Home 1.3 update freezing systems, workaround offered

via Joystiq – ULTRAFEED by Andrew Yoon on 10/2/09

The biggest update to PlayStation Home since its public beta debut went live not too long ago. However, the transition hasn’t been as smooth as many hoped. There are sporadic reports of system hangs during the initialization screen, post 1.3 update. While EndSights says "many systems" are affected, it seems likely the problem is isolated to a minority of PlayStation Home users.

According to Home Manager Locust_Star, a few items in the virtual world may be causing the hiccups. Items like the Namco Bandai Love Seat, Fat Princess Throne and Ghostbusters Bagel are amongst the few suspected to be causing crashes. Until a proper patch is implemented, the PlayStation team recommends deleting and reinstalling PlayStation Home. Erasing Home data from the Save Data Utility may also help PlayStation gamers that are desperate to log into the virtual world.
Let us know if you’ve been affected by the latest Home update, and if these workarounds, um, work.

Home 1.3 update freezing systems, workaround offered originally appeared on Joystiq Playstation on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Holiday BS is already starting…

I’ve seen on a few sites today that Sony is talking PS3 shortages for the holiday season.    To me this seems like a load of BS a mile and 1/2 long.   the PS3 has been out for 3 years and the Slim has been released.  What does this mean?    It means that Sony has figured out all the manufacturing of the system to allow for high speed production which is what allows a price drop in the first place.  (well and someone playing with the numbers saying that it’s OK now to drop the price.)

So saying NOW there’s going to be a shortage is complete BS.   What this really means is that Sony wants to see a better holiday season so they are telling the public that they can’t get one in order to jack up the ‘want’ and ‘desire’ of the gamer  to entice them to buy.

So don’t say tell the public that there is going to be a shortage.  tell them the truth.

“In order to get you to want to buy a PS3 we are going to hold back some of our inventory this holiday season.  Feel free to beat up the grandma buying an X-Station for her grandson.”

Though I think Sony should come up with their own marketing.. first they where pulling an ‘Apple’ with the PS3.. now they are pulling a Nintendo with the Wii.   And M$.. well they are just sitting back saying HA!  We’ve got HALO.

Marketing sucks!

Sony to drop the Blu-ray from a PS3?

I was talking with one of my gaming friends over the weekend and somebody set up us the bomb on this one. According to this rumor, Sony is working on a new marketing strategy and system.

In order to get the PS3 more market saturation and order to compete in the casual gaming [PogoWolf: Nintendo, Natal, and that whole motion controller thing] market Sony is working on a new SKU for the slim PS3 that removes the Blu-Ray player itself.

This new SKU removes the most expensive part of the PS3 allowing Sony to drop the price to around $150 and still leave most of the standard PS3 hardware.    I was informed that this new version will also be available in an array of colors and what are being called “tattoos” (skins) for the system and that the first release model will be in white to differentiate the system from the full PS3 SKUs.
It was also been stated that Sony will release a piggy-back Blu-ray player for this new SKU sometime after launch.  It will connect to the system via the USB port and will offer a full Blu-ray movies and gaming experience. [PogoWolf:  Think of the HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360]

This ‘arcade’ version of the PS3 will connect to the PSN, using the built in Wi-Fi in order to download games and demos.  Some of the smaller PS3 games might even show up on the PSN for these ‘Arcade’ users.  I was also informed that Sony is looking into allowing users, using a code, to ’store’ their digital copy of a movie they have bought for streaming from the PSN.

However in order to cover the costs of the bandwidth needed to download Blu-Ray based games Sony is to create a new ‘Platinum’ pay for version of the PSN for Arcade customers    The standard PSN will still be free but the Platinum version will offer premium content and exclusives not available to the free PSN customers and will cost about $49.99 for a full year.
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PogoWolf:
Most likely this is complete BS…

But it’s really not a bad idea. It would be the first console to go to a complete digital delivery way of distributing its games and content. Granted downloading full 25gig games would be a bit of a bitch. However, it’s known that a lot of space on the Blu-Rays are duplicate files to help load times and no compression on audio and textures because there’s all that extra room. Remove the redundant files and compress not only the audio and textures (lossless mind you) but then ‘ZIP’ the package.. and even the downloads shouldn’t be too bad. Hell Sony might even be able to stream the games to the system the same way sites like GameTap does.

MAG Public Beta enrollment begins

MAG Public Beta enrollment begins

via Joystiq – ULTRAFEED by Andrew Yoon on 8/12/09

A lucky few individuals will discover this invite for the MAG beta in their inboxes. The e-mail includes a unique code used to access a closed application form. According to the beta enrollment page, Sony “will be adding people in waves.” If you don’t see an invite in your inbox right now, don’t worry: you may be invited later. “If you do not receive an invite for the first wave you may still be invited in a following MAG Public Beta wave.”

Sony has already conducted a closed beta for MAG for over a month. The expansion of the beta to the public gives us hope that maybe — just maybe — we’ll be able to see MAG’s 256-player online battles hitting the PS3 sooner rather than later.

MAG Public Beta enrollment begins originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Top tip for female Home users bothered by creepy stalkers :: PlayStation Universe (PSU)

So this is what is fun in Sony’s ‘flagship’ title Home?

more about “Top tip for female Home users bothere…“, posted with vodpod

I want to run away from Home.

So if you’ve been keeping track of the news then you are aware that Sony has pushed the new MMOish Home into Beta.   I’ve seen some of the screen shots and read the hype, and I’m left with a feeling of ‘so what?’

