It has been two years since the launch of the PlayStation 4, and Sony has introduced a version which is quieter than the old models. The new PlayStation 4 bearing the model number CUH-7200 is significantly quieter. Now this may not seem like a big deal to people who have never owned a PlayStation before but it is. PlayStations are extremely noisy and can reach an unbearable decibel when used.
A few websites did a test on the new PS4 Pro and compared it to the older one. The new PS4 reportedly runs a bit hotter than the original model, but its fan remains a lot quieter. A reputed gaming website also recorded the decibel count. The new Sony PlayStation 4 Pro recorded 48 decibels at its loudest, compared to 55 decibels in the original. PlayStations have been known for their loud noise and the ‘Jet Engine Effect’ which can be extremely distracting for gamers. This move from Sony is a welcome change. They are generally loud because they generate a lot of heat and thus the fans have to work a lot to cool it down, causing a lot of noise. Playing games like Marvel’s Spider-Man and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey which have high graphics requirements makes the PS4 extremely hot and noisy.
Another significant change includes a new power adapter. It is a figure eight power adapter, like the ones used in Xbox models. There is very little else that has changed. Some websites have also reported that the PS4 Pro will be bundled with Red Dead Redemption 2. The Red Dead Redemption 2 PS4 Pro bundle is currently available for $ 399 on Amazon. With Black Friday and Christmas coming up, there will be massive discounts on gaming consoles. Since both models look similar, it is best to check the model number before buying.
Sony’s PlayStation 4 is reportedly crashing due to a malicious message, according to several users. These crashes are happening due to a message containing a string of characters and are freezing the PS4. In some cases, the PlayStations are requiring a factory reset due to this issue as well.
The Reddit user, who reported the issue first, said that he was playing Rainbow Six: Siege. His console bricked when a player sent him the message from a dummy account making his system crash. According to him, one user did not have to reset. It did not affect him as his PlayStation messages were set to Private. Sony is yet to respond to this issue. It would be wise forPlayStation 4 users to meanwhile not receive or open these malicious messages. The rise of bots and malicious messages have become a real issue in the phone as well as the console industry. How Sony handles this issue will be interesting to see. Speculations are doing the rounds that this is done by some users to get an edge over others in a game by DDOS-ing other players.
PlayStation 4, which saw it’s launch in 2013-14, is also reportedly receiving an update very soon which allows users to change their details. The PlayStation Network Online ID Preview Program will also start this year. According to the company, the first change will be free, with further changes costing €9.99/£7.99 for those who do not have a PS Plus account. We hope Sony rolls out a permanent fix for the message issue with the update or before that.
According to another Reddit user the following step solves this issue, for now:
Go to Settings > Account Management > Privacy Settings > Enter your password > Personal Info | Messaging, and set Messages to either Friends (if you trust them) or No One.
Each month, Sony releases a bunch of free goodies for its Playstation Plus users. This month is no exception. Sony will be releasing five new games for the month of May, four games for PlayStation Vita and three for PlayStation 3.
Some of the games that were up for free download in April were Aaru’s Awakening (PS 4, PS3, PS Vita), Towers Of Guns (PS 4, PS3), Never Alone (PS4), Dishonoured (PS 3), Killzone Mercenary and Monsterbag (both PS Vita).
For this month’s edition, there is Ether One (PS4), Guacamelee Super Championship Turbo Edition (PS4), Race the Sun (PS4, PS3, PS Vita), Hohokum (PS4, PS3, PS Vita), The Unfinished Swan (PS 4, PS3, PS Vita) and Murasaki Baby (PS Vita).
The game details are as follows:
Ether One:
It is a first person puzzle thriller where you have to solve complex puzzles in order to restore the minds of mentally ill patients and to put back the fragments of the person’s deranged lives.
The Unfinished Swan:
With an astounding art style and thought-provoking gameplay, the game is filled with unexpected twists and turns. It is about a boy named Monroe who has to chase a swan that has escaped through a painting. This game includes various tricking landscapes.
Race The Sun:
It is a minimalist racing game where the setting sun is your timer. Race before the sun dwells down the horizon. It is a race against time!
Hohokum:
It is a game where you play a kite-like creature and explore your surroundings. Basically, a game like the GTA franchise, except that it’s more colourful and gives a happier vibe.
Murasaki Baby:
A negatively created puzzle game where players have to guide a baby through the nightmarish landscape in search of a home.
