Round Up: PS3 Shipments, Codemasters Asia, GameSpy IM

Today's round-up includes news of Sony's PlayStation 3 shipment projections for 2006, a new Codemasters office in Malaysia, and the launch of GameSpy Comrade, as well as the latest Game Career Guide updates, Serious Games Source posts, GameSetWatch posts and Gamasutra job postings. - Sony Computer Entertainment America co-chairman Jack Tretton has commented an interview with financial site Bloomberg that the company may have difficulty meeting its forecast of 2 million shipped PlayStation 3 consoles to North America and Japan by the end of the fiscal year. “The honest answer is it's more of a target,” noted Tretton, concerning PS3 shipments, adding that “clearly we've had production issues.” In September, Sony announced that it had cut its anticipated quantities for the PlayStation 3 launch to just 400,000 consoles for the North American launch and “about” 100,000 for Japan for its launch, as well as delayed the European launch until 2007. However, despite these issues, Sony has up until now maintained that it would deliver two million units by the end of 2006, and six million units globally within the fiscal year ending March 2007. - Representatives from British publisher and developer Codemasters have announced the formation of a new Malaysian base of operations. The new office will be staffed by local game developers who are currently working on an as yet unannounced next generation title. The Malaysian based entity, titled Codemasters Studios Sdn Bhd, is owned by Codemasters UK Ltd., which holds a majority stake of 70 percent, and Vision New Media Sdn Bhd holding the remaining 30 percent, with Malaysia Debt Ventures Berhad providing a loan amounting to RM44 million ($12 million) to support the collaboration and the joint venture's first project, TOCA 4 for the PlayStation 3. - IGN Entertainment's GameSpy division today announced the launch of its cross platform community gaming application GameSpy Comrade in conjunction with the PC release of Electronic Arts' Battlefield 2142. The technology allows Battlefield 2142 players to import their Comrade buddy list into the game interface, send messages while in-game and out-of-game, and export dynamic profile statistics directly to their Comrade profile. A custom Battlefield 2142-skinned version of Comrade comes bundled with the game, and is also available immediately to purchasers with no need for additional software downloads. GameSpy has also released the Comrade SDK, which can allow for instant messaging across multiple platforms, including PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, and Mac. In addition, GameSpy representatives note that Comrade's buddy lists are backwards compatible and are immediately available on more than 40 titles via GameSpy's in-game technology. - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister alt.gaming weblog GameSetWatch include the unfortunate news of the death of the 'world's oldest competitive gamer', a look at Japanese arcade IC cards, and the 10 most infuriating Dreamcast games ever. - News on Gamasutra's game education sister site Game Career Guide includes a joint scholarship by DigiPen and Womengamers.com. - Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including openings from America's Army, Demiurge Studios, Electronic Arts, and Sucker Punch Productions.