Playstation Blog announced Qore today. Qore, for all intents and purposes it seems to be a cross between an interactive magazine and the old-school Playstation Underground subscriptions. I used to subscribe to Playstation Underground back on the original Playstation and you’d get two discs about every three months for $30/year. On those discs, you’d get game previews, interviews, and most importantly, game demos. For what I got, I felt it was frequently worth it. I say frequently because occasionally they’d focus on content that wasn’t really that interesting to me and I’d have to wait ANOTHER three months for another dose. Why it really worked though is because it was the only real source of video game related video and demos I had access to on a regular basis. As we all know, the landscape has changed a LOT since then.

Something like Qore has never had more competition than it does right now. The announcement says we can expect “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.”

Let’s break that list of content down a little bit:

• Exclusive News – In today’s gaming news climate (for lack of a better term), it doesn’t matter where news comes from, it’s somewhere on the internet within 1.2 nanoseconds. So for folks that are wanting news hand delivered to their PS3 in HD, this may be a draw, but for folks wanting the absolute latest PS3 gaming news, it’ll make it onto the internet even if Qore is cited as the source.
• Developer Interviews – Most people care what is said, not necessarily seeing it be said. Again, I think this will largely leak onto the internet almost immediately if they happen to actually have exclusive interviews. One way this could work is if the interviews are heavily sprinkled with exclusive video content, screens, “first looks”, etc. in HD. Chances are, even if someone does (and you know they will) capture the video content and upload it somewhere free, if there is compelling stuff to look at (levels in progress, etc.) then you’ll want to see it in the original HD quality, versus a YouTube version.
• Game Previews – Well, Sony’s got dibs on their first party studios and frankly, there are a LOT of them. Again, the content of said previews needs to be compelling enough that people will want to see them in the native HD resolutions and not settle for YouTube quality captures of the content.
• Special Access – This needs to be cultivated like the “Playstation Underground” vibe of the mid-to-late nineties. There’s a fine line between creating a “club” vibe and giving those members something special versus taking what should be free and adding a fee to it. It’ll be interesting to see how this is handled.
• Game Demos – Unleash the hounds, grab the pitchforks and torches… I smell a Charlie Foxtrot of epic proportions unless this one’s addressed correctly and quickly. The sensationalism has already started that Sony will move to effective “charge” for demos. Rumors run rampant on the internet and gain steam along the way… if Sony (and the Qore) group aren’t careful here, their entire “club” vibe will spiral into a “tax” vibe. Pay your $2.99/month for access to demos. If they really do that or don’t clear it up, a lot of negative feelings will build up here.
• Beta Invites – This is a bona fide great idea and move on their part. People will do quite a bit to get into a beta. Hell, I reserved MGS4 just to get into the MGO beta. I’m a strong believer in not preordering games, but the thought of getting into that beta (which I ended up not really getting drawn into) changed my behavior. If they live up to the promise of offering beta access (or at least an increased chance of beta access) with a Qore subscription, I think people will be fine with that.
• Game Add-ons – The way I read this it implies you may actually get game content included in your Qore purchase… surely they wouldn’t limit the ability to purchase game-content to Qore subscribers, that’s just silly. Let’s artificially lower our possible customer pool, and then sell to only them… it makes no sense. I figure you’ll occasionally get a few “gimmes” or something. I doubt it’ll be on the scale of a map or mission pack, but maybe a character or vehicle skin.
• Game-related Content – The “content” part scares me a bit like the Game Demos part though… are they implying themes might migrate into Qore membership too or simply that there will be some themes only available through Qore? I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but it’s easy to get Themes onto your PS3, but you can’t actively take them off. So while any website can create and provide themes, if Qore gives people Themes, there isn’t a way to copy that off your PS3 and give it to someone else. That said, if they do have some truly impressive themes, the $2.99/month fee isn’t an outrageous fee if you find the theme nice. That said, out of the free themes they’ve provided so far I can’t think of a single one I’d actually pay for.

Continue reading for an in-depth look at what Qore is really offering…

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