From digitalworldtokyo.com:
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Edion, the owner of several chains of electronics shops there has taken the unusual step of extending the hand of sympathy to anyone who bought an HD DVD player or recorder from it and is offering to exchange the useless machines for new Blu-ray devices.

Throughout March, customers can return any of seven Toshiba HD DVD decks and swap them for a BD unit from Sony, Panasonic or Sharp. If the latter is more expensive, customers need to make up the balance, but if it's cheaper they'll actually get a refund of the difference.
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Full Story: digitalworldtokyo.com
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From next-gen.biz:
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Sony marketing bigwig Scott Steinberg has set the tone for Hardware Wars 2008 confidently predicting that consoles competing with PlayStation 3 are effectively doomed to also-ran status.

"In three years, the Wii will really start to look its age graphically and, will seem to consumers, pretty long in the tooth."

"Microsoft have had their window to build up a lead, but when we track sales of Xbox 360 against comparable time since launch sales of the original Xbox, there isn't much difference, so I think that opportunity has passed for them, and it looks like they haven't expanded beyond their core of shooter players."
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Full Story: next-gen.biz
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From gamesindustry.biz:
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Scott Steinberg, Sony Computer Entertainment America's VP of product marketing, has told GamesIndustry.biz that he believes the PlayStation 3 is the smart choice for any small developer wanting to get their games to an online audience.

Responding to the Microsoft keynote at the Game Developers Conference, Steinberg pointed to the section of the talk from Chris Satchell on the XNA platform, and explained: "it was interesting in the sense that what they were talking about we've sort of been doing for the last couple of years with PSN and giving smaller, start-up, entrepreneurial developers the chance to get in and make their games available on the PSN."

He went on to note that the online services for the PlayStation 3 were free to consumers, whereas to experience full functionality on the Xbox 360 users were required to pay for a Gold membership.
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From reuters.com:
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Recent strong sales of higher-priced PlayStation 3 models may be an indication that Sony Corp does not need to cut prices of the flagship video game console soon, a U.S. executive said on Thursday.

When Sony lowered U.S. prices of the PlayStation 3 last November, it was surprised to see that consumers bought as many $500 models as $400 models, said Scott Steinberg, vice president of product marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America.

"So 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," Steinberg told Reuters in an interview.

Asked if that meant the pricing pressure posited by many analysts had not materialized, Steinberg said. "It's leading us to think so."
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From the press release:
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Independent console games developer Insomniac Games, creators of the multimillion-selling Ratchet & Clank(R) and Resistance(TM) franchises, today unveiled a tech-sharing initiative dubbed 'Nocturnal' in which it will share elements of its technology source code and presentations free of charge with the worldwide development community.

"The Nocturnal initiative is designed to encourage greater communication and information sharing among the development community because it will ultimately enable us all to create better games at a lower development cost," said Mike Acton, engine director, Insomniac Games. "And, in the end, it's all about making great games."

Nocturnal is being deployed in separate phases. The first phase, Insomniac's "R&D" site (http://www.insomniacgames.com/tech/techpage.php), launched in August 2007, and has been updated every Wednesday with new presentations, research and articles since. Phase two will be launched shortly, and will open some of Insomniac's source code under a liberal open-source license. Source code will be documented and downloadable from a wiki at (http://nocturnal.insomniacgames.com). Insomniac will further support Nocturnal by releasing additional source code, research and presentations in the future.

"We feel that the time has come to share what we have learned, and learn from others to improve our solutions to the common problems that present themselves when making a game," said Geoff Evans, an Insomniac senior tools programmer who helped develop and launch Nocturnal.
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Full Story: prnewswire.com
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From gamesindustry.biz:
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Sony's Phil Harrison, head of worldwide studios for Sony, has expressed his frustration that the company's Japanese division was too slow at accepting the ideas of social gaming - a market now dominated by rival manufacturer Nintendo and its Wii console.

"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," he said during a private lunch taking place during GDC week.

"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."
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From videogamer.com:
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The ambitious Resistance 2, touted by fans as Sony's Halo-killer, is scheduled for release on the PS3 exclusively some time in 2008. It will have an impressive eight-player campaign co-op and massive 60-player competitive modes which will focus on squad-versus-squad combat.

