It’s been a rumor long and coming but after a vote at Sony’s Japanese headquarters, it has been officially announced that current Sony deputy vice president and long time head of PlayStation, Kazuo Hirai, will be replacing current Sony CEO [...]
It’s that time of the year again where I like to look back at the site and see where it was in 2011 and where I want it to head towards in 2012. One thing is simple and for certain: [...]
2011 was originally going to be the year of Sony with the electronic giant planning on releasing a host of new software and hardware products that were designed to help the ailing company not only catch up to competitors but [...]
As we creep closer to the PS Vita’s US launch date, we can expect more details to be revealed about the device. We already know that on February 22nd, the PS Vita will launch with a $249 Wi-Fi and $299 Wi-Fi [...]
One thing that PlayStation users have always been blessed with is the sheer amount of exclusive games available for the platform. This was true in the 90′s with series like Final Fantasy and Resident Evil. With the PlayStation 2, Ratchet [...]
With games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, WipEout 2048, and Lumines: Electric Symphony launching alongside the Playstation Vita, there isn’t a shortage of great games to play on the brand new portable. However, the strength of a system comes with future releases, and the future lineup for the Vita is shaping up to be a diverse bunch. Augmented reality games, games that utilize the system’s front and rear touch screens, and console-like experiences fill the Vita’s future releases. So, what games will you be playing past this initial launch lineup?
We break down our top five most anticipated Vita games post launch. Hit the jump to see the full list.
Pop Pop! Community fans everywhere can finally breathe a sigh of relief. NBC recently announced that the cult comedy/Sony Pictures produced show is coming back on the air next month, on March 15.
The show returns to its traditional 8 p.m. slot on Thursday nights as part of NBC’s new comedy lineup. Community will now precede The Office, followed by new show Up All Night. According to Entertainment Weekly, NBC was considering giving Community a different time slot; however, with 30 Rock struggling, they decided to give Community a chance against current TV juggernaut Big Bang Theory on CBS.
NBC announced last November that the show would be going on “hiatus.” With no set date to resume the show’s third season, fans were outraged. Community soon after won TV Guide’s second annual “Fan Favorites” contest and comedy website Collegehumor collaborated with the cast to rally support to “Save Greendale” and bring forth the show’s return.
Be sure to watch the continuation of season three when Community returns on March 15 at 8 p.m. “Troy and Abed back on TV!”
After the reveal of a simplified line of Bravia HDTVs at CES 2012, Sony will be kicking off their 2012 TV lineup of televisions in March. The new line, which is designed to give you a good (BX series), better (EX and HX750), and best (HX850 and XBR), is meant to help reduce confusion on the differences between Sony’s traditional 20+ line of televisions and bring focus to the differences between the lines. Keep in mind that the following prices are for new models being introduced and don’t reflect Sony’s entire line of Bravia HDTVs, like the XBR which was introduced in 2011.
KDL-32BX330 $399.99
KDL-40BX450 $599.99
KDL-46BX450 $799.99
KDL-40EX640 $999.99
KDL-46EX640 $1299.99
KDL-55EX640 $1999.99
KDL-46HX750 $1799.99
KDL-55HX750 $2299.99
KDL-46HX850 $TBA
KDL-55HX850 $TBA
After the jump is a breakdown of the 2012 Sony Bravia HDTV list which includes specs and TV sizes.
As of April 1st, 2012, long-time Sony employee Kaz Hirai (pictured on the right), who currently leads Sony’s consumer electronics division and is widely credited for turning the PlayStation division back towards profitability following the launch of the PlayStation 3, will be stepping up and taking reigns of Sony as the new President and CEO. Kaz will be replacing current and long-time President and CEO Sir Howard Stringer. Stringer, who was originally brought into the company as an outsider who would help transform Sony from its Japanese-centric structure to a more global entity, has struggled in the past few years to keep up with the likes of Apple and Samsung. While many blame Sir Howard Stringer for Sony’s losses and fall in many categories, I believe that such an assumption paints a very simplistic view of the last 10 years for Sony.
With the transfer of power happening in less then two months time, Sir Howard Stringer took it upon himself to address the matter and his thoughts on his replacement.
“Three years ago, I started to work with the Board on succession plans, and in February, 2009 we named a new generation of leaders to be my management team. Among them was Kaz Hirai, who had distinguished himself through his work in the PlayStation ® and networked entertainment businesses. Kaz is a globally-focused executive for whom technology and the cloud are familiar territory, content is highly valued, and digital transformation is second nature. I believe his tough-mindedness and leadership skills will be of great benefit to the company and its customers in the months and years ahead. I look forward to helping Kaz in every way I can so that succession leads inevitably to success. It was my honor to recommend him to the Board for the positions of President and CEO, because he is ready to lead, and the time to make this change is now.”
