On Wednesday Sony hosted their ‘see the future’ of PlayStation event. The event revealed incredible graphics, new controllers, and even the next game console, the PlayStation 4. To go along with all the new, Sony threw in a revamped version of an old toy.

Sony has been toying around with motion recognition ever since the EyeToy in 2003. Later, Sony would bring it back as the PlayStation Eye in 2007 with the PlayStation 3. Now, sony looks to perfect the device as the PS4 Eye. Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida gave us information today on how it works.

The PS4 Eye comes with two 1,280 x 800 cameras, an 85-degree field of view, and four microphones. The two cameras work together with the new Dualshock 4 controllers to track movements.

Shuhei Yoshida also went on to add that ”It’s (PS4 Eye) an extension of the PS Move technology that we incorporated into the DualShock so that the camera can see where it is”. Not only will the PS4 Eye help to bring the PlayStation 4 up to par with Kinect and the Wii, but it also has four built-in microphones that will be used in games and for voice-commands.

Microsoft and Nintendo are going to have to work fast if they want to beat out Sony and the PS4 Eye.

What do you think about the PlayStation 4 and the PS4 eye? Will you be picking one up at the end of this year when it goes on sale? Let us know in the comments below.

[ Source ]

The post Sony Spills The Beans On How The PS4 Eye Works appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Although all tablet lovers are waiting anxiously to know all about what’s new from Apple, at least some of you are looking forward to play with the Tablet P, Sony’s unique clamshell Android tablet. The dual-screened device, which was announced last year, is finally making its way stateside via AT&T on March 4^th.

Just to refresh your memory, the Tablet P boasts a pair of 5.5-inch LCD screens which work independently or combined into a single large screen. So, when folded, that will be a 10-inch device in your pocket.

Running Android 3.2 Honeycomb with the company’s software additions (upgrade to ICS has been promised to arrive in a few months), the Tablet P also features a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM, 5MP rear cam and just 4GB of storage with a microSD card slot for cards of up to 32GB. You will have access to many apps optimized for the dual screens of the tablet from the company’s Select App, and of course Android Market is always there. And it is PlayStation Certified as well.

Via AT&T, the Tablet P will be available for $399 with a 2 year contract. It is a 4G device and you can choose from two monthly plans: $35/mo for 3GB of data or $50/mo for 5GB. But if you choose the latter, after two years you would have spent $1600. But you can get the device contract-free for $549 and select a pre-paid data plan that suits you.

But forget about all that if you have marked March 7^th on your calendar.

The post Sony Tablet P Finally Coming To The US Via AT&T appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

No, unlike the PlayStation Vita, the Xperia Play 2 does not appear to have dual thumbsticks or a touch-sensitive panel on the back. Instead, the basic control scheme remains unchanged from the first Xperia Play, meaning you get a D-pad, shoulder buttons, and a couple of touch-sensitive pads in the middle meant to mimic the controls of thumbsticks.

You will notice that they’ve seemingly abandoned the curvaceous nature of the first Xperia Play (and most other Xperia smartphones) for something a little more squared off, though it still has rounded corners. The rumored spec sheet includes a peppy 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 4.3-inch 1280×720 display, and an 8.1MP rear camera with LED flash. And yes, it’s PlayStation Certified, of course. The touch sensitive Android buttons seem to point toward Gingerbread, but there’s likely an ICS update in the works too.

There’s no way for us to know if this rendering is legitimate, so take this with a grain of gaming salt.

The post Leaked Image of Sony Xperia Play 2 Android PlayStation Smartphone appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The folks in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other select markets in Asia already have their hands on Sony’s newest handheld gaming machine, but us here in North America still have to wait until February 22 of next year. Even so, Sony has at least been kind enough to provide us with all the launch details for the upcoming PlayStation Vita, including a list of launch titles.

Pricing, as you know, is going to be $249 and $299, depending if you want to make do with just Wi-Fi or if you want the 3G capable version. Pricing for the games will range considerably from as low as $9.99 to as high as $49.99. You can imagine smaller, “app-like” games (like Plants vs. Zombies) to sell at the lower end, while the bigger marquee games (like Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3) to sell at the higher end.

