Sony PS3 E3 2011 Live Stream Starts 4:45PT

How will Sony make amends for the now inFamous 4/20 hack debacle? It looks like we have to wait and see what Sony has up their sleeves. What sequels will Sony reveal? Syphon Filter 4? a new God of War? Sly 4? Will there be shock and awe or a loud thud?

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PSN Store up and running "Welcome Back"

Every since April 20th 2011, when Sony pulled the plug on it's PSN service gamers has not been able to access Sony's digital store front. Will great news Sony PSN Store is up and running in North America with a few hiccups.

There is the occasional error message when trying to download content especially Infamous 2.  This could be from the instant influx of gamers out there trying to access the same content all at once. 40 day and 40 nights later and Sony's PSN is finally back up to full functionality are you happy?  I am--now off to try out Infamous 2

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NanoGeekTechTV: Kinect Modded to Work on PS3

YouTube user shantzg001 has successfully modded his Kinect camera to work with the PlayStation 3, creating a sense of unity between console manufactures Sony and Microsoft.

Kinect Modded for Sony PS3 Video

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Rumor Alert: Will Syphon Filter 4 appear at E3 2011?

Apparently a stealth game was accidentally revealed on the PlayStation.blog, but then taken down. There were apparently discussions of this on the PlayStation Community Forums, but they too were taken down.

According to a post on GameTrailers.com, the game is going to be a PS3 title and will be out in late 2011. Sony has mention in the past that they 're currently developing 50 3D games for the PS3 platform.  Guess what ladies and gents one of these game is actually hold your breath..........Syphon Filter 4.  To be reveal at this year's E3.

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Kojima Productions to announce "Big Surprise" at Next Month's E3

Kojima Productions has promised surprises as part of Konami’s pre-E3 event next Thursday. Speaking in the studio’s official podcast, host Sean Eyestone mentioned that company has “something special” to announce before the big event in L.A..

“We are going to have a few announcements at E3 and we have some surprises, so be looking forward to that,” he said.

“And we have something special lined-up going on a little bit before E3. So next week, we’re going to have a little special something on June 2.

“Can’t say too much about it, keep your eyes and ears peeled. There’ll be some interesting news coming out of that leading into E3. It’s a Konami event that we’re holding. And, of course, Kojima Productions has a few things in there. But be excited, folks!”

Sony has to make some huge strides to win back it's reputation and fans after the 4/20 debacle.  So I expect Sony to pull no punches this year for E3.

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Sony brings PSN back online with firmware update 3.61

Sony has announced that online matchmaking for the PlayStation Network is back online, and that a mandatory install of a new firmware will be required.

According to the blog post, update 3.61 is mandatory and as soon as you log into PSN, here is what you need to do:

If using a PS3, your password can only be changed on your own PS3 (or a PS3 on which your PSN account was activated), as an added layer of security. If you have never downloaded any content using your account on the system, an email will be sent to the registered sign-in ID (email address) associated with your account when you first attempt to sign-in to PSN. This e-mail will contain a link that will enable you to change your password. In this email, click on the link and follow the instructions to change your password. Once you have changed your password you can sign-in to your account using your new password.

 We strongly recommend that all PSN account holders with PS3s update their systems to prepare for when PlayStation Network is back online. The release of this update is a critical step as we work to make PlayStation Network significantly more secure. Thank you for your continued support and patience.

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SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT TO GIVE FIRST YEAR POST MORTEM ON PS3 3D GAMING AT DEVELOP CONFERENCE IN FULL HD 3D AT THE ODEON CINEMA

Mick Hocking to present opening keynote at Develop in Brighton– 19-21 July 2011

Sony Computer Entertainment’s Vice President Mick Hocking will reveal whether it’s a happy first birthday for 3D gaming on PlayStation 3 during a keynote presentation at the Develop Conference in Brighton. Hocking’s address - The Stereoscopic 3D Experience: The First Year of 3D on PlayStation 3 - will take place at the Odeon Brighton cinema in full HD stereoscopic 3D and open the third day of the conference on Thursday 21 July.

