It’s almost over – the tumultuous 12 months that brought us some of the greatest PlayStation games ever made, along with enough shocks, slip-ups and turnarounds to compete with the average BBC phone-in voting scandal. Here’s all the best stuff, crammed into ten bite-sized memory nuggets. Simply retire to your most comfortable armchair and gorge on 2008…
Fantastic fours
At the beginning of the year, Call of Duty IV became the third PS3 title to sell over two million copies (following MotorStorm and Resistance) and Devil May Cry IV popped up to offer some old skool hack-n’-slashery. Then, in April, the game event of the year, the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV, which earned Rockstar a tasty $310 million in just 24 hours. As most of us were still tucking in to that, along came Metal Gear Solid 4 to ensure several more weeks of social isolation. And finally August brought the magisterial SoulCalibur IV – Darth Vader vs Mitsurugi? Oh well, there goes summer…
Rise of the download
Some of PS3’s most intriguing gaming pleasures were to be found on PlayStation Store. The cartoon-style military strategy of PixelJunk Monsters, the brain-melting Escher-esque trickery of Echochrome, the overhead satellite horror of Last Guy… a gem every one. And arguably the best titles of this year’s E3 were PSN downloads, including flOw follow-up, Flower, and the brilliantly titled real-time strategy romp, Fat Princess. We also loved (deep breath) Everyday Shooter, Siren: Blood Curse, Super Stardust HD, Pain, Wipeout HD and Super Street fighter II Turbo HD Remix!
Multimedia mayhem
For Sony, this was very much the year of convergence. PSP got its own GPS system, Go!Explore, its on video-on-demand service, Go!View, and Skype support. PS3 got ‘Life With PlayStation’ and the clever Play TV add-on providing a TV tuner and personal video recorder. Plus, you now have optimised access to the BBC iPlayer. There’s hardly any time to play games anymore!
Marketing madness
EA walked off with this year’s award for looniest publicity stunt, hijacking a petrol station in North London and disguising it as a South American fuel depot - all in the name of Mercenaries 2. Sony caused a ruckus in several US cities by spray painting graffiti ads for PSP onto walls and buildings – with the owners’ permission, naturally. But the biggest story came in June with the announcement that dynamic ads would be appearing in PS3 titles. The age of pervasive in-game advertising is truly upon us.
Blu-ray wins
The hideously protracted, but catchily titled ‘war of the competing high definition disc formats’ came to an abrupt end in February when Toshiba pulled the plug on its own HD DVD technology. PS3 benefited from the victory, enjoying a 34% sales boost over the same month in 2007.
Originality rules
We’re used to the charts being dominated by sequels and movie tie-ins, but 2008 was a spectacularly good year for brand new games – or ‘original IP’ if you’re a soulless business geek. LittleBigPlanet sat at the top of the PS3 pile, of course. But it was also love at first sight for thrilling offroad racer, Pure, epic RPG, Valkyria Chronicles, sci-fi thriller, Bioshock and EA’s admirable combo of Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space.
Mothers of re-invention
…Meanwhile, several well-known names were thoroughly torn apart and re-imagined this year. Far Cry 2 stripped out the excesses of Far Cry Instincts to provide a raw, gritty and authentic drama, while Fallout 3 turned a low-key shooter series into an immense post-apocalyptic epic. Prince of Persia represented a mighty re-boot of a much-loved brand while both Civilization Revolution and Battlefield: Bad Company ingeniously rebuilt PC classics as new console experiences. Elsewhere, SingStar merged with social networking as users flooded the singstargame.com site with their performance videos, and there were some brilliantly revived golden oldies including the stylish Bionic Commando Rearmed and the trippy Space Invaders Extreme. What next – Jet Set Willy HD?
Reliable favourites
…and proving that, actually, straightforward sequels and series additions aren’t always so bad, PS3 got GT5 Prologue, Race driver GRID, Burnout Paradise , Midnight Club: Los Angeles, Condemned 2, Saint’s Row 2, Resistance 2 and FIFA 09 – all of them worthy of their successors. On PSP, LocoRoco 2 and GOW: Chains of Olympus did the business nicely, too.
