Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix - one of Sony's missing games

If there’s one thing we expect from brands these days it’s openness. If there’s a problem we want to know why and what’s being done about it. The ease with which anyone, from a school dinnerlady to a corporate brand manager can set up a blog or Twitter account means direct conversation between brands and the public, without any filtering through the media, is easy.

Many companies are learning the right way to do it. From small internet companies like Evo Hosting (who host this site) to at least some of the the country’s biggest names (see Real Fresh TV’s analysis of Social Media usage in FTSE100 companies here), firms are learning that blogs allow them to speak directly to their customers about their successes and failures in an open way that can stave off bad publicity at very little cost.

One company you’d expect to understand this are Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE). You see, there’s a problem with SCEE that’s annoying many of their most vocal customers. The Playstation 3 features a store that allows gamers to buy and download games direct to their consoles. The trouble is that many eagerly anticipated games currently available in America have yet to arrive int he European version of the store.

Take Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, for example. It received a worldwide release in November last year. Worldwide, that is, except Europe where the game is yet to materialise. Admittedly, seeing as it’s a remake of a 15 year old game it’s not going to have huge mass-market appeal, but it’s exactly the kind of game that a significant, and very vocal, minority of gamers will want to play. Deny them their fix and they’ll kick up a stink. With the Playstation 3 languishing far behind the sales of Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s XBox 360, they could really do without any negative press.

So far Sony have said very little about the situation. British Gaming has contacted SCEE’s Playstation Network PR manager who told them “This has been an ongoing issue and we’re doing our best to resolve it”. That was it – no apology, no estimated date for a resolution – nothing. Unsurprisingly, the gamers aren’t satisfied with that response and an SCEE Equality Appeal continues apace while any posts mentioning the problem on the big games blogs like Joystiq garner huge numbers of angry comments from frustrated gamers.

What could SCEE do to correct this? If they were open with their customers, told them the reason for the hold up and gave them a date for the game’s release they’d end the anger straight away. It’d help if they even had a blog on which to do this. Their American counterparts do. The nearest we get in Europe is a semi-official blog in the form of Three Speech but even that hasn’t broached the subject of the missing games.

While SCEE avoid giving proper answers their audience gets increasingly annoyed. As one James Gadbury says on the SCEE Equality Appeal petition: “Don’t keep us in the dark. We’re getting more and more frustrated. Speak to us Sony!!”. The days of aloof, remote brands are behind us. So, SCEE, isn’t it time you caught up?

UPDATE:

ThePSN.co.uk has manged to get some answers out of Capcom UK (the UK division of the Street Fighter 2’s creator). They say the game is stuck in Quality Assurance at SCEE and has been rejected twice. While that might seem odd (it’s out everywhere else after all) there have been many complaints about the game being bug-ridden. Maybe SCEE aren’t the bad guys after all and they just want a game that works on their store. Still, they certainly should have said something themselves and not relied on Capcom to spill the beans.

Apparently a corrected version of the game should be available next month.

TV and gaming have had a rocky relationship in the UK. Mainly the preserve of obscure satellite channels that show endless Unreal Tournament matches, mainstream TV has rarely been treated to good quality coverage of the videogame scene.  Those shows that do make it to channels with more than a handful of viewers tend to disappear as quickly as arrive.

Here are some of the most fondly remembered examples for deceased videogames shows.

Gamesmaster

Combining Patrick Moore with a little-known young Scottish presenter with a love of innuendo may seem an odd concept but that’s exactly what Channel 4 went with back in 1992 when Gamesmaster launched in a 6pm weekday slot.  With a focus on competitive challenges with a few reviews thrown in for good measure it was the first real ‘hit’ series to focus on games.

Over time the series’ quality declined.  In series 3 original presenter Dominik Diamond was replaced by former child actor Dexter Fletcher, best known for roles in Bugsy Malone and Press Gang.  Fans of the show, including my teenage self, were rather put off by his over-the-top cock-er-nee presenting style and Diamond eventually returned a few series later with a much more smutty version  of the show.  Still in a teatime slot but with more of a focus on getting as many glamour models and sexual innuendos into each show as possible, it was clear the show needed to be put to sleep.  That’s just what happened in 1998.  Here’s a clip of the show in its prime, from 1992.

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Bad Infuence

Following the success of Gamesmaster, ITV decided to launch a new games show aimed at a slightly younger audience.  Presented by Andy Crane and Violet Berlin, the show was less about challenges and more about news and reviews, with children offering their views on the latest releases.

