PlayStation

Sony to Pay £250K Fine in UK for 2011 PSN Data Breach

by Sohrab Osati | Jul 18, 2013 | 0 comments

Just a little over two years ago, Sony’s PlayStation Network was hacked which resulted in a quarter million customer accounts being leaked to the internet. Sony in turn would take down PSN for over a month which resulted in a loss of revenue for the company and, with no access to PSN, gamers could not access the PlayStation Store or game online. To help take care of gamers, Sony offered those who wanted free credit and identity theft monitoring for two years free PlayStation + for two months, and a host of free games once the service was back up and running. During these last two years, most gamers have moved on and enjoyed PSN but government agencies around the world haven’t been as understanding.

Sony Video Unlimited Now Allows Access to Purchased Content on Multiple Devices

by Sohrab Osati | Jul 17, 2013 | 4 comments

In edition to Vidzone for the PlayStation 3 which brings access to over 55,000 music videos, Sony continues to beef up its media presence on PlayStation devices. Till now, unlike iTunes which ties your purchases to your account, allowing you to redownload your content on your Mac, PC, and iOS device, Video Unlimited has tied your purchases to the device. That means that if you bought a movie on the PS3, it would stay on the PS3 unless you actually transferred it to say the PS Vita by connecting the two devices. In fact, after your download, the said content would disappear from your download list. PS3 to PS3 would even be trickier and PS3 to PS4? Who knows! That is, till now.

Vidzone App Brings Over 55,000 Music Videos to the PlayStation 3

by Sohrab Osati | Jul 17, 2013 | 3 comments

If the PlayStation 3 is your media hub and where you turn for entertainment, then this latest app should bring a smile to your face. Vidzone, which has been available for European users for years, is finally coming to the US and will offer PS3 owners access to over 55,000 music videos. The free app with ad support gives you direct access to more than 13,000 artists like Justin Timberlake, Daft Punk, P!nk, Foo Fighters, J.Cole, and David Guetta. Besides the major record labels which include Sony/BMG and Universal, Vidzone also has access to more than 7,500 independent labels, ensuring that indie bands are not left out.

Sony PS4 Dev Kit Swings by the FCC, Reveals a 2.75GHz Max Clock Speed

by Sohrab Osati | Jul 16, 2013 | 2 comments

The FCC is our best friend at the site, helping reveal Sony products well ahead of their intended announcement time, like the Sony Reader PRS-T3 and the Sony Xperia Z partnership with T-Mobile. While the PS4 has already been announced and most of the specs have been revealed, the PS4 dev kit has finally swung by the FCC and revealed some interesting tidbits about the powerful next generation console. Unlike the consumer unit, which will offer two USB ports on the front for charging of the Dualshock 4 and connection of other accessories, the dev kit offers would-be and current game designers an additional USB port which may have always been the intention of Sony to offer and could have been cut to help bring the console’s price down. The most interesting news from the FCC breakdown might be the PS4 (DUH-D1000AA) max clock speed.

PSN Passes 110 Million Accounts, Xbox Live Sits at 48 Million

by Sohrab Osati | Jul 12, 2013 | 5 comments

The PlayStation train is continuing to chug for Sony while pulling ahead of Microsoft in all different sectors. Despite being released a year after the Xbox 360 and always having a price difference of $100 or more, the PS3 continues to go strong and is now ahead of the Xbox 360 in worldwide sales by nearly 500,000 units. With newly-released titles like The Last of Us and upcoming exclusives like Beyond: Two Souls, Diablo 3 (new for consoles), Ratchet & Clank: Into The Nexus, and Gran Turismo 6 headed to the PS3, it’s easy to see why the PlayStation brand is as strong as ever.

Now, Andrew House, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment has released some new stats for the PlayStation Network (PSN) which place it well ahead of Xbox Live with a 62 million user difference between the two services.

Take Your PlayStation 4 Digital Library Anywhere, and 19 Other Things You May Not Have Known

by Brien Bell | Jul 12, 2013 | 2 comments

There’s a lot of cool information we’ve learned about the PlayStation 4 since it was unveiled on February 20. We know it’s going to cost $399 in the US. We know it’s specs are great, and that it’s 50% more powerful than it’s competitor this holiday. We know it has a pretty good sized hard drive, but that it’s also removable to allow for upgrades. Yes, PlayStation Plus is going to be required for online multiplayer, but Sony is letting free-to-play developers decide whether they’ll be using that feature–and some great ones aren’t!

