Sony’s handheld is blowing up in Japan, but it’s not because of the PS Vita price cut

Don’t call it a come back, the PS Vita may be here for years. Sony’s beleaguered handheld gaming machine spent its first birthday in February as a ball and chain around the company’s already sagging PlayStation division. By the end of the month, Sony showed that it was dead set on turning the device around. The company made simultaneous announcements that the PS Vita would be closely tied to the upcoming PlayStation 4 for remote play, and it would be receiving a price cut. The PS Vita price cut, however, was only for Japan. It’s worked, though: PS Vita sales have quadrupled in Sony’s homeland, leading the Japanese console sales charts for two weeks running.

According to Japanese sales tracker Media Create, the PS Vita was the best selling console from Feb. 25 through Mar. 10, selling more than 126,000 handhelds over that two span since the price drop.

Sony knew that the price of the handheld was too high, especially in Japan. “Based on our research, there are two broad reasons why people who may want to try the Vita aren’t purchasing it,” said SCEJ president Hiroshi Kawano in February, “One, they want to wait until there’s a game they want to play on it. Two, the price is a little out of reach for them.” Fluctuations in the yen forced Sony to keep the price higher in Japan than in the rest of the world. Now the Vita is approximately $214 in the country.

As with all gaming machines though, it’s the games themselves that lure in customers, and PS Vita’s surge in Japan simply may not be entirely replicable abroad. As much as the price drop has provided incentive for Japanese gamers to flock to the system, the PS Vita has also seen the release of three new games that are immensely popular in the country but may have little appeal outside its borders.

The biggest of these is Phantasy Star Online 2, the free-to-play Sega MMO and sequel to the Dreamcast pioneer developed by Sonic Team. Since releasing on PS Vita on Feb. 28 as a totally free digital download and as a limited edition retail game, Phantasy Star Online 2 has sold nearly 72,000 copies. Then there’s Tales of Hearts R, a remake of a crossover brawler based on Namco’s Tales RPGs. Always a hit in Japan, that game sold more than 55,000 copies in its first week on sale. Finally, there’s Soul Sacrifice, the Monster Hunter-style action RPG developed by Keiji Inafune, the creator of Mega Man and Dead Rising. In just three days on sale, Soul Sacrifice sold more than 92,000 copies.

There is a direct correlation between the release of these games and PS Vita’s sales surge in Japan. The price cut was a start, but it wasn’t the sole driving force behind the bump. Even if Sony drops the price of PS Vita in the US and Europe—which it’s already tentatively doing—it won’t see the same revitalized market without actual games to drive the console. No such games have been announced.

Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. His work has appeared in The AV Club, Salon, Edge, and many others. He is patiently waiting for Namco to finish Klonoa 3.

View the original article here

Did EA skip Sony’s PlayStation 4 show because it struck a deal for the Xbox 720?

Sony brought out the metaphorical big guns for its PlayStation 4 unveiling last week. The biggest of these was not one, but two major appearances on stage for Activision Blizzard products. With console editions of Blizzard’s Diablo 3, the first in-house developed Blizzard console game since the mid-‘90s, and exclusive content for Bungie and Activision’s Destiny on PS4, it seems that the days of Sony coming second to Microsoft—Call of Duty has routinely gotten timed-exclusive content on Xbox 360—are over. Where, however, was Activision’s biggest competitor, Electronic Arts? EA has bolstered Sony with the same sort of exclusive content for years, with platform-first content for Battlefield 3 and PS3-only content for games like Dead Space 2.

According to CVG, EA didn’t put in an appearance at Sony’s press conference because it struck a major content deal with Microsoft that will bring exclusive content of some type to the Xbox 720.

Two separate sources told the website that Electronic Arts and Microsoft have struck a deal very similar to the deal that Microsoft has enjoyed with Activision on the Call of Duty series. This would mean some content, like multiplayer maps and other downloadable content, would be available on Microsoft’s new console first. Whether that’s for Battlefield 4, Dragon Age 3: Inquisition, Mass Effect 4, or any of EA’s other announced next-gen projects is up in the air.

EA is, unsurprisingly, playing coy in regards to its plans for the PS4 and Xbox 720. The publisher gave a presentation at Morgan Stanley’s Tech, Media, & Telecom Conference on Tuesday and expressed a lot of enthusiasm for Sony’s new machine.

