Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide studio head Shuhei Yoshida says that the PlayStation 3 is finally making a profit after 4 years. Speaking to IGN, Yoshida says that the company has finally turned the corner when it comes to hardware. The success or failure of a system often depends on this milestone, which took a bit longer for Sony because of the highly expensive components in the PS3 like the Cell processor.

Obviously as components become cheaper - and some elements of the system like backwards compatibility are eliminated or replaced by software solutions - the cost of doing business becomes less of a strain. Yoshida did not disclose how much it costs to make a PS3 system. Read More

If you were waiting to pick up the latest installment of what might be the best baseball videogame series ever created, your purchase of MLB 10: The Show  will not only bring you hours of gaming pleasure; soon it will give support to the fight against cancer.

From June 13 through July 10 (just in time for Father's Day, June 19), Sony Computer Entertainment America will donate $10 from the sale of each copy of the PlayStation 3 game in the U.S. to Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C), which will use the donation to fund research and provide grants to scientists.

Major League Baseball is a founding partner of SU2C and Sony said it was “thrilled” to join them in this fight.

Square Enix and Sony Computer Entertainment of America have been hit with a class action lawsuit filed by a San Diego gamer upset over a glitch in Final Fantasy XIII that can cause PS3 consoles to freeze up and become useless.

The lawsuit, which was filed on the behalf of all similarly situated US owners of Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3, alleges that SCEA and Square have been so busy blaming each other for the bricked PS3s, that they haven't remedied the problem or repaired the bricked units (or are charging users for the repair). Read More

The United States Air Force bought 336 PlayStation 3 consoles in 2009 as an initial purchase to create a 53 teraFlop cluster for processing data. Impressed with the power of Sony's home console system, the Air Force decided to buy another 2200 consoles. The whole project cost the Air Force (and by proxy the U.S. tax payers) $663,000.

These PS3 systems were configured with the "Other OS" feature, allowing the Air Force to use Linux to do whatever heavy lifting the project needed, but Sony's recent firmware update that removed that option may prove to be problematic for this work in the future. Read More

A 17-year old from Latrobe, Pennsylvania was sentenced to 12 months probation, 250 hours of community service and ordered to pay Sony Computer Entertainment $5,000 for his role in crippling the electronic giant’s gaming website on November 16-26, 2008.

An investigation conducted by the FBI and Greensburg Police led authorities to the boy, who apparently took the website down in response to being repeatedly kicked off the PlayStation Network for cheating while playing SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals online.

The teenager reportedly used hacking tools to harness infected computers around the world and directed the botnet “to clog three games on the PlayStation site, causing it to crash and go off-line.”
 
Sony had sought over $33,200 from the teen, but Judge John Driscoll ruled that such an amount would be “too excessive” for the boy. Driscoll wrote in his order that, “the juvenile seems to have accepted personal responsibility and agrees he should be held accountable.”

Sony’s decision to remove the “Install Other OS” feature from its PlayStation 3 via an April 1 firmware update has resulted in a class action suit filed against the electronics giant.

Anthony Ventura filed the complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on April 27. The complaint labels the disablement of the feature. "... not only a breach of the sales contract between Sony and its customers and a breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, but it is also an unfair and deceptive business practice perpetrated on millions of unsuspecting consumers.” Read More

Research agency Millward Brown has released its annual list of the Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands (PDF).
 
The top five overall in the BrandZ Top 100 are probably not too surprising; Google tops the list, followed by IBM, Apple, Microsoft and Coca-Cola. Nintendo checks in at number 32 and Intel is at number 48, while Sony is number 94.

The report also broke out a section specifically for videogames. It was noted that the category was down 3.0 percent in year-over-year results, a shift blamed on the economic downturn. In a bid to spur fan-boy debates perhaps, specific game machines were also ranked by brand value, with the Wii taking the top spot, followed by the Nintendo DS, the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP and PlayStation 2.
Read More

While Ubisoft has been the poster-boy for DRM as of late, Capcom apparently introduced a variation of the technology in its release of Final Fight: Double Impact through the PlayStation Network.

