Tag: Industry - Page 44
News THQ Insists It's 'One Of The Big' Publishers
We love THQ, but we wish they'd shut up trying to remind us how relevent they are
You earn relevence through good content, something THQ has in abundance. You don't earn it by telling people to take notice every five minutes. That's exactly what CEO Brian Farrell has done in an interview with IndustryGamers though. We certainly think of ourselves...
News Sony Adds Third Security Team To PlayStation Network Investigation
It's on like Donkey Kong, and you can't really blame Sony for wanting to get to the bottom of the data breach that will probably end up costing the company millions of dollars
A Reuters report published this morning suggests Sony has thrown a third security team at the PlayStation Network investigation. They will join the FBI and Homeland Security...
News Sony Stock Bumped Up In Wake Of PSN Breach Public Apology
After taking a beating last week, Sony's stocks have started to bounce back in the wake of a public apology from SCE president Kazuo Hirai regarding the PlayStation Network data breach
Reuters reports that Sony stocks rose two-percent to ¥2,304 early this morning. Alongside the apology, Hirai detailed a series of compensation packages designed to...
Sony Computer Entertainment president Kazuo Hirai has apologised to PlayStation Network users regarding the data breach which compromised approximately 75 million accounts
At a refreshingly personal press briefing in Tokyo this morning, Hirai said that Sony had "learned" its lesson, before detailing a number of plans aimed at trying to win...
Have you heard, the PlayStation brand is in decline
That's according to an opinion piece crafted by Gamasutra's Colin Campbell. Does it sound familiar? It sure as hell does to me. In fact listening to podcasts and reading editorials this week has made me question whether I took a ride in a tripped out DeLorean against my will: it's 2007 all over...
News Major Credit Card Companies Note No Indication Of PlayStation Network Hack Fraud
Sony has reiterated multiple times that there is "no evidence" of any PlayStation Network credit card theft in the wake of a recent hacking attempt on the service
That line has now been corroborated by a number of leading US banking outfits. Speaking with Bloomberg , spokesmen for Wells Fargo, American Express and MasterCard said they "were...
News Ubisoft Earns Publisher Rights To WRC, SBK Games
Ubisoft has announced that it has secured rights to publish Black Bean's games in the UK
According to MCV, the move means that Ubisoft will now publish games such as WRC and SBK, as well as other titles like Let's Dance With Mel B. The first game under the new deal is set to be SBK 2011 which is due out on May 13th.
News We May As Well Have A Michael Pachter Quote For The Road, Eh?
Pssht
What a day? When we started up PushSquare we did so with the intention of writing about video games. Granted we could avoid the PlayStation Network security breach entirely [you'll note we never wrote a single word about GeoHot - Ed] but unfortunately this story is too big to avoid. Furthermore, we've received like three press releases today...
News ... And Here Come The Lawsuits
It's been merely twenty-four hours since Sony announced the potential breach of customer information via the PlayStation Network
Now news of the first lawsuit is trickling onto the Internet. We very much doubt it will be the last. Kristopher Johns of Birmingham, Alabama today filed a suit against the Japanese platform holder, citing failures of the...
News UK Fraud Organisation Calms PlayStation Network Identity Theft Concerns
An organisation familiar with fraud prevention in the UK, Financial Fraud Action UK (or FFA UK), has moved to calm gamers amidst a massive potential data breach of the PlayStation Network
The organisation has warned against an overreaction amongst consumers, offering Eurogamer the following statement: "FFA UK has been made aware that out of the...
Report Sony Urged To 'Invest A Lot' In Order To Rebuild Business
Having spent the morning re-securing our personal finances, our attention has slowly turned to the commercial fallout of Sony's breached security
As die-hard PlayStation fans we're obviously concerned about the near-term impact this story is going to have on Sony's platforms and games. Furthermore, as a website that deals solely in PlayStation...
Report No PlayStation 4 Until At Least 2014
Sony's not planning on launching a new home console until 2014, according to a source close to Kotaku
Insiders told the website that successors to the PlayStation 3 and XBOX 360 could still be a long way off, despite rumours suggesting Nintendo is about to pounce with a new system at E3. "Both MS and Sony are telegraphing to each other that...
News PlayStation Move Performing Stronger Than Kinect In Japan
Chalk this one up as the biggest surprise of the year so far: Japanese gamers have bought more PlayStation Move controllers than Kinects
Sony had sold approximately 170k Moves by the end of 2010, while Microsoft had shifted just 90k Kinects. That's about a 2:1 ratio, which to be honest is closer than we'd expected given the number of XBOX 360s...
