Sony Releases Downloadable Game Guide On Japanese PSN

Sony has begun offering digital video game guides through its Japanese PlayStation Network using technology designed to display ultra-high-resolution images and videos efficiently. Tech-On! reports (via Kotaku) the "Playview for Games" service launched in Japan on Thursday with a downloadable Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G Monster Data Knowledge Book, which is being sold for ¥600 (roughly $7.39). The guide, which includes videos of monsters as well as pictures and text, uses Sony's PlayView technology, which can be used to to quickly zoom in on tiny details in ultra-high-resolution images with billions of pixels. The technology was demonstrated using a PlayStation 3 equipped with a PlayStation Move controller at the CEDEC 2010 developers conference this summer, Tech-On! reports. In addition to guides and instruction manuals, Tech-On! reports Sony plans to use the technology in games, letting players quickly select a single stage by zooming in to a high-resolution picture showing many stages, for example.