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Tuesday, 29 June 2021
InFamous Second Son, Ratchet & Clank (2016) and Shadow of the Colossus (2018) Exceeded Revenue and Profit Targets
PlayStation-exclusives inFamous: Second Son, Ratchet & Clank (2016), Shadow of the Colossus (2018), Bloodborne, and LittleBigPlanet 3 all exceeded Sony’s revenue and profit targets. That’s according to the LinkedIn profile of former PlayStation Director of Marketing, Tim Kamienski, first spotted by Twitter user Timur222.
Kamienski worked for Sony for five years between 2013 and 2018 before leaving for Warner Bros. Entertainment. During this time, he led global marketing efforts for numerous hit first-party titles including The Last of Us, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and Ghost of Tsushima. In a list of achievements published on his profile, Kamienski noted (verbatim):
• Achieved over 90% growth YoY in First Party Games revenue while increasing exclusive games’ share of total software sales that was integral to the PS4 success.
• Led First Party Games marketing for the PlayStation VR launch line-up of exclusive games that drove platform adoption with PSVR achieving #1 in market share in under 12 months.
• Launched Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us to record sales worldwide with each title selling over 15M units since their release.
• Exceeded revenue and profit targets for Infamous Second Son, Bloodborne, Ratchet & Clank, Shadow of the Colossus, and LittleBigPlanet 3.
Sony revealed in 2019 that inFamous: Second Son had sold six million copies at the time over a span of five years. While this figure sits well below other hit PlayStation exclusives, it’s good to note that the title was a commercial success for Sony. Kamienski’s profile is also the first time we’ve read that Sumo Digital’s LittleBigPlanet 3 proved to be financially successful for the company.
[Source: LinkedIn via Twitter]
The post InFamous Second Son, Ratchet & Clank (2016) and Shadow of the Colossus (2018) Exceeded Revenue and Profit Targets appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
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HP's Pavilion Aero is its lightest consumer laptop yet
HP has unveiled the Pavilion Aero 13, which is the company's lightest consumer laptop yet. The device weighs less than a kilogram and it's the first Pavilion laptop with a 90 percent screen-to-body radio.
The 13.3-inch machine has a 2.5K display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, 400 nits of brightness and a 100 percent sRGB color palette. The Pavilion Aero 13 has WiFi 6 support and AI noise removal to reduce unwanted background sounds on video calls. HP claims you'll get up to 10.5 hours of use from a single charge. The laptop is powered by an AMD Ryzen 5000 series processor with built-in Radeon graphics, up to Ryzen 7 5800U.
HP
The Pavillion Aero 13 is made with post-consumer recycled and ocean-bound plastics and it uses water-based paint. HP says the laptop is EPEAT Gold registered and Energy Star certified as part of its goals of having the "world's most sustainable PC portfolio." It'll be available through HP.com in July and it starts at $749. You'll be able to pick it up from other retailers by the fall.
HP
Meanwhile, HP announced two more additions to its M-Series monitor lineup. The company revealed the line at CES. They use Eyesafe-certified tech, which HP claims reduces blue light without affecting color accuracy. The monitors, which are made using recycled ocean-bound plastics, now include 24- and 27-inch models with built-in audio. They'll be available in July, with the 24-inch monitor starting at $230 and the larger variant starting at $290.
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Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut Rated by ESRB
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has listed Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. The timing of the rating is curious because a recent report claims that Sony Interactive Entertainment and Sucker Punch Productions are gearing up to announce a standalone expansion titled Ghost of Ikishima.
Ghost of Tsushima heading to the PS5 was almost a given, and news of an unannounced expansion certainly didn’t surprise anyone, especially considering the game’s success. It remains to be seen if the Director’s Cut will include the rumored expansion or not, but it would make sense for Sony to release the complete package akin to some of its other first-party titles like Horizon Zero Dawn.
The aforementioned rumor floated a release window of 2021 and with the Director’s Cut being rated now, it looks like we’re likely to get something this year.
Interestingly, ESRB’s rating mentions that Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut will include in-game purchases on the PS4 only, which makes us wonder if it’s referring to the rumored expansion.
Here’s how ESRB describes the title:
This is an action game in which players assume the role of a samurai (Jin Sakai) on a quest for vengeance against Mongol invaders in 13th century Japan. Players traverse open-world environments, interact with characters, complete quests (e.g., assassinations), and infiltrate enemy strongholds. Players use samurai swords, poison darts, and arrows to battle enemies in third-person melee-style combat. Some attacks result in dismemberment/decapitation of enemy soldiers, often accompanied by large blood-splatter effects. Players can also perform assassination kills (e.g., neck stabbing, sword impalement) to dispatch enemies quietly. Cutscenes depict additional acts of intense violence: a soldier lit on fire and beheaded; bound civilians lit on fire and burned at the stake; a decapitated man’s head held up towards the screen. The game also depicts a man’s exposed buttocks as he bathes in a hot spring. The word “sh*t” appears in the game.
