This is just to let the world know that I went out and got an iPhone last week.
Despite saying I wouldn’t get one, and despite lots of voices in my head shouting “Don’t do it! Your current phone does all those things anyway!”. I still went and got one. Sorry Orange, you did nothing wrong.
I love it though.
Whilst reading Eurogamer’s coverage of Sony’s TGS show, I noticed that they report this:
One feature that already exists to harness the PlayStation 3’s connectivity is Remote Play - a PSP function that allows users to operate their home consoles remotely. A portion of the speech was dedicated to demonstrating the free software, which can even be used to turn a PS3 on from standby remotely, and Sony’s director of product planning took the stage to illustrate its potential. In the future, gamers will conceivably be able to use a PS3 as a host platform for multiplayer sports games played out on their and their friends’ PSPs, while other users spectate.
Did I read that correctly?! It seems that Remote Play will be getting a very decent upgrade soon, that enables it to switch the PlayStation 3 console on and off remotely, from anywhere in the world. Great news. I can now officially keep all my PlayStation store downloads in check from wherever I am (without leaving my PS3 on at home and worrying that the house will burn down if it overheats…).
So when can we get it? My guess is that this next Remote Play feature will be bundled in the features for the magical PS3 2.0 firmware.
During the night at the Tokyo Game Show, Sony announced their new PlayStation 3 controller, the DUALSHOCK 3. Undoubtedly, their decision to bring out a DUALSHOCK enabled SIXAXIS was due to overwhelming demand from consumers (+1).
Phil Harrison once, 'famously' said: "Now, rumble I think was the last generation feature; it's not the next-generation feature.". Yes Phil, whatever you say...
The good news is that gamers 'upgrading' to a DUALSHOCK 3 SIXAXIS controller will get updates to let the best of their current games library work with rumble.
Let's have a look.
DUALSHOCK 3 Compatible titles:
The Darkness
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Soldier of Fortune
BIOHAZARD® 5
Devil May Cry® 4
N-Cube
Warbit
Dark Sector
Turok
Highlander
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
Burnout Paradise
FIFA franchise (title name TBD)
Legendary: The Box
To End All Wars
RAGE
WarDevil – Unleash the Beast Within
Dynasty Warriors 6
Fatal Inertia
METAL GEAR SOLID 4 GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS
Blacksite: Area 51
TNA Wrestling
Unreal Tournament 3
Wheelman
Cops (codename, title name TBD)
Planet One (codename, title name TBD)
Heroes over Europe
Condemned 2
Iron Man
The Club
The Crucible
The Incredible Hulk
Blast Factor (*1)
echochrome
Elefunk
Folklore (*1)
FORMULA ONE CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION (*1)
Go! Sports Ski (*1)
Heavenly Sword (*1)
High Velocity Bowling
MLB 08: The Show
MotorStorm (*1)
NBA 08 (*1)
PAIN
Rat Race
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Resistance: Fall of Man (*1)
Snakeball
SOCOM: Confrontation
Super Stardust HD (*1)
TOY HOME
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
Warhawk (*1)
WipEout HD
GirpShift®
NBA 2K8 Take
Destroy All Humans 3
Stuntman Ignition
Assassin’s Creed
BEOWULF
HAZE
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (*1)
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas (*1)
Prototype Vivendi Games
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
*1 Users will be able to enjoy the rumble feature through software update. *2 Actual titles to be released may vary among countries and regions.
Existing games like Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm really stand out that list, along with WarHawk, Super Stardust HD and Heavenly Sword. Future games Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Haze are clearly going to benefit from having DUALSHOCK. Fantastic. But... where is GT5 (Prologue) on that list?
Engadget managed to get themselves a hands on with the DUALSHOCK 3, see what they thought.
Sony, as expected, have just unveiled their new slimmer, lighter PSP. That'll be the, er, PSPtwo? Anyway - it's pretty much the same. The weight will make a difference but I can't help but feel disappointed that additional features have been left off.
Where's the built in flash memory? Bundling a 1Gb card is nice, but kinda old now.
Kotaku just posted some interesting (rumoured) details about the new PSP due out later this year. Sony have said a number of times now that a redesigned PSP (with the same hardware) is in the works but not yet announced any official details. I'm going to shamelessly rip the article right here and now:
Keep in mind this isn't Playstation Portable 2, but rather a redesign of the original, so it will be sporting the same internal hardware. But that's about the only thing that hasn't changed. The new Playstation Portable will have a much slimmer design, thanks mostly to a new LED screen that will deliver an ultra-crisp image but take up far less space. That LED also helps pump up the battery life of this sexy new model, which can last as much as four times longer than the original PSP. While the new PSP still makes use of the UMD drive, it will be a faster version and to help speed up loadtimes and gameplay, the portable will come packed with 8GBs of internal flash memory. Finally, the PSP's much maligned buttons have been revamped and the D-Pad has gotten a major overhaul, giving portable gamers something more like a Playstation 3 D-pad to play with.
So that's quite nice then.
The PSP get's it's remote play update today, as reported last week when the PlayStation 3 firmware 1.8 was announced. The update is currently on the Japanese website, and is expected to roll out globally today.
The Release notes look like this:
- Users
- Support has been added to allow remote play over the Internet in [Remote Play]
- [RSS channel guide] has been added as a feature under [RSS Channel]
The main feature of PSP firmware 3.5 now allows you to remotely access all of the media stored on your PlayStation 3, as well as use the internet browser and your friends list (with chat tools).