Kotaku reports that the game requires a constant connection to PSN in order to play, and, if the console’s Internet connection is lost, the game exits entirely. An affected gamer on the IGN boards wrote to Capcom about the issue and received this response, purportedly from a Capcom representative:

Yes, there is DRM. This was employed to combat the rampant "PSN Sharing" that has been going on over the last year. We're sorry that your family cannot play the game on their individual accounts (same console). This is a limitation of the Sony network. We are not committed to do this with all titles moving forward but the only way to evaluate impact was to try it with one title first. Read More

Sony’s latest firmware update (3.30) for its PlayStation 3 beefs up some of the console’s trophy attributes and prepares it for 3D gaming, but the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) contained some wording that alarmed UK website Thinq.

A Thinq author actually read through the whole EULA, which is dated December 10, 2009, and expressed concern over Section 3, which refers to Services and Updates. The passage is included below: Read More

Yet another examination of parental controls on the current crop of consoles has resulted in the Xbox 360 being labeled the best of the bunch.

A Game Informer editor created a scenario for his wife tasking her with adjusting parental controls for a pair of fictional teen boys on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. The wife was chosen because of her lack of hands on time with the game machines.

A sampling of the article’s commentary and grades for each console are featured below: Read More

Sony’s recent decision to remove the “Install Other OS” function from its PlayStation 3 console through a system update could entitle European PS3 owners to a refund.

Via Engadget we learn that a NeoGAF forumite invoked an obscure European consumer protection law to earn a refund from Amazon. Moderator “lapetus” cited the directive 1999/44/EC, a “a consumer protection law that requires goods to be ‘fit for the purpose which the consumer requires them and which was made known to the seller at the time of purchase.’”
Read More

Sony’s next PlayStation 3 firmware updated, scheduled for release on April 1, will remove the “Install Other OS” feature.

In a post on the PlayStation Blog announcing the new firmware (version 3.21), Patrick Seybold, Senior Director of Corporate Communication and Social Media, stated that the removal of the “Install Other OS” functionality was due to “security concerns.”

Seybold also wrote:

In addition, disabling the “Other OS” feature will help ensure that PS3 owners will continue to have access to the broad range of gaming and entertainment content from SCE and its content partners on a more secure system. Read More

While political attack ads are common place, in the U.S. anyway, it’s still a bit out of the norm when publishers take each other in their marketing programs and today we offer two such examples for your perusal.

Remember the ill-received F.A.G.S. video designed to tout Modern Warfare 2? It decried grenade-spam in the game and featured Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels. Well, EA has created a spoof of the F.A.G.S. video designed to highlight its new release Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Sponsored by F.R.A.G.S. (Friends Really Against Grenade Spam), the spot has its own MLB hurler—New York Yankee CC Sabathia—and takes dead aim against MW2.

Sabathia offers that, “In Battlefield: Bad Company 2 grenade spam isn’t going to prove quite as effective as one might find in competing games of this particular genre, not with destructible buildings, adrenaline pumping weapons and more vehicles than you can count.” Read More

Educators in the United Arab Emirates are attempting to push fledgling game developers towards making more socially conscious games and now one school will be able to create such applications using one of the most powerful game engines available.

The Khaleej Times reports that American University in Dubai has inked a deal with Crytek in order to use the developer’s CryEnginge as a basis for developing Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC “edutainment” titles. UAE teachers are trying to get students away from creating violent action games in order to “create content that imparts values, culture and critical thinking skills to digital natives.”

Dr  Basel Dayyani, Associate Professor of IT at the American University in Dubai on the movement: Read More

Fears over a God of War III banning in Australia can be put to rest as the title has received a MA15+ rating from the Classification Board, effectively clearing it for release.

GameSpot had word on the title’s rating, noting that content descriptors on the game’s packaging will cite “Strong violence, sexual references and nudity” as being part of the game.

