Random PS3 News Thread

[jefXfree]

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have announced that they are hosting a We are PlayStation photography competition that has now launched in Europe. Electronic Theatre ImageThe team?s jubilation at getting a BUZZ! question right; the laughter of a room full of SingStar fans; the entertaining journeys playing your PlayStation Portable! They?re all classic PlayStation moments that you?ve seen or experienced hundreds of times - but can you capture them in a photo? If you can, your name could be in the hat to win some great prizes. There?s also the possibility of a serious cash prize, the possibility of the images being used in future PlayStation campaigns as well as a new Sony D-SLR a350 digital camera and lens. Get snapping and upload your photos by the 16th March 2009 for a chance to win.

The rules are simple ? capture the perfect image of you, your friends or your family enjoying a PlayStation moment with your PLAYSTATION3, PlayStation2 or PlayStation Portable and upload it to www.weareplaystation.com. There are different categories your photos could enter: Caught in the Moment, Unexpected Places, PlayStation Parties, True Love and Endless Play. A panel of guest judges will assess top user-rated snaps on their merits and work out which photographer deserves the top prize of 1000 euros and a Sony D-SLR a350 camera. Ten runners up will receive cash prizes of 100 euros each, while the next best 100 entries will get their hands on a top PlayStation game or vouchers for the PlayStation Store. All entries have the chance of being used in a future PlayStation marketing campaign.

Of course, PlayStation is all about its community ? and that?s why we?re asking you to judge the first round of the competition. PlayStation fans can visit the website and decide which shots will be put before the judges by rating each photo with a score from one to five. Also, every time you Electronic Theatre Imageenter the site, you can give your favourite image a secret ?Super Vote? which will be used to determine the finalists in case several entries generate the same overall rating. The images with the highest average score and, in the event of a tie, with the highest number of ?Super Votes? will go before the judging panel ? so it pays to get everyone you know onto the site and voting.

With so many great moments for so many different PlayStation communities, this is the chance not only to show off your natural eye for a photograph, but also to show the world just how much fun you have with your friends ? and a PLAYSTATION3, PlayStation2 or PlayStation Portable. Visit www.weareplaystation.com for competition terms and conditions and get snapping!
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PRILOSEC DEATH

 

[Wreck]

they just released Hannah Montana too .... lol does it have TROPHIES!? LMAO!

I know this cause my daughter wanted me to get it ... I almost regurgitated thinking of it inside my ps3 ... that's why I bought a DS

 

[xtop]

not really anything you can take out of it at this point imo. a smaller hard drive would probably cost more if anything

they just need to bite the bullet and chop $100 off

 

[BlueCali]

Bump, since this is happening today!

 

[BlueCali]

not really anything you can take out of it at this point imo. a smaller hard drive would probably cost more if anything

they just need to bite the bullet and chop $100 off

yep exactly, in marketing, when the customers demand a lower price you give it to them, no matter what. (this is only for high dollar items).

 

[BlueCali]

Activision and 7 studios sued for "Withholding" other DJ game competition

Game/media publisher Genius Products and DJ technology company Numark have announced a lawsuit against former partner and Scratch game developer 7 Studios and publisher Activision, alleging that Activision has acquired the developer to prevent the game's debut before the rival DJ Hero.

According to an official press statement released to Gamasutra, Scratch DJ Game LLC, which is a joint venture of Line Rider publisher Genius Products and Numark, filed legal action against Activision Publishing, 7 Studios and its CEO Lewis Peterson.

The suit "...alleges that Activision has engaged in intentional interference with contract, breach of contract, conversion and misappropriation of trade secrets obtained from Genius to purchase 7 Studios, which is under contract to develop the much anticipated new Hip Hop video game, Scratch: The Ultimate DJ (“Scratch”)."

This announcement is the first indication that 7 Studios had been purchased by Activision, although Gamasutra understands that the developer has been working on other projects with Activision division Luxoflux in recent months.

Moreover the suit alleges that Activision and 7 Studios "...have conspired to withhold the current version of Scratch in an effort to delay the development and release of Scratch and to gain access to proprietary technology."

