George Hotz, the Infamous PS3 Hacker Vows to Never Buy Sony Again

George Hotz was involved in a court case against Sony for his work in hacking the PS3, and he is now prevented by law from ever accessing any Sony product in a way that isn't outlined in the terms of service for that product. Apparently there is a boycott of Sony products going on (whether that is just in the community of hackers or not, I do not know) which Hotz is supporting. More than supporting really, as he's encouraging anyone who will listen to never buy anything else from Sony and return any Sony product if possible.

It makes sense for him; if he's ever found to have violated that laws laid down by the court order, he's liable to face a $10,000 fine for each violation. Honestly, I'm really uncomfortable with the whole situation. Not his rooting to boycott Sony, but this basically guarantees that he's going to move onto other systems to do what he does best. I'm not inherently against hacking directly, but it is definitely the catalyst for piracy, which I find very objectionable in the ways that most people take advantage of it. If I might explain that, quite simply I don't object to piracy that involves games or products that aren't (and most likely will not be) directly purchasable in/from your region. I consider having to buy from an importer as an indirect purchase. That said, I've never pirated something currently being sold, and I very rarely play pirated games on a PC emulator.

George Hotz has a blog where you can follow the situation as told by him.
I don't mean to start a heated debate on hacking (or piracy) but if you'd like to discuss it, then throw out a comment in the comments section.

Story source

Well This Is Odd - PSP Go Gets a Price-Drop, But It's Taken Off of Sony's Website

Hmm.....Just yesterday some sites reported a quiet price-drop of the PSP Go, and I followed some links to get back to Sony's own website where it did indeed have a special update proclaiming the new low price of the PSP Go. And as I said in the post just below, I wanted to write up a piece just about the PSP, and this price drop would have been the basis of a point for a significant portion of the piece.

Potentially the update just went up earlier than they meant it to, maybe someone hacked the site to push out the update or completely falsified it, but either way, if the word is out about a price-drop that's bound to come then it likely isn't much farther off because of this. I'm not sure I remember hearing of anybody that wasn't willing to wait on an announced price-drop, so I'm sure they realize that this will be detrimental to sales until the price-drop actually happens.

I'm so curious about this that I'm going to run up to my local Best Buy to see if stores are following through with the price-drop. Be back with an update soon.

UPDATE - Well, Best Buy for one isn't displaying a price of $149.99 as of today. But I couldn't help but giggle with delight when I noticed that the shelf space for the newly priced PSP 3000 was completely empty devoid of the PSPs at that Best Buy. I wonder how well this particular price drop will do, since Sony has matched the price of the DS lite with a product that is a better technological value.

Source (since you might not believe me)

PSP Price Drop to $129.99 on Sunday, PSP Game Price Drops

Sony announced that the PSP (so not a PSP Go) will drop in price from $169.99 to $129.99, starting Sunday (February 27th). They also included a list of games to added to the "PSP Favorites Titles" list for $9.99, and the "PSP Greatest Hits" list for $19.99.

New PSP Favorites Titles ($9.99 MSRP)

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square-Enix)
Daxter (SCEA)
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (Capcom)
Killzone: Liberation (SCEA)
SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Fire Team Bravo (SCEA)
Tomb Raider Anniversary (Square-Enix)

New PSP Greatest Hits ($19.99 MSRP)

Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines (Ubisoft)
Dissidia: Final Fantasy (Square-Enix)
LittleBigPlanet (SCEA)
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (Konami)
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (SCEA)
Resistance: Retribution (SCEA)
Toy Story 3: The Video Game (Disney Interactive)

Nice price drop and some really awesome games on the list, if you ask me. Since the NGP will not be backwards compatible with UMDs (no UMD drive), that means it isn't an option for someone like me that is interested in getting into the PSP library through a cheaper used market. $130 is a pretty good price, but if I'm looking at the situation with the PS2 then the PSP isn't getting another price drop after this one. I've been very interested in buying a PSP for the past year and a half or so, but figured a new system was on the way from one of or both Sony and Nintendo, so I was very hesitant. It is pretty close to the 3DS launch though, and in total that's quite a chunk of change to spend on entertainment....... I'm probably just trying to make excuses for myself like I always do, because frankly I could save up for it without much issue, just like I could for a 360, just like I could for a PSP before the price drop. It's just hard to jump into a whole new library for me. I know if I'm spreading money around to more gaming platforms, then I'll miss some of those gaming gems I seem to end up loving so much.

Has this price drop convinced any of you to buy a PSP? Were you unlucky enough to have bought a PSP recently? Express your rage in the comments.

Source

PlayStation Brand Tablet Device?

