21
Oct
2011
Engadget: We’d imagine come November 13th, the above will be the scene inside many a PS3 owner’s house. That’s when Sony’s hot little 24-inch PlayStation 3D display will officially be available in the US, Canada, Europe and parts of Asia. Sony took to its US PlayStation Blog today with the news, along with a lengthy FAQ to keep your GAS at bay in the meantime. (more…)
09
Jul
2010
3D Radar: Sony believes that people looking at what console to buy should take into consideration that the PlayStation 3 is ‘futureproofed in terms of 3D.’
Speaking at TechRadar at a John Lewis event, Sony’s Mick Hocking, senior director at SCEE, is keen to get the message out that the PS3 is becoming 3D ready for free, so that anyone with the console and a 3D Ready TV can take advantage.
“The message we are trying to get out there is that if you have a PlayStation 3 you don’t have to do anything it connects and downloads the firmware upgrade and it’s 3D ready,” Hocking told TechRadar.
“If you are going to choose a console then it’s future-proofed in terms of 3D.”
Adoption like HD
Hocking believes that adoption of 3D in the living room will be similar to the steady rise of HD, and believes that manufacturers and content providers will ensure that, this time, the technology will make a major impact.
“I think adoption is going to be like HD,” said Hocking, “But it delivers a lot more than HD and people need to see it to understand it.
“We think it’s going to bring a great deal to gaming and 3D games are here to stay now.
“3D’s been around for 180-odd years and its come and gone a few times, but now we have high-res technology, we have performance in the consoles and we can deliver content.
“Broadcasters, filmmakers, camera makers, camcorder manufacturers – they are all behind it because they see it as a way to sell more hardware.
“Content providers are incentivised to do it because they think ‘we have a new creative media to wow audiences’.”
14
Oct
2008
Eurogamer: Sony has released the details for the latest round of firmware updates for its platforms, listing a number of improvements for both PS3 and PSP usability.
The PS3 receives the bigger list of presents, with a few tweaks to existing services, as well as some completely new features. Of most interest, probably, is the addition of a high-quality mode for the bluetooth headset, a piece of kit which will see much use in the forthcoming SOCOM. The new HQ mode allows for clearer voice chat, as well as some nifty immersion features for SOCOM which will filter chat according to your in-game proximity to the speaker.
Friend lists, Trophies and the PSN store are also being given a bit of a facelift, with extra information more easily available as well as some added functionality – such as Trophy comparisons to fuel your sledging.
There are also a raft of tech changes, allowing power-saving for both the console and the controllers, and the taking and sharing of screenshots from compatible games. Videos can now be split into ‘scenes’ at the touch of a button to enable easier skipping.
The PSP’s firmware 5.0 update is less expansive but does offer the chance to sign into, and completely manage, your PSN account from the handheld. You’ll be able to grab games directly from the PlayStation store to your PSP too.
19
Aug
2008
Hexus.gaming: The new 80GB PS3 model, which is essentially the same as the 40GB model, but with a bigger HDD, was set to launch in Europe on 27th August, 2008.
According to a Gamestation employee, who contacted VG247, the launch of the new SKU has been bought forward to Friday, August 22nd, five days earlier than expected.
The Gamestation website also shows the 80GB PS3 as being available on the revised date, as does the Amazon website.
The 40GB model will be replaced by the new 80G.
27
Jun
2008
Eurogamer: Sony has revealed that more than 50 million PS3 consoles and PSP handhelds have now been sold.
The total figure is comprised of more than 12 million PS3s and more than 37 million PSPs.
The company also said over 9.8 million people now have PlayStation Network accounts. More than 170 million pieces of content have been downloaded from the service.
The figures were announced in a presentation at a corporate strategy meeting.
26
Jun
2008
Techradar: Rumours that Sony is working on a PlayStation-branded phone have resurfaced again, according to recent trade reports.
Marketing Week claims that unnamed industry insider sources in Japan and Korea report that the PlayStation phone will incorporate elements of Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) and is being readied for release by Christmas next year (2009).
