Playstation Network from Around the World

On a slow weekend, I learned from UK Playstation magazine of a trick to download PS3 demos and related content from non-American Playstation Stores. It was interesting as I kept reading various blog posts of PSTriple fanboys lamenting about their inability to download content from Europe, Asia and even Japan.

Here’s how to create accounts to access the Japanese, Hong Kong and UK PSN store:

1. Cut a Hole in the Box (Just joking)

First you will need to create an all-new user in your Playstation 3 in the users bar. One that is done you can go sign-up to a new Playstation Network account by choosing your country or region as Hong Kong, Japan or United Kingdom. Make sure you select “Master Account” and then enter in all the relevant information (you don’t need a valid email address) and follow the rest of the instructions.

You don’t need to enter in any billing information if you are just out to download region-exclusive demos or video content, so you can skip that section entirely. After the billing information is skipped or entered, you will be asked to confirm all your false information before your account is created. Once that is over you can chose your avatar and skip the survey section to immediately sign in using your region-specific account.

If you don’t know Japanese, you’re strongly recommended to creating an account for the Asia-Pacific region such as Hong Kong and the PAL markets such as the United Kingdom. This way, you will have a chance to memorise the right buttons and input fields before you try entering information for the Japanese account, which only displays in Japanese. Do not concern yourself with real information such as zip codes, home addresses or trying to type a Japanese or Asian name because the Account Registration process supports alphanumeric characters.

There should not be any compatibility issues with PAL downloads unless you are only connected to a TV using SD cables instead of a component or HDMI cable.

Some region-exclusives from the UK Playstation Store are a demo of Super Rub-a-Dub, a making-of featurette for F1 Championship Edition, while the Hong Kong store has a demo of Hot Shots Golf, free add-on packs for Ridge Racer 7, a trailer for Gundam Musou while the Japanese store has PS3 compatible PS1 downloadable games, and exclusive GT HD videos for Nissan and Ferrari. It’s really sad that one has to even make multiple accounts for specific regions just to download certain freebies from each store because Sony wasn’t smart enough to allow for global downloads. Granted the Japanese store does have content that is exclusive to their local culture, but much of the same content was sent to the Asian stores with no localisation and are doing quite well in those regions.

Some great downloads from this week’s Playstation stores, we Super Rub-a-Dub, which is extremely sensitive to the SIXAXIS controller; Ninja Gaiden Sigma, which gives us a remake of the demo stage from Xbox; Virtua Tennis 3, which only plays for 1 round; a Gundam Musou commercial in Japanese and GT HD videos showcasing Nissan and Ferrari.

With that note, tomorrow is One Day Blog Silence day in honour of those who were horribly murdered in Virginia Tech in America.

Silence can say more than a thousand words.

This day shall unite us all about this unbelievable painful & shocking event and show some respect and love to those who lost their loved ones.

On April 30th 2007, the Blogosphere will hold a One-Day Blog Silence in honor of the victims at Virginia Tech. More then 30 died at the US college massacre.

But it´s not only about them. Many bloggers have responded and asked about all the other victims of our world. All the people who die every day. What about them?

This day can be a symbol of support to all the victims of our world!

All you have to do is spread the word about it and post the graphic on your blog on 30th April 2007. No words and no comments. Just respect, reflect and empathy.

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Taiwan Province: Fuck the Olympics

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6598711.stm

 China and Taiwan in Olympics row

China’s government has said it is surprised at Taiwan’s rejection of its place on the route of the Olympic torch relay ahead of the 2008 Beijing games. Officials in Taiwan, seen by China as part of its territory, do not want the torch to enter or leave via China.

The torch is to go from Taiwan to Hong Kong on its way to Beijing.

In a separate row, five Americans held at Mount Everest while protesting against the Tibetan leg of the relay are to be expelled from China.

The executive vice-president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), Jiang Xiaoyu said he was “surprised by [Taiwan's] attitude and comments”.

“BOCOG believes the current attitude of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and its authorities… breached the principle of separating sport from politics as enshrined in the Olympic charter,” Mr Jiang said.

Taiwan objection

Taiwan and China have been ruled by separate governments since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

The authorities in Beijing regard it as a breakaway province that should be reunited with the rest of China – by force if necessary. The island is referred to as Chinese Taipei for the Olympics.

On Thursday, the head of Taiwan’s Olympic Committee said the route as announced by Beijing “constitutes an attempt to downgrade our sovereignty”.

“It is something that the government and people cannot accept,” said Tsai Chen-wei.

While many in Taiwan are said to be keen for the torch to come, some fear that if the route directly links the island with China it would appear to endorse Beijing’s view that Taiwan is part of its territory.

