Just to prove that I'm not biased towards big business...

Below is Sony's official response, hot off the press, to the criticism of PS3's new-found Linuxlessness (see the blog post below). I have, though, amended it with a few, er, additions:

"We are sorry if users of Linux or other operating systems are disappointed by our decision to issue a firmware upgrade which when installed disables this operating system feature. [We're sorry that people can get money off us for disabling Linux, we didn't realise that was possible]. We have made the decision to protect the integrity of the console [our wallets]  and whilst mindful of the impact on Linux or other operating system users [both of them] we nevertheless felt it would be in the best interests of the majority of users [our wallets] to pursue this course of action.

As you will be aware we have upgraded and enhanced functionality and features of the console by numerous firmware upgrades [*cough Home cough*] over time and this is a very rare instance where a feature will be disabled. Further enhancements are in the pipeline [Yes! Even more Sackboy outfits!].

Users do have the choice whether to install the firmware upgrade [as long as they don't mind not using PSN or playing online] and this is clearly explained to them at the time the firmware upgrade is made available for installation [it's buried deep within several pages of tiny text which no-one reads]. Furthermore our terms and conditions clearly state that we have the right to revise the PS3's settings and features in order to prevent access to unauthorised or pirated content [We're Sony, you're a common peasant: tough]."

If you didn't understand what this is all about, read the next post. Ultimately, though, this is a very big mess that's only going to end badly for all of us. Fun, though (unlike Linux, or indeed, Home).

Copy That...

First of all, apologies for the lack of activity recently; without regaling eager gamer-readers with the intricacies of my personal life, it’s been hectic.

It seems I’m not the only one who’s been busy though, nor the only one in need of making an apology.

It seems that Sony fans everywhere should be extending the olive branches right now – Playstation Move, the new motion controller from Sony, is a real Wii-too effort.

Nintendo fans everywhere are – quite fairly – lording it over their Sony counterparts, partly from the smug realisation that their downtrodden Ninty had fought back to literally and metaphorically lead the pack, in sales and ideas, partly out of anger from being so blatantly copied. Should Sony find runaway success with Move, Nintendo might well feel a little hard-done by.

The games industry, though, is above such petty squabbles. The fact is that Nintendo’s move towards motion has just taken one step closer to being the gaming standard. Will traditional button-based pads remain come PS4? Probably, but for the foreseeable future, if you aren’t up for arm-waving, you’ll be waiving your chance to play some key titles. Rumours of a motion-based Uncharted 3, a waggle-infused Heavy Rain add-on and even some sort of integration into the ever-delayed Gran Turismo 5 are flying around almost as readily as limbs in a sports-based set of mini-games, one of which has already been announced as a launch title for Sony’s wagglesticks (wonder where they got that idea, too?).

Gamers need to be ready to embrace motion, because it’s where the games industry wants to go next. Even Microsoft’s ‘big new idea’, Natal, is based on the idea of limb-flailery in the extreme. It may use a sophisticated camera to track your movements rather than any sort of controller, but the end result is the same – jumping about to kill, explore, score and kill again. All the usual gaming objectives can be accomplished.

The thing is, many gamers aren’t ready. For every gamer out there who wants to literally punch the air to make a kill or hit a home run, there is at least one who wants to stab X, eat crisps and gawk at the telly from the comfort of their sofa. If the ratio is even 1:1, that creates a dangerous split in the demographics. Yes, for now, Sony will still serve up great button-based titles – but what if Move doubles PS3 sales? Roughly speaking, that would mean that roughly half are still traditional gamers – but you can bet that motion would be crowbarred into every title, regardless of the large contingent who aren’t interested.

This is the real issue. It seems that no one actually wants to serve the traditional gamer any more. Why spend a hundred million pounds making a GTA V when you can knock up a motion mini-game collection for 3% of the development cost but 50% of the revenue?

The Xbox 360 and PS3 have so far amassed sales of 71 million consoles, combined, since the beginning of this generation without any kind of motion controller being available on either system. Never mind that this is actually more than Wii’s 69 million, but it’s pretty clear that the traditional gamer is still a market worth paying attention to.

Sony might find some success by mimicking Nintendo’s little white box, and Microsoft with their quirkier new camera, and I wish them luck, but they would do well not to Move too far from those gamers that bought ten million copies of Modern Warfare 2. Hopefully losing standard game-pads forever will be one motion gamers won’t carry.

Pre-OWNED

You. Yes, you. You’re a thief. Well, you’re a gamer, and that means that you probably have some pre-owned titles on your shelf. And according to Sony, that makes you a common crook, unworthy of fully-featured games because you’re too tight to cough up for a sealed copy.

We’ve learned that Sony thinks this way from their recent treatment of Socom: Fireteam Bravo 3 gamers. Apparently, if you buy this PSP game second-hand, you can’t go online unless you stump up $20.

Now, I’m all for measures to stop piracy. Sony have indeed confirmed that illegal downloaders of this title won’t be able to access the online features at all, for any sum of money (other than the price of an actual copy of the game...). This is a good thing.

It is crucial that companies take measures to stamp out piracy, and more importantly, to establish that it is both illegal and damaging to the industry. But should second-hand game owners really be lumped in with the download bandits and punished, too?