So, what titles should you expect on launch day? There will be 25 games in all: Escape Plan (PSN Only), Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational, Hustle Kings (PSN Only), Little Deviants, ModNation Racers: Road Trip, Super StarDust Delta (PSN Only), UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss, wipEout 2048, Army Corps of Hell, Asphalt Injection, BEN10 GALACTIC RACING, Blazblue: Continuum Shift EXTEND, Dungeon Hunter Alliance, Dynasty Warriors Next, F1 2011, EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer, Lumines Electronic Symphony, Michael Jackson The Experience, Plants vs. Zombies (PSN Only), Rayman Origins, Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen, Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs (PSN Only), Touch My Katamari, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, and Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition.

While they won’t be available on launch day, 10 more titles are being expected for release with the launch window: Gravity Rush, MLB 12 The Show, Reality Fighters, Unit 13, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7, Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention, NINJA GAIDEN ∑ PLUS, Ridge Racer, Silent Hill Book of Memories, and Supremacy MMA: Unrestricted.

Naturally, there are all kinds of accessories to go along with the new system too, like memory cards ranging from 4GB ($19.99) to 32GB ($99.99), headsets ($19.99), travel pouches ($19.99), and car adapters ($14.99).

Do think the PlayStation Vita launch titles are worthy? Any games stick out in your mind as the “must have” that’ll help solidify Vita’s place in your gaming life? Or is it still missing that killer game for you?

The post All You Need To Know About PlayStation Vita US Launch appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

China, the land of cheap electronic clones, brings us yet another some-what interesting device to the table, the Yinlips “Android Smart Game Player“. Essentially it is a PS Vita-looking Android device that is intended for gaming and comes pre-loaded with a bunch of emulators and ROMs from the days of the NES, all the way up to the N64.

As far as the hardware is concerned, it’s nothing spectacular featuring a 1.2GHz single core processor, 512MB of DDR2 RAM, and WIFI. It also sports HDMI and a built-in camera. It runs some form of Android, but we aren’t sure which version since at one point the company’s page says it runs “Froyo” but at another point it says “Gingerbread”, so your guess is as good as ours.

Many other sources have scoffed at this device pretty hard, but as far as I’m concerned there is at least a little merit to such a device, no matter how cheap and blatant of a rip-off it is. If something like this hit the US and Canadian market and managed to keep a price point of under $99 (like $50-$85), I honestly could say I wouldn’t mind  a cheap emulator system that I could also browse the net from. No, it not a killer device and certainly nothing to call home about, but at least in China I imagine there is a potential market for such a handheld device.

The post Chinese Vita-Look-Alike Android Gaming Handheld appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Sony this week officially announced that the next generation of their portable console, the PlayStation Vita, will only hit stores in the US, Canada, Latin America and Europe on February 22nd of next year, remaining a Japan exclusive gadget until then.

Sony promises the PlayStation Vita will have a “vast library of titles that deliver unique gameplay experiences that go beyond any handheld or mobile device on the market.”

I guess if you’re desperate you can import the thing from Japan, there a good chance you’ll get it before the end of February. But where are you going to get the games for it then? Have you looked at all the awesome games on Android? Perhaps the Xperia Play will appeal to you if the Vita is too far away.

The post PlayStation Vita Confirmed To Launch Late February appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

We caught official wind of the Sony S1 and S2 Android tablets a few months ago, but now we’ve managed to find a hands-on video with at least one of the Honeycomb tabs. The unfortunate part is that the hands-on video is a mere 18 seconds long.

In the clip, we get a pretty decent look at the dual-screen wielding Sony S2, including how it can fold up as a clamshell and how much of a barrier that black line in the middle of the two 5.5-inch displays is going to be. We also note the PlayStation logo, which effectively expands on what the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is trying to achieve, though without the traditional physical control scheme.

