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Sony says ‘no’ to PSP phone

adelaideha — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 18:35:03 +0000

There are so many reasons for Sony to allow its telephonic subordinate, Sony Ericsson, to release a handset with PSP built in. For one, the PSP itself is floundering badly, and Sony recently put out a customer survey asking what punters wanted in a new handheld console – with many of the questions leaning toward iPhone-type functions.

With massive layoffs at Sony, coupled with Sony Ericsson losses of US$346 million having just been announced, there’s never been a better time to branch out with a potentially lucrative and under used brands – like the PSP. But according to MobileToday, Sony has refused the use of the PSP brand, stating that:

“In the past, we have been keen that our product proposition lives up to brand promise, and we feel at the moment the technical specs are not high enough to put such a prestigious brand on a phone.”

It’s understandable that Sony wants to make sure a PSP phone would remain functional, but that prestigious brand is becoming less and less prestigious every day. Taking the opportunity to tackle the N-Gage head on would be a wise move for Sony, and with the PSP’s back catalogue and brand recognition, it might even claw some points back from the iPhone.

But for the time being, it’s not to be.

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21 Things You Must Try With Your Xbox 360

adelaideha — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:58:06 +0000

Perhaps you’ve bought or been given an Xbox 360 for Christmas. If so, welcome to the party.

On the other hand, you might have been sniping Grunts in Halo 3 for quite a while. Either way, chances are you don’t know everything that your console of choice is capable of.

With the recent addition of the NXE, we’ve opened up the hood of the Xbox 360 to show you what tricks your machine can perform (well, we didn’t actually open up the hood at all. We didn’t really open anything up. We just sat at our desks and typed up this guide.)

Stream music from your iPod
Download the ‘Optional Media Device’ from the Game Add-ons section of Xbox Live Marketplace. Now jack in your iPod into any of the three USB ports on the console and select it as your music device from the new Dashboard to start instantly streaming songs, albums or your own playlists. You can even replace your game’s soundtrack by selecting the Music Player during play – just hit the Guide button and select your music.

Chill out with four-player Neon
Tapping Y on the Music Player will call up a full-screen visualiser called Neon. Created by gaming legend Jeff Minter, it’s a fully interactive game in its own right according to its creator. It’s most fun with three other friends manipulating the light show in time to the music. Check out Jeff’s detailed instructions here.

Charge your MP3 player (and other USB devices)
If you’ve got a USB device that charges via the mains, such as your iPod, you can plug it into one of the three USB slots on the Xbox 360 and transform your gaming machine into one big charging unit. The iPod will charge even as you’re streaming music from it.

Delete embarrassing gaming stains
A nice addition to the NXE means that you can clean up those embarrassing games that you tried out and immediately hated and are soiling your Gamercard. As long as you’ve got no Achievements on them, simply go to the Game Library option on the new Dashboard by tapping the Guide Button, select the game and press Y to delete it.

Create your own Themes
You don’t have to use the themes available on Xbox Live. Stick a few choice images onto a USB stick and insert it in the Xbox 360, then go to Picture Library to view them and you’ll be given the choice to upload them as your background theme. Make sure they’re resized to fit the screen, though – the image will be stretched to fit the Dashboard not matter what shape it normally is.

Vid-Chat for Free
You can use the Vision Camera to map your face onto an in-game character in titles with ‘face in game’ technology such as Rainbow Six Vegas, but it’s got other, money-saving benefits in these credit-crunchy times. Save yourself a hefty phone bill by using it to video chat over Live – just select who you want to talk to from your Friends List and choose Video Chat.

MSN Live
You’ll need a Hotmail account to sign up to Xbox Live, but it’s also useful because your Xbox 360 will aggregate your Friends List and your MSN Messenger contacts into your Dashboard options, letting you talk to all your Friends from the comfort of your Xbox 360. You can change the on-screen keyboard to a QWERTY set-up by going into the System Settings and Languages and choosing ‘English (QWERTY)’.

Two ways to Play
Missing the old Dashboard blades? They still exist in a slightly redone form. Tap the Guide button to call up a shortcut menu that allows you to access Friends Lists, Music Player and Settings to name but three. You’ll need to access the new Photo Party mode from here, letting you show Friends images across Xbox Live.

