Is This The New Sony Playstation 4?

At the unveiling of the PS4 we really didn’t see the PS4 in person, the only thing we saw in person was the controller. But according to a page on Facebook, Sony is recruiting people for testing out the PS4. A post on this page accompanied by an image of the PS4 read:

“Sony needs testers for the new PlayStation 4. You will get to keep the new PS4 after you’ve tested it…..If you want to be a tester for the new PS4 just share this photo and like our page. People will be chosen completely at random! ~ Sony”

The page and post and picture seems legit, but I am really not sure. Could this be the actual PS4? What do you think? Sound off below!

Break the Bank to Re-Buy The Games Again for The PS Vita

Love or hate the used games and systems programs offered up by retailers around the world, it’s not hard to admit that trading in your old goods for new hardware is a strong way to save money.

Typically, if you want a new handheld, you can trade in your now-old flavor to save some scratch. You keep your game library, of course, since most new consoles are backwards compatible by at least one generation of hardware.

The PS Vita, however, is not. Sony championed their UMD as the next big media format when the PSP launched. They crammed games and movies on the small disks and promised us they’d be here to stay. The PS Vita does not include a UMD drive; which is fine, the format wasn’t all that great.

So, if you buy a PS Vita, you’ll need to keep your PSP on hand in order to play your older games. Sony will be making the PSP library available on their online store for the PS Vita; that means you’ll be able to re-buy and download digital versions of games you either missed or already own whenever you like.

That’s right, if you want to ditch your PSP for a PS Vita, you’ll need to pony up the scratch to re-buy your old games for the new system. In Japan, however, Sony rolled out what’s called the UMD Passport Program. With it, Japanese gamers can download an app onto their PSP, insert their UMDs into the device and have them tied to their Sony Entertainment Network accounts. Then, when they hit the store on the PS Vita, they’ll receive a discount for having purchased the game once before.

It’s not great, but it’s better than paying full price.

Now, Kotaku reports that Sony will not be bringing a UMD Passport Program to North America for its consumers. You will not be able to play your old UMDs on the new system, and you’ll need to re-buy your old games at full price.

I won’t be trading my old PSP in for the PS Vita specifically because of this. I own way too many great games that would be rendered unplayable if I did.

PSN Becomes the Sony Entertainment Network

The PlayStation Network will no longer be the PlayStation Network in less than 24 hours. Today, Sony announced that they will be rebranding their gaming network service as the Sony Entertainment Network. They spread the word to PSN users by way of email.

Here is a bit of the email sent around to alert PlayStation Network users of the impending change:

On February 7, 2012, Sony Network Entertainment International LLC (“SNEI”) will update its Terms of Service and User Agreement and its Privacy Policy. As a part of this update, your “PlayStation®Network account” will be renamed a “Sony Entertainment Network account…”

This move is all about simplicity in brand unification. By tying their similar products and services together under one single banner like the Sony Entertainment Network, Sony has effectively erased the lines between gaming on the PlayStation 3 and buying content on, say, their music service. It all happens under the same name and on the same platform.

Here’s Sony again, from the same email, as they explain the new name:

“This transition is based on Sony’s goal to enhance its unique digital entertainment offering. As a series of these activities Sony started last September, PlayStation Network will be aligned with “Sony Entertainment Network.” This helps us get closer to our goal of establishing a global comprehensive network platform of services across games, movies, music and more, all accessible from one convenient account.

The Sony Entertainment Network account also enables use of Sony’s compelling non-game services such as Music Unlimited, Video Unlimited and PlayMemories Online (currently called Personal Space) across a variety of network-connected devices.”

The transition will happen on February 7th (tomorrow). When you boot up your PlayStation 3, you’ll be asked to accept a new agreement and then the changes will go into effect.

What do you think of the change in branding? To play devil’s advocate, do you think it was a move to wash away any lingering negativity after the attacks on the PlayStation Network?

Review: The Sony SmartWatch

Apple’s got the iPod Nano, Motorola’s got the Motoactv. And now Sony has launched its own wrist-tech gadget, the SmartWatch.

Though the name isn’t so great, compared to the Sony Ericson’s LiveView. Featuring a sleeker design than the LiveView and powered by Android Honeycomb, this one lets user download apps directly via the device from the Android Market.

