Hasta La Gadget!

It’s not white, titanium blue, or even the traditional black — this PS3 is Satin Silver (or is it Silver Satin?) and headed to Japan on March 10th. No specs have changed as far as we can tell with the 160GB model CECH-2500A SS selling for ¥29,980 (about $366) while the 320GB CECH-2500B SS weighs in at ¥34,980 (about $427). There’s even a matching vertical stand for ¥2,000 (about $24) because Sony knows how important it is to coordinate your game center with the finish on your Rolls-Royce Ghost.

Satin Silver PS3 Rolls into Japan on March 10th originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 03:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s taken some strong steps against PS3 cracking in the past week — not only has it taken to the courts and won a temporary restraining order against Geohot and fail0verflow for cracking the console, but it also released firmware 3.56, which locked things down again. Unfortunately, that restraining order doesn’t mean anyone else has to stop a-crackin’, and wouldn’t you know it: 3.56 was cracked open in less than a day by KaKaRoToKS, who was behind one of the first 3.55 custom firmwares. Now that the 3.56 signing keys are out, we’d guess updated custom firmware is soon to come — and we’d bet Sony’s lawsuit will just inspire an entirely new wave of people to jailbreak once those hit the scene. Way to put that genie back in the bottle, Sony.

[Thanks, Tomi R]

PS3 firmware 3.56 hacked in less than a day, Sony’s lawyers look confused originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 14:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ever since his candid and humorous E3 2009 Sony keynote introduction — wherein he thanked the audience for showing up despite the big news (PSP Go) having already been leaked — we’ve always had something of a soft spot for Jack Tretton. We managed to have a sit-down with the SCEA President-CEO following the company’s big Tokyo meeting, a non-working NGP unit in tow. For a brief moment, Tretton “confirmed” that PlayStation Suite games (currently slated for Android devices) would work on PlayStation 3. We asked rather directly, to which he responded, “Yes, they will. Yeah.” By the next question, however, he explained that he might’ve misspoken and wanted to clarify that Suite is only NGP right now. It should come as no surprise, then, that there was no talk of Suite for any other devices, be it Bravia sets or Google TV. Tretton said there was at least one compatible Android device currently on the market but wouldn’t elaborate — given the 2.3 requirement, we’re presuming he meant the Nexus S.

We weren’t able to get him to budge on the issue of the NGP’s price, but we did ask him to opine on the Nintendo 3DS’s $250 tag. Instead of offering friendly competitive jabs, he said only, “I think if the quality’s there, then the people will find a way to buy it, within reason… I think that if you could create content that consumers see as compelling, they’ll find money that they didn’t think they had.” A bit too reminiscent of former boss Ken Kutaragi’s old adages, but hey, it’s not like we expected a sub-$300 sticker, anyway. Some other highlights:

• Tretton wouldn’t definitively say whether or not original PSP titles are in Suite’s future — “at this point, it’s PlayStation One games, but I think it can go in a number of directions.” This runs a bit counter to what Kaz Hirai said earlier in the day, but either he might’ve misspoken or the translator erred.
• The controller overlay we saw used as an example at the event was just that — an example, with no guarantee of future use.
• That “holiday 2011” launch applies to at least one territory, but Sony was “ambiguous for a reason” (i.e. simultaneous global rollout is a dream but far from a promise.) We probably won’t have a clearer image until fall rolls around, sometime after E3.
• No discussion on battery life, but Sony is “certainly look to improve upon [original PSP].” For what it’s worth, that one measured about 4.5 to 7 hours at launch, and Sony eventually sold an extended-life pack.
• PS Suite will have non-gaming apps.
• A WiFi-only version? “We haven’t made any determination on models yet,” which is infinitely more vague than the confirmation of non-3G SKUs from SCEE president Andrew House.
• Will Sony or a Sony partner make a flagship device to show off the Suite? A, dare we say, PlayStation phone? “Stay tuned” was all Tretton would say, followed by a laugh. Hey, at least we acknowledged the elephant in the room.

Full transcription after the break.

Continue reading Engadget interview: SCEA’s Jack Tretton talks Sony NGP, announces (and then un-announces) PlayStation Suite for PS3

Engadget interview: SCEA’s Jack Tretton talks Sony NGP, announces (and then un-announces) PlayStation Suite for PS3 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony just mentioned on its official PlayStation blog that the PS3 is about to get a “minor” update, v3.56. With Sony about to host a press event in Tokyo, it would be nice if we were getting some new functionality for our update timeout, but apparently all it adds is a security patch (just like 3.55), and for some reason we get the impression that this “security patch” is less about defense against baddies and more about trying to shore up the PS3 jailbreak that’s currently running rampant. Of course, there are some serious security concerns when it comes to jailbroken PS3s, like the fact that they allow some serious cheating in select multiplayer games, so a truly competent, non-user-hostile security patch wouldn’t be all bad. We guess we’ll see what we get when the update lands, presumably later today.

Update: That didn’t take long. It’s out — and members of the PS3 hack community already allege that it breaks custom firmware.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Sony about to issue PS3 update with ‘minor,’ mysterious security patch (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 23:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Know what’s awesome? Guns! Especially when they’re capped with a glowing pastel ball. This more “realistic” alternative to the $20 Sony PS3 Move gun attachment is from Blaze and will set you back £9.99 (about $16) when it begins shipping at the end of February. Bring it to a Texas bar and we hear you’ll get a complimentary Shirley Temple. Yeehaw!

Blaze PS3 Move Gun attachment for perps lacking a second amendment originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 04:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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