SRN Editorial

Sony Accidentally Leaves the eReader Market

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 3, 2010 | 24 comments

Although the headline itself may seem a bit misleading, it ultimately isn’t too far from the truth. During this week, Sony has unveiled a new set of eReaders that it will be releasing soon. The entire series (Pocket, Touch and Daily edition) will all be gaining a new Pearl e-ink displays, designed to give much more clarity and less glare then previous models. With this, all units gain a stylus as well to be able to jot notes right on the screen. From there on, the entire series is also gaining 2GB of built in memory (expandable up to 32GB via Memory Stick or SD) and a new responsive touch screen. The only major difference between the screen size of these three units is that the Daily Edition also boasts built in Wi-Fi and 3G.

The PRS-350 Pocket Edition is now $179 and weighs 159 grams, measuring 8.38mm thick, the PRS-650 Touch Edition is $229 with a 224 grams weight and 9.65mm thick body, and the PRS-950 Daily Edition is $299, and weighs 254 grams. So where did Sony go wrong when it was on the right track before? Well the Pocket Edition has gone from the current $149 to $179. The Touch Edition has gone from $170 to $229 and surprisingly, the flagship Daily Edition has stuck to its $299 price point.

When compared to other competitors like the Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook, the Sony Readers are better built with aluminum while staying lighter and thinner, sport longer battery life and are superior specs but that also comes at a price. Sony is betting on two things; that the higher end consumer will support it and that people will compare spec for spec and go for their product vs the others out there. The problem is that the consumer votes with their wallet and time and time again we have seen Sony release better products, but at a higher end price than their competition and the likes of Samsung, Apple and Nintendo eat away at their market share. We need not look further than Apple to see this. Everybody expected such high prices for the iPhone (and yes, the original launch model was) but from then on, they have set the bar for offering some of the most advanced features from prices of $99-$299. They set the bar for the industry at the magical $199 smartphone price. They again did it with the iPad. While everybody was expecting a starting price of $999, they started their units at the $499 and thus caused Amazon and the rest of the eReader makers to adjust their prices. They know how to make a fantastic product, market it and set a price to bring people in.

Sony unfortunately only knows how to make a great product. They seem to be clueless on how to market their product as most people know of the Nook and Kindle but what of the Sony Reader? And pricing that the consumer wants? Look no further than the PSPgo. By setting a higher price when Amazon has just announced their new Kindle at the price of $139 with plenty of commercials on air and Borders is going to be announcing their own $99 eReader, Sony is doing the opposite. Making a higher costly model with no advertisement of their product…I wonder how it’s going to do in sales.

Kotaku Bias Revealed. We Just Called it a Year Ago

by Sohrab Osati | Aug 15, 2010 | 11 comments

Surprise. This is the top post on Kotaku. It's part of their gallery photo contest yet for no good reason, there is some PS3 bashing going on.

It’s nice to see the web finally catchup with what I have said sense over a year ago; that Kotaku has always favored Microsoft and loves to bash Sony any chance it gets. Some websites are beating around the bush and others are lightly touching up on it but finally, there is more proof to go with it all. As far as our end goes, I have no problem calling it out and say that the bias level on that site is beyond disgusting. They might call themselves journalists but they are a bunch of clown fanboys who like to bash away anything they do not agree with and for some reason, the Playstation 3 has always been in their crosshairs.

Website SMGamers has been the one who has really done all of the detective work on this piece, finding a video posted by Kotaku for the up coming PS3 game, Grand Turismo 5. SMG went on to say:

Kotaku titled the video “Video Shows Gran Turismo 5 Has Painfully Slow Load Times” and goes on to comment “With a couple months left and GT developer Polyphony Digital still hard at work, there is hope that these horribly long load times can be significantly reduced.”

As you will note from the following video, the first video is from Kotaku while the following is from an independent source.

