Sony Dropping PSP Price To $129

Sony has substantially cut the price of its PlayStation Portable.

Starting Sunday, consumers can get their hands on the portable-gaming device for $129.99--the same price as the Nintendo DS Lite. The PSP currently sells for $169.99.

In addition, Sony has added 13 titles, including Assassin's Creed Bloodlines and Dissidia Final Fantasy, to its "Greatest Hits" and "Favorites" lines of games. Titles in the Greatest Hits list will retail for $19.99, while titles in the Favorites line will go for $9.99.

Sony has shipped 23 million PSP units to the U.S. and 67.8 million units worldwide since the device launched in 2005. North American customers have a catalog of 590 games, the company said today.

The decision to drop the price may result from Sony's diminishing sales of the device over the past year. Sales in the U.S. have been easily overshadowed by Nintendo's DS, the leader in the mobile-gaming space.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter reported last week that he believes Sony sold just 80,000 PSP units in the U.S. last month, down 20 percent from January 2010. Last August, the final month in which market researcher NPD publicly reported hardware sales figures, Sony sold just 79,400 PSP units. It had sold 140,300 PSP units in August 2009.

The PSP has also let down video game retailer GameStop. Bob McKenzie, the retailer's senior vice president of merchandising and marketing, said late last year that the number of titles released for the PSP in 2010 was a "disappointment."

In an attempt to change its luck in the mobile market, Sony unveiled the Next Generation Portable in January. The device is a follow-up to the PSP and includes dual thumbsticks, 3G connectivity, a touch screen, and two cameras. It also comes with an improved display over that of the current PSP. Sony said at the time that the platform would feature PlayStation 3-like graphical capability.

The new device is scheduled to launch at year's end.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20036377-17.html#ixzz1FI0pyQ3P

Geohot Starts Blog, Raises Cash For Legal Fees

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(Credit: CNET)

George Hotz, better known by his hacker name "Geohot," started a blog over the weekend to fire shots at Sony and raise cash for his legal bout with the company.

Hotz launched his new blog on Friday with a flurry of posts outlining his stance against Sony. His first post, entitled "This is war," claims that Sony Computer Entertainment America "has declared war on hackers." He followed that up with three "facts" that he believes, everyone should know about him.

"I have never pirated a PlayStation 3 game in my life, nor helped or encouraged people to do so," he wrote. "I have never played PlayStation online, nevermind cheated, nor helped or encouraged peopled to do so. I have never hacked anything that I did not own or without consent of the owner."

Those statements are integral to Hotz's case with Sony. Last month, Sony requested a restraining order against Hotz for releasing a jailbreak for firmware version 3.55 that allowed people to run homebrew applications on the console. Sony said that the move violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Computer Fraud Abuse Act. The company also asserted that Hotz's actions would allow gamers to run pirated copies of games on the hardware.

For his part, Hotz has said from the beginning that the PlayStation 3 should be no different than a mobile phone, which is a closed system, like the game console, and is explicitly allowed to be jailbroken under DMCA regulations. Game consoles are not mentioned in the DMCA, which seemingly paved the way for Sony to take aim at Hotz.

Over the past month, both sides had been fighting in courts over whether Hotz was wrong for releasing the jailbreak. After some jabs back and forth, a U.S. District Court ruled in Sony's favor, granting a temporary restraining order and forcing Hotz to remove all mention of his jailbreak from the Web.

But as Hotz pointed out on his blog, the cost of battling with Sony in court is high. As a result, he has asked people to help fund his defense.

"Sony has five lawyers, I have two," Hotz wrote on his Web site, announcing the donation drive. "I'd like to level the playing field, and really get some hard hitters in there. I have already racked up over $10,000 in legal bills; donate whatever you feel like."

Those efforts to raise cash have apparetnly gone well. Hotz announced yesterday on his blog that he closed the "first round of donations." He said that "things are looking up money-wise" and he expects to be able to hire more attorneys for his case.

