3D TV Demonstration at Sony Netherlands HQ

This evening I visited Sony Netherlands Headquarters for one of their 3D TV Demonstration events. I have been a Sony fan for as long as I can remember, but this was my first time ever at Sony’s Dutch HQ. While the building doesn’t look very special from the outside, they have do have the perfect space to organize these events.

After entering the building I was led to a large reception area. This area was set up beautifully with sleek furniture in black, white and grey, and a couple of modern white chandeliers. In the center there was a huge bar with a variety of drinks and at a separate bar finger food was served. There were a couple of flatscreens on which Sony content was shown, like movie trailers and concerts of Sony stars like P!nk and George Michael. A couple of Large Sony Make.Believe logos decorated the walls.

The event started in a cinema hall in the basement of the building. A short movie was shown in which Sony´s integrated 3D world was shown: 3D camera’s, 3D content, 3D players and 3D TV’s. After the short movie we went back to the ground floor, where there was a huge showroom. In this room all kinds of Sony tech was present: audio equipment, cameras, VAIOs, Walkmans, and of course a lot of Bravia TVs.

We were seated in front of a 3D TV (the KDL-46HX800) and received the 3D glasses which were much lighter and more comfortable than I expected them to be. A 3D movie of an aquarium was shown to us and I was really amazed by the sharpness of the 3D images and the 3D depth. After that we saw impressive game movies of 3D versions of LittleBigPlanet, WipeOut HD, MotorStorm and Super Stardust HD. To show that the TV can also upscale 2D to 3D images, some upscaled 2D soccer footage was demonstrated which showed quite some depth in it.

After that we watched another 200 Hz 3D TV, received the price list for 7 3D TV models and that concluded the demonstration. I had a look at some other Sony tech in the showroom and headed outside. Before leaving, I received a goody bag with some nice Sony stuff in it, including the Blu-ray of Michael Jackson’s “This is It.”

Due to this demonstration my interest in 3D TV certainly has grown a lot. Although I slightly fear that it will take some time before many interesting 3D TV emissions will be available, but I think especially 3D games could relatively quickly become a driving force for 3D TV.

Furthermore, I really appreciate it that Sony organizes these kinds of events because it allows you to experience new technology in a very relaxed setting. I hope Sony will decide to organize these kind of events much more often.

Sony Releases 3.0.01 Update For eBook Library Software

Sony has released version 3.0.01 of their eBook Library software, which can be used to manage and buy eBooks and transer them to Sony Reader models PRS-300, PRS-505 and PRS-600. The new eBook Library version adds support to Windows 7. Furthermore, it also fixed the issue where transferring content to a Reader occasionally causes a crash, lockup or device detection error. I have personally experienced this error a couple of times, so I really hope this new version will solve it. Windows 7 users are advised to uninstall version 3.0 first before installing the new version. Users of Windows Vista and XP can simply run the update, which updates the software automatically.

Links:

• EU download page
• US download page

PSPgo Rewards Announced In Europe

After having played a bit with the PSPGo at GamesCom, I decided I will buy one when it releases on October 1st. As the PSPGo has no UMD drive, the games for the current PSP models cannot be used on the PSP Go. Sony had promised some sort of solution, and they finally released information on a special promotion to help existing PSP owners with UMDs to start their digital games collection for PSPgo called PSPGo Rewards. With PSPGo Rewards, you can download three titles (from a list of 17) for free. The list is pretty small for now, and we hope to see the number of titles grow before the end of the year. The (European) list contains the following games:

• Killzone Liberation
• Medievil
• Wipeout Pure
• Buzz Brain Bender
• Buzz Master Quiz
• SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo
• Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
• Everybody’s Golf
• Resistance: Retribution
• Syphon Filter Dark Mirror
• Lemmings
• LocoRoco
• Patapon
• Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow
• Echochrome
• Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice
• Daxter

The PSPGo Rewards Promotion starts on 1 October 2009 and runs until 31 March 2010. It is open to new PSPgo consumers who are pre-existing owners of a PSP-1000, 2000 or 3000 that have at least one UMD.

I like this promotion, but I do wonder if (and hope that) Sony will do even more to make sure people can keep on enjoying the games they originally bought on UMD. No information about this trade-in program has been detailed for other locations outside of Europe, but we figure it will probably something very similar.

Sony’s Presence at GamesCom 2009

I visited the first edition of GamesCom in Cologne which, with 245,000 visitors, more than 4,000 journalists and over 450 exhibitors, has already become the world’s largest gaming event. Of course, Sony was also there and I have no doubt that Sony made a lasting impression to many visitors with their presence.

Sony kicked off on Tuesday with a (pre)GamesCom conference, where they announced the new PS3 Slim, the PS3 price cut and content related developments like the European roll out of the PS Video Store and Vidzone, and the Digital reader service for the PSP.

From Wednesday until Sunday, Sony had a giant 1,800 square meters stand in hall 7 of the Cologne Trade Fair center.  The stand was build up like a giant Home Plaza, with banners on all sides that depicted the view when standing on the Home Square of PlayStation Square, and entertainment areas all around this central Plaza. Sony built up their stand in such a way that it would be interesting for both newcomers to the PS3/PSP world and existing fans of the PlayStation  consoles.

There was a very popular Buzz Quiz section where groups of people played Buzz on couches. People sang against and with each other in the SingStar section or raced in the Gran Turismo corner. There were PS3s (much of which were PS3 Slims) and PSP (GO)s everywhere so people could try out games (like White Knight Chronicles, Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time, and Little Big Planet PSP), watch VidZone, or simply get to know how the XMB-menu works and what multimedia possibilities the PS3 offers.

