via pspfanboy

Two men. One bathroom. "Can I play with it?"

Sony's managed to capture a little bit of that Nintendo magic in this commercial for PSP. While we find it hilarious, critical inquiry forces us to ask: Who's creepier? The guy playing the system, or the guy taking a peek? Certainly, a debate for the ages. We can only hope that our readers aren't so enamored by their PSPs that they do the same as this unfortunate bloke.

Video Here ...

via wired

Sony is shifting its marketing focus for the PSP platform to the 13-17 year old demographic, with a new marketing campaign titled "Dude, Get Your Own."

I spoke with PSP senior product manager John Koller this afternoon about the PSP's recent price cut, and he says that the move towards the teen market is based on who's buying the system:

Most of our registered owners database stats have shown the 13-17 year old consumers far outpacing other groups in terms of purchase. The intend-to-purchase crowd is living mostly in that group as well. We're looking to expand beyond where we've been. PSP started as a device to appeal to 18-34 year-olds, but north of 26-27.

"There were a few reasons," says Koller, for dropping the PSP's price now. First, Sony "received some savings on the cost of goods, which we wanted to get to the consumer." Second, "Wal-Mart sold 110,000 units in five days on Black Friday [last year] when they dropped the price to $169." Finally, the aforementioned shift to the 13-17 year old market.

The desire to more directly target that 13-17 year-old market was what led to the All I Want For Christmas Is A PSP campaign last year, Koller said. "That campaign clearly did not work," he said, but it was an attempt to "identify ways of speaking and marketing to that 13-17 year-old consumer. It was an effort to be able to target that individual in a more quiet manner and not go out and promote it and have it be something that was found. The way it was done is not correct... In the future, we'll be more clear and transparent to the consumer."

Going forward, Sony will unveil the "Dude, Get Your Own" campaign.

The idea this year, says Koller, is to "break out of the home cycle." A significant amount of PSP users in that 13-17 group play the device at home. "The teens that are doign this value the ability to utilize the portability," Koller notes paradoxically. By portability, he clarifies, he means "I can play it upstairs while my parents are watching the TV downstairs."

This, of course, is of little value to adults with their own apartments and TV sets. For teens, it is a big draw, which is one reason for the high sales in that group.

But Sony wants them to get it out of the house and "into more of a lifestyle focus." That's the reason for adding the T-Mobile hotspot functionality that Sony touted last month. Koller says that Sony will "regularly launch" firmware updates this year with functionality that is strongly directed at that 13-17 market, although he could not reveal details on any of them.

Sony has found that more and more PSP owners are using the device for multimedia applications, specifically, downloading music and movies from their PC to the PSP. "There's a lot of that," says Koller. In fact, Sony says the "second most valued use of PSP" is as a music playback device. "Music shot up substantially" over the holiday season, he says.

As for releasing a new hardware redesign of PSP that includes more onboard storage, Koller would not say.

In the meantime, Sony isn't giving up on the embattled UMD movie format, although -- again -- they're going after that teen market with "more targeted content, rather than the kitchen sink approach," says Koller. "What we're seeing from studios is that they are establishing what that content needs to be, primarily action and comedy. They're calibrating that towards what the consumer is."

As far as gaming goes, "there are a few titles we're looking at as hardware drivers this year" -- from God of War to SOCOM to "a number of third-party exclusives" which Koller declined to name. Third party makers, though, are on board with the demographic shift, he says. "They're very aware of the direction that owner registrations have been going in. You'll see a lot more teen-oriented titles launching."

Even with the software release list waning, Sony's American branch still remains committed to delivering unique PSP experiences. "We really want to be able to identify ways to set the software apart from console software. Consumers don't want a mobile version" of a game they can play at home, says Koller. God of War on PSP will be "entirely different than anything you can play on consoles."

Finally, I asked what Phil Harrison was referring to when he lumped the PSP in with his "Game 3.0" concept of user-generated, dynamic, ever-changing content. "The PSP, within the PlayStation brand, sits as kind of the cultural object of desire, the ability to take that content with you elsewhere outside the living room," says Koller. "With a number of initiatives coming out, they'll be able to use the PSP in new and exciting ways." ...

Via StrmnNrmn

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I got to wondering about the new customfirmware and thought to myself am I ready to upgrade yet? The answer is no. Why you might ask? Cause I dont have the 3.3 update. So how many of you are already getting prepared for 3.3 OE? I myself am downloading the 3.3 update right now and getting my 1.5 update ready so I can be ready to upgrade once I find out that 3.3 OE is released (that and if it supports custom icons) I recommend getting prepared early so you can be ready to upgrade ASAP. So how many of us are you ready to upgrade to 3.3 OE? Once this update is complete I'm ready. How about you? ...

via Xbox 360 Fanboy


Over a dozen Burnout 5 screens hit the internet recently. The screens were evidently part of an exclusive preview. We looked around and found a Burnout 5 preview posted at GamePro.com. At least, the preview used to be there. It has since been pulled at the request of Electronic Arts. Still, the screens and the preview are floating around, as things tend to do on the 'net. Lord knows how long it will be up, so you'd best take it in now.

