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This Ad is *Supposed* to Make You Want The Pink PS2
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, PlayStation 2, Screenshots,
Sony’s just had one brilliant advertisement following another these days. Well, at least this time it’s not laden with racist undertones. Their latest strategy? Advertising that the soon-to-be-made-obsolete pink PS2 is the gaming system of choice for pervs. It took me a while to even figure out that this was a PS2 ad - note the square - triangle - circle - cross shapes of the undergarments and it becomes more clear.
Is it just me, or is this advertisement doomed to scare away the pink PS2 target market of girl gamers? Or is the thought of some guy sniffing panties just the kind of thing to convince you to get that PS2 you’ve been lusting after?
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Phantasy Star Universe Servers Crash, To Re-Launch In October
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: MMORPG, PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360,
According to a report on PSO-World, Sega’s launch of their latest in the Phantasy Star series, Phantasy Star Universe has been rescheduled for October. The game went on sale this past weekend, but server problems have forced Sega to pull the Japanese game servers offline as of September 3. Sega has issued an apology letter to gamers, and stated that 30-day free trials will be reset when the game re-launches. In PSO-World’s translation of the letter, Sega will re-open the Network Mode Service on September 6. During September, Sega will be trying to troubleshoot and fix any issues with the online service. On October 1, Sega plans to have the service fully back online, and all free trials will start counting down on that date. Hopefully, Sega can work through their problems quickly; the game is scheduled to ship in the US on October 24, 2006 for the PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 2.
Read More 
| PSO-World
As of September 15, the price of the Playstation 2 in Japan will be dropping from 19980 Yen to 16000 Yen. The 16000 Yen price brings the console more in line with the pricing in other territories, and may be aimed at helping move more PS2 consoles in Japan ahead of the anticipated Playstation 3 release. Price drops have now been announced in both the European and Japanese territories. The price drop will happen a week before this year’s Tokyo Game Show, and may be the first in a series of announcements leading up to this convention.
Read More | Game Watch
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LEGO Star Wars 2 Looking Great at PAX
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Adventure, Eidos, LucasArts, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360,
This past weekend we visited the absolutely crazy floor of the Penny Arcade Expo in Bellevue, WA. The floor was chock full of some great looking MMORPGs and FPS titles for the hardcore gamers, but there were some really great looking less serious games as well. Chief among them was the highly anticipated LEGO Star Wars II, the sequel that tells the stories of Episodes IV-VI in brickalicious format.
See our full thoughts after the jump…
Click to continue reading LEGO Star Wars 2 Looking Great at PAX
Madden ‘07 Out Now for Every Platform Imaginable
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Electronic Arts, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Sports, Wii, Wireless, Xbox, Xbox 360,
It’s that time of year again! Time to go out, be a good little drone, and pick up a copy or three of this year’s Madden iteration. This year you’ll be able to pick up the ubiquitous franchise on PC (Windows), Playstation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Gamecube, DS, PSP, GBA, and yes, even your mobile phone (hey, where’s my BeOS version??!?). And of course, when the Wii and PS3 launch in a few months, you can get your Madden on with them too.
The good news is the console versions at least seem to be garnering fairly respectable reviews across the board - IGN.com, Gamespot, and 1up.com all give the franchise fairly high marks (7.7 - 8.5) for its notably improved graphics, online play and added features like Create-A-Player. The bad news, of course, is that you probably won’t be able to play the game online for more than about a year and will have to fork out another $60-$70 next year to keep playing.
Still, the popularity of Madden is absolutely staggering - analysts predict that the title could become a million-seller within as little as 5 days, and could earn EA about $210 million in revenue for the year (about 7% of its total annual revenue of $3 billion). Click below for the Reuters news brief.
Read More | Reuters
How The Xbox 360 Is Affecting Video Game Sales
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Activision, Electronic Arts, Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, THQ, Ubisoft, Xbox, Xbox 360,
Todd Bishop at the Seattle Post Intelligencer has pulled together some interesting data about how the Xbox 360 has impacted video game console sales. By pulling together publicly available data for a few of the largest game publishers, one can get an idea of how the Xbox 360 market is shaping up. This isn’t going to be perfect because first party sales figures aren’t going to be reported and there are many other game publishers that aren’t represented on the list. Also, because not every title released on the Xbox is available on the Xbox 360 and vice versa, there are going to be some gaps in reporting in this area as well. But this does give a really high level view of the console market, and how marketshare is shaping up.