Now that we know that Activision is going to be releasing a Call of Duty title on Sony’s brand new PlayStation Vita this fall, What should the publisher do to make Call of Duty: Vita worth it’s price?
Here is our wish list:
Multiplayer - Whomever is developing the game should take the time and include a fully-featured multiplayer experience like that available on consoles. Don’t skimp out on game modes, weapons, and killstreaks. If you’re going to bring Call of Duty to the Vita, might as well bring the big guns
Elite Compatible - With millions of players already part of the Call of Duty Elite program, it would make a lot of sense to add the COD Vita game’s stats to the subscription. Be it the free version or the premium, Vita players should be able to access Elite as an in-game or vita main screen app. This would bring a multiplayer and community focused atmosphere that the Vita would stand to gain from.
Touch Compatible - Being able to control killstreaks like chopper gunners, mortars, or even UAV using the Vita’s touchscreen would definitely add to the experience. Imagine being able to manipulate and customize weapon loadouts by having to touch your on-screen gun and adding accessories onto it by dragging. Kind of like Ghost Recon: Future Soldier’s “Gunsmith” mode but on a smaller screen.
Perfect Controls - Yeah the Vita has two analog sticks, but Activision must (MUST) ensure that the controls are smooth and are as tactile as the console version. Without L2/R2 for grenades will become a problem for many COD vets and the developers have to find some way to make grenade throwing much easier for Vita players. (Perhaps use the Vita’s back touch pad as a grenade button?)
Communication – Because the Vita has a built-in microphone, this will require all players to use it for communication with their teams. Be it for trash-talking, griefing, cooperation, or just plain conversations, Call Of Duty: Vita should take advantage of it’s built-in mic for a better community.
Developer Pedigree - If you’re going to bring COD to the Vita, get your best developers working on it. Please DO NOT pass it on to a brand-new developer with no COD experience. Basically Activision has two choices, Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer Games or Treyarch Studios. (I’d much rather have Treyarch working on it since I loved World at War.)
Character-Centered Story – The problem with Modern Warfare’s campaign is that players who haven’t played the first two games have no idea why Soap and Price were vital to the story. Not only that, but they ended up playing too many characters and too many viewpoints to actually give a crap why World War 3 was happening. A Vita COD experience should focus on one character or squad that’s knee-deep in either political or wartorn situations. This would help players empathize and follow the protagonists throughout the length of the adventure.
Despicable Antagonist(s) – As dangerous as Makarov was in MW3, I didn’t hate him at all. Basically because the game didn’t spend enough time giving me reasons to hate the guy. He didn’t even kill Ghost in MW2. Give us a bad guy that everyone will truly love to hate. Then we’ll give you our wallets.
Just ahead of the PlayStation Vita’s US release, Sony has issued a new firmware update v.161 for the portable console. The PS Vita system update v1.61, which is now live and ready for download for those who may have imported or gotten their console ahead of time, is designed to bring some new features like maps while enhancing previous apps like the Photo application.
A new application, Maps, has been added to the home screen.
In addition to photos, you can now take videos using the Photo application.
You can now publish stories about the products that you rate in PlayStation Store to Facebook.
In Near, players’ information is now displayed on the Discoveries screen. On this screen, a list of the online IDs of up to 100 players that you have encountered, and the number of times that you encountered each player, are displayed. Tap an online ID to display that player’s profile screen.
The Mac OS version of Content Manager Assistant for PlayStation has been released. The Windows version has also been updated.
For those lucky enough to have a PlayStation Vita already, simply navigate to Settings > System Update and download away. The majority of those who pre-ordered will have to do this starting tomorrow, when the PlayStation Vita officially launches.
The box office results look largely familiar this week, thanks to the strength of the Denzel Washington-lead Safe House and the Valentine’s Day-powered The Vow once again taking the top spots, with Safe House managing to outpace The Vow this weekend for the top spot. Sony Pictures Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance took a respectable fourth place with $25.7 million; however, this pales in comparison to 2007’s Ghost Rider opening weekend that took in $52 million. Only three new films managed to break into the top ten this weekend, with Ghost Rider, This Means War, and The Secret World of Arrietty all making strong debuts.
