Author: Allen Tyson

The long rumored Premium PSN service has been confirmed to exist by none other than the Sony Computer Entertainment Europe President.

Andrew House

Previously written about on the web and by us here the subject has been one of speculation since Kaz Hirai stated it was something that was being considered. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe President Andrew House answered a few questions from users on the Official UK PlayStation Blog. Not surprisingly, one of those questions had to do with the PSN:

Will PlayStation Network become a paying service?
I can assure you that the current PSN as you know it will remain a free service. It is something that our competitors don’t offer and something that shows our loyalty to the PlayStation Community. However, Kaz Hirai stated a few months ago that we were looking at a premium service to sit alongside the current free service and that objective has not changed. You’ll learn more about it very soon.

While not providing a great deal of details it does confirm that the service exists, that the current PSN as we know it won’t change, and that has the support of the SCE Chairman Kaz Hirai which would imply a big initiative.

A lot of speculation has been made about exactly what services would be included (DLC, free PSN titles, cross-game chat), but with with E3 17 days and 16 hours away (yes I am that excited), it won’t be long until we find out.

In an interview with Gamasutra, Rob Dyer SCEA’s Senior Vice President of Publisher Relations discusses a wide variety of industry topics as they relate to the Sonyverse. Specifically he gave his on thoughts on  DLC (downloadable content), his preference for disc based delivery of content, and how these things relate to console exclusivity.

One of the questions that came up is exclusivity. In the day and age we live in, it’s not as common place as it once was as publishers can expand their games to a much larger audience given the market share of the PS3 and the 360. Rob commented on this by stating that in those instances, it’s about exclusive features. With Batman’s exclusive content as an example, he made the point that “exclusive content that is meaningful” and  it adds to the overall value from both a publisher perspective and a gamer perspective.  He further went to add that it’s “Not about taking share away from Microsoft. It’s about expanding the pie” which is why securing the right type of content is so very important.

The next big topic was DLC (downloadable content). When mentioned that Microsoft has been extremely aggressive in the DLC space, he had some very specific comments surrounding that situation. He cited that, their being aggressive about that as being the difference between Microsoft and Sony. It comes down to the product lines. With two different machines, publishers have to make a decision on how they are going to distribute DLC. He mentioned “are you going to give it for the arcade user or that guy that actually has a hard drive”? That being said, he made the point that publishers know that 100% of the PS3 user base can utilize the DLC generated for it regardless of their PS3 type provided they have access to it.

Along the same lines, he highlighted that, he would encourage more content on disc than via DLC. The reason for this is from an access standpoint. Siting that the PSN userbase is 70-73% of the installbase, that’s a significant number of people that for whatever reason, will not have access to any DLC based content. While not only highlighting the blu-ray capabilities of the PS3 by being able to include large amounts of additional data as a value add, he mentioned focusing on disc based content versus DLC based content is preferable so that “100 percent out there can play”.

Rob then discussed the complexities of DLC from both a developer and publisher perspective. That it goes beyond just deciding their will be DLC, it’s determining what type it will be, which vendors will get what types, and coordinating it all prior to release takes quite some time. For example, he stated “We did the Batman deal 15 months before street” which gave them the necessary time to “get everything lined up”. Rob eluded to a few a deals that should be surprising by saying “Come find after our press event at E3. There’s going to be some announcements. You’re going to look at me and go, ‘Okay, when did you start these’?”

With E3 on the horizon and Comc-Con 2010 right around the corner, expect to hear even more from Sony when it comes to content.

The PlayStation Network as we know it might be changing in a big way by the time E3 rolls around.

Rumors have been circulating across the web for quite some time that Sony might, at some point, offer a premium version of the PSN. If reports are to believed, that may just be the case. According to VG247, a “highly placed source” (from where is not defined) informed them of Sony’s plans to leverage the PSN to increase revenue. Here are the highlights:

Cost of the service to be less than $61 dollars US

1 free PSN game a month from a  selection two to four

A streaming music application (similar to Spotify) that may allow in game music

No changes for PSN users who do not wish to upgrade

At this point it us unknown exactly what we can expect, or how much of the above will turn out to be accurate. With E3 right around the corner, expect more news on this as it develops. In the meantime, we will reach out to Sony and attempt to get some sort of confirmation. But if this is going to be a big reveal, we may be sitting on the sidelines with you when the game starts.

