Sony’s PlayStation Vita 3G model is seeing price cuts of $100 across the US, reports Joystiq. Normally retailing for $299, the device is can be picked up for as little as $199 at a number of Sony stores. The price includes an 8GB memory card, and a free game if upon signing up to a data plan, although the deal is not currently available online.
Sony has launched a new version of the PlayStation 3 in North America, this time in "Classic White." The new console bundle will also have a matching white controller, a 500GB hard drive, the console's largest ever; and a year-long membership to PlayStation Plus, including access to a downloadable collection of PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita games.
Sony on Tuesday revealed that when the PS Vita gets a software update to version 2.0, it will bring with it access to Sony's PlayStation Plus service for the first. Those who are subscribers on the PS3 will be able to access their accounts from the Vita without an extra subscription fee. The service will allow subscribers to purchase discounted games, get exclusive free demos and trials, and get other content.
Sony showed off images of what a newly redesigned PlayStation store will look like at a London press event on Thursday. The details were shared by VG 24/7 and include new features as well as an all-new look for the digital storefront that's a showcase for the latest content for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PSP. Europe will get the update first, on October 17, while North American users will get to experience it on October 23.
PlayStation Vita owners got a major feature update Tuesday with the imminent release of Skype for PS Vita. The app lets the Sony console participate in both voice and video calls using either the front or back cameras. The app not only works both on 3G and Wi-Fi but truly runs in the background, making sure that gamers will catch an incoming call.
Sony has made good on its promise made last month and launched the PlayStation Suite SDK beta for developers. Any interested party can download the software, letting them create software for all PlayStation-certified hardware. This includes the PS Vita console and the Xperia line of phones and tablets.
Sony triggered an upset among gamers on Sunday with notice that it would be taking down the PlayStation Network for maintenance during 13 hours on Monday. From 9AM Eastern until 10PM, gamers won't have the option of playing any games online, checking their accounts, or using services like PlayStation Home and the PlayStation Store. Websites that need PSN, even including the official PlayStation blog, would also be switched off.
Sony has quietly updated the PlayStation Vita's Facebook app to support photo uploads. At least on Wi-Fi, gamers can now post photos from the console's cameras directly to the news feed or to the Wall. Accordingly, the social app now recognizes photo tags.
New NPD data published late Thursday gave the Xbox 360 not just a sustained lead in March but a rare milestone in hardware overall. At 371,000 units, Microsoft's console stayed in the lead for overall sales for the 15th consecutive month. The $430 million spent on the hardware and its games, however, was also larger than the combination of money spent supporting the Nintendo Wii and Sony PS3.
Sony will offer a new photo editing program for the PS3 later this week, the company revealed on Monday. The software, which will let users create stop-motion videos, add sound and video effects such as subtitles, color schemes, and more, will also sync with Sony's PlayMemories Online cloud service. Users will also have the ability to upload photos or videos straight to the console from their cameras and camcorders, and then upload files to Facebook.
Results posted late Thursday by the NPD Group chalked up a significantly improved February for gaming following a bleak January. Console hardware sales were up 87 percent over what they were in January, to $381.4 million, helped not just by 426,000 Xbox 360 sales but also by the PlayStation Vita. Sony had just four days of hardware sales that weren't directly quantified, but they were enough that the increase would have been a more modest if still healthy 62 percent.
Sony will reveal new game titles for its new PS Vita portable games console as soon as March 9, according to Andriasang. It promises to do so during a web broadcast on March 9, for which invitations were sent out. The invitations invited gamers to "PlayStation Vita Game Heaven," the implications of which were only partly clear
Many had written off Sony from the mobile gaming arena not long into the PSP's history: high prices and a lack of major games kept it on the sidelines as the Nintendo DS took over. Apple and Google have seemingly been poised to deliver a killing blow with much better general abilities and cheaper games. The PlayStation Vita, then, is a chance at redemption. We'll gauge in our PS Vita review whether it has accomplished that goal or at least made a valiant effort.