In an exclusive from Engadget, they describe a tablet device with a 9.4 inch capacitive touch-panel display (1280 x 800 resolution) that focuses on Qriocity, a still developing movie and music on demand service from Sony. Codenamed the S1, they claim the device is PlayStation Certified; to be considered a gaming device, in other words. They describe an odd design that isn't physically symmetrical across 2 axises (like an iPad is), but that relegates more components to a bulge on one side, which would give the user something to hold, or a bit of a prop to angle the screen toward the user a bit more when they set it down. They say it contains a front facing camera, a rear facing camera, a Tegra 2 processor, USB port, dedicated volume buttons, an IR port, and a WiFi antennae. Their unnamed source tells them the WiFi only version would be expected to retail for $599, and be out by September (no region given).

It completely makes sense to me for Sony to get into the emerging tablet market, and it makes the decision to make a line of PlayStation phones make more sense to me. Keep the dedicated games devices healthy, but attempt to grab a piece of the success that Apple is getting. The question is if they can grab it, and with something priced higher than Apple's WiFi only version of the iPad. As pricing compared to competition goes, it seems like a repeat of the PSP and PS3. Fortunate for Sony, they established themselves very prominently in the video games business before the PSP or PS3, and consumers expect that device to stay current for 6+ years so the price is easier to swallow. This would be their first tablet device, and I really don't think consumers are expecting a 5+ year life-span for any given tablet. But the market is pretty "premium" at the moment, so perspective customers could be comfortable with it, especially with the Sony or PlayStation branding on it.

Assuming this is true, and Sony goes through with making it, it sounds interesting. What do you guys think? Sound reasonable enough to be true? Does it seem like a good idea for Sony?

Xperia Play (PlayStation Phone) - Media Flood

Gameplay Videos:
Compilation here
Dungeon Defenders: Second Wave here
Gun Brothers here
Bruce Lee here
Galaxy on Fire 2 here
FIFA 10 here

Devs speak out here, here, here, here, here, here, and here
Promo video here

Specs thanks to a press release from Sony:
Available March
On Verizon network
Comes in black or white
Operating System: Android 2.3 Gingerbread
1Ghz Snapdragon processor
4 inch, 480 x 854 display

Article Re:"Why Sony's PSP2 (NGP) will fail"

Thought I might try another piece idea. Commenting on another article from another site. Not necessarily always agreeing or disagreeing, but just analyzing the arguments and points being made, and giving my stance on the subject. 
 
This piece is a point-by-point response to this article over at Destructoid.com, titled "Why Sony's PSP2 will fail."


For starters, the article has a sensationalist title. Good tactic for grabbing attention, but I think it just brings about a less intelligent dialogue as some passionate supporters of the subject at hand post their knee-jerk reactions, and people who are passionately against the subject at hand post their knee-jerk reactions, at which point the groups hurl insults at each other rather than discussing anything.

The article begins with a paragraph running through the various technology in the NGP, so we'll cut to the first point of interest;

"Is Sony misinterpreting the handheld market by betting, as usual, on technological superiority?" "As a company, Sony is adept at building sleek devices laden with bleeding-edge technology. But they have proven themselves less skilled at selling the mass market on those high-tech gadgets, especially in the gaming space since the last console generation. Of course, those issues are related: filling gaming devices with the latest and greatest tech ensures that they will be prohibitively expensive at launch and for many months thereafter, which, in turn, limits the potential market to technolust-afflicted early adopters. That was how the early years of the original PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 played out, which is to be expected when you price your hardware at $249 and $499/$599, respectively."

NGP Getting 3G-less Version in Europe

Andrew House, the head of SCEE said they are working with wireless carriers in Europe at the moment, and also stated that there would be a version of the NGP with 3G, and one without in Europe. It has still not been mentioned whether there will be a subscription fee associated with 3G use on the NGP.

From hearing some more talk about the subject of 3G subscription fees, it seems pretty unanimous that Sony can't afford free 3G for the kind of data transfers that would be taking place. But I'm kinda shocked that they wouldn't just include the 3G in all models to make a subscription later fairly painless; it just seems like the kind of technology push that Sony would make, even if it meant it was a bit more expensive for users that swear not to use it. But maybe Europe (and Australia) is a different beast, and both Japan and the U.S. will get 3G only versions.

Source

Podcast Review - Podcast Beyond!: PSP2, NGP, and You (ep. 172)

Lots of little subjects this week about one big subject; the recently revealed NGP from Sony.

Hear the podcast here.

