1000°

Sony Unleashes Secret “Sales” Weapons to Retail Stores

TQ author writes: I visited a Target store earlier today and while browsing the video game clearance section I was greeted by a Sony PlayStation sales rep, and this is what happened.

Cosmit4547d ago

Its all good. As long as they don't start feeding lies to people :P. Ah Business tactics

darthv724547d ago

it isnt new. Sony and MS send reps to stores all the time. It gets more noticeable during this time of year but my good friend works for Target and the reps come out almost on a monthly basis. Sometime 2 times a month.

They are there promoting their products which frees up the target reps to take care of other business. Not sneaky or underhanded in any way.

Its really no different than seeing the Verizon guy or ATT guy set up a booth in those stores to answer questions about cell service.

It doesnt happen every day but it does happen more often than people think. Now I have yet to run into a nintendo rep but I know they do the same thing. Maybe more at toys r us than target/walmart.

moparful994547d ago

They've always sent out reps but they've never interacted with consumers.. They are mainly there to make sure the kiosks and demo units are up to date and fine.. This is the first I have ever heard of reps talking with consumers...

-Alpha4547d ago

Forget the reps, there's a freaking Xbox store where I'm from where employees lure you in with there charming looks and free gaming sessions.

darthv724547d ago

there are a few gyms in my town that do the same thing. The tight fit girls (and guys for you ladies out there)out front offering up a free month for joining.

You cant argue that sex appeal is a marketing tool.

ChrisW4546d ago

Personally, I'd rather have booth babes in lacey thongs and half-cup bras telling me about the PS3 and what not...

Legion4546d ago

We had sales reps come into the BX (base exchange in the military) and it was a notorious practice for the Sony sales reps to reset all the TVs in the showroom to basic settings and then to adjust the Sony brand TVs to best picture quality they could. Sales reps are like politicians and used car salesmen. Always trying to make themselves look better at any cost.

It got to the point that I had to complain to the store manager of the practice and all reps were instructed they could not adjust any competitive branded products.

And then they caught some regular store guys doing the same thing... seems like the Sony reps got their 2 cents worth into some of them to bypass the issue.

Note: they did catch a local Korean brand rep doing the same thing.

Dee_914546d ago (Edited 4546d ago )

haha last year there was sum xbox360 reps in best buy

edit actually there were both xbox and ps3 reps
it was so funny how they trying to convince people and stuff
I was like ah nah i hate video games lool

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 4546d ago
otherZinc4547d ago ShowReplies(2)
Christopher4547d ago

A better secret weapon would have been lower priced Holiday bundles. Such as the usual $199 bundle, but with a free game of their choice from a selection of games.

Or, even better, the $199 bundle deal with a tiered game savings plan. You buy the bundle with one game, it's $249. You buy the bundle with two games, it's $279. You buy the bundle with three games, it's $299. So, the more you buy, the more you save. With those three games and the bundle, the consumer is saving $80 right off the bat. More if they buy more games. I bet a lot of third-parties would have gotten in on this as well.

cjflora4546d ago

She "revealed" she worked for Sony? She wasn't hiding it very well with that shirt if the implication was that she was withholding information.

morkendo4546d ago (Edited 4546d ago )

here in seattle today ran into MS reps promoting KINECT outside westlake mall with a indoor glass booth.
guy tried to sell me the ideal kinect was the GREATEST ideal since the light bub I told him he was in my private space.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 4546d ago
illmatic4547d ago

Best Buy is doing something similar. There were Microsoft execs there last week, showing off the Kinect.

darthv724547d ago

they had an area taped off at wal-mart and a big 55" tv set up with kinect and lots of people watching the rep and some customers trying it out. My kids wanted to try it but there was a big line.

DragonKnight4547d ago

I saw a rep at Best Buy the other day wearing a PSVita t-shirt watching a guy playing Kinect golf. Lol.

illmatic4547d ago

lol..i would have taken a picture of that

NewMonday4547d ago

Its an army of Keven Butler minions

thetest4547d ago ShowReplies(4)
PixL4547d ago

Seems that cloning of KB still isn't perfected and produces some strange results.

synchroscheme4547d ago

Humanity is not yet ready to bear responsibility for such technology.

Show all comments (67)
130°

Sony CEO says although AI "has been used for creation," it's "not a substitute for human creativity"

"AI is not a substitute for human creativity. We position it as a technology that supports creativity. Creativity resides in people. We will continue to contribute to people's creativity through technology," the CEO said.

Read Full Story >>
gamesradar.com
1nsomniac23h ago(Edited 23h ago)

...not yet but 100% within the next 10 years!

..Then Sony will use it like the drop of a hat. They're no different to the others.

isarai21h ago(Edited 21h ago)

They used to be 😞 sure it was always a business, and money's always the priority, but they used to have a very strong stance on supporting artists and creativity. "Dont f#@k with the artist" was a phrase they touted a few times back in the ps1-ps3 era, a philosophy carried over from their music branch PlayStation was created from. It's not COMPLETELY gone, but it's barely there compared to what it was back then, i just want them to return to that.

Eonjay2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

I am highly encouraged by their statement about human creativity. "Dont f#@k with the artist" is exactly what they are saying. But at the same time, I don't think people understand that Sony is a corporation. If they don't realize growth, they don't get to exist. When you say 'Sony', you are talking about a bunch of investors. To speak about them any other way is a illogical and incorrect. They haven't changed. They have been a group of investors since they became a public business.

isarai14h ago

Ugh, i really wish people would stop gambling people's livelihoods by turning a project/game into their political soapbox. Im all for statements and having your own opinion, but there's more people working on this than just druckman, ham fisting your political beliefs onto just seems inconsiderate for everyone elses job security when it can result in a failure due to people avoiding it for that reason.

