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In a major effort to distance itself from the string of negative events, including the hacking of the PSN, and to capitalise on the effect of the PS3 price cut earlier in the month, Sony is rebranding the entire PlayStation platform.
The rebranding also includes a change in the marketing slogan for the PS3. The previous "It Only Does Everything" slogan, which has been widely derided after Sony removed previously supported PS3 features, such as "Other OS", in subsequent firmware updates due to "financial" reasons, and after the PSN was subsequently hacked, taking down online multiplayer gaming for an entire month.
And with the PSN moniker now synonymous with "being hacked", Sony has rebranded and combined their entire range of online entertainment into the "Sony Entertainment Network", which now includes PSN, Qriocity and video-on-demand services previously under their own brands. Qriocity is now known as "Music Unlimited", with a "Video Unlimited" name for the video streaming service, all under the Sony Entertainment Network banner. The PlayStation Network name remains unchanged for now.
Sony hinted at the launch a few days earlier when the well known fictional character Kevin Butler, Vice President of fictional departments used in a series ads promoting Sony Computer Entertainment products, signalled his intention to "leave" the company for a new position, but has since "returned" after the rebranding to be Sony's fictional "Vice President of Everything Good about Sony".
And the aforementioned "It Only Does Everything" slogan has been replaced with the less arrogant "Long Live Play".
But the streak of arrogance that many have criticised Sony for in the past still seems to be present, as a war or words between the boss of Xbox Europe Chris Lewis and SCEA's SVP of Publisher Relations Rob Dyer has Dyer claiming Microsoft is "protecting an inferior technology" by forcing restrictions on developers. "I think they want to dumb it down and keep it as pedestrian as possible so that if you want to do anything for Blu-ray or you have extra content above 9 gigs or you want to do anything of that nature, you’d better sure as heck remember that Microsoft can’t handle that," Dyer said in an interview with IndustryGamer.
This was all in response to Xbox Europe boss Chris Lewis's opinion that the Xbox 360 has the best multi-platform games due to the superior Xbox-Live platform, as well as the fact that Microsoft pays big money to secure downloadable content exclusives.
The rebranding also includes a change in the marketing slogan for the PS3. The previous "It Only Does Everything" slogan, which has been widely derided after Sony removed previously supported PS3 features, such as "Other OS", in subsequent firmware updates due to "financial" reasons, and after the PSN was subsequently hacked, taking down online multiplayer gaming for an entire month.
And with the PSN moniker now synonymous with "being hacked", Sony has rebranded and combined their entire range of online entertainment into the "Sony Entertainment Network", which now includes PSN, Qriocity and video-on-demand services previously under their own brands. Qriocity is now known as "Music Unlimited", with a "Video Unlimited" name for the video streaming service, all under the Sony Entertainment Network banner. The PlayStation Network name remains unchanged for now.
Sony hinted at the launch a few days earlier when the well known fictional character Kevin Butler, Vice President of fictional departments used in a series ads promoting Sony Computer Entertainment products, signalled his intention to "leave" the company for a new position, but has since "returned" after the rebranding to be Sony's fictional "Vice President of Everything Good about Sony".
And the aforementioned "It Only Does Everything" slogan has been replaced with the less arrogant "Long Live Play".
But the streak of arrogance that many have criticised Sony for in the past still seems to be present, as a war or words between the boss of Xbox Europe Chris Lewis and SCEA's SVP of Publisher Relations Rob Dyer has Dyer claiming Microsoft is "protecting an inferior technology" by forcing restrictions on developers. "I think they want to dumb it down and keep it as pedestrian as possible so that if you want to do anything for Blu-ray or you have extra content above 9 gigs or you want to do anything of that nature, you’d better sure as heck remember that Microsoft can’t handle that," Dyer said in an interview with IndustryGamer.
This was all in response to Xbox Europe boss Chris Lewis's opinion that the Xbox 360 has the best multi-platform games due to the superior Xbox-Live platform, as well as the fact that Microsoft pays big money to secure downloadable content exclusives.