Pimp my PlayStation
Unable to sit still for five minutes, Sony continually upgraded and tweaked its machines throughout the year. Dualshock3 arrived in July, bringing vibration to PS3 at last. Then August saw the launch of the 80GB PS3 with a limited edition 160GB model following in October. PSP did not escape the attentions of the company’s R&D boffins - the 3000 edition was announced at the Leipzig Games Convention in August, featuring an improved screen and built-in microphone.
http://threespeech.com/blog/2008/08/sony-announces-psp-3000/
Community spirit
2008 was the year PS3 finally went Home, with a public beta of the ambitious virtual community launching on December 11. This was just the thick sugary icing on Sony’s social gaming cake – earlier in the year, we rejoiced at the introduction of the Trophy system, allowing us to show off our achievements to friends, and the in-game XMB access, allowing us to quickly pause a game, bring up the messenger and… show off our friends achievements to friends more quickly.
http://threespeech.com/blog/2008/06/firmware-updates-236-and-240/
Keith Stuart
How can you have loved Super Street fighter II Turbo HD Remix? It’s not actually out in Europe yet.
No US PSN accounts for semi-official Sony blogs :p
Comment by Tiran Kenja — Dec 17, 2008 @ 2:55 pm
I loved you picked up on all the 4’s this year xD and all of them great. And you loved Super Street fighter II Turbo HD Remix eh? Good for you, can we have it now?
Comment by Christian Marsham — Dec 17, 2008 @ 3:12 pm
What’s the best thing about PlayStation in 2008? - The resale value of the 60GB SKU.
I’ve just sold mine. Well, I’ve never played my old PS2 games on it and besides I wanted to have a brand new unit (quieter, and with another year’s warranty). With the money I got for my PS3 I had enough to buy a brand new 80GB version, bundled with 4 decent games, plus I’ve got enough left over to buy a couple more games (and my bus fare home).
And to think that people told me that the PS3 wasn’t worth the £425 price tag when I bought it on launch day.
Comment by reakt — Dec 17, 2008 @ 4:20 pm
It wasn’t worth the price you paid for it reakt… it was worth at least twice as much!
This year (that is not over yet, so I may be pleasantly surprised yet) I liked (in no particular order)…
1)
Play.com making the effort to arrange a consumer video games show allowing the great unwashed to play pre-release & demo versions of game titles not yet available (in the UK).
2)
Constant PS3 system software firmware revisions bringing new functionality, support for existing applications and, in the event of failure, a quick-turnaround & re-release.
3)
Availability of the DUALSHOCK®3 wireless controller in Europe (at last).
4)
Beta Test/Trial invitations being offered to all (if you were quick enough).
5)
“Motorstorm Pacific Rift” On Tour & the “Gran Turismo Academy”. Not that I participated in either, but the option to do so was there.
6) Technology innovations such as PlayTV.
7)
Some good games, some great games, and some exceptional games!
…and a few of the things I disliked in 2008 (again, in no particular order, but a balanced quantity in comparison to the above list)…
1)
Phil Harrison leaving Sony. As good as his predecessor is at saying how good the PlayStation brand is going to be, he doesn’t really seem to instil the same amount of confidence and vibrant energy as Mr Harrison did.
2)
Bearing in mind that every registered PlayStation Network member has to provide a contact e-mail address (that it used to send promotional content), there was no communication when system software firmware updates failed, and no direct communication when the PlayStation Network was down (offline) for maintenance purposes.
3)
Delays, delays, cancellations & more delays of titles & peripherals.
4)
Over-priced downloadable content & mismatched PlayStation Store territory pricing, including price discount sales for items on the US Store without corresponding offers in Europe.
5)
‘Store content differences between regions such as lack of Playable Demos, or lack of content at all in Europe. (I’m still waiting for the “Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection (Online)” patch the Japanese market received to provide better match-making facilities).
6)
Withdrawal of the PLAYSTATION®Network Downloader facility for PC users.
7)
…and a lack of high quality PSP(-exclusive) titles completely!
PS. Why doesn’t the PlayStation Store offer physical PS3 (or PSP)-branded merchandise? T-Shirts, baseball caps, & woolly hats, for example.