Feature Don't Kill The 'Mid-Tier' Game -- 'Twiggy' The Push Square Opinionator Returns
Jeff Cannata coined a phrase on the Weekend Confirmed podcast that will probably stick with me for as long as I write about entertainment products
Desperately struggling to balance his positive opinion of Square Enix's Nier against the game's catalogue of flaws, Cannata concluded that the title is "more fun than it is good". It's a...
News Ubisoft Out For Blood, Wants To Beat EA And Activision
Ubisoft's gaffer Yves Guillemot reckons his company has the oomph to overturn Activision and EA as the world's largest third-party publisher
Fighting talk, yo. Chatting with MCV, the executive said that Electronic Arts' decision to sell off its 20 percent stake in the publisher "changed lots of things for us. We had a competitor owning a share...
News Jack Tretton Says Sony's In 'Growth Mode, Not Cruise Control'
SCEA's gaffer Jack Tretton has said that the platform holder has not peaked yet with PlayStation 3, and that it is still in "growth mode"
The exec told Fast Company that the platform was just getting going with regards to line-up, accessories and new features such as 3D. When you look at all the games Sony still has left to release this year, it's...
News PlayStation UK Boss Departs After 17 Years
Veteran Sony Computer Entertainment gaffer, Ray Maguire, has departed the company after 17 years
Maguire joined Sony back when the original PlayStation launched, and worked his way up to the position of SCEUK managing director during his 17 year service at the company. "Having been here right from the start and after a lot of soul searching, I...
This week the PSP reclaimed its crown at the top of the domestic hardware sales charts in Japan, despite Nintendo's 3DS releasing just a month ago
Numbers for Nintendo's systm were also disappointing across Europe, with exact figures in North America seemingly hush-hush. It's worth stressing that the 3DS represents Nintendo's best ever launch, but...
News Former Capcom Gaffer Keiji Inafune Starts Up Two New Companies
The former Capcom cheif, Keiji Inafune, has announced that he's starting up two new companies: Intercept and Comcept
Intercept will deal with game development, while Comcept handles other areas of media such as books and video. We imagine both companies will work together on similar properties to strengthen brands across different forms of media...
News Sony Conquers Japanese Video Game Market In 2010
It's been a while since Sony was the dominant force in the video game industry, but numbers coming out of Japan show that the platform holder is back on top in its home region as of 2010
The fiscal year — which ended, like, overnight — has concluded with PlayStation 3 on top of the Wii, and the PSP on top of the DS. Enterbrain notes that this is...
The closet fanboys came out of the woodwork last night
The console war literally erupted after months of quiet acceptance from all sides. According to a report filed by data firm Strategy Analytics, the PlayStation 3 has now surpassed the XBOX 360 in "active install base", pushing the Microsoft system down into last place in the console...
News Sony Wins Court Injunction Against LG, Held PS3 Stock Released
The little patent disagreement between Sony and LG has been lifted, freeing some 300,000 PlayStation 3s that had previously been seized in Holland
You may remember LG was granted a preliminary injunction against Sony over an infringement on Blu-ray technology, but reports coming out of InsideGamer state that has now been lifted. Latest reports...
News Kaz Hirai Takes One Step Closer To The Ultimate Job At Sony
PlayStation's boss, Kazuo Hirai, has been promoted to executive deputy president at Sony, and is reportedly inches away from taking the top role at the company
A report on Reuters notes that the current head of Sony's network products and services division (which includes the PlayStation business) will take up his new position on April 1st. The new...
News Peter Dille Leaves Sony Computer Entertainment America
Long-term SCEA marketing big-wig, Peter Dille, has took a sharp stage-right exit from the company
Dille worked with SCEA from 1991 to 1999, and returned in 2006 after a brief spell in charge at THQ. Dille's most recent role within SCEA saw him control marketing and the PlayStation Network. The reason behind Dille's exit is unknown, but the exec...
News Fight The Tears: Bizarre Creations Closes On Friday
Despite releasing the brilliant Blur last year, Develop's reporting that British studio, Bizarre Creations, will close their doors on Friday
The Merseyside team has been behind some of our favourite games over the years, including Metropolis Street Racer and Project Gotham Racing. Despite releasing two good games last year — James Bond 007: Blood...
News Sony's Now Shipped A Whopping 150 Million PlayStation 2 Consoles Worldwide
.. And last generation's leading console continues to see strong sales. Sony's just announced that they've now shipped 150 million PlayStation 2 consoles worldwide, with no signs of the platform slowing down. The console has now exceeded its ten-year lifespan, with Sony anticipating continued demand for the platform in Eastern Europe, South...
