PlayStation

PS4 system software update 4.5 arrives tomorrow & brings with it some massive features

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 8, 2017 | 4 comments

The PS4 and PS4 Pro are set to get one of their biggest updates tomorrow with the officially titled ‘system software update 4.5.’ John Koller Vice President, PlayStation Brand Marketing, SIEA writes on the PlayStation Blog:

Our next major system software update for PS4, version 4.50 (codenamed Sasuke), rolls out tomorrow. We’ve already shared some of the key features last month, like external HDD support and custom wallpapers, but that wasn’t all this update has to offer. Here’s a look at some additional features heading to your system soon.

Just in time for March Madness, PlayStation Vue will allow you to watch three channels at once

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 7, 2017 | 3 comments

PlayStation Vue continues to be one of the more curious and ambitious projects out of PlayStation that continually improves as it should. Sony has always had a checkered background when it comes to services and has seen a fair share of their efforts eventually shutter like

Qriocty
Music Unlimited
Movies Unlimited
PlayMemories Online
TV SideView

and more recently, even PlayStation Now, their streaming gaming service, has seen a shift in focus. What makes PS Vue different however (putting aside PS Now) is that unlike all the other services, it’s run by PlayStation, is a US effort, and people who use it typically love it, something that’s not often said about Sony services which originate from Japan. Now, the TV streaming service is gaining a big feature that’s entirely aimed at sport junkies, though it’s a also a good way to consume a lot of news at once and gauge on a daily basis how messed up the world has gotten.

Destiny 2 not carrying over gear and weapons is not news, it’s obvious

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 3, 2017 | 0 comments

Any game worth its lick will evolve – be it from a major expansion pack to another like you see in mega MMORPG’s like World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14 or from one title to the next. Sure Uncharted 1-4 share a core vision but each game evolved – from mechanics, to physics, and enemy AI to name a few. A game like Destiny which features countless planets, vehicles, weapons, and gears is no different. Each of those things is designed as part of a greater arc that fits within the constructed world with specific weapons and gear not only driving a story line forward, but balanced in a way that doesn’t throw off the entire game mechanics.

PS4 Pro in short supply in the UK

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 24, 2017 | 1 comment

Since its October launch, PlayStation VR has been in short supply and we’ve known why – despite being the latest hardware from Sony, the company was focused on PS4 Pro which helps drive a better VR experience. With that goal in mind, PlayStation has been hard at work at not only producing PS4 Pro units, but also working closely with developers to drive better gaming experience like that seen in Horizon: Zero Dawn. Still, perhaps excluding launch week, PS4 Pro has never been hard to come by here in the US but things are apparently very different in the UK.

4K time-lapse from Horizon: Zero Dawn is simply mesmerizing

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 24, 2017 | 0 comments

Besides story and gameplay, I have to say that I’m an absolute sucker for visuals. After all, I didn’t buy a PS4 and now PS4 Pro to play retro games that look like better versions of their 80’s counterparts. Sorry indie developers, it’s not you, it’s me. For that reason alone, I cannot wait to get my hands on Horizon, which arrives this Tuesday. Unfortunately I’ll be waiting for the X940E to arrive so I can properly dive into the world in 4K HDR, which means I’ll be waiting a few more weeks until I can actually play the game. For all others who won’t be joining Aloy on her adventures in just a few days or for those of you want to see more from the world, I encourage you to watch all 6 minutes of the video below.

Aloy from Horizon: Zero Dawn is the “PlayStation icon of the future”

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 23, 2017 | 0 comments

Horizon: Zero Dawn, the upcoming PS4 exclusive from Guerrilla Games, is a very different type of game than we’ve come to expect from the Cambridge-based studio. Known mostly for the Killzone franchise, their games have till now been heavily focused on guns, grit, and men-driven action but as you’ll soon learn in a week’s time, Horizon is nothing like that. Instead, Horizon features a lush, open world game led by Aloy. Unfortunately, the fact that a AAA game featuring a female heroine is news and controversial for some in 2017 is frankly a bit sad and paints you a picture of where video game culture still lies.

