As the console war continues to escalate Sony are really sticking it to the competition….. better late than never. Since announcing the price cut and the new slim version of the PS3 they have shifted over 1 million units worldwide.
Microsoft were quick to announce their own price cut to keep the Xbox 360 in line with the PS3 at $299, although the Xbox 360 lacks Blu-ray. Now Nintendo have announced a price cut for the Wii amidst falling sales. They have knocked $50 off the lightweight console making it $199.99.
In a clear sign that the gloves are well and truly off just hours after the announcement from Nintendo, Sony revealed plans for a new motion controller for the PS3. It will have two motion sensors, a gyroscope and an accelerometer. This will bring Wii style functionality to the PS3 and it is due to be released in Spring 2010. They actually announced it back at E3 but now it has a release date and this was obviously intended to take the shine off the Wii price cut. Here’s the demo from E3 in case you missed it.
In the UK Nintendo have refused to pass along the price drop. They are offering the console for the same price of £199 but offering an extra game. Great! So it is actually now more expensive in the UK than it was on release and more expensive here than anywhere else in the world. Nintendo are not winning me over.
The use of Kurt Cobain’s likeness in Guitar Hero 5 has caused a fairly big uproar. His old band mates from Nirvana have condemned it and more recently Jon Bon Jovi weighed in agreeing with Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic that it is distasteful. Cobain’s ex naturally came out and had a moan as well even though it was her that signed an agreement with Activision allowing the use of his likeness. In typical Courtney Love style she leeches yet more money from the memory of her husband while simultaneously moaning about it.
There is no doubt that he would not have approved and that’s reason enough to not do it. Have some respect you big business whores. Reviving corpses to make extra money is a filthy act. We were all screwed on this after the first big profile case when the family of Steve McQueen agreed to line their own pockets and let Ford use him in a car advert, splicing together footage from his films. It seems you no longer have any rights after you die and your greedy, graspy family can whore your likeness out to the highest bidder.
Sadly there isn’t too much we can do about Cobain in Guitar Hero 5 other than not buy it. This is the only way the game was going to get this level of publicity because it is a tired series which has pushed on past its sell by date. Just like the truly great bands you have to die or break up to leave a genuinely awesome legacy.
Talking about celebrity appearances in videogames it may be too late for Kurt but we can do something to prevent Ant and Dec appearing in videogame form. I’m referring to this story at MCV which reports that Nintendo have signed them up. Prepare for the ultimate awful Wii release. I’m not against them using a videogame likeness of Ant and Dec out of respect, more because they are a couple of overexposed no talent arseholes. For non UK readers who have never heard of them, I envy you.
The recent tweaks made by the PlayStation 3 Firmware 3.0 update may not have blown your socks off but there is one addition that is proving super popular here in the UK. Since they added the BBC iPlayer link to the XMB the PS3 now accounts for 10% of all iPlayer usage. Macs only account for 8.5%.
The presentation on the PS3 is very nice and iPlayer is awesome, offering many of the BBC’s programs from the last seven days as free streams. It works well but no one could have expected such a massive instant response.
Is there any escape from spammers? Well not if you’re online there isn’t. In fact spammers are even infiltrating games now. They are approaching gamers in MMO games like World of Warcraft and touting in game items and levelled up characters in exchange for cash.
Sony Online Entertainment have decided enough is enough and they’ve put together a team of spam busters who police games like Everquest and Free Realms stalking spammers and building up a picture of their evil organisation. Just like undercover cops they wait to find Mr Big before they call SWAT in and fill them all full of lead…or ban their accounts at least.
Most of these characters farms are based outside the reach of the US so there isn’t much the publishers and developers can do about the trade which is estimated to be worth several million dollars every year. You can read about this in more detail here.
I love the idea of that job working for Sony. What is their job title? Virtual Detective? MMOG Police? It must feel really rewarding to bust spammers, they should raid them in game and stick their characters in stocks for gamers to throw rotten veg at before they ban their accounts. Then hang, draw and quarter them and leave their heads on poles as a warning to other spammers.
The recent tweaks made by the 