Tag: sony’s
Sony’s PS5 God of War: Ragnarok bundle is $50 off again
If you missed the chance to buy the PlayStation 5 God of War: Ragnarok bundle when it was $50 off last month, now you have another opportunity to do so. Amazon is again offering the bundle for $509, down from $560. With the discount, you’re effectively getting God of War: Ragnarok for $10 since the disc variant of the PS5 will set you back $499 on its own.
Before this year, Sony’s latest console was notoriously tricky to find in stores and online due to pandemic-related supply shortages. That meant the console rarely went on sale, so while $50 off is not much of a discount, it is an all-time low price for the disc version of the PS5. The fact you get God of War: Ragnarok, one of the PlayStation 5’s best games, in the bundle makes this an even better deal. Now is also the perfect time to play the game. Sony’s Santa Monica Studio recently released a hefty update for Ragnarok that added an NG+ mode, alongside new armor and enhancements for players to collect.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonys-ps5-god-of-war-ragnarok-bundle-is-50-off-again-153846267.html?src=rss
Sony’s 2nd-gen Spatial Reality Display is bigger and supports more SDKs
Bobby Kotick says Sony’s being a baby about Microsoft deal: ‘They would just like to prevent our merger from happening’
Sony’s 12-megapixel full-frame ZV-E1 is a low-light vlogging beast
Sony has unveiled its latest, and by far greatest vlogging camera to date, the full-frame ZV-E1. Equipped with the same backside-illuminated (BSI) 12-megapixel sensor as the A7S III, it promises excellent low-light performance, 4K at up to 120p and a host of new AI features like auto framing. The $2,200 price tag also makes it enticing for vloggers as it offers features found on the $3,500 A7S III for considerably less money.
Key among those are the excellent video specs. The full-frame sensor lets you significantly blur the background so subjects stand out more than with cameras using smaller APS-C or Micro Four Thirds sensors. And like the A7S III, the ZV-E1 gives you 4K at 24/30/60/120 fps, using a full-pixel readout with no binning in all modes. It also offers capture in easy-to-edit All-I modes with data rates up to 600Mbps.
10-bit 4:2:2 recording is available with S-Log-3/S-Gamut3.Cine log modes, delivering up to 15 stops of dynamic range, Sony claims. And the 12-megapixel BSI sensor has an ISO range up to 409,600 expanded (80-102400 in normal modes), the best high ISO performance in the Alpha series. That opens up a lot of interesting creative opportunities, as you can shoot in near pitch-black conditions.
The ZV-E1 is Sony’s first full-frame camera with a vlogging-style body, so it lacks the large grip and generous controls seen on other A-series models. In exchange, it’s much smaller and lighter than those models, weighing in at just 483 grams, compared to 699 grams for the A7S III. It’s even lighter (and smaller) than the A7C, but uses the same Z-batteries as larger Sony models, letting you capture up to 570 shots or record 4K 60p video for 95 minutes (however, 4K 60p is temperature-limited to approximately 30 minutes).
It has a single rear dial, with the front dial replaced by a motor zoom control. There are just a few other controls (three programmable buttons, a Fn button and Sony’s usual D-Pad), along with a Still/Movie/S&Q switch, product showcase button, and background defocus button. It also has a tally light that can be seen from the front and top.
For other settings, and functions like focus, you have to use the touchscreen. Luckily it’s a fully articulating display that allows easy self-shooting or high/low angle framing. Sony has also adopted the A7R V‘s relatively intuitive menu system that places common settings on one screen and makes it relatively easy to find more advanced functions.
Also missing is an electronic viewfinder, so the only way to see your subject is via the touchscreen or an external monitor. We’ve seen the same thing on all its other ZV-series vlogging cameras so it’s no surprise, but it’s a bit jarring to see such a high-spec camera without an EVF.
Otherwise, though, ZV-E1 actually adds some features not found on other Sony cameras. To start with, it offers 5-axis in-body stabilization, with a new “Active” optical mode that’s supposed to boost shake reduction while walking. And if that’s not enough, the “Dynamic Active” mode adds extra smoothing for rapid movements in exchange for some extra cropping. “Combined with a wide-angle lens, hand-held shooting is possible even in fast walking scenes that would otherwise be difficult without the use of a gimbal,” Sony claims.
Another new feature is the AI-based auto framing mode that should be incredibly handy for solo creators. Using subject recognition tech, it automatically crops the frame to keep the subject in a prominent position, even though the camera may be fixed on a tripod. Using the feature, you can select a small, medium or large crop, have it track you quickly or slowly, auto start based on subject recognition or subject selection, and switch between the cropped and full angle after 15 or 30 seconds. It can even record two types of images at once, capturing the full image to an HDMI output and the cropped version to an internal memory card.
Other AI tricks including a framing stabilizer that uses subject recognition tech to crop in to the subject and keeps them stable when you’re walking beside them. “Multiple face recognition” automatically reduces bokeh when a second face is detected so both subjects stay in focus. And as with other Sony vlogging models, it has a bokeh switch that automatically defocuses the background, along with a “product showcase” button that lets the camera instantly focus on an object put in front of the camera.
As with other recent Sony models, the ZV-E1 has a variety of subject recognition modes besides humans, including animal, bird, car/train, airplane and insect. It includes the focus breathing compensation feature first seen on the A7 IV that digitally compensates for any zooming when the focus changes from one subject to another. It also offers the focus map and AF assist seen on recent models, along with adjustments for the AF transition speed.