There’s nothing like free advertising, etc.
PPS. What is this “LittleBigPlnet” title I read about at PS3Fanboy?
[ http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/12/17/friends-join-old-snake-in-upcoming-lbp-costume-pack/ ]
—
Friends join Old Snake in upcoming LBP costume pack
Posted Dec 17th 2008 9:30AM by Jem Alexander
LittleBigPlnet[!](tm) METAL GEAR SOLID(r) Meryl Costume
LittleBigPlnet[!](tm) METAL GEAR SOLID(r) Solid Snake Costume
LittleBigPlnet[!](tm) METAL GEAR SOLID(r) Screaming Mantis Costume
LittleBigPlnet[!](tm) METAL GEAR SOLID(r) Level Pack
LittleBigPlnet[!](tm) METAL GEAR SOLID(r) Character Pack
The cat’s out of the bag. The Sony Hong Kong website has let slip details of the upcoming Metal Gear Solid LittleBigPlanet DLC. The content has grown substantially since we first saw Old Snake at TGS in October. He’ll be joined by his buddies Meryl, Screaming Mantis and, if you buy the character pack, Raiden. Not only that but a level construction pack will also be made available. We have a feeling it’ll include something quite surprising …
There’s no telling when these will be made available, or for how much, but we assume they’ll be with us quite soon if they’re already being listed on the Sony HK site. Would make a nice Christmas present during next week’s Xmas Eve PSN Store update.
—
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — Dec 17, 2008 @ 4:23 pm
Ooops!
Mind my manners.
Never mind the PlayStation Home community… I certainly enjoyed my time at Three Speech this year!
Thanks guys (& gals).
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — Dec 17, 2008 @ 4:25 pm
PS.
“Phil Harrison leaving Sony. As good as his predecessor is…”
No, I don’t have any inside information about Phil’s return. I meant his successor, Kazuo Hirai
[ http://threespeech.com/blog/2008/05/scei-announces-new-president-of-sce-worldwide-studios/ ]
Sorry.
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — Dec 17, 2008 @ 4:29 pm
@fanpages - that’s strange, I saw your post starting Ooops first and then some time later the long post #4 appeared when I refreshed. Are your comments being moderated I wonder? Anyway, you bring up some good things in addition to what three speech already mentioned - yes Dualshocks - I’d forgotten about that. I guess I’m just so used to using them now, it’s become normal and I don’t notice it now! Let’s not forget the excellent PlayStation Eye. OK, that officially launched in October 2007 but they were actually very hard to get hold of (stand-alone, without the Eye of Judgment (sic) game) until early 2008.
Comment by reakt — Dec 17, 2008 @ 5:36 pm
Hmmm… most of my messages from the past week have dropped into the moderation queue, reakt.
Thanks for the information, though.
Not sure why though. Three Speech contacted me on Monday to ask if it was anything I’d done… but my constant spamming is just the same as usual.
Here’s some better news though…
[ gamesindustry{dot}biz/articles/reeves-no-plans-to-cut-european-staff ]
—
Reeves: No plans to cut European staff
Matt Martin 16:41 (BST) 16/12/2008
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president David Reeves has said that the company will not be cutting jobs in the PlayStation division, despite Sony Corporation looking to axe 8000 jobs by April 2010.
Last week, Sony Europe said that the PlayStation business in the region was not immune to the redundancies planned for the wider company – but Reeves has now made assurances that games staff are safe.
“We’re certainly not planning to cut back in personnel at all. Half of our personnel are in the development of the games, that’s an investment. We’re not scaling down at all,” Reeves told Dutch TV station RTL.
He also said that there are no plans to cut back on development of software in the coming months either.
“To my knowledge, no one is cutting back on the R&D side of the projects we’re working on now. Sony live and die on the innovative projects they bring out.
“In our division we’re still continuing to develop the products which we put in our mid-range plan six months ago, one year ago.”
He added: “As long as we plan prudently, I think we will be fine. We have a good business model. People will continue to buy the hardware, continue to buy the software. I’m convinced of it.”