While not shown in the video, the single screen Sony S1 Android tablet was also fondled by German site Golem. They note that it did not have PlayStation branding, though it was used to demo Crash Bandicoot in a 4:3 aspect ratio. They also note that it is quite light.

There’s a lot of UI skinning going on here and Sony will need to be pretty creative about how to overcome the space between the two touchscreens, but the S2 (and its S1 cousin) look like they could have some promise. We expect to see them launch this fall, likely at a Sony-esque premium price of some kind.

The post A full 18 seconds of video bliss with the Sony S2 tablet appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

I play a lot of games on my smartphone. The trouble is that a smartphone was never really designed for serious video game playing, and that’s where the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is supposed to come into the picture. It’s PlayStation certified and is purpose-built to give gamers what they want while still doing the usual Android smartphone thing too.

We caught brief glimpses at this phone earlier this year, but it has now launched through Rogers Wireless in Canada, 3, Orange,  T-Mobile and Vodafine in the UK, and Verizon Wireless in the USA. Is the so-called PlayStation Phone worth all these years of waiting? Let’s find out.

Specs at a Glance

The version that I received to review is white, but they’ve also got the regular black version as well. The two colors are functionally identical. And, not surprisingly, the most notable feature on this smartphone is the set of slide-out gaming controls.

We’ve seen these kinds of sliders in the past, but they’ve always revealed hardware QWERTY keyboards. That’s not the case you. You get a set of controls that mirrors what you’d get on a PlayStation gamepad: four directional buttons, four face buttons (X, O, triangle, and square), start and select. Instead of thumbsticks, you get a pair of optical thumbpads. There’s also a menu button on the face, as well as L and R buttons on the shoulders.

Doing a quick run through the rest of the spec sheet, we find a 1GHz Scorpion processor (Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon), Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 400MB internal memory, 512MB RAM, microSD slot, HSDPA/HSUPA support, 802.11b/g/n, 5MP camera, front-facing camera, aGPS, and a 4.0-inch 480×854 touchscreen display.

Build Quality and Design

The overall design is in line with other Xperia smartphones from Sony Ericsson. This was built to look more like a phone and less like a PSP, though there are some similarities to the PSP Go. The back is rounded, as are the top and bottom contours. Because of the sliding mechanism, the Xperia Play (at 16mm) is far from the thinnest phone on the block. It’s also not the lightest at a considerable 175 grams of heft.

The sliding mechanism feels reasonably solid, but I’d imagine that this will wear down over time. The gaming buttons feel very solid and should be able to stand up to the same kind of abuse you’d normally give your PSP. I did find the plastic back was a little too slippery, though, especially when in gaming position. Having the volume rocker between the L/R buttons is an interesting choice too.

And that’s the real crux of why someone would be the least bit interested in the Xperia Play. You can play all of the usual Android games — Angry Birds, YooNinja, etc. — but the key is playing games that are “optimized” for the Xperia Play. It is a PlayStation certified device, after all, even if it’s not a real PlayStation Phone per se.

What’s cool is that when you slide out the gaming controls, the handset automatically goes to the Xperia Play interface where you can choose your games. These are shown as fairly large tiles on the touchscreen, but what’s odd is that not all of your games show up here. I had other games that were supposed to be optimized for use on the Xperia Play, but I could only access them through the usual Android menu.

As far as controls, while I liked the idea of the optical trackpads in place of true thumbsticks, they didn’t work quite as well as I had hoped. I’m unsure whether they’re too sensitive or not sensitive enough, as I just didn’t get the level of precision and responsiveness that I need when I’m playing games. I tried Star Batallion (a flight shooter) and Hockey Nations 2011 for this purpose and I ended up resorting to the d-pad for the former. I mostly used the optical trackpad for hockey, but it still wasn’t perfect.

I’m not sold on the optical trackpads, for this reason, but I am sold on gaming on this phone. Madden was enjoyable, Crash Bandicoot was a hoot, and emulators would surely be a hit too. Battery life has me worried, though, since the phone could barely last a day even with very, very light usage.

So, How Does It Game?

