Today we are announcing that Qore: Presented by the PLAYSTATION Network, a highly interactive, monthly lifestyle gaming program covering the world inside PLAYSTATION is on its way to PS3. Qore has been developed to give PS3 users early access to game related content at a level of quality, interactivity and depth. Everything is filmed in HD. Qore will feature exclusive news, developer interviews, in-depth game previews and behind-the-scenes looks at PlayStation games and special access to game demos, special beta invitations, game add-ons and other downloadable game-related content.
Our premier episode will be available on Thursday, June 5. The premier episode includes in-depth exclusive and never-before released content on upcoming PlayStation titles such as SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Secret Agent Clank, Soul Calibur 4 and Afro Samurai, as well as the latest Blu-ray Disc trailers, an exclusive SOCOM: Confrontation theme with an invitation to the SOCOM: Confrontation beta, art galleries and other surprises. We also know that many of you are big fans of Veronica Belmont, the widely-known host of numerous online video programs and podcasts and an avid gamer, so we’ve chosen her to be your host.
To get Qore, simply log onto PSN and go to the PLAYSTATION Store, as you would purchase any other form of downloadable content. Once the single Episode or annual subscription is purchased, that month’s episode will be downloaded under the “Game” heading on the Cross Media Bar (XMB). Users who purchase the “Qore Annual Subscription” will notice only that month’s episode is available to download. The following month, the new episode will automatically appear in your download list. The introductory price for Qore is $2.99 for a single episode and $24.99 for an annual subscription of 13 episodes, using your PLAYSTATION Network wallet.
As Peter Dille mentioned in a previous PLAYSTATION Network post, the broader service and community initiatives launching on the PLAYSTATION Network this year such as Qore, PlayStation Home and the Video Download Service are all evidence of our dedication to delivering an all-encompassing entertainment experience for PS fans. Qore is the first in a series of planned original programming specifically created for the PLAYSTATION Network community and we hope you enjoy it.
Pay for this?
I am sure I can get plenty of information around the web that can give me the same experience as this new Qore thing…
Nowadays, with the huge amount of information why would i pay for this? I just don´t get the reason, at least not yet Sony… Sorry…
@ 87: Well as far as the devs and Sony are concerned that would be the same since the devs would get money from Sony to put there demo’s exclusive and Sony would still get the money back in subscriptions. I don’t mind them changing and making decisions that will help them keep afloat but if I remember right they are said to start profiting or get in the black sometimes soon (or may have already happened) and the sales are picking up so as far as I’m concerned they’re staying afloat as it is but I’d understand if they did do this. I’d just ask they be open and honest to how it effects those that don’t subscribe.
The entire philosophy of the PSN was free online play funded by advertising and online purchases as far as I was aware so this isn’t a shift in a sense, just a change in what they are charging for. I’ll wait and see on this issue but I expect to only really find out when website report on it once they’ve tried it or people talk about it in forums etc. Since I doubt Sony will tell people what’s going on under the hood.
When she says High Definition does she mean 720p or true HD 1080p? I bought me a Sony console and an expensive Sony HDTV and I’m still not getting what I got promised. Which is 1080 HD gaming. All my games run only 720 no matter what the box says behind. :\
Also, Does this mean that regular PSN people wont be able to download demos now? Or do the people that pays $24.99 will get exclusive demos and other stuff?
Since Qore is accessed via the “Game” menu, will it be viewable on the PSP via Remote Play?
The idea sounds interesting (though charging more than a TV show like Lost on iTunes sounds a bit expensive). Will have to wait and see. I do hope this doesn’t lead to preventing people who don’t subscribe access to demos, etc. That would suck. But for now, I’ll be cautiously interested.
if anyone care, I’ve been reviewing games for almost 10 years now, so I have an insight on how the industry unfolds. when next-gen consoles were announced and all was nice and shiny, I argued that there will be costs involved. Sony gave us a free (demo) year of PSN, so now they are charging us without actually charging directly. as I said, I feel betrayed and I bet there are many more people out there feeling the same. I wonder if Sony planned this all along or is it just some new business agreement with Future Publishing.
one more question. how will Qore develop or what will it transform into, once Home is released? Last week you released information on the Lounge. Will Qore and Lounge co-exist? Since we can pay for an annual subscription of Qore, I guess yes, but do you really have that much content to show in both locations? I guess you know what happens when you are over-marketing something, don’t you?
Why pay for this when it’ll be leaked on the internet every week (or only when a beta is sollicited)?
Gold vs Silver ??
