PS3 Fanboy

Looks like more PS3 games are coming to the PSP. The popular tower defense game, PixelJunk Monsters, is heading to the PSP. In fact, there's going to be more content than ever before. This is great news, especially because we're not too fond of using Remote Play to stream games. We can't wait to see more when the game comes out in 2009. To find out more about the game, check out all the news on PS3 Fanboy.

[Thanks, Top_Slacker!]

November won't be a good month for Sony, if the analysts at EEDAR are to be believed. According to Jesse Divinich, Sony can expect double digit percentage declines from the successful sales of November '07. PSP sales will have plummeted 25% from last year, while PS3 sales will have dropped almost 20%. The softening economy and fierce competition from Microsoft and Nintendo will certainly affect Sony's install base.

At the very least, Sony can take comfort in knowing that PS3 software sales will be up from previous years. However, due to the incredible drought of PSP software, Sony's handheld will be the only platform which will show a decline in software sales.

Impressive. That pretty much sums up how we feel after watching this new collection of PlayStation adverts for holiday season 2008. The three commercials you are about to watch are all very different, but they have one unifying theme (well, other than PlayStation duh). They all utilize holographic images to show off PS3-exclusive titles. Our favorite one is posted above, which shows off some exclusive action titles: Resistance 2, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, and the Dark Knight film on Blu-ray.

Another commercial touts the PlayStation Network. It clearly promotes lively, social gaming as you'll notice the happy people going about their daily business. It's interesting to note that each person has their own holographic game image imposed on their bodies giving a hint at saying, "hey, we've got a little something for everyone." A sharp contrast to this one is the next, somewhat dark series of adverts. It's sort of eerie with its slow-motion and starry-eyed actors. It's an interesting piece that asks you "have you made your wish list yet?" We wonder if you have?

Check out the other two vids after the break, or, get ready to see them on TV very soon.

According Capcom's vice president of strategic planning and business development Christian Svensson, Sony's data indicates that approximately 50% of PS3 owners are also PSP owners. Svensson made the comment on the official Capcom forums in a thread that was discussing the possibility of the newly launched adhocParty making it stateside. "An interesting note from Sony's data that they've been sharing with us ... about 50% of PS3 owners, also own a PSP." We are unsure of whether the data was collected from around the world or just in the US.

Does this statistic sound right to you? Do most of you who have a PS3 also own Sony's handheld?

Maybe some of us are worried about the economy and how it might affect us. But you know who isn't worried? Sony isn't. Not at all.

Speaking to Reuters, Jack Tretton said that they have no plans to alter their sales targets for this year, despite the economic downturn. PlayStation 3 sales, in particular, we better than what Sony expected. In fact, they are around 30% better than projected and 100% higher than last year, the SCEA president disclosed. Therefore, the 10 million unit target set earlier this year is predicted to be met by the end of the fiscal year. There might even be shortages, warns Tretton, which might affect sales. "I'd say we are able to meet somewhere between 80-90 percent demand, based on how things are trending,"

The PSP is doing just dandy as well. Sony hopes to have 15 million units sold by the end of the year and the sales numbers are currently 20-30% higher than what they expected. Finally, Tretton reiterated the value provided by the PS3, especially with consumers watching what they are spending, will lead to strong sales "The entertainment value ... with PlayStation 3 compares very favorably to other entertainment choices."

I have returned, noble fanboys and fangirls! Yes returned to the land of milk and honey - if by milk you mean PixelJunk Eden and by honey you mean Soulcalibur IV. As I sat in my car staring at long stretches of side quest highway for hours, drooling at the though of returning home to days upon days of new games and DLC (not to mention resolving the heart-wrenching gamus interruptus of a few key titles ), I couldn't help but wonder if my extended absence from the PS3 had taught be anything. Besides the hard lesson that I most definitely need to invest in an HDMI capable monitor - or even better, a PS3 laptop - what did I learn from 6 weeks of quality time with naught save my PSP?

Former SCEE president Chris Deering spoke at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival this morning, predicting that Sony and Nintendo will reach a tie in terms of hardware numbers in 2011. The chairman of the Festival examined data from both Screen Digest and the International Data Group. Other elements he took into consideration included hi-def growth, older gamers, new game engines and the increasing availability of wi-fi access.

Deering believes that "active installed base for hardware" will go from 316 million currently to over 500 million in the next three years. Heading the pack will be Sony and Microsoft, having both sold 230 million units. Sony will have sold 70 million PS3s, 90 million PS2s and 70 million PSPs. Nintendo will have sold 150 million units of the DS and 80 million units of the Wii. Microsoft will also experience "decent growth," totaling up to 40 million units of the Xbox 360 or any of its future incarnations by 2011.

