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PSP starts streaming Music Unlimited on April 14th
What started as loose-lipped tattle is now official: the PSP will get a taste of Sony's Music Unlimited streaming music service starting on April 14th. The service, tortuously entitled "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity" by Sony, requires a PlayStation Network ID to access all that digital audio. Once setup, Sony promises a "synchronized music experience" across your PSP, PS3, PC, and other network-enabled Sony devices like Bravia TVs and Blu-ray players -- a claim backed by a cloud-based catalog of some seven million tracks supported by a "music sync" functionality that will automatically organize your Music Unlimited library after perusing the local files and playlists found in your existing media player (yes, iTunes is supported). Click through the break for the full press release and a good video overview of the service while you ponder the $3.99 basic and $9.99 premium monthly service fees.
Sony's Music Unlimited streaming service coming to NGP, will hit Xperia Play this year and PSP 'in a matter of weeks'
It may sound patently obvious at this point, but there's still cause to celebrate -- Sony's streaming subscription music service, Music Unlimited, is headed to both the PlayStation Portable and its pair of divergent spiritual successors the Next Generation Portable and Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play. Eurogamer sat down with Sony Network Entertainment VP Shawn Layden, who spread the news readily, confirming that the service would be activated (at least in the UK) on PlayStation Portable "in a matter of weeks." Meanwhile, Android phones including the infamous PlayStation handset will get Music Unlimited "this year," and SNE "will make it happen" on the NGP as well, presumably sometime after the company reveals when its beast of a portable game station will actually come out. All in the name of taking your tunes with you wherever you happen to travel -- a concept that's getting rather popular right now.
Sony: every NGP game will be available to download, some might not even make it to physical release
We're filling the time between now and the NGP's holiday season release the best way we know how: by hunting down yet more information about it. Andrew House, the man in charge of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, has delivered the latest tidbit in an interview with MCV, where he states unequivocally that every game on the next PlayStation Portable will be available to buy as a download. Notably, he also expresses Sony's desire to have simultaneous distribution in both digital and physical channels, but that sounds a lot less concrete than his promise that every game will be downloadable. Digital-only games also figure prominently in Andrew's vision of the NGP's future, as he expects them to diversify choice for consumers alongside the big time titles like Uncharted. To learn more about Sony's replacement of UMDs with flash memory and the reasoning behind the PlayStation Suite, follow the source link below for the full interview.
PSP Go price cut quietly slinks away, now priced at original $200 MSRP
When Sony hacked $50 from the PSP Go's price earlier this week, it didn't exactly trumpet the news, and now it's looking like a permanent $150 MSRP for the UMD-less handheld was too good to be true. Text across Sony's website has silently been changed to reflect a $199.99 price point for both colors of the sliding-screen system, and there seems to be no remaining evidence that Sony ever dropped the price at all. Still, we imagine it's only a matter of time before such a price cut becomes officially official, as the PSP-3000's the no-brainer choice if you're buying a PSP right now -- it's a full $70 cheaper than the less-capable Go. [Thanks, Phil F.]
Sony PSP dips down to $130, wants to be your cheap thrill until the NGP gets here
Sony is treating its portable gaming fans well these days by giving them the one-two punch of having both a world-beating device to look forward to in the future and an affordable one to pass the time with until then. Starting this Sunday, the venerable PSP-3000 will be yours to own for just $130, taking it dangerously close to impulse buy territory, while Sony is also adding a few more titles to its $20 PSP Greatest Hits collection, including Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and LittleBigPlanet PSP. Skip past the break for the full press release and the new ad video to promote the cheaper portable.
Sony's Kaz Hirai discusses NGP strategy, longevity, expectations (video)
Why was the NGP announced so far ahead of its launch? How long does Sony expect the NGP to reign before a refresh is needed? What impact will the NGP have on Nintendo's supremacy in mobile gaming? Each of those questions has been handled by Sony Computer Entertainment's chief Kaz Hirai in a video interview you can now eyeball after the break. In case you want the textual version of his responses, Kaz says the PSP successor was unveiled early in order to allow Sony to get as many third-party developers on board as possible (which is a lot easier when you don't have to worry about them leaking your hardware to Engadget), the new mobile console's lifetime should be no less than what we've come to expect from Sony's home consoles (so at least four or five years), and Sony's weapons for attacking Nintendo's dominance will be the litany of integrated sensors and connectivity options at the NGP's disposal. Kaz is careful to note that Sony is only aiming to improve on the PSP's current install base, but we suspect Sony's unofficial ambitions are far higher than that.
