Tag: sony

The 15 worst PSP games of all time

Even the worst PSP games show just how versatile Sony’s handheld platform was, with a range of bad RPGs, sports games, and more

The worst PSP games might be awful to play, but even these broken relics of the past show just how versatile Sony’s handheld platform was. You could pretty much guarantee that movie adaptations and some questionable licensed games would make up the majority of the bad games on older platforms. The PSP has terrible games ranging from anime adaptations to sports games, RPGs, doomed ports, and pretty much everything in between, with some poor ideas and some that really just didn’t need to exist on a handheld – not in the mid-2000s, at least.

New PS5 update will add long-awaited console features

A new PS5 update is rolling out in Sony’s beta test system, and it adds some features that fans have requested for years

A new PS5 update is rolling out in Sony’s beta test system, and it adds some features that fans have requested for years. One of them is the option to finally mute the system startup “beep” sound that’s told the entire house you’re playing video games since the PS3 launched in 2007.

The PS5 now (finally) supports Dolby Atmos 3D audio devices as well, including sound bars and compatible speakers, and it’s easier to add friends to parties without having to go through group controls,

On the accessibility side, you can designate a second controller as an “assist controller” and use it in conjunction with the first controller. This feature only works with DualSense controllers, though – not with PS4 DualShocks connected to the system.

Another new feature is support for larger SSDs, up to 8TB. The previous size limit capped out at 4TB, which sounds like a lot until you consider that PS5 game file sizes have been steadily increasing. If you play live-service games such as Genshin Impact or Final Fantasy XIV on the system, those TBs disappear pretty quickly. 

You can check out the full list of new changes on the PlayStation Blog. Access to these features is, as always, limited to members selected for the beta program. They may take several months to roll out for everyone.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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The 17 worst PS1 games of all time

Sorting through the worst PS1 games is a trip through the worst ideas, action games, and licensed spinoffs that lived on Sony’s console

Sorting through the worst PS1 games is a journey through the past, a different time of game development and marketing where nearly anything could get approved, and did, and failed miserably. The competition for worst PS1 game is strong, with candidates ranging from the niche first-party games that get quietly brushed under the rug, to bold ideas too ambitious for their time, and some just straight-up awful games that make you wonder whether anyone actually bought them. There’s a Hooters game, for some reason. HBO Boxing tried and failed to revolutionize sports games, and there once was a Star Wars fighting game that barely even functioned and sits, quietly ignored, beside the PS1’s better-known Phantom Menace and Jedi Battles.

Sony is hosting an hour-long PlayStation State of Play showcase soon

A May PlayStation State of Play presentation is happening after all, and it sounds like quite a few PS5 and PS VR announcements are in store

Update: May 24, 2023

If you missed the presentation, check out our PlayStation Showcase recap!

Original Story

A May PlayStation State of Play presentation is happening after all, and it sounds like quite a few PS5 and PS VR announcements are in store. The May State of Play will air on May 24, 2023, and Sony said in a PlayStation Blog post that it will last a little longer than an hour, with a range of reveals and updates in store.

How to watch the May PlayStation State of Play

The broadcast goes live on May 24, 2023, at:

  • 4 p.m. Eastern
  • 1 p.m. Pacific
  • 9 p.m. British Summer Time

You can watch it on PlayStation’s Twitch and YouTube channels, and as ever, Sony will host the video-on-demand after the event ends, with individual trailers for everything shown as well.

Some of those teased reveals include “several new creations”  from some of PlayStation’s first-party studios and a selection of games from third-party partners. Speculation is already swirling that this showcase is when we’ll finally see the long-rumored Metal Gear remake from Konami. Sony didn’t indicate which third parties might have games shown during the presentation, though Konami teased several series announcements for 2023.

While Square Enix already took the spotlight during a Final Fantasy 16-centric State of Play, it’s possible the RPG maker might have even more to share, since the game’s highly-anticipated launch is right around the corner – June 2023.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Sony may be making another PlayStation handheld system

A new round of rumors suggests Sony may have another PlayStation handheld system in mind, but don’t get your hopes up for a new PSP just yet

A new round of rumors suggests Sony may have another PlayStation handheld system in mind, but don’t get your hopes up for a new PSP just yet. The rumors say Sony is working on a handheld to rival the likes of Logitech’s G Cloud, one that only plays games via cloud streaming.

