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 [...]
If you were wondering when you could finally get your hands on highly-anticipated PSN game Journey, the wait is finally over. Jenova Chen, lead Creative Director at thatgamecompany, announced over at the Playstation Blog that their newest game will be available through the Playstation Store on March 13 for $14.99. Journey is thatgamecompany’s third game, after flOw in 2007 and the critically-acclaimed Flower in 2009.
Chen also provides a few details regarding what players can expect from the game, which has largely been shrouded in mystery since its announcement. Journey, much like thatgamecompany’s previous outings, is largely experiential and played completely online.
If you were hoping to be playing video games on a next generation Sony console by year’s end, prepare to be a bit disappointed. In a recent interview with IGN, Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, confessed that the chances of seeing the PlayStation 4 this year are slim to none.
SMT: Nocturne or, what I like to call Devil May Cry: Nocturne, is a rare traditional Japanese roleplaying game that deals with mature content and some really dark overtones. SMT: Nocturne casts the player as a nameless high school student with an interest in the occult. The protagonist gets caught in the end of the world, The Conception. Luckily the silent protagonist escapes death, and Lucifer himself transforms him into a demi-fiend (heart of a human, body of a demon) and he is then given a great power to arm him in his journey.
Hit the jump for more information on SMT: Nocturne and its crossover with Devil May Cry.
Over a year ago during their CES presentation, Sony announced a new initiative called PlayStation Suite. The program, which directly targets Android smartphones and tablets, is designed to expand the PlayStation brand and experience by offering PlayStation Certified devices access to catalogued PlayStation titles. Sony hopes that, not only will this keep the PlayStaiton brand relevant in the mobile world, but it will also create a halo effect where users will come back to the full PlayStation experience on the PS3 and PS Vita. Sony also vowed that the program would be open to any manufacturer who is willing to opt into the program’s certification process.
Till now, PlayStation Suite had been available on select Sony products like the Xperia PLAY and the Sony Tablet S. Now, keeping to their promise, another manufacturer has seemed to join the party. HTC, makers of the popular Android Evo phones, will be the first non-Sony manufacturer to offer access to PlayStation Suite. The announcement is expected to come at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where HTC will bring the services to their ever-growing lineup of Android smartphones and tablets.
With more companies potentially jumping onboard with the PlayStation Certified programs, this could also give Google and their Android platform a proper challenger to Apple’s Game Center which is available to all iOS devices though, currently, the two services are completely different. Still, PSone games can just be the beginning of this service, seeing how Sony’s PlayStation Network which is available on the PS3 and PS Vita also offers PS2 titles and smaller games like Mini’s.
Taking to his Twitter account like he normally does, David Jaffe gave the latest rounds of updates in regards to Twisted Metal server status and its online component. As a recap, since it’s Valentine’s Day launch, Twisted Metal fans have been reporting issues with online match making. The errors which are plaguing users tend to appear as a ‘cannot connect’ issue and can happen in any mode. One cause of this has been narrowed down to a code glitch where when a user enters a full game and instead of being notified of a full room, is instead told that the server ‘cannot connect.’
To address this, Sony is taking down the servers shortly for 15 minutes to push a patch which should hopefully address this code glitch. Once in place, Sony will once again restore the servers and begin assessing the true ‘cannot connect’ error and begin to work on a fix. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, it’s always refreshing to see someone like David so passionate about his work and giving it to players straight.
Help with that. Thx for sticking it out with us- Twisted fans are not only bad ass sick fucks, they are also- mostly!-,understanding gamers
It’s sometimes referred to as gadget porn and other times, it’s the best way to make a grown man, techie, or gamer cry. Whatever your views are on iFixit, it doesn’t matter as the folks over there have once again taken a brand new and perfectly-functioning device and taken it apart. This time, the upcoming PlayStation Vita handheld was at the tip of the scalpel where the team over there took their time taking apart the PS Vita and documented with photos for your viewing pleasure. Though nothing shocking was discovered, it’s easy to see why the device is so powerful with circuits and boards crammed in every part of the machine Sony engineers could find in order for it to offer all that it does.
A few more scandalous shots and source link after the jump.
