Sony’s Xperia Z4 (Z3+) wasn’t considered good enough to be used by Bond in his latest flick
Daniel Craig can be seen in cinemas in his latest Bond flick, Spectre, and here we have some behind-the-scenes news regarding the product placement and marketing side of things. According to some leaked emails, it would appear that Sony initially wanted its Xperia Z4 (or should it rather be the Z3+ as it is known outside of Japan) to be James Bond’s choice of smartphone, a move that both Bond director Sam Mendes and actor Daniel Craig had reservations about.
This was despite Daniel Craig being offered $5 million to use the Xperia Z4 in the film.
“BEYOND the $$ factor, there is, as you may know, a CREATIVE factor whereby Sam and Daniel don’t like the Sony phone for the film (the thinking, subjectively/objectively is that James Bond only uses the “best,” and in their minds, the Sony phone is not the “best”). Having said that, David said if Sony made a fair market offer, that Barbara, armed with a “solid” financial proposal would go to work on Sam and Daniel and get this pushed through creatively. He obviously can’t guarantee that result (and he said as much), but he seemed very genuine and forthright on our call.”
Besides the actor and director both having issues with the Xperia Z4, believing that the ‘Sony phone was not the best‘, the producer, Barbara Broccoli, also wanted Sony to up its $18 million marketing budget for both promoting Spectre, in addition to higher payments for the film’s cast and crew’s use of the phones. The issue was further muddied by an offer from Samsung with a vastly higher marketing figure of $50 million along with a $5 million fee just for using its phones in the film. Imagine James Bond with a Galaxy Note 5, if you will, perhaps defending himself with the S Pen? Although that would be nigh on impossible seeing as the handset is still not available in the UK…But I digress.
The Samsung offer would appear to have been used simply to spur Sony into upping its own offering. As we all know, Sony announced its latest range of handsets in September, with the Xperia Z5 being used by Bond in Spectre. Either the Z5 is now being perceived as the ‘best phone‘ or Sony has upped its marketing budget and/or paid a higher fee for the handset to be used in the film.
Source: BusinessInsider (UK)
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Watch a live Director’s Commentary of ‘Until Dawn’ right now
Until Dawn is a spooky spectacle of classic horror themes and beautifully branching narrative paths — and today, developers at Supermassive Games will spill a bunch of behind-the-scenes secrets, live on Twitch. Supermassive is participating in an Until Dawn Director’s Commentary livestream at 3:30PM ET, hosted on the official PlayStation Twitch channel. If you have questions about the characters, setting, mechanics or story of Until Dawn, this is where you might find your answers. Were we supposed to loathe Emily? Who was Josh modeled after? Will Sam be our BFF in real life (please)? For the answers, tune in right here, right now. Who knows — the devs may even talk about Rush of Blood, the Until Dawn spin-off for PlayStation VR.
Source: PlayStation Blog
Sony’s new PSVR shooter is a rollercoaster ride of horror
“When we announced this, we saw a 50/50 split among the fanbase,” said Simon Harris of Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, Supermassive Games’ recently announced virtual reality shooter. The title, which debuted at Paris Games Week, is an extension of the PlayStation 4 exclusive released last August.The reason for the mixed reaction? Although its predecessor is an intense interactive drama, Rush of Blood is an on-rails arcade shooter (think House of the Dead or Time Crisis). Fans of the original want more drama, more Until Dawn, and this clearly isn’t more of the same. But after playing a brief session of Rush of Blood and talking to Harris about the studio’s plans, I’m convinced Supermassive knows what it’s doing.
‘Dreams’ isn’t an enigma, it’s ‘LittleBigPlanet’ reborn
Sony hasn’t worked out how to explain Dreams, the new title from LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway creator Media Molecule. Its debut at E3 was exciting but enigmatic, with a focus on player-driven creation and animation mechanics. At Sony’s Paris Games Week press conference on Tuesday, the studio showed off a little more of Dreams. But it still wasn’t clear how exactly what was shown on screen would work in practice — we’ve seen a lot of creation tools, but not a lot of gameplay. Luckily, Media Molecule took some time after the event to talk us through its grand vision for Dreams. And, despite the confusion, it most definitely will be a game.
Xperia Z5 / Z5 Compact update rolling out with stagefright fix
Sony has begun rolling out a new update for the Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Compact, bringing with it a full fix for the Stagefright exploit.
Xperia Z5 in video:
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As reported by XperiaBlog, the new update – which has build number 32.0.A.6.152 – is rolling out to the Xperia Z5 (model numbers E6602, E6653), Xperia Z5 Dual (E6633, E6683) and Xperia Z5 Compact (E5803, E5823) and weighs in at 281MB for an OTA update.
