Sony | Mayank Ranpura IT Services

News Summary 6th January 2012

January 6, 2012 in Gaming, Technology

I’m going to try a new format of writing from now on. With the 2012 Consumer Electronic Show approaching, there are already plenty of tech related news articles storming the internet. Unfortunately, being a one man band, I don’t have enough hours in the day to write about every item and work on my portfolio. Therefore, I intend to write one article a day summarising the most interesting announcements made. If you have any suggestions or comments you can reply to this article or contact me via Facebook, Twitter or my website contact form.

1) RIM’s Blackberry Playbook tablet OS 2.0 will be revealed at CES. They will also provide more information and unveil new handsets based on BlackBerry OS 7. Furthermore reports have come in indicating only one handset will launch with BlackBerry OS 10 later this year. That handset will be the London which was leaked a while back. RIM have indicated OS 10 announcements will be postponed until Mobile World Congress 2012 next month.

2) Apple launched a new app for 99c on the App Store called GameStore. It was later removed from the store as it was put up prematurely. We know Apple will be holding a press conference soon so this very well may be an announcement for that event. Either way it is good news as users will be able to go to separate stores for applications and games. It should also help metric monitoring.

3) Corning are set to announce Gorilla Glass Version 2 next week. The original glass is used in some smart phones today and provides a highly durable and tough screen which resists from breaking upon impact. Version 2 promises to feature better touch functionality, larger panels for devices such as tablets and be slimmer to benefit device form factor.

4) Turtle Beach have announced updated version of their gaming headsets. The updated wireless versions feature a dual band receiver allowing users with plenty of wireless devices in the house to switch to the 5ghz frequency to eliminate interference. A new M range was also announced for listening on the go and will feature in line remotes to control music playback on iPhone and Android devices. An additional product is set to be unveiled live on Spike TV’s coverage next week.

5) Netflix app arrives on UK PS3′s. The service is not yet active but a launch is imminent.

6) Sony’s Kaz Hirai receives a promotion to President of Sony. Howard Stringer will remain CEO of the company.

Tags: 5ghz Wireless, Apple, BlackBerry, blackberry london, CES 2012, corning, GameStore, Gorilla Glass 2, Kaz Hirai, MWC, Netflix UK PS3, OS 10, OS 7, OS X, PlayBook, President, RIM, sony, Turtle Beach 2012
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PlayStation Vita Japanese Launch Figures

December 20, 2011 in Featured, Gaming, Technology

PS Vita Japanese Launch

The PlayStation Vita launched over the weekend in Japan. Sony have announced that they shipped 700,000 units and sales accounted for 321,400 units over the initial two day period. In comparison Nintendo’s 3DS launch figures were higher at 371,000 unit sales over the same two day launch period. That places the 3DS at roughly 50,000 units higher than the Vita.

Analysts blamed poor weather conditions as a factor? As with all new hardware, issues started cropping up on internet of system freezing, software bugs and unresponsive touchscreens. Sony apologised and have issued a mandatory firmware update, which many users found available to download instantly. The firm hope to have ironed out all the issues by the time the console launches in the UK and US in February.

Although it may have sold less units, there has been plenty of positive feedback from the Japanese fans and many highly anticipated launch titles will become available alongside the western release of the console. This gives Japan a lot to look forward too with Sony’s excellent launch offering.

Tags: japanese launch day sales, japanese launch figures, playstation vita, ps vita, sony
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Sony Say One Account Per Vita Again

December 20, 2011 in Gaming, Technology

Sony have changed their mind again as they retract the statement made at a press event and revert back to saying only one user account will be supported per PS Vita.

It was mentioned that accounts are tied to memory cards which in turn meant you could use a different memory card per account. Unfortunately Sony say that user information is stored on both, the Vita and memory card. This means to access a different account the user would have to reset their Vita to factory settings and format their memory card.

Tags: one psn per vita, one user per vita, playstation vita, ps vita, sony, vita user account
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Sony Buys Sony Ericsson

October 27, 2011 in Technology

Ten years ago Sony and Ericsson created a joint venture which held a strong position in the mobile phone sector. Today, Sony have purchased the 50% stake of Ericsson at a cost of €1.05 billion with further incentives including patent access and ownership. The separation will not be finalised until 2012 but this finally gives Sony that leeway to create a cross platform and product brand and strengthen itself as a company. Mobiles interacting with the PlayStation brand is a huge opportunity for Sony to exploit although there are still other requests for collaboration with other Sony product ranges.

Sony CEO Howard Stringer made the following statements “With a vibrant smartphone business and by gaining access to important strategic IP, notably a broad cross-license agreement, our four-screen strategy is in place. We can more rapidly and more widely offer consumers smart phones, laptops, tablets and televisions that seamlessly connect with one another and open up new worlds of online entertainment. This includes Sony’s own acclaimed network services, like the PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network.”

Tags: ericsson, sony, sony acquires ericsson, sony buys ericsson, sony ericsson
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Sony Raises PlayStation Trophy Cap

October 18, 2011 in Gaming

You may or may not have heard about Hakoom. He is a PlayStation player who managed to obtain a shocking amount of trophies and discover that you are capped at Level 50 before you do not level up anymore.

Some people say Hakoom is multiple people completing games on the same account. There is some level of cheating going on regardless because Hakoom’s trophy list include the same games completed using different region copies.

Currently sitting on 296 platinum trophies Hakoom noticed something different when he went to check his trophy card. His level which had previously been frozen at 50, has now increased to level 55.

There was a valid reason as to why the level cap had been set at 50. The amount of trophies Hakoom had obtained was the largest available int number and the system would be unable to process anything beyond that. It seems as Sony has reprogrammed the trophy system using a different variable type in order to increase the trophy cap.

The new trophy cap is a mystery but I’m sure we will find out from Hakoom eventually. As a comparison, I’ve had my PS3 since 2006 and play a large amount of games. My trophy level is 10, which makes it all the more plasuible that either Hakoom has NO life or he is more than one person operating on the same account.

More Info: Hakoom – http://www.hakoom.com/

Tags: cap raised, playstation, playstation trophy cap, sony, trophy, trophy cap, trophy cap raised
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