Where as Little Big Planet is an over-glorified construction kit, but cool in concept, I can see where it could push some hardware.  Home, on the other hand, seems to me to be a straight rip-off of Second Life.  Where as highly popular, it’s got to be the most boring ‘game’ I’ve ever installed.

Home is a novel concept, but not something that hasn’t already been done.

I’ve read about the long load times from posts by those in pre-beta; why in the world would you want to wait for a zone to load just to play a game or watch a movie?

Are you so lazy/broke that you can’t go over to a friends house, pick them up and go bowling?   If you can afford a PS3 you can afford a couple of freaking games of bowling.

Does the net need another 3D Social network?  Or should I say another dead 3D social network?  Come on, the whole idea of having a 3D world that you can interact with has been playing on the minds of web programmers since the invent of VRML, and now that’s pretty much dead.  Google just axed their 3D social site, among count less others.

Home just seems totally worthless to me as a gamer and as a social person.

 

What’s your thoughts?

The Witcher coming to consoles

 

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/qj/qjnet/~3/kgvA1GJPAgk/126875

About a year ago, we first heard rumblings that CDProjekt’s PC RPG, The Witcher, would be making a trip down to Xbox 360 alley. Now we finally have confirmation that the game will be heading to consoles. Not just to the Xbox 360 but to the PS3 as well.

The game’s console version – dubbed The Witcher: Rise of the Wolf – will sport a new engine, new models, and more polygons compared to the PC original. It’ll also have dynamic stuff up the wazoo: dynamic lighting, dynamic shadows, a more dynamic combat system… the works.

For the PS3 version, SIXAXIS support will be one of the game’s features. Achievements and Trophies will also be supported.

You can find out more about The Witcher’s console versions in the announcement trailer below. The one in the source link is better, but I couldn’t embed it. The vid’s got some cool sword combat sequences, but it looks like it’s all from cutscenes. We’ll have to wait a bit before we see what the new engine is capable of.

What happened to gaming in general?

Has anyone noticed how games are getting boring?  It’s the same damn game play with a new coat of paint and some tweaks.  ALL MMO’s want to be WoW, all FSP’s can trace there game play back to Half-life or Doom.  Puzzle games? Hell 1/2 of them are clones of some other puzzle game.    You pay hundreds of dollars to play a remake of pac-man!?

It’s kind of the same thing as the movie industry, the MPAA bitches that they aren’t making any money from movies. Then you get movies like the new Batman.
It comes down to, if you make a GOOD movie people will go see it.   The RIAA complains they aren’t making any money, yet there are a number of artists that have platinum records.
at least with the Internet we don’t have only a few songs shoved down our throat.

Is this was is beginning to happen in the gaming industry?  A bunch of clones and whiners with a couple gems released every couple of years? A few games released to LIVE and PSN because that’s what Microsoft/Sony want us to make popular?   is there anything new an interesting coming down the pipe?  

Are the major players in the field just getting too big so the whole ‘Corporate’ mentality is starting to take hold?  Will they force us into another time where all gamers just said screw this, gaming is stupid and cause another gaming crash?      Can indy developers games save the face of gaming?

 

What’s your thoughts/ideas on the subject?

The Playstation is watching you…

Sony’s newest EyeToy, the PlayStation Eye for the PS3 is unveiled

Sony revealed today the new PlayStation Eye for the PS3.  The next model of Eye-Toy, now with a build in microphone and takes advantge of “huge advances in USB camera and microphone technology”  (from what?  the Eye-Toy?!)

According to [Half life source]:

The camera is a multi-tasking piece of equipment in that it will perform the normal tasks of taking photographs and creating video files for storage on the PS3 hard drive, but also comes with integrated software called EyeCreate that allows the user to create professional looking movies. The camera also sports a 120 frame-per-second rate (at 320 x 240, and 60 frames per second for 640 x 480), that allows for smooth video and even nice low-light operation. It has an adjustable zoom that features a 56 degree field of view for close-up work and a 75 degree field of view for a full view of you and part of the room.

There was no word on pricing… it will be interesting to see Sony’s price point.

 

Ok, so a little research shows some more information over at the [PS3 Fanboy site]

So the fan boy is saying that this isn’t a toy (which I gathered from Sony dropping the word ‘toy’ from the name) with features like ‘a noise reduction mic’, Low-light capture, Time lapse control, and a 4 channel audio input.

Now I just bought a new webcam, that about 1/2 the speed of this camera, minus the mic, for $30.  the PS-EYE is going for $59.99

Now I wonder if it’ll be PC (USB) compatible, but I would still call it a stretch to say this is a ‘revolutionary’ web cam.  Just what looks to be a good one.

GTA4 PS3 patch released.

From Rockstar Games: “Rockstar Games has released a GTA IV patch for PlayStation 3 today that prevents GameSpy’s servers from being overloaded and therefore reduces the impact on those servers that were causing the game to stutter and lock up. We continue to monitor the performance of the game both on and offline and will provide further updates as necessary. We want to assure everyone that, together with our hardware partners, we continue to strive to give our fans the best possible interactive entertainment experiences possible. This update will ensure that everyone will experience Grand Theft Auto IV the way it was intended. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.”

 

Like always, when you play the game you will be prompted to download and install the ~18 meg patch.

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Yeah.. 18 meg patch to fix too many packets smacking a server?  Not.   18 megs isn’t just a code fix.  18 megs of code is HELL of a LOT of lines of code.  No, 18 megs is graphics and other assets.

so bottom line is.. Rockstar should have just said: ‘oops, sorry’
and not try to blame GameSpy for the issues.