It’s kind of sad when a large site like this with so many readers has to get it’s kick from being bias towards one mega corporation vs another. In this case, they alter a video to make a game and platform look faulty. The gaming community as a whole has a big enough problem with fanboys bashing each other every chance they get, the last thing we need is a well organized leader to lead the charge. Instead of embracing gaming as a whole and culture and noting that the demise of one company or game is not good for the industry or its followers. Of course, this comes as of no surprise that Kotaku is ran by the same company who runs Gizmodo, the site that had purchased and paid for the stolen iPhone 4 and sense is being investigated by the police and has been banished from all Apple media events.

Why the Playstation 3.41 Firmware Update is Important for Sony and You!

by Sohrab Osati | Jul 27, 2010 | 9 comments

Last night, Sony released a new firmware update for the PlayStation 3. The now-live 3.41 update adds store recommendations to PSN store. From Sony:

Firmware update 3.41 will add recommendations for games and videos on PlayStation Store. When you’re browsing through the details of a particular title, you’ll see a new “You May Like” section on the right-hand side. This section lists additional items based on the purchases of other PlayStation Network members who have purchased the item you’re currently looking at.

I’ve heard on several sites, including Sony’s own Playstation blog where this was announced that this is such a useless update: why doesn’t Sony work on (insert your own craving) instead of these types of updates? While from the user’s end it might not be a very exciting update, these types of update are critical to the PlayStation Store for a few reasons. If anybody remembers when the store launched with the PS3, it was basically an HTML site. The speeds were slow, there was no video network on it, and the layout was hard to find content with. Fast forward to today, and we now have the capability to rent, buy, and transfer our movies to a PSP. The store has a ton of avatars, dynamic backgrounds, content is usually easy to find under the new structure, and as of recent, we can even rate content. For a lot of these updates, rating content and getting recommendations is important for a few key reasons. First, these options allow the user to more easily purchase content because they have more power in their hand. They won’t be afraid to purchase content because they will have an idea about if it’s good or not. Also, as the network expands and new users come on board, they don’t have to just scroll through categories to find content; they can see what others have purchased and discover new titles.

Playstation Store, early on.

So yes, this helps people navigate more easily and find content, but to those who are onboard with the brand already: why is this important to you? The more robust, functional and used the Playstation Store becomes, the more developers want to bring content over to it. Traditionally, unless you had a big budget for your game, you would not be featured on the store and now, we have access to all sorts of small and indie games. The Minis are a great example. This gives the players access to content that we didn’t have before unless we were on a iPhone or other type of device, and gives those developers a new audience and powerful platform to create content for. The same is also true for the big developers like EA and Activision. The more compelling a platform is, as in the more users interact with, purchase and use their content, the more likely they are to listen to your needs and wants and just offer more content in the future. This also means that Sony can have a greater leveraging power so we do get Demos at the same time as Xbox Live or when DLC is released, the PlayStation does not get it on a 6-month delay.

Last but not least, we have to remember that Sony is not just fighting Microsoft and the Xbox Live platform. There is the App Store from Apple, the Android Market, the Windows Marketplace coming soon on the Windows 7 phones which will have Live incorporated into them, and Steam on the PC. The more successful the PlayStation Store is, the more Sony can then invest in other area’s of its platform, like the (insert feature) that you want.

Last note: although the firmware is live, you won’t see the recommendations kick in until the end of this month, so in the next 4-5 days.

[Via Playstation Blog]

Editorial: Sony Offers A Good Customer Support Experience

by Sohrab Osati | Jul 14, 2010 | 17 comments

I have to say that I don’t overall have much experience with Sony and their customer support staff. The reason for this is that I’ve never had any of their equipment break down on me. First, this is truly due to the quality of products they make and I have tons and tons of their equipment and second is the user I am. I don’t abuse my equipment in any shape or form. The one time I did use their support was almost 7 years ago when I bought one of the first Vaio Centrino units. These were hot items back then, sporting a nice 15″ screen with wireless card and fantastic battery life (back then, being 3 hours). But I didn’t get past an hour and half with my unit. Quickly, I called Sony to see what the issue was and we tried some things and it was a no go. The following day, I had a new battery behind my door and I just had to put my battery in the box and send it back. Later on, I came to realize that I just had to change some settings, hah!

