Category Archives: Ireland

Thanks to an update on PSN, VidZone on PS3 is now known as VidZone TV, and now hosts over 100 music TV channels.

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Sony has updated the European end of PSN, and there’s the multiplayer demo for Lost Planet 2 there, loads of games on sale, and some Uncharted 2 for ya.

Read onward.

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Sony as updated the European end of PSN and there are loads of deals to be found along with some permanent price reductions that will hopefully make your wallet smile.

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Namco Bandai, the UK publisher for Star Trek Online, today revealed details surrounding the game’s pre-order incentives, including being able to partake in the open beta from January 12-26.

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THQ’s handing out a custom Darksiders PS3, the publisher’s posted on the EU PS Blog.

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Microsoft has announced that Sky Player for Xbox 360 is now available to “100 percent” of the user base in UK and Ireland.

Here’s the statement:

As you may know we have been implementing a gradual rollout of the Sky Player on Xbox 360 service since our initial launch, and as of today, 100 percent of the Xbox base can access Sky Player, and tens of thousands of new users are accessing the service daily.

The quality of the service remains of the utmost importance to both Sky and Xbox, and as such we will run further testing over the weekend and continue to monitor the service closely.

Thanks, GI.biz.

Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy has proposed tax breaks for the Scottish videogame industry.

These proposals have come to light after Murphy spoke with Realtime Worlds owner Dave Jones who has threatened to take his company to Ireland should there be further lack of support for developers.

“We have had a discussion about tax breaks and ways to support the industry,” said Murphy to The Evening Telegraph. “France have introduced tax breaks and we want to talk more about that and we will listen to any strong case being made; we want to do whatever we can to help.

“Dundee is the Scottish centre of excellence in this industry. I want to be very clear about that. The games industry has a big future and Dundee has a big future to play in that, in Scotland, in the UK and wider.”

Via Develop.

Realtime Worlds studio boss Colin Macdonald has admitted that Irish tax breaks could see the Scottish studio upping sticks and going green.

The Irish government may be about to specifically target the Scottish games sector by offering developers a five-year tax holiday in return for hopping over the water.

“If the package on offer in Ireland was attractive we’d have to give it serious consideration,” said Macdonald.

“Dundee is a great place to be based, one of the main hubs for ­computer games in Britain, but at the end of the day we’ve got to look after our bottom line.”

More on Herald Scotland.

HMV has revealed that UK and Ireland sales were up by 12.5 percent and like-for-like up 1.7 percent, for the 18 weeks leading up to August 29 with sales up 4.4 percent across the whole group.

“In a tough consumer environment, the Group has made a solid start to the new financial year,” said CEO Simon Fox. “Our plans for the peak selling period are in good shape, and with a strong line-up across all product categories our focus is on providing our customers with the very best offers for Christmas.

“The strategic initiatives that comprise our three-year plan are on track, and beyond this we are continuing to drive new initiatives for further growth.”

HMV also revealed plans to acquire 50 percent of 7digital £7.7 million. 7digital will now become “the sole supplier of HMVs digital operations, with its catalog of over six million digital music tracks as well as video entertainment,” reports GI.biz.

“Combining our experience in digital and HMV’s brand, customer base and wealth of experience in music, video, games and book retail, we are creating a powerful force in digital entertainment,” said Ben Drury, CEO of 7digital.

“With consumer adoption of legal digital media now reaching the mass-market, this joint venture partnership is great news for our customers and suppliers.”

More through the link.

Battlefield 1943 players living in Ireland are a bit perturbed that the game fails to display the country’s flag on their profile pages and instead only flies the UK flag.

Apparently, if you live in Northern Ireland or Ireland, “EA won’t allow you to identify yourself as “Irish” despite the 1998 Belfast agreement saying otherwise”, according to Seenit.

When contacted, EA apologized stating that players game profiles cannot be altered because Ireland is “not listed distinctively and is included in Great Britain.”

Oh dear.

You can read the whole thing through the link.

Those who use PS3′s VidZone service in the UK or Ireland will get to see the premiere of U2’s “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy’, music video, this coming Tuesday. The rest of Europe gets it next Thursday.

It’s the third single from their No Line On The Horizon album and the video animation was directed by Irish film-maker David O’Reilly.

VidZone also has a U2 competition coming soon, but no word on what it entails or what the prize is, yet.

It could be a cool, or possibly a half-eaten sandwich out of Bono’s trash bin.

We’ll let you know.

Retailer GAME has reported a 9.1 percent drop in sales for the first half of the year. Like-for-like sales are down 15.4 percent.

For UK and Ireland based stores, business was down 12.4 percent, with like-for-like down 15.8 percent. Its International businesses decreased 1.1 percent and a like-for-like was down of 14.4 percent.

