A document on Sega America’s official FTP server suggests that Sony will launch it motion control thingamajig this Spring. The document summarizes a meeting between Sega and Sony, which took place last month.

About two weeks ago we reported Sony’s Walkman (kind of) outsold the iPod in Japan for the first time in four years, and now Sony steps up their efforts in the portable media player arena by officially introducing the Walkman A [JP] and S series [JP, pictured]. Sony says their twelve new devices are specifically aimed at “young customers”. Both series display lyrics that scroll as a song is played and have to be downloaded from the web (costing between $0.15 and $0.25 per text).

Well look at that: not only is the PS3 Slim a big success over in Japan but it’s also doing pretty damn well here in the U.S. Sales were up some 300 percent in at Sony’s “top retailers,” comparing the the week it launched to the previous week.

When people ask me what Blu-ray player they should buy, I usually defer, since I don’t own one. But if pressed, I’ll say a PS3. Why not? But now, it’s clear that even real-brand players are both affordable and capable. Sony’s new BDP-N460, announced today at CEDIA, provides what were once luxuries at what is not quite a bargain price, but at least is very reasonable.

We knew that when Sony announced the beautiful ZX5 in Europe a US model shouldn’t be that far behind. And sure enough, Sony just announced the XBR10 which is pretty much a cloned version. It too rocks a wireless 1080p media receiver, edge-mounted LED backlighting, and 240Hz technology. We just wish that they weren’t so damn expensive or at the very least made with localized dimming instead of edge-mounted LEDs.

Sony’s ballyhooed motion control system for the PlayStation platform is months away from launch, but the PS Blog has some intriguing behind-the-scenes-like video with the R&D team that’s currently fine-tuning the system. Have a look at two videos after the jump.

Oh, if only Sony had somehow released the PS3 Slim back in November, 2006, how different things would be! The sales reports are staring to trickle in from Japan, and Sony sold some 150,000 during the first three days of availability. That represents the system’s best showing ever.

Looks like the latest PS3 firmware update has borked a bunch of controllers, possibly only knock-off ones. What’s funny about this situation is that Apple does stuff like this all the time. In fact, it specifically upgrades its systems in order to lock out other hardware and software. People seem okay with that (at least, they continue to buy Apple stuff), but I get the feeling if this turns out to be Sony shenanigans, heads will roll.

Whether either practice is really justifiable, or beneficial to consumers, is a serious question, and one that I am not paid enough to answer. So I’ll leave it to the fanboys.

Guess which portable music player finally outsold the iPod in Japan for the first time in four years? If you read the headline of this post and guessed “The Sony Walkman,” then you, my friend, are correct.

Credit to Sony for actually putting together a reasonably good PSP bundle. Starting on October 1, for $199, you can buy a bundle that includes the PSP-3000 (not the PSP Go, mind you), a copy of Gran Turismo PSP, a voucher to download a Corvette ZR1 in an exclusive-to-this-bundle color, a 2GB memory stick, a PSN movie downloadable voucher (movie hasn’t been announced yet), and a Sony MusicPass that’s worth 10 downloadable songs. Not too shabby.

Well done, Samsung. While Sony wants us to believe that the Atom CPU is good enough in its latest upscale netbook, Samsung had the right idea and installed a dual-core CULV processor in the latest X Series notebook. Yeah, the Sammy isn’t constructed out of carbon fiber and is quite thick in comparison at 0.95-inches, but at least users will be able to preform all but the utmost intensive tasks with ease. And that’s more important than 0.44-inches.

The first reaction most have to these Sony megachangers hasn’t changed over the years. Just insert the name of the appropriate physical media. But yes, some people do own that many discs and so these changers make sense for them. Plus, while digital downloads are great and the future of the average consumer, there are still some folk that demand the absolute best picture and sound which only Blu-ray can provide. Electronic house had a chance to sit down with the ES Blu-ray changer and sent it through the paces.

Farhad Manjoo has a nice “what-if” story up on Slate about what Sony can do to beat the Kindle. Sadly, what Manjoo is doing here is akin to helping a little old crazy lady across the street – at best his advice will be ignore and and worst he’ll be cursed out.

He basically writes:

Anyone looking to beat the Kindle, then, should look to the iPod: Study everything that Apple’s rivals did, and do the opposite.

If you think a waterproof remote control is a good idea, then you’re either clumsy, have kids, or you own a pool and around the pool there’s at least one TV and when people come over, they’re like “Holy smokes, you have an outdoor TV? By your pool, no less?!!” Oh, and you should probably live in Japan because that’s where these waterproof universal remotes from Sony will be available at first.

It seems a little unnecessary but (there’s a sucker born every second, right?) the 24.6-megapixel full-frame Exmor CMOS sensor equipped α850 is being geared towards “a broader group of consumers,” says Kristen Elder, the Director of Digital Imaging at Sony. Before you raise an eyebrow and ask why Sony has another full-frame DSLR when the α900 is top dog, ask me how much the α850 is going to be. It’s coming in under $2000, which is $700 cheaper than the α900.