Develop delegates will hear about the transition from promoting 3D gaming to actually delivering the experience into people’s homes, as well as tales about what can go wrong with 3D content and a glimpse into the future to see how new technologies may shape the 3D gaming experience in coming years.

“I’m really looking forward to giving this keynote at Develop. I’ll be doing a 3D post-mortem from Killzone 3, and also showing how we implemented 3D as an advanced post effect in SOCOM 4 . I’ll look at how we used a 2D camera for 3D augmented reality in EyePet Move. Actually being able to show these on a big screen with surround sound will make all the difference for the audience,” commented Mick Hocking.

Hocking is in charge of the WWS Stereoscopic 3D team and is Vice President for the Studio Group which includes London Studio, Evolution Studios, Studio Liverpool and BigBig Studios. The Stereoscopic 3D Team has been pioneering 3D game development for the last two years, drawing upon their wealth of previous experience working with high end 3D simulators for F1 and Flight Simulation.

The Develop Conference in Brighton celebrates its sixth birthday this year and promises a stellar line up of speakers, sessions and socialising. Around 1,300 delegates from across the globe are expected to attend.
Registration is open at www.developconference.com. Early bird rates are available for one month only.

Notes to editors:

Mick’s Bio: Mick Hocking is the Vice President Studio Group for London Studio, Studio Liverpool, Evolution Studios and BigBig studios - part of the Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios group. Mick has been largely responsible for the creation and development of some of the PlayStations leading racing brands; notably the officially licensed World Rally Championship (WRC) series of games for the PS2 and latterly the multi platinum selling and award winning MotorStorm franchise for PS3. Mick is also the Director of the WorldWide Studios 3D Team that looks after the development of 3D games across all of Sony’s Studios and is working to maintain SONY’s place at the forefront of 3D entertainment. Mick is also responsible for the Academic partnership between Sony and Academia throughout Europe.

Mick was a founding member of Evolution Studios, holding the positions of Director of Development and ultimately Managing Director. During this time he oversaw the operational running of the studio and worked in both publisher and licensor relations, helping to create and drive over 4million sales of the WRC series. Mick was instrumental in the formation of BigBig studios in 2000 which went onto develop the ground breaking PSP launch title - Pursuit Force and most recently the critically acclaimed MotorStorm: Arctic Edge.

During his career, Mick has won awards for the creation and development of key artificial intelligence based gaming systems (WARGEN) for PC flight simulations - EF2000, F22-ADF and Total Air War. WARGEN went on to be licensed by the Royal Air force as a training aid and instruction tool.

About the Develop Conference:

The sixth Develop Conference will take place at the Hilton Metropole in Brighton, UK, from 19 - 21 July 2011. It attracts around 1300 game developers from over 20 different territories and has become firmly established as the leading conference in Europe for games developers. Delegates can apply for conference passes at: www.developconference.com.

Delegates can purchase one, two and three day passes to Develop priced at£330,£565 and£680 respectively. Early bird rates are£275,£450 and£525. Audio track passes are£280 (£225 early bird). Indie Dev Day passes are£75 (£50 early bird).

Evolve focuses on how to develop games for new and emerging platforms, new technologies and new markets like social and casual gaming. It opens on Tuesday 19 July then continues with individual sessions within the main conference programme on Wednesday 20 July, which are cross-discipline and have a more general appeal.

Indie Dev Day the new day-long conference and networking event running alongside Develop is designed for established independent studios, new start-ups, wannabe indies, freelance developers and students. The sessions will complement the brand new Indie Dev Showcase: a dedicated area within the Develop Expo (20 - 21 July) featuring some of the exciting and new indie projects currently under development.

Games:EDU is a one-day conference taking place on Wednesday 20 July alongside Develop, which brings together the UK's foremost educators from across all disciplines to connect directly with developers and games producers, to exchange ideas and perspectives.

