Tag Archives: the times

SCEE’s refused to confirm or deny a Times Online report yesterday that said Home’s open beta was to launch in the next ten days.

“We’re not commenting on that story, I’m afraid,” a rep told VG247 this afternoon.

The piece said open beta was to launch by December 17.

Sony’s constant line on the social app’s release is that it’d happen before the end of 2008.

The Times can’t have just got the ten days thought from thin air, right? Right?

The Times Online’s run a piece saying Home’s open beta is to release in the next ten days, or before December 17.

SCEE’s constantly said open beta will hit this year, so there’s likely to be truth in this.

We’re checking with Sony now.

Speaking to the Times, Activision boss Bobby Kotick’s called for hardware price cuts, saying current costing is inhibiting growth.

“It used to be the case that we did well during slowdowns because if you couldn’t afford to go to the movies or to travel to a theme park, you stayed home and played a computer game,” he said.

“But now I think that the hardware manufacturers are going to have to think about reducing their prices because the cost of purchasing some of this stuff is prohibitive.”

More through the link. Thanks, MCV.

Following publishing an editorial this morning claiming games were a “colossal waste of time” and that he hated “being told to immerse myself in smack and teenage pregnancy before passing judgment on them”, Times writer and author Giles Whittell’s book is receiving something of a kicking on Amazon.co.uk.

Reviews have started popping up along the lines of, “I thought this book was a colossal waste of time. Clearly the author has never been to Central Asia. Anyone wanting to know what Central Asia is really like should play Call Of Duty 4.”

Warning bells: this will probably get worse for Mr Whittell. The last time an author suffered the same fate, Cooper Lawrence – the American psychologist who appeared in Fox’s “SeXbox” piece on Mass Effect – was forced to admit she was wrong after angry gamers battered her book with almost 70 “reviews” on Amazon.com which effectively destroyed her sales rank on the site.

You cannot beat the internet, Giles. Good luck with that.

(Thanks Hero of Canton)