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PlayStation Network Expanding To Involve Other Devices
At CES, Sony's Kaz Hirai confirmed that the company will build out its PlayStation Network for use with other devices, such as televisions, Blu-ray players, and PCs. Quoting:
"... the expansion starts next month with the availability of the PSN video store on these other devices, and Hirai explained they are constructing a mechanism to create a single user ID across the entire network (if you have a PSN account, it's good to go on any other applicable Sony device, and if you create one on another device, it'll work on PSN). And finally, Hirai also announced the formation of a new Sony division — called Sony Network Entertainment, Inc. — to drive this expansion of the PSN service into a Sony-wide network."
I for one welcomed our new SNES overlords, until I realized it stood for Sony Network Entertainment (Subsidiary).
Wen microsoft extended Live to Windows, made imposible to be login on both machines. Don't do that again, please.
Also, the PC market already has everything, so simply the thing will not work, need to be the thing + some quality and as less drm has possible.
-Woof woof woof!
Why? Of what use is a network connected television? Unless I plan to stream from my PS3 over the internet to my TV, rather than using HDMI, I can't quite see the point of this.
great, more sony lock in.
I'll see your hokum and raise you a boondoggle.
The PSN on PS3 is pretty solid (after two years on a single platform) maybe in 2018, Sony will have gotten it right for other services as well.
Having a single account / ID for company wide services seems pretty obvious to me. If you take Apple for example, they have always had a single account for their online shop, itunes, app store, etc.
Now, as others have said, I don't know how this could be useful on devices like TVs and such. And sony isn't exacty known to be very innovative in that domain. I have a sony TV that can connect to the internet, but it can't do anything with that connection (not event upgrade its firmware).
As always, it's wait-and-see. But it seems to me there's usually more waiting than seeing...
No - we just don't care.
And really - I'm getting tired of hearing about all those evil companies that does this and that, and might to that other thing, before this happens, and then some more, and suddenly it's the end of the world! I don't care! All companies are the same.
This is blinging
Now you can change your Single Sign On from Facebook to PSN. Great.
http://www.michel.eti.br
Kaz Hirai, is that you?
You are welcome on my lawn.
I've long thought that consoles could be much better (from a user standpoint) if they were more open.
One example of this is the recent debacle with servers arguably shutting down "too soon" compared to other game types that aren't susceptible to that issue. Another example is that some people have several different consoles in order to play their favourite games and/or with their friends; this is of course a sales strategy for the vendors but not really in the interest of the consumer.
This news, of Sony expanding their console's reach essentially to outside the domain of the console itself, is good news for consumers: it shows that the boundaries are becoming hazy -- and you can't maintain strict lockdown on blurry borders. Ultimately, this ends up providing more choice for the user.
Now sadly, "more user choice" is not equal to "more user freedom" -- especially since this news is coming from Sony, peddlers of lockdownware above and beyond the call of duty. But still, if they are doing it, the other vendors are bound to follow.
"Good news, everyone!"
I installed Media Go on my PC and can't believe what a terrible piece of software it is. It tries to update itself every time I launch it and fails. I messed with it a few times and have never been able to get it to work and have since given up on it.
One little murder and they're Jack the Ripper.
Sony recalled CDs with the rootkit, and apologized. Sony has its flaws, but they after the initial fuck-up, they at least fixed the problem, and admitted they fucked up. They handled their fuck-up in an honorable way.
That is far better than many corporations, such as Microsoft. You own an XBox? Microsoft has fucked you more than Sony ever has. And Microsoft never admits a problem, let alone apologize for creating a problem.
So stop with the rootkit bullshit already. Start complaining about Sony's tendency to go it solo on digital formats and storage devices. (BluRay was at least created and backed by a consortium of many corporations -- so BluRay isn't one of those formats. Sony does get a cut of the profits, though.) Complain about how PSN kinda blows compared to XBox Live (though this article suggests Sony is doing something about that). Whine about how the PS3 is hard to program compared to the XBox.
But for god's sake, get it through your thick fanboi skull that Sony fixed the rootkit problem, and even apologized.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
SWEET PSN on my iPhone!!!! wait a minute...
This needs more cowbell!!!
Sony recalled CDs with the rootkit, and apologized. Sony has its flaws, but they after the initial fuck-up, they at least fixed the problem, and admitted they fucked up. They handled their fuck-up in an honorable way.
Oh sure ,they recalled the CDs alright. After denying the existance of it for close to a year first despite all the evidence people showed them and hackers started actively using it. Their "Fix" for those that already had been compromised by their rootkit actually caused more security holes too. Meaning once you had it you were pretty much stuck with having to reinstall your OS to make sure it was no longer at risk.
It was, by my counts, FAR from an honorable way. But it was very Sony.
Sorry, but the fact that folks at Sony thought the whole CD rootkit thing was a good idea in the first place, makes them untrustworthy until that mindset and everyone involved is gone from the company. I don't believe for a second that they had (and have) any qualms about taking control of customers computers. It wasn't until defense dept computers got infected that they apologized and offered a "fix". I bet they were threatened with being banned from selling goods in the USA for national security reasons.
Somehow, I think that if I had placed a rootkit on Sony corporate PCs I would not have gotten away with just an apology.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Hopefully, they'll think about the problem of multiple simultaneous PSN connections. Right now, I have two PS3's and any given PS3 WANTS to be connected to PSN all the time (for news, licensing, downloads, multiplayer, etc, etc) but logging one in under my master account logs the other out. This is a Supreme pain in the butt if I want to play a game in one room while my kids play one in the other. I can only imagine what a mess it'd be if the TV (and the stereo and the PSP and the toaster, etc) wanted exclusive access to the ID, too.
It's not UTTERLY broken... there is a sub account feature for PSN for child accounts and stuff but I think it's really clear that they never planned on people owning multiple PS3s or having their entire home theater logged in or it'd be architected more sensibly.
I know we try to maintain a civil discourse here on /. (ha), but with all due respect, are you fucking serious? They denied the existence of the issue despite all evidence to the contrary; by the time they even acknowledged it was a problem, hackers were already exploiting it; and their initial "fix" to the problem didn't fix anything, and actually cause more security issues. I know MS fucks you just as hard as Sony does, but how the hell did this ever get modded insightful? It's a bloody console fanboy rant.
I like to think of online DRM as something akin to a college -- you pay for lessons until you learn something.
Now instead of the 4 built in to the XMB, we can expect links to the store everywhere on every Sony device? It's bad enough on the PS3 - I don't want to turn on my TV/Walkman/toaster and be taken directly to an outlet for overpriced downloads that I never wanted.
Fanboy skull? Ha. I've had an Xbox, a Playstation, and a Nintendo during my life. This isn't about console wars. This is about rootkits and extremely shady business practices. I wouldn't use software from Sony just like I wouldn't use software from MS.
They never fixed the problem, they never apologized (if that's an apology, then WOW!), and to my knowledge they never changed.
-1 troll. Bullshit. Gotta love /. mods
DId sony have a large booth at the consumer electronics show?