 Harmonix was all set to release a patch for Rock Band for the Playstation 3 that would have made Guitar Hero controllers compatible, but at the last minute Activision blocked Sony from releasing the patch, according to a statement from Harmonix on Joystiq.
The patch, which would have been released on Dec. 4, was approved by Sony and was all set to be released before Activisions’ guitarblock. In Harmonix’s statement, they said releasing the patch would be what’s best for the consumer, and if any other companies want to make their products compatible with Rock Band equipment they would have the full support of Harmonix and MTV.
The full statement to Joystiq:
“As we have said in the past, Harmonix and MTV Games believe in an open standard philosophy of hardware and game compatibility. We think that there should be interoperability between music instrument controllers across all music games. This is clearly in the best interest of consumers, game developers and console manufacturers and will only help to grow the music game genre as well as inspire innovation and creativity.
Two weeks ago, Harmonix created a software patch for the Sony PLAYSTATION 3 version of Rock Band that allowed for guitar compatibility and support for third party peripherals, including enabling use of Activision’s Guitar Hero III controller with Rock Band. The compatibility patch was submitted, approved and had been scheduled for release by Sony on Tuesday, December 4. Unfortunately, Activision objected to the release of the compatibility patch. The patch remains with Sony, but we have been told that it will unfortunately not be released due to Activision’s continued objection.
As is the case with the Microsoft Xbox360, we believe that Sony PLAYSTATION 3 users should be able to use the peripheral of their choice with Rock Band. We sincerely hope that Activision will reverse its decision and allow release of the compatibility patch and further, that Activision will allow Guitar Hero III to support Rock Band guitar controllers as well. We welcome all third party developers who wish to support our controllers and will provide any required support in order for them to do so.
We believe that when consumers have choice, everyone wins. Harmonix and MTV Games hope that Activision and others in the industry will also adopt this philosophy.”
Seriously, way to look like a money grubbing douchebag Activision. There’s no way to come out of this looking good except to allow the patch to be released. Of course, it would make Activision look even better if they took Harmonix’s suggestion and allowed the use of the Rock Band guitar with Guitar Hero. I can’t see how this wouldn’t be more profitable for them. I haven’t heard of anyone who prefers the Rock Band guitar to the Guitar Hero one, so they could probably sell more of their peripheral.
Also, I must praise Harmonix for their apparent interest in what’s best for the consumers. I suppose this just goes to show the different aims of developers and publishers.
![[Slashdot]](http://slashdot.org/favicon.ico)
![[Digg]](http://digg.com/favicon.ico)
![[Reddit]](http://reddit.com/favicon.ico)
![[del.icio.us]](http://del.icio.us/favicon.ico)
![[Facebook]](http://www.facebook.com/favicon.ico)
![[Technorati]](http://technorati.com/favicon.ico)
![[Google]](http://www.google.com/favicon.ico)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://www.stumbleupon.com/favicon.ico)
Sony has dropped the price of Playstation 3 dev kits to $10,250 a piece, according to Gamespot. The drop in price will help smaller developers get in on that sweet, sweet cell processor action. In addition to the cheaper price, Sony is also adding features that will make it easier to develop for the PS3, Gamespot said.
Sony is also rolling out new software-development features, debugging tools, and support for applications such as ProDG and its SN tool suite.
Sony is following the PS2 formula, reducing the prices of dev kits for both systems about a year after their release, Gamespot said.
Hopefully this is the right direction for Sony. My biggest problem with the PS3, and why I’ve gotten a Wii and Xbox 360 first, is the lack of games that I absolutely must have. Heavenly Sword looked like it would be kinda cool, I really want to try Folklore, but there’s nothing that absolutely screams buy me now. Perhaps some more indie studios will be able to pump some life into the system.
 Video Game Chartz has released the hardware sales chart for America for the week ending Nov. 10, and once again Nintendo’s Wii is first and Sony has come in last.
The Wii came in first for the week at 192, 482, followed by the Xbox 360 at 173,895 and the DS at 142,299. Sony’s PSP came in a distant fourth at 75, 954 and the Playstation 3 came in an even more distant fifth at 63, 788.
All three next-gen consoles saw a jump in sales, though: 31 percent for the Wii, 25 percent for the Xbox 360 and 15 percent for the PS3.
I once predicted the Wii was the future of video game consoles. I said, since the Wii changes how we play games instead of just how we view them, it would be able to over take the Xbox 360 and PS3, which certainly go farther in terms of hardware power but don’t fundamentally do anything different than the original Playstation.
I think a lot of the industry on the console production side is focused on better hardware power for consoles because that’s what has worked before. If you look at the jumps from system to system, what what you notice most in the slide show is the change in detail, from 8-bit to 16-bit to 32-bit and the era of the Playstation, which by my estimation only ended with this generation. The real fundamental change, though, is the change in gameplay.
Indeed, much of Nintendo’s success comes from seeing where the next change in how we play games is going to come from. Likewise, their failure comes from not seeing these jumps. Sony won the last generation because all the other companies that got involved, Nintendo, Microsoft and to some extent Sega, were content to try to do more of the same, and the Playstation 2 just did it better, either because it was more powerful or more deeply embedded. If Nintendo, or anyone else for that matter, had figured out a new way to play games we probably wouldn’t have seen the Playstations dominate as heavily as they did, if they would have dominated at all.
Mario’s adventures across the consoles is a perfect example. Super Mario Bros. defined platforming in the 8-bit era. The next great change you notice is Super Mario 64 and the jump to 3D, which defined the 3D platforming genre. Where Mario failed most is Super Mario Sunshine, which didn’t do anything fundamentally different from Super Mario 64. It may be too soon to call Super Mario Galaxy yet another redefinition of platforming from a historical perspective, but that hasn’t stopped reviewers from doing so.
