Category Archives: Sony

Apple And Sony Could Add PlayStation VR2 Controller To Support Vision OS

Apple, Sony

The Vision Pro could gain support for Sony PSVR2 controllers soon, according to Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, The Verge reported.

Apple and Sony apparently planned to announce support for the controllers “weeks ago” but have pushed back the rollout. Under this rumored partnership, Apple would begin selling Sony’s controllers, which aren’t currently available on their own.

Sony has apparently been working on adding the support for months, while Apple has asked third-party developers if they would take advantage of Sony’s VR controllers. That’s potentially great news for Vision Pro owners who wish the headset had more gaming chops.

Gurman writes that Apple also wants to use the controllers for more than gaming — the controllers will be able to navigate visionOS, and would offer more precise control in apps like Final Cut Pro and Adobe Photoshop.

Right now, you can pair a standard Bluetooth controller and navigate visionOS — tapping battings to select things, scrolling with the analog sticks, and so on. They also work for gaming, but you’re mostly limited to iPad and iPhone games with controller support or made-for-iOS emulators or that native Virtual Boy one.

Engadget reported Apple and Sony have quietly been working on bringing PlayStation VR2 controller support to the Apple Vision Pro, Mark Gurman reports in Power On Newsletter.

Gaming isn’t exactly the Vision Pro’s strong suit, thanks in part to the fact that it doesn’t support typical VR controllers. But Apple has reportedly approached Sony in hopes to remedy that. According to Gurman, the two partnered up earlier this year, and Sony has been working on the project for months.

Apple and Sony planned to have support for the PS VR2’s Sense controllers ready by now, but the launch has been delayed as they iron out a few issues, Gurman notes — like the fact that Sony doesn’t produce and sell the controllers separately from its headset at the moment.

Apple Insider reported: A new report claims Apple has approached Sony in an effort to bring handheld game controller support — and presumably more games — to the Apple Vision Pro.

Bloomberg reports that a future update to visionOS will bring support for third-party hand controllers, including Sony PlayStation VR2 controllers. Apple has also reached out to third-party developers in an effort to bring more games to the Apple Vision Pro, with support for controllers as an inducement.

Traditional game controllers used with the Xbox and PlayStation are currently supported in the Apple Vision Pro, but only for Apple Arcade games. Bringing support for VR controllers, and encouraging developers to support more VR games for the platform, would likely increase sales of Apple’s headset.

In my opinion, it sounds like Apple and Sony are trying to work together with each other. This could be great for people who love to play video games.

The Frustration of Parental Controls on PlayStation 5

Gaming, Information, Sony,

Parents….if you are thinking about buying a PS5 and setting it up with a child account for your under-18, then I’ve some advice for you. Don’t. It’s a total nightmare that I bitterly regret because of the endless disappointment, wasted time and Sony’s poor information. If you want a child-friendly gaming console, buy a Nintendo Switch.

Last Christmas, Santa Claus brought my son a PlayStation 5 – he’s a lucky boy. As a good parent, I set up the PS5 in my name and added him as a family member. What a mistake! Sony makes parental controls an exercise in frustration. The main problem is that when you come up against a problem, you simply don’t know whether you are doing something wrong or whether it’s a parental control that you can (or can’t) tweak.

The basic parental controls on the PS5 are pretty straightforward. If my son wants to play a game within his age rating, he can go ahead and play the game straightaway. If the age rating is above his age, he can ask for approval to play. That request comes to me and I can accept or reject it.  Most of the time that works but it’s not frictionless – there’s too much mucking about with logging in or using the PlayStation app with 2FA.

On top of that, some game manufacturers seem to put on their own age limit, and prevent anyone from playing under their age guidance and there’s no option to request parental permission. But you don’t know that when you buy the game and it’s not made clear even in-game when you come up against the problem. Is it a setting that I have to tweak or is it a hard limit? Sony’s instructions suggest that he should be able ask for permission but Crew 2 doesn’t offer an option, even though he’s in their suggested age window. I currently have a call logged with Ubisoft for this one.

The biggest issue over the past while has been with in-game voice chat in Fortnite – every time you tried to enable the feature it gave an error, but there was no indication whether this was a technical fault or conflict with PS5 parental controls. It turns out it was a technical issue that Epic has finally fixed.