I just created an account to say this, but creating a tiered system within PSN is an absolutely terrible idea. The simple fact of the matter is that PS3 is in last place, and Sony should be looking to help it get out of that place, not fall further behind. Removing one of the key selling points to the system, completely free access to PSN, is silly considering the premium paid by PS3 owners to get their systems in the first place. Furthermore, charging 3 dollars and then having ads is just a kick in the groin, especially for what amounts to a podcast. Even making demos merely timed exclusives for this service is just terrible. Releasing this for free makes a tremendous amount of sense because, as things are, not many will buy this for the video–instead exclusive access to the demos and betas will be what makes it worth it. The problem is that as members of the PSN we already have exclusive access to Playstation content–thus, Qore only really serves to diminsh the value of a service that everyone of us on the PSN has been sold (i.e. the PSN itself and its advantages over Xbox Live) Please Sony, don’t reduce the value of your service by releasing this as it currently stands.
sounds like the original playstation underground, I loved my subscription to that :D
I love you Sony-ites, I really do. But if to meet revenue goals you need to introduce a a two-tier, pay/no-pay service level mode for PSN, gut up, say so, then do it. We’ll all whine, 99% of we who whine are we who will pay. How many people you know with actual discretionary income have only an XBL Silver account? No Gold, no Gears, what’s the point, right?
And Veronica Belmont? You should have picked up Courtney T-T from The Dandys. You know, he’s got a song all ready for her early dismall. “A long time ago, she used to be cool. But I haven’t thought of you lately at all.”
She’s a honey, but that’s part of the problem. I’m 40, one wife, three kids, and I could care less she’s quite taken since it’s all totally hypothetical, anyway. In context of the spry, randy male gaming audience who doesn’t have to cough up the price of a game for a cheap pizza night or the tab for three retail games in copays for the annual family flu vax, putting Veronica at the helm of Qore is like putting Laura Linney behind that desk. (Ronnie, baby, you know I love you, or I wouldn’t even mention you in the same sentence as the hallowed double-L… But STILL…)
The magazine idea seems cool but:
1) Free demos shouldn’t be compromised.They’re are a marketing tool,people shouldn’t pay for them just like they don’t pay for watching ads.
It will be really disappointing if weekly updates start to be particularly poor (and it’s not like they’re usually great right now) because contents are being held back for the magazine and free demos become a rarity.
2)The first number of the magazine should have been free to let people know if it’s worth it or not.
3)What about Europe? Is Qore coming to Europe too? If it’s not how are you going to deal with contents? How can europeans get the contents which are exlusive to Qore?
No, I can’t type this late, lazy June morning. Deal with it.
I am worried this could be a first step to make the PSN not free.
@ 98: There’s always gonna be the already released stuff and most likely it’s only a timed exclusitivity on demo’s (paying to get them early) but it’s possible there will be exclusive ones and even if it is just the case of getting demo’s early then none-subscribers will be penalized for not paying by having to wait for the demo’s.
Great Idea, good way to generate revenue for a digital magazine, as well as Beta special exclusives including Beta-Invitations.
However 12.99$ is much more reasonable. 24.99 is a bit steep. I’ll wait until its 12.99 Or wont bother.
Sweet I offered a similar idea last year in the GAP as part of a story about the PlaySTation Underground CD Magazine from back on PlaySTation. Suggested that Sony try a PSN Magazine. Is there anyway to find out if this was some how made possible by the G.A.P.’s influence as this is the second time something I’ve said has become reality?
I can’t understand the complaints. Those who don’t want to pay…DON’T.
You’ll be back to complain once the ones who do subscribe are enjoying their exclusive footage and betas. The PlayStation division is still a business and money needs to be made somehow.
That being said, I’ll wait for feedback regarding the first episode and then most likely subscribe after that. Sounds like a great primer for more video subscritions! :)
BAHAHAHAHAA! This is retarded.
Sony, how dumb do you think the majority of us are?!
I’m not paying for advertising or for information I can find on a blog somewhere for free.
Also, about that “exclusive” demo B.S. you are spouting on… this is just another way you’re going to piss people off.
“Exclusive demo” is just a shorter way of saying “demos we’re taking away from the regular PSN Store to force people to pay for them.”
Shady, Sony… Shady, indeed. How about instead of taking away things from your best customers, and forcing them to pay for stuff that was once free (alienating and pissing them off in the process), you instead take hold of the opportunity Microsoft and Nintendo have given you with their general lack of improvement on their systems (no Spring update on the 360, and no quality virtual console games or software updates on the Wii) to vastly improve upon the versatility of YOUR system.