It is a watch, yes, but not just any watch. Once hooked up to your Android phone, the 1.3-inch full touch OLED-screen device will vibrate with incoming calls that you can answer or reject without having to pull out your phone. You can also read SMS, e-mails, Facebook and Twitter updates, and check the weather. No, you won’t be able to input text, but you wouldn’t want to do that on such a tiny screen anyway.

The company has announced that the gadget will be available in pink, mint, blue, white, grey and black.

If you don’t like to wear it on your wrist, remove the strap and clip it on to anything. The SmartWatch is also water and dust proof and so it is hopefully built for rough terrain.

The Sony SmartWatch is expected to be available in the US in March. No word yet on the Middle East market.

 

Reviews: Sony Tablet S

The one thing that Sony always gets right is design, and the Tablet S is no exception, Son’s new 9.4-inch wedge-shaped tablet looks like a folded page of a magazine. One end of the tablet is thicker than the other.

The thicker edge gives the tablet a slight incline, which makes for a much better viewing angle on a flat surface and is also comfortable to type on. Within the thicker edge is a pullout flap which conceals a mini USB port and full-sized  SD card slot, but the SD card does not act as an expansion slot – it can only be used to transfer files and images to the tablet.

The screen and back panel also sticks out a bit over the sides, so it makes it easy to grip with your hands or manage the controls with your fingers.

The back panel is made of dotted and texturised black plastic, which unfortunately cheapens the table a bit. It’s also very prone to smudges. The screen gets pretty messy if you use it regularly.

It is powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor and runs on Android Honeycomb. Sony hasn’t made major customizing to the Honeycomb experience, but a nice addition is the revamped apps layout. The apps are arranged on a white background which makes them easy to spot.

The tablet does offer a few add-ons that are distinctly Sony. Perhaps the most important on is the inclusion of PlayStation Suite, which enables you to play PlayStation and PlayStation Portable’s games. You get to experience it with the 2 pre-installed games. The entire PS Store consists of 7 games, of which 5 are free and 2 are for $6 each.

The tablet’s Gameloft, gives users access to quality high-definition games.

The tablet is pre-loaded with Sony’s Reader app, Social Feed Reader, Sony’s Gallery app.

Sony has also included its own music player, own music service and an on-demand video which is available as part of a subscription.

It comes in 16 & 32 GB’s.

Let the PlayStation 4 rumors be at rest for a while, as Hirai denies it’s appereance at E3

Kaz Hirai, one of Sony’s top executives, has come out and explicitly said that Sony will not be showing off a new console at this year’s E3 conference in Los Angeles.

Hirai was asked about the PlayStation 4 and its potential unveiling during a roundtable at this year’s CES. Andy House, another Sony exec, had said that the PS4 would be a no-show at E3 this year. Hirai was asked to clarify:

“Andy (House) is absolutely right in that we are not making any announcements at E3…”

Personally, almost every time I write up a news post concerning the impending PlayStation 4, I make it a habit to point towards Sony’s insistence that the PlayStation 3 was a console built with a 10-year life cycle in mind. That’s 10 years as Sony’s leading home entertainment device, not 10 years on the market counting the time after the PS4 launches. They released the system in 2006. 10 years as the leading device would mean Sony won’t release a new machine until 2016.

Here’s Kaz Hirai as a follow-up to his quote above:

“I’ve always said a 10-year life cycle for PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that.”

And “boom” goes the dynamite.

There it is, in plain english that’s impossible to misinterpret; Sony has no reason to leave their 10-year life cycle plans for the PlayStation 3. Every time you read a new rumor concerning Sony’s next console, consider Hirai’s constant lifespan insistence.

The PlayStation 4 will not be at E3 this year. The PlayStation 3 is doing far too well for Sony to launch a new machine any time soon.

[via WSJ]

Sony Announces the PS Vita to Launch on February 22nd

Towards the end of the news day yesterday, Sony announced that their next portable will not be launching outside of Japan until February. On February 22nd, 2012, to be exact, the PS Vita will release and be available “at major retailers in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europe.”

The news comes by way of the PlayStation Blog as Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, wrote up his own post. In the post, of course, Tretton hypes the system by declaring that Sony has a ton of titles planned:

“…more than 100 games currently in development globally that span many different genres, including Sound Shapes, Resistance: Burning Skies, Uncharted Golden Abyss, Capcom’s Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed, EA Sports’ FIFA, Activision’s Call of Duty, and numerous others that you’ll hear about in the months ahead.”

