Hasta La Gadget!

It’s been one week since Google pulled the PSX4Droid emulator from the Android Market without warning, and today its lead developer has decided to take a stand — ZodTTD’s made a new version of the app free of charge, and is hosting it at his personal website as a downloadable APK. He now claims that not only did Google pull his app, the company has frozen his developer accounts, effectively restricting his ability to publish to (and profit from) the Android Market until this gets sorted out. We can’t confirm his story at this point — and we hear things may not be quite as cut-and-dried as he claims — but we can tell you that if you happen to have a legally-obtained PlayStation BIOS and ROMs sitting around, you’re only a few clicks away from being able to use them on your Android phone. Not a bad deal, eh?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

ZodTTD makes PSX4Droid 3.0 free, claims Google booted him from Android Market originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 04:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  ZodTTD  | Email this | Comments

Well, it’s not yet confirming the “late April” launch date that leaked out yesterday, but Rogers has now just started accepting pre-orders for both the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play and Xperia Arc, each of which will run you $99.99 on a three-year contract (there’s no indication of off-contract pricing). It does say, however, that the current “offer” will expire on May 2nd, which could possibly be an indication of an actual release date, or just the beginning of a different offer. What’s more, Rogers has also revealed a small surprise of another sort — it turns out that it will be carrying both the black and white versions of the Xperia Play. Hit up the link below to get your order in if you’re interested.

[Thanks, Caleb]

Rogers puts Sony Ericsson Xperia Play and Arc up for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 14:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Rogers  | Email this | Comments

Google has pulled an app that ran PlayStation games. The app's creator blames the release of the upcoming Xperia Play phone (above), which plays PlayStation games.

By Ben Kuchera, Ars Technica

Google has yanked a PlayStation Emulator from the Android Market and the developer is claiming his program is being targeted due to the upcoming release of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. After all, why would someone pay for official copies of PlayStation games when they can download and play pirated, or legal backups, for free?

“PSX4DROID v2 was pulled by Google due to ‘Content Policy violation’ as noted here. Trying to determine what can be done,” the emulator’s developer wrote via Twitter. “Sony’s Xperia Play must be coming soon.”

The developer also complained that he was working on an update for the program, and is looking for ways to allow those who have already downloaded the program to access the improved version of the emulator. He thinks this is a larger issue, however. “This isn’t about emulators. This is about Google letting Sony rule their ‘open’; marketplace,” he continued. What’s odd about this argument is that, as of this writing, the FPSE emulator is still available.

Here are the reasons Google may remove your application from the Market:

• Illegal content
• Invasions of personal privacy or violations of the right of publicity
• Content that interferes with the functioning of any services of other parties
• Promotions of hate or incitement of violence
• Violations of intellectual property rights, including patent, copyright (see DMCA policy), trademark, trade secret, or other proprietary right of any party
• Any material not suitable for persons under 18
• Pornography, obscenity, nudity, or sexual activity
• Emulators themselves don’t run afoul of any of these policies, and they’re certainly not illegal. It’s a different story if you include copies of games with your for-pay application, but as long as the program is “bare” and it’s left to the user to find and play legally copied titles, the application should be acceptable.

We’ve contacted Google for comment, and will update this post if there is a clarification. This could be a misunderstanding, but the charges that Google is manipulating the Market in order to create a better environment for Sony’s for-pay games are serious and troubling.

See Also:

• Google pulls PlayStation emulator PSX4Droid from Android Market (pocketgamer.co.uk)

Uh oh, the day has finally come. We just gathered from Joystiq (and confirmed ourselves) that the renowned Android first-gen PlayStation emulator, PSX4Droid, has been pulled from the Market. The reason? Its author, ZodTTD, said Google informed him that it was a matter of “Content Policy violation,” however the fact it’s taken eight months for Google to take action suggests it might have a little something to do with the imminent launch of the Xperia Play, which will have its own mechanism to power the original PlayStation’s games. Another mystery is that it looks like other emulators such as SNesoid (SNES), GameBoid (Game Boy) and, in particular, FPSe (PlayStation) appear to be safe for now, which might suggest that there are other reasons behind this removal; but still, the timing suggests otherwise. On the bright side, we can always rely on third-party app markets.

Update: Here’s a super generic statement we just received from Google regarding this matter:

“We remove apps from Android Market that violate our policies.”

Android PlayStation emulator PSX4Droid pulled from Market, timing pointing at Xperia Play (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Joystiq, Mobiputing  |  @ZodTTD (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments

We all remember when the first Xperia Play commercial creeped us out during the Super Bowl, and now Sony Ericsson continues to bring on the creepy with its latest ads for the phone. The new series feature actress Kristen Schaal, telling us a little bit about the phone with her cartoonish little voice, oh, and some kittens, violence, cussing, and demons thrown in, too.

In the one ad, she starts out saying “If you’re like me, you have eyeballs” and then she goes on to explain her fondness of looking at cute kittens on the phone, before morphing into a warrior to declare her love for defeating ogres and demon lords, and then she goes back to the kittens. 

But perhaps the creepiest ad of the bunch shows Schaal’s description of the phone played backwards, where she becomes possessed, like the girl in the Exorcist, with burning, red eyes and a demonic voice as she tells you that the phone gives you power, intense gaming, violence, and adrenaline. Yep, scary and creepy, check.

And if that doesn’t do it for you, you can always watch Schaal thoroughly enjoy stabbing and shooting herself in another ad. If these ads don’t convince you to buy a Xperia Play, I don’t know what would…

Check out a few of the freakiest Xperia Play ads after the jump.