objectives, killing enemies, healing teammates, etc.
- As an example, a sniper can earn extra points by killing enemies in a target area that you are attacking
- Earn weapons, perks, and leadership poisitions as you rank up
- Reward players for working as a team
• Medal/Award system will be in place

Game Modes:

• Domination (256 players)
- Attackers start scattered along the map edges and move on foot or ride in one of a few transport vehicles
- Defenders must take outer defensive positions to meet the oncoming attackers
- Each defending squad is responsible for holding specific areas of the base
- Attackers must eliminate front line defense emplacements (bunkers, turrets, tank traps)
- Once in the inner base, attackers must take down anti-aircraft batteries and radar sensors
- Destroying things like the anti-aircraft batteries allow the attacking team to launch UAVs
- Attackers must capture and hold objectives and inflict enough damage to the defenders base to win
• Acquisition (128 players)
- Escort style requiring attackers to steal two protoype transports from a rival faction and escape to the extraction poin
• Sabotage (64 players)
- Attackers must infiltrate rival communication facilities and hold two control points at the same time
- Once achieved, a final demolition objective is revealed and must be destroyed to win
• Suppression (64 players)
- Pure infantry battle
- Only mode that does not contribute to the "Shadow War"

Factions:

• Three warring factions / Private Military Corporations (Raven, Sver, Valor)
- Their power struggle is dubbed the "Shadow War"
- You must decalre your allegience to one faction when starting the game
- Your PSN friends can only be on your team if they are in the same army as you
- You can change your allegience at a later date
- Each battle you fight impacts your factions standing
- Team with the most prestige plays as the defending team
- Once your faction wins enough in a specific mode, your faction gains the contract for that mode
- Earning contracts gives you bonus points, perks, weapons, or vehicles
• Raven
- Have high-tech futuristic weapons
- Play style will appleal to fans of sc-fi shooters like Halo or Resistance
• Sver
- Weapons arsenal may not be as powerful, but players are more adaptable
• Valor


"Groundbreaking large scale combat, intimacy of 8-player squad combat, and character growth"

Lawsuit against cross-game voice chat

The following is a lawsuit between Hochstein and Microsoft over cross game voice chat this could be one of the reasons why Sony have yet to implement this feature on the PlayStation 3

Case Update: Hochstein v. Microsoft

Hochstein et al. v. Microsoft et al.
United States District Court for E.D. Mich.
Case No. 04-cv-73071, Filed August 11, 2004
On June 22, 2009, the day before trial began, the judge in this patent infringement case made a key decision by opting to use the special master’s construction of a disputed claim.

In 1991, Peter Hochstein and Jeffrey Tenenbaum came up with the idea of communicating live while playing the same video game in separate locations. They patented the technology for doing so in 1994. In 2002, Microsoft released Xbox Live, a gaming service that also allows users to communicate while playing the same game. Sony also released similar capabilities for PlayStation 2. In 2004, Hochstein, Tenenbaum and Harold Milton, Jr. (an assignee of the patent) brought a patent infringement suit against Microsoft and Sony alleging that the voice and data communications technology used in the gaming systems infringed on the patent claims. For relief they sought a permanent injunction and treble damages. Sony settled its suit in April 2009, leaving Microsoft as the only remaining defendant.


Click read more for the whole post


While U.S. Patent No. RE36,574 is also asserted, the primary patent at issue is U.S. Patent No. 5,292,125, which is for an “apparatus and method for electrically connecting remotely located video games.” See representative claim 1:


1. A video game communication assembly (100) for communicating command signals between a local video game (28) having at least two player ports (A, B), at least one set of player controls (20), and at least two operating modes, and at least one remote video game (30) through a medium (110) capable of transmitting a plurality of data signals and voice signals, said assembly (100) comprising:

control means (106) for controlling command signals received from a set of player controls (20) of the local video game (28) and for creating communication signals;

modem means (114) for bilaterally transmitting said communication signals between said control means (106) and at least one remote video game (30);

first port means (112) for bilaterally transmitting said communication signals between said control means (106) and said modem means (114), said assembly (100) characterized by

said control means (106) including transit time means (126) for determining the amount of time required for said communication signals to travel between said first port means (112) and the remote video game (30).

