Sony Sets Name, Pricing For New Handheld PlayStation
The Japanese electronics giant also apologized for the outage of its PlayStation Network, or PSN, that stretched from late April through the bulk of May. The outage was caused by an attack by hackers that resulted in the compromise of personal data of subscribers, though Sony maintains that it has no evidence that credit card information was taken.
“This is not the first time that I have come to an E3 press briefing with an elephant in the room,” said Jack Tretton, president of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, at the company’s event in Los Angeles on the eve of the E3 trade conference.
Tretton began the event by apologizing to the company’s publishing partners, retail supporters and customers. “We apologize for any anxiety we have caused you.” He also said activity on the PSN has returned to about 90% of its levels prior to the attack.
In terms of impact to PlayStation sales, Tretton said that sales of the console from last week were 27% higher than the same period last year, but gave no additional data.
The company also gave further details of its new handheld, which has previously been known under the code-name NGP, for Next Generation Portable. The official name for the device is PlayStation Vita, which will launch before the end of 2011 in the U.S.
While no specific date was given, the company said in a statement Monday that it will price at $249 for a WiFi-only version and $299 for a 3G/WiFi version.
Sony PlayStation Network restored in US, Europe
The Tokyo-based company said in a statement Thursday that services will resume in the U.S., Europe and Asia, excluding Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea. The restoration includes Sony ( SNE – news – people )’s Qriocity music services.
Sony shut down the network after a massive security breach that affected more than 100 million online accounts and embarrassed the tech giant.
Sony says it has added “considerable” security enhancements to protect customer data. It hopes to entice customers with a “Welcome Back” package of free game downloads and premium services.
Sony: Credit data risked in PlayStation outage
Some players brushed off the breach as a common hazard of operating in a connected world, and Sony said some services would be restored in a week. But industry experts said the scale of the breach was staggering and could cost the company billions of dollars.
“Simply put, one of the worst breaches we’ve seen in several years,” said Josh Shaul, chief technology officer for Application Security Inc., a New York-based company that is one of the country’s largest database security software makers.
Sony said it has no direct evidence credit card information was taken, but said “we cannot rule out the possibility.”
It said the intrusion was “malicious” and that the company had hired an outside security firm to investigate. It has taken steps to rebuild its system to provide greater protection for personal information and warned users to contact credit agencies and set up fraud alerts.
“Our teams are working around the clock on this, and services will be restored as soon as possible,” it said in a blog post Tuesday.
The company shut down the network last Wednesday after it said account information, including names, birthdates, email addresses and log-in information was compromised for certain players in the days prior.
Sony Subpoenas Geohot’s PayPal Records
Sony is requesting access to PS3 hacker George Hotz’s PayPal records for the last two years.
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It’s been just a couple of weeks since Sony was granted access to the IP address of anyone who visited GeoHot’s website. However, a federal magistrate has now given Sony the green light to subpoena the PayPal records of George Hotz.
The subpoenas are part of Sony’s battle to have Hotz tried in San Francisco, as opposed to his home state of New Jersey. Sony wants to have the trial in California and if the PayPal records confirm that Hotz accepted monetary donations for the hack from Northern California residents, Sony might get its wish. Hotz, on the other hand, denies accepting any donations.
Sony unveils NGP, its new portable gaming device
Sony is executing a double play aimed at boosting its performance in the portable and smartphone gaming markets.
The electronics giant announced Thursday that it plans to bring to market a next-generation portable gaming system, code-named NGP. Making the announcement in Tokyo, Sony Computer Entertainment President Kaz Hirai did not give a specific release date or price for the device, saying that it would be out later this year.
The next-gen portable will boast a 5-inch OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, two cameras and dual thumb sticks. It succeeds the current PlayStation Portable and smaller PSPgo, which combined have sold more than 65 million units worldwide.
Among games expected to be available for the new device: Call of Duty, Uncharted and LittleBigPlanet.
Sony’s new entry joins an already bustling portable and smartphone gaming marketplace. Due March 27, Nintendo’s $250 3DS handheld game system plays current DS games and new 3-D games without the need for special glasses. Sales of the system are expected to help offset sales declines on the current Nintendo DS handhelds and Wii home console system, says Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. Flagging sales for those systems resulted in the 46% drop in quarterly profit announced by Nintendo on Thursday. Pachter predicts “huge success for the 3DS, due to the novelty.”
Sony PlayStation Phone: First Specs, Pictures and Release Date ETA
Some breaking news to bring you now, and it is a bombshell. Despite the fact that the PSP2 is on the horizon, the first pictures of a separate Sony Ericsson PlayStation phone have appeared in prototype form.
Engadget are the ones with the scoop and although the pictures show an early prototype model, they are looking very legitimate and you can clearly see the four PlayStation buttons on the slide-out keypad.
First of all, just take a moment to study the actual design of the PS Phone. It confirms early rumors that it would come with a unique touchpad located between the D-Pad and the buttons – we’re guessing these will replace the analogue sticks that you’d usually find on the DualShock controller. There are also L and R shoulder buttons on the top of the handset.
Sony announce extra hard drive storage on Playstation 3
Sony has unveiled two new models of Playstation 3 which have larger hard drives.
The existing 250GB model will be replaced by a 320GB version which will be sold as an exclusive Play Station Move bundle costing £284.88.
From October the 120GB model will be phased out and replaced by a 160GB version which will cost £249.99 – the same price as the original.
The announcement came at the gamescom video games conference in Cologne.
Sony said the extra storage was being offered because of the increase in downloadable games and films.
It was confirmed that the PlayStation Move, Sony’s new motion control offering, will be released in the UK on 15 September.
Report: PlayStation Phone running Android 3, out by Oct
The Sony “PlayStation Phone” has been rumored for some time, but Engadget is claiming to have the exclusive first details on both the hardware and the software of the upcoming product. While nothing has been confirmed—everyone is citing anonymous sources while talking about the phone—the information is oddly specific… not to mention exciting.
The device is said to resemble a PSP Go, or a phone that opens in landscape mode to reveal gaming controls instead of a physical keyboard. There is a directional pad, a touch area for analog controls, and standard face and shoulder buttons. “The phone has a large display, described as being between 3.7 and 4.1 inches with WVGA or better resolution, a 5 megapixel camera that we’re told might not be final, and it’ll likely have a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU on board,” Engadget says.
Sony BRAVIA KLV-32V530 Review
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Sony Bravia EX700 Series 60-Inch LED HDTV Review
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