PS4 has been riding some great momentum, with pre-orders at GameStop and Amazon setting records (and finally being shut down due to high demand). But the news just keeps getting better. At the Develop conference in the UK this week, Sony R&D senior team leader Neil Brown outlined how you’ll be able to access your library of digital titles on the go:

Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus Coming to PS3 This Holiday

by Brien Bell | Jul 10, 2013 | 5 comments

Insomniac Games has been a staple of the PlayStation family since Disruptor on the PS1. With their Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, and Resistance franchises, Insomniac was as close to a first-party studio as one could be–until they decided to move on. After 2011’s release of Resistance 3, Insomniac entered a deal with EA Partners, an arrangement that would see the formerly PlayStation-exclusive developer create games for other platforms while remaining an independent studio. Their EA Partners game, Fuse, released on PS3 and Xbox 360 this spring to lukewarm reviews, though our own Sohrab Osati enjoyed it quite a bit. However, when Insomniac President Ted Price came on stage at the Microsoft press briefing during this year’s E3 to announce Sunset Overdrive–funded by Microsoft Studios and exclusive to the Xbox One–many PlayStation faithful were left wondering just what this meant for any future games by the Burbank, CA and Raleigh-Durham, NC-based developer.

Editorial: For the Love of JRPG’s

by Sarah Ingram | Jul 7, 2013 | 16 comments

I have a video game weakness, and that is role playing games – specifically, Japanese role playing games. Something about their involved story-lines, side quests, endless equipment combinations and specializations, and music and artwork hooks me no matter what world or crisis it surrounds. My initial love for the Playstation system specifically comes from these types of experiences. Nothing hooked me more into a video game than the beautiful, intricate details in the art style of Dark Cloud, as primitive as it was, and I’m sure we’ve all experienced that moment of excitement when a cut scene would begin: I remember yelling for my brother when one would pop up in Final Fantasy IX. They’ve made me smile, cry, and occasionally throw my controller down in anger (FFVII. end of disc 1. you know.).

When I first started gaming on my own, and buying games outside of the influence of my brother, I gravitated towards games like Tales of Symphonia and Final Fantasy VII, VIII and IX. As I grew up this love for what they offered grew, and I not only indulged in new titles like Star Ocean and Resonance of Fate, but also went back and experienced games I had previously missed, like Kingdom Hearts and Phantom Brave. Now, as an adult with my own money, I have started the slow (and expensive) process of picking up those titles that I may have missed before. Collecting them adds to my enjoyment: having them on display seems fitting for the role they’ve played in my life, and collecting the ones I’ve missed as a kid gives me the opportunity to more completely immerse myself in the genre.

“Playroom” to Come Pre-Installed on PlayStation 4

by Brien Bell | Jul 3, 2013 | 4 comments

In an interesting move, Sony confirmed today that the tech demo “The Playroom” will come pre-installed on every PlayStation 4 at launch. “The Playroom” makes use of the PlayStation 4 camera–which is not included with the console–and shows off a number of the device’s features, including augmented reality tracking, smartphone and tablet integration, and the DualShock 4’s motion and touchpad capabilities.

PlayStation Plus for July: Battlefield 3, Jet Set Radio HD and More

by Brien Bell | Jul 2, 2013 | 0 comments

PlayStation Plus has been on a lot of people’s minds over the past month. In June, the service celebrated its 2-year-anniversary – and the first anniversary of the Instant Game Collection program – by offering a bevy of great games for subscribers. At E3, SCEA President Jack Tretton announced that PlayStation Plus would be coming to PS4 this holiday, and that it would be required for multiplayer games on the system. One caveat to the online requirement, however, is for free-to-play games–Sony is leaving it up to developers whether such games will be locked behind a pay wall. Needless to say, the future of PlayStation Plus is shaping up to be interesting. But for now, the present of PlayStation Plus is looking pretty good.

Could Gaikai Be In Trouble? Patent Infringement Could Put Halt on PlayStation Cloud Gaming

by Brien Bell | Jun 29, 2013 | 6 comments

Gaikai, the cloud-based game streaming service, was acquired by Sony in 2012. In February, Gaikai CEO David Perry announced the vision of the service for the new PlayStation 4. At E3 this year, SCEA President Jack Tretton said that Gaikai will be coming first to North American PS4 users in 2014. But a patent suit filed in October of last year could bring all of that to a screeching halt.