But here’s another example with Fortnite. On the Nintendo Switch, if my son wants to buy V-bucks in Fortnite, all I need to do is use my credit or debit card details to get the V-bucks. Once that’s done, the V-bucks are in his account and he can spend them as he likes. Compare this with the PS5, where we see this super helpful message on the V-bucks purchasing page.

The way around it for the PlayStation 5 is for me to buy V-bucks in Fortnite, then purchase the in-game items he wants and gift them to him but it’s a total waste of my time. You have to go through the same process if he gets a V-bucks card as a gift. Surely a V-bucks gift card is the ideal way to control a child’s spending?

Next in the bad books was Spotify. We have a family subscription and there are profiles for everyone. The PS5 had a new native app, replacing the PS4 version. I downloaded the app, logged in as myself and played my tunes – everything was working. When my son tried to start the app, an error appeared saying that Spotify couldn’t start while he was logged in. And that’s it. No explanation as to what parental control was preventing the app from running, no opportunity for him to request access. It’s a complete joke. Eventually, it was fixed without explanation.

And Sony is almost impossible to get hold of for any queries. The Playstation Support pages are about as useful as a chocolate teapot, although there’s an online assistant that will connect you with community experts. TBH, they’re not much use. Any time I’ve used them, it’s “I think you can’t do that” or “Have you checked the online help?”

There is nothing worse that the disappointment of your child when he rushes home with a new game only to find it doesn’t work and Dad has to spend hours on-line trying to sort it out. Santa won’t be buying a PS6.

Sony Suspends PlayStation Sales in Russia

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Sony has joined a growing number of gaming companies that have made the decision to stop selling their games and consoles in Russia. Those companies include Epic Games and Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and CD PROJEKT Red. I suspect that more gaming companies will join them and suspend their sales in Russia.

On March 9, 2021, @PlayStation tweeted: an image full of text and the PlayStation logo. It said:

“Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) joins the global community in calling for peace in Ukraine. We have suspended all software and hardware shipments, the launch of Gran Turismo 7, and operations of the PlayStation Store in Russia.

“To support humanitarian aid, Sony Group Corporation announced a US$2 million donation to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the international NGO, Save the Children, to support the victims of this tragedy.”

Previously, Eurogamer reported that Sony had quietly pulled PlayStation’s new blockbuster racing game Gran Turismo 7 from sale in Russia. Today, Sony officially announced they have suspended not only Gran Turismo 7, but also all software and hardware shipments in Russia. The tweet from @PlayStation makes it official.

The Washington Post reported that the announcement by Sony proceeded its scheduled State of Play broadcast, which contained few new reveals.

According to The Washington Post, Sony hedged in its initial show announcement not to expect any updates about its next-gen virtual reality headset, PlayStation VR2, or games for that hardware; instead, the 20-minute broadcast stuck to PlayStation titles slotted for the 2022 and 2023 release calendars, most of which had been previously shown.

CNBC reported: Sony’s decision is one of the industry’s most significant moves yet. The company has the biggest presence in Russia of any console maker, according to industry insiders.

According to CNBC, “PlayStation has the largest installed base, so if a company on the console side has a particularly hard choice from a financial angle, it’s Sony,” Lewis Ward, head of gaming at research firm IDC, recently told CNBC.

Sony PlayStation Store will Discontinue Movie and TV Purchases

Sony,

The ability to purchase movies and TV shows on PlayStation is coming to an end, according to a post made on the PlayStation Blog. This change will not happen immediately, but you may want to prioritize the TV show or movie you had been considering buying and watching on your PlayStation.

The post on the PlayStation Blog was written by Head of Video Business, SIE, Vanessa Lee:

At SIE, we strive to provide the best entertainment experience for PlayStation fans, and that means evolving our offerings as customer needs change. We’ve seen tremendous growth from PlayStation fans using subscription-based and ad-based entertainment streaming services on our consoles. With this shift in customer behavior, we have decided to no longer offer movie and TV purchases and rentals through PlayStation Store as of August 31, 2021.

When this change goes into effect, users can still access movies and TV content they have purchased through PlayStation Store for on-demand playback on their PS4, PS5 and mobile devices. We thank our fans for their continued support, and we look forward to further enhancing the entertainment experience on PlayStation.

