There were rumors, previously, that Sony might make a peripheral for the PS Vita that would allow PSP UMD’s to be playable on the PS Vita. This peripheral was rumored to be an external device that would play the UMD’s and connect to the PS Vita, sort of like an external DVD drive on computers. So far this rumor has not been confirmed.

With the PlayStation Vita, Sony has been trying to show the its fans that this time around things will be different. Making the right moves in both the hardware and software, Sony has showed to developers and consumers that Vita will not disappoint.

At TGS today Sony has shown off the new Motion Controller. The controller was originally revealed during E3 2009 and has been criticized for its “ugliness” and for looking like another certain object. It uses the ball on the top of the controller and the PlayStation Eye to track the movements of the controller. Hirai said  that “very accurate” movement can be realized and the reality can be “enhanced” via slight vibration feedback.

Before:

After:

As you can see in the before and after pictures, the top part before the ball, has now curved out and so has the bottom. The Motion Controller is still on schedule to launch in Spring 2010.

*Image credits to Joystiq

With the announcement of the PS3 Slim (not officially called the PS3 Slim) we have been seeing new things coming from Sony on the PS3. As in a  previous article, Sony planning new PS3 Box art with PS3 Slim Announcement?, Sony is now in the process of rebranding it’s flagship PS3 in the market. With the  announcement of the PS3 Slim, it was more than just a new version of the PS3. It was a whole rebranding process with a new logo to go with it.

The new logo is now a third for the PS3 in it’s lifespan. With the original PLAYSTATION 3 Logo with the Spider-Man font as the original marketing figure for the PS3 it was very effective. It was effective in the way that the public quickly made the comparison with the Spider-Man font and were not very happy with it. Lately instead of seeing the PLAYSTATION 3 logo on commercials they were seeing something new in a sense. Instead of it being called PLAYSTATION 3 it was now just PS3, still in the Spider-Man font. This marked the first transition into being known as the PS3 instead of PlayStation 3.

The PS3 Slim has come with a change and Sony’s John Koller has told Ars Technica that, “We’re in the process of replacing the Spider-Man font to the PS3 logo. [The new design] will be the logo moving forward, that will be in place on the hardware and peripherals and software, starting with Uncharted 2.” With that information it confirmed that the PS3 was not only changing its logo, it was changing it’s whole image. Starting with the logo on the PS3, then the logo on the box art, and finally the logo for marketing.

Now to follow up on our previous post about the new box art, Sony planning new PS3 Box art with PS3 Slim Announcement?, the final design has been released and is shown in the new image from the Gundam bundle box. On the left you could see the new PS3 logo on the box, without PLAYSTATION 3 in Spider-Man font on the side, and with a MUCH cleaner look.

With this change, things are starting to be more consistent and it gives Sony a cleaner look on their products. Sony has gone back to their old marketing way’s and if they can market the PS3 like they did with the PS2, they can not only re-gain the lead this console generation, they can win it.

Name: GamesCom
When: August 18, 2009, 12pm-3pm ET | 11am-2pm CT | 9am-12pm PT
Where: Cologne, Germany

Where to find Sony GamesCom coverage:

IGN – Live Blog Coverage
GameSpot – Live Blog Coverage
EuroGamer – Live Blog Coverage

What to hopefully expect announced:

- PS3 Slim
- PS3 Backwards Compatibility with PS2 Games
- PS3 Price Cut
- Firmware 3.0
- New PSN Features/EU Video Store
- GT5 Release Date
- Massive LittleBigPlanet announcement
- PSP Go App Store Information
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker on PSP
- New PSP game ‘Dead Nation’
- Demos of games

With this information it could mean that with this implementation, Sony would want full backwards compatibility in all PS3 Slims by its launch. There is no denying that there is a PS3 Slim with all the recent news of Sony signing manufacturing agreements with both Foxconn and Pegatron to build a revised model in time for a July delivery.

When could all this be announced though, well  The Games Convention is the 31st of July to the 2nd of August, which they can announce it then with the price cut. This is just in time for the holidays and making GT5 a bigger possibility it will come out this year.

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