Tag: sony

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New PlayStation Plus slated for June 13 release in North America

Last month, Sony unveiled its new PlayStation Plus game subscription service, and now we’re finally learning more about what games will be part of the platform and when it releases.

The service is poised to launch in North America on June 13th this year. While that date is fast approaching, Canadian pricing still hasn’t been released. MobileSyrup has reached out to PlayStation Canada multiple times for more information regarding PlayStation Plus pricing.

Sony’s PlayStation Plus platform is available in three tiers: ‘Plus Essential,’ ‘Plus Extra’ and ‘Plus Premium.’

PlayStation Plus Essential, the first tier of the new subscription, is the same as the current PlayStation Plus offering. It includes online multiplayer access, two monthly downloadable games, discounts, and cloud storage for saved games.

The next tier, PlayStation Plus Extra, offers the same benefits as Plus Essential along with a catalogue of up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games that PlayStation owners can download and play. Sony says the 400 titles include “blockbuster hits” from the PlayStation Studios catalogue and from third-party partners. However, it’s not clear if subscribers will get day-one access to new titles from Sony.

The third and final tier, PlayStation Plus Premium, includes everything from the previous two tiers, along with up to 340 more games and PS3 titles available via cloud streaming. This tier also offers a catalogue of “beloved classic games” from the original PlayStation, PS2, and PSP available both through streaming and download options.

U.S. pricing starts at $99.99 ($roughly $125 CAD)  yearly for Plus Extra and $119.99 (roughly $150 CAD) for Plus Premium. It’s assumed that Plus Essential will cost the same as it does now, $69.99 CAD ($59.99 USD).

Sony says that Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Returnal and more will be available at launch.

You can learn more about the service, here.

Image credit: PlayStation

Source: PlayStation

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Where to stream Better Call Saul’s final season in Canada

Two years after Season 5, the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul will finally premiere on April 18th.

However, it should be noted that the 13-episode Season 6 is being split in two. The first half will kick off with a two-episode premiere on the 18th and run until May 23rd, with the latter half picking up on July 11th and concluding on August 15th.

For this final season, AMC is doing something a little different — the series will air on both its TV network and its AMC+ streaming service. This means that those who have AMC’s TV channel and cord-cutters alike can tune into the Season 6 premiere on April 18th at 9pm ET.

AMC+ costs $6.99 CAD/month in Canada and is available exclusively as a channel on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.

Set before the events of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul follows fan-favourite Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) as he works to become the lawyer who eventually meets Walter White (Bryan Cranston). In the final season, Jimmy and Kim (Rhea Seehorn) get up to even shadier business while Gus (Giancarlo Esposito) and Mike (Jonathan Banks) wage war against Lalo (Tony Dalton). Quebec City’s own Michael Mando co-stars as Nacho.

Note: if you’re looking to watch Better Call Saul‘s first five seasons, you’ll need to head to Netflix Canada.

Image credit: Sony Pictures Television/AMC

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Hideo Kojima says Kojima Production is not being acquired by Sony, will remain independent

Famed developer Hideo Kojima claims that his studio Kojima Production is not joining Sony Interactive Entertainment. The Death Stranding developer came forward after tweeting a banner photo from PlayStation Studios.

On Twitter Kojima posted a new banner image from PlayStation Studios. With no additional content, the image shows a number of first-party PlayStation games like God of War, Returnal, and The Last of Us Part 2. Additionally, the photo includes Sam Porter Bridges from Death Stranding. The internet quickly took this as a not-so-subtle indication that Kojima Productions was joining PlayStation Studios.

Kojima quickly followed up after the initial tweet gained some notable steam. “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding,” Kojima wrote. “Kojima Productions has been and will continue to be an independent studio.”

Kojima Productions has had a close relationship with Sony since forming in 2015. It’s one and only title Death Stranding is a PlayStation console exclusive. The game is now available on PC as well as PlayStation 5 via the Death Stranding Director’s Cut.

The knee-jerk reaction to seeing Death Stranding alongside first-party games could understandably inspire the notion of an acquisition. However, it’s likely Sony includes the game on the banner given the publishing rights Sony has. Plus, its relationship with Kojima Productions only strengthens that thought. Death Stranding utilizes Decima Engine, made by first-party studio Guerilla Games.

The internet is on its toes as 2022 has been shaping up to be the year of acquisitions. Sony has purchased a number of studios recently. This includes Destiny developer Bungie as well as Canadian dev team Haven Studios, with Jade Raymond at the helm. Housemarque and Bluepoint Studios have also served as recent acquisitions for the company as Sony expands its first-party teams.

For now, it appears as though Kojima Productions will remain developing games independently. There’s currently no word on what the next project will be. Though VentureBeat‘s Jeff Grubb has mentioned that Kojima is working closely with Microsoft on a cloud-based game of sorts. Microsoft’s cloud gaming initiative is said to aid the development.

Source: Hideo Kojima

Image credit: Kojima Productions

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PlayStation 5 firmware update is now available, doesn’t include VRR support

Sony has released a new firmware update for the PlayStation 5.

