WebProNews

Tag: Playstation 3

  • Journey Release Date Announced For March 13

    One of the most anticipated games on the PlayStation Network finally has a release date.

    Journey, thatgamecompany’s beautiful desert exploration game, has been announced to launch on March 13. Journey will cost an affordable $14.99.

    You may know thatgamecompany for their previous games, flower and flow. Both games are considered to be some of the most beautiful games on the PlayStation 3 and are strong arguments for the games as art debate.

    Jenova Chen, creative director at thatgamecompany, took to the PlayStation blog to announce that Journey would be kicking off the PlayStation Network Spring Fever promotion this year. Spring Fever is an event that sees the release of numerous high profile games on the PlayStation Network.

    Journey is described by Chen as “an interactive parable, an anonymous online adventure to experience a person’s life passage and their intersections with other’s.”

    The game has only one goal – to reach the mountain that is always off in the distance. The player will explore the expansive desert environment discovering landmarks and other players who are on their own personal journey to the mountain.

    Journey has been in the works for the past three years which is unheard of for a downloadable title. With the pedigree thatgamecompany has earned over the years, those three years have definitely been well spent.

    There are other games, however, that have yet to be announced for the Spring Fever promotion. Journey may be the first game to headline the event, but we’ll keep you up to date on the other announcements as there’s sure to be some great games coming out in March.

    Here’s some videos that explain what Journey is and what players can look forward to as they find their way to the mountain:

  • Metal Gear Online Shutting Down June 12

    Metal Gear Solid 4 launched almost four years ago to critical acclaim for its film-like presentation and expertly realized gameplay. There was another component to the game that didn’t get talked about as much, but was still popular with hardcore fans – Metal Gear Online.

    Konami announced today that they will be taking Metal Gear Online offline on June 12. They chose June 12 as it is the exact day that Metal Gear Solid 4 launched four years ago.

    Metal Gear Online was unique in that it felt like its own game apart from the single-player campaign in Guns of the Patriots. The game itself even recognized this as the multiplayer was accessed via a different main menu separate from the main game.

    The multiplayer game took classic Metal Gear Solid concepts like stealth and hiding in cardboard boxes and applied them to team-based 16 player multiplayer gameplay.

    Konami will be shutting down MGO services in tiers starting next month. The MGO online shop that sold new characters and costumes will shut down on March 21.

    Starting April 24, MGO will no longer accept new registrations. As a thank you to all the players who kept the game going for the past four years, all expansion packs will be made available for free at this time as well.

    The service will shut down for good on June 12. Be sure to get in plenty of playtime before then.

    It’s nothing new to see servers for games being shut down, but those are usually sports titles that see annual releases. It’s sad to see Metal Gear Online go as it was something wholly unique in the world of online multiplayer.

    I guess this just means that Konami wants us to move on to Peace Walker. I’m sure plenty of players will do just that.

    For one last hurrah, let’s take a look back at some of the cool stuff Metal Gear Online offered:

  • Twisted Metal Brings Car Combat To The PlayStation 3

    Sony has released the ultimate Valentine’s Day gift to PlayStation gamers everywhere – Twisted Metal.

    For those that need an introduction to Twisted Metal, it’s the car combat game that defined the PlayStation and was first unleashed upon the world in 1995. This is the first time the series has made its way to the PlayStation 3.

    The game was developed by Eat Sleep Play, whose founders include David Jaffe and Scott Campbell, the original team behind Twisted Metal. For those worried the game might have lost its edge over the years, worry not. It features the same signature dark humor, car combat and all-out destruction that the series is known for.

    Players will unfortunately be able to only play as Sweet Tooth, Doll Face and Mr. Grimm across a story that has them taking on Calypso, the man behind the Twisted Metal tournament.

    “As a multi-million unit selling series, and the longest running franchise in PlayStation history, Twisted Metal is a major factor in our continued success with the PlayStation brand,” Guy Longworth, Senior Vice President, PlayStation Brand Marketing, said. “With its introduction on the PS3, Twisted Metal delivers the series’ signature dark humor and personality while adding a deep online component, unique single player experience, and vast battle environments.”

    Twisted Metal is bringing back an old classic – four-player split screen. On top of some friendly couch combat, the game also features numerous online modes with support for up to 16 players simultaneously. The online mode also features eight environments with 30 maps between them for players to blow each other up across.

    The game features the classic online match types like team deathmatch, but it introduces new modes like Nuke as well. Nuke sees teams battling to destroy each other’s statue by kidnapping the enemy’s leader and then sacrificing them to launch a nuke.