GameIndustry.biz was one of the first to break the story last October about Case No.: 1:12-cv-01281-MPT, filed in the United States District Court of Delaware by T5 Labs LLC, a London-based technology firm. In a new report from PatentArcade, T5 Labs contends that their patent, U.S. Patent No. 8,203,568 (or just “568”), gives them exclusive license for “using a centralized server within a bank of servers that allows remote access by a user.” In essence, this is the basis of cloud-based gaming services like Gaikai–the client accesses a remote server which plays the game, and the game is streamed through the client’s set-top box to their television. PatentArcade reports that “T5 alleges that by offering for sale and selling the use of its GPU cloud, Gaikai is committing contributory infringement as well as inducing the direct infringement of others.”

“Months to Triangle:” PS4 Lead Architect Mark Cerny on His Career and More

by Brien Bell | Jun 28, 2013 | 3 comments

The appearance of Mark Cerny on stage in February for the announcement of the PlayStation 4 was, for many, a good sign. Cerny’s history in video games stretches back to Atari and Marble Madness in the early 1980s, and his career as a consultant since then has seen his involvement with Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Jak & Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and the Uncharted series. Cerny is no stranger to game development, and the reveal that he was the man in charge of creating the architecture of the PS4 was a signal to the game community that Sony was intent on making their next generation system developer-focused.

Since February, Cerny has been a busy man, speaking at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in March and the focus of a lot of behind-the-scenes interviews about the system, and his new game Knack, at this year’s E3 conference. This week, Cerny took the stage at Barcelona’s Gamelab conference to talk not just about the PlayStation 4, but also his career and what led him to become so invested in the PlayStation ecosystem despite never being officially employed by Sony Computer Entertainment. After the break, check out Mark Cerny and his discussion of the Road to the PS4, his involvement in the ecosystem of the PS2 and PS3, and what “months to triangle” means for development.

PSA: PlayStation Plus Will Be Required for PS4 in Order to Play Online

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 28, 2013 | 3 comments

One of the key differentiation between the PS3 and Xbox 360 has been the lack of online fees. While on the PS3 anyone can access Netflix (normal fees apply) or play Battlefield 3 online for free, on the 360, an additional monthly payment is required for Xbox Live. While a pleasant option for PlayStation fans, this approach is an unsustainable one by Sony as online games continue to grow which means further expenses for the company. With the PS4, all of this will change and gamers will be required to have PlayStation+ in order to access online gaming, but there is more to it than that.

Have PS4 Units Already Begun to Ship?

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 24, 2013 | 3 comments

The PlayStation 4 success is somewhat of a new thing for Sony. Despite the PS3 being a massive machine with one of the most unique game libraries of the current consoles, it took many years to really find its footing with consumers. With a high price point, low inventory, and lean game selection at launch, the consoles debut was anything but stellar. As we get closer to the PS4 launch, its abundantly clear that the PlayStation has learned from the past and is doing everything it can to to make sure the mistakes from the past do not repeat. Part of this in tales having enough units at launch and if recent reports are to be believed, Sony is already starting to receive delivery on PS4 consoles.

Editorial: Why I Think Sony Won E3

by Sarah Ingram | Jun 23, 2013 | 13 comments

Now that the dust has settled and we have all had some time to digest the news that came out of E3, I feel like it’s the right time to reflect about what we saw and what it means. I was able to catch both the Microsoft and Playstation conferences live as they happened, and once it was all over there was a clear winner for me. But I didn’t go into the expo already declaring Sony the winner: I really wanted to see what each had to say about the hardware, sharing, used games and connectivity. And what I ended up getting out of a comparison of the two presentations after the fact was something a little more, and something I think is much more important.

Sony really handed it to Microsoft this year. I watched Microsoft first, and was admittedly impressed. The games looked good, they had Insomniac on their stage, and a partnership with Twitch is nothing to shake a stick at. I expected the DR and used game news, and was interested in learning more about the cloud sharing. The price tag didn’t even surprise me, and I was curious as to what Sony had in store. I had originally predicted that if Microsoft went through with some of these things, then Sony would have to follow suit. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. They allow used games, there is the capability to play games offline, and they hit the price tag out of the park, something even I didn’t expect. It was an all round A+ performance.