In a separate section (with a large waiting line to get in), Sony gave visitors the opportunity to try out the latest games, like Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2, God of War III and MAG. Except for Uncharted 2, I played the demos of these games, which I will discuss in a second article.

With both the conference on Tuesday and the both giant (far much bigger than those of Microsoft and Nintendo) and well built up stand, to me Sony has shown it takes GamesCom and its European fans seriously. I can’t wait to see what Sony will show us at GamesCom 2010! Here are a few more pictures, with more of which you will see in my next article.

Vidzone For Playstation 3 Should Be Available For More Countries

Vidzone is a music video service the PlayStation3. In the week before its release on June 11th, I was really looking forward to using it. Unfortunately, I was hugely disappointed when it turned out it would not be released in the whole PAL territory on that day, but only in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia and Ireland. This weekend I am in London, where I got the chance to check out VidZone.

Vidzone has a huge library of 1.5 million tracks and 25,000 music videos. It includes very recent ones, but also classics. New video content is added frequently.

You can either watch the VidZone chart, check out the latest releases or browse the library (by artist, song title or genre) to easily compose your own custom playlists. Both the video and audio are of high quality and streaming goes without any noticable problem. When playing a video, there is also an option to buy the music video or ringtone for your phone.

I guess the reason for not rolling out VidZone to the rest of the world is mainly a copyright issue. I say sort it out quickly Sony, because I really think VidZone is a great addition for the PlayStation3.

Joost for Playstation 3

The PS3 offers more than just games and Blu-ray movies: it is also an excellent online media center. Online video service Joost has recently introduced their PS3 interface, which is yet another good addition to the PS3 media experience.

Joost was created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, who founded Skype and Kazaa. Joost features only professional videos: music videos, tv series, movies, sports, news and more. Joost’s partners include CBS, Viacom (including Comedy Central, MTV, and Nickelodeon), Sony Pictures Television and the Warner Bros. Television Group.

When I started using Joost in May 2007, it worked with a desktop player based on peer-to-peer TV technology. In December 2008, Joost became a flash-based, download-free global web video service. Recently Joost introduced a PS3 interface at Joost Labs which can be accessed with the PS3′s internet browser. The Joost PS3 interface fully operates with just the directional buttons of the PS3 controller and the x button. Using the up and down directional buttons you can browse videos and using the left and right button you can access more info or open a menu that enabled you to open the list of staff picks, popular video or similar videos to the one you are currently watching. It also has a music mash option, that allows you to type in an artist and get videos of that artist and similar ones.

One of the things I miss in the current Joost PS3 interface is the option to log into my Joost account to watch the videos on my favorites list or to add new videos to it. But I guess this will be introduced eventually. Furthermore, not all of Joost’s video content is available on PS3, due to agreements that have to be made with some of the partners.

But I see the Joost PS3 interface as a great addition: great content, no need to install anything and all for free. Have you used Joost for PS3 yet? What do you think?

Steve Djadoenath, an avid traveller from the Netherlands, is a new writer for Sony Insider, and will strengthen our focus on Playstation related content.

Uncharted 2 – Among Thieves Multiplayer Beta Impressions

Uncharted – Drake’s Fortune is one of the early PlayStation 3 games that I enjoyed playing the most. So I was very happy when Naughty Dog announced the second Uncharted game Uncharted 2 – Among Thieves and I was even more glad to hear that it would feature a multiplayer mode. From June 3 until June 26 Naughty Dog runs a closed beta for this multiplayer mode, which I joined.

The beta involved two playlists and each comes with two maps: Deathmatch / Plunder and Objective Cooperative Mode.

In Deathmatch / Plunder you play with two teams. One team consists of Heroes (like Nathan Drake, Sullivan, and Elena) and the other team consists of Villains. Death match is a regular team based death match where you try to kill as many players of the opposite team, until one of two teams reaches the count limit. Plunder is a version of capture the bag, where the bag has been replaced by a very heavy treasure.

In Objective Cooperative mode you play with three players and the aim is to finish a set objective by helping each other fight through the map. At certain points in the map all three players are needed to be able to continue to the next part.

Once you have chosen one of the two playlists, the game goes into game matching mode where it tries to find other players. The game matching is one of the things that currently needs a lot of improvement: I can remember waiting for more than 10 minutes despite the fact that more than enough people were online playing the beta. Naughty Dog is aware about this problems and a soon to be released patch should solve this problem.

The first thing that you notice when the game starts is the beautiful and rich environment that you can remember from the first Uncharted game. This is one of the factors that makes the Uncharted games such a huge success.

To me, the Deathmatch game mode is by far the less interesting one of the game modes. It just does not add much to other games that offer a Deatchmatch mode. The Plunder mode is more interesting: because of the weight of the Treasure it is not that easy to bring it back to your base once you have managed to capture it.

The best mode by far is the Objective Cooperative mode. It is cooperative play in every sense, because you really need to help each other to get to the end. Villains will attack simultaneously from every side and you find yourself fighting back to back with the other two players in order to survive. When one of the players is mortally wounded, one of the others need to rush to the mortally wounded to help him revive, so he can continue the mission.

From what I’ve seen in this beta, I think the multiplayer mode really adds a great additional experience to the single player campaign that of Uncharted 2 – Among Thieves, and I look forward to playing it a lot once it is released in October.