Sony Corp.

Sony Walkman Line to Receive Free Music Unlimited

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 2, 2011 | 99 comments

For those of you who are looking to purchase a new Sony Walkman MP3 player this year, you’re in luck. Sony has just recently refreshed the A, S, and E series Walkman lineups, which are due out in September. After just having announced the killing of the Qriocity brand with the simpler title of Music Unlimited, Sony is looking to bring the service to the Walkman line in a big way. All three lineups are already compatible to stream music from ~~Qriocity~~ Music Unlimited, but Sony is looking to add on a free 180-day trial period for owners of the NWZ-A860, S760BT and E460. After that, owners can choose to either cancel their subscription or sign up for either the $3.99 or $9.99 monthly plan.

Discuss:

Do you already own a Sony Walkman player? If not, would such an offer sweeten the deal for you and make you want to jump aboard?

PAX Prime 2011 – GoldenEye 007 Reloaded PS3 Interview

by Jan Hutchings | Sep 2, 2011 | 19 comments

If you missed out on Activision’s 007 remake on the Nintendo Wii last year, fear not as the publisher is getting ready to redeploy the secret agent in his best video game on the Playstation 3; and compared to the Xbox 360 release, Reloaded for the PS3 will support PlayStation Move motion control functionality.

GoldenEye 007 was originally made in 1997 for the Nintendo 64 game system and is widely considered to be the very first console first person shooter that got the controls right. It is also widely regarded as better than the movie the game is based from. This time, Pierce Brosnan is out, replaced by the darker and grittier Bond in Daniel Craig. I talked with Activision’s Glenn Oliver to talk about the game’s new exclusive features, PS Move Functionality, and multiplayer components at PAX Prime 2011.

Hit the jump for the interview and the GoldenEye 007: Reloaded trailer.

iPod Touch Gets Competition With an Android-Powered Sony Walkman Mobile Entertainment Player

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 2, 2011 | 7 comments

During their IFA announcement, Sony unveiled an Android Gingerbread based 4-3-inchWalkman. The device is currently called the Sony Walkman Mobile Entertainment Player, though that will change once the product is ready for shipment. Much like the iPod Touch, which has access to the thousands of applications available in the Apple App Store, this Walkman will also have access to the Android Market, making it a device that does much more than just play music. Unlike the iPod Touch, an HDMI will also assist users, letting them play videos and games stored on the device on any HDMI-equipped TV. Like the AirPlay technology found in the iPod Touch, which allows you to stream your movies and music to any compatible AirPlay device, Sony has also incorporated a similar feature called Throw. The Throw feature allows the Walkman to find any local Bravia television and other compatible devices and stream directly to them with little to no setup required. No additional information like specs, pricing, or availability was announced as Sony made it clear that the product was still in the testing phase and not ready for a final build.

Discuss:

[Via Engadget]

Meet the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc S. We Have Specs

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 2, 2011 | 16 comments

Announced just under a year ago at CES 2011, Sony Ericsson is now refreshing the Xperia arc. The Sony Ericsson Xperia arc S, as the model will be known, is quite similar in design to its predecessor. Underneath the hood is a different question. The Xperia arc S is now stepping into the 1GHz+ category with a single core 1.4GHz chipset (MSM8255T), 512MB RAM and the Adreno 205 GPU. This new combination is said to result in a 25% faster camera and 20% faster web rendering when compared to the Xperia arc.

Launching this October, the Xperia arc S will also get a improved 8.1 megapixel camera with an Exmor R sensor. 3D sweep panorama mode is also added, though it will be taking 2D pictures and converting them to 3D, instead of native 3D. Coming in the same 4.2-inch multitouch display as the Xperia arc, this Android 2.3.4 phone will be available in Pure White, Midnight Blue, Misty Silver, Gloss Black, and Sakura Pink. No word yet on pricing or carrier availability. After the jump, a video preview, additional pictures (including the other colors)and a press release awaits you.