In light of Australia’s lack of an R18+ rating, God of War III’s developers had been sweating out whether or not the game would be deemed suitable for release.

Additionally, a God of War III: Ultimate Edition will be offered for sale in Australia for the price of A$248.00.


Thanks Ryan!

Illegal beta copies of Namco’s blood-soaked Splatterhouse game are up for sale online for the price of $675.00 each (shipping included).

Worthplaying discovered the illegal wares for sale on the collector site ASSEMbler, where a user named dulledblade posted a series of pictures in an attempt to prove the legitimacy of the copies. Dulledblade claimed to have pulled the betas off of four nonworking Xbox 360 test kits and instructs that the games have to be played on an Xbox 360 development kit (XDK), which he also sells, for $1,150 each (once again, shipping is included). Package deals featuring an XDK and a copy of Splatterhouse are also apparently for sale by the same user.

Worthplaying notes that the brazen seller did very little to hide his identity; using his Gamertag on his Xbox-Scene postings and putting his location down as Michigan.

Splatterhouse was originally in development by BottleRocket Entertainment, but was later assigned to an internal team at Namco. The game is due out sometime this year for both the 360 and the PlayStation 3.

Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment has inked a deal with Sesame Workshop in order to publish a series of games for videogame consoles based on the long running children’s television show.

While Sesame Street was, for a time, featured in a slew of games, the last title to be issued featuring Sesame Street content was back in 2001, in a title called Sesame Street Sports that was developed by Bonsai Entertainment.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment SVP of Marketing Russell Arons stated:

There's a big open hole in the market. This is the first generation of parents who grew up as gamers. Unlike prior generations where people weren't sure of the value of video games, these are people who know there's value and fun for the whole family.

PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms are expected to be targeted with the new games.

PlayStation 3 parental controls are confusing and subpar when compared to the Xbox 360 writes an IGN columnist.

While the 360 uses ESRB and MPAA ratings to restrict videogames and movies (Ed: confirmed by looking on Xbox.com), the author writes that doing so on the PS3 is confusing, because Sony implemented a number system, “Over on the PlayStation 3, you assign a number. What does the number mean? Who the hell knows.”

Well, while it is confusing, the PS3 manual features a chart that correlates numbers with ESRB ratings: parental control level 2 corresponds with the ESRB’s Early Childhood (EC) rating, 3 with Everyone (E), 4 with Everyone +10 (E10+), 5 with Teen (T), 9 with Mature (M) and 10 with Adults Only (AO).

Limiting Blu-Ray disc playback is a little easier. From the manual: "When playing a BD with parental control settings, restrict playback based on the age you have set."

The author agrees that this is rather straight forward, “For Blu-ray discs, you can set a number anywhere between 0 and what seems to effectively equate to infinity. It sounds like you can just treat this as someone's age, which at least sort of makes sense, but that doesn't apply to games.”

Regular DVD restriction is a little more confusing. Says the IGN author, “DVDs have had this same confusing system for a while now, where you can choose a number between 1 and 8, but on its games front, Sony has gone with a system that spans from 1 to 11.”

We would have to agree that having two different numbering systems is a bit confusing. In both cases however, the lower the number, the tighter the restrictions.

GP: Having little reason to enact parental controls, this was all relatively new territory. Obviously the IGN editor did not take the time to read the manual, but this is common among consumers.

Did Sony make their parental controls too difficult for the average person to understand?

Any parents out there have similar problems or confusion limiting PS3 content?

The United Arab Emirates has banned THQ’s game Darksiders reports gaming site GamesLatest.

The site notes that such bannings are not usually accompanied by a detailed explanation; instead an explanation typically offered is that a forbidden commodity “contradicts with UAE’s customs and traditions.”

The game, developed by Vigil games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, involves demons and has players take the role of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

In the game’s setting, War is accused of breaking a scared law and “inciting a war between Heaven and Hell.” Following a battle between demons and angels that the demons win, War is “brought before the sacred Charred Council” and indicted for his crimes and has his other worldly powers removed. While being hunted by Angels, War returns to Earth in order to search for the truth, to find those responsible for deceiving him and to battle the forces of Hell.

