Archive for March, 2010

PS3 now bigger than God? Well Zeus at least

God of War 3!

2010 is proving to be a strong year for Playstation 3 exclusives with the latest release, God of War III taking top spot in the UK’s gaming charts. This top spot is across all platforms and if rumours are to be believed is helping to shift a large number of PS3 consoles worldwide. Sony has been stating for some time that gamers should be excited by the great games hitting the PS3 this year and March has certainly been a bumper for PS3 owners, with Final Fantasy XIII, Heavy Rain, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and now the impressive God of War III. Heavy Rain and God of War III now make it two number 1 spots in the UK charts for Sony exclusive titles.

God of War’s main protagonist, for those that have not played any of the games in the series, is Kratos, a Spartan warrior involved in a bitter battle for revenge with the Gods of Mount Olympus after Zeus demoted him from the position of God of War. The sheer scale of the game has to be one of its strongest elements although for many the jaw dropping aesthetics and simply the chance to become a true Spartan and take on all that Greek mythology can muster has to be a major draw. Read the rest of this entry »

Move over Wii, The Sony Playstation Move has Arrived

Sony Playstation Move Logo

After so much rumour and speculation Sony have finally unveiled their motion controller, named the Playstation Move. Before the event at GDC 2010 many industry commentators had believed that the device would be called the Arc, these beliefs turned out to be wrong however as Sony spokespersons gave the official name as the Move.

The Playstation Move will hit the shops later this year and will be available in a range of different bundle options. Customers that already own a PS3 and Playstation Eye will be able to buy the Move as a sole peripheral to complement their existing set up. Customers will also be able to buy the entire package of a Move and Eye with a game and finally a bundle with a PS3 console and all the peripherals will be available. According to reports the Playstation Eye, Move and game package will sell for under $100 (£66). Read the rest of this entry »

Sony TransferJet UK Release Due In Months

Sony Transfer Jet

Sony TransferJet is one of the most exciting and hotly anticipated Sony technologies that has been developed for its range of Cybershot cameras. After doing the rounds at Gadget Shows and in the media Sony has revealed that TransferJet technology will be available within the UK in a matter of months.

Sony TransferJet technology that will be available with some Cybershot cameras and memory cards is basically wireless file sharing like Bluetooth. However, unlike Bluetooth TransferJet requires users to hold devices close together, even touching them. This close proximity wireless technology allows for the rapid transferral of data, according reports the speed is around 187 times faster than traditional Bluetooth. As well as Cybershot cameras TransferJet technology will be available in some VAIO notebooks and if some rumours are to be believed BRAVIA televisions with the aid of a special pad like component. Read the rest of this entry »

Sony Playstation at GDC 2010: What we can expect

GDC 2010

This week sees the annual Games Developers Conference (GDC 2010) and all eyes on Sony ahead of the event despite the fact that they are not providing a keynote speech. The reason behind this intense interest in Sony is predominantly down to some of the rumours that are currently circulating in online and traditional media.

One of these rumours, now well established is that Sony is to announce the official name for the Sony Motion Controller that has been dubbed the ‘Playstation Arc’. This name has not simply been plucked from thin air however; industry commentators have taken everything from the acquisition of the PlaystationArc.com domain by Sony, the filing of a trademark for the name within Japan and even comments by Sony employees and external agencies who are now referring to the motion controller as the ‘Arc’. Sony are to hold a talk at the GDC titled “Introducing the Playstation 3 Motion Controller”, hopefully providing a real insight into how this new device will operate with the system and within games. Read the rest of this entry »

Sony Step Up Apple Competition with iTunes Rival

Sony iTunes Rival incoming?

The rivalry between Sony and Apple is to be stepped up with reports that Sony is on the verge of releasing a range of smart phone devices, a multimedia tablet and now an online media store that will rival Apple’s iTunes. The Sony Online Services will directly compete with iTunes providing customers with music and video.