Homestead Blockbuster
Forget your local Blockbuster, Xbox Video Marketplace gives you a range of movies to download in both Standard and High Definition – with a preview trailer and brief synopsis in each film’s sub-menu. Prices vary, but at least you don’t have to wait for the film to download – you can watch it immediately after purchase as the film streams for your viewing pleasure.

Video Setting Reset
A useful little trick if you’ve taken your Xbox 360 over to a friend’s house and can’t get a picture because they’ve got different video set-ups between the console and TV. Hold Y on the joypad as you turn the system on to reset the video settings back to default.

Lazy Boy’s Power-Up
Press the Guide button on your Xbox 360 joypad to turn your console’s power on. Saves you having to get up off the sofa, or even walk across the room and bend down slightly.

DVD playback
Don’t worry about interrupting your DVD marathon to nip out to the shops. When you turn on your Xbox 360 the DVD will start playing at the point where you turned the machine off.

Game HD Installation
Reading all that awesome information off your Gear of War 2 disc can be noisy as your Xbox 360 pumps its fan to keep cool. One of the best additions to the NXE is the ability to install the game to your console’s hard drive. Insert the disc and chose ‘Install to HD’ (making sure you have the space). You have to have the disc in the console to start the game (due to authentication issues), but now your Xbox 360 will be super-quiet.

Play Xbox 360 on two screens at once
Setting up a LAN event and need an extra screen so an audience can watch? Just use the component cables you received with the Xbox 360. Flick the cable switch to Standard Definition and connect the yellow composite cable into one TV screen and the red, green and blue component cable to the other.

Play your Xbox Originals
You should be able to pick up some cheap Xbox Original games second-hand. But you don’t need the old Microsoft console – a lot of the games you can play on your Xbox 360. Head to xbox.com to see the list of games Microsoft have released a patch for so you can play them on your Xbox 360. If so, it’ll automatically download the patch from Xbox Live when you insert the disc.

Play Media Files through your Xbox 360
First connect your Xbox 360 to your home PC through a local network (check out the System Settings to for a set-up walkthrough), then download free application Tversity at http://tversity.com/ onto your PC. It’ll replace the standard network file-sharing system but importantly it’ll convert unsupported video files. Locate the PC folder from your Xbox 360 and start watching!

Welcome to the Photo Party
Download Photo Party from the Game Add-ons portion of Marketplace and activate it from the Dashboard shortcut menu opened by pressing the Guide button. You can now flick through any images or photos saved on your Xbox 360 (or on a connected USB stick) with Friends over Xbox Live. You can’t transfer them across yet, but it’s a cool way to show off that awesome Banjo vehicle you’ve built.

Stay Hidden
You’re online and trying to grab those last few Jiggies but keep being interrupted by Friends wanting you to join a Left 4 Dead session. Jump into the shortcut Dashboard and go to Prviacy settings – you can put your profile to Busy or better yet, offline, so you can complete Banjo in peace.

Parental Controls
As stated for films, if you’re bringing a new gamer into the world you can restrict their access by going to the Parental Settings on the very right of the Dashboard shortcut. Set up parental locks and passwords to stop younger gamers going online unsupervised.

Deleted but not forgotten
If you delete paid-for Marketplace content you can download it again for free as long as you use the same Gamer Profile.

Changing your Gamertag
You can change your Gamertag, but it’ll cost you 800MP to go so. Click on your Profile in the Dashboard and chose “Edit Gamer Profile”.

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Is There Really A GAME OF THE YEAR?

adelaideha — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:51:42 +0000

It is now 2009 and 2008 is in the past which means we keep hearing about “Game of The Year” constantly. We can not seem to dodge this topic every time the year comes to an end. But is there really such thing as a “Game of The Year”?

The answer is NO and this is why. When someone picks out a “Game of The Year” or talks about a game being “Game of The Year” what are they doing? All they are doing is picking which game THEY feel is the most impressive game of the year. Now doesn’t this sound like an opinion? Just because someone thinks one game is the best of the year, it does not mean you or someone else think that as well. For example, someone could say Metal Gear Solid 4 or Gears of War2 is the “Game of The Year” but what if you do not like 3rd person shooters or even just shooters? You would not enjoy the game no matter how good it is because it is not your style. Everyone has a different style and taste for games. All the “Game of The Year” is, is a title given by other gamers based off of an opinion. Since this title is all opinion, there is no such thing as a “Game of The Year” and companies use this title to cause debate and have fanboys fight for their game.

