Sony has put together another wonderful live action ad for PlayStation that, like the past few years, celebrates the gamers in the worlds Sony has built. I’m not entirely sure how well these ads do in order to convince somebody to buy a PS4 but putting that aside, they’re always a joy to watch. The King ad is no different though Sony is clearly pushing their slate of 2017 games like Horizon: Zero Dawn and God of War.
Two TV news in one day usually only happens around CES time but unfortunately, neither are particularly good. First, there is the case of LG 4K TVs not playing nice with PS4 Pro though a fix appears to be around the corner and now, there is news that PS4 Pro also doesn’t play nice with Sony’s own 4K TVs. As for the problem, Owen Hughes from IBT notes that Reddit user GivingCreditWhereDue, who originally reported the matter, wrote:
Sony’s 2016 Bravia line is ill-equipped to handle 4K gaming, as their flagship models have really high levels of input latency. Sony advertises their x930D Bravia model as best fit for the PS4 Pro, but users who actually have it face a severe disadvantage when it comes to competitive and even casual games like Battlefield.
But the real problem here isn’t the issue gamers are having with Sony TVs and the PS4 Pro but an apparent censorship on the matter from Sony.
PS4 Pro is off to a good start with universal praise from developers, reviewers, and consumers but not everything has been smooth sailing for the powerful new addition. John Archer writing for Forbes:
While the PS4 Pro appears to have enjoyed brisk sales since its launch last week, as I reported at the weekend it’s also been plagued by widespread complaints about its inability to connect properly with 4K and HDR-capable TVs from a variety of TV brands.
Speculation has been rife about the causes of the problems, and the problems themselves are varied, ranging from not getting any picture at all to the console not recognizing that specific TV models can support 4K and/or HDR video.
PlayStation VR has made TIME’s ’25 Best Inventions of 2016.’
In order to access the most cutting-edge virtual reality, people typically have to shell out thousands of dollars—not just for a headset (like the $800 HTC Vive), but for a computer that’s powerful enough to support it. Sony’s PlayStation VR, by contrast, is designed to work with a console that millions of people already own: the PlayStation 4. That’s a boon for gamers in search of what Sony engineer Richard Marks calls “the most intense, most extreme” action, as well as casual consumers, who now have an easier way to experience VR.
For PlayStation Vue, Sony has had a bit of a mixed bag these last 10 days. On one hand, on election day (the day where companies dump bad news in order for it to get drowned out in all the other news taking place), Sony announced that PlayStation Vue would be losing Viacom and with it, channels like Comedy Central, MTV, and Spike would go. But on the other hand, just yesterday, Sony announced the arrival of their streaming service on Apple TV which is a big deal (I’ll be writing a more in-depth piece on that in the future). As I’ve written before, losing Viacom was outside of Sony’s control and either they had to cave into the higher price tag and eat the extra costs, or pass them onto PS Vue users – a true Kobayashi Maru.
Working in the gaming industry from an outsider’s perspective can seem like this unachievable goal, especially if it’s for a studio as prestigious as Naughty Dog. In a new video, the famed developers are looking to shatter some of the misconceptions around getting a job in the industry and specifically at ND. Their key takeaway is be smart – like really, really smart. Like Apple, Naughty Dog doesn’t just rely on degrees and acolytes. Instead what they’re looking for are talented people who may not have any grandiose achievements under their belt yet, but have good answers to questions and a passion for the arts because to them, even zeros and ones are a beautiful thing.
In order to tie my excitement for the new Harry Potter flick coming out today, I originally wanted to title the article “Fantastic PlayStation Vita and where to find them – hint, not Target” but alas, Allegra turned me down, typical smug Gryffindor. Anyway, over the past few days, several tipsters had told me that their local Target was liquidating their stock of PlayStation Vita. At first, I chalked the whole thing up to local inventory fluctuation, but it’s looking like this is more of a widespread affair.
This is big news for both Sony and their ability to work with all sorts of companies in order to better their own service and in turn, create a better product for their customers. I’ve written that the Sony of the past would often hold technology and services for their own in hopes of increasing the value of their own hardware/software ecosystem but could never pull off the vision like Apple. Today’s news goes counter to that culture that was ever so engrained in them and is all about empowering their customers, no matter which platform they’re on.
2016 could be dubbed the year of VR with three players having entered the market – HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and PlayStation VR. If the platform is to thrive, developers are going to have to get behind it in a big way by building all forms of experiences that cater to the wide and varying audiences that exist. For its part, EA, arguably one of the largest game publishers out there seems to be excited by VR which isn’t a bad champion to have in your corner when you’re a new platform. Here is EA Chief Financial Officer, Blake Jorgensen:
File this under shocking but after the release of PS4 Pro in the UK, sales have been up a staggering 200%. This is quite remarkable, as the new console hasn’t even been out for a week. Eddie Makuch writes for Gamespot:
Citing data from Gfk, MCV reports that PS4 sales overall jumped 204 percent week-over-week for the week ended November 12.
According to the report, 65 percent of PS4 sales for the week were the Pro model. Standard edition PS4 sales jumped 8.5 percent week-over-week.
Want to watch the powerful new PS4 get torn apart slowly? If so, this video is just the thing you’re looking for. After the jump, you can find Keiichi Aoki, Director of Mechanical Design at PlayStation, take apart the PS4 Pro screw by screw which is pretty amazing on its own since we live in a world where most devices are designed to not be taken apart. Like previous iterations, PS4 Pro also allows for a user removable and upgradable hard drive though this time around, it’s even easier than the original PS4.
One of the earlier titles on PS4, The Order: 1886, though highly scripted is a fantastic game that holds up four years later. Those of you who’ve yet to give it a try should do so this weekend as it’s a fairly short affair with no multiplayer – but seeing how it costs around $20 on PSN, it’s worth every penny. Needless to say, coming off the hyper craze of the PS3 era where multiplayer needed to be shoved into every game, reviewers were not kind to it and the game’s sales suffered immensely.
One thing that was always clear about the game was just how much time Ready at Dawn had spent on fleshing out a far more expansive world than we saw in the game which begs for additional games in the series. According to Creative Director Ru Weerasuriya, we might just get our wish.
If you’ve got some bad news to dump, nothing beats a mega game like the World Series or a presidential election. While people are either joyously celebrating for their victors or caught up in the hurt of losing, they’re too busy to notice recall (GoPro recalled their Karma drone) or notice a change coming to their streaming service of choice. According to Reuters, some changes are going to be coming to PlayStation Vue starting this Friday that could affect the usability of the platform, depending on what channels you tune in to.
In order for PlayStation Vue to be truly successful and ubiquitous with your watching habits, it needs to be available on as many devices as possible. For the better part of 2016, Sony has been working on just that with the service now available on PlayStation devices, iPhone/iPad, Android, and Android TV. Starting today, you can add your web browser to that list as well.
Vizio has released firmware update 2.2.7.4 for their 2016 SmartCast TVs that brings with it a number of improvements, most notably fixing a problem they had with PS4. Rasmus Larsen writes for flatpanelshd:
After the update, some users pointed out that HDR10 picture quality was lacking in some areas. Vizio promised to fix it and with the new firmware version 2.2.7.4 the release notes mentions “Improvements on HDR10 picture quality”.
Vizio has also fixed other bugs such as “green tint” on PS4 when using Deep Color, pairing issues with Apple’s new iPhone 7, instances of stuttering/frame drops, and many other bugs. A full list of bug fixes is available below.
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