‘Update 22.01-05.02’ is now available to install and provides minor system updates and improvements. Though, unfortunately, long-awaited variable refresh rate (VRR) support for PlayStation 5 is still unavailable.

Taking a look at the patch notes, Sony states right off the top that firmware update 22.01-05.02 “improves system performance.” If you were waiting with bated breath for anything more, you’ll unfortunately, be disappointed.

Update 22.01-05.02 is sadly far less substantial than the previous firmware update. Sony previously overhauled a surprising number of aspects of the PlayStation 5. Trophy cards are now easier to read and look better visually. Voice chats are now referred to as parties and players can set open and closed parties. The PlayStation 5 even includes several new accessibility options. The screen reader now supports six additional languages like Dutch, Polish, and Korean.

The current elephant in the room is VRR support on PlayStation 5. Many players anticipate Sony to add it soon. The company even confirmed that it’s due to arrive shortly. Though, as far as when that will be is anyone’s guess at this point.

VRR support feature many players are calling for on PlayStation 5. It allows for a smoother gameplay experience when playing on an HDMI 2.1-compatible TV or monitor. It can theoretically help negate screen tearing as well as provide better frame rates. Depending on how developers utilize it, VRR can also reduce input lag and improve graphics. As more players adopt HDMI 2.1 displays, support for the feature is increasingly important.

With April now off the table, we’ll have to wait and see if Sony plans to support VRR in May or later on in the summer months. With Sony games like Horizon Forbidden West and Gran Turismo 7 now available, VRR would provide a reason to go back to some of this year’s breakout hits.

Source: Sony Via: Gamespot

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PlayStation Network just went down, but service has since been restored

Sony’s PlayStation Network (PSN) went down briefly on Tuesday night, but service has since been restored.

For about an hour, the PSN status page showed that all services were experiencing some sort of issues, including online play and accessing the PlayStation Store. Fortnite maker Epic Games also tweeted that people were unable to log in to its battle royale game on PlayStation.

Now, however, Sony’s status page says “all services are up and running.” It’s unclear exactly what caused these issues or how widespread they were, but everything appears to be going smoothly now. In any case, it’s worth keeping in mind if you happen to run into any issues while gaming today.

Image credit: Sony

Via: Epic Games

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Sony unveils new PlayStation Plus subscription coming in June

Following rumours that Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) would roll out a new PlayStation game subscription, the company has done just that.

Announced via a tweet and blog post on March 29th, the new subscription will be a combination of Sony’s existing PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now services. It will still be called PlayStation Plus, but will have three price tiers with different benefits.

The new PlayStation Plus subscription will launch in Asia in June, followed by North America, Europe, and the rest of the world. The company plans to have most PlayStation Network regions live with the new Plus subscription by the end of the first half of 2022. Moreover, SIE will no longer offer PlayStation Now as a standalone service after the launch.

PlayStation Plus Essential

The first tier of the new subscription, ‘PlayStation Plus Essential,’ is effectively the same as the current PlayStation Plus subscription. That means it includes online multiplayer access, two monthly downloadable games, discounts, and cloud storage for saved games.

The pricing for Plus Essential will be the same as the current PlayStation Plus plan, at $9.99 USD monthly / $24.99 USD quarterly / $59.99 USD yearly.

Sony only shared pricing for U.S., Europe, U.K., and Japan in its blog post, but the current PlayStation Plus costs $11.99 monthly / $29.99 quarterly / $69.99 yearly in Canada. Plus Essential should cost the same.

MobileSyrup has reached out to Sony about Canadian pricing and will update this story accordingly.

PlayStation Plus Extra

The next tier is ‘PlayStation Plus Extra.’ It provides the same benefits of Plus Essential along with a catalogue of up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games that PlayStation owners can download and play. Sony says the 400 titles include “blockbuster hits” from the PlayStation Studios catalogue and from third-party partners. However, it’s not clear if subscribers will get day-one access to new titles from Sony.

U.S pricing for Plus Extra is $14.99 monthly / $39.99 quarterly / $99.99 yearly.

PlayStation Plus Premium

The third and final tier is ‘PlayStation Plus Premium.’ It includes everything in the previous two tiers along with up to 340 more games with PS3 titles available via cloud streaming and a catalogue of “beloved classic games” from the original PlayStation, PS2, and PSP available both through streaming and download options.

Plus Premium will also offer cloud streaming access for original PlayStation, PS2, PSP, and PS4 titles offered in the Extra and Premium tiers where PlayStation Now is currently available. Customers can stream games using either PS4 or PS5 consoles or on PC. For markets that don’t have cloud streaming, Sony will instead offer PlayStation Plus Deluxe at a lower price with similar features, but no cloud streaming.

Finally, Plus Premium will include time-limited game trials so customers can try select games before buying them.

U.S. pricing for Plus Premium is $17.99 monthly / $49.99 quarterly / $119.99 yearly.

Other details

Sony said that there are “more details to come” about specific titles available on the new Plus service. Moreover, the company mentioned in a blog post that it plans to include titles like Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man and Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal at launch.

