Like in North America, PlayStation VR will launch in Europe come October. However, for those of you playing at home, you’ll note that there are just a few more countries there than here, thus making the rollout a bit more difficult and the information a bit more hard to find. Add other territories into the mix and the whole thing suddenly becomes a mess.
That’s why after the jump, you’ll be able to find pricing and a list of countries that will receive PlayStation VR.
PlayStation VR is going to require more than just a PS4 to function. That’s because a big part of the tracking is done via PlayStation Camera, making the additional accessory a must have in order for PS VR to work properly. On top of that, depending on the game, you might also need PlayStation Move controllers to better navigate the world that’s come to life before you. Lucky for us, Sony plans on releasing a PlayStation VR bundle that will include both accessories.
According to a PlayStation rep and PlayStation’s worldwide head of studios Shuhei Yoshida:
There will be a bundle in the SCEA region [North America] with Move and a Camera
Having a bundle from Sony is a wise move. Seeing how PS VR is launching during the holiday season, Sony is likely banking on a lot of these showing up as a gift come Christmas and having a bundle would go a long way towards ensuring the recipient has everything they need. Otherwise, it could turn into the situation of getting that awesome remote control car with no batteries. I’ve been there and it’s not a lot of fun.
After the jump, why PS VR doesn’t come with a PlayStation Camera and pricing details.
At GDC, Sony unveiled the final iteration of PlayStation VR and a few more details like price and release date. Andrew House, PlayStation President and Global CEO:
With the annual Game Developers Conference in full swing, I’m pleased to give you an exciting update on PlayStation VR. Today, we are announcing that the PlayStation VR headset will launch in October of this year for a suggested retail price of USD $399 / CAD $549.
A lot more talk and further comments from House after the jump.
If you’re at all like me, April 10th can’t come soon enough. A tricky part of married life however is wanting to enjoy things together and while I’ve played the three previous Uncharted installments, Allegra has yet to be able to – and frankly a part of me has had little interest in firing up the PS3 to get her familiarized. Luckily there is a massive PlayStation Store sale happening which includes a host of Naughty Dog games like:
PlayStation 4
Note that prices in blue are for PlayStation Plus members. More deals after the jump.
I know that I’m not alone when it comes to my gaming habits in that I haven’t purchased a physical copy in quite some time. Specifically, once PS4 launched, I decided the convenience of launching any title within seconds far outweighed the urge to collect physical copies which also meant the dreaded disc swapping. On top of that, my wife and I can enjoy games like Destiny together and pay only once. Here’s Electronic Arts Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen on retail and digital.
We take a very simple view. We want the consumer to decide. We have great retail partners, we want to continue to maintain our great retail partners and they perform a lot of discovery and marketing services for us. And so, we believe there’s a world where the retail partners are always going to be around, but also a lot of consumers, just like music and books, and movies, and TV have adopted, download digitally is ultimately the way of the future. We try to make sure that we’re available in any place the people want to bay our games.
What he really means is that we know digital is the future but we don’t want to piss off GameSpot and Walmart right now. After the jump, his thoughts on subscription models.
Landing in theaters today is the excellent 10 Cloverfield Lane. Produced by J.J. Abrams and directed by Dan Trachtenberg, the suspense-driven movie acts as a ‘blood relative’ to the original Cloverfield movie though no one is going as far as calling it a sequel. Having had a chance to watch the flick last night, I can tell you that you’re in for a treat and that you will want to see it before being spoiled on its ending.
Dan Trachtenberg talking about how they were able to make the film feel so personable:
…I did feel like that Cloverfield – its first-person perspective made that movie so much more of an experience. I really wanted this movie to also feel that subjective and feel less like something being watched and more like an experience. So, I actually turned to video games for inspiration.
Not surprisingly, the games Dan and company were inspired by and borrowed from included Uncharted and The Last of Us – two games known for their cinematic scope and feel. More after the jump.
Another month and another victory for Sony and their ever-chugging console. From Sony:
We would like to thank our fans and partners for making PlayStation 4 the top-selling hardware platform and the software sales leader in February, according to NPD. We continued to see strong year-over-year sales growth for PS4 hardware and software and are truly humbled by the support and enthusiasm from gamers. We will continue to deliver amazing gaming experiences with the upcoming launches of Ratchet & Clank, MLB The Show 16 and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
I’m not sure what it takes to ‘drive’ console sales and get people off of an old system or rivals but if I was a betting man, I’d say it sure as hell doesn’t hurt that Uncharted 4 is coming and looking so mesmerizingly amazing. As you can tell, I’m not a fan. Also, for those playing at home, PS4 has beaten Xbox One 12 out of the last 14 months.
