Hacking the PSP Blog

"Remote Play" confirmed for PSP, PS3 connectivity

Good news for anyone who owns a PSP and may be purchasing a PS3. Sony is currently demonstrating several of the Playstation 3's features at CEATEC JAPAN 2006, a consumer electronics convention currently taking place in Japan.

Sony has been demoing the Playstation 3's "Cross Media Bar" interface, which if you own a PSP, you're already familiar with.

During the demonstration, Sony showed an icon under the Playstation 3's "Network" menu called "Remote Play." As you can see in the image below, it clearly depicts a PSP. Sony has also confirmed that you will be able to use the PS3's integrated WiFi functionality to "throw" the PS3's video signal to your PSP. Details were found in Game Watch's coverage of the event. So not only will you be able to use your PSP to control your PS3 games, you'll be able to use your PSP to see your PS3 games.

It should be noted that because only the 60GB Playstation 3 model includes integrated WiFi, this function will apparently not be available on the 20GB model.

This feature may just be one small component of Sony's implementation of DLNA on the Playstation 3. Other possible (as in, we're just guessing) implementations include being able to watch movies from the PS3's Blu-ray/hard drive on the PSP, and being able to watch UMD-Video on the PS3.

Source: PSP-Vault

PSP second place behind iPod

Everyone wants to compete with the iPod, but only one company has been successful at getting close to the iPod's dominance as a personal media player (PMP). No, it's not Microsoft. It's Sony. People have criticized Sony for failing to capitalize on personal media like Apple has, but many forget that the PSP is not just a games machine, but a PMP as well. According to MP3newswire.net, the PSP is in second place in the competitive PMP market, selling one system per every 2.3 iPods sold. Considering how people seem to buy iPods by the dozen, we can deduce that PSP sales are quite brisk.

With a beautiful, large widescreen, and the ability to do so many other things (games, internet, etc.), the PSP is easily the best PMP out there. Yes, some may argue that Memory Sticks are expensive, but with recent price drops, that argument simply doesn't hold too much weight to it.

Andrew Yoon
October 17, 2006

Source: PSP Fanboy

Family Guy Hits Retail: Sweet!

Today 2K, a publishing label of Take-Two, announced that Family Guy, the first videogame based on the TV show, is now available for the Xbox, the PlayStation 2, and the PSP. Featuring the entire cast and creative team from the show, the Family Guy game puts you in control of the series' crass humor.

Developed by High Voltage Software, Family Guy involves a combination of arcade action, platforming, and puzzle-solving as gamers play through three stories that unfold just as an episode of the TV show would. As the technically mentally handicapped Peter Griffin, players fight to stop Mr. Belvedere from taking over the world. As Stewie, Peter's diabolical young son, players match their wits against his arch-nemesis and half-brother Bertram. And as Brian, the family dog, players slip on a collar and drink a martini as they attempt a daring prison break.

As the lead voice talent of the Family Guy series and videogame, Seth MacFarlane sets the comedic tone in the game's world by providing the voices of the game's main playable characters, Peter, Stewie, and Brian. Also making voice appearances are longtime Family Guy staples such as Alex Borstein voicing Lois Griffin, Mila Kunis doing Meg Griffin, Seth Green as Chris Griffin, and Adam West as the Mayor of Quahog.

Daemon Hatfield
October 17, 2006

Source: IGN

The curious incident of the 3.0 UMD?

In the sunny shores of the magical land of Teh Int3rw3bz, a tsunami of pics washed up across various websites about a UMD containing a 3.0 firmware update. It's everywhere. Surely, you've heard about this already, right? Everyone and their grandma's dog probably has. If you haven't, then there's no reason now.

The story goes that a member of YourPSP was sent a copy of this beta UMD firmware update. Sony wanted them to try it out. Supposedly the update supports PSone emulation, .mov, .gif, .wmv, and .flv files. Boy was that a mouthful. Excited? Err, don't get your hopes up. Ever since February, this "3.0 update" was already rumored about, and quite frankly, debunked with a vengeance. (Somebody named MadSoul even put his foot forward and claimed that he was the one who started this "joke".)

Why ditch this as a fake, you ask? For one thing, most of Sony's firmware updates have happened via download. Not through UMDs. Also, it's not in the nature of Sony to go around getting people to beta test their update. "Mass marketing" a beta test of a firmware update could likewise harvest a "mass bricking" of PSPs (thus, bad PR for Sony).

What with the recent FW2.81 PSP from the Sony factory, all these rumors are already starting to get blown out of proportion. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, ok? We're just hoping beyond hope that Sony would finally say something about all this and release whatever they have up their sleeve.

Hurry up, Sony! Before more people send in the clowns...



Source: PSPUpdates