According to Enterbrain's weekly sales data, Japanese consumers purchased 152,530 PlayStation 3 units last week, which represents a 7,350 percent increase from about 2,000 units the previous week. This is the highest number of PS3 systems sold in a single week in Japan, ever. Its launch week (which was, admittedly, two days long) garnered totals of 88,000 units. We can't imagine what happened last week to spur such sudden interest. Oh, right -- Play Face. The inspiring Play Face ad campaign is the only reasonable explanation for this sales boost.

Sales of Sony's redesigned Slim beat Xbox 360, Wii and DS Lite by 3:1 Having launched at UK retail last Tuesday, Sony’s PS3 console has enjoyed a colossal week-on-week sales jump, with numbers of ChartTrack’s Week 36 showing a 999 per cent sales increase over the week before. ChartTrack has told MCV that it is not releasing specific sales numbers, but did say: “The sales increase is very impressive, making the PS3 the top selling hardware in Week 36. The Xbox 360, Wii and DS Lite all sold around the same amount last week – PS3 Slim outsold each of them by a ratio of three-to-one.” The sales-tracking firm added that it’s unsure how long the uplift will continue for. “The longevity of this uplift very much depends on the time of year. The PS2 Slim was released in November, much closer to Christmas. We’ll have to wait and see how things work out for Sony this time.”

If you're sick of hearing your grandmother brag about how popular her chosen console is while she rocks your world in Wii Sports Bowling yet again, maybe this news will finally shut her up. Last week, thanks to a flurry of price cuts and slimming waistlines, the other two players in the console war saw significant sales boosts. Xbox 360 numbers jumped 32 percent over the week before and the PS3 was up an impressive 104 percent. That puts all three consoles neck-and-neck for the American weekly sales lead, each one close enough to 75,000 units that the margin of error more than covers the lot. But, since both price cuts officially went into effect part-way through that week, we're expecting even bigger surges ahead -- and even bigger drops from the Nintendo's offering as we get further and further away from the release of Wii Sports Resort, seemingly the last game worth playing on the thing.

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) today announced the availability of the upcoming Limited Edition Gran Turismo PSP(PlayStation Portable) Entertainment Pack on October 20 for $199.99 (MSRP) at participating retailers in the United States and Canada. Developed by Polyphony Digital, Inc. specifically for the PSP system, the launch of Gran Turismo marks the first time the famed racing series is available on PSP. Blending the high-speed racing action of Gran Turismo with the high caliber entertainment experience of the PSP system, the new entertainment pack features an exclusive PlayStation Network downloadable voucher for a white Chevrolet Corvette ZR1—a color not available in the game and only offered in this hardware package. The limited edition entertainment pack also includes a "Mystic Silver" PSP-3000 system; Gran Turismo game on UMD; PlayStation Network downloadable movie voucher (title to be announced); a 2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo; and a music voucher good for 10 downloadable songs from Sony Music Pass. A stand-alone version of Gran Turismo will be available on UMD and as a digital download on the PlayStation Network on October 1 for $39.99 (MSRP). The award-winning Gran Turismo franchise has shipped more than 52 million units worldwide. With its true-to-life graphics and authentic physics technology and design, Gran Turismo features more than 800 vehicle models from the world's top manufacturers and 35 tracks – all this is only possible on the PSP system. "Gran Turismo is one of the most successful gaming franchises in history, so what better way to mark Gran Turismo's premiere on the PSP system than by offering it with the only portable device that can deliver its rich, true-to-life graphics and unrivaled driving experience," said John Koller, Director, Hardware Marketing, SCEA. "Featuring Polyphony Digital's famed graphical prowess, tons of fun automotive content—including the ability to trade and share vehicles—and an exhilarating racing experience created for the PSP system, Gran Turismo is again poised to take racing games to new heights." The Limited Edition Gran Turismo Entertainment Pack features a "Mystic Silver" PSP-3000 system, along with the following: Gran Turismo – Developed exclusively for the PSP system by the internal team of designers and engineers at Polyphony Digital, Gran Turismo features more than 800 vehicle models from the world's top manufacturers (over 4,500 total paint variations) and 35 tracks (60+ total layouts)—including famous world circuits, city courses and other environments. Seasoned Gran Turismo fans will recognize the depth of content and unparalleled visuals the series is known for, including graphics running at a stunning 60 frames per second. Additionally, a first in the Gran Turismo series is the ability to trade and share unlocked vehicles with others online via ad hoc mode, a feature that is not available in any other racing game on the PSP system. Rated "E" for everyone. Exclusive car download – Includes an exclusive PlayStation Network voucher to download a white version of the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 for Gran Turismo, the same car featured on the cover of the game. PlayStation Network movie voucher – Consumers can easily download a movie from the PlayStation Network to their PSP system. Title to be announced. 2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo – Leverages the PSP system's multimedia functionality by storing photos, music, videos, and game saves. Music voucher – Consumers can download 10 free songs onto their PC or Mac using Sony Music Pass. Available to U.S. residents only. From the hardware to games, videos, music, memory and more for $199.99 (MSRP), all PSP entertainment packs offer incredible value to consumers.