At the same time, the fact that many have embraced it with beautiful cosplay like that from Anne Torstensen and that despite the risk of it, Guerrilla Games moved forward with Aloy as the lead, is also encouraging. In the same breath, the studio hasn’t been shy about their initial caution towards casting a female lead and the back and forth the studio went through before fully committing, which on its own is also refreshing. It’s so easy to come ahead of this story with how they always wanted a female lead which even if true, does a disservice to them and the hard work they had to go through to make it a reality. After all, a AAA game doesn’t pay for itself.

Luckily for Guerrilla Games, their vision lined up entirely with how Sony sees the future. Here is Sony Interactive Entertainment UK’s product manager, Jon Edwards:

PSN due for a 10+ maintenance session on Feb. 26th

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 23, 2017 | 0 comments

Were you planning on gaming this Sunday, February the 26th? If so, depending on your game of choice, you either need to ensure that your PS4 is marked as your primary console or be prepared to play offline titles only. Jason Dunning writing for PlayStation LifeStyle:

Sony has announced that the PSN will be undergoing 10.5 hours of maintenance beginning at 5pm PT/8pm ET on Sunday, February 26. It’s expected to end at 3:30am PT/6:30am ET on Monday, February 27.

During next week’s PSN maintenance – which affects PS4, PS3, PS Vita, and the online store – you’ll be unable to access Gaming and Social, PlayStation Music, PlayStation Video, PlayStation Now, and Account Management. You should still be able to log in to your PSN profile and use most applications during the maintenance.

Sony patent hints at what we can expect with PlayStation VR 2

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 22, 2017 | 2 comments

Is PlayStation VR 2 on the horizon? Not likely. If Sony were to follow up with a second iteration, we likely wouldn’t see it until 2018 at the earliest, and even then, perhaps it might not arrive until PS5. That of course doesn’t mean Sony isn’t hard at work on a followup, which their latest patent points to. Tom Regan from Engadget:

Sony is experimenting with its own Vive-style VR tracking device, according to a patent filing from June. The document hints at a tracker working similarly to HTC’s current virtual reality tech. Functioning as an external projector, the device would use lights and mirrors to map the player’s real world movements straight into PSVR. While Sony’s VR offering currently uses a camera to detect light from the player’s headset, the existing tracking limits users to an incredibly small space. With light often interfering with the PS4’s camera, if this new tech makes it to production it could not only give gamers more mobility but also potentially provide a more accurate and immersive PSVR experience.

But could we actually get this updated device prior to a new PlayStation? According to the patent, we just might.

PlayStation’s Shuhei Yoshida believes Apple will announce an AR/VR product in 2017

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 20, 2017 | 0 comments

Ever since AR/VR became darlings of the tech industry and buzz words to throw around, all eyes have been on Apple. Would they enter the much-hyped market, and if so, when? Mind you, speculation like this has always surrounded Apple when some new form factor or product category is created with typical headlines either predicting the end of Apple for not having already entered markets like:

3D
Netbooks
Smart TVs
Thermostats (think Nest)
Sub $200 phones
Sub $200 tablets

or wondering how they might change the landscape. As you can see from that list, Apple never bothered with any of those markets which have all since faded or have been inconsequential to them. Now Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony’s Worldwide Studios, is taking a crack at when Apple might just enter the market.