“At the end of the day, we’re very excited about Sony’s platform,” said CFO Blake Jorgensen, “We feel there’s a huge opportunity there. The technical power on the platform is going to allow us to do a substantial amount of things that have never been done before. I have seen the new Battlefield, and it is just stunning.”

Why not show this stunning game at Sony’s show, though?

“It was more about timing of our own slate as well as trying to maintain a good balance of power with all the parties out there and choosing when to unveil certain pieces of software.”

Translation from executive speak: Sony brought on Activision, our chief competitor, to discuss two separate exclusive products. We’re going to do something similar for Microsoft.

Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. His work has appeared in The AV Club, Salon, Edge, and many others. He is patiently waiting for Namco to finish Klonoa 3.

View the original article here

Geneva 2013: Land Rover to introduce first nine-speed automatic transmission – because eight just wasn’t enough

Land Rover has partnered with ZF, a global leader in transmission technology, to introduce the first nine-speed automatic transmission at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show.

The ZF 9HP transmission, considered one of the world’s most advanced transmissions, increases the number of gear ratios from six to nine for significantly improved fuel economy and a reduction in CO2 emissions.

Land Rover says the transmission will also improve response during acceleration, shift quality and the overall drive and refinement of the vehicle.  In addition, the 9HP is also more versatile with a skip-shift function for swifter downshifting under rapid deceleration or for greater driver demands.

A Fast-Off mode measures the rate of throttle release, anticipates the driver wanting more power, then holds the gear if necessary.  

Even more impressive, is that the engineering teams have managed to pull off a lighter load with the additional gears with efficient packaging.  The nine-speed transmission is only about a quarter of an inch longer than the outgoing six-speed and weighs almost 17 pounds less.  

“We are extremely excited about the 9HP which has been tailored exactly to dovetail with the unique attributes of our vehicles,” said John Edwards, Land Rover Global Brand Director, in an official press release statement. “It will add another layer of performance, refinement and efficiency, further enhancing Land Rover’s world class ability.”  

The Land Rover team is working closely with the ZF engineering team to develop the nine-speed transmission for its vehicles. The company already has experience engineering ZP products having integrated the company’s eight-speed transmission with the Range Rover, Land Rover Discovery 4, and Range Rover Sport.  

Marcus Amick has been writing about the world of cars for more than ten years and has covered everything from new automobiles to celebrity wheels. The longtime Detroiter, who now splits his time between Los Angeles and the “Motor City,” has penned works for a number of national publications including Automotive News, Rides magazine and Automobile magazine. Amick also works as a freelance consultant providing insight on automotive and related lifestyle trends.

View the original article here

Into landing pages? Then get psyched because the Windows Phone 8 SDK now has one.

Give us that sweet, sweet native code

Okay, we’re going to be honest here (and snarky) as we’re not that psyched for a landing page, in fact we can’t believe we’re writing this story. But for developers out there itching to get their hands on the new SDK for Windows Phone 8, we do like to throw them a bone every once in awhile to get them excited.

Yes, evidently last night developer Robert McLaws managed to find the elusive page which is now serving as a place-holder until Microsoft gives the green light for its release.  The page can be found at https://dev.windowsphone.com/en-us/featured/windows-phone-8-sdk, which depending on how much of a nerd you are may or may not get your blood pumping (we won’t judge as we stayed up watching anime till 6am last night).

Behold! An actual landing page

There is of course very little to the page. Microsoft simply recaps the 7.1 SDK, lets us know that when the 8 SDK is released they’ll update this page, yadda yadda.

Windows Phone Central expects the SDK to be released on or slightly before September 7th due to the corresponding dates of TechEd 2012 happening in Australia. With Microsoft and Nokia now holding a joint-press conference on September 5th in New York, there’s a good chance the SDK will be announced on that day with the download availability following shortly after.

The bigger issue is whether or not developers will have enough time to start making Windows Phone 8 apps for the expected October release of new devices? It seems the big developers are already hard at work on their WP8 ports leaving just the smaller independents at the mercy of Microsoft’s schedule.

Source: Robert McLaws; via PetersKitchen

View the original article here