What do you guys think? The numbers don't seem far-fetched to us, but why include PS2 numbers in a current-gen hardware tally?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

[Correction: Microsoft will have a total install base of 40 million, not 80 million.]

We're here. Hope you join us. The entire E3 press conference will be liveblogged, after the break. Stay tuned!

Important Updates:

• Greatest Hits titles will be available at $29.99 retail later this year. Games include Resistance, Motorstorm, Warhawk, Call of Duty 3, Fight Night and Need for Speed Carbon, Rainbow Six Vegas, Assassins Creed, Oblivion, Ninja Gaiden.
• Universal access to PSN, via PC later this fall. Access Friends lists and more on your computer, even when you're not on the PS3.
• Ratchet & Clank Quest For Booty coming to PSN this Summer. A new concept: shorter game at a lower price. A big summer blockbuster film: it's everything you expect from a Ratchet game, and it's a continuation of the franchise. It leaves off where Tools of Destruction leaves off.
• New PSN games includes Rag Doll Kung Fu sequel.
• Movie and TV downloads. Major studio supports from Sony, Fox, MGM, Lions Gate, Warner, Disney, Paramount, Turner, Funimation will offer support for PlayStation video. Will offer SD and HD content. TV shows start at $1.99 per episode, movie rentals start at $5.99 per rental. Not only can you play the content on the PS3, you can play it on PSP. It can be placed on multiple devices at the same time.
• Ratchet & Clank Size Matters Entertainment Pack includes Size Matters, Nation Treasure 2, 1GB Memory Stick, echochrome for $199 later this year.
• PSP Resistance Retribution announced. Third person action game. The Resistance is now in your hands. Uses over-the-should view. From Sony Bend, developers of the Syphon Filter PSP games.
• PSP Software highlight reel includes Loco Roco 2, Super Stardust Portable. Valkyria Chronicles on PSP!
• Life with PlayStation also on display. Will be available at the end of the month.
• First look at DC Universe Online for PS3. Experience the DC Universe as never before. Fight against or alongside favorite DC heroes and villians, like Batman, Superman, The Joker. Build your legacy against superpowered enemies.
• 80GB Core Pack at $399.99. Twice the storage capacity at the same price. New SKU, most likely will not feature PS2 backwards compatibility.
• God of War III coming to PS3! Trailer showcased.
• inFamous coming Spring 2008.
• Andy Beaudoin from Zipper's new game. (Zipper worked on SOCOM on PS2.) MAG will support up to 256 players.

Perhaps our previous feature on the ten worst PlayStation ads has left you with sleepless nights? We apologize for any bodily harm or psychological damage we may have caused you. You just need to remember that the history of PlayStation ads and campaigns is rich and rife with content. Sometimes these ads can be undeniable hits ... and sometimes they can be wayward misses. You just have to learn to take the good with the bad.

Like we promised, we're now presenting our top ten best PlayStation brand ads to balance out our previous feature. Are these good ones as memorable as the awful ones? Or are they not shocking enough to deserve your attention? You'll find out soon, won't you?

Over the past few years, Sony's controversial attempts at viral marketing for the PlayStation brand were not well-received by the general public. The company had been criticized on numerous occasions for various failed ad campaigns. Campaigns which didn't just fail to hit their target markets, but more importantly had an adverse effect leaving many people angry, rebellious, or just plain dumbfounded. A good example of one of these wrongfully done ads is the recent image of a naked man and his literal eleventh finger promoting the PlayStation 3. Just take a look at the universal heat this drew in.

This recent controversy rekindled the memory of all the horrible ads that have appeared in promotion for both the PS3 and the PlayStation Portable. But, it hasn't always been this bad. The general consensus on PlayStation One and PlayStation 2 ads were favorable; however, as 2006 rolled in with the PSP already under fire and the PS3 on the way, a new direction was emerging for the corporate giant. Was there such a need to be edgy Sony? You were doing so well.

We had thought the era of Sony's marketing fumbles had ended, but apparently it hasn't. So in honor of the embarrassing and often painful ad campaigns over the past few years, we present this look into the top ten worst PlayStation brand ads ever. We're sure Sony won't be too happy about us digging up old skeletons, but this is history and an interesting one at that. It's also one that's hard to forget. And besides, early next month we'll have a top ten best PlayStation ads list just so we're not being lopsided here. So get clicking, and see what NSFW atrocities we've compiled.