News Activision Scraps Guitar Hero Franchise & True Crime: Hong Kong
Activision's just set the Internet on fire by announcing that it has canned development on the almost-finished True Crime: Hong Kong and, perhaps more importantly, completely "disbanded" the Guitar Hero brand
The publisher stated during its 2011 financial report that due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband...
News PlayStation Network Sales Surge By 40%, PlayStation Plus Subscriptions Exceed 100k
Perhaps the most overlooked area of the PlayStation business is the ever-expanding PlayStation Network
Since the PS3 launched we've really watched Sony expand the digital-content service into a fundamental component of the platform, an area they lagged behind Microsoft going into this console generation. With that in mind, digital analysts conclude...
News LG Gets Pissy With Sony, Wants The PlayStation 3 Banned In The US
Korean company LG are not very happy with Sony
In fact, that's an understatement. They're pissed. Really pissed. So much so, they want Sony's PlayStation 3 and Bravia TVs banned in the US. Why? Something to do with Blu-ray patent infringements. According to Eurogamer, LG claims that Sony is infringing four of its patents that relates to...
Report NGP Is A "Developer's Dream", Due In 2011
Eurogamer's managed to unearth the details from a top-secret SCEE presentation that took place in London yesterday
Attended by roughly 20 developers, Sony shared a wide range of information about its Next Generation Portable, including details on launch plans, specifications and marketing. One attendee, who's sensibly keeping himself anonymous,...
News EEDAR Suspects NGP Will "Handsomely Surpass Sales Of" PSP
Now Sony's Next Generation Portable has been announced, the question on most people's lips is "price, price, price"
Analyst group EEDAR predicts that the system will cost "between $299 to $349" for the Wi-Fi only model, adding that it will "not exceed $399 in the United States". The firm furthers that some regions may not see the...
News Shame On You: Enslaved Sales Sit Below The 500,000 Unit Milestone
Ninja Theory's Enslaved: Odyssey To The West was not a perfect game, but it was still a very good one
Above all, it was refreshing to play something unique. While the game clearly took a lot of inspiration from the likes of Uncharted, it was well written and lovingly put together. In short: Enslaved deserved your money. Sadly consumers disagreed...
News PlayStation 3 Sales Rise To 47.9 Million, Within Touching Distance Of XBOX 360
Look, fanboys hat off, we've all known that unless Microsoft's Kinect was a global cultural phenomenon, PlayStation 3 was always going to overtake the XBOX 360 in worldwide sales at one point
While Kinect's success is constantly being rammed down our throats by the American press, we're just not seeing the same story in Britain. Has Kinect flopped?...
News SEGA's Riding High On Next Generation Portable Optimism
One of the challenges many people thought Sony would face with their Next Generation Portable is third-party software support
Despite selling an enormous amount of hardware, software always struggled on the platform outside of Japan. Therefore, t's been refreshing to see publishers — both Western and Eastern — extend words of encouragement about...
News Shuhei Yoshida: "NGP Is Not Going To Be $599"
Our first hint at the NGP's pricing is a reference to Kaz Hirai's infamous E3 '05 meme
With Sony well known for their expensive products, many are wondering just how much the NGP will cost. You can rule out that famous "five-hundred-and-ninety-nine-US-dollars" price point for a start. Its not going to be $599, Worldwide Studios boss...
News Amazon Announces The Acquisition Of LOVEFiLM
Amazon's announced that they've acquired the European-based DVD-rental (and streaming) service LOVEFiLM for an undisclosed amount
LOVEFiLM launched an application on the PlayStation 3 late last year. According to VentureBeat, Amazon went ahead with the purpose because of the company's streaming solutions. Apparently, with 20 percent of the service's...
News Sadly, It Looks Like Bizarre Creations Are Kinda Done
Bizarre Creations might have delivered the brilliant Blur last year, but sadly it sounds like the studio's days are numbered
Last we heard Activision were looking to offload the developer to a potential buyer, but it sounds like talks have fallen through. Activision Worlwide Studios' COO Coddy Johnson told Develop that the publisher
News PlayStation To Expand Into China
A report in the China Daily suggests that Sony Computer Entertainment is to expand into the Asian mainland: China
The article notes that Sony recently signed a letter of intent detailing plans to implement training and R&D facilities in the Guangzhou province. It'll be Sony's first investment into the mainland. In addition to localisation, Sony...
