David Reeves To Retire From SCEE - Sony Press Release.

DAVID REEVES TO RETIRE FROM SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT EUROPE

Tokyo, April 15, 2009 – Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) announced today that David Reeves, President, CEO and Co-Coo, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), and Deputy President, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., will retire from Sony Computer Entertainment Group as of April 30, 2009.

David Reeves joined SCEE in 1995, where he was responsible for establishing and managing the regional offices of SCEE in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He moved back to the United Kingdom in 1999 and leveraging his talent and skills in the broad areas of sales, marketing and operations, Reeves contributed immensely in selling millions of the original PlayStation®, PlayStation®2, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) and establishing the PlayStation name as the number one brand in the home digital entertainment industry in the countries and regions across the Europe/PAL territory. In 2003, Reeves was appointed President and COO of SCEE and CEO 2 years later, and while having nearly 100 countries in the Europe/PAL territories reporting to him and managing the vast market of diverse cultures and different business customs, he provided strong leadership in successfully launching PLAYSTATION®3 in the growing competitive landscape.

“David’s contribution in firmly establishing the PlayStation brand and expanding the business in Europe/PAL territories in his 14 year tenure at SCEE is immeasurable,” said Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment. “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to David for the many accomplishments he made to the PlayStation business and wish him the best luck in his future endeavours.”

“It has been a wonderful ride with PlayStation,” said David Reeves. “I never got to visit all 106 countries but managed 66. I have just two things to say on leaving: I want to thank all of those people who have supported SCEE and me personally in the past 14 years; you have been magnificent! Secondly, I am going to spend my time now trying to repay society for all I have taken from it. If your children are having physics lessons at the local school or wondering why their ski instructor is very elderly, your car mechanic has a bad back, or the social worker keeps bringing you PSP games, then it could just be me! Good luck to everybody at SCEE and everybody who continues to support us.”

About Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), based in London, is responsible for the distribution, marketing and sales of PLAYSTATION®3, PlayStation®2, PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable) and PlayStation®Network software and hardware in 99 territories across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania. SCEE also develops, publishes, markets and distributes entertainment software for these formats, and manages the third party licensing programs for the formats in these territories. Since the launch of PLAYSTATION 3 in November 2006, over 16.8 million units have been sold globally and continue to be sold at a record level. Maintaining its position as one of the most successful consumer electronic products in history, PlayStation 2 has sold over 137.7 million systems worldwide. Since its launch at the end of 2004, over 44.5 million PSPs have been sold globally, highlighting the importance of the portable entertainment market. With the huge increase in interest and accessibility of network applications and network gaming, over 13 million people have registered to PlayStation Network, the free-to-access interactive environment, and over 236 million items have been downloaded.

What Have You Played This Week?

So this week i was mainly kept busy with Killzone 2 and Dynasty Warriors:Gundam. both games i can waste away hours in. i also got some games in the PSN sale, but only managed to play Piyotama so far. i really like it and hope the sale gives it the attention it deserves.

Killzone 2 - PS3 - Now the single player is out of the way, i've been focusing on getting the multiplayer badges. i'm doiing the disguise one at the moment as no matter how hard i try i can't get the air support medal.

Peggle - 360 - Finally completed the game, well "story mode" anyway. some of those last levels are terrible.

Dynasty Warriors:Gundam - 360- we all know what to expect, giant robots killing loads of enemies. but it works and i'm loving it. simple, fast, fun, effective. can't wait to try the sequal.

Piyotama - PS3 - i bought this in the sale and i can't believe i didn't play it earlier. the game is addictive in it's simplicity. the single player mode is hard, but i enjoy the continious style mode, no pressure and you can go on for ages. definatly a hidden gem on the PSN

Feel free to comment on anything i've played and what you yourself has played over the last week.

UK PSN Update 09/04/09

Sony's got a sale on people so i've added it to the list this week. alot of things this week also, really makes up for last weeks poor one. remember, the sale is on until the 23rd of April.

