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Dutch retailer boycotts sale of PSP Go
Eurogamer reports that Nedgame, Holland's "largest specialized retail outlet," won't sell the PSP Go when it launches this October. The €250 price for the device (the PSP-3000 sells for €80 [$117] less), along with the absence of UMD drive, is cited as justification for the boycott. It's speculated that the core reason Nedgame doesn't want to sell the device is because the company won't be able to sell games with the handheld -- and, well, selling games is how game stores typically make money.According to Eurogamer, Nedgame isn't the only no-Go retailer in Europe, with Eurogamer Spain also claiming to hear whispers from retailers refusing to sell the handheld. We've yet to hear of any North American retailers officially boycotting the system.
PSP Go refused by game retailer as Blockbuster fiddles
Do you run a brick-and-mortar store that primarily sells media? Yeah? Then lean in real close, we've got a little trend that you may have overlooked. The physical media you carry -- be it films, music, or games -- is going digital and moving on-line for direct-to-consumer downloads. Still, Dutch gaming-house Nedgame has a statement on its website saying it will not be selling the UMD-less PSP Go. It lists six reasons framed in a way that makes them sound like they're fighting for the rights of the consumer. However, as a seller of gaming media that boasts two new store openings on its home page, the primary beef likely stems from the shop's inability to sell physical media to the download-only PSP Go. Maybe a search on the tag Blockbuster could help with expansion planning?[Via GamesIndustry.biz]
PSP Minis on UMD 'real possibility,' could appear on PS3, Sony says
Given that they're being tailor-made for quick, digital distribution on PSP Go, Sony's "Minis" will probably be released on UMD, the company tells Develop. "The most successful Minis titles will probably transition to UMD," SCEE head of developer relations Zeno Colaco said in an interview published today."I think that a package of multiple Minis games on a single UMD is a real possibility at a later stage, where even a studio or publisher will put a collection of their own games on a single disc," Colaco added. "We'd be open to that."UMD might not be the only destination for Minis. Responding to a question about Minis making the jump to PS3, Colaco said, "I do think there's a possibility that Minis could find themselves on other consoles down the line." So, Maximum Minis, then?[Via MCV]
Sony Ericsson's 'Aino' is almost a PSP phone ... but not really
The long rumored PSP phone may still be far away (or never coming, for that matter), but at least Sony Ericsson plans on bringing some of the PSP's functionality to its "Aino" phone. Though the Aino won't feature UMD support (where have we heard that before?), it will allow for Remote Play functionality, essentially granting the phone remote, limited access to a linked PlayStation 3. Sony Ericsson's Lisa Canning told the Euro PS blog that the first Aino will be arriving "early October in the UK, with the rest of Europe to follow," though no release Stateside has been announced yet. Aside from the missing UMD playback ability, no indication is given whether or not it will support PSP Minis, but unfortunately no games can be played through the Aino's Remote Play functionality. We're still not sure if a PSP phone is ever going to come out -- we are sure, however, that we stopped holding our breath for one a long, long time ago.
Sony and Nintendo increasing effort in fight against piracy
Though Nintendo already has a pretty solid system in place for combating piracy -- the persistent threat that Reggie Fils-Aime will crush any software buccaneers between his mighty jaws -- the company recently increased its piracy-preventing ranks. Neil Boyd was recently appointed European anti-piracy counsel for the company. Boyd, along with a pair of Nintendo's legal advisors, will "take action against criminals who are making money out of the infringement of games developers' copyright," according to Nintendo anti-piracy director Jodi Daugherty. Sony's also increasing its piracy prevention efforts, albeit through more technological means. The PSP Go will contain a non-removable internal battery, which keeps would-be hackers from implementing the popular, homebrew-enabled Pandora battery. Also, we hear the PSP Go's boot-up screen displays a pouty, doe-eyed Jack Tretton that's said to strike crippling pangs of guilt into anyone who tries to conduct dubious dealings on the handheld. Consider PSPiracy beaten, friends.
PSP Go's Rock Band Unplugged demo plays DLC
We were disappointed a few weeks ago when we learned that the PSP Go wouldn't come bundled with Rock Band Unplugged as we'd heard, but rather a "voucher" for an exclusive demo of the title. We then wondered why you would need a voucher for a demo. PlayStation.Blog has answered our questions, revealing one very important, kind of awesome detail about the PSP Go Rock Band Unplugged Lite: not only will it come loaded with five songs, it will accept downloads from the Rock Band Unplugged store, effectively allowing players to build a track list a la carte. It's a nice bonus that extends the allure of the demo (good for PSP Go buyers) and encourages DLC purchases (good for MTV, Harmonix, EA, etc.)