Variety reported that Sony first launched video rentals and sales in the PlayStation Store in July of 2008, having inked distribution pacts with major studios. According to Variety, Sony is shutting down its digital video store after double-digit growth in the sector in 2020 amid the pandemic. Variety stated that Sony said it is exiting the transactional VOD (video-on-demand) business because it sees more PlayStation users adopting free and subscription streaming-services.

To me, that makes sense. It will be hard for Sony to compete with Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, The Criterion Channel, IMDB TV and more. In my opinion, Sony will do well to stick to video games – especially ones that are exclusive to PS4 or PS5. Diablo II Resurrected will be playable on both of those consoles, and has plenty of fans of the series anxiously awaiting its release.

Sony Announced $250 Million Investment in Epic Games

Sony,

Sony Corporation and Epic Games Inc. announced that Sony has agreed to make a strategic investment of $250 million to acquire a minority interest in Epic though a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony. The investment cements an already close relationship between the two companies and reinforces the shared mission to advance the state of the art technology, entertainment, and socially-connected online services.

The investment allows Sony and Epic to broaden their collaboration across Sony’s leading portfolio of entertainment assets and technology, and Epic’s social entertainment platform and digital ecosystem to create unique experiences for consumers and creators. The closing of the investment is subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals.

Venture Beat reported that the relationship between Epic and Sony was strengthened when Epic first showed the Unreal Engine 5 graphics running on a PlayStation 5. Previous to Sony’s investment, Epic raised $1.58 billion in three previous rounds of funding. In 2012, Epic received a $330 million investment from Tencent for a 40% ownership stake.

Epic Games is the developer and publisher of Fortnite, a game that is incredibly popular. This popularity was enhanced by Ninja (Tyler Blevins) who started streaming Fortnite on Twitch, then moved to Mixer, and then moved to YouTube. Fortnite, according to Hollywood Reporter, has 350 million registered users.

So, what is Epic getting from the Sony investment? Business Insider reported that Sony’s $250 million investment puts Epic’s current valuation at just under $18 billion.

What is Sony getting from this investment? Hollywood Reporter suggests that Sony will benefit from Epic’s Unreal real-time gaming engine, which is growing in use in Hollywood animation, VFX and production communities. Unreal was used in Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian. So, the collaboration between Sony and Epic could benefit Sony Pictures.

E3 Goes Online

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It’s a big weekend for gamers as E3 goes online because of Covid-19 with Sony launching the PS5, the Gaming Show 2020 and the latest games from EA and Ubisoft.

Sony revealed the PS5 last night, and while the jury’s still out on the design, the games line-up looks pretty solid with a ton of games trailers – GTA V, GT7, Ratchet & Clank, Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Sony’s The Future of Gaming Show video is here and it starts with the upcoming games roster. For the hardware, jump forwards to about 69 minutes to see the new PS5 consoles which will be coming in two variants; the standard PlayStation 5 that will take 4K Blu-Ray disks and a slimmer diskless Digital Edition. It looks like a powerful console but the white design so reminds me of stormtrooper armour. It’s a noticeable departure from the largely black box of the PS2 through PS4. At this stage, availability is “holiday 2020” and there’s no news on price.

Also part of E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) online event, the PC Gaming Show will give everyone a chance to see the latest gaming news with over 50 games trailers over a promised two hours. It kicks off at 2pm EDT on a variety of social media platforms. I’ll be keeping an eye on the PC Gamer YouTube channel to see what’s coming to PCs over the next few months.

EA will be demoing their latest and greatest on 18 June and Ubisoft will be showing off their wares later in July. If you’re a gamer, there’s plenty to keep you busy over the next few days.

Sony PlayStation Classic Returns!

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Sony PlayStation Classic Returns Dec 2018!

Taking a page out of the Nintendo playbook Sony is bringing back it’s original PlayStation Classic almost 25 years as it was introduced. Using modern electronics it will be a mini-me version 45% smaller than the original console. The device is going on pre-sale and will be available for $99.99. Fans can pre-order from Gamestop, Walmart, and Best Buy.

It will come pre-loaded with 20 games that defined the Sony brand from those classic days Final Fantasy VII, Jumping Flash, Ridge Racer Type 4, Tekken 3, and Wild Arms.  Sony says Visit PlayStation.com for more details on regional availability, and they will announce on the Blog the full lineup of titles coming to PlayStation Classic

The accessory lineup looks great. It will be interesting to see if this is a popular Christmas item. If nothing else it’s a cool item to collect!