After a day spent in preflashing my new Sony PSP, it seems appropiate for me to inform you that an upcoming system update of the PlayStation 3 firmware to version 1.6 will give users the ability to download files from the PlayStation Network in the background. Currently, PlayStation 3 owners must halt all activity and remain focused on the download progress bar. Any attempt at another operation on the console will cancel the download, which is non-resumable. Another recently announced feature to be included in the 1.60 update is the introduction of Folding@home functionality, giving owners of a PS3 the opportunity to use their new game system to help find real-life cures to diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis and many cancers. Version 1.60 will also improve the Web browsing ability of the PS3. The update will bring zooming and new resolution settings for easier surfing, plus a full-sized keyboard on-screen for more convenient text entry. The release date of the new firmware is March 22 2007.

In case you haven't heard, there have been various rumors about some kind of PS3 network. Sony has finally let out some details as to what this Home thing is. Basically, take Second Life, stick it on the PS3, add cops, and make everything cost something. Every PS3 owner will have their own house, with various forms of decorations. PS3 owners can then make/maintain their avatar, walk around public places, and visit other PS3 owner's houses. They can communicate with other people via various chat clients (instant messaging and voice chat clients are feasible). Sony Home will allow users to block other users, if they must, and also has police to watch over this community. All the goodies in the game need to be bought with some form of points, which can be acquired either through gaming or actually buying them (sound like Xbox Live points, anyone?). This service is available for anyone with a PS3, all they have to do is register in the online community.

Most of you have probably heard by now about Stanford University's amazing software, Folding@Home. Folding@Home allows users to run complex scientific experiments on their computers whenever the computer is idle. Sony has officially announced that anyone who has bought their powerful console can run Folding@Home on it. Support will be coming through a firmware update, and users can configure Folding@Home to run just like they would on a normal computer. Sony boasts that their PS3 can run Folding@Home roughly 10 times faster than anyone with a mainstream computer chip. An associate professor at Stanford says that he's "thrilled" to welcome all the PS3 users into the, for lack of a better term, "fold". If you decide to start using Folding@Home, with either a computer or your powerful PS3, please join the techPowerUp! Folding@Home team

Today at CeBIT, Logitech announced it will support the European launch of PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) computer entertainment system with a line of products that includes the new Logitech Cordless Precision controller for PLAYSTATION 3, the Logitech ChillStream controller for PLAYSTATION 3, the Logitech Cordless MediaBoard keyboard for PLAYSTATION 3, the Logitech HDMI cable and the Logitech USB Headset for PLAYSTATION - these products are specially designed to enhance gamers' experience with Sony's new gaming platform.

Ray Maguire, the managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment UK, confirmed that the current PlayStation Portable will appear in a smaller and lighter version. The overall design will stay the same Hartware.de was told and the price could be lower very likely.
The release date is unknown, a smaller PSP will surely fit nicely in everyone's bags but I hope the display won't get smaller as well.

Update:
Gamesindustry.biz has more details of the story, they say Sony will not change the size of the screen.

Sony's most recent cost-cutting move was to remove the Playstation 2's Emotion Engine from the European version of the PS3, sparking fierce criticism due to the loss backwards compatibility - of all the PS2 games released in Europe, just 1,000 of them will work using emulation when the new console is released (admittedly a more impressive figure than first feared, but still well below the total number released). However, Europe may not be the only one receiving this special treatment from Sony. According to a report in Japanese newspaper Nikkei, Sony's money saving plans could be seeing the modified PS3 being sold in North America and Japan, where current consoles ship with the Emotion Engine. How much this will alienate consumers is unclear, as half of PS3 owners would be able to play nearly all PS2 games, whilst the rest have a much smaller choice until Sony improves the emulation software. Either way, Sony must value the lower production costs higher than the sales it could lose for aggravating potential customers.

Senior industry executives have revealed that Sony is planning its latest online service for the new PS3, Playstation Home, for this autumn. PS Home is intended to improve upon the current offerings from Microsoft and Nintendo, letting players create online identities to record various achievements in different games, and unlocking a number of 'prizes' for gamers. Phil Harrison (Sony's president of worldwide studios) is expected to give an official announcement later today at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The Playstation Network used by the PS3 at the moment has often been criticised compared to Microsoft's Xbox Live service, but Sony will be hoping to get back on a par with Microsoft once Playstation Home is launched.

Update: anyone wishing to read more about this service should view this DailyTech article.

While Sony has seemed to have market dominance in the console wars ever since the PS1, times have certainly changed. Analysts at a company called "IDC" predicted exactly how the market would come out. They claimed that Sony would have the least sales of the three companies in the console market, Microsoft would ride high sales from the start, and Nintendo would have the best thing, due to innovation instead of going head-to-head with the hardware specs. IDC then goes on to predict that Nintendo will maintain those high sales well into 2008. After that, the future is uncertain, and Microsoft may become the winner of this generation of console wars.