Sony posts $887 million net profit, PlayStation has strong holiday quarter
Sony had quite a good holiday during its third quarter for fiscal year 2010, posting a ¥137.5 billion (approximately US $1.68b) operating income. Year-over-year, however, it's actually six percent lower than Q3 FY09, with some blame attributable to a five percent stronger yen. Although sales were more or less the same in most divisions (with pictures and music seeing a more noticeable drop), operating income saw dramatic changes. Consumer, Professional and Devices dropped 47 percent to ¥26.8b ($327.3m), while Networked Products and Services (which includes the PlayStation brand) jumped a whopping 134 percent to ¥45.7b ($559.78). Looking at unit sales, Bravia sets were way up (7.9m units versus 5.4m in Q3 FY09), and video cameras, compact digital cameras, and PCs all saw moderate gains. PSP hardware took a pretty big hit, going from 4.2m last holiday to 3.6m this past quarter (the now-profitable PlayStation 3 saw a slight decline, 6.5m to 6.3m). Software-wise, though, both gaming machines saw a bump -- 57.6m (from 47.6m) for PS3 and 16.4m (from 15m) for PSP. The PlayStation 2, now almost 11 years old, actually had about the same 2.1m hardware unit sales YOY, though software took a pretty hard hit (from 11.2m to 5.3m). Sony's golden years console isn't going down without a fight -- then again, it might've been a different story had the company managed to add backwards compatibility to the PS3.
Sony's official NGP announcement video hits the web
Sure, you followed along with our Tokyo liveblog and breathless posts announcing Sony's Next Generation Portable (codename: NGP, get it?) successor to the PSP. But nothing's quite like viewing a video posted 48-hours after the event to get a true feel for the historic occasion... historic to nerds like us anyway. The power is now in your hands -- use it wisely to watch a thrilling three-part trilogy after the break. More videos at the source link below.
Sony's next PSP (codename NGP): a closer look
Following the unveil of its bodacious next generation portable (NGP) PlayStation device, Sony let a swarm of journalists (including us) on stage to get a closer look at the PSP's dual-stick, quad-core successor. No touching, but we were able to direct our lens mighty close and compare the NXP with a PSP and PSP Go before the on-hand staff shooed us away. Enjoy the pictures! Update: And now we've got video for you as well! You know where it's at. %Gallery-115201% %Gallery-115205%
Sony's next-gen PSP (NGP) has a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, quad-core GPU as well
You know that crazy next-gen PSP (NGP) with multiple touchpads, dual analog sticks, and quadrupled resolution that Sony just trotted out? Yeah, it's got a quad-core Cortex-A9 and a quad-core Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX543MP4+ GPU doing the grunt work within. We've never seen a handheld this powerful. Then again, considering the darn thing won't be launching until this holiday season, maybe quad-core parts will be the least Sony will need in order to match up to the "super phones" coming up this year. We're just wondering how long any of these souped-up portables will last on a charge. Full spec sheet after the break.
