Sony Confesses About Fake PSP Fan Site
December 14th, 2006 by Darren Stevens in Business, Offbeat, Online, Portable
Earlier today we mentioned the horrible attempt by Sony to use viral marketing for its PSP handheld, and now they have issued a statement confirming that it was, in fact, Sony who made the site.
Busted. Nailed. Snagged. As many of you have figured out (maybe our speech was a little too funky fresh???), Peter isn’t a real hip-hop maven and this site was actually developed by Sony. Guess we were trying to be just a little too clever. From this point forward, we will just stick to making cool products, and use this site to give you nothing but the facts on the PSP.
Sony Computer Entertainment America
What would Sony do without the world of gaming bloggers waiting to expose every single faux pas they make? And what would the bloggers post about if Sony suddenly got their s*** together and stopped making stupid mistakes? Anyway, you can read the post from Sony here.
Tags: Business, Offbeat, Online, Portable
December 14th, 2006 at 12:14 am
What were they thinking?
December 14th, 2006 at 12:16 am
I did not expect Sony to actaully admit it. This kind of viral crap is done every day, but for a big company like Sony, this is just a new low.
Come on, is the PSP selling THAT BAD?!
December 14th, 2006 at 12:17 am
To impress people who don’t think.
*laughs with tone of superiority*
December 14th, 2006 at 12:21 am
Yet another reason no Sony products will ever grace my home again … at least not until I see a MOMENMENTAL change in their management style and corporate culture … and since we all pretty much know that won’t ever happen I feel safe in saying I will never again own a Sony product. Makes me feel good about getting rid of my PS2 early last month.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:27 am
momenmental.. is that like being mental in the moment? [insert laughter]
Never touch sony products again… and what if xbox360 and wii are dead in 5 years? just assuuuume it for fun. you will do what exactly?
I’ll change horses if xbox360 turns out to be the best in 12 months.. though I still currently favor ps3 for past feats of ps2 and ps1. I have confidence.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:29 am
Monumental … oops … very bad spelling error.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:31 am
Anyone who would even entertain the idea that only Sony can deliver gaming pleasure is brain dead. That’s all I have to say. PCs are still my favorite gaming platform and UT2K7 (PC Version)is still the game I am looking forward to the most on any platform.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:38 am
Seriously? If you want ut2k7 and arent a graphics whore, just buy 2k4. It’s near identical. and 2k4 looks a lot like 2k3, but with onslaught addon, and 2k3.. surprise looks a lot like ut1. The weapons havent changed in 10 years. Oh yes, the spider bomb, I wonder if that was worth my 10+40+40 bucks… ok it was, since I was a ut addict, but it still sucks.
But I’m never gonna buy ut2k7. I’ll buy quakewars instead, I got a gut-feeling it’s gonna be awesome.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:40 am
doom: counter-strike hasn’t changed either, same maps, same weapons. That’s why the game is getting less and less popular. UT2K7 bring along a lot of new additions, and try not to judge it before it gets out.
And yes, Quake Wars is gonna be awesome, screw Battlefield and UT and CS.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:44 am
Why bother talking to someone who doesn’t even recall me saying MANY MANY times that I love UT2K4 and was the Project Lead for one of the best mods ever on that platform, HaloUT. Leave it alone Jim2K … I know I have.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:54 am
I never liked CS, way too limited/boring for me.
I’ve played and loved 2k3 and 2k4 for years, but I’ve SEEN it now. I’ve seen ingame footage of ut2k7. Identical weapons, AGAIN. one little gametype addon won’t make me buy that one.
note* There is nothing better than to play Ictf ut2k3, and to be virtually godlike. I played for +/-20 hours / week for 6 months and was only 2nd place in any game\server/ opponent twice in the full year:P and yeah I played clanbase matches too. The 2nd-place-days made my week bad!
The hard part is that my ego can’t take playing ut again, since I would probably not be 1rst place in any game again:P It would make me cry or do suicide and stuff.
December 14th, 2006 at 1:43 am
I wasn’t talking to you Anuban, but to Doom. And I know that you did UT mods…
December 14th, 2006 at 2:02 am
From all the Halo fans: Bluetards!!!
December 14th, 2006 at 2:26 am
Jim I was obviously NOT talking about you … c’mon man use your head and look at the comment above yours. I was talking about you addressing doom.
December 14th, 2006 at 2:42 am
I’ve been busy the past weeks and I have no clue whats going on anymore.
December 14th, 2006 at 7:29 am
“let’s pretend people like us!” - Sony
December 14th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
Sony needs to clean house with its marketing division, hire someone better, say… Homer Simpson, or maybe a Cabbage
December 14th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
“Ooh shit run out of fanboys to sell PSP to and we are getting fucked over by Nintendo who sell 5 DS for every PSP…… Oh i know lets try and get in the paper with how dedicated and geeky our fans are by faking a blog.”
In fairness if they wanted people to know what obsessive nerds Sony fanboys were they should have just hired Doom and Shaka
December 14th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
@ ZAC “let’s pretend people like us!
December 15th, 2006 at 12:03 am
I’m talking about Sony’s lack of support these days. Assumably.
December 15th, 2006 at 12:15 am
Well see how it translates into sales figures soon.
It’s not the press that buy the games you know;)
December 15th, 2006 at 12:43 am
Yes I know, but the press show a generalised public opinion.
December 15th, 2006 at 3:01 am
The press show the press’s opinion and is far from a benchmark for succes. For example:
The press gives EA sports series low/average marks overall, but EA games make big sales.
games with high ratings can easily fail, when people do not like it, know about it, or when it’s marketing is bad.
December 18th, 2006 at 4:57 am
[...] A few years ago SONY crossed the line (as far as I’m concerned) creating a “stealth marketing” campaign by having brand ambassadors pose as a real people in bars to sample their SONY Erikson phones. So it is no surprise to me that SONY was recently caught underwriting a fake blog or “flog.” According to MediaPost “the blog, alliwantforxmasisapsp.com, was supposedly authored by an amateur hip-hop artist ‘Charlie’ — whose cousin, ‘Pete,’ craved a PSP under the tree.” Once this blog was exposed as a flog (industry blog DigitalBattle.com wrote a lot about this), SONY issued a release that noted it was developed as a “humorous site” and have “added a posting that provides clarification to consumers visiting the site.” The blog Digital Battle has more coverage on this topic. [...]