The first series of Walkman MP3 players from Sony were rather disappointing after the company had originally hoped to draw the market share away from Apple, but Sony is having another bash releasing its first video Walkman. The NW-A800 series as it is known, will feature a 2" display with a resolution of 240 x 320, and will have 2GB, 4GB and 8GB flash-based models. The NW-A800 natively plays music compressed using Sony's ATRAC format and comes with software which allows users to convert WMA, MP3 and WAV files into ATRAC - it is capable of playing MP3 files directly but Sony warns that this will reduce battery life. The 53 gram Walkman will only be released in Europe to begin with, at a price of €300 for the 8GB model (the 30GB iPod Video can be found for €289 in Germany). The video Walkman is going to have its work cut out to make a noticeable impression on the iPod Video, which already has an 18 month head start and is arguably better value.

Sony Japan has increased the maximum Memory Stick Pro Duo capacity to 8GB with their new 'MSX-M8GS' Memory Stick Pro Duo. The new Memory Stick will be compatible with digital cameras and laptops sold this year. Backward compatibility is not certain. PSPs running firmware ver. 2.81 will be compatible with the new Memory stick. 8GB does put a lot of free space for disposal, as you can load up 19 hours 20 minutes of QVGA video in MPEG-4 format at 768 kbps, 2500 JPEG images and 4100 songs in Atrac format at 64kbps.

Sony will start selling the 'MSX-M8GS' 8GB Memory Stick Pro Duo from March 9 in Japan for 38,000 Yen ($ 325).

We reported a couple days ago that Sony would never use rumble in the PS3, as it was a "last generation feature". However, in a recent press release, Sony announced that they had fixed their problems with Immersion, who's technology made it possible for Sony's earlier PlayStation's to have rumble. To make things even more interesting, Sony and Immersion are now business partners. Sony on this partnership:

We are very pleased to have reached a cooperative agreement with Immersion regarding the use of its advanced vibration technology (haptics technology). We look forward to working closely with them as we explore new and innovative ways to utilize this technology in PlayStation products.

Chances are that this means we'll see a rumble feature in the PS3...eventually.

Sony has released the first information regarding Playstation 3 game prices in Europe, bringing some good (well, arguably) news for a change. The price of both Motorstorm and Resistance: Fall of Man has been confirmed to be €59.99 in mainland Europe and £39.99 in the UK (more or less the same). Games which will be downloadable from the Playstation Network will have introductory prices of between €2.99 and €9.99, with other content (such as game items) starting at €0.99. Some consumers will see this as good news from the view that it is cheaper than Europe's Xbox 360 games which cost as much as €75.00 (£50), but that still works out to be just under $80, whilst in North America gamers are only paying $60.

Since its launch back in November last year, the PS3 has suffered shortages in a number of areas with Sony struggling to meet demand. However, the company is now claiming that production should equal demand by the end of May - for North America anyway. SCEA chief Jack Tretton said "April or May is when we feel like we're going to catch up to demand and have product fully in stock across North America and stay there." At present the PS3 is the lowest selling console compared to its main rivals, the Wii and the Xbox 360, with high costs and supply problems being the main culprits. Whether or not Europe will suffer any shortages is unclear, but the removal of the Emotion Engine from European consoles has prompted a slightly hostile attitude with consumers arguing they pay more and get less.

Sony has dashed the hopes of millions of PS3 users hoping to get an after-market controller for the PS3 that would have rumble. They did not incorporate rumble in their next-generation console not because a lawsuit prevented them from doing so, but because they felt rumble was a "last generation feature", and that motion sensitive controllers are for the current generation of consoles. You can read Sony's actual quote by following the source link.

As we reported on Friday, The version of the PS3 that will ship to PAL territories has lost some PS2 hardware, which will drastically reduce the amount of PS2 titles compatible with the PS3. However, in an unofficial blog, Sony has said that this reduction in backwards-compatibility isn't all a bad thing. They removed the PS2 processor that is found in the American/Japanese PS3 only to meet the strict PAL standards, and the models that are PAL-compatible will have a PAL sticker on the front. Sony will also work hard to update firmware to allow more and more backwards-compatibility with PS2 games. On March 23rd, Sony will maintain a site with a nice long list of compatible PS2 games. You can visit this site when it goes online here.

When Sony launches the PS3 in PAL territories on March 23rd, it will not be the same model as the one that was released in America and Japan last year. A spokesperson from Sony says "The backwards compatibility is not going to be as good as the U.S. and Japan models". This is because Sony made some changes to hardware dedicated to emulating the PS2. The hardware that was dedicated to emulating PS2 games is being used to accelerate native PS3 games. This will especially come in handy as Sony moves on to making games purely for the PS3.