Tibet protest

The Olympic flame will be carried through 20 cities in five continents on its 137,000km (85,000-mile) journey.

Following Olympic tradition, the torch will be lit on 25 March in Greece at the site of the ancient Olympics.

It will then be transferred to Beijing from where it will travel across Central Asia to Europe, South America and Africa before reaching Asia again.

On its final leg, it will be carried through China by a series of athletes, celebrities and specially-chosen members of the public to Beijing in time for the opening ceremony of the games on 8 August.

A highlight of the journey is expected to be the torch’s planned ascent in May of the world’s highest mountain, Everest, which straddles the border between Tibet and Nepal. But its path through Tibet has already triggered protests from critics of Beijing’s rule. China invaded Tibet in 1950 and its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, lives in exile in India.

The five US activists, detained at the Everest base camp on the Tibetan side of the mountain on Wednesday, had unfurled a banner calling for Tibet’s independence.

China’s foreign ministry said the five were detained for “carrying out illegal activities aimed at splitting China”.

There have been stereotypes that the Taiwanese always enjoy turning everything into a political issue from local naming to an international Olympic torch relay. I find it distressing that officials from Taiwan Province would even have the nerve to reject a benevolent Olympic torch relay despite receiving the torch from the sovereign state of Vietnam and then handing it off to a separate Olympic entity in Hong Kong. It is not like the Chinese hosts were trying to squeeze their wayward province by planning a national relay around them, but rather chose to have Taiwan Province be at the receiving end of another country before passing it to a SAR.

This is one of the few instances where an IOC entity has ever made the choice to reject an opportunity to carry the Olympic torch in an international relay that promotes sportsmanship and goodwill. Not even North Korea, Kazakhstan, or Tanzania rejected the planned relay for the 2008 Olympics and many countries would be more than happy to have a chance at carrying the torch. Only a wayward area called Taiwan Province would be dumb enough to reject such an opportunity out of arrogance and out of spite just to politicize a rather petty issue. The only thing that is keeping Taiwan Province relevant is their value as an economic entity, which is gradually undermined by their ruling party and growing competition in the world.

This once again proves why Taiwan Province is seen as a joke by many in this world. Now people are starting to learn how Taiwan Province is becoming less respectable than Anhui Province. I would not be surprised if the Taiwan Province Olympic team receives more jeers than the Japanese team. Then again, Taiwan’s ongoing stupidity is a boon for Sino-Japanese relations because it is diverting much of the negative attention towards Japan into Taiwan Province instead, which will relatively improve perceptions of Japan and her people.

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The End of the Playstation Era

http://www.forbes.com/2007/04/26/kutaragi-sony-playstation-face-marketes-cx_er_0426autofacescan01_print.htmlGame Over for Father Of The PlayStation
Evelyn M. Rusli, 04.26.07, 4:34 PM ET

Ken Kutaragi, the father of the PlayStation, stepped down as head of Sony Computer Entertainment on Thursday, falling victim to the disappointing sales of the PlayStation 3 and rising tensions between the executive and Sony Corp.’s top brass.

In an upbeat statement, the company announced that Kutaragi would stay on as an honorary chairman and senior technology adviser, while Kazuo Hirai, the current president of the key unit, would take his place as CEO and chairman.

“I am happy to graduate from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.” said Kutaragi. “It has been an exciting experience to change the world of computer entertainment by marrying cutting-edge technologies with creative minds from all over the world. I’m looking forward to building on this vision in my next endeavors.”

Sony Corp.’s CEO, Howard Stringer, called Kutaragi a “rare combination of a powerful visionary and entrepreneur in one figure.”

But behind the bright harmony of the press release, there was reportedly a protracted tug-of-war between the high-profile executives.

Many believe that Kutaragi is another casualty in Stringer’s campaign to transform Sony into a leaner, more profitable and software-centric company.

The clash between Kutaragi and Stringer, which is said to have simmered since Stringer became CEO in June 2005, was typical of the collision between the old style of business at Sony and the new ethos Stringer is trying to foster.

In one corner stood Kutaragi, a 32-year Sony veteran who epitomized the independent and innovative spirit that was key to the company’s rise. As the father of three generations of the PlayStation console and the handheld version, he also represented the company’s longtime hardware and engineering focus.

In the other corner was Stringer, the new CEO eager to reduce each business line’s independence and bring about integration. Since his arrival, Stringer has “made it clear that software — and inter-unit cooperation — is a priority for his historically siloed and hardware-centric company,” Prudential Equity Group said in a March research note.

The ideological chasm that separated Kutaragi and Stringer may have been immaterial, if it wasn’t for Sony’s major financial setbacks, which likely pressured Stringer to act.