A homebrew software loader for the PS Vita that allows older games and those from other systems to be loaded onto the portable console has been shared by hacker site Wololo. Sony has already taken steps to reverse the exploit, though, which first requires users to load the existing PSP title Motorstorm: Arctic Edge (Raging Ice in Japan) first. Sony has simply taken the downloadable title off its PS Vita store, however.
Imagination Technologies outlined some plans for its far and near futures after Electronista stopped by its Mobile World Congress booth on Monday. The PowerVR developer showed a demo of a real-time raytracing graphics engine, where an app calculates the paths of individual light beams in a scene, that it expects to reach mobile devices. As shown in a demo running on a Mac, it could use surface properties rather than unchanging textures to generate the chrome effect on a car, even reflecting another car which in turn had a reflection of the sky.
Sony has pulled the native Facebook app from the PlayStation store, less than a week after the social networking app became available to download for the company's Vita handheld. The move is said to have resulted from widespread problems that blocked many users from logging into their Facebook accounts, forcing them to close the app after receiving an error.
Sony has finally launched a Facebook app for the company's PlayStation Vita handheld game console. The native app enables users to take advantage of the social networking feature without using the web-based interface in the Vita's browser.
iFixit on Thursday posted a teardown of the just-launched PlayStation Vita that provided a handful of surprises about its construction. The gaming handheld is unusually easy to open, with standard (if small) Philips screws throughout, few adhesives, and a battery that's relatively easy to replace. Much of the design is modular, and even the screws are color-coded in a way that helps identify which screws belong to the mainboard itself versus the parts that attach to the mainboard.
Sony on the eve of the PlayStation Vita's first US wave has kicked off a record $50 million ad campaign to recapture its place not just from Nintendo but from Apple. The most Sony has ever spent on any PlayStation launch in the US, the campaign includes both online spots as well as traditional billboards and TV spots. Where PSP ads focused on younger gamers, though, Sony's new Vita ads (below) will focus on adults, where the allure is to "never stop playing" PS3-level games while on the road and with others.
Sony is mulling the possibility of extending is PS Vita operating system to other devices, according to AV Watch. Incoming CEO Kaz Hirai reportedly mentioned the idea to reporters during a Japanese Q&A session suggesting that, in addition to Android, the PS Vita OS offered additional scope for the company beyond gaming. The view was also given further credence by Sony Computer Entertainment Senior VP Yoshio Matsumoto, who suggested that as the OS was designed to run on the ARM architecture, that porting it to tablets and smartphones was possible.
The early run of the aptly-named First Edition bundle of the PlayStation Vita has just received an official unboxing from Sony's US team. The system is due to arrive on February 15 to those who preordered it, or one week before its widespread launch in stores. Included in the bundle is a 4GB PS Vita memory card, a unique PS Vita carrying case, and a physical copy of the Little Deviants game.
An incidental rumor floated next to talk of a purported iPad 3 case back has raised the possibility that Apple's expected A6 chip isn't quad-core. Citing unnamed sources, The Verge claimed that it would stay dual-core but have a "significantly more powerful" graphics core. Although not mentioned, it's presumed the clock speed, architecture, or both would be upgraded with the new chip.
Sony in a quick brief has warned that North American gamers won't have access to the UMD Passport program for the PlayStation Vita like their Japanese counterparts. A spokesperson told Kotaku that gamers with legacy, physical PSP titles will have to buy them again if they're available on the PlayStation Store. Japanese gamers can currently register their UMD-based games through the PSP and then pay a much smaller fee to download the digital version.
Sony has filed a patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a tablet-like game controller. The Position-Dependent Gaming, 3D Controller, and Handheld as a Remote in many ways conceptually resembles Nintendo's Wii U's tablet-like game controller. Sony actually began the application process for the technology in July 2010, almost a year before Nintendo showed the system.