Once PlayStation 4 system update 3.5, codenamed Musashi, arrives, we can expect a great many additions and refinements on our favorite console. With the beta well underway as Sony looks to iron out any bugs prior to its release, the company seemingly by mistake also launched a new version of the PlayStation Store that was live ever so briefly on PS4. It’s unclear if this new iteration will come prior to Muasashi or with it – though it obviously doesn’t require that firmware to run.
After the jump, a few more screenshots and a bit more talk.
In the next month or so, PS4 system software 3.5, codenamed Musashi, will be released. With it, we can expect a host of new features like the ability to send event or party invitations to groups or communities. Alongside system enhancements and new features, Sony is bringing more accessibility support to the console which is always great to hear. Unsurprisingly, details are light on the latter and we don’t know all the details of the new firmware.
However, what we do know about PS4 system software 3.5 can be found after the jump.
With E3 2016 just a few months away, companies like Sony are hard at work putting together their best presentation which will set their tone for rest of the year. Alongside a good keynote, each vendor also needs to put together a good booth for maximum content while hopefully not feeling too claustrophobic. In the case of Sony, we can expect PlayStation to offer three very large areas, consisting of:
After the jump, a blueprint of their floor plan.
Unfortunately for many gamers, there exists this myth that in order for their platform of choice to do well, the other side must ‘lose.’ It’s as if we can’t stomach the idea of two or three consoles coexisting. Ironically, the more consoles in the market, the healthier the game industry becomes as competition fuels innovation and the wider the net they can set by bringing in more people under the ‘gaming’ umbrella.
I don’t care much for Nintendo products and haven’t owned one since NES (though I did buy the GameCube simply to not miss out on Final Fantasy: Chrystal Chronicles. In hindsight, I should have missed out) but if a family who otherwise wouldn’t game wants to purchase a Wii or Wii U and that helps get them familiarized with gaming, I’m all for it. Today Mario Cart, tomorrow LittleBigPlanet.
Lucky for us, Xbox head Phil Spencer isn’t such a guy. After having congratulated PlayStation in the past and wishing them success with PS VR, he took to Twitter to announce his excitement for the upcoming Uncharted 4. Sadly, to no one’s surprise, within minutes, he was blasted by Xbox fans but perhaps even better than his original tweet is his response.
That’s after the jump.
PlayStation Vue has been on the docket for quite a while now, but as it is gearing up by adding new cities and channels alongside a price drop, it’s back in the public eye. What is your opinion of the streaming service? Are you interested in subscribing? Let us know in our poll after the jump.
Microsoft is entering the VR space in a big way, if nothing else for the $3,000 price tag that’s attached to HoloLens. In their defense, HoloLens is a very different product than PlayStation VR which we hope to learn a lot more about later this month during an announced press event. In fact, as it stands, Microsoft has shown very little interest in pursuing the gaming audience that Sony is uniquely targeting and are instead focusing on HoloLens as its own platform.
Here is head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, on the subject of PlayStation VR:
I hope Sony has success with what they’re trying to do because I think it’s good for our industry as innovations like VR take off.
More from the Xbox head honcho after the jump.
Hot on the heels of Disney coming to PS Vue which also includes ABC and ESPN for a grand total of 11 new channels is news that the service is getting a price adjustment. Eric Lempel writes for the PS Blog:
we’re reducing the price of all PlayStation Vue multi-channel plans by $10. New subscribers get the pricing immediately along with a seven-day free trial. Current subscribers will see this reduced pricing reflected in their next billing cycle. Below are the monthly promotional prices.
So let’s talk about the new pricing structure after the jump.
Last talked about in November, PlayStation Vue owners are finally getting their hands on content produced by Disney which owns ABC and ESPN. Here is Eric Lempel from the PlayStation Blog:
The wait is over — starting today, PlayStation Vue gets a big boost in live sports, family, and primetime TV programming with the arrival of Disney and ESPN Media Networks. This adds popular channels fans have been waiting for, including ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, Disney Channel, and more.
The “more” part is actually important because all together, you’ll be getting access to 11 new channels. Full details after the jump.
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