Any PlayStation 3 game released after January 2009 will be required to have Trophy support, Sony Computer Entertainment has confirmed with VideoGamer.

"From Jan 09 all games must have trophies," Sony told the site.

Rewarding players with virtual recognition for their in-game achievements a la the Xbox 360's Achievements, the Trophy system made its debut in a July PS3 firmware update.

While certain games include native Trophy support or have been patched for compatibility, especially though published by Sony, many of this year's other holiday titles do not currently support the functionality.

Sony will be forced to pay $18.5 million in damages to a company called Agere Systems for a patent violation on a "wireless local area network apparatus" included in Sony handheld devices including the PSP.

The ruling, discovered by PSP Fanboy, ends a lawsuit filed two years ago by Agere. The firm is now a subsidiary of a company called LSI, "a leading provider of innovative silicon, systems and software technologies that enable products which seamlessly bring people, information and digital content together."

A jury ruled that the patent infringement was willful, which likely contributed to the total amount Sony is ordered pay.

Sony, like other large-scale game companies, was also recently hit with a patent claim for the PlayStation 3's Blu-Ray capability. In 2007, the company won a dismissal in a Blu-Ray-related suit and settled with Immersion, a force-feedback developer.

Update: Netflix has confirmed the loss of Xbox 360 owners' ability to stream movies from Columbia Pictures, a Sony subsidiary. Columbia's movies are not licensed to be streamed to 360 consoles.

"In the case of Xbox 360, a few hundred titles are temporarily unavailable to be streamed via the Xbox game console," wrote Netflix VP Steve Swasey to MTV Multiplayer. "We hope they'll be licensed for Xbox 360 shortly," he added.

Original Story: Those anxious to try out Netflix movie streaming in the New Xbox Experience have just hit a stumbling block: a preview user has reported that streaming movies from Sony subsidiary Columbia Pictures are not playable on the Xbox 360.

A Joystiq reader noticed that their Instant Queue--the web-based list required to watch Netflix movies on the 360--suddenly included a slew of titles... Read more

Sony marketer John Koller has spoken up on speculation surrounding a PSP version of Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet (PS3), and while he confirmed little, he did concede that the roll-your-own platformer is a likely candidate for expansion within the Sony family.

"LittleBigPlanet is so expansionary," said Koller to MTV Multiplayer. "We certainly look at [the] LittleBigPlanet franchise as a going forward franchise for us, and that speaks to the PlayStation brand overall," he added.

Koller confirmed that the game has a future, though he was mum on what shape that future might take: "We're watching the UGC [user generated content] and seeing how that's playing out. But for the future, I think certainly, we'd look at a wide variety of opportunities. Whether that's the PSP or not, I can't really say."

Media Molecule posted a pair of job openings in early October seeking PSP programmers and specifically mentioning "exciting new LittleBigPlanet projects," leading many to suspect that a littler LittleBigPlanet is in the works.

Switching gears, the Sony rep expressed an interest in the budding portable music-rhythm genre after the runaway success of Vicarious Visions' Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS).

"It's of huge interest to us," Koller asserted. "For us, we look at the music area as being critical for PSP and the social area of interest as well," adding that music is the number-two use for the PSP behind portable gaming. "So, the marrying of those two concepts is of huge interest to us."

Today is the PlayStation 3's second birthday, and in typical Sony fashion the company is celebrating by way of its PR department, as the company has declared that there are 14 million online PlayStation Network accounts to go with "nearly 17 million" PlayStation 3 systems.

"With 14 million active accounts and 273 million pieces of content downloaded, we know that you're thirsting for ... digital entertainment," wrote Sony marketer John Koller on Sony's official PlayStation Blog.

Sony announced in late October that it had sold 16.84 million consoles worldwide, but today's announcement of 14 million PSN accounts implies--assuming one online account per console--that over 80 percent of PlayStation 3 owners go online, which if true would be a staggeringly high rate.

