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2010 Updates

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:05:15 +0000

What the hell happened here!

A few things have changed over the last week or so. A new lighter design has been added to the site, this is part of the new future proofing I have been working on for the site to enable themes!!! I will be adding a darker theme at a later date for the people who are up late at night and do not like the bright white of the current design.

Whats planned for the future?

Now the new theme backbone is in place I plan on making a mobile site for users to log in and get quick access to the games and gamers list. This will be optimised for iPhone users (sorry everyone else I am a bit of an iPhone fan boy)

I plan to reimplement the game arrangment on the site in the near future.

What else is new then?

There are a few new additions to the site since the last news update. These include:

     Youtube HD Video's linked in to the site
     Easy to read news feeds on the front page
     New Price list has been added
     Became a socialite and added Twitter to the site
     Further image optimization
     Latest galleries and videos displayed on the homepage
     Redesigned most of the sites layout to display for better and easier reading
     Stats shown in the footer
     Social links in the footer including donate button ;)
     Added buttons to game pages for members to instantly add games to their collection

Gamercards!!!?!?!?!??!

Thanks to Sony and their new site design it has become increasingly difficult to fetch stats from their server, it seems as though they have no plans to implement or supply the public with any kind of API to allow third party sites to interact with user stats.

The xbox 360 stats are still working as they should. I am working when ever I get the chance to try and find a way into the Sony site, the method I found has recently been closed off by Sony.

Show your support

If you like the site and want to show your support there are two ways to do so:

1. Click the paypal donate button and straight up donate some money to the site.
2. Use the affiliate "buy" links on the site when you plan on purchasing a game from shopto.net

Happy Gaming folks

Regards
Thesnipergecko

Image Optimiser Update

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 12:33:58 +0000

I have optimised the script that generates galliers and thumbnails throughout the site to use a better compression for the images it created. This has reduced file sizes of images from 500KB down to 17KB.

This should make the site a little bit quicker to browse.

New Year Site Updates

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:47:51 +0000

So it's the start of the new year and I am pretty happy with the progress made on the site. I have implemented certain parts of the site to support Multi Formats, you should soon notice Xbox360 games appearing on the site.

Updates recently include:

Navigation restructure
Multiplatform now available
Imagery for 95% of titles
Streaming HD Video
Featurerd Galleries
Removal of happygamers site avatars (redundant)
Daily background images
Stay Logged In (now available)
For Sale Options (shopto affiliate links to help support the site)
Basic Trophy Compare page
Bug fixes and speed improvements site wide
PS3 game tracking almost 90% automated

Updates Planned:

Restructure and Redesign of User Profile Pages
Better use of news and RSS feeds

Happy Gaming and have fun!

Merry Christmas & Site Updates

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:21:00 +0000

Merry Christmas one and all.

Just a quick update to say I have finished work now until the new year and plan on spending a little bit more time working on the site.

I have also started adding some screenshots using a new gallery script you can see it in action over on the Heavy Rain page. You will also start to see some better thumbnails and graphics appearing on the site.

As you should see prices for games have started to re-appear on the site. This will become a new section on the site to be able to filter games by price ranges.

The bulk of the programming has now been completed and I am happy that the site is running at optimal speed after a few database tweaks a few days ago. The main thing now is to get it populated with content and imagery.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued feedback and updates on the site.

Leaked PS3 Document

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:38:39 +0000

Sony PS3
SCEA reiterated plans to sell 13 million PS3s this year
Big announcement back half of year they can’t talk about (potentially price cut of PS3 to reach hardware goals)
SCEA commented on indexing between PS3 and 360 SKUs, should be around 2:1 to garner most favorable treatment.

Motion Controller
Spring 2010 launch (March in JP)
No bundle/pricing details yet, should come Sept 1
Plan on selling 4-5MM units WW
SCEA agreed to provide a list of Sega IP that would work well with the motion controller, Virtua Tennis was an example
Motion Controller support allows easy way to differentiate PS3 SKU
Other differentiation opportunities include PSP/PS3 interoperability – think of features that would make users want to buy both PS3 and PSP SKUs.

Alpha Protocol
Michael Foster, product evaluator, said AP felt barely RPG. Initial level too challenging for players. “Mass Effect felt more RPG.”
Review notes sent to John Merlino a few weeks prior. After meeting Gerald mentioned AP is a high priority for his team.

Planet 51
Sell in of PS3 SKU – SCEA noted that other movie titles on PS3 had underperformed as well (inc. Transformers) this cycle.
Dyer suggests contacting Susan at Walmart and asking what she wants in the pack to sell this SKU (movie tix etc)
Other possibilities are Hybrid movie disc (BD 25 or 50 with Game and Movie on same disc).

