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2006 was "the year of PSP"
It appears that more media sources are praising the PSP's surprisingly good year, filled with high-quality games, and maturing media capabilities. UK tech website, The Register, spoke about the PSP's success in 2006. They note that although the PS3 came nowhere close to as successful as they thought, the PSP has been performing quite handidly: "But with the PSP, Sony has outstripped Microsoft and its Xbox considerably."Of course, while the PSP platform grew in 2006, it's far more exciting to look towards 2007, where the machine may finally tap into its wide capabilities: "To say that Sony PSP sales would sell over half the numbers of the iPod was bold, but it has turned out to be bang on with around 20 million devices now sold since last March when they were launched. During 2007 the PSP will come into its own, we said, and there are big signs that it is doing just that, although it will need the Sony launch of an online film service for the PSP and the promised interaction with the PS3 to make the success spectacular."
Japanese hardware sales, 11 Dec - 17 Dec: Christmas courtesy edition
Ah, what a jolly time of year it is. In fact, it's the only time of year when the use of the word "jolly" doesn't result in someone coming across as a complete imbecile. Though many attempt to fight the false cheer and the forced goodwill, experience clearly shows that the best course of action lies parallel to the direction everyone else is going. After all, wedging your fingernails into the ground as the holiday consumerism vortex sucks the world into a timeless oblivion is futile and even worse -- physically tiring. Just let it go and send out that cheap and thoughtless greeting card.Everyone else is doing it. Just have a look at the cards we got this year (after the break). - DS Lite: 319,708 10,078 (3.25%)- Wii: 108,237 22,798 (26.68%)- PS3: 70,942 20,771 (41.40%) - PSP: 48,962 20,032 (69.24%) - PS2: 37,730 7,270 (23.87%) - Xbox 360: 17,168 18,175 (51.42%) - GBA SP: 1,86729 (1.53%) - Game Boy Micro: 1,491 64 (4.12%) - Gamecube: 1,152 583 (102.46%) - DS Phat: 158 9 (5.39%) - GBA: 42 25 (147.06%) - Xbox: 3 3 (50.00%)[Source: Media Create]See also: Previous Japanese hardware sales charts
Up close and personal with the camo PSP
The Japanese release of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops was met with quite some fanfare... and new hardware. The camo PSP, included in the MGS bundle, has infiltrated Japan and the blogger of PSP GadgetZ has captured one for himself. He's taken some beautiful, almost pornographic, pictures of the unit from all sorts of naughty angles. Interested importers can check out Play-Asia for this unique, but pricey, system.
Microsoft monopolizes Next-Gen's (long) list of best games
Well, not really, but you get the idea. In addition to others, Next-Gen has selected their top game picks for 2006, 50 to be exact. Microsoft platforms -- a clear majority of which were 360 games -- seemingly dominated the multiplatform list by a total share of 42%. We'll spare you the 40 losers and just run down the top 10: Gears of War (360) Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PC, 360) Guitar Hero II (PS2) Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3) Company of Heroes (PC) Dead Rising (360) New Super Mario Bros. (DS) Okami (PS2) Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (360) See also: Nintendo tyrannizes Gamasutra's 2006 list of best games Elder Scrolls IV wins AP's best game of 2006
What Japan thinks of the PSP and DS battle