About Tandem Events:

Tandem Events has over 20 years of experience in organising market-leading exhibitions, conferences and events across a number of industry sectors, including Develop and Evolve in Brighton, Evolve in London, Develop in Liverpool, Games:EDU, Games Marketing Forum and Games Grads.

www.tandemevents.co.uk

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'Heavenly Sword' sequel in the works?

Ninja Theory may be working on the sequel to one of my favorite games of all time Heavenly Sword, according to reports

According to PlayGamer, the follow-up will be an open-world sandbox title set ten years after the original.

The publication went on to say that players will start out utilising hand-to-hand combat, before wielding weapons and mastering different martial art styles. Missions will be replayable within an interactive environment.

Last year, studio head Tameem Antoniades told VG247 that he had an idea for a sequel involving protagonist Nariko being sent to hell.

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Should Sony just go into Game Publishing?

Sony's 4/20 debacle is being hailed as the largest cyber breach in history with about a 100 million customer's personal information being compromised. Over the past 24 months Sony has been riding a bullet-train called "momentum" and from the looks of it the "bullet-train" has fucking derailed in a blazing inferno.

So what now for Sony? Will they just "say fuck it" and go away looking as incompetent as a single entity can look? Become a Mega publisher like Sega or Square-Enix?

The longer PSN stays down Sony may have to go for the latter.  Sony cannot afford to have the PSN outage surpass 30 days.  After the thirty days of PSN downtime a 100 million people may loose faith all at once. What do you think; is Sony better off staying in the console business or should they become a mega publisher?

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No Sony PS3 PSN Until June?

From the looks of it Sony's PSN will not be back up until some time in early June. Sony's PS3 was hacked back on April, 20th, a day that will go down in history as the largest cyber breach in history. Sony's has already announced a "welcome back" program that will allow for an extra 30 days of PSN Plus free of charge for everyone. Sony is also reported to be giving away free PS3 and PSP games as a good will gesture.

According to Bloomberg; "Shigenori Yoshida, a Tokyo-based spokesman said. Sony is uncertain when it can resume the services, Yoshida said by phone today.

The company is in the process of adopting an improved security system and its plan to restart the services fully by May 31 is unchanged, he said"

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Sony to "Welcome Back" PSN and Qriocity this Week

Sony has just announced that the PlayStation Network and its Qriocity services will be back up starting next week. The PSN has been down for over a week now, ever since Sony decided to temporarily disable it to prevent further external intrusions and to patch things up on the network.

Sony said that the initial phase of the rollout will include but not be limited to:

• Restoration of online game-play across the PlayStation (PS3) and PSP (PlayStation Portable) systems, including titles requiring online verification and downloaded games
•  Access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3/PSP for existing subscribers
•  Access to account management and password reset
• Access to download un-expired Movie Rentals on PS3, PSP and MediaGo
•  PlayStation Home
• Friends list
• Chat functionality

The restoration will also include a mandatory system update that will require all users to change their passwords. Users will be required to do so on their own PS3 or via a verified email confirmation

Sony also said that it would offer a "Welcome Back" program to each of the affected territories or regions, as compensation for the outage. The promotions will be "tailored to specific markets to provide our consumers with a selection of service options and premium content as an expression of the company's appreciation for their patience, support and continued loyalty," Sony said.

"Welcome Back" PSN Users

As expected, the "central components" of the "Welcome Back" program will include selected PlayStation content for free download, with specific details to be made available soon, Sony said. In addition, each PlayStation Network customer will either receive 30 days of PlayStation Plus, Sony's value-added subscription gaming service that offers free downloads and game trials. Those that already subscribe to PlayStation Plus will receive 30 additional days for free, the same deal that subscribers to Sony's Qriocity cloud-music service will receive. If a user doesn't subscribe to Qriocity, however, he or she will not receive a free subscription.

Sony also said that it will also provide a "complimentary offering to assist users in enrolling in identity theft protection services and/or similar programs".

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Sony PS3 PSN "4/20 Debacle" What Now?

On April 20th 2011 Sony pulled the plug on PSN a day that will and probably haunt Sony for a long time to come.