These figures were expected by the company, due to comparisons with last year’s time period which saw the releases of Grand Theft Auto IV, Mario Kart and Wii Fit.

“Whilst we remain mindful of the significant challenges in the wider economic environment, our full year performance will be driven by the increased ownership of consoles which will increase demand for software,” said Peter Lewis, company chairman.

GAME expects strong sales of used and new titles later in the year thanks to strong name brands and the UK installed base, which currently exceeds 24 million.

More over on GI.biz.

HMV has reported sales of £1.95 billion for fiscal year ending April 25, with profits up £63 million.

Escalating profits were attributed to its Re/Play branding, and Gamerbase concessions in the Trocadero, with more pay-to-play locations planned for the next fiscal cycle.

“At the end of the second year of our three-year transformation plan the Group has delivered further profit growth, despite the challenging retail environment. We are continuing to adapt to meet the changes in our markets and, whilst there is still much to do, our plans for the third year of our program are on track,” said HMV chief executive Simon Fox.

“We are also looking at further growth opportunities available to us, and are very pleased with the recently announced joint venture in live music and partnerships for film and mobile. I am confident that we have the right strategy in place to continue to build a strong and vibrant business for the future.”

Growth in games and tech in the UK and Ireland garnered 24 percent of sales, with the same category netting 12 percent of sales for HMV,  which also stocks DS titles and hardware in its  Waterstone’s chain.

More through GI.biz.

PAIN will release on Blu-ray for PS3 “on Wednesday 24 June in Europe, 25 June in Australia and New Zealand, and the UK and Ireland on Friday 26 June for €24.99/£19.99.”

We know, because it says so on the EU PS Blog.

That’s it. Amazing. Buy it. For fun, and shit.

Staff at Blizzard’s support center in Cork, Ireland has grown from 100 people to 600, and more development in the training and technology sector are still planned.

The center operates 365 days a year and 25 different languages are used in spoken and written communication. Due to its expansion, Blizzard has signed a new deal with Industrial Development Agency Ireland for new support and technology tools along with new training routines.

“The Cork center has played an integral role in providing support to our European players, and with the help of IDA Ireland, it has greatly exceeded our initial expectations,” said Blizzard CEO Paul Sams.

“This new agreement with IDA Ireland will help us maintain a dedicated workforce there that corresponds to the ongoing European service requirements for World of WarCraft as well as our upcoming games.”

Opened in 2007, the center was only expected to create 100 new jobs in the area by 2010, so this expansion is a massive one.

Thanks, GI.biz.

Seriously. Media Molecule is offering to send a woollen Sackboy to anyone in the UK and Ireland that bothers to send in their name and address.

All you have to is:

So, to get your toy, simply do the following:

• Go to the official UK LittleBigPlanet YouTube page
• Subscribe to the channel
• After subscribing you will then need to send a message with your home address, via either…

Youtube messaging system or an email to: littlebigplanet@scee.net

Free things for the win. Get to it.

Alienware is to close both of its manufacturing plants, based in Miami and Ireland

Production will be moved to parent company Dell’s facilities.

The news comes from an internal memo, cited in this ExtremeTech report.

Alienware spokeswoman Winnie Wong has apparently confirmed the memo as authentic, but would not say how many employees would be affected.

The memo said that the changes, including the layoffs, would be completed by the end of Dell’s third fiscal quarter, which ends October 31.

More through there.

Epic’s Cliff Bleszinski is going to be interviewed live on Irish radio tonight, listeners. The Lamborghini-driving ultra-developer will be chatting to RedFM DJ Victor Barry tonight, November 6 at 22.30 GMT.

You can tune in here. He’ll probably say something about promiscuous sex, so make sure you’re recording it.

Sony Computer Entertainment’s SN Systems has announced the opening of a new satellite office in Dublin.

The new Irish office will focus solely on R&D for PlayStation’s ProDG development tools and will be led by SN Systems veteran, Matt Bush.

“As part of the on-going development process we’re finding that in order to recruit the most talented staff, we need to have offices in numerous locations. Last year we opened our first U.S. office in San Jose, California and this year it’s Dublin,” said Andy Beveridge, SN Systems director.

“Both offices will grow in numbers quite rapidly as we plan to recruit more staff to cope with the demand of supporting PlayStation game title developers worldwide. However, the Bristol office will still be our Headquarters and main focal point. To accommodate our growth, we’ll be moving to a larger office later this year.”

By Mike Bowden

Go!View, Sony and Sky’s video-on-demand service for the PSP, has gone live in the UK and Ireland today.

The service allows people to transfer content from their PCs to their PSPs with monthly rental packages priced at £5 and £10.

“We are working with our content providers to secure a quality range of programming and ensure that PSP owners are getting the best possible service on-the-go and on-demand,” commented Alison Turner, general manager, Go! View Entertainment UK.

By Mike Bowden