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It looks like Sony’s quirky “Simon” variant, PaRappa The Rapper is coming to the PSP. According to a report from Famitsu, the game’s graphics will be re-formatted to accommodate the PSP’s wider screen, and a wireless multi-player mode will be added. Up to 4-player multi-play will be supported. When each gamer has a copy of the game, any of the stages from 1 through 6 can be played via multiplayer, and it looks like with one copy, gamers can share stage 1. Merely looking at the screenshots online is enough to get those crazy songs stuck in a gamer’s head. The game is targeted for a winter release date in Japan.
Read More 
| Famitsu
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Japanese Sales: PSP Title Takes Top Spot
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PSP,
Media Create’s latest Japanese sales chart has been released, and for the first time in quite a while, a PSP title has taken the top spot on the list. Bandai Namco’s remake of Tales of Phantasia debuted at number one, pulling in just over 66,000 units sold. The rest of the list generally followed previous lists, with Nintendo DS titles taking seven spots, a Gameboy Advance title taking one entry, and Sega’s Phantasy Star Universe taking one spot.
Seeing Phantasy Star on the list is a little surprising, given the horrendous troubles that Sega has had keeping their game servers online, but the prospect of free play until Sega could get everything up to speed may have enticed some gamers. The Tingle RPG made a fairly strong showing, taking the fourth spot on the list, not bad for a game featuring a 35 year-old in a fairy suit.
Read More | NeoGAF
Sony Confirms Contents, Pricing For PSP Entertainment Bundle
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PSP,
After discussing plans to release a new bundle for the PSP in an attempt to highlight the multimedia capabilities of the console, Sony today officially announced the details of the PSP Entertainment Bundle. The bundle will be officially available on September 13th, and will include the standard black PSP, ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin’ Trails, the UMD Movie Lords of Dogtown, and a 1 GB memory stick. The whole package retails for $249.99, which seems like a decent deal compared to the retail costs of each component.
The 1 GB memory stick is nice, but the “free” game and UMD movie seem like questionable choices. Lords of Dogtown got mixed reviews and has been available on DVD for nearly a year. While ATV Offroad Fury got decent reviews when it was released, the game was one of the first released for the PSP. ATV is also plagued with pretty horrendous load times, which may sour the out-of-box experience for the new PSP user somewhat. If Sony were truly serious about taking marketshare from Nintendo they could have upped the included content with things that gamers would actually want; a PSP bundled with Lumines would be much more appealing. As it stands, the “free” pack-ins feel more like they were intended to entice the Holiday purchase by a family member that doesn’t know any better. It is interesting that Sony will launch this bundle on the same day that Nintendo will release their Onyx Black and Coral Pink Nintendo DS consoles.
Read More | Gamasutra
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Sony Announces PS3 Ratio, PSP Bundle
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3, PSP,
According to a report on GameDaily, Sony has started to set down the details of their Playstation 3 product launch this November. The ratio of PS3 Premium to Core units was announced, with the $600 Premium consoles taking up roughly 80 percent of the launch quantities. While final assembly of the console isn’t scheduled until the end of September, Sony still believes they will be able to ship another 800,000 units by the end of the year to the United States. Given that Sony plans on having 2.4 million consoles shipped by the end of 2006, this would indicate that Japan will see another 1.1 million Playstation 3 consoles delivered between November 11 and December 31. If Sony can’t scale up Blu-Ray diode production to match demand, though, this number would be in jeopardy.
Sony also announced that they planned to focus on highlighting the PSP’s non-gaming features, and they planned to release a new bundle by the end of the year. No pricing was set on the bundle.
Read More | GameDaily
GTA: Vice City Stories Site Launches
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, PSP, Role Playing Games,
Rockstar Games just launched the official site for the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories on the PSP. The site features the cultural parodies of the 80s that were first seen in the original Vice City, along with wallpapers, a downloadable trailer, screenshots, and some gameplay video clips. The site promises to release details about the soundtrack for the game as well as how multiplayer will be implemented in the game.
Read More | Rockstar
Sony To Turn PSP Into Phone, or Phone Into PSP, or Something…
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Rumors,
Rumors are circulating that Sony is hot to combine the world of telephony with the world of gaming sometime in the future. As IGN reports, though, this may take a variety of shapes—it could be something that turns your PSP into a cell phone, or allows your PSP to connect via VoIP (e.g. via Skype). Or it could be something completely different (Sony Mylo anyone??).
