Hacking the PSP Blog

Off Topic: Chinese Gov clamps down on youth game addiction

The Chinese Government has given online game operators until 16th July to implement software that severely restricts the amount of time children under-18 are allowed to play their games, People's Daily Online reports.

With the software installed, games will allow children to play for up to three hours, before halving the amount of points they can earn for the next two to try and drive them away from the computer screen.

After five hours, scores will be zeroed with no more points to earn, and a warning will flash up every 15 minutes explaining that this is "unhealthy game time", advising the player to have a rest.

Peculiar, eh? But probably not all that surprising to Chinese gamers, who have heard this sort of thing before. The Chinese Government has previously taken steps to try and keep kids away from the Internet too. Good idea - we bite.

Read the full article here...

Tom Bramwell
April 12, 2007

Source: Eurogamer

Off Topic: FTC report: mixed reviews on industry's ability to self-regulate

The Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. has released a new report praising the games industry for making "significant progress" in decreasing both the sale of mature-rated games to minors and the advertising of mature titles alongside teen-marketed television shows, while criticizing them for failing to maintain similar marketing standards with internet advertising.

Other interesting statistics and observations:

• In the five years between 2001 and 2006, sales of M-rated titles to minors have dropped 36% (from 78% to 42%). No other industry was reported to have such a significant decline and only the sale of R-rated movie ticket to minors is lower (39% in 2006, an increase of 3% over 2003).
• Of the parents surveyed, 87% are aware of the ESRB, 70% utilize it and 75% of those familiar with the content descriptors use them.
• Current ESRB regulations do not allow game publishers to advertise M-rated games on sites where 45% or more of the audience is under 17. The FTC report said that they are "not adequately enforcing even this limited standard." Our query, which is not adequately explained in the report's press release, is how the FTC is able to discern the demographic of a website (other than maybe content and grammar usage), and which is it following? Only MySpace and YouTube are specifically cited here. And, to be quite honest, if the FTC were able to effectively discern the demographics found on a site like YouTube, they could sell that data-mining algorithm and make quadrillions in profit.

Read the full story here...

Ross Miller
April 12, 2007

Source: Joystiq

Shiny Shiny girl chooses PSP

The debate about whether or not PSP appeals to girls continues. Shiny Shiny, a popular gadgets website targeted towards girls, has an interesting take on the DS versus PSP debacle. Kimberly, a blogger on the site, admits to having a DS bias. Like one CNET editor stated, the stylus controls were attractive: "I liked the idea of the stylus and touchscreen." However, the honeymoon was over quite quickly: "[The DS] offered familiar, but interesting challenges ... for about a month."

Why the sudden change of heart? Apparently, she got her hands on a PSP, and found using a more conventional control scheme with PSP made gaming much easier: "I found the PSP's games and controls to be much more intuitive than the Nintendo DS Lite." Kimberly had to constantly refer to the instruction manuals in DS games to understand the controls, while PSP offered a more familiar environment. Like we predicted, DS fans that actually give PSP a try will find that much of the bias against the system is unfounded.

"The PSP's ability to do more might account for its poor battery life compared to the DS Lite. In this episode of gadgetry smackdown, I concede the battle to my buddy/nemesis and will go get myself a PSP"

Andrew Yoon
April 11, 2007

Source: PSP Fanboy

The Year of the PSP

The Playstation Portable could be the biggest selling failure in history.

Since it's launch Sony has shipped more than 25 million of the portable gaming devices and at least one analyst predicts that will hit 29 million by the end of the year.

And with the recent drop in price, the PSP has already seen a 300 percent increase in sales. This jump in sales, be it a temporary spike or a signs of things to come, comes with the surprising news that the UMD movie format is also making a bit of a recovery.

As we approach the heart of 2007, Sony sees this as being the year of the Playstation Portable, a year that saw a price drop and return of the UMD, a year that is seeing a change in the portables marketing and a year that will see a slew of major PSP announcements.

"In 2005 we launched the product, last year about establishing the software," said John Koller, senior marketing manager for the PSP. " think this is going to be the year for PSP, I think it's going to be a fantastic year for it.
A very very good year."

Koller said decision to drop the Playstation Portable to $169 was threefold.

"We got some cost savings out of the product, and we wanted to pass that on to the consumers," he said. "The second reason was we looked at the Wal-Mart experience over black Friday, that was really a good point to go to that price point. Lastly, we are really trying to promote the PSP heavily toward the 13 to 17 consumer group."

That new, younger market that Sony is shooting for is one that has seen a significant increase in the past year, Koller said. In fact, 13 to 17-year-olds are the largest group of PSP owners.

Read the full article here...

Brian Crecente
April 10, 2007

Source: Kotaku