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Star Ocean: Second Evolution

adelaideha — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:43:22 +0000

Although Star Ocean: First Departure just came out this past October, Square-Enix has already cranked out a port of its sequel with Star Ocean: Second Evolution. Gameplay-wise, the two are absolutely identical, so if you just recently played through First Departure, unless you absolutely loved it to death, we recommend giving yourself a little buffer time so you don’t get tired of the formula.

Unlike the first Star Ocean though, at the start you get to choose between two distinct characters: Claude, the Earthling from a technologically advanced space-traveling federation, or Rena, the magically-powered country bumpkin from a small town on an undeveloped planet. While the parts of the story where their paths converge will be pretty much the same regardless of whom you choose (they’re both in your party for a good chunk of the game), there are portions that are completely different depending on the character you pick. For example, Claude and Rena split up at one point to rescue a bunch of children from bandits, and depending on who your main character is, you’ll have a different perspective and fight completely different boss battles.

The real-time battles are on the button-mashy side, with auto- or semi-auto targeting only, and attacks mapped to the X button, with two magic attacks mapped to the shoulder buttons for each character. You only actually control the main character – everyone else in your party is AI-controlled, with some basic tactical and formation settings to choose from. One gripe that carries over from Star Ocean 1 is that the tactical settings for AI should have been way more robust and detailed – many of the options are completely useless as-is, causing characters to burn through MP way too quickly or otherwise waste resources. We would have really liked to be able to fine-tune things a lot more, to set specific conditions for specific actions, like when specifically to heal and so forth.

The battle system may be a bit too simplistic for some, but Second Evolution has a lot of things going for it to make up for its button mashing, like a great fantasy/sci-fi story and an addicting skill system. If you’ve played First Departure, we can best describe this as a very similar experience (with all the same flaws and strong points), but with way more content to explore – this game is huge. Like any respectable RPG, not only are there plenty of sidequests in addition to the main story, but there are a ton of nooks and crannies to explore with hidden gems meant only for the hardcore. All of this, along with two distinct storylines to play through, and Star Ocean: Second Evolution is quite formidable among other PSP offerings. Unless you hated First Departure, this one is definitely worth a try.

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Sony CES 2009 News Roundup

adelaideha — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:52:14 +0000

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has come and gone, and hardware manufacturers from around the world have shown us some amazing new technology. Video games featured heavily at this year’s show, and Sony made some very interesting announcements at the event. Here is a run down of all of the Sony-related news that came out of the convention.

3D TV
“What is the Matrix?” you ask. Well the answer is out there, and Sony’s bringing it to you. Virtual reality has been a mainstay of sci-fi movies for decades and now with the announcement of Sony’s 3D technology, expect the virtual to become reality sooner than you think. Last week at the 2009 CES, Sony unveiled its new line of 4K projectors and HD cameras and invited attendees to a broadcast of 3D video of the FedEx Orange Bowl and BCS National Championship Game. Sony trumped up 3D as a revolutionary cinematic event alongside the advent of sound and color. What all this innovation translates to is Sony’s vision of bringing 3D television to households in the near future — a business plan that might culminate in 3D gaming.

CES attendees glimpsed a bit of what the future holds when they were treated to video of a three-dimensional Gran Turismo tech demo, rendered in stereoscopic RealD 3D graphics. Users wearing a pair of 3D glasses could see cars visually popping out of the screen. But Sony’s show floor representatives were quick to point out that this is not an actual game. There’s no denying, though, that Sony is hard at work trying to bring this technology to our televisions and consoles, especially when you consider their recent patent of a 3D controller that responds to hand motion and pressure. Right now, 3D TV technology only exists as a proof of concept, but nonetheless has gamers everywhere getting their Keanu on and gasping, “Whoa!”

PSN
During their CES keynote, Sony boasted 17 million registered users on PSN, 2 million users on Life with Playstation, and 330 million pieces of content downloaded through PSN.