Source

PS3 3.0 Firmware Update

"We are excited today to announce God of War Collection," said Scott Rohde, vice president of Sony Worldwide Studios America. "Our fans spoke and we listened; thanks to our partnership with Bluepoint Games, fans and newcomers to the series can experience the epic God of War and God of War II saga in stunning 720p on PS3. This Blu-ray Disc compilation brings Kratos to PS3 even earlier than expected."

I promised you all an update on Cross-Game chat, so here it is. And you're not going to like it. As I told you before, Cross-game voice chat has been in the works for a while now. I mentioned last time that it was on target for 3.0 providing that we didn't hit any snags. Well guess what, we hit a snag! An all too familiar snag. Time for a history lesson. How many of you remember what it was like before FW 2.4? That's right - no in-game XMB. No custom soundtracks. In-game XMB was the most heavily requested feature at the time and we worked tirelessly in order to get it in (By "we", I mean Sony Japan - as I said before, FW isn't my department). It very nearly didn't happen, you have no idea how difficult it is to backport a feature like that onto a system (the game) that doesn't even know its there, but somehow we managed it. Well, for most titles. There are still the odd few titles out there that don't support in-game XMB ("black" titles). Custom soundtracks was another one we had working in nearly every title. Obviously it was never going to work in black titles, but about 95% of the titles that worked well with the in-game XMB, had custom sountracks working as well. So what happened? Why is it that titles HAVE to be developed specifically with custom soundtrack support when it was working more or less just fine? Is it because Microsoft owns the patent on custom soundtracks in games? This is something that makes me laugh every time I see one of the less educated ones spouting it off. That's an absolute fabrication. Patents don't matter, Sony as a while infringes upon thousands of patents through the whole company, both hardware and software. If you infringe a patent, you pay royalties to the owner or find a different way of doing the same thing that doesn't infringe. That's it. Microsoft infringes upon all kinds of patents we own but that's up to legal to sort out. No, the reason we had to drop Custom soundtrack support like that has nothing to do with Microsoft. It does, however, involve a different company. A rather large company. You see, one of their games happened to fall into the 5% that didn't support in-game custom soundtracks. And they did not like this. When they found out that a new firmware update was going to suddenly make one of their games look inferior to just about every other game released, they protested. A lot. They threatened everything, from legal action to dropping support for the PS3 all together. What could we do? There was almost no way of getting it to work correctly due to the way their game was made (i.e. Poorly) and we certainly couldn't leave a broken implementation in there. That's when the hard decision was made to remove all support for older titles and instead adopt the "opt-in" approach that, to this day, most developers simply ignore. I have to hand this to Microsoft - they did their system right from the beginning and by completely separating it from the developers, they have universal support. Its very unlikely that you'll ever see mandatory support for custom soundtracks in games on our system, I'm afraid. So yeah, lets nail this on the head: The next time someone starts blaming Microsoft for something the PS3 doesn't have, tell them they're an idiot, they don't know what they're talking about. Are we clear on this? This is a pet peeve of mine because while everyone's happy to go around blaming Microsoft, the real culprits are getting off scott-free. Of course, I can't actually name them directly or, should I get caught, I might even get done for slander (you can never be too careful), but you can figure it out - it's not Activision and they have a poor history with the PS3. So what has this got to do with Cross-game voice chat? Guess. I warned you that we might hit a snag and we did. We've found a couple of titles that just don't like it. Similar to the custom soundtrack fiasco, it can cause lag, crashes, desyncronisation (very very bad when this happens), you name it. It can't be used in these games and it just so happens that some of these games are owned by the same company I've been talking about above. So we're in a predicament: Cross-game chat is useless if only certain games support it. It's not too bad if its just the odd one that doesn't like it, but at this rate we'd have to drop support for the ENTIRE back catalogue, which would (As I said) make the whole thing useless. Furthermore, we can't rely on developers to implement direct support for it. It didn't work with Custom Soundtracks, so why would it work here? So right now, we're trying every little trick in the book to find a solution that works for everyone, but don't hold your breath on this one, so far it looks like the best you're going to get is a gimped implementation of it that only works with a handful of new games. Now as I said, FW isn't actually my department and even I'm not supposed to know some of this stuff, but this is actually where we are right now. It sucks majorly, but there you have it. Depending on the end result, it could come in FW 3.1 or it could come in FW 4.0, hell it might not even come at all but rest assured they are working very hard on it. And if it doesn't come, you know who to blame.