How many consoles have actually gone online remains unclear... Read more

Sales of Microsoft's Xbox 360 dominated those of rival Sony's PlayStation 3 by a nearly two-to-one margin in October, according to new figures released by US sales tracker NPD.

The final numbers show the Xbox 360 with October sales of 371,000 units, compared to PlayStation 3 sales of 190,000. The Xbox 360 also lead the PlayStation 3 in the month of September, though by a smaller margin.

The news follows a September 7 price cut on the cheapest version of the Xbox 360 to $199, and comes just ahead of the November 19 launch of the New Xbox Experience, a set of updates to the console's interface and functionality.

Nintendo continued to top the console charts, with the Wii outselling the combined sales of both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360:

1. Wii - 803,000 units
2. Nintendo DS - 491,000 units
3. Xbox 360 - 371,000 units
4. PSP - 193,000 units
5. PlayStation 3 - 190,000 units
6. PlayStation 2 - 136,000 units

In all, the US video game industry brought in $1.31 billion during... Read more

A new PlayStation 3 firmware update has arrived, bringing the system up to v2.52.

The update improves the "playback quality of some PS3 format software" and resolves "a text entry issue that occurs when using the on-screen keyboard, USB keyboard or Bluetooth keyboard with some PS3 format software," PlayStation Network operations director Eric Lempel wrote on the official PlayStation.Blog.

As with all previous PlayStation 3 updates, the new firmware, which can be downloaded for free from the system itself, must be installed before users can connect to the PlayStation Network for online multiplayer and shopping.

Rumors of a motion-sensitive break apart PlayStation 3 controller were apparently dead on, with Sony having applied for a patent on a device matching that description shortly after the reports first emerged in June.

The application, filed on June 23 and recently discovered by NeoGAF, details the use of a camera, such as the PlayStation Eye, to track movement via light sensors within the controller. The controller utilizes ultrasonic frequencies to determine distance, with the camera also capable of tracking a player's face and body movements.

In addition, multiple devices can be connected side-by-side with a faceplate, or end-to-end to create a wand-like device. However, no information is available as to when, or if, the curiously shaped controller will make its public debut.

Since its 2006 debut, the PlayStation 3 has sold 16.84 million units worldwide, according to new financial documents released by Sony.

During the second quarter of Sony's 2008 fiscal year, which ended on September 30, 2.43 million PS3s were sold, adding to the 14.41 million that had been sold as of June 30, 2008.

In all, Sony expects to sell 10 million PlayStation 3 units during this fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2009. To reach that goal, Sony will have to sell 6.01 million PS3s across the next two quarters, one of which covers the lucrative Christmas season.

Lifetime worldwide figures for the PlayStation 2 and PSP hardware are not available, as 2007 was the first fiscal year that Sony declared sales, not shipment numbers.

As of July 30, Nintendo's Wii had sold 29.6 million units worldwide. Microsoft has not provided worldwide sales figures on the Xbox 360 since March of this year, when the console was at 19 million worldwide.

In line with the lowered expectations, Sony's operating income for... Read more

Sony is expecting to close 2008 with a net profit 38% lower than was expected, with the company's games division actively losing money for the electronics and entertainment giant.

"The Japanese firm's outlook is bleak," wrote Forbes, citing a surging Japanese yen as hurting Sony's ability to export its products. Added to that, currency exchanges favor Korean rivals in consumer electronics, Sony's bread-and-butter products.

Video games are part of Sony's problem, as the games division has failed to recoup the PlayStation 3's $3 billion development cost and hardware losses despite what Forbes refers to as "early 2008 promises of profits."

Sony's overall profit tanked in its Q2 (July-September), dropping by half to 73.7 billion yen ($754.9 million)--and 60.7 billion of that yen came from one-time sales of some of its holdings.

"This is just the beginning of a big earnings collapse," said a Tokyo analyst to Forbes, speaking anonymously. "Given the track record of this company, it will under-deliver all the way."

With a new and improved screen at the center of Sony's new PSP-3000 model of its PlayStation Portable handheld, some users are surprised by appears to be a step backwards in quality.

