Tag: Sony

Feeding the Rumor Mill: Playstation Now and the Possible Downloads


Playstation Now is Sony’s streaming games service and answer to the lack of backwards compatibility from the Playstation 4 to the Playstation 3, its subscription service allowing you to play titles from the PS4, PS3, and PS2 on your PS4 or PC. All this for $20 a month.

In another life, Playstation Now had the added benefit that it could be played on a ton of a devices, making up for the streaming nature by supporting the PS3, PS Vita, PS TV, Sony Bravia TVs, Sony Blu Ray Players, and Samsung TV models, among other devices that I am no doubt forgetting. Then Sony in one fell swoop cancelled support for every single device outside of the PC and PS4, making Playstation Now a service that costs twice as much as the Xbox Game Pass and delivers an arguably lower quality service at higher prices. While Playstation Now offers a wider library, over 500 titles compared to over 100 on Game Pass, the fact that you are streaming titles means the quality of your experience is directly tied to your router’s performance and Sony’s servers.

So the rumor mill is churning this week and decided to toss out the delicious news that Sony is working on the ability to download games, ala Playstation Plus, for its PS Now customers. The updated will apparently be coming sometime later this year, probably after September, and will start with PS4 games only.

If Sony goes down this route, it would be a marked improvement for Playstation Now as a service. People who want to keep streaming their games can do so, those who don’t mind waiting for the download so they don’t have to deal with fracturing visuals and lag can have their cake and download it too.

How do you feel about the Playstation Now service as it is, well, now? Would you consider subscribing if it wasn’t reliant on streaming?

H1Z1 Strikes 1.5 Million Playstation 4 Systems


H1Z1 has officially hit the Playstation 4 and in the 24 hours since open beta began more than 1.5 million players have downloaded the game to their system.

“This is an incredible milestone and we want to thank all of our player who helped make this possible,” said H1Z1 Producer Terrence Yee. “We believe we’ve found the right balance for battle royale on console and players have responded positively to our reimagining of H1Z1. We will continue to refine the game based on feedback from Open Beta to ensure the best experience possible for our actively growing community.”

Redesigned for the PS4, H1Z1 features more weapons, a reworked user interface, and faster paced gameplay. The open beta can be downloaded for free on Playstation.

(Source: H1Z1 Press Release)

FTC Warns Console Manufacturers: Your Warranties Are Illegal, Change Them


The Federal Trade Commission has issued a warning to console manufacturers: Your warranties are illegal and must be altered within 30 days. The letters were sent to all three console manufacturers: Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo along with Hyundai, HTC, and Asus according to a Freedom of Information request sent by Vice.

The FTC warning is in relation to provisions in each company’s terms of service that claims to void your warranty if it is repaired by a third party, as well as those fancy “warranty void if broken” stickers that we have all seen on our consoles at some point. This language is illegal, according to the FTC, who also note in their letter that the 30 day provision does not prevent them from taking legal action on any past or future violations.

“Provisions that tie warranty coverage to the use of particular products or services harm both consumers who pay more for them as well as the small businesses who offer competing products and services,” said Thomas B. Pahl, Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

All six companies have 30 days to change their policy or face legal action.

(Source: FTC, Vice)

Sony Starts Automatic Refunds For Marvel Heroes Omega


MMO Fallout can confirm via Sony that purchases from Marvel Heroes Omega will be automatically refunded going back to August 17. Users affected by this should be receiving an automatic message similar to the one above soon if they haven’t already, confirming that their accounts will be credited. As stated in the above message, purchases between August and October 17 will be refunded to the wallet while purchases after October 17 will be refunded to the original payment source, except in cases where said source is unavailable.

Marvel Heroes Omega launched earlier this year on Playstation and Xbox, barely lasting six months into its life before the sudden announcement that Gazillion would be closing up shop and shutting down the servers. While Microsoft was quick to hand out refunds, Sony has up until now been reluctant to offer players compensation for their purchases.

[Humor] Broadsword Games Plagiarizes Sony’s Terms of Service


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It isn’t too unsurprising to see a smaller game developer plagiarize a larger company’s legal agreements, but it is hilarious when they forget to take out key words such as the company’s name. MMO Fallout has been covering these incidences since way back in 2010 with Quest Online stealing the fourth pillar speech from Bioware, and since I tend to receive nasty letters from humorless lawyers whenever this story comes up, I’d like to reiterate the humor tag at the top of the page. This is all in good fun.

