UNSCleric.com

Since the Quote of the Week is no longer updated due to more frequent updates to the main page that cover everything I report, I’m going to compile all the weeks to this one post and add a link to it under the Archive page.

 

September 30th, 2006

Sony is at it again:

“Ken Kutaragi, president of Sony Computer Entertainment, held his keynote address for the PlayStation 3 at the Tokyo Games Show. While he showed off some spectacular videos of upcoming games, he also spoke of the fanciful plans for the PlayStation 3. Kutaragi imagines being able to upload 3-D detailed maps in order to incorporate unique locations into a game. He says that once the system is publicly available, users will be able to upload their own maps for their games.”

Kind of reminds you of the “Matrix-like” PS2 online network huh?

September 23rd, 2006

From GameSpot:

Industry analyst Mike Wallace issued an investor memo today reacting to news that Sony intended to drop the price of the low-end, 20GB PlayStation 3 in Japan.

Wallace, who covers the game industry for UBS Securities, called the move “a questionable business decision and a sign of weakness” on the part of Sony.

Stating that Sony said it made the move “in response to consumer complaints about the console’s price,” Wallace paints the decision as window dressing at most.

“This price cut is only on the 20GB version of the PS3 in Japan, which in our view is not significant given that the US is the key market for the PS3,” Wallace said in the memo.

He emphasized that even at the lower price point, the model remains more expensive than either the Xbox 360 or Wii in Japan, and he goes on to further dilute the impact of the price drop by reiterating his view that the 60GB PS3 model is likely to be the more popular one in Japan, regardless of pricing.

PlayStation boss Ken Kutaragi said yesterday that in Japan, Sony would cut the price of the lower-end PS3 (with the 20GB hard drive) to 49,980 yen (US$429) from 60,000 yen (US$515).

To clarify once again, the PS3’s price for either version has not dropped in the US, only Japan is affected.

September 16th, 2006

The fact that PS3’s online system is going to be a joke is already widely known, but one developer is already confirming that its game will feature zero online play for the console when the PS3 comes out this November in North America, and March in Europe.

“The preview which can be viewed over on IGN, reveals that the PlayStation 3 version will lack the online play that will be found in the Xbox 360 version. The reason being that Neversoft, the game’s developer, only received PS3 beta kits three weeks ago.”

Three weeks ago? Real nice. Quote is from Pro-G and was originally posted on September 14th, 2006. Thanks to Matt (GT: YourExWife) for the link.

September 9th, 2006

Rumors on what might be going on inside Halo, from Dean Takahashi’s blog.

What’s next for Bungie?

Everybody knows that Halo 3 is well underway at Microsoft’s Bungie unit. But there’s more going on inside the secretive game developer than just that one blockbuster project. Jason Jones, the project lead on the Halo games, and Chris Butcher, the top programmer, are both working on a different game. They are on a small project that is exploring something new beyond the Halo universe. These guys are the cream of the crop in terms of the key talent at Bungie. Without them, neither Halo nor Halo 2 would have happened. Jones took about a year off after the launch of Halo 2, traveling around the world. Now he’s back and is trying to come up with something new.

On top of that, Bungie apparently has another team working on yet another game.

In case you don’t remember, Dean wrote the Xbox 360 Uncloaked book, where he said a portable device would come out, and predicted and revealed a lot of other things that from what I’ve seen, are 100% correct. He has spent a lot of time at Microsoft and some time with Bungie, so what he says may give you a good look into the future. Click here for the rest of the article.

September 2nd, 2006

Usually I post some kind of propaganda quote by Sony in this section, but this week we’ll take a break from that. Here’s Xbox Live’s Major Nelson telling us some facts about Xbox Live:

“The Xbox Live Marketplace just passed 50 million downloads. That is double the 25 million mark from just three months ago.

• In the first week of Madden ‘07 releasing, Xbox Live members unlocked over 600,000 achievements and hosted more than 2-million hours of Madden gameplay.
• ‘Texas Hold ‘em’ set a one day record as the fastest download item ever on the Marketplace. There were over 100 downloads a minute in the first 24-hours of release.

Other Xbox Live statistics:

• More than 50 million downloads of gaming and entertainment content from Xbox Live Marketplace to date
• Over 2 billion hours spent on Xbox Live by gamers across the globe since the launch of the Xbox Live online gaming network in November 2002
• More than 60 percent of Xbox 360 owners are connected to Xbox Live
• 1,300,000 text and voice messages are sent via Xbox Live every day. Currently totaling half a billion sent messages between the Xbox Live community per year, this figure is set to explode with the launch of the Xbox Live Vision camera on September 19, 2006 in the U.S.
• 65 per cent of all connected consoles already downloading and playing Xbox Live Arcade titles
• Over 8 million downloads of Xbox Live Arcade games following the launch of Xbox 360
• Over 2 billion Microsoft Points sold to date”

