Tag Archives: patrick seybold

Sony has said that its motion controller is not called Gem, but it was an early prototype name for the product.

“The term ‘Gem’ was an early code name for the product,” SCEA bossman Patrick Seybold told Kotaku. “We haven’t announced final name at this point.”

This comes to light after John Riccitiello slipped up and blurted the name out yesterday at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference.

Still, Gem is better than the Wand. Sounds less pornographic to us at any rate.

More through the links.

SCEA comms boss Patrick Seybold’s confirmed 440,000 US PS3 sales for the week ending November 29. Big beans.

“The 2009 holiday season got off to an amazing start for PlayStation, with all key retailers showing a significant increase for PS3, PSP and key holiday titles over Black Friday and the holiday weekend,” said the exec in an emailed statement.

“PlayStation 3 demand was at an all time high with the system selling more than 440,000 units for the week ending 11/29/09.”

Seybold went on to claim that entertainment in America this year is to be “defined” by PlayStation products.

“In today’s economy, consumers are drawn to items that offer the most value for their money, making the PS3 an ideal choice for those who want a comprehensive gaming and entertainment system all in one package,” he said.

“Combine that with exclusive holiday bundles and an extensive software line-up, one that many analysts are calling the best in the industry, with titles such as Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time, Uncharted 2:Among Thieves, and LittleBigPlanet: Game of the Year, we have no doubt the momentum and demand will continue and consumers will prove that entertainment this holiday season is going to be defined by PlayStation.”

Nintendo’s claiming 550,000 Wiis sold in the same period, while Microsoft said last night that 360 sales doubled in Thanksgiving week.

Sony has pulled its offending commercials featuring the Nigerian millionaire bit, and have replaced them with an edited version, according to Kotaku.

Issuing an apology on the official PlayStation website, Patrick Seybold, senior director of corporate communications at SCEA, stated:

“It has come to our attention that a recent TV advertisement for PlayStation may have offended some members of the Nigerian community. We never intended to create a situation that would upset anyone, and we have taken action to immediately remove the advertisement from the air. We apologize to anyone this may have offended.”

The new line reads: “You can’t believe everything you read on the internet. That’s how World War I got started.”

Below the break is a video of the new advert.

More »

SCEA ignored the fact PS3 only sold 127,000 units in the US last month in its post-NPD press release, focussing instead on the console’s upcoming slate.

“We’re revving up the new fiscal year with a broad tent of content and services across our platforms with envelope-pushing PS3 games like inFAMOUS, MAG, and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves,” said US comms boss Patrick Seybold.

He added: “We often hear from our customers that they’re surprised by everything the PS3 does in addition to what they purchased the device for – including features like DLNA, free access to Wi-Fi and internet browser In some ways, this serves as a reminder that there’s more we can do to relay the full breadth and power of the PS3.

“We know our consumers have varying entertainment lifestyles from the Blu-ray movie fanatic to photo enthusiast, so we’ve outlined our most aggressive marketing plans to help showcase this tremendous value proposition to all our consumers.

“We’ve got a proven history in delivering the best entertainment experience and there is no doubt the PlayStation brand is staged for another big year.”

Thanks, GI.

Sony seems unconvinced that OnLive will be a successful venture.

SCEA’s Patrick Seybold has admitted to Edge that he’s concerned over “the final cost to the consumer”.

Powerful servers are needed to support the gaming service and Seyold feels that the consumer will eventually have to eat that cost with high subscription fees.

The corporate communications bossman is also concerned over the logistics of the system, due to the required broadband connection speed of 2Mb per second for normal use and 5Mb per second for hi-def.

“What will be sacrificed when you [put OnLive] into a real world environment where multiple devices are plugged into one broadband connection?” he asked.

Continuing, Seabold went on to describe Sony’s legacy in the sector, saying that PS3 has been doing the exact same thing for years with the added bonus of disc-based content.

“PlayStation’s been bringing HD gaming and entertainment into consumers’ homes for many years now,” he said.

“With both digitally distributed and disc-based content, we have a competitive offering for consumers, whether they are tethered to the Internet or not. Only on PlayStation 3 can you get HD gaming, watch BD and downloaded movies, have ample hard drive space for music, movies and photos, built-in Wi-Fi, and free access to PlayStation Network – right out of the box.”

OnLive is set to launch this Winter.

Sony’s officially recognised that many users are unable to connect to PlayStation Home, releasing a short message on the PS Blog saying it’s working on fixes.

“We are aware that some people may be experiencing difficulty in accessing the PlayStation Home beta at present,” said SCEA corporate comms boss Patrick Seybold.

“This is due to overwhelming demand for the service as people access Home for the very first time since it became Open Beta and appeared on the XMB.

“While we prepare solutions to ease the problem, you may continue to experience difficulties accessing Home. We kindly ask for your patience as we work to meet the incredible demand for this revolutionary service.”

For many, Home is like looking at candy through the sweetshop window: connection error messages have been an intrinsic part of Home’s launch so far.

Sony has yet again confirmed that it doesn’t intend to drop the price of PS3 this year.

“As previously discussed we aren’t making any price moves this holiday season. In my opinion, we have the best line up of any PlayStation generation going into this holiday and consumers will be very receptive to it,” SCEA comms boss Patrick Seybold told Edge.

“With PS3 titles for this including Resistance 2, LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift to name but a few of our multiple exclusives, combined with PlayStation Home and increasing multimedia features for the hardware, we expect to have continued momentum going into and beyond this holiday season.”

It’s not coming down in price. See? It’s really not.

More through the link.