While Sony may be busy announcing its next generation console, their present iteration is still doing strong. The Last of Us is a Sony exclusive title developed by company’s Naughty Dog studios, for the PS3. The game plays on the zombie apocalyptic post world era, that we all have come to love and expect, yet there are some exciting new additions to the overall storyline and gameplay experience.
Joel and Ellie
Storyline
The Game begins with the normal life of main character Joel, and how it suddenly gets affected an outbreak that causes the Zombie Fungus Cordyceps to start spreading like wild bushfire. The gameplay is set in the United states and shows how everywhere, post this outbreak, there is utter pain and chaos. The character, like any hero is destined to help end the problems of the world by delivering a solution, where he needs to travel across the badlands of the United States.
Unlike any other Zombie game the Last of Us is designed in a different manner, and you simply cant expect instant hardcore action from the game. The game storyline is slow and progresses as the character fights various kinds of zombies, human enemies known as hunters and the government which basically controls everything. The story as it progresses reminds you from time to time the hopeless situation of the world and how the Joel fights on despite that. The game essentially takes off from the typical end of humanity scenario, but chooses to tell a story about the two people that travel across the pain stricken world in an attempt to revive humanity.
The gameplay is full of beautiful backdrops, amazing sceneries of the untouched wilderness and the post fungus cities which are destroyed and collapsing. The game developer has ensured that each scenery and backdrop shows the status of the world and each new backdrop tells a brand new story about what has happened.
As the game progresses the secondary character Ellie starts to take limelight as she becomes closer and closer to Joel. Their relationship is strengthened by Ellie’s constant need to oppose the exacting situation and Joel constant efforts to keep things under control. Ellie has been born into this world and has no idea what the real world is like, her constant need and discussions to find out what the world was, make for some of the best ingame scenarios.
The story line is beautifully presented and ensures that you build a relationship with the characters as the game progresses. The game defines what possibly is the best ever story written for the Playstation.
Post World Cities
Gameplay
What the storyline builds, the gameplay delivers! With a vast variety of interesting elements that make it a truly exciting and entertaining experience. Despite the fact that the game has many enemies throughout the story, the major focus remains on the infected. Cordyceps infested humans become rage hungry monsters that don’t eat or kill, they simply bite and infest others. The main elements of the infected are the runners that are basically the pawns of the enemies, the clickers are the bishops, blind yet brutal and many other higher ups that define the bosses of the infested chains.
Infected Clicker
Gameplay becomes intense and inflicts a sense of fear in the gamer as the infected arrive, while Joel has a vast majority of mainstream weapons to his disposal including pistols, automatic guns and even crossbows, the most interesting element of the gameplay is the characters ability to forge destructive weapons from the post world scavenging. While ammo is mostly scarce, hard to find and carried in a limited quantity, the handcrafted grenades, smoke bombs and throat slitting shivs are manufactured from items found on the map, including broken scissors, alcohol and pieces of cloth. All this crafting happens real time and the gamer is in constant stress especially when the threat is nearby.
Nearby Hunter
While the gameplay is close to perfection it may lack the certain finesse and responsiveness that users may expect from a actions scenario game like the Last of Us. The progress is slow and the expansive storyline, mixed in between intense gameplay, tends to take from the mood of the excitement. There are also stages where the characters are simply walking while figuring out their path, which may truly frustrate some.
Multiplayer
Although the Last of Us was not designed to be a multiplayer, the game does a wonderful job of that as well. Making you the leader of a group of survivors, scavenging and fending off enemies, you have to constantly explore the map and ensure that you are on top of the situation and in control of your team that often finds itself surrounded by problems. The multiplayer may not be the main concept but is a well appreciated addition to the overall experience of the Last of Us.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the Last of Us is possibly the most beautiful game on Playstation 3, and the extensive work behind the tile truly shows from the start to the finish. The story is involving and creates a sense of relation and there comes a point where you actually start to feel bad for the state of the situation. The gameplay adds a lot of action and thrill, and literally keeps your heart pounding, especially when the higher-up infected are around. There is really nothing more you could ask for from a game.
If you own a Playstation 3 and are looking for a game that will keep you busy for hours and days, while making your heart pound and your thumbs smashing the controller, look no further.
For the time being, it’s probably a good idea to decline the latest system update for the PlayStation 3. Many users are reporting bricked consoles after updating.
The firmware update is intended to improve system stability and add options for in-game trophy notifications. However, several user comments on the PlayStation forum have stated that the latest 4.45 update is causing a lockdown on their consoles.