Sony Kills off Qriocity Brand, Regroups Digital Groups Under Sony Entertainment Network

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 1, 2011 | 26 comments

Sony Corporation is a double-edged sword in some ways. The electronics giant is the maker of such brands like Bravia, VAIO, and PlayStation, while their reaches are felt in the entertainment industry with branches like Sony Pictures and Sony Music/BMG. The fact that Sony has so many branches means that they are able to influence and penetrate many different markets with potentially unique offerings. On the other hand, with so many different brands, managements, and content offering, it can be hard at times to create a unified product, let alone brand and message. Qriocty was no different; the new service launched from Sony earlier this year was officially called Qriocity Music Unlimited and Qriocity Video Unlimited. The music aspect of the service revolved around streaming unlimited music to Qriocity-enabled devices like the PlayStation 3, PSP, Bravia televisions, and compatible Android phones with a subscription cost of either $3.99 or $9.99 while the video side relied on a-la-carte-style shopping, much like video through iTunes.

Another digital service from Sony is the PlayStation Network, which powers the PlayStation 3, PSP, and the soon-to-be-released PlayStation Vita. Till now, Qriocity and PSN have lived and operated independently of each other, though money added to either account was shared in a unified wallet. Now, Sony is dumping the Qriocity brand and instead calling the services Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited. In addition to that, both streaming services and PSN are being unified under a new group called Sony Entertainment Network. Though not owned by Sony, Hulu Plus, Netflix MLB.tv, and Pandora are also joining and being bunched under this category which is designed to streamline Sony’s online services and e-wallet. Think about how, in the Apple ecosystem, content bought from iTunes or App Store on any iDevice or App Store on the Mac are all reaching into the same wallet/credit card account, instead of having users sub-manage 3-5 different accounts. Under the Sony Entertainment Network, PSN will still retain its branding and therefore, the surface, you won’t see any changes there.

While I’m all for a more streamlined offering from Sony and cannot disagree as a whole to their move, I have to wonder if simply rebranding Qriocity will make it any more successful than before. Previously, it was outright silly that Qriocity was fully called Qriocity Music Unlimited. Yes it gave you an idea as to what you were getting, but a brand has to be catchy and Qriocity Music Unlimited was/is not. As clean as Music Unlimited sounds, it still doesn’t function in a conversation. For example, brands like Pandora, Hulu, and to a degree, Netflix didn’t have much meaning prior to their rise. However, as the services caught on, so did their names, which became synonymous with what they offer. I believe instead, Sony should have dropped the Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited part of the branding and focused on a marketing campaign which got the word out that a service called Qriocity exists. As long as the offerings of that service are compelling to the consumer, the name will also catch on, i.e.: Pandora, Wii, Kindle, etc., which at first glance have nothing to do with the actual product.

Discuss:

Are you currently subscribed to Qriocity or have you used the service in the past? If not, what would motivate you to use the service?

Meet the Sony 3D OLED Visor HMZ-T1. We Have Details

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 1, 2011 | 6 comments

Remember when you were a kid and might have watched shows like Johnny Quest and Star Trek: The Next Generation or seen movies like Total Recall and the 6th Day, which featured virtual-reality-like goggles? Well, fast forward to today and we might not have flying cars, but between 3D gaming, the PlayStation Move, and the newly-announced Sony 3D OLED Visor, we are getting damn close to virtual reality. Last seen during CES 2011, the Sony 3D OLED Visor HMZ-T1 has since been turned into a real product. This 3D visor is equipped with two 1280×720 0.7-inch OLED panels which are mounted in front of each eye with an integrated 5.1 Surround Sound headphone system that is built into the Head Mounted Display (HMD). The system comes with a separate processing box that, in turn, runs an HDMI out to the 3D visor that gives you a viewing experience, similar to watching on a 750-inch screen from 20m away. The HMZ-T1 will launch this November in Japan for 60,000 yen ($783 US) and will be compatible with a slew of 3D-enabled playback devices like Sony Blu-ray players, the PlayStation 3, and Cyber-shot and Handycam cameras and camcorders. No word yet on a European or United States release.

Press release, after the jump.

