Sony gains access to George Hotz’s PayPal records

Here is the latest news regarding the Sony vs George Hotz’s. California court has given Sony the permission to subpoena George Hotz’s PayPal account and any records relatied to it. Sony claims that Hotz’s illegally accepted donations for his hack, which violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, from residents of Northern California. Hotz denied such claim and said he did not recieve any donations for the hack what so ever. Prior to this ruling Sony has also had been given the permission to access to visitor IP addresses for his website. Not only did Sony go after the visitors, but also everybodies information that visited/followed his YouTube, Twitter, and Google accounts.

Bottom Line: Sony vs Hotz’s is heating up, we will keep you updated.

SOCOM 4: Special Forces Release Date Announced

The upcoming PS3 exclusive SOCOM 4: Special Forces has been given it’s official release date, 22nd April in the UK & Ireland, by Sony. It hits mainland Europe on 20th April and Australia and New Zealand on 21st April. Mainland Europe will receive the Move-supporting shooter on 20th April and Australia and New Zealand on 21st April. According to a tweet by PlayStation EU Blog, a beta is also on the way.

Bottom Line: SOCOM is probably one of the most respected game franchise in the history of Playstation, and personally I think that statement can be echoed and agreed throughout most of the community. The original SOCOM games for the PS2 were fantastic, and it’s that quality most of us are looking for in the FPS industry. A healthy history with a good backbone. Lets just hope Zipper can deliver.

Well That Was Fast…All Seized PS3s To Be Returned

I bet Lindsay Lohan wishes her appearances in court went so swiftly. A Dutch court ordered LG to immediately free the 300,000 consoles that were confiscated on March 4, or they will be forced to pay 200,000 euros per day they are not returned. Along with 130,000 euros in legal fees. Playstation 3 consoles are now free and clear to be sold in Europe. Now the question remains, with this particular legal battle over, how will future ones play out? That is yet to be determined, as I’m sure LG will continue to fight for royalties on American shores, as Sony is about getting reimbursement for the alleged smart phone infringements.

Bottom Line: Sony has won the battle in Europe, but the war is far from over it seems.

Source: Gamersleak.com

Kaz Hirai Promoted, Could Sony CEO Be Next?

Kaz Hirai has paid his dues. He has been a part of the electronics giant since 1995, and played a major role in helping the Playstation become a household name around the world. Now it looks like Sony is making moves to make him the top dog of the company. Kaz currently is the president of Sony Computer Entertainment (he replaced Ken Kutaragi in November of 2006.) This corporate re-alignment gives Hirai the title of “executive deputy president.” he will be leading Sony’s consumer products unit come April 1st of this year. A quote from current CEO Howard Stringer shows that they will be observing how well Hirai handles his new duties, and in turn if the board feels he can fill the shoes.

“This is an opportunity for the board to watch Hirai san and judge his performance,” current CEO Howard Stringer said. “There may be other candidates, but he has a leadership position.” That leadership position is due in no small part to “the turnaround of the games business,”

Let’s just hope he find a giant enemy crab, on the way up the corporate ladder. Bottom Line: This is a great opportunity for Kaz and Sony.  He has shown when given the reins he can do great things.  Good luck to him.

PS3 Update 3.60

Firmware update 3.60 for the Playstation 3 has officially hit consoles around the globe. Check out the features below. The process takes roughly half an hour to download and install the update, so try find something to keep you occupied - I don’t know, take the dog out? Clean up the house? Pretend you’re getting work done while aimlessly surfing the web? (we both know you do that anyway) - while waiting.

Main features in system software update version 3.60

  • Online Storage

[Online Storage] has been added as a feature under Game > [Saved Data Utility (PS3™)] . You can store PlayStation 3 format software saved data on a PlayStation Network server and download it to another PlayStation 3 system to continue playing your game. To use this feature you must have a PlayStation Network account and be a PlayStation Plus member. Check out our post on the Cloud Storage feature to find out more! Other new or revised features in version 3.60

  • Settings

Under [Power Save Settings] > [Controller Auto-Off], you can now set the PS3 system so that the connected or paired controllers will turn off after 10, 20 or 30 minutes of idle time. Note:

  • Depending on the software title, you may not be able to play without first updating the PS3 system software.
  • Do not perform updates using any data other than the official update data provided by Sony Computer Entertainment over a network or on disc media, and do not perform updates by methods other than those described in the product documentation or in this site. If an update is performed using data from another source, by another method, or with a PS3 system that has been altered or modified in any way, the PS3 system may not operate properly and may not be able to install the official update data. Any of these actions may void the PS3 system warranty and affect your ability to obtain warranty services and repair services from Sony Computer Entertainment.

