Hasta La Gadget!

Sony’s PSN woes aren’t over just yet. The company has temporarily stopped taking PlayStation promo codes following a surge in traffic on the gaming service; for the moment, money cards and game vouchers won’t work. There’s no estimate for when code redemption will return. It’s easy to see the potential causes, however. Between the weekend, the PlayStation 4’s European launch and a big discount on PlayStation Plus subscriptions at Amazon, there’s guaranteed to be a deluge of PSN activity — Sony may have unintentionally created a perfect storm.

Update (12/1/13): According to the PlayStation Europe Blog, Sony is “continually increasing the availability of the voucher redemption functionality,” so you should see it soon if it’s not on your system already. The next step, which we should hear more about tomorrow, is to switch on the What’s New activity feed and Live Item in the Content Information Screen for users outside North America.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony

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Source: PlayStation Community Forums, PlayStation Blog

Sony’s next-generation console may be nearing its launch date in some parts of the world, but the Japanese company isn’t forgetting about its aging PlayStation 3 just yet. With an update that’s due to roll out in the next few hours, the PS3 will no longer limit automatic firmware downloads to PlayStation Plus subscribers, a definite plus for non-paid PlayStation Network users. What’s more, version 4.50 also brings additional privacy settings to trophies and the ability to transfer data from the PS3 to PS Vita via a WiFi connection. It may not be the beefiest of updates, but sometimes keeping things short and sweet is just what the doctor ordered.

Update: 4.50 is now available.

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Sony

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Via: Polygon

Source: PlayStation Blog

If you’re already looking for a more worthy Grand Theft Auto 5 adversary than a computer can generate, here’s the dirt: you can now play it online. Whether your battleground of choice is PlayStation Network or Xbox Live, only a “small title update” should be required to get online. Of course, that is assuming the game’s servers can handle the load. With over 16.5 million copies already in circulation Day 1 connectivity could land somewhere near the Sim City end of the scale, and Rockstar’s Social Club backend has already experienced some strain loading up pictures and stats from the single player edition. Assuming everything goes to plan however, players should be creating their avatars, forming online crime syndicates and visiting each other’s houses.

The Content Creator tool that will let players design their own heists is one of the features scheduled to launch later this fall, for more details on what is available right away, check out this blog post. Access appears to be open on both PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, although we’re already seeing reports of connection issues and “Rockstar cloud servers are not available right now” on both sides.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD

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Source: Rockstar

Late last night / very early this morning, Sony’s PlayStation team finally unveiled a release date for the PlayStation 4 in Japan: February 22, 2014. That’s just short of 100 days after the company’s new game console launches in the US, and nearly as far away from the console’s arrival on European shores — a far cry from the PlayStation 3’s launch strategy, which put the console in Japanese gamers’ hands first.

Instead, Sony’s got another idea for Japanese gamers this holiday in the PlayStation Vita TV. The $100 set-top Vita hooks up to televisions and functions as a Vita does, albeit with a DualShock 3 paired for control. It’ll even act as a Remote Play device for the PlayStation 4 when that console eventually launches in Japan. Unlike some Japan-only PlayStation hardware from Sony’s past (PS3’s Torne DVR device, for instance), Vita TV seems bound for an international release.

In Sony’s official PR, the company says, “PS Vita TV will be available first in Japan prior to any other regions, on November 14, 2013.” Prior to any other regions, eh? PlayStation’s US counterparts are keeping coy. We asked if the console was being considered for release in North America and were told, “We are considering every opportunity, but have nothing to announce at this time,” by an SCEA rep.

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Software, HD, Sony

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During its Gamescon 2013 event, Sony said that upgrades for Playstation 4 games would come at a “significantly discounted price,” though it didn’t offer any details or actual numbers. Now, Activision has said that Call of Duty: Ghosts will cost $10 to upgrade from the PS3 to the PS4, mirroring a similar deal from retailer GameStop for the Xbox One. Based on Sony’s statement, such discounts might be coming for other lynchpin titles for the new console for a limited time period, as well. Meanwhile, if you can’t wait the ten days between the game’s November 5th PS3 launch and the Playstation 4’s November 15th US release, hit the PR after the break.

Filed under: Gaming, Software

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