PlayStation 3 Movies Can Only Be Redownloaded Once [Psn]

I'm not sure how many of you are buying (aka not renting) movies from Sony's PlayStation 3 video store, but to those who are willing to drop $15 on a permanent, DRM'd digital product, know that Sony only allows you to redownload these products one time. To be fair, Sony's licensing agreement claims "Content cannot be redownloaded once it has been downloaded to either a PLAYSTATION 3 or PSP system." In other words, anyone who has downloaded a film has agreed to this arrangement fair and square. But making a call to Sony in the instance where you delete the movie can grant you a one time exception. Just all the more reason why digital downloads make for a great way to rent a movie, but a crappy way to buy a movie. [arstechnica]
[Via: Gizmodo, The Gadget Blog ]

PlayStation Home Impressions (Verdict: Needs Content) [PS3]

In case you're curious as to the progress of the PS3's upcoming PlayStation Home, the 3D Second Lifeish world in which you can interact with others, watch movie trailers, play games or just decorate a virtual apartment, one of our own readers was invited to participate in Sony's closed beta program and then kindly drafted up his experience for the world to read. His account confirms our skepticism while painting a pretty clear picture of exactly how Home works. And if you've got a second and a PS3, read on for his account. Character Creation:

The first thing that I noticed when you go in is that the sliders for character customization move slow as shit. They move so slow that you can't really see the difference in the changes that you are making.

General Play

After you create your character, you jump right into your apartment. The controls are pretty intuitive and the integration of an in game psp is pretty cool (basically in game xmb with extra home options)...[you] really need a keyboard to communicate, but it is still functional with multiple emoticons and preprogrammed messages.

Zones

Each different zone you enter you need to download a new file they range from 18 to 33 MB (They should integrate this into the main download). From the main area you can visit the following places: 1. Movie Theater - A movie theater that you can walk around, sit enjoy...more lapdances, all while the trailer of the last guy is playing. Its kinda funny seeing the text bubbles pop up above peoples heads as they see the trailer. "Game Sucks Ass"...."cool music"..."soundz like bad porn tunez". 2. Shopping center - Visit store for more clothes, furniture, and "stuff". I bought everything I could within 2 mintues. Very limited suppy of "free" items, currently nothing for "sale" with actual dollars. 3. Music zone (no download required, part of the main area) - Listen to 1 of 3 tunes and dance appropriately for the style of music. Get made fun of by other dancers. 4. Game zone - Play crappy arcade, pool and bowling games (absolutely no motion integration, very crappy controls, meh all around)

Closing Thoughts

20 minutes and you get the full experience of Home. The only entertaining thing that keeps me logging back on is stalking other people and doing the twist dance maneuver while saying "grind me hard". I basically chase people around and shake my booty at them and they try to jog slowly away from me, its pretty amusing. Home just needs content. It is currently a 3d chat room.

It should be noted that the PlayStation Home beta does not include areas with PlayStation 3 title game integration as we'll see with games like Warhawk and Resistance 2. Thanks Randy!
[Via: Gizmodo, The Gadget Blog ]

PSN Cards Are Just Hitting Stores Now [Playstation 3]

That PlayStation 3 with its PlayStation Network has been around for a while now, but Sony is juuusst getting their act together enough to produce and distribute PSN cards. To most of us with credit cards, these Sony gift cards (good for purchasing downloadable games from the PlayStation Network) are no big deal. But for the young masses who are still sneaking cigarettes out of mom's purse and wearing Groucho Marx mustaches to buy dirty magazines, this is pretty exciting news. Try PixelJunk Monsters if you haven't yet. [Kotaku]

[Via: Gizmodo, The Gadget Blog ]

PlayStation-Branded PS3 Bluetooth Headset Comes Free With SOCOM

The upcoming SOCOM Confrontation game for the PS3 will come with a free Bluetooth headset, much like the similar deal last year with Warhawk. This headset, however, looks very PlayStation-branded and neutral (unlike the Warhawk one, which just looked ugly), leading us to believe that it could serve as the "official" PlayStation 3 headset if Sony wanted. Why Sony still hasn't come out with an official Sony/PS3 branded one is a mystery to us. Maybe they don't like money? [PS3Fanboy]

[Via: Gizmodo, The Gadget Blog ]

PlayStation 3 Surpasses Xbox 360 In Europe

With 5 million PS3s sold on the continent, Sony has announced that they've overtaken the 360 in Europe. And not only that, but Sony has been outselling Microsoft in the market since October.
While Sony's PlayStation 3 has gotten off to a shaky, late start, Sony has always claimed that the console was doing well through Europe (which includes many markets that don't have public sales figures available). And that makes sense, since the PlayStation brand is incredibly strong there—48 million PS2s have been sold there, along with 12 million PSPs. With this European data in hand, it's looking more and more like the Xbox 360 is an American trend (since their sales in Japan are virtually nonexistent). But Sony still has a good deal more ground to cover before they can claim second place in the console wars, even from the worldwide perspective. [BBC via Kotaku]

[Via: Gizmodo, The Gadget Blog ]