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Sony announced during its GDC 2010 press conference that the upcoming US release of EyePet will feature support for its motion controller, PlayStation Move. The game will allow players to manipulate toys and also play games with their EyePets. Furthermore, it's even possible to create new toys. The promotional video during the event showed off a child using the Move to draw a car on some virtual paper, which then jumped off the page and became an object that players and the EyePet could then interact with.

In addition, Sony announced that EyePet is slated for a North American release this holiday. There was no mention of what will happen to the European version of the game, which was released last year. Presumably, Move support will be added once the peripheral launches.

A lot of developers have earned publishing deals with Sony this generation, but only a small handful have managed to deliver a real "blockbuster." (Sorry, Lair and Heavenly Sword.) Three million copies, two million levels, and one Game of the Year edition later, Sony Computer Entertainment has decided to purchase LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule. The Guildford-based studio will join the ranks of other SCEE teams, such as London Studio, Guerrilla Games and Evolution Studios.

While Media Molecule is no longer an independent studio, Michael Denny, Senior VP of Sony Worldwide Studios promised to continue supporting the team: "Media Molecule will simply continue to make great games. Welcoming Media Molecule into the PlayStation family will allow us to better support their future titles and ambitions."

The acquisition likely guarantees that Media Molecule will continue to work on the LittleBigPlanet "platform" for years to come -- although we hope SCEE allows the team to explore creating new franchises as well. Of course, considering the ambitious plans the team has for LBP, it seems Media Molecule will have their hands full for quite a long time.

You ready? Okay -- follow along: Sony announced today that the Sony Computer Entertainment subsidiary will change its name to SNE Platform (or "SNEP"), and then transfer its video game operations to a new subsidiary, named -- surprise! -- Sony Computer Entertainment. On April 1, SNEP, which will be primarily operating Sony's network services and business as a wholly-owned subsidiary, will merge with Sony, and then promptly dissolve into the parent company. Since Sony already owns all shares of SNEP, there's not going to be any market action (issuance of new shares, share capital increases or cash payments) upon the merger.

So, wait, what's happening? Essentially, Sony is moving its network business out from under the gaming wing and bringing it up to the parent company level. This is a different path than the one laid out a year ago, which suggested SCE, as then operator of the network business (think: PSN), would begin to play a larger role in the unification of the company as it pertains to an online strategy. Instead, the "new" Sony Computer Entertainment will have a slightly more narrow focus, "mainly consisting of the planning, development, manufacturing and sales of home-use/portable game consoles and software," according to the reorganization announcement; and Sony Online Service, including the proposed expansion of PSN IDs to non-gaming Sony devices, will seemingly be handled by a new division (but possibly the same personnel) within the Sony parent company.

Though listed as the "Representative Director" of the short-lived SNEP subsidiary, Kaz Hirai will presumably remain in charge of the PlayStation division now and after the April 1 merger. Sub-divisions SCEA and SCEE are unaffected by the reorganziation.

PlayStation Blog has dropped the European advertisement for Heavy Rain. The ad, which you can watch after the break, places a heavy emphasis (geddit?) on the various choices that players make throughout the game. Specifically, it asks players to "start a journey that changes with every single decision." The PS Blog post notes that different versions of the ad will be airing in several countries over the next few weeks, so be sure to keep an eye out for it.

If there's any justice in the universe, the US version will feature Kevin Butler.

SCEE has registered the domain "motorstorm3.com," according to WHOIS data first found by The Gaming Liberty. The domain, which currently redirects to the UK's PlayStation site, would seem to provide a hint that a sequel to the PS3's flagship truck-dirtying simulator is on the way. Or does it?

Sony told VG247 that "It's not uncommon for us to secure the URLs containing the names of our successful IP, and those actions should not be interpreted as an announcement of a new title in a franchise." That leaves only the knowledge that MotorStorm is one of Sony's major PS3 showpieces and of course there's going to be another one.

[Via Eurogamer]

Want to flex your LittleBigPlanet creative muscle? Want to a win a prize doing so? Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is giving away a PSP Go system to one ingenious inventor that is able to create a specific "contraption": a vehicle that can operate on both land and water.

To enter, log onto LittleBigPlanet (PS3 only) and find the level "CC10 - Template." Copy the level to your Moon, and create a contraption within it. Once you're done, publish your creation with the prefix CC10 in the level title. One winner be selected to win a PSP Go. You'll have to hurry, though: The competition ends on February 28th. Good luck!

For a limited time, select Minis (playable on PSP and PS3) will be on sale in the European PlayStation Store. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe will discount these eight games from February 4–18:

• Fieldrunners - €3.99/£3.49
• Kahoots - €1.99/£1.74
• Vempire - €1.99/£1.74
• Breakquest - €1.99/£1.74
• Pinball Fantasies - €3.99/£3.49
• Bloons - €2.49/£1.99
• Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 - €1.99/£1.74
• Dracula - Undead Awakening - €1.99/£1.74

SCEE is also promising to update its YouTube channel with new videos of the Minis. It's not quite as good as playable demos, but it's better than nothing, right?

According to a report from Develop citing inside sources, Sony has terminated half of all employees at Studio Liverpool -- the team behind the WipEout franchise. In January 2009, Sony merged Studio Liverpool (formerly Psygnosis) with Evolution Studios and last week announced plans to restructure the new team. In its report of the restructuring, GamesIndustry.biz noted redundancies "may be necessary;" however, Sony has yet to confirm how many positions were affected by the decision.

