Sony Talks Deals, Quality Experiences On The PSP

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A recent PSP ad clearly was calling out the gaming viability of the iPhone and other smartphone devices like it. When asked about it, a Sony spokesperson responded, “The real focus/takeaway here is our strength in rich/deep/immersive gaming experiences that are only possible on PSP platform vs competing offerings.”

“PlayStation is the leader when it comes to delivering console-quality games for mobile gamers and we have continuously raised the bar by providing deeper portable gaming experiences to consumers for many years, added John Koller, Director of Hardware Marketing at SCEA. The new marketing efforts further reinforce what PlayStation Portable consumers have come to expect from the platform — the most robust and richest gaming experiences available in the marketplace today at value prices that start at $9.99.”

Source: IndustryGamers {link no longer active}

Sony Developer Believes PS3 Will Lead 3D Revolution

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Mick Hocking, senior director for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Studio Liverpool also happens to head up the worldwide studio s stereoscopic 3D team. He’s a large evangelist for the platform, thinking it’s more immersive than 2D, so he thinks quality is important to get people to make the investment.

“I think it’s crucially important that we produce high-quality 3D at this time,” said Hocking. “We’re in the phase of building the market. We need to convince (gamers) to not only get the games but also to buy the 3D TVs. If you do produce 3D games in the right way it is a stunning experience and justifies the need to put glasses on and buy that TV,” he said. “If not done well it’s just used to add depth or worse it can put people off. 3D done right isn’t just about adding depth to a scene; it is a creative medium. There are choices about how much depth you put into a scene depending on what you’re after, whether it is to create a sense of suspense or vertigo.”

Hocking added that Avatar helped prove the medium to a lot of people, and he thinks that Sony has the keys to unlocking the gaming landmark equivalent of such a title. “My completely unbiased opinion is Motorstorm Apocalypse,” Hocking said. “I think Killzone 3 has a great sense of vertigo, especially in the jetpack levels, but Motorstorm has things blowing up all around you and past you.”

Source: Kotaku

Verizon, HTC And Google Reportedly Teaming Up For iPad Killer

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Word is that HTC, Google, and Verizon have teamed up to produce a Chrome OS tablet that will be available on Black Friday. It is expected that the device will be an attempt to counter the iPad.

Reports also say that the HTC tablet will be built around an NVidia Tegra 2 processor, with a 1280×720 multitouch display, 2Gb of RAM, a 32Gb or more of SSD storage, webcam, GPS, and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3G networking. The device could even be heavily subsidized with a Verizon data plan, making it significantly cheaper than an iPad.

Source: PC World

Xbox Avatars Changing

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Nick Burton, senior programmer at Rare, says the Xbox Live avatars will be changing. The avatar creators will make them more realistic for what is being dubbed ‘Avatar 2.0.’

“The proportions are being switched out because of the hand-eye co-ordination needed for Kinect products. It’s not so much a hardware limitation as it is a player perception issue when relating movements to their avatars,” Burton explained.

Source: OXM

Facebook Scams: How To Avoid

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Given the controversy of the recent dislike button on Facebook, it’s good to have a refresher over social media scams. Much like with spam mail scams, a dose of common sense always helps if a post is unusual or out of character for a friend of yours, you might want to reconsider before you click on the source.

Another fishy sign is when something like the dislike function or a video has its own app the like button or video embedder on the site do not. The biggest warning sign is when you’re taken off of the site to an external source: beware apps claiming to be official but have you install something off of the site.

“The good news about this particular group of scams is that they aren’t that harmful, and you can undo the damage by removing the application from Facebook’s ‘Application Settings’ page,” writes Jared Newman. “But at that point, everyone will know you’ve been had.”

Source: Reuters

Square Enix Admonished By U.K. ASA Over Final Fantasy XIII Advert

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The British Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that Square Enix released misleading ads for Final Fantasy XIII by using footage from the PS3 version in an ad for the Xbox 360 version. This came after a user complained about the images being sharper than the Xbox 360 version produced.

“We tested the two games, on screens with an identical set up, and ran them alongside one another, said a spokesperson for the ASA. “We noted that there was a discernible difference in the picture quality of the two – the PS3 image in video sequences appeared sharper and colours were more vivid than those of the Xbox 360.

“We considered that, because the ad promoted the game on the Xbox 360 platform, it should have featured footage derived from that console, the statement continued. “Because it did not, and because we considered that the use of PS3 footage in the ad exaggerated the quality of the footage available on the Xbox 360, albeit marginally, we concluded the ad was misleading.”

For its part, Square Enix said that FMV had been used instead of in-game footage, but they did admit it was from the PS3 version. They noted that there were differences between the two versions, especially because of the compression necessary to get the game on 3 DVDs for the Xbox 360 compared to the single Blu-ray disc on PS3.

Square Enix also claimed ‘no substantive difference’ between the two versions and claimed they did not believe any average viewer, or indeed avid gamer, would perceive any difference in the output unless reviewing the materially forensically.

Source: Telegraph

Google TV’s Challenges

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Google right now is trying to get ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC to sign up for their Google TV service. However, these networks are skeptical that Google can compensate them for potentially cannibalizing the existing TV broadcast businesses.

“Google executives are pushing hard to convince content owners to share data about their video websites to make it easier for Google to search and display their shows in blended TV-Web listings, these people said,” writes Jessica E. Vascellaro. “When a user searches for a show like ABC’s Desperate Housewives, for instance, Google’s software will list episodes scheduled to air on TV and airing at that moment, along with episodes and other related content online.”

Along with this push, Google is hoping to get more web content owners on board with making their products more viewable on a larger screen. If Google isn’t careful, though, the media could push to have web video blocked from certain devices.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Sony Details New PS3 SKUs

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Sony has confirmed that they will be launching a 160GB PS3 Slim and 320GB PS3 Slim + PlayStation Move bundle this Fall. The hardware will be priced at $299 and $399 respectively.

Currently, the PS3 is being sold in a 120GB Slim model and a 250GB model, priced at $300 and $350 respectively. Sony did confirm, however, that these models will be phased out for the launch of the new ones.