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PSP Games Get Rated for Xperia Play

Tyler Lee — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:50:23 +0000

PlayStation Certified devices such as Xperia Play, as well as others, despite having access to the PlayStation Store have not been able to acquire more than a handful of PSOne classics for download. However, that will no longer be the case with a several PSP games becoming available for download for all PlayStation Certified devices, such as Xperia Play, Sony Tablets S and P, Xperia Arc, and Xperia acro. The ESRB has rated Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, Pinball Heroes, Daxter, and flOw for download on the previously mention devices. Hopefully this is a taste of things to come and gamers can continue to enjoy more titles from the PSP's (as well as other systems) library. [Source: Siliconera]

PSN going down for maintenance today

Miles Jolliffe — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:38:22 +0000

The PlayStation Network will be down for maintenance later today, Sony has announced. In Europe, the service will be down from 4pm until 2am tomorrow morning with the PlayStation Store, PSN account management and registration inaccessible. As for North America, the same services are offline today between 8am and 10pm PST. Fortunately in-game trophies will still be able to be collected during the blackout, and will be updated on your PSN profile once the service is back up and running. In other words, carry on enjoying Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – both containing some cracking single-player action.

60 percent of PSP owners looking to upgrade to Vita, says Sony

Miles Jolliffe — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:47:06 +0000

Almost two-thirds of current PlayStation 3 and PSP owners are planning to purchase PlayStation Vita, according to Sony’s John Koller. Speaking to AllThingsD, the company’s director of hardware marketing claims 63 percent of those currently owning a PS3 are looking to splash the cash on the forthcoming handheld powerhouse, with 60 percent of PSP owners are planning to upgrade. Obviously there’s a bit of an overlap with the figures, but you get the picture. Vita launches next month in Japan, with North America and Europe having to wait until February 22, 2012. As brilliant as the figures are for Sony, they don't come with much surprise, with it now being five years since the launch of PSP, and four since that of the PlayStation 3. Many gamers quite obviously want this new slice of PlayStation in their lives. Thanks, Verge.

FIFA 12 outsells rival PES 2012 25:1

Miles Jolliffe — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:36:18 +0000

EA Games has claimed that FIFA 12 outsold rival Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 by 25 times in terms of first weekend sales. As reported by GamerZines, EA’s VP & GM of Northern Europe, Keith Ramsdale spoke of an “unbelievable” turnaround in the rivalry between the FIFA and PES franchises at the firm’s European Winter Showcase in London earlier this week. "FIFA went out just a couple of weekends ago. We had record pre-orders and record sell-through," he said. "And when you look at Pro Evolution Soccer versus FIFA, only five years ago in the UK PES was outselling FIFA. On its first weekend like-for-like we've just outsold PES by 25 times. "That's a sign of the momentum and the fanbase and community behind FIFA, and let's be clear, an absolutely kick-arse game. It's unbelievable." Both titles launched across a large number of platforms, including PS3, PS2 and PSP. EA is however planning to bring FIFA 12 to PlayStation Vita next year. Well done EA, well done.

Full tech specs for Europe’s PSP E-1000 are revealed

Joe Garcia — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:33:29 +0000

Last week at Gamescom, Sony unveiled a new value SKU for the PSP, which the company claims to be enjoying a bit of a resurgence of late. It was announced at the price of 99 Euros, and Sony confirmed that the model would be missing wi-fi capability. As it turns out, that's not the only hardware omission from the bare-bones handheld. On top of its lack of wireless connectivity, the E-1000 will also be missing a speaker, meaning that it will be outputting monaural sound instead of stereo. The only way to restore this is by using your own headphone, which you should probably be doing anyway since the PSP's speakers have never been anything to write home about. Other than that, the E-1000 is identical to previous PSP iterations. Here are the full specifications:

Specifications for PSP-E1000 series Design and specifications are subject to change without notice. LCD screen: 4.3 inches / 10.9 cm (16:9) full-transparent type, TFT drive. Approximately 16,770,000 colours displayed. Sound: Monaural speaker. Internal disc drive: Read-only Universal Media Disc drive. Interface: DC IN 5V connector. Hi-Speed USB (USB 2.0 compliant). DC OUT connector. Headset connector. Memory Stick PRO DuoTM slot. Power source: AC Adaptor: DC 5.0 V. Lithium-Ion rechargeable Battery Pack. Maximum power consumption: Approx. 6 W (when charging). External dimensions: Approx. 172.4 × 73.4 × 21.6 mm (width × height × depth) (excludes largest projection). Weight: Approx. 223 g (including Battery Pack). Operating environment: temperature 5C - 35C. Compatible codecs: Universal Media Disc Video: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Main Profile Level 3. Music: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Main Profile Level 3, Linear PCM, ATRAC3plusTM Memory StickTM For details, refer to the User's Guide. Universal Media Disc laser Wave length: 655 - 665 nm. Power: Max. 0.28 mW. Type: Semiconductor, continuous. AC Adaptor Input: AC 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz. Output: DC 5 V, Max. 1500 mA. External dimensions: Approx. 61 × 23 × 84 mm (width × height × depth) (excludes largest projection). Weight: Approx. 62 g.

