In an official statement issued to ThreeSpeech, SCEE explains the problem with firmware 2.40. It seems that there was a problem which "prevented a limited number of PS3s from activating properly after updating to version 2.40, when certain system administrative data were contained on the HDD." This has now been fixed with 2.41, though those who suffer from the problem (which prevents the PS3 from loading up the XMB) will not be able to access the new firmware update.
Instead, those who had problems with 2.40 will need to contact Customer Services and will receive a replacement PS3. 2.41 will prevent this problem happening to anyone else. The statement also reiterates that those who installed 2.40 successfully will not suffer from any issues. Good news all round, really. We're happy those people who were too slow to grab 2.40 will now be able to start earning trophies and enjoying in-game XMB with the rest of us.
Posted May 8th 2008 5:30PM by Nick Doerr Filed under: News
It seems even Sony knows when to admit it bit off a little more than it could initially masticate. In a short discussion with CVG, Reeves admitted they've "realized that maybe we were too ambitious with the non-gaming applications within Home, getting sponsors and stuff like that ... in that sense we were deserting gamers. So, we're concentrating on the gaming by launching games in Home, and attracting people who are into gaming in first -- instead of the Nike people, or Adidas people who are into fashion and not necessarily into gaming."
This is interesting because we've always heard how one of the futures of advertising may be within video games. Now Reeves and Sony see that perhaps focusing on that isn't the right approach -- you need to fill a store with people before you can sell anything, after all. Sony is now refocusing their strategy on things like Trophies and Home-to-game launching, so expect more of that when the open beta hits this year, another thing Reeves promises. The beta will come this autumn. For sure. We'll see.
David Reeves, boss of SCEE, has admitted that keeping only the 40GB PS3 on shelves is a worry in his mind in terms of consumer storage space. His mind has calculated a possibility for "official" Sony external hard drives. We find that a little odd because Reeves even reminds us that the PS3 has an easily replaceable hard drive already: "The PlayStation will stay the same, but consumers can choose whichever size of hard drive they want. They can now, of course, because it's not a proprietary hard drive." So why external hard drives? Maybe people are scared to crack open their PS3. Maybe they don't have anywhere to dump all the information before switching the new hard drive in.
Any external hard drive, as far as we can tell (using a 120GB Western Digital currently -- it's old) works already. Reeves said there's no rush for this idea, though. "We've played the games with the hardware, with different hard drives and things like that, and we want to keep it very, very simple. We know that works." What do you guys think? Would you grab an official external, get a third-party, or just slap a new laptop hard drive direct into the system? Those of you who've done the latter, how has it worked since?
Mentioned during the closing minutes of the PlayStation Daykeynote speech, Movement is an interesting idea that is being sadly under-reported. Sure, it's not a game, but the idea of made-for-PSN TV shows is something that definitely piques our interest. The gist is that two British blokes, Spencer and Martin, travel around Europe in a VW Camper van in search of unsigned bands, documenting their progress as they go.
The program will feature many different kinds of music, including French electronica and London "Grindie." Eventually one band will be chosen by Spencer and Martin to have a professional promo video made. There's no word on when we'll be seeing this hit the PSN, other than that it will be "soon." Movement will almost certainly be exclusive to Europe - but you never know. This, along with the GT Academy competition that was announced, shows that SCEE is clearly very interested in episodic video content for the PSN and, to be honest, so are we.
Check out the gallery below for photos of some of the various bands featured in the show.
If you hadn't read about this from the live blogging earlier today, then better put on the seatbelts GT fans -- this one is going to be quite a ride. The PlayStation brand and Nissan car manufacturer are giving racing enthusiasts a chance to live out a dream with the introduction of GT Academy. GT Academy is a competition that'll earn two lucky gamers a four-month training program for a real racing license, and using it to race for team Nissan at the January 2009 24-hour endurance race in Dubai. Yes, you heard that right, a chance to race a real car (a Nissan 350Z) in a real competition. That doesn't come often. So, want to know how you can enter?
Well, to get into the Academy you'll have to register via the PSN with your copy of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. You'll be first entering into a special online tourney qualifier before going into real cars for a "series of elimination-based competitions on and off the racetrack" starting at the nation level. This will go on for eight months all across Europe (sorry, not for any other region). You'll be able to sign-up at the end of May when GT Academy goes live. Good luck! Godspeed!