    While there is only three playable characters in the campaign, there is fortunately 16 vehicles to do battle in. The development have added in a franchise first with the Talon, a helicopter, that should make multiplayer matches far more interesting.

    The campaign, while taking a backseat to the multiplayer, is no slouch. The game features the fantastic cutscenes the franchise is known for as it weaves three different tales following the exploits of Sweet Tooth, Doll Face, and Mr. Grimm. Players will also be able to go through the campaign in co-op mode.

    Unfortunately, this looks like the last Twisted Metal for a while as David Jaffe is leaving Eat Sleep Play to focus on building a new studio.

    So in a sense, this is as much a farewell gift as it is a Valentine’s Day gift from Jaffe.

    Here’s the launch trailer full of love for the fans:

  • Steam Details Extent Of Hacking Attack, Backup File Was Stolen

    Steam Details Extent Of Hacking Attack, Backup File Was Stolen

    You may remember late last year that Steam, Valve’s digital distribution platform, was hacked and taken down for a while. The extent of the damage wasn’t exactly known until now.

    On Friday, Gabe Newell took to Steam to tell users exactly what happened:

    Dear Steam Users and Steam Forum Users:

    We continue our investigation of last year’s intrusion with the help of outside security experts. In my last note about this, I described how intruders had accessed our Steam database but we found no evidence that the intruders took information from that database. That is still the case.

    Recently we learned that it is probable that the intruders obtained a copy of a backup file with information about Steam transactions between 2004 and 2008. This backup file contained user names, email addresses, encrypted billing addresses and encrypted credit card information. It did not include Steam passwords.

    We do not have any evidence that the encrypted credit card numbers or billing addresses have been compromised. However as I said in November it’s a good idea to watch your credit card activity and statements. And of course keeping Steam Guard on is a good idea as well.

    We are still investigating and working with law enforcement authorities. Some state laws require a more formal notice of this incident so some of you will get that notice, but we wanted to update everyone with this new information now.

    Gabe

    This is a good example of a company being frank and open with their customers about their data. It’s a far cry from Sony’s mishandling of their own hack attack last year that saw the company taking their sweet time to let customers know that their data was compromised.

    Remember to take Gabe’s advice, kids. If you still have the same credit card number from 2004 to 2008, watch your bank account like a hawk just in case.

  • BioShock Infinite Parties Like It’s 1999

    A common complaint of BioShock is that it wasn’t System Shock 2. Irrational Games is changing that with BioShock Infinite.

    Irrational Games revealed a new mode for BioShock Infinite today – the fittingly titled “1999 mode.”

    The new mode is for those of us who remember how difficult, but rewarding, older games were. This mode is especially designed for those who fondly remember games like System Shock 2 that challenged the player with a harder difficulty and more stats to keep track of.

    “We want to give our oldest and most committed fans an option to go back to our roots,” Ken Levine, Creative Director of Irrational Games, said. “In 1999 Mode, gamers face more of the permanent consequences of their gameplay decisions. In BioShock Infinite, gamers will have to sweat out the results of their actions. In addition, 1999 Mode will demand that players pick specializations, and focus on them.

    The mode came about when the team at Irrational asked players about their individual play styles. They came back with results that said 94.6 percent of players indicated that they used and enjoyed the upgrade choices in BioShock, but they were not permanent either. Those who felt that upgrades, however, should remain permanent constituted 56.8 of respondents.

    In addition to the permanent decisions, 1999 mode will demand that players manage their weapon, power and health more closely. It also takes a harder stance on player respawns by sending the player directly to the “Game over” screen if they lack the resources to be brought back to life.

    While 1999 mode is cleverly titled, it’s not the first time that game developers have realized that many gamers want a challenge that is reminiscent of days gone by. Fallout: New Vegas from Bethesda and Obsidian featured a hardcore mode that forced players to eat and drink to surive as well as other realism factors.

    The game will release for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC later this year.

    For an idea of what they’re going for with the new 1999 mode, check out the main inspiration for this new mode: Irrational’s System Shock 2 which coincidentally released in 1999.

  • New Report Shows Top Holiday Gadget Complaints

    FixYa, a website specializing in troubleshooting Q&A for electronic devices, has released a report showing the top problems people had with their gadgets over the 2011 holiday season. The data from the FixMas Holiday Report was gathered by examining the kinds of questions users were asking and what devices they were asking about most during the period from November 2011 to the beginning of January 2012.

