PS3 DLC From Edge/Schick Products

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Sony today announced that they have teamed up with Edge and Schick for a new way to promote their games. Special edition Edge Shave Gel and Schick Quatro products featuring Killzone 3, Gran Turismo 5 and InFamous 2 will be shipping to stores soon.

Clean yourself up, get DLC.

Each of these custom products will have a code that can be entered at edgeshave.com/ps3. It will give access to a Retro Map Pack or three Unlock Points in Killzone 3, a customized Chevy Camaro SS “Edge Special” for Gran Turismo 5, and a “Sniper Blast” in-game power for InFamous 2.

Source: PlayStation.Blog

Facebook Pushes New Game Discovery

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Facebook is adding a Discover New Games sidebar module that shows off what games users are playing. It is designed to be a way to grow games outside of developer promotion and revive some of the virality lost by the current set up of Facebook.

The module displays the names and faces of the viewer s friends who play a game the viewer has yet to install. The name of the game, its thumbnail icon, and a ‘Play Now’ link appear below the facepile. When users see this implicit social recommendation by friends, they assume their must be some entertainment value in the displayed game, and may choose to click and install it.

Source: Inside Facebook

Gears Of War Producer Laments Changing Betas

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Game betas used to be a means by which the final kinks and balancing were worked out in the months leading up to a game’s release. However, with beta participation now guaranteed by various pre-order bonuses, they’ve become more promotional of the final product than a tool for the development process.

“For me I think it has to do with people moving from PC to consoles,” said Gears of War executive producer Rod Fergusson. “In PC days people were used to swapping out video cards, putting in their own memory, formatting your own harddrive . . . you were kind of your own tech support so the idea of having an unfinished product to play with and be involved with it was exciting. But when you move to the black box of the console it was sealed, and if you opened it you voided the warranty and so it was much more hands-off.”

“The idea of a console beta that’s an unfinished product is really foreign to that audience and so their expectation is that this is representative of the quality of the game and they have to judge it on this, he added. “It’s really hard to do betas then because you have to make it so polished and so far along that it’s hard to get the feedback you want.”

Source: Strategy Informer

Brink On The Edge With Pre-Order Bonuses

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The pre-order deals for the upcoming shooter Brink are out. Game, Play and Amazon will all be getting different offerings in the Doom & Spec Ops Packs, Fallout Pack and Psycho Pack respectively.

The Doom Pack includes unique pieces of Doom game themed equipment and the Spec Ops Pack has combat equipment. The Fallout Pack has Fallout: New Vegas themed outfits and the Psycho Pack has has a set of unique combat equipment. All of the sets come with a body tattoo of some sort.

Source: Eurogamer

IPad 2 First Weekend Sales Estimated At 1 Million

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According to analysts, the iPad 2 sold roughly one million units during its first weekend of availability. By contrast, it took the original iPad roughly four weeks to reach the same mark.

“Our field checks over the weekend indicate that the iPad 2 sold out at every Apple and non-Apple store we contacted,” said Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White. “In fact, all the stores had worked through iPad 2 inventory by Saturday afternoon, and there were no new iPad 2 deliveries on Sunday.

Source: Reuters

Time Warner Cable TV Riles Cable Networks

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Time Warner Cable is in hot water right now over an app that lets subscribers have access to content on various tablet devices. TV rights holders released strongly worded statements that such in-house streaming is not sanctioned by existing agreements.

Distribution via any sort of third-party app is not addressed in our carriage deals with Time Warner Cable or any other operator, said one affiliate chief. There is going to be a messy dissection of what the rights are but our position is that [this sort of distribution] is not authorized by our affiliate agreements.

While it’s currently only an option for short-range viewing, Time Warner Cable is clearly considering a streaming option for customers beyond their houses. We’re enabling the direct experience between the user and the content they love, said VP of Web Services Jason Gaedtke. If you’re on the road, on a train perhaps, maybe you can stream to that device, start watching an episode or a news program.

One affiliate CEO wasn’t incredibly worried about the current offerings. There’s the worry that you re letting our content out the front door, and then there’s the reality that, right now anyway, none of the MSOs are going that far with it. So, yes: Our reaction is somewhat informed by our wanting to give ourselves a little more leverage down the road.

If it’s not the portability issue, there’s the ad-insertion issue, the exec added. There are a lot of things to be wary of when someone starts moving your stuff around.

Source: AdWeek

RewardVille Open For Business

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Zynga has announced the official launch of RewardVille, an online rewards program. This will let users build their Zynga network status, earn Zynga-level points and coins, and unlock exclusive and limited edition virtual goods to apply to various Zynga games.

Our players are at the heart of all we do so our goal is to constantly look at ways to bring them the best and most fun experience when they play, said Roy Sehgal, vice president, Zynga. “With RewardVille, our aim is to delight players by rewarding them with new Zynga-level points, and exclusive limited edition virtual items. We love that you love our games, so here’s your chance to reap some rewards!

Find out more at RewardVille.com.

Zune Not Getting New Hardware: Report

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Reports are that Microsoft will stop making new versions of the Zune music and video player. The Zune has failed to crack the top five most popular most popular music players in its five years since its introduction; Zune features and software will instead be funneled into Windows Phone 7.

We have nothing to announce about another Zune device — but most recently have introduced Zune HD to Canada via the Zune Originals store and remain committed to supporting our devices in North America, said Microsoft in a statement. We are thrilled by the consumer excitement for Zune across many new platforms, including Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360. Our long-term strategy focuses on the strength of the entire Zune ecosystem across Microsoft platforms.

Source: Bloomberg

PlayStation Blog Revamp

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Sony has unveiled a new design for their U.S. PlayStation Blog. Examining traffic patterns, Google searches and the portions users click on, Sony has somewhat radically redesigned the blog.

So we’ve added prominent, permanent links to PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Home content. We’ve overhauled the search box with autocomplete. Our biggest recent releases now live at the top right of the site. And huge news won’t get pushed down the page nearly as quickly as it used to, said Jeff Rubenstein, Social Media Manager. Conversely, with the old design many things weren’t as easy to find as they should have been. You’ll now find it easier to give feedback on posts via Twitter and Facebook (both of which had a fraction of their current userbase when we first launched the site). Related content will appear at the bottom of a post, and a string of features can be found in a scrolling ‘red box’ belt right in the middle of the homepage.

More takeovers of the site, like what happened with Uncharted 3, are also planned.

Source: PlayStation Blog