From Playstation

Bottom Line: PSN+ members will be chuffed to know they can finally keep their save data in technically speaking one of the safest and most reliable storage system around. Don’t count on hearing that in literal terms any time soon though.

Sony is launching an online storage cloud service

Sony is planning to launch its new Online Storage service on March 10th. The service is very simples, it’s a cloud-save system for the Playstation 3. The service will be exclusively for PlayStation Plus members. Online Storage will give the users the ability to store 1,000 game saves or 150Mb of data. Not only will the users have access to the service via their PS3, but also when they are at a friends house as well. All the user has to do is login with his/her PSN, then they will be able to play the game where they left off. The subscription costs £39.99/€49.99 a year, or £11.99/€14.99 for 90 days. Also according to Sony you will receive “new, classic and exclusive games, themes and avatars worth over £200 a year.” Not a bad deal!

Bottom Line: Sony is launching their new Online Storage cloud service. This new feature will be very handy to keep track of all your saved data on the NGP, PS3, and PlayStation Phone Xperia Play.

Via: Gamersleak.com

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception reveals new villain

Naughty Dog has just revealed a new cutscene trailer for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. The video shows Drake getting beat up by some thugs, (notably Nathan Drake) and shortly after the new villain Katherine Marlowe. Katherine is an elderly British woman that will be the main antagonist in the game. To get a glimpse of the villains check out the video and screenshots below! Bottom Line: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception looks amazing!

Source: Gamersleak.com

Resistance 3 Multiplayer Gameplay Footage is out!

Sony has just released Resistance 3’s first mutliplayer gameplay footage! The multiplayer experience has been downgrated from 60 players to 16. We strongly hope this is for the better, and the connection will be smoother as well. Personally, I think bringing the number down will provide a more focused experience. The incredible gameplay graphics can be easily seen if you view this video in 720p.

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Just how powerful is the NGP?

According to Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games, the NGP has an incredible amount of power! How powerful you ask? NGP has four times the power of any other portable device that has been running Unreal engine titles. This statement includes the first iPad, but not the iPad 2. Sony’s incredible device is really promising, I cannot wait to see how well it performs graphically and technically. Talk is talk, but you need some evidence to back it up.

With recent demo of Uncharted for the NGP at the GDC, something tells me that the market is headed in an interesting direction. With competition ranging from Apple, Nintendo, and Google, it will be very interesting to see which way the market is headed in 2011. Personally I believe that even thou the NGP has incredible hardware specs, the software will need to withstand the competition.

Bottom Line: Some has created and incredible product, now they need to focus on appealing titles for the NGP.

Via: Kotaku.com

Sony Has Sold Over 41 Million PS3′s

During the GDC, Sony has announced some interesting sale stats. At this time Sony has sold over 41.6 million PS3’s globally. Of those consoles, more than 80 percent of them  are connected to the internet. Also the Playstation Network ha over 70 million registered accounts. However, other gaming websites are saying that Sony contridicted itself by saying earlier that they have sold 47.9 million consoles. Please keep in mind that they sell the hardware devices to retailers in bulk. Of the 47.9 million, the retailers have sold 41.6 million to date, meaning the PS3 in stores at this time are part of the 47.9 million, instead of the 41.6 million. Regerdless of the sales the most important thing is the userbase, which in this case is very strong!

Bottom Line: Regardless of the confusion, Sony has done an incredible job at catching up with Microsoft! With this announcement, we are fully aware that some will gain even more sales through out 2011. With titles like Uncharted 3, Resistance 3, inFamous 2, Motorstorm Apocalypse and The Last Guardian there is no doubt in my mind that 2011 will be a great year for the PS3 and NGP.

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