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Memory Stick PRO-HG to provide users up to 32GB of space
Sony and SanDisk just revealed a new extension of Sony's popular proprietary flash media. The PRO-HG series is "theoretically capable" of sizes up to 32GB, with write speeds of up to 60MB/sec. PSP owners can celebrate that HG line is backwards compatible with the regular PRO series of cards, meaning you'll be able to buy an HG card and use it in your PSP. You won't get the same speed advantage, but you will be able to use the card's ridiculous amount of storage.Even thinking up ways to fill a 32GB card is mind-boggling for me. Hopefully, we'll see more when CES comes around next month.[Thanks, Michael Chomiczewski! Via Engadget]
Memory Stick PRO-HG announced: 3x faster than Pro DUO, compatible
Oh joy, Sony and SanDisk just announced a new PRO-HG Memory Stick format. The latest format is theoretically capable of delivering 32GB cards touting a continuous write speed of up to 60MB/sec; the same max capacity as the PRO Duo format but three times faster -- ideal for rapid shot modes on DSLRs or for capturing the action in real-time on direct to flash HD video recorders. Unlike the competing SDHC format's inability to work in legacy SD devices, PRO-HG is just an extension of the Memory Stick Pro format so the cards can be used interchangeably. However, PRO-HG media will function as PRO cards in PRO-only devices. In other words, you'll lose the speed advantage brought by that swank new 8-bit parallel interface. Expect to see cards and devices launched at CES in January. [Via Impress]
Gamestop sells porn-packed used MemoryStick
Dallas' NBC 5 News has the story of a Fort Worth mother who bought a "refurbished" PlayStation Portable MemoryStick from Gamestop only to find it filled with pornographic videos and photos. Sandra Hemm bought the stick as a birthday present for her son, whom she described as "pretty devastated" over the discovery. Frankly when we were his age we would have just been thrilled at our luck.A Gamestop spokesman said the company was investigating the incident and that standard procedure is for used cards to be wiped clean before being sold. As a precaution, local reporter Scott Friedman recommends parents try out used MemorySticks for themselves before handing them over to the kids. Or, you know, you could just shell out the extra $5 for a new stick and not worry about it.
Porn found on refurbished Memory Stick, claims horrified mom [Update 1]
Next time you buy a Memory Stick, consider getting it used. Who knows what kind of bonuses you might unlock. Like... well, porn. John, a boy from Fort Worth, Texas, discovered porn on his supposedly formatted Memory Stick, purchased from Gamestop. "Oh my goodness. I just, my stomach turned, you know. I just was sick. I just couldn't believe they had witnessed that," the mom told NBC news reporters.Apparently, the Gamestop corporate office will investigate. However, looking at the slight grin on the kid's face, I'm sure he's not complaining.[Via Joystiq][Update 1: Whoops, wrong news station attributed. Thanks for the catch DiRT--although, you should try avoiding using words you don't understand!]
Deal of the Day: 4GB Memory Stick only $65
If you're like me, you're going to download a ton of old new PSone games to your PSP via your PLAYSTATION 3. Those suckers take up a whole lot of space. Thankfully, Buy.com seems to be giving away these 4GB Memory Stick Duos, for only $65. The same kind go for $90 on amazon.com, meaning you're saving quite a bit of cash.Once these babies arrive to my doorstep, I'll be downloading every single PSone game and reviewing them for you all. Sweet, no?[Via Cheapassgamer]
Princeton's "psychic" USB stick isn't very convincing
USB memory stick manufacturers will stop at nothing to give their particular mass produced piece of plastic an edge over all the other mass produced pieces of plastic. Unfortunately, that means companies like Princeton from Japan are all too happy to market a range of 256MB, 512MB, and 1GB USB memory sticks as having psychic powers, all thanks to an endorsement by Masako Mitaki -- an apparently well-known Japanese psychic -- and a cheap software bundle. We'll give you a prediction: you won't buy this USB dongle. That'll be $5 and your soul, please.
Deals of the Day: cheap Memory Sticks and more
There are a ton of great post-Thanksgiving deals at retailers everywhere. 2GB Memory Stick for $40 at Target[Via PlayStation Forums] 4GB Memory Stick for $70 at Buy.comAfter rebate, and Google Checkout discount.[Via IGN Boards] Medal of Honor: Heroes for $33 at Circuit CityThat's $7 cheaper than MSRP.[Via IGN Boards] It's a little depressing for people like myself who remember how costly Memory Sticks were at the PSP launch. My measly 256MB card cost as much as the 2GB does now!
