Maybe Sony should just buy out the guys who make the PS Jailbreak and then not sell the product. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
News Blips:
A new product called PS Jailbreak reportedly allows PlayStation 3 gamers to play homebrewed software and backup copies of their games. People who use the USB device should be able to run copies of Blu-ray discs directly from an internal or external hard drive -- at allegedly twice the playback speed -- on both the original and slim PS3 models. Even though Sony will undoubtedly attempt to disable it, the PS Jailbreak actually lets players bypass forced firmware updates, Sony's traditional anti-piracy weapon. I'd hate to be the guy on the PlayStation team in charge of fixing this one. [MaxConsole via ArsTechnica]
Farmville/Mafia Wars developer Zynga pulls a guerilla marketing stunt; the San Francisco City Attorney threatens them with a lawsuit. SF-based Zynga recently glued fake $25,000 bills to five locations throughout the city. The imitation money promoted a Mafia Wars: Las Vegas website and a $25,000 drawing. The understaffed Department of Public Works had to then bring in steam cleaners to remove the bills. Deputy Attorney Alex Tse wrote a letter to the game maker saying that they take "violations such as these very seriously and [intend] to pursue every available course of action aggressively against Zynga for these illegal marketing tactics." Is it really that ineffective to put up a couple of billboards these days? [SFGate]
An "Xbox News" dashboard app in Canada turns out to be a Halo: Reach alternate reality game. Shacknews reports that the marketing team that released the awkward nightly newscasts did not intend to make any Halo references for the first several episodes in the series. After receiving harsh negative backlash over the first episode -- plus some customers confused it as being legitimate -- they then changed tactics. The marketing team released an episode the following night that featured a Halo-themed news ticker at the bottom of the screen that pointed Canadian gamers toward upcoming Reach preview events. Despite the failed nature of this stunt, it's actually the safe route to take compared to the War of the Worlds radio show.
British developer Introversion stays afloat thanks to a DEFCON sale on the digital-distribution platform Steam. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Introversion Managing Director Mark Morris revealed that they were forced to let go of much of their staff after disappointing sales of their most recent game, Darwinia+. Fortunately, after Valve put DEFCON on sale via Steam, the smaller-staffed Introversion raked in enough funds (~$250,000) to continue work on their two current titles, DEFCON for the PlayStation Network and Subversion. Who would have guessed that if you bought that game when it was on sale, you weren't just being frugal, but you were also helping out a small developer.
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