PlayStation 3 at Gameplanet NZ

Report: PlayStation 3 hacked. Again.

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 11:24:00 +1300

New reports claim Sony’s PlayStation 3 has been hacked again.

Eurogamer states that new custom firmware released by hackers overnight will allow compromised consoles to join the PlayStation Network, and that the release of LV0 decryption keys will allow jailbroken consoles to circumvent any future security updates made by Sony.

Eurogamer reports that this new custom firmware contains the current PSN passphrase, and that the release of the LV0 decryption keys means that any future security updates made by Sony should be quickly unravelled.

Sony reveals new super-slim PlayStation 3

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 10:44:00 +1200

Sony kicked off its Tokyo Game Show conference earlier today with the announcement of several new PlayStation 3 models, featuring a redesigned chassis which is 25% smaller and 20% lighter than the current slim model.

At 2.1kg it is half as heavy as the original full-fat PS3 console. It has a sliding disc cover which is said to save on space.

Two models will be coming to Australia, a 500GB hard drive version for AU$399.95, available from 27 September, and a 12GB flash memory version for AU$299.95, available from 18 October.

Is this the beginning of the end for PlayStation?

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:40:00 +1200

Sony has faced dwindling profits in its consumer electronics space in recent years, but the Japanese giant's PlayStation arm has usually been the bright spot in a gloomy forecast. However, as Dan Cheer discovers, Sony's poster division is now also floundering.

News out of Japan in the last couple of weeks places Sony at the edge of a crisis. The once-mighty PlayStation division has reported a significant downturn in sales ahead of relatively bare first-party holiday offerings.

Sony's PlayStation division posted an operating loss of US$45 million in the last quarter, with revenue sliding a substantial 14.5 per cent. It's important to note that the value of the Japanese Yen has soared past even the most positive predictions recently, and this has eaten into the profitability of both software and hardware – but even adjusting for currency movement, at least 10 percent of this decline is due to global consumer disinterest in PlayStation's offerings.

More concerning is that during the same quarter last year, Sony posted a US$52 million profit. Since then, the Vita handheld has entered the market. When seeking answers as to just how Sony can be facing such a dramatic change of fortune so quickly after releasing new hardware, several factors must be taken into consideration.