PSP settles into place at the top, having get-together next week
Better get used to this. My new favorite handheld, it is.
- PSP – 92,411
- Wii – 48,796
- Nintendo DS – 42,435
- PlayStation 3 – 9,107
- PlayStation 2 – 7,108
- Xbox 360 – 1,283
Sony gets shakin’ with Movement
That’s a sensationalist headline, right? It implies Sony is taking motion-based game control more seriously to combat Nintendo’s scheme. But no, that’s not what this is about at all. I misled you. I took your trust, flirted with its girlfriend, and then gave it bad directions. I’m just having one of my prick days, man. Don’t hit me.
…So.
Movement (PSN)
Seeking out the greatest unsigned bands from across Europe, Movement is an exclusive PSN music experience which will open your ears, your PS3 and PSP to the best in international music. From French electronica to London grindie via melody driven rock from Germany, you’ll hear it all courtesy of hosts Spencer and Martin who are tracking down the sweetest sounds across the continent in their VW Camper. With exclusive downloads on PSN and performances at PlayStation Day, movement will culminate with one band being selected by Spencer and Martin to have a professional promo video made. Look out for the entire madcap adventure on PSN soon.
I really hope this doesn’t turn out to be like the dogshit they call podcasts on the PSP browser’s website, with MadJake and the Noose, or whatever those MTV Generation degenerates call themselves. But with Spencer and Martin cruising Europe in a VW Camper, most likely in a madcap fashion, my hopes are stillborn.
PSN Store redesigned
[Edit: Oops. I thought it went live when i posted this, but it happens in about a week and change. Let me know how you like it when it's on.]
I’ve been without PSN access for about a week, so I don’t have any first hand opinions on the remodeling. This here screen grab tells me it looks better already (the other screen grabs not as much). The old one was kinda crap, this one manages to actually feel like a PlayStation product.
I must say though, it resembles too closely the PS3-exclusive website that’s in your favorites when you use the built-in web browser. Reminds me too much of Cool Boarders for some odd reason. I think it’s that shade of blue, does something to my psychosis.
Any random impressions from a passerby? While you’re here, does Patapon rock or does Patapon rock?
New PS Store scheduled for April
Earlier in the month, Sony confirmed:
“We give [Sony’s PSN team] a lot of feedback based on how our customers are reacting to things, and I think you will see a pretty big change in the PlayStation Network in the early part of April, where we roll out some new interface stuff largely based on customer feedback.”
Now, the inclusion of the following image on the PlayStation Store’s banner image leads me to believe that it’s coming sooner than expected.
Early april? People like to estimate that when PR folk say “next month”, they mean “in a month”, but the change in the banner says soon to me. To you too, i hope, if you claim to read english.
Renovating Home
Sony’s Home service for the PS3, the MMO with so much mo’, is shapeshifting all the time. The latest development from the Home beta comes via PS3’s three premier devs at the moment — Incognito, Naughty Dog, and Insomniac — who detail their plans for integrating the service into their games. From PS3F:
Uncharted and Resistance will allow you to explore empty levels from the game as your Home avatar (hopefully, with your friends – that would make it extra cool). Resistance will also have a game-space in which we’ll be able to explore unseen areas of the game as well as listen to extra content from the game in the form of “intercepted radio transmissions” which will expand on the storyline.
Uncharted is pegged to have a Contra-style 2D side-scrolling shooter based on the game, available in its gamespace. Warhawk, on the other hand, will feature full game launching from within Home and a “war room” which will allow players to draw out battle plans on a virtual sandbox map of the level.
Taking it further, the commenters on PS3F chimed in with their own concoctions: taking your Home avatars to a live, online GT5 race and watching from the stands; watching streaming feeds of an in-progress COD4 match; picking up tickets at a virtual box office to a WWE/NBA Live/MLB:The Show/etc. event and watch “in person” from the stands. The potential for this service is clearly amazing. Of course, i have to add the tennis element to it.
Picture the next Virtua Tennis or Top Spin game’s online mode with Home integration. If, say, Linteria (that’s me on the PSN) is in the top ten of the world online rankings for the game, i’d be a pretty big deal. So let’s say an important match in a sanctioned singles tournament is going on and i am either not playing that day or am not in the tourney at all. Being a worldwide top tenner, the live telecast presentation within the game can go to a picture-in-picture shot of my Home avatar in the stands during a changeover, which would inspire or motivate the not-as-talented players on court to perform at their best, knowing that i respect them enough to give them the time of day.
Oh, i’m so stoked. Any tennis game devs out there, please hire me. I’m pregnant with ideas; third trimester.
