August 27 - 1:45pm EDT   It was announced today that Immersion Corp. will pay $20.8 million to Microsoft to settle a lawsuit regarding vibration technology used in the latter's gaming system controllers. As part of the settlement, Immersion will join Microsoft's Certified Partner Program. The now-discarded lawsuit stems from a previous settlement Sony and Immersion reached that saw Sony pay Immersion $121 million for use of its patented technology, with Microsoft claiming its sublicense agreement gives it a claim to a portion of the Sony/Immersion settlement that Immersion initially refused to pay. [full story]

July 28 - 10:25pm EDT   Sans Digital has announced a new network attached storage (NAS) server with RAID and direct attach options, supporting connections to gaming systems. It is available in silver, the MobileNAS MN4L+, and black, the MobileNAS MN4L+B. The server offers digital media playback for the PlayStation (both PlayStation 2 and 3) and Xbox over UPnP and DLNA protocols, adding value to its home server appeal. It provides a Gigabit Ethernet NAS connection and can also be used as direct attached storage over an iSCSI connection. In addition to the iSCSI support, the unit also offers eSATA, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0. [full story]

July 15 - 3:35pm EDT   Sony at its E3 press gathering this afternoon formally introduced a Video section to the console side of the PlayStation Store. Users of the PlayStation 3 will be able to buy or rent content from most major studios, including not just its own Sony Pictures but also Disney, Fox, NGM, Paramount, Warner, and other smaller studios. The company is uniquely one of the first to allow TV show purchases in HD as well as in standard definition, and prices them at $2 each; movies can be rented in either resolution for typical prices of $3 to $4, with permanent movie downloads selling for $10 to $20. [full story]

July 14 - 4:20pm EDT   About two weeks later than originally promised, Sony and Sky have today launched the Go!View video-on-demand service for the PlayStation Portable gaming system. The Go!View service will allow users to transfer content downloaded via PC TV to their PSPs. Subscribers will be able to download TV shows such as Lost, Desperate Housewives and Top Gear, among others, as well as FA Premier League soccer and full-length movies. [full story]

July 11 - 1:30pm EDT   Sony today revealed it will begin selling virtual advertising space in PlayStation 3 games in order to help the company offset the losses it suffers with each sale of the console. The ads would appear on billboards, posters on walls, shopping bags, TV screens and soda cans in games where they wouldn't seem to be out of place. The company teamed up with in-game advertisement companies Double Fusion and IGA Worldwide in the undertaking, which would target advertising per game genre, said a Sony spokesperson. [full story]

June 30 - 3:15pm EDT   Sony is exploring the development of a likely game-oriented touchscreen device that may also be a communicator, according to a newly published US patent filing. A patent shows a handheld touch device that would allow both direct and gesture-based input and which would also provide force feedback across the entire display through a system known as "tactile pixels;" a grid of small bumps would lift to reach the screen and help simulate physical button presses or other effects based on touch input. [full story]

June 18 - 5:00pm EDT   An entry on Sony's PlayStation Blog by Eric Lempel, Director of PlayStation Netowrk Operations, today revealed the electronics giant will soon launch a couple of software updates for its PlayStation 3 gaming console. The first update, version 2.36, will reportedly fix some bugs users experienced when playing certain PlayStation titles. The one to wait for, however, is 2.40, which will bring the long-anticipated XMB in-game main menu interface, as well as a Trophies feature previously undescribed by the console maker. [full story]

May 18 - 10:30pm EDT   Sony Ericsson is readying consumer versions of its XPERIA phone line more explicitly targeted at the iPhone, if a Sony Ericsson promo video proves accurate. The short clip shows users running primarly touchscreen-driven phones that are likely media centric; icons floating around them recall the Xross Media Bar (XMB) that Sony uses for its PlayStation systems and BRAVIA TVs to navigate games, music, and video. Panels swirling around the users recall the panel-based interface that Sony Ericsson is using as the front end for the XPERIA X1's navigation. [full story]

April 22 - 11:30am EDT   Sony on Tuesday announced it will once again delay the launch of its Home virtual online world for its PlayStation 3 gaming console, with the new date slated for sometime in the fall. Last September, Sony said Home will launch early in 2008. If Sony holds to the new date, this latest announcement would mean the interactive online service will arrive about a year after its intended launch date. The company did promise a limited-test service is planned to start this summer. [full story]

March 31 - 5:45pm EDT   Toast 9 Titanium 9.0.2 ($80) CD/DVD burning tool. The new release resolves a number of encoding issues related to high-definition source content and creation of Blu-ray video discs, resolves situation where high-definition DVDs would not play back on PlayStation 3 and resolves a number of TiVo related audio/video sync issues. [Download - form] iGlasses 2.1 ($10) adjust and manipulate your webcam's video settings from within iChat AV and many other programs, including iMovie, Photo Booth, Yahoo! Messenger, Skype and web-based chat. You can modify colors, brightness, and even pan and zoom your Mac's built-in iSight. There is also a brightness booster, image rotating, digital panning/zooming ... [full story]

March 31 - 4:45pm EDT   A updated version of Sony's PlayStation 3 console has been sent to the FCC, documents show. Any new device with wireless technology must be approved by the FCC; the Sony application notes, however, that the company has only made two minor changes, one of which is merely an adjustment to the construction of the Bluetooth module. The other is a switch to an 80GB hard drive, a boost from the presently-offered 40GB capacity. The storage should allow gamers to keep more games, music, videos and other material. [full story]

March 3 - 11:45am EST   Apple's collective market share is rising, according to a web traffic report posted by Net Applications, citing that Mac computers have about 7.46-percent share, and iPhones claim 0.14-percent. Windows sits on top of the list at 91.58-percent, which has slowly eroded from 92.91-percent in the year prior. The iPhone was listed as having a higher marketshare than that of the Playstation 3, Sun OS, Nintendo Wii, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and several other platforms. [full story]

February 18 - 4:10pm EST   Quazal, a developer of network gaming code used in titles like Rock Band and Company of Heroes, has announced the shipping of Mac versions of some of its key software, in some cases enabling cross-platform play between Macs and PCs with "very little" extra programming. Net-Z provides a low-level multiplayer core, and handles authoring and integration; mechanics are defined through an object layer, saving developers from the need to define packets, sockets, and client-server messaging. [full story]

December 24 - 10:30am EST   A PlayStation 1 emulator for the iPhone and iPod touch, whose development was revealed just two weeks ago, is now available in its first public version. The software is installed directly to jailbroken devices, and utilizes images of PS1 discs converted to ISO, IMG, BIN, Z or ZNX formats. Users can also increase the performance of the emulator by installing a specific PlayStation BIOS file, and excuting hidden commands to increase the clock cycle and/or speed of their handhelds. [full story]

December 10 - 1:30pm EST   One independent software developer is hard at work on a Sony Playstation emulator for iPhone, which will allow iPhone owners to play original Sony Playstation games on Apple's cellular handset. The author says the software will support both the iPhone and iPod touch, and that a beta testing stage is due to arrive in the near future that will allow users who donated money to receive a pre-release test version. [full story]