Speculation about new hardware should always be viewed with a measure of suspicion. Plans can change, and sometimes, rumors are exactly that – with no basis in truth. However, former VentureBeat reporter Jeff Grubb lent an element of credence to the idea in a brief comment on Twitter.

“I am traveling to Super Nintendo World, but I see the reports about a potential Vita 2, and I would definitely scope down those expectations,” Grubb said. “I’ve only ever heard about a cloud-streaming handheld.”

“Sounds disappointing enough to be what ends up happening,” one Twitter user responded.

Sony has a checkered history with its handheld systems. The PlayStation Portable rivaled the Nintendo DS when Sony launched it in the mid-2000s, with a fair amount of first-party support and ports of classic PlayStation games such as God of War. The PlayStation Vita, the PSP’s successor, launched with a bevy of new technology, but while third parties, indies, and smaller studios continued supporting the system for nearly a decade, Sony quickly stopped making games for the platform.

If the new handheld does exist, some speculate Sony might tie it to its existing cloud and streaming offerings as part of the PlayStation Plus subscription program.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Sony is developing an animated Lionel Messi series

The show will depict Messi as a child as he confronts obstacles while traveling in a video game

Sony Music Entertainment has announced it is developing an animated series featuring Lionel Messi.

The series, which is targeted toward young children and adolescents, will depict Messi as a child as he confronts obstacles while traveling throughout a video game.

Sony Music Entertainment will provide original music for the series, which will be available in English, Spanish and several other languages.

“Since I was a kid, I’ve always loved animated series and my kids are big fans of animated characters. Being able to participate in an animation project makes me happy, because it fulfills one of my dreams! I would like to thank Sony Music for joining this project and we hope that everyone will like the result, especially the girls and the boys,” Messi said in a release.

It isn’t yet known which platform the series will call home, with Sony Music’s Premium Content Division overseeing development and distribution.

“It is a privilege for Sony Music to collaborate with Lionel Messi on this project to showcase the power and lessons of sports in partnership with the greatest football player of all time and one of the greatest athletes in history,” said Fernando Cabral, executive vice president of business development, Latin-Iberia regional for Sony Music Entertainment.

“We look forward to bringing this heartwarming and humbling series to screens for audiences of all ages around the world.”

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Sony says Microsoft court filings are ‘obvious harassment’

Sony hits back at Microsoft’s court filings and demands for documents, calling them “obvious harassment” and asking the court to quash them

Sony is hitting back at Microsoft’s court filings and demands for documents, calling them “obvious harassment” and requesting that the judge disregard them (thanks, Axios). Since the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed its lawsuit against Microsoft, expressing concerns over the Xbox-Activision merger, Microsoft has filed subpoenas demanding that Sony Interactive Entertainment provide extensive documentation. 

These requests include files held by Sony executives, including Jim Ryan and Hermann Hulst, pertaining to the company’s business dealings and performance. Microsoft also reportedly demanded that Sony hand over similar files from previous executives who led the company before Ryan. Sony responded that not only are such requests unnecessary, but that they would cost the company over $2 million to procure and deliver. 

The filing didn’t say what the documents are and why they would cost Sony so much.

In addition to user demographics and other personal data, Microsoft also tried forcing Sony to provide performance and leadership assessments, which Sony called “obvious harassment.” The latest filing calls on the court to “quash or limit” Microsoft’s subpoenas.

The filing comes just days after a U.K. regulatory commission recommended the Microsoft-Activision deal either be blocked or that Microsoft sell off portions of the business to avoid potential harm to competition. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick told the commission it was making a mistake and would turn the country into a tech wasteland. The FTC, the U.K. commission, and the European Union’s regulatory body are expected to issue their final rulings in April 2023.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Two Sony patents show plans for PlayStation helper mode and predictive streaming suggestions

Two new Sony patents, filed today, suggest the PlayStation developer has big plans for streaming integration on the console.

