Exec shuffle.

Peter Moore went to EA, Don Mattric (a former EA president) took his place, and now John Schappert, formerly an executive vice president at EA, has joined Microsoft.

Rather interesting. Some people aren't thrilled with this, but in the meantime, this should be interesting to watch.

Also, in other news, NCSoft seems to be doing well :)

Anyone who's read my blogs long enough knows that I love Guild Wars, City of Heroes and am really, really looking forward to Exteel. So the better they're doing, the happier I am. Directly affecting my gamer joy is the fact that City of Heroes/City of Villains has been growing since i9, which is awesome. Granted, just last week I got my first RMT offer in-game (which was promptly reported), but still, great all around. i10 has been a lot of fun, and as soon as they decide to do character transfers I'll be even happier, moving my level 44.5 character to the server I play on these days with my friends.

Maybe I'll finally hit 50 before the year's through ;)

Story here.

Uhm... yeah.

I think I can continue waiting in safety.

I wondered if it was possible - seems so.

I figured the capability was there, and was wondering if anyone would use it. After all, while its nice to have everything region-free (I love it, as a matter of fact), publishers probably like having that safety blanket (bleh). After all, how many Xbox and 360 games are region-locked, even both systems are perfectly capable of having region free games? Or faster yet, how many region-free Xbox and 360 game are there? Not that many.

Interesting. I don't see it affecting sales too much simply because importing isn't exactly a big deal anymore; niche market. But it is interesting to see.

Story here.

Here next, please?

I speculated that Sony might return to the DVR/console idea (you can see it in the PSX released in Japan) a while ago (1st comment). While not quite as I envisioned it (primarily because I saw it going head to head with TiVo and other standalone DVR's with their significantly larger harddrives), this is pretty awesome.

I would like to know if the digital tuner will be an add-on through the USB ports or a new addition to the base hardware, given that AFAIK the PS3 has no form of video/audio input that I know of (digital or analogue). If its through an add-on, Microsoft should (in theory) have an easy time matching that feature. They've already started on the functionality (maybe out the end of the year?) so all they'd be doing is adding the alternate means of accessing content (ie, from a digital cable/satellite feed in addition to online).

As always, this is another example of software and services being the defining quality of this generation (what, you think DVR is free? That's a subscription service, m'man). The more the merrier, I say.

While I'll spare you the details, I'm not overly thrilled. I've slept most of the day, my back hurts like crazy, and I've eaten part of a slice of toast with peanut butter, a yogurt, and more gatorade than I'd care to admit (yes, I'm not eating: sure sign death).

Picks and all that good stuff when I'm feeling better. Which I hope is tomorrow, because I don't want to have to go into work on Saturday.

By now the realization that the $499 60g PS3 is a sale-price versus an actual drop with the 80g+game PS3 at $599 being the new norm is hitting everywhere. Sony Europe and Kaz are saying that Sony America is going down to a single model/sku whereas Sony America is dancing around a bit, saying they'll continue to sell the 60g PS3 but are vague about how long they'll do so (current assumption is "until we run out").

While a horrible example of PR and corporate communication, this isn't a bad move in my opinin.

Blow out the 60g's to get the systems into the market. Its been commented it doesn't cost very much more to go from 60g to 80g. Sony published Motorstorm, so its a good game that should be (mostly) paid for by the time the new 80g model hits, and they can include it at relatively little cost. While costs are going down for them, I've seen nothing that would lead me to believe they're breaking even on hardware, so rather than flat-out lowering the price by, say, $100 (which will increase their losses by $100), they're trying to make the $599 price point a better value ($60 game plus an upgrade to the harddrive), which is much cheaper for them to do.

Yeah, we all wanted to see the retail price come down by $100 or more, I know, but this makes more sense right now.

That being said, Capcom believes we'll see a price drop before the end of the year (well, they said a second price drop, but that's not the case anymore), and nobody talks about price cuts until the last minute anyhow. Given that some analysts (love 'em or hate 'em) think that this holiday season will "make or break" the PS3 and that most game publishers shove out a TON of new games in that time period, its entirely possible that Sony might be waiting to drop the price then - less time losing lots of money, lot more money flowing around due to gift giving, etc. Good strategy, especially when you figure in that HDTV's and Blu-Ray players and movies will also be bought in (relatively speaking) mass-quantities at that time also, and this years PS3 will present a better value (regardless of price drop) compared to last year's.

As always, the patient consumer will win out. If you "gotta have it now," well, don't complain later.

I'm getting ready for my trip, so this is probably the silliest thing to post about while E3's going on.

Hot Fuzz will be DVD and HD-DVD only.

I would've liked it to have been TotalHD or be released on Blu-Ray as well. You know me; multi-platform is good.

Why? Haven't seen it, but if its anywhere nearly as funny as Shaun of the Dead (which I've been assured it is), I may have to add it to my collection later. If you haven't see Shaun, go give it a rent.

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http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?op...=6269&Itemid=2

It was also recently announced that the American Xbox 360 version of Virtua Fighter 5 would have an online versus mode. This is bone-crushing news -- kind of. For one thing, Japanese gamers who bother to play Virtua Fighter at all would only dare to play it obsessively. This truth is evidenced in the long lines around Virtua Fighter 5 cabinets in Japanese arcades even today, a year after the game's release. Community is a big thing for Virtua Fighter players -- or players of any fighting game series.

http://the-magicbox.com/game20070626.shtml
Here are some new images of Sega's Xbox 360 version of Virtua Fighter 5, the 360 version will have online play not found in the PS3 version.

I'm sorry - what announcement was this? When was this announcement?

Quick run-down here.

Read the article and let the discussion begin. I'll post my thoughts after a few of you have shared yours.

From Sony's blog.

And Ars.

Just a quick follow-up to all the talk of paying for stuff. Overall? Nice. While some of the initial reactions I've read are balking at the price (not surprising - $4 per map), it does keep in line with my expectations. I *wish* I could find the story where one of Sony's head folks talked about their microtransaction items possibly costing more to cover costs for PSN. Oh well

And if you've been playing Resistance since launch, you've been playing for 8 months without a fee. They're asking for $8 for (what I understand are) two good maps and you still get a free content update on top of that. That's not bad at all. Yes, I know it feels like you're being "nickled and dimed," but at the same time this is how Sony keeps PSN free at the moment (that would be a good subscriber perk - discount on download prices).

Again, free is dead. Long live cheap.

Anyhow, they really needed to go more in depth about what the free stuff is to soothe folks a bit, but the global play sounds great to me. Also, there's nothing to say they won't eventually release those maps for free, or have special sales lowering the price, or any number of promotion methods.