But all of this brings me to a newer tale. I had purchased a Cybershot W330 for my sister some time last year for either Christmas or her birthday. I myself had no clue when I had gotten her the unit and neither did she. She just enjoyed her Cybershot. Yesterday, I get a call from her that the lens has stopped working. The W series have a physical lens that extends in and out of the camera and if the gears in there stop working, there goes your camera. First, I was disappointed that the unit had picked up an issue with a year of its life but more so, her wedding is approaching in just a little over a month. The budgeting for a new camera isn’t really in and more so, she wants to capture every minute that she can so down time is also not good. I advised her to call Sony anyways and see what solution if any they had for her. The following was the Facebook post I woke up to today:

I LOVE sony. They are going to repair my camera free of charge, even though I’m not sure when I got it and I don’t have a receipt to prove it! Woohoo for amazing costumer service. =D ♥

Short story, Sony is just having her ship the unit to them and they will fix it for her and have it back to her ASAP. In a time where a lot of companies want to just weasel out of providing you that extra service due to the costs, this insures that not only will she be happy, but for somebody who isn’t into brand names when it comes to equipment, Sony will now always stand out for her and be part of her next purchase. The only bummer is that it will take around 2 weeks for all of this to happen. Luckily, we have 3 other Cybershots around here so we are sending one to her in the mean time (She lives in Michigan and I’m in California).

My E3 Experience and Sony Highlights

by Sohrab Osati | Jul 2, 2010 | 5 comments

E3 ended two weeks ago and I am very delayed on writing about my fantastic experience there. Well, through my work (mOcean) I was able to attend E3 on Wednesday for a good half day. Granted that’s not a ton of time, I still got a great look at some upcoming products and games and had an amazing time. Below I’ll talk about some of my Sony Highlights and games from that day. Entering E3 I was in total awe. My eyes and mouth were wide open and I was on sensory overload. LCD screens, music, characters, displays, lights and colors filled the room.

Of course my first stop was the Sony exhibit. Here at SonyRumors we love writing about 3D. I was very impressed at the 3D gaming and played “Wipeout” and “Motorstorm” in 3D. The movements in the smooth gameplay are very enhanced; everything just popped. The only drawback so far is that 3D gaming darkens the image a lot like in most movie theaters.

Next I checked out “Killzone 3” but unfortunately did not get the chance to play with the line being over an hour wait. That was one thing that bugged me, everyone playing games just hogged the screen forever. When I check out a game I play enough to get a good feel of how it will be but don’t need to sit and beat the entire demo. That was frustrating when I wanted to try out so much. The gameplay I observed was action packed and I can’t image how a FPS would look in 3D.

Continue on for more photos and captions from my amazing day!

WTF: Why Do Digital Copies Expire?

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 29, 2010 | 23 comments

So you might have seen the post about my PSPgo experience. Well during that time, the movie we wanted to watch on Blu-ray was The International, from Columbia (aka Sony) Pictures. To my surprise, when I opened the box, there was a digital copy of this movie as well. I have actually owned this movie for a very long time, but this was the first time I had opened it. I always like to have digital copies because I can load up my PSP, iPhone or iPad with some legal movies and take them around. So it came as a bit of a surprise when I typed in the code into iTunes and discovered that my code had expired. I checked the date inside of the movie and it states, 6-2-2010. Of course I would just miss it by a month when its been siting on my shelf for over a year.