Tretton went on to tell gamers a little bit of what they can expect from this portable unit when it launches next February:

“With its vibrant 5-inch OLED screen, dual analog sticks, dual cameras, and front and rear touch panel, PS Vita will deliver rich, immersive games with stunning graphics, which simply can’t be found anywhere else. Now you’ll be able to play shooters and action titles on-the-go with controls that are familiar, and you won’t have to block out the gorgeous screen to interact with the games.”

Gamers in Japan will be able to snag their PS Vitas starting on December 17th of this year. We’re jealous.

Are you sad to see this handheld so far away from the holiday release window, or do you find yourselves thanking Sony for going easy on your wallet during the most intense gaming months we’ve seen in years? I fall into the latter category and am glad I’ll be able to save enough money for the PS Vita without putting myself well into debt.

It’s the little things, you know?

[via PlayStation Blog]

Sony Reveals Hardware Specs and 3-5 Hour Battery Life

Last night, Sony had its pre-Tokyo Game Show conference to detail some of the upcoming happenings for the hardware and software manufacturer. A big chunk of their presentation was dedicated exclusively to their upcoming handheld, the PS Vita.

Our own Killian Bell tossed up the roster of Japanese launch games for the device and its December 17th release date this morning. Now, Sony‘s gone ahead and dropped the tech specs for the hardware. Most of it is impressive, but there are some dings a lot of folks may take notice to right away.

The most glaring of which for this gamer is the 3-5 hour battery life for offline gaming on the device. Similar to the Nintendo 3DS‘ gaming time, the PS Vita will need to be played in short bursts with high recharging times. In fact, it takes 2 hours and 40 minutes to recharge the Vita, nearly as long as it takes for the battery to die.

The fact that the stat specifies that this battery life window is for offline gaming tells me that we’re likely to see a big drop in life if we want to play, say, a round or two of Uncharted multiplayer.

How does the handheld look to you, fair readers?

Tip of the hat to VG247 for the full rundown of this hardware’s technical specifications. Here she be:

Duration of the Battery

• Game – Approx. 3~5 hours (with no network connection)
• Video – Approx. 5 hours
• Music (in stand-by mode) – Approx. 9 hours
• Reference: About Charging Time of the Battery>
• AC adaptor charging: Approx. 2 hours and 40 min.

Hardware

• Model number – PCH-1000 series
• CPU – ARM Cortex™-A9 core (4 core)
• GPU – SGX543MP4+
• Main memory – 512MB
• VRAM – 128MB
• External Dimensions – 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest
  projection)
• Weight – 279g (3G/Wi-Fi model)
• Weight – 260g (Wi-Fi model)
• Screen – 5 inches (16:9), 960 x 544, Approx. 16 million colors, OLED
• Multi-touch screen (capacitive type)
• Rear touch pad Multi touch pad (capacitive type)
• Cameras – Front camera, Rear camera
• Frame-rate – 120fps@320×240(QVGA), 60fps@640×480(VGA)
• Resolution – Up to 640×480(VGA)
• Sound – Built-in stereo speakers
• Built-in microphone
• Sensors – Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Threeaxis
  electronic compass
• Location – Built-in GPS (3G/Wi-Fi model only)
• Wi-Fi location service support

Buttons

• Power button
• Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left)
• Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square)
• Shoulder buttons (Right/Left)
• Right stick, Left stick
• START button, SELECT button
• Volume buttons (+/-)

Wireless communications

• Mobile network connectivity (3G/Wi-Fi model only)
• 3G modem (data communication): HSDPA/HSUPA *specification for Japanese region
• IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1×1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode)
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR （A2DP/AVRCP/HSP）
• Slots/Ports PlayStation®Vita card slot
• Memory card slot
• SIM card slot (3G/Wi-Fi model only)
• Multi-use port (for USB data communication, DC IN, Audio [Stereo Out / Mono In], 5-5-5-5 PlayStation Vita Available in Japan on December 17,2011 Serial data communication),
• Headset jack (Stereo mini jack) (for Audio [Stereo Out / Mono In])
• Accessory port
• Power Built-In Lithium-ion Battery: DC3.7V 2200mA
• AC adaptor: DC 5V

Supported AV content format

• Music－MP3 MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer 3, MP4 (MPEG-4 AAC), WAVE (Linear PCM)
• Videos－MPEG-4 Simple Profile (AAC), H.264/MPEG-4 AVC High/Main/Baseline Profile
  (AAC)
• Photos －JPEG (Exif 2.2.1), TIFF, BMP, GIF, PNG

[via VG247]

PlayStation Vita Will Launch in Japan With 26 Games on December 17

Those of you in Japan will be lucky enough to get Sony’s latest handheld just in time for Christmas. The company has confirmed at a pre-Tokyo Game Show press conference that the PlayStation Vita will indeed launch on December 17 in Japan, alongside 26 games. Another 100 games will follow shortly afterwards during an unspecified “launch window.”