This recent revelation comes to us courtesy of an interview between Japan’s Nikkei BP andd Sony’s Izumi Kawanishi, translated by IGN:
“The PSP started off clearly with the position of a portable game machine. However, looking long term, there’s the thought that it ought to become a portable network device. At that time, if there’s demand for an information terminal, it is possible to take it in that direction.”
Then speaking about the possibility of the PSP replacing a cell phone:
“There is a possibility. I won’t deny it. Personally, I’m interested in it. Of course, it’s not the case that you can connect to wireless LAN everywhere, so you can’t call it a permanent connection. But cell phones are permanently connected. Cell phones get more interesting as their data transfer rate increases, and I think it would be extremely interesting to try something like that.”
If I were to play corporate strategist for a moment, I’d say Sony’s put itself in a tight spot. If Sony plans on adding phone-like functionality to the PSP, they run the risk of either failing to create a truly useful communication device (i.e. N-Gage 2.0), or of succeeding and possibly taking business away from their Sony-Ericsson phone division or their recently-announced Mylo, linked above. If instead, they decide to create a phone with some sort of Playstation functionality (i.e. the PS Phone) as Gamedaily Biz suggests, then they risk diluting the Playstation brand or even worse confusing the market as to whether they should purchase a PSP or a PS Phone.
Read More | GameDaily Biz
Japanese Date, Price for PSP GPS And Camera Released
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PSP,
Sony announced that users in Japan will be able to purchase the GPS and camera peripherals for the PSP on December 7th, according to Game Watch Japan. The pricing for the 640x480 resolution camera is set at 5000 Yen, approximately $42 US. The camera will capture still images and motion at 30 frames per second. In addition, various effects can be applied live to images captured by the camera.
The GPS will sell for 6000 Yen, or around $51 US. No software will be included with the unit, but the GPS will work with Sony’s upcoming navigation software, as well as Sega’s previously announced planetarium software and Konami’s Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.
Read More | Game Watch
LEGO Star Wars 2 Looking Great at PAX
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Adventure, Eidos, LucasArts, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360,
This past weekend we visited the absolutely crazy floor of the Penny Arcade Expo in Bellevue, WA. The floor was chock full of some great looking MMORPGs and FPS titles for the hardcore gamers, but there were some really great looking less serious games as well. Chief among them was the highly anticipated LEGO Star Wars II, the sequel that tells the stories of Episodes IV-VI in brickalicious format.
See our full thoughts after the jump…
Click to continue reading LEGO Star Wars 2 Looking Great at PAX
Sony Previews Tokyo Game Show Software List
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: PlayStation 3, PSP,
Sony recently released a preview list of some of the software titles that they will be highlighting at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show, and Siliconera has a translated list. The PSP list seems a little light, but there are a couple of titles of interest, like the new Ace Combat, a new Ratchet and Clank, and the latest in Namco’s Tales RPG series, Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology. Sony’s partial list of Playstation 3 titles include the latest Devil May Cry and Armored Core releases, as well as Resistance: Fall of Man and, of course, Ridge Racer 7. Given the proximity to launch, one hopes that a great number of Sony’s announced titles will be near release quality.
Read More | Siliconera
Madden ‘07 Out Now for Every Platform Imaginable
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Electronic Arts, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Sports, Wii, Wireless, Xbox, Xbox 360,
It’s that time of year again! Time to go out, be a good little drone, and pick up a copy or three of this year’s Madden iteration. This year you’ll be able to pick up the ubiquitous franchise on PC (Windows), Playstation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Gamecube, DS, PSP, GBA, and yes, even your mobile phone (hey, where’s my BeOS version??!?). And of course, when the Wii and PS3 launch in a few months, you can get your Madden on with them too.
The good news is the console versions at least seem to be garnering fairly respectable reviews across the board - IGN.com, Gamespot, and 1up.com all give the franchise fairly high marks (7.7 - 8.5) for its notably improved graphics, online play and added features like Create-A-Player. The bad news, of course, is that you probably won’t be able to play the game online for more than about a year and will have to fork out another $60-$70 next year to keep playing.
Still, the popularity of Madden is absolutely staggering - analysts predict that the title could become a million-seller within as little as 5 days, and could earn EA about $210 million in revenue for the year (about 7% of its total annual revenue of $3 billion). Click below for the Reuters news brief.
Read More | Reuters
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