Now sadly, this is not the first time this has happened. Warner Brothers’ “The Matrix” comes with a digital copy which also expired on me, meaning this is not a Sony issue. But seriously, wtf? Isn’t the point of a digital copy to detour illegal downloads and give the consumer another reason to buy the Blu-ray? From another perspective, that also means that I paid for that digital copy right? Thats part of the premium price of a Blu-ray. So are they now taking away a feature that I have paid for? Plus, if this copy was sitting on a shelf for a long time, then the consumer finally gets a chance to watch it a year or more later, they are screwed out of a feature they thought they were getting.

How Sony Can Make Blu-ray 3D Work And Draw The Consumer In

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 28, 2010 | 2 comments

We’re on the brink of a new way of enjoying our entertainment and it’s coming fast. After Avatar, it seems like 3D is everywhere. From big Hollywood movies, to the Playstation and Nintendo 3DS, as well as the largest sport event in the world, the World Cup, most everything is in 3D. Slowly more sets are coming to the market as well with Sony, LG, Panasonic and Samsung now releasing sets. Of course, owning a 3D set is completely worthless if there is no content to view and that’s one thing Sony can take advantage of.

First, we have to remember that Sony is really in the best position for this shift. They not only are a movie studio that makes 3D movies, but also supply studios with their camera equipment that are 3D as well. Sony commands respect in the television world with their Bravia series and let’s not forget the 35+ million PS3 units that will be 3D ready with just a firmware update. This means that Sony has access to just about every level that 3D can touch.

In order for the consumer to be willing to turn to 3D, besides the obvious eventual lowering of prices, they need to see content that’s compelling for sets. Sony is already doing a good job with 3D when it comes to the Playstation 3. It’s updating some back catalogue games with free 3D firmware, as well as making sure future blockbuster games, like its Grand Turismo 5 and Killzone 3, will be released in 3D, on the same disc. This is crucial because while the set (the television and equipment) might be made up of premium devices right now, Sony has to make sure that the content is not. So if I purchase “Killzone 3,” I should be able to play it on my 3D TV at home, but take the same disc to a friend’s house and play it on their non-3D tv and should have paid the same price for the game. So far, they are doing this and I applaud them for that.

Sony, though, has to make sure the same is true for their Blu-ray catalogue. If I purchase a Blu-ray movie, both the 2D and 3D version should be on the same disc. The reason for this is if the content is more premium, that will just hold off consumers. People might already not see the worth in paying more for a Blu-ray version vs a DVD version of a movie. If a third tier is created with DVD < Blu-ray < Blu-ray 3D and even a higher entry prices than created, that will make people less likely to want to jump onboard. Also, for the same reason I stated for the PS3, I should be able to take the same disc anywhere I please and not have it limited to just 3D sets. For instance, whats more likely: multiple HDTVs with Blu-ray in the house or multiple 3D TVs in the house? Also, if a consumer knows that the Blu-ray movies they buy now have 3D, this will make the jump to 3D much easier for them in the future. I myself currently dont have a 3D TV, but my Blu-ray collection sits at 197 discs. If I continue to buy movies and by year’s end, 25 of them are 3D, I will much more likely be willing to buy a 3D set as opposed to purchasing a 3D set and now having to rebuy the same movies just to have them on 3D.

So while I believe Sony is on the right track, they need to take a very aggressive stand with 3D and make it a very easy transition for those who want to come in. For those who are not yet ready, they need to supply the content capable of compelling them to join in the near future.

Gamer Log: PSPgo Saved My Night

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 27, 2010 | 21 comments

So here is a fun one. Last night, I had my girlfriend over. We had finished dinner with the family and we were going to eventually pop in a Blu-ray to watch. A few days prior to all of this, I had introduced my girlfriend to the Tester series on PSN. So while we waited for the rest of the family to get together, we decided to watch a episode or two. One down, no problem and we were into the next episode when the family was ready. We skimmed my now 197 Blu-ray titles (take that, Blockbuster) and we came on “The International” (from Columbia Pictures) and started to watch away. Half way through the movie, my girlfriend wasn’t feeling all that well so we decided to retire the night upstairs in my room. My room is geek heaven but there is no HDTV there so I haven’t even bothered buying another PS3 yet. But we were both also a little bored and wanted something entertaining to watch. Thats when it hit me. I grabbed my PSPgo off the Sony Dock, jumped on PSN and downloaded episode 5 of the Tester (135MB) in about 3 minutes and we finished that episode in bed. It’s times like this when that little guy really shines and I look at the Nintendo DS and cant help but wonder why Sony isn’t pushing more of these devices out.