Though now apparently flush with cash, Hotz doesn't seem quite ready to roll over to Sony just yet. In a series of questions and answers on his Web site, Hotz said that he believes "Sony is lame." And he made it clear that he thinks Sony's decision to target him is a case of the company suing "the wrong guy."

"I am an advocate against mass piracy, do not distribute anyone's copyrighted work but my own, and am even pro DRM in a sense," Hotz wrote. "For example, I believe Apple has every right to lock down their iPhone in the factory as much as they want, but once it's paid for and mine, I have the right to unlock it, smash it, jailbreak it, look at it, and hack on it."

Sony did not immediately return a request for comment.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20034680-17.html#ixzz1Ej9Bykem

IBM's Watson Bores As 'Jeopardy' Big Shot Sherlock

Watching IBM's Watson supercomputer make its debut tonight on "Jeopardy," one thought dominated: why, oh, why did they make him sound like Hal's diffident nephew?

This was the future freaks' big chance to make themselves acceptable to the human race. This was national television.

Watson had been created by human beings who pride themselves in their ability to teach a machine, rather than a child, to be as smart as they are. So why did they not think about giving Watson a little character? A shock of long, green hair, perhaps. Oversize purple ears would have been a plus.

At the worst, a voice resembling Morgan Freeman with a lisp would have been welcome.

Instead, this technological Trojan Horse presented himself to a nationwide audience with all the presence of boiled soot.

To be fair, it wasn't even Watson before the cameras. It was an avatar created to represent him, as his vast bulk and din wouldn't have made this a TV event for the aged, never mind the ages.

I understand that many scientists will have felt entirely giddy at the idea that a computer could compete against two "Jeopardy" superstars: a nice man from Seattle and an equally nice man who used to live in Pennsylvania but is now is hoping to be a TV star in LA.

But if this is the future, some might wish to google details of that elegant euthanasia clinic in Switzerland.

Watson performed very well. If, by performance, you mean getting quite a lot of "Jeopardy" conundrums correct.

Watson in rehearsals. He's the one in the middle.

(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET)

Former "Jeopardy" champion Ken Jennings, the man with a preacher's side parting and the remnants of Conan's ginger hair, stood transfixed as Watson beat him to question after question, answer after answer.

However, this is a best of three. And Jennings and fellow humanoid competitor Brad Rutter allowed the machine to strut its stuff. They knew he had to falter. This machine had never seen the bright lights before.

Perhaps sweating backstage while his avatar faced the orchestra, Watson suddenly managed to repeat one of Jennings' wrong answers.

"No, Ken said that," explained Alex Trebek, the professorial host of "Jeopardy."

If Watson had wanted to endear himself to the world, his programmers might have given him a line like: "Silly, me. I'm just a stupid ole' piece of metal."

Instead, he stood there like a nerd who's been looking for the local chess club and has stumbled into the Playboy mansion.

This first show was a little stunted, as Trebek spent considerable minutes explaining to the audience why the less familiar contestant was less expressive than some but more expensive than all.

It was a fine ad for the forthcoming IBM empire, though those with eyes for these things would have been more warmed by the footage of IBM's engineers preparing for Watson's big day. Most of them had PCs, but one was definitely stroking a Mac.

Watson's dilemma, which became increasingly clear as the show went on, was that he has to have a certain level of probability before pressing his button. Machines don't guess. That would be far too blessedly human.

The mean-spirited (i.e. excessively human) might have rejoiced on one particular exchange.

The contestants were asked to find the question to: "From the Latin for end, this is where trains can also originate."

Watson, still impassive, but allegedly 97 percent confident (his confidence levels were shown on screen when the clues were given), replied: "What is finis?" He should have considered terminus.

This was only the beginning. Tomorrow is Double and Finis Jeopardy. Wednesday, there's more. Even now, Watson is tied with Rutter on $5,000 and $3,000 ahead of the mesmerizing Jennings.

Can this possibly end well?

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20031932-71.html#ixzz1EAMqdhgI

Sony Ships 150 Millionth PlayStation 2

Sony's PlayStation 2--yes, 2--has reached a milestone.

The company announced today that it had shipped 150 million units of the console as of January 31. That's since its launch in Japan in March 2000.