Additionally it is believed that Sony will integrate the Playstation Portable (PSP) into a new mobile phone, creating yet more competition for Apple’s iPhone. As a result, this new “gaming phone” has led to the inclusion of a back catalogue of PSP games within the Sony Online Service. The move will be welcomed by Sony Ericsson who like other mobile phone manufacturers has faced stiff competition from the iPhone since its release. Read the rest of this entry »

Sony BRAVIA TV Scoops International Design Awards

Ultra Slim Bravia ZX1

Sony has always had a penchant for the dramatic and aesthetic when designing their products. The latest proof of this is the Awards dished out to Sony from the international Design Forum, a group that has been giving design awards for over 50 years. The iF Gold Award is given to products strictly on a design basis, not taking into account the technology inside at all. The two products given the iF Gold Award are the Sony BRAVIA ZX1 Series and the BDV-Z7 Blu-ray Disc home theatre system.

The Sony BRAVIA Zx1 impressed the panel of the international Design Forum predominantly for its extruded aluminium frame that acts dually as the chassis and the housing. The result is not only chic looks but also an extremely light piece of television equipment, the 40V format LCD TV weighing in at a paltry 12.2kg.

Sony is understandably proud of the BRAVIA ZX1 highlighting the designers desire to create an “exquisitely light look suggestive of a piece of paper floating in mid air”. Such minimalist design combined with wireless technology meaning that the equipment simply oozes contemporary style and elegance. The BDV-Z7 Blu-ray system also received an award for its sleek looks, particularly the tilted back speakers that provide elegant lines as well as optimal performance.

Sony Playstation Arc to be Confirmed Next Week?

The Playstation Arc controller

Rumours are still abounding that the PS3 motion controller will be labelled as the Playstation Arc. As previously reported, the Games Developers Conference next week is likely to be the place any official announcement will take place but in the last few days there has been further fuel to the fire due to one interesting development.

According to various reports Sony have now trademarked Playstation Arc in Japan; leading many to believe that Arc is going to be the name of Sony’s new motion controller device. Adding to the speculation reports are also filtering through that Konami have filed a trademark for a new game titled ‘Gradius Arc’. These latest developments join the newly registered PlaystationArc.com and hearsay evidence that some employees have been using the Arc title as the most forthcoming evidence for the name of the new Sony Playstation motion controller. Read the rest of this entry »

Sony Playstation Network and PS3 Consoles Working Again

Fire up COD again, PS3 is back online!

After the panic that spread throughout the gaming world yesterday; the result of the old “fat” PS3 consoles seemingly being crippled by a clock and date malfunction with the error  code 8001050F, it now seems that Sony Playstation have now fixed the problem according to a statement on the US Playstation Blog.

After warnings from Sony that PS3 owners should not use their consoles yesterday the all clear has now been given. The statement on the Playstation Blog announces that “[Sony] are aware that the internal clock functionality in the PS3 [older units] recognized the year 2010 as a leap year”. The problem seemed to occur due to the switch between February 29^th and March 1^st with the internal clock failing to carry out the date change successfully. This confirmed many theories that were espoused yesterday by industry commentators and gamers alike that the bug was a Y2K+10 issue and that because of the incorrect date on PS3 consoles they were unable to connect with the PSN servers. Read the rest of this entry »

Sony Playstation (PS3) Error; Possible Solutions to the Bug

Solutions to the PS3 Error

The wires are alive with news that the Sony Playstation Network has experienced a major error. The problem however seems to go further, with owners of the older PS3 (the larger, glossier version of the device) experiencing problems with not only accessing the PSN but also playing titles offline that use the trophy system. Reports also suggest that the error is also affecting purchases from the Playstation Network such as premium themes and downloaded games. The current error code is PSN 8001050F.

The advice at the moment is to leave your PS3 switched off until Sony has found a solution to the problem.

The cause of this malfunction is currently being debated across the entire internet; the general consensus is that the older versions of the PS3 have experienced a problem with the date. Specifically, the device, which has a hardware clock believes there to be a February 29^th this year and is experiencing problems when trying to rectify the issue internally. This Y2K+10 problem is believed by many to have led to the aforementioned issues. Read the rest of this entry »