August 26th, 2006

In last week’s Quote of the Week, I posted an interview where Kaz Hirai says both the PS3 has yet to begin manufacturing, and will only have 2 million by the end of the year worldwide. Sony has now been doing damage control for the last week and now say this:

“SCE has not changed its shipment schedule and is still on target to ship 2 million by launch window, 4 million by the end of this year, and 6 million by the end of FY 06,”

Now this is just a blatant lie. They’re now saying 6 million by next April. This is the same company who launched the much-easier to produce PS2 with less than 300,000 units. With the PS3, they’re trying to shove the hardware into a case seemingly too small (See this week’s Picture of the Week) and they’re dealing with several new, mostly untested technologies. I also have a feeling that quality control is not high on the list here, since as you saw this past week, both Apple and Dell had to recall several million laptops due only to a Sony battery in them that explodes and starts on fire.

Analysts have come out and said that Sony will have 3 million by April, which I believe to be accurate. They’ll have ~ 1 to 1.2 million by the end of the year, a majority of those going to Japan, and then by April maybe get three million and maybe actually have the system available in USA.

August 19th, 2006

In a recent interview with GameSpot, Sony’s Kaz Hirai (who will forever be famous for his performance at E3 2006) it was revealed that the PS3 is yet to begin manufacturing.

GS: So is the PS3 already being manufactured?

KH: We haven’t started manufacturing yet. Some of our ops guys were actually just in China, and also in Japan just reviewing the [production] lines and everything else. But they are, again, preparing as we speak to get the manufacturing going. We’ve not announced and we haven’t set really a specific date to say, “As of this day we’re going to start manufacturing.”

For the full interview, click here.

August 12th, 2006

EA commenting on its disappointment with the Sony PSP

EA executive VP and COO of worldwide studios David Gardner recently told MCV that Sony better get their act together with the PSP.

“I don’t think Sony can afford to sit back. I think they still have things they can do with the price and performance of the machine– things that they need to address.”

Gardner points to the success of the DS as being about fun and accessibility, not about pure technical supremacy.

“There’s no doubt that EA has historically bet more on PSP. I think we were excited by the technology, but the consumers have proven that actually what they want is fun. … EA is putting more effort behind DS games — and creative ones that really take advantage of the hardware.”

Thanks to Matt (YourExWife) for the story

August 5th, 2006

It was just 6 days ago that the news of E3’s death was posted online (this site being one of the first with it). Even though there’s not much more to report on regarding this, I think this following quote shows the glee that Sony biased media shined with once they heard E3 was dead.

“Many of us are still reeling from the news that the E3 we’ve known for the last 12 years has gone the way of the dodo. (Actually, many of us are still dancing in the street.)” - IGN.com - August 1st

Anyone who is “dancing in the streets” at the death of one of the greatest weeks for gaming every year is an absolute disgrace to the industry. Why does this person work at IGN, a supposed gamer’s website? The only negative thing about E3 was the childish and biased reporting from sites like IGN & GameSpot. Games have been becoming more and more mainstream lately, and are spanning across every race and gender in the world. Sadly, every year at E3, over half of the IGN & GameSpot coverage was immature comments about how they flirted with some “booth babe”. Every time gaming gets any ounce of respect, these morons bring us back another decade. Finding out that videogame journalism is horrible is no surprise, but it did surprise many to see that the greed of companies like Sony & EA successfully killed the greatest event gaming had ever seen.

Once again, one last time:

RIP E3: 1994-2006

July 15th, 2006

The following was said during an interview with the President of Sony Computer Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios, Phil Harrison:

“There’s always going to be a risk when you are [the] market leader for ten years that we start to lose perspective; and we have to make sure that we don’t lose perspective. But I don’t think we’re arrogant, I think we have to recognize that we’re in a highly competitive industry and that anything that we say will be eternally editorialized by professionals and consumers alike. So we’re always in the spotlight,” said Harrison.

When pressed further and asked about comments made by SCEA President Kaz Hirai about Microsoft supposedly copying Sony’s strategy, Harrison insisted that quotes have been taken out of context.

“… quotes can always be taken out of context. They can be put into a harsher light as a result, but that doesn’t mean that the PR strategy is one of arrogance. So they’re two separate things,” he said.

Ok…let’s go back to July 1st’s quote of the week, which was the interview that is being referred to.

PSM: Sony and Microsoft seem to be taking the exact same path.

Hirai: We seem to. Every time we go down a path, we look behind and they’re right there - we just can’t shake these guys. I wish that they would come up with some strategies of their own, but they seem to be going down the path of everything we do. If you look at their strategy in other business areas as well, they tend to do that.

Why exactly would PlayStation magazine show their own company in a “harsh light”. Also, how was what he said taken out of context? It was a simple question and answer, it was probably done over the internet and just copy and pasted into the article. As usual, this week’s quote consisted of either Sony further ruining their image, or doing damage control, I’m sure this trend will continue until the PlayStation goes down the drain like UMD did this week.