The highly anticipated prequel to Kingdom Hearts now has a release date.

Square Enix has revealed that Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep is set for release in North America on September 7^th exclusively on the PSP.

Adding an outstanding voice cast of Mark Hamill (most excellent), Willa Holland, Jesse McCartney, Leonard Nimoy and James Woods along with exclusive content included just for the North American release Square gives a much needed boost to the PSP library.

To accompany the release, a limited edition Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep PSP Entertainment Pack will be available on release day from Gamestop:

• “Mystic-Silver” PSP-3000 system
• KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep on UMD (Universal Media Disc)*
• Movie (to be announced)
• 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo

Until September 7th arrives, in the interim, enjoy the trailer below:

Sony has made a few changes to the core hardware of the PS3 that should hopefully get them closer to the hardware break even point.

The Reality Synthesizer (RSX) Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) has seen some changes during the PS3 life-cycle. Initially it was 90nm during launch, later it was reduced to 65nm, and now another change to 40nm. Reducing the chipset is not only inline with industry reductions of larger chips, but it also serves to reduce power consumption and heat which is crucial in a relatively tight space. To date the PS3 Slim units have not experienced the YLOD (yellow light of death) in mass quantities, and this revision should help to reduce that phenomenon.

This new version CECH-2100A contains a few other changes as well. The power supply weighs less, the heatsink is more simple,the internal cooling unit is much smaller as well resulting in an overall lighter console. Further the XD DRAM configuration was changed from being 4×512Mb to 2×1Gb. This is very similar to the future layout that Goto-san described back in 2006.

PocketNews performed the tear down and examination of the system. They also took a look at power consumption and how it relates to the new version:

While it’s not currently available in the US yet, Amazon.co.jp has it available. Lower power consumption, less heat and cheaper manufacturing costs is a win for everyone.

Images courtesy of PocketNews

With no major reports from users since it’s release, firmware 3.30 is safely in the wild. Here is a rundown of all the new features:

Trophy enhancements –- Now you can more easily sort trophies in the [Trophy Collection] and [Comparing Trophy] sections. Sorting can be done with [Trophy Collection] in the [Game Category] and also when comparing trophies with your friends in the [Friend Category]

Trophy Folder (Title List) can be sorted by game name/ by title according to the date in which you earned your last trophy (ascending/descending)

Add-on list (Group list) can be sorted by original/the date in which you earned your last trophy (ascending/descending)

Trophy list can be sorted by original/trophy name/grade/date of obtaining the trophy (ascending/descending)

3D Support – System prepped for stereoscopic gaming

Now for a few not so obvious ones, as the sixthaxis noted below:

BD Audio Output Settings Direct and Bitstream

Direct – Set to output audio with the original digital signal prioritized.
Mix – Set to output audio that is first mixed with sound effects such as button sounds and then converted to bitstream  format.

PC Remote Play – Arriving on set VAIO PC’s, users will be able to register a PC as a remote play device.

Having test the firmware personally, I approve this posting

One of the things that other systems, like Boxee, have going for them is app support. The ability to integrate apps into an existing system and expand it’s capabilities is something that more and more devices are adding and the PS3 is now no exception.

MLB.tv is now available on the PS3 in quite an impressive way. According to PLAYSTATION.BLOG, the app supports the following:

MLB Scoreboard – See a schedule of today’s games (and set options to control whether or not you see the scores)

Home and Away Feeds – Choose to watch either the home or away broadcast feed

HD quality video and DVR functionality – watch a live game in HD (with Live Game DVR functionality that lets you pause and rewind live games of fast-forward back to live game action)

Season Archive – Want to re-live a great moment? Go back and watch games you’ve missed from earlier in the season.

Scrollable Linescore – Go directly to any half-inning to watch only that portion of the game.

Favorite Teams/Calendar Schedule – Scroll through the entire 2010 Major League Baseball schedule in calendar format or designate your favorite team(s) to see the schedule for that team.