PSP Go comes apart
Somehow, Levelup.cn got access to a PSP Go, which they proceeded to disassemble for our amusement. You can browse through the thirteen-page gallery (!) and really look for the UMD drive that must be hidden in there somewhere. You can also see the internal memory and the battery, which is now non-removable (and, Sony hopes, non-moddable as well). Perhaps of greatest interest to old-school PSP owners is that the D-pad and buttons are very clearly separated from the screen hardware by quite some distance. There shouldn't be any square button issues this time! [Via Engadget]
PSP Go disassembled, reassembly still in question
Well, the PSP Go may still not be available to the general public just yet, but the folks at levelup.cn have somehow managed to wrangle one out of Sony's hands, and have promptly gone and done what appears to be the first proper disassembly of the device. While there's expectedly not a whole lot of surprises, we do get a good look at the now non-removable battery (pictured above), the on-board memory, the familiar nub and controls and, of course, the complete lack of any UMD remnants -- not to mention a curiously placed GameCube watermark. Hit up the link below for the step-by-step teardown.
Interview: Halfbrick talks PSP Minis
Last time we talked to Halfbrick Studios, the company was gearing up to assault Xbox Live with a suite of Indie Games (then called Community Games). Now, with the unveiling of Sony's Minis, Halfbrick has announced it's developing for the PSP platform. In fact, a few of its titles were even in the debut trailer for Minis. We talked to Phil Larsen, community manager at Halfbrick, about these new products and Sony's bite-sized games service.
PSP Go priced at GBP 224.99 in the U.K.
It looks like Sony isn't following the ever-popular "give U.K. products the same numerical price as U.S. products and pretend the value of their monetary denominations are equal" strategy for the PSP Go. Instead, Sony's attached a £224.99 price tag to the slide-screened handheld -- which is still considerably more expensive than £179.99, the very first PSP's U.K. price point. Still, it's a well-known fact the good people of the United Kingdom possess an unnatural, caveman-esque fear of Universal Media Discs -- we're sure they won't mind shilling out the extra poundage.
Yesterday's PlayStation news, all in one place
Sony had itself quite a day yesterday, effectively reinvigorating the PlayStation brand with the $300 PS3 Slim and a host of upgrades and updates to the PSP, the PlayStation Store, and PlayStation Network. Now that the dust has settled, we thought we'd throw down a little recap in case you didn't catch it all -- it's clear that the lower-priced Slim has a lot of people talking about finally buying a PS3, but we think things like PSP Minis "snackable" games and the new PS3 firmware 3.0 might be equally important in the long run. Here's the full breakdown: Liveblog: Sony's GamesCom presser coverage live at Joystiq! Live from Sony's GamesCom Press conference (at Joystiq) PS3 Slim and PS3 classic: Sony unveils slimmer PS3: $300, lands in September (updated!) PlayStation 3 Slim unboxing and hands-on! PS3 Slim sized up: smaller, deeper, no Linux or PS2 compatibility Sony sneaks PS3 Slim through FCC under pseudonym, 250GB model discovered Sony finally hacks $100 from 'old' PlayStation 3 price, starting today Sony announces PS3 firmware 3.0, European PlayStation Video Store, Digital Reader comics viewer Editorial: A slimmer, cheaper, better PS3. Was that so hard? PSP: Sony announces 'snackable' 100MB Minis for PSN Store Sony announces three new PSP-3000 colors for Europe PSP Minis, Digital Comics get their own promo videos
Sony introduces Minis: bite-sized downloads for PSN
Sony has announced a new line of downloadable titles for the PSP and PSP Go, confirming rumors that first surfaced last week. Dubbed Minis, these titles have a 100MB size limit and are exclusive to the PSN Store. The lineup will launch on October 1st, the same day as the PSP Go. These titles will reportedly cost less to develop and, more importantly, cost less for gamers. Sony plans to have 15 snacktivities ready for the PSP Go launch, though 50 games are slated for the rest of 2009. A few titles mentioned during the company's GamesCom keynote include Tetris, Field Runners, Hero of Sparta and Minigore.
Register your PSP Go quickly, get Gran Turismo PSP free
As an incentive for people to snatch up their slide-screened handheld the day it hits store shelves, Sony has announced that it will give anyone who registers their PSP Go between October 1 and October 10 a totally free copy of Gran Turismo PSP. That is to say, a totally free download of the full version of the game. It really wouldn't make much sense for Sony to send a UMD for you to play in your brand new, UMD slot-less device, now would it?
Rumor: PSP Go 'app store' games coming, will be very low-priced
If Pocket Gamer's sources are correct, we'll be seeing some shockingly low-priced downloadable titles coming to the PSP's next iteration, the PSP Go. Reportedly, games on the download-only handheld will be priced at "1, 2 and 5 Euros" per game (roughly 2, 4,and 10 dollars, depending on the exchange rate), apparently challenging Apple's App Store head-on. The piece unfortunately doesn't clarify if these will be existing UMD-based titles, PSN titles, or brand new stuff.A few months back, rumors arose about the unveiling of an app store for the PSP Go at next week's Euro game convention, Gamescom. This report seems to corroborate the idea of an app store for the device and even posits that Sony is currently "sourcing iPhone developers to bring existing titles to PSN." We asked Sony for comment on the subject and will update this post when we hear more.One thing's for sure: Sony has a whole mess of rumors on its hands and Gamescom would be a good place to put some of them to bed ... or bring them to fruition.
What's new with PSP Go's firmware 5.70?