At issue are scanlines, the phenomenon pictured left, which inspired a user on the PlayStation.com forums to take comparison shots.

Sony has issued a response on the issue, and the scanlines are the result of the new LCD itself. "By improving LCD response time to reduce ghosting, the horizontal-line phenomenon becomes more visible," reads a Sony Japan statement on PSP Fanboy.

For miffed owners of a shiny new PSP, the outlook isn't good. "Since this is caused by hardware characteristics, there is no plan to fix it with system software update."

Sony Computer Entertainment America also put out a statement echoing the statements of the mother ship. The PSP-3000 has been on the market for one week in North America.

Sony may be trying to tempt gamers into the PlayStation 3's new Trophy achievement system, according to the latest rumor from the world of print magazines.

"We've heard that SCEA is mulling over some sort of Trophy reward system," says the Official PlayStation Magazine as quoted by CVG.

"We doubt it'll be cash (or the equivalent)," continues the mag, "but we suspect it might be exclusive access to early betas and the like," the magazine speculates.

In recent months, small purchases like Sony's Qore magazine and game pre-orders have granted players early access to betas and demos like Resistance 2, Motorstorm Pacific Rift, and Valkyria Chronicles.

Blake's Take: Whether or not it's confirmed, it's a great idea. Rewarding players' skill is a worthy alternative to only rewarding gamers who shell out money in stores, whether retail or online. And for the gamers who have long resisted achievement systems, saying they don't care about the digital badges of honor, it's a solid way to incite a little enthusiasm.

Certain functions of the PS3's online PlayStation Network service--specifically account registration, management and PlayStation Store access--have been taken offline for "temporary unscheduled maintenance," Sony has revealed on the PlayStation Blog.

Fortunately, online gameplay is unaffected by this downtime--something that wasn't available during Tuesday's maintenance period--though it may affect the weekly PlayStation Store updates, which generally hit on Thursday afternoons.

A specific reason for the downtime was not provided, though the offline functions seem to coincide with the revisions made in this week's PS3 and PSP firmware updates.

The PlayStation 3's online service for multiplayer and digital downloads will be down later today for maintenance purposes, Sony has confirmed with Joystiq.

The service will be unavailable today from 2PM - 7 PM EDT / 11AM - 4PM PDT.

It is unknown exactly what the maintenance entails, though PSP owners will soon gain direct access to the online PlayStation Store via a new firmware update due this month.

Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida showed up at this week's Tokyo Game Show and, typical of a Sony executive, had quite a few opinions on his company and his competitors.

Yoshida was generous in his praise toward rival Microsoft and the Xbox 360, saying that he would "really like to see both PS3 and 360 succeed [in Japan]" in an interview with Eurogamer. He added a compliment for the upcoming New Xbox Experience: "I think it's quite nice. I like the Avatar designs they're working on."

The New Xbox Experience: Sony-approved

"The new games coming out on 360 and PS3 help to get consumers more interested in this generation of gaming," Yoshida continued, intentionally leaving out... Read more

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan announced today that it will announce 14 new games at the Tokyo Game Show, which starts next Thursday.

Eleven of those will be announced for the PlayStation 3 while three will hit the PSP handheld.

Within those eleven PS3 games, Sony Computer Entertainment is publishing nine. Konami and Japanese publisher Irem will each announce one new entry for the console. Sony will be publishing all three of its to-be-announced PSP games.

Sony will not be alone in the announcement frenzy of Japan's biggest games industry trade show. Nintendo will be first to the party with a media briefing this week. Microsoft has not been specific about games on display at this year's Tokyo Game Show, but the company will have a keynote speech on the first day of the expo.

Video game-related stocks have long been seen as a safe haven for investors, but even Blizzard was feeling the crunch today after the record-breaking 777 point drop on the Dow Jones industrial average.

The tech-based NASDAQ index saw a similar slide, dropping 199 points after the US House of Representatives voted down a bill to rescue the financial sector with $700 billion of taxpayer money.

The US gaming industry saw widespread drops, with Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts both seeing major hits. A mess of ugly numbers provided by GameSpot:

The share price of Activision Blizzard (World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero World Tour), the newly minted biggest third-party publisher on the planet, slid 13.8 percent ($2.26) to end the day at $14.12. Former top dog Electronic Arts (Madden NFL 09) saw $3.63 shaved off of its stock price, ending the day down 9.16 percent at $36 even.

THQ (Saints Row 2) lost 7 percent, or $0.87, to close at $11.48, and shares in Take-Two Interactive (Grand Theft Auto IV) lost 4.52 percent ($0.73) to close at $15.43--nearly $10 less than its asking price one month ago.

GameSpot further notes that overseas publishers and console manufacturers were not immune from the turmoil, with Microsoft, Sony, and Eidos parent SCi Entertainment all posting significant losses. Publisher Ubisoft dropped a massive $17.92 per share to close at $65.37.

Update: Sony has clarified that the price cut stems from Blockbluster itself, not Sony.

Original Story: Sony will be dropping the price of the discontinued 40GB PlayStation 3 hardware to $360 this weekend--a $40 cut--retailer Blockbluster has confirmed with Kotaku.

Back at E3, Sony announced that it would soon replace the formerly $400 40GB PS3 with a model that packed an 80GB HDD and the same functionality for the same price. Compared to the $500 model, the $400 PS3 only has two USB ports and is not backwards compatible with PlayStation 2 games.

As Sony has repeatedly vowed that it does not plan to drop the PS3's price this year, it is presumed that this cut is merely an effort to clear shelf space before the new model hits.

The company has also announced plans to replace the existing $500 80GB PlayStation 3 with a $500 160GB version in November, which will likely prompt another round of temporary price reductions as retailers clear out the previous model.

Along with larger hard drives, the revised PlayStation 3 SKUs will pack the updated DualShock 3 controllers instead of the vibration-less Sixaxis controllers.

Game maker Sony Computer Entertainment and one-time employee David Jaffe have been named in a lawsuit that accuses both Sony and Jaffe of blatantly stealing the work of two others and using that information in the God of War video game series.

Plantiffs Jonathon Bissoon-Dath and Jennifer Barrette-Herzog say that they sent a screenplay entitled Olympiad and an original illustrated map to Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2002. Three years later, a Sony-produced game entitled God of War was on store shelves, which they claim to share many similarities with their work.

"God of War is a derivative work based on and incorporating protected material unlawfully copied by defendants from plantiffs' original works," reads the filing, which was acquired by GamePolitics. "The similarities between plantiffs' works and God of War include similarities of plot, relationships among major characters, themes, setting, mood, pace and dialogue that are unique and pervasive."

Accused similarities include:

• "The original story of how a champion saves Athens from destruction by the invading Spartan army that has been sent by Areas...Athens is backed by Zeus and Athena."
• "The God of War image of the Bottomless Chasm in front of Pandora's Temple were clearly derived [from Barrette-Herzog's original map]."
• "The Champion's family is hacked to pieces...In both stories the Champion feels partially responsible even though he is really not to blame... Read more

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan today pulled back the curtain on the official PlayStation 3 Wireless Headset, which hits Japan on October 30 at 5,000 yen ($46).

The Bluetooth device allows gamers to communicate with other online players for up to eight hours on a single charge, can be charged via USB, and sports a noise canceling feature. In addition to voice chat, the headset allows users to bring up an on-screen indicator showing battery charge, volume levels, connection quality, and mute status.

While the the PS3 is compatible with practically any Bluetooth or USB microphone, this marks the first time that Sony has produced an officially-branded Bluetooth headset. It also represents the first implementation of detailed headset information into the PS3's on-screen display.

Joining the forthcoming PS3 Wireless Keypad as part of Sony's recent focus on communication, the headset is expected to arrive in Europe and North America shortly after its Japanese debut, though Sony has yet to provide any concrete details.