SCEE might just find themselves back in European PS3 owners' good books after next week. PlayStation Day, a press-only event in London, takes place on the 6th of May. The press conference at the event will be hosted by Kaz Hirai and David Reeves (President of SCEE) and will no doubt include some interesting announcements. We'll be there to give you up to the minute news as it happens.
To celebrate PlayStation Day, the European PSN Store will be updated twice next week. Once on Tuesday and once on Thursday. Those of you who have become disheartened with the European PSN updates might want to take special note to this line-up. In total you can expect to see four demos, three full games and five add-on packs spread across the two updates. Plus a nice collection of videos, including the PlayStation Day press conference itself, hosted by Kaz Hirai.
Check out the full list of content for Tuesday's update below. Thursday's list can be seen after the break.
Posted May 2nd 2008 11:00AM by Nick Doerr Filed under: News
If you were expecting the LittleBigPlanet beta to hit your PS3 this summer, you might have to substitute that joy with something else. Sony is growing quite hesitant to pin a date down for the game's beta and has opted instead to focus on the September release date. It isn't that there won't be a beta, but a Sony spokesperson at SCEE said "we haven't yet made any announcements as to the dates of the LittleBigPlanet beta trials, and are not yet able to confirm a specific month." If it's not so much a beta but more of a trial, then we wouldn't expect it to hit until August. That's just a shot in the dark, though.
There's a pleasing amount of new content made available today on the European PlayStation Store. It's not very often we get to say that, but this week is surprisingly good. We'll sit back for a couple more weeks before throwing SCEE a "We Forgive You!" party, but for now we're placated. Here's the full release list, in a new handy-dandy format:
Two PS1 games? Yes please. Good ones, too. This is more like what we expected from the service. No more Reel Fishing, thanks. We're also pleased to see the Resistance 2 trailer going up today, alongside the American release. That and the Variety Map Pack start to make us wonder whether SCEE really is serious about fixing their problems with the European Store. Keep it up.
SCEE has been lambasted recently by members of the European PS3 community over their sub-par treatment of the region in comparison to America or Japan. One of the main requests is for a European equivalent to the PlayStation.Blog, which has again been brought up as a response to Sony's latest Blog entry. User Joakim Hagdahl made the request and was lucky enough to get a response from Jeff Rubenstein.
Rubenstein responded by saying that Sony "know[s] that there are a lot of readers coming here from beyond North America. We're in the process of working out how to make sure your needs are addressed. We hear what you're saying." This is a good thing, indeed. More European coverage on the PlayStation.Blog would be excellent, especially if SCEE staff start posting on it themselves. However, we're slightly worried that SCEA seems happy to respond to complaints while SCEE themselves have remained silent. Talk to us, SCEE -- that's all we want.
The list of grievances Europe is holding against SCEE seems to be growing by the week. A new thread on the official European PlayStation forums demonstrates the various areas in which SCEE is underachieving in comparison to SCEA. While everyone seems happy with the design of the new PSN Store, which went live recently, European PS3 owners seem annoyed at the weird categorisation system used on the EU version. There's no "demos" section, requiring you to search through each game in turn to see whether it has a demo available or not.
Not only that, but there's no "preview" button on the European Store, which means that there are no video previews of games. Other annoyances include a lack of decent content, games appearing late (or never at all) compared to their US releases and the lack of a real European PlayStation.Blog. It looks like the members of the official forums aren't going to take it anymore. But will SCEE listen? Sadly, we doubt it.
[UPDATE] The thread has been moved to the feedback section of the official European PlayStation forums.
You've probably already read all about the new advanced swing gameplay in our hands-on preview, but now, why not see it in action? In this new Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds trailer you get an informative tutorial on how to make that perfect swing using the new and improved advanced mode. You better study carefully, because it won't be too long before you can start swinging the golf clubs -- March 18 to be exact.
If that first trailer wasn't enough, why not check out the second one after the break. This second trailer details how the online tournament feature works, and it's looking mighty spiffy.
A second PS3 Singstar game is in the works? This speculation started when a June 2008 listing for Singstar Vol.2 popped up at an Australian retail listing site. According to Kotaku, a SCE Australia rep couldn't confirm the title, but did hint at the possibility of SCEE's London Studio expanding the franchise via another disc-based update.
