News Topic - Sony

PSXExtreme Editorial: "Why I Prefer Sony Controllers"
PSXExtreme writes: "You know, when I first laid eyes on the original PlayStation controller almost 13 years ago, I wasn't too impressed. I thought Sony had decided to sacrifice practicality and comfort for this sleek, futuristic look. I thought the SNES still had the best controller of all time (and ironically enough, the N64 had the worst by far), and I wasn't too keen on trying out that new fandangled Sony machine. I just didn't have a whole lot of faith in that gamepad."
N4G.com  –  Jul 5, 2008 4:47 PM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Technology: Video Games

Tragic students may have died for games consoles
THE victims of a sadistic double murder might have died for the sake of two hand-held games consoles, police said yesterday. French students Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were bound, gagged and stabbed to death in a bedsit in south London on Sunday night. Detectives, who believe the pair may have been the victims of a savage robbery, said two Sony PSP consoles, costing £130 each, were stolen from Mr Bonomo's rented flat.
N4G.com  –  Jul 5, 2008 4:27 PM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Technology: Video Games

PlayStation 4: Sooner than we think?
PlayStation 4? It's not as crazy as it sounds. But consumers shouldn't expect the console until 2010 at the soonest, said vice president of technology for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Paul Holman.
N4G.com  –  Jul 5, 2008 08:58 AM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Technology: Video Games

Sony Centre receives condo unit as donation from developer
A developer planning the boot-shaped L Tower condominium project above the city-owned Sony Centre for the Performing Arts is giving the theatre $1 million in the form of a new condo unit and cash.
TheStar.com  –  Jul 5, 2008 08:30 AM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Canada: Ontario

IGN E3 countdown
See a LIVE countdown to Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and E3's press conferences on IGN.com.
N4G.com  –  Jul 5, 2008 07:41 AM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Technology: Video Games

Hudson: PS3 development too expensive
Gamertm writes: Hudson has ruled out developing and publishing full PS3 games, due to the development costs on Sony's format being too high.
N4G.com  –  Jul 5, 2008 04:19 AM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Technology: Video Games

Giles Foden, Dork talk: LG 'Secret' KF750
Astonishing how things can pass one by. There was I thinking that Black Label is a whisky when in fact it's a series of phones. The new LG "Secret" KF750 (free on contract, dependent on tariff: lgmobile.com, 0870 873 5454) is one of a line of LG mobiles dubbed Black Label, previously featuring the "Chocolate" and the "Shine". Ah yes, chocolate. Another bell going off there ... is it Ghirardelli's Black Label chocolate sauce, or just Black Magic misremembered? Something semiotic is going down, in any case. More or less everything about the Secret is sleek, black and sexy. Unpacking it, you feel as if you're engaging in a hotel-room tryst with a mysterious, elegantly dressed stranger. The thing is so erotically charged, it should have been called the LG Secrete. Marketing job done, then? Well, not quite. The comparators bear examination. What a fine nip is Johnny Walker Black Label - acclaimed masterpiece of blending, favourite of Winston Churchill, "at once powerful, intense and unassailably elegant" as the company's literature puts it. Experts agree. "Very few malts can match this for complexity," says Jim Murray, author of Classic Blended Scotch (1999). "This is the Savoy, the Everest, of deluxe whiskies." Ghirardelli products, meanwhile, deliver "moments of timeless pleasure", being crafted to achieve "the perfect chocolate intensity". Its website shows a woman in the throes of chocolate ecstasy: such open-mouthed, shut-eyed rapture not seen since Bernini's statue of St Theresa. The commercial language of the LG Secret borrows from chocolate, whisky and luxury goods rhetoric in general: "Boasting style that lasts, the LG Secret has been specifically developed to satisfy the refined tastes of trendsetters who desire a sophisticatedly designed, yet durable handset. Following the success of its predecessors... this third model from the LG Black Label Series is as feature rich as it is stylish." Like the pleasure induced by Ghirardelli chocolate, the Secret's features are presented as timeless: a carbon fibre and tempered glass casing ("timeless style"); a five megapixel camera and the ability to take video at 120 frames a second ("timeless memories"); multimedia functions including music, photos, games, documents and FM radio ("timeless entertainment"). Alas, there is no eBook reader function, with which time-exempt users might catch up on Latin proverbs. Like memento mori, say, or carpe diem. The LG Secret has many top specifications. But its principal innovation - the combination of a slide-out keypad with a glass touchpad - simply does not work very well. The touchpad is a sort of halogen hob (between the screen proper and the keypad), rather than a full, iPhone-style touchscreen. It seems like intermediate technology to me. This is confirmed by the constant need to use an old-fashioned metal return/action button that rises like Uluru out of the glass. The maker of the Secret is Korean-based LG Electronics which, according to its representative, has recently overtaken Sony Ericsson as the fourth biggest handset manufacturer in the world. I am sure they're all super fellows down at LG HQ (they sponsor Fulham FC), but others are not yet convinced. Technology site unwiredview.com has accused another LG phone on the horizon, the LG Dare, of being an "iPhone knock-off". Who'll dare say that when BlackBerry's touchscreen device, the BlackBerry Thunder, comes out? I couldn't possibly comment on any of this, but another semiotic bell has just tinkled. It's Carling Black Label, of course, now reduced to plain Carling for snappier cross-bar ordering. LG should be careful with whom it mixes: when Carling Black Label was first sold in Britain in 1954 (by the inestimable Carling Kuntz Ltd) and prior to that in North America, the Black Label signalled not deluxe but economy. · Stephen Fry returns later this month.
The Guardian  –  Jul 4, 2008 11:06 PM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Technology

Sony's New Hdna Campaign Breathes Life Into Its Latest Vaio Computer Offerings
SAN DIEGO, July 2008 -- Sony Electronics today announced that it will launch an integrated marketing campaign in the United States on July 15 touting how its new VAIO all-in-one HD PC/TV and HD Blu-r... [WebWire - Friday, July 04, 2008]
WebWire  –  Jul 4, 2008 11:06 PM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Top Stories: Press Releases

Just What Can Kick-Start the PS3 in Japan?
When the PS3's launched back in late 2006/early 2007 it was met with largely disappointing sales in many territories across the globe. Analysts and Sony fans alike increasingly looked to the future to cite possible PS3 titles that could lift sales to PS2 levels. The latest sales figures from Japan have the PS3 falling steadily back to its pre-MGS4 sales levels drifting way behind the Wii just weeks after it stole headlines and surged past it - admittedly only for one week. But it does beg the question; if one of the franchises most synonymous with the PlayStation can't rescue the PS3's fortunes, what can? Have people reached a time when software no longer pushes hardware, with consumers making their purchasing decisions based upon media specifications and firmware updates?
N4G.com  –  Jul 4, 2008 11:01 PM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Technology: Video Games

IBM Podcast Explores the Future of Movies
ARMONK, NY - Jul 2008: As the summer blockbuster movie season enters full swing, IBM (NYSE: IBM) explores the "Future of Movies," a podcast with Yair Landau, former President of Sony Pictures Digital ... [WebWire - Friday, July 04, 2008]
WebWire  –  Jul 4, 2008 10:36 PM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Top Stories: Press Releases