    Consoles were the biggest troublemakers overall, accounting for more than 60% of the total questions posted on the website. In fact, of the top 7 problematic products consoles took the first three spots. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 was the most troublesome console, with 5,000 more questions reported than Sony’s PlayStation 3, which in turn had over 30,000 more complaints than Nintendo’s Wii. The biggest problem for Xbox 360 users was the dreaded Red Ring of Death, which signals massive failure of the console’s hardware (usually due to overheating), and was responsible for 45% of reported issues.

    Top 7 Problem Products

    Top Problem Consoles

    Meanwhile, the iPhone topped the list of troublesome smartphones by a wide margin. There were nearly 100,000 complaints about the iPhone, compared to just shy of 40,000 for the second place Samsung Galaxy S. Forty percent of the iPhone complaints dealt with battery life, while a further 15% were concerned with dropped calls.

    Top Problem Smartphones

    Apple fared far better in the tablet department, however. The iPad WiFi was at the bottom of the list of tablets, and had less than a third the complaints of the leader, the Coby Kyros. The iPad also got fewer complants than the Samsung Galaxy and the Amazon Kindle, again by a considerable margin.

    Top Problem Tablets

    Did you have any of these problems over the holiday break? Let us know in the comments.

    [Source: FixYa]

  • Diablo III Kind Of Announced For Consoles

    Diablo III may be, once and for all, coming to consoles. Cue gasps from the PC community.

    Now, I’m going to file this one under all but confirmed because it’s not actually confirmed yet, but a fan on twitter asked if Diablo III was coming to consoles. Community manager “Bashiok” confirmed the console port and said that Josh Mosqueira was the project lead on it.

    Now it’s rather uncommon for a community manager to confirm a game’s existence before the company makes the official announcement, but it seems legit for now.

    Ars Technica did some digging in Mosqueira’s LinkedIn profile and found that he has been a lead game designer at Blizzard since last May. Beforehand, he had worked on Far Cry 3 for Ubisoft and a few games for Relic such as Company of Heroes.

    If this is indeed true. It makes perfect sense. While Blizzard’s other games such as Starcraft II and World of Warcraft don’t make sense on consoles, Diablo III is a perfect fit. Torchlight’s release on Xbox Live Arcade last year proved that a loot heavy dungeon crawler could work wonders on a console.

    The only doubt is Diablo III’s auction house that allows players to sell and buy equipment for real world money. Microsoft and Sony both have tight control over their platforms to make sure they get a little piece of the pie through any transactions made through their service. An open service like Blizzard’s auction house would have to be axed or monitored heavily if it were to be released on consoles.

    Now if only we can get Blizzard to make a new Lost Vikings for consoles, the entire world would be at peace.

    As an extra bonus, here’s the incriminating twitter conversation that started it all:

    @TaNGoIX
    T9 (Taylor)    @Bashiok can you confirm or deny Diablo 3 coming to consoles? Thanks. 1 day ago via Mobile Web · powered by @socialditto

    @Bashiok
    Bashiok    @TaNGoIX Yup. Josh Mosqueira is lead designer for the Diablo console project. 1 day ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

  • Anonymous To Target PSN Over Sony’s SOPA Support

    After rebounding from a blunder-filled start to 2011, the PlayStation 3 network, as well as the buzz around the system (and the company) died down to the point where it was acceptable to be a PS3 owner once again.

    However, if the mischievous Internet collective known as Anonymous has its way, the PlayStation Network (PSN) will once again be brought to its knees. Because of Sony’s support of the SOPA legislation, they are once again a target of the infamous hacking collective. Perhaps these two entities collaborated in order to get more coverage, seeing how the hubbub surrounding both parties, Sony and Anonymous, has been relatively quiet after a busy spring/summer.

    While that’s about as ludicrous as it sounds, stranger things have happened. As for Anonymous’ message, here it is, in YouTube format:


    In case you don’t want to listen to the computerized voice, the video’s YouTube page features a transcription of Anonymous’ latest intentions:

    Hello, SONY.
    We are Anonymous.

    It has come to the attention of the Anonymous activist community that you have chosen to stand by the Stop Online Piracy Act. This act will halt online businesses and restrict access to many sites for many users. Supporting SOPA is like trying to throw an entire company from off a bridge. Your support to the act is a signed death warrant to SONY Company and Associates. Therefore, yet again, we have decided to destroy your network. We will dismantle your phantom from the internet. Prepare to be extinguished. Justice will be swift, and it will be for the people, whether some like it or not. Sony, you have been warned.