PSone games feature tricky L2 and R2 controls
Slowly, but surely, more details about the PSone emulation service are popping up on the internet. The service just recently launched in Japan, and PSP GadgetZ had an opportunity to play. There are a few interesting points to note: Tekken 2 clocked in at 542MB, and took over an hour to copy to the Memory Stick. (Joystiq has all the file sizes of the games available.) L2 and R2 and mapped to the analog stick. "Left = L2, Right = R2, L2+R2 = UP. Sounds awful. There is a long lag time when switching between Normal, Original and Full video modes. At least load times in the games have become considerably better.
EverGreen kit cleans your flash memory card reader
Well, it only makes sense given that over the last quarter century our cleansing techniques have gone from blowing into Nintendo cartridges to CD cleaning kits, and finally now to the most modern equivalent: a set of cleaning cards for your memory card reader from EverGreen. We don't exactly know how this works, other than you're supposed to insert these dummy cards into your reader and presto-chango, some cleansing happens. We've never exactly had a situation where we'd need to use a device like this, but then again, we never expected to need floor-cleaning robots either -- but such is the price we pay to have the future here, now.
Sony marketing asks you to "Find Me"
I've been looking for days to find a direct-feed version of Sony's new commercial, entitled "Find Me." Unfortunately, I couldn't. "Find Me" is part of Sony's newly revamped PSP marketing plan. It tells the touching story of a man who must find a girl through a Memory Stick loaded with clues in photo and video form. A hard-to-get girl that plays with a PSP must be worth the effort of running around the city. The ad can be seen on shows like Family Guy, The Daily Show, and Sports Center."The PSP system has already been established as a popular gaming handheld, but it was designed to do so much more -- from playing music and videos to sharing photos and accessing the Internet," said Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing, SCEA. "These marketing initiatives deliver the broader PSP brand message and offer PSP owners the entertainment experience they're thirsting for from a content perspective."[Via GameDaily]
Deal of the Day: Free 256MB Memory Stick Pro Duo at Circuit City
While a 256MB Memory Stick may not hold a lot of data, especially if you're trying to play full-resolution movies on your PSP, it's hard to argue about something's worth when it's free. And right now Circuit City is offering a 256MB SanDisk Memory Stick Pro Duo for $30 with a $30 mail-in rebate.All you have to do is buy the Memory Stick, fill out the form and mail it in. Not too hard, eh?There's a one-rebate limit here so don't get any funny ideas of buying tons of these and unloading them on ebay.[Via Joystiq]
Video Sandwich: November 9, 2006
The above PSP has all the bells and whistles. And by that, I mean it has crazy LED lights, joysticks and an Xbox jewel. MAXCONSOLE called it the "pimped PSP." That sounds about right. The below PSP seems to be afflicted by a mysterious condition. Watch carefully, and then be shocked! It seems like this person received one of those bootleg Memory Sticks we warned about earlier.