Source: Computer and Video Games

Gamescom 2011: New “Value PSP” introduced for Europe

Joe Garcia — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:23:22 +0000

After rattling off a few games for the upcoming PS Vita, Sony said that there is still strong interest in the PSP in Europe. As such, they saw fit to introduce a new model of the handheld that would sport a revised look and come without wi-fi, priced at €99. As of now, this updated PSP will only see release in Europe. It's a fair price for the aging system, but with the PS Vita coming soon I wonder just how well this will do, even with the supposed interest in the hardware.

Get your grubby paws on a Vita at Tokyo Game Show

Joe Garcia — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 01:21:39 +0000

A little under two months from now, gamers will have their first chance to get acquainted with Sony's hot new handheld. On the PlayStation Japan site, SCE Japan President Hiroshi Kawano said that not only will the public finally get their hands on the PS Vita, but Sony will also spill the beans on several key details surrounding the device. Namely, we'll learn about release dates and what to expect to do with our UMDs (SPOILER: expect disappointment), as well as what 3G carriers Japanese gamers can expect. This year's Tokyo Game Show will run between September 15 through 19. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and let us know what you think! Airfare's a bit steep from here in Chicago. Source: GamesRadar

The Most Overlooked Games of 2011 (so far)

Joe Garcia — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:19:23 +0000

It used to be that the first half of the year was a wasteland for exciting video game releases, with game publishers instead opting to save their heavy hitters for the holiday season. While a whirlwind of high-profile releases still dominates holiday release schedules, recent years have seen this trend broken, but success always seems to come at the expense of others -- look no further than last year's article examining the phenomenon. This year that trend continues, with games such as Dead Space 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat, Portal 2, L.A. Noire, and inFamous 2 assaulting gamer wallets early and often. So what games were stuck sitting on the curb, like the sad little kid whose dad forgot to pick them up after soccer practice? Read on to find out.

January - Mass Effect 2

Pretty surprised to see ME2 kick us off, right? After all, the Mass Effect series has proven to be extremely popular in the 3+ years since the original graced Xbox 360s in late 2007; the original launched to the tune of 473,000 units sold in November 2007 (good for #6 in software sales that month), and ME2 on Xbox 360 moved 572,100 copies when it released last January (#2). Surprisingly, PS3 owners didn't respond to Bioware's space odyssey, because the game failed to chart at all. While lagging behind games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops and *shudder* Just Dance 2 isn't surprising, it was edged out even by DC Universe Online, which scraped by at number 10 with about 195,000 units sold. This can mean one of two things: either those without a 360 or PC capable of running the games went out and got one, or they simply lost interest after a while. A shame, too, since it's one of the best games to be released on the PS3 this year. It kind of makes me wonder what sales will be like when Mass Effect 3 will be like when it releases simultaneously across all platforms next March.

February - You Don't Know Jack

LOL crappy party game, amirite? Actually, no. If you've been following games long enough, you might remember this game from the 90s as a cleverly-written and hilarious trivia game that was an absolute blast to play with friends. Fast forward about 15 years later, and the game was resurrected for modern consoles, and the core stab-your-closest-friends-in-the-back and sharp humor was wonderfully intact. As a party game launching at the budget price of $40, Jellyvision Games and THQ probably weren't looking to set the NPD charts ablaze with a juggernaut release. Still, I feel that as a game that is leagues better than any ass-backwards party game currently available on any system, it definitely deserves more attention. I won't blame you if you bought Marvel vs. Capcom 3 or Killzone 3 instead. But if you've got $30 to spare, why not pick up a copy? We could all use a little more Cookie Masterson in our lives.

March - Yakuza 4

I'm not sure if you clicked the link to last year's article in the introduction, but just in case you didn't, here it is again. Take a look at March. See anything familiar? God damn it, Sega. Just like last year, Sega saw fit to dump the game right in the middle of several games that gave it zero chance to stand out. Could it ever pull the masses away from Dragon Age II? Nope. Crysis 2? Nope. Effing Pokemon? Double nope. So there wasn't even a slight hint of surprise when the game failed to chart. Again. Perhaps Sega are now simply relying on fans of the previous games to continue supporting the franchise, and are no longer interested in drawing in newbies. But considering that the games are always rock-solid adventures that are critically well-received, is that really the best approach? So here's some free advice for Sega: when the crazy-ass zombie romp Yakuza Of the End inevitably makes its way out of Japan, choose your dates more carefully. Like any month without a new Final Fantasy or Pokemon game launching. LITERALLY ANY OTHER MONTH. There are twelve to choose from, fer crissakes!

