Sony to introduce 'Qore,' a PlayStation video program
Sony on Tuesday said it will unveil on June 5 what it's calling Qore, a "highly interactive, monthly original program that covers the world inside PlayStation."
The idea is that Qore will offer anyone interested in the PlayStation universe a sort of peek behind the curtain at what's going on with the platform, with developers of PlayStation titles, and with the games themselves.
Unfortunately, Qore will not be broadcast to everyone. It will be available only through the official PlayStation Store, a shopping portal accessible via PlayStation 3s. Viewers who want to watch Qore will pay a $2.99 per-episode fee or they can subscribe for a year for $24.99.
According to Sony, Qore's content was designed to be interactive, offering viewers the ability to control the camera angles on much of what they watch or to look at the content with a picture-in-picture feature. They will also be presented with interactive ads.
The first episode features unseen content from upcoming PS3 games like SOCOM: US Navy SEALS Confrontation and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
Qore seems like a good idea in principle. Sony has had image problems during this generation of consoles, and its PS3 hasn't done nearly as well as it had hoped. So giving users the ability to get more inside information on what's going on with their console seems wise.
Except that I quibble with Sony's decision to limit Qore's viewership to those who can access it via the PlayStation Store, and to charge for the program. Wouldn't they get much more interest if anybody could watch it for free? To be sure, the program might have features that can only work on the PS3, but a scaled-down version available on some cable TV channel or on the Web would seem to be a great way to attract more people to the platform.
And I don't imagine too many people are going to migrate to the PlayStation platform just because of Qore.
I will admit the program is likely to bring in some revenue, but I can't imagine that it will be that much, and certainly not enough to stave off critics who say Sony is struggling and that the PS3 hasn't held up its end of the fiscal bargain. But make the show available to everyone, put some ads on it, and maybe they've got something.
Still, what do I know? Perhaps PS3 users will rush to fork over $2.99 an episode or $24.99 a year and Sony's fortunes will skyrocket.
But I doubt it. I really like the idea of this program because I think people always want a view of things they don't normally get to see. But asking them to pay for it is not a winning strategy to me.
On June 10, Geek Gestalt hits the highways for Road Trip 2008. I'll start in Orlando, Fla., and visit many of the South's most interesting destinations. Stay tuned, and be sure to keep up, both now and during the trip, with what I'm doing on Twitter.
Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between. E-mail Daniel. 
sign me up -NOT!
how about coming up with some good multiplayer games instead. Hello?
with ideas like this they deserve to lose this gen's console war.
Why in the hell would you expect a customer/person to pay to see whats going on behind the scenes!! Are you nuts!!! Interactive advertisements..COME ON!!
This service has flop written all over it.. Get a life Sony.
to read PSTOM! This is no different
except
u get live interviews and stuff you would never see
in a magazine
cuz its from Sony officially! This is actually
a really good idea and I look
forward to it! Oh and where else can u look behind the scenes that u don't have to pay for? Honestly ur making this seem bad when its not at all! And these episodes will be long, not some 2 min thing BS that microsoft gives for free! Besides thats 25 a year! Less than half of xbpx
live
for much more content!
Let's face it Sony, with the current state of the economy nobody is looking to add to their already burdensome monthly expenses (especially if it means having to put up with "interactive" ads stuffed in their faces)
Bad PR too.
"its PS3 hasn't done nearly as well as it had hoped." Are you kidding me? If you have done any research and looked at any sales charts you would see that the ps3 is exactly where sony wants it. It is on track with the ps2 currently which was the best selling console ever, priced much lower. It is consistantly selling 50,000-100,000 units more than the 360 every week. I have no idea what you are talking about.
So you are behind in sales of the PS3. The answer, charge folks money for what is basically a cable show. If the cuteness of camera angles, etc. is to take off, the best way to kill the launch is to charge money to folks who are used to getting everything but a game for free.
Love the name although a former US Vice President will probably sue for misspelling his name.
By the way to all of those reading the comments and wondering where I got this information from...just go to cnet tv and watch today's episode of Loaded (06/04/08) and you will see I am not lying.
You are dumb. Your points are fruitless and dont make much sense. To me, Xbox Live is great and I am glad that it costs. Have you ever downloaded anything on the PSN?? it is slow and sucks. XBL is so much faster and has so much more content. I am very happy to pay $50 per year for the service.
" oh and if my son wants the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack that's $10? You mean the $550 MS already got from me wasn't enough? "
Yeah. Thats extra dude. Dont get him Halo 3 LMP then. Your kids loss. If I have to have it, then I will pay the extra lously $10 and be over it......
@Pathogens, At the rate of sony's servers, the only thing affecting the speed of your download will be your internet service. My downloads go at exactly the speed I am paying for all the time on my ps3 as does everyone with a ps3/xbox 360 I know. If you had any valid complaint towards this issue it would be that the 360 downloads slower based on the fact that microsoft is not as prepared as sony when it comes to supply and demand. An example of this would be the downed xbl service last christmas. I must put in however that my friends 360's download at a reasonable speed too so I see no issue in this subject on either side.
- by Splenda14 June 7, 2008 8:27 PM PDT
- it is on youtube if you want to watch it
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
Showing 1 of 2 pages (25 Comments)