God of War and Grand Theft Auto IV were also banned in the UAE in recent years.

Videogame console thefts have risen dramatically over the years, according to data released by the FBI.

A USA Today story indicates that reported cases have risen 285% over three years, to a number of 42,615 such incidents in 2009. That number is even more astounding when factoring in that overall property crime numbers, which include theft of electronics, dropped from 10.0 million in 2006 to 9.8 million in 2008.

The FBI produced the numbers at the behest of Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY), who wanted to see the data after complaints from constituents about electronic thefts.

Weiner’s take on the growing problem, “It's the omnipresent, miniature electronics crime paradox: Even as crime goes down, when you have more electronics, you have more theft.”

Laptop computer thefts grew from 96,834 in 2007 to 128,280 in 2009, a gain of 32%. Cellphone snatches were down over the same period however, dropping 5% to over 106,000 stolen in 2009.

University of Massachusetts-Lowell Criminologist Larry Siegel added, “Criminals are rational. They steal things that have high value, are easily transportable and easily sold.”

Erik Estavillo has outdone himself once again, this time subpoenaing a pair of rappers to testify at his civil lawsuit against Sony Computer Entertainment America over his banning from the PlayStation Network.

Those to be summoned are Louise Amanda Harman, better known as Lady Sovereign (pictured left), and Anthony Henderson (aka Krayzie Bone) of the group Bone, Thugs & Harmony. The pair were subpoenaed because Estavillo desires to, “highlight how rappers are not censored/banned/or punished for ‘cussing/trash talking’ on private property i.e. clubs, concerts, music channels/events or award ceremonies.”

Estavillo previously promised to be done with filing lawsuits. Today he indicated that these would be the last of his subpoenas. Musicians, actresses and billionaire titans of industry around the globe can now breathe a little more easily.

While it might not mean the end of the traditional air raid siren, New York State is currently testing a plan that uses networked videogame machines to send emergency alerts and warnings to the state’s population.

The alert system is just one component of New York State’s Empire 2.0 initiative, which is designed to make the state’s government more “transparent, participatory and collaborative,” reports Information Week.

New York State Deputy Chief Information Officer Rico Singleton thinks the plan to alert the populace via videogame consoles is a natural, “considering the amount of time our youth spend on video games.“

Other Empire 2.0 measures include monitoring Facebook in a bid to spot and stop potential suicidal behavior, using Second Life to train 700,000 Homeland Security first responders and publishing Senate bills online where members of the public can comment on and mark up proposed legislation.

In a bid to improve science and math comprehension for U.S. school pupils, President Obama has launched an open competition designed to encourage the creation of digital media-based learning experiences.

Launching December 14, the 2010 Digital Media and Learning Competition is being undertaken in conjunction with the MacArthur Foundation, the Humanities, Arts and the Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC) and National Lab Day. Two categories are offered in the $2.0 million competition—21st Century Learning Lab Designers and Game Changers.

Game Changers will task entrants with creating content, using the PlayStation 3 game LittleBigPlanet, which incorporates science, engineering and math. Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) and The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) are backers of the competition as well, with the former donating 1,000 PS3 systems and copies of LittleBigPlanet to libraries and community organizations in low-income U.S. communities.

Jack Tretton, president and CEO of SCEA added:

“When leveraging the innovative technology of LittleBigPlanet and the PS3 system, both advanced and novice gamers have access to an open canvas to learn, build, and explore entirely new kinds of gaming experiences. There’s no better training ground for anyone interested in digital media.”

Winners will be announced next spring. Winning LittleBigPlanet levels will also be made available to the public.

A survey commissioned by CNET UK asked gamers to weigh in on the failure rate of the current generation of game consoles.

