Sony halts sales of PS3 jailbreak

Sony halts sales of PS3 jailbreak

Not so fast PS3 jailbreakers. Sony has succeeded, at least Down Under, in temporarily halting presales of a USB dongle that would allow PlayStation 3 owners to dump borrowed games onto the system's hard drive.

A federal court in Australia on Thursday ordered electronics retailers in the country to stop sales and distribution of the dongle called PS Jailbreak, which we told you about last week. Court documents indicate the injunction will remain in place until a hearing scheduled for Tuesday that could determine the permanent fate of the modchip in Australia, and have consequences for the device in other countries, as well.

Australian retailer Quantronics, one of three respondents named in court documents filed by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Sony Computer Entertainment Australia, currently lists the $170 product as "no stock," but details on the PS3 modchip remain on the site.

Earlier, reports the site PS3News, Quantronics posted a notice stating it would not:

• Import the PS Jailbreak
• Distribute the PS Jailbreak
• Offer the dongle for sale to the public
• Provide it to another person
• Otherwise deal with the product

"Unless a continuation of orders or permanent injunction is granted to Sony Computer Entertainment, this product page will be returned and sales will resume on the 31st August 2010," the site said.

That notice no longer appeared on the site at the time of this writing.

The site PSJailbreak.com, meanwhile, did not mention the Australian court order on Friday. It lists distributors around the world, including the three Australian outfits named in the court documents. In addition to Quantronics, they are OzModChips.com and ModSupplier.com.

Thursday's court order also gives Sony permission to collect and test all dongles in the firms' possession.

The PS3 runs the software on the PS Jailbreak when the dongle is inserted into the console's USB port and booted. Besides the ability to copy and play games from the hard drive, the jailbreak is said to allow non-Sony-approved software, including homebrew apps, to run. Even online gaming is supported, and early reports stated that games running from the hard drive run faster than the same games from the optical disc drive. The hack was scheduled to ship Friday, August 27.

"We will not be providing further commentary with regards to this case," Sony Computer Entertainment said in a statement Monday. "However, as we always have, we will continue to take necessary actions from both hardware and software to protect the intellectual property of the content offered on the PS3 system

Windows 7 handheld gaming device OCS 1 runs Oak Trail

Windows 7 handheld gaming device OCS 1 runs Oak Trail

Ocosmos' OCS 1 is an alternative to the Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable for gaming on-the-go.

SAN FRANCISCO--Tucked away at one corner of the Intel Developer Forum Technology Showcase area is Korea-based company Ocosmos. Never heard of the brand? You're not alone, but the company's product, scheduled to be showcased at tomorrow's IDF keynote, is generating quite a buzz . We're talking about the OCS 1--a handheld gaming device based on the Oak Trail mobile CPU which runs the full Windows 7 operating system .

According to the company's representative, the OCS 1 is primarily designed as a portable gaming and entertainment device, but there are plans to embed a 3G or even an LTE radio in the future. Its selling point is that it can run both online and offline games such as StarCraft II and World of Warcraft along with 3D development tools. In a nutshell, you're looking at a full-fledge PC OS on a mobile device.

The OCS 1 comes with a 4.8-inch, 1,024 x 600-pixel capacitive touchscreen, 32GB SSD, a microSD card slot; Wi-Fi connectivity, 3.5mm audio jack, speaker, microphone and a pair of cameras (3 megapixels for the main module; 1.3 megapixels for the Web cam). No word on the battery performance, although the company is targeting 10 hours of gaming on a fully charged battery. The OCS 1 is expected to appear in the US next year followed by other markets in Europe and Asia Pacific, though pricing details have yet to be announced.

Top Microsoft game employee jumps to Amazon

Top Microsoft game employee jumps to Amazon

Feeding speculation that Amazon.com is planning a gaming push, the company has snagged Microsoft's director of game platform strategy.

Andre Vrignaud announced his departure Friday on his personal blog. "Can't really talk about details at this point, but it'll become pretty evident soon enough...and you all know where my passions lie," he said in the blog.

He added that he is "excited about where Microsoft is going in the next few years" but is "very intrigued about what Amazon is looking to do."

Vrignaud's departure from Microsoft is potentially a major blow to the company. Vrignaud, who has worked in the game industry for more than 20 years, had been at Microsoft since 2002 and helped oversee the game platform strategy for Xbox, Xbox Live, and Windows. During that period, Microsoft has gone from a hopeful contender to a major player in gaming.

Earlier this year, Engadget found that Amazon had posted a job opening for a "stealth project" in its digital video game business. Currently, Amazon lists several game job openings, including a senior product manager posting that mentions the "launch of a new initiative in our digital video games business." So far, Amazon has been tight-lipped about any such plans. But those job openings and Vrignaud's arrival seem to indicate that Amazon has something planned.

Amazon did not immediately respond to request for comment