Sony has just announced the PS Vita, the next generation PSP. The PS Vita has dual analog sticks, front- and rear-mounted cameras, a multi-touch backing, 5-inch OLED touchscreen, sixaxis motion sensor, wifi and 3G. Retail price for the wifi-only version: $249. With 3G: $299.
Sony has announced on the Playstation Blog that the Playstation Network and Playstion Store will be back online by the end of the week. Sony is planning to have all networks back up completely in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Its about time!
The Playstation Network is back up in the USA. Sony just flipped the switch and they want you to make sure your passwords are very secure.
This update brings back online gameplay, unlimited music on Qriocity, Netflix/Hulu access, Friends Lists, chat, Trophy comparison and PlayStation Home.
The download and installation is very quick, not taking any longer than 10 minutes. There is still no word on whether this update will be released worldwide this week.
Tired of iTunes? Not liking the Amazon platform? The one thing we don’t lack is many ways to get the same thing we want. Both platforms along with a few lesser known platforms offer ways to acquire digital content. Music, movies, TV shows, all downloadable from these platforms, but the one “ring” to rule them all thus far has been Apple’s dominating iTunes store.
If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to disconnect from Apple, perhaps Sony has the option for you. It’s been rumored recently that an announcement could come, as early as tomorrow according to a post on 1up.com, on an iTunes competitor from Sony would be released on the PS3 and PSP devices, to be followed by other products in Sony’s lineup. According to the article, a reliable source from the Financial Times, states that the service will be subscription based and offer music and movies. The announcement is rumored to be made at IFA Berlin this week.
PS3 owners are already familiar with ordering and renting films from the Playstation Store, but a dedicated service across multiple platforms including their Bravia TV lines could be the next big thing to compete with Apple. The report states that while the service will be announced, it actually won’t be available until next year.
Can Sony do it? There no doubt iTunes has become the norm for many of us, but I’d like to think there’s a fighting chance for Sony in all this. Leave your comments below on whether you think this service has a chance on Sony’s products.
Sony announced recently that the new threat appeared recently about the possible USB devices which could allow “backup games” to run in PlayStation 3, can be easily detected by the system and they will block devices which are using it.
PSJailBreak is the USB system that we will be able to find and buy with the promise that we can run copied versions of PS3 games. The company who developed PSJailBreak says that “will never break your console” and will support all games.
But Sony simply said that they are not going to allow it. This USB gadget generates an error “8002A227” in the system, which can be detected soon as the PS3 logs in the PlayStation Store. And when this happens, Sony will ban this console (if you remember, Microsoft did same for XBOX consoles which were altered with the same purpose).
For one second you thought it was going to be as simple as connecting a USB drive to your console isn’t?
China’s company eDoo will be announcing later this year the launch of the “eBox”, which will provide gaming and entertainment experience just through the body actions detected by a webcam-style device, and no other controllers will be needed. Thinking Kinect?
This is what it seems a leaked image of the eBox:
China’s government announced recently that they will not allow the commercialization of XBOX Kinect device; but as always, people are always looking for a workaround, and the eBox device is appearing.
There are no official announcements, but apparently more news will appear in November and possibly the launch of this product will be on 2011. XBOX games won’t be supported by the eBOX console, but there are currently working 16 professional teams, some of them have developed games for Xbox 360 and Wii, from 8 countries will take part in the development of eBox’s games.
When I see this pic, I cannot avoid thinking about the other Chinese invention this year: The iPed.
George Hotz, the famous geek boy who hacked for the first time an iPhone, said recently on Twitter that he won’t be trying any more bypass the security and controls from Sony’s console PlayStation 3.
Actually he completed an important milestone a while ago; by accessing the PlayStation 3 kernel; where he found several secrets of this console, but the result of getting it hacked was not completed. Sony did not object any of his tasks, even more they encourage him to take over control of this console; but failure was at the end of his trip.
George said: “It was a cool ride, and I’ve learned a lot about a lot. Perhaps one of these days I’ll do a more formal goodbye.” Which makes us wonder about if this “retirement” it is not actually a defeated soldier who just gave up trying?
Hotz credibility was also questioned a while ago when he distributed a fake photo when he said he just hacked the iPhone 4.
Besides all that, we have to admit: Even though I’m no expert on hacking devices, the work on PlayStation 3 by Sony has been incredible.
The ultimate game convention is taking place right now in Los Angeles Convention Center and they are ready to introduce us with some significant announcements and gaming news. Here’s a recap.
New Games: PlayStation 3
Metal Gear Solid: Rising
New Games: Nintendo Wii
XBOX
New Games: PSP
Ready to make your pick?
The PSP is by no means the most successful handheld gaming device. It trailed behind the DS for all of its life and now even the iPhone has it beaten when it comes to the selection of games, even though the PSP had a three year jump on the iPhone.
However, recently stories have emerged that seem to indicate the next PSP will have smart phone capabilities. Reuters revealed that Ericsson and Sony Entertainment have been drawing up plans to create the phone even before their latest invention; the PSP Go, has been released.
The current PSP already has some communication capability with Wi-Fi allowing internet browsing and Skype chat. However, if this plan was to proceed we would likely see 3G, a touch screen and a host of other smart phone features thrown into a PSP. The main problem with this would of course be battery life, but with an electronics company such as Sony I’m sure they could come up with something.
Sony are reported to be putting together a team to begin creating this PSP smart phone as early as July and are engaged in talks with British telecom to bring voice and video chat to the PSP. However, I wouldn’t get my hopes up just yet. Plans like these have a tendency of falling through due to overcrowding in the market or just a really bad finished product.
