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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / Sony / PS5 / PlayStation
Sony’s PS5 is on its way to being one of the company’s most successful consoles.
It was a successful quarter for Sony regarding PS5 sales. Spotted on Engadget, the company has sold 4.9 million PS5 units during its second financial quarter.

That number now brings the total of PS5 consoles sold to 46.6 million. While impressive is still short of last year’s holiday figures, Sony did manage to move 1.6 million units more than it did in the previous year.

The impressive numbers come as Sony (as well as Nintendo and Xbox) all struggled to keep up with the demand for its PS5 consoles due to global supply chain issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As things slowly got back to “normal” and the shortages began to ease up, Sony was able to ramp up production on the PS5 console.
By the end of July 2023, Sony announced that more than 40 million PS5 units had been sold since the console hit shelves in November 2020.
Sony has set an ambitious target of shipping 25 million PS5 units in this financial year, but to achieve that goal, the company has to move 16.8 million more units.
While it seems like a bit of a stretch, according to Reuters reporting, Sony President Hiroki Totoki believes the goal is something his company “can attain very easily.”
The new “PS5 Slim” model due out this month could be that shot in the arm that Sony needs this holiday season to reach that goal, as the PS5 will surely be on the top of children’s and adult’s Christmas wishlists.
Sony Also Moved A Lot of Games
Hardware/consoles was not the only thing Sony talked about. The company sold 67.6 million games in the second quarter; 4.7 million were first-party titles.
The first-party numbers should also get a boost thanks to Insomniac Game’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which the studio happily announced sold 5 million copies since launching exclusively on the PS5 console.

That’s quite a feat for a game, not Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty, which launches on multiple consoles.

Photo: NurPhoto / Getty

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is the third installment of Sony Interactive Entertainment and Insomniac Games’ very popular Spider-Man game series and it drops on Thursday (Oct. 20).

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Available for pre-order for $69-$70 on Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and Target, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for PS5 finds Peter Parker and Miles Morales joining forces to defeat Kraven The Hunter, who has claimed Manhattan as his latest hunting ground.

Additionally, Sony is bundling the new game with a limited-edition Spider-Man and Venom PlayStation 5 console (disc edition) — which is available at Best Buy for $600.

Amazon/Sony

As for the game itself, this is a new open-world action adventure game with an expanded map from the first two games in the franchise. This time gamers can explore Brooklyn and Queens, in addition to Manhattan, while they can switch freely between playing as Parker or Morales at any point. There are new abilities to use, including Web Wings, Parker’s Symbiote suit and more.

It also features Spider-Man mainstays, such as Venom, Lizard, Sandman, Mary Jane Watson, J. Jonah Jameson, Rio Morales, Norman Osborn and others.

This is the “Launch Edition” of the game, which comes with a number of upgrades, suits and bonuses that are already unlocked for gamers. These include Peter Parker’s Arachknight Suit, Miles Morales’ Shadow-Spider Suit, the Web Grabber Gadget and much more.

Meanwhile, Sony and Marvel have partnered with Adidas for the Peter Parker Advanced Suit and Venom collection, which features new Ultra 4D (for men and women) and Ultraboost J (for kids) sneakers with Spider-Man red and blue colorways and Venom black midsoles.

Adidas

They look as if Venom is slowly taking over Spidey. The collection — which also features football cleats, sweatshirts, compression tights and more — is also available for purchase on Oct. 20 (click here for early access).

In fact, Marvel has also partnered with Warby Parker for new pairs of Spider-Man-inspired frames, BAIT for new Spidey and Venom tees, Wheaties for new cereal boxes and other brands.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for PS5 drops on Oct. 20 for $69-$70. It’s available for pre-order now.