PlayStation 3 System Update 3.7 Trophy and Game Save Auto-Sync Fix Discovered

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 1, 2011 | 54 comments

Two of the great features added to the PlayStation 3 and exclusive to PlayStation Plus members with the most recent PS3 System Update 3.7 was the ability for trophies and game saves to be automatically uploaded. The idea was that you allocated a specific time slot for your PS3 to turn on every day, scan for new trophies or games and upload them online. After the process, your PlayStation 3 would then turn off on its own. From the looks of the gaming forums and comment sections on most sites, it seems that this feature went off without a hitch. However, there lies a minor part of the community who were not able to get the new feature to work, including myself. After trying some simple trouble shooting techniques like choosing different time slots, logging in and out of my account and disabling and enabling the feature again, it seemed like there was not much I could do. Surfing different forums all lead to the same conclusion: for a minority of users out there, this feature was/is not working. After having some contact with Sony on the matter, I’d yet to hear a confirmation of the issue and I was started to chalk things up towards just some minor machines not playing nice. As a last ditch effort, I decided to call the PlayStation customer support and to my surprise, not only did they acknowledge the issue, but had a work around as well. They also confirmed, though with no time table, that this bug will be hammered out in the next system update. After the jump, you can read our short walkthrough and find our Trophy and Game Save Auto-Sync Fix.

Sony Announces The Uncharted Dual Pack

by Jan Hutchings | Aug 31, 2011 | 28 comments

With the Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception release in just a few months, Sony wants more people to experience the first two games in the franchise. Earlier this week, Sony announced that they would be releasing Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves in one game collection.

Dubbed “The Uncharted Dual Pack,” the collection will feature both games and the Uncharted Super Voucher. This voucher gives players a code to download ALL the DLC released for Uncharted 2 as well as the Uncharted 3 announcement items like avatar items and the eye-catching dynamic theme.

While some would think of the timely re-release of both games as just another cash grab by Sony, the Uncharted Dual Pack is actually a great way to introduce the franchise to thousands of new PlayStation 3 owners who bought the system after the recent price cut to $249.99.

Here’s what Naughty Dog had to say about the franchise and its hardcore fans:

Here at Naughty Dog, we’re excited to bring these two critically-acclaimed games together for the very first time. As we focus on finishing up UNCHARTED 3, we look back and are humbled by the accolades we received for Drake’s Fortune, our first game in the series, and we never could have imagined that our second entry, Among Thieves, would go on to become the 2nd highest-rated video game of all time, receiving over 200 GOTY awards and over 41 perfect review scores. We want to thank all of you again for your continued support!

If you still haven’t tried any of the Uncharted games, Uncharted Dual Pack should be your next purchase. The game collection comes out next week (September 6, 2011) and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception arrives on 11-11-11.

Sony Tablet S and the Tablet P Get Officially Unveiled. We Have Specs, Details, and a Preview for You

by Sohrab Osati | Aug 31, 2011 | 1 comment

It’s been no secret that Sony has been working on a pair of Android tablets. The electronics giant has been quite serious about the use of Android and has shifted their entire Sony Ericsson division to utilize the open-sourced software from Google. With the computer industry beginning to enter what Apple calls the “post PC’ era, Sony, like many other computer makers, knew that it had to have some presence in the fast-growing market. In the nearly one and a half years that the iPad has been on the market, Apple has come to sell more than 30 million units while competitors like HP have already dropped out and discontinued their entire tablet strategy and Samsung continues to sell units in the low thousands. As Sony’s CEO Sir Howard Stringer put it, “It’s not about who makes them first, but who makes them better.” This simple line goes a long way to explaining why with the glut of tablets that are available on the market, none have yet to find any real form of success.