Broadsword Entertainment has been caught plagiarizing Sony’s terms of service for the Playstation Network from 2013. The original you can read here:

NOTE: THIS AGREEMENT CONTAINS A BINDING INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER PROVISION IN SECTION 17 THAT AFFECTS YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WITH RESPECT TO ANY “DISPUTE” (AS DEFINED BELOW) BETWEEN YOU AND SNEI, SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT INC., SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA LLC, THEIR AFFILIATES, PARENTS OR SUBSIDIARIES (COLLECTIVELY, “SONY ENTITIES”). YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO OPT OUT OF THE BINDING ARBITRATION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER PROVISIONS AS DESCRIBED IN SECTION 17.

And the version in Ultima Online via this player’s screenshot. Goofs on legal pads are always funny, like when Star Vault threatened to punish in-game malfeasance with a ban from Eve Online.

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Overwatch: Square Enix And Sony To Face Off


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Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda and president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Asia Atsushi Morita will be squaring off in the battlefield later this week. As reported by our friends over at MMO Culture, the heads of both developers will be putting together their own teams of six to fight it out in Overwatch (presumably not on Xbox), with the event to be streamed live online.

This is not the first time that the two companies have met on the digital battlefield, playing a match on Call of Duty: Black Ops III on PS4 which ended in a major win for Square Enix. You can watch the highlights, it is quite the sight.

The announcement video is linked below, but you won’t understand any of it unless you speak Japanese.

(Source: MMO Culture)

Neverwinter Hits Playstation 4 On July 19th


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Perfect World Entertainment has announced that Neverwinter will be releasing on Playstation 4 on July 19th. The game will be available to early access users on July 12th with the purchase of a $20 Onyx Head Start Pack, with everyone else gaining access a week later.

The Playstation 4 edition will work all content from the main game, including eight classes and nine expansions.

The Onyx Head Start Pack will include the following items and will be available on July 12 for $19.99:

  • Head Start access to Neverwinter a week before the game launches
  • Fragile Onyx Weapon Pack
  • Onyx Keyring with 20 enchanted keys
  • Adventurer’s Helper Pack
  • Graycloak’s Legacy weapon
  • Onyx Horse mount
  • “The Onyx Adorned” title

Neverwinter is currently available on Xbox One and PC.

(Source: Neverwinter)

[Less Massive] Playstation Mobile Shutting Down September 10th


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Sony Computer Entertainment has announced that support for Playstation Mobile will be ending later this year. In an email sent out earlier today, customers have been notified that Sony will cease distributing content on the Playstation Mobile app on July 15, with full support for the platform ceasing on September 10th. Content purchased off of the platform will need to be downloaded and installed prior to the September cutoff date, as they will be unavailable after that date.

Refunds will not be provided for lost Playstation Mobile content. Playstation Mobile was an attempt by Sony to provide content to a number of platforms, including Android, Vita, and Playstation TV. The service never took off, even after Sony took steps to reach out to independent developers, including the removal of a license fee in 2013.

(Source: Sony email)

Sony Caps Fraud Refund At $150, Threatens To Ban Victim


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Sony is coming under some heavy fire after an account was stolen and used to rack up substantial charges, only to offer to reimburse a small portion of those funds. User Kadjar on Reddit noticed that his account was compromised when multiple purchase confirmations began popping up in his email. Acting quickly to remove on-file credit cards and change passwords, Kadjar contacted Sony support only to be told that his refund would be capped. Out of the $600 in fraudulent charges, they only offered $150 and as PSN currency.

If you read the transcript, ‘Malcom’ seems to indicate that the full amount could be refunded upon completion of the investigation. I called to confirm this, and the supervisor I spoke to informed me that there was a maximum of $150 even after investigation.

Further, the customer service rep Malcolm warns Kadjar that going through the bank to reverse the charges will result in his account being banned irrevocably, with no way to recover any licenses lost. Sony also refused to reactivate his Playstation onto the account until six months, which had been deactivated by the account thief and replaced with another system.

Sony does not currently offer two-factor authentication for its Playstation Network.

(Source: Reddit)

Planetside 2: “We Are Actually Trying To Make Money.”


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John Smedley went on Twitter today to defend SOE’s decision to reduce the drop rate and effectiveness on implants to push players toward newly introduced, more powerful variants. In response to complaints that the update was a cash grab, Smedley responded via Twitter:

Sorry but we are actually trying to make money. I don’t consider it a money grab.

Smedley later pointed out on Twitter that the changes were due to the original drop rates being too high.

(Source: Massively)

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