Speaking on the Bungie podcast, Timmins (multiplayer engineer on Halo 3) said: "Some of the stuff that Resistance is doing about trying to keep jacking up the number of guys in a game... I've played Resistance, and I'm a huge Battlefield 2 fan but I'm still interested in how do you keep that number of guys in a game and make it seem like you are actually playing together and not just running around in a chat room. It's real interesting and I wish them well but, yeah, it's a challenge."
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Full Story: videogamer.com
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From gamasutra.com:
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At the "Lunch with the Luminaries" luncheon at GDC this year, Sony's president of worldwide studios Phil Harrison told EA Blueprint's Neil Young that making Wii games may not be as viable as third-party publishers think.

Due to competition with Nintendo's unstoppable games, according to Harrison, who was speaking at the invite-only press lunch: "Your addressable market is only 40% of the installed base."
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Full Story: gamasutra.com
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From gamesindustry.biz:
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Mike Haigh, studio director of SCEE London, spoke to GDC attendees about the process involved in developing peripherals and their associated software applications.

"Development of a compelling experience is a little bit of a chicken and an egg," Haigh noted. "What came first? Hardware or software?

In the case of the EyeToy, both were inextricably intertwined.

"The technology that started off as filters led to all sorts of experiments and ideas," Haigh explained.
Marks approached numerous video camera manufacturers who were all quite hesitant to help - especially since Sony was known for making its own cameras, and these manufacturers may have thought the company could take their designs.
Eventually, a company called OmniVision saw the potential market for the product and was willing to take the risk.

Haigh detailed the patents filed by both Dr. Marks and OmniVision in an attempt to protect their IP and keep their competitive advantage.
"Just because a patent is granted, may not mean it is enforceable when it is challenged," he explained.

Once Sony had something it could work with, it had to make the business case for the project - not knowing how much it was going to cost, but knowing where they wanted it to be.
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Full Story: gamesindustry.biz
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From ps3fanboy.com:
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Wow, where to begin. We've just received an email detailing a huge update to the Home beta next week. The update will bring the version number to 0.8.3 (taking us ever closer to its release at v1.0.0) and the information comes from the beta message board on the official PlayStation site, so we're certain it's legit.

Improvements to the UI and graphics engine mean that Home will look much prettier and be more functional from here on out. You will be able to check who's online from your friends list as well as who is in Home right now. A bubble machine has been made available to all beta testers, to test the new "Home Items" system. Video streaming is now made possible too, so you don't have to wait for a video to download completely before watching it.

The most exciting part of the update is the unveiling of the Marketplace in the main square. The Marketplace is stocked with clothes and furniture as well as other, undisclosed, content. We can't wait to see what's there. Game launching is also now available, though it is currently limited. Games can be started within Home, however the party will not be automatically generated within the game. Also, players with different versions of a game (such as American or European) won't be able to start a game together. The patch notes clearly state, however, that this is only temporary and will be fixed before launch.
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Full Story: ps3fanboy.com
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From joystiq.com:
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Quietly unveiled at yesterday's PSN session was PhyreEngine, a new "free to use graphics engine" from Sony Computer Entertainment. According to the presentation, the package includes full documentation, "70+ samples" and "full source code and artwork" of sample game templates. Working on both OpenGL and Direct3D, this engine will allow developers to more easily develop for the PS3 by using PC environments they're more familiar with. A "simple recompile" is supposedly all that's needed to make the game run on the PS3. Sony is promising "ongoing development and support" for the PhyreEngine.

The ramifications of this subdued announcement are actually quite significant. Three titles have been revealed to have used the PhyreEngine for development: flOw, GripShift and DiRT. Of those three, only one is exclusive to PlayStation. It appears that the PhyreEngine is truly cross platform -- Sony is indirectly contributing to the development of PC (and Xbox 360) games.
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Full Story: joystiq.com
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From hollywoodreporter.com:
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All six major Hollywood studios are now in the Blu-ray Disc camp, a day after Toshiba has pulled the plug on HD DVD and Blu-ray became effectively the only next-gen game in town.

