Sony held a little mid-term corporate strategy meeting today in Japan. On the menu? All kinds of Sony stuff, but of particular interest to us, all kinds of PlayStation-related stuff. First up? These shots of the PS3′s upcoming video download service, which formed part of a presentation by Kaz Hirai. As you can see, it’s largely identical to the current PlayStation Store interface, though it’s nice seeing the whole thing move out of the “will be here sometime” stage and into what’s surely the “will be here soon” stage. But how soon?
In May, Sony Europe boss David Reeves said the PS3 has now outsold the 360 in Europe. He said the PS3 had sold over five million units since launching in March 2007. And Microsoft Europe’s David Gosen says he’s lying. Speaking with MCV, Gosen says that the 360 has sold “well over” five million units in Europe, and goes on to boast “We are incredibly well positioned – our installed base in Europe is well over five million and contrary to what’s been reported we are at least, if not more than, three quarters of a million ahead of PS3″. One of these men is telling the truth. The other is not. And there’s only one way to settle this. Like men. A challenge, a glove to the face then pistols at dawn.
Assassin’s Creed had a lot of hype. Assassin’s Creed 2 will have more. Just listen to Ubisoft US boss Laurent Detoc go on about the inevitable sequel:
We just did Assassin’s and are sitting on top of the world, but we have to come back to reality very quickly because you’re only as good as your last product… Don’t drink the Kool-Aid too much; we’re going have to defend our position… When we bring it [Assassin's Creed]back, there will be more anticipation for it.
Not only hype, but also look forward to Ubisoft explain how the game play is no longer repetitive and dull. We eagerly anticipate that.
Europe’s Top Gamer [Forbes via Eurogamer][Pic]
From the same guys who brought you the awful “2010″ Wii comes a conceptual pipe-dream a little more…sensible. This unnamed Microsoft product takes a 360, shrinks it to handheld size, adds a Zune to it, smooshes their interfaces together then throws a phone in as well. Just for good measure. Looks nice, looks slim, but whoever thought it’d be a good idea to bring the 360′s despicable d-pad along for the ride needs a short, sharp slap to the teeth.
Portable XBox 360/Zune Phone Fantasy is Exactly What Microsoft Should Make [Gizmodo]
Great, now you folks have me wide awake at 3 in the morning my time, hunting for clues like an over-the-hill Encyclopedia Brown. The Blizzard splash page has updated once again, revealing what certainly look like a pair of glowing eyes peering through the broken ice. Is it Diablo? Arthas? Or is it Hurley? The reason I ask is because the latest secret image has appeared in the CSS of the page, bearing the number 16. That makes the sequence so far 4, 15, 23, 16. Fans of the television show Lost know those numbers, along with the numbers 8 and 42, as the numbers that keep popping up throughout the show on lottery tickets, prescription bottles, etc. Will the next two numbers follow suit, or is Blizzard throwing us another curve? If it is the Lost numbers, what does it mean?
And where did those Vikings get off to? I cannot seem to find them anywhere?
You may remember the Street Fighter movie (the bad one, not the good one), but only those with longer, sharper memories will remember that the film had a game tie-in. Yes. Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game. It was worse than the movie. But that doesn’t mean after all these years nothing good can come of it! Alan Noon – who posted a tonne of info on the game last year – has also posted a ton of old photos he took during the title’s development. They’re…magnificent. I’ve posted a few below, but really, to get the full effect you’ll need to head over to his site and check out the lot of them (they’re from 2007, yeah, but stuff like this is like a fine wine).
Follow up: Street Fighter The Movie [Alan Noon, via Game|Life]
Just hours ago, a man stabbed a police officer in Akihabara during a random bag check. This comes in the wake of the tragedy earlier this month when Tomohiro Kato (pictured) drove through Akihabara in a truck and proceeded to stab 18 pedestrians with a knife, killing 7. Today’s incident happened at 1:30pm Japan Time, and the individual that attacked the officer is being detained and questioned. The officer sustained a slight injury to the hand as the knife was apparently small.
Tokyo’s game/anime/manga haven Akihabara certainly doesn’t seem as safe as it once appeared…
秋葉原で男が警察官に切りつける [Yahoo Japan via Canned Dogs]
According to Japanese news site IT Media, Metal Gear Solid 4 has been knocked down to number two by PSP game Super Robot Taisen A Portable. During its first week, MGS4 sold 476,334 copies — so says Enterbrain sales data. In its second week (June 16th to June 22nd), IT Media states the game’s sales dropped to 68,000 copies. Still, an impressive number, but not impressive enough to overtake Super Robot Taisen A Portable, which went on sale June 19th. Good news: MGS4‘s sales have now topped 500,000 copies in Japan. That’s way better than a punch in the nards.
僕らの時代のスーパーロボットが登場 [IT Media]
Metal Gear Solid 4 remains at the top for the second week in Britain, though a quick glance over Snake’s ageing shoulders will see that Britain’s love for Mario & Sonic has been replaced by a love for Lego & Indiana Jones. And it’s a love that knows no boundaries, as three versions of the game hit the top ten (Wii, DS, PS2), while the other two (360, PS3) still manage to make the top 20. Yes, I said the top 20, which brings us to the part where I tell you about a change in the way we’ll be posting the British sales charts.
I’ve always posted the top ten sellers from the previous week. Time for a change. So to open things up a bit, spice things up a bit, from here on, I’ll be posting the entire top 40, which should give you all a better idea of the buying habits of the British public. Enjoy.
