Update: Patrick Seybold, Sr. Director, Corporate Communications & Social Media followed up today and informed the vast population of PlayStation universe that the attack on the network was pretty serious that involved about 70 million accounts and its information being at risk.
“Although we are still investigating the details of this incident, we believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID,” wrote Patrick Seybold, senior director of corporate communications for Sony Computer Entertainment America. “It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address … and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained. … While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility”. Users who stored their credit card information are advised to contact the credit bureaus and flag your profile under fraud alert for credit approvals. It looks like the platform is being built from the ground up and Sony is working 24/7 to restore its services, however it will take a few weeks before everything is completed. Read more about this update here.
Yes, it happened again. If you found yourself not being able to play online or access any network related services, it’s been reported that you may be out of luck for a day or two. According to PlayStation Blog: “While we are investigating the cause of the Network outage, we wanted to alert you that it may be a full day or two before we’re able to get the service completely back up and running. Thank you very much for your patience while we work to resolve this matter. Please stay tuned to this space for more details, and we’ll update you again as soon as we can.”

So gear up for your offline mode, or maybe just do some home work for a change? Oh and it’s beautiful outside too.

Several weeks ago the European PlayStation blog revealed an upcoming app for iPhone (OS4) and Android (1.6+) devices. The masses rejoiced. Things got even sweeter when PlayStation Portal Manager Emmanuel Orssaud said that the app should be available around Christmas on the EU blog. That didn’t exactly happen, but I imagine the app will be available any day now.

The announcement of the PlayStation app has met a mixed reaction, but mostly positive. It’s not heavy on features, but does show potential. Do not expect to play games through the PlayStation app. The next major update will most likely have access to streaming (on-demand) video and music services, such as Qriocity.

The first version of the app should be referred to as “setting up shop.” Initial features are admittedly basic, such as interacting with the PlayStation Network. You can view trophies, compare them with your friends and check out their online status.

There’s also a “Browse All Games” feature which contains a list of games for PS3, PS2, and PSP – sort of like a digital guide with game description and related media. There’s also a built in link to the PlayStation EU blog.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe was first to pull the trigger on the PlayStation app announcement, while Sony PlayStation USA hasn’t detailed the PlayStation app on their blog yet.

Strangely enough, SCEE also said that the first version would only be available in UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and The Netherlands. This left many countries in Europe out of reach for the time being. Gamers began commenting in the official announcement about this and Manager Emmanuel Orssaud replied with word that version 1.1, confirmed for January, would add more territories. He actually confirmed v1.1 would be available for Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Portugal, Norway, and Poland. We fully believe it will be available for the USA with v1.1 if all of those other countries will get it.

Perhaps v1.1′s availability will coincide with the long-awaited PlayStation phone announcement. I don’t think that’s going to happen at CES, though.

There was a lot of side information about the incoming app confirmed in the comments of the official announcement. Emmanuel also made it pretty clear not to expect the PlayStation app to hit Blackberry, Symbian, and Windows Phone 7 platforms. Ouch.

Don’t worry Apple lovers – there was mention that they “are looking into an iPad version for later.” There’s also “plans” to make a PlayStation widget for Android devices.

Adam and I talk about Sony’s strength’s, weaknesses, and 3D TV.

If you watch G4 then you know who Adam Sessler is. Whether it’s during X-Play, E3 Coverage, or Comic-Con, his witty, entertaining, and extremely articulate comments on gaming and the industry are a staple at G4TV. What you might not know is that besides being the Co-Host of X-Play, he is also Editor in Chief Games of Content. I had a chance to chat with him before Comic-Con, and wanted to get his honest, candid thought’s on Sony.

Sony has made some strides with console redesign, and a great ad campaign. Despite that, they are still in a fight with Microsoft. What are something’s you think Sony is doing well?

The one thing that Sony is clearly doing well is titles that are unique to the PS3, which are almost all coming out of Sony development studios or at least partnerships that are exclusive with Sony. I would have to say that if you’re looking at, sort of what’s happening on the Microsoft side with that and what’s happening on the Sony side, I think there is a lot more experimentation and innovation and a greater sense of breadth to those titles on Sony’s side. One of the things I have seen a lot from Microsoft is they have very strong franchises: Halo, Gears, Fable. But there is that point, where, where else can you go with them? What are you going to do to invigorate your base?

And I think obviously with the success of Uncharted 2, The Last Guardian is coming around the corner, Little Big Planet 2, it does star to look, that, they really have that great roster. I think the real issue is that it took so long for Sony to get to that point, that they are in this, real sort of dangerous game of catch-up. I don’t necessarily see Microsoft slowing down to the point where they can sort of close that gap, but I think in terms of Sony trying to reinvigorate just the brand of PlayStation I think there software line up is doing a fine job of showing a greater sense of refinement and breadth in I think their software line up.