Memory Stick bootleggers caught
You've probably seen them before: suspiciously cheap Memory Sticks on eBay that are "too good to be true." Some of you may have even purchased one, only to find out that they simply don't work. It looks like a bootlegger was recently arrested: a Kyoto University student was caught with about twenty fake Memory Sticks in his home. He sold the Memory Sticks throughout Japan and overseas, and is believed to have sold at least 400 fraudulent sticks.The bootlegger now faces fines as high as 2.5 million yen (about $25,000 US).[Via PSP3D]
Deal of the Day: 1GB Memory Stick for $10 at Buy.com
Okay, this deal may take a little bit more work than previous Deals of the Day. However, I'm sure you've heard the old adage - good things come to those who work ... err or is to those who wait? Bah, it doesn't matter.Anyway, here's a step-by-step process to get your hands on a SanDisk 1GB Memory Stick Pro Duo for only $10 at Buy.com. Create a Google Checkout account; Add the Memory Stick to your Buy.com shopping cart ($35); Make sure to use Google Checkout as your payment method to use the $10 off a $30 order ($25); Fill out the mail-in rebate for $15 off ($10); and You're done! Be sure to hurry up because the rebate expires Oct. 15.[Via Cheapassgamer - Registration required]
The BCD-rockin' USB Smart Flash Drive
Sure, this flash drive isn't covertly disguised as a teddy bear or housing an exceedingly capacious 64GB of storage, but it does have one thing going for it: brains. The aptly-named USB Smart Flash Drive apparently does a little thinking of its own while holding tight to your precious data, and conveys that knowledge via the Bi-stable Cholesteric Display. Although it proudly touts itself as the "world's first smart flash drive," we (and Corsair) would certainly beg to differ. Nevertheless, a little BCD competition never hurt anyone, and this rendition boasts a sleek, black enclosure, 11 character customizable display, on-the-fly readouts of megabyte usage (both numerically and graphically), LCD read / write indicator, write protect switch, and USB 2.0 connectivity. Coming in 256MB (£27.99; $53), 512MB (£29.99; $57), 1GB (£64.99; $123) and 2GB (£74.99; $142) flavors, these bright (ahem) flash drives are available now to keep you posted on just how much (or little) info you're toting.[Via Red Ferret]
PSP Double Expand gives you two memory slots on the ugly
Our PSP Fanboy brethren seem to be rather offended by the idea, but while this new "PSP Double Expand Memory Converter" isn't quite the slickest solution of all time, we're kind of liking the dual memory slots it offers up. The adaptor plugs into your regular Memory Stick slot, attaches to the back of your PSP, and offers up a pair of SD/miniSD/MMC/Memory Stick slots. It's also dirt cheap, at a mere $16.77 US, so if you can get over the clunky method (which is diagrammed after the break) then you can, um, do whatever you'd do with two memory slots instead of one -- for cheap.[Via PSP Fanboy]
Ainex AKB-88 keyboard packs a 10-in-1 card reader
Given that we've already seen some rather strange memory card readers, it's high time that a company came out with one that's actually convenient to use. We've always thought that a card reader directly built-in to a keyboard would do the job nicely, no? Fortunately Ainex has used its engineering powers to read our minds, and has released the AKB-88, a new compact keyboard with four, count 'em four, card slots on the far side of the keyboard, featuring all your favorite types, including CompactFlash, Memory Stick, SD and the oft-neglected SmartMedia. Sadly, this flashy little keyboard is Windows-only, even though we think it would compliment the MacBook nicely, given that it comes in both white and black. The AKB-88 was just made available on the company's website for the ever elusive "open price," but if these 'boards ever surf across the Pacific, we'll let you know.[Via Akihabara News]
Terrifying memory-expanding device
This diagram illustrates what could be one of the ugliest peripherals I have ever seen for the console. It's like a Transformer gone wrong. With this attachment, you can stick not one but two Memory Sticks into your system. Personally, I'd much rather buy a newer, larger Memory Stick, especially considering how they're not too expensive these days. On the plus side, you can have that obnoxious cord stick out of your PSP and pretend you're Inspector Gadget.[Via DCemu]
Homebrew file manager reveals secrets [Update 1]
The TIFF applications keep on coming. The latest one allows you to rename, move and delete files off your Memory Stick, directly from the PSP. I don't see much of a need for this, but it may be helpful for those of you that need to rename, hide and delete all that porn those confidential documents that you've been saving to the Memory Stick. Hey, more power to you. I love using my PSP as a back-up flash drive. It's great for carrying porn term papers around.If you do use the program, it appears that there are folders called GPS and USBMIC hidden on your PSP's flash memory. What could that mean? If we're lucky, it might mean that the upcoming GPS peripheral may have support on 2.80 firmware, without having to upgrade! That would be great for those of you that want to get the official device while running these small TIFF homebrew apps.[Via PSP3D][Update 1: The application has recently been updated. It can now read UMD data as well.]
Sony opts for beefier PSP bundle over holiday price slash [update 1]
Next Generation reports Sony is busy preparing a holiday PSP bundle that will feature a 1GB memory stick, ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails, and Lords of Dogtown (UMD movie) -- all for $249.99.Anyone who's caught the latest PSP advert (embedded at end of post) is aware that Sony's pushing the portable's 'extra-gaming' features. And while tossing a mediocre 1st generation title into the new bundle certainly drives that point home, wouldn't including Media Manager and a download voucher for Sony Connect, or better, PlayStation games -- 'cause the service is allegedly coming in November -- be a better value?Update: added price; clarified UMD title.
