Year in Review: July
Firmware 2.80 released
Then: Sony's 2.80 firmware upgrade was probably the most significant one in ages. Featuring video podcasting, better video support (no need for weird file names!), and a few minor adjustments made this release one of the most exciting.
Now: The PSP is at version 3.03 currently, and most people aren't enjoying the "new functionality." Why? Most of us don't have PS3s. Hopefully, Sony will get us excited about upgrading again.
Rumor: Half-Life 2 on PSP?
Then: "The research people of Penn, Shoen, and Berlan Association Inc. are notorious for slipping future releases of games. In fact, they revealed the Xbox 360 version of Half-Life 2 a full three days before Valve admitted to working on it. Considering how Half-Life 2 is branching out to other platforms, is PSP next?"
Now: Unlike Oblivion, this title hasn't appeared on anyone's radar. I guess most people thought it a bad idea. Or, most people have already played it.
Jaffe's episodic crying adventure
Then: "His new adventure will go all Half-Life on us, becoming an episodic adventure. Each "episode" supposedly comes in at a whopping 700MB!"
Now: Nope, isn't happening. Why? It sucked.
Lumines II to feature "pretty famous artists"
Then: "Speaking at the Develop conference in Europe, Tetsuya Mitzuguchi revealed that the PSP-bound Lumines sequel will feature some "pretty famous artists". Who could these artists be? I'll guess that they'll be Japanese."
Now: I was wrong. Real headlining artists like the Black Eyed Peas ended up in the game... but gamers didn't care. It bombed pretty badly at retail.
UMDs killed at Target
Then: "UMDs are now discontinued in all Target stores, as of last week. Could this be the beginning of the end of yet another one of Sony's proprietary formats?"
Now: Yes. UMD is a dead format, only to be found in bargain bins, or online retailers. No one was surprised.
Homebrew that gets you out of the home
Then: "In CollecTic, you're charged with doing something that no game has asked you to do before. You must get up and go. Go where, you ask? Wherever there are WiFi hotspots. See, that's the point of the game."
Now: Sounds a lot like Metal Gear Solid, doesn't it?
See entire year in review so far.