PlayStation Now to be exclusive to PS4 & PC and it’s a hint of things to come

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 16, 2017 | 5 comments

Yesterday, news came from the PlayStation camp that supported devices for PlayStation Now, their game streaming service, would be severely limited going forward. For those unaware, a device with PS Now can stream PS1, PS2, and PS3 games – think Netflix for gaming. Starting on August 15th, the following devices will be cut off from PS Now:

PlayStation 3
PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TV
All 2013, 2014, 2015 Sony Bravia TV models
Sony Bravia TVs (April 1, 2017)
All Sony Blu-ray player models
All Samsung TV models

leaving just PS4 and the PC to have access to it. According to Brian Dunn, Senior Marketing Manager, PlayStation Now:

Facebook closing Oculus VR stations in hundreds of Best Buy stores

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 14, 2017 | 3 comments

What a month Facebook has been having with Oculus Rift. Just as a recap:

I wrote previously that

This now means in addition to whatever other costs that are associated with Oculus aside, that the starting price for Facebook entering VR now sits at $3.5 billion. I’m not sure what Facebook has in store for Oculus but at this point, short of VR becoming the next great frontier, recouping that money just become a lot harder.

As Alex Heath reports for Business Insider, things aren’t getting any better.

The Game Makers trailer

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 14, 2017 | 0 comments

So for those who are into behind the scenes and the inside baseball of video games, you’re going to love this. Todd Spangler from Variety:

Fifteen video-game luminaries will share their tricks of the trade in “The Game Makers: Inside Story,” a digital interview series funded by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences aimed at inspiring a new generation of game creators.

The original 10-part digital series will debut Feb. 15 on the AIAS YouTube channel and its website, interactive.org, one week before the org’s 20th annual D.I.C.E. Awards ceremony Feb. 23 in Las Vegas honoring the industry’s top games, individuals and development teams of the year. Each 10-15 minute episode of “The Game Makers: Inside Story” explores the creative process of crafting narratives for notable games and their iconic characters.

As to the game makers featured, the list is extensive and star studded, including many alumni from Sony like Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann and Hideo Kojima.

New insight into why PlayStation Vue lost Viacom (Comedy Central, Spike and MTV)

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 10, 2017 | 9 comments

A great many of you were deservedly upset when news came out that PlayStation Vue was parting ways with Viacom, the parent company of Comedy Central, Spike, and MTV. Back then, I wrote:

Since the news broke yesterday, I’ve been talking to a few little birdies and they’ve all conveyed the same thing – that Viacom was asking for an exorbitant amount of money for the given channels which put Sony in a corner.

On one hand, they could eat the cost which would set the precedence for other networks to raise their prices and, in the end, could drive the service to unprofitability. Or, they could pass the costs on to users, something that they were also adamantly against. In the end, Sony likely picked the best option available for themselves and PS Vue users.

That still stands but new details might reveal the next phase of Viacom’s plans in that they likely knew services like Vue wouldn’t renew with their new prices and that’s because they didn’t want them to renew.

Voice vs. VR – Amazon Echo vs. PlayStation VR

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 7, 2017 | 0 comments

Here is a somewhat interesting report published by Midia Research where they compare the adoption of voice versus virtual reality. The premise goes as such:

Reflecting on narrative matters, because whilst VR and Voice are both pivot technologies representing different new paradigms to what consumers have experienced before, their public personas have been worlds apart. VR’s public image has been one of bombast and exclamation, yet the Echo arrived quietly, building its public profile by word of mouth and through Amazon’s established sales channels. 2016 was the year that these technologies finally saw their wider release (VR headsets were previously limited to developer kits and Echo exclusively in the US until September 2016), therefore it is interesting to map them against each other to see what the numbers have to say on what the overall public reaction has been thus far.

Glacier White PS4 coming to United States

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 6, 2017 | 0 comments

The Glacier White PS4 is technically nothing new, having arrived a few weeks ago in Europe. Going back even further to a year ago, you could purchase a Glacier White PS4 as part of a limited edition Destiny bundle. Starting today, the Glacier White PS4 is coming to the US once again as part of an exclusive bundle to Walmart. Worth pointing that unlike previous bundles, all new Glacier White PS4s, including those released in Europe, are based around the ‘Slim’ model.

The Glacier White PS4 is out today and bundled with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, exclusively at Walmart for $299. pic.twitter.com/LZ4m0d1o8k

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) February 6, 2017