Hasta La Gadget!

In holiday 2011, while fans of both the Call of Duty and Battlefield series were gearing up for virtual war, the publishers behind each megafranchise were gearing up for a different type of virtual war. With the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Activision’s in-game social network — dubbed “Call of Duty Elite” — went live. Just prior, alongside the launch of competing title Battlefield 3, EA introduced its “Battlelog” system. And thus began a parallel virtual war for fans’ loyalty, battled via user numbers and engagement metrics. It’s a pretty boring war, but its armaments are the games many of us know and love.

The first-person-shooter social network war continues to this day (in silence, of course), with EA recently stepping up its rhetoric surrounding this October’s entry, Battlefield 4. Since E3, where some new Battlelog features were shown for the first time during EA’s presser, the company’s released its first big Battlelog marketing video (seen below). But we wanted more details about what the first next-gen version of Battlelog will look like, and what EA’s DICE studio has been able to accomplish with new hardware.

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Handhelds, Tablets, Internet, Software, HD

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Sony’s PS4 dev kit passed by the FCC roughly a week ago, and now its consumer-oriented counterpart has passed through Uncle Sam’s offices. Not only do the federal documents show the consoles’ polished exterior, but they once again note a “max clock frequency” of 2.75GHz, teasing just what kind of horsepower sits inside the black parallelogram. Though there isn’t much more to note in the agency’s files, a duo of system labels marked with “Made in China” and “Made in Japan” hint that Hirai and Co. will be manufacturing the hardware in both those territories. Mark Cerny’s wunderconsole won’t be hitting store shelves until later this year, but it already has the appropriate paperwork to make the trip stateside.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony

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Source: FCC

The patent application from Sony that popped up at the US Patent and Trademark Office this morning isn’t quite the DualShock 4 that we’ve become acquainted with this year. While it contains many descriptors that apply to the controller Sony introduced alongside its PlayStation 4, it’s also got a few extra bells and whistles that the current model doesn’t include — most notably, a microphone for tracking player location and a larger light bar that extends to the bottom of the controller. Apparently the light bar at some point could be “shaped to provide for a wide angle of visibility.”

There’s also a variety of trackpad versions, and the patent describes a slight outward curvature “which provides a tactile sensation by virtue of its shape” — the DualShock 4 models we’ve used don’t seem to feature this, but we’ll need to revisit the controller to be sure. Further, the trackpad was apparently tested as a display screen as well at one point. “In one embodiment, the touch panel can be coupled with a display screen to provide a touchscreen interface as part of the controller,” the application reads. “For example, the touchscreen might display an image which delineates regions of the touchscreen that correspond to various functionalities for the interactive application.”

Beyond that, the patent dances around its connection to the PlayStation 4, as this was filed back in the end of June 2012 (it just published today). Make no mistake: this is very much a patent for the DualShock 4 long before the controller and its corresponding console were announced.

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

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Source: USPTO

Sony’s already said that it’s making game publishing on PlayStation 4 even easier than it is on the PlayStation 3, but Senior Account Manager of Development at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Agostino Simonetta today explained exactly what that means. Sony’s apparently applying a “four pillar” approach to publishing, as follows:

1. “Every developer is a publisher”
2. “Equality of opportunity”
3. “Personal relationship”
4. “No hurdles, just games”

It’s this multi-tiered approach that Sony believes will attract developers to the PlayStation 4. “Every single developer is a publisher, as far as we’re concerned. We don’t separate, we don’t segregate indies from traditional publishers,” Simonetta said, in reference to the current console generation’s “segregation” of indie (primarily digital) games from more traditional publishers (primarily disc-based). More specifically, individual devs can work with Sony one-on-one to establish promotions and other details. Perhaps most importantly, all developers will hear back on publishing approval within one week from Sony. Head to the source link below for more details from Simonetta, straight out of the annual Develop conference.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Sony

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Source: Digital Spy

Even though Sony’s offering a few free PlayStation 4 games at launch to PlayStation Plus members, the company apparently wants to extend its philanthropy to the entire PS4 consumer base. Every PlayStation 4 comes pre-loaded with a copy of The Playroom, which you may remember from E3 2013 as “that crazy demo thing that uses basically every piece of the DualShock 4 and PS4 Eye to amazing effect.”

If you did miss the video and you’re not able to watch at the moment, know this: The Playroom is a super neat addition to the PS4 console. It essentially acts as the Wii Sports for the PlayStation 4, showing off everything from the DualShock 4’s lightbar to the PS4 Eye’s depth-sensing functionality. It’s also full of adorable little robots, should all that other stuff not suffice. We’ve dropped our full video walking through its features just below; the PlayStation 4 is planned for launch in “holiday 2013” at $400.

Update: Please excuse us if we’ve misled anyone — the PlayStation 4 Eye does not come packed in with the console and DualShock 4. It’s a separate $60 purchase, though The Playroom still ships with PS4 consoles.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Sony

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Via: CVG

Source: Sony