On the audio front, the ZV-E1 has a built-in 3-capsule mic that can change directionality depending on the situation. For instance, if a human subject is recognized, the mic direction changes to “front,” but if there’s no subject it defaults to “all directions.” It comes with a windscreen, and if you’d rather using your own mic, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack and digital audio interface on the hotshoe.
Other features include UVC/UAC webcam capability, with support for up to 4K 30p video, besting most other Sony models. It also comes with a headphone port, a single SD UHS-II card slot, a microHDMI output and USB-C. Finally, it’s a decent photo camera as well, shooting 12-megapixel RAW photos at up to 10fps — but there’s no mechanical shutter, of course.
As mentioned, the ZV-E1 is priced at $2,200 for the body only, or $2,500 in a kit with the SEL 28-60mm zoom. It goes on pre-order tomorrow, with shipping set to start in early April — stay tuned for a full review.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonys-12-megapixel-full-frame-zv-e1-is-a-low-light-vlogging-beast-140009036.html?src=rss
Sony’s concerned Call of Duty will be worse on PlayStation if Microsoft buys Activision
Sony has laid out more concerns about Microsoft’s planned takeover of Activision Blizzard in its latest response to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Sony has opposed the deal from the start. Now, it’s suggesting that Microsoft could (perhaps unintentionally) kneecap the performance and quality of Call of Duty on PlayStation, which might result in fans switching to Xbox.
“Microsoft might release a PlayStation version of Call of Duty where bugs and errors emerge only on the game’s final level or after later updates,” the letter (PDF) reads. “Even if such degradations could be swiftly detected, any remedy would likely come too late, by which time the gaming community would have lost confidence in PlayStation as a go-to venue to play Call of Duty. Indeed, as Modern Warfare II attests, Call of Duty is most often purchased in just the first few weeks of release. If it became known that the game’s performance on PlayStation was worse than on Xbox, Call of Duty gamers could decide to switch to Xbox, for fear of playing their favourite game at a second-class or less competitive venue.”
Sony claims there wouldn’t be a viable way for it or the CMA to assess how “Microsoft chooses to allocate its resources and the quality/quantity of engineers it devotes to the PlayStation version of Call of Duty to ensure that SIE would be treated fairly and equally.” Degrading the quality of Call of Duty on PlayStation, intentionally or not, perhaps wouldn’t be the wisest course of action, as The Verge points out. A buggy Call of Duty release on PlayStation would probably lead to a bigger backlash against Microsoft and Activision than Sony.
In any case, Microsoft noted in its latest response to the CMA (PDF) that it has offered to “provide Sony with parity on release date, content, features, upgrades, quality and playability with the Xbox platform.” That is, if Sony accepts Microsoft’s proposed 10-year agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Microsoft would be willing to agree to a third-party assessor to oversee the platform parity.
Sony’s letter reiterates its concern that Microsoft would make Call of Duty a Game Pass exclusive and away from PlayStation. Again, that’s something Microsoft has refuted. “As we have said all along: it makes zero business sense to take Call of Duty off of PlayStation,” Microsoft Competition Law Group corporate vice president Rima Alaily recently told Axios.
It will be a while yet before we know for sure whether Microsoft will be allowed to buy Activision Blizzard. The CMA is set to make a final ruling on the deal by April 26th. It has millions of Microsoft and Activision documents, and thousands of emails from the public to take into account, according to Sony. The CMA raised concerns about the deal in February, suggesting it could “harm UK gamers” and lead to a “substantial lessening of competition in gaming consoles.”
Other major regulators have yet to rubberstamp the takeover, including in the US, where the Federal Trade Commission has attempted to block it. However, reports suggest the European Union is set to give the merger the green light following news that Microsoft will bring Call of Duty and other games to Nintendo and GeForce Now platforms.
In case you’re wondering, Microsoft’s letter details how Activision would get Call of Duty games to run on Nintendo Switch, which is much less powerful than PlayStation and Xbox consoles. It would do so “by optimizing the display resolution, in-game texture resolution, reducing the rendering speed (i.e., frames per second) and simplifying advanced rendering techniques (e.g., raytracing, shadow, lighting and antialiasing techniques).” In other words, Activision will have to make some compromises. It remains to be seen how the Switch will handle the mammoth file sizes of recent Call of Duty titles, though lower-res textures will help.
In the meantime, it seems Call of Duty fans have another bizarre crossover coming their way soon. A teaser posted on the series’ Twitter account shows Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and a date of March 21st.
A new evil will rise 🥷⚔️ pic.twitter.com/jA5f7ogAbp
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) March 8, 2023
Update 3/8 5:00PM ET: Updated some language regarding the Switch ports of CoD games.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonys-concerned-call-of-duty-will-be-worse-on-playstation-if-microsoft-buys-activision-201212041.html?src=rss
Designed to rival AirPods, Sony’s Linkbuds S earbuds are $50 off
PlayStation Plus Deals: Save Cash on Sony’s Gaming Subscription – CNET
PSVR 2: How to stay safe, sane, and strong-stomached in Sony’s new headset
Sony’s PlayStation VR2 arrived this week, and while it’s one of the best virtual reality headsets we’ve ever used, there’s still a number of common VR pitfalls and PSVR 2-specific annoyances new buyers might run into.
Whether this is your first VR headset or just your most recent purchase, here are a handful of tips that might keep you from getting sick, tripping on a cord, running out of battery, or — and we hear this is particularly common — thinking Sony shipped you a blurry VR headset when it’s probably just a trick of the light.
In fact, let’s start with that one.
How to wear the PSVR 2 and avoid blur
If…