We’ll update our readers when we have more information.
[Source: ESRB]
The post Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut Rated by ESRB appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
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'Contra Returns' for mobile is finally coming to the US on July 26th
The latest instalment in the legendary Contra series is coming to more countries including the US. ContraReturns — a free-to-play mobile game jointly created by Konami and Tencent's TiMi Studios back in 2017 — is heading to North America on July 26th along with the UK, Europe and Latin America. The shooter sees the series' iconic heroes back to fight an alien enemy as part of a new side-scrolling adventure.
The mobile entry also features new storylines and over 200 total levels, along with updated graphics. New and returning characters include grizzled commandos Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, Sheena from Contra 4, Lucia from Contra: Shattered Soldier, a bear and a werewolf named Brad Fang.
To give you a taster of the mayhem that awaits, Konami has released a live-action trailer that's equal parts apocalyptic destruction, sweaty machismo and gun fetishism. There's also plenty of camo and slo-mo strutting thrown in for good measure. Basically, all the ingredients you'd expect from a fan-made Contra movie. At the end of the clip, there's a snippet of the frenetic, industrial shooter gameplay.
Contra Returns originally launched in China back in 2017. Its success led to a Taiwanese release and an English-language version for Southeast Asia. TiMi, which recently struck a gaming partnership with Xbox, previously tweeted that it was planning a wider rollout for the game. Since the mobile title's initial launch, there have been a couple of Contra games for PCs and consoles including 2019's Contra Anniversary Collection and the run-and-gun shooter Contra: Rogue Corps.
You can currently pre-register for the new mobile game on iOS and Android to gain special awards when it drops.
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Amazon gives Music Unlimited subscribers up to six months of free Disney+
Amazon is giving you free access to Disney+ if you pay for its music streaming service, perhaps in hopes of luring you away from Spotify and Apple Music. If you're in the US and Canada, you'll get six free months of Disney+ with a new Amazon Music Unlimited subscription, which will set you back at least $8 a month as a Prime member or $10 as a non-Prime user. You'll still get three free months of Disney+ as a current Music Unlimited subscriber, but you can't get the free months if you already have an existing Disney+ subscription.
While it's unfortunate that you won't be able to take advantage of the promo if you already have Disney+, it's a great way to try the video streaming service. Disney+ doesn't have a trial period anymore, and its current offerings include Marvel's The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, as well as Loki, which had the most watched premiere episode on the platform.
The first and the last time Amazon reported growth metrics for Music Unlimited back in January 2020, it said the service has reached over 55 million subscribers worldwide. It's unclear how much the service has grown since then, but it still probably has a long way to go before it can catch up to Spotify, which recently reported having 158 million paying subscribers. It might be nearer to Apple Music in size: Apple revealed that its Music streaming service had 60 million paying subscribers back in mid-2019, but it hasn't reported new numbers since then.
To redeem the promo, you can head over to its official page and sign up for an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription from there.
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PlayStation Has Acquired Housemarque, and Apparently, Bluepoint Games Is Next In Line
PlayStation Studios has announced its acquisition of Returnal developer Housemarque, and unofficially, Bluepoint Games as well. Confused? We’ll explain.
A little while ago, PlayStation Studios boss Herman Hulst took to the PlayStation Blog to announce that Housemarque has joined the PlayStation family. The news was shared by various official PlayStation Twitter profiles, including PlayStation Japan. However, the latter accidentally uploaded an image announcing Bluepoint’s acquisition instead, and then promptly deleted it. Screenshots of the deleted tweet were picked up by Twitter users and shared on various forums. Internet sleuths noticed that the image uploaded by PlayStation Japan included a photo of Bluepoint’s Demon’s Souls Remake, which is missing in the official Housemarque announcement, so it doesn’t look like a simple mistake.
..so apparently PlayStation Japan uploaded the wrong image with their first tweet on Housemarque’s acquisition, and it actually mentions a Bluepoint acquisition pic.twitter.com/yQBHtLbG5c
— Nibel (@Nibellion) June 29, 2021
I was able to verify this (since Tweetdeck still shows deleted tweets) pic.twitter.com/ZLXYogdqT1
— Nibel (@Nibellion) June 29, 2021
For now, let’s welcome Housemarque to the PlayStation family!
“We are so excited to finally join the PlayStation Studios family!” said Housemarque co-founder Ilari Kuittinen. “This gives our studio a clear future and a stable opportunity to continue delivering on gameplay centric approaches, while still experimenting with new methods of narrative delivery and pushing the boundaries of this modern artform.”
As for Bluepoint, the rumors have only been swirling forever, so it looks like it’s just a matter of time now.
The post PlayStation Has Acquired Housemarque, and Apparently, Bluepoint Games Is Next In Line appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
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