114w ago - As a follow-up to our previous article, the Guardian (linked above) is now reporting that PS3 consoles have been taken from Dutch homes as a result of the Sony-LG patent dispute while MCVUK reports that the previously seized PS3's are being released following the court lifting LG's injunction against Sony with the firm ordered to pay legal fees.

To quote from the Guardian: "LG has won a court order enabling it to seize all new PS3 across the Netherlands – including those already in Dutch homes – in a dispute that centres on Sony's allegedly infringing use of Blu-ray technology belonging to LG.

The injunction means that LG is tightening the net on PS3s in Europe, having already ordered customs officers to seize thousands of the consoles last week.

Sony will fight to have the blockade lifted at an emergency hearing in the Hague's civil court of justice tomorrow.

LG argues that Sony PS3s infringe a number of its patents relating to playback of Blu-ray discs. The Korean...

127w ago - As a follow-up to his recent PS3 SELF Decrypter PSGroove Payload and PS3 3.50 Firmware Decryption work, today PlayStation 3 developer graf_chokolo has released a PS3 LV2 Kernel Decrypter payload for PSGroove.

Download: PS3 LV2 Kernel Decrypter PSGroove Payload / GIT

To quote from his comment on xorloser's blog, linked above:

graf_chokolo says:

I just release my lv2 kernel decrypter You need metldr, lv2ldr, RL_FOR_PROGRAM.img and lv2_kernel.self. You have first to dump your metldr from FLASH memory. lv2ldr you will find also in your FLASH memory or in decrypted CORE_OS_PACKAGE.pkg from PUP files.

RL_FOR_PROGRAM.img is a revoke list for programs and can be also found in PUP files. lv2_kernel.self is on your FLASH memory or in decrypted CORE_OS_PACKAGE.pkg.

First i send all files to PS3 and store them in memory. After that i load metldr in isolation mode and pass it...

131w ago - While Sony is currently promoting Move, today Siliconera.com (linked above) has uncovered a patent for a Kinect-like PlayStation device filed by Sony Computer Entertainment America.

While it's not a controller-free environment, the new controller device does track the location of players.

To quote: It's equipped with a gyroscope, accelerometer, magnometer, and most interestingly an ultrasonic transmitter. The controller uses this to communicate with another device to determine the location of the controller and player through echolocation.

The controller is half of the gizmo. Users also place this device on the floor and it communicates with a console via radio signals.

Sony equipped the floor sensor with a motion detector, cameras, sound processor, and another ultrasonic processor. Image detection lets it know where players are and if it has been moved.

Like the PlayStation Move controller, it has LEDs on top that provide visual feedback for in-game events and when your batteries are low. An onboard sound processor and microphone are present for voice control."

140w ago - According to Siliconera.com (linked above), Sony Japan has officially filed a patent for an adapter to make PS3 backwards compatible with PlayStation 2 titles.

To quote on the PS2 to PS3 adapter patent: "Japanese message boards are buzzing about a patent filed by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan for a new generation to previous generation console adapter.

We checked the Japanese Patent database to verify and a patent indeed exists.

A schematic of the proposed adapter (200) shows the device has its own processor, a DVD decoder/emulator, sound processor, and graphic processor."

169w ago - Sony's recent patent filing indicates that a universal video game console controller may be joining the trend of such devices including universal TV remotes.

The Sony patent, which was filed in August 2008 but appeared online on February 18 of this year, reads to quote:

"Just like remote controls, game consoles, and thus game controllers, are becoming widespread. It is not surprising to find more than one game consoles in a household, especially when competing game console manufacturers attempt to attract unconventional consumer groups in the gaming industry.

As understood herein, it would be useful to have a universal controller that would be able to work with a variety of game consoles."

This controller would feature a touch sensitive liquid crystal display that would display various button layouts depending on the consoles. For example, a Nintendo console would pull up a Nintendo controller layout, a Microsoft console would pull up a Microsoft controller layout and a PlayStation console would pull up a PS controller layout.

The patent also notes that this controller will have...