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Source: Sony / InZone Buds
Not to be outdone by its own new PlayStation Pulse Explore earbuds, Sony has unveiled a pair of new Inzone Buds geared explicitly towards gamers.
Sony Electronics is dropping a pair of $199 InZone Gaming Buds, the company’s first pair of gaming-focused wireless earbuds.
When the Inzone Buds arrive (available for pre-order today), Sony promises to deliver exceptional battery life (up to 12 hours of use) and audio at the lowest latency possible.
While not specifically made for the PlayStation 5 console, the InZone Buds will pair with your PS5, the new “PS5 Slim,” PCs, and mobile devices.
Most users will connect using the provided dongle that Sony boasts will cut latency to below 30 milliseconds. For users with the latest Android smartphone, you can use Bluetooth LE Audio.
Source: Sony / InZone Buds
360 Spatial Audio is also an option in the new InZone Buds. The Verge reports setting that all up will require a series of steps that have to be taken.
Per The Verge:
Sound Field Optimization creates a personalized hearing profile by taking photos of the user’s ears using the 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer smartphone app. The InZone Buds go one step further through the Sound Tone Personalization feature, individualized to the ear canal by playing test sounds from the driver units and using feedback microphones to measure how the sound fills the ear canal. Based on the acoustic analysis, the sound is then uploaded onto the InZone Hub PC software, where further personalization can be done to curate a truly personalized spatial listening experience with unparalleled spatial sound precision.
The Fit
As far as comfort, Sony claims the InZone Buds are designed to provide the wearer with a comfortable fit over extending gaming sessions.
The company achieves this goal by designing the buds to reduce the pressure on the wearer’s ears while using them. There are four sets of silicone ear tips, including an extra small sizing because no ear is the same.
Source: Sony / InZone Buds
Can The InZone Buds Be Used For Music & Movies
The Verge reports the InZone Buds that you can use them InZone Buds for other forms of entertainment, but Sony says it has designed them to improve your gaming experience.
Active noise-cancellation is also available to completely immerse you in whatever you may be doing while using the InZone Buds.
The InZone Buds are now available for pre-order and will ship sometime in November.
For more photos, hit the gallery below.

Photo: Sony / InZone Buds

1. Sony InZone Buds

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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / PlayStation
There were rumblings that PlayStation might have another State of Play stream up its sleeve. Those rumors were indeed true.
Nintendo excited the video game world when it announced it was holding an early-morning Nintendo Direct showcase. Sony decided to get in on the fun and spring on games that it was having a direct.

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The “surprise” stream is going down on September 14, 5:00 pm ET on PlayStation’s YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok accounts. In the announcement, PlayStation told fans there will be “something for everyone.”
At the same time, the blog post also made a valiant effort to temper expectations by noting the ” broadcast will focus on updates to previously announced games coming to PlayStation consoles. From indie and PS VR2 highlights to major upcoming titles from our third-party partners.”

Still, that’s not stopping the speculation train from rolling out of the station. We could get new information on games like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Stellar Blade, Death Stranding 2, Alan Wake 2, Metal Gear Solid  Delta: Snake Eater, and some Indie titles.
Again, we are going into this State of Play with meager expectations to avoid an epic level of disappointment. We know PlayStation usually saves its best for its PlayStation Showcase live streams.
Keep it locked on HHW Gaming. We will share whatever information comes from the State of Play if you miss it.

Photo: NurPhoto / Getty

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Source: PlayStation / PlayStation Plus
Yesterday’s price is not today’s price for the PlayStation Plus subscription service.
Sony announced that the price of a PlayStation Plus is going up. An annual Essential plan jumps from $60-$80, the Extra plan goes from $100 to $135, and the Premium plan from $120 to $160.
Brace yourselves. The new prices for the tiers go into effect on September 6.
Those still locked into their current subscriptions won’t experience the price hike until November 6, but if you make any changes “such as upgrades, downgrades, or buying additional time,” you will have to pay the extra money for the new subscription price.
As for the reason for the price hike, Sony says it will allow the company to “continue bringing high-quality games and value-added benefits” to the service.
Basically, if you want them to continue to drop those great games free to subscribers, the price has to go up. Sony also adds that yearly plans continue to come at a discount and are a better value than month-to-month or three-month subscriptions.
New PlayStation Plus was Sony’s answer to Xbox’s subscription service, Game Pass, and offered its users free titles every month, and for the most part, there were plenty of bangers.
Hilariously, the news of the price hikes comes on the heels of the very mid Saints Row coming to the PlayStation Plus service as the month’s free title. It is a rare miss for Team PlayStation regarding its monthly offerings.

Gamers React To The PlayStation Plus Price Hike
As expected, gamers have been sounding off about the news, and no one is happy about the price hike.
“I just saw that PlayStation plus is going up so they can provide us with better games each month and the first month of the price hike is saints row. What a world we live in,” One X user wrote.