With the codenamed Sony S1 tablet officially being called the Sony Tablet S and the codenamed S2 tablet being called the Sony Tablet P, Sony is looking to change the fortune of non-iOS-tablet manufacturers and is hoping to make an impact in the tablet market. Between the two devices, the Tablet S is what many would think of when they imagine a tablet. The most obvious thing about the Tablet S is the 9.4-inch, multitouch display that powers it. Utilizing their in-house expertise, Sony tapped into their TV R&D team to provide TruBlack and Bravia technologies, which provides a 1280 x 800 resolution and “contrast ratios that hold up from any angle and very accurate color reproduction that surpasses the Samsung GalaxyTab 10.1,” as Engadget put it. Based on the NVIDIA Terga 2 chipsets, you can expect to find your usual assortment of goodies like:

Bluetooth
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi + 4G (AT&T only)
16GB and 32GB
Headphone jack
MicroUSB
Front VGA webcam
5 megapixel rear camera
SD card reader
IR Port

Kevin Butler Leaves Flooring Company, Returns to PlayStation. Long Live Play

by Sohrab Osati | Aug 31, 2011 | 12 comments

It had been many months sense we’d heard from the vice president of all things PlayStation, Kevin Butler. To get a full understanding of the story, we first have to look all the way in 2009 when Mr. Butler joined PlayStation. He’s first position then with the company was Director of Game Accuracy. Due to rising popular with the gamers and non-gamers alike, Butler would soon find himself in the VP position and opposite of Jack Tretton, President of Sony Computer Entertainment America. Kevin Butlers fame would continue to grow and maybe even peaked during his 2010 Sony E3 press conference speech. KB as he’s known with the kids and the internets these days was most noticeably absent from Sony’s 2011 E3 press coference. KB who is known to represent PlayStation’s many different branches had held many different VP positions in the last few years including,

VP of The Cold Hard Truth
VP of First Person Shooter Relations
VP of Blu-ray Superiority
VP of Epic Gaming for All

Sony Announces the Reader Wi-Fi (PRS-T1) Worlds Lightest eReader

by Sohrab Osati | Aug 31, 2011 | 0 comments

Even though we’ve known that Sony was going to be releasing a new eReader, nothing is ever official until we have a press release to report to you, and today is that day. Sony has officially announced the PRS-T1 eReader, now known as the Sony Reader Wi-Fi. The 6-inch, 600 x 800, 16-level gray scale E Ink Pearl display is capable of multitouch like pinch-to-zoom, thanks to Sony’s advanced Dual Touch technology. For those with bigger fingers or those who simply prefer something to write with other than their fingers, Sony is also throwing in a stylus in the box. Coming in at just 168 grams (5.93 ounces) light and 8.9mm thin, the Sony Reader Wi-Fi is also the world’s lightest eReader.

Our previous rumors of built-in Google and Wikipedia look-ups seems to have held up, though no Android OS seems to be present. Those looking to download massive amounts of books will also be happy about the built-in 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi connection and the internal 2GB of storage space (1,200 ebooks) with microSD expansion of up to 32GB. With that much storage, we can only assume that Sony knows your hardcore reading habits. Thanks to a three-week battery life on Wi-Fi and one month with Wi-Fi turned off, reading fans should never have to put down the device in the middle of a read simply for a charge. Priced at $149 and available in black, red, and white, the Sony Reader Wi-Fi will ship sometime in October in the US and Europe. After the jump, a press release awaits you with some Pottormore details.

3net to Offer 3D Kids Programing

by Sohrab Osati | Aug 30, 2011 | 14 comments

3net, the join venture 3D channel between Sony, Discovery and IMAX is again boosting their lineup of 3D offerings. The channel, which already has dedicated blocks of unique 3D programs, including the world’s first 3D war documentary, now wants to include kids as well. Tom Cosgrove, president and CEO of 3net, announced that the animated series Bolts & Blip and Dream Defenders will air on September 25 at 8:00 p.m. Following that, on October 1st at 10:00 a.m. 3net will air a “Three Dee Kids” programming segment for kids that will continue on Saturday and Sundays.

“The announcement of a dedicated programming block for kids 7-12 and their families marks another important step forward in our mission to provide compelling, diverse and original 3D television content to the broadest audience of consumers possible,” said Cosgrove. “It further underscores 3net’s on-going commitment to building upon our leadership position in the dynamic and ever-growing in-home 3D entertainment space.”

3net already has more than 30 hours of exclusive 3D content for kids lined up with even more to come in the future. In addition, Sony Pictures will also premiere their family 3D films, exclusively on 3net, with live-action original series Feeding Time and the 3net exclusive Puppy Bowl also joining the lineup. After the jump, the official press release.

Sony Creates Glasses That Provide Subtitles for Movies

by Sohrab Osati | Aug 30, 2011 | 103 comments

When it comes to our media-consuming habits like going to the movies, we tend to take the simplest of things for granted, like being able to hear properly. This is especially apparent in the deaf community who many times simply either have to deal with the fact that they will not be able to fully enjoy the movie or wait till the movie is released on Blu-ray and watch it with subtitles. Unless you happen to have some colossal home theater system (and to be honest even then there are some drawbacks), the experience tends to get lost to a degree when a movie like Transformers 3 is consumed at home versus at the theater.

Sony, however, is looking to change this experience for anyone in need of subtitles for a movie by creating a special type of glasses that is capable of displaying subtitles on screen, just for you. Such a technology would allow anyone in need of subtitles to attend any showing they wish while others in the audience need not be bothered by the appearance of subtitles on the screen for them. The 3D-like glasses, which have a receiver attached to the side of them, will be in sync with the projector. Sony’s Tim Potter, who is part of this project in UK, explained it like this:

“What we do is put the closed captions or the subtitles onto the screen of the glasses so it’s super-imposed on the cinema screen, [making it look] like the actual subtitles are on the cinema screen.”

Till now, many movie theaters and film studios have shied away from providing many options to the special needs community, simply due to the costs of providing special screenings. However, if such a technology is able to come into full deployment, the movie studios will be able to capitalize on a missed market while those in need of such technology will be able to enjoy the movies at a time that is right for them. The Sony subtitle glasses will also have other uses like the ability for theaters to show foreign films while allowing anybody to watch and understand them. Sony will begin a trial system of this new technology in the UK sometime next year.

[Via BBC]

Sony’s Tablet S2 Gets A Name, More Specs Revealed For the S1 and S2

by Sohrab Osati | Aug 30, 2011 | 27 comments

We’ve recently learned that Sony will be naming their 9.4-inch tablet, code named the S1, to the Sony Tablet S. Following in the same name pattern, the dual 5.5-inch screen tablet (codename S2) will be called the Sony Tablet P. The Sony Tablet P will also be light weight, even when compared to the iPad 2, which comes in at 601 grams, while the Tablet P will weigh in at 370 grams. The Tablet P will also match the iPad 2’s 512MB of RAM, carry an internal 4GB of memory and come with a 2GB SD card which can be swapped for any other SD card size that you prefer. Connectivity will also be getting a big boost on this device, thanks to the built-in 4G and WiFi card. Both machines will also be powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processors, which should come in handy when playing PlayStation Certified games, something that will be unique to Sony’s tablets. After the jump, you can find additional specs about the S1.

PAX Prime 2011 – David Jaffe Interview

by Jan Hutchings | Aug 30, 2011 | 41 comments

PAX Prime 2011 – As a young game industry journalist, I was going to a large and well-known gaming convention for the first time. And to make it all the more nerve-wracking, it was also only my second time interviewing people in the video game industry. Needless to say, I was nervous going into the interview with David Jaffe, the co-founder of Eat Sleep Play Studios as well as Twisted Metal and God of War creator.

I arrived at the Sony Booth and watched as David signed autographs and interacted with fans of his work. I had followed his blog and his Twitter long before and thought that he was an open and honest man, yet I was surprised to see that he was also friendly and welcoming, especially to the people who lined up for a chance to talk to him.

As the autograph-signing session ended and David was about to leave for a break, I approached him to see if I could interview him later that day. And to my surprise, he offered to do the interview as he ate lunch and took a break from all the chaos of his busy schedule. On the way to the cafe, we stopped at a few booths and talked about the games being exhibited and about gaming in general.

After getting his meal, David surprised me yet again as he chose to sit in front of a wall where other gamers were resting as well. Here was my gaming hero, sitting side by side with gamers. And I realized, this man makes great games because he understands what gamers want and where gamers are coming from.

It was a surreal moment, and one that I will never, ever forget.

Hit the jump for our written and video David Jaffe interview.