Within the comments of GI's original article, a user registered as SCEE programmer Paul Ripley wrote "I would estimate about at least 50% of Studio Liverpool has [just] been culled (myself included). Hard to work out exact numbers at the moment." Develop's inside source relayed similar information, noting Sony's layoff plans for the studio were "looking heavy."

Joystiq has reached out to Sony for comment, but has yet to hear back as of this publishing. If you work/worked for Studio Liverpool and would like to speak to us on or off the record, we're all ears.

Things sound pretty rough for Sony's SCE Studio Liverpool. Following the merging of Wipeout HD developer Studio Liverpool (formerly Psygnosis) with Evolution Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment announced that it is "restructuring" the studio. According to GamesIndustry.biz, it is currently unknown how many jobs will be affected. Evidently, Sony is looking to relocate staff rather than lay them off, though, as GI puts it, "some redundancies may be necessary."

In a statement, SCE said that "production on a number of projects within Studio Liverpool will cease immediately due to project prioritisation," and assured that "this decision will have no impact of the role that the North West Studio Group will play in the future of all PlayStation platforms." Except, of course, for the part of its role that included making those unspecified projects.

Since it hasn't been released there, we had assumed that the only shot our friends in the UK [Update: We've been told by SCEE that this is coming to all of Europe!] would have at the God of War Collection would be contained inside the monstrous "Ultimate Trilogy Edition." However, VG247 has relayed a quote from Sony, stating that "there are plans to release the GOW Collection separately" after all.

It's uncertain just when those plans will come to fruition, but it counts as good news for people who don't want to lay out the cash for the limited edition box set ... or those who would prefer not to have a screaming visage of demonic horror on their mantles.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has announced that sales of the PlayStation 3 have eclipsed three million units in the United Kingdom. Speaking to MCV, an SCEE spokesperson noted that the company is "delighted" by the news. Pointing to a strong lineup of software, including God of War III and Heavy Rain -- both rumored to be receiving PS3 bundles in Europe -- as well as the upcoming PS3 motion controller, the rep added that the three million milestone is "a great way to start the year."

So, once again, the price cut seems like it was probably a pretty good idea. Assuming Sony can keep up the momentum and deliver on a few promises, 2010 just might be a banner year for the PlayStation 3.

As promised, a Heavy Rain demo is coming to the PlayStation Store. SCEE's Mike Kebby told readers of the PlayStation.Blog to expect a demo on February 11th. While not guaranteed, it's likely that Sony will release the demo of one of its biggest first-party titles worldwide.

Of course, you could always make an extra European PSN account just in case. Don't worry, Sony doesn't seem to mind.

[Via VG247]

If you're still a little incensed about the totally boobular North American box art for Heavy Rain, you might want to skip right past this post. See, Sony Europe recently revealed the EU-only special edition bundle for Quantic Dream's mystery/thriller, and it looks pretty wonderful. It's got stylish fold-out packaging covered in realistic, imprinted raindrops, and comes with a DLC voucher, a page covered in helpful notes and some do-it-yourself origami.

More importantly, the front of the game doesn't look terrible. Europe's current ratio of not-terrible Heavy Rain covers to terrible Heavy Rain covers is an impressive 2:0. They are batting 1000, as far as not-terrible Heavy Rain covers are concerned.

3D gaming isn't entirely new, but will be a big focal point for Sony this year -- and what better way to show that than by turning one of 2007's bright spots into a full 3D experience. Super Stardust HD is undergoing a HD facelift right now and during an interview with Digital Foundry (via Eurogamer), engine lead Seppo Halonen and creative director Harri Tikkanen talked about adapting the game to 3D and some of the technological leaps and bounds made by Housemarque Games.

What makes SSHD different than other 3D experiences -- specifically, Avatar and other 3D games like Invincible Tiger -- is that it'll be running at a native resolution of 720p at 120 frames per second, 60 frames per each eye, and doesn't use low-res buffers to create the effect. Housemarque accomplished this by having the engine render everything twice, added stereoscopic cameras and moved the vertex processing from the GPU to the SPU. This took up about 50 percent of the SPU's resources, leaving them with enough to pre-process a lot of the game, allowing things to render much faster than before.

As for future Housemarque games on PS3, don't necessarily expect those titles to be in 3D. Tikkanen says that because some titles "lend themselves better to 3D than others," all future 3D compatibility will be decided "on a game by game basis."

Sony's European team has sent out a survey to some of its UK PSN members asking them yet again about possible subscription models for the service. The survey is run by a market research company called Ipsos, and appears to offer up a list of possible member benefits for a few different plan tiers, along with pricing for each. The benefits range from more tame ideas like exclusive and early access to content to more interesting options like "free title trials" (first hour of a game for free), user-to-user challenges, "token wagering" and a service called "catch-up TV." Oh, and since it's Sony we're talking about, there's even a listed option for "cloud storage space for games." You can find the full list of possible features after the jump.

The price options differ from plan to plan, but they go as cheap as £2.99 (about $5 U.S.) up to £14.99 (about $25) for monthly fees, with annual fees also listed for 55% less than you'd pay month to month (so around £19.99 up to £99.99, or $32 to $160). Note that just because all of these things are on a survey doesn't mean that Sony has them up and running -- it only means that they're testing the water in terms of what UK members are willing to pay for certain features. But you can just add this to the growing mountain of evidence that Sony is planning some sort of premium subscription service.

[Thanks Marc and everyone who sent this in!]