In-game XMB, perhaps? Nah, that’s too much to ask for… Just keep drilling holes in the bottom of your boat. You’ll learn eventually… Probably the hard way, but eventually.
I doubt I’ll be paying for a subscription. I might give the first episode a try to get a better idea. The private beta option seems to be the only vital offer for me and I’m sure it’s not going to be in every episode. Besides, I could get all the other info on the net for free.
Not to mention, I like Olivia Munn (super sexy) a hundred times more then Veronica Belmont.
I’ll definitely get the 1st episode to see how it works. If it is a step up in how I get my Playstation related news, I’ll buy the year subscription. I’ve been looking for a gaming magazine to subscribe to again, and this one might be the one.
It’s a cool and easier way to get into Beta’s too, it’ll be fun to be a lab rat for some of these yet to be released games.
If people don’t like the service, don’t pay for it then. Money talks.
JDPoZ In-game XMB is coming this month so what are you talking about?
the exclusive demo will probably be timed exclusives much like the week difference between live gold and silver.
also people dont seem to mind paying a small fee to get into betas (see crackdown and pre-orders).
also you still dont have to pay the play online and as I mention before in-game XMB will be implemented sometime this month.
no body is forcing you to buy this. if you dont want it, dont get it.
personally i will only get issues that interest me just like many people still buy print mags eventhough they can get all their news online
Woah there! Aren’t people over-reacting to this just a little bit?! This is a e-magazine, NOT a new type of PSN structure! Since when does ‘exclusive access to demos’ mean that everyone’s going to have to pay for them? Until you know the details, don’t [DELETED]! It could be more a case of slightly earlier access-like the Battlefield:BC demo that is available now to some lucky gits, but the rest of us get it on Thursday, free of charge! And as if access to betas is a real problem-there’s a reason they’re a beta-they’re not a demo! Again, like the MGO one-it was anything but a demo!
And if there’s an issue with content you REALLY want-do you have to subscribe? NO! Just buy that particular issue on its own!
But I would like to add to the list of people who want to know if it’s a US-only thing, of if us Brits will get anything from it?
I’d have to hear how the quality of the content is, if it’s good enough, it might warrant the purchase.
Cant wait
I doubt I’ll be paying for a subscription. I might give the first episode a try to get a better idea. The private beta option seems to be the only vital offer for me and I’m sure it’s not going to be in every episode. Besides, I could get all the other info on the net for free.
Thursdays are so awesome, now it looks like we will be paying for them. “Thanks for the offer but I’ll have to pass.”
Not to mention, I like Olivia Munn (super sexy) a hundred times more then Veronica Belmont.
This should all be tied in with HOME. After viewing Ubisofts room there should simply be a Qore room where we can get all this info maybe even in our own Home living area where we could put up flat screens that will stream Qore and other videos and game information. Sony just put everything into Home and use advertisers to keep it free, be like Google.
Good to see sony sticking to their boasts such as having the free network.
Seriously paying for Demos, trailers and videos? I know you guys need the money, but this seems even worse than what Microsoft does.
I could understand and accept GT5 prologue, but charging for “exclusive” demos isn’t something that’s going to endear me to the network especially after Sony claimed this wouldn’t happen.
Take the demo part out of the marketing for this and you have a winner in your hands. Exclusive demos gives of a negative cannotation leaving people thinking that they will no longer get demos from the PSN store.
@113: then your an idiot, as it’s been said many times
– If you don’t pay you are forced to wait longer for demo’s
– content downloaded may need to be deleted when your hard drive gets full (losing what you pay for (ever more likely with the increase in mandatory install games))
– Beta, news (free online) and wallpapers etc. that were usually free and now being charged for.
– more companies start to release more demoes exclusive or timed making free service lower quality.
– pay for content that then is full of adverts you can’t skip
– Some content (like news) is available on other services like Xbox live for free (called inside Xbox)
– May be restricted from beta unless you buy this.
– More content to be charged for coming (as said in the article)
– Shift from all content on PSN being free (apart from games and music etc.) to paying for small tidbits like wallpapers etc.
how about a version for Europe?
@Riskbreaker23
It’s not about being forced to buy it but at this stage I think it’s fair to be concerned about Sony going the ‘pay to have it’ stategy with contents which should be free like demos which developers release to convince gamers to buy their product.
Of course if the magazine brings high quality contents like interviews, behind the scenes, video commentary and footage and even beta invitations, it’s fair to pay something just like you pay a magazine, but the online service offered until now (including free demos)shouldn’t be compromised to provide exclusive contents to this magazine.