The PlayStation 2's longevity has been nothing short of astounding. Nearly 11 years after launch, the PlayStation 2 is still available for purchase for $99.99. The console trails far behind the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, and Sony's PlayStation 3 in total sales each month these days, but it still has a strong presence in the Middle East, South America, and other areas around the world.

Part of the success of the PlayStation 2 has been due to the immense support third-party developers brought to the console. According to Sony, there are currently more than 10,800 titles developed for the PlayStation 2. Through the end of 2010, over 1.52 billion PlayStation 2 software units had been sold.

Keeping the PlayStation 2 relevant for more than a decade has always been Sony's plan with the console.

"We at PlayStation have never subscribed to the concept that a console should last only five years," Patrick Seybold, senior director of corporate communications for Sony Computer Entertainment, said in an interview with CNET last year. "Both the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2 had life cycles of more than 10 years, and PlayStation 3 will as well.

"The 10-year life cycle is a commitment we've made with every PlayStaiton consumer to date, and it's part of our philosophy that we provide hardware that will stand the test of time providing that fun experience you get from day one for the next decade," he continued.

Whether the PlayStation 3 will be able to stand the test of time the way remains to be seen. Whereas the PlayStation 2 dominated console sales, the PlayStation 3 has not. The PS3 has consistently trailed behind the Xbox 360 and Wii in the U.S.

However, the PlayStation 3 isn't exactly running out of steam. For its fiscal year that ends March 31, Sony expects to have sold 15 million PlayStation 3 units. It sold 13 million units during its previous fiscal year.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20031759-17.html#ixzz1DyhAABzJ

Sony Mistakenly Retweets PS3 Jailbreak Code

Whoops.

Kevin Butler, Sony's fictional spokesman and vice president of several fake departments who appears frequently in PlayStation 3 commercials, retweeted the console's jailbreak code last night after apparently believing that it was a reference to the board game, "Battleship."

"Lemme guess, you sank my battleship?" read the tweet on @TheKevinButler. It was followed by the complete code, which had been tweeted to Sony's account by user @exiva. The user, whose name is Travis La Marr, according to his Twitter page, followed the code with a message to Sony: "come at me."

After realizing its mistake, Sony removed the tweet from Kevin Butler's Twitter feed. The company did not mention its error and instead went back to cracking jokes about the PlayStation 3, as it normally does in that Twitter account. However, people did capture screenshots before Sony removed the tweet.

Sony's mistake is all the more glaring, considering the company is so sensitive about the jailbreaking that continues on its PlayStation 3.

Last month, Sony requested a restraining order against famed hacker George Hotz, also known as Geohot, for creating a jailbreak that allows people to run custom packages on the PlayStation 3. Sony alleged that the jailbreak violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and asked a court to stop Hotz from making anything related to his hack available on the Web.

Hotz took issue with Sony's claim that his jailbreak violated DMCA, asserting that his solution was a jailbreak for a closed system, just like any jailbreak for mobile phones, which are explicitly allowed by DMCA.

After some jousting between Hotz's and Sony's attorneys, a U.S. District Court granted Sony a temporary restraining order. Hotz has since removed all mentions of the jailbreak from his site.

But if Sony really wants to stop the jailbreaking, it should probably stop tweeting the code itself.



Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20031148-17.html#ixzz1Db1mX5i9

Black Ops Nabs Xbox Live's Top Spot Of 2010

Call of Duty: Black Ops has broken sales records and been lauded by reviewers since debuting in November. Now, Microsoft has named it Xbox Live's top title of 2010.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is aiming high.
(Credit: Activision)

According to data compiled by Xbox Live's director of programming, Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, Black Ops beat out the likes of Halo: Reach, Red Dead: Redemption, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 to secure the top spot.

Nelson formed the list by compiling the number of unique users logged in each game's first seven days. This strays from the lists posted in 2008 and 2009, which displayed a full year's worth of data.

Nelson defended his methodology by saying, "I did the first seven days since that is a way to normalize the data and give all games a fair chance."


Source: http://www.news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20030567-1.html