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Sony: 3G PlayStation Vita not canceled in North America
Despite Amazon's claims to the contrary, Sony reps tell Joystiq that, no, the 3G model of the PlayStation Vita is not canceled in the US. Try and feign surprise! An IGN report from earlier today noted that the Amazon product details for the 3G model of the Vita listed it as "discontinued by manufacturer," but when contacted, Sony's senior director of corporate communication and social media Patrick Seybold immediately refuted the claims. He told Joystiq flat out, "This is not true," and said that Sony will be connecting with its Amazon contacts to figure out what's up. Both the 3G and non-3G versions of the PlayStation Vita launch in North America on February 22, with a 3G "First Edition" bundle preceding them both by a week.
Sony offering free identity theft coverage for PS3 users
Sony has officially announced specifics of the complimentary identity theft protection program it's extending to customers in the wake of its well-publicized security breach. Corporate communications director Patrick Seybold outlines the details in a new post on the official PlayStation blog. Sony has partnered with Debix, Inc., and gamers will be able to take advantage of the latter company's AllClearID Plus program for 12 months at no cost. Sony will be sending out activation emails over the next few days, and you'll need to redeem your code by June 18th to participate. Seybold notes that this program is only valid for account holders in the United States, and Sony is currently "working to make similar programs available in other countries/territories." The AllClearID Plus program includes cyber monitoring and surveillance designed to detect exposure of personal information, priority access to licensed investigators and ID restoration specialists, and a $1 million insurance policy.
A second breach of Sony's internet security? [Updated]
We have all heard that Sony's PlayStation Network was compromised nearly two weeks ago. The online services for the PlayStation 3 have yet to recover or come back online since the incident. This morning, Sony's PR director Patrick Seybold claimed that there was no truth to the rumor that credit card information was stolen by hackers. However, SOE cautioned gamers to be vigilant nonetheless. It has now come to light via Nikkei.com that there was a reported second security infraction in Sony's gaming network. Nikkei claims that nearly 12,700 credit card numbers were stolen from Sony Online Entertainment this past Sunday in a second attack. As we reported this morning, all SOE sites have been brought offline because of "an issue that warrants enough concern for [SOE] to take the service down effective immediately," according the the site. Michele Sturdivant, a spokeswoman for Sony, countered this allegation in The Wall Street Journal. "We temporarily took down SOE's services as part of our continued investigation into the external intrusion that occurred in April," Sturdivant affirmed. "This is not a second attack." [Update: SOE has posted a security update to The Station.com. "We are today advising you that the personal information you provided us in connection with your SOE account may have been stolen in a cyber-attack. Stolen information includes, to the extent you provided it to us, the following: name, address (city, state, zip, country), email address, gender, birthdate, phone number, login name and hashed password." The notice further suggests that "information from an outdated database from 2007 containing approximately 12,700 non-US customer credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes) and about 10,700 direct debit records listing bank account numbers of certain customers in Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Spain may have also been obtained" but that the "main credit card database" was not compromised in the attack. It appears this is part of the larger PSN attacks and not a separate security breach.]
PlayStation Network credit card info appears to be safe: 'No unauthorized activity relating to Sony'
It looks like the beleaguered Sony finally caught a break. The company, which has struggled for over a week following a hacker attack that stole massive amounts of player information, says that it looks as though user credit card information remains secure and encrypted. It turns out that Sony had encrypted some personal info but not all of it. Gamespot also reports that several financial companies, including MasterCard, WellsFargo and American Express, have witnessed "no unauthorized activity relating to Sony." Sony's Patrick Seybold passed along the positive news: "The entire credit card table was encrypted and we have no evidence that credit card data was taken. The personal data table, which is a separate data set, was not encrypted, but was, of course, behind a very sophisticated security system that was breached in a malicious attack." Sony's PlayStation Network is still offline while it's rebuilt with a higher level of security. The company saw its shares drop 4.5% today on the Tokyo exchange to $27.71.
SOE working on a "make good plan" for its customers
In the wake of the uproar following Sony's announcement regarding customer data theft, the company has continued working to repair the damage and communicate with its customers. The latest information includes an FAQ on the incident as well as another announcement from Linda "Brasse" Carlson: We apologize for any inconvenience players may have experienced as a result of the recent service interruption. As a global leader in online gaming, SOE is committed to delivering stable and entertaining games for players of all ages. To thank players for their patience, we will be hosting special events this weekend across our game portfolio, including a Double Station Cash day on Saturday, April 30th. We are also working on a "make good" plan for players of the PS3 versions of DC Universe Online and Free Realms. Details will be available soon on the individual game websites and forums. In addition to the general FAQ and announcement, senior director of corporate communications and social media Patrick Seybold updated the Playstation blog to clarify the reasons behind the delay in communicating information on this incident to customers. Keep an eye on Massively for more details on the make good plan as they become available.