    To those doubting our powers. We’ve infiltrated the servers of Bank of America, The United States Department of Defense, The United Nations, and Lockheed Martin. In one day.

    For their approval to SOPA, we have also declared that our fury be brought upon the following persons. Justin Bieber. Lady Gaga. Kim Kardashian. and Taylor Swift.

    Operation Blackout, engaged.
    Operation Mayhem, engaged.
    Operation LulzXmas, engaged.

    We are Anonymous.
    We are Legion.
    We do not forgive.
    We do not forget.
    Supporters of SOPA, you should’ve expected us.

    There are even instructions listed for those of you who’d like to help Anonymous takedown the PSN:

    How to join the attack:
    1) Download NetTalk6.exe
    2) Connect to this IP address: irc.anonops.li OR ipv6.anonops.li
    3) TYPE IN: /join #opsony

    It’s surprising that Sony hasn’t asked YouTube to pull the video, considering the directions in the description. Granted, Anonymous could broadcast these instructions over many different web mediums, but the fact remains, the attack directions could be inferred as inciting others to act in a destructive manner.

  • PlayStation 3 Drops Price, How Will Xbox Respond?

    As Sony’s goodwill tour concerning its PlayStation 3 console continues, a significant price drop for the machine–especially the 320 gig model–has gone largely unnoticed, or at least, it’s been strangely ignored by the gamer crowd. Perhaps only responding to negative stories is the idea.

    Nevertheless, since correcting and/or the merciful end of the errors that plagued Sony during the Spring–console hacks, lawsuits that made a certain hacker infamous enough to land a job at Facebook, the downed PSN service debacle that almost resulted in an exodus of PS3 supporters–Sony has been working incredibly hard to improve the moral surrounding its next-gen console.

    This includes an impressive “Welcome Back” package that allowed customers to download two free games from the now-restored PlayStation Network. Speaking of the word “inFAMOUS,” that was one of the games included in the free, “we’re sorry” booty.

    The latest move by Sony is the aforementioned price drop, which takes $50 off the top of each version of the PS3 console. This means the 160 gigabyte model is now $249.00 and, more impressively, the 320 gigabyte model is now only $299.

    Jack Tretton, the President and CEO of SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment of America), posted about the adjustment over at the official PlayStation blog:

    Today, I believe that value becomes even more evident. I’m excited to share with you that effective immediately at retailers throughout North America, the 160 GB PS3 and the 320GB PS3 are now available for $249 and $299, respectively. In addition, a limited edition inFAMOUS 2 bundle is now available at participating retailers across North America. The bundle retails for $299 and includes a 320 GB PlayStation 3, a copy of inFAMOUS 2 and a 30-day membership to PlayStation Plus.

    It should be noted that Amazon has not yet adjusted their PS3 prices, at least for the 320 GB model. Maybe tomorrow? The 160 gig already has the updated price.

    Naturally, Sony took to Twitter to spread the word, and while one of the announcement tweets were retweed over 100 times, reaction has been fairly muted on the national stage.

    @PlayStation
    PlayStation    Breaking news: PS3 is now $249: http://t.co/HsHsH8b #PS3now249 #gamescom 22 hours ago via bitly · powered by @socialditto

    It should be noted that it is the promoted Twitter trend of the moment, so it’ll be interesting to see how well Twitter’s new advertising service is working.

    PS3 Trend

    That being said, the following tweet sums up my feelings, too:

    @concussionsRbad
    Kevin Davis    Really? #ps3now249 is a promoted trend? The masses aren’t organically tweeting excitedly about this change in price point? 23 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    While this may not be looked at as a big deal–even the official forums are fairly muted about it–the move is significant in relation to the ongoing Xbox 360/PS3 war. With the price drop move, you can now buy a console with many more capabilities than the 360, at least when it comes to home entertainment, and has a larger internal storage device than Xbox’s largest model–no, the special edition 320 gigabyte models don’t count–for exactly the same price.

    70 gigabytes may not seem like a huge gap, but when people are storing movies and other forms of content besides games, and then you throw in the ever-growing size of the game saves themselves, and the difference is noticeable.

    With that in mind, expect an Xbox 360 price drop any day now.