I play games for escape, im so tired of nearly every AAA game blatantly dragging real world issues to shove in my face when I'm trying to take a break from it all. They don't even bother to be subtle about it, quite the opposite, it's blasted and force fed to you and it's just getting exhausting

Einhander19724h ago

People are taking a whole interview and cutting it down to clips that make him look bad and take what he actually was saying out of context. For example he also said things like this AI has "ethical issues we need to address"

-Foxtrot4h ago

@Einhander

Why defend him at this point?

It’s not taking things out of context, he said what he said.

Old ND would never talk about soulless AI taking over so many creative things they are well known for. The whole “ethical issues” is just a good PR spin people who push this crap fall back on to make their statements not seem as bad. So many AI lovers do this.

AI has no place is so many creative based things.

Einhander19724h ago

Well yeah, because everyone else is using it so they need to stay competitive. It's the same as paid online, they didn't want to go that route but their competition was making so much money they needed to add paid online just to keep up.

RaiderNation2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

AI will never replace humans in game development in terms of conceptualizing new games. Humans still need to come up with the ideas and what they want to implement. However much of the day to day menial coding could be AI driven to reduce production time and team size. I could also see AI being used for bug testing/optimization that could lead to better quality games at launch. I'm actually very optimistic about how AI can positively impact game development.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2h ago
XiNatsuDragnel22h ago

Good statement but hopefully this holds up

NotoriousWhiz3h ago

People that aren't software developers just don't understand the benefits of AI. People who's only exposure to A.I is the Terminator movie and other related sci fi films won't understand the benefits it provides.

It's not about replacing human labor. It's about making human labor easier.

Many years ago, I had laser eye surgery done. It was performed by a robot. The doctor took my measurements and calibrated the machine to make sure it would do what needed be done. And then the robot corrected my vision in 10 seconds.

15 years later and I still have 20/20 vision.

Eonjay2h ago

AI in and of itself is not a 'bad'. Money is bad. Money is evil, and corporations will do whatever they can to get more of it. They will find ways to implement AI to replace as may jobs as possible. This isn't even up for debate. It is the charge of the corporation to maximize returns for the investors. They have no choice. I'm a developer and I know that my job will absolutely be replaced. Therefore, I have decided to become an AI dev. AI has a lot of potential to help us solve problem on a scale most can't even imagine. The issue, as ever is that our monetary system only ever allows us to focus on greed and fiscal growth.

But I am a pragmatist. Perhaps an AI model can be built to help protect us from our most dangerous instincts and habits. And perhaps Congress can pass laws to protect us from people who would use AI to manipulate and control us (spoiler: they wont).

150°

Sony Patents To Prevent You From In-Game Harassment By Reading Your Emotions

A new patent recently published by Sony wants to gather biometric data of gamers to track whether one is being harassed using AI tools.

Profchaos29d ago (Edited 29d ago )

I hope this is one of those patents that never comes to fruition.

I already dislike the fact you can pay a significant amount for a online service buy associated games and content on said service and get banned from that service over potentially a misunderstanding the bans are already handed out for flimsy reasons

I'd rather see money invested in a ban that simply removes the offensive players ability to communicate with unknown players allow them to continue party chats with friends but not with Joe blow on cod.

exputers29d ago

Agreed. Blizzard recently banned a college Overwatch 2 player who's dependent for saying "shit." Pretty harsh.

Profchaos28d ago (Edited 28d ago )

How rediculas really. You can't say a word that's allowed in most PG films and prime time TV but the game is based around killing the enemy team using guns, explosives etc.

It's just backwards.

just_looken28d ago

What your talking about is called block list

In 2006 a spaceship dropped of the playstation 3/xbox 360 i say that that generation was the last great gen with game functions/tech that has yet to comeback

Anyhow the playstation 3 if you block listed a id they could not talk to you in chatroom with either text or voice. But that was pre mind fucked 2018 when people were more human than sheep.

But hey gta 6 is coming out billion dollar budget without a single player custom character creator and without singeplayer coop off/online something saints row 1-3 had on the xbox 360.

z2g29d ago

Take my social security and bank account numbers too! Here’s a picture of my wife and our address.

phoenixwing29d ago

Cmon where's the pictures of your children. Don't hold out on them.

H929d ago

At this rate I feel Sony will eventually sell a room to play games in it where they can monitor your every breath

jambola28d ago

I genuinely get a bit worried sometimes when a friend says something that could be offensive In a party
Because I have no trouble believing some bans would happen when in a private party for saying something wrong

SegaSaturn66929d ago

I want them to censor erotic content by measuring my groin temperature so i dont get too distracted while playing black ops 2.

Popsicle29d ago

Terrible idea. Not only do I not consent to providing my biometric data, the potential for mishandling biometric data is almost a certainty. Positive stress and negative stress can produce similar changes in biometrics. Interpreting the precise emotion a person is feeling is not only invasive but could be easily misconstrued. I hope this never comes to fruition.

Show all comments (14)
130°

Sony Could Increase Your Game's Difficulty If It Sees You Complain About It

Sony has recently published a new patent that wants to dynamically handle the games' difficulty and gameplay based on the player's emotions.

jznrpg29d ago

This is something I might use. Sometimes I play some good games but they don’t have difficulty option and are a little too easy.

Profchaos29d ago

Souls games will be like that players struggling make it harder

PassNextquestion29d ago (Edited 29d ago )

I think if used correctly it could work well

jambola29d ago

cool idea
cool idea for horror games especially
the way it's explained here sounds like it could never be forced hopefully, so that's ok with me

Show all comments (8)