Not even a Sony fanboy can avoid admitting that the Nintendo DS is selling at a much brisker pace than the PSP. Regardless of our second place position, I still find it interesting to see what Japan thinks of our favorite handheld machine. "What Japan Thinks" has a report from over 7000 Japanese individuals on their gaming habits. Here are some of the highlights: Only 10.7% of people surveyed have a PSP, compared to Nintendo DS's 32.3%. 14.7% of PSP owners use it every day. (Do you?) Although both the PSP and DS are portable, the number one place the system is played is at home: 94.2%. Personally, the subway is where I get most of my PSP playing done. Brain training games are easily the most popular kinds of handheld games, coming in at 54.6% A shocking number of people have not used any of PSP's non-gaming features: 43.1% 25.2% of surveyed individuals want a PSP in the future, versus the DS's 59.4%. Only 20.3% of people want a PS3. Only 15% want a Wii. (But 17% want both.) Make with these numbers what you will. While it may be easy to say that "PSP is t3h d00m3d!!1" I think that a 25% desirability rate is still very high. It's certainly higher than the number of people that wanted Gamecubes or Xboxes, both of which have lived fairly great console lives. Can Sony increase the PSP's desirability by focusing solely on games? Are you like the Japanese: do you not find value in PSP's non-gaming functionality?[Via Japundit]
MS considering games for Zune
It's been oft rumored that Microsoft's music-playing, photo-sharing Zune (which was almost called the Xpod) will eventually have some sort of game-playing ability as well. Now, Microsoft Europe Chief Chris Lewis has thrown some more fuel on the rumor fire, telling TotalVideoGames in an interview that "gaming is certainly something we're considering for the device."We can definitely see the appeal from Microsoft's point of view -- the move could provide the company with a quick, back-door entrance into the highly competitive portable gaming market while at the same time keeping up with Apple's game-playing iPod. The online functionality of Xbox Live and the library of casual and classic games from Live Arcade could also provide for good software support.Still, we're not convinced games will attract many new customers to the weak-selling Zune. Given the system's design as a music player, we doubt the system has the hardware power or game-centric interface needed to really compete with the firmly entrenched DS and PSP. Still, you can never have too many devices that play Bejeweled in your pocket.[Via GamaSutra]
Japanese release day highlights: 12.21.06
Trains are great. We ride them most days of the week. In fact, today we took a train ride in order to buy two new train-based videogames. That's the scary extent of our railway passion. To avoid those funny looks we keep getting from the station master, we also picked up copies of the games listed here. Just so that we could look at their non-train-related packaging on the way home, to pretend that we weren't really thinking about trains. Mmm ... the 16:09 Express to Kyoto ... Sorry, those games: Ys Origin (Falcom's legend returns, again; PC) Seiken Densetsu 4 (Mana, Mana, Mana; PS2) Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (ice cool Capcom; Xbox 360) Let's Go By A-Train HX ("Artdink" is the funniest developer name ever; Xbox 360) Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Snake crawls back to Japan; PSP) Armored Core 4 (PlayStation 3) Railfan (for the jotter and flask crowd; PS3)
All I want for Xmas is the return of the PSP hoax site
Remember Sony's high-larious faux blog All I Want for Xmas is a PSP? The site was ridiculed, investigated, ridiculed some more, and then quietly removed (site and video). End of story, right? Wrong!The Consumerist, in their infinite wisdom and generosity, uploaded the entire website -- videos and all -- onto their own servers. It looks like Christmas has come early, huzzah![Via Opposable Thumbs]
PSP second best selling console in UK
The media loves to paint a bleak future for the PSP, calling it a system destined to die. We call those people misinformed. The PSP looks to sell a million units in the UK alone this year, making it the second best-selling console of the year, right behind the Nintendo DS. "People mention us in the same breath as DS because we're both handheld products, but we're actually going after very different markets," Sony UK's commercial director Kevin Jowett told MCV. "We've put in just under £300 million of turnover at retail with PSP because we're such a boys console and we've hit the mark with older gamers."While the PSP may not be number one, it's certainly not going away any time soon. One has to admit, beating out other consoles, like the Xbox 360, is truly a noteworthy accomplishment.
