Report: Sony To Launch New PlayStation Smart Phone In 2010 [Sony]

The Wall Street Journal reports that Sony will release a new smart phone “capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games” later this year, as well as a competitor to Apple’s iPad that may also play PSone titles. The Journal notes that the original PlayStation game-playing smart phone is being developed by Sony and mobile handset manufacturer Sony Ericsson. That’s a story that we’ve heard plenty of times before in various incarnations, but with declining PSP sales, a cool reception to the digital download-only PSPgo, and increasing competition from iPhone and iPod gaming, the timing sounds logical. Sony’s other device that “blurs distinctions among a netbook, an e-reader and a PlayStation Portable,” according to the Wall Street Journal, is targeted for a 2010 launch. Sony Readies Gadgets to Rival Apple [WSJ]

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Report: Sony To Launch New PlayStation Smart Phone In 2010 [Sony]

Sony Turns PSP Into Instant Replay Device At UK Stadium [PSP]

The PlayStation Portable will get a brilliant new feature for visitors to London’s Emirates Stadium, as the Arsenal Football Club will offer sports fans instant replays of action streamed wirelessly to their PSPs over the stadium’s WiFi network. Sony and Arsenal have partnered to offer streaming video of upcoming Barclays Premier League games via a new PSP application dubbed Arsenal TV Matchday. The application—a one time £10 download—will offer fans “action replays from selected camera angles, plus slow-motion options, live match statistics, team sheets and Arsenal player profiles and pre-match video content and Arsenal.com editorial news.” “Sony is constantly looking at ways in which technology can benefit both the fan and the Club,” said Mark Grinyer, Head of Sports Business at Sony Professional. “Our work with Arsenal is truly a world first and we believe that it will set the standard for live event experiences.” The company has expressed interest in installing a similar system at other sport venues. Arsenal and Sony launch Arsenal TV Matchday + [Arsenal.com via ElectricPig ]

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Sony Turns PSP Into Instant Replay Device At UK Stadium [PSP]

2010: The Year Of Better PSP Games? [2010 Preview]

How can it not be? A new Metal Gear Solid, a new Kingdom Hearts, a new Valkyria Chronicles, maybe even that new Resident Evil with be released, all tailor made for the PlayStation Portable are due next year. Granted, many of the highlights of 2010 are either remakes, spin-offs or tinier versions of their higher-definition siblings bound for the PlayStation 3, but maybe you’d prefer to play them on the go to begin with. Although 2009 wasn’t too shabby—Gran Turismo, LittleBigPlanet, Half-Minute Hero, Resistance: Retribution, etc.—we’re going to go out on a limb and say that next year could be much stronger in the games department—but we’ll not make any bets until Capcom releases a proper Resident Evil Portable screen shot. Let’s have a look see . And, of course, please suggest your own personal PSP highlights from the coming year Note: We’ll be looking at every platform’s currently announced and estimated 2010 slate over the course of the rest of the week-and much much more . Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Hideo Kojima takes us back in time for the next Metal Gear Solid for the PSP, a follow up to the PlayStation 2 classic Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and previous portable entry Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Expect lots of Snake on Snake action, with a major emphasis on cooperative gameplay. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep The PSP entry in Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts series also takes us back in time, as Birth By Sleep is a prequel to the PS2 original. Expect all-new gameplay for the series, an epically long adventure and multiplayer for up to six Disney-Square Enix fans. Valkyria Chronicles 2 Sega shifts its focus to the PSP in this sequel to the under-appreciated PlayStation 3 tactical action RPG. Despite the platform change, the younger crowd and a step down from the fantastic visuals of the PS3 original, the rock solid gameplay appears to be intact. echoshift The spin-off from the perspective shifting original echochrome keeps the same minimal graphical treatment, but offers all-new time shifting gameplay. Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake The PSP port of the PlayStation Network real-time strategy action game looks to offer a portlier set of modes. Hot Shots Tennis You know how this works. Clap Hanz puts some big headed jocks into a game and make it good. Hot Shots Tennis offers one more reason to take your PSP to court. Invizimals This Pokemon-like monster hunting game uses the PSP’s camera to find hidden Invizimals in the real world, similarly trapping them with a real-world tool. Army of Two: The 40th Day Total fistbump destruction on the go. The coop shooter is one of a handful of third party PSP games built on the foundation of now-generation console games, giving portable gamers all the Salem and Rios they crave in a smaller package. Dante’s Inferno Go to Hell with the portable version of Dante’s Inferno. Like Army of Two, EA is bringing what appears to be a capable port to the PSP. Perfect for the on-the-go gamer who wants something similar to God of War: Chains of Olympus. Shadow of Destiny Konami returns to the PlayStation 2 time-traveling adventure, bringing us a straight up port of the murder mystery in tinier form. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories This re-imagining of the original Silent Hill for the PlayStation has already been released on the Wii, but portable gamers with fond wishes of Silent Hill Origins may want to consider this. It’s unlike any other Silent Hill, for better or worse. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 Third-person shooting action. Ex-KGB agent killing. Lots of guns and an incredibly long title. If the acronym had never been invented, we’d call it Special Operations Command: United States Navy SEa, Air, and Land Forces Fireteam Bravo 3. Eye of Judgment Another PlayStation Portable game based on its bigger PS3 brother. This time, the camera gimmick has been done away with, giving card-based fantasy game fans something to do with their PSPs. Duke Nukem Trilogy: Critical Mass Not three games, but the start of a trilogy, a third-person shooter set in a world where Duke Nukem must shoot things or terrible things may happen. But there’s a very very good chance it will actually come out. Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman! 2: Time To Tighten Up Security! Protect Badman once again from a flood of hopeful heroes by taking up your pickaxe and sending loads of monsters at them! Looks like this one will ship on UMD and on the PlayStation Store. Lunar: Silver Star Harmony Really, you can never have too many versions of Lunar, even if you’ve played the original Lunar: Silver Star on Saturn or any of the other enhanced remakes. This classic Japanese role-playing game even comes in a new deluxe package!