Sony has teased an update for the PlayStation Vita that should significantly expand its features just a week before the North American launch. The 1.6 firmware patch will add a mapping tool with both driving and walking directions. Likely based on Google Maps, it has the options of satellite and traffic views as well as sending locations out on the Vita's own group messaging for a meetup.
Sony in its results call Friday was confident that the PlayStation Vita was selling well so far. Having moved slightly more than 535,000 units in its first three weeks, according to Media Create data, company CFO Masaru Kato didn't see "any problems" with results so far. The comment came even after shipments had dipped to just over 18,000 in January and had been mostly steady since.
GameStop stores as promised have started carrying PlayStation Vita demo units. Depending on which of the 3,300 stores showing the Vita gamers visit, they should have access to a handful of the 25 launch titles to try. Among the mix will include FIFA, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and Wipeout 2048.
Sony has given notice that the unification of its online entertainment services mentioned during its CES keynote would affect the PlayStation Network on February 7. A terms of service change will see the service renamed as part of the Sony Entertainment Network. Actual functionality should stay the same.
A quick investigation has confirmed that PlayStation Vita owners in the US will get a discount on games if they buy through the PlayStation Network. Shacknews heard that, as in Japan, games will not just be available the same day as a download but will be price-cut over their retail versions. The discounts are about 10 percent over boxed copies, or about $4-5 for games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss.
Sony has hoped to lure gamers to the PlayStation Vita with another bundle for the official February 22 US arrival. The Launch Day bundle mates the 3G version of the console with a free month's pass for 250MB of AT&T data. While most of the accessories aren't present from the First Edition bundle, gamers get a twice-as-large 8GB memory card to encourage more game and add-on downloads.
A new hack demoed on video (below) has shown that the PS Vita can play full PS3 games through Remote Play. A jailbroken and modified version of the PS3's 3.55 firmware, lower than the most recent official build, can pipe through full games such as Battlefield 3 and the Mortal Kombat remake without having to get official support. Sony only allows its current list of PSP-aware Remote Play games to work.
Sony has quietly updated its PlayStation Vita 3G plan page to reflect the AT&T plan shakeup from this past week. While the $15, 250MB plan stays intact, the top-end plan has been bumped up $5 to cost $30 and provide a larger 3GB. As before, both are 30-day prepaid plans and can be managed entirely from the Vita.
New Media Create data has made clear that the PlayStation Vita isn't yet threatening most other consoles or smartphones. After a blockbuster launch in December, it has tapered off for a second time in a month to just 18,361 systems as of January 15. Every console's sales dropped off sharply in the same period, but it still sat behind Sony's seven-year-old PSP, the PS3, and Nintendo's 3DS.
Dedicated handheld gaming systems like the Nintendo 3DS and Sony's PlayStation Vita will trigger a "rebound year" that fends off iOS and Android, IDC estimated on Tuesday. A wave of revenue stemming both from the new hardware and from game sales attached to it was expected to last through 2012 and 2013. While Nintendo and Sony might still sell fewer units and fewer games, the frequent $30 to $40 prices of their games would trump the dependence on cheap or free titles on smartphones and tablets.
AT&T during its Developer Summit detailed its 3G data plans for the PlayStation Vita. The device will have plans similar to those for the iPad, starting at $15 for 250MB of data and $25 for 2GB. The plans are prepaid and let users add service without having to talk to AT&T.
Attempts to get unofficial PS Vita code running took their next step this weekend after video proof emerged of Sony's system running Sega Genesis games. Picodrive, the offshoot of a competition for a classic console emulator on the PSP, can run games like the Sonic series on the Vita using the official PSP emulator and the Half Byte Loader. It doesn't yet run perfectly and is plagued by stuttering sound, although video performance is very smooth.
The first steps to get homemade code running on the PS Vita have taken place after Japanese developer teck4, with elaboration by mamosuke, has shown a very early example. The "hello world" app runs in the PlayStation's PSP emulator and uses just hardware controls. While rough, it lets gamers change the color and movement of the "snowfall" in a test scene.