Conversely Sony has also made some decisions, that, at times, caused people to scratch their heads. What are some areas that you think they are failing in?

Sony at the beginning of this console generation was coming off the PS2 which was wildly successful. It was the dominant console of that generation. I would have to say that there was a sense of entitlement to that position in this generation and I think it allowed them to make decisions that were really kind of devastating.

I think the big one has to got to be the price point for the PS3; they really misread the appetite of the market to have a gaming console at that level. They were also investing too much in to Blu-ray and when they tried to, sell this machine, bolt on the Blu-ray and on the Cell processor, the games kinda of got lost. And they were not being able to speak the proper language to the audience that they really had quite loyal to them through the PS2. Obviously, there was that horrific, press conference. Not the one where they showed the not completely real Killzone trailer, but the following one, where they suddenly pulled the Sixaxis out of nowhere, they’re doing that with Warhawk, Genji, I mean, really they were asking you spend $600 and they could not reproduce one true killer app at the launch of the console.

I think they still needed to go for another year of really getting beat up before they realized that they should not have that level of entitlement. Then suddenly you started to see the good software. But once again, in the video game industry when your dealing with these consoles, losing that year…

Really, if you look at the PS2, one of the best advantages the PS2 had was it had a year on both the GameCube and the original XBOX. They as a result lost that year to the XBOX360 and then they lost yet another year by not making a good case to the consumer as to why they should be buying the console. Now they seem to be more on track. Even at this E3 you get a small sense of scatterbrained messaging, but at the same time they do have the goods to back it up. I worry about pushing to heavily on 3D. Obviously Sony corporate has 3D televisions they want to sell at the end of the year, but they need to sort of keep their eyes on that core element of which is very very good game developer’s that are within the Sony family.

How do you see 3D gaming evolving in the long-term? Do you see it being viable or being somewhat of a niche market?

I think it’s wholly contingent on the sale of 3D televisions. I think everyone is really holding their breath.

The whole reason we have 3D gaming right now is because of these 3D televisions, and if the televisions don’t sell, 3D gaming is going to go away. I honestly cannot decide if people are going to…it’s a bad economic climate to try and convince people who may have only in the past few years picked up a flat screen television to pick up another. At the same time, there are early adopters who just can’t turn down some sort of new technology. And if there are enough of them out there that are willing to spend the money then I think you will see a slow progression in to more 3D.

I guess, having looked at the 3D games, I am less resistant to the concept of 3D gaming than I was initially. I have always been concerned that the 3D would take such precedence that you’re going to see the game design and gameplay actually suffer because it’s only important to have the 3D. Killzone 3, it was neat with that jetpack to get the vertigo effect, but I don’t know where you go from there. And I think, unfortunately as with motion control, your putting something in the hands of developers that they themselves, have not, sort of been wanting. Their desire is to be creative, and express something and do something inside of a video game. So it is, I think, still putting the carriage a little in front of the horse. I think every so often we will see one or two games and we’ll say “Wow, that was really cool”, but it does concern me that there is this sense of ubiquity that somehow all games need to be 3D in the future. I’m kind of crossing my fingers that people aren’t going to buy 3D’s so it becomes a moot point.

With our E3 coverage, following twitter feeds and stuff like that, wow, did 3D resonant very low with our audience. If 3D is going to catch on, it’s going to catch on with a more marginal group of technophiles who want the new thing. I don’t think there are core gamers who really think that something is going to happen with their gaming.

PSN+. People are split down the middle on this. Do you think Sony is doing enough to make it a viable competitor to XBOX Live?

No. That was one of the more dissatisfying parts of the Sony press conference this year.

I think that people were, because of XBOX Live, finally ready to go “Hey, I will spend a little money if I can have the level of reliability on my online service that I am getting out of Microsoft”. And the whole idea that your going to spend money just to that you can download in the background…they don’t seem to get it.

I don’t know if that’s because your talking about a far more multnational company between the US, Europe and Japan. They really need to just jettison what they have. Maybe they will do that with the next console, but that’s going to be pretty far down the line. With XBOX Live you pay for the service, but you get something that is quite reliable for the most part. I think also, when the strange thing happened with the clock inside of the PS3, while that wasn’t the PlayStation Network’s fault, it just unfortunately put another blemish on it.

There is no reason why they should not have a service that is on par with XBOX Live. That is where some real investment needs to be because multiplayer is such a big element in games. It really means a lot to game publishers because it does reduce the resale of certain game’s if it has multiplayer in it.