Perhaps unsurprisingly Microsoft’s Xbox 360 came in first (last?), with 60% of the respondents indicating that their 360 had failed at some point. Sony’s PlayStation 3 broke for 16% of those who took part in the poll, while the Wii stopped working for just 6%.

Even worse news for Microsoft, of those who did report their 360 breaking, 32% said the console broke twice and 19% claimed it stopped working three or more time. One unfortunate respondent indicated that their 360 failed six times.

The 360 failure rate fell to 34 percent for respondents who had purchased a console since January 2008.

Of those with broken 360s, 72% percent returned their machine to Microsoft for fixing, while 15% chose to toss the 360 or try to fix it themselves.

All in all, 1,128 people took the poll, with 591 owning a Wii, 562 owning an Xbox 360 and 473 possessing a PS3.

CNET notes that the poll has its faults—those surveyed do not constitute a random sample—but adds that since console makers do not release such information, this is about the best we can go on.

GP: What about you, how are your consoles holding up? My launch 360 red ringed once (under warranty) and my original PS3’s Blu-Ray drive failed once (also under warranty) but the Wii keeps on ticking, although it hasn’t been plugged in since February.

The U.S. Customs Enforcement Cyber Crimes Center (C3), a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),  is now utilizing Sony PlayStation 3 consoles to crack the encrypted passwords of child pornographers.

The $300 PS3 units are around $8,000 less expensive than the PCs previously used, though the agency must use the original PlayStation 3 systems, as the new PS3 slim does not allow for the installation or use of the Linux operating system which C3 apparently uses as a basis for its cracking methods.

Fourth Amendment protection means that suspected pedophiles do not need to turn over the password for their computer. Networked PS3s can process 4.0 million passwords a second, reducing the amount of time needed to discover the correct sequence. A six digit password has 281,474,976,710,656 total possibilities.

Senior Special Agent Claude Davenport noted that there is no need to worry about government employees playing games on the consoles, “There's no controllers hooked up.”

ICE currently owns 20 PS3s and is looking to add up to 40 more.


|Via Kotaku|

A California gamer whose lawsuit against Sony Computer Entertainment America was tossed out of court last month has filed an appeal.

Resistance: Fall of Man player Erik Estavillo originally filed a complaint against SCEA on July 6th of this year, alleging that Sony suppressed his free speech rights by banning him from the PlayStation Network. Estavillo further claimed that disabling his account amounted to a theft of his PSN pre-paid points and that SCEA was unable to stop users under 17 years of age from playing.

A judge dismissed Estavillo’s lawsuit on September 22, 2009, ruling that there was no plausible First Amendment claim for relief.

The appeal was filed on October 19 in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Update: Estavillo also filed (on October 14th) a civil lawsuit against SCEA in Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara seeking $180,000.

Estavillo tells GP he is representing himself in these cases and, in light of his PSN ban, is playing the Wii (Metroid Trilogy) and Xbox 360 (Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe). Estavillo said that he loves playing as The Joker in the latter title and may be “a bit obsessed” with the character, adding, “I plan to wear a purple suit during my court trials. No joke!”

Following a PlayStation 3 system software update that rendered his console unusable, and a $150 fee from the manufacturer to fix it, a Florida man has filed a class action suit against Sony Computer Entertainment America.

John Kennedy v. SCEA was filed on October 3, 2009 in the San Francisco Division of the Northern District Court of California. The plaintiff alleges that he purchased a PS3 unit on January 8, 2009 before installing the fatal update (Firmware 3.0) in September of 2009.  The suit notes that while “as a general rule, Sony ‘encourages’ PS3 owners to install the latest version of system software, Sony required users to install the Firmware 3.0 update.”

Kennedy added that a Sony forum featured “many” complaints about console failures due to the Firmware, enough that Sony responded with a “Firmware 3.00 Q&A” FAQ.  Also stated is the fact that Sony released a 3.01 version of the update a little over two weeks after the release of 3.0 in order to “improve system stability,” but which, according to the complaint, “not only failed to address problems introduces by Firmware 3.0, it caused new problems,” including the malfunctioning of the PS3’s Blu-Ray drive.