User JadeTreeInWind, for example, said that after the Playstation 3 logo was on display post update, the crossbar menu would not show up. The user tried restarting the console, but the same problem still persisted.
Restarting the system and other recovery attempts do not appear to resolve the issue. If you haven’t downloaded the update yet, avoid it until Sony gives the all-clear. If you have downloaded it and can’t access the XMB, sit tight until we know more.
Assuming the speculation that this issue arises from user-replaced hard drives, then it would bring back memories of the time when the 3.41 update caused a few corrupted Playstation 3 drives, too. Hopefully things will look up for the better in the long run, and a solution should be released sooner rather than later.
As of now, the latest firmware is 4.41, and Sony has yet to offer a statement concerning the bricked consoles.
Just recently The Playstation Network Restoration began across the Americas. Sony’s official PlayStation Twitter account has now confirmed that the deployment is going live for the entire world. The deployment process involves users to reset their PSN passwords and hence a major network blackout has been caused by millions of users trying to restore their PSN accounts.
Sony has just announced that they will re-enable Playstation Network Services in Phases, and the first phase has been initiated. The online gaming, Music Unlimited, Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and MLB.TV should rolling out right now in Europe and North America.
PRESS RELEASE
Restoration of PlayStation®Network and Qriocity Services Begins
Increased Security Measures Implemented Before Service Restoration; Consumer Data Protection a Full-Time, Company-Wide Commitment
TOKYO, May 14, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Sony Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) announced that Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI, the company) will today begin a phased restoration by region of PlayStation®Network and Qriocity Services. The phased restoration will be on a country by country basis beginning in the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Middle East.
The first phase of restored services for these countries and regions will include:
Sign-in for PlayStation®Network and Qriocity services, including the resetting of passwords
Restoration of online game-play across PS3 and PSP
Playback rental video content, if within rental period, of PlayStation Network Video Delivery Service on PS3, PSP and MediaGo
Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity, for current subscribers, on PS3 and PC
Access to 3rd party services such as Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and MLB.tv
‘Friends’ category on PS3, including Friends List, Chat Functionality, Trophy Comparison, etc
PlayStation Home
Increased Security Measures
As the result of a criminal cyber attack on the company’s data-center located in San Diego, California, U.S.A., SNEI shut down the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services on April 20, in order for the company to undergo an investigation and make enhancements to the overall security of the network infrastructure. Working closely with several respected outside security firms, the company has implemented new and additional security measures that strengthen safeguards against unauthorized activity, and provide consumers with greater protection of their personal information.
The company has made considerable enhancements to the data security, including updating and adding advanced security technologies, additional software monitoring and penetration and vulnerability testing, and increased levels of encryption and additional firewalls. The company also added a variety of other measures to the network infrastructure including an early-warning system for unusual activity patterns that could signal an attempt to compromise the network.
“I’d like to send my sincere regret for the inconvenience this incident has caused you, and want to thank you all for the kind patience you’ve shown as we worked through the restoration process,” said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation. “I can’t thank you enough for your patience and support during this time. We know even the most loyal customers have been frustrated by this process and are anxious to use their Sony products and services again. We are taking aggressive action at all levels to address the concerns that were raised by this incident, and are making consumer data protection a full-time, company wide commitment.”
“During the past 18 months, we’ve seen a dramatic rise in the volume of cyber attacks, their sophistication and their impact on businesses. Thwarting cyber-crime requires an evolutionary approach to security that is well integrated, reduces risk exposure and improves efficiencies,” said Francis deSouza, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Security Group, Symantec. “Today’s cyber crime attacks are proving to be more covert, more targeted and better organized than those we’ve seen in years past. In working with Sony on the move of their data-center, it’s clear they’re implementing measures to reduce security risks moving forward.”
As an additional measure, Fumiaki Sakai, president of Sony Global Solutions Inc. (SGS), has been appointed acting Chief Information Security Officer of SNEI. In addition to his current role at SGS, Mr. Sakai, in his role at SNEI, will work to further reinforce overall information security across the company’s network infrastructure. Mr. Sakai will lead the recruiting effort in finding a new and permanent CISO for SNEI. As CISO, Mr. Sakai will report to Tim Schaaff, president, SNEI, as well as to Mr. Shinji Hasejima, CIO, Sony Corporation.