PlayStation Network data thefts confirmed [Updated]
As we reported over the weekend, Sony has acknowledged an external intrusion into its network, one that caused the company to shut down operations of its website and other online services including the PlayStation Network. The PSN issues affected Sony Online Entertainment MMOs such as Free Realms and DC Universe Online. Although the network shutdown was inconvenient, there appeared to be no actual threat to the players themselves. However, that may have changed. Senior Communications Director Patrick Seybold posted an advisory on the PlayStation blog earlier today. He assures customers that everything should be fully operational again by the end of the week. However, in light of possible leaked personal information, Seybold issued this warning in an email message to registered account holders: For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking. When the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you log on and change your password. Additionally, if you use your PlayStation Network or Qriocity user name or password for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them, as well. For all the details, we encourage you to check out the full blog post on the PlayStation site, and then keep honed in on Massively as more information comes to light. [Thanks, Lizzy, for the tip.] [Update: SOE has emphasized that the company believes no personal information for players of its non-PSN PC Station MMOs was compromised.]
Sony still investigating scope of PSN attack as maintenance outage enters Day 6
As Sony's forced PlayStation Network and Qriocity outages continue, stretching into what is officially Day 6, the company issued a very un-update to would-be users this morning: "Unfortunately, I don't have an update or timeframe to share at this point in time," said corp. comm. director Patrick Seybold on the PlayStation Blog. "As we previously noted, this is a time intensive process and we're working to get them back online quickly." Speaking to PCWorld, SCEJ spokesperson Satoshi Fukuoka clarified that a "thorough investigation" was ongoing into what the company has characterized as an "external intrusion" into its system, which prompted the service suspensions. More troubling than any frustration caused by downtime over this past weekend, however, is the continued uncertainty about the extent of the attack. According to Fukuoka, Sony had yet to determine if users' personal information or credit card numbers had been accessed by the apparent hackers. If that's found to be the case, he assured, Sony would promptly inform those potentially affected. On Saturday, Seybold noted that "additional security" would be put in place before the services relaunch, calling this "re-building" effort both "time-consuming" and "necessary."
70MB of additional RAM unlocked for PS3 developers
It's rare for a console to get a spec upgrade in the middle of its life. However, Sony has stealthily upgraded the PS3 over the past few months to unlock additional usable RAM for developers. Much like the PSP received a boost in clock speed, the latest firmware updates provide developers an additional 70MB of RAM to work with. The change was initially discovered by PlayStation University, noting the reduction in the system OS's memory footprint, from 120MB to 50MB. As the OS continues to slim down, developers are allowed access to even more usable system memory. SCEA's Patrick Seybold recently confirmed the change to Joystiq. "Since the launch of the PS3, we have been continuously making efforts to reinforce our support system to game developers, allowing them to express their creativity freely on the PS3. As part of this support for game development, the size of the PS3 OS memory footprint has been reduced through network update for the game developers." While 70MB of additional memory is not insignificant, don't expect drastic changes to future PS3 games. A PS3 developer told us that "any bit of RAM helps. Generally it probably won't change design, but might allow extra effects resolution or dynamic lights or something. Probably more beneficial from the systems and art side then from design/gameplay." In tandem with increasingly efficient code, the added RAM will undoubtedly make for even better looking games. Certainly, that's not something we'd complain about.
Sony says PS3 supply will be 'tight' over the coming months
We're guessing things won't quite rise to the level of shortages since during the Wii's heyday, but it looks like Sony is now sending a small word of caution to any potential PlayStation 3 buyers. As Joystiq reports, Sony's senior director of corporate communications, Patrick Seybold, says that while the company is working hard to meet consumer interest, "demand is tremendously high for the PS3 and we expect tight inventory in the coming months." As you'll recall, this follows some surprisingly strong sales for the PS3 during the holiday season (when it outsold the Xbox 360), although console sales in general expectedly slowed considerably down in January. As with Joystiq, we haven't yet heard any first-hand reports of the PS3 being hard to find at retail, but feel free to let us know in comments if you're running across any local shortages.
Sony: PS3 supply to be 'tight' over coming months
Sony's senior director of corporate communications Patrick Seybold issued a statement after last night's NPD numbers for January, explaining that the company's flagship console may be a bit difficult to find at retail over the next few months. "We're working very hard with our retail partners to meet consumer interest, but the demand is tremendously high for the PS3 and we expect tight inventory in the coming months," Seybold notes in the statement. As this is the first we've heard about any sort of PlayStation 3 hardware shortages, we followed up with Seybold to make sure he wasn't only warning about future supply issues, but also explaining January's sales of the console. He told us: "Yes. The strong demand carrying through the holidays was evident and early in the month we [knew] there was going to be limited supply of the PS3 at retail in January. We're working closely with the retail channel to meet this demand, but expect tight supply for the coming months." The upcoming supply issues may also be a result of Sony's "upcoming line up of the industry's most anticipated games" -- games like Heavy Rain, God of War 3, and ModNation Racers. Seybold additionally points out that "this momentum is fueled by a stellar holiday" and the recent releases of games like MAG and BioShock 2. We here at Joystiq have yet to see the shortages at our local brick-and-mortars, but feel free to let us know if you do!
