It’s hard to imagine a company with a greater influence on consumer electronics than Sony. You can trace a direct line from the Walkman -- the first portable media player -- to the smartphone. Today Sony is a massive force in gaming, making the PlayStation and publishing games for it and other platforms. Sony image sensors are in iPhones as well as its own mirrorless cameras. Not to mention the OLED TVs; smartphones; noise-canceling headphones; music, tv, and film publishing; and, yes, robot dogs.
Sony’s shipping a new remote control with its 2023 lineup of Bravia TVs, and it comes with a button that leads you directly to Crunchyroll.
While it’s nice that at least one TV maker’s acknowledging us anime fans, it’s hard to view the move as anything other than a way for Sony to promote another one of its businesses.
Sony has published a new PS3 firmware update today, version 4.90. The notes just say the update “improves system performance,” but it comes weeks after methods to extract working PS2 and PS1 BIOS from PS3 firmware were discovered. That’s got PS3 owners wondering exactly what’s in Sony’s latest firmware update.
Interestingly, you can still only buy it direct from Sony as of today. Here’s our review, our Vergecast segment, and our thoughts on Horizon Call of the Mountain and Gran Turismo 7.
Some other easy day-one recommendations: What The Bat, Thumper, The Last Clockwinder... and for relaxing times, make it Tetris Effect.
Sony broke from tradition and didn’t announce new TVs at CES 2023. Instead, its keynote was used as a showcase for Afeela. But according to the company’s UK Twitter account, you can expect to get the full details for Sony’s latest Bravia XR lineup on March 1st. Prepare yourselves for some very nice screens.
Microsoft is hoping two gaming giants will help get its Activision Blizzard deal across the line with regulators in Europe.
[W]e’re excited to share that the rear buttons of the just-released PlayStation DualSense Edge controller will be supported soon, too!
Hopefully, the Stadia Controller will be next.
Console VR is back — and better than ever.
Finally, a Horizon VR you’ll want to hang out in.
Let Sean’s calming voice guide you through this unpackaging and setup experience. Ahhh.
We’re trying out Sony’s new PlayStation VR2 headset this week. The $549.99 headset is due to launch on February 22nd with an OLED screen, a 110-degree field of view, and 4K HDR support. Stay tuned for our full review soon, and until then check out our initial hands-on from September.
From Sony’s new PSVR2 Ultimate FAQ:
Yes, similar to the thousands of tiny PlayStation symbols we added to the surfaces of the PS5 console and DualSense controller, we also included tiny PlayStation symbols to the front and back bands of the PS VR2 headset. This adds a texture for a tactile feel for you to enjoy.
We put those tiny symbols under the microscope — literally! — in 2021.
While the $200 PS5 gamepad still uses drift-prone potentiometers for its analog joysticks and triggers, iFixit found they do have magnetic Hall Effect sensors instead of buttons for their full trigger press.
Oh, and the haptic motors are no longer soldered to the board. Add the modular thumbsticks, and this pad’s relatively repairable!
Artist Retroldtech produces and sells tiny scale models of retro gaming consoles, and they decided to take a crack at a model from Sony’s iconic video monitor line.
Is the screen real? Can you plug your MiSTer or old consoles into it? No, but it looks fun and comes with your choice of six swappable screens. Get this and save money so you can buy a VGA monitor and maybe a Retrotink 5x instead.
Slightly worse battery life aside, I’m a big fan of almost everything Sony did to improve on the already-great DualSense.
It’s easy to be cynical about Sony’s entry into the automotive world. Even the name — Afeela — evokes more eye rolls than serious expressions. But here’s why you should take it seriously.
