The latest rumor about Sony Corporation is about its plans to launch a 12.9-inch tablet PC in the first quarter of 2015. Rumor has it that Sony’s new tablet PC device is comparable to the Apple iPad Pro.

This new 13-inch tablet PC will be Sony’s biggest Android tablet ever. The tech industry conglomerate seems to be stepping up to compete with companies such as Apple Inc and Samsung. While Apple is gearing up for the release of its 12.2-inch iPad Pro, which is expected to be sometime in 2015, Sony is preparing to give the iPad creator a run for its money.

This new Sony tablet PC is suspected to be sporting an LCD display size of 12.9-inches, a 3840 x 2400 pixels resolution, and will be bigger than both the largest Samsung Galaxy Pro tablet PC and Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 laptop/tablet hybrid. Sony’s newest tablet has supposedly been branded as the Sony Xperia Z4 Ultra. It’s 8.6mm thick with 6GB of RAM and it runs on a Qualcomm octa-core 64 bit processor.

The new Sony Xperia Z4 Ultra will also be featuring an 8MP camera and an HDMI output port. The internal storage size will be 64GB and it will also have Playstation 4 Remote playability. The price for this new Xperia Z3 Ultra tablet is said to be more than $1000 which puts it on the higher end segment of the industry’s market.

Pegatron, the company that builds surface hybrids for Microsoft and iPads for Apple, will be mass-producing the new Sony tablet PC, which only further confirms the company’s intent to compete with Apple’s soon-to-be-released iPad Pro, which has only 2GB RAM, an A8X processor and an LCD screen size of 12.2-inches.

Ever since the company’s 136 billion yen loss back at the end of the 2014 fiscal year, Sony completely ceased its production of laptop PCs. However, sources have reported that the electronics giant plans to pursue what it calls an “aggressive strategy” towards manufacturing tablet PCs as it heads into the year 2015.

As well as announcing strong sales figures for the PlayStation 4 at their conference in the gamescom show in Cologne (Germany) this week, Japanese company Sony have announced the planned release dates for their latest console… the PlayStation TV.

Launched in Japan last year (as the PlayStation Vita TV), and in January for other major Asian markets, the ‘micro-console’ product is dubbed as one that is attempting to challenge TV streaming devices such as Apple TV, Roku, and Google Chromecast, with the twist that Sony’s product is able to stream from a preset games library and access their PlayStation 4 games through Remote Play, in addition to hosting a selection of third-party apps for streaming including Netflix.

It is noted that the PSTV is now scheduled to roll out in the USA on 14 October, whilst European, Australian, and New Zealand-based users will receive it exactly a month later on 14 November. Pricing is listed as being $99 in America and €99 for EU countries, with the cost including three pre-loaded games for the system, though no other prices, including for Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, have yet to be officially confirmed.

American users are also set to be able to benefit immediately from access to Sony’s game-streaming service, PlayStation Now, whilst European users will need to wait until 2015 for that feature.

With essentially a new market for Sony to leave their mark on as the first major manufacturer to have a microconsole, will the PlayStation TV start a new budgeted and cloud-centric form of gaming? Sony have faith that it can be added as a significant moment in their history:

With their primary goal of being the leading name in the market achieved almost before the product was released, the Sony PlayStation 4 will probably only be looking at one number when it comes to measuring their overall success, and it has been confirmed that they have been adding to it at a rate of over one million a month since November 2013.

The Japanese technology manufacturers announced recently at the company’s conference appearance at the gamescom show in Cologne (Germany) that they have sold 10 million units across the 9 month period since initial release. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s President/CEO Jim Ryan confirmed the statistic as being something that represents the number of units sold to consumers as opposed to a ‘shipped to stores’ count.

Having announced breaking 7 million worldwide console sales in April, it is something that has moved a little slower over the past few months, a trend to be expected, but innovation is likely to continue to occur to maintain interest, with the same conference also announcing that their new ‘PlayStation Now’ service is to roll out in Europe in 2015.

The new video game rental download service is set to be introduced prior to official release via a beta version, one which will launch in the UK before any other markets or the later widespread full version being offered across the continent.