For hardcore  gamers like my brother and I it sometimes seemed a little patronising but it was always fun and it was a shame to see it disappear from our screens in 1996.  Here are a couple of reviews from the first series, including an Atari Lynx(!) game and one of the earlier John Madden series games, still a huge cash-cow for publisher EA today.

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Bits

After the demise  of Gamesmaster in 1998, it was only a year before Channel 4 tried its hand at another videogames show.  This one, however,  was squarely aimed at adults and being on at about midnight it’d have to be!  Snappily edited and presented by a three-girl team who (shock) actually knew a lot about games(!) it was the smartest and most enjoyable games show to date.

Following the end of Bits, a similar show Thumb Bandits replaced it but it wasn’t anywhere near as enjoyable and was quickly axed.  One of the presenters of both shows, Aleks Krotoski, is now presenter of The Guardian’s Tech Weekly Podcast.  You may remember I went along to the Manchester meet-up in the summer.  Here’s a clip from the first series of Bits.

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For the past few years, gaming has very much been relegated to those aforementioned obscure channels in the furthest reaches of Sky’s programme guide.  So, does the British public simply hate watching games and prefer to play them?  Possibly, but many more people watch Football matches on TV than bother to kick a ball themselves so there’s obviously a market for spectator sports.  Think of all the people who watch Soccer AM or Football Focus to get their Football news.  Are people so disinterested in games news that they won’t watch a show about them?

What’s likely is that as the number of games shows have declined from their 90s peak, TV commissioners have lost confidence in videogames as a ratings draw.  Times change though and with sales of games up 42% this year, maybe its time for them to reconsider that viewpoint.  While sites like Gametrailers.com can give us reviews and footage of new games, there’s still a home for a popular pastime like games on TV.  So, come on commissioning editors; give us a smart, fun show about games made by people who care about them.  Pitch it right and you’ll have a hit on your hands.

This game manages to do something that hasn’t been done in 12 years – advance the platform game genre.  Since Nintendo’s Super Mario 64 took platformers into the 3rd dimension in 1996 the genre has stayed pretty static. Through endless Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter and Spyro games the platformer hasn’t really progressed.  Through allowing individual users to create and share their own characters and levels online Little Big Planet has put the fun back into platform gaming.  If even a jaded long-time gamer like myself wants it they’ve got a hit on their hands.

The question is, how do you get the general public interested in the game when so few have a Playstation 3 at home?  Sony’s rather excellent answer is to take the game to the people.  In the middle of September an empty shop unit in Piccadilly Plaza here in Manchester suddenly became a Little Big Planet shop.  Well, it’s not really a shop – the game’s not been released yet so it’s more of a promotional… experience.

Until the 4th of October this shop offers gamers a chance to play the game on a number of consoles set up around the room.  The shop’s staff are friendly and are happy to introduce you to the basics of the game and let you play to your heart’s content. Little Big Planet is a family game so there’s something here for gamers of all ages.

For adults there is a group of expert level designers running training sessions in how to create your own levels in the game.  The woman who showed me round the store told me that they’ve been building a level based on Manchester itself.   For children there’s a giant Sackboy (the game’s protagonist) for you to have your photo taken and the walls are covered in children’s drawings of Sackboy and friends.

Promotional shops aren’t a new thing.  I remember seeing a shopfront set up to promote the BBC’s Mighty Boosh DVD in London’s Brick Lane last year but that was little more than a glorified flyposter site.  What Sony have here is something far more interactive.  With the PS3 not taking off in the UK as quickly as they would like Sony really need to take their product to the people and they’ve certainly been successful with that here in Manchester.

I was trying to work what it was that made me so interested in the Little Big Planet shop.  Sure, I like games and wanted to play this one but no, what I found most interesting was that amonst the chain stores, bank branches and Starbucks outlets of the city centre it’s something different to look at.

More brands should learn from this and let their potential cutomers get sucked into a full on brand experience.  Imagine if TV stations, radio stations and film studios used this kind of tactic to promote their wares on a regular basis – shopping centres might get interesting again!

Well, maybe they need to step up their game.  As you can see in the pictures here, someone is playing Mario Kart Wii as Hitler, getting round the ban by calling himself ‘Adolf’.  There’s no doubting the Mii’s resemblance to a certain 20th century dictator.  I stumbled upon him while playing online yesterday.

While it won’t bother many people it’s obvious that some, especially in Germany, could be mighty annoyed at his appearance.  Quite what Nintendo can do to monitor things like this I don’t know.  Banning the name ‘Hitler’ is one thing, scanning all the Miis online for ones that resemble him is another.

It just goes to show, it’s a wild world out there online and not even Nintendo can protect you!