4w ago - Sony Senior Marketing Specialist James Cullen officially introduced a better, faster PSN video streaming technology service today alongside a request for testers below.

To quote: We've incorporated a new technology that will greatly enhance your viewing experience by providing you a more adaptive, faster stream whenever you rent a movie from the PlayStation Store on PlayStation 3.

But, before we roll out with our entire catalog, we want to test the technology out and get your opinion. For a limited time, we're discounting some HD and SD movie titles. Check them out and let us know what you think.

Here's how to cash in on the deal and help us out along the way:

• Log on to the PlayStation Store on your PS3.
• Scroll down to the Movies section where you will immediately find our beta test in the first section.
• Rent one of the five movies for only $1.99 in HD or 99 cents in SD.
• Fill out the brief survey that will be emailed to you after you purchase and watch the movie.

Tell your friends to try it out too, and keep up-to-date by joining us on Twitter and Facebook.

186w ago - Today Dutch site PS3Hype.nl (linked above) is reporting that those experiencing synchronization issues with PS3 Trophies can expect the dreaded 80022A07 error to be remedied in 2010 when Sony's PlayStation Network will become faster.

It is not yet known if this speed increase will only benefit Paid Subscribers, however, according to the Sony Rep they spoke with new servers will be added early next year.

To quote, roughly translated: "After a call to the help desk this morning I asked my question how I, 'Can not sync trophies (80022A07)' could solve problem I was told that with an overloaded server or a little too busy to do.

According to the PlayStation employee who helped me in the coming months December, January and February new servers will be added.

After some persistent questioning what advantages this has for the online gamer, she came to ask colleagues who concluded that the PlayStation Network as you know it now will be much faster.

Whether this has to do with the PSN Premium she could not tell me, in any case we expect an announcement shortly on the PlayStation Network being faster."

194w ago - It is way too early for most people to even hear the words Gran Turismo 6, but not for Kazunori Yamauchi who openly talked about it.

To quote from an interview with JoyStiq, available in video format below:

"How interested are you in the PlayStation Motion Controller?

Motion controller has infinite possibilities and the level of completion of the actual device is going to be very high just from the start.

I think it's going to be very important, but as for its importance in GT, I don't think it's going to have that much of a role in the series. As for the PlayStation Eye, we're probably going to try and use it in Gran Turismo, but we can't go into details of that yet.





What are your plans for Gran Turismo 5?

GT5 is a title that was pretty much remade from scratch, but because we did that, the next version is actually going to be faster - the time period it's going to be released.

But I think when GT5 comes out, we're still going to have things that are left undone, and whether we complete that in GT6, or the next version for PSP, I'm not sure yet. I've been working very hard for the last 15 years, and I think that hard work is just going to continue."

198w ago - In videos from last weekend, we learned that the PS3 fat boots itself faster than the PS3 Slim, but the Slim had the edge when it came to loading games.

Now with new PS3 Firmware 3.0, the PS3 Slim loads games even faster... up to 25% faster according to Eurogamer on a Devil May Cry 4 installation.

YouTube user PS3slimComparison did a PS3 Slim Firmware 2.80 vs 3.00 Uncharted 1 level load comparison, with the same settings on both consoles and same 7200RPM hard drive installed on each.

To quote: "In this demonstration, conducted by the same source as the original testing, we see the PS3 Slim (Firmware 2.8) load Uncharted: Drake's Fortune against the PS3 Slim (Firmware 3.0).

The difference is considerable (you know, for adjustments to software alone), and we don't see why most other games wouldn't encounter similar loading improvements."

Finally, in the second video (below) it appears Blu-ray movies also load faster on PS3 Slim Firmware 3.0 versus...

205w ago - The price cut on the PSP devkit has already opened PSP development to more interested parties, but apparently that's not Sony's only approach to bringing in more devs to the handheld.

According to Develop (linked above), Sony is also cutting down on the time it takes for a game to pass the quality assurance process.

They're also abolishing concept approval and, perhaps best of all, they'll be instituting very low price points for new games.

As part of their bid to further propagate digital distribution especially for the PSP and the new PSP Go, Sony has already signed on over 50 developers working on new games and apps. More are also reportedly on the verge of joining.

One of the new devs working on content for the PSP platform is iPhone stalwart Subatomic Studios, who is currently preparing a PSP-exclusive version of its Fieldrunners tower defense game. India's Gameshastra and PlayStation Network vets Creat have also signed on.

To quote: "We're making games that are just 20MB each, that's less than a minute to download - instant gratification, snackable content," said Subatomic's Ash Monif. "This is an opportunity for the premier indie developers - and I hope we represent that group - to come in and offer content that will fit the PSP."