News PSP2 "As Powerful As The PS3" According To Sony, Could Be Out As Soon As October
MCV's reporting that the yet-t0-be-announced PlayStation Portable 2 could be released as soon as October 2011
The site furthers that Sony's been telling licensees that the system is "as powerful as the PlayStation 3". It adds fuel to industry whispers we've already heard, namely that the handheld would exceed the XBOX 360 in terms of...
News THQ Gets A New Set Of Squiggles They're Deeming A "Logo"
THQ's new logo signifies "change, innovation and creative growth" according to the company
The publisher's certainly grown exponentially over the past few years. We're not sure what these squiggles add though. Having said that, THQ's logo was already terrible. This isn't necessarily much worse.
News CES 2011: Kaz Hirai Teases PlayStation-Powered Phones, Tablets, More?
Sony didn't announce the long rumoured PlayStation powered Sony Ericsson phone at their CES press conference last night
Nor did they announce the PSP2. They did however take time to acknowledge the merging of their strongest properties. Taking the stage towards the end of Sony's conference, SCE's Kaz Hirai teased that Sony's "strategy...
News Everyone Keeps Talking About A Masters Of The Universe Video Game
Mattel owns a lot of top toy brands: Hot Wheels, Barbie, Fisher Price, Tyco R/C, Masters Of The Universe
What's more, the company's just teamed up with THQ to make video games based on their properties. While Hot Wheels, Barbie and Fisher Price remain at the forefront of THQ's interest, the video games publisher has expressed interest in some of...
News Rock Band Developers Sold For The Same Price As A Copy Of Rock Band 3
At the time of writing, Rock Band 3 is available for $49
96 on Amazon</a>. The game's developers, Harmonix, are worth a similar amount of dough according to a report on All Things Digital. The site details that Harmonix's independence cost investment group Columbus just $49.99. Of course, it all gets a bit complicated from there on. Harmonix's...
Report Kaz Hirai Poised For Top Job At Sony
Gunning for first
SCE's current boss, Kaz Hirai, looks like he could be "Ridge Racing" his way to the top of Sony Corp, with a Bloomberg report placing him in the hot-seat to take Howard Stringer's president role. He'll face competition from Executive Deputy President, Hiroshi Yoshioka. Stringer took Sony's presidential job in 2009, but at 69...
Boring
Really boring. Look, we accept that the PSP has some issues, but we're really getting tired of the Western games media trying to kick it at every given opportunity. The device has sold over 50 million units, is the top selling device in Japan week-after-week, and remains the only platform to compete with Nintendo in the space they've...
News First Shots Of The PSP2's Development Unit Hit The 'Net, Send Us Gaga
Somehow VG247 has managed to acquire shots of an early version of the PSP2 development kit
It's real folks, these crumby photos prove it. The shots reveal forward and rear-facing cameras, as well as a track-pad on the reverse of the unit. According to VG247 this is not the final form factor of the PSP2 — in fact, the sliding PSPgo case has since...
News Sony To Conquer "Fourth Global Gaming Superpower" Latin America
One of the reasons the PlayStation 3 is doing so well -- despite XBOX 360's marginal lead in both the US and the UK -- is down to Sony's gaming division being a truly global brand
The news might not be occupying the front page of gaming websites, but the PlayStation is still a leading power in many European countries. While the sales aren't being...
News Mercenaries 3 Looked A Bit Like This Before Pandemic Died A Miserable Death
Mercenaries developers Pandemic closed up shop last year
They never got to finish Mercenaries 3, despite it being actively in development before their closure. Kotaku's got hold of a video demonstrating the game in its early form. The game was under the working title of Mercenaries 3: No Limits and was obviously still heavily under development at...
News New Data Shows The PlayStation 3 Trailing The XBOX 360 By Just 3 Million Units Worldwide
The PlayStation 3 is seriously closing the gap on the XBOX 360's worldwide sales total, and it doesn't even look like the marketing clout of Kinect is going to stop Sony's resurgence
New worldwide hardware figures shared by both platform holders detail the PlayStation 3 as having shifted 41.6 million units worldwide. The XBOX 360 (which launched...
News Sony To Announce New PlayStation Portable When "Timing Is Right"
Talking to investors yesterday, Sony has stated that it will announce a new PlayStation Portable product when the "timing is right
" The declaration comes days after Engadget's reports on the PlayStation Phone, as well as countless more rumours on the supposed PSP2. Interestingly — given their leaks all week — it was