However, Reeves did say that videogames aren’t immune to the economic downturn, and he expects next year to be tougher for Sony as it will be for almost all businesses.
“It’s not recession proof. I don’t think any industry is and eventually we may see a downturn. For the moment, we’re seeing our sales of both hardware and software are hitting projects in most countries in Europe.”
While the economic climate puts the squeeze on consumer spending, Reeves said that videogame sales were still meeting expectations, and he found it difficult to explain why games are seemingly riding out the credit crunch.
“[It's] difficult to explain, it could be that parents don’t want to disappoint their children in buying PlayStation’s, or whether it’s the competition as well. Or maybe it that people are spending more time at home and this is a safe haven.”
—
Phew!
It’s not like PS3 titles ever end up the Woolworths bargain bins is it?
Oh.
From the archives:
“160 job cuts planned for Sony Europe…”
(17 April 2007)
[ http://www.1upgamers.com/forums/not-such-good-t262.html ]
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — Dec 17, 2008 @ 8:27 pm
[...] friends over ar “ThreeSpeech” have done and interesting 2008 year round-up on game’s the article is really fun to [...]
Pingback by ThreeSpeech 2008 Round-up. — Dec 17, 2008 @ 11:45 pm
I can only accede : Why do we still have to wait for SFII?
Other than that, a very nice wrap-up of the year. It also shows how PSP loses significance.
Comment by Sebi — Dec 18, 2008 @ 7:16 am
I’d love to know why this year the EU are still treated like second class citizens? SOCOM has been available in the US for ages now… yet it’s been pushed back in UK?! Why? Why do the US get different content in Home than we do? Why do the US get more/free content on the PSN Store than we do? I’m sorry if it seems that I’m wingeing, but I am! I’m enjoying playing on my PS3, but I’d like to feel valued as a customer, god knows I get no such feeling from Micro$hite with the X360 and excellent (not) NXE! Less delays, more games, more content on PSN, and yes, free stuff! It may not be much, but to me (and I’m sure others) free XMB Themes/Wallpapers/MP3’s go a long way! Something for free makes me smile….
Comment by Monkey Rimmer — Dec 18, 2008 @ 9:09 am
@Pages
Being chased by a giant LBP version of RAY or better yet!
Echoing the finale of the Moses chapters - LBP onboard REX trashing Geckos as he stomps and burns!
Comment by JohnSketch — Dec 18, 2008 @ 1:24 pm
Re: “Fantastic fours”
“Timesplitters 4″ (and “Star Wars Battlefront 3″) will not be adding to the list as Free Radical Design closed their doors for good today & went into ‘administration’ due to the economic climate, as well as market (and critical) indifference to their “Haze” product.
Taken from the “Nottingham Evening Post”…
—
A Computer games company which employs 185 people has gone in to administration.
Staff at Free Radical Design, which is based in Bostocks Lane, Sandiacre, turned up to work this morning to find the locks had been changed.
A note stuck on the door told them to attend a meeting at the nearby Novotel at midday.
Cameron Gunn, of Resolve Partners, the administrators that have been called in to deal with the firm, said: “The company was placed in to administration yesterday afternoon”.
“We will be spending the next three or four days assessing the financial position of the company but it’s business as usual, although we have asked that almost all of the employees apart from a skeleton crew remain at home.”
“All employees have been paid up until the end of December and we hope to make another announcement before Christmas or very soon thereafter, but we must stress at this stage that it’s business as usual.”
—
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — Dec 18, 2008 @ 6:36 pm
great things? getting that ‘PS3′ tat’
DualShock3, my new 250Gb internal drive, a pile of quality games to play. firmware updates.
and all the people on my PSN friends list and all the posters and commentators here on TS.
bad things: delays to content released in EU, loosing DLC to the other console, lack of support for the Eye, not being able to buy stuff on the Store anymore…
Comment by mobiletone — Dec 18, 2008 @ 6:48 pm
ps: Store is now working with Maestro! sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!
