Sony is planning to release a digital tuner for the PlayStation 3 in 2008 turning it into a programmable TV recorder, according to Sony Computer Entertainment New Zealand boss Warwick Light. The device is scheduled for release in March 2008. The information was revealed at a interview with The Press. It is currently unclear exactly how the functionality will work and whether it will be available outside of New Zealand.

“We’re also hoping next year – about the same time that Freeview launches its terrestrial broadcasting service (expected to be in March) – to release a digital tuner for the PS3, turning it into a programmable TV recorder.”

Our guess is a USB device similar to the PSP TV Tuner will be use along with a firmware update. The hard drive will be used to allow digital recording. Freeview is already available in the UK, so it is likely to reach there.

Team M33 has updated their Custom Firmware 3.52 to version 2. This update addresses some major issues in the firmware and fixes several bugs in the software. The previous versions did not support both Chinese and Korean languages in XMB and caused the both the homebrew and recovery to crash, this issue has now been resolved. In addition, the no-umd driver has been updated once again to offer better compatibility and the recovery menu has been updated. See below for a full list of changes.

General Changes:

• Document.dat files from PSX games were broken due to some important changes in popsman.prx and is now fixed.
• Now document.dat does not need the same gameid as game which is being played.
• The compatibility issue with IRShell loading PSX games in USBHost/NetHost has been solved.

Changes in recovery:

• Removed the advanced config option “use isofs on UMD inserted”.
• Added “Format flash1 and restore settings” in Advanced.
• Added speeds 20 and 100.
• When in USB mode inside recovery, it is impossible to turn PSP off.
• M33 driver: improved compatibility.

[Download Custom Firmware 3.52 M33-2]

The Blast Factor expansion pack, Advanced Research, will be available to download from the PlayStation Network Store soon, along with a playable demo for those who want to try before they buy. A lot of additions have been made to the game including new enemies, new modes and new music. The game is said to run at 60fps at 1080p. See below for a full list of additions to the game.

• 7 new specimens
• 11 new types of enemy
• 2 new bosses
• monthly online high score tables
• new practice mode
• remixed sound effects
• 8 new music tracks
• dynamic lighting

The gameplay has also been improved taking the enemy and player interactions to a whole new level. There are new enemies that suppress chaining and enemies that create huge explosions for big combo scores. Check out the PlayStation Blog post.

Check out the gameplay video here.

Problems with the PlayStation title MediEvil have led to it being pulled out of the European PlayStation Network Store. This was confirmed by Sony to European video game news website Eurogamer.
MediEvil was suffering from a bug that caused the game to crash during the third level. The game will be returned to the PSN Store once the bug has been fixed. Those who downloaded the buggy version of the game will be able to download the new version for free. A date has yet to be set for MediEvil’s reappearance.

According to Eurogamer, Spyro 2 is also being checked by Sony after reports of audio problems in the game surfaced. For now, though, Spyro 2 is still on the PSN Store. Both Spyro 2 and MediEvil were released on the European PSN Store last week.

Sony is always getting intro trouble, especially with patent infringment. This time, Parallel Processing Corporation (PPC), a California-based company, has sued Sony and accused the creators of the PlayStation for infringing on its patent of Synchronized Parallel Processing with Shared Memory (Patent no. 5,056,000), and using the said patent on its Cell processors. What does this mean for Sony? Impounding and destruction of all Sony products that infringe on the same patent – which means destroying all PS3 consoles.

The five-page complaint that PPC filed against Sony claims that Sony’s powerful Cell processors used the company’s patented technology, enabling Sony’s Cell chips to breakdown processes into smaller ones, all running at the same time and in different parallel processors for faster computing.
The patent was signed and approved on October 8, 1991, and was awarded to International Parallel Machines. Parallel Processing Corporation claims to be the exclusive licensee of the patent, and is seeking damages and attorney’s fees.

UPDATE (1st August 2007 at 12:22):

Sony’s own patent, filed in 2001 and issued in 2007, actually lists the 1991 patent as a citation. In other words, Sony’s own patent lawyers have already seen the old patent and deemed it not to be a threat, and the U.S. Patent Office apparently agreed when it issued Sony the patent in June. This could mean that Sony may escape the lawsuit, but there is no guarantee.

At E3, Phil Harrison announced that more than 80 PlayStation Network Titles are in development and will be released between now and March 2008. Three of the PSN titles will be unveiled at Games Convention 2007 (GC) in Leipzig, Germany (see below). The games will most likely be arcade style games and will be available exclusively from the PlayStation Network Store. More information on the three titles should be available next month.

The three titles to be unveiled are:

• Aqua Vita
• Operation Creature Feature
• Trials of Topoq

Games Convention takes place between 23rd – 26th August 2007, in Leipzig, Germany. Day Tickets are available from EUR 8.50. The Developers Conference will take place between 20th – 22nd August 2007.

A new post over at the PlayStation Blog has confirmed that Rockstar’s next franchise will be exclusive to the PlayStation 3. The post from Michael Shorrock, Director of 3rd Party Relations at SCEA. Although exact about the title were not disclosed because of an arrangement between SCEA and Rockstar, they did promise more information soon. “We agreed with Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive Software that we wouldn’t disclose anything more about the deal or title at this time, so stay tuned, we’ll share more info as soon as we can.”

“we are announcing that a new franchise from Rockstar Games will be exclusive to PS3. As part of our long standing relationship with Rockstar, and the incredible success for both companies with the cultural icon that is Grand Theft Auto, we’ve agreed to the PlayStation exclusive rights of the next great franchise from the Rockstar studios.”

A recent filing for a PSP related patent turned up with Sony’s name, and involves an idea to dock controllers to the PSP. The idea is that a controller would be made dockable onto the PSP using some kind of “control docking apparatus”. This would prove beneficial to gamers since it would could mean an extra analogue stick or even rumble if the PS2 controller could be docked.

The SIXAXIS could also play a part in the new device, since the patent mentions that “the electrical interface can be a wired or wireless communication link”. You can check out the patent application here.

Tekken 5:Dark Resurrection Online will be available to download next week from the PlayStation Network Store, however, it will only be available in Japan. The game goes on sale on August 1st for JPY 2,800 (approx USD 23.59, GBP 11.64) for the full version, or JPY 1,000 (approx USD 8.42, GBP 4.15) for the expansion pack. The full game will weight in at around 550MB, while the expansion pack will be about 220MB.

The game will allow up to 8 players in a room, however, only two players will be able to play. Voice chat in enabled in the rooms so players can socialize while waiting to play. Several new modes have been included in addition to online play, including Survival mode and Practice mode. Look out for more details on the Japanese version as well as details on European and US release dates.

SCEE and Sky have announced the formation of a Joint Venture company to deliver on-demand entertainment content to PSP owners in the UK and Ireland. The company will initially provide a wealth of video and film content to the more than 2.3 million PSP owners in the UK and Ireland. More information on the service will be announced at Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany on Wednesday 22nd August.

The two companies are already in discussions with entertainment content providers across Europe to facilitate future introduction of the service to European PSP owners. Sky is the UK?s leading entertainment company and operates the most comprehensive multichannel, multi-platform television service in the UK and Ireland. Look out for an update next month.

[Via: SCEE Press]