Alongside a full fix for the Stagefright exploit, the update also reportedly brings an improved camera, better heat management and more reliable fingerprint sensor. The update has begun rolling out to all variants of the handsets listed above but is dependent on region; on my UK-variant of the Xperia Z5, the update isn’t showing but others have reported the update is available. The update is also available via Sony’s PC Companion software and if it isn’t showing up on your handset, we’d check via the desktop application.
Have you got the update on your Xperia Z5 handset? If so, what do you think? Let us know your views in the comments below guys and don’t forget to include your country as well as which model number you’re using.
Nier: Automata is hack-and-slash the Platinum way
A Nier sequel was one of the last things we expected to see at E3 this year — which is why it was such a surprise when Square Enix showed off a proof-of-concept trailer for an upcoming PS4 sequel. Today, the company gives us something more substantial: the game’s full name (Nier: Automata), a new gameplay trailer focusing on Platinum Games’ combat engine and a bit of backstory.
Source: PlayStation
Sony starts rolling out Stagefright patch for the Xperia Z5 & Z5 Compact
Following Sony’s release of the Xperia Z5 and the Z5 Compact earlier this month, the Japanese manufacturer has today started rolling out a much-needed stability update for its flagship and its scaled down sibling. Unfortunately, the upgrade doesn’t bring much in terms of added functionality to the handsets, but it does transport a handful of essential bug fixes, as well as a patch for the Stagefright vulnerability exploit.
Users who have already installed the update are reporting that it also enhances camera performance, improves the on board heat management system and makes the fingerprint sensor a little more accurate. Although, we can’t vouch for the credibility of these changes seeing as they weren’t detailed in the changelog and we haven’t received the upgrade on our Xperia Z5 yet.
As is the norm, this update is being distributed in stages across several regions. To see if it’s ready for your device head into Settings, scroll to the bottom and tap on “About Device”, hit “System Updates”, then select “Check for updates”. Alternatively, you can wait until you receive a push notification prompting you to install the update.
Come comment on this article: Sony starts rolling out Stagefright patch for the Xperia Z5 & Z5 Compact
Sony sees profit in Q2 2015, but not from smartphones
Things have been tough for Sony this last decade or so, with their once-towering stock ($150 a share in 2000) bottoming out at $9.75 in 2012. Since then, the Japanese company has been on the move to adopt a new corporate identity and remain competitive in the global market. As of the close of second quarter 2015, things might be looking up. Their stock has risen 35.6% in 2015, and the company has reported a narrow profit of $280 million.
In addition to changes in corporate policy that involve extensive restructuring and trimming, this boost is due in part to a recent drop in the value of the Yen (which has made Sony more globally competitive) and the ongoing success of the PS4. Advantageous exchange rates and a profit of $199 million from their game-related subdivision constitute the vast majority of this profitable season.
However, these boons don’t quite offset the billions of dollars they’ve lost in the television market against less expensive competitors from Taiwan and South Korea since 2005. Sony’s mobile division is still having a hard go of it as well, reporting a “significant decrease” in smartphone unit sales over the second quarter of 2015. Their smart phone business dropped 15%, a $172 million loss.
On a smaller scale, this drop seems like bad news, but when you compare it to the $1.58 billion Sony Mobile lost in the second quarter of 2014… it’s really not so bad. Sony Mobile has a long way to go before it’s in the black, but it has also come a long way as well.
Sony is choosing to de-emphasize these less-than-profitable endeavors, and they’re focusing on those areas of business that are seeing good returns. Their ongoing sale of camera components and semiconductors to bigger mobile players like Apple and Samsung, for instance, continues to be on the rise.
As it stands, Sony is still struggling to get back on their feet, but things are looking brighter. It seems they have the PS4 to thank for that, however, not their mobile devices.
The Wirecutter’s best deals: Sony’s RX100 point-and-shoot and more!
This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. Read their continuously updated list of deals at TheWirecutter.com.
You may have already seen Engadget posting reviews from our friends at The Wirecutter. Now, from time to time, we’ll also be publishing their recommended deals on some of their top picks. Read on, and strike while the iron is hot — some of these sales could expire mighty soon.
Sony’s CD rootkit fiasco marks its inglorious 10th anniversary
Here’s one product anniversary that Sony probably wants you to forget. It’s the 10th anniversary of security researcher (now CTO for Microsoft Azure) Mark Russinovich publishing details of the Sony BMG rootkit, a CD copy protection system that compromised the security of Windows PCs and was near-impossible to safely uninstall. The music label was initially dismissive, but it soon had to change its tune — it paid millions to settle charges and recalled legions of discs. To top things off, the discovery made Sony a punching bag for anyone unhappy with digital rights management (DRM) and other heavy-handed uses of copyright.
Via: NetworkWorld
Source: FSFE
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