*downloads Soldner X Himmelsstuomer*
Comment by mobiletone — Dec 18, 2008 @ 7:09 pm
What’s the best about 2008? News like this:
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/sonys-ps3-a-sinking-ship-sales-plummet-sne
He forgot to mention:
4. Backwards Compatibility (yes, many, many people are holding a grudge or have defected to Microsoft) because of this stingy move by Sony).
5. Sony deservedly trailing both MS and Nin.
I think a Top 5 of such misery is good enough for me.
Over & Out.
Comment by Zed Zee — Dec 18, 2008 @ 7:14 pm
Enjoyed PixelJunk Eden & Wipeout as they both came out the same day as US and priced similarly…
Hate the delays on PSN, which are just too numerous to mention…
Even now, NO Street Fighter HD, and my official headset is going to arrive mid January now…
Also hate the near total lack of demos, I have made it no secret that I own a 360, and any Live Arcade games, and now user made community games have demos as mandatory. If PSN followed suit maybe I would actually buy some “more” games.
Which leads me to my final hate, your current pricing scheme (or schema, as TerrorTime says!) is daylight robbery you are now charging over a pound more than the exact same game on 360 and usually a months wait to boot…
And now charging for building materials in Lbp which are the life blood of the “user generated” experience, costumes “are” cosmetic, but are new materials, stickers and objects? Bet you start charging for new tools and bigger level building space next…
Comment by Mr.Monkey — Dec 18, 2008 @ 7:52 pm
Ohh forgot to add, but do love the community on this site, and if anybody happens to set up a “threespeech clubhouse” in Home. I would be willing to “bodypop” over.
Comment by Mr.Monkey — Dec 18, 2008 @ 8:01 pm
1) David reeves stating the EU is the most important region for sony.
2) SCEE for ignoring their boss
3) the release of Socom in the eu,oh wait thats next year
4) the release of the PSN-cards,,oh wait thats next year hopefully
5) the release of a moviestore,,oh wait thats next year hopefully,with new movies instead of the old
6) the equal prices in the EU store compaired to the US store,,oh wait thats never happened
basicly 2008 is a kut-year
Comment by t3rr0rt!me — Dec 18, 2008 @ 8:01 pm
It is Q1 for vid-zone music videos and Q3 for downloadable overpriced films (they are overpriced on Live too)
Been watching the Leipzig & Playstation Day videos again, before deleting them. (was doing a hard-drive sortie the other day)
Comment by Mr.Monkey — Dec 18, 2008 @ 8:06 pm
thx mr monkey,
do you have any information on the PSN Cards too,while you’r @it.
ps where is the far cry area in the EUhome?
its there in the UShome
Comment by t3rr0rt!me — Dec 18, 2008 @ 9:23 pm
2008? Wireless SingStar microphones? No, they’re next year… it’s official…
[ http://www.mcvuk.com/news/32750/Sony-confirms-wireless-SingStar-mics ]
—
Sony confirms wireless SingStar mics
Ben Parfitt Today, 4:07pm
Accessories currently in testing; early 2009 arrival predicted
Following on from reports of a pending arrival for the long-awaited wireless microphones for Sony’s SingStar, SCEE has confirmed to MCV that an early 2009 arrival is indeed on the cards.
An SCEE spokesperson stated: “We are indeed currently testing wireless mics with our community. We haven’t actually announced the launch date or price point yet.”
The source went on to say that the release date was likely to fall “in the early part of the new year”.
—
(”fall” as in go backwards into the latter half of the year, or the third quarter, or the twelfth month?)
PS. A Three Speech crib in PlayStation(r)Home sounds a great idea!
How much do the clubhouses cost? Is it a one-off payment, or a monthly charge?
(I suspect the latter; another example, like LittleBIGPlanet, of charging for the building blocks that make a title what sets it apart from every other one).
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — Dec 18, 2008 @ 10:04 pm
(Let’s see if this post bypasses the moderation queue… If it does, look out for my previous comment about wireless SingStar microphones next year.)
Back to this week’s ‘Store updates… My six year old playing in “LittleBIGPlanet” with a Sackboy dressed as Santa (both parts courtesy of “This week’s best of Store”)…
“You can’t kill Santa… that’s illegal!”
Hmmm… I sort of see his point.
