THIS Is The PSPgo Everyone Wants.

By Benedict Wee

Sony made a big mistake when it decided to maket a smaller-screened, non-removable battery, expensive hardware and software version of the PSP (a.k.a PSPgo), proving that they have no idea how to cater to the gaming market. Thankfully someone from JoblessPunk DESIGNS has managed to create the Sony handheld many have been waiting for.

Tim Magoolaghan has modified an old PSP Slim by giving it dual nubs, a second USB port for charging, an integrated camera, 32 GB worth of storage space and custom firmware capable of playing SNES, Genesis and Nintendo 64 games.

This 20-year old young man has single-handedly destroyed the PSPgo, he's even provided a tutorial on how to modify the PSP by yourself. Sony, Nintendo... hell even Microsoft should consider hiring this guy for their game hardware division.

JoblessPunk DESIGNS PSP Link.

Source:

Engadget - PSP O Rly? Modder Adds Camera, Custom Firmware To Slim, Films His Own Informercial.

EB Games NZ Won't Be Stocking PSPgos Either.

By Benedict Wee

Looks like the PSPgo hate has spread to New Zealand. EB Games has just sent word that they will not be stocking Sony's new handheld which will be released this week internationally. The decision isn't final however as they said the situation could change in the future.

It makes sense though, selling something that would end up cannibalizing your business would be pretty silly.

PSPgo: Retailers Don't Want It. No-Go For UMD Transfer Program.

By Benedict Wee

Sony has confirmed that they currently do not have any plans for an exchange system that will allow you to convert your UMD-based PSP games into digital versions for their latest portable console system.

The PSPgo -which will be released internationally next week- does not have a UMD reader, rather it relies on an internal hard drive to download and play games.

Not being able to play their current collection of games would be a huge barrier for those who already own a PSP though it might appeal to those who do not already own Sony's handheld as the PSPgo is lighter and slimmer compared to its predecessor. Sony says that due to legal issues they will not be able to carry out an exchange system for PSP owners but they are working on finding a solution.

The PSPgo looks to be stirring up some controversy with its imminent release, with rumors that the downloadable games would cost more than the physical retail versions and they won't be available on the same day online as the ones you can get in the store. Also, certain retailers from the Netherlands and Australia have commented that they won't be stocking the new portable console and though they have not given specific reasons why, it is clear that the PSPgo's digital distribution model would be a threat to their business of selling and trading video games.

We've contacted EB Games in New Zealand and asked if they'll carry the handheld and will wait for a comment from them.

Source:

Kotaku - Another Retailer Says Nothankyou To The PSPgo

Kotaku - Sony Nixes Plans For UMD Conversion Program For PSPgo

Video Game Preview - Half-Minute Hero

By Benedict Wee

Platform: Sony PSP

Genre: Action/Puzzle /RPG

For: Anyone who loves fantasy role-playing action games but do not have enough time for them. Also people with ADD.

Set in an old-school 8bit fantasy universe, Half-Minute Hero puts you into your usual role-playing stereotypes tasked with the all too familiar burden of saving the world. Players get to encompass different roles to complete various missions such as a warrior who fights monsters, a dark lord who summons demons, a princess (with an army) that shoots arrows and a knight/mage duo who explore dungeons.

What sets them apart from your cliched action/role-playing fantasy game is that each mission is given a severely limited amount of time to complete. 30 seconds to be exact. The time constraint gives the game a puzzle-like feature which will see you zooming from place to place in desperate attempts to find the quickest way to finish the mission.

Half-Minute Hero will allow people with busy schedules to squeeze in a couple of minutes of game-time into their lives and the 8bit-style graphics gives the game a nostalgic feel, which is appropriate as aforementioned busy people are probably working adults who've played similar looking games when they were younger.

The game gets released in the US on October 30th.

PSP gets Minis and Digital Comic Reader

By Benedict Wee

Along with the big PS3 Slim reveal today Sony has also announced that their Playstation Store will come with an additional category selling casual games for the Playstation Portable.

PSP Minis will host a collection of games which will be cheaper than the current titles available in the Playstation Store and not take more than 100MB in space, making it ideal to store on the handheld's Memory Stick or the new PSP Go's internal hard drive.

The Minis store will launch in October with 15 games available for download. Sony hopes for at least fifty titles by the end of the year.