The Wi-Fi-only PS Vita will be priced at 24,980 Yen, which is approximately $324 for those in the U.S., and £206 for those in the U.K. However, we’d expect these prices to change quite significantly when they become official.

That price does make it more expensive than its biggest rival — the Nintendo 3DS — following that whopping price cut. But the device does seem to get ahead with some impressive launch titles, which Nintendo said was one of the things lacking from its 3DS launch. Among those 26 titles are FIFA 12, WipEout 2048, and Uncharted: Golden Abyss, which our own Jon Rettinger had the pleasure of testing briefly during IFA in Berlin.

The other 23 titles include:

• BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend
• Project N.O.E.L.S.
• Fish On
• Dynasty Warriors Next
• WipEout 2048
• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
• Lord of Apocalypse (Square Enix)
• Ninja Gaiden Sigma
• Army Corpse of Hell (Square Enix)
• Michael Jackson: The Experience (Ubisoft)
• Shinobido 2: Tales of a Ninja (Acquire)
• Virtua Tennis 4 (Sega)
• Hot Shots Golf 6 (SCE)
• Gyokugen Dasshutsu Adv: Zennin Shiboudesu (Chunsoft)
• Dream Club Zero Portable (D3 Publisher)
• Disgaea 3: Return (NIS)
• Dark Quest: Alliance (Ubisoft)
• Ridge Racer (Namco Bandai)
• Tales of Innocence
• Gravity Daze
• Metal Gear Solid HD (Konami)

Sony also showed off a PS Vita accessory pack during the event, which consists of a case, headphones, a cleaning cloth, a car charger, and a stand — all sporting the PS Vita moniker.

For me, that list of games indicates an impressive start for the Vita, and certainly provides us with enough entertainment while we await the other 100 titles. I’m particularly looking forward to Uncharted and FIFA 12.

If you are in Japan, you can begin pre-ordering the PS Vita from October 15. Unfortunately for those of us in the U.S. and Europe, a release date for these territories wasn’t mentioned.

Are you looking forward to the PS Vita? Which of the games on that list will you be purchasing on launch day?

[via TechRadar]

PlayStation Vita Now Available to Pre-Order on Amazon; Shipping Dec. 31

Despite Sony’s announcement that its PlayStation Portable successor would not launch this year, Amazon has begun taking pre-orders for the device, advertising a December 31 shipping date. Admittedly that’s only just this year, but to those of us that were anticipating a delay until early 2012, this is awesome news.

The PlayStation Vita is currently being advertised on Amazon’s U.S. and U.K. websites, and both the Wi-Fi-only and 3G-capable models are available to pre-order.

Prices start at $249.99 in the U.S., and £229.99 in the U.K. — and that’s for the Wi-Fi-only console. If you want to add 3G capabilities for online gaming on the go, you can expect to pay $299.99 in the U.S., or £279.99 in the U.K.

If you do choose to go for the 3G-capable model, you’ll need to sign up to a data agreement from AT&T if you’re in the U.S., which will be the only carrier to support the device — at least at launch. As for us Brits, Sony is yet to confirm which U.K. carrier(s) will offer the handheld, and this information isn’t provided by Amazon either.

Other than the inclusion — or exclusion — of 3G, both devices are exactly the same when it comes to specs. Both boast a 5-inch OLED touchscreen (960 x 544), dual analogue sticks, front- and rear-facing cameras, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

I can’t wait to fondle Sony’s new PS Vita, so this is exciting news for me. I’d prefer to have it under my tree on Christmas day, but I’d be happy to hold on to my money for another week or two.

It’s worth noting, however, that Amazon hasn’t actually advertised a U.K. shipping date — the date only applied to the U.S. site. However, we’d expect to see the U.K. release around the same time.

Will you be pre-ordering from Amazon?

[via SlashGear]