PlayStation Home’s creative Director has now officially confirmed that the highly anticipated online service will enter open beta in November this year.
“Home is currently in a closed beta phase, and we have between 8,000 and 10,000 users in this closed beta phase. Around July we’re going to be expanding on the closed beta phase and allowing more people to gradually come in, and then in November this year we’ll be going to the open beta.”
He added that the extension to the closed beta allows them to have more conversations with their community, and that a lot of changes have been done as a result of feedback.
Via EuroGamer
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Sean Decker, the general manager of DICE (the studio behind Mirror’s Edge) has stated that developers haven’t even begun pushing the limits for the PS3 and won’t until the end of its life cycle.
Decker draws paralels between the PS2 and PS3, saying that “it’s not until several years down the road that you’re able to squeeze every drop” out of a videogame console.
This goes well with Sony’s claims that the PlayStation 3 will stay alive for at least the next ten years, and Decker comments that gamers will have to be patient to see what the Sony console is capable of.
More at Videogamer.com
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Let’s set the record straight first. Kaz Hirai never says that Sony is or isn’t in very early development cycles of the next Playstation. Microsoft already confirmed the next Xbox, but Kaz thinks it’s best to focus on the current generation, which I wholeheartedly agree with. Kikizo recently interviewed the Sony front man and asked him about future console development and when we could possibly see the next Playstation.
To say, OK, what is the consumer wanting to do in interactive entertainment five years from now, what can we as a platform holder propose, if you will, to the consumers, to say maybe we should so this or that, and make sure that we keep the consumers engaged, and really also make sure that we are leading the market as opposed to following it. So discussions are happening all the time, about both our short term plans - what are we doing this fiscal year, next fiscal year - as well as, what is the world going to look like, what is the landscape going to look like five years from now, or ten years from now.
Hirai then goes on to basically make the point that we really should not be preoccupied with the next generation of consoles when the current generation has only just begun. Many great games have been announced for all of the current generation consoles and are still quite a ways off. Hopefully ones even greater will appear later in this generation’s life cycle.
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Economic Daily News (EDN), a Taiwanese news source, says that the recently formed subsidiary of Asus - Pegatron Technology, has received an order from Microsoft to begin manufacturing a Blu-ray equipped model of the Xbox 360.
According to the EDN report, Pegatron claims they will start producing this HD model in the near future, and plans to ship it within six months, close to the holidays.
It was also revealed that the Arcade (formerly Core) version of the console is getting a price cut, but sadly no further details were provided.
Via Kotaku
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The latest news from the Playstation blog announces that are now on Facebook. Social Media Manager Jeff Rubenstein announces that they are porting everything from their current blog to Facebook including their events calendar. With the apps currently available for Facebook, they may include some interesting new features.
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While other consoles are getting price cuts, Sony’s PS3 is going in the opposite direction. Or at least it seems that way in Hong Kong, and certain other unconfirmed Asian-based locations.
Starting this week, the console will get an increase in price by around $25-30 USD in Asia. Nothing has changed, it’s the same black (or silver/white) 40GB model with nothing new to offer.
Sony’s official statement should be interesting, if they make one that is.
Via Hardcoreware
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Mario Kart Wii’s success is evident, as the Nintendo racer maintains it number #1 spot on the charts. Mario & Sonic At the Olympics still refuse to give up, and can to be found at #2.
Following closely behind at #3, is Polyphony’s Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. While no detailed sales figures have been released so far, we’re guessing the title has moved bucketloads of units.
Hit the jump for the full list.
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Microsoft today announced that it has appointed Daniel Maher as Xbox LIVE Editor for European territories.
By accepting this position, Maher immediately leaves his job at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s International Software Development team.
Read on for a press release.
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We reported last week that Sony plans to shut down online servers for multiple PSP and PS2 games, including titles such as Jak X, Lemmings, and Twisted Metal: Black Online.
However SCEA has now gone out and officially denied these rumours, stating that the company has not made any related announcements.
“SCEA has made no announcements about shutting down the servers, so I’m not sure where this website got that info,” an representative told Shacknews.
Updated - Hit the jump
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John Smedle, president of Sony Online Entertainment recently stated that a PlayStation 3 MMO could potentially rival the success of MMORPG giant World of Warcraft.
“I absolutely do think we’ll see that, and in fact I think by having a stable platform where every customer has an online capable box is a huge, huge potential advantage in building an MMO because you’ve alrady got an online user base.”
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Starting in April this year, Sony will offer a brand new PlayStation Portable Value Pack in Japan, which will include a stylish-looking PSP Lite with a 32MB Duo Memory Stick and an AV digital cable.
It’s not currently known if any import stores will sell this, but retail price is expected to be around 147€.
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 A couple of awesome new PlayStation Home screenshots have made their way to the Web, this time showcasing the virtual in-game PlayStation Portable.
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According to Media Create’s latest hardware numbers in Japan for the week ending February 24, Sony’s PlayStation Portable managed to move 53,373 units, while the Nintendo DS ‘only’ sold 50,151.
Media Create Numbers
Nintendo Wii - 63,504
PlayStation Portable - 53,373
Nintendo DS - 50,151
PlayStation 3 - 14,060
Xbox 360 - 2001
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Today SCEE (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) announced the launch of a new communication package for PSP, called Go!Messenger.
Basically Go!Messenger will allow PSP owners to communicate via voice-chat, video and instant messaging for free, as long as there is a wireless broadband connection nearby.
Hit the jump for more details.
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Sony has confirmed that they will release a special limited edition God of War: Chains of Olympus PSP bundle in June this year.
The package, which is priced at $199 - features the game itself, along with a shiny red PlayStation Portable, an UMD version of the popular hit comedy Superbad, and a gift certificate for a PlayStation Store downloadable title.
Hit the jump for the press release.
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Following last week’s announcement that Phil Harrison is leaving Sony Computer Entertainment, the company has now appointed three new Executive positions.
“Rob Dyer, Ian Jackson and Sally Buchanan’s proven records of strategic leadership and innovation, combined with their extensive industry experience re-enforce their new roles as a great fit for our organization,” said SCEA President and CEO Jack Tretton.
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The latest Japanese hardware sales numbers are in, and as usual Nintendo appears to be dominating with its extremely popular DS Lite and Wii.
Do note that the latter is being boosted by the great success of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Nintendo Wii - 78,583
DS Lite - 62,362
PlayStation Portable - 59,654
PlayStation 3 - 17,637
PlayStation 2 - 11,266
Xbox 360 - 2,198
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