Hit the jump for a full rundown of this weekend’s box office.
A little over a month ago, I began looking for new staff members to help grow our small and humble team. The search, which lasted a few weeks would eventually land Chris and our newest team member, Gar a dream job (yes, I just called working here a dream job) with us. Gar, the our newest addition will be in charge of an entirely new division called Promotions. Between our many different outlets like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube, our smaller projects like our podcast (which hasn’t been updated in ages) and forums have been considerably neglected. That’s where Gar is stepping in, to be the evangelical voice of our site and help get the word out there to people about what we do, though we are greatly humbled anytime we hear stories about how people found our site, by being linked to us and from hearing how we were suggested to them by friends. As I’ve stated many times before, this website is run on the passion that we have for Sony and the Sony community we wish to build and your interaction and involvement is key to that. So who is this mysterious person named Gar? A little about him:
So, a little bit about me.. I’m living in Ireland and working in finance. Outside of work my time is spent doing what I love to do most – golfing, DJing, attempting to get my head around music production, gaming, social networking…. And watching the The Office!
I love my gadgets and the few extra pennies I have are spent on the latest Sony gear, or adding to my Blu-ray collection.
Sport is a huge thing for me and between golf and football, I’m either playing or watching it on TV. Aston Villa is my team, for those that are interested
Last year I started a small project on Twitter, which resulted in a published e-book called “Diary Of The Tweople“. Hopefully another one on the way!
I’ve recently joined the team at SonyRumors.net and, with my love for all things Sony, I’m really looking forward to the experience.
So next time you see Gar on Twitter or in our forums section, don’t feel shy and say hi. For a listing of available staff member positions, just head over to our careers page and remember, you can find additional information about our staff by visiting our staff page.
According to Guy Longworth, Senior Vice President of PlayStation Brand Marketing at Sony, Activision’s extremely popular Call of Duty is coming to the PlayStation Vita later this year.
As of this writing, there are not definite details on its developer, its title, or if it will be a port or a brand new game. All we know so far is that the game will be a first-person shooter and will replicate the home console experience (including multiplayer) on the PlayStation handheld.
A Call of Duty game on the Vita would do much to help the platform sell in North America. Just like how Monster Hunter sells PSPs by the millions in Japan, a COD title will definitely bring Sony’s newest handheld into the the casual gamer’s hand. That’s not including the millions of hardcore gamers that salivate at the news of a new COD for their Vita.
Discuss:
Would you prefer a port of Modern Warfare 3 or a brand new Call of Duty game on your Vita? Let us know in the comment section below!
The Sony Tablet S is one slick Android-based tablet. With a comfortable grip, an easy-on-the-eye design, and plenty of power for your computing needs, the Tablet S does lots of things to differentiate itself from the glut of uninspired Android tablets out there. Capable of running the latest version of the Android tablet OS with, one would expect, Ice Cream Sandwich ready for it in the future, Sony has positioned the Tablet S to be very media-centric. Capable of accessing YouTube and Netflix, the Tablet S is also capable of accessing Sony’s Music and Video Unlimited apps which give the device unlimited music streaming and access to thousands of movies and TV shows. Reading fans need not look any further as the Tablet S also has the Sony Reader app built in with 2+ million book store and access to Google’s free books as well.
If that wasn’t enough, Sony also built a native and exclusive app for the Tablet S which allows you to control other Sony devices in the house, like your Blu-ray player, Bravia television, or Sony GoogleTV. This app then places all the device controls in the palm of your hand, helping you reduce the clutter of devices around you. As you can tell, consuming media with the Tablet S is not a problem — but how about interacting with it like gaming? Sure, the Tablet S can access the Android Market and download those games, but the Tablet S is also the first PlayStation Certified Android tablet, which gives the device access to Sony’s PSone library games. The games, which are extremely speedy at loading, will always display a set of virtual keys for you to play with, which are designed to emulate the original PlayStation controls.
If Sony had decided to stop there, this would already be miles ahead of any other Android tablet when it comes to games. With the PlayStation DNA in them, Sony has decided to raise the stakes and has given the Tablet S the capability to connect to the Dualshock 3 controller via Bluetooth, much like you would with your PS3. This easy-to-set-up connection between the controller and the tablet then transforms your Tablet S into a unique gaming machine, one which can be set down on your desk of choice or lap after a long day and convert right before your eyes from your working tool to your media and gaming machine.
Below is a quick demonstration of gaming on the Sony Tablet S with a Duakshock 3 controller.
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