If you have not heard Sony PSN has been hacked and about 70+ million customers personal information has been compromised possibly even credit card numbers. This revelation came to light on Friday April, 22nd when Sony finally shed a sprinkle of knowledge to elevate mass speculation.

Sony finally open up due to Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, who recently sent a letter to SCEA CEO Jack Tretton. The letter is mostly aimed at Sony’s inability to immediately notify users “about whether and to what extent their personal and financial information has been compromised.” Mr. Blumenthal also made a suggestion to Sony to offer PSN users complimentary “financial data security services, including free access to credit reporting services, for two years,” as well as insurance. A day after this letter arrived Sony update their blog with a bombshell of information.

Now Congress has questions for Sony about recent attack. A House of Representatives subcommittee sent a letter to Sony on Friday asking for information about the attack on the Sony Playstation Network by hackers last week. The gaming network has 77 million registered users.

The letter, which was addressed to Mr. Kazuo Hirai, chairman of Sony, asked the company to answer a detailed list of questions related to the intrusion. It wants a reply by May 6.

In the letter, which was written by the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, the group’s chairman, Representative Mary Bono Mack, Republican of California, asked a number of security and privacy related questions that Sony has never disclosed to the public. They included when the intrusion occurred, if Sony knew who was responsible for the attack and when the company notified law enforcement.

What's Next For Sony

This may be Sony's own take on the RROD fiasco, but with a longer lasting bitter feeling.  There are currently a number of lawsuits that are slowly surfacing that may cost Sony millions or at least a major headache.  There are many Sony PS3 consumer's that are threating to change allegiance to Microsoft Xbox 360. So what will be next for Sony?

Sony has made it public that they are working on some sort of "goodwill" gesture. According to Sony PlayStation Blog Q&A#2

Q: Will there be a goodwill gesture for the time we haven’t been able to utilize PSN/Qriocity?
A: We are currently evaluating ways to show appreciation for your extraordinary patience as we work to get these services back online.

What should this gesture be?  This is the second weekend without the ability to play online. What about the lucky few that has purchased DC Universe Online and downloaded Free Realms. What should they get? How about PlayStation Plus members, do they deserve some sort of free extension to their service? How about LoveFilm customers? Would paying Qriocity customer's be reimbursed?  Will customer's be confident enough to purchase DLC content from PSN in record numbers as they did in the past?

Consider probably one of the largest unauthorized “external intrusion.” in history, Sony has a long way to go to regain consumer confidence. Sony's actions in the coming month's will ultimately determine their future as the the once proud arrogant gaming giant it was.

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Conspiracy Saturday one day earlier edition: Is Corporate Espionage behind PSN Shutdown?

If you are a PS3 owner you are one of many millions shut off from Sony's online playground "PSN".  Sony's PSN online service has been shutdown coincidently since 4/20/2011.  April 20th(aka:420) is a date synonymous with many evil's, bastardly deeds and of course "Pot" Weed, Mary Jane, and Ganja.  Adolf Hitler was born on 4/20/1889, Columbine High School shooting was 4/20/1999, Serbian army bombs hospital in Goradze Bosnia, 47 killed 4/20/1994, France declares war on Austria, Prussia and Sardinia 4/20/1792 and 4/20/1941 one hundred German bombers attack Athens.


Now 4/20/2011 will be a day etched in stone as the day Sony pulled the plug on it's PSN online services due to "External Intrusion".  According to Patrick Seybold Sr. Director, Corporate Communications &  Social Media: "An external intrusion on our system has affected our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. In order to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services going forward, we turned off PlayStation Network & Qriocity services on the evening of Wednesday, April 20th. Providing quality entertainment services to our customers and partners is our utmost priority. We are doing all we can to resolve this situation quickly, and we once again thank you for your patience. We will continue to update you promptly as we have additional information to share.

