Monday, 29 September 2008

16,000 copies of Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway stolen twice


According to this Sun report, 16,000 copies of Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway were stolen from a delivery lorry - and then re-nicked after the haul was impounded by the police.
“Shutters at cops’ secure depot were smashed open and the vehicle driven off before being checked for fingerprints or DNA,” says the piece.
A police spokesman said: “We are pursuing a number of lines of enquiry, including eBay transactions where a number of the games have been potentially identified as being advertised for sale. Arrests have already been made in respect of this.”
The loot was stolen in Northampton while the driver rested. The games were just PS3 discs, apparently.
More through the link.

LittleBigPlanet Being Released on Disc and PSN?


In a new article from Reuters, LittleBigPlanet was changing gamers into creators. However, Tommy-Cronin was able to spot out that the article also mentioned that:
The winning Parsons entrants will be playable in the final version of LittleBigPlanet in a special Parsons section of the game. Sony will release the game, both as a retail disc and as a digital download, through PlayStation Network on Oct 21.
Debate away in the comments as to whether this is true, or if it was possibly just a misunderstanding and Reuters was uninformed.

Sony Considering Subscription Fees for MAG?

Report of a PlayStation Underground survey suggests Sony may want to make MAG pay-to-play.
Sony's MAG was one of the bigger surprises at E3 last July -- both figuratively and literally, considering it's aiming to pit 256 players against each other in gigantic online matches. But according to reports of a new survey sent to PlayStation Underground members, it may not be cheap to participate: The Bitbag reports (via Kotaku) that the survey (sent with the subject header "Short survey, Big new game") asks a number of questions about potential fees for MAG, including a yearly subscription, monthly subscription, or one-time fees for new features.
According to Bitbag's story, the survey asked "at least 15 questions related to payment plans for the game." Possible options may be either a yearly fee, a monthly fee, or individual one-time fees for "content downloads." Even more interesting, the survey also suggests the possibility that Sony may partner with Electronic Arts or Activision Blizzard for hosting services.
An important note: While Bitbag posted an image of the email itself (a portion of which is shown above), they didn't capture any images of the survey. Still, a reader in the comments section confirmed the survey did indeed ask subscription questions, and posted a link to his blog that shows two images claimed to be from this survey (shown below). This person also says that prices asked about ranged from $45-$125 for yearly fees, and $3-$12 for one-time purchases of content.
As you surely already know, none of this means MAG will require subscription fees whenever it comes out -- but it does at least suggest Sony is seriously considering the possibility, and is trying to gauge how these plans would go over with gamers.