Hasta La Gadget!

In North America, the PlayStation 3 is the Model T of consoles: you can have any system color you want, as long as it’s black. Sony might be dropping the circa-1908 approach in the near future, at least in Canada. Both Best Buy and its Canada-only sister chain, Future Shop, are listing a Crystal White Limited Edition Bundle that includes a 500GB hard drive, a year-long PlayStation Plus subscription and a trio of games for $300 Canadian ($305 US). It’s a good deal compared to the existing lineup, but extra-special when white has been limited to a handful of other countries — and when Sony hasn’t mentioned any North American plans for the color. We’ve asked the company for comment, and we’ll let you know the response. When both stores list a January 27th in-stock date, however, any answers will come quickly.

Continue reading White PlayStation 3 bundle surfaces unannounced at Canadian retailers

Filed under: Gaming, Sony

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Via: Joystiq

Source: Best Buy, Future Shop

A redesigned PlayStation Move? Sony’s taken a stab at it before — but this time around, it’s imagining a controller with ultrasonic location analysis and Wiimote-like IR tracking. A new patent application details a “method for determining location of a controller,” which proposes tracking controller depth by measuring the travel time of sound emitted from the device to the television. Two-dimensional tracking would be managed via the existing Move’s visual spectrum camera, or by using a display-mounted IR emitter in conjunction with a remote mounted sensor (again, just like the Wii controller).

Although not technically part of the patent, the application’s attached visual aids are pretty creative too — showcasing a completely redesigned Move wand with swappable button faceplates. One embodiment shows two Move controllers attached end-to-end, mimicking a sword, while another shows a pair side by side, linked by a full gamepad sized faceplate. One bold image shows a player with two devices strapped to his ankles, performing a backwards flip to kick a digital soccer ball — Sony is apparently very confident about the patent’s potential tracking accuracy. We’ll reserve judgment until we see the technology in practice, but feel free to read the claims for yourself at the source link below, or simply mosey on past the break to see the aforementioned athlete trying to break his neck.

Continue reading Sony patent application reimagines PlayStation Move with ultrasonic capabilities, IR emitters

Filed under: Gaming

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Via: The Silent Chief

Source: FPO

Turtle Beach has made a big appearance here at CES 2013 by announcing several new headsets that are both wireless and wired. The company announced a new headset specifically for Xbox 360 gamers, as well as an exclusive option for PlayStation 3 gamers as well. They also announced the SEVEN series for consoles, PCs, and mobile platforms that include “tournament-grade” quality and functionality. We ended up stopping by the company’s booth and getting some hands-on time with the new products.

The Ear Force XP510 for Xbox 360 and the Ear Force PX51 for PlayStation 3 are both wireless headsets that cater specifically to their respective gaming consoles. Both headsets feature Turtle Beach’s proprietary digital signal processor, Dolby surround sound, dual band WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 15-hour rechargeable battery. Pricing is set at $289 for the XP510 and $269 for the PX51. We should expect both headsets to become available sometime in Q1 2013.

The company also announced their new SEVEN series, consisting of headsets built specifically for gaming consoles (Ear Force XP SEVEN), PC gaming (Ear Force Z SEVEN), and mobile platforms (Ear Force M SEVEN). These are priced at $279, $249, and $149, respectively. What’s unique about the SEVEN series is that they include interchangeable cable kits, and feature a removable boom microphone and in-line microphone for increased flexibility for different gaming styles. These headsets will be available sometime in Q1 2013, while the TM1 audio mixer ($249), which allows greater control when team chatting, is available starting today.

In related Turtle Beach news, the company also upgraded its PX21 headset and released the PX22 ($79) by offering amplified audio, bass and treble boosts, and a “4-pole connector” for compatibility with mobile devices. The company also released two more PC-gaming headsets — the Z300 and Z22. Turtle Beach claims the Z300 as the only Bluetooth-enabled PC headset capable of answering calls or streaming music through a mobile device, and the Z22 is the first PC headset that features the company’s Chat Boost, as well as Bass and Treble Boost. All three of these headsets will be available sometime in Q2 2013.

Turtle Beach PX51, XP510, SEVEN series hands-on is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We reported last year that by the end of 2012, the Sony PlayStation 2 would have stopped shipping to Japanese retailers. Since there was no mention of retailers around the world, we assumed that eventually Sony would stop shipping the aged console to them as well, and it looks like we were right. Sony has confirmed to The Guardian that after 12 years and with 150 million units sold worldwide, the company would finally cease shipping of the PlayStation 2 consoles to retailers around the world. With a library of 10,000 titles in 2011, the PlayStation 2 has no doubt made its mark on the world and will probably go down in console history of one of the more successful consoles to date. Plus the fact that it came with a DVD gave gamers an added incentive to purchase it since they could then hook it up and watch movies with it as well, a feature which was replicated with Blu-ray on the Sony PlayStation 3.

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As much as we would all like to believe games will one day go back to retailing for under $60, it doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon when you consider next-generation consoles are expected to offer vastly improved graphics and more bells and whistles than we can even think of. The used game market is a successful one because there are people out there who are willing to wait for the latest and greatest to gain a little dust in order to buy it cheaper than retail, but a new patent from Sony could put a stop to all that if it turns out to be true.

According to a patent Sony filed for in September 2012 uncovered on a thread on NeoGAF, the company wants to introduce a technology that would tag a game with a user’s account or machine and would be able to tell if that game has been used before.

“As a technique to suppress the second-hand sales and purchase, a user may be first required to send a password or the like to a remote authentication server from a reproduction device (game player) via the Internet and the reproduction of content may be permitted only for the device that has succeeded in authentication.”

We know game manufacturers have been trying to deal with used game sales on their own by rewarding gamers who purchase a new version of their game with in-game bonuses or content, but this is the first time we’ve seen a hardware manufacturer take steps towards battling the used game market themselves. Seeing how the next PlayStation is still a few years away from even being mentioned, we’ll take this news with a grain of salt and hope it doesn’t end up being implemented in an upcoming PlayStation console.

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