“While we understand the importance of getting our services back online, we did not rush to do so at the expense of extensively and aggressively testing our enhanced security measures. Our consumers’ safety remains our number one priority,” Hirai continued. “We want to assure our customers that their personal information is being protected with some of the best security technologies available today, so that everyone can feel comfortable enjoying all that PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have to offer.”
The restoration of the services across the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Middle East are beginning, and consumers will be able to enjoy some of the online functionality provided by both the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. Phased restoration in Japan and other Asian countries and regions will be announced in due course. The company expects to have the services fully restored by the end of May 2011.
The company will be offering customers a “Welcome Back” package of services and premium content to all registered PlayStation Network and Qriocity account services. The details of this program will be announced in each region shortly.
For more information about the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services intrusion and restoration, please visit http://blog.us.playstation.com or http://blog.eu.playstation.com/
Sony just release information that they sold 50 million Playstation 3 consoles and a total of 8 Million Move controllers. Technically these are units that were sold by Sony to retailers and not to end users so we dont know if they are direct sales yet. But, heck these are impressive numbers none the less.
FULL PR
PLAYSTATION®3 SALES REACH 50 MILLION UNITS WORLDWIDE
Sales of PlayStation®Move motion controller for PlayStation®3 (PS3®) surpass 8 million units worldwide, accelerating the expansion of the PS3 Platform.
Tokyo, April 15, 2011 – Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced that the cumulative sales of the PlayStation®3 (PS3®) computer entertainment system reached a milestone of 50 million units*1 worldwide, as of March 29, 2011. SCE also announced that PlayStation®Move sales surpassed 8 million units*1 worldwide as of April 3, demonstrating continued growth and momentum of the PS3 platform.
The PS3 system, equipped with future proof cutting–edge technologies including the powerful Cell Broadband Engine™ and RSX® processors as well as the Blu-ray disc™ (BD) player and HDMI, has delivered users with high-definition and high quality entertainment experience since its launch in November 2006. The PS3 system continues to evolve and enhance the user experience through new features and services delivered via software updates.
Concurrently with the introduction of PS3, SCE launched PlayStation®Network service which now has more than 75 million registered accounts and operates in 59 countries and regions*2 around the world. PlayStation Network supports free community-centric online gameplay and communication tools such as PlayStation®Home*3, and offers vast downloadable digital content through PlayStation®Store, from games to movies of more than 32,840 content totaling to 105,988 digital content worldwide. In September 2009, SCE launched the new slimmer and lighter PS3 system with new form factor and less power consumption that has been well received by users around the world.
To further expand entertainment experience only possible on PS3, stereoscopic 3D game and Blu-ray 3D™ features were introduced to the system via a free system software update*4 in April and September 2010 respectively. The feature enables users to enjoy stunningly realistic stereoscopic 3D in their living room on their PS3 system by simply connecting it to a 3D-compatible TV such as 3D “BRAVIA” TV using an HDMI cable. The number of stereoscopic 3D software titles has reached to 89 as of April 1 in 2011.
SCE launched PlayStation Move in September 2010 for North America, Europe/PAL territories and in Asia, and in October 2010 for Japan to deliver a new entertainment experience across all categories of games, from casual to immersive. The PlayStation Move motion controller is used in combination with the PlayStation®Eye camera to detect the precise movement, angle, and absolute position in 3D space of the user, thereby allowing users to intuitively play as if they are within the game. The number of PlayStation Move supported/dedicated software titles has reached to 155 as of March 24 in 2011, including titles such as Sports Champions, SingStar Dance and Killzone3*5. PlayStation Move continues to further expand the new gameplay along with variety of upcoming new PlayStation Move titles for 2011including SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs*6.
With strong support from 3rdparty developers and publishers worldwide, PS3 features a vast library of more than 2,128 software titles with more than 480 million units sold worldwide*7. Recently released blockbuster franchise titles from first party studios include Grand Turismo 5, LittleBigPlanet2 and KILLZONE 3. SCE will continue to further expand the PS3 platform and create a new world of computer entertainment.
*1 Sell-in number *2 As of Mar 20, 2011. *3 A ground-breaking 3D social gaming community available on PS3 that allows users to interact, communicate and share gaming experiences. Within PlayStation Home, users can create and customize their own unique avatars and explore the virtual community in real time where they can communicate freely through text or voice chat. When the service is available, PlayStation Home icon will appear after booting/ re-booting the PS3 system. Some content and services are charged. *4 System software versions 3.30 or later are required. *5 Titles and year differ by each country or region. *6 Adapts to stereoscopic 3D games *7 As of the end of Dec, 2010