The PlayStation Portable has some great titles, Birth by Sleep is on the horizon, but it’s 6 years into the PSP’s lifecycle. Do you think it’s time for Sony to do a larger scale refresh?

Yeah. And I agree with you, there are some really fun games you can get on it. That handheld market is soooo different than the console market. Nintendo has it so wrapped up. I am not saying there is anything, ostensibly wrong with the PSP, although I would really like a second analog stick due to the types of games that are on it.

But I have to question the rationale of having another PSP when Nintendo, especially with the 3DS is going to so dominate that market that are you just throwing good money after bad?  And as we just said, when the PlayStation Network could use such a revitalization, is it better to invest there than in what really seems to be a losing race with Nintendo.

Cloud computing and downloadable content are on the rise. You also have apps like Hulu, MLB.TV and Netflix. Where do you see the PS3 evolving to over it’s lifecycle? Where should it go?

That’s a really interesting question…

With all of those services out there…it’s almost like keeping up with the Jones es’. There seems to be this expectation that we finally are moving our consoles in to something closer to a set top box. Back in the old days when I was at TechTV, that was supposed to be the end all be all and it just never seemed to happen. It finally seems to be happening with the consoles and it seems to be happening in a way that is not distracting from what is supposed to be the core purpose of buying the console which is for the video games.

I think that as consumers expect to have these services they should be on it. It’s funny, I don’t use stuff like that, I’m a little bit old school (laughs). But I don’t know if trying to create something new and different is really going to distinguish the PS3 from those types of services that are on the XBOX. I know that Microsoft announced their deal with ESPN and I just can’t tell if that is going to make a difference. Is someone going to buy the 360 for ESPN service and they have been holding out from buying anything because that hasn’t been made available to them? I think any aspect like that needs to happen in the next generation of consoles, and right now we are just getting the consumer adjusted to the idea that are multiple uses for your gaming console other than just playing video games.

I would like to thank Kelly for arranging and scheduling the interview and Adam for taking the time out of his busy schedule to chat with us. If you ever wondered if he as down to earth in person as he is on TV he is.  I started off the interview by calling him Mr. Sessler and he said “No need, I am just a dood”

Firmware 3.41 for the PS3 is now available, and it includes a new type of recommendation system for videos and games on the PlayStation Store.

If you’re browsing through the store and looking at information on a game or video, a new option on the right hand side is available entitled “You May Like”. This is based upon data crawled from other user’s who purchased similar content.

Also, according to an analysis on the new firmware by CJPC on the PS3 News Forum, the new patch is only about 40 MB, and is an incremental update.

What’s nice about Sony now using this feature, is that instead of having updates in the range of 100-200 MB each time, they remain much smaller and only provide the new functionality needed. Given the new auto update feature in PSN+ this is less data for users to download, and could cut the update time in half.

Sony Online Entertainment and independent videogame developer Ronimo Games announced a collaborative effort to bring Swords & Soldiers, a side-scrolling, real-time strategy game, to the PlayStation Network. Swords & Soldiers is an innovative strategy game featuring lush graphics, smooth controls, strong online integration and fresh gameplay.

Commanding the armies of the burly Vikings, the vicious Aztecs or the cunning Chinese, players create powerful units, cast devastating spells and travel the globe in search of the ultimate trophy.

In Swords & Soldiers, players can acquire resources, assemble armies, thwart enemies and dominate opponents, while earning up to 20 PlayStation Network trophies. As players advance, new modes and minigames will be unlocked. Gameplay is available in single and local and online multiplayer modes. To play online, players can enter Matchmaking Mode at any time. Once a suitable opponent is found, the current gameplay will be paused until the battle is completed. With Matchmaking Mode, there is no waiting to battle and no break in the strategy action.

“Swords & Soldiers is the perfect blend of real-time strategy and bold 2D graphics and will include innovative features,” said Micah Loucks, Senior Producer at SOE. “Collaborating with Ronimo Games is a great opportunity for SOE to continue to bring interesting and unique titles to the PlayStation Network.”

PlayStation Plus subscribers can now download the Hulu Plus application from the PlayStation Store.

Starting today PlayStation Plus subscribers can, after downloading the Hulu Plus application, launch it and request an invitation to the exclusive  preview.

Hulu Plus expands their library by allowing to you view every episode aired from the current season of popular shows like glee, House, Family Guy and The Office. It also adds a  huge library of older shows, movies and documentaries. If accepted PS3 users will be required to pay the $9.99 fee Hulu is charging for access to the enhanced content.