A discovery earlier in the week has found that Sony's Content Manager app for the PS Vita may be overzealous in trying to curb the perceived piracy threat. Wololo found that the Windows app for sideloading apps and media wouldn't load if a Vita attached to the PC wasn't using the latest firmware. It also wouldn't run if the PC was offline.
Sony has released a new update for its just released PlayStation Vita. This is the second update that Sony has issued since the company began shipping the handheld gaming station on December 17. Sony has denied that the updates were necessary because of allegedly widespread problems.
Sony picked Thursday to outline the launch details for the PlayStation Vita. The handheld gaming system will ship with 25 launch titles, most of which will be third-party games. Another ten games will show in the "launch window" on or near the February 22 launch day.
The PS Vita, which recently launched in Japan, isn't saddled with the widespread number of problems the media is reporting, Sony said Wednesday. The company does admit a small number of users have filed complaints over consoles not powering up or down and touchscreens freezing. The company calls this normal, considering 325,000 units were sold.
The PlayStation Blog has conducted an interview with Sony Computer Entertainment VP and President of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, revealing some insight about the development of the PS Vita handheld console. During the interview, Yoshida admitted that the company shifted focus away from the PSP, the Vita's predecessor, and concentrated on developing games for the PS3. Instead, the company will plan ahead for "constant supply of excellent games" for the PS Vita.
The PS Vita has just launched in Japan two days ago and the company is already issuing a software update to fix touchscreen problems, software bugs and system freezes, along with poor performance. The update notice in Japan also apologized to gamers for the inconvenience. Its timing hinted that Sony may have had an idea the system was shipping with software flaws.
Sony had an upbeat launch for the PlayStation Vita in its home country of Japan. The 7AM launch saw thousands in line with volumes closer to that of an Apple launch, including 600 at Yodobashi Camera in Tokyo's Akihabara district and 300 at Bic Camera in the Ikebukuro district. At the official event at Shibuya Tsutaya, where Sony executives including company president Kaz Hirai were hosts, the first buyer was an unidentified 33 year old northerner.
Just as the PlayStation Vita is launching in Japan, Sony has posted the gaming system's manual in English. The guide includes a handful of new revelations, including that it has to get standard-definition video from the PlayStation Store. It can't immediately play 1080p, hinting at an update, nor can it take HD video transferred from the PS3; 720p is the most that can play in normal use.
Sony on Thursday said that it had sold out of the PlayStation Vita in Japanese pre-orders. Not due to go on sale until Saturday, the handheld game system triggered lines that saw its initial batch spoken for. It did have a significant amount of time to sell stock, having started pre-orders on October 15.
The upcoming PS Vita handheld console from Sony will be limited from web browsing while a game is running in the background. Users will have the ability to check friends' lists, music and Twitter, but can't browse the web while in a game. At the same time, only one PlayStation Network account can be set up on the device at the same time.
Video game retailer GameStop has potentially revealed US pricing information for the unique memory cards that the PlayStation Vita will use. The 4GB card will cost $30, an 8GB one $45, 16GB will be $70, and the 32GB version will cost $120. This is somewhat similar to the prices of the cards for the PSP system at GameStop, which are $38 and $51 for the 4GB and 8GB cards, respectively, and $125 for the 32GB version.
Sony's PlayStation Vita might be used even more as a game controller than the PSP was in the past. A rumor late this week for Eurogamer has the Vita getting a firmware update post-launch that would let the PS3 be used to play "all games." Legacy games would be capped at the PSP's 480x272 output, but games written after the update could use the PS Vita's native 960x544 resolution.
Sony is now offering developers a chance to sign up for consideration on joining its closed beta PlayStation Suite SDK. With it, they will have the ability to develop games for the upcoming PS Vita and Android devices that aren't Sony-branded. The SDK uses the C# programming language and will run on a C# virtual machine.