After years of discovery, last fall Microsoft alerted the court that some claims still needed to be construed before trial began. Microsoft submitted its motion for construction of claim 39 in February 2009. See claim 39:


39. A video game communications circuit for communicating command signals between a local video game having at least two player ports (A, B), at least one set of player controls (20), and at least one remote video game (30) in a medium capable of transmitting plurality of data signals and voice signals, said circuit comprising:

a first microprocessor (140) electrically connected to one set of player controls (20), two player ports (A, B) and an oscillating circuit (Y1, C2, C3, R2);

two player port logic circuits (108, 124) electrically connected between said first microprocessor (140) and the two player ports (A, B);

a switch (150) connected to said first microprocessor (140) having at least two positions;

a modem circuit (114) electrically connected to said first microprocessor (140) for bilaterally transmitting communication signals to and from said first microprocessor (140);

a voice over data circuit (134) for filtering voice signals from communication signals and for transmitting both to said modem circuit (114); and

communication couplers (L1, L2) for connecting said voice over data circuit (134) to the medium of communication.

Microsoft wanted the claim to be construed to mean that the “video game communications circuit” and its associated components were separate and distinct from the video game computer to which the circuit is attached.

Microsoft argued that a distinction between the claimed apparatus and its video game computer was expressly reflected in claim 39, which asserts that the video game communications circuit is not the local video game, but instead, a separate circuit that connects to the local video game. ‘Plaintiffs want to collapse this distinction and ignore the claim's clear direction as to where particular components must be located — i.e., in a separate apparatus, and not in the video game computer itself,’ Microsoft argued in its motion.

In May, the special master to whom the matter was referred issued his report and recommendations, denying Microsoft's proposed limiting construction. Instead, he construed “video game communication circuit” to mean “a circuit operatively associated with a local video game and at least one remote video game without limitation as to such circuit's physical location or attachment to the local video game.” Microsoft objected to the master’s recommendations, but the court granted plaintiffs’ motion to adopt the recommendation anyway, dealing Microsoft a blow right before trial.

Read the court's claim construction order here.

A couple side notes:

This is the same case where Microsoft got in trouble for wasting the court’s time by filing an objection to discovery because of a typo Hochstein made in the discovery request. In February 2009, Hochstein deposed a Microsoft employee, Ms. Mason, about Xbox marketing and then filed a formal request for all marketing documents related to Xbox “including but not limited to all such documents identified by Ms. Mason at her February 12, 2008 [sic] deposition.” Microsoft responded five weeks later with general objections, including “Microsoft objects to this request as vague in that Ms. Mason’s deposition took place in 2009, not in 2008.” Over the next week, Microsoft proceeded to provide over 140,000 documents to Hochstein without any index.

The court, upset by Microsoft playing dumb in its written response, said the frivolous objection to an obvious, harmless typo was a waste of time for all the parties involved. The court issued a separate order directing Microsoft to explain why its counsel shouldn’t be sanctioned “for unreasonably and vexatiously multiplying the proceedings.”

Microsoft’s five week delay and “document dump” less than two months before trial also annoyed the court. The court ordered Microsoft to provide an index of the marketing documents within one week and barred Microsoft from introducing the marketing documents against Hochstein or contesting the admissibility of the marketing documents at trial.

Read the court’s discovery order here.

Also, in January 2009, Hochstein filed an almost identical suit as the one discussed here (dubbed Hochstein I), again brought against Microsoft and Sony. According to the complaint, during a Hochstein I pretrial conference in January 2008, the parties discussed whether the defendants’ new game consoles (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) should be litigated in Hochstein I or a separate lawsuit. Hochstein filed this complaint to adjudicate the possible infringement of the new products separately.

