Many gamers are happy, since they like trophies and this will mean that more games will feature them. But this also means that some developers that don’t want to add trophies to their game will just not put their game on the PS3.

I don’t like this kind of thing at all. This crosses the line from basic technology, stability, and obscenity issues to actual creative content. This would be like the movie theater chains mandating that all new comedies use laugh tracks or all new action movies must have at least two car chases.

It’s normal for bosses, investors, and big clients to make these kind of demands, but Sony (and Microsoft/Nintendo) is essentially a middle-man between independent studios and the public. If I were a passionate independent developer, and some clueless beaurocrat middle man started to tell me how to design my product and what feature list it needed, I would tell them to kiss off! What’s next: all games must feature bald space marines and singing purple dinosaurs?

OK, I’m probably overreacting a hair. Trophy logic can’t be that complicated to program in to a game and it’s not that invasive on the game experience. However, I still think that this is the wrong way to go. If a development studio is able to fund and create their own products, they should have maximum creative control over the end user experience and shouldn’t be mandated into supporting the platform’s latest brand-identity marketing gimmicks.

Lastly, let features live and die on their own merit. If a feature is appreciated by users and the development resources are justified, developers will generally support the feature on their own terms without coercion. We are seeing this willing developer adoption of trophy support. Why take the choice out of the hands of the developers and force those that feel otherwise into compliance?

I’m sure my coblogger Henning would love to enforce split-screen support on all games, but isn’t this kind of decision best left in the hands of the developer?

Tags: PS3, PLAYSTATION 3, Trophie Support

I’m not sure if I’ll go with Yellow Dog Linux or Ubuntu. Ubuntu offers more support than Yellow Dog Linux. But YDL is made specifically for the PS3. Anyway here are the primary updates to YDL, and it’s now available for download.

“For end users, Yellow Dog Linux v6.1 offers an updated Firefox and OpenOffice.org, a vastly improved graphical wireless configuration tool, and the introduction of ps3vram functionality which enables use of PS3 video RAM for temporary storage or swap.”

Yellow Dog Linux v6.1 Released

Tags: PS3, PLAYSTATION 3, Yellow Dog Linux 6.1

I like the updates, the clubhouse is a great idea. The virtual PSP being axed is fine, it didn’t need to be there really. I see the reason for it, but not the best way to navigate menus within home.

So let us know if you get into home and we’ll have to meet up in Home

First PlayStation Home beta 1.0 Invités been sent

Tags: PS3, PLAYSTATION 3, Home Beta

The Polyphony guys hooked up 4 PS3s to display a quarter of a screen each to run Gran Turismo 5: Prologue at a resolution of 3840×2160 compared to its normal 1920 x 1080 display. They also had other units running the game 4 times as fast with a refresh rate of 240fps!

full write up can be found here;

http://www.gran-turismo.com/en/sp/d2788.html/ found via Kotaku

Tags: Gran Turismo, PS3

Sony are upgrading www.playstation.com so that it integrates more PSN features. They are also getting rid of the Playstation Underground service and integrating it into the PSN to create a more streamlined experience. The update will also allow us to check out our friend’s lists on the site. Other features are rating and reviewing games but I’m not sure if you can build a collection to show what you own. These all seem like good additions to me and I really like the design in the screenshot above. I look forward to when it launches next week.

full details and links to creating an account can be found here;
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/11/19/playstationcom-continues-to-evolve/g

Because the PlayStation Network is free. People are more opt to try it out that way, and it’s a excellent selling point. It still needs some work, but it’s a great service for free.

PlayStation Network matches Xbox LIVE user base

Tags: PS3, PLAYSTATION 3, PlayStation Network Users

One interpretation question: How much does hardware price matter?

Obviously the 360 price drop is completely responsible for it’s first big sales boost over PS3 this year. On the other hand, the entry level 360 is even cheaper than the Wii, and the Wii still holds a rather dramatic lead in hardware sales… The Wii sales phenomenon has clearly been more than simply price and these numbers are strong evidence of that. The Wii appeals to a certain demographic (particularly non-gaming women who are shopping for children) in a way that the 360 and the PS3 do not.

The Good

• Its Existence
  The developers didn’t have to put this into the game, but they did, and I’m grateful. I really enjoy playing splitscreen co-op games with Steve, and I’m glad that this game gave us the opportunity.
• It’s Fun
  The co-op campaign, so far, has been fun to play. I chose the competitive mode, where you compete for points. This is on by default, so I’m maybe I should have said “didn’t un-choose” the mode. But I like racking up the kills and seeing my points total go up as I work through the level. The levels so far have been somewhat interesting, though very scripted (but I didn’t expect otherwise). I ran out of ammo for my machine gun a lot, and had to use a rifle, which I’m not so good with. The flame thrower is fun, but of limited use. And I lost it going to the next mission.

The Bad

• Character Differentiation
  Usually I don’t have any problems trying to determine who to shoot. But in this game I do. I often shoot anyway, and let the score (minus red or plus yellow) tell me if I’m hitting a good guy or bad. That’s ridiculous.
• Mission Fail from One Death
  Playing these games, you typically fail the mission when both you and your partner die. Once, however, I was still alive after Steve died, and we failed. How does that work?

The Ugly

• Doesn’t Use Whole Screen
  Playing splitscreen, the two screen are beside each other. But there is area both above and below each screen that is unused, and it’s quite annoying. Screen real estate is precious - please use it!
• No Leveling Up
  Back when Treyarch first started talking about this game, they gave the impression that you’d be able to level up your character from any of the game’s modes (except maybe competitive splitscreen). I’m here to tell you that this is not the case. You do not get to level up your character playing this game in splitscreen mode, which is quite disappointing.

The Rest

That’s after playing for about an hour. If my opinion changes any after more playtime, I’ll add a follow-up post.

Tags: Sony, PS3, PLAYSTATION 3, Call of Duty World at War

Tags: resistance, 2, insomniac, games, ps3