Sony thanks 440,000 customers for giving it money during Black Friday week
Just a few hours after Nintendo, Sony has prepared a Black Friday sales statement of its own. SCEA's Patrick Seybold wrote in a press release: "PlayStation 3 demand was at an all time high with the system selling more than 440,000 units for the week ending 11/29/09." While shy of Wii's numbers, the figure is quite impressive, considering that's more than the number of systems sold in the entire month of October -- the same month that the PS3-exclusive Uncharted 2 came out. Retailers offered a number of PS3 bundles during the holiday weekend, adding a number of free games and movies to the system's standard $299 price tag. That, coupled with an ad campaign that totally doesn't creep us out, certainly helped Sony's fortunes this year.
SCEA's Seybold promises one of Sony's 'most aggressive marketing plans' for PS3
Did you see the NPD charts? The good news? PS2 sales went up 87% thanks to its new $99 price point. YAY! The not-so-good news? Well, PS2 beat PS3. If anything, the surprising turn in sales proves how truly powerful a price cut can be.While PS3 sales are still lagging behind the competition, at least Sony is admitting to not getting the message across to the average Joe. "We often hear from our customers that they're surprised by everything the PS3 does in addition to what they purchased the device for -- including features like DLNA, free access to Wi Fi and Internet browser," Patrick Seybold, SCEA's Senior Director of Corporate Communications, told us in a statement. "In some ways, this serves as a reminder that there's more we can do to relay the full breadth and power of the PS3."Hopefully, things will turn around in what Sony calls one of its "most aggressive marketing plans" yet. "We're revving up the new fiscal year with a broad tent of content and services across our platforms with envelope-pushing PS3 games like inFAMOUS, MAG, and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves ... We know our consumers have varying entertainment lifestyles from the Blu-ray movie fanatic to photo enthusiast, so we've outlined our most aggressive marketing plans to help showcase this tremendous value proposition to all our consumers. We've got a proven history in delivering the best entertainment experience and there is no doubt the PlayStation brand is staged for another big year."
MLB 09 The Show performs 45% better than 08 edition
Hardware numbers were down in March 2009's NPD figures. Yet, Sony has something to smile about. PS3 was able to secure three of the top 10 software sales in March with Resident Evil 5, Killzone 2 and MLB 09 The Show.MLB 09 The Show is Sony's exclusive first-party baseball title and it sold an impressive 305,000 units on PS3 alone, making it the best-selling sports game of the month. As the #6 selling game of the month, The Show franchise has grown significantly. Patrick Seybold of SCEA told us that "MLB'09 The Show saw an increase of more than 45% growth from its 2008 version in North America."With Killzone 2 selling over a million copies worldwide, Sony can at least tout their growing software sales. See Seybold's full statement after the break.
Sony questions OnLive's promises
SCEA director of corporate communications Patrick Seybold isn't optimistic about the upcoming OnLive service. When he spoke to Edge Online recently, he criticized the overall setup of the game-streaming service, questioning the difficulty of its implementation and the final cost to consumers. Seybold wonders if Rearden Studios can actually maintain the amount of resources that will be needed to support OnLive, such as a vast network of powerful (and most likely expensive) servers, and actually have them functional in a "real world environment."How much of the initial risk is going to come over as final cost to consumers? Rearden has yet to announce a subscription fee. Adding on to that, cost doesn't necessarily just mean money; there are questions over bandwidth caps and hardware specs that still need attention. Of course, there are always these sorts of doubts with fresh ideas like OnLive. Its founder, Steve Perlman, told us in an interview that he expected this sort of skepticism with the product. With Rearden beta testing OnLive this summer, putting its five nationwide servers to the test, we'll soon get a taste of what OnLive is actually capable of.
We have a new blog competitor: Sony
Uh-oh ... are the PlayStation Fanboy blogs in trouble? Sony has thrown off their gloves, and they're ready to go head-to-head against us in the blogosphere. The top people from Sony Computer Entertainment America will be sharing their thoughts on the state of PlayStation, and will undoubtedly leak a few secrets along the way.The PlayStation.Blog will feature "product news and title announcements to developer updates and industry opinion posts – all of which will come straight from the people here inside SCEA who are working, thinking and playing with this stuff every day." (Editor's note: it's two words, Pat.)Of course, we kid about this whole "competitor" thing. We've pushed Sony incessantly on getting more proactive with the gaming community, and it looks like they've finally taken our advice. This is a step in the right direction, and we can't wait to find out more from the PlayStation.Blog.