BTW I hope Sony will clear these concerns soon, including the european situation.
“You’ll be back to complain once the ones who do subscribe are enjoying their exclusive footage and betas. The PlayStation division is still a business and money needs to be made somehow.”
Well don’t count them out on, ya know, selling games. But as I said, I WILL pay for sure for sure, just don’t stealth it to me. Heck, I even said I think Belmont is hot, but she’s maybe hot in the wrong demographic: old guys who buy 10x the games they’ll actually have time to play. (Young kids are good excuse for this: But, honey, this will be a classic for Apsley by the time he’s old enough to play it. And we all know while Bioshock PS3 WILL be a classic, and Resistance(s), Ratchet(s), they WILL be classics, Soldier of Fortune Payback will NOT be a classic.)
To address the demo issue, this will likely be something along the lines of the pre-order deal for the new Battlefield title: a bit early, not totally exclusive. Which is actually helpful for an online multiplayer demo as the paying crowd is ALWAYS smaller on these things than the gimme crowd, allowing a shakedown period and demo update/patch-a-macallit/whatever if necessary. Consider the five bucks cash American at the moment seems like a primo latte or good half pint of ale in the wind, even though it does count toward a purchase, I’m probably going to actually pre-order Battlefield today just to get at the demo a whopping 40 hours early.
But in general, good demo does good retail, so few devs will be interested in locking their demos to a purchase. And if it’s your thing, for all the info in one place, in, lamentably — I’m a righder like with werds and stuf — our current medium of choice in the West, $25 with an option to pick and choose for $3, this is dirt cheap. Via iTunes, even the new-style, abbreviated season of Lost is $27; at least with Qore, I bet they, you know, have an ending, and won’t start up several dozen subplots that must, by Chekovian rules — no, not THAT Chekov — by the terminus be addressed, but will instead be written off as intentionally dangling little red herring. Gee, anybody even remember those numbers? I sure hope Lost’s producers can get Patrick Ewing signed for their season finale, and he still looks decent in a shower scene — that’s their only hope: Bobby, aka the man from Atlantis.
@ 120: Basically with a magazine you get a $30 subscription but you get over 100 pages of content. Will this have the same amount of content? No, it has other stuff to compensate but the majority of it will probably be Sony influenced (e.g. the interviews) bias and so unless it offers some great stuff (rather than just timed demo’s since you can just be patient for those, news and interviews that should just go online etc.) then it’s not really worth it. I do like the idea of Beta but it depends on how many Beta you will really get.
Hey, make sure we have RemotePlay support on this one!! I really want to get my news anywhere! And the value is great, instead of buying a printed magazine, I get a full rich media version.
Keep up the good work and all the luck in this new endeavor!
The only reason I’d pay for a episode is if there is a beta key for a game i want to check out like MGS4 online was. I’d pay 2.99 for a episode for something like that. but as far as just watching the episode i doubt it. Thats what I got gametrailers for and its free.
This is a great idea. I’ve always wanted something like this on the PSN. This will be just like the days when I use to receive the Playstation Underground magazine. Thank you Sony!!!!!
WOW Sony…I thought you were supposed to be different from that jacked up 360 pricing. It appears that the PSN is slowly becoming the same…how disappointing. The free PSN is a wonderful idea and now you’re killing that by charging for content? LOL!!! Not sure if you’re aware, but you are supposed to walk forward to reach #1 status.
Just a thought!
So the answer to all the complaints about not enough content being put up each week in the PSN Store is to now make a chunk of that content pay-only?
Great… just great.
I wish we didn’t have to pay for this :s, is core the reason why we haven’t been getting demo’s lately?
Sony, perhaps you can clarify a little better. Will this affect the current status, content and overall productivity of the current PSN?
If not then I rescind my previous statement…but if so however, perhaps you should rethink things a little prior to release.
I for one find it frustrating to be required to pay for an online service that was previously free, so hopefully it will not affect the PSN.
looks like a cool idea to me, I’ll check it out.
Keep it up Sony!
“I know you guys need the money, but this seems even worse than what Microsoft does.”
Sony does not need the money. Sony wants the money. Sony is set well enough on having defined the the HD video standard when HD video becomes the standard in several years. (The idea Sony cared about NOW with their BD format is hilarious. They cared about being the only game for HD home video when the masses care about and can/will afford HD home video.)
This is like complaining about $1.49 for SingStar tracks like they should have included 230 of them, plus two mics and the game at retail. For a $1.49, it’s a music video. It’s game content. It’s a song. Apple charges $1.99 for music videos and everyone thinks that’s a steal — or the other side, they just steal them, period. For a $1.49 all members of my family old enough to sing along begin-to-end can humiliate me (except, consistently not on Coldplay songs, for some weird reason, because I should be horrible at those.)