Another new feature announced for the PSP is that it'll be able to read Digital Comics (legally). Marvel is the first comic book publisher to enter a partnership deal with Sony to provide downloadable titles for the handheld with more companies signing on eventually. The Digital Comic Reader is set to arrive in December.

Looks like the PSP is set to follow the DSi in competing for the downloadable casual game market, currently dominated by the iPhone.

Source:

Kotaku - PSP Minis: Bite-Sized Fun At Bite-Sized Prices

Gizmodo - Digital Reader (And Marvel Comics) Coming To PSP

Sony Notebooks To Have Touchscreen Windows 7, Playstation Network, Perhaps Be Cheaper?

By Benedict Wee

In an interview with the vice president of the Sony Information Technology Products Division -Mike Abary- tech blog Laptopmag was given details on the new features and marketing plans for their future notebooks.

When asked about their new netbook -the VAIO W- and its higher price point compared to other netbooks in the market right now Mike admitted that all Sony products would have to be reviewed price-wise in order to remain competitive. This is in light of a report in May made by Sony predicting their 110 billion yen loss for the financial year ending March 2010.

"I’ll acknowledge we have had those issues across the board on all of our products and there has been a paradigm shift in the marketplace that has rendered Sony products to be seconded guessed in terms of its competitiveness by consumers. It means we have to do a better job of being relevantly competitive in terms of price points, but it doesn’t mean we are going to abandon our position in the marketplace."

Does this mean we'll get to see cheaper consoles and notebooks soon? The Playstation 3 costs around NZ$729 and plays most games the Xbox 360 does but the latters' low price tag has attracted more consumers into buying their console instead. The price for the new PSP Go has also been criticized by many game journalists and gamers to be too expensive and Sony computers are known for having Apple-like prices.

When asked about having the Playstation Network (an online service for the Playstation 3 and PSP which allows users to download games, movies, television shows and music) integrate with Sony computers Mike said that the VAIO team are working on bringing it to not just Sony PCs, but all of them.

"We are absolutely talking about that internally. The PlayStation network is growing. We believe that network will have an option with VAIO PCs or any PCs for that matter. What we are trying to do is collaborate with our peers at PlayStation in that regard."

He also highlights the point that though they are currently focusing on just providing movies and television shows via the PSN, video games are a possibility in the future

"That is a possibility but we are concentrated more on movies and TV content. We find casual gaming to be interesting for PCs and we are driving right now to establish our role in that area. We believe this segment of end user of causal gaming is growing we can address that marketplace in a way that is unique on VAIOs."

Lastly, when queried on touchscreen notebooks running Windows 7, Mike hints we could expect them between when Microsoft launches their new OS and the holiday season.

"There are certain things that will be native on Windows 7 that we are certainly going to take advantage of. Without giving too much away, we think touch on Windows 7 is something we find compelling and we will certainly introduce touch into some of our products at the launch of Win 7. You will see touch capabilities introduced on VAIO products that take advantage of Windows 7."

Looks like Sony has some interesting stuff in the works. Me? Am just waiting for the PSP2 to be announced later this year *fingers crossed*

Source:

Laptop - Sony Promises Touchscreen VAIOs for Fall, Playsation Network Support Coming

Video Game Preview - Assassin's Creed Bloodlines: Ass Creed 1.5

By Benedict Wee

The folks over at Ubisoft have announced that their Assassin's Creed franchise will be coming to the Playstation Portable and will support full roaming environments and an intuitive combat system like its console counterpart did, which is pretty amazing since the game was launched on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, two current-gen consoles.

The game takes place immediately after the events of the original game as you control Altair (pronounced "al-tie-ear") again, this time in Cyprus instead of the Holy Land. The storyline also has something to do with with the sequel -Assassin's Creed II- which you might find weird as it takes place during the renaissance in Florence and has nothing to do with the Third Crusades in 1191. There will be connectivity between this game and Ass Creed II for the PS3 coming in the from of health and weapon upgrades for Bloodlines and being able to use the weapons in Bloodlines for II.

The graphics look beautiful and pretty crisp, like playing on a Playstation 2. It's not surprising that the handheld is capable of rendering good images, God of War: Chains of Olympus for the PSP looked almost close to its PS2 console version as well. Let's just hope that Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines will have more missions than God of War's 6 measly levels which could be finished in a day.

There will be a special Assassin's Creed PSP-3000 bundle when the game is launched though there have been no news of a PSP Go! one.