July 8th, 2006

Since Sony won’t comment on their offensive PSP ads (or apologize for them) this week’s quote will once again focus on the ads and their stupidity. For my article on this from earlier this week, click here. Here’s a quote from Kotaku:

“British PSP Ads Promote Suicide, Removed By Station

Sony UK’s latest ad campaign has not only alienated the mainstream, but now has pissed off the Metro. A PlayStation Portable ad that read “TAKE A RUNNING JUMP HERE” was only a few feet from the subway tracks at bustling Piccadilly station. Disturbing, as according to Manchester Online, there have been a rash of passengers getting hit by trains in recent months. An employee noticed the ad, thought it was inappropriate and had it covered with tape. The ad has now been taken down. The electronics giant refused to comment.

Have Sony lost their minds? There’s a difference between name-checking Paris Hilton and explicitly telling people to “take a running jump” at the edge of a subway platform. Up to now the company’s boneheaded PSP campaigns have been annoying, but stuff like this is inexcusable. Period. Shame on you, Sony.”

July 1st, 2006

This week’s quote features Kaz Hirai making an idiot of himself once again, just like he did at E3.

PSM: Sony and Microsoft seem to be taking the exact same path.

Hirai: We seem to. Every time we go down a path, we look behind and they’re right there - we just can’t shake these guys. I wish that they would come up with some strategies of their own, but they seem to be going down the path of everything we do. If you look at their strategy in other business areas as well, they tend to do that.

A master class in finger pointing. According to Kaz, every good idea Microsoft ever had was swiped. And not only that, Microsoft are poor planers say Kaz! He lays into Microsoft with this jab: (Kotaku)

Hirai: …And the other thing is, you take a look at, for example, the fact that we incorporate the Blu-ray drive from day one. You’re not going to be asking me, ‘So, talk to me about this Blu-ray add-on that you have. Does it work for games? Is it just for movies?’ That’s exactly the kind of pitfall you fall into if you launch something that’s too early, too premature…

I don’t think the choice of not forcing HD-DVD down gamer’s throats is a bad one personally. I know no one who is truthfully looking forward to spending $600 on a PS3, just to have $200 of that cost go to a format player they don’t want or need. If the HD-DVD add-on is too confusing for Kaz to understand, maybe he should leave the industry and go play some Ridge Racer.

About his first statement of Microsoft copying them, here’s a few things I’d like to point out. Xbox Live sure didn’t rip off Sony’s botched online “network” on the PS2, in fact it’s the only way around, with Sony now trying to completely copy and paste Xbox Live onto the PS3, except this time, it’ll include a Sony Music store. Let’s also not forget that Sony first condemned Microsoft’s 2-SKU announcement, saying they would not do the same, but then at E3 2006, they announce the same kind of pricing, except this time, it costs $100-$200 more, and their “core” pack is not upgradeable like the Xbox 360 Core is.

Let’s not forget that the PlayStation and PSP were only created as a counter-attack on Nintendo, after their relationship broke down on the SNES. Of course there is also the “new” PS3 motion controller, which rips off the old Logitech/Microsoft motion sensor controller, as well as the Nintendo Wii-mote. This Kaz guy has quickly made Ken Kutaragi’s craziness seem tame already, what a joke.

June 24th, 2006

This week’s quote won’t have as much swearing as last week’s, but in a continuing trend, I will again quote someone who might be a little…”challenged”. Here’s this week’s quote:

“”There’s no question that having the Grand Theft Auto franchise helped us a lot and helped us sell some units, but I don’t think the battle would be any different with or without Grand Theft Auto … I don’t think [losing GTA exclusivity] hurts us. … I really don’t.””

That was Sony of America’s Jack Tretton, who also said Sony was “really pleased” with it’s showing at E3 2006. As always, Jack is touting the company line, just like last year, when he claimed the Killzone footage shown at E3 2005 was real gameplay. To read the entire entry on this story, click here.

June 17th, 2006

I thought I would kick off this new UNSCleric.com Feature with a piece of hate mail I got last night. I get at least one of these a week, either on here, or usually via e-mail. The e-mail will be censored somewhat. Make sure to note that he never actually argues anything I say, which is always how these e-mails go. I usually don’t give these “people” any attention, but I thought I would give you guys a sneak peak at what a fan of Sony’s acts like, enjoy.

“Hey you stupid c**t, f**ken

c***mongling b****ass faggotass f***, w

hy dont you stop spreading false lies

like a totall faggot you f***en whore,

did Sony bang you up the ass 2

hard you bitch,

****en asswhipe PS3 pwns your ass

bitch”

What exactly is a false lie? Wouldn’t that actually be the truth? Anyways, I believe I have found a couple videos of the guy who sent me this e-mail, check them out here & here.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 30th, 2006 at 12:07 pm and is filed under Site News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.