In addition to substantial damages, Scratch DJ Game LLC is asking the court to order the game’s immediate return, and other injunctive relief.

The release from Genius and Numark goes on to claim that: "Prior to undertaking these wrongful actions, Activision approached Genius with an offer to acquire Scratch. The offer was rejected. It is alleged that Activision then commenced the process of acquiring Genius’ contract developer, 7 Studios, while under a non-disclosure and confidentiality agreement with Genius."

It is also alleged that after Activision acquired 7 Studios, the two companies began conspiring to prevent Scratch from getting to market on a timely basis by withholding work product, code, and the proprietary game controller.

"We believe that Activision realizes the tremendous opportunity that our game, Scratch, represents to the video game industry, the retail marketplace and the consumer. After demonstrating our game, pursuant to the confidentiality agreement with Activision, we believe Activision concluded that Scratch: the Ultimate DJ is a superior offering to their prospective game, DJ Hero," stated Trevor Drinkwater, President and CEO of Genius Products, Inc.

"We believe that Activision and 7 Studios have improperly used confidential information obtained from Genius and 7 Studios to interfere with our efforts to complete the game. In short, we believe that Activision is attempting to sabotage the release of our much anticipated game and prevent it from getting to market prior to the release of DJ Hero."

Jack O'Donnell, Chief Executive Officer of Numark, added, "We also firmly believe the recent actions by 7 Studios are an obvious breach of the development agreement and we look forward to receiving our work product and property back, and completing and successfully launching our game on schedule."

Gamasutra recently interviewed Genius Products' Mike Rubinelli about Scratch and its prospects. We've also reached out to Activision for comment on the allegations.

 

[BlueCali]

I thought I had posted this, but I couldn't find it...

 

[BlueCali]

Gamasutra has received a full copy of the lawsuit filed by Genius Products and Numark against 7 Studios and Activision over DJ title Scratch, and runs down the allegation and timeline in detail here.

In analyzing the full 30-page complaint, for those not interested in reading through all of the legal jargon, here are some notable highlights from both the complaint overview and the claimed chronology.

The Legal Complaint

Although much of the initial allegations are outlined well in Genius Products' and Numark's initial statement about the lawsuit, it's worth noting that the duo are claiming that Activision is particularly interested in Scratch due to how far on in development DJ Hero is.

As quoted: "Activision... is concurrently developing its own competing DJ-band video game to be marketed as part of its Guitar Hero game franchise under the name DJ Hero. Scratch DJ, however, is believed to ahead of Activision in terms of the development of, and scheduled release date for, the Game."

The suit then claims that Activision negotiated to acquire Scratch, but "negotiations ceased after Activision learned from Genius that its game developer, 7 Studios, was behind in the contractual development schedule for the Game and that Genius and 7 Studios were close to signing a revised development schedule."

"When Activision attempted to renegotiate its offer price, suggesting a substantial reduction in price, Genius terminated negotiations and entered into a joint venture with Numark to finish the development of the game."

At this point, Genius claims, Activision "embarked on a sinister strategy of intentional interference and unfair competition", purchasing "the financially-troubled 7 Studios in order to delay and prevent the completion of the Game - in effect holding its competitor's game hostage."

Scratch DJ: The Timeline

The suit then lays out the timeline of the game's development and the controversy, revealing several notable claims along the way. Firstly, the development agreement was signed between Genius and 7 Studios on February 26th, 2008, and the terms of the deal were such that all IP was signed over to Genius.

According to Genius' suit, by October 2008, 7 Studios had fallen behind in its development schedule. At that time, 7 Studios CEO Lewis Peterson informed Genius that the developer "had lost a significant client and was having trouble making payroll." (It's believed by Gamasutra that this client was failing movie-game publisher Brash Entertainment.)

From there, 7 Studios assigned extra staff to the game, but "was still ultimately behind schedule." Nonetheless, Genius made a milestone payment early in December 2008 "in order to allow 7 Studios to make its year-end payroll and provide bonus payments to its staff. Although not required to do so, Genius complied with this request."