What really amazes me, however, is the public’s almost unquestioning acceptance of the Wii’s new terms of playing games. Usually people are very slow to accept change. Even though most of the games on the Wii are epic fail at fully utilizing the consoles innovations, the exceptions being first-party games, the console continues to sell out the day stores receive new shipments. Perhaps the public was already thirsty for something new after a prettier version of more of the same from last generation, even if the new doesn’t exactly work perfectly?
The real test for the Wii now is whether Nintendo will continue to string us along from one exceptional first-party game to the next, a third-party company will step in and finally get the motion controls as perfect as Nintendo does so the system can really show what it can do or the Wii slowly fades away into obscurity, something that could’ve been a revolutionary turning point in how we play games but turned into little more than a novelty for most people.
If nothing else, the Wii has shown there is serious money to be made in doing something differently. Hopefully console makers, and developers even more so, will take note.
Kiss the warranty on your PS3 goodbye if you live in the desert. According to a post at The Consumerist, Sony officials told a PS3 owner who sent in his PS3 to be replaced that there was excessive dust inside his PS3, which Sony took pictures of, and if he wants a replacement he needs to pay $150.
The next day I got a call from the same guy, Saying he couldn’t get pictures, and there was no way they could replace the console unless I paid 150$ out-of-warranty replacement fee. I dais I needed to speak to his supervisor and it took him a while but he eventually transferred me to yet another person who just told me from the pictures they saw of the outside of the PS3, the memory ports and the USB ports, that there was dust inside of these ports, and that there was no way they would replace such a dusty console.
The PS3 owner later goes on to say the highest customer service rep. he could talk to told him he would have to subpoena the pictures to get them, and he could either pay the $150 or wait 10 days for his PS3 to be sent back.
I don’t get it! Sony is including Folding@home with their consoles, The auto-start feature makes it so its running almost all the time, OF COURSE ITS GOING TO BE FILLED WITH DUST! A few reps said that the reason they couldn’t replace it was because it looked as if it had about 2 years worth of dust in it rather than 8 months….. The console hasn’t even been out a year so obviously that is less than a years worth of dust.
I love the PS3, I’m a Sony fanboy, I have a copy of Heavenly Sword Un-Played because I’m waiting for the replacement to come back, For them to say they wont replace it because it is such a damn dust magnet is absolutely ridiculous. IM NOT paying 150$ for someone to use an air compressor to dust off my PS3 re-test it and send it back. MAYBE Sony should let their customers know that excessive dust voids the warranty, so that people can start selling air filter set’s for it, and air-sealed boxes for the PS3 to sit in.
Stories like this tend to spread like wildfire over the Internet, and things that spread like wildfire over the Internet tend to be PR nightmares for companies like Sony. Will Sony back off on this one and give they guy a new PS3, or is Sony going to stick with their original claim that excessive dust is an act of god? Only time and the interwebs will tell.
Update: A customer service rep. at Sony told the Consumerist reader Ive dust shouldn’t void the PS3 warranty.
The only way that it, um, voided is if it was neglected, um, abused, dropped or anything like, modificated like if you opened it up, modification, if you didn’t have your receipt, um, any power failures like mother nature or anything like that then that actually does void the warranty. Other than that any defective PS3s or anything like that is still, um, still under the warranty.
Sony is saying the dust in the unit in question constituted neglect.
I’ll keep you updated on how this develops.
Filed under PC News on November 1st, 2007 Chapter 7: A Collection of Heroes is the newest chapter for Star Wars Galaxies, an update for SOE’s MMORPG that’s due for launch today. The update includes a new level 70 town, high-level “heroic encounters,” collection achievements, a chapter 7 gift, and more.
(Does Anybody still Pay this game? Full List of New Update Notes Read More) Full Story »
Filed under ps3 on October 24th, 2007 Gran Turismo TV to launch with 40 episodes of TV’s best automotive show. The Top Gear Test Track will be replicated in Gran Turismo 5 (GT5) on PS3.
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) and Polyphony Digital, Inc., the creators of the best-selling racing franchise, Gran Turismo, today announced a collaboration with BBC Worldwide that will allow BBC’s Top Gear programme to be downloaded through Gran Turismo TV (GT TV) on PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3).GT TV, a dedicated online channel packed with the latest news and content from the motoring world, will launch worldwide on PLAYSTATION Network in 2008. BBC Worldwide will provide 40 episodes of Top Gear, the award-winning BBC television series about motoring for download.
In addition, the Top Gear Test Track – the track featured each week on the show, where host Jeremy Clarkson and the Top Gear team test the latest cars – will be replicated in Gran Turismo 5 (GT5) on PS3. For the first time in a racing game, players will be able to burn rubber and experience every white knuckle, hairpin turn on the Top Gear Test Track for themselves.
“We at Polyphony are great fans of the world’s best motoring programme, Top Gear, so we’re delighted to be collaborating with BBC Worldwide to deliver Top Gear content via Gran Turismo,†said Kazunori Yamauchi, President, Polyphony Digital, “We’re sure that players will be as thrilled as we are when they get the chance to put their own driving skills to the test on the Top Gear Test Track in GT5, as well as enjoying classic episodes of Top Gear via GT TV.â€
Simon Danker, Director, Digital Media, BBC Worldwide commented, “BBC Top Gear is the world’s number one motoring media brand and we’re thrilled to make it accessible to Gran Turismo gamers. We continue to explore different avenues to share our content with an expanding audience, and are delighted to participate with Polyphony Digital in the launch of this exciting new opportunity.â€
|
|