This has been a very contentious, bitter and extremely costly console war between Sony and Microsoft. Sony's has just announced that they've hit the 50 million mark, trailing just slightly behind Microsoft's Xbox 360. With Microsoft's sales number's heavily tinted because of the RROD fiasco and the slow demise of the core-gaming experience; Sony's momentum needs to be slowed to a grinding halt.

Microsoft has thrown billions of dollars to attract timed exclusives and innovated technology to enhance it's core & motion gaming department.  But no matter how much money Microsoft spends and how many feature they cram unto Xbox LIVE it seems that Sony's PS3 with it's hefty price tag(obvious lack luster online service), is on pace to catch if not surpass Microsoft this year in global console sales.

When Microsoft released Window Phone 7 back in November 8th 2010 to a silent whimper.  News started to swirl a month or so later that Windows Phone 7 had been hacked, thereby enabling homebrew programs to be run on the platform and circumventing the Marketplace. 


So the guys who made it possible to run homebrew apps on the Marketplace-centric Windows Phone 7 platform got a nice piping hot cup of coffee and a fun little t-shirt to their wardrobe? But is that all?

While giving away t-shirts to people that hack your code isn’t the way  Apple or Sony would roll, it certainly seems to be the future for Microsoft who seem to be engaging with their computer savvy users in a whole new slightly disturbing way since the release of Windows Phone 7.

Now, this new yet strange and twisted relationship with the Hacking community may have benefited Microsoft in a huge and unexpected ways.  


Could these new found friends Microsoft has embraced be behind the current PSN outage?   Could this have been sanction by Microsoft to help slow the momentum Sony is currently high on? Is the outage an act by the shady for the "people" group" called "anonymous".  Or was it a single splinter from that group?  Only time and Sony of Japan engineers will shed some light on what will be Sony's 4/20 debacle.

Share your thoughts; could it be Corporate Espionage or some lone wolf with a sick twisted vendetta against Sony?

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PSN Plus Members Save Your Games In The Cloud

Starting tomorrow with the arrival of PS3 firmware update 3.60, PSN Plus members will be able to back up their PS3 saved-game data online—a feature. This new feature will come in handy if your console's hard drive crash and burns.

PlayStation Plus users can expect 150MB of online storage, or up to 1,000 game files, which you'll be able to access from the PlayStation 3's XrossMediaBar—and yes, you'll be able to tap into your online files from another PS3 console besides your own, provided you log in with your PSN ID and password first.

The online backup service will work with copy-protected game saves, PSN Senior Director Susan Panico promises, and you'll be able to restore all your saved data once every 24 hours.

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Katherine Marlowe Uncharted 3D Villain?

The Uncharted series for the PS3 has always been an epic non-stop action joy ride. Naughty Dog's third entry Uncharted:Drake's Deception 3-D is turning out to be Sony's PS3 next must have game.

In the new cutscene, Sony PS3 owners are introduced for the very first time to Katherine Marlowe, an aging British woman. According to Naughty Dog, Marlowe is the current head of a 400-year-old cabal associated with none other than Queen Elizabeth and her sea-faring explorer Sir Francis Drake, Nathan's long-dead relative. At the outset of the cutscene, Drake and Sully are thrown out into an alleyway somewhere in urban England, where they're roughed-up by some of Marlowe's goons. It's only after the two men are adequately subdued that Marlowe herself shows up.

New Uncharted: Drake's Deception Video:
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception


Video Source:[IGN]

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PS3 Digital Version of Mass Effect 2: PSN Experiment A Success

John Riccitiello, CEO of publishing giant EA, says its experimental day-and-date digital and retail release of the PlayStation 3 version of Mass Effect 2 has been a success.

Speaking at last week’s Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco, Riccitiello said that the digital release of Mass Effect 2, did well. The digital version of Mass Effect 2 accounted for a “double-digit percentage” of sales, despite EA tight lips to market the release.

“Sony had never done a day-and-date release,” he said. “They were very cautious about their infrastructure so it was mostly a technology test.

“This was really more about proving it can be done than it was proving what the opportunity would be. So an unmarketed game one year after the original was done on the Xbox and the PC, we released the PS3 and managed to do very, very well with it.”