Read the Hochman II complaint here.

Battlefield 1943 Playtest

By Liam B [FRUITofDOOM]

source

He’s in my sights, that bastard that blew my tank up – now I have become a sniper and the little sod has no idea he is a breath away from meeting his maker. Lined up and compensating for targets distance and movement speed… patience… squeeze gently… 3… 2… HOLY CRAP – jump! Damn, too late! An enemy plane shot down by a flak cannon just ditched right into my observation tower, which I thought was a safe vantage point from which I could snipe from. I was wrong and this game just slapped me around the face with a big reminder that anything can happen here. Am I really playing a downloadable title? Did I really pay so little for such quality? Ouch, yep – I’m not dreaming.

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Above is a description of the first ten minutes into my play test on Battlefield 1943. For a non-retail downloadable title you expect to be called to forgive a lack in features and sophistication. Happily BF: 1943, developed by Dice and published by EA, dishes out surprise after pleasant surprise, providing an instant action rush yet backing it up with a fully fledged gaming experience. Pick it up and drop a few birds from the sky or dismantle a tank with a well place demo’ charge, or get down and dirty with a serious “this island belongs to us” approach and “my team and I are not giving it up!” Dice have tweaked and boosted their Frostbite engine for this title – the Frostbite game engine allows a good deal of destruction and fantastic sounds and effects, and whilst anyone having played Battlefield Bad Company will instantly recognise the graphics and game play (this feels like the same game) the isolated island in the Pacific and setting make ‘1943 really stand out.

But let us get to what you the reader wants to know: is it fun? My answer to you is: damn right skippy! Jump in to a quick match and you are less than a minute away from a battle taking place on the ground, on the water and indeed in the air. Want to play with friends? Then squad up with anyone you wish to carry your letters in case you don’t make it and start hurling lead towards the enemy. Want to know if there will be TSA only “boot camps”? Yes, yes there bloody well will be! This game caters for all trades and will see pilots strafing landing craft and raining highly explosive tickets to hell on the poor ants battling below. It will see snipers with a smile the length of the Nile after dropping an unsuspecting foe from across the other side of the island. Gamers will be shouting “did you frickin see that?” after hitting the detonation switch when a tank roles over some well placed explosives. With so many ways to dish out death – 43,000,000 kills doesn’t seem so far away but it is going to be one hell of a blast getting there.

The mechanics are pretty much the same as all other FPS games. It doesn’t try to be complicated and is really easy to just pick up and get on with it. Run around guns blazing and you’ll soon rack up the kills. However, get tactical and form a good team and you’ll be dominating the island and sending the enemy a clear message that you won’t go down easy. Planes are easy to control and offer machine guns and bombs to deal out the pain, with dogfights being the highlight. Should your plane take too much damage you can nose towards the enemy on the ground, or jump out with the safety of a parachute and live to fight another minute. The controls are easy enough that anyone can fly but take the time to master them and become an ace and you will nail other fighter pilots whilst making craters where the enemy once stood. Tanks are truly rolling beasts of steel and take as much punishment as they can dish out. You can drive and gun whilst a team mate takes the 50 cal’ on top. With a canon, a coaxial machine gun and a mounted 50 these babies will become a nuisance for even the most skilled of opponents. You will also see nimble jeeps to tear across the island whilst dodging shells and decorating your bonnet with a new coat of red gloss.

The aim of the game is to capture all the points on the island. With each point offering its occupants new vehicles and advantages such as capturing the airfield to give you aircraft on the island. Some points offer you tanks and jeeps, some even offer you a communications bunker allowing you to guide three bombers over the island to perform a bombing run anywhere you want to drop it – and a damned destructive bombing run it is too. Both sides start on a carrier ship with planes and landing craft (via water) for starting your assault. The carriers also house flak canons and defences to make sure your planes are safe from any enemy planes circling above for an easy kill. You will then land to take control of all points on Wake Island, Iwo Jima, Guadal Canal and a battle over the Coral Sea once all PSN members hit a combined 43,000,000 kills. You can get up close and personal with the Infantry class packing a machine gun, bazooka and hand grenades. Stay at a distance with a sniper rifle or get sneaky with the explosives using the Scout class. Finally there is the Rifleman that gets a semi-automatic rifle good in medium to long range battles, with the ability to slam on a grenade to launch like a make-shift mortar.