Two new Sony patents, filed today, suggest the PlayStation developer has big plans for streaming integration on the console. One shows the design for a ‘helper mode’ where viewers would be able to effectively call in to streamers and give them assistance on the game they are streaming. The other is for a system that would recommend game streams based on the game a player was just in – maybe even the specific section they were playing.

Helper mode does not appear to allow for actual shared control of the game, being simply for “initiating a private communication channel between the spectator client device and the player client device to enable communication between the spectator and the player.” Of note, neither actually specifically reference the PlayStation – so you could be watching on a mobile device and call in to your mate to tell them what they’re doing wrong.

The stream recommendation is a little more complicated, and a little harder to parse. In essence it’s just recommending live video game streams based on preferences of a user – which isn’t exactly new technology. However, the key phrase is “determining a prioritization of the plurality of game streams based on the recognized gameplay activity.” This suggests looking at the actual recent play activity and recommending based on that, rather than simply what game was picked.

Of course, these patents were only just filed, and they could be years off being implemented or even simply made to cover technology that Sony already has out there in their various devices. Still, an interesting glimpse into what might come next.

Written by Ben Barrett on behalf of GLHF.

Sony is moving into the PC gaming hardware market

Sony has announced a new line of PC gaming hardware.

Sony has announced a new line of PC gaming hardware, which is compatible with the PS5, in the hopes of moving into the PC gaming market.

The new brand of hardware is called Inzone and currently includes two kinds of 27” monitor and three types of gaming headset. According to a report by The Washington Post, this hardware line has been in the works since 2019, with Sony attempting to break into the lucrative esports community. The name is said to refer to gamers being “in the zone”.

Speaking to the Post, Sony’s president of home entertainment and sound, Kazuo Kii, explained Sony’s decision, “We are entering the gaming gear industry with monitors and headsets at an exciting time, since gaming and esports have gotten even more popular over the last few years.”

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Sony has historically stuck to the console gaming market, often doing little to promote playing its games on PC. Customers used to be able to stream Sony games to PC via the PlayStation Now service. However, since the rebrand of its subscription services, players now have to pay out for the most expensive Premium service to do the same.

Despite this, Sony has slowly been seeing the advantages of courting the PC gaming market. In January, the PC port of Sony’s exclusive God Of War became its most popular game on Steam. It quickly overtook the 2020 PC port of Horizon Zero Dawn, which previously held the title of Sony’s most popular port.

Kii explained that he hopes that the quality of Sony’s products will encourage gamers to see the company as a key figure in the PC gaming market, despite historically shunning this section. “We are not saying we are not focusing on the PS5 users,” he said. “But because we are latecomers to monitors and headphones for [the] gaming segment, we believe we have a chance to catch up.”

Sony’s monitors start at $529 for HD and $899 for 4K, while the headsets range from $99 for wired, and go up to $299 for a set of wireless noise-canceling cans.

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.

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Sony’s $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie is reportedly under federal investigation

As consolidation concerns grow within the games industry, the agency is being thorough.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reportedly investigating Sony’s upcoming purchase of Bungie.

Sources told The Information that the FTC is looking for more details regarding Sony’s $3.6 million acquisition, potentially delaying the deal’s close by several months. While Sony never gave a closing date for the transaction, it could reportedly be pushed well into next year.

This investigation undoubtedly signifies that the FTC is taking a more aggressive stance regarding massive mergers with the games industry. We already see it happening with Microsoft’s buyout of Activision Blizzard, and while stockholders approved the proposal, Wall Street is betting it’ll fail.

The FTC reportedly has concerns regarding Sony’s intentions with this purchase, specifically whether Bungie titles will continue to be released on competing platforms like PC and Xbox. Destiny 2 will remain multiplatform for sure, but anything beyond that is unknown. Sony is preparing to launch 10 live-service games by 2026, and Bungie will likely help with all that.

While it’s unlikely that this deal will crumble, the FTC is clearly scrutinizing these massive acquisitions like never before. There’s been growing concern about the games industry’s potential consolidation, and the FTC probably shares many of them.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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