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2010: The Year Of Better PSP Games? [2010 Preview]

The PlayStation Portable Buyer’s Guide [Shopping Gift Guide]

The Playstation Portable got a fun, new little brother this year in the form of the slide-n-go, download-only PSPgo. The PSPgo launched on Oct. 1, kicking off an impressive glut of download-only games on the Playstation Store. It also marked Sony’s promised push for new, triple-A games for the Playstation Portable including MotorStorm, LittleBigPlanet and Assassin’s Creed titles. Take a gander at some of the big games that hit the PSP this year. What titles would you recommend as a gift? Fieldrunners Price: $6.99 Genre : Tower Defense Subject Matter: The popular iPhone Tower Defense game brought to the Playstation Portable. Value: This was one of my favorite downloadable minis when the PSPgo launched. It’s a great port of the original. Buy it for fans of tower defense titles. Read the Full Review G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Price: $29.99 Rating: Teen Genre : Action Subject Matter: A arcade-style shooter loosely based on the live-action G.I. Joe movie. Value: G.I. Joe is a movie tie-in strangely reminiscent of Konami’s Contra series. One or two players take control of their favorite Joes from the movie and take on Cobra across multiple levels of run-and-gun action. There are a few unlockables catering to fans of the old cartoon series, but other than that this is strictly a movie-lover’s affair. Buy it for : Really, really big fans of the G.I. Joe live-action movie. Read the Full Review Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars Price: $39.99 Rating: Mature Genre: Open world action-adventure Subject Matter: Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars is a 3D, top-down adventure, putting players in the shoes of Huang Lee, a spoiled son of a Chinese gangster. The typical Grand Theft Auto rise to power through sex, drugs, violence and bad driving flows over the course of the game. Value: There’s a lengthy story to be told, with Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars throwing in plenty of side missions and mini-games to keep the player interested. Buy it for: PSP owners looking for a chunky, fun-to-pay adventure. Read the Full Preview Gran Turismo Price: $39.99 Rating: Everyone Genre: Driving Simulation Subject Matter: Gran Turismo offers players over 800 cars to purchase, customize and race on more than 35 tracks in a realistic setting, testing their driving skills with real-world physics. Value: Gran Turismo offers nearly limitless replayability, thanks to the numerous cars, tracks and Driving Challenges stuffed in to the game. Long time Gran Turismo fans may be turned of by the lack of a Career Mode and Leaderboards, but this is a solid pick up and play racer. Buy it for: The car-obsessed portable gamer who prefers a passenger seat in the real-world. Read the Full Review Half-Minute Hero Price: $29.95 Rating: E10+ Genre: Across four mode: Hyper-speed role-playing game / hyper-speed scrolling shoot-em-up / hyper-speed real-time strategy game / hyper-speed top-down dungeon-crawler Subject Matter: A winning send-up to the genres and technology of 16-bit Japanese-made games, there’s actually a lengthy adventure here that spans eras and tells the comedic/dramatic tale of heroes who repeatedly face the challenge of saving the world in 30 seconds. Value: High, as the game offers short-session bites of play that combine into a lengthy adventure that has none of the brevity suggested by the game’s title. Buy it for: RPG fans, fans of the Super Nintendo era, and fans who are looking for something original and smart on the PSP. Read the Full Review LocoRoco Midnight Carnival Price: $14.99 Rating: Everyone Genre : Platformer Subject Matter: The LocoRocos are up past their bedtime and rolling and bouncing their way through a Halloween carnival-style levels. Value: The stages might be short, but they are hard . A more satisfying (and less stressful) gaming experience was found in some of the mini-games. Buy it for : Gamers looking for a challenge who get music stuck in their heads easily. Read the Full Review MotorStorm: Arctic Edge Price: $39.99 Rating: Teen Genre : Racing Subject Matter: MotorStorm: Arctic Edge is an over-the-top, semi-open world off-road racer. Buy it for : fans of arcade race games who spend a bit of time commuting or can’t afford a Playstation 3. Value: With 12 maps, two directions to race them on, multiple courses and vehicle types, MotorStorm Arctic Edge is packed with content. Online play rounds out the experience giving you a chance to test your skills against five other players at a time. Read the Full Review PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe Price: $19.99 Rating: Teen Genre : Tower defense Subject Matter: Classic tower defense mechanics and gameplay mixed with delicious PixelJunk aesthetics. Buy it for : fans of the original Playstation 3 title, tower defense games or developer Q Games. Value: Featuring new maps, enemies and towers, this is worth the cash. Read the Full preview PSPgo Price: $249 Rating: NA Genre: Hardware Subject Matter: Sony’s latest portable platform ditches the need for a UMD drive and instead gives you a 16GB harddrive and the ability to download all of the games directly to the system. Value: At $249, the portable platform is quite pricey, coming in at the cost of several home consoles. Buy it for: anyone interested in being able to load up their portable with movies, TV shows, pictures, music and games without having to carry a single disc around with them. Read the Full Review PSPgo Traveler Case Price: $19.99 Rating: NA Genre: NA Subject Matter: This fauxe leather case protects and beautifies your PSPgo. Value: For just under $20, this is a heck of a deal. Buy it for: PSPgo owners looking to protect or upgrade the look of their portable. Read the Full Review Rock Band Unplugged> /strong> Price: $19.99 Rating: Teen Genre: Rhythm game Subject Matter: Harmonix’ insanely popular Rock Band on the go. Value: For just under $20 you get a full-fledged World Tour and about 40 tracks. You also get the ability to download new tracks to your PSP. Buy it for: fans of rhythm games, Rock Band and good music. Read the Full Review Shin Megami Tensei: Persona Price: $39.99 Rating: Teen Genre : RPG Subject Matter: A remake of the original Persona for the PlayStation. Value: A more faithful translation of the original Japanese Persona has never been seen in North America, making Persona PSP the definitive first entry in a series that’s been enjoying increased popularity these past few years. Buy it for : Any Japanese RPG fan. Read the Full Review Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron Price: $29.99 Rating: Teen Genre : Adventure Subject Matter: You are X-2, a Jedi clone out to help the Rebels take down the Empire and stop your brother X-1 before it’s too late. Value: Elite Squadron mixes gameplay, story and clips from the Star Wars films as it tells the story of X-2. The real replay value comes with the game’s online multiplayer. Buy it for : Star Wars fans or those looking for a PSP multiplayer experience. Read the Full Review