The same unnamed insiders told Marketing Week that Sony will never consider giving its PlayStation branding to the mobile specialist joint venture Sony Ericsson, as relations between the two companies were ‘frosty’ following the ‘strategic error’ of Sony handing over its Walkman branding to Sony Ericsson for use on mobile phones.
Sony Ericsson has recently launched its F305 gaming phone, which features a motion-control style interface.
19
Jun
2008
Techradar.com: PlayStation 3 owners will get the long-awaited XMB in-game access and ‘trophies’ with firmware update v2.4.
PS3 gamers will have to wait a little longer for the updates however, with the next update (v2.36) only bringing minor fixes.
Update v2.36 – announced on the console’s official blog – brings with it ‘improved stability when playing select PlayStation format software titles’, although it remains to be seen if that includes the notoriously buggy GTA IV.
When 2.4 does arrive, the inclusion of the in-game cross media bar or XMB will be a major boon to users, allowing changes to settings on the fly whilst playing games or watching films.
Trophies – which is almost certainly a system that can be compared to rival Xbox 360′s gamer points – will also be included, with Sony saying: “The update will also include “trophies,” an exciting new feature that we’ll be providing more details on soon, as well as some other new enhancements.”
12
Dec
2007
Times Online: Sony is to place the chronically loss-making PlayStation 3 at the heart of its consumer electronics strategy, chief executive Sir Howard Stringer said today.
The Welsh-born Sir Howard cited the PlayStation Network, an online distribution platform that can deliver games, films and music to consumers’ homes and is based around the PS3 console, as a key weapon for Sony as it challenges its main competitors.
“PlayStation Network next year puts us in the direct line of fire with Apple and Microsoft,” he said.
The move makes a games division that has lost money for the past seven quarters the lynchpin for Sony’s electronics business, which accounts for three quarters of the group’s revenues.
08
Mar
2007
Yahoo: Capitalizing on the popularity of social networks and online worlds, Sony will launch its own virtual universe and another 3-D game built almost entirely by players. “Home” is a real-time, networked world for the PlayStation 3 in which players create human-looking characters called avatars. They can buy clothing, furniture and videos to play on a virtual flat-screen television in their virtual apartments.
The concept is strikingly similar to Linden Lab’s “Second Life,” a Web-based phenomenon with nearly 4.5 million residents. But Sony’s world will feature heavy doses of video games for avatars to play, as well as virtual arcades, music, movies and other Sony-approved media downloads.
Sony will launch a beta version in April and officially debut in the fall as a free download on the PlayStation online store.
Sony’s second virtual world for PlayStation users is called “LittleBigPlanet” and allows players to build obstacle courses, puzzles and other games for avatars that resemble beanbags — characters Sony dubs “sack boys.”
26
Feb
2007
BBC: The European version of Sony’s PlayStation 3 (PS3) console will not play as many old games as American and Japanese models, Sony has announced.
Gamers who already own PlayStation 2 (PS2) and PlayStation (PS) games may find they will not work on the long-awaited, new console.
The European PS3 has a different design to the Japanese and American consoles, which went on sale in November.
The PS3 is due to go sale in Europe on 23 March.
The console was supposed to be “backwards compatible”, meaning all older PS and PS2 games should work on the new console. But the European PS3 utilises a new combination of hardware and software emulation in which software takes over some of the functionality that was previously taken care of by dedicated chips. This means that while European gamers will be able to play a wide range of original PlayStation titles on the PS3, there will be a limited number of PS2 games that will be compatible with the new console.
06
Sep
2006
BBC: “The launch of Sony’s long-awaited PlayStation 3 games console in Europe has been delayed until March 2007. (…) Mr Kutaragi blamed the European delay on problems in mass producing elements of the high-definition Blu-ray disc drives in the machines.”
The launch for the PS4 however is still foreseen for 2011 (yes, we’re getting slightly enraged at Ken Kutaragi).
30
Aug
2006
You can’t use it to do the laundry. It’s of no use when having to pick lottery numbers. But the PlayStation Portable does have some extra features. For starters, it can prevent you from making a complete fool of yourself in a dark movie theatre. A summary for absolute beginners.
And for all you pros out there, we’ve found an excellent article on the PS3 at wired.com