Camera Quality

Other smartphones may have been upgraded to 8MP or even 12MP shooters, but the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is largely able to hold its own with the five-megapixel camera in tow. The flash is quite powerful and while the images will never compete with a “real” camera, they’re comparable to similar smartphones with similar specs.

• Sample Photo #1 (indoor, flash on)
• Sample Photo #2 (indoor, flash off)
• Sample Photo #3 (outdoors, cloudy)

What’s interesting is that while Sony Ericsson stuck with that TimeScape UI (albeit a fair bit simplified from its Xperia X10 days) for part of the core interface, the company didn’t do anything to skin the camera app. It’s the vanilla Android camera app, which has some options, but not really enough. I’m sure you could find some fun things in Android Market to help you with that, though, should you feel so inclined.

Conclusion

I get what Sony Ericsson was trying to accomplish with the Xperia Play. We’ve been wanting a real PlayStation Phone for quite some time and this is supposed to be it… except that it’s not. You see, Sony has the PlayStation Vita coming out pretty soon and it’s much more of a PSP than this phone can ever hope to be. The current crop of “PlayStation-certified” games that are “optimized” for this platform aren’t bad, but they aren’t that great either. For the most part, they’re still “just” cell phone games.

If someone really wants to play real PlayStation games on the go, they’ll pick up the NGP PS Vita. I think that if the Xperia Play came out a couple years ago, it had a real fighting chance of attracting some more interest. As it stands, I expect it to end up in the same pile as the N-Gage. The poor battery life certainly doesn’t help either, especially if you plan on playing any games at all for any duration of time.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is available now through Rogers Wireless for $99.99 on qualifying three-year contracts.

Manufacturer Specifications

* Battery performance does vary greatly on network and phone usage.

The post Sony Ericsson Xperia Play review: The Android PlayStation phone appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Sony is planning to launch its Vita (aka NGP) portable game console worldwide by the end of March 2012. Japan could consider itself lucky since the company will first release the console in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Sony has decided to launch its next-generation game console successively so as to avoid stock shortages. The product will be available first in the countries where strong demand for Vita has been reported, announced Jack Tretton, President of Sony America.

Sony’s Vita is powered by a SoC system which includes four ARM Cortex-A9 cores while the high quality graphics are provided by a PowerVR SGX543MP4+ graphics engine. The 5-inch multi-touch 960x544p OLED display is supplemented by a dual front and rear camera system. Other features include a set of PSP button, a motion sensing system based on six axes, speakers, a microphone and two analog sticks which lets users play different types of games on the console.  Vita is also Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS and Bluetooth compatible.

The console will come in two models: a Wi-Fi version which will have a price tag of ¥24980 yen in Japan, and €249 in Europe and a Wi-Fi/ 3G version will cost ¥29980 yen in Japan and €299 in Europe.

AT&T will be the sole US PlayStation Vita provider and will offer the console at a price of $249 and $299, respectively.

The post Sony’s Playstation Vita (NGP) Roll Out Begins March 2012 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

McPhadden Samac Tuovi LLP is a law firm based out of Toronto and they’re handling the class action lawsuit launched against Sony Entertainment and its associated companies. The figure being thrown around at the moment is a cool $1 billion, though that might go even higher as more gamers sign up to be a part of the settlement.

The accusation? They’re saying that Sony breached the privacy of millions of customers and allowed hackers access to credit card information off the company’s servers. Sony has already said that around 102 million users were compromised during the recent hack, including credit card numbers, addresses, user names, and more. I dont know if this can hold up, Sony did not par take in the breach, although they were holding the user information they are responsible, but was it intentional? No, and what did these customers “lose” other than service? It is not known if the credit cards of the customers have been mis-used.

Natasha Maksimovic is a 21-year-old PSN customer and she’s the one that went to McPhadden to get the wheels in motion. Somehow, I think this class action lawsuit is pretty much in the bag, so you might want to look into how you can get your proper compensation… you know, aside from a month of free PS+.

The post The $1 Billion Class Action Lawsuit Against Sony appeared first on Mobile Magazine.