To see it in action, check out the video here:

Talk about a feature list. What effectively makes me say “Like zoinks Scoob!” is the integration of DVR functionality. It’s now starting to approach the utopian IPTV future of a la carte services I have always dreamed of…ok well it’s a start.

Given the PS3’s growing install base, let’s hope more and more content providers make the leap to the PS3.

The name may not sound familiar, but it’s legendary none the same. Mathieu Hervais or Math has been around the gaming scene for quite sometime and worked closely with Dark_Alex of PSP fame and more recently with GeoHot.
In a recent interview with MaxConsole via Threedog, he sheds light on quite a few things. Initially it focused just on the PSP, the state of the scene, and how all the original members are no longer working in that arena. Later however, it branched off into a discussion of the state of affairs with the PS3, with some extremely interesting details being brought to light. Below is a direct copy of the interview portion pertaining to the PS3 and it’s worth a careful read. The link is included, but as some avatars may be NSFW (not safe for work),the full interview is below:

1: Members have seen you interacting with Geohot, Do you have any personal interest in the PS3 and if so can you tell us anything about your plans? Are you working with Geohot?
I’ve interacted with a lot of individuals in the past; Geohot is one of them, though one of the most interesting I encountered so far. Although he tends to work alone, we have been exchanging ideas, I helped him with a couple of things, he helped me with a couple of others and so on. He is someone that’s really skilled and I appreciate exchanging thoughts with people like that.
2: It has taken quite some time to find a way into the PS3, What do you think of Sonys achievements in security? Anything else you want to say about the PS3?
The playstation 3 security was more the work of IBM than sony’s the idea of using isolated spus as crypto engines in order to hide keys was brilliant, I do not think sony implemented such an idea properly though, as such their current architecture has a few security design flaws on its own that I noticed.
I believe it has pretty much been security through obfuscation all along.
3: What do you think of Sonys removal of Other OS as a preventative measure, Do you feel it is right to blame ‘hackers’ or ‘pirates’ for its removal?
I believe sony wanted a pretext to remove otheros and found one in Geohot’s hack. I do not believe this is the right approach, it would have paid off to talk with hackers and homebrew developers in the first place and give them compromises, in fact the playstation 3 remained unhacked until sony chose to release ps3 slim systems without the otheros feature in.
4: Assuming you choose to answer the above, Do you have a counter argument for Sonys statements? and do you think Sony could have fixed this without removing the feature?
Yes of course they could have, there are several existing ways to close this exploit effectively without removing the otheros feature, they wanted it removed and used it as another pretext to do so, pretty much like the phony one they used for the slim console pretexting that they would have to implement support for it on the new hardware (while it actually would have worked just fine on it, should they had enabled option to do it in the first place). The otheros feature did cause a few security concerns regarding the fact that you could pretty much cold boot the console and use otheros to dump lv2, this could easily be fixed by ensuring that the selected os option is only applied upon proper shutdown though.
5: How far along is development with the PS3? How much control do we really have? How much work is left for a system that is as ‘open’ as the PSP currently is? If you were to compare the PS3’s current development status to another device such as the PSP which stage would you compare it to?
We already have a lot, and that’s in a sense the problem because we have too much to work with, too much to reverse… These things take time.
A huge amount of work is required before we get to a level comparable to the one we have with the psp right now. I would say months at least, if not years of work may still be required.
6: Are you personally working on the PS3 and if so can you tell us what you are up to? Can you tell us of any personal objectives?
I am working on the ps3, so are countless of other skilled developers out there, as for my objective, that would be unrestricted homebrews on the device, either on top of lv2 or by the mean of a RTOS.