  • Sony Promises Full Return of PlayStation Network by End of Week

    It’s been a long, hard road for Sony and its Playstation Network, but finally, the light at the end of the tunnel might actually become an attainable destination instead of a rumor. That’s right, Sony is once again promising a full return of the PSN after an extended battle with it and other Sony-owned services after being hacked, almost to death, by those who have a different outlook on technological matters than Sony does.

    The battle between the two parties has been covered extensively. The hacks began after Sony went after hacker George Hotz, who publicized the technique he used to take further control over the console he owned — a capability Sony seemed to support when the PS3 was initially released. Once Sony unleashed their legal department on Hotz, not for the hack, mind you, but to censor Hotz, the war between Sony and Hotz’ supporters was on.

    There were many casualties, something a Google search of “sony hacked” reveals quite nicely.

    But now, after weeks of attempting to restore the network that provides the Playstation’s online capabilities, it appears as if the entire network is ready to reveal itself, as indicated by the official Sony PS3 blog. According to the post/release, the restored PSN will available to most of the world, save the Far East, and all the services included with the PSN will be available as well:

    Sony Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) announced today that Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI, the company) will fully restore all PlayStationNetwork services in the Americas, Europe/PAL territories and Asia, excluding Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea by the end of this week. The company will also resume Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PlayStation3, PSP, VAIO and other PCs. Details for Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea as well as the remaining services on Qriocity will be announced as they become available.

    What does this mean for PlayStation 3 owners? Fully functional capabilities that the were paid for when the console was acquired, but beyond that, what else? The release indicates additional layers of security were added to the PSN, and considering the verbal reaming Sony took for the previous version, that’s a good thing.

    Of course, the scolding Sony received is surely small potatoes when compared to the potential revenue the company lost during its “our network has been hacked” debacle. Losing 171 million dollars has a way of reducing the impact of other admonishments, one would think. That being said, considering the PSN is free to PlayStation owners, clearly, the money Sony lost isn’t primarily from console owner revenue, although, it’s likely the negative stories scared would-be owners away. No, the large sum of money Sony lost comes from securing the network and atoning for any misdeeds caused by the personal information leaks.

    As for the restoration, Sony promises the following:

    The full restoration of PlayStation Network as well as part of services to become available on Qriocity will include:

  • Full functionality on PlayStation®Store
  • In-game commerce
  • Ability to redeem vouchers and codes
  • Full functionality on Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3, PSP, VAIO and other PCs
  • Full functionality on Media Go

    • Customers will be able to purchase and download games and video content from the PlayStationStore on PS3 or PSP. In addition, consumers will have full access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity through PS3, PSP, VAIO and other PC’s. Service restoration of Video on Demand powered by Qriocity and Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for a variety of network-enabled Sony devices will be announced later.

    The question is, just how long will the current, updated, secured network will stay secured? Is this a case of consumers getting what they pay for, in this case, nothing? Does Sony truly care about a service they aren’t getting revenue from, ala Xbox Live? Time will certainly provide the answers, because it’s not like Sony’s long list of hacker enemies are going to go away quietly.

  • The PlayStation 3 Battles Are Continuing Quite Nicely

    The war between PlayStation 3 owners/hackers and Sony is moving along just fine, thanks. Hackers want the freedom to alter their consoles how they see fit, and Sony sees that as a declaration of the intention to pirate software and does everything it can to shut that down. So back and forth we go. Although, Sony has the American legal system firmly in its camp, it still hasn’t stifled the efforts of those that want to jailbreak their bought-and-paid-for property.

    It’s the circle of ownership in the modern era, apparently.

    Sony latest move, confirming the law is indeed on its side, while perhaps ignoring the rights of property owners, and in this case, privacy, allows its legal team to subpoena PayPal. The goal of this quest is the acquire the records of one George Hotz, otherwise known as the infamous GeoHot, the hacker who Sony won a significant gag-order-style ruling against last month.

    According to PCMag’s report, the subpoena will allow Sony discover the identity of who or what California entity deposited funds into Hotz’ account. The time period requested in the filing is from January 2009 until February 2011. Considering the jurisdiction of the initial case is being disputed by Hotz, — it was even questioned by the presiding judge, such a window of time gives Sony ample opportunity to strengthen its claim that the state of California is indeed tied to the restraining order trial.

    On the hackers’ front, they have apparently struck another blow against Sony’s efforts to negate their work by jailbreaking the latest PlayStation 3 firmware update, version 3.60. Though the reliability of the latest hack is still in question, there is a video of the steps involved, if anyone dares to be so bold. Also, Myce.com has an interview with the hacker who apparently cracked Sony’s latest update.