When the new Plus launches, Sony will automatically transition PlayStation Now subscribers to the new Plus Premium tier with no increase to their current subscription fees at launch.

You can learn more about the new PlayStation Plus here.

Source: Sony

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Crunchyroll ends free ad-supported viewing on new and continuing series

Crunchyroll, an anime streaming service now owned by Sony, has removed ad-supported viewing on new and continuing series. Viewers who want to stay up to date with the latest anime will have to upgrade to one of Crunchyroll’s premium plans.

Previously, users didn’t need to have a subscription to watch new episodes of simulcast titles, but Crunchyroll would delay the release of these new episodes by one week, while premium subscribers could watch them an hour after they release in Japan.

You’ll still be able to watch cancelled anime free — with ads, of course.

The anime streaming platform will offer some seasonal samplers for Spring 2022. Users will be able to watch the first three episodes of these simulcast titles for free:

  • Spy x Family
  • A Couple of Cuckoos
  • Dawn of the Witch
  • Tomodachi Game
  • Skeleton Knight in Another World
  • Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie
  • The Greatest Demon Lord is Reborn as a Typical Nobody
  • Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs

Three episodes of the above series will be available for free with ad-supporting viewing one week after their Japanese release date until May 31st. After that date, you’ll need to have a subscription to watch new episodes of these series.

It’s unclear if Crunchyroll will always offer seasonal samplers.

In Canada, premium Crunchyroll access starts at $7.99 CAD.

Sony also owns the anime streaming service Funimation. Recently, Crunchyroll announced that it will be taking over Funimation’s anime library, to slowly merge both platforms.

Image credit: Wit Studio/CloverWorks

Source: Crunchyroll

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Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones on sale for $199.97 at select Costco locations

If you’re in the market for a nice set of new Sony noise-cancelling wireless headphones, you might be able to pick some up for about 50 percent off at Costco.

Spotted by RedFlagDeals user ‘tonershop‘ (via iPhone in Canada), the Barrie Costco location has Sony’s WH-1000XM3 headphones on sale for $199.97. That’s nearly half as much as they usually cost.

Of course, the offer has strong ‘your mileage may vary’ energy. I did a quick search on Costco’s website and couldn’t even find the XM3s listed at all (I did find the newer XM4s for $348, itself a decent deal, but not quite as good as half off).

Image credit: RedFlagDeals user ‘tonershop‘

You can typically find the XM3 headphones for around $450, but Amazon Canada has them for $348 right now. Still, Costco’s deal is the best if you can find them in a location near you.

The WH-1000XM3s are widely considered among the best wireless headphones available, offering excellent sound quality, touch controls, up to 30 hours of battery life and, of course, noise-cancelling.

You can check out the deal here.

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though MobileSyrup may earn a commission on purchases made via these links.

Source: RedFlagDeals Via: iPhone in Canada

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PlayStation could reveal its game subscription service next week

A new report indicates that Sony could reveal its Xbox Game Pass-like PlayStation subscription service as early as next week.

According to Bloomberg, PlayStation’s Xbox Game Pass competitor will receive an official reveal soon. The publication was also the first to report that Sony is working on the service under the codename ‘Spartacus.”

Bloomberg’s report says that PlayStation’s game subscription platform will offer a “splashy lineup of hit games” and that it will merge PlayStation Plus (Sony’s online/game subscription platform) and PlayStation Now (game streaming) under one umbrella.

The report indicates that Sony plans to offer multiple subscription tiers. For example, the first tier will include online multiplayer and free monthly games, making it seem nearly identical to the current version of PlayStation Plus. However, more expensive tiers will offer a wider library of games, with the most expensive option featuring a collection of PS1, Ps2, PS3 and PSP titles, and the ability to stream games and play demos.

It’s important to note that unlike Xbox Game Pass, Sony reportedly has no plans to release first-party games on its subscription service on day one. For example, it’s unlikely that Sony Santa Monica’s upcoming God of War Ragnarok won’t be available on the subscription service when it releases.

Source: Bloomberg

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Here are the game trailers shown off at PlayStation’s March State of Play

Sony’s latest State of Play showcased a variety of games created by Japanese studios. Some of these trailers were for titles that we’ve already seen gameplay of like Forspoken and Ghostwire Tokyo, but we saw some new gameplay footage as well.

Here are the new trailers:

Exoprimal (PS4, PS5)

Ghostwire: Tokyo (PS5) — March 25th release date

Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin (PS5, PS4) — March 18th release date

Forspoken (PS5) — October 25th release date

Gundam Evolution (PS5, PS4) — Coming 2022

GigaBash (PS5, PS4) — Coming early 2022

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R (PS4, PS5) — Coming 2022

Trek to Yomi (PS4, PS5) — Spring 2022

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection (PS4, PS5) —  Coming 2022

Returnal – Ascension (PS5)

The DioField Chronicle (PS4, PS5) — Coming 2022

Valkyrie Elysium (PS4, PS5) — Coming 2022