The PS3, with its high overhead costs, production shortage problems and low penetration rate, has stumbled against the attractively priced Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360, falling to No. 3 in sales. While Sony sold 1.8 million consoles through the end of 2006, Nintendo sold almost double that: 3.2 million units.

The dissapointing console is expected to drag on Sony’s earnings for the remainder of the year: “it will be difficult for the Games division to achieve break-even status in fiscal 2007, as our analysis indicates that Sony is currently losing close to $300 per PlayStation 3 unit sold,” John McPeake, a Prudential Equity Group analyst, said in a research note last month.

In a harbinger of things to come, Stringer removed Kutaragi from the post of president of Sony Computer Entertainment last November, effectively cutting him off from day-to-day operations. (See: “Sony Shuffles Gaming Team”)

Kutaragi, known for his outspoken and independent management style, (See: “Exec Slams Sony Mangement for Failure to Exploit Content”) may have been perceived as a hurdle in reining in the embattled games division.

The lack of communication between the computer entertainment arm and the rest of Sony made Kutaragi a volatile element. According to an interview with Stringer in the Wall Street Journal, Kutaragi surprised his boss by exceeding production budgets. In one particularly illustrative moment, Kutaragi startled management with an impromptu 20% price cut for the Japanese 20GB PlayStation 3 model. “It wasn’t financially one of my best moments,” Stringer told the paper. “The budget implications were self evident. I agreed because I wanted the launch to be successful.”

Wrangles aside, Prudential analyst John McPeake said Kutaragi’s departure and Hirai’s ascension is a logical and positive step for the beleaguered company. “This management change is expected,” he said in an interview on Thursday. “Kutaragi was almost 60 years old and Kazuo Hirai has a good relationship with the game industry and game publishers.”

At the end of trading Thursday, Sony shares were down 1.9%, or $1.02, to $54.20.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Playstation Generation is coming to an end as Nintendo uses a modified Gamecube and a touchpad-based handheld to regain their place in the videogame industry. It’s quite ironic since it was Nintendo’s stupidity that provoked Sony into entering the videogame business with an overhauled CD-ROM based console. Now it looks like Ken Kutaragi is being banished from the division he helped build and replaced with Kazuo “Ridge Racer!!!!!!!!” Hirai, which seems to reaffirm that the Peter Principle is in play.

This is living indeed as Sir Howard Stringer may have brought massive damage to Sony with a real-time management change in the face of giant enemy Wiis. It also gives both Microsoft and Nintendo many chances to attack Sony’s weakpoint to cause massive damage to gain even more market share in the console war. As of this writing, Microsoft appears to have dominated much of the market share with their 360 in North America, while sharing some of the market with Nintendo in Europe. However, Nintendo is able to secure their home market in Japan and crushing the once invincible Sony with just a modified Gamecube.

“IT’S RIDGE RACER!~ RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDGE RACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRR!”

“Fl0w is the killer-app for the PS3!!!”

“Yo yo yo! It’s da PSTriple!”

It’s quotes like these that give you an idea of the Playstation 3’s sad state.

Despite these problems, I agree with Stringer that Sony needs to do more to flex their corporate synergies and to develop their software division in the face of direct competition from Microsoft. Sony’s lack of software know-how clearly shows in their lack of content in their cross-media bar interface that is on the PS3 and other high-end Sony products, the lack of content in their Playstation Network, and their Playstation Home, which looks like an enhanced Second Life just for PS3 users.

On another note, it seems that any electronic product with the Sony brand has been crapping out as of late. My Japanese penpal informed me that his first generation PS2 had problems due to a “disc-read error” and he heard rumours that Sony products were built with limited lifespans, which would force consumers to buy the next version about 3-5 years after using the original version. It’s funny because that’s how my Sony Discman (1993) died around 1998, my dad’s Sony Home Theatre 5.1 Sound Encoder (2000) died last weekend (2007) and my first PS2 (2002) died in 2005.

From what I have seen so far in Sony’s management and from my Playstation 3, it’s safe to say that I will opt out of the Playstation 4 and get Nintendo’s modified Wii instead for the next system.

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Do Not Buy Wachovia Securities sponsored funds

Note to self and all who are taking steps to become investors: do not purchase funds that are sponsored by brokerage firms because they will wind up creating significant costs that outweigh any long-term or near-term benefits that are claimed.  Do not believe the lies or hype.

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The Roewe W2 (450) at the Auto Show Shanghai

About 3 years ago, the last volume manufacturer, MG ROVER, went into administration due to declining revenue, depleted cash reserves and rampant mismanagement from the “Phoenix Five”. From the ashes of MG Rover, rose two Chinese companies who have acquired their assets and intellectual property: SAIC and Nanjing Auto. The former company was one of the initial manufacturers that were interested in partnering with MG Rover before learning of their financial troubles, but failed to acquire the company when it was in administration while the latter was an obscure auto manufacturer that somehow won the bidding to acquire all of MG Rover’s assets.

Both companies were able to acquire the intellectual property for the Rover 75, which was the key property that SAIC wanted, while MG also got the IP for the MG TF in the process as well.

Using the Rover 75 platform, SAIC was able to update the car and introduce it to the Chinese market as the Roewe 750, which included a longer wheelbase and a facelifted front and rear end. Unfortunately, SAIC was not able to get the rights to the Rover brand since Ford used its option to buy it from BMW to prevent any confusion from their Land Rover brand. As a result, SAIC management made a snap decision to call their brand Roewe (pronounced Row-Wii) and a hastily drawn logo in response to Ford’s purchase. Personally, I would have preferred SAIC simply reused their old “Shanghai” brand for the new car or started pronouncing their new brand, Roewe, as “rowe” like Lowe instead of “Row-Wii”.

In any case, SAIC was able to work around this setback by first rehiring all the MG Rover engineers that had been working new Rover models, outsourcing some of their engineering work to Ricardo, and building brand recognition for their updated Roewe 750.

Here is the Hollywood-style ROVER 75 (Chinese call it ROEWE 750) commercial in Chinese TV. The sales has started nation-wide on January 31 year of 2007 and commercial is playing on national CCTV and other important media.

The national sales order for the first two week rocket to 3211 even when the nation-wide sales network is not built up completely. Now the order volume is stable at the number of 300 for one day.

So far the Roewe 750 has gotten good feedback from the local market and this has encouraged SAIC to produce more models for their new Roewe brand. One of these models is speculated to the the Roewe 450, a replacement for the Rover 45, and a continuation of the canceled MG Rover RDX60 model. The result of this project was a new car that would be based on the old Rover 75 platform with an updated design, that premiered as the Roewe W2 concept at the Shanghai Auto Show.

http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/

Although there’s little linking this car stylistically with the outgoing Rovers and MGs, the similarity to the ill-fated RDX60 is quite startling, indicating that the project was continued by Ricardo2010, almost seamlessly from the closure of MG Rover – indicating the earnestness of the company’s statement back in 2005, that the RDX60 was most definitely theirs…

As with the RDX60, the Roewe 450 is based upon the architecture of the Rover 75 – and because of that, it’s heading for production at an unprecedented rate. Unlike the original MG Rover, car, Roewe’s 450 will only be offered in saloon form, and will feature a pretty new interior that echoes the changing face of the original project, and how the MG and Rover marques were going to be modernised.

The 450 or W2 was spotted in various auto magazines undergoing extreme weather and performance testing in parts of the world with some speculating what it would actually look like. Fortunately, SAIC made a wise decision in rehiring most of the MG Rover design team and engineering in making this Chinese market car with British flavour.

SAIC’s new design was actually one of the more impressive concepts at the Shanghai Auto Show next to the Chery Shooting Sport concept. The Roewe 450 appears to be aimed squarely at buyers that would be interested in a Ford Focus, Volkswagen Jetta, or even a Toyota Corolla. Although it is very likely that the front and rear ends will be simplified when the 450 is pushed to production, the W2 concept does give us a good idea of what to expect from SAIC’s Roewe brand in the coming years.

On the other hand, the best that Nanjing Auto could produce so far are Chinese assembled MG Rover models with new names. The MG ZT is now the MG7, MG ZS is the MG5, while the MG TF remains the same. Very little has been done to update the models other than new names and money spent building a new assembly plant with tooling brought over from the old Longbridge plant. In addition, Nanjing Auto decided that it was somehow a great idea to throw away all the MG history by rebranding MG as “Modern Gentleman” and doing little to show it is a new player other than emphasising the brand’s British roots. It also does not help that years of hype over newly designed models and restored jobs did not materialise as of 2007, despite what the MG-NAC fanboys say on forums.

The Chinese market looks to be an interesting venture with competitors such as China Brilliance, Chery, and SAIC. So far China Brilliance has used their joint-venture with BMW to produce the “Zhonghua” brand cars that are currently losing money in the home market and damaging the reputation of Chinese cars in Europe. Chery is becoming a rising star with their bestselling QQ model, which is a copy of the Daewoo Matiz, and with potential for growth thanks to partnerships with Fiat and Chrysler. Last, SAIC has been a major player from joint-ventures with GM and Volkswagen and it has the resources to grow their own brands such as “Shanghai” and “Roewe”. Only time will tell which Chinese company will come out on top in their home market.

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