This video shows the login process, the proper video I made got screwed up so I'll try making another one later...
Oops!
Sorry, you need the Flash player to view this content.
It's simple this one. Like, really simple.
- Make sure your PlayStation 3 and your Windows XP machine are on the same network. For example: They should both be connecting via the same router.
- Download and install firmware 1.8 for your PlayStation 3. Restart and leave switched on.
- Download and install Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP
- Launch Windows Media Player 11, right click on the title bar and choose Tools then Options
- Click the Library tab, and then on Configure Sharing:
- Check the box that says Share my media, your PlayStation 3 should appear as an 'unknown device':
Select it and make sure that access is set to allow (You can select it and then choose Customize for further media sharing options). - Click on Settings to select which media on your PC you'd like to share:
Click OK when finished. - If you're not normally a Windows Media person, then you may need to configure your media library. Choose Manage Library from the Options Library Tab and this will let you select which folders you want Windows Media Player to scan through:
- Done! When you next return to your PlayStation 3, you should see a Windows Media Icon under each [Photo], [Music] and [Video] menu on the XMB.
Windows Media Player happily streams any compatable audio, photo and video files to your PS3. Whilst browsing you can see thumbnails of videos, and you can copy over what you want to the PlayStation 3 aswell, it'll even add the animated thumbnails to videos as you do so, how nice. Note: If you are using Internet Connection sharing between PS3 / PC, you'll need to disable the “Internet Gateway” entry in the network connection list. - Thanks to DG for that tip.
If it doesn't work, you can try scanning for media servers, but chances are there's a network problem if it doesn't pop up automatically... You can also use Nero MediaHome to stream content to PS3, though this is a paid for product it does have the benefit of offering transcoding on the fly, meaning it can potentially stream any content to your PS3.
Oh, and incase you were wondering, those screens were from XP, it's just that I use the Royale Noir Theme.
*UPDATE*
Lots of people are still enjoying this article, so thanks!
I'd should mention that TVeristy now offers what is probably the best media streaming functionality with PlayStation 3. It will stream a much wider range of media to your PlayStation 3 with much less effort. Download it for free over at: www.tversity.com.
If I get a chance, I'll do a 'How to', but no promises :)
Hardcoreware.net just posted this article about streaming media to PS3 from Windows Vista, using the latest firmware 1.8.
It seems that Vista supports DLNA after all, which will be a surprise for many. This is nice news for Vista owners.
Hot off the press is this release from Sony about Firmware 1.8 for the PlayStation 3, out tomorrow, May 24th!
After all the hoo-har last week about the rumoured 2.0 update, Sony have surprised everyone with the firmware update 1.8. Though of course - that's not to say that 2.0 won't be out with all those features too.
Anyway, 1.8 is out tomorrow and includes the much requested PS1/PS2/DVD upscaling plus REMOTE PLAY over the internet. Wow. After actually having the chance to ask Phil himself, and being wrongly told it was in 1.6, I'm chuffed they've pushed it in this update... Users wanting to share data over networks with other devices, such as PCs will be pleased to learn that the update supports all of this, and it complies to the DLNA3 standard, which is great news (no Microsoft software needed there).
Anyway. On with the news:
Latest PLAYSTATION 3 Firmware Update Provides PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and DVD Upscaling
Remote Play on PSP (PlayStation Portable) via the Internet and DLNA transfer of media content also enabled
London, 24 May 2007 – Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) announced today availability of the latest version of the PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) firmware. Version 1.80 features upscaling of PlayStation® and PlayStation 2 games, and DVD movies up to full 1080p HD resolution when viewed on a compatible HD TV set.
The capability to upscale DVDs to HD quality is a feature normally only associated with top range DVD players, and its inclusion in the latest firmware upgrade now allows PS3 owners with an existing DVD collection to dramatically enhance the viewing pleasure of their DVD collection when viewed through a compatible HD TV set1. Not only can DVD movies be enhanced to full 1080p HD quality but so too will PlayStation 2 and PlayStation games be upscaled to provide much improved gaming pleasure.
In a comprehensive update to PS3’s already impressive capabilities, Version 1.80 also allows users to enjoy Remote Play on their PSP across the internet, allowing them to access their PS3 anywhere in the world where a broadband internet connection is available2.
Version 1.80 also allows users on a home network to seamlessly view and play rich media content such as images, music and video on their PS3, that is stored on their DLNA3 enabled devices such as PCs and laptops elsewhere in the house, reinforcing PS3’s credentials as a home entertainment hub that truly deserves pride of place in the Living Room.
A host of other enhancements include the ability to print photo images stored on PS3’s hard disk or inserted storage media to a selection of Epson printers.
PS3 owners will be able to upgrade their PS3 with the latest Version 1.80 firmware from 24th May 2007.
The time has come to clear out a few things. And one of those things is the Linux Kit for PlayStation 2 which I bought for, what, £200 in 2003?
It was awesome when I first got it - well, at least to look at. A shiny new PS2 with a keyboard and mouse, hooked up to a monitor running Linux. Wow - those were the days, eh? When the PS2 was a mighty new machine capable of anything...? (Heh. Infact, it ran a bit slow and I only ever used the keyboard and mouse).
Not quite. But the Linux Kit has survived 4 years with just a few scratches. So I've whacked it on eBay, along with it's 40Gb HDD, Official PlayStation 2 keyboard and mouse - plus all the other bits that come with it.
If you fancy picking up a little piece of collectable PlayStation history, go for it...
You can find out more about Linux for PlayStation 2 at the official website.