The PSP’s last gasp is the best it probably could be

The budget PlayStation Portable system announced by Sony at Gamescom last month provoked a bit of healthy discussion amongst a couple of people on Sarcastic Gamer, most notably handheld superfan PacManPolarBear. PMPB and I sparred over Twitter a few days ago about the omission (one which he eventually caved in on, as you’ll note if you read on).

I acknowledge PSP multiplayer. I know that it exists, but I also know that nobody uses it. The loss of Wi-Fi, the budget price and the last minute burst of support from publishers means that the PSP’s last gasp might just be one of its finest moments.

PlayStation Plus’ new features make it worth the money

This past week saw the PlayStation 3 receive — quelle surprise — a system software update in the form of version 3.70. The new firmware introduces a number of brand new features exclusive to PlayStation Plus users alongside improvements to the Video column of the XMB and a Recommend button for the Store, guaranteed to irritate your friends.

Those last two aren’t so important compared to the new stuff exclusive to Plus, which is sure to raise the hackles of some gamers by dividing Plus and non-paying PSN users further. But really? These new changes are a great thing which turn a service from a privilege or a treat into something a little more worth the price.

SG Review: OMG-Z

How often do you find yourself genuinely vulnerable in zombie games these days? Armed to the teeth with machine guns, shotguns and grenades, it doesn’t take long to explode the crowds of the undead and escape safely from the post-apocalyptic city of your choice. But what if you only had a few bullets to save yourself with at a time?

OMG-Z is the PlayStation Mini that dares to ask this question, and answers it with a greyscale colour scheme and gushing blood.

PlayStation Welcome Back Live, Details Here

Sorry to interrupt your Fiction Friday, but here’s a quick Sony-based APB for you all. The PlayStation Welcome Back program is now activated on both European and US PlayStation Stores with a whole heap of games and videos available for download on both PS3 and PSP! There’s also free PS+ time for all, with all the details following over the page.

Today’s PSN antics are a whole lot of phooey

Oh, Hail Mary! Sony’s cocked up again. The PSN has been hacked, the security sucks and we’re all going to die. But it isn’t so. We’ve all been the victims of something I’m going to name, with some very technical and hard-to-explain terms, “Bad Journalism”. Sounds complicated, right? But no, “Bad Journalism” refers to the concept that some writing is set to inform in the worst ways possible.

An example? Look at how the press has reported on today’s “PSN hack,” an act of cyber-terrorism that has, in actuality, done very little damage.

The NGP: Sony’s new MVP?

Here it is, folks. The Next Generation Portable – hefty rumors abound for weeks and weeks and now, finally, we have the finalized form of what will probably be renamed the PSP2.

I’ll get this out of the way: dual analog sticks. There we go: sold already, right?

SG Review: Jungle Party (PSP)

It’s genuinely heartwarming to see, once in a while, a party game that isn’t on the Wii. It reminds me that somewhere out there there’s at least one publisher who looks at the Wii, decides that it’s not the platform they want to launch a game on, and take their business elsewhere.

The fact that this publisher is Sony — a company that’s about as likely to publish a game on the Wii as I am to wear anything but a tartan skirt — is neither here nor there, but in Jungle Party there’s a gentle tickling of fun in store; more so if you’re under the age of 10.

SG Review: EyePet (PSP)

Ever wanted a cuddly pet you could take with you wherever you go? Course you did, it was called a Tamagotchi and when you were 12 it was the best thing ever. Kids these days though? In the form of PSP’s EyePet, they have no idea how lucky they are.

Regarding the PlayStation Phone

The chances are, if you’re even remotely connected to the internet at all — and you should be if you’re reading this — you’ll be aware of a teeny-tiny tech site called Engadget turning up on the scene with some rather exclusive photos of what they purport to be the prototype of a Sony Ericsson-branded PlayStation cellphone. Looking something like a cross-breed between an Xperia X10 and a PSPgo, the phone features — at this stage — the Android operating system (and corresponding system-required buttons) and a slide-out keypad containing not a QWERTY keyboard but a PlayStation-style set of face buttons, a directional pad and a touch-sensitive strip.

It looks genuine, even if anything can be Photoshopped these days, but Sony are keeping schtum on this phone’s existence. In fact, they’re outright denying it, according to gaming site NowGamer. And it makes me wonder: why bother?

SG Review: UFC Undisputed 2010 (PSP)

Don’t adjust your set! UFC Undisputed 2010 is being reviewed again – the uber-manly grappler hits the PSP from today in Europe (and last Tuesday in Americaland). Can Yukes work their magic on the world of MMA on a smaller screen? Step into the Octagon and find out!