Is a second Singstar volume really ready to hit retailers so soon? It wouldn't be too surprising seeing as these titles get churned out over in PAL territories every six months on average. Then again, shouldn't the PS3 Singstar have better longevity than its predecessors due to the addition of the SingStore? Also, hasn't the SingStore just recently been updated with a sizable amount of tracks? Color us negative, but if we see more huge updates like the one on March 7th, then why would there even be a need for a second volume so soon?
Posted Mar 5th 2008 11:30AM by Nick Doerr Filed under: News
This is really a post for the audiophiles out there. A new open audio file format, iXMF, introduced by the Interactive Audio Special Interest Group and supported by SCEE, has found a home in the PS3. This audio format combines MIDI files and other audio data with scripting logic, defining playback behavior. This encompasses a huge amount of features of modern audio engine environments into a non-proprietary format.
If we understand correctly, this means people in different industries, as well as folks at home, can make music of equivalent quality. Basically giving video game audio engineers the same ability as the film buffs who get sweeping orchestras to lend them talent. Again, audiophiles should find this news most interesting. SCEE's Michael Kelly found it interesting, saying "We're supporting iXMF in our new audio tools so sound designers can take advantage of the incredible audio processing power of the PS3."
Posted Mar 3rd 2008 10:30AM by Andrew Yoon Filed under: News
Ray Maguire, chief of the UK division of Sony Computer Entertainment, let slip a few details about an upcoming firmware when speaking with MCV. "Achieving one million PS3 sales faster than both PSOne and PlayStation 2 is even more gratifying considering PS3 is a premium product introduced at a premium price," he told MCV. "Our momentum will continue with the introduction of in-game communication in the summer, firmware update 2.4 and the strongest line-up of games through our third party partners and our own studios. I'd personally like to thank our trade and business partners for helping us on the start of the PS3 journey." [emphasis ours]
Remember when Sony's official site leaked in-game messaging, only to have it mysteriously disappear? There's only two conclusions we can get from this: first, in-game messaging is definitely coming this summer. The other? Maguire is going to disappear as well. We'll miss you.
A Morgan Stanley-funded consortium is allegedly purchasing the Sony Center Europe headquarters along with its Berlin entertainment complex for a ballpark of $1 billion ($940million-$1.13billion). Sony will still be the main tenant in the building.
So, basically, the building is getting sold but Sony is staying put. They would never leave the European market, especially since the latest figures indicate a 10% sales share in regards to the PS3. Sony is aiming to sell 5 or 6 million PS3's by the end of 2008 and if this deal gives them some funds to make that goal reality, then more power to them.
SCEE might just find themselves back in European PS3 owners' good books after next week. PlayStation Day, a press-only event in London, takes place on the 6th of May. The press conference at the event will be hosted by Kaz Hirai and David Reeves (President of SCEE) and will no doubt include some interesting announcements. We'll be there to give you up to the minute news as it happens. 
The list of grievances Europe is holding against SCEE seems to be growing by the week. A new thread on the official European PlayStation forums demonstrates the various areas in which SCEE is underachieving in comparison to SCEA. While everyone seems happy with the design of the new PSN Store, which went live recently, European PS3 owners seem annoyed at the weird categorisation system used on the EU version. There's no "demos" section, requiring you to search through each game in turn to see whether it has a demo available or not.
A second PS3 Singstar game is in the works? This speculation started when a June 2008 listing for Singstar Vol.2 popped up at an Australian retail listing site. According to Kotaku, a SCE Australia rep couldn't confirm the title, but did hint at the possibility of SCEE's London Studio expanding the franchise via another disc-based update.
This is really a post for the audiophiles out there. A new open audio file format, iXMF, introduced by the Interactive Audio Special Interest Group and supported by SCEE, has found a home in the PS3. This audio format combines MIDI files and other audio data with scripting logic, defining playback behavior. This encompasses a huge amount of features of modern audio engine environments into a non-proprietary format. 
A Morgan Stanley-funded consortium is allegedly purchasing the Sony Center Europe headquarters along with its Berlin entertainment complex for a ballpark of $1 billion ($940million-$1.13billion). Sony will still be the main tenant in the building.
