Hacking the PSP Blog

Game Informer agrees: PSP failure is a myth

The June issue of Game Informer has a feature about gaming's big questions. One of these is whether or not the PSP is a failure. Unsurprisingly, these claims are reduced to nothing more than simple falsities, spouted by Sony haters. As the Game Informer article smartly states: "How does selling 10 million units equate to failure?" Amongst many reasons listed is the undeniable fact that the PSP is the first serious portable competitor of Nintendo to find success. Before the DS Lite came out, PSP was actually beating DS in sales (according to NPD). To sum it up, no rational, unbiased gamer can list the PSP as a failure.

We all know the PSP is a success, it's just nice to see the often PSP hating press finally agree with us.

Steven Bailey
May 25, 2007

Source: PSP Fanboy

Report: Price Cuts Ahoy!

Microsoft may be the first to start a price war by the end of the summer. Nollenberger Capital Partners analyst Todd Greenwald tells GameDaily BIZ that he thinks MS will slash the 360's price (all SKUs) by $50. PS3, PS2 and PSP price cuts are likely to follow. More within...

Price cuts – it's the topic everyone seems to be speculating about, especially with regards to the $600 PS3. Nollenberger Capital Partners analyst Todd Greenwald has thrown his two cents in, predicting not only a price cut on PS3 this year, but also Xbox 360, PS2, and PSP. Nintendo hardware was not mentioned, but considering the rate at which the DS and Wii are both selling Mario and crew certainly don't need to slash the price on those platforms.

Greenwald expects that Microsoft will actually make the first move by the end of the summer. He believes that a $50 price cut on the 360 is on the way (across all SKUs), making the Xbox 360 Core SKU the exact same price as the Wii and the Pro SKU only $100 more than the Wii – potentially a more compelling value. "I don't think it would impact profitability much, as the component costs must have come down quite a bit by now (been in production for 18 months)," Greenwald commented to GameDaily BIZ. "Plus, they will make a lot of money off of Halo 3, obviously, and more and more software royalties as the installed base keeps growing."

Read the full article here...

James Brightman
May 25, 2007

Source: GameDaily

New Tracks for Download for Burnout Dominator PSP

If you’ve been racing like a maniac in Burnout Dominator on PSP, here’s the chance to takedown your rivals on two brand new tracks from EA, available free of charge and exclusively by download direct to your PSP.

Available now is Carnival Point: As the late afternoon sun shines overhead, drift around long mountainous bends, hurtle past the sandy beach and wreak havoc in the downtown traffic of a South American metropolis.

Available on 7th June is Red Gate: Race and boost chain your way through the busy streets of an Eastern European city at night.

Compete against the PSP in maniac, road rage or race modes, challenge your friends over Ad-hoc, and set new highs in record breakers mode. And don’t forget to upload your best times and scores to the Burnout Dominator website at www.burnout.ea.com.

European download instructions:

• From the BurnoutHQ menu ingame via a wireless connection
• Direct Download from www.burnout.ea.com
• From www.yourpsp.com

US download instructions:

• From the BurnoutHQ menu ingame via a wireless connection
• From www.ea.com/burnout/dominator/

Burnout Dominator has a E 10+ rating.

May 24, 2007

Source: GameZone

Off Topic: Fox brings 'SIMS' to bigscreen

Remover 2.120th Century Fox has acquired feature rights to the life simulation computer game "The SIMS" from Electronic Arts, and has set project up with Fox-based John Davis.

The five-year-old franchise is the best selling PC game in history, with worldwide sales topping 85 million, bringing in over $1.6 billion. Pic will be a live-action version.

Steve Asbell is overseeing the project for Fox with SIMS Studio head Rod Humble managing the creative property for Electronic Arts. Brian Lynch will script; story is under wraps with talent yet to be named.

"'The SIMS has done an interactive version of an old story, which is what it's like to have infinite power and how do you deal with it," said Humble. "Given that that's an old story, you can imagine how easily that would translate to traditional story telling."

Davis' most recent projects include "Norbit," "When A Stranger Calls," and "Eragon."

Lynch scripted and helmed upcoming "Big Helium Dog," and penned "Scary Movie 3," and is managed by Benderspink.

Peter Gilstrap
May 24, 2007

Source: Variety