Over the first nine months, it appears that most of the Xbox 360 marketshare is coming at the expense of owners of the original Xbox. A small percentage of Playstation 2 sales appear to have shifted to the Xbox 360, but overall, the console still remains the dominant force on the market. Gamecube sales dropped off, but this may have had more to with the fact that fewer titles are being released on the Gamecube than on the other platforms. Total sales of game titles released for either the Xbox or the Xbox 360 grew year over year, but this may be in part to the 20% premium that Xbox 360 titles claim over their counterparts.
Despite all of the limitations of the data pulled, this gives a really interesting look into which consumers are pursuing platforms. With the Playstation 3 and the Wii releases coming up, one wonders how much brand loyalty is going to play into the success of the next generation.
Read More | Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sony Announces Pink PSP, PS2 For Europe
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: PlayStation 2, PSP,
Ahead of the Leipzig conference, Sony has announced that they will be offering pink variations of the PSP and the PS2 in Europe, according to reports on GamesIndustry.biz. In the European territories, Sony already offers the PSP in both black and ceramic white, so this will be the third color offering for that territory, while the US has yet to see anything beyond the original color. The new PSP color will be offered in a bundle similar to the original US launch, with headphones, pouch, and a 32MB memory stick included. The bundle will retail for 169 GBP. Also announced was a pink variant of the slimline PSTwo, which will ship with dual controllers and a 8 MB memory card for 129.99 GBP.
At the same time, Sony announced that they would be lowering the price of the standard slim Playstation 2 to 94.99 GBP, or 129.99 Euro. Sony appears to be echoing their hardware strategy that they followed when the Playstation 2 was originally released. By still strongly supporting the old hardware platform while launching the new, Sony can extend the life of the Playstation 2. Game developers will find it hard to ignore the massive user base for the PS2, and if Sony can nail backward compatibility for the Playstation 3, this can allow some fresh content to appear while the truly next generation software trickles in. This approach is in large contrast to the way Microsoft handled the Xbox 360 launch; new Xbox hardware is hard to come by, and the platform itself has been pushed into the background quite quickly.
Read More | GamesIndustry.biz
Nintendo Leads Game Sales Growth In July
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360,
NPD recently reported that video game sales in July rose 22 percent year over year, and hardware sales increased 46 percent, according to Reuters. The continued growth in the video game segment has largely been attributed to sales of the Nintendo DS and software. Essentially continuing the pattern established in June, the DS sold through an impressive 377,000 units compared to PSP sales of 162,000 consoles. PSP sales overall declined, indicating that perhaps Nintendo’s console is taking market share away from Sony, despite their protests to the contrary. Sony’s Playstation 2 again outsold the Xbox 360 for the month.
On the software side, EA’s cross-platform NCAA 2007 moved the most units, but Nintendo’s DS titles New Super Mario Bros., Brain Age, and Big Brain Academy followed close behind. Video games overall could decline in the next couple of months before the release of the Nintendo Wii and the Playstation 3, but signs point towards strong growth year over year.
Read More | Reuters
More Bargains from Wal-Mart: PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube Games under $10.00
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hot Deals, Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox,
Earlier we reported on a great deal on the slimline PlayStation 2 over at Wal-Mart, and the great deals just keep on coming. If you can accept the “the high cost of low prices”, then this online sale could keep you occupied for the rest of the summer.
A quick sampling of some of the better titles currently being offered at Walmart.com for $10.00 and below include:
- Grand Theft Auto III
- Jak III
- Black and White II
- Castlevania Curse of Darkness
- Max Payne 2
- Def Jam: Vandetta
- Time Splitters: Future Perfect
- Hitman 2
- Space Channel 5
Just click the link below for a handy-dandy query of the Wal-Mart database for titles priced below $20.00.
Read More | Wal-Mart.com via Joystiq.com
Psychonauts PS2 @ Amazon.com for $9.99: Now THAT’s Bargain Bin Gaming
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Adventure, Hot Deals, PlayStation 2,
When Xbox 360 owners complain this loudly about getting backwards compatible support for a specific game, you know it must be a real gem. Such is the case with Psychonauts, a rare blending of amazing artistic style with solid platforming, the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Rayman 2.
In what may be the best gaming deal this month, The Frugal Gamer is reporting that Psychonauts for the PS2 is now available on Amazon.com for $9.99 (and thanks to the PS3, now with no backwards compatibility worries!). So if you’ve never played it, GO! Go now!
Update: Looks like it may have been a typo in Amazon’s system, unfortunately. The game is now priced at the usual (still quite reasonable) $29.99.
Read More | The Frugal Gamer
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