Sony has shown off a highly accurate motion controller and camera system that it plans to launch next spring for the PlayStation 3. Players hold a wand that allows them to see images of themselves holding virtual objects such as tennis rackets or weapons.

Due to hit stores January 26th 2010 - mah bday :O

This is a contest to give someone a free month subscription to marvel digital comics.

Here's the rules:

Yes this is posted in the Sony section but anyone can enter.

You need at the least 100 posts

Give me reasons why you should get this code

I will pick the person I think should get it

The Deadline is 11:59PM EST 8/25/09

The winner will get a PM giving details on how to use the code.

Thats really it. So good luck people!

The console is a lot like the one that's sitting in the living rooms of gamers now, complete with a 120 GB hard drive and all of the same inputs and outputs you've come to expect. Except it's smaller ... much smaller. More specifically, Sony is saying its thickness and weight are "approximately two-thirds" that of the 60 GB launch console, thanks to some fancy new internal design architecture. Also reduced by two-thirds is the console's power consumption, which will mean softer fan noise when you're rocking Uncharted 2 this holiday. The "BRAVIA Sync" feature is also new for the smaller PS3. If you're the proud owner of a BRAVIA TV, using an HDMI cable to connect the console to it will allow you to control the XMB on the TV using the PS3. You can even activate "system standby," which will automatically turn off your PS3 when the television is turned off. Heads up to those interested in installing Linux on your Sony console -- it's not happening with the PS3 Slim. The "Install Other OS" feature has been removed from the console, as (and these are Sony's words) "the new PS3 system will focus on delivering games and other entertainment content." So there goes that. Source: http://www.destructoid.com/here-you-...ml&skin=Teaser

Dead Nation is the next PlayStation Network-exclusive game from Housemarque, developers of popular twin-sticker, Super Star Dust HD.




It has zombies therefore I must buy it.

We haven’t even received the original Persona port for PSP and Famitsu has already revealed that Atlus will be brining Persona 3 to the PSP. Announced in the latest issue of Famitsu, Atlus will be porting the PS2 version of Persona 3 to the PSP with an all new female main character. Whether this means we have the choice to pick between two main characters hasn’t been revealed, yet. It could mean the game will now be solely led by the female character, but that can't be confirmed at this time. No other details have been revealed at this time, but expect more news to break in the coming weeks.

Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising promises to deliver fierce ninja action as players re-live the Naruto Shippuden storyline. Players will assume control of over 10 of their favorite ninja, including the dreaded Akatsuki The game boasts streamlined controls designed after PSP, ensuring exciting and fast-paced tactical battles making best use of each character's Jutsus. Aim and time the powerful Jutsu attacks with a simple button commands and devastate the enemies by entering Hypermode. As characters defeat the enemies or take damage, the Hyper Gauge will start to fill which enhance the Jutu or unlocks new Jutus. Players will be able to gain advantage in the heat of a battle by selecting two support characters to form a three-man team for each mission. Utilize the different skills each character brings and combine their attacks with yours to discover ultimate combos in defeating enemies.

Ninja Customization – Customize your ninja by giving it various strengths that will maximize their power and keep the enemy guessing. By adding unique characteristics to jutsu, battle strategies will change, heightening the intensity in battles to new levels unseen in previous Naruto titles. Choose your story – Now you can experience the journey of the “Kazekage Retrieval” story arc with your customized ninja to defeat the Akatsuki or play through original story missions through lush, 3D anime inspired environments and earn experience points, skill scrolls and more! Exciting seamless 3D battles – Fight in various lush 3D anime environments where you can seamlessly engage in fast paced battles again enemies and bosses using combos and jutsu without any lag. Enlist your ninja friends! – Grab a friend and engage in 2 player wireless co-op mode with your customized ninja and double your strength and attacks to battle against fierce Akatsuki enemies or go head to head via ad hoc with your friend and be the supreme ninja. New and Hidden characters – With over 15 characters from the “Gaara Retrieval” story arc, choose your ninja and unleash their jutsu and watch the exciting story unfold. Akatsuki Modes and more! You choose! – For the first time in an action adventure game you can be a member of the Akatsuki ninja and battle the Leaf Ninja! Original Mode let’s you experience the “Gaara Retrieval” story arc or battle a friend in Versus Mode. Show your strength and skills when you are fighting against one enemy, three enemies or more!

TGS 2008: Tekken 6 Preview On the arcade version, Bloodline Rebellion, and an eventual PS3 release. by Charles Onyett US, October 7, 2008 - Out in Japanese arcades since late last year, Tekken 6, the latest entry in Namco-Bandai's popular fighting series, is still something of an unknown in North America. The game will be showing up on Sony's PlayStation 3 at some point, and to learn more about what kind of content might be brought to the console as well as get some insight into what goes on behind-the-scenes, we talked with several members of the development staff. In the interview were assistant manager of game design Takahiro Noda, game designer Yuichi Yonemori, and manager of game design Katsuhiro Harada. In terms of features and additional content, Tekken 6 features four more fighters than were present in Tekken 5's lineup. It's got destructible fighting rings, letting players destroy the floor or walls, and more clothing and customization options, including hairstyle tweaking. Item techniques are another bit that's been added in, whereby special moves for each character can be used if certain items are equipped. A rage system was also added which, when you're low on health, works to increase your attack power, giving you a better chance at a comeback. Namco-Bandai wants to give an incentive to gamers out there who haven't been able to check out the game in the arcades, and will be packing in some additional content for the home version. Though it wasn't said specifically what will be included, it was mentioned that it'll be content beyond what'll be present in the Bloodline Rebellion, which is an update to Tekken 6 arcade featuring two new fighters. Tekken is known for having some strange fighters, and the team elaborated, again through a translator, on the process of coming up with new designs. "Within the team when they're sitting around relaxing, chatting and they have these crazy ideas ... that concept, somebody kind of takes it and runs with it and actually thinks seriously about ... as a result they come up with some unique and interesting characters. It kind of starts off as a joke but then they actually flesh out the character and take that one concept and realize it." Talking about the new characters added for Bloodline Rebellion, the team discussed specific fighting styles and backstory. The new male character, Lars Alexandersson, was described as "quick and agile." If he's backed up against a wall it's possible for him to pull off a move that quickly flips him around so that he corners the opponent. His backstory puts him right in the center of the Tekken universe, as he's the son of Heihachi. He knows it, Heihachi doesn't. The other character is Alisa Bosconovitch, an android fighter. She has a story the team is hoping to go into more fully when the home version ships. As far as attacks go, she can remove her head to pummel the opponent, sprout mechanical wings to quickly charge across the fighting arena, and her hands turn into saw blades.

Trailer


Gameplay

The fifth instalment of the perennially successful PS®2 series, and the second based on the NARUTO SHIPPUDEN anime, NARUTO Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 5 takes the player on a heart-pounding adventure from the point of Naruto’s return to Konoha to end of the second Sasuke Rescue Arc. Our hero will find himself once again taking on an ever more devious and powerful succession of enemies, relying on his faithful friends and incredible ninja skills to win the day. Players who follow the story in Master mode will find the familiar gameplay has been greatly enhanced with new fighting styles for Naruto, brand new 3-man cell gameplay making full use of special abilities, and the ability to boost character stats for the first time as well as add equipment and upgrade Jutsus. In addition, the all-new fighting system lets players select a partner to join them in battle increasing the chances of victory. Selecting the right partner will give players the chance for special team-based Jutsus and Ougis adding more tactical decisions to the gameplay. And players looking for a change from playing Naruto can even jump in the shoes of other characters to try out the fighting styles of our hero’s equally deadly companions. With a versus mode containing over 60 playable characters and 24 battle stages, NARUTO Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 5 boasts the largest content of all the games in the series so far. Players will be able to select from amongst their favourite characters and do battle either against the AI or take on a friend in punishing one-on-one ninja combat.

Developed by CyberConnect2, NARUTO Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 5 features the original Japanese audio with localisation in five languages, an in-game shop and countless collectibles on top of all the gameplay and content enhancements, giving fans more ninja action than mere mortal man could ever hope for, coming to PlayStation 2 this November 2009.

Namco Bandai Games has announced that Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 5 will be localized and brought to the United States. The original game, titled Naruto Shippuden: Narutimate Accel 2, was released back in winter 2007 in Japan for the PlayStation 2. However, the plot of the manga and television series in the Western hemisphere are way behind the much recent Japanese releases. The story of the game will go up to the end of the Sasuke rescue arc. Sixty playable characters and twenty-four maps will be featured in the game. For any fans who have issues with the English dub, a Japanese audio will be included. The game is currently under localization by CyberConnect 2.

Trailer



Gameplay (but in japanese)

You may have seen a number of PS3 Slim-related retail ads, all of which have been proven fake. However, this ad which we received certainly looks much more believable. Hastings, a Texas-based retailer with 153 stores in 21 states, is also showcasing the PS3 in an upcoming ad, one that makes no mention of the PS3 Slim. According to the ad, the current stock of 160GB PS3s will be cut to $400, a $100 savings over the original. This follows the footsteps of other retailers, like amazon.com, who have already dropped the price of that model to $450. Of potential importance is the phrasing: the ad mentions the PS3 is experiencing a "price cut" versus a temporary "sale." The cut begins September 8th, weeks after Sony's press conference at Gamescom. The reduced price could be exclusive to Hastings, and isn't necessarily indicative of a nationwide price drop. However, a price drop on current PS3 models can clear inventory and make way for a possibly upgraded one. A representative for Hastings told us over the phone that they could not offer any comment on this offer. [Update: Engadget reports that European retailer Fnac has dropped its PS3 price by €100. Engadget Spanish is also reporting a similar drop. It's a new trend of selling things at reasonable prices! We've included a screencap after the break, in case something changes.]

Two anonymous retail spokespeople in the UK have reported that PlayStation 3 supplies from Sony have dried up, possibly in anticipation of this month's GamesCom and a future announcement therein. "Sourcing PS3 stock has been a challenge for the last two to three weeks," one source told MCV. Evidently, the retailers have been told that further shipments would not be coming until late August or early September. We can only speculate about the reason -- you may expect the next shipment of PS3 systems to make it to retail to be Slim, or a cheaper model; however, given recent history, we're going to conjecture that Sony is planning to release a new model with a higher price, and doesn't want to waste any more time building the "cheap" systems.

Hong Kong gaming magazine GameWave is reporting that the PS3 Slim will be revealed at Gamescom next week. This comes following French media site JVN's report, which also indicated that the new model would be revealed at the European conference. The image on the magazine's cover isn't the real console, so don't get too excited. Also, thank goodness. We'll level with you: the buzz is that the PS3 Slim will be revealed in Cologne next Tuesday at Sony's Gamescom press conference. However, with Sony remaining tight-lipped, we're still waiting for the official announcement or solid images at this point.

"The fact that we confirmed at least two map packs doesn't mean there won't be more; honestly we plan on shaping our DLC based on community feedback from the full game, and first two DLC map packs,"

"Therefore, the community will really determine what comes after that."

Swedish developer Fatshark (recently a subcontractor working on the Terminator: Salvation game) has announced a downloadable Wild West shooter called Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West. It will be a third-person shooter with team-based multiplayer modes. Fatshark says it is upping the bar for downloadable games with graphics and a feature set that rivals major retail releases. The game runs on GRIN's Diesel Engine, which powers Bionic Commando, Bionic Commando Rearmed, and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West lets players relive classic Western clich?s like the dual at high noon and the bank robbery. Specific platforms haven't been announced but the game is being prepped for console and PC release. Since the games mentioned above that run on the Diesel Engine haven't appeared on Wii, it's a safe bet this one won't, either. Look for more information on Lead and Gold to be dug up at Gamescom next week. In the meantime, check out the first (impressive) screens in our gallery.

Oh, look at this! It appears the rumblings of Capcom releasing a special edition for Marvel vs Capcom 2 were true, if this photo is proof of anything. The photo surfaced on Capcom's Unity forums which all but confirm its existence. Siliconera points out, thought, that the game isn't on the disc, and that buyers will receive a download card to get the game off PSN. You'll also receive an eight page color manual, a one month subscription to Marvel Digital Comics, and 2000 Capcom-Unity points, all for $14.99 We asked Capcom to confirm this, and for now, they're saying "no comment."

We knew about LittleBigPlanet getting its own Game of the Year edition, complete with additional content, but now we have confirmation that it's officially real and, possibly, coming soon. A pre-order listing on Amazon not only reveals the $49.99 price tag, but also a spiffy new cover. You'll notice it says "Includes Bonus Content valued at over $30!" Still no word on what that content is. There's also no release date shown. We contacted Sony to clarify and we'll update if we hear back.

Activision's quarterly financial call yesterday was chock full of news, particularly for the Call of Duty franchise. President and CEO of Activision Publishing Mike Griffith gave investors a full look at the company's upcoming plans for Modern Warfare 2, including what type of online content is in development. "We plan to launch two separate map packs for this title," Griffith said. "Map packs help extend the shelf life of the franchise, as evidence by the strong catalog sales and premium pricing that we maintained a year and a half after launch." "To date, we've had strong success with map packs on this franchise, selling more than 8 million units for both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3," he added. 8 million units? No wonder companies love DLC. At least Activision isn't trying to hide its intentions.

The videogame fan base usually isn't abuzz over the happenings of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but today appears to be the exception. On July 31, 2009, Sony Computer Entertainment America filed a trademark application -- Serial No. 77794416 -- for something called "P.S. Thanks." Officially and in giant, government capital letters, the trademark applies to "ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES, NAMELY, INCENTIVE REWARDS PROGRAM GEARED TOWARD QUANTIFYING, IDENTIFYING AND MOTIVATING TOP CONSUMER BASE WITH THE GOAL OF PROMOTION AND SALE OF VIDEO GAME HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE." What does that mean exactly? We don't know. Maybe it's some kind of Trophy reward program, maybe it's some kind of special program like Club Nintendo, maybe it's a blimp that flies to your house and drops gifts. We don't know, and messages left with Sony representatives were not immediately returned. We'll update this story if any more information becomes available. Update: We've received an official comment from a Sony representative regarding the above news. The comment is as follows: "As you know, we have a long history of creating unique loyalty programs such as PlayStation Underground which started with the original PlayStation and has evolved into the Gamer Advisory Panel (GAP). We continue to look for ways to expand this program and simply are evaluating new naming conventions for this evolution."