PS Controllers

 

 

Play Station online services

Online gaming on the PlayStations first started in July 2001 with the release of PlayStation 2’s unnamed online service in Japan. Later in August 2002 saw its release in North America, followed by the European release in June 2003. The service is still active and continues to be played by gamers.

Released in 2006, the PlayStation Network is an online service focusing on online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery. The service is provided and run by Sony Computer Entertainment for use with the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable video game consoles. The service currently has over 50 million users worldwide. The Sony Entertainment Network provides other features for users like PlayStation Home, PlayStation Store, and Trophies.

PlayStation Store

The PlayStation Store is an online virtual market available to users of the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The store uses both physical currency and PlayStation Network Cards. The PlayStation Store’s gaming content is updated every Tuesday and offers a range of downloadable content both for purchase and available free of charge. Available content includes full games, add-on content, playable demos, themes and game and movie trailers. The service is accessible through an icon on the XMB on the PS3 and PSP. The PS3 store can also be accessed on the PSP via a Remote Play connection to the PS3. The PSP store is also available via the PC application, Media Go. As of September 24, 2009, there have been over 600 million downloads from the PlayStation Store worldwide.

Video content such as films and television shows are also available from the PlayStation Store on the PlayStation 3 and PSP and will be made available on some new Sony BRAVIA televisions, VAIO laptop computers and Sony Blu-ray Disc players from February 2010.

Life with PlayStation

Life with PlayStation is a Folding@home application available for the PS3 which connects to Stanford University’s Folding@home distributed computer network and allows the user to donate their console’s spare processing cycles to the project. Folding@home is supported by Stanford University and volunteers make a contribution to society by donatingcomputing power to this project. Research made by the project may eventually contribute to the creation of vital cures. The Folding@home client was developed by Sony Computer Entertainment in collaboration with Stanford University. Life with PlayStation also consists of a 3D virtual view of the Earth and contains current weather and news information of various cities and countries from around the world. As well as a World Heritage channel which offers historical information about historical sites and United Village channel which is a project designed to share information about communities and cultures worldwide.

Play Station vita

The PlayStation Vita

Released in December 2011, the PlayStation Vita was previously codenamed Next Generation Portable (NGP). It features a 5 inch OLED touchscreen, two analog sticks, a rear touchpad, Sixaxis motion sensing and a 4 core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor. The PlayStation Vita was officially unveiled by Sony on January 27, 2011 at the PlayStation Meeting 2011.

PSP Go model

PSP Go model

Piano Black PSP Go (open position)

Released in October 2009, the PSP Go is the biggest redesign of the PlayStation Portable to date. Unlike previous PSP models, the PSP Go does not feature a UMD drive but instead has 16 GB of internal flash memory to store games, videos and other media. This can be extended by up to 32GB with the use of a Memory Stick Micro (M2) flash card. Also unlike previous PSP models, the PSP Go’s rechargeable battery is not removable or replaceable by the user. The unit is 43% lighter and 56% smaller than the original PSP-1000, and 16% lighter and 35% smaller than the PSP-3000. It has a 3.8″ 480 × 272 LCD (compared to the larger 4.3″ 480 × 272 pixel LCD on previous PSP models). The screen slides up to reveal the main controls. The overall shape and sliding mechanism are similar to that of Sony’s mylo COM-2 internet device. The PSP Go is being produced and sold concurrently with its predecessor the PSP-3000 although it will not replace it. All games on the PSP Go must be purchased and downloaded from the PlayStation Store as the handheld is not compatible with the original PSP’s physical media, the Universal Media Disc. The handheld also features connectivity with the PlayStation 3‘s controllers the Sixaxis and DualShock 3 via Bluetooth connection.

Handheld systems

PlayStation Portable

The original PlayStation Portable

Released in March 2005, the PlayStation Portable (PSP) was Sony’s first handheld console to compete with Nintendo’s DS console. The console is the first to utilize a new proprietary optical storage medium known as Universal Media Disc (UMD), which can store both games and movies. It contains 32 MB of internal flash memory storage, expandable via Memory Stick PRO Duo cards. It has a similar control layout to the PS3 with its PlayStation logo button and its  (‘Triangle’),  (‘Circle/O’),  (‘Cross/X’) and  (‘Square’) buttons.