What a coup for Sony’s marketing men. The Royal Navy will be handing out PSPs to its sailors so that they can brush up on their maths and whatnot. The PSP was selected because it’ll work wonders in the closed, confined spaces of Navy quarters.
Rockstar’s Beaterator comes out today (and so does Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days… you couldn’t find two more different publishers in Rockstar and Square Enix) for the PSP. We’ve highlighted it in the past because A) Timbaland is one of the better “big name” producers out there and B) I have spent more than a few hours in Ableton Live and the like. It’s familiar territory, in other words.
I took the chance at Koei Tecmo’s booth at the Tokyo Game Show and played Undead Knights on the PSP for a while. As the name suggests, the game is about zombies. And there are knights, lots of them, who you can turn into zombies and let them kill off enemies for you. Undead Knights is PSP-exclusive and will go on sale in Japan on October 15 (USA: September 29).
I just came back from this year’s Tokyo Game Show and must say I am pretty disappointed with the show this year. There were hardly any highlights, Sony didn’t show their motion controller anywhere after the announcement during their keynote (picture of the device below/more info later) and staff members often didn’t let me shoot any pictures or videos (which I did anyway if there was the chance).
Here are some pictures from two booths of the show. The picture on the left shows the final event of the first day (Sunday is the final day). More material from the Tokyo Game Show follows today and tomorrow.
Credit to Sony for actually putting together a reasonably good PSP bundle. Starting on October 1, for $199, you can buy a bundle that includes the PSP-3000 (not the PSP Go, mind you), a copy of Gran Turismo PSP, a voucher to download a Corvette ZR1 in an exclusive-to-this-bundle color, a 2GB memory stick, a PSN movie downloadable voucher (movie hasn’t been announced yet), and a Sony MusicPass that’s worth 10 downloadable songs. Not too shabby.
Want Fieldrunners but don’t have an iPhone or Touch? You’re in luck — if you’ve got a PSP Go. The long-overdue tiny games market for the PSP is going to be launching, starring low-priced, sub-100MB games called Minis. 100MB is actually extremely generous; every game for a 16-bit system was far below that, and freeware games like Cave Story and La-Mulana (though both getting high-def remakes) are far below the limit as well. You can bet there’ll be some gems on this service.
Gamescon is currently under way in Germany and Sony has just revealed the upcoming features for the PS3’s firmware v3.0. Changes to 3.0 are mostly cosmetic, but the PSN Video store will be invading the UK, France, Germany and Spain in November with further expansion in 2010. Those of you in the short list of countries just mentioned will be privy to SD and HD movies for purchase and rent.
Another announcement out of Gamescom reveals that the PSP will be getting a digital comic book reader in November and Marvel is on board to bring “hundreds” of titles to the PlayStation Portable.
The full list of features in 3.0 can be found after the jump.
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Is anyone planning on getting GT for the PSP when it comes out in October?
Same ole song and dance from Sony today. The AssCreed: Bloodlines PSP bundle will drop in November with a white PSP-3000, the Bloodlines game, an unannounced UMD movie and a 2GB memory card for $200.
Enough with the freaking PSP bundles, Sony!
Update: You’ll want to read the Q&A in the PS Blog post, but I’ve gone ahead and done it for you. Bloodlines connects AC to AC2, so Ubisoft highly suggests you pick this up for the PSP. Free roaming will be a huge part of Bloodlines as it was in the first Assassin’s Creed title.
As players unlock health and Hidden blade upgrades in Assassin’s Creed 2 PS3, the same upgrades will be unlocked in Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines (PSP). It also works the other way round: on the PS3 you will be able to access any Templar Coins and special weapons you’ve collected on the PSP.
Yup, there will be a PSN App Store of sorts. Sony admitted as much, saying that it will focus on “snackable” games. Presumably “snackable” means short, fun games that you’d play while on the elevator, waiting in line at the bank, etc. Think Brick Breaker for BlackBerry. That game is great in a pinch.
While we’re all thrilled to see Google throw a new coat of paint onto the Linux kernel, there are, in fact, other things going on Out There, like, say, the quickly evolving PSP. Yesterday’s exotic rumor suggested that Sony is working on a full-fledged PSP2, a system with Xbox1-level graphics. Today I spy an interview with a Sony so-and-so that attempts to explain the company’s rationale for the PSP Go, how PSN compares to XBL these days, and so forth.
Gamers of a certain age will remember the Official Nintendo Seal of Quality. It was a little mark placed on official Nintendo products in the NES/SNES era (well, that’s when it mattered) that let buyers know that, yes, this product has been blessed by Nintendo. It will not harm you, your cat or your NES. Fast-forward several years and now Sony has gotten into the business of slapping their logo on officially licensed gear with the “Official Licensed Product” gimmick.
I’m not sure I think this is such a good idea, Sony. A PSP crossed with one of Sony-Ericsson’s phones probably wouldn’t enjoy hybrid vigor, seeing as neither device is exactly best in breed. I mean, they’re both fine for what they are, but let’s be honest: they’re generally overpriced and only sport the most basic features.
I’m afraid I don’t trust you guys to make a successful crossover device, although you’re welcome to try. Er…continue to try. Just remember what the N-Gage did to Nokia.