For the sake of our readers, we'll summarize what's new. First of all, Burnout 5 (working title) is an open world game. In other words, you no longer choose your events from a menu. Instead you activate them inside the world (known as Paradise City). As Criterion's Alex Ward describes it, a race could turn into a road rage, which could turn into a pursuit, eventually ending with the player being taken out by another driver. Since you crashed anyway, why not record it as a crash mode run? According to Ward, this is the experience Criterion is aiming for in Burnout 5. Speaking of crashes, the cars now contain 80 destructible parts, making for some much more detailed "accidents." Another new feature is the driver's license, which acts as a player's stat tracker. As a player increases his stats, his driving level will increase, allowing him to take better control of more advanced vehicles. The idea behind this is to keep players from simply unlocking the "best" car and leaving it at that. Without a high enough skill level, a good car becomes harder to drive.


The screenshots can currently be viewed here. Leave feedback via comments. ...

via Kotaku




I present to you the NPD numbers of sales in the U.S. for the first four months the consoles were in stores. Looks like the Wii isn't being held back, it's just selling like a mofo. And wow, Xbox, I had no idea.


Leave feedback via comments. ...

via Kotaku


The Gears of War website just updated with details on the new gameplay mode that will be hitting Live as an update on April 9.

Along with Annex, the download will also update the Assassination mode. Hit the jump for the details, and yes, Annex will feature respawning. Brian Crecente

Annex
Objective: Capture and hold key locations to collect enough points to win the round.
Description: In Annex, you win by keeping control over key map locations, or objectives, long enough to collect a winning number of points. Every map has two to five identified objectives available for capture, with one objective active at a time. Objectives are based on map weapon-spawn locations and have a potential value of 60 points toward either team's score. Teams collect those points by maintaining ownership of an objective until all its 60 points have been distributed. Every second that a team controls an objective, the team gets one point. When an objective falls to zero points, the next objective is selected at random.

On the HUD, the current objective appears below the team scores at top left. This indicator contains several pieces of relevant information. The weapon icon inside the circle indicates which weapon-spawn location is being used as the objective. The compass along the outer edge of the circle shows the relative direction to the objective. The number inside the circle indicates how many points remain at that objective and the background icon color indicates which team currently controls it. No color means the objective awaits capture, a red icon means the Locust Horde hold the objective and a blue icon means the COG hold it. When the icon in the indicator circle fills, the corresponding team's score also changes color, the team begins collecting points from the objective, and the point value of the objective drops.

On the map, a projected ring marks the physical location and boundaries of the objective in the world. The ring's color indicates the current captor: White means neutral, blue COG, and red Locust. To capture an objective, players must stand inside the glowing ring uncontested for a short period of time. How long depends on how many teammates stand in the ring at once. One player can capture an objective in eight seconds, two players in four seconds, three players in two seconds, and four players in one second. Once a team takes an objective, they are not required to remain inside the ring to maintain ownership. The captured objective's points drain until an opposing team member enters the ring, or until its points fall to zero.

Round scores can be set as low as 120 points or as high as 480 points. The first team to reach the target score wins the round.

Respawns: Infinite, wave-based every 15 seconds.

Options:
Selected Map: Which map or series of maps to use.
Number of Rounds: Number of rounds required to win the match.
Bleed-out Duration: Amount of time before a player dies while DBNO.
Round Score: Number of points required to win a round.
Friendly Fire: In a player match, whether teammates can damage each other.
Private Slots: In a player match, number of player slots reserved for friend invites.
Weapons Swapped: In a player match, whether the person who sets up the match can determine whether weapons that appear in the maps are replaced or removed.

Assassination Updates
Before the update, the Assassination leader had to unlock map-spawned weapons by picking them up and dropping them. Now, all weapons are available to all players from the beginning.

Before the update, you could kill a leader in Assassination using the same rules as in Warzone. Now, you kill leaders as in Execution. ...

via PS3 Fanboy


This interview with Vijay Pande, one of the gentlemen behind Folding@Home, is getting kind of old but there are a couple of points worth pointing out. Mainly concerning running Folding@Home on the PS3 -- some people have been running "stress tests" to see how Sony's console can handle the program over extended periods. Those people can stop, because they'll be doing that forever. In any case, the PS3-specific questions were answered by SCEA 's Richard Marks (who's doing a stress test himself). Let's list it up!

Is it safe to leave the PS3 folding for 24/7?

• Yes. There's no indication that the PS3 has problems over long periods of folding... but of course, you should ventilate the darn thing so it won't overheat.

Well... should people give the PS3 a break to cool off?

• No. It shouldn't need a cooling period. You know that whirring thing? It's a fan. It regulates the internal temperature. [note: PS3Fanboy added some "attitude" to this response, because we like attitude]

What's stressed the most and will it affect the stability of the PS3?

• The Cell processor. Luckily, it's a high-performance processor built for things just like this. Folding@Home shouldn't have any adverse affects on the PlayStation 3's stability.

That's all that we think pertains to running the program on your PS3. Don't worry, guys! Your system is completely safe and that's a good thing. Waiting for those warranty replacements or whatever aren't the best... plus you only get a refurbished system (read: previously broken) instead of a new one. ...

via Kotaku ...