    PS3 Version

    So what does all this mean for regular PlayStation 3 owners who aren’t interested in either side, instead, they just want to play games and watch Blu-Ray DVDs? Another firmware download for one, especially if the hack is legitimate. Those are always fun. It also casts doubt over the idea of Sony ever building a truly “unhackable” system.

    Lastly, it’s being reported that Sony is running authentication software on the PlayStation Network to determine whether or not connected consoles are jailbroken. If so, they will be nuked from the network, permanently.

  • Sony Targets PS3 Hackers With Anti-Piracy Legal Team

    Sony continues to arm itself as they are pulling out all the stops in order to combat what they view as piracy across the PlayStation 3 platform.

    Saving the “who’s right” discussion for another day, it’s clear that, critics and questions about the definition of ownership be damned, Sony is out for blood when it comes to cracking down on those trying to hack or jailbreak a PS3.  Besides going after existing hackers, armed with a judicial system that appears to favor Sony’s claims; firmware updates to block currently-successful hacks; PlayStation Network bans; and the apparent development of an “unhackable” PS3; they’re also working on another weapon to use in their little war:

    An anti-piracy legal team.

    Meanwhile, XBox developers encourage owners to hack the Kinect, but I digress.  BusinessInsider.com found some job listings over at SCEA that mentioned the creation of such a legal team.

    “This position will be responsible for assessing annual SCEA corporate anti-piracy needs and addressing the needs through developing and implementing an anti-piracy program in consultation with the Deputy General Counsel and the General Counsel and collaborating with other anti-piracy organizations…”

    Not only is Sony being incredibly headstrong about what they consider a hack attempt, which, to Sony, is tantamount to pirating PS3 games — their true concern here — they are also receiving outspoken support from game developers who don’t appear to understand the concepts of ownership either; or, worse yet, they’re willing to disregard them in order to ensure financial gain.

    David Braben is one such developer: "Buying a PlayStation 3 does not give me unrestricted ownership of it. If I ‘dig’ into it, I can’t just sell or even give away all the information I find."  Braben goes on to say that people who broadcast PlayStation 3 hacking methods should be condemned.

    Jailbreak Tweet

    I’m guessing that sound logic doesn’t apply to Kevin Butler.

  • PS3 Fanboys Stand Up for Sony

    Sony released a statement concerning their recent PS3 hacking issues, and while the content was about what you’d expect, the PS3 fans showed support for the decision by offering 15 pages of “here-here” comments.

    Over at the Playstation 3 blog, a post discussed Sony Computer Entertainment’s statement concerning the “GeoHot” hubbub and how the act of PS3 jailbreaking is viewed around Sony’s parts.  Essentially, the posting echoed SCE’s sentiments about how they plan to terminate any PlayStation Network account if the user is found to be using hacked hardware; a necessary requirement if players are trying to cheat during games.

    Jailbreak Tweet
    Just a friendly reminder

    The Sony PS3 blog says:

    Circumvention devices and game piracy damage our industry and can potentially injure the online experience for you, our loyal PlayStation customers, via hacks and cheats. Many PlayStation.Blog readers have asked how we intend to deal with these incidents that they have been reading about in the gaming press, and this is our initial response.

    By identifying PlayStation 3 systems that breach our guidelines and terminating their ability to connect to PlayStation Network, we are protecting our business and preserving the honest gameplay experiences that you expect and deserve.

    While I fully support the right of consumers being allowed to do pretty much whatever they want to an item after they purchase it, I also support Sony’s stance of banning cheaters.  If you want to hack/jailbreak your system, Sony shouldn’t be allowed to stop you.  However, if you try connecting to their online/multiplayer game network with plans on using an aimbot on the latest Call of Duty, you should be punished if you get caught.

    It’s a pretty simple concept, and one that clearly has a great deal of support from the PlayStation 3 community.  A quick glance at the mountain that is the 648 reader comments that have been added to the post — so far — finds almost unilateral support for Sony’s chest-puffing.  Here are some examples; although, I think the first one is confused by the various definitions for the word “pirate.” 

    The line breaks have been removed to conserve space.  All other [sic]s are left as they were found:

    Ftwrthtx  |  February 16th, 2011 at 9:05 am

    Well said. Pirates should be treated like the dirt they represent.  A Somali pirate just got 33 years in prison.

