Tag: Sony

Who wants to play Monopoly?

Sony Lawsuits & PlayStation 5 Shortages

A group of gamers is gearing up to file a lawsuit against Sony this week, arguing that the company runs an unlawful monopoly that limits where players are able to purchase digital copies of PlayStation games to only Sony online stores. This group has said that Sony’s monopoly on digital games means, “they are allowed to charge supercompetitive prices for digital PlayStation games, that are significantly higher than their physical counterparts sold in a competitive retail market.” This lawsuit is designed to hopefully encourage Sony to create a more consumer friendly environment by suggesting a more competitive retail market that doesn’t result in players paying up to 175 percent more for digital games.

Sony are also expecting massive PlayStation 5 shortages that is predicted to last into 2022. Sony have been having some supply issues that don’t have an end in sight. According to Sony’s CFO Hiroki Totoki said, “If we secure a lot more devices and produce many more units, our supply wouldn’t be able to catch up with demand.” Despite supply shortages Sony has sold more than 7.8 million units since November last year. Similar to Sony, Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and S are also struggling with supply constraints until after June 20th this year.

Filmmaker claims Capcom took Designs for Resident Evil Village

Filmmaker Richard Raaphorst who directed a horror film Frankenstein’s Army in 2013 has shared online a comparison of images from his movie and Resident Evil Village’s character designs. Many fans of the horror film continue to find similarities. Raaphorst said, “It’s a crazy monster movie filled with my own creature designs, one of which has been used – completely without authorization or credit in the newest Resident Evil game.” For now, there doesn’t appear to be any legal action from Raaphorst just that he wished they’d given him credit. If you’d like to take a look at the images (SPOLIER WARNING) click here.

E3 2021 is coming up fast

Starting on June 12th and running for three days until the 15th E3 Expo is only a month away. Coronavirus has had a massive impact of industry events however hopeful we are that they will return soon we still have a way to go and because of this, E3 2021 will be embracing all the virtual technology it can to bring us closer to the exhibitors this year. There are some big game announcements to come that are currently kept secret as well as more sneak peaks into big releases such as Halo: Infinite, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Starfield, Final Fantasy 16, a potentially new Sonic game, not to mention the anticipation for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. If you’d like to get updates on what’s happening as well as where everything is to be streamed head over to www.e3expo.com to sign up, it’s totally free.

Game Releases this week:

May 13th: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Wrath of the Druids comes out on all platforms
May 14th: Famicom Detective Club (Nintendo Switch), Mass Effect Legendary Edition (PC, PS4, XBO), Quantum Replica (PS4, XBO, Switch), Subnautica (Switch), Subnautica: Below Zero (PS4 & 5, XSX, XBO, Switch).
May 18th: Leisure Suit Larry – Wet Dreams Dry Twice (PS4, XBO, Switch)

Zed Games Podcast – Episode 258

258

In studio: Lee May, Jody Macgregor, Candi Payne and Razor.
This week: Morgan Jaffit, creative director and co-founder at Defiant Development joins us for a chat about Hand of Fate, the crowd-funded PC game blending action combat with deck-building. Morgan candidly answers our questions about the pressures of running a Kickstarter campaign and developing a game in a genre that doesn’t really exist. Razor reviews The Order 1886, a cover based shooter set in an alternate Victorian-era London.

Aired 25 February 2015.

Subscribe to the Zed Games Podcast on iTunes

 

Zed Games Podcast – Episode 202

episode202

We chat with Sanatana Mishra, designer of Assault Android Cactus, a twin-stick shooter for the PC (coming to PS4/PS Vita later this year). We discuss the game creation process, the definition of “bullet-hell” and hear the story of how a 3-person studio gained the support of Sony.

Jody gives us some first impressions of the sub-atomic puzzler “Particulars” (Steam early access)

In studio: Razor, Lee, Jody.

Aired 15 January 2014

Zed Games Podcast – Episode 202

Subscribe to the Zed Games Podcast on iTunes

Friday News

A video released by Sony on their blog today has hinted that the PS4 may be unveiled as early as the 20th of February. The date has been set aside for a Playstation conference event to be held in New York City.   While the video only mentions a date and not much else, text attached to the video reads “see the future” and “be the first to know”, so we can be forgiven for jumping to conclusions here!

 

 

The World of Warcraft film adaptation now has a director attached to it.  Duncan Jones, director of Source Code and the son of David Bowie, will direct the film which has been scripted by Blood Diamond writer Charles Leavitt.   The film has a budget of $100 million.

 

 

Blizzard has released a video demonstrating the social features of the upcoming Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm.   The game has a release date of the 12th of March 2013.

 

 

Rockstar has today announced the official release date for Grand Theft Auto V.  Originally expected in April 2013, the revised date is the 17th of September 2013. GTA V will be available for the PS3 and 360, PC and Wii U versions are yet to be announced. Below is the official statement from Rockstar’s website: 

 

Dear all

Today, we have an official release date to share with you: Grand Theft Auto V will arrive in stores on September 17, 2013.

