Filed under: News

We know there are still a lot of you out there just on the edge of buying a PS3, but it’s still a difficult expenditure to rationalize. It is a lot of money, after all. It was more a year ago, and it could be less in another year, right? According to SCEA’s product marketing VP, Scott Steinberg, a price drop in 2008 may not be as likely as once thought. The reasoning behind this notion is the fact the console has been selling so well this year. He said, “we’re seeing that the hard-core gamer is not afraid to throw another $100 at the PlayStation 3 because the value proposition is so rich.” It does have a great value proposition, but it’d be an even better one if the price were a bit lower, right?

Sure, sure, economics, marketing, and business aside, Steinberg is saying that due to the PS3’s momentum, a price drop doesn’t appear to be necessary yet. If people are planning to buy it at the current price, why lower it even further? Steinberg feels the momentum should continue through the blockbuster titles coming in the next several months. We say we’ll still see a price drop in 2008. Just near the end of 2008.

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Filed under: Community

Sony’s PlayStation party at GDC08 was one of the most exclusive parties to get into. Just ask MTV’s Stephen Totilo, the GameTrailers crew, and the entire team at Insomniac Games. (None of these people were invited, supposedly.)
As we described earlier, “There are hula-hoop girls with really short shorts; there’s a breakdancing crew getting boogaloo on the dance floor; there’s a DJ mashing up 70’s throwbacks; there’s a barber shop upstairs (no, seriously, they’re actually cutting hair).” If you didn’t believe us, try watching this video: it’ll be like you’re there! Enjoy this, uh, VIP access to the show.

Download an HD version (for your PS3) from my Vimeo page.

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Filed under: Videos and Screenshots

Does the above image look like it belongs somewhere else? Well, it sort of does to us; the background environment reminds us more of another Konami hit series, Silent Hill, than it does Metal Gear Solid. That is, of course, once you take out all the Russian soldiers.

Luckily, it’s only this screenshot out of a batch that made us think so; the rest of the screenshots look mighty fine. Check out the rest of the new images at The Magic Box.

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Filed under: News

At last year’s GDC, Phil Harrison made a platform-saving keynote entitled “Game 3.0.” The PS3 was under a serious amount of scrutiny, but surprise announcements of Home and LittleBigPlanet recaptured the hearts and imaginations of gamers worldwide. Harrison envisioned a world of collaborative, social gaming, and admits that Sony Japan had been very reluctant to pursue that vision.

Speaking to GI.biz, Harrison lamented: “And our Japanese colleagues said that there is no such thing as social gaming in Japan - people do not play games on the same sofa together in each other’s homes. It will never happen. And then out comes the Wii.”
Harrison, who hailed from SCEE before taking over the PlayStation group at large, noted that social gaming is something he tried to promote heavily in Europe. “It’s a very interesting and frustrating thing for me to experience because I have been banging the drum about social gaming for a long time, with SingStar, EyeToy and Buzz.” Perhaps if Sony Japan had been a bit more understanding, it would meet much greater success than it has faced so far with this current generation of games. Thankfully, things are turning around.

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Filed under: News

If you’ve been keeping up with Alone in the Dark news, this might not be anything particularly important to you. But for those who just want to know a little bit more, you may get a laugh out of this one. Apparently, if you get stuck over the course of the game, a DVD-like menu will allow you to actually skip that section of the game and move on. Yes, you can just skip through the game if you’d like.

Call us crazy, but we’ve always derived a sense of joy from getting through a game. Figuring out a puzzle, conquering a particularly tricky boss, or just making it to the next cut-scene have always been motives for our continued love of gaming. Letting players skip through a game is fairly useless — it defeats the idea of releasing a “game”. Unless Alone in the Dark is nigh-impossible, we think this is a pretty strange idea.

[via CVG]

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Filed under: News

So you think Devil May Cry 4 is so hot, selling 2 million copies? Well, prepare to be blown away since Motorstorm recently crossed the 3 million units sold mark. What, you’re not blown away? Neither are we. We won’t lie — it’s a good game and 3 million are a lot of games. But you have to keep in mind this game’s been out for a while and has been bundled in with the PS3 in nearly every region. So take it how you want it, but we’re going to give a big thumbs up and congratulate Evolution Studios for making it that far.

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