What firmware is your PSP running? 5.51? Lame! If you go into the future and snag a PSP Go, you'll be able to use firmware 5.70. But, what's new about the upcoming PSP software revision? Good question. Digital Foundry got their hands on an early version of the system and discovered that not much has changed. In fact, due to the PSP Go's lack of a UMD drive, many options appear to be missing in the firmware.For example (and obviously), all settings related to UMD Video are missing on the PSP Go's firmware. More bizarrely, "Battery Information," which displays how much battery life is remaining, appears to be gone. Additionally, "Backlight Auto-Adjust" seems to be missing from the Power Save Settings menu. We're not entirely sure why these options are gone. Could it simply be because it's an early version of the firmware?Obviously, some time remains before Sony officially releases the Go and firmware 5.70 to the world. It'll be interesting to see if any of these changes affect the older UMD-equipped versions of the PSP. Considering firmware works slightly differently on each of the 1000, 2000 and 3000 models, we're sure to see differences evolve across the platforms over time.
Ex-GRIN staffers form Outbreak Studios
Now that's what we call an expedient rebound -- a number of developers who were recently laid off from GRIN have bounced back, forming a new studio operating under the moniker Outbreak Studios. The head honcho for the new outfit is former GRIN lead programmer Peter Björklund, who, in addition to the games produced by his former place of employment (Wanted: Weapons of Fate and Bionic Commando, among others), worked on Battlefield: Bad Company, Race Pro and Just Cause.The studio's recently opened site has a clear mission statement -- to "develop titles for Xbox 360 (XBLA), PS3 (PlayStation Store), Games For Windows Live, PSP Go and iPhone." The new developer is also hoping to "deliver online components for AAA titles, both existing or upcoming." We wish the Outbreak team the best of luck, and hope their new ventures far outshine their previous ones.[Via Edge Online]
PSP Go to include voucher for Rock Band Unplugged demo [Update]
Do you like Rock Band Unplugged? Do you like ... buying a new PSP? If so, you'll be pleased to hear this. According to Destructoid, Best Buy's PSP Go listing mentioned a free voucher for a download of Rock Band Unplugged. If it was in the listing, it has since been removed. We've contacted Sony to determine the truth of this rumor. If this turns out to be true, then the PSP Go won't cost $80 more than a PSP -- it'll just cost $50 more than a PSP Rock Band Unplugged Entertainment Pack, which sounds better. The existence of a current PSP/Rock Band bundle makes this more plausible, as well.Update: Looks like the PSP Go will only be bundled with a Rock Band Unplugged demo -- not the full game, as seen by this image from thatgamecompany's forums. [Thanks, Aaron G.]%Gallery-49568%
Sony, EA and Activision reveal Gamescom lineups
For those of you headed to Gamescom and wondering what you'll be waiting in line to play (or standing on tip-toes to watch as a trailer), VG247 has posted the announced lineups for three major publishers: Sony, EA and Activision. Square Enix hs also reiterated its lineup.Sony will be showing the PSP Go, of course, along with Gran Turismo, LittleBigPlanet, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, and more on PSP, and God of War III, Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain, MAG, and lots of other big stuff on PS3. Activision will have a pile of plastic-instrument (and skateboard) games, as well as Modern Warfare 2, Blur, and Bakugan. EA's bringing basically everything ever. Head past the break for a full list.
Beneath a Steel Sky remastered for iPhone
We are in the midst of a full-blown adventure game renaissance, thanks to the sudden proliferation of new adventure games and the (long-awaited) rediscovery by publishers of their own back catalogs. The latest adventure game to be brought back is Revolution Software's Beneath a Steel Sky, which may be best known these days for the fact that it's available for free and works with ScummVM.The new version, Beneath a Steel Sky Remastered, won't be free and won't run in ScummVM, but it will have the advantage of running on iPhone. The update will include new content like fully-animated cutscenes from Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons. Creator Charles Cecil expects to charge around $2 or $3 for the title."Yes, you can jailbreak your phone and play the game for free," he told Eurogamer. "But if you like the game and like the kind of games we make, then pay us a little bit of money and, if it's a big enough success, we can reinvest the funds. We can start to look at a potential BASS sequel."According to the announcement, the iPhone version will be out this fall. Revolution Pocket has plans for other mobile platforms, including Android, PSP Go, and DSiWare.
Sony said to have seriously considered second analog nub for PSP Go
It's no secret that a second analog nub was one of the biggest demands for what's now known as the PSP Go and, according to Sony exec Shuhei Yoshida, those requests were heard loud and clear during the Go's development. Speaking with Game Informer, Yoshida said that Sony had some "very serious discussion" about adding a second analog nub to the PSP Go, but ultimately decided against it to avoid splitting the PSP market in two. He further elaborated that the PSP Go is "designed to be perfectly compatible with the PSP-3000 and all the games that released before that," adding that "we are talking about the mid-life cycle of this platform" (referring to Sony's ten-year life cycle plan for all of its consoles). In other words, don't bet on one showing up on the inevitable PSP Go Slim 6000 either.[Via Joystiq]