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The PlayStation Portable Buyer’s Guide [Shopping Gift Guide]

Sony Outlines Gaming Turnaround, Sees PS3 Profitability in 2011 [PS3]

Sony’s gaming division should start seeing profitability by the tail end of their 2010 fiscal year through cost reduction and “operational efficiencies”, Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer told a gathering of press and analysts today. “Our work is already bearing fruit,” Howard said, according to the Associated Press . “We still have more work to do.” After its second year of losses in the current fiscal year, which ends March 2010, Stringer said that Sony’s target is to turnaround their game business and have it be profitable by March 2011. The company plans to use a two-prong strategy to achieve that goal. Sony believes they can improve profitability through cost reduction, becoming more efficient internally and getting internal divisions to work better together. Sony also sees a growth in hardware, software and network services pushing sales up in the gaming division. Stringer says that Sony’s Playstation 3 has five key advatages: The incorporation of a Blu-ray player, the Playstation Network, PSP linkage, upcoming 3D games and their recently announced motion controller. The Motion control, he said, uses the Playstation Eye camera, can track depth, position and motion by “sphere, gyro and acceleration sensors” and vibration feedback and “rendition by light.”

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Sony Outlines Gaming Turnaround, Sees PS3 Profitability in 2011 [PS3]

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron Review: Deja Vu in Space [Review]