Anniversary Specials
Wipeout HD [£11.99]
High Velocity Bowling [£4.79]
Crash Commando [£4.79]
Pain [£3.99]
Ratchet And Clank: Quest For Booty [£7.99]
Siren Blood Curse [£14.99]
Riff: Everyday Shooter [£3.99]
Dark Mist [£3.99]
Echochrome [£4.79]
Piyotama [£2.39]
Elefunk [£3.99]
Snakeball [£3.99]
Calling All Cars [£3.99]
Blast Factor Advance [£3.99]
Nucleus [£3.99]
PixleJunk Racers [£3.99]
Toy Home [£3.99]

PS3 Games
Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists Of Plastic [£7.99]
Flock [£11.99]
Worms [£7.99]
Hail To The Chimp [£11.99]
Little Big Planet – Rag Doll Kung Fu Costume Pack [£2.39]
Little Big Planet – Patapon Costume Pack [£1.59]
Quantum Of Solace – Map Pack [£3.99]

Demo's
The Chronicles Of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena

Guitar Hero - World Tour
Silversun Pickups Track Pack [£4.39]
“Its Nice to Know You Work Alone” by Silversun Pickups [£1.59]
“Panic Switch” by Silversun Pickups [£1.59]
“Well thought Out Twinkies” by Silversun Pickups [£1.59]

Rock Band
Toby Keith Pack 01 [£6.29]
“Beer For My Horses” by Toby Keith [£0.99]
“How Do You Like Me Know?!” by Toby Keith [£0.99]
“I Love This Bar” by Toby Keith [£0.99]
“She's A Hottie” by Toby Keith [£0.99]
“Should've Been A Cowboy” by Toby Keith [£0.99]
“Who's Your daddy” by Toby Keith [£0.99]
“New Slang” By The Shins [£0.99]
“Waking The Demon” by Bullet For My Valentine [£0.99]
“Warriors Of Time” by Black Tide [£0.99]

Videos
Infamous – City Of Fear Trailer
Motorstorm Artic Edge Trailer
Pain – David Hasselhoff Trailer
Mirrors Edge – Pure Time Trails Trailer
PlayTv – Update Q&A Trailer
Resistance Retribution – Shattered Stone Trailer
Resistance Retribution – Connect for PSP trailer

Wallpaper
Rag Doll Kung Fu Fists Of Plastic – Master Wallpaper
Crash Commando – Fight Wallpaper

Theme
NONE

PS1 Classic
NONE

PSP
Ape Academy [£14.99]
Lemmings [£14.99]
Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice [£14.99]
Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror [£14.99]

Wipeout HD - Tempory Fix

i sent out a tweet last night seeing if anyone had issues with Wipeout HD as i was having some issues.
turns out it's a fairly widespread problem. this is a temporary fix, which has been making the rounds on the net, for the game.

1. Sign out of PSN.
2. Launch the game.
3. Choose "Online" from the main menu, letting it sign you in to the PSN.
4. Acknowledge the release notes for the 1.30 patch.
5. Wait for the game to auto-save.

i tried this and it worked for me. once you get the game to save, you don't need to do the following steps again to get it to work

New Zero Punctuation: Grand Theft Auto - China Town Wars

This weeks Zero Punctuation focuses on Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars.
Lets just say "all it's faults are balanced by it's other faults..." or "all the foulness mixes together to create to something halfway decent in the middle, it's almost prodigious in it's retarded genious"...all classic stuff

What Have You Played This Week?

Killzone 2 - PS3 - i have now finally completed the game! the last part of the game is very hard, it took me hours to get past all the waves. still, i liked the end of the story, and really loved the game.

Peggle - 360 - Still fun, addictive, though i'm not really that great at it. nearly completed the first single player section.

Hitman:Blood Money - 360- I had always looked at this game and thought about getting it, so when i rented it i was excited. i hated it. couldn't even finish the second level. i hated the controls, the way it played...even some of the game mechanics. i don't think this holds up well nowadays.

Unreal III - PS3 - Been getting in some practice before mate gets his PS3 online and we can do it co-op. it's very good, graphics hold up well. and now my version got it's DLC, i'm looking forward to taking it online. doing single player at the moment whilst i hone i my skills

Flower - PS3 - it had been a while since i last played it, which is a shame cause i really like this game. the music, the graphics, the gameplay...it's all soo very good. it really is a must buy, and much like fl0w, i can see myself coming back to it time and time again

Feel free to comment on anything i've played and what you yourself has played over the last week.

Game Release Schedule - New Addition

Hello all, just letting you know that under the twitter feed (to the right of the blog page) there is now a UK release calendar for games. at present it only includes April, but i will try to get May done soon. i'll try to keep this up to date, but please understand that this is by no means a guarantee that the game is coming out when the list says.
this is a trial thing, depending on how manageable it is, will determine if it's a feature worth keeping. any feedback is welcomed, positive or negative.
i do apologise that this addition has increased the load time for the blog page a little, hopefully it won't be too much of an inconvenience.

It's simple to use, you should be able to just scroll it seeing the releases of the month. if your unable to see the whole game title, click on it, then click on more details. this should load up a new page where you can see the full name.

So please enjoy. as you'll see, there's a fair bit coming out in April, especially the 24th.