You’ve probably heard about Sony’s new program, Qore, which offers news and demos at a rate of $2.99 a month, or $24.99 for a whole year, to say nothing of an easy way for Sony to label subscribers as “Qore” (core) Gamers, if they should so choose.
But a few other details have come to light, and I just thought I’d share them with you.
For starters, the good: If you’re a fan of Future’s publications, such as the former PSM and current PlayStation: The Official Magazine, then it may delight you to know that they’ll be handling the stuff Qore uses. Plus, about 80% of it will be exclusive, says PlayStation Network Senior Director Susan Panico.
Of course (qorse?), there’s also the news that has not endeared itself well to some people, that of the demos which are now part of the package. Conversely, however, there were the Jampacks of the past, and the demo discs with Official PlayStation Magazine that cost, what, eight bucks? Unless of course you were one of those bastards that stripped all the shelf copies of said discs, leaving nothing for others. Jerks.
Finally, as noted by Wired’s Chris Kohler, you’re not only paying for news and demos, but for advertisements as well. Such as those by their sponsors, like Burger King, where you can now enjoy the Indy Double Whopper, featuring pepper-jack cheese and black-cajun mayo! Available for a limited-time! Those aren’t the only ones, however:
“In my brief demo of the service I saw ads for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Metal Gear Solid 4, and the aforementioned Home of the Whopper. You can skip the ads, but only after they’ve run for about five seconds.”
Ugh, the only thing worse than waiting for an ad to finish might be hammering the “skip” button 250 times in five seconds.
So, there you have it. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and then you have, the facts of Qore. The facts of Qore.