    Myke-Myke  |  February 16th, 2011 at 9:05 am

    Thx. I support you Sony in this. I don’t want my experiences online to be crappy cause people wanna cheat.

    teradome  |  February 16th, 2011 at 9:10 am

    Yep. “unauthorized or pirated software” isn’t just about not getting paid for software, it’s about people modding and hacking that software to support exploits, aimbots, etc.., all the things that make online play maddening and unsatisfying.  As community members, who want fun and fair experiences with our online games, supporting Sony on this is pretty much a mandatory.

    There are a couple of cries of hacker support, but these are largely drowned out, at least, during the first few pages.  I didn’t go through every comment, but looking at the last page, the content is about the same.  A few “Go Sony”s and an ongoing discussions about how the PS3 Move’s “eye” is monitoring user behavior. 

    There is, however, someone who gets the big picture quite nicely:

    HollyPollins  |  February 17th, 2011 at 4:56 pm

    There’s a really big picture that a lot of people are missing.  When you bought the PS3, you did gain ownership of that console. As long as that Playstation is never connected to the internet, you preserve the privilege to do WHATEVER your heart wishes with it. For instance, if the system is offline, the update was never prompted. You still have the Other OS option! If the PS3 is offline and you want to hack it until it screams your name, Awesome. 

    **Bottom Line** It’s your PS3 system, not your Playstation Network. Sony runs the network. If your ps3 is hacked and not connected to the internet, you never received the email asking you to uninstall the hack because that’s how they knew where to send the email.

    Clearly, the lesson is, if you’ve hacked your PS3, stay away from Sony’s online game service.  Or don’t.  It’s up to each individual. If you want to grief other users with your “sick aimbot skillz,” don’t get mad when Sony kills your PlayStation Network account for good.  True, such a move doesn’t brick the system, but it does brick the idea of online play — at least with other, legitimate-in-Sony’s-eye, users.

  • Sony Shares Jailbreak Code Via Twitter

    Perhaps “laughing stock” is too strong a term here, but after Sony’s strong-arm tactics concerning jailbroken PlayStation 3s — tactics that were upheld via a misguided ruling — the fact that they tweeted the jailbreak code in question, accidentally or no, perhaps it fits.

    That’s right.  Sony’s official spokesperson, Kevin Butler — the guy in all the PS3 commercials — retweeted what was mistakenly perceived as a Battleship attack coordinates.  Instead, the actual tweet contained the necessary code to jailbreak Sony’s flagship console.

    Isn’t it ironic?  Don’tcha think?

    After the ringer George Hotz was put through, courtesy of Sony and its favorable ruling, one can only shake their head in disbelief after discovering Sony’s Twitter gaffe.  Naturally, the offending tweet was removed, but again, good luck on getting that genie back in the bottle.

    Jailbreak Tweet
    Image courtesy

    After the tweet was removed, Butler’s account resumed its silly narrative, completely ignoring the jailbreak tweet goof.

    Considering the terms of the Hotz’ ruling, shouldn’t Sony have to turn all their computers and literature concerning PS3 jailbreaks over to the proper authorities?  Hotz had to turn his over to Sony, so maybe now, Sony should have to follow suit by giving up some more trade secrets — or at least they should have to return Hotz’ materials.

    It’s funny how a person like Hotz is vilified by Sony and anti-piracy types for documenting the steps necessary to jailbreak a PS3, but when Sony erroneously follows suit, the intial ruling is not commuted.  Granted, it wasn’t Hotz that violated the jailbreak dissemination restraining order, but the fact that Sony publicized the very information it was trying to block should render Hotz’s punishment null and void.

    If Kevin Butler operated in the world of college athletics, he would have their Twitter privileges removed for making such an amazing mistake.  Considering the disdain his offending tweet showed the Hotz restraining order, perhaps that’s not such a bad thing.

    In a just world, one where the rights of the citizens and entertainment industry are equal, that would likely be the result of Sony’s/Kevin Butler’s ignorance.   What’s good for the goose (Hotz), is certainly good for the gander (in this case, Sony).

  • The First Rule of PS3 Hacking is Don’t Talk About PS3 Hacking

    Normally, when you buy an item from a store, and complete the purchase by leaving the premises with the item you purchased, the transaction is over.  If you want to take your new item home and, well, do whatever you’d like with it, you’re free to do so; and if you’d like to discuss your exploits, you can  do that, too.

    As long as you don’t own a PlayStation 3.

    A ruling by a California Judge issued a restraining order favoring the Sony corporation over the rights individual owner — surprise, surprise —  and now, George Hotz is no longer allowed to disseminate information about how he hacked his PlayStation 3.  Further, the ruling also requires Hotz to turn over his computers to Sony, a move that’s just as disappointing as the restraining order.