Sony grew out of a company founded in 1945 Occupation Japan, moved into the transistor era by a forward-thinking young guy, you just kept pushing his Sony brand forward. You gotta remember this brash Japanese, his country just soundly defeated — in, in my opinion, a most horrible way — in a major world war, his homeland under foreign occupation for the first few years he was in business, and this crazy, genius Sony founder went and without the disgust or animosity you’d expect, he took a look at what WE in the States were doing in consumer communications technology, made it for his national market, and then a couple years later sold it BACK TO US and beat out all American comers on that product.
And history just kept skyrocketing for his company. Now, about 50 years on, Sony is a multi-armed giant, but I’m not fool enough to second guess a strategy in consumer entertainment and electronics still young enough to be grounded in that one man’s clear, unbiased vision.
I’d just prefer to be told, Hey, we’re going need you guys to pay for what you get on PSN. Instead of hitting me for $25, hit me for $50 and add more robust matchmaking features. I’m good with that. But I expect the core of online console gaming services as related to games — that is, of course, playing games online — will remain free.
If this is like IGN insider where you get sneak access to previews and interviews, thats cool, and more power to them.
But having exclusivity on demos and PSN games, thats awful, its like making us pay twice for games, or paying for demos.
I thought the whole point if PSN being free was that we get access to demos, themes, games…
I am confused as to how, if at all, this will affect the amount of content available for free on the PSN, specifically demos, themes and game add-ons. So if I don’t subscribe/purchase will I be out of luck? Watching for the red responses please.
Also, with all due respect, I presently get more in-depth and behind-the-scenes content from places like Kotaku.com than I do from “official” Sony sources. I do understand that the gaming blogs and websites get their information from you folks, but won’t some of that type of content now be withheld from the interwebs for Qore? That is what exclusive implies.
Based on what I understand of Qore so far, I’m pretty sure I won’t be subscribing.
Terrible! I won’t pay a dime for this and if you keep using ps3 owners for your crutch, Sony… I’ll drop ya cold. You have given us Ps3 owners jack *** for the longest time on the Home front, on the exclusive games front on the psn updates front and weekly with the store updates and you’ve done it so you can now charge us for the stuff we should’ve been getting all along?
Please. The reason why we haven’t been getting updates to the store is because you’ve been holding back content for this pile of donkey dung service you’ve got cooking. Screw all of us and charge us for it! What a croc a’ horse **** Now you have an easy out for why this weeks store update will suck for all of us “non paying” customers. You suck, sony.
People… Please, read the post. The PSN will not be touched, this is an ONLINE Magazine published by SONY… If it was published by, say, IGN on the PSN, you would not be complaining. Paying for it is totally reasonable, just as you would for a regular magazine, having ads in it also, just like you have on regular magazines… Please listen to what you are saying.
And for the developers behind it, please, try to come up with a way to group all the magazines issues and PSN demos in the XMB, mine is starting to get messy.
You know, a lot of people are forgetting that the difference between Gold and Silver on Live isn’t just that Gold members get demos sooner. Silver members can’t even play online. What I would consider the most basic of uses for an online game console, actually playing with friends, will remain free on PSN. As long as we are guaranteed that, I don’t see a problem with this Qore service basically offering what many of us pay for anyways, magazine and web site subscriptions.
I find it amusing that we sometimes look at one thing and totally forget the context. Look at our game magazines and sites. All of them are advertisements. Previews make you want to buy games, reviews confirm that desire. What magazines or other game media outlets actually provide coverage beyond that? Not very many. Paying for demos? We used to do it all the time. Once you realize that we buy advertisements anyways, Qore doesn’t seem that bad.
If you’re looking at this as just buying demos, then yeah, kind of a raw deal. If you look at it as buying content, and getting some demos on the side, then it’s actually pretty cool. Sure people can pirate it on Youtube, but those people miss out on most of the key selling points: HD and interactive.
So this is what they meant by delivering video content “the Playstation way.” Can’t wait to see what they’ll do for the video store content.
No, you’re wrong 148. We have to pay 3 bucks to 30 bucks just so we can pay for downloadable content and psn games. That’s bull ****! We have to pay just to download “free” demos, man. That’s a croc a’ **** snd no one is going to tell me it isn’t.
Is there still a person meant to answer questions on this site?
I just want to know if the demo’s will be exclusive or timed exclusive please.