The service is one currently in the ‘open beta’ mode in North America, offering consumers around 100 games to download from the PlayStation Store with rental for 7-day, 30-day and 90-day periods (and planned to be joined by a later ‘4-hour’ rent depending on the title in question), considered a strong alternative to offer players who might be interested in a game but not enough to buy a full-priced copy, or those that get through completing titles quickly and don’t enjoy re-playing so much.

Some of the games that may find their way onto the new service were revealed during the conference, with Sony announcing a new game in the Tearaway franchise as well as a first release from Wild Sheep, a studio run by Ubisoft designer Michel Ancel, who gave the world Rayman, Beyond Good & Evil, and, er, Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie.

Amongst the games given trailers at the conference were Bloodborne, Far Cry 4, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, and Until Dawn, amongst other announcements. Could they be rent-downloaded on PlayStation Now in the near future? On some nights, perhaps the interactive experience can even take the place of your favourite scary movie:

Sony’s PlayStation 4 games console is one that is performing strongly in both their launch country of the USA and the global market as a whole, and it appears as though they are set to add to that presence by expanding to one of the largest potential national markets in the world – China.

The expansion move from Sony will see them collaborate with local manufacturers Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group (OPCD), reacting to a recent lifting of a 13-year-ban on all foreign-built games consoles.

The partnership in question is noted as being one that will see Sony and OPCD combine in the nation to create two new companies specifically to manage the unique task of overseeing the PS4’s entry to the lucrative Chinese market – with one built to both manufacture and sell the hardware in question, and another that will look to manage administrative functions such as services, licensing, distribution, sales records, and research & development of Sony software.

Engadget report that the collaborative venture: “…will introduce quality, healthy games that are suitable to China’s national conditions and the preferences of domestic players, as according to the relevant government policies.”

Following on from a similar deal which has seen Microsoft combine their services with BesTV for Chinese distribution of the Xbox One, it appears as though the next-generation console wars have a fresh new battleground on which to ‘officially’ compete, but will Microsoft be able to put up a fight on different ground, or will Sony carry their recent form into China?

20 years and 1 day ago, followers of the Formula 1 motor racing series, and much of the population of Brazil, were shaken to the core with the death of iconic driver Ayrton Senna, who suffered a high-speed crash at the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola (Italy) in 1994, the last driver to die at the wheel of such a car during a race.

On a tragic weekend in which lesser-known Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger also suffered a fatal crash, occurring in a qualifying session the day previously (and Senna’s fellow Brazillian Rubens Barrichello narrowly escaping with his life the day before that (going on to be the longest-serving driver in the series’ history)), the death of Senna, leading the race for the Williams F1 team at the time of the tragedy, was pivotal in kickstarting safety initiatives for the sport, as well as inadvertently increasing the lasting legacy of the man in the yellow helmet.

With the death of the 3-time champion (aged 34 at the time) having occurred on 1 May 1994, many motorsport personalities and fans extended their marking and tributes to the 20th anniversary of the crash yesterday, including the video game Gran Turismo 6, which has offered a selection of content including an online-exclusive documentary.

In addition to a range of ‘inspired’ in-game content released throughout the month in honour of Senna under the ‘Ayrton Senna Tribute’ name, the Sony racing title yesterday unveiled a documentary short focusing primarily on Senna’s impact away from Formula 1.

Available to watch below or on the game’s website (amongst other ‘Ayrton Senna Tribute’ items accessible), Ayrton’s Wish displays Gran Turismo’s relationship with the charity Ayrton Senna Institute (IAS), set up by his family posthumously to continue the work with Brazil’s youth that Senna had been involved in when he was alive.

Writing on the PlayStation Blog, Bianca Senna noted of the content: “To the Ayrton Senna Institute and to the Senna family, it’s really gratifying to have this partnership with PlayStation, through the game Gran Turismo 6, precisely in the Year 2014, when we celebrate the 20th year legacy of our beloved Ayrton. The game, without a doubt, is a very nice way to share his values to the new generations, as well as renew and immortalise the memory of this worldwide idol in an innovative approach. Furthermore, it contributes to an initiative that annually brings a high quality public education to 2 million children and youth in all regions of Brazil.”

Of course, this is how most of his fans would prefer to remember him: