Tag: Technology
Random Kill It with Fire! Scientists Grow Brain Cells That Can Play Pong
This won't end well
There wouldn’t be PlayStation without Pong, but there may not be humans if scientists don’t slow down. Well, not natural ones anyway. A team of boffins from the company Cortical Labs have created a lab-grown brain capable of playing Atari’s classic arcade cabinet. In what sounds like the premise to a horror movie, the...
News Square Enix Showcases PS5's Possibilities with Tech Demo
A glimpse of next-gen?
It's rumoured that the PlayStation 5's graphics chip will sit somewhere between GeForce's latest GPUs: the RTX 2070 and the RTX 2080. This tech demo published by Square Enix studio Luminous Productions is fascinating, then, as it's leveraging the latter's considerable horsepower. It's running on the Luminous Engine, which the...
News Sony Showed Gran Turismo Sport Running in 8K at 120 Frames-Per-Second
A glimpse of PS6?
Sony has potentially teased a glimpse of what a future PlayStation could deliver, by demoing Gran Turismo Sport in an eye-melting 8K at a blistering 120 frames-per-second. At an event in Tokyo focusing on outrageous consumer electronics, the Japanese giant showcased its new Crystal LED Display System with footage of Polyphony...
Weirdness This Is What CES 2018 Looks Like When the Power Goes Out
Lights out
If you’ve ever been to an electronics convention before, you’ll know that they’re filled with loud music and flashing lights. What happens, then, when the power goes out? Well, that’s exactly what occurred at CES 2018 in Las Vegas earlier today, where parts of the South and Central Halls were plunged into darkness. Honestly,...
News Sony's Robot Dog Draws Crowds at CES 2018
Give a dog a bone
Sony brought Aibo, its luxury robot dog, along to CES 2018 so it could show off the pup's abilities to a Western audience. Aibo was previously available as a somewhat limited product in Japan, where it reportedly sold quite well, despite being priced at around the yen equivalent of $1,800. According to various websites who...
News Sony Announced a $30,000 4K Projector at CES 2018
Cheap and cheerful
If you scoff at high-end OLED televisions, then perhaps you may be tempted by Sony’s new $30,000 short-throw projector. The uber-expensive device outputs in 4K (of course) at a peak brightness of 2,500 lumens, and can display images of up to 120-inches. It was announced at CES 2018 overnight, alongside a slew of other products...
Weirdness After 40 Years, Sony's Finally Killing Off Betamax
Cassette decked
Here's one for our younger readers: before Netflix there were DVDs, and before DVDs there were VHS tapes. But before all of that, in 1975, there were Betamax cassettes. Sony created these as a means to record and playback video, but while the format was considered superior in some regards, it lost a very fierce war against JVC's VHS...
News This Portable PS4 Projector Will Let You Play Anywhere
Never stop playing
Even under the much more conservative leadership of former PlayStation president Kaz Hirai, Sony can't resist the odd pointless gimmick. Take this pocketable projector, which is about the size of a couple of smartphones and is being marketed alongside the PlayStation 4. Due out in October, the MPCL1 isn't exactly cheap at $350,...
News Tom Clancy's The Division Hints at What Your PS4 Can Do
Snow way
If the PlayStation 4 has yet to impress you from a visual perspective, then you may want to sit tight until Massive Entertainment’s tactical third-person shooter Tom Clancy’s The Division deploys next year. Developed using a brand new engine named Snowdrop, the upcoming release aims to introduce you to a world built specifically for...
News EyeToy Creator Wants You to Play PS4 Games with Your Eyes
Look left, look right
While we didn’t get a look at the rumoured PlayStation 4 headset during last night’s Spike TV launch livestream, host Geoff Keighley did take us on a tour of the platform holder’s brand new Magic Lab research and development department. Fronted by EyeToy creator Richard Marks,
News Sony's Latest HMZ-T3 Headset Will Cost You a Measly £1,300
A sign of things to come
Before the confusion kicks in, allow us to offer some clarification: the Sony HMZ-T3 is not the company’s rumoured PlayStation 4 headset. Instead, this is the latest version of its personal viewer line, which it’s been quietly dabbling with for a while. The space-age device was on display at the IFA 2013 convention in...
News Sony Wants You to Be Able to Store 300GB of Data on a Disc
Lots of spin
Blu-ray is officially old news, as Sony has announced plans to introduce a higher-capacity physical storage format by the end of 2015. According to the BBC, the Japanese giant has teamed up with Panasonic to produce a new breed of optical discs that could store up to 300GB of data. For comparative purposes, existing double-layer...
News So, That PlayStation 4 RAM Saga Is Still Rolling
Paracetamol recommended
Does anyone have a headache yet? We feel like we’ve been ten rounds with Mike Tyson, and then forced to sit an advanced mathematics class at Oxford University. We succinctly summarised yesterday’s next generation RAM saga in a post late last night, but the details have changed ever so slightly today. Strap yourselves in...
News PS4 Offers 5.5GB GDDR5 RAM to Developers, But Don't Lose Your Mind
New information about Sony's system isn't the end of the world
The winning streak had to come to a climax at some point, and many are pulling out their pitchforks in anticipation of that this evening. There were some mumblings on NeoGAF overnight regarding an imminent “console memory drama”, and that manifested itself earlier today in the form...
News Sony Almost Included Sweat Sensors on the PS4 Controller
Something to get your juices flowing
As we mentioned in our recent hands-on article, the PlayStation 4's controller is an outstanding refinement over the DualShock 3. However, platform holder Sony trialled a number of ideas before settling upon the current configuration – including a device that detected your stress levels based on how much...
News There's a Secret Room Inside Naughty Dog That's As Cold As ICE
The department that makes PlayStation's first-party tick
Sony’s fabled ICE Team has always remained something of a mystery. While the platform holder’s acknowledged the existence of the technology-focused unit in the past, it’s never been entirely clear about how the Naughty Dog-based department came to exist. However, speaking as part of a...
News Call of Duty Could Look As Good As This in the Future
Pick up your jaw
Believe it or not, Activision is not content with recycling the same Call of Duty engine over and over again. The organisation’s research and development department has been hard at work on some futuristic facial technology, and while it’s going to be a long time before we see anything as good as this in the publisher’s...
News Geomerics Illuminates Impressive PS4 Lighting Demo
Shining some light on the system
It’s been almost exactly a month since we got our first look at the PlayStation 4, no doubt leaving many of you eager for your second glimpse at the console in action. Fortunately, lighting specialist Geomerics has released a demonstration of its new next generation real-time global illumination engine, Enlighten...
News PS4 Will 'Out-Power Most PCs for Years to Come', Says Just Cause Developer
Avalanche Studios particularly impressed with Sony's next generation hardware
Linus Blomberg, a leading technical officer at Just Cause 2 developer Avalanche Studios, is seriously excited for the PlayStation 4. In an interview with GamingBolt, the employee praised the platform’s developer-friendly environment and the vision behind the console’s...
News You'll Be Able to Download 100GB Movies to Your PlayStation 4
The future is 4K, apparently
You won’t be able to play games in the fledgling 4K format on the PlayStation 4, but you absolutely will be able to watch videos in the swanky resolution via the system. And, speaking with The Verge, Sony’s Phil Molyneux has hinted that the next generation platform will take advantage of the conglomerate’s...
News Sony Bets the Bank on 4K Technology at CES
Through the looking glass
No, the PlayStation 4 was not announced during Sony’s widely publicised CES press conference in Las Vegas last night. But while the manufacturer failed to mention its range of PlayStation platforms in any meaningful capacity, it still offered a hint at what we can expect from its next console – and that’s 4K...
News Sony Patents Biometric Player Identification Technology
Big brother
If you’re tired of inputting passwords and illegible CAPTCHA codes, then Sony has a solution that just might interest you. The platform holder has registered a patent for a technology that would allow various consumer electronics devices (including
News Sony's LiveAction AR Will Blow Your Mind
The future
Sony’s been meddling with augmented reality for years, and this brand new LiveAction AR trailer shows just how far the company's come. The footage shows a poster being scanned with a smartphone, only for a lady inexplicably dressed as a schoolgirl to climb out of the display and pose for a photograph. It’s really creepy, but the...
News This Chinese Handheld Looks Pretty Familiar
Copy cat
Meet the DROID X360, a dodgy new device designed by Chinese manufacturer Long Xun Software. The handheld unit – which boasts a striking resemblance to the PlayStation Vita – runs Android 4.0 and comes pre-loaded with an array of illegal emulators. It has a 5" multitouch capacitive screen, front and rear facing cameras, and 8GB of...
News Watch Left 4 Dead Running on PlayStation Vita
Endless possibilities
If you thought PlayStation Mobile (formerly PlayStation Suite) was merely a limited software development kit designed to get indie titles running on the Vita, then you might need to adjust your expectations. One technical magician has managed to build a remote play-esque application that allows PC shooter Left 4 Dead to run on...
News Square Enix Reveals the Future of Final Fantasy
Treat your senses
If Square Enix’s real-time Luminous Technology demonstration is representative of the visual fidelity we can expect from PlayStation 4, then wake us up when the next console comes around. The Japanese company revealed the breath-taking demo below during a press demonstration at E3 in Los Angeles. Even more incredibly, chief...
News Epic Games to Demo Unreal Engine 4 at GDC
Behind closed doors
Epic Games has committed to showing off the next-gen version of its Unreal Engine 4 middleware technology at next week’s Game Developers Conference. Sadly, the presentation will be limited to “select licensees, partners and prospective customers” bound by strict NDAs. In short: we won’t be getting a glimpse at the new...