Some would argue that the days of needing a centralized HTPC are going by the way side because of the enhanced functionality consoles are delivering to the living rooms and this is yet another example.  Between movies and television content being delivered on the PlayStation Network, Netflix, and now Hulu Plus, PS3 owners have quite a choice for their media content.

Patrick Seybold, Sony’s Senior Director, Corporate Communications & Social Media was kind enough to allow me to chat with him after Sony’s excellent showing at E3. Mr. Seybold and I discuss PlayStation Move, PSP, the impact of social media, and Kevin Butler.

Sony had an excellent showing at E3 and redefined what the PlayStation brand is all about. What are your thoughts on the incredible reaction those in attendance at the Shrine Auditorium had to those announcements?

We saw an incredibly strong reaction from attendees at the PlayStation Press Conference and I think it’s in large part due to the diverse and new content that we were able to share with the audience. Topping the charts was the upcoming PlayStation Move motion controller and an in-depth look into how we are leading the 3D race, with demos on the show floor that ranged from Killzone 3 in 3D to Gran Turismo 5 in 3D. And on the PS3 platform we started the year with huge releases such as MAG, Heavy Rain, God of War III, MLB 10: The Show, and ModNation Racers. The momentum will carry through as we have an extremely strong back half of the year line-up from both our first party studios and our publishing partners. Our digital entertainment offerings, which comes packed today with premium original content from HBO, and 23,000 movies and TV shows from all of the major networks and studios, was met with more good news with the announcement of PlayStation Network’s new subscription based offering, PlayStation Plus. All in all, it was a great show and I think everyone was really excited by the volume and quality of great new games and hardware brought to the forefront at E3.

The PlayStation Move could almost be likened to t he launch of an entirely new console, and so many more A list titles will be coming out before the holiday season across the product line. What are some of the challenges in gearing up for what is going to be quite a busy year in the coming months?

Yes, exciting times are ahead of us as we look towards the arrival of the PlayStation Move. When PlayStation Move launches on September 19^th in the US, consumers will have access to a compelling line-up of motion-control titles that will appeal to both the casual and core gamers. We also have an incredibly deep line-up coming to PS3 and PSP, so the PlayStation brand will be broadly represented at retail and in consumer’s homes this holiday season.

As E3 demonstrated, the media and fans really identify with Kevin Butler, and those ad campaigns have really reached a whole new audience. What were your thoughts when you saw Kevin Butler make his appearance?

It was a great reaction and the crowd went wild when Kevin Butler appeared. Since launching the “It Only Does Everything” campaign last September, the public has really resonated with the messaging. The next few months it will be interesting to see how our core gamers take to the new advertising campaign “Step Your Game Up” for PSP and PSPgo. The focus is all about providing a deeper look into what makes a PlayStation Portable gaming experience more complete and enjoyable than anything else you’ll find on the market.

I couldn’t attend E3 this year due to scheduling issues, and a lot of people could not either, yet when you visit the E3 site in PS Home, you really get the sense of being there. Do you think this is something we can see moving forward? Might we see more virtual spaces in PS Home, like FEVA Stadium that really leverages the power of the PS3 against its competitors?

I am glad you liked the experience in PlayStation Home. It was very well received and with 250,000 visitors to the booth, it proved that people really utilize the PlayStation Home 3D virtual environment to connect with their fellow PS3 owners. You can expect us to do more of this in the future and while I can’t provide specifics on new spaces to be introduced in Home, you should keep watch because there will be more exciting spaces revealed throughout the remainder of this year.

Early on there was a lot of criticism against the PS3 for being too expensive, and for including technology that, at the time, appeared over-specced. Now all those early decisions are allowing the PS3 to offer experiences that aren’t possible on other consoles. Can you talk about what riding that wave was like, and how it feels to be where Sony is now?

We’ve always said that we are building a product that is future proof. We’ve been able to impress upon both our fan base and potential new customers that we not only have a serious gaming device, but we also have a powerful and unparalleled entertainment device that offers a wide variety of options for everyone – downloading content, photo storage, streaming music, sports, Blu-ray player, and now 3D. Consumers are responding and the PS3 has just surpassed ten consecutive months of double-digit year over year growth.

There were rumors swirling around about a PSP 2, yet Sony showed just how viable the current PSP is by having it take center stage and highlighting excellent titles on the way with a whole new ad campaign. Do you think this deep into the PSP life cycle it’s time for a refresh or does it have a few years left?

PSP is still going strong and has an incredibly deep pipeline of products in development. We already covered a bit about our new advertising campaign “Step Your Game Up” which shows our commitment to the product and to those fans that crave real full-length games. With big franchises like Metal Gear Solid, God of War coming to the platform this year, and new IP such as Invisimals showing off new augmented reality, PSP is still the best portable gaming device on the market.