7: Member Milkyjoe asks, Why doesn’t Mathieulh release his lvl 1,2 and 3 dumps of the PS3 firmware.
Because that’s copyrighted data (there is no such thing as lv3 by the way) and I am certainly not putting that in the wild. The people that have a need for these either already have those dumps or the capacities to dump them. There is a certain site (which I wont name) that has been literally whining to various developers (including me) so that we “share” (read leak) the dumps in our possession. They claimed they would do wonders so long as they had the dumps in the first place. When someone finally dumped lv1 and released it in the wild, what did this site ever did with the dump ? Nothing. This is what happens when all the “devs” you have can’t use ida or reverse engineer and that the only thing they could ever do is look at strings with an hex editor.
On that note I will leave you to think about this.
8: Member Breakdown has asked multiple questions.
1. Now that you have dumps of the HV etc.. is there any reverse engineering going on and Is it possible to execute homebrew code on a retail machine if so are there any plans to give the public that ability?
Yes there are a few people reversing these dumps as we speak, things take time, when there is any development, you shall be kept posted.
2. If developers are capable of creating custom PUP’s would it be possible to patch future official firmwares to retain the Other OS feature for members that have already updated to 3.21?
No, because of the coreos revocation checks (among other things) this is for now not a possibility.
9: Will the Other OS/Playstation 3 hardware still be open to the same attacks when Geohot releases his planned method of upgrade?
Yes it will.
10: Do you have a rough ETA for when end-users will have something to play with for example homebrew such as a Quake 1 port?
No idea. You can already play Quake 1 on otheros using linux I believe.

Sony is set to release a firmware upgrade this June that will enable 3D capabilities on the PS3. According to Techradar, this will include 3D game support for titles on the PSN only, and not for Blu-ray movies. A second firmware update later this year is set to add support for 3D movies. Customers who purchase Sony’s HX803 will have access, free of charge to 4 remastered PSN Titles:

Wipeout HD
Motorstorm Pacific Rift
PAIN
Stardust HD

So while the PS3 continues to live up to it’s promise of being future proof, it looks like the future is going to be delayed just slightly for movies. Honestly, as long as it’s half as good as The Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future interactive game, I will be a happy man.

Well after a recent FCC filing and then confirmation from Sony themselves, the sub-controller as it has been known so far was given a new name: Navigation Controller.

Hopefully as E3 is right around the corner, Sony has a few tricks up their sleeve to showcase some new tech alongside the PlayStation Move ensemble.  All eyes are sure to be on Sony’s press conference to see what they have in store.

So it would appear that “You are the Navigator”. Ok, sorry about that. I had a flashback to Max for a brief second. I can’t be the only one right?

In my best Ted “Theodore” Logan: “Whoa”. One person has decided to deal with the removal of the OtherOS in a different way: by requesting a refund.

A member of the NeoGAF forums named iapetus decided to take some action by requesting a refund from Amazon UK where he purchased the console.  Even though his system was out of warranty, his premise was that given the removal of the OtherOS feature, the console no longer fit the original description based upon it’s listed capabilities when it was bought, and that under European Law the device capabilities “made known to the seller at the time of purchase” had changed. Amazon agreed, and issued him a partial refund in the amount of £71.49 (US$110) plus tax.

As the saying goes “screenshots or it didn’t happen”, he has provided information and a proof in his forum post.

So the real question, is what happens next? Amazon will no doubt request the money back from Sony, and Sony ends up losing money. What is more, will this create a landslide affect, with similar users requesting a refund? At any rate, I think the coming days are going to prove most interesting. As I am gearing up for movie watching weekend, I think Gomer Pyle would say “Surprise, Surprise, Surprise”, and no, I was not alive when that show was on

Well, what I am sure nobody thought would happen or Sony wanted to happen is about to happen. Geohot aka George Hotz has found a work around for the removal of OtherOS: Custom Firmware. Geohot has dubbed his firmware “3.21OO”. Based upon his blog entry, it won’t require opening the PS3, and will be possible by restoring a custom generated pup file. Below is his video demo:

What’s really interesting is that he said it may add OtherOS functionality to to the PS3 Slim, although this hasn’t been tested as of yet but will be soon. At this time it only applies to those on firmware 3.15 or earlier. He did have this interesting thing to say to the community, which we at Sony Insider eluded to earlier:

Note to the people who removed OtherOS, you are potentially turning 100000+ legit users into “hackers.” There was a huge(20x) traffic spike to this blog after the announcement of 3.21. If I had ads on this site I guess I’d be thanking you.