News Ever Wondered What A PlayStation Vita Looks Like Without Its Clothes?
As has become customary at every new hardware launch, images of a dismantled PlayStation Vita have emerged online
We were saddened to discover that the system is not powered by fairy-dust and the blood of Ken Kutaragi, but instead totally boring electronic parts. Still, make sure you enjoy these photographs: someone sacrificed their PlayStation Vita...
Rumour Microsoft Looking To Integrate Kinect Into Sony TVs
Take this one with a serious pinch of salt
According to a report on The Daily, Microsoft is looking to integrate its Kinect technology into next-generation televisions from the likes of Vizio and, erm, Sony. The report claims that Microsoft is looking to aggressively push the Kinect into as many living rooms as possible", including those...
News NGP Camera Utilised in Resistance and Uncharted
What will you see?
The NGP will feature two cameras, one front-facing and one in the back, and it appears that the Uncharted and Resistance titles coming to the NGP will make use of at least one of the system’s cameras in one way or another. According to sources “close to Sony”, Resistance NGP will allow players to use the camera to pick up...
News Sony Ericsson Slaps March 31st Release Date On The Xperia Play In Britain
Sony Ericsson's confirmed it will launch the Xperia Play in Britain before the month's out, cutting things fine with a March 31st release date
The firm told MCV that the mobile-phone-coming-handheld-games-device will launch with six titles: Crash Bandicoot, FIFA '10 [apparently not '11 - Ed], Bruce Lee Dragon Warriors, Star Battalion, Tetris, and...
News Move Can Be Used to Measure the Earth's Rotation
Take that, Kinect!
Move's not had quite as many cool non-gaming applications as Kinect, but this video does a lot to redress the balance. As you know, the PlayStation Move controller contains plenty of motion-sensing technology, including a magnetic field sensor and three gyroscopes, which make it accurate enough to detect something none of us...
News Guerilla's Move Groundwork Started with On-Rails Killzone 2
Quickly abandoned
Guerilla Games' Killzone 3 looks set to raise the bar for motion-controlled shooters, but how did the company set about sketching out ideas for its pointer-based system? Lead programmer Tommy de Roos explained to Ars Technica that the studio began its experiments with past title Killzone 2, looking to create an on-rails version of...
News SEGA: Move is the Most Accurate Way to Play Virtua Tennis 4
So come out swinging
As Sega's flagship sporting franchise, Virtua Tennis 4 isn't just coming to Move: you'll also be able to play Virtua Tennis 4 on Kinect and Wii as well, but the game's producer Mie Kumagai believes Move has the edge. In an interview with Computer and Video Games, Kumagai explained that only Move offers the precision of a hand...
News These Are the NGP's Technical Specifications
Sony lifts the lid
Plenty of gamers will be curious about the hardware powering NGP games, so Sony has released the impressive statistics for what's inside the console. Headlining is the quad-core ARM Cortex CPU, a hugely powerful processor that should provide developers with plenty of scope for realising their visions. CPU ARM® Cortex™-A9 core...
News NaturalMotion's New Upgrade Could Bring Big Name Games to Move
Star Wars, GTA, Red Dead Redemption and more
NaturalMotion's Morpheme middleware (stick with us) just got an upgrade to version 3.0, with full support for PlayStation Move now included, meaning one of the industry's best behaviour engines just got better. If you've played Grand Theft Auto IV or Star Wars: The Force Unleashed you'll have encountered...
News Move's Lightsaber Game Will be "Damn Sight Better" than Kinect's
Says Move engineer
The demo of Kinect Star Wars caught the imagination of Jedi fans everywhere, and Move's augmented reality capabilities combined with its 1:1 controller tracking is surely a recipe for a great Star Wars game. But whose would be better? You'll never guess which one Sony engineer Anton Mikhailov would favour. In a brief chat with...
News Coldwood Interactive Sheds Light on The Fight
Transparencies, first-person view and more
Full body motion fighter The Fight: Lights Out is set to launch in Europe tomorrow with a North American release following on Tuesday, but previews have raised some issues with the game. One such gripe raised is the lack of transparent characters, making it tough to see what your fighter is doing from the...
News Making Move Work was Harder than Expected, says Designer
Getting controller in under budget proved tricky
It's not surprising to hear that PlayStation Move went through countless revisions before Sony settled on the design we all hold in our hands today: budget constraints, technical demands and more all contributed to Move's final form. Designer Yoshio Miyazaki, one of Sony's chief designers on the...
News Sony Warns Torne Users that Move May Cause Issues
Video recorder has problems
Out in Japan, Sony's Torne video recorder attachment for PS3 has been quite a hit, shifting 500,000 units over the past six months. More advanced than the PlayTV accessory seen in the West, it's about to encounter a major snag, however: PlayStation Move. Sony Japan has issued a statement to warn Torne users that using...