New PSOne downloads in Japan, new PSP firmware everywhere
Sony has dropped nine more PSOne games into Japan's PlayStation Store. The process is still tedious, the files still only playable on PSP (and only downloadable with a PlayStation 3). A new PSP firmware update (v3.03) is required to play the newest oldies; and although the update is available for all to install, it's useless to those outside of Japan -- or those in Japan without access to PS3's PlayStation Network.Here's a rundown of the PSOne games you won't be playing on your PSP today: Dino Crisis Gekitotsu Toma L'Arc: L'Arc-en-Ciel vs Tomarunner Global Force: Shin Sentou Kokka Migi Hadari U-SA Migi Hadari USA Mr. Driller R-Type Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure Taiyou no Shippo: Wild, Pure, Simple Life The Conveni: Anomachi o Dokusenseyo
Onkyo announces Wavio VR-1000J media recorder
It looks like Neuros is soon going to have to work a little harder to win over media-happy PSP users, with Onkyo announcing that it's about to bust out a standalone media recorder of its own. Like the Neuros recorder, Onkyo's Wavio VR-1000J doesn't have any internal storage, relying instead on Memory Sticks and SD Cards that you can pop directly into your PSP or other video-capable device. In addition to PSP compatible video, it'll also record in the 3GPP, 3GPP2, and ASF video formats, with three video quality settings for each to suit your needs (maxing out at 320x240, 30 fps, apparently not supporting the PSP's native widescreen resolution). On the audio front, you'll only get AAC, G.726, and AMR formats, making it bit less versatile than the Neuros all around, although it does have the whole pyramid thing going for it. Look for this one to hit Japan Decemeber 25th, coming in around the 20,000 Yen mark ($170US).[Via Akihabara News]
PSP survey suggests redesign
Well, would you? Sony recently sent a survey to select members of its GAP community polling them on various features for the PSP. This is unsurprising: they've done this quite a number of times before. However, this is the first time the language has suggested a redesigned PSP: would you buy another PSP, just like the hordes of DS owners that threw out their Phats in exchange for the lovelier Lite? Personally, I think the PSP's design is good just the way it is, and being an owner of a 4GB Memory Stick makes me not care too much about a hard drive. However, video out is very important to me. Why? Well, then I can finally give you guys some direct-feed PSP footage. What about you, ye faithful PSP fanboy? [Via IGN Boards] [Update 1: Our readers have voted! A whopping majority of you, 62%, would purchase a redesigned PSP. As long as it doesn't render the current PSP useless, I think it's clear that a PSP "Lite" would go over very well with the masses.]
PSP camera review: "Worse than most camera phones"
It's been rumored and spotted and dated and now that it's out in Japan, it seems it's a little less than impressive. We're speaking, of course, of the PSP camera attachment, which import-focused site GameBrink declares is "worse than most camera phones on the market today."Indeed, the 5000 yen ($42), 1.3-megapixel phone seems a little behind the times when standard camera phones that come free with many wireless plans sport at least two megapixels. The attachment will only look more obsolete as eight-megapixel phones eventually penetrate the mass market. What's more, the camera's video function limits you to 15 second clips, regardless of how much capacity you have on your MemoryStick, negating one of the attachment's potential benefits.With no launch details announced yet for America, it's still unclear whether the device will even see the light of day outside gadget-obsessed Japan. Judging by this review, though, that suddenly doesn't seem like such an awful prospect.
Amsterdam has the sweetest PSP ride
One of our dedicated readers, Joseph Skar, recently went on a trip to the Netherlands, where he took a quick shot of this PSP-themed vehicle. Inspired by Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, Joseph easily carjacked the vehicle (he pressed Triangle), and sped away... until he slammed into the PSP Vespa.Certainly, this vehicle is cool enough as-is, but Joseph speculated: "It would be very cool with a GPS attachment."Indeed.
More LocoRoco games, confirms Sony
After spewing some mumbo jumbo, Sony's Phil Harrison moved on to a more finite announcement in his conversation with MTV. Harrison talked LocoRoco sequels: "We're going to bring LocoRoco back in a couple of new ways with some new friends in the future."A PSP sequel is the obvious direction to take, but don't rule out a downloadable PS3 game with motion controls. As for these new friends? That implies a cannibalization of the franchise. You know, enough characters to put together a 'kart racer' and 'zany sports' spin-offs -- with a LocoRoco 'puzzler' and 'mini-game collection' on deck. Hey, it works for the other guy...[Via PSP Fanboy]
Sony video downloads to challenge iTunes?
