PR and the PSN

Well, the big news in gaming over the weekend was by far the return of the PlayStation Network on Saturday. Sony has been working very hard from what we have heard to get the service back on it's feet, and all the work has finally paid off. The service has not returned in it's entirety but most of the functionality that gamers care about is there. The one major missing piece is the the store but it sounds like that will be up by months end.

I think Sony has hit the mark that they desperately needed to hit in getting service up and running so that this is not a topic at E3 this year. The timing of the announcement could not have come at a more convenient time, three weeks before the beginning of E3 with what looks like a pretty bust pre-E3 week ahead for both game news and game journalists. The triumphant return of the PSN will quickly be swept under the rug as the preview of the big games that will be shown at E3 start coming in. The perfect setup for Sony to launch the service get publicity for it but quickly be able to go back to business as usual.

When the outage at everything associated with the breach first hit Sony I thought it could not have come at a worse time, with E3 right around the corner. It turns out, with all the other hype surrounding it, E3 will be the best thing Sony could ask for. By the time we get done with the piles of stories leading up to E3 Sony isn't even going to have to mention the outage in it's E3 press conference. They can literally pretend like nothing happened. Kaz Hirai, the face of PlayStation, has already said what needed to be said in a video that was released along side the revival of the network. Now when the the biggest press conference of the year comes along in three weeks he can concentrate on what Sony has going for it, the best and most expansive list of exclusive games of any platform this year.

Although Sony may have made some mistakes in allowing the attacks on their network and in the ways information was released to the public shortly after, they have hit every note perfectly in the PR game after. Congratulations to Sony on a game well played and what looks to be the biggest year to date for the PlayStation and it's Software. Well Played Sirs!

Calling out Call of Duty

So judging from my Xbox Live friends list this weekend the Call of Duty franchise has all of us gamers right where they want us. The new Escalation map pack was released on Tuesday and I, along with a good portion of my friends list, downloaded it.

Now I know the $15 price tag seems like a lot of money, and it is. But I somehow couldn't resist. I had managed to resist all of it up until someone said the three words I am most vulnerable to, double experience weekend. That was it, I was done. I went home Friday night and downloaded the the new map pack. I know, I'm week. And I know I could just play the maps I already had. But they were NEW and different. Not to mention there was a playlist just for people who had them. I wanted to be one of those people. So I downloaded it and was very excited to jump back into the multi-player experience I had enjoyed so much.

And then reality sunk in as got my ass kicked, over and over. All that made me want to do was play more. I wanted to feel what I had before and every kill gave me just a little more of what I was looking for. This game, I realized shortly after spending the better part of the evening working my way back to the high I had when I played months ago, is an addiction. I want my fix. I want the little numbers to pop up and tell me I not only got a kill, but a head shot, and ended a that persons kill streak, all while earning my own attack chopper. It's a drug, and Activision knows it. Looks at how far the maps packs are spaced out and how they use the double experience weekends to draw you back in. Halo took strides in the persistent online shooter that no one else had thought of through their leveling mechanic and matchmaking system. Infinity Ward took what they learned watching Bungie and made it better. Through the perk and unlock systems they created not only a new community, but a new addiction.

Slowly but surely, Activision, with the help of Infinity Ward and Treyarch have built the first shooter franchise capable of supporting itself as a service instead of a yearly franchise. Now is the opportune time for Bobby Kotick to jump on the MMO band wagon. The announcement of the announcement of Modern Warfare 3 being teased and Activision saying the next Call of Duty will have an accompanying “online universe” make it seem like Activsion agrees with me. From what we've heard so far Activision is is not only dumping tons of funding into MW3 but is putting any studio that isn't already working on a AAA game on it as well.

I'm calling it now, Activision announces Call of Duty: Modern War for all consoles and PC at E3 2011. It will be the first real MMOFPS. It will have an online universe complete with factions and nations. You will be able to customize your character classes online and track your matches and progress through a Bungie.net type system. New content such as maps and skins will be released monthly and will be included in your monthly subscription. Title expansions will be released quarterly or bi-annually that will allow you take the war to new locals and upgrade you to the newest weaponry.

Or maybe I'm having a fever dream. But wouldn't it be cool if I wasn't?

Like I said in the beginning. They have us where they want us. Now let's see if they have the guts to pull the trigger.