Saturday, May 14, 2011
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Microsoft Acquires Skype, Google Is Sony's Response
"On May 10th, Microsoft announced that they had purchased Skype for a whopping $8.5 billion. This action has sparked many questions and discussions on how Microsoft plans to use Skype to further their company and further enrich their customer's experiences. Meanwhile, Sony has their own trick up their sleeve that Nick was lucky enough to receive some information on."
-TheGamerAccess.com
-TheGamerAccess.com
Users Got Angry as SONY PSN is Still down
That is how long millions upon millions of users of the PlayStation Network have gone without the service. And if fan forums and Twitter is any indication, they are starting to get angry about the whole ordeal. The network has been shut down since April 20 after it was the victim of a hack attack in early April. The hackers illegally infiltrated Sony's database, accessing the personal information of 25 million users. Information such as names, addresses, e-mail addresses, birthdays, passwords, and user names, as well as online user handles were all exposed as part of the hack. Sony's music and video sharing service, Qriocity, was also illegally accessed and subsequently shut down. Since the hack attack ravaged Sony's online entertainment world, the company is saying it's being extra careful before it restores service. In an update on Tuesday, Patrick Seybold, senior director of corporate communications, said he could not give an exact date as to when the service would restore, but said it is likely a few days away. "I know you all want to know exactly when the services will be restored. At this time, I can't give you an exact date, as it will likely be at least a few more days. We're terribly sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work through this process," Seybold said.
This, of course, was not the answer users of the PlayStation Network were looking for. On Sony's official PlayStation Community forum, in a thread titled "Latest Update On PSN Outage," users vented their frustrations with Sony's failures.
"A few more days in Sony time would be the end of May.....I would guess a few days would be another 3 weeks. I will get a Xbox tomorrow. This has gotten pathetic. I can't see the grass getting greener after this either," a user with the handle name of JAH said.
Another user, kburke9, decided to take their anger out on Sony's management team for a lack of public relations and making a bid situation worse.
"While it is debatable whether this whole mess could have been prevented or not....it isn't debatable whether or not they have made a bad situation into a PR nightmare with one blunder after another and having their customer communications apparently managed by the Communist Chinese Information Bureau. I do feel for the people "working around the clock" and the poor folks who own Sony stock. They've both been shafted by greedy, short sighted management," the user wrote.
Even professional athletes vented their frustrations with the PlayStation Network outage. Jay Bothroyd, a footballer on the English Premier League team Cardiff City and England national team, took to twitter to complain about Sony.
"This playstation (sic) network is getting ridiculous now might go to the dark side !!!!," Bothroyd wrote. The dark side he is likely referring to is Xbox.
Sony president, chairman and chief executive Howard Stringer sent out a letter to gamers last week expressing his apologies for the entire ordeal.
"As a company we - and I - apologize for the inconvenience and concern caused by this attack. Under the leadership of Kazuo Hirai, we have teams working around the clock and around the world to restore your access to those services as quickly, and as safely, as possible," Stringer wrote.
This, of course, was not the answer users of the PlayStation Network were looking for. On Sony's official PlayStation Community forum, in a thread titled "Latest Update On PSN Outage," users vented their frustrations with Sony's failures.
"A few more days in Sony time would be the end of May.....I would guess a few days would be another 3 weeks. I will get a Xbox tomorrow. This has gotten pathetic. I can't see the grass getting greener after this either," a user with the handle name of JAH said.
Another user, kburke9, decided to take their anger out on Sony's management team for a lack of public relations and making a bid situation worse.
"While it is debatable whether this whole mess could have been prevented or not....it isn't debatable whether or not they have made a bad situation into a PR nightmare with one blunder after another and having their customer communications apparently managed by the Communist Chinese Information Bureau. I do feel for the people "working around the clock" and the poor folks who own Sony stock. They've both been shafted by greedy, short sighted management," the user wrote.
Even professional athletes vented their frustrations with the PlayStation Network outage. Jay Bothroyd, a footballer on the English Premier League team Cardiff City and England national team, took to twitter to complain about Sony.
"This playstation (sic) network is getting ridiculous now might go to the dark side !!!!," Bothroyd wrote. The dark side he is likely referring to is Xbox.
Sony president, chairman and chief executive Howard Stringer sent out a letter to gamers last week expressing his apologies for the entire ordeal.
"As a company we - and I - apologize for the inconvenience and concern caused by this attack. Under the leadership of Kazuo Hirai, we have teams working around the clock and around the world to restore your access to those services as quickly, and as safely, as possible," Stringer wrote.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Bad information spreading on PlayStation Network’s return date: nothing new, folks
There was some unfortunate wording in a Bloomberg news report on Sunday about Sony’s PlayStation Network, leading many publications to report that the network will be down until May 31. But that’s incorrect, according to Sony spokesman Patrick Seybold.
In fact, Sony has not mentioned a date for the restart of the PlayStation Network, which has been down since April 20. There is no new information about when the service will be back up, Seybold said. The exact restart date is a big deal because Sony’s online gaming service has more than 77 million registered users and many of them are anxious about when they can play online games again.
According to Bloomberg, Sony spokesman Shigenori Yoshida said Sunday that Sony is uncertain when it can resume services. The story should have stopped there but then it went on to say that Sony is adopting better security “and its plan to restart the services fully by May 31 is unchanged, he said.” That’s where the confusion comes in. Last week, Sony’s No. 2 executive said that Sony’s goal is to restore the service in May (which is where Bloomberg evidently got the May 31 date).
In fact, if it takes until May 31 to get the service back up, that would be pretty catastrophic, since it would mean the service would be down for a total of around 41 days. But a lot of things were uncertain a week ago. Hirai said back then that Sony planned to get the service back up “this week,” which ended on Saturday May 7. Now Sony says only that it will take longer to get the service back up than it thought. But publications are reporting that “PlayStation Network might not be back until May 31.” Such headlines are wrong.