Gamers Log: inFamous Beat. Final Fantasy XIII Time!

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 12, 2010 | 3 comments

As I’ve written in the past, I recently started inFamous and what a ride it has been. I cannot stress how much fun this game is and the quality of it is wonderful. To start off, I’m a big story guy. I like playing games for their story and boy does inFamous deliver. Especially the ending; that’s all I’ll say on that matter. Now let it be said that I’m not really a fan of the GTA series or the open world concept yet here I was with inFamous, completely pulled in and it made sense. The city was alive and the story and its missions beautifully revolved around it. Plus, the city really had a grand size while not getting too annoying in that respect. Also, I have to mention that the enemies were great and fun to beat up on. However, and I’m not sure if this is a positive or not, but I never once felt too powerful. I’m not sure if the enemies got stronger over time as well to keep the balance or what, but I can confirm that I attained all of Cole’s powers a while before the ending and I still died plenty of times at enemies’ hands. Another blessing from the developers was the fact that the trophies were fun to get and not ludicrous. If anybody has played Brutal Legend or Killzone 2, you will feel my pain.

I must say that during my time with inFamous, I had an amazing amount of fun and would love the guys at Sucker Punch to make a Spider-man game because that’s all I could think about during many of the building climbing that I did within the game. With inFamous knocked out, I’m now moving on to Final Fantasy XIII. I’m both excited and scared for this because I’m a huge RPG nerd and own every Final Fantasy game, including FF1 for Nintendo. But I’ll be the first to admit that Square has dropped the ball this generation. Before, I picked up Xenogears because it said Square on the box. I had never heard of the game and its now currently my favorite game of all time. But this generation, Square seems so focused with trying to appeal to Western gamers that I think it’s losing itself. Plus, this is their first true next gen game and we are in the 4th year! But onwards I march with FF13. After that, I believe it will be God of War collection and God of War 3 time. And yes, I somehow did miss GoW 1&2 on the PS2.

I Don't Use My PSPgo Because I'm Cheap

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 10, 2010 | 5 comments

On October 1st, 2009, I was a giddy person. It was the PSPgo launch date and I had my unit already paid for and only needed the UPS man to bring it to my door. It was a little opposite of the PSP-1000 launch as I waited in line that day at a GameStop store. The original PSP was one of my favorite gadgets. Before I had an iPod, that little guy would hold my music, I had a load of UMD movies and had downloaded Anime on my memory stick and a load of games. Fast forward the PSPgo launch: I received my unit, fired it up and was in love. I immediately downloaded Grand Turismo and a few other games and took my PSPgo with me everywhere. But I noticed I kept going back to my PSP-1000 and it was for the simple reason that I still needed to beat Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7. Because of lack of option of playing Crisis Core on my PSPgo, my PSP-1000 had me in. But now I owned this beautiful unit and I couldn’t even give it the attention it needed. Soon I noticed that Amazon had a fantastic deal on Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Of course, this was on the UMD version, but for $20, how could I say no?