Sources:

Kotaku - The PSP's Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines in Action

Kotaku - PSP's Assassin's Creed Will Have Free Running, Open World and PS3 Connectivity

PSP Go is expensive because.. people are dumb enough to buy it

By Benedict Wee

We know that when it comes to our country, New Zealand gets ridiculous mark ups on mobiles, handhelds and pretty much everything else gadget-adjacent. So when the new PSP Go's price was announced in the US and UK we gave the estimated cost of Sony's new handheld based on the how much we're paying for the PSPs on the shelves currently. But have you ever wondered how Sony came to pricing their new handheld much higher than the older models?

UK video game site mcvuk.com recently interviewed Andrew House, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) and asked the same question. His response should shed some light on the price of the PSP Go:

MCV: There’s a clear price difference there, too. Are you charging more for the PSPgo to protect retail margins as they won’t be selling software? Or to cover R&D costs?

Andrew: Those aren’t the factors. When you introduce a new piece of hardware you have the opportunity to say there is a certain premium that is associated with it, and we took that into account.

So there you have it. Sony is not charging so much more because they've spent a lot on research, development and to compensate for the lack of game sales, they're selling it at a high price because (at least, they think) people are willing to pay for it.

Source: MCVUK

PSP Go's battery worse than PSP 3000, mystifies everyone.

By Benedict Wee

When Sony's first portable gaming system was released way back I chided the handheld for choosing to use discs instead of carts as they were noisy when running and because they took a considerable effort to read (they used lasers), the battery life was short (3-6 hours) and thus not very portable-friendly. 

Jump to a couple of years later when the 2000 model (aka Slim and Lite) was released and we find that the new battery gave the same amount as its predecessor, however if you used the old PSP battery (which would give a slight bulge to the back of the gadget) you would get 8-10 hours of playtime while the Sony stamina battery would give over 10 hours which made it a decent competitor to the DS lite. 

Last year's introduction of the PSP 3000 gave us a slightly longer battery life (4-6 hours) which was pretty alright. 

It would be logical to think that the PSP Go would have an improved battery life because games would run from the 16GB hard drive instead of using UMDs. Unfortunately Sony is beyond petty things like logic. Siliconera has found out that the newly announced portable will have the old PSP's 3-6 hours of battery life. Bear in mind we might be paying $485 for this new handheld and combine that with the fact that it has the same functions the older models posses and you'll get one more reason why you shouldn't be buying this gadget. 

E3 Highlights (the other stuff) Part 2

Star Wars: The Old Republic

for: PC
Why I like it: The previous Star Wars MMORPG rubbed people wrongly with it's archaic control scheme and overall *bleah* gameplay but the series might redeem itself since the people at Bioware (Mass Effect, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: KOTOR) who are experts in all things role-playing are taking the project. Personally I don't do MMORPGs but anything that Bioware has created so far is good stuff so I might give this a second look. And speaking of milking franchises for all their worth...

LEGO: Rock Band

for: PC & PS3 & Xbox 360 & Wii
Why I like it: I don't. There's no reason why LEGO has to whore itself off to every franchise that moves. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Batman and the recently announced Harry Potter all have LEGO video game versions which are decent but having it on Rock Band doesn't make any sense. Is there a LEGO genre of music that I'm ignorant to? I don't even like the normal characters in Rock Band (would rather see the music video of the song I'm playing in the background), so what would be different when you replace an 80s rocker with over-processed hair with a 80s mini-fig with over-processed hair? This gets mentioned here cause I do really want someone to explain this phenomenon to me. 

Assassin's Creed 2 

for: PC & PS3 & Xbox 360
Why I like it: While I found the first game to be repetitive and couldn't wait to finish it, I nonetheless appreciated its plot and was keen to see how Ubisoft's new series might take off. This sequel is set in a later era (the Renascence) than the previous game and sets you up as an assassin-in-training in order to take revenge on someone or another. To help you out you've got the world famous artist/inventor Leonardo Da Vinci providing you with his inventions to aid you in your search for vengeance so that is a plus point in my book. The game is out November 17th (US).

