In news that may have an impact on Sony’s new handheld sales, a rep told Kotaku today that the company has scrapped plans for a system to transfer disc-based UMD games to work on the digital-only PSPgo. The Sony Computer Entertainment of America spokesperson said the UMD conversion program will not be available at this time for legal and technical reasons.
It looks like a new PSP service, PlayStation Room, will be similar to Home for the PlayStation 3. At the Tokyo Game Show yesterday, Sony announced that the PSP service will allow users to create 3D avatars, room spaces, blogs, albums, and chat support. This new service will be added via an upcoming PSP firmware update sometime this winter. You will be able to launch the service directly from the PlayStation Network menu on the XMB.
Jack Tretton, CEO and president of Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), has conceded that the PlayStation 3 may experience hardware shortages at retail following increased sales momentum on the back of the new Slim model and price cut. Speaking with Reuters, Tretton described hardware shortages for the high-end gaming platform as ‘conceivable,’ though remained highly optimistic of the machine’s future success.
This week on the PlayStation Store, the Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 demo is available to download from both the European and US PlayStation Stores. There are also four other game demos available on the US store. New game add-on content this week includes Fallout 3: Broken Steel Pack, Batman: Arkham Asylum Prey In The Darkness Map Pack, and new tracks for Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
The lucky folks over in Japan received a nice surprise on the PlayStation Store today: Final Fantasy VIII, the PSOne classic. Squall, Rinoa, and the rest of Final Fantasy VIII the crew have junctioned themselves into a new domain – you can now play them on the go on your PSP and on the PS3. There is now word on a US or European release yet, but we can expect more details in the next week or two.
The lucky folks over in Japan received a nice surprise on the PlayStation Store today: Final Fantasy VIII, the PSOne classic. Squall, Rinoa, and the rest of Final Fantasy VIII the crew have junctioned themselves into a new domain – you can now play them on the go on your PSP and on the PS3. There is now word on a US or European release yet, but we can expect more details in the next week or two.
At Sony’s Tokyo Game Show Keynote, new peripherals were announced for the PSPgo. Two of the accessories: Bluetooth Stereo Head-set Receiver and Converter Cable Adaptor will be available in Japan from December 24th 2009 and from January 10th 2010 in all other regions. In addition to the above two, Sony has also announced a number of other accessories.
In an effort to entice current PSP owners to Go and upgrade to the new PSP model, Sony is launching a “PSP Go Rewards” program, where you can get your hands on three games free of charge. First, you have to register a PSP Go on PSN. Then you have to log into PSN using your old PSP with a UMD in the drive. From there, you can download a PSP Go Theme and receive an email carrying a voucher.
This week on VidZone, Dizzee Rascal is the Artist of the Week for UK, Ireland, Australia, Germany; and Colbie Caillat is the Artist of the Week for France, Spain, Italy. Tracks from Dizzee’s new album “Tongue in Cheek” can be viewed in VidZone along with tracks from Colbie’s second album “Breakthrough”. New playlists this week include Award Winning Videos and Student Anthems.
Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi confirmed at the Tokyo Game Show today that Capcom plans on re-releasing the popular action/horror romp next year under the name of RE5: Alternative Edition. According to Takeuchi-san, this revamped version will be fully compatible with Sony’s motion-sensing controller, with gamers able to utilize both the wand and DualShock 3 pad when playing the game.
