PlayStation Network is Down, Again! (September 21, 2011)

Well, if you attempt to connect to the PlayStation Network right now, chance is you probably would face trouble with Sony’s online service.

Yes, Sony PlayStation Network is down once again and if you think this is another part of that hacking episode that broke down the network in July – only Sony can tell. There’s no update on Sony’s official PS blog regarding this outage, however, they acknowledged the issue through its US and Europe Twitter channels.



From PS Europe Twitter account:

We’re aware that PSN is currently unavailable and working with the technicians to find out when it will be restored. Apologies.

PlayStation Network engineers are working hard on restoring the service. However, we have no news on when it will be back online.

And here’s an update from the US PS Twitter account:

We’re aware that some of you are having issues trying to log into PSN. We’re working to resolve the issue, and we’ll update you here.

We can recall that Sony did a maintenance of the PS Network last year (also on September 21st), but I don’t think it’s an annual schedule that today’s outage fall on the same date.



Sony just posted an update that it will restore the PS Network service in the next two hours, so let just see if indeed they can restore the service as scheduled.



Update: Sony PSN is now back online.

The PSN restoration is now complete and you should all be able to sign in. Again, sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

So, are you still unable to connect to the PSN? Do let us know in the comment section below.



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Sony PlayStation Vita: Official Specs, Features, Photos, Prices and Availability Announced!

Remember Sony’s next generation of portable gaming, codenamed NGP?

Well, we finally got its official name. PSP2 may sounds great, but Sony thought of having a name that is full of life, something that enables a revolutionary combination of rich gaming and social connectivity within a real world context. Being said that, Sony’s latest handheld game console is officially named as PlayStation Vita or PS Vita. I liked it, Sony!

So, what’s up with PlayStation Vita? If you can still remember, PS Vita is not just your ordinary PSP. Unlike the earlier models of PSP, PS Vita offers both front and rear touchpads, flaunts a high-resolution 5-inch Multi-touch OLED display, offers up to six-axis motion sensors, dual analog thumb-sticks, support for wireless communications (3G and Wi-Fi), and brings both front and rear cameras – providing support for augmented reality gaming.



Sony PlayStation Vita Specs and Features



ARM Cortex A9 core (4 cores) processor

SGX543MP4+ GPU

5-inch OLED Multi-touch screen (capacitive type)

Rear Multi-touch pad (capacitive type)

182.0 mm x 18.6 mm x 83.5mm

Front and Rear camera

Built-in stereo speakers

Built-in microphone

Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope,

three-axis accelerometer, three-axis electronic compass)

GPS

3G

Wi-Fi, 802.11 b/g/n

Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR

PS button, Power button, Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left), Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square), Shoulder buttons (Right/Left), Right stick, Left stick, START button, SELECT button, Volume buttons (+/-)

182.0 mm x 18.6 mm x 83.5mm

The support for Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity on PS Vita enables infinite possibilities for users to "encounter," "connect," "discover," "share" and "play" with friends wherever they are. The PlayStation Vita also features PS3 Integration, which allows users to enjoy continuous and uninterrupted game play between PS3 and PS Vita systems with compatible game titles. What that means is the ability of PS Vita to start a game and then resuming it on PS3 – through cloud-based saving.

PS Vita gamer versus the ones using PS3 consoles? Well, there’s the “Cross-play” feature which will offer games the possibility of being played between the two different consoles. PS Vita will also come pre-installed with an app called “Party” which enables users to enjoy voice or text chat not only during online gaming, but also when users are playing different games or using different applications.



PlayStation Vita in Action





PS Vita Price and Availability



Wi-Fi and 3G models of Sony PlayStation Vita will be available worldwide come December this year, and will sell at $249 for the WiFi-only model, or $299 for the 3G version in the US. Japan prices are set for ¥24,980 (Wi-Fi) and ¥29,980 (3G); while those in Eurozone will get it at €249 and €299 for the Wi-Fi and 3G versions, respectively. Here in the Philippines, we still don’t have the official pricing just yet; but surely I’ll let you know once we got a word from Sony’s PR in the country.



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Featuring Sony PlayStation Meeting 2011 Videos

I’m going to watch later the replay videos of the recent Sony PlaySation Meeting 2011 held in Tokyo, Japan.

I’ve been waiting for the HD version with language translation (‘coz honestly I don’t understand Sir Kaz Hirai talking in his native languageJ) - and finally Sony posted the videos from the event, thanks to a sweet feminine voice-over. At least we can still feel the excitement though we already have idea what had been revealed, the Next Generation Portable and PlayStation Suite. I decided posting the videos here before watching my own downloaded copies. And here it is, sorted in six parts, the Sony PlayStation Meeting 2011! Enjoy watching!



























Done? Have something to say? Hit the comment section below.

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Sony Unveiled Next Generation of Portable Gaming, codenamed: NGP

While pushing minor system software update to PS3 devices, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. unveiled yesterday its next generation portable gaming console codenamed NGP.

The NGP is what we first learned as the PSP 2, a refresh to the early models of popular Sony PSP launched back in late 2004 in Japan and in the early quarter of 2005 in Western countries.

Sony NGP

The Next Generation Portable or NGP is powered by an ARM Cortex A9 (4 core) processor, together with the SGX543MP4+ GPU. It features a 5-inch multi-touch organic LED at the front display, and a capacitive multi-touch pad on the rear of the device. Unlike the first-gen, this handheld console now has dual analog sticks, has two cameras (front and rear), 3 motion sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer, electronic compass, and support for 3G connectivity.

Of course there’s still the Wi-Fi capability for a better experience on the PSN which will have an added new features like “LiveArea”, a place to share fun and excitement with other players; “Activity”, logs in which NGP users can check other players’ activity on the same game title; and “Near”, a location-based application that will allow users to find out what games are being played in the same vicinity (thanks to its built-in GPS and Wi-Fi location service support).



The NGP will debut at the end of this year, probably mid-December if Sony follows similar roadmap with the first-gen PSP. Interesting!

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Sony Push PS3 Update 3.56 While Having PlayStation Meeting in Japan

Just in case you haven’t learned yet, Sony is having a PlayStation event in Tokyo, Japan as of this writing.

The event is focused more on PSP, the cross-platform development framework called PlayStation Suite, the new licensing program called PlayStation Certified, PlayStation Store for Android devices, its Next Generation Portable (NGP) handheld gaming console next to PSP (unconfirmed yet if it’s the PSP2), and etc. (Updates to follow...)

And while Sony’s PlayStation Meeting is going on, it’s also silently pushing update to PS3 devices. The new software update, PS3 System Software Update v3.56, is a minor update that adds a security patch – but speculations are it targets patching the security flaw exploited on the PS3 jailbreak. We can recall that Sony also pushed PS3 firmware update v3.55 last month, so it appears that didn’t fully work in due time.



If you got a PS3 console connected to the PlayStation Network, expect to receive updates in the next few hours. Or perhaps you already have it, do you?

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PlayStation App for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Android Devices is here!

Got those cool PSP and PS3, or even the 6th-gen PS2 gaming consoles from Sony?

If you own any of the supported iOS devices as well as Android-based handsets and want to access your account on the Play Station Network even you’re on the go – you can already do that with the new PlayStation app.

Sony already released the official PlayStation app for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Android devices – which will allow you to connect to the PSN and keep updated with your trophies, check your friend’s games and online status, look for the latest hardware for your PS console and latest available games at the PS Store, as well as read the latest news via PlayStation Blog.



The app is free and the first version is only available to 6 countries which include: UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and The Netherlands. It is available for download from the Apple App Store (direct link) and Google’s Android Market (check out directly on your handset).



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