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) just announced some release dates and timeframes for their first-party 2008 titles. Summer looks to be great for PlayStation fans, especially fans of the PSN. Look at all these incredible downloadable titles!

PSP
Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 - June 3, 2008
Secret Agent Clank - June 17, 2008
NBA 09 - Fall 2008
BUZZ! Master Quiz - Fall 2008

PLAYSTATION Network
wipEout HD - Summer 2008
Elefunk - Summer 2008
PixelJunk Eden - Summer 2008
SIREN: Blood Curse - Summer 2008
SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Confrontation - September 16, 2008

PS3
SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Confrontation - September 16, 2008
LittleBigPlanet - October 2008
NBA 09 - Fall 2008
BUZZ! Quiz TV - Fall 2008
MotorStorm Pacific Rift - Fall 2008
Resistance 2 - Fall 2008
Killzone 2 - February 2009

[Image: Mock Killzone 2 box art by Blairy_boy]

According to Electronic Arts' Q4 2008 fiscal report, all of Sony's current platforms (PS3, PS2, PSP) dominated EA's game sales across the three month period. The PS2 did the best out of the lot and accounted for $166 million units sold worth of sales and was closely followed by the PS3's $152 million. The Xbox 360 clocked in at $128 million, while the Wii came last at $75 million. Sony's systems accounted for 61 percent of the total console title sales for EA.

Sony also reigned supreme in the portable arena with the PSP accounting for $69 million. This gave the PSP a boost taking 47 percent of total EA portable software for Q4 2008. Mobile phones surprisingly beat out the Nintendo DS with 28 and 25 percent shares respectively.

It's great to hear that Sony's platforms are strong systems for software sales. On the other hand, it's not so grand to think that this sales push contributes funds for EA's obsessiveness to buyout Take-Two. Switching topics, this news also makes it all so apparent why EA's Peter Moore showed so much concern over PS3 related products recently.

Update: The numbers reflected in this article are not about units sold but rather they're about revenue generated. We apologize for any confusion. Our source, GamesIndustry.biz, initially reported these number as unit sold.

Users have been reporting that Remote Play has been secretly updated in the last firmware revision. With PS3 2.10, PS3 owners that have a Remote Play-ready system will be able to play any PS1 game on their handheld. Yes, that includes both games downloaded from the Store and PS1 game discs. We've personally tried Wild Arms (the downloadable version) and confirmed that it will play via Remote Play. Our tipster tried playing Metal Gear Solid (on disc) and also found that it works. Happy news!

We find ourselves using Remote Play more and more with the inclusion of DivX and WMV playback. Now, PS1 support will increase our time spent with this feature.

[Thanks, Nick C.!]

No, this is not a joke. Lair can be played on PSP through PS3's Remote Play functionality. As discovered by Dubbedinenglish on the PlayStation forums, this is quite possibly the first Blu-ray PS3 game to run successfully on the PSP. By reducing the visual quality and increasing the response time, the game is actually quite playable. In fact, because the game uses the PSP's analog stick instead of tilt controls, it actually controls better than the PS3 counterpart.

Stay tuned for a video.

[Thanks, Nightz!]

Korea is full of developers that desperately want to make a mark on the console world. While neither were fantastic, look at the impressive graphics that graced the ambitious, but ultimately shallow and annoying, Magna Carta for the PS2, or the broken remake of Astonishia Story for the PSP. Korean developers want to get involved in consoles, since people seem more and more interested in buying them. Korea gets the brunt of their attention from their PC endeavors, so we've got to ask: is Korea going to show a stronger market share with the PS3 and maintain the popularity of the PSP, or not?

Since Gamasutra posted a pretty lengthy look at the history of consoles in Korea, we're going to give the abridged conclusions here. By all means, check out the full article since it's really quite entertaining. As far as the PSP goes, it's still fairly popular, but mainly used for watching movies while on subways, etc. It's not much of the "short burst" gaming system, which is why the DS has gained a lot of ground there.

The PlayStation 3 has hit a wall in Korea, since most of the "hardcore" crowd have already put their money on the 360. All the negative pre-launch press didn't help, either. The system's still selling, but until the big titles hit, it's not going to have any remarkable sales numbers. The PS3 may, in time, ride on the success of the PS2 in Korea, but until that time, there's nothing fantastic going on. In short, Sony's got to step up to the plate and deliver some good marketing strategies in Korea or else even those Korean console developers will stop trying and that would be a shame, stamping out potential.