ISSCC (International Solid-State Circuits Conference) seems to be packed with interesting stuff this year. Earlier today, we reported how Samsung demonstrated 4 GHz GDDR4 memory modules at the conference, and now, VR-Zone reports that the Cell Broadband Engine is in for a die-shrink. The 'new' 65nm chip will replace the current 90nm units that can be found in PS3s. It is smaller as compared to the 90nm version, thus it is cheaper to produce and emits less heat. Also, the SRAM on the 65nm Cell B.E is improved. Sony engineers managed to run the 65nm Cell B.E. chip at 6GHz with just 1.3V. Sony is expected to continue using Cell B.E. architecture into their next generation PlayStation 4 and there is a possibility that IBM's eDRAM technology will be employed.

Harnessing the power of the Cell processor, developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba, is no easy task - IBM has therefore decided to get together with Vivendi and offer hands on programming sessions on the processor to game developers.

"The Cell Broadband Engine is complex high-performance architecture that processes millions of pieces of information per second to deliver highly detailed graphics," said Hal Lasky, vice president of consumer, media and entertainment for IBM Global Engineering Solutions in a statement. "Our focus is also on enabling the broader eco-system of game developers to fully utilize the power of the Cell Broadband Engine. We hope this takes us to a plateau that has never been approached before."

Clinton Keith, chief technology officer for High Moon, admitted it "would have been great to get it before launch," but the information wasn't available at the time, so they are seeking it out now.

The performance of the Cell is such that IBM has discussed using it in supercomputers and has already released one blade server based on the Cell, the QS20, which provided 205 GFLOPS of floating point performance. With a rackmount chassis, performance could reach 2.8TFLOPs, which would easily put such a system in the Top 500 supercomputer list.

Sony knows just as well as any of us do that $600 for a console is simply too much, especially when compared to a $250 Wii and a $400 Xbox360. And so, Sony is looking for ways to lower the price. The best one so far is to find a way to cut chip spending, and to do this, they need to outsource Cell production. This isn't as desperate as it may sound. Sony has been making their own chips since the birth of the PS1, but costs have been becoming quite steep as of late. Sony has spent $3.8 Billion USD since April 2004 on chips alone. The only thing preventing them from getting another company to develop these chips for them at a lower price was a lack of said companies. Now, there are several options for Sony, and Sony will likely outsource Cell production to bring their costs down.

Sony has updated their PS3 firmware edition to 1.51, and requires the update the moment a user logs into the PlayStation Network. However, it doesn't really address any major issues (I'm not saying there are any), and it doesn't add functionality. When asked what 1.51 does compared to 1.5, Sony gave us a fine-worded answer.

Support for PLAYSTATION 3 format software titles has been expanded.

This probably has something to do with backwards compatibility, or allows future games to work.

Now that everyone knows that the PS3 is coming to Europe in March, Sony is beginning to heavily advertise their machine. Of course, a problem in the past has been painfully low shipment numbers on launch day. With only an estimated 150,000 units available at launch in America back in November, it was very hard to acquire a PS3. Sony says that the Europeans should not worry about such a problem, and promised no less than 220,000 PS3's for Europe.

Once again, it's that time of year. The post-holiday lull in market activity where everyone is either waiting for the "next big thing" or watching for the market's next move. According to The New York Times, the gaming market is very easy to see. Xbox360 is in the lead, Wii's are selling like hotcakes, and PS3 sales are steady but slow. Sony had a very interesting comment in regards to the current console war. The senior director of corporate communication in Sony Corporate Entertainment America:

Wii could be considered an impulse buy more than anything else.

It should be noted that Sony's President of Worldwide Studios Phil Harrison said something very similar about the Nintendo DS...18 months ago.

TOKYO - Although Sony is blaming its faltering profits partly on PlayStation 3 price cuts in Japan, a senior executive said Wednesday that further slashing prices may be in store for the just-launched video game machine. Pricing is among the factors Sony Corp. (SNE) is studying as it expects to break even in its money-losing gaming business next fiscal year, said Senior Vice President Takao Yuhara, stressing that no additional price cut has been decided. "We may look at the price as part of our strategy to expand the market when the timing is right," Yuhara told reporters at Sony's Tokyo headquarters.

Immersion's various legal battles with Sony over the force feedback controller are numerous, to say the least. While it good to see from a legal standpoint that Sony is not ignoring court orders by putting force feedback in their controller, it sure isn't good from a gamer's standpoint. SplitFish stated in a press release today that Sony doesn't have to have a vibration-less controller. SplitFish actually announced that they would be very willing to help Sony develop a force feedback system completely different from Immersion's solution. This means that if Sony wants force feedback in a future SIXAXIS revision, they could very well have it, if they accept SplitFish's offer to help.

Analysts were predicting that Sony would soon announce profit losses of nearly 50%. Sony is very happy to say that this is clearly not the case. While competitors like Microsoft and Nintendo helped to steal away possible console profits from the PS3 and PSP, Sony excelled in...just about everything else. Movies produced by Sony yielded spectacular profits. Combine that with "encouraging" sales in the television show and digital camera department, and Sony "only" took a 5.3% profit loss from last year. Sony admits that if they had sold the PS3 at prices closer to production costs, they would have made a lot more money.