Social media is a big part of how this generation gets its news and communicates. Your team has done an excellent job with this type of communication by having such an active community on the blog, the forums, twitter and is head and shoulders above what others are doing in the same space. What are the challenges in balancing so many different forms of communication and getting so many different people within Sony to participate?

Our PlayStation blog, the forums and Twitter have all helped us to get closer to our fans/customers. We have a constant interest to be able to utilize these social media tools to engage with the core user base, solicit opinions, provide intel and to course correct as needed based upon their input and feedback. Another good example of this is the PlayStation Share. We want to engage with those that use our products and know their likes/dislikes because that can only help us make a more targeted product. When you arrive at the homepage for Share it says:

Share is a place to formally submit your best ideas on how we can improve all PlayStation products. It’s also a place where you can discover and vote on other people’s ideas, as well as communicate with us and other PlayStation fans about how to bring great ideas to life.

We want to create the best products available and our customers and fans are a great source of ensuring we continue to have the best in class products available.

I want to give a humble thanks to Mr. Seybold  for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with us and Mrs. von Esmarch for her assistance in coordinating the interview.

DC Comics goes digital and the Digital Comics Service for PlayStation is one of it’s destinations.

Marvel, Image, and Darkhorse to name a few all offer digital comics in some form and for the longest time, it didn’t seem like DC had any plans to move in that to space.

But suddenly all that changed.

DC announced that, not only were they getting into digital comics, but they would launch across multiple platforms including the PSP. And they did so in grand fashion with wide range of comics being made available on day one.  With previews of the new story arc written by J. Michael Straczynski in Superman #700 and Wonder Woman’s new look  and origin in #600 potentials readers get a good look at what’s new in the DC world.

This is good move for both DC and Sony as it expands comics to a larger audience, and really opens the door for digital comics to grow and expand now that the major publishers will be in competition to deliver the best autoflow style experience.

Being the geek I am, I can’t help but make one recommendation. If your going to read a DC comic series to start off with, check out Batman: Hush. With a story by Jeph Loeb and art by Jim Lee you can’t go wrong. And the first (from what I can remember) in continuity fight between Superman and Batman in #612 is quite the story.

With over 1600 comics available for PSP, it turns out to be yet another value add for the platform. If you haven’t yet, head over to the Digital Comics site where you can view the entire catalog of what’s available.

Releases are not quite day and date yet, but give it time.

Sony continues to enhance the capabilities of the PS3 by adding several innovative features in firmware 3.40.

As of yesterday, firmware 3.40 is available for the the PS3. It adds the following to an already impressive feature set:

• • Photo Gallery: [PlayStation®Network Area] has been added under [Photo Gallery]. You can now use Photo Gallery to browse photos from Facebook® or Picasa™ Web Albums. You can also share photos from Photo Gallery with your Friends on PlayStation Network. You can also now print or delete a photo in the photo gallery.

• Video Editor & Uploader: Video Editor and Uploader is a new function found on the XrossMediaBar (XMB), which enables you to edit, save and upload video files stored on the PS3 system to sites such as Facebook or YouTube.

• PlayStation Store Five Star Rating Support: Users can now rate PlayStation Store content they have purchased with one to five star ratings.

• Power Save Settings: The default setting for PS3 System Auto-Off will be set at 2 hours, providing you with additional power save options and further improving power save features on the PS3 system.

• Settings:
  • [Deep Color Output (HDMI)] has been added as an option under [Display Settings].
  • The default setting for [System Auto-Off] under [Power Save Settings] has been changed to [After 2 Hours].

PlayStation Plus was also added as well, but this will be detailed in an upcoming post.

After upgrading yesterday, playing a few games, and watching a movie I haven’t experienced any problems with what I would say are some nice additions. So download it, and then sound off in the comments about your impressions. And as a side note, does that dog in the picture look like Mr. Muggles to you? Just curious…

Sony Computer Entertainment has noted that the cumulative number of registered accounts on PlayStation Network has exceeded 50 million worldwide as of June 14, 2010. Since its launch in November 2006, PlayStation Network has expanded its services to over 58 countries and regions around the globe. The registered accounts on PlayStation Network reached 10 million in 1 year and 8 months from the service launch, 20 million in 2 years and 3 months, and exceeded 50 million in only 3 years and 8 months. I wonder if the introduction of a slimmer, less expensive Playstation 3 had anything to do with the massive jump in registrations between the second and third year.

How long do you think it will take to reach 100 million?