Next week’s Thanksgiving holiday marks the kick-off to the traditional retail holiday selling season. It’s a key part of our year as many people who may not be hardcore gamers begin their research for the hottest gift items. Naturally, we expect the PS3 to be on a lot of those lists this year. This holiday’s PS3 campaign marks one of our most aggressive approaches in terms of our advertising reach and frequency, so we hope you’ve seen the new commercials while watching your favorite TV programs. I’ve been receiving a lot of emails from friends and family and hearing from a lot of you who are catching the commercials regularly and laughing even after the third or fourth helping. We couldn’t be more pleased by the overwhelming response, not just to the ads, but also evidenced by the sheer momentum behind our recent sales numbers. I’d like to personally welcome all of the new PS3 owners to what will be one of our best years ahead.

Beyond the amazing line up of Blu-ray games hitting this holiday, we’re also expecting some blockbuster Blu-ray movie releases, including Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Star Trek. We’ve also announced some really groundbreaking initiatives that make Blu-ray synonymous with movie watching. In December, consumers will have access to the first-ever hybrid disc that will feature Sony Picture’s District 9 movie and a demo of God of War 3. This is a true testament to the endless opportunities ahead for Blu-ray and entertainment. And if you’re already an existing Netflix consumer, now you can access both your Blu-ray disc movies and stream 17,000 movies and TV shows from one machine – the PS3.

Readers of this blog are of course, already aware that the PS3 comes built in with one of the industry’s best Blu-ray players. But we wanted a spot that would hammer home the Blu-ray movie advantage and speak to this broader audience that may not be as familiar with the PS3’s feature set. So we asked Kevin Butler to bestow some wisdom in this exchange with an unhappy teenager who is complaining his grandmother is hogging the PS3 to watch Blu-ray movies. You can catch this commercial on air starting next week. For you, our loyal fans, here’s the exclusive sneak peek:

We’d love to hear what your favorite spots are so far. We certainly are having a hard time just picking one. We still have a couple more special updates on the way, so make sure to check in next weekend. More to come.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone,

Peter

Hi Everyone –

As you’ve already heard from Eric Lempel, the latest PSP firmware update v6.20 added the Digital Comics Reader to the XMB on the PSP. The PlayStation Network comic service on PlayStation Store will be coming in December (U.S. Only). In the meantime, you can get your hands on a free issue of Star Trek: Year Four – The Enterprise Experiment from our partners at IDW Publishing. Once you download the free Digital Reader, visit PlayStation Store on the PSP and enter the following promotion code:

724K-A4BG-JLD7

This code is only valid until December 16, 2009. The code must be redeemed directly on the PSP (not through PS3 or Media Go).

You should also check out www.playstationcomics.com for more information and to find a code for another free digital comic. (Hint: For those of you following PlayStation on Twitter, you might want to check there, too.)

Stay tuned for more details about the PlayStation Network digital comic service for the PSP.

Hi Everyone,
Here’s the list of new arrivals and top downloads on the Video Store this week.
You’ll see Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Bruno, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – It’s a Very Sunny Christmas are now available. Also, check out the free downloads of Avatar Theatrical Trailer, Ninja Assassin [...]

Hi everyone! Last week, we announced the availability of adhocParty here in the U.S. As we mentioned before, adhocParty for the PSP system is an online service that allows PSP owners with a PS3 system to connect to one another via the PlayStation Network. Today, you can download the application for free from the PlayStation [...]