Paramount Home Entertainment quietly came onboard via a statement sent exclusively to The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday: "We are pleased that the industry is moving to a single high-definition format, as we believe it is in the best interest of the consumer," the statement reads. "As we look to (begin) releasing our titles on Blu-ray, we will monitor consumer adoption and determine our release plans accordingly."

Universal Studios Home Entertainment, in contrast, cast its lot with Blu-ray within hours of Toshiba's announcement Tuesday morning that it was ending the format war by ceasing the development, manufacture and marketing of HD DVD players by the end of March. Universal made a big splash with its announcement, sending media outlets a statement from division president Craig Kornblau in which he said, "While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray."
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From frag-cast.blogspot.com:
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The single biggest gripe PS3 owners have - CONSTANTLY - is not being able to access the XMB menu while in a game to change settings, chat and send messages and invites (think the 'guide blade' on Xbox 360).

Well, these T-shirts have been spotted at GDC(Game Developers Conference)... and it would seem sony have found it rather amusing.

From next-gen.biz:
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Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, John Hight, director of product development at SCEA's Santa Monica Studios, explained why PlayStation Network hasn't been particularly overwhelmed with games.

"We're very careful about the stuff we add to our catalog. Early on as a company we decided it's not going to be about giant numbers and ‘Hey, come to PlayStation Network and you'll have 5000 games, maybe three of which you actually want. Go ahead and find that needle in the haystack'.

"It's more about each one of these experiences is something special," he added, noting that Sony's decision to operate in this manner would help it to unearth visionary designers like Will Wright and David Jaffe.
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Full Story: next-gen.biz
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From gamesindustry.biz:
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Sales of the PlayStation 3 could see a rise of up to 10 per cent in the wake of Toshiba's pull-out from the next generation DVD war as a result of educated consumers who have been waiting for the format war to end.

That's according to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, who also told GamesIndustry.biz that as well as the short term boost, the long term effect will be even more positive.
"Longer term, I think it's a huge boon for Sony, as most retail clerks will be instructed to push Blu-ray along with sales of HD monitors at holiday, so we should see a large increase in PS3 sales year-over-year at holiday," he said.

Ed Barton and Richard Cooper, from Screen Digest, broadly agree: "With the format war over, and the end of the consumer indecision resulting from it, video consumers are likely to purchase the PS3 as the most cost effective, future proof Blu-ray player," they said.
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From gamepro.com:
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The PlayStation 3 sold slightly better in its first 14 months of availability than the popular Xbox 360 thanks to solid sales abroad, says a homebrew estimate from VG Chartz.

According VG Chartz, Sony has sold more than 10 million PS3s worldwide through January, something the Associated Press corroborated on Tuesday. By contrast, the Xbox 360 didn't reach the 10 million mark on global VG Chartz charts until June 2007, some four months after the PS3.
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Full Story: gamepro.com
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From blu-ray.com:
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The Blu-ray Disc Association has made an official statement regarding Toshiba's announcement that they would no longer be supporting the HD DVD format. Andy Parsons, Chairman, Blu-ray Disc Association U.S. Promotions Committee commented, "We in the Blu-ray Disc Association are very happy that this long format war is officially over. Now the task ahead for our member companies is to promote the Blu-ray Disc format as the best way to bring premier quality high definition content into consumers' lives."
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Full Story: blu-ray.com
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From news.yahoo.com:
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Adding to Blu-ray's momentum was the gradual increase in sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 home video-game console, which also works as a Blu-ray player. Sony has sold 10.5 million PS3 machines worldwide since the machine went on sale late 2006.
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Note: Unlike Microsoft, Sony counts "sold" as actually sold to consumers and not shipped to retailers.
Full Story: news.yahoo.com
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From punchjump.com:
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Sales for Sony Corp.'s Playstation 3 rose on Amazon this past weekend following a round of support for the Blu-ray disc high-definition format over Toshiba Corp.'s HD DVD.

On Sat., the 40GB PS3 SKU held a 60 percent increase in sales at Amazon.com to rank in the No. 10 position in the Video Games division.
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