Who knows what the future holds for the PS3 scene moving forward. One thing we do know is that over the course of just a few days, the game has seriously changed

As reported on the  PS3 forum, and then picked up by Engadget, some individuals appear to be having issues after upgrading their firmware to 3.21. Even in our comments section here, the problems experienced have varied. Issues are ranging from frozen hardware displaying an  8002F14E error, failed upgrades during firmware extraction, to serious issues with game and blu-ray playback.  Other individuals have upgraded without issues. What’s odd is that after pouring through the forum, there isn’t one string that binds everything together, it all appears to be very random symptom wise, except that it predominantly affects models non slim models. During the upgrade of my slim, I noticed the firmware update took quite a bit longer than normal, but I assumed that to be expected given the nature of the change, but perhaps that isn’t the case.  Best advice is if your experiencing issues post your issues to the comments here, or on the PS3 forum that way the data can continue to be captured until the issue is resolved.

No official word has been provided by Sony, but I am confident they are looking into it.

Image Courtesy andriasang

In a twitter post translated by andriasang, there appears to be a big surprise coming from Hideo Kojima about Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker. In a tweet, he had this to say:

On Wednesday, there will be a big Peace Walker announcement. I don’t think you can understand the enjoyment of Peace Walker until you’ve played it, but I believe you’ll feel a hint of sorts about ‘where is it a new Metal?

Right now it’s anybody’s guess, but hopefully we get more details from the Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker completion ceremony being held today. The MGS titles have been a gaming staple for years and this is going to be another welcome addition to the library. As more news becomes available, we will update you.

With the latest PS3 firmware being live, Linux users, CodecSys users and anyone dependent on the OtherOS boot option had a difficult decision to make: update or not.

A temporary work around is in place that, at least for the time being, that will let users access PSN according to a forum at PS3 News.  Thus far it appears that the firmware change implemented doesn’t seem to affect Blu-Ray drives prior to the PS3 Slim, and users are reporting they are functioning as normal.

While this may indeed prove to be temporary, it just shows the scene isn’t ready to give up just yet.

As I am not independently wealthy, I am always on the look out for a good deal. And if you can make said good deal apply to games sign me up. Neogaf is reporting that according to a leaked ad (which looks legimate) Sony is adding titles to it’s Greatest Hits Line. Typically A PlayStation 3 game must be on the market for 10 months and sell at least 500,000 copies to qualify (which means don’t expect to see anything like Hello Kitty 2: Return to Kitty Land included). The following titles are set to be added:

Killzone 2

Resistance 2

InFamous

Little Big Planet

Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue

UFC 2009

Uncharted

If you don’t own of these titles yet there is certainly a good selection to chose from. With all the new PS3 users out there, this couldn’t come at a better time

There is a certain amount of Geek DNA that was required to run Linux on the PS3 from the start. Over time that changed and guides and easy installers were made to take advantage of “Install OtherOS” and it became much easier to do so. The problem now is that the geek community is like the NRA: number wise very small in comparison to who they lobby against, but extremely vocal. That segment of users were some of the ones touting the PS3 in forums, fan boy circles, and online. So that segment now feels betrayed, hence the reason why the lack of SACD support didn’t generate such shockwaves in the community.

The addition of Divx/Facebook at this point are enhancements, but they don’t really differentiate Sony from anyone else operating in the console space. They are simply things that have become common place. Linux access to the Cell, although very restricted and controlled was a powerful option. It gave that core group something that they were more than happy to generate free publicity about, and that group did buy hardware, and fell in love with the console.

Given the statement of what you lose if you don’t upgrade (i.e. PSN access) it gives the impression that by wishing to retain your Linux access, you are somehow doing something you should not. Akin to 360 users being banned from Live for playing pirated games. Not the same by any means, but again, it’s that perception amongst many that is being circulated, and while not entirely accurate, it casts Sony in a negative light.