It’s with this that I noticed that the reason I don’t use my PSPgo is because I’m cheap! Seriously, one of the reasons I have been playing my original PSP more than my PSPgo is because I can go on Amazon and get cheaper prices or sales on games. Plus, at the end of the day, it will be the same game because yes the PSPgo is sexier and has a better screen, but the game itself is and will be the same. So while I do love my PSPgo, I don’t want to pay extra for games when I don’t have to. Also, the whole point of digital distribution is that there is no shipping, no packaging, no producing and booklets and boxes, so does it not make sense for the digital version to be cheaper? Plus, the big worry with game publishers right now is secondhand selling and how they don’t get a cut of that market. Well have the UMD version for $40 which can go be sold again and the PSN version for $30 because I cannot share those and sell that copy.

That is ultimately not the only solution. Sony needs to give a retailer like Amazon the capability go also put the PSN versions on sale as well as the UMD and give the buyers a choice (remember, there is a PSN store on Amazon as well for those who want to gift games or just buy them some other way). So to wrap this up, I’m not against digital downloads. I own 2 iPhones (soon 3) and my iPad, and I have nearly 30 PSN games on the PS3, but when I can get the same game for cheaper on the PSP as opposed to the PSPgo version and they are of the same quality, capitalism and supply and end demand indicate that the PSPgo will flop and so far, its been true, sadly.

Here’s a funny thing: in order to take the picture I did for the profile, I had to plug my PSPgo back in and charge it up and during its initial setup, I felt very guilty about this post and the lack of attention I have given that unit and the lack of marketing and attention Sony has given it as well because it feels so damn nice in the hand. Dammit Sony!

Insomniac Games: Betrayal And Good Business

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 1, 2010 | 19 comments

As you may or may not have heard, long-time Playstation exclusive 2nd party developer Insomniac Games has announced that they are going multi-platform. Now, because they are 2nd party means that they had formed an alliance with Sony but were never owned by Sony and could pull away from the Playstation brand whenever they wished. Insomniac has been exclusive to the Playstation brand since the PS1. They continued this on the PS2 where they had huge success with their Ratchet & Clank series. Once on the PS3 though, the story was different. The first Resistance game they released was a launch title for the PS3 and had huge sales and is still in the top 10 most sold games for the PS3. Still, their followup games never caught on. They have since released 3 Ratchet & Clank games that have had sliding sales. While Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction sold 1.94 Million, Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time only pushed 1 million copies. Again, the first Resistance game had sold 3.69 Million while the far superior Resistance 2 (and I think one of the most underrated PS3 games) only managed 1.88 million.

This of course brings me to Insomniac’s decision to move to a 3rd party, multi-platform release. As the numbers have shown, the guys over at Insomniac have been hurting. This doesn’t make any of their games a flop in any form, but from such a AAA developer, it’s not the numbers I’m sure they had hoped for. So if we look at this as a pure business deal, it makes perfect sense. Cater to 35 million PS3 users or cater to PS3 and Xbox 360 (39 million) users? The decision is a simple one and my business side couldn’t agree more with their decision and wish this fantastic developer the best. But then the fan inside of me is the person who feels betrayed. This is the same company who has made their life on the Playstation. Insomniac wouldn’t be who they are if Sony didn’t give their space and say, just make fantastic games and here are all the resources you need. So it’s with that side of me that I don’t see them in the same eye and I’ll be the first to admit it: that’s my fanboy side.

But the question that really needs to be begged here is: is this Sony’s fault? Insomniac was pushing out a new AAA title per year for Sony (something that is very hard to actually accomplish), but as we see, the sales weren’t there. There is of course two causes for that. A lot of those games were published during the high price time of the PS3. With launch prices of $599, we’re only reaching the one year milestone of the $299 PS3. So this alone meant that the install base of the PS3 was not huge during the prior years. But maybe more damming then the price was the marketing or lack there of marketing for the Playstation. As many Sony fans will tell you, Sony has had zero presence on television. While Microsoft would blast ads left and right for Gears and Halo, I saw maybe one Resistance ad on TV, and ads for the Playstation were nonexistent. Again, it’s only really been in the last year that Sony has done a great job with the Kevin Butler ads, (I still wished that they aired more of them but it’s far better than years prior). But even with all of this in mind, the Playstation now has a healthy number of users and yet, it doesn’t move games like the 360 does and part of this is due to the more mature crowd. When a big 360 title comes out, it’s sure to sell over 1 million the first week, but with the Playstation, if it does 500k, it’s doing big. Some might point to the extra 4 million 360 users out there but the numbers don’t add up to those extra 4 million consuming so much more. I believe this has more to do with the younger 360 gamers being hardcore gamers who need to have something on day 1 and have had a 2 month pre-order where the PS3 users are more casual and older. This means that although they will buy, they don’t need to own it on day one and have other things in their lives besides gaming.