Riccitiello went on to explain that simultaneous digital and physical releases of games are not the norm because of hardware manufacturer retail policies, saying: “They have got to manage both selling boxes at retail, and it's generally a pretty thin margin business. And so they basically negotiate and leverage shelf space on the promise of making retail margin on software.”

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Hawk-Eye Tech for Sony PS3?

Could Sony be planning to throw a curve ball when it comes to motion gaming? Sony has paid some £20million to buy the UK company behind the Hawk-Eye technology used to track balls in a variety or sports including cricket and tennis.

Hawk-Eye is a complex computer system used in cricket, tennis and other sports to visually track the path of the ball and display a record of its most statistically likely path as a moving image. In some sports, like tennis, it is now part of the adjudication process. It is also used in some instances to predict the future path of a ball in cricket. It was developed by engineers at Roke Manor Research Limited of Romsey, Hampshire in the UK, in 2001


Source:[Spong][Wikipedia]

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Move.me brings PlayStation Move development to your PC this Spring

Sony's Move.Me is a server application that runs on the PS3 system. It allows anyone with a PS3 to experiment with motion controls and is officially sanctioned and supported by Sony Computer Entertainment," John McCutchan, senior engineer with SCEA’s Developer Support team, wrote on Sony's official blog. "Move.Me sends the complete state of the PlayStation Move and navigation controllers to the PC, giving you the exact same data that licensed developers typically have access to."

The software will be available for download via the PlayStation Network this spring, but you can also apply for early access if you'd like to get started on your project ahead of time. What can you expect from Sony's scholastic efforts you ask.  Well, here goes a list of things Sony seems that may fit the Move's foray into the edu-game space.

• Games and tools that support kids' physical fitness and nutrition.
• Kid-friendly programming interfaces for computer/technology classes or individual learning.
• Physical therapy and rehabilitation.
• Sports physiology or fitness training.
• Music and the creative arts.

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Vidzone offers live concert on PS3

The free music service, which is currently available in Europe and Oceania, will offer the following concerts in the coming months:

• Artist - Territory
• Coldplay - All Territories
• Rihanna - All Territories
• Iron Maiden - All Territories
• Placebo - All Territories
• Evanescence - All Territories
• Depeche Mode All Territories
• Babyshambles - GB IE
• Anouk - NL
• Raphael - FR
• Unheilig – DE, AT, CH
• Amaral - ES
• Velvet - IT
• Nirvana – SE, DK, NO, FI, PT, BE, LU
• Wolfmother AU, NZ

In case you missed out one of the shows or just can’t get enough, there is no need to worry. SCEE has revealed that at the end of each run, VidZone will be creating a special round-up playlist featuring the best performances to enjoy again.

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PS3 Quality Games Coming To PSN HOME

HOME Sony's never ending beta will be getting version 1.5 soon according to Jack Buser PlayStation Home director. Version 1.5 of Home, will be released sometime this Spring, it will provide improved network mechanics to allow for massively multiplayer experiences; physics engine improvements that give developers direct control over mass, velocity and collisions; and graphical improvements that provide for better frame rates and smoother animation transitions.

With the 1.5 update, games on PlayStation Home can become harder to distinguish from standard PlayStation 3 releases, Jack Buser stated. To demonstrate this, Lockwood Publishing CEO Halli Bjornsson demoed a work-in-progress version of Sodium 2: Project Velocity, a multiplayer futuristic racing game with some high graphical polish.

Bjornsson point's out that Home integration will allow Sodium 2 players to walk over to their garage, hop in a customized car, and accelerate directly into a live race with other players seamlessly. The tracks themselves will also be integrated into Home's larger virtual world, allowing spectators unique access, he said.

“You can actually walk up to the game with all the people and step into it,” he said. “The best example is to imagine in Gran Turismo, if you're in the pit and you can see the cars going past. Home offers you a sort of unique relationship between you, the players, and the games you play. Psychologically, we really love that.”

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