When LucasArts released the first Star Wars: Battlefront game back in 2004, players got a boots-on-the-ground feeling in the Star Wars universe. It’s now, 2009, how does the latest installment stack up? Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron follows the tale of two brothers, both Jedi clones, named X1 and X2. As the Dark Side’s power grows, the brother find themselves on opposite sides of the battle with X1 fighting for the Empire and X2 helping the Rebel Alliance. The game takes place over the course of the Star Wars films, with clips and characters from the older and newer films. Compared with the previous entry in the Battlefront series, Elite Squadron offers “deeper” customization than any of the previous Battlefront titles. But with customization now standard on so many titles, a good game needs more than the option of character changes. Loved Variety Is The Spice of Space: Elite Squadron takes the fight into space, allowing players to fly X-Wings and board Star Destroyers. The inclusion of a galactic front in the series, opens up the title — makes it feel bigger. You go from blaster Stormtroppers on Tatooine to barrel rolling TIE Fighters in space. It really encapsulates the Star Wars experience. So Epic: The great thing about Elite Sqaudron is the scope — players travel from Tatooine to Hoth to Endoor. The game is epic! Just like a Star Wars title should be. But at the same time, it does give players the feeling of experiencing the smaller side of a larger battle — just like a Battlefront title should We Are Online: Elite Squadron has robust multiplayer, and The Heroes and Villains mode is a welcomed addition, giving players the chance to play as Stars Wars heroes or bad dudes. The other online modes, such as Galactic Conquest, offered replay value once the single player campaign is finished. Hated The Controls Are Outta Control: There’s no way around it, controlling the camera and the character by using the PSP’s analog stick is a bad idea. Why not control the character with the directional pad? Oh right, because I’m using it for all sorts of input controls like getting into spaceships and whatnot. The controls could be and should be streamed lined — they feel dated. There is nothing wrong with complex controls when they add to the experience. Here, they don’t. They detract. It would make more sense to have the character controlled with the direction pad — not just for camera issues, but for control issues. The analog numb on the PSP often lead my character all over the place, jumping too far, running too far, missing my landing spot. Unfortunately, the Alternative Controls are even less instinctive than the Default ones. Been Here Before?: And as previously mentioned, the inclusion of space battles, provides a variety in gameplay, but some of that variety gets stale in the single player campaign. Missions seem to be either shoot guys on foot, use Ion Canon, then fly away or fly away, use Ion Canon and then shoot guys on foot. A pattern develops and becomes old. The addition off space battles and the new multiplayer mode show that there is still innovation and room for the Battlefront franchise to grow. But for it to truly blossom, the basic control mechanics are in need of an overhaul. I fear the dark cloud of clunky controls shrouds all Elite Squadron. Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron was developed by Rebellion Developments for the PSP and published by LucasArts on November 3. Retails for $29.99 USD for the PSP as well as for the Nintendo DS. A copy of the game was acquired via PSN digital code for reviewing purposes. Played through single player campaign and tested multiplayer. Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ .

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Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron Review: Deja Vu in Space [Review]

PS3 Sales Up, PSP Sales, PS2 Sales Down [Sony]

Sony’s Networked Products & Services Division (the PlayStation and VAIO businesses) is reporting a 24.2 percent decrease in sales during the financial period ending September 2009 when compared to the same period in 2008. “This decrease,” states Sony, “was mainly due to lower VAIO PC and game sales.” According to Sony, lower PS2 hardware and software sales as well as the appreciation of the yen negatively impacted business. During the quarter, Sony sold 3 million PSP units, down from the 3.2 million units sold during the same period last year. PS2 sales dropped from 2.5 million units sold during this period in 2008 to 1.9 million units sold in the same period this year. PS3 sales, however, were up: 3.2 million units were sold during the period, compared with 2.4 million units some during the same time last year. “An operating loss of

Tenchu Portable Dated for Japan [PSP]

From Software brought Tenchu Kurenai to the PS2 back in 2004, and now it is porting the game to the PSP. The title has been spruced up and optimized for the PSP’s screen size. Graphics have been tweaked and there’s a new character costume, too. Tenchu Kurenai is out January 28 in Japan and priced at

Fry’s Knocks $50 Off PSPgo Price [Deals]

Retailer Fry’s may be the first chain to start offering the PSPgo at more reasonable prices, dropping $50 from the new portable’s price for a limited time. Don’t have a Fry’s nearby? Call in a favor from a friend! Because, unfortunately, it appears that the deal is in-store only. And if you’ve ever been to a Fry’s, you know what a crazy place the discount electronics retailer can be. The $199 asking price, while an uncommon markdown for a new piece of video game hardware, is not out of the norm for Fry’s. It’s also offering Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for ten bucks off the price you’d pay elsewhere and giving away multiple free games with every Wii or Xbox 360 sold. So, maybe consider it a bellwether of Fry’s current PSPgo stock if it makes you feel better or just focus on the less cynical side of the story and get yourself a cheaper PSPgo. Thanks to Brian for the tip! Fry’s Electronics Ad [San Jose Mercury News]

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Fry’s Knocks $50 Off PSPgo Price [Deals]

So Now I Have A PSPgo [Full Disclosure]

This morning, I got a PSPgo from Sony for reviews and whatnot. I had a chance to check out Crecente’s PSPgo at TGS. Those who already have the PSPgo, any words of advice? Things you like? Things you don’t? Hit us up in the comments section.

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So Now I Have A PSPgo [Full Disclosure]

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