So in the end, what is to blame for Insomniac’s departure as a PS3 exclusive developer? The lack of sales? The failure of Sony to promote or the Playstation fans? Maybe all 3, and maybe that’s just the tide as long time Microsoft exclusive partner Bungie (creator of the Halo series) is now a 3rd party developer and will have their next game on both consoles as well. Regardless of the reason, I wish the guys over at Insomniac the best.

Editorial: My PS3 Facebook Dream

by Sohrab Osati | May 19, 2010 | 5 comments

I have to admit, I’m kind of a Facebook whore. I have it on all my devices. See our Sony Dash review. I have it on my iPhone and iPad and I enabled it on day one when Sony allowed for it on the PS3. However, I think the experience has left a lot to be desired for. The good news is not only that I have a game plan here, but it’s something that’s fairly easy to implement.

So first, lets start off with what I like about Facebook on these devices. I like how if you currently gain trophies, it posts them on your Facebook feed. It’s nice to show what you gained and it tells your friends what your playing. I also like it when you purchase something, it again posts it to your wall. How else would people know how many different adorable Sack Boys and Girls I have! But beyond that, there is not a whole lot more.

The idea of Facebook is to be in touch with people and let them know what you’re doing/thinking. If we pause for a minute, PSN sort of does this as well. You can see people’s statuses by going on your friends list, what game they are playing and a little blurb on top of their name. The problem is that currently there is no convenient way of changing that, so for most people, it stays the same. The first implementation that I would do is, when you change your “blurb” on PSN, it updates that to your Facebook. “So-and-so thinks MAG is awesome”. To really go the extra mile, let’s give users the capability to update your Facebook from your PSN, but also, if you update your Facebook status from your Mac/iPhone etc., it should also update your PSN. I think that single move will give PSN a sense of fluidity and “currentness”, for lack of a better word. It’s much more up to date on what you’re doing and is now much more socially integrated into your life. This seems like a very possible and easy setup on Sony’s part that will give PSN a very social pulse and put it out there more.

Other things I would like to see, though they are a little more out there, are to be able to upload pictures and videos to your Facebook. Currently, some games allow you to to take screen shots or record videos and put them on YouTube. Why not Facebook as well? The key for all of this is two-sided for Sony. It first gets people to interact with your content which is always good. “Oh hey, awesome kill in Uncharted, I should go back and play that and try that too”. Also, it’s free advertisement for them. So if you’re listening to this, Sony, and would like some more ideas, I’d love to give them to you. Contact Us?

Editorial: Sony Wont Let Me Buy Another PS3

by Sohrab Osati | May 17, 2010 | 2 comments

The title might be a tad misleading, but follow me on this and you might agree as well. I’ve been in the Playstation family since launch. I remember getting my original Playstation, back when they came in large cases, similar to what you have now, not the CD case layout most Playstation users remember. I got my PS2 on launch date. I got myy PSP-1000 and PSPgo on launch date. For my PS3, I waited in line for a day and got screwed out of getting one, so the next day on eBay, I spent $1,500 for the 60GB. Yea, I was one of those people…Since then, my PS3 has seen a few upgrades: a 320GB drive and currently a 500GB drive. A big reason for this is that I have a lot of media and a lot of games as well when I look back. I look at my PS3 as my entertainment hub. So when guests come over, my Movies, Photos, and Games sections each have folders with categories. Under the Games section, there is a PS3 Demo (with around 50 games) and PS3 Games (with around 25 games), PSP Games, and PSP Demo section. There is a section for all the Qore episodes. Same idea in the Video section. Game Trailers, Movie Trailers, The Tester, Random etc etc. A tad OCD yes but it makes it nice for when people come over.

