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.

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.

Xbox 360 Blu-Ray Player?

We’ve heard over and over and over how a Blu-ray movie player add-on for the Xbox 360 was a distinct possibility if the HD DVD format ended up losing out. Well, now that the Microsoft-supported format seems just one step away from dead, we’re hearing rumblings of just how possible that Blu-ray player possibility is.

Citing “insiders at Microsoft in the USA,” Australia’s Smarthouse says Microsoft’s Blu-ray add-on is already fully designed, and could be on the market within three months, “subject to internal marketing and sales approvals.” Smarthouse also repeated the rumors of a built-in high-def drive for the system, although now that rumored drive plays Blu-ray discs instead of an HD DVDs. Regardless, the tech site seems to think Microsoft will focus on digital movie downloads for those who don’t want an add-on.

As for Sony, they couldn’t be happier that Microsoft is considering jumping over to the “winning” side of this HD disc battle. “We would welcome Microsoft to the Blu-ray stable,” SCE Managing Director Michael Ephraim told Smarthouse. “In fact it is quite logical for them as the PS3 has been very successful in driving consumers to Blu-ray. In fact we believe that it has done more to win the format war than traditional Blu-ray player.” Hey, they just won a format war … they can afford to be a little smug.

[Via Megatonik]

 

[Via JoyStick]

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith announced

In an announcement that may just usurp the throne from Electronic Arts as the king of milking franchises, Activision has announced plans for a new Guitar Hero title, casting aside the franchise’s reputation for offering a wide breadth of rocking tracks in favor of highlighting a single band – Aerosmith. The news echoes comments made by guitarist Joe Perry last year regarding the series’ next installment, at which time he said that the next Guitar Hero game would be dedicated to the band’s music.

The announcement comes following Activision’s promise earlier this month to return to well this year, with the newly announced Guitar Hero: Aerosmith currently expected to ship to retail in June with Neversoft handling the game for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and Vicarious Visions taking care of development on the Wii. Details remain nonexistent concerning what tracks we can expect to make the cut, with guitarist Joe Perry commenting only that the title is “based on the diversity of the Aerosmith catalog.” With a game dedicated to one — and only one — band, we have to assume that whatever songs do find their way onto the disc, they’ll be master tracks (they better be).

And if June seems to far off for those of you hugging your Steven Tyler doll while staring at the Pump tour poster on the wall, Activision has announced plans to release the band’s 1973 power ballad ‘Dream On’ as a download for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of GHIII (Sorry Wii owners, but you knew what you were getting into). The song will be free from February 16-18, so get it while it’s hot!

[Via Joystick]