Sony has announced that the PlayStation Home beta will be opening its doors to lucky PlayStation 3 owners today. This PS3 exclusive allows players to interact in a virtual social environment using text or voice chat. It more closely resembles Second Life and like their online gaming, it will remain free.
According to a company briefing, or at least what appears to be a company briefing, Sony will be making significant price cuts to the PlayStation 3 sometime early next year–most likely in March.
Supposedly, the European president of Sony, David Reeves informed his staff that they wanted to become more competitive in pricing in March of next year. This seems to coincide with the launch of Killzone 2. So in an effort to push sales of the game, a price drop on the console makes perfect sense.
We don’t know just how much of a price cut we’re talking, and it’s still unclear as to whether or not the cut would apply to just the UK or to the US and Japan as well. At the moment, a Sony spokesperson neither confirmed or denied the rumor and merely noted that information in meetings isn’t set in stone.
BioShock is no stranger to the gaming world. When it first came out last year for the PC and Xbox 360, gamers loved it. After all, it provided an original storyline and fun gameplay. But now, 2K Games is bringing their hit game to the PS3.
The PSP 3000 is touted to be the next technology by Sony. The screen is updated and supposedly makes for better color, less glare and less “pixel ghosting.” But it seems the screens are presenting whole new problems not present on the old models.
Sony Japan have announced the launch of the PlayStation Store for PSP, an on-device download center that allows new games, media content and services to be accessed directly from the handheld games console itself. Available Wednesday, October 15th in Japan, the PSP Store will require a WiFi connection and accept payment from the Sony “Wallet”; this online account can be loaded with either a credit card or a PlayStation Network Card.
Continuing the rollout begun back in August, from October Sony’s pre-paid Playstation Network cards will be available in Walmart, Best Buy and select Sam’s Club outlets across the US. Barnes & Noble will begin selling the cards in November. Available in $20 and $50 denominations, the PSN Cards can be used to buy items such as games, movies, TV shows and other downloads for the PSP and PS3.
It’s always hard to predict how a product will do. You can do all the market research, pour over the numbers and still end up wrong. And though the PSP hasn’t exactly been the hottest item on the market in recent months, it is expected to do better in the coming year. At least, if were are to believe SCEA Director of Hardware Marketing, John Koller.
No matter what piece of tech you have in your home, you are going to want to customize it. It’s just human nature. That’s why we wear different clothes and buy fancy cars. It’s only natural that we’d want to dress up our tech as well.
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Sony has confirmed that it plans to continue to provide free network services for Playstation owners. Playstation has said that they are looking at “how we can provide a service without people having to pay.” Advertising has been suggested as one possible way for the company to fund content without charging users.
Starting next month it will be easier for you to purchase pre-paid Playstation Network cards. The cards, which are used to purchase games and other from the online Playstation store, will be available now at 7-Eleven, Blockbuster, and Rite-Aid stores throughout the US.
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