Courthouse News, via Gamasutra, has the full complaint in PDF form.

The case of a gamer who sued Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) over being banned from the PlayStation Network has been tossed out of court.

After being banned for “multiple violations” on PSN, the Resistance: Fall of Man player Erik Estavillo had sued SCEA for violating his First Amendment rights (for the PSN ban) and for money he had invested into the PSN Wallet Fund. He sought $55,000 and an injunction that would limit SCEA from banning any players in any form on the network.

Northern District of California District Judge Ronald M Whyte ruled that there was no plausible First Amendment claim for relief stated and dismissed the case.

The Technology & Marketing Law Blog (via Gamasutra) zeroed in on one specific comment of Whyte’s, that “Sony's Network is not similar to a company town.” Blogger Eric Goldman wrote:

…this opinion emphatically rejects a meme that has become pretty popular among virtual world exceptionalists. Some exceptionalists have favored the company town analogy because it enable virtual world customers to reduce an operator's ability to run its business capriciously.

A PDF version of the Order Granting Defendant's Motion To Dismiss is also available on the aforementioned blog.

PlayStation 3 manufacturer Sony gamed the product registration system of the Federal Communications Commission, according to PS3 News.

Yesterday, of course, Sony announced that it was dropping the price of the PlayStation 3 to $299 and introducing a slimmed-down, 120GB version on September 1st. Digging through FCC records, PS3 News discovered filings for a 200GB PS3 registered to Sand Dollar Enterprises of San Mateo, California:

Now, Sand Dollar Enterprise, Inc is represented by SCEA's General Council, Riley Russell.

This house is actually a private residence, but whomever lives here filed the documents with the FCC, most likely on the behalf of Sony, as they would be much harder to find with a different FCC ID (XCE) than that of Sony (AK8).

This means that some time in the future (for probably a premium, maybe $349 or so), a new PS3 Slim may come out featuring a 250GB HDD. There is not much of a difference, but expect it to be bundled with a game or so, right in time for Christmas!

A PlayStation 3 gamer has filed suit in U.S. District Court in California, alleging that SCEA suppressed his free speech rights and caused him pain and suffering by banning his account on the PlayStation Network.

In a complaint filed on July 6th, Erik Estavillo of San Jose writes that he his disabled by a variety of disorders; among these are agoraphobia, a fear of crowds:

The pain and suffering was caused by the defendant, Sony, banning the plaintiff's account on the PlayStation 3 Network, in which the plaintiff relies on to socialize with other people, since it's the only way the plaintiff can truly socialize since he also suffers from Agoraphobia...

Estavillo's issues with SCEA apparently stem from his play of the PS3 hit Resistance: Fall of Man:

The ban is supposedly due to the behavior of the plaintiff when he plays the video game "Resistance: Fall of Man," which Sony owns and employs moderators for its online play. These moderators kick and ban players that they feel are deserving; though their biases to a player seem to be what determines the kick or ban...

 

The plaintiff was exercising his First Amendment Rights to Freedom of Speech in the game's public forum when he was banned from, not only [Resistance], but also banned from playing all other games online via the PlayStation Network...

Estavillo also claims that the PSN ban amounts to a theft of his pre-paid points:

The plaintiff...cannot access [his] money when a moderator from Resistance and Sony gives a player a arbitrary wide-range ban... which in essence, is stealing money from the player...

Estavillo also argues that the EULA for online play of Resistance is ineffective in blocking players under the game's recommended age of 17, although it's unclear how this fits into his claim.

In his request to the court, Estavillo, who appears to be unrepresented, asks that SCEA be enjoined from banning players. He also seeks $55,000 in punitive damages.

To date, SCEA has not filed a response with the Court. GamePolitics has requested comment on the lawsuit from SCEA.

DOCUMENT DUMP: Grab a copy of Estavillo vs. SCEA here...