This brings me to why I cannot own a second PS3. I love the PS3 slim. Yes, I wish I could get the Memory Card, Extra USB and Backwards compatibility back but it is what it is. I’m ok with that. The reason I cannot get one is because of saved games. I would love to stick a PS3 slim in my bedroom and, when I don’t feel like being in the living room, be able to play my games. As I mentioned, I have nearly 25 downloadable games and another 20 Blu-ray based games. But if I want to play a game from where I left off, I would then have to remember which unit has the most current saved game, boot it up, copy paste the file on a flash drive and then erase and paste on the new machine and play. In short, it’s not going to happen. This is when I truly hope for the idea of a more premium PSN network coming. Keep what’s currently free, well, free, because frankly, for most, that’s more then enough. But for those of us who want a little more functionality like that, I’m willing to pay. Having said that, this is a very tricky territory. Either it has to cost less then Xbox Live and have the same features when you combine Free and Paid PSN or it needs to cost the same or more, but offer features not found on Live. This is a must because Sony has been saying as of late that they are in the same park as Live and for the most part, I agree. But if they come out, offer exactly the same features as Live for the same price, then it becomes sticky in terms of PR. So Sony, please let me buy another PS3, I want to give you my money, I really do. It’s just currently entirely inconvenient because, before, during the PS and PS2 era, everything went on a memory card and that was easy enough to grab between machines.

Editorial: PS3 Back Up Takes Forever

by Sohrab Osati | May 12, 2010 | 21 comments

Holy sweet mother. Ive backed up my PS3 before but not in a long time. I have the original 60GB unit which ive upgraded to a 120GB then, 320GB and currently, I have a 500GB hard drive in there. I have about 300GB worth of content on my PS3 but lately, my PS3 will bootup and tell me that the correct disc count not be found. So I believe the drive that I have in there is dying. I finally got around to grabbing a 750GB WD drive to back up to. (keep in mind, most new drives on shelves come with the NTSF format and the PS3 only talks to Fat32, so you will need to reformat your drive). But now that its backing up, its quoting me 48 hours….

If anybody has seen quotes on computers, you know that they can be off. Computer will say about a minute to transfer a file and 10 seconds later its done. Having said that, I started the back up last night around 7pm and its currently 4:35pm and I still have another 20 hours to go. I hope my PS3 dosent explode?

Sony Removes Linux From PS3. Cry Me A River

by Sohrab Osati | May 4, 2010 | 43 comments

“Ok. Does believing you’re the last sane man on the planet make you crazy? ‘Cause if it does, maybe I am.” (Name that movie, folks) But sites like Gizmodo, Engadget and others are all up in arms with pitchforks, blasting Sony for removing the Linux feature from the fat PS3s. Now, as a practice, I understand why people are upset. You bought your unit with the understanding that it would give you the option to install Linux and now Sony has taken away that feature. So as principle, yes it sucks. Having said that, I installed Yellow Dog Linux on my PS3 as well and it was cool. After twice jumping into it, I never did again and once I upgraded to a 320GB drive and now, my current 500GB, I didn’t even bother. Why? Because it was too slow. Linux couldn’t access all the power of the PS3 and booting in and out was a pain and a half. Once in there, woohoo, I can go on AIM or write a paper? Come on. Plus, who do you honestly know that has Linux on their PS3? Really, ask all of your friends out there, and most will probably look at you like you’re crazy. So does it suck? Um, sure. But is it really a big deal? No. So, I think everybody needs to calm down a tad over this.