It is true that as a whole Linux has not been a significant revenue driver for Sony’s Playstation brand. Modifying the GameOS required modifying the OtherOS to ensure compatibility between the two, and that when you have to segment resources to support something the majority aren’t using, it makes sense at some point to discontinue it. Couple that with George Hotz gaining some serious ground very quickly, one can see why Sony is taking a move like this. Right now, in the next generation Sony has the longest streak of being the console that is not compromised. But look at what this has caused. Previously, George Hotz was not going to do anything more than release his exploit according to his own blog, and then let everyone play in his sandbox. Now he is behind creating custom firmware to maintain the OtherOS feature, the very thing Sony doesn’t want. If everyone gets behind this, and views the OtherOS as a martyr (which is happening) it’s going to do nothing but force piracy as a backlash. Or at the very least find more exploits that previously might not have known.

The other problem is that not only does this feature removal come so suddenly, so swiftly and the most inopportune time given Sony’s amazing buzz. Sony is leading PS3 sales in Japan, analysts predict the PS3 is going to sell more than all other consoles, people were excited about the Playstation Move, and now Sony is being viewed as the evil company who takes away features. Along with that there is nothing to replace it. If Sony wanted do a little, give and take, the perfect idea would be one thing: Divx 7 certification. True it would support mkv, and there is a strong reason why Sony would not want to do that. However, many other vendors are starting to do it as well, and the PS3 would be the only console to support it. That would get many in the geek community, the vocal ones, behind Sony again.

The Playstation Blog is quite the interactive community, filled with many people who are frank and open. Sony engages their users more than I think anyone else does, via chat’s, message postings etc. PlayStation.Blog Share is a great initiative, which formally allows anyone to submit their best ideas on how Sony can improve all PlayStation products. It’s also a place where you can discover and vote on other people’s ideas, as well as communicate with us and other PlayStation fans about how to bring great ideas to life. Those 100’s of people who post comments, are your town herald. Why not engage them, why not mention what is going to go away and solicit responses on what should replace it, is it Divx 7, is it Boxee support, is it a better flash experience and the restoration of real Hulu support?

If that isn’t good enough, look at the top requested items on Share – Cross Game Voice Chat, Software Emulation for PS2 games, Auto-Syncing Trophies. Take things a step forward by creating a timetable for when these features will be added (if possible).

All eyes are on Sony now, and they have a real opportunity to do something here and spin this to their advantage, but will they?

PS3 Firmware (v3.21) is set to launch on April 1st . Within this is update, Sony is going to remove OtherOS  support from all existing PS3’s launched before the current slim model in September 2009.

Previously it was mentioned that this feature would not be removed, but it appears that due to “security concerns” that has changed. The ability to run various flavors of Linux, as well as apply any of the recently found exploits for the console will no longer be possible. The update isn’t truly mandatory, but without it you will lose the following as detailed from the PlayStation Blog:

• Ability to sign in to PlayStation Network and use network features that require signing in to PlayStation Network, such as online features of PS3 games and chat
• Playback of PS3 software titles or Blu-ray Disc videos that require PS3 system software version 3.21 or later
• Playback of copyright-protected videos that are stored on a media server (when DTCP-IP is enabled under Settings)
• Use of new features and improvements that are available on PS3 system software 3.21 or later

For those utilizing the PS3 in a cluster array, or those simply learning about the Cell programming using the Linux SDK, this will be transparent as their primary focus is probably none of the above. Given that when changes were made to the GameOS, it directly affected, and sometimes broke certain elements in Linux that then required the GameOS to be changed, it definitely saves Sony time and resources by removing it. As I detailed here some time ago, many factors had been in play for quite sometime that may have culminated in this decision.

While it doesn’t mean it couldn’t surface in a release by Sony that’s non supported, it doesn’t appear likely.

Tetsuya Nomura is a busy man, and it’s not going to stop anytime soon. , Nomura-san gives us some details on what his plans are after Final Fantasy Versus XIII. In short, if you are a Kingdom Hearts fan, it’s not going to end anytime soon

In the Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Ultimania, in an interview Nomura-san revealed that Kingdom Hearts III, along with two other titles that are part of the same universe are planned for release. Kingdom Hearts III can’t move forward until after Versus XIII, but there is one title in planning that he hopes to release this year, and then the following year.

What’s also surprising is that, KH III is described as concluding the Xehanort saga, but that the main character’s story would continue.

With E3 right around the corner, let’s hope we get some sort of reveal with more details.

source: Heartstation