There's a saying that all advertising is good advertising. Perhaps this example will prove to be true. This Australian ad for PS3 uses a nude man whose penis has been replaced by a thumb. The imagery is clearly NSFW so we can't put it on our site, but you can check it out at Ads of the World (if you so choose).
Perhaps the image is so provocative that the tiny "PLAYSTATION 3" text at the bottom will be seared into our minds. We don't know exactly how this ad would be effective, but that's for the folks at TBWA\Wien to explain to SCEE.
Finally! Something the Officers of Opinion can have pride in taking votes for has come to pass. Perhaps some of you are not aware of the most recent GameTrailers debacle, but it goes something like this: a new racing game called GRID got its chance at a video comparison on their site and from the video posted, the 360 was implied to have more dynamic and compelling footage. The PS3 version seemed like a prettied-up last-gen borefest. However! GameTrailers used PS3 footage for both sides of the comparison. Watch the above video, ripped from their site with some added narrative, to draw your own conclusions then tell us what you think.
First off, thanks to everyone who alerted us to this. The comparison video and all related comments have since been removed from their site, which is a telling sign they've recognized something had gone wrong. Whether it was their evil ploy foiled or an error in creating, posting, or citing the console for the video, we'll probably never know. But mass opinion is often heralded as universal truth for some odd reason, so your vote really does matter. Last week's poll results are also posted, so give them a look as well, if you're interested.
PlayStation Day should play host to a number of exciting announcements. The press conference is scheduled for 11AM EST, and our European reporter, Jem Alexander, will be ready at the scene to give you up-to-the-minute news. Resistance 2 will definitely be at the show -- but what will the surprises be?
We're expecting more news on Home, and the reveals of some previously unannounced games. Feel free to start speculating here, but remember: official news is only hours away. See you then.
It's sort of sickening on the Poll Police's side of things -- we dig and dig through muck all day to uncover bits of news for your consumption. What makes this sickening is the recent trend for our fields o' news farming to get inundated with threads about people's problems with Grand Theft Auto IV. We don't mean problems in the game, beating a mission, or the like ... we mean the frequent freezing issues, console destruction tales, or horribly unstable online component. We know Rockstar has admitted to a few of these problems and issued their own hackneyed fix. We want to know if any of you actually did this just to play the game. We're not judging you. We're just curious.
A patch would be nice, but instead, we get to delete pretty much everything on our PS3 to make the game work? Sounds pretty pathetic to us, but hey, ostensible perfection demands sacrifice, right? Don't get us started. Last week's poll is after the jump, so check out those results while we have your attention!
Want to get your hands on SingStar (PS3) and Secret Agent Clank (PSP) before everyone else? Then you'll head off to the Bamboozle Festival this weekend. The two-day alternative music festival takes place this Saturday and Sunday at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, NJ. The festival features headliners, such as Snoop Dogg, Jimmy Eat World, and Panic at the Disco. The PlayStation Patrol Truck will be attending, and will showcase a number of PS3 games, such as SingStar, MLB 08: The Show and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Various PSP Zones will also be at the festival, and will feature titles like Secret Agent Clank and God of War: Chains of Olympus.
Playing well at the PlayStation Patrol Truck could net you the chance to meet Bamboozle artists. Top players will have the chance to challenge artists such as Armor For Sleep, Chiodos, Circa Survive, The Color Fred, The Audition and All Time Low. Winners will receive VIP access to the show.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit The Bamboozle Festival's official website. To see who else is attending, feel free to use the event's Facebook page.
The user-generated levels for echochrome continue to pour in. In preparation of today's American PSN release, we wanted to showcase the latest bunch from Japan. If you've played the demo, you know how daunting this title can be. Imagine how much pain your brain will be in when processing these brain-benders.
You've most likely heard about the issues plaguing Grand Theft Auto IV on PS3. While some have reported success by deleting their saved content off their PS3 systems, many are still experiencing many issues with the game, on both the Xbox 360. We're conducting a network-wide poll with Joystiq and X3F to see how many people are affected. If we're vocal enough, Rockstar might finally issue a statement about what's going on.
Gametrailers.com has teamed up with Ubisoft for a new Haze contest. Starting today, Haze fans can download footage from the game and Korn and create new "mash-up" videos for prizes. This supposedly annual challenge is "a special project close to the heart of our CGO (chief gaming officer) Geoff Keighley." Seriously. The winning entry will be shown on GameTrailers TV.
The first place winner will win a 46" Sony HDTV, a PS3 system, customized guitar signed by Korn, and $1,000. To enter, visit GameTrailers.