It’s been a long process, with Sony buying the remaining shares of their partnership with Ericsson in mid-October of 2011. The process, which ended up costing Sony 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion), awarded Sony more than 4,000 patents that Sony Ericsson controlled while also bringing in all mobile operations in house at Sony. The move was designed to help the company better integrate their mobile line of phones and potentially tablets with Sony assets such as Sony Pictures and services like Music and Video Unlimited. Sony also hopes that, with internal phone designs, they will be better able to leverage their many departments strengths, like screen technology from the Bravia division.
With 2011 far in the rear view mirror, so, it seems, is the Sony Ericsson brand name, as Sony announced Sony Mobile Communications to be the new mobile brand and department. Future phones which were announced at CES, like the Xperia S and Xperia ion, will now ship directly under the Sony name. After the jump, the press release.
Twisted Metal, the longest running PlayStation franchise, returned to the PlayStation 3 on February 14th (Valentine’s Day) with more destruction, mayhem, and deeper gameplay then ever before. The vehicle shooter game, which can best be described as Street Fighter converted into cars with guns, has been posting some great sales numbers, despite its long absence from the PlayStation. Since the game’s launch, Sony and creator David Jaffe have been doing their best to advertise the game and raise further awareness for the title with events like #ShootMyTruck where users could enter and get a chance to literally shoot Sweet Tooth’s ice cream truck with a machine gun via their computer.
While the game is off to a good start with positive reviews and fun promotions, many owners of the title are beginning to notice errors with the game’s online component and rightfully complain. Promising to pit 16 players against each in different game modes like team death match and nuke, online play was designed to be a core component of Twisted Metal. Two days into the game’s launch, David Jaffe took to his YouTube page to address the game’s online errors and soon-to-be-released Skins feature:
In short, David. like the fans, seems to be frustrated and upset by the game’s online component. However, with nearly 100 Sony engineers working on the problem, he is quite confident that things should be improving soon, if not better for some already. Another error that users seem to encounter is when entering a room which is full. The game, in this instance, gives you a “network error” message when this is actually a script error and should instead be notifying you that the game room is full. Finally, the recent ‘Skins’ feature for Twisted Metal, which allows players to log online and create unique designs for the game’s vehicles, should be launching later today (though that is still subject to change).
In a day and age where games tend to shift with patches in the pipes, while more are released in the future to address the game’s errors and bugs, it’s nice to see David address the fans directly (as opposed to waiting for corporate press releases) and genuinely care about their wants and frustrations.
What do you get when you mix the squad shooting of Gears of War, the creative team behind the Yakuza franchise, the high-octane stylish action of Vanquish, and lots of armored mechs?
A totally original squad-based shooter by Toshihiro Nagoshi, the brainchild of the massively successful Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza) franchise, Binary Domain brings a western style attitude to game design that the Japanese game industry have been struggling with for many years. Not only has the action, the animation, the graphics, and the gameplay matched its western counterparts, in many ways Binary Domain even shines brighter than most western-made third person shooters.
According to a report on Deadline.com, Sony is indeed working on bringing Twisted Metal to the big screen. That means vehicular carnage, Sweet Tooth, Calypso, and the entire Twisted Metal crew are about to get their time in the celluloid limelight.
Reports have mentioned both Avi and Ari Arad (Producers of the Spider-Man trilogy) have signed a deal with Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance director Brian Taylor to write and direct the film based on Sony’s iconic car combat game. It seems that the film will keep as close as it can to the game’s plot, characters, and unique sense of humor/horror.
The film will be about an underground car combat tournament run by mega-mogul Calypso who promises fame, fortune, and wishes-come-true to those who survive the deadly game. Think Death Race, but with a serial killer clown, a doll-faced woman, Death himself, and a whole bunch of unique and interesting characters.
Those who are worried that the Twisted Metal movie will suck will be glad to hear that director Brian Taylor has made such films as: Crank, Gamer, and Crank: High Voltage; so we can be sure that the TM film will be high-octane, LSD-fast, videogame-flavored action that will certainly entertain.
Now… I wonder what David Jaffe has to say about this bit of Twisted Metal news?
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