(right-click to save)

January 27th Sony Conference - My Thoughts

So late last night (for the U.S.) Sony blew the lid off of their new portable gaming machine. Codenamed the NGP (Next Generation Portable), this bad boy has a 5 inch OLED capacitive touchscreen, two "micro analog sticks", the usual array of cross, circle, triangle, square buttons, cross-pad, 2 shoulder buttons, hardware for motion and gyroscopic controls, a digital compass (for the LiveArea functions, I presume), 1 camera on the front, 1 on the back, a 5 inch touch-panel on the back, built-in microphone, Wi-Fi (n/g/b compatible), 3G, GPS, bluetooth, a slot for a flash-based cards, stereo speakers, standard 3.5mm headphone jack, and all this while promising "close to PS3" level graphics with a "target" battery life like that of the PSP 3000 (4 - 6 hours).

What's New (pussy cat)?
Not much, honestly. As far as stuff that wasn't leaked before the conference we got info about the LiveArea functionality, Near functionality, a look at the UI, and a look at some games/tech-demos. Otherwise we got a spot on list of specs, spot on info about the controls (dual analog, touch-screen, touch-panel), and a fair representation of what kind of graphics to expect before the event even happened. The confirmation is nice, but I really wish Sony could keep their secrets a secret.

Reminder - Sony Holding a Press Conference Today/Tomorrow (depends on where you live)

No official confirmation of the subject of this conference, but a likely highlight seems to be a big reveal of the next PlayStation Portable, likely not the phone one. The conference is supposed to start at 10 PM for the West Coast (U.S.) and 1 AM for the East Coast (U.S.), so that means some of us will be staying up later than others. The time won't be horrible where I live, so I plan on staying up if only to see some message board reactions.

You can likely hit up the nearest friendly message board to see which of your favorite outlets are live-blogging the event, but I know Kotaku plans to live-blog it.

I really hope it's an info blowout, but I could definitely see them holding quite a bit of info back to use at E3 this June. Are you guys staying up? Leave me a comment and let me know.

PSP 2 to Have 3G and OLED Touchscreen, if You Believe this Japanese Newspaper

Nikkei, a Japanese newspaper has claimed that the new PlayStation Portable (PSP) is to have 3G support, for use in playing games and downloading movies and software (such as games), but not for phone calls. The paper says it will have wireless connectivity for LAN, but there is no mention if the 3G needs a subscription fee to use or if there will be a version without the 3G. The newspaper also claims that the system will have an OLED touch-screen, but doesn't specify if it's capacitive (like an iPhone/Pad/Pod) or resistive (like the DS, DSi, and 3DS).

If everything so far is to be believed, including the touch-panels on the back of the unit, and PS3 (at launch) quality graphics, then this could be one monster of a device. Especially in price, though Sony is very receptive to selling hardware for less than it costs to make (selling at a loss) so it could be priced competitively with the 3DS. There's no doubt in my mind that the PSP 2 will have a higher resolution screen and be capable of more detailed geometry and effects than the 3DS (powering stereoscopic 3D), but to me the rest is completely up in the air. It's fully debatable whether Sony would be willing to pay for the 3G service themselves (no subscription fee) or if that would make it out of Japan in subscription free form. The price is perhaps more volatile, mostly because we're missing a lot of details.

I'm sure there are lots of people that are interested and/or excited about the possibilities of the PSP 2, so lets hear those theories. And make sure to pay attention to the PlayStation Meeting 2011 on the 27th of this month!

In-Depth Look at Move Controls in Killzone 3

See, not just Nintendo stuff. : P

This nearly half hour video shows all the subtleties of the Move controls that are in Killzone 3. For Wii owners that have played some FPSs after (and including) Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, honestly not that much is new. But what is new is interesting, and they are things that the Wii is fully capable of doing. For instance, at 11:24 he begins talking about the dynamic dead-zones in the game. Basically, as you lead the cursor back towards the center of the screen it creates a new boundary for the dead-zone and the camera stops turning. This is a really great design, because it lets you target an enemy as soon as you react to them, as soon as they come into view, rather than trying to center them in the dead-zone because it extends the dead-zone. But how do you reset this new, big dead-zone? Simple; just lead the cursor back to the edge of the dead-zone and it resumes turning the camera, or you can push the cursor onto the opposite half of the screen and it resets it back to your custom setting. While I really like the idea of this dynamic dead-zone, I also haven't tried it. I can see the potential of making the dead-zone so large that it's problematic and time-consuming to resume turning, so it would be best if there was an option to turn it on or off, instead.

Another interesting control addition is how the cursor snaps to body parts when lock-on is enabled and activated. Only available in the easiest difficulties, this uses the gyroscopic sensors to let you "point" the controller at an area that makes the gun target snap to a different body part. I haven't played a post-Modern Warfare FPS, so I don't have too much experience with how those games use the snap function when you zoom, but this seems like it's a level above that.

I think the whole video is worth a watch for Move owners, Wii owners, and developers making FPS for Move and Wii! Tell me what you guys think of all the little innovations that the Killzone 3 team applied to the controls.

Video source