Seybold said, “I agree. Trying to clean it all up now.”
In other words, relax folks. There is nothing new here. Meanwhile, another report from Cnet, the tech news site, is also being called into question. Cnet reported an “exclusive” story that predicted that Anonymous, the hactivist group that has tangled with Sony, planned on a “third attack” against Sony’s web sites. The attack was supposed to happen over the weekend, but it didn’t. Now Cnet said that the attack may have been averted by the publicity and Sony’s reaction to it. Cnet said that the report may have alerted Sony to a new vulnerability, which was closed off. And now Anonymous has no avenue back into Sony’s servers. Sony isn’t being absolutely precise here, but Seybold said in an email, “There is no accuracy to that report. We’re focused on ensuring the security of the network before bringing the services back online.”
According to Bloomberg, Sony spokesman Shigenori Yoshida said Sunday that Sony is uncertain when it can resume services. The story should have stopped there but then it went on to say that Sony is adopting better security “and its plan to restart the services fully by May 31 is unchanged, he said.” That’s where the confusion comes in. Last week, Sony’s No. 2 executive said that Sony’s goal is to restore the service in May (which is where Bloomberg evidently got the May 31 date).
In fact, if it takes until May 31 to get the service back up, that would be pretty catastrophic, since it would mean the service would be down for a total of around 41 days. But a lot of things were uncertain a week ago. Hirai said back then that Sony planned to get the service back up “this week,” which ended on Saturday May 7. Now Sony says only that it will take longer to get the service back up than it thought. But publications are reporting that “PlayStation Network might not be back until May 31.” Such headlines are wrong.
Seybold said, “I agree. Trying to clean it all up now.”
In other words, relax folks. There is nothing new here. Meanwhile, another report from Cnet, the tech news site, is also being called into question. Cnet reported an “exclusive” story that predicted that Anonymous, the hactivist group that has tangled with Sony, planned on a “third attack” against Sony’s web sites. The attack was supposed to happen over the weekend, but it didn’t. Now Cnet said that the attack may have been averted by the publicity and Sony’s reaction to it. Cnet said that the report may have alerted Sony to a new vulnerability, which was closed off. And now Anonymous has no avenue back into Sony’s servers. Sony isn’t being absolutely precise here, but Seybold said in an email, “There is no accuracy to that report. We’re focused on ensuring the security of the network before bringing the services back online.”
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
IGN: Brink Review
Peter Eykemans writes:
"Set in a nearby future, Brink attempts to do something different with multiplayer gaming by focusing on free-running and parkour. With some good ideas, Brink borders on fun, but its repetition, lack of depth, and graphical problems keep it from being a real contender."
Presentation - 7.5
Graphics - 6.5
Sound - 6.5
Gameplay - 6.0
Lasting Appeal - 5.5 6/10
"Set in a nearby future, Brink attempts to do something different with multiplayer gaming by focusing on free-running and parkour. With some good ideas, Brink borders on fun, but its repetition, lack of depth, and graphical problems keep it from being a real contender."
Presentation - 7.5
Graphics - 6.5
Sound - 6.5
Gameplay - 6.0
Lasting Appeal - 5.5 6/10
Modern Warfare 3 Announcement Teased
This weekend, a picture of a page from the UK's Official PlayStation Magazine has been making the Internet rounds, appearing on a variety of sites, including Push Square. The picture is purportedly of a page in the magazine teasing a major reveal of the upcoming Call of Duty title, Modern Warfare 3, in its next issue.
The teaser for the next issue of the magazine (which should be available June 8th in the UK) simply says "Only in next month's... PlayStation Official Magazine -- UK" with a huge green "3" underneath it. Further down the page, it says "The biggest game in the world returns." All of this could point to Modern Warfare 3.
With E3 falling in the same week as the release of the next issue of the magazine, it's entirely possible that a Modern Warfare 3 reveal will take place before the next issue of the magazine is available. And Activision also has an investor call this afternoon where the next Call of Duty game may be announced.
The teaser for the next issue of the magazine (which should be available June 8th in the UK) simply says "Only in next month's... PlayStation Official Magazine -- UK" with a huge green "3" underneath it. Further down the page, it says "The biggest game in the world returns." All of this could point to Modern Warfare 3.
With E3 falling in the same week as the release of the next issue of the magazine, it's entirely possible that a Modern Warfare 3 reveal will take place before the next issue of the magazine is available. And Activision also has an investor call this afternoon where the next Call of Duty game may be announced.
Monday, May 9, 2011
PS3 Was Alien Technology – Brink Developer
Brink’s developer, Splash Damage, has stated the PlayStation 3 was alien technology to them.
Brink is scheduled for a hotly anticipated release tomorrow in North America and Friday in European territories. The unique shooter’s developer, Splash Damage, has said the PlayStation 3′s technology was alien to them during a recent interview with VG247.
Click on the image below to enlarge:
Splash Damage boss Paul Wedgwood said:
Brink is scheduled for a hotly anticipated release tomorrow in North America and Friday in European territories. The unique shooter’s developer, Splash Damage, has said the PlayStation 3′s technology was alien to them during a recent interview with VG247.
Click on the image below to enlarge:
The PlayStation 3, for us, was just alien technology. Take the cover off and its probably organic. We decided from the beginning we’d get the PC up and running as quickly as possible for gameplay testing. Within about three months of starting we were playing multiplayer games, just deathmatch with the initial weapon loadout. Then we started playing with the basic first couple of objectives. Then as SMART came in, we started playing with the basic vaulting, mantling, sliding under things and leaning around corners.Will you be picking up Brink and do you think it brings something different to the first-person shooter genre? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.
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