A very easy to play and offering many incentives to master type game, ideal for a community get together and offering weeks and weeks of multiplayer fun. With great graphics, a very good damage model, and fantastic sound effects this game gives a real sense of a hectic battle for control in every match. Plenty of variety and buckets of fun for up to 24 players, you can rest assured that this game will get the TSA community touch and receive the attention it deserves. Why waste time downloading the demo when you could be making your mark in the full title?

The community race between the PS3 and 360 formats to reach 43,000,000 kills and unlock a 4th map (Coral Sea) begins 10th July 19:43 (GMT+1) that being 7.43pm here during summer months in the UK. TSA will be hosting events and ongoing community sessions for this title, more information will be made available very shortly. Now I’m off to take to the skies, no I’m nicking that tank, no wait I’m going to snipe… ah sod it – charge!

IndustryGamers Interview With Eric Lempel

IndustryGamers: So what in your view is the big story for PlayStation Network right now?

Eric Lempel: I think the biggest story is actually PSP Go because this really speaks to PlayStation Network; the Go and the delivery mechanism to the device is completely powered by PSN... So we're saying to that consumer, 'This unit is just for you, it speaks to your lifestyle and what you've been asking for.' It also helps us push a lot more content through the network for PSP. PSN of course still exists on the other PSP units, but I think this reminds people that there's a lot you can do with those units as well. So that's the big news, that we've got a network-powered device.

IG: I know Sony has said the PSP Go is not intended to replace the traditional PSP model, but it does sort of seem that with this digital push that is going to eventually happen. Don't you think this will phase out UMD permanently?

EL: I think it really depends on the consumer and what they want. As Kaz [Hirai] mentioned it was really about going out there, talking to people and seeing what they wanted. That's what led to PSP Go, but it wasn't 100% of people saying, “We wan't something that just connects to the network and we're done with UMDs.” There's a good amount of the audience that still wants a tangible product; they're more comfortable with it, they like it better or they may not have the means to buy online. In our region we're doing pretty well with online penetration but it might not be the case worldwide. So I think there'll be a shift and the shift will be greater over time, I still think the tangible goods business is a viable business for us. It's still important to a segment of the market that we still want to sell to.

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IG: So every game is going to be released both in digital form and on UMD going forward?

EL: Yes, that is the plan. So it'll be day and date with retail, and in some cases depending on where people are today in development, they might not have the rights for digital distribution, but the goal is to get 100% day and date with UMDs and I think we'll do pretty well in that area. We're also converting a lot of the back catalogue; we already have a lot of “UMD Legacy” titles on the PlayStation Store and we're looking to rapidly increase that now with PSP Go. We've been working on that behind the scenes for a while so that when Go launches you'll see there's a lot of titles already available [on PSN] that you've known about for years.

IG: And the pricing on the digital games will be identical to the UMD counterparts?

EL: Well, we don't actually control pricing, so we can sell to retail at a wholesale price and then they set the resale price. On the PlayStation Store we do set the pricing for first-party titles, but on third-party they give us a wholesale price. On games where we do control pricing, what we'll steer towards is having it cost the same; it won't cost more [at retail or digitally] for the launch of a new title.

"...at this stage of the game when I really look at PSN and the entire offering I think we're in great shape. I don't think there's a lot of “catch up” [with XBL] anymore. In some cases, I think we've got more, and we've got some other things they don't have."
IG: What kind of feedback have you gotten from retailers? As you go more and more towards digital they are kind of left out...