Another user noted in an X post, “No dedicated Sony multiplayer games No Day 1 first parties No extra incentives or perks PlayStation: “We’re gonna increase the prices of plus.”

Welp.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.

Photo: PlayStation / PlayStation Plus

2. Good times

3. Interesting

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Source: PlayStation
One of the most popular gaming systems ever has just become a bit more affordable. Sony has announced a price reduction for the PlayStation 5. 

As spotted on HypeBeast Sony has dropped the ticket on the PlayStation 5. While the savings are only about 50 dollars this marks the first price cut in the console’s history. Starting this week the PS5 is priced at $459.99 at GameStop; but Pro Members can get an extra discount of $23 dollars via their membership benefits. Additionally, the system is available at Monoprice for $449.99.

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This news comes to the gaming community as a welcomed surprised as inventory on the PlayStation 5 was very limited due to global chip shortage in 2020 and just started becoming more available at the beginning of 2023. Since its release  Sony estimates they have sold over 40 million units. The PS5 has been generally well received by critics for its performance and design. Additionally, the DualSense controllers are widely regarded as the best controller ever.

Back in May the Sony PlayStation 5 Project Q was announced as the consoles handheld counterpart. The Project Q features an 8 inch LCD HD screen and with DualSense controllers on each side. This device will allow users to stream their PlayStation 5 games while on the go. “Later this year, we will launch a dedicated device that enables you to stream any game from your PS5 console, using remote play over Wi-Fi,” said Jim Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment said at the time of the announcement.
It is unclear if the PlayStation 5 will remain discounted or if other retailers will also sell the console at the new price. Currently several mass merchant chains including Target are still selling the system for $499.99.
Photo: Sony

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Source: Greg Doherty / Getty
The Kardashian Kurse strikes again!

Well, kinda but not really. Months after Bad Bunny infuriated his Puerto Rican fanbase by allegedly dating Kendall Jenner, Sony Pictures is announcing that his Marvel feature film, El Muerto, is being removed from its release date, which was set for Sept. 22, 2023. According to Deadline, Bad Bunny’s big superhero movie will not be dropping as scheduled due to Bad Bunny’s current situation as he continues to tour along with the other factors that are currently engulfing Hollywood.

Deadline reports:
Sony and Marvel set Cuarón to direct El Muerto in October. At the time it was in early development, with Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer writing the script about El Muerto, a character within Spider-Man’s universe. In Marvel lore, he is an antihero and the son of a luchador next in line to inherit the ancestral power of “El Muerto.”

We’re hearing that the film remains in development, but that between Bad Bunny’s tour schedule and the ongoing WGA strike it makes finalizing a date complicated.
The studio previously had set El Muerto to hit theaters on January 12, 2024. Today it said that slot will be filled with The Book of Clarence, the Jeymes Samuel-directed pic starring LaKeith Stanfield hailing from Legendary Pictures. It had been slated for release on September 22, 2023.
Could this be attributed to the Kardashian Kurse? Of course not, but that’s not going to keep angry Bad Bunny fans from blaming the notorious Kulture Vulture Klan of reality TV stars, that’s for sure.
Guess Bad Bunny and Marvel fans will have to wait a bit longer (depending on the strike getting resolved) before they get to see the “Diles” singer save the day in Sony’s Spider-Verse.

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Source: Gabe Ginsberg / Getty / Sony Cinemacon
It’s Cinemacon time, and to kick things off, Sony showed off its slate of upcoming films.
Cinemacon is underway in Las Vegas, and Sony came through with some updates on a bevy of its highly-anticipated movies.
We already reported on the upcoming sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife and The Equalizer 3, but those were not the only films Sony has up its sleeve.