Sony's next PSP, codenamed NGP
Betcha didn't think this day would come, but it finally has. Sony has just come clean with its next-generation PlayStation Portable. It's actually codenamed NGP and will revolve around five key concepts: Revolutionary User Interface, Social Connectivity, Location-based Entertainment, Converging Real and Virtual (augmented) Reality. It will be compatible with the PlayStation Suite and is backwards-compatible with downloadable PSP games and content from Sony's PlayStation Store. Specs include a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 5-inch touchscreen OLED display with 960 x 544 resolution, dual analog sticks (not nubs as on the current generation), 3G, WiFi, GPS, a rear-mounted touchpad, the same accelerometer / gyroscope motion sensing as in the PlayStation Move, an electronic compass, and cameras on both the front and back. Available this holiday season. Wait... what?! %Gallery-115252% Games will come on "new media," not UMD anymore, but we're unclear on what sort of flash memory is being used. Sony's rather proud of the fact it's offering the world's first dual analog stick combo on a portable device, though we're more geeked about the quadrupling of pixel count from the original PSP. Sony's live event has been graced by demos of some pretty popular games, including Killzone, Resistance, Little Big Planet, and Uncharted -- with the latter serving as a demo platform to show off how the NGP's rear touchpad can be used to more intuitively climb up some vines. That touch panel on the back is the same size and positioned directly under the front OLED touchscreen, which allows for some pretty sophisticated controls when using the two simultaneously. The new console's UI will be called LiveArea, which has a bunch of vertically navigable home screens and built-in social networking through PlayStation Network. You can jump between games and the LiveArea without losing your progress and comment on your buddies' great feats of mobile gaming. %Gallery-115187% In closing its presentation, Sony trotted out Hideo Kojima to show off a cutscene from MGS 4 rendered in real time on the NGP. It was pulled directly from the PS3 version of the game and ran at 20fps, which looked very smooth indeed to our liveblogging eyes. Videos and Sony's full PR are now available below. %Gallery-115199%
Sony reveals PlayStation Suite framework, store for Android gaming
Sony just dropped a bomb on the Japanese stage -- not a single PlayStation Phone, but a PlayStation Phone experience for everybody. The company unveiled a cross-platform software framework called PlayStation Suite, which sounds rather boring in those words, but what it amounts to is an official PlayStation Store filled with games for your Android tablets and cellphones. Sound familiar? Sony's starting with an emulator for existing PSOne titles and is promising an Android game store later this year, but soon it might be much, much more: the company's calling PlayStation Suite a "hardware-neutral" development framework to make games portable for all sorts of handhelds, and says that "new and exciting content" is also on the way. Sony will sponsor a first-party licensing and quality-assurance scheme called PlayStation Certified, and provide the marketplace as well, likely hoping to attract major game developers to build top-tier titles for mobile and get a piece of the action too. If your device doesn't have a pop-out gamepad handy, it looks like PlayStation Suite will emulate touchscreen controls, and you won't necessarily need a phone to get in on the action, as Sony says the next-generation PlayStation Portable will be compatible with games developed for PlayStation Suite right off the bat. Doesn't look like we're getting any details on game prices or compatible devices, but we imagine one particular phone will change all that at Mobile World Congress next month. Update: Looks like PlayStation Suite requires Android 2.3 at a minimum, and it's PSOne, not PlayStation Portable titles that will be emulated here, despite Kaz Hirai's quote during the festivities. PR after the break! %Gallery-115181%
Live from Sony's Tokyo event
<div style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.engadget.com/liveblog/live-from-sonys-tokyo-event/"><img alt="" border="1" hspace="4" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/01/sony-tokyo-event-1254.jpg" vspace="4"/> </a></div>We're gonna level with you, we're not entirely sure what (if anything) Sony will show off at its <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/12/sony-to-announce-psp2-at-january-27th-tokyo-meeting/">Tokyo meeting today</a> -- other than "business [overview] and strategy," of course. All the same, with the rumor mill in high gear about a possible <a href="http://www.engadget.com/tag/PSP2/">PSP2</a> debut, we decided to take a chance and fly halfway across the world. Will it end up a worthy excursion with <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/05/kaz-hirai-non-confirms-the-playstation-phone-and-tablet/">momentous payoff</a>? Some fiscal and corporate chatter? A new Japanese ad campaign featuring a terribly dubbed Kevin Butler? Follow along!
Nikkei: PSP2 will have 3G cellular data, OLED touchscreen
We're only four days away from a supposed January 27th unveiling, but apparently there are still more juicy PSP2 rumors left to dole out -- Japan's often-reliable Nikkei newspaper reports that the handheld machine will sport a crisp OLED touchscreen and 3G data from NTT DoCoMo when it arrives later this year, with the latter enabling multiplayer action and even full video and game downloads over the Japanese cellular network. What's more, the paper confirms that the screen will be physically larger and powered by some potent new silicon. So, how will Sony differentiate this PSP2 from the PlayStation Phone and tempt you to buy both? The game system won't make calls. Note: In case you're not familiar, the image above is a relatively ancient reader mockup, and likely not representative of the final product. It is pretty sexy, though.
Sony to announce PSP2 at January 27th Tokyo meeting?
Sony has a January 27th meeting in Tokyo to discuss "business [overview] and strategy." That much is true (and confirmed by Joystiq to Sony). What we don't know is whether MCV and VG247's sources are worth their weight in Lucida Grande. Both sites claim to have heard this meeting will be the launch platform for the PSP2. (VG247, for its part, has previously published pictures of an apparent PSP2 dev kit.) No major trade show debut, just a Tokyo meeting of unknown spectacle... then again, 3DS' unveil was a random press release, so stranger things have happened. We'd wager on another PlayStation Phone non-confirmation at the very least, but we'll have to wait and see.