Bayonetta
Collectors edition with Bayonetta Action Figure
Novo recommended launching PSN demo around Xmas based off a Jan 5th Ship date with 2-3 week run out to launch.
3-4 weeks is usually ideal demo timing with fresh content every week leading up to launch (trailers, insider video about PG heritage, video blogs).

Vancouver 2010
HOME, Olympic destination would garner a lot of positive attention from SCEA
Should be doing same with Bayonetta, Marvel etc. Easy to launch in all territories.
HOME merchandizing opportunities (clothes etc).

Sonic Racing
Open to DLC to differentiate PS3 SKU – not ratchet and clank but other characters
maybe characters from Rare or Fable universes

Yakuza
Could put Japanese games directly on PSN for download in a special Japanese Import section (pricing $9.99 to $39.99 for full game).
Might need to localize menus at least with subtitles.
SCEA interested in helping on MKTG side if they can have period of exclusivity.

AVP
Another great HOME candidate
AVP avatars
Hybrid BD disc with movie

Iron Man 2
Great candidate for HOME space – explore Tony Stark’s lab etc.
Should have one for Marvel in general.

PSU2
Could do bundle at GameStop with PSP 30-35K units on UMD, Go, or both.

Valkyria 1937
Could bundle with PSP as well.

Vanquish and Aliens: CM
Opportunity for PS3/PSP interoperability (see Eidos Batman, Army of Two, Assassin’s Creed for good examples).
If we offer that SCEA would be really interested in having us at their booth next E3.

Thor
SCEA would like a look at the code soon.

Sonic Anniversary
Could put out collectors edition with all old sonic games on one BD disc.
“Best of Sonic” for around $99.
SCEA would love PSN exclusive power ups/different game modes (like Castlevania’s flip it over/backwards)

PS2 emulator for PS3 (confidential)
SCEA wants to sell all PS2 titles on PSN (GTA Vice City/Sonic/etc)
For co Marketing money show PS3 controller on TV ads – similar to EA Madden Spots, NCAA, etc…

London Olympics
Perfect opportunity for Motion Controller integration.

DC Digital Titles
If we provide a list of DC titles SCEA will let us know which ones they’re interested in having exclusively.
If we give them a long period of exclusivity they’ll give us more marketing support.

PSP Titles
For SKU differentiation it’s best to offer features that are slightly different from PS3 version.
Titles that are coming up on PSP are Assassin’s Creed II, GTA China Wars, Resident Evil, Little Big Planet – all massive franchises.
SCEA has a specific PSP deck which they can send up with their hardware director for a chat.

Site Update

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 09:20:00 +0000

The Wishlist has been put back in to the site so you can now add games to your wishlist from your account page.

The homepage now shows the latest few games that have been added to the site.

The gamer profile page now filters out PSN and Retail games. This is also labeled on the account page too.

The gamer profile now also shows trophy information which is fetched from the Playstation site when the page loads. So this is Live data!

Keep up the gaming guys.

Happygamers.

PS3 80Gb Now Only 199.99

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:58:54 +0000

Sony PlayStation 3 PS3 Console with 80GB HDD

PS3 is the most advanced computer system that serves as a platform to enjoy next generation computer entertainment contents in the home, realised through the combination of Cell and RSX processors. Having Giga-bit Ethernet and a pre-installed hard disk drive (HDD) as standard in PS3, users will be able to download a variety of contents as well as access on-line games and services over the network.

Equipped with basic input/output ports, PS3 supports a broad range of displays from conventional NTSC/PAL standard TVs to the latest full HD (1080i/1080p) flat panel displays, offering the joy of the most advanced computer entertainment contents to homes around the world. For use in living rooms, maximum heat and noise reduction has been achieved with a noise level equivalent to that of the current slim-line PlayStation 2. With the overwhelming computational power of the Cell processor, PS3 is capable of playing back content from Blu-ray (BD) disc at a bit rate of multiplex 48Mbps with ease, the maximum bit rate defined in BD standards.

80GB HDD

2 USB Ports

DualShock 3 Sixaxis Wireless Controller

Buy Now!

PS3 Slim + 3 Games 249.99

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:40:49 +0000

Get your PS3 Slim on PRE-Order for the fantastic price of £249.99

Pre-Order Now!

PS3 Slim 229.99

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:36:00 +0000

Get your PS3 Slim on PRE-Order for the fantastic price of £229.99

Pre-Order Now!

Development List

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:18:08 +0000

I know there are still quite a few things that are not fully working so I would like to share my current work list with you to show the plans and future for the site.

# Front page rotating articles.

# Screenshots/Videos/Stats Links are currently not operational.

# Request a game feature.

# New screenshot gallery using new technology.

# Insane amount of Trophy tracking will be available at a later date. This involves a lot of work.

Regards

Thesnipergecko.

New Design & Functionality

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:52:44 +0000

Site has had a complete overhaul and now has a sparkling new design and a few new features. Trophy tracking being one of them.