Kraven the Hunter

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For those who have forgotten, Sony still owns the rights to Spider-Man despite his exploits in the MCU. The studio is still actively building out its cinematic universe around the web-slinger and his villain, despite how awful you thought the Venom and Morbius films were.
Another famous Spidey villain getting his feature-length film is Kraven the Hunter. The film’s star, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who played Quicksilver in the MCU, addressed the crowd in a prerecorded message IGN reports revealing that Kraven the Hunter will be the first R-rated Marvel movie for Sony.
A roughly 2-minute teaser trailer was shown, and in it, Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven is performing some gruesome kills. Russell Crowe is in the film and will play the father of Sergei Kravinoff. It was also revealed The Rhino is the antagonist in the film, and in a clip, Alessandro Nivola, who is playing the villain in the movie, skin can be seen changing into rhino skin.
The trailer also featured a brief shot of Sergei holding up his signature fur costume that Kraven wears in the comic books.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Source: Sony Pictures Animation / Sony
Attendees saw 14 minutes of the highly-anticipated animated sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Per IGN, the footage showed a grounded Miles Morales defying his parents’ orders to stay in his room to hang out with Gwen Stacy, aka Spider-Gwen.
The two young heroes swing through Brooklyn before stopping and talking about saving dimensions from collapsing, the possibility of dating each other, and how dangerous that could be for the both of them.
The footage ends with Gwen and Miles at a festival, with Gwen leaving and Mile’s mother showing up to comfort her son, giving him confidence and support for his next mission.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse swings into theaters on June 2.
Bad Boys 4
We knew Bad Boys 4 was on the way, and now we know the film is currently in production. Will Smith and his co-star Martin Lawrence appeared a Cinemacon virtually from the film set.

Lawrence told the audience the film was in its fourth week of shooting, with Smith adding he was “hyped” and “excited” about what he and the rest of the crew have been working on.
Of course, Lawrence threw in some comedy relief, adding, “glad they weren’t there because they’re being paid to be on set.”
You can read up on the other films discussed during the event by heading here.

Photo: Gabe Ginsberg / Getty

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
Looking to start a music vlog? Sony has unveiled the “ultimate vlog camera” for content creators in need of a gear upgrade.

Touted as the “world’s smallest” and “lightest” full-frame lens camera, Sony’s ZV-E1 Mirrorless Camera is equipped with a whopping 12 megapixels and serves up cinema-grade video content in up to 4K UHD.

The ZV-E1 Mirrorless Camera, which became available for pre-order on Thursday (March 30), retails for nearly $2,200 by itself and $2,499.99 for the camera and 28-60mm zoom lenses. The camera will hit shelves in May.

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Smaller than Sony’s a7S III Mirrorless Camera and EV-10 Mirrorless Vlog Camera, the ZV-E1 features a full-frame Exmor R CMOS image sensor along with the latest Sony BIONZ XR high-speed processor with up to eight times more processing power to support 4K 60p, 120p upgradable recording.

Additional features include an intuitive AI processing unit to stabilize frames and auto framing, 5-axis image stabilization for stable recording, up to 10x slow motion with full HD resolution, an Intelligent 3 Capsule Microphone that captures clear audio and LED touch screen operation to adjust shooting mode, Cinematic Vlog Setting and other capabilities.

According to Sony, the camera has improved gradation rendering to better capture skin tones, Soft Skin Effects to smooth out wrinkles and blemishes and enhance clarity around the eyes and mouth, and a Bokeh Switch to emphasize the main shooting subject and create “impressive full-frame bokeh in the background.”

The ZV-E1 camera is available in black and white colorways and can record 10-bit 4:2:2 video with direct pixel readout. The dust and moisture-resistant camera is compatible with all Sony E-mount lenses and has a high-capacity Z battery. The camera connects to your computer through USB and offers seamless image transfer to your phone via the Creators’ App.

Pre-order the Sony ZV-E1 Mirrorless Camera below.

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Sony SV-E1 Mirrorless Camera
$2,198

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Source: HBO / The Last of Us
HBO’s The Last of Us exceptional first season is in the books but, as expected, left many with questions and wondering if we are getting a season two and if one of the first season’s stars is returning.

Right off the bat, we are happy to report that, yes, there is a second season coming. In a no-brainer decision, HBO renewed its new hit series based on the PlayStation video game franchise in January.