It's still the buzz around the internet, despite the reviews trickling out for Grand Theft Auto IV. We're talking about Metal Gear Online, of course. While it shouldn't be taken as canon, the Poll Police have noticed people on their PlayStation Network buddy list citing their thoughts of the beta in their comments. Some enjoy it, others do not. So, as protectors of personal opinion, we ask you your feelings of the beta so far.
We'll probably be writing a big impression on the beta ourselves in the coming days or weeks -- so look forward to what we think as well! Of course, ours are only as valid an opinion as each and every one of you. We'd hate to pretend ours are more important when that's obviously foolish. Anyway, if you're curious about last week's poll related to Konami ID's, check out the results after the jump.
SCEE has been lambasted recently by members of the European PS3 community over their sub-par treatment of the region in comparison to America or Japan. One of the main requests is for a European equivalent to the PlayStation.Blog, which has again been brought up as a response to Sony's latest Blog entry. User Joakim Hagdahl made the request and was lucky enough to get a response from Jeff Rubenstein.
Rubenstein responded by saying that Sony "know[s] that there are a lot of readers coming here from beyond North America. We're in the process of working out how to make sure your needs are addressed. We hear what you're saying." This is a good thing, indeed. More European coverage on the PlayStation.Blog would be excellent, especially if SCEE staff start posting on it themselves. However, we're slightly worried that SCEA seems happy to respond to complaints while SCEE themselves have remained silent. Talk to us, SCEE -- that's all we want.
A lot of people have been clamoring to get a spot in the Metal Gear Online beta and for the most part, everyone's been allowed. A few hiccups with broken codes, but Konami has vowed to help those afflicted by such misfortunes. The Poll Police are on a quest this week to see how your experience signing up for this event has measured up compared to the horror stories circulating on PS3 forums worldwide.
On a personal experience level, this Officer of Opinion had quite a bit of difficulty, but only in the sense of patience. Peer-to-peer updating was slow and destroyed bandwidth for most of a day, then navigating Konami's clogged site was a test in perseverance, but it all went swimmingly if the factor of time was removed. What happened in last week's poll? The mystery is solved after the jump.
Remember Ben Heck's magical PS3 laptop? Well, now you can buy one -- provided you have the cash. Currently available for $8000 on eBay, 100% of the proceeds will go to charity: the National Cancer Coalition. The laptop will come signed and well, free shipping will be thrown in. Not that it really matters when you're already shelling out this much dough.
Well butter us up and call us biscuits, because the PS3 is on a roll. Forgive us; we're hungry. IGN hosted a poll recently that had very simple terms: which console should win the current-gen race? Between the PS3's smaller install base than the competition and its still fairly sparse selection of games (they sputter out slower than ketchup from a glass bottle), we would never have anticipated the poll to swing so wildly in favor of the PS3.
Yep -- the PS3 has been declared the winner of IGN's poll. According to savvy websurfers, the PlayStation 3 should win the console race. Since we're biased, we guess it's a moot point for us to say we agree.
If you're one of the three or four people picking up Grand Theft Auto IV when it releases, you'll want to check out the Rockstar Games Social Club. Now finally open for registration, it will allow members to view leaderboards, track all sorts of statistics and numbers, and connect fans of Rockstar's upcoming games. Perhaps it'll be through the Social Club that PS3 fans and Xbox 360 fans will finally get together in peace, love and harmony.
Free Radical Design, the developer behind Haze, has told CVG that if people make enough noise then they will consider remaking Timesplitters 2 in HD with online multiplayer. TS2 was a classic PS2 game and, while it still stands up as a great game today, an HD makeover would not only allow those of us who loved it the first time around, but also people who let it slip them by, to enjoy it all over again.
CVG is campaigning for people to contact Free Radical Design and let them know that, yes, we do want it to happen. To do so, simply send an email to CVG so that they can, presumably, collect all the names together and forward it on. Sure, FRD is currently working on Timesplitters 4, which will no doubt be in Hi-Def and feature online multiplayer, but it won't have that sweet tang of nostalgia about it. Not for another five years, at least.
There's a saying that all advertising is good advertising. Perhaps this example will prove to be true. This Australian ad for PS3 uses a nude man whose penis has been replaced by a thumb. The imagery is clearly NSFW so we can't put it on our site, but you can check it out at Ads of the World (if you so choose).
PlayStation Day should play host to a number of exciting announcements. The press conference is scheduled for 11AM EST, and our European reporter, Jem Alexander, will be ready at the scene to give you up-to-the-minute news. Resistance 2 will definitely be at the show -- but what will the surprises be?
You've most likely heard about the issues plaguing Grand Theft Auto IV on PS3. While some have reported success by deleting their saved content off their PS3 systems, many are still experiencing many issues with the game, on both the Xbox 360. We're conducting a network-wide poll with Joystiq and X3F to see how many people are affected. If we're vocal enough, Rockstar might finally issue a statement about what's going on.