Psst… don’t tell Microsoft but I saw Sony and MTV making out on The Hills. And you can see it too when MTV uploads its 2000 hours of hot and heavy programming on the PSN.

HOME
Don’t look now but EA wants in on the action too. EA wants you to bring it back Home — EA Sports Home, that is. The games company giant is reserving a Home space for all users to visit. Come Spring, their sports arena complex will allow you to race go-karts to your heart’s content, with up to four players head-to-head. But wait! There’s more — Golfing, anyone? And how’s your poker face? Add in clothing prizes and stuff for your Home apartment, and we got a winner. Hallelujah! Finally, a reason to login to Home!

Here’s your front row tickets to the EA Sports Arena Complex

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5 DS Games We Wish Were on the PSP

adelaideha — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:51:02 +0000

It used to be that schoolyard rivalry between the two handhelds meant that PSP owners were obligated to look down their noses at games developed exclusively for the Nintendo DS. But with a massive software drought currently affecting our (arguably superior) handheld, we’re not afraid to admit it anymore: the DS has some great games. Here are five titles that we secretly play at night under the covers with a flashlight. Please don’t tell the headmaster.

1. The World Ends With You
The runaway success of Castle Crashers on XBLA in 2008 showed that the beat-em-up genre is due for a revival. Square Enix took a cue from the brawler genre and mixed it up with some RPG elements in this creative DS exclusive. The World Ends With You takes players on a gothic tour de force of the Shibuya district in Japan, as players must balance their taste for fashion with the need to unleash whoopass on mythical creatures from the netherworld.

2. Dragon Quest Series
The Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior) games are some of the most beloved RPGs in Japan. The series is not officially tied to Nintendo, but their handheld seems to have locked down the series lately with its retro ports and the upcoming Dragon Quest IX. The PSP already has a load of great JRPGs to choose from, notably the first Final Fantasy remakes, but another massive series would be more than welcome on the Sony handheld. The thought of an action-oriented Dragon Quest remake in the same vein as Crisis Core has us practically fainting from loss of blood to the head.

3. GTA: Chinatown Wars
Before GTA III put the violent crime simulator on the map with its open-world gameplay, the series existed in a more humble but no less amazing form. The old 2D Grand Theft Auto games were great in their arcade simplicity and colorful, arcade sensibilities. Rockstar appears to have gone back to its roots with the upcoming Chinatown Wars on the DS. This game uses a cell-shaded top-down perspective to handle action on the top screen, while touch controls are used to manage inventory and map the surroundings. With the recent story-driven direction that the franchise has taken, it is nice to see Rockstar try something different. If everything goes well we would definitely like to see this game come to the PSP, and we remind Rockstar that so far its GTA ports have been the biggest-selling titles ever released on the system.

4. Guitar Hero World Tour
Like an enthusiastic groupie, there doesn’t seem to be any system on the tour bus that Guitar Hero
hasn’t hooked up with: we can rock out with our plastic peripherals on the PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and even the DS, thanks to a very well-conceived accessory that plugs into the GBA slot and emulates the colored buttons on a regular guitar. For a handheld port, the DS game is pretty amazing – it even comes with a special stylus pick to take full advantage of the touch screen. There is no reason why something this cool doesn’t exist yet for the PSP, and we want it. In fact, we are willing to stake our reputations on the fact that the companies involved already have an early prototype in their possession, but have decided not to release the title on the PSP for their own nefarious reasons.

5. Professor Layton
This game is like crack. Seriously. One part point-and-click adventure game, one part anime, and all puzzle game, Professor Layton is another quirky hybrid that has met with incredible success on the DS. In fact it is so awesome that it even picked up a coveted Spike TV award for best handheld game of 2008. There is little reason why the series couldn’t easily be ported to the PSP. Sure, some puzzles make good use of the touch screen, but in many cases this could be replaced with analog stick controls. What’s even more annoying is that the developer, Level 5, has already created some of the best titles currently available on the PSP.

Sure, it seems unlikely that any of these great Nintendo DS games will ever make it over to our handheld. But we guarantee that in an alternate universe, where the PSP enjoys a slightly stronger following outside of Japan, some or all of these games would be headed to the device.