We know this is about four months later than originally planned and we know that this short delay will come as a disappointment to many of you, but, trust us, it will be worth the extra time. GTAV is a massively ambitious and complex game and it simply needs a little more polish to be of the standard we and, more importantly, you require.

To all Grand Theft Auto fans, please accept our apologies for the delay, and our promise that the entire team here is working very hard to make the game all it can be. We are doing all we can to help ensure it will meet if not exceed your expectations come September – we thank you for your support and patience.

Yours,
The GTA Team

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playstation Network Returning, Statement from Sony CEO

The PSN is finally back online in Australia! While not all services have been restored (most notably Playstation Store), multiplayer gaming is now fully functional. Today Sony’s President and CEO, Kaz Hirai presented the following video statement.

Video courtesy of IGN.

ZEDGAMES – Episode 66 [Playlist]

ZEDGAMES – Episode 66
11 May 2011

Presented by DJ LAME & RAZOR

This week: DJ Lame and Razor presented commentary on the week’s gaming news.

1. BITMUCH – Rastafari Anthem
2. MARTIN LEUNG – Tetris (Live)
3. RUBIJAQ – Dust
4. ADRIAN HOLOVATY – Mario 2 Theme Gypsy Jazz Style
5. JIMMY WONG – Mario Theme Acapella
6. GROUNDISLAVA – Planetary Destroyer
7. AFRICA HI-TECH – Gangslap
8. DAY OF THE TENTACLE S/TRACK – Opening Theme

Sony are now blaming hacker organisation Anonymous for the PSN breach which compromised the personal details of nearly 80 million users. Sony claim that files that were left deliberately on the server as a calling card contain the message “We Are Legion” which is Anonymous’s slogan. This comes after members of Anonymous denied involvement in the breach, which is the biggest intrusion of private information in history.

Capcom’s senior vice president has written on the company’s forums that the PSN outage has cost the company hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Sony have announced that the majority of services will be back online from 31 May. Thet are implementing a Welcome Back program to compensate PSN users for the lost time which includes a month of Playstation Plus, PSN’s premium service, as well as other free content. Existing Playstation Plus customers will receive further benefits.

An MMO based on the Marvel universe has been announced for release sometime this year. The game is based on the animated Super hero Squad license and will allow players to play as their favourite Marvel Heroes. At this stage the game is called Super Hero Squad Online and it is reported that there will be no monthly subscription fee.

Valve have implemented a video replay feature into Team Fortress 2. Players can now save replays of their previous life and view the action from any angle, including POV’s of everyone on the server. The content is also fully editable. Creative TF2 players are encouraged to enter the SAXXY AWARDS, which are open until the 19th of May and features categories like “Most Inventive Kill”, “Most Pwnage” and “Best Cinematography”.

The next installment in the Assassin’s Creed franchise is called Revelations and scheduled for release this November. Ezio will return for the final time, though rather than being set in renaissance Italy, the adventure is shifting to the Middle Eastern setting of the original game. Gameplay trailers are expected at this years E3.

Mass Effect 3, previously scheduled for release late this year, has been pushed back to Quarter 1 2012.

Brink, a game best described as a hybrid of Mirror’s Edge and Team Fortress 2, launches tomorrow. For those who are eager to try out the game early, The Mana Bar is hosting a preview event tonight until midnight.

It’s been reported that the Australian release of The Witcher 2 has been edited to fall under the MA15+ rating. The edited content has to do with a scene in which the player is granted the option to accept sex as a reward. This option has been removed from the Australian version. The Witcher 2 is scheduled for release on 17 May.

Blizzard has dropped a hint that public Beta testing for DIABLO 3 will begin in Quarter 3 this
year. At this stage we don’t have a release date, but this news makes an early 2012 release seem likely.

Bungie, developers of the popular HALO franchise have stated that they will not be presenting material at E3 this year. This years conference is happening from the 7-9 of June, with Nintendo hoping to steal the show by showing off its next generation console.

EB Games have announced that they will be presenting a new annual games expo to be held at the Gold Coast Convention and Entertainment Centre. EB Games Expo, will be held this year on October 15 and 16 and feature presentations from EA and Ubisoft with more likely to be confirmed. The event is open to the public and tickets start at 29.95, with VIP passes also available for 99.95.

Blizzard have announced that World of Warcraft subscriber numbers have dipped to a mere 11.4 million. This is down from its peak of 12 million at around the release of the Cataclysm expansion. Blizzard executives are planning on speeding up content delivery to regain market share.

Valve have released the beta version of Portal 2’s authoring tools, allowing users to create their own levels and puzzles. Check the official Portal 2 site for more info: thinkwithportals.com

ZEDGAMES – EPISODE 20

ZedGames – Episode 20

16 June 2010

In studio: DJ Lame, Leigh, Razor, Scribewraith and Codeblink

This week we featured:

E3 Special! The ZedGames crew discussed their impressions of what had been unveiled at E3 so far at the time the program went to air. Some of the main discussion points were the press conferences by Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. Tune in next week to hear Part 2 of the discussion as well as the post E3 round-up.

1. HIT ‘N’ HIDE – Space Invaders