What the PSP did right – and wrong

Jared London — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 00:58:54 +0000

With Sony’s announcement of the PlayStation Vita, the days of the PlayStation Portable are coming to a close. The PSP is the most successful non-Nintendo handheld video game system to date. It did some things right, and some things wrong. Like a lot of people, I was first attracted to the PSP at an aesthetic level. I saw it at a Gamestop shortly after launch and played Wipeout. It was a beautiful system with a big, gorgeous screen. It was easily the best looking portable system I had ever seen. After begging my parents to get me one for Christmas, I began to realize they kind of forgot to make games for it. Lumines was a fun, inventive puzzle game, and some of the other launch games like Ape Escape: On the Loose and Twisted Metal: Head On were fun, but nothing special. As time went on, other decent games kept coming out, but there was no killer app. The problem is that the PSP was almost too powerful. The reason the DS succeeded is that it offered gaming experiences that couldn’t be had anywhere else. The PSP simply offered console-quality games in a portable format. I don’t want to play some big game with cutscenes and voice acting while I’m hunched over a three-inch screen. I want to play that type of game on a television with a controller in one hand and a drink in the other. This isn’t to say games like Daxter and Dissidia weren’t a ton of fun – they were. It’s just that a portable system is not the ideal way to experience games like that. It didn’t help matters that the PSP was not very portable, despite the word “portable” in the name of the system. The original, fat PSP was a beast. It could not fit in your pocket. This is what prevented me from really enjoying the PSP. Unless I wanted to carry a bag around with me all the time, I couldn’t play it out of the house. Sure, I could play it at home, but what would be the point? I have real video game consoles hooked up to televisions at home. Sony soon started releasing smaller versions of the PSP, but they were still too big to comfortably take out of the house. Until the PSP Go came along. Yes, I was one of the few people who actually bought a PSP Go. I thought, finally, a PSP that’s actually portable. I understood that buying a Go locked me into Sony’s pricing structure, but I didn’t care. I still had my old PSP in case I wanted to play disc-based games. I was right in that the Go was actually portable and could easily fit into my pocket, but I had overlooked one crucial detail – I still didn’t want to play console-quality games on a handheld system. This problem was intensified thanks to smartphones. To be fair, neither Sony nor Nintendo had any way of predicting what a huge thing smartphones would be when they released their respective handheld systems back in 2004. But smartphones have forever altered the handheld gaming landscape. Suddenly, carrying around a device to play games on seemed superfluous when you could simply whip out your phone and play Angry Birds or Plants vs. Zombies. Something like Angry Birds is exactly the type of game I want to play when I’m out and about. It’s extremely simple and can be played in short bursts. There’s no voice acting, in-engine cutscenes, orchestral scores, or moral choices. It’s a fun, stupid game that amounts to little more than something to do with your hands for a few minutes. Sony doesn’t appear to have learned the lessons of the PSP. At E3, they showed Uncharted on a Vita. Uncharted, really? That’s the definition of a game best played on a television. I’ll probably exacerbate the problem by buying a Vita anyway, because I want to play every Uncharted game that exists. But I won’t like playing it on a three-inch screen.

EA discontinues online support for several games

Eric — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 14:21:47 +0000

Electronic Arts will start closing down the online services of a couple of games on August 11, the most important ones probably being Skate, Battlefield 2 and Army of Two. Here’s the official statement which can be found on the company’s support site: “The decisions to retire older EA games are never easy. The development teams and operational staff pour their hearts into these games almost as much as the customers playing them and it is hard to see one retired. But as games get replaced with newer titles, the number of players still enjoying the older games dwindles below a point -- fewer than 1% of all peak online players across all EA titles -- where it’s feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping these games up and running. We would rather our hard-working engineering and IT staff focus on keeping a positive experience for the other 99% of customers playing our more popular games. We hope you have gotten many hours of enjoyment out of the games and we appreciate your ongoing patronage”. Additionally, the site includes a complete list of the games that are going offline along with some other details. These are the games which will lose online support in just a few weeks:

ARMY OF TWO (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360)
ARMY OF TWO Demo (Xbox 360)
Battlefield 2142 Demo (PC)
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (Xbox 360)
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat Demo (Xbox 360)
Medal of Honor Airborne (PlayStation Portable)
Medal of Honor Heroes 2 (PlayStation Portable and Wii)
NASCAR 09 (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360)
NCAA Basketball 10 (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360)
NCAA Football 10 (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360)
Need for Speed Most Wanted (PC and Xbox 360)
Need for Speed Undercover (PlayStation Portable)
SKATE (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360)
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 (PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii)
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 11 Demo (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360)

Finally, EA is planning to support Madden NFL 10 and NHL 10 up to October 1^st. If you happen to love any of the games in the list you should seriously consider starting playing them before August, as this will be your last chance of enjoying them with other players.