The one question lingering was if Bella Ramsey would return as Ellie. Speaking with Deadline, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckman (who wrote the video game) talked about Ramsey’s return and her backstory, plus the infected or lack thereof in the show.
One burning question many had about the show was why didn’t Joel and Ellie encounter waves of infected or clickers as the season went along. For those who played the game, there are numerous encounters with raiders, cannibals, and the infected.
In the show, we saw people infected by the cordyceps in the first episode when things first popped off, and sparingly in episodes. We saw a new idea that everyone infected is connected, and if you step on a live vine, you can trigger a swarm. We also saw how real sh*t gets when waves of hordes arrive and how bad that can be.
So it’s not like we didn’t see any infected in the show, but according to Mazin, it’s much more complicated than that.
Mazin Explains The Process of Turning A Game Into A TV Show
“Part of the adaptation process is trying to figure out how to take source material that was built around gameplay and port it over to a medium that is passive,” Mazin said. “And a lot of the gameplay centered on non-playable characters that you have to get around by either avoiding them or stealth killing them or just confronting them head-on. That’s sort of your choices when you’re playing. And the NPCs were either raiders or cannibals, or they were the infected.”
“So there’s a lot of fighting. I don’t know what your ultimate kill count is on a typical run of The Last of Us, but it’s in the triple digits for sure. So we did at times have choices to make about how we wanted to present the infected. I will say that even though we were green-lit for a season of television, Neil and I felt like we couldn’t just make a season of television without considering what would come after. ”

Mazin Says More Infected Is Coming In Season 2
He continues, “There is more The Last of Us to come. I think the balance is not always just about within an episode or even episode to episode, but season to season. It’s quite possible that there will be a lot more infected later. And perhaps different kinds. But within the episodes that we were concentrating on, I think ultimately, we generally stressed the power of relationships and trying to find significance within moments of action. So there may be less action than some people wanted because we couldn’t necessarily find significance for quite a bit of it, or [they had a] concern that it would be repetitive. After all, you’re not playing it, you’re watching it. And although a lot of people do like to watch gameplay, it needs to be a little bit more focused and purposeful when we’re putting it on TV.”
The Last of Us HBO also gave us a lot more information than the game did. In the season finale, we finally saw Ellie’s backstory and met her mother, played by Ashley Johnson (the voice actor of Ellie in the video game).
Neil Druckman Explains The Last of Us HBO Resurrected A Storyline Originally Set To Be Its Own Game
“So trying to come up with a story, I wrote this short script about Ellie’s mom and how she gave birth to Ellie, how she was bitten at the same time, and wasn’t sure if she was infected during that birth,” Neil Druckman said. “And it just became this little character drama that spoke to the same themes of parental love and how much you’re willing to do even at when you’re on death’s door. That deal fell apart. Then we were talking to another game company to potentially do it as a whole other game. That deal fell apart. Then I became interested in live-action, and I was talking to Ashley Johnson about her starring in it, and then we both got busy, so that fell apart.”
The Ellie’s Backstory Helped Build An Important Storyline In The Show
Druckman continues, “I just kind of forgot about it until Mr. Mazin and I started meeting to talk about the show. Craig was like, ‘What do you have that we haven’t seen? What is Ellie’s backstory?’ And I was just telling him all this stuff. I’m like, oh, right, there’s this other story about Ellie’s mom and blah, blah, blah. I just kind of told him about it. He’s like, ‘Oh my God, we, that has to go in the show.’ And then we talked about how would it fit.”

“Does it make sense to put it in now? It does gives some theories about why Ellie’s immune, even though we don’t answer that conclusively. But I think, more importantly, it builds the relationship between Marlene and [Ellie’s mom] Anna, so that when you get to the ending, and we pit Marlene against Joel, they have their own opposite philosophical terms over how to approach of the end justify the means. Anna’s dying wish was, take care of my kid. I think it gives it more weight and maybe shows more of the tragedy behind Marlene’s sacrifice, that she was trying to make for the betterment of mankind, “Druckman continued.
Bella Ramsey Will Be Back As Ellie
Speaking of Ellie, there was also a question if Bella Ramsey would return for season two. Mazin put all of that to rest, confirming the young actress will be picking up things right where season one left off.
“When she joined us, she was 17. She’s only, she’s 19 now. Which by the way is the age of Ellie in The Last of Us, part 2. People were like, ‘She doesn’t look like [Ellie]. I’m like, it doesn’t matter. Just watch what happens,” says Mazin.
He continues, “It will be the show that Neil and I wanna make. But we are making it with Bella.”
Well, there you have it.

Photo: HBO / The Last of Us