From there, on January 26th 2009, Peterson informed Genius that 7 Studios "was out of cash" and that it would be unable to make its payroll and "get basic services ([such as] health insurance) back online."

On February 6, 2009, Genius wired an early milestone payment of $303,000 to 7 Studios, despite the fact "it had not yet performed the work associated with that Milestone", according to Genius.

Following focus tests in January 2009, 7 Studios and Genius looked to expand the scope of the game and provide a revised milestone schedule. But on February 2, 2009, Peterson told Genius that 7 Studios was "considering an unpaid furlough of its employees because it was behind on its payroll."

Moreover, on February 11th Peterson said to Genius that "things will be bad over here" unless Genius made an extra unscheduled payment, so on February 2009, Genius advanced an additional $250,000 to 7 Studios "solely to protect the millions of dollars already invested in the game and again so that 7 Studios could make its payroll obligations."

Activision - The White Knight Arrives?

Genius then claims that, starting in January 2009, the company "received inquiries from a number of notable video game publishers seeking to purchase the game." On January 27, 2009, 7 Studios' Peterson introduced Genius to a friend -- who turned out to be RedOctane SVP Laird Malamed -- asking about the game.

Although Genius was "wary of entering into negotiations with Activision", due to the competing product set, they did so nonetheless, and signed a mutual NDA on February 3rd, 2009.

Crucially, on February 26th, 2009, Peterson emailed Genius about a conversation he had with Activision, mentioning that Activision was interested in who else might want to buy the game, and saying "if they [Activision] find out [that competitor] is not in the running, the interest level/value drops significantly."

Even more notable, Peterson claimed that Activision was thinking about buying 7 Studios and that the firm "do[es]n't want [the game] to ship this year." He said Activision's purchase of 7 Studios would accomplish this because Activision "would then control the developer and would have a lot more control over how development went and when the game finished."

He noted that Activision "would be in a much better negotiating position with Genius" after buying 7 Studios, and ended by saying that Activision "ha ways to get what they would want that would leave Genius in a very difficult position, possibly with nothing."

From there, Genius demonstrated the game to Activision, and on March 12th, Activision proposed a purchase price that was roughly equal to Genius' costs and did not "include the value of the intellectual property of the game" which it was previously assured it would do.

Genius, Activision Talks Break Down

From there, Genius rejected Activision's offer on March 13th, with Activision business/legal SVP Greg Deutsch saying on a phone call that "Scratch as an IP has no value", because "no one knows what Scratch is."

Deutsch then claimed that Genius should be worried about the game infringing patents held by Konami and Activision (and previously discussed on Gamasutra), and that Genius would run into "a legal buzz saw" unless it shipped the game with Activision. He also said the game would not "see the light of day" unless distributed by Activision.

At this point, offers were discussed for four days, but then Activision said it was "reverting to its opening offer for the game", due to the fact that it "had entered into a binding letter of intent to purchase 7 Studios" -- a deal that has now gone through.

Genius believes that Activision acquired 7 Studios so the firm can "produce and/or enhance its own 'disc jockey-style' video game" and/or "impede the remaining work required by 7 Studios on the game in order to keep the game from being completed and going to market as scheduled", ahead of DJ Hero.

Post-Acquisition, Things Get Hostile

Following the acquisition, 7 Studios and Genius continued to work on a revised Scratch contract, but apparently, on April 3rd, when they met to sign it, 7 Studios "surprised Genius by presenting new, commercially unreasonable, bad faith and punitive terms and refused to execute the new amendment, instead demanding more than twice the additional development fees that Peterson had quoted in January 2009 and insisting on other additional and onerous terms."

Some of the terms included monthly payment, separate of milestones, with rights reverting to 7 Studios if any were late, as well as "a carve out from 7 Studios' indemnification requirements for potential payment infringement."

Following this, Genius decided to terminate the developer agreement and take over development "rather than continue to negotiate with a developer controlled by its competitors."