PSP Go hacked to play UMDs, slightly increase its desirability (video)
For Sony, the homebrew community is both enemy and friend -- at the same time hackers are exploiting the living daylights out of the PlayStation 3, they're making the experimental PSP Go moderately interesting again. Here it is running UMD disc images directly from flash storage, letting it play games like Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, formerly off-limits since it was released on a physical disc. Sure, we've seen it play Sega CD games before, but this looks like the real deal -- working, user-installable ISO loaders for PSP Go backups and homebrew. Not to mention the skull-and-crossbones-clad elephant in the room. Perhaps these aren't exactly Sony's friends, on second thought.
Neo Geo games hit PSN, add online play, ditch the gigantic cartridges
If you're of a certain age, there was one console you wanted more than any other: a Neo Geo. It was so big, so dark, and so freaking expensive it was like a gadget from another time -- yet there it was, looking down at you from behind the counter at Babbage's. $649 in 1990? Yeah. Ouch. Anyway, people today can now experience that machine's greatness for a much lower price, with the PlayStation Network receiving 10 of the system's greatest hits, each selling for between $6.99 and $8.99. Yes, these games were already available on the Wii Virtual Console, but the PSN versions will support online competitive and co-operative play, which is truly worth getting excited about. All games will be hitting the PS3 on December 21, while Fatal Fury and Metal Slug will be hitting the PSP then as well. For other games, like Magician Lord and Super Sidekicks, you portable folks will just have to wait until January.
Docomo grants Japanese taxis with WiFi, PSPs, little red stickers
There are many hugely efficient ways to get around Tokyo, but for visitors taxis usually come at the bottom of that list. Drivers rarely speak English and, compared to the rest of the world, they're quite expensive (about $8 to start, going way up from there). But, should you find yourself in one they're naturally hugely clean and sophisticated, that sophistication getting a boost now by DoCoMo. 820 black sedans for hire in Tokyo will be outfitted with WiFi, freely available to customers who dishonor the back seats with their backsides. 100 of the cars will even have Sony PSPs back there too, which is odd because we were pretty sure everyone in Tokyo already had one -- or a DS, at least. These specially equipped taxis can be identified by the red DoCoMo WiFi stickers on the doors, so don't accept anything less, no matter how late you are for that KneuKlid Romance concert in Shinjuku.
Sony PSP to gain unlimited music via cloud-based Qriocity service
Just days after Sony's Qriocity video-on-demand service went live across Europe, in flies this -- news that the aforesaid service will be spreading its wings and touching the PSP in short order. Word on the street has it that the next PlayStation Portable update (v6.35) will bring along Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity, described as a "new, cloud-based, digital music service from Sony that will give music lovers access to millions of songs stored and synchronized through the cloud." Post-update, users will notice a new icon in the PSP's XrossMediaBar under the 'Music' category, and moreover, the Media Go application for managing PSP downloadable content on your PC will be updated "with enhancements to the user interface and advanced photo editing tools." Sony's remaining mum on a launch date, but the internet is already abuzz about what this may mean for the impending PlayStation Phone. Will Sony finally have a leg-up over iOS with an ingrained unlimited music client? A boy can dream, can't he? Update: Tipster Isaac spotted the screen above and the one after the break on his PSPgo today. Looks like the launch may be sooner than we'd imagined, eh?
Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime dishes cumulative sales numbers for current console generation
Rather like Nokia and its market share obsession, Nintendo just can't seem to stop talking about its hardware sales lead. The company's US chief, Reggie Fils-Aime, recently dished some NPD data detailing the specific advantage that the Wii has over its competitors in the US since the current console generation launched: Mario's team has managed to sell 30.4 million units of its hardware, followed by Microsoft's Xbox 360 at 21.9 million and Sony's PS3, which lags somewhere far behind with 13.5 million total sales. On the more mobile front, DS sales have ratcheted up to 43.1 million, more than doubling the PSP's 17.7 million shipments to the US of A. Nothing we haven't heard before, really, but it's always good to get a statistical update for the sake of keeping flamewars as informed as possible.
