entertainment

Several PlayStation Vita games are seeing preorder price cuts (and one disappointing price increase) before the launch of the next-generation handheld gaming device planned of February 22.

Little Deviants, Wipeout 2048, Modnation Racers: Road Trip, Reality Fighters, and Hot Shots Golf: World Invitation, which cost $39.99 previously, are currently available for $29.99 (via Amazon, GameStop and others).

Sadly, it seems that the highly anticipated Uncharted: Golden Abyss for Vita rose in price from $39.99 to $49.99. There's little doubt that the next game in the Nathan Drake saga will be stunning and sell moderately well, but I feel a $50 retail price will turn off many gamers.

There is a certain sweet spot at $29 that Sony will have difficulty ignoring as time passes. I cannot envision a sustainable business model selling $50 triple-A portable games, regardless of the visuals or experience. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Music Unlimited, a cloud-based streaming music service, is coming to iOS devices. Is this a sign that Sony is finally ready to offer its vast content ecosystem to devices outside of its own?

The free app will be available for Apple's various iOS devices, including the iPad, this coming summer. It will essentially offer the same functionality as the Android app, and the ability to cache playlists for premium users. Representatives today also noted that Music Unlimited's catalog is now around 15 million songs, after adding content from CD Baby.

Despite the good news, things are … Read more

One of the prettiest looking games on Apple's iOS platform turns out to be pretty profitable too.

The popular Infinity Blade franchise, which grew to two games last month, has earned Epic Games and developer Chair Entertainment more than $30 million since its debut near the end of 2010.

Epic announced that figure today, while noting that Infinity Blade II has brought in net earnings of $5 million in the month since its launch, a benchmark the company says took the first game three months.

The series was unveiled at Apple's once-annual music event in 2010 and was … Read more

Netflix ended an exceedingly difficult 2011 by announcing a big number.

The company said earlier today that during the fourth quarter of 2011, more than 2 billion hours of television shows and movies were streamed by users across 45 countries.

Unknown, however, is how that compares to prior quarters. "We haven't made that comparison but suffice it to say 2 billion hours is a big number and a high mark," a company spokesman said.

In October, Sandvine reported that Netflix accounted for nearly one-third of peak downstream traffic in the U.S., making it a bigger bandwidth … Read more

If you're attending this year's CES, you will, perhaps, experience withdrawal symptoms.

For, as I peruse the landscape for next week's porn fest of gadgetry, I notice that there will be something missing: the porn fest.

It has seemed like an immovable tradition that CES occurs at the very same time as the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo.

Indeed, the porn exhibition was, one suspects, the primary destination for many of the attendees. They were like gentlemen of old who hid their Playboys inside their copies of The New York Times.

Now, however, the flesh show will occur … Read more

Netflix has signed an important deal as it readies its streaming service for customers in the U.K. and Ireland.

When Netflix launches there early next year, the company will offer access to a wide range of BBC programs, including "Torchwood," "Spooks," "Little Britain," and "Fawlty Towers." Although the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the BBC content will be offered to Netflix users the day the streaming service launches overseas, the companies said.

Netflix has been signing a host of deals with content providers over the past several weeks, … Read more

Walkman owners now have the ability to transfer any song from Sony's 10 million-track Music Unlimited library to their device with no restrictions, as often as possible.

The only caveat is one must be a premium member (free 30-day trial) of the service, which normally costs $9.99 a month.

The no-advertisement Music Unlimited is available for the NWZ-A860, NWZ-S760, and NWZ-E460 series personal multimedia players. … Read more

Ever see an actor on a show and have trouble remembering what that person's name is? If so, Hulu has a feature for you.

Dubbed Face Match, the new technology from Hulu Labs allows users to find out more about an actor on-screen. In order to use the service, Face Match needs to be turned on in the settings for the show or clip. After that, users need only hover the mouse cursor over the person's face and the video will pause, showing details about the actor.

I took Face Match for a spin today and it seems … Read more

The Google TV-equipped Logitech Revue is finally getting its Honeycomb update.

Earlier today, both Google and Logitech announced that the set-top box's owners would be able to download an over-the-air update bringing Android 3.1 to the device. Honeycomb delivers a host of improvements, including a redesigned interface, access to Google Music, and support for the Android Market. In addition, the software's Chrome browser supports Adobe Flash Player 10.2.

The update comes over a month after owners of Sony's Google TV-based devices were offered the software. The only issue is, early reviews of Honeycomb for Google … Read more