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Posts Tagged ‘Sony’

Beyonce’s Youtube channel videos taken down by Sony for copyright infringement.

March 29th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Beyonce Knowles…go to her Youtube channel, and you’ll see a big label slapped across the top of it congratulating her for winning 6 Grammies with songs that she wrote. Most of those songs have associated videos. Those videos have been pulled from her channel. Why? They infringed upon copyright. Whose copyright?

That of Sony. Her record label.

Yes indeed, restricted from sharing the video for the song you wrote by your label because they own it. THAT’S how you know you’ve hit the big time, baby!

I’m going to include a screen shot of what is currently displayed when you try to view the video for her song ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)’ in case Sony gains a clue in short order and allows access to return. Probably not necessary…we ARE talking about the music industry here…but I want to make sure that this ridiculousness is shared for group mockery.

And the music industry wonders why it’s falling hard. Why so many of the artists are turning their backs on the big labels and walking away, middle finger proudly raised in to the air. Why they are increasingly the butt of jokes everywhere.

Good show, music business…good show.

(Thanks to Motherboard for bringing this hilarity to my attention).

Posted in Music

Tags: Beyonce Knowles, copyright infringement, Sony, Youtube channel pulled

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PSN problems rendering some PS3 games unplayable UPDATED! FIXED!

February 28th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

UPDATE 3 : And from Sony, confirmation that the problems seems to have been fixed. The internal clock on older PS3 units did indeed think that it was a leap year (2000), thus causing the system to go nuts. As the clock ‘rolls over’ to the right date, the issue is fixed. As well, if the displayed time is still wrong, it can be updated manually or via PSN (access to which is also restored).

UPDATE 2 : From Gamasutra :

Sony says the widespread PlayStation 3 outages users have suffered since last night are due to a bug in the system’s clock functionality, and that the company is working to fix the issue within the next 24 hours.

Older versions of the PS3 have had their clocks reset to a date of Jan 1, 2000. PSN has become inaccessible for many users of the older PS3, Trophy achievements have been wiped out, and games will flat out refuse to run. Hopefully, the problem is fixed soon.

In the meantime, Sony is urging all owners of the old PS3 systems to not turn them on.

UPDATE : It seems that the problems are confirmed to be limited to older models of the PS3, not the newer ‘slim’ model. Also, the bug is apparently related to the system calendar date.

Sony’s Playstation Network is experiencing a myriad number of game crashing errors at the moment. The problems go beyond that, however, with corrupted Trophy information and and a lack of PSN access.

Beyond that, however, some PS3 owners are unable to launch ANY disc based games, including those with no online component whatsoever. Included in that list of titles is PS3 exclusive heavy hitter Heavy Rain, which just launched this past week. Most of these problems seem to be affecting older PS3 models much more than the new ‘slim’ version.

As reported by Joystiq, Sony is reported to be ‘looking in to the problem’. Bizarrely, it seems that unplugging your PS3 from the Internet will NOT fix the problem if you’re having one, seeming to point towards this being some sort of system issue beyond simple network problems.If that isn’t the case, why is a network problem rendering any and all games unplayable for some users?

Posted in Games

Tags: game-crash errors, Playstation 3, Playstation Network, PS3, PSN, Sony

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New SOCOM for PSP requires registration check

February 18th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

As reported on IGN, the newest title in the SOCOM series on PSP will feature some new DRM initiatives. SCEA director of hardware marketing explained the particulars of the system. Basically, anyone purchasing the game will be required to register it through PlayStation Network before they’ll be able to play online. Physical copies will come with a serial key that will be added online while digital purchases will register automatically.

Also, buyers of used copies of the game will have to purchase an entitlement voucher for $20 to gain their own registration key before they can play online.

A notable quote from the interview :

IGN: Why has Sony waited until now to implement this feature for a PSP title? And why for only one title?

John Koller: Today’s consumers are more tech savvy and better connected to the internet than ever before. Piracy continues to be an issue of concern for the PSP platform. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 is a trial run for a new initiative we are exploring for the platform. We will continue to explore this as an opportunity for the platform going forward, but we have no announcements to make on future iterations at this time.

So this is something that could be used again. And if it does achieve some level of success, could we perhaps see it used on the PS3 platform as well?

Posted in Games

Tags: online activation, PSP, SOCOM Fireteam Bravo 3, Sony

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Sony Pictures Apparently Doesn’t Want Any Oscars

January 8th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Earlier this year, a small little indie movie called Moon was given a limited release. It did decent box office on a small number of screens, as is the case for most small pictures. However, it did receive potential Oscars buzz for actor Sam Rockwell and the film’s score. It seems that Sony Pictures, however, just isn’t that interested.

The company has declared that it simply isn’t worth the expense of manufacturing and sending out multiple watermarked ‘screener’ DVD copies to those who do the awards nominating.

You see, the watermarking is required to help make it obvious who uploaded their screener copy to a torrent site. And yes, that is the sole reason why such watermarking exists on screener DVD copies.

To be fair, Sony Pictures isn’t alone in the blame for this…the MPAA actually REQUIRES watermarking of screener copies as a mode of piracy prevention. Is it effective? Eh, not so much.

It is Sony Pictures, though, who seem more willing to avoid an ‘Oscar race’ than to perhaps gain some level of sense when it comes to the DRM used on the movies. Perhaps not surprising from a company whose CEO declared that ”nothing good has ever come from the Internet.” It was taken to be a joke until he later confirmed in an article that he himself penned that it wasn’t. Yes indeed, another head of a big media company who doesn’t seem to understand that technology doesn’t have to be scary, and could in fact be a boon if only they would embrace it in a sensible manner.

Posted in Movies and TV

Tags: Moon, Oscars, screeners, Sony, watermark

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