We recently received a very interesting tip from Buck Crouch revealing some potential asset theft from the house of PlayStation. Sony is selling some premium themes for the PS3, in association with Smobile and Disruptive Media Publishers, which can be used to spruce up the way your console looks onscreen:
We have linked up with a few partners, Smobile & Disruptive Media Publishers, to distribute premium themes from PlayStation Network. They have content offerings that range in type from NCAA College licenses to beauties on the beach to original cartoons and anime. These themes were created specifically for the PS3 and have special backgrounds, XMB icons and, in some cases, sounds.
That’s fair enough, right? Microsoft charges you for dashboard themes that aren’t even as thematic as what Sony is offering. However, all may not be kosher. If you check out the pictured elf girl theme, you may just notice that the XMB icons are converted World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade logos!
The icons have been very crudely constructed. The World of Warcraft title is removed, but where it’s supposed to say Burning Crusade, all the artist did was take out “Crusade” and mirror the image to save time. Incredibly shoddy behavior.
Of course, this is more the fault of an unscrupulous artist than Sony itself, but the company really ought to keep a lid on this stuff. I think this one will need a little retooling before Sony has the nerve to charge for it, regardless of how sexy that elf is.