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New Sony PSP-3005 Colors

adelaideha — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:49:32 +0000

Sony are to launch a new range of colors for their PSP-3005, these new carnival colors include “Radiant Red” and “Vibrant Blue.” The new PlayStation Portable colors will only be available in Korea at first, and will cost 228,000, that’s about $173 USD.

The release date for these new colors will be on January 15, 2009, that is next Thursday. Sony hopes that these new colors of “Radiant Red” and “Vibrant Blue will be enough to tempt consumers in to parting with some money.

It is not known if the rest of the world will see these new colors, not sure if they will want them either. PSP fans are not interested in new colors. What they are hoping for is a totally new PSP, so Sony had better think again, gamers will not be fooled into a few color changes.

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Mytran Wars (PSP) – New Screens

adelaideha — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:46:10 +0000

Mytran Wars is a round-based strategy game where the player researches new technologies and continues to rearm his mecha, thereby fighting battles in wonderful 3D landscapes – against the AI or other human opponents in various multiplayer modes.

It’s the 23rd century: The earth’s natural resources are virtually exhausted and the ruling multinational conglomerates are searching for new raw material deposits in space in order to avert the impending catastrophe. One planet turns out to be a real El Dorado, full of natural resources. But as the human conquerors in their armed mecha encounter the extraterrestrial inhabitants a dreadful war breaks out.

The player researches into new technologies and continues to rearm his mecha in Mytran Wars. Battles are thereby fought in wonderful 3D landscapes – against the merciless AI or other human opponents in various multiplayer modes.

Developed by Stormregion, known for its strategy games such as Rush for Berlin, S.W.I.N.E. and the Codename: Panzers series.

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Star Ocean PSP arriving next month

adelaideha — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:44:30 +0000

Publisher Square Enix has confirmed that PSP exclusive RPG Star Ocean: Second Evolution will be released in Europe and PAL territories on February 13th.

The Star Ocean series debuted in 1996 on the SNES, with this new PSP version being a remake of PlayStation sequel, Star Ocean: The Second Story. A PSP remake of the SNES original was also released last year.

The game boasts a completely revised game engine, and improved battle system and fully voiced, newly animated scenes in full 16:9 widescreen.

“2009 is set to be a landmark year for the Star Ocean series,” Square Enix president and chief executive officer John Yamamoto stated. “I’m delighted that new fans can continue to experience this classic series with the release of Star Ocean: Second Evolution for PSP.”

There have to date been two other Star Ocean outings – 2001’s Game Boy Colour title Star Ocean: Blue Sphere and PS2 hit Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. A brand new outing for the series, Xbox 360 exclusive Star Ocean: The Last Hope, is due out this year.

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Developer Says PSP Offers “Huge Opportunity”

adelaideha — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:41:57 +0000

Slitherine Software is a tiny development studio from Britain, but the owner of the company told gaming journalists recently that the PSP is actually the most profitable platform for their games. There is a good chance that you have never played one of Slitherine’s educational titles, but they have sold enough copies of their software on the handheld platform to make it a viable business model. What’s more, we are told that we can expect future PSP strategy/simulation titles from Slitherine, as they seek to capitalize on their experience developing for the system.

Slitherine’s recent title Great Battles of Rome, sold more units on the PSP than on any other game platform including the PC. The title as effectively marketed in conjunction with the History Channel and appealed to a core segment of gamers.

“To be honest, the PC version of the History Channel game was the least-performing one, because we already had our core audience from previous games, and if I look now at the success of the game itself, the PSP version gave us the best results. That’s why we really keep pushing the PSP now, it’s perfect for us, for our strategy of history and strategy… Nobody’s looking at the PSP as a huge opportunity at the moment, and I really think there is a huge opportunity there. I’ve seen sales charts for some territories now and a top ten PSP game sells more than a top ten Nintendo DS game. ”

Marketing manager Marco Minoli doesn’t want to call his company’s games “edutainment”. Instead, he said that Slitherine’s goal is to make gamers “learn by stealth” while delivering an entertaining package.

He also said that the company is working on a tactical WWII game for the PSP which will launch later in 2009. We look forward to seeing what Slitherine has cooking for the PSP, as it remains one of the few Western development houses still actively promoting that platform.

Great Battles of Rome walks players through famous historical battles on the PSP.

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