This happened on April 3rd, but it's claimed that 7 Studios rejected the termination and would not hand over work, including in progress builds of the game. It also has not returned the "nine custom-manufactured turntable and beat-button game controllers" belonging to Numark.

On April 4th, 7 Studios specifically instructed the security guards at their office "to prevent Michael Rubinelli and Fred Galpern of Genius from accessing 7 Studios' office."

The legal document ends in Genius and Numark asking for an injunction from 7 Studios making a competitive game "for one year after release of the game", and disclosing Scratch DJ's trade secrets. It also asks for damages and attorneys' fees, and a jury trial.

 

[BlueCali]

Last week we found out that the guys behind the upcoming Scratch: The Ultimate DJ game were suing Activision and its subsidiary 7 Studios, stating that they had planned to sabotage the development of Scratch in order to prevent it from being legitimate competition to Activision's upcoming DJ Hero game. Allow me to break this fiasco down before I continue, it's a little confusing.

You see, 7 Studios is owned by Activision, now. But not too long ago, they were on their own. When they began developing Scratch for Genius Products (publishers and creators of Scratch), Activision approached them both and offered to buy out the rights to the game, only to be declined. Clearly worried that Scratch DJ may find itself establishing a fanbase before DJ Hero gets a chance, Activision went and bought out the developer 7 Studios, instead.

This takeover essentially allowed Activision to delay Scratch, but preventing its now-employees from working on the game, like they were originally contracted to do so by Genius. And so Genius Products sued both 7 Studios and Activision on the grounds that the companies conspired against Genius Products in order to prevent the release of Scratch, and protect the future of Activision's upcoming DJ Hero game. Genius also sued to be given the code that 7 Studios worked on and did not finish, as well.

Well, the case ruling occured and the plaintiff wins this case, and 7 Studios was forced to hand over all intellectual proerty and assets related to Scratch: The Ultimate DJ over to Genius Products, which includes every bit of development code and resources 7 Studios has put together. Additionally, a temporary restraining order was placed against 7 Studios and Activision Publishing. Furthermore, an injuction ordered against 7 Studios seals their mouth and prevents them from communicating to Activision or any other third party, regarding the development, secrets, and information related to Scratch: The Ultimate DJ.

Definitely a victory for the good guys. We have to say that we are very disappointed in the corporate practices of Activision. Competition is healthy, stop being such babies.

 

[Wreck]

Wow, this sux. Oh well, I got some campaign stuff I can get done if its down.

 

[BlueCali]

Wow, this sux. Oh well, I got some campaign stuff I can get done if its down.

It should be over by now it was at like 2-4am est.

 

[Horhay]

They just need to bring the price down!

 

[Horhay]

right....so you bump her music in the car, play her show on TV and now you are about to buy the game? wow wow.....I am speechless man

 

[Horhay]

Didn't MGS4 pushed it close to max?

 

[xtop]

Didn't MGS4 pushed it close to max?

i think killzone 2 already passed it. and uncharted 2 will go even further. and that's still not close to max

 

[Horhay]

Well as long as they keep bringing in cool games I could careless

 

[xtop]

i think jefXfree is pretty close to being right. we won't see its limits completely pushed until the end of its life.

 

[BlueCali]

That makes no sense to me. I wish they would just push the envelope with this console when crapbox reveals there new one pushing more life out of this one as opposed to making a new one so fast.

They have done this with every console, and its because the developers find more and more new ways to push it later in the life cycle, not because they can't do it at the beginning.

 

[BigRick]

Didn't MGS4 pushed it close to max?

I think Kojima was saying he was maxing out the BD. He ran out of space and did some mods. I may be wrong though. I don't remeber him saying he pushed the hardware to almost max

 

[BlueCali]

I think Kojima was saying he was maxing out the BD. He ran out of space and did some mods. I may be wrong though. I don't remeber him saying he pushed the hardware to almost max

correct sir

 

[jefXfree]

They need to ADD BC. Chop the price, slowly phase out the PS2. Take a loss, and know that this system, like the PS2, will sell for YEARS. They'll make their money back up...
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SHEMALE TRANNY