Be careful out there kids, or Rudolph will be hoof-delivering on his own in a week’s time.
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — Dec 18, 2008 @ 10:12 pm
Re: PlayStation(r)Home Club creation
—
£3.99
This payment entitles you to set up a Club. At the moment there is no ongoing charge for running a Club but, in the future, we will introduce a fee (to be determined), which will be due every 30 days. We will not start charging a recurring fee earlier than 31st March 2009. We will notify you when the first payment is due and each time after that. If you do not wish to pay the fee at any time you do not have to but you will lose your entitlement to run the Club and we may delete your Club entirely. As the person who set up the Club, you will be the Club leader. As Leader, you can invite up to 31 other users to join your Club and appoint up to 4 of them as sub-leaders. You can only lead one Club at a time. You can join up to 5 Clubs though so, if you lead one, you can join 4 others. You cannot transfer leadership of your Club to anyone else. If you wish to disband your Club at any time, you can do so following the instructions in the Home manual. Club names are unique. Once you set up a Club you cannot change the Club name and, if you disband your Club, you cannot reuse the Club name. Please see the Home Manual for more information about use of Clubhouses and Club membership.
—
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — Dec 19, 2008 @ 2:03 am
Just my bloomin luckthen that i’m in scotland for 2 weeks away from my PS3 !!!!!!!!!!
I wanna be in a club and popular and hit on men dressed up as girls
Comment by JohnSketch — Dec 19, 2008 @ 2:32 am
@mobiletone - is that Soldner X Himmelsstuomer game any good? I’m always wary of buying games that have names I can’t pronounce.
Comment by reakt — Dec 19, 2008 @ 9:13 am
@ reakt - classic side scrolling shmup! great fun.
my first purchase since my new maestro card was accepted on the Store.
runs in 1080p, has 2 player co-op, online leader boards. worth getting, best side scroller since r-type: final.
apparently the ‘S’ is pronounce as a ‘V’, those crazy germans!
Comment by mobiletone — Dec 19, 2008 @ 12:49 pm
@ mr Sketch - take your PS3 with you!! i know mines coming with me on my xmas holiday
Comment by mobiletone — Dec 19, 2008 @ 12:51 pm
where is my blast factor trophy and rumble patch
where is my echochrome 1000 level and trophy patch
where is my hv bowling trophy patch
where is my street fighter hd
where is my power up forever
the list goes on and on
SCEE INCOMPETENCE CONTINUES to grow after a period of them doing better, they are slipping back to their lazy old ways AGAIN
Comment by oh scee! — Dec 21, 2008 @ 9:12 am
its been a good year for games (on the most part), but in Europe its the usual business with unfair delays, ridiculous pricing differences et cetera.
If we’re the most important market for sony (as Reeves claims) then why are we treated like some sort of mutated finger hidden and disregarded below sony’s trailing sleeves?
I look forward to next year with the apparent introduction of universal store content (hopefully with similar pricing structure globally), an introduction of European cards, and of course finally seeing titles come to our shores.
I could go on about Street Fighter HD (which managed to get released in europe on the 360 despite SCEE’s blunderings with the PS3 version), or other recent additions, but how about some older titles… we still don’t have Castlevania: SOTN and that’s been out in the US store for over a year.
Home in Europe is a joke, no content (when compared to the other regions) and getting charged for novelty christmas outfits that are only relevant for maybe a week of the year. LAME. Japan has its own christmas tree in the square, we have some fish… real festive.
As a consumer I feel under appreciated, and I hope that SCEE change their tune in 2009, otherwise they deserve to finish last this generation. And that’s not something I thought I’d say.
Comment by exion — Dec 22, 2008 @ 6:59 pm
Where is Street Fighter 2 HD, if you are the self appointed semi-official voice of Sony, its about time we knew the reaons why Europe is still waiting to see this game.
Its out in the US and Japan, and it was released worldwide on XBox live, yet once again we are told nothing at all to why Europe is waiting.
Pehaps we can hope that in 2009 SCEE finally take their heads out of the sand and start communicating better.
Comment by Ali — Dec 22, 2008 @ 8:57 pm
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