Online video sales may take in about a third of a billion dollars this year. Sony wants in on the action. According to today's Financial Times, Sony is making plans to enter the video download market, specifically to provide content for its existing 20 million plus PSP installed base. Amazon's movie download service, as well as video content providers like MovieLink and CinemaNow have pretty much been resounding failures. So what will Sony do differently? For one, they intend to distribute their movies in a memory-stick friendly form, storing up to 10 feature films on a 4GB stick. For another, they won't require any hardware upgrades to the existing equipment in order to purchase and play movies. I'm pretty unclear about how they intend to manage their digital rights with this setup. And 10 movies on 4GB sounds over-compressed. A two-hour iTunes movie is about a gigabyte in length. 400MB sounds more like what you'd expect coming out of iSquint or Handbrake. It would, of course, be lovely if their content would play back on the iPod as well as the PSP, but I'm not holding my breath.
DIY tilt-sensor for the next-gen gamer on the go
Tilt sensing isn't quite the novelty it once was, with all these new-fangeled controllers and laptops flooding the market, but as much as the execution might lack, or our child-like joy wane, we've always got room for one more tilt-enabled doohickey at the Engadget HQ. This time around it's the Nintendo DS sporting the fancy functionality (again), via a homemade tilt sensor which plugs into that handy mini-USB port. Unfortunately for the bleeding edge types, the actual use of this thing is an exercise in frustration, since the control is merely digital -- full left or full right, none of those fancy degrees. Still, if your mom and her gal pals have commandeered your Wii for the afternoon, you've just gotta get some Nintendo-flavored tilt-sensing action on, and you can't find your Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble cartridge anywhere, then it sounds like this DS hack is the hack for you. Alternatively, you can apparently plug this thing into your PSP, but we don't have any video evidence to back that up. Keep reading to see the DS in action.[Via DS Fanboy]
Silver and Blue, for your import consideration
One of our readers, Brandon, made note that the new Silver and Blue PSPs are available for importers at Play-Asia.com. These are both going for $199, the same retail price as an uncolorful American PSP. Remember: import PSPs can play all games. The only catch is: they can't play other region's UMDs. Not that that should matter anyways.
Sony moving forward with video download service
GI.biz is reporting that Sony is finally revamping its pledge to bring PSP owners more video content. With the UMD format dead, Sony is looking towards digital distribution. Strangely, it appears that Sony is avoiding their failing music store, Connect, and are in talks with other content providers, such as Amazon's Unbox, MovieLink and CinemaNow. Unlike downloadable PSone games, which require the purchase of a PLAYSTATION 3, the movies will be downloaded to a PC and then transferred to the PSP.This move gives PSP more of an edge in its continuing struggle against Apple's iPod and iTunes Store. Apple's iTunes Store offers a wide assortment of downloadable movies from big-name partners like Disney, but the iPod itself currently features only a 4:3 screen, making it less than ideal for movies. Sony's PSP will provide a better movie-watching experience, but users will be responsible for purchasing sufficient flash memory. With Microsoft also providing video content downloads via Zune and Xbox Live Marketplace, this battle is sure to be an interesting one.[Via Joystiq]
WSJ: Sony to offer video downloads to battle iTunes
If at first you don't succeed, launching proprietary movie formats probably isn't for you. At least, that's how the saying goes when one considers Sony's "Universal" Media Disc format that took off on the PSP and then landed somewhere in a pile of Beta Max tapes. But there's also the "try and try again" part, in this case referring to a new movie download service which Sony intends to launch early in 2007. The Wall Street Journal reports that "people with knowledge of the matter" are pointing to an upcoming iTunes-like service that will allow users to download films and then transfer them (via Memory Stick) to that most portable of Playstations. The first batch of films up for grabs will naturally be from Sony Pictures Entertainment (think Spider-Man, House of Flying Daggers and ... Hitch), with more studios expected to follow shortly after the service launches. The Financial Times labels Amazon.com, Movielink and CinemaNow as potential partners in the endeavor. In addition, said knowledgable people predict that a similar service will allow users to bypass their computers entirely and download video directly to the PSP. By eliminating optical storage and aiming at direct downloads, Sony joins Apple (iTunes movies) and Microsoft (Video marketplace) in a battle that runs parallel to the one currently taking place between HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Best get some popcorn for this one.Read -- Sony Is to Offer Video Downloads To Battle iTunes (subscription required)Read -- Sony To Enter Video Download Market