EL: [Feedback] has actually been quite positive. Some of the retailers were brought in early on this, and we said, 'Hey, here's the direction we're going with this.' As you know, there are lots of other devices on the market that just don't have a software component at retail. So surprisingly, they're excited. So I definitely understand where the question's coming from and I also thought it would be interesting to see what happens when you say [to them], 'Sell this but there's not going to be a software component.' But there's still an accessory component and we've got a pretty strong accessory line; there will be new accessories planned for Go at some point. So retailers were embracing it and it seems like they're happy with the product. They're happy with the [model] 3000 PSP as well. Currently we're also doing a pretty good PlayStation card business with our $20 and $50 cards. Surprisingly, it's a good segment of our audience that uses cards only... so they can still sell these things. I think in other cases with other digital products, they really don't have anything [else to sell].

IG: I know one of the focuses also has been to bring PSOne classics onto PSN and PSP. Is there a certain goal for the percentage of that PSOne library that you plan to get onto the network?

EL: From my perspective, it's as much as possible. We're going to have a lot more by the end of the year. We'll easily double the amount we have currently, which I believe is 38. We'll at least double that by the end of the year, but the goal for me would be to get as many on there as possible because consumers love it, it's easy for third parties and our first-party studios because the content is done, and it's a place where you can get a lot of games that perhaps you never had or some that are out of print and you can't find anymore. In a lot of cases there are legal issues or contractual issues, because if you think back to the PSOne business no one was thinking “How can I someday distribute this content digitally for another device?” So when you look at a lot of these contracts, you're licensing it for that media on that specific device and you're done. But we've done a pretty good job in our region so far of getting some good stuff over and we'll aggressively seek that on both the first and third-party side.

IG: Microsoft unveiled an Xbox 360 games-on-demand service for Xbox Live, which will let users actually download full 360 games over their network. I know Sony has done a little bit of that with bigger PS3 games for download, but is their a plan in place to bring full PS3 games-on-demand to PSN?

EL: Not right now; it's not something we have planned, just because the size of the games is massive. With Blu-ray we can put up to 50 gigs on a dual-layer disc, while [Xbox 360] is still on a 9-gig media. So technically it's possible, but I think the issue would be, “Do you want to download 40 gigs and keep that on your hard drive?” I think there's great opportunity there in the future, and it's something we'll always look at, but for the time being it's not a direction we're going in.

IG: Obviously Xbox Live has had a big start on PSN, but how do you feel the two services stack up today? What do you believe are some of the things you need to work on to get on parity with Xbox Live?

EL: That would be a much different question two years ago and I'd have a much different answer, but at this stage of the game when I really look at PSN and the entire offering I think we're in great shape. I don't think there's a lot of “catch up” [with XBL] anymore. In some cases, I think we've got more, and we've got some other things they don't have. In terms of strengths, of course we're still free, and we're giving you a lot for free. It's not just free online gaming, but we've got PlayStation Home, which is a massive community and application that's totally free to use. Our video download service is also a little bit different from theirs in that we sell movies in addition to renting movies, so consumers who want to keep that digital media or pull it off their hard drive and store on an external device, [we offer that]. I think there's a lot we're doing that in some cases they're not doing, and I don't see a lot of things they're doing that we're not.

From my perspective, we have our own strategy and we've always been building our roadmap and saying here's what comes next; I think you've seen PSN has evolved tremendously since we've launched. In 2008 we redid the store and brought the store to PSP, we launched the trophy system, the in-game XMB feature which was much needed, along with other UI enhancements and other smaller features. So we'll continue to do that and I don't see anything now that makes me say, “Oh we must be able to do X,” because I think we're doing a lot really well ourselves.

IG: One thing that I noticed from Microsoft and Nintendo was a bigger focus on social networking like Facebook, which is going to be integrated into XBL and is going to work with DSi for photo uploads. Is Sony looking to partner with Facebook or Twitter as well?