Well, no. Despite what the likes of Sony, Microsoft or Activision may tell you, the second hand games industry is actually very beneficial. While it is certainly true that fresh copies are sometimes overlooked for pre-owned games which are $5 cheaper, it is also true that the availability of quick trade-ins fuels the new game market. If all stores stopped accepting trade-ins tomorrow, you could expect to see a huge downturn in new game sales by next week. One of the reasons that downloadable games haven’t yet quite taken off is because you’re stuck with a duff title if you make the wrong choice.

Take away the trade-in schemes and you add a sense of caution and slight uncertainty to every gamer’s next purchase. All but the most established franchises would see sales drops, and this would only further stifle an industry not exactly renowned for breeding innovation in recent years. After all, why buy an interesting new IP when you won’t be able to trade it in if you don’t like it?

Single player games would be hindered, too. There’s less incentive to buy a six-twelve hour offline adventure if you can’t trade it in when you’re finished. Slapping some wonky online multiplayer onto every title is not exactly the brave new world I want to embrace either, and will only serve to undermine the single-player experience if developers are forced to divert their attention.

All in all, the second-hand games industry was created out of necessity. It is there to help cash-strapped gamers fund new purchases. It’s there to give niche franchises a chance to gain momentum (after all, you might try a quirky-looking game on impulse if it’s only $10, and you might buy the full-priced sequel as a result). It’s there because we need it to be. No-one is suggesting that the second-hand book market, or the pre-owned car market, is akin to piracy. They’d be laughed out of the country.

It’s time, then, that the games industry treated the second-hand market with a little respect and realised that it does more good than harm for gamers and developers alike. Sony’s ruthless strategy of charging pre-owned buyers for online access is simply greedy and unfair.

Pre-owned buyers are legitimate purchasers, too, and if games companies want to pursue anyone, it should be the greedy stores which perpetuate the second-hand market, making miniscule offers to gamers and slapping second-hand titles on shelves at huge mark-ups. After all, games companies do own the rights to their titles, and if they stipulated that titles require a small percentage of sell-on money if they are re-sold, the stores would have little choice but to stock them and pay the compensation. After all, if Sony required ‘sell-on contracts’ with stores before allowing them to stock Gran Turismo 5, what choice would they have? This would be the fairest compromise for all.

Fairer than shutting out and victimising second-hand buyers, that’s for sure.

Have handhelds had it?

Gaming on the go is big business. Nintendo have sold over 120 million DS consoles, and Sony have shifted a not-too-shabby 60 million PSPs. This is the largest number of handhelds that have ever been sold in a single five-year period. Clearly, setting lap times on the loo is here to stay.

But whether it’s going to remain in its current form is another matter entirely. Over the coming years, the handheld market is going to see a huge period of change, the likes of which could see even the mighty Nintendo ousted from their multi-billion dollar market-leading position.

The cause of this looming upset is undoubtedly the Nokia N-gage.


No, really. This may sound ludicrous, but the success of Apple’s iPhone, with its App store full to bursting with cheap, accessible games, can be traced back to Nokia’s failed handheld-meets-mobile.


Nokia’s doomed device was the first real stab at a games/phone combo, and although it failed spectacularly, it set a trend that was to have far-reaching consequences for the handheld games industry. The beauty of a gadget that can just as easily call your gran as it can zap alien scum is that it can be bought very easily. Want a DS? That’ll run you £100. A PSP? £130. Don’t even mention the PSP Go’s absurd price tag. But an Apple iPhone, or a similarly powerful smart phone?

 Certainly. Just sign on the dotted line, sir.

Monthly phone contracts may be expensive in the long run, but they allow adults with a regular income (so, anyone who isn’t a starving freelancer like myself) to walk into a phone shop tomorrow and pick up a snazzy new gadget. A gadget, like an iPhone or any one of a number of similar superphones, that will download and play cheap, accessible games on the go. No lining up in funny-smelling game shops, no wrestling with an overweight brat for the last copy of Halo Theft Turismo 7. Just hit ‘download’ and play until the train arrives.

Now, Sony have tried something similar. The PSP Go is a download-only console, which should pack the same kind of advantages as Apple’s efforts. But it became a flawed device, destined for failure the moment Sony decided not to also make it a phone as well – even a bad one.

PSP Go can’t be bought for £0 up front on a contract (a staggering £250 up-front, actually), it can’t go online anywhere – so no downloading Tetris while you wait in traffic – and the thing simply won’t go everywhere you do, because it isn’t a phone – it isn’t an essential.

The iPhone’s App store may be teeming with rubbishy tat titles, it may be devoid of most traditional big-hitters – think Call of Duty, Halo, GTA – but it’s cheap, and it’s easy. Whilst most seasoned gamers may well stick to their pricey, inconvenient consoles with their tiny selection of downloadable titles (that goes for DSi and PSP Go), the general public – the mass market – will buy titles on their phones and play cheap and cheerfully on the go. This emerging demographic will soon be much bigger than the traditional handheld market – which isn’t exactly something to be sniffed at as it is.

Backing this up, mobile phone development last year shot up – to 25% of overall games development, from 12% the previous year. Worryingly for Nintendo and Sony, that’s more than twice the support that DS or PSP receive (Source: Game Developer Research: Game Development Survery 2009-2010)

Time, then, for the traditional handheld companies to adapt, or be left behind – at home, or worse, on store shelves. Portable gaming needs to be mobile, too.