Invizimals

for PSP
Why I like it:It's an argumented reality game for the PSP that allows you to collect monsters in your own surroundings. The game comes with a PSP camera which you use to "search" for monsters around you. Once they appear on the screen you'll be given prompts to try and catch the aforementioned monsters such as blowing into the mic or using a special disc to slap them so they'll be stunned. There are over 100 to collect, grow and fight with and different species appear only in certain conditions so that's a perfect excuse to go out and get some on that sun. Like all Digimon copies many might be put off by the kiddy game but it looks pretty decent and I just might fork over my hard-earned cash to play with the invisible monsters that roam my room. I always knew that they were there!

Video Games | Invizimals | E3 09: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

E3 Highlights (the other stuff) Part 1

So we've seen pretty exciting stuff from the big 3 console makers in their respective conferences, although they've mostly talked about the games and peripherals that are exclusive to their system. So what about the rest? Here's a quick highlights rundown of the other games that you should look forward to. 

Muramasa The Demon Blade

for: Nintendo Wii

Why I like it: It's a side-scrolling beat-em-up published by Ignition Entertainment exclusively for the Wii and it's graphics are gorgeous!!   Seriously, its art style is so well done you get entranced looking at it (which in hindsight might be bad cause you won't notice the bad guys beating up on you). It's like playing a video game in a painting which reminds me of the similarly beautiful Odin Sphere by Vanillaware on the PS2. Give the trailer a look. 

Metal Gear Solid Arcade

for: Arcade

Why I like it: People who did not get the chance to play the PS3 version of the game (Metal Gear Online) can now pop on by to their local arcade to see what's this popular series is all about. It's a good call on Konami's part because it does help break the "looks pretty difficult and only for hardcore gamers" barrier which means you can bring down a couple of mates and enjoy the game together. 

Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny

for: PSP

Why I like it: I've always been a fan of the Soulcalibur series and squeezing it onto the handheld makes it easier to bring on trips. Plus the game follows its tradition of adding extra characters into its titles and this time we get Kratos from God of War! That is pretty cool. 

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

for: Ps3 & Xbox 360

Why I like it: I don't like it, I love it. Ever since the critically acclaimed Symphony of the Night for the PS1, I've been following this series faithfully (except the abomination; Judgement for the Wii). This time however its designer (and the dude responsible for making the game famous) Koji Igarashi has passed the baton to Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima to take the franchise into current generation territory which is something to look forward to. My primary concern is that 3D Castlevanias have never sat well with gamers (Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness for the PS2 being perfect examples) so I'm hoping this third time's a charm. Also, Patrick Steward is voicing it so having Professor X's in any game is cool. Take a look at the trailer. 

Video Games | Castlevania: Lords of Shadow | E3 09: Kojima Announcement

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Price Check: PSP Go

By Benedict Wee

So how much is Sony's new portable going to be? There isn't a confirmed price yet for us but let's see how much the rest of the world is paying: 

United States USD$249 about NZD$383.14

Europe             Euro 249 about NZD$546.17

Japan               Yen 26800 about NZD$428.79

The price point is pretty high considering a core set in the US is USD$169 (NZD$260.04).

And if you consider how much we pay (NZD$329) for our core set, that's almost 26.5% increase which means we might see the handheld at around NZD$485 when it reaches our shores.

That might be too high to pay for the new PSP considering that the 2000 & 3000 models have the same functionality and you can buy cheap Memory Sticks out there. 

(Exchange rates are based on Yahoo! Finance figures and are approximated)

Source

Kotaku PSP Go is officially $249

New PSP model leaked, not PSP2

By Benedict Wee

Leaked pictures and specs of Sony's new PSP were found by gaming website GamersConsoleNetwork when Qore (an online magazine for the PlayStation Network) accidentally released the information early. 

The new portable; PSP Go is not the PSP2 gamers are looking forward to however. Its processor is similar to the current-gen version but it will not have a UMD slot. Instead, the 16GB internal flash memory will allow you to download games from the PlayStation Network store as well as rent movies online. Other features include bluetooth tethering, a slide out control pad,  a 3.8 screen and being 43% lighter than the current PSP.

Unfortunately, features like a second analog stick on the right (for 1st person shooters) and a more powerful processor aren't present but as I've mentioned, it's not the PSP2. Rather what we get is another iteration of the PSP (which makes it the 4th) that many won't care for cause 1) The current PSPs can do the same thing with a memory stick.

2) It is ugly and doesn't look comfortable to hold once it's slid open. 

3) No one would know what the hell to do with their collection UMD games. 

More information on the new PSP Go will be released during the actual E3 conference. 

Source:

Kotaku Qore lets slip the First Look at PSP Go