EL: We're always looking at new partners and for things to do. Right now you can access Facebook from the browser on the PS3, so that's something the other guys couldn't do – so we were kind of ahead of the game there.

IG: I still think getting Netflix integrated into the XMB as part of PSN would be great. And Microsoft also announced their own separate 1080p streaming video on XBL. There's still no HD streaming on the PS3 – is there any plan for streaming video on PS3?

EL: There's no streaming plan right now. From our perspective, when we set out to build a video delivery service we wanted to do a few things. One was to give the consumer full choice – which again goes back to the fact that we don't charge a subscription to access our service and we don't charge any fee to access a movie service. [For Netflix on XBL] you're paying two companies to get that piece to work, which might not be appealing for everyone. The other thing we were looking at doing was providing a high quality experience. I haven't seen their 1080p streaming, but with us when we do these downloads it's a high quality file. With a lot of the streaming I've seen elsewhere it's not that great, and it's a little grainy and doesn't really match with the PS3 in the living room on the nice big TV. It's also about selection. We wanted to make sure we had a nice selection of new releases... you can't get the brand new DVD or BD releases on a streaming service early. So right now we're happy with where we are. We've added some new partners; we have all the majors and we're going after some more niche and interesting genres for our users.

IG: Regarding the new motion technology from Sony, from a PSN perspective how do you see the network leveraging that?

EL: From the PSN perspective, I would see a lot of great PSN content for that device. It looks like a great device that can do really deep and intense games or components of games that also use a controller, or just kind of mini-games or other applications for fun... PSN would be great for that. We can sell something at a low price that takes advantage of it and could probably provide hours of fun for the user. So I'm excited to see new content coming our way once the device is introduced.

IG: Sony has been pretty good at expanding its slate of original PSN games from independent developers. What guidelines do you follow as you look to grow the library of original PSN titles?

EL: We wanted to be an independent experience but a high quality experience when we look at this stuff. I think a lot of what you're talking to is that the games are innovative and really unique, but they're also made for PS3, so they're usually HD and they're different. That's what I love about PSN, as opposed to our consoles in the past where you had to put something on a disc to get it out there, and there were mass distribution costs and retail issues, but now we can provide a channel for these unique games. We have things like Flow and Flower and PixelJunk and Everyday Shooter, and Fat Princess coming... just all this neat content that's great on the console. We're always looking at new people, and we have several different groups within the company on both the Worldwide Studios side and our third-party relations side doing that. I think we've made strides there. As Kaz announced, we lowered the price of the PSP development tool – that's a step in the right direction because now a lot of people who might not have been able to make the big investment can get in and start making content for us. So the guidelines right now are not that stringent; we have some technical guidelines to protect the experience, but it's really about quality and bringing something innovative. If it's priced right and the consumer likes it, we're happy to distribute it. That's one of the greatest benefits of the network. As opposed to what others are offering, we're offering truly new and unique games that you can't find anywhere else. And about 45% are exclusive to PSN, so it's one of our biggest strengths.

IG: With PSP Go being all digital and the fact that you can access the store on the PSP itself, do you feel it's one step closer to competing with the iPhone?

EL: What's a little bit different with us is that PSP is a game-centric device; it was built for gaming. A lot of this other stuff you see on other devices – lots of smaller games, not that deep – might not provide the best experience. The PSP Go has a lot more horsepower and there's a lot more you can get out of this. I think the Go will open [the door] for more unique stuff that you probably wouldn't find on another platform because they can't run it or they just don't have the controls.

IG: Have you given any thought to encouraging more free software for PSN/PSP? The App Store has lots of free content, including free games. Is there consideration being given to expanding a free catalog?

EL: Right now our free catalog consists of demos, wallpapers, themes and videos about games. I don't think we want to degrade the experience you get from a PSP. Because [iPhone] is not a gaming-centric device, I think a user picks it up and [plays a simple free game] and says, “This is kind of dumb, but I don't care because I know this device wasn't intended for games.” So I want to make sure we uphold the quality of games on PSN; that doesn't mean they can't be shorter or quirky but we don't want to see a bunch of little things that don't quite make sense or provide a good experience because I think that takes away from what the device is intended for.

IG: How much marketing are we going to see for PSN? It still seems to me like awareness around the network with consumers is not quite where it needs to be.

EL: There will be a lot of marketing around PSN later this year, aside from the PSP Go launching, just focusing on the network. We will have the network kind of tagged on to all of our big marketing campaigns, and we'll probably have a separate network campaign as well just to speak to all the different features because there's lots to talk about now. You're right, we need to educate the consumer and let them know that there's all this stuff you can do at no cost. All you need is the device and you're set to go. I'd like to see us do a much better job there because there's a lot to say.

IG: With PSP Go launching for $249, will Sony look to drop the price on the old PSP to say $129 to match it with DS Lite?

EL: There are no plans in place to adjust pricing. There are bundles coming out over the next few months and the hardware plan is kind of locked and loaded. I don't think anything will be changing. [The old PSP] will be in the market and we're fully supporting the UMD PSP along with this; we're happy with where it is today.

IG: Some people may be worried about filling up the internal memory of the PSP Go, so what would you say the average size of a game file is going to be? How many games could a user fit onto the device?

EL: If you're strictly talking games, and not movies or other stuff, with the average game being perhaps 800 MB you could probably get about 20 games onto the PSP Go.

IG: And of course there's still memory stick storage...

EL: Right, and you can hook up via USB so you can offload this stuff if you need to. You can use the Media Go application to manage all of that.

IG: Thanks for your time, Eric.

How To Make Trophies More Fun

Trophies seem to be popular with PS3 owners the world over but what would make them even more worth collecting?

Maybe a way of exchanging trophies earned for credit or special downloads like avatars for your friends list from the PSN store could be one way of using them.

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Another could be a way to use them within Home, like a special store within the Mall/shopping centre called the trophy store where you could exchange them for game related t-shirts/outfits and game related Home personal space items like posters,wallpapers,music from the game's or even special pod casts.

Or how about when you make it to a certain number of trophies Sony could send you an award via post or e-mail showing how many trophies with well done and a special background(favorite game) or maybe a store you can access on your PC or PS3 where you can exchange trophies for real world items for example soundtracks from your favorite game,t-shirts,posters,figures etc.

These are just a few things off the top of my head but some way of using these trophies might make people want them more and in turn buy more games and DLC.

Also a global leaderboard under the friends list so we can see where we rank against the rest of the world and are friends would also be another great feature.

I'm sure Sony will one day introduce a system to use trophies in some kind of way, so i think it's up to us to keep asking for this and then i'm sure Sony will listen

Uncharted 2 fact sheet

UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves
FACT SHEET

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.
Developer: Naughty Dog
Genre: Action-Adventure Shooter
Players: Single player
Platform: PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system
Launch Date: 2009
Rating: “RP” for Rating Pending


OVERVIEW
UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves is the story of Nathan Drake, a fortune-hunter with a shady reputation and an even shadier past who is lured back into the treacherous world of thieves and mercenary treasure-seekers. The tenth game by premier PLAYSTATION 3 developer Naughty Dog, UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves allows players to take control of Drake and embark on a journey that will push him to his physical, emotional and intellectual limits to discover the real truth behind the lost fleet of Marco Polo and the legendary Himalayan valley of Shambhala.

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STORY
In 1292, after spending nearly 20 years in the court of emperor Kublai Khan, Marco Polo departed China with 14 ships filled with over 600 passengers and crew. Eighteen months later, when Marco Polo arrived at his destination, only one ship remained and only 18 passengers survived. Although Marco Polo described every aspect of his adventures in detail, he never revealed what happened to these lost ships, passengers or treasure on board – even on his deathbed.

Drawn in by the potential riches to be found – but most inspired by the intrigue of the historical mystery – Drake embarks on a quest to find the lost fleet. He soon realizes that Marco Polo was hiding a much bigger secret – he had gone on a secret expedition on behalf of the emperor to find the mythical kingdom of Shambhala (otherwise known as Shangri-La) and to recover the legendary Cintamani Stone, the “wish-fulfilling jewel” of Buddhist mythology. The Stone is described by Marco Polo as a massive raw sapphire – if it truly exists, it would be worth billions of dollars today.

This discovery sets Drake on a new course following Marco Polo’s 700-year-old trail through a diverse range of exotic environments to find out if the lost city of Shambhala, rumored to lie deep in the Himalayas, really exists. This quest also pits him against a new, more formidable adversary who is after the same artifact – a ruthless, rogue paramilitary leader with a private army and a relentless ambition to recover the stone for himself.

Utilizing the Naughty Dog Engine 2.0 to blend together the art of cinema and gaming, the immersive action and storytelling is brought to life through technology only made possible on the PLAYSTATION 3. Maximizing the CELL processor like no studio has done before as animation, physics, sound, and motion / audio capture combine together to enable gamers to become Nathan Drake and immerse themselves in his extraordinary story as they play.


KEY FEATURES
• An expanded cast of characters who reflect different facets of Drake’s character, including Chloe Frazer, Drake’s current partner and new romantic interest.

• Varied and exotic locations – from lush, green swamps and dense urban environments, all the way to the ice and snow of the Himalayas.


• Unrestricted combat allows players to take an aggressive or stealthy approach to combat.
Free-flowing “traversal gunplay” adds a unique vertical element to familiar cover-based third-person shooting mechanics, allowing the player to engage in combat from any position in the environment – even while climbing and hanging.
Introduction of new traversal and free-climbing mechanics allow Drake to navigate through the environments more fluidly and naturally.
Gunplay and combat enhancements, including an expanded melee system, and a variety of enemy types with advanced AI routines.

• High-quality cinematic presentation of scenes, characters and dialogue, all rendered within the Naughty Dog Engine 2.0.
Dramatic in-game events that make the player an active participant in the cinematic experience.
Full character interaction with dynamic geometry.

• Utilizes Naughty Dog Engine 2.0 purpose-built for the PLAYSTATION 3; utilizes the PS3 technology to hit a turning point in technology innovation by recreating reality and capturing human emotion.

• No visible loading – a Naughty Dog hallmark – returns along with technology improvements in major game systems such as lighting, shadows, ambient occlusion, animation technology and physics, among many others.

MULTIPLAYER

• Robust party system allows players to remain with their friends in matchmaking and custom matches.
• Custom matches allow players to customize maps and modes which their party wishes to play.
• Currency gained in multiplayer matches can be combined with currency gained in single player missions to unlock additional content and upgrades.
• Character animations and environments taken from single player campaign maintain visual fidelity with no degradation.
• Gameplay and character mechanics identical from the single-player campaign, ensuring user familiarity and same level of quality
• Headset support
• Proprietary Naughty Dog Engine 2.0 network code captures a broad range of gameplay data for statistics reporting on the web and for functionality like Cinema, which allows players to watch replays of matches
• Cutting edge technology such as cloud-based computing allows for scalable online infrastructure to provide optimal player experience

Competitive Multiplayer

• Competitive multiplayer gameplay includes up to 10 players in heroes-versus-villains matches
• Deathmatch: Up to 5 vs. 5 with customizable or pre-set game modes
• Plunder: Unique style of multiplayer that encourages team work to transport a treasure across terrain horizontally and vertically over obstacles
• Player boosters give players a variety of options to customize their characters to their play style or to provide an advantage over opponents

Co-op Multiplayer

• Up to three players work together in cooperative modes to accomplish set objectives with increasing difficulty and against special enemy characters
• Combo system encourages further teamwork to increase a point total and currency multiplier
• Weapon upgrades let players customize their weapons to their play style or provide an advantage over opponents