    So not only is Hotz not allowed to reveal his hacking methods, which feels an awful lot like free speech infringement, he has to turn over equipment that Sony has no legal right to, all because the trend of favoring big money over the rights of the individual owner continues unabated.

    In fact, the judge in question — US District Judge Susan Illston — initially had reservations about trying the case in northern California because Hotz lives in New Jersey, meaning there was confusion about jurisdiction.

    Nevertheless, that didn’t stop Illston from issuing a dubious ruling that serves as a blow to an owner’s individual rights, infringes on Hotz’ free speech rights, and serves a boon to entertainment corporations everywhere.  No longer do the Sonys of the world have the burden of proving piracy, they can simply rely on the court system to rule in their favor when they are threatened with a future they can’t control.

    Forgive my confusion, but doesn’t Hotz, you know, own his PS3?  Did he not buy it with his own legal tender?  If so, he should be able to anything he wants to it.  If Hotz wants to relieve his bodily waste inside of the device, he can.  If he wants to take it home and smash it into a million pieces, he can do that to.

    But the one thing he cannot do, apparently, is hack the device — too bad it’s not an iPhone — and then discuss how he did it.  Mind you, Hotz was not found guilty of piracy or hacking.  Sony was merely trying to stop him from spreading the word on how to rid the PS3 of Sony’s oft-maligned DMCA, which means the only freedoms Sony cares about are the ones that protect their bottom line.

    While we’re not allowed to discuss how to hack a PS3, we can discuss Google+Search&aq=f&oq=”>how to build bombs, or to kidnap children, if that’s your thing.

    The bright spot in all this, if there is one, as CruchGear points out, is good luck on stopping the flow of information.  Now that the details for PS3 hacking have been unleashed on the Internet, it’s going to be hard, if not impossible, to put that particular genie back in the bottle, like so:

    It’s just unfortunate a US Judge would so willfully disregard a person’s right to free speech, regardless if Sony liked the content of the message or not.

  • Netflix Adds Search to the Playstation 3 Version

    Netflix announced today that it has added search capabilities to its service on the Sony Playstation 3. This is part of a software upgrade from the company.

    Netflix for PS3"This architecture allows us to improve your Netflix experience by adding more and more features over time," says Greg Peters, VP of product development. "Sony is the first of the game consoles to adopt this new software from Netflix, so if you’re a PS3 user, you can now search for a movie or TV episode on your TV via your PS3. No need to go back to your computer to add it to your Queue."

    Speaking as a Netlix on Wii user, I can say this feature would be incredibly useful. Although, if Netflix gets the mobile apps out soon, it won’t be so much of an issue, as grabbing the phone to do the searches would be almost as easy as the console search function, if not more so. Those will come eventually, no doubt.

    In the meantime, Netflix says it will have "more cool features" in store with its continuous improvement architecture.

    Netflix is also seeing increased competition from all sides with the launches of things like Hulu’s paid service and Redbox talking about its online strategy.

  • Hulu Plus Makes It To PS3

    Hulu Plus Makes It To PS3

    Although a fair number of people have hooked computers up to televisions, and a few folks might be willing to stare at their monitors for hours on end, a new development should help Hulu reach a much larger crowd.  Hulu’s now available through the PS3.

    A couple of quick notes regarding the current state of things: only PS3 Plus subscribers are allowed access to Hulu Plus (meaning there are two fees involved), and this is still considered a "limited preview," so even among PS3 Plus subscribers, not everyone will be allowed to participate.

    Hold your boos, though.  Susan Panico, Senior Director of the PlayStation Network, promised on the PlayStation Blog that a more inclusive experience is in the works.

    Panico wrote, "As Hulu Plus becomes generally available in the coming months, all PlayStation 3 users in the United States will be able to download and subscribe to the full Hulu Plus service and it will also be available on wide range of Sony Electronics Internet-connected entertainment devices, including select BRAVIA TVs and Blu-ray Disc players."

    So lots and lots of people should soon be able to enjoy Hulu Plus on a big screen from the comfort of their couch, which should result in a lot of new interest in the service.  After all, however you feel about the commercials, the content selection, and the price of Hulu Plus, at least a folks who have already paid for those entertainment devices will probably opt for a pay service, as well.

    Now we just have to wait and see whether their numbers are large enough to make Hulu Plus a genuine success.