PMP Today

Firmware 4.0 should’ve been but Sony is apparently at a lost what to add to the already feature-packed Playstation Portable, especially after the more recent function additions. Firmware 4.0 adds Google searching to the XMB, video speed adjustment - a nifty trick using the Up and Down button. The video fast tracks or slows down without going into full fast forward or slow-mo. It’s available via the Network Update.

[via techradar]

Sony has added the Go! View service that lets PSP users directly download movies encoded in supported format from  the CanalPlay site. CanalPlay is France’s number one VoD provider, notes our friends from GenerationMP3 although the current available programs (movies, TV series) encoded in PSP’s native format (Sony DRM) number only 120. Recent releases will set you back 4.99 euros and 3.99 euros for older ones.

There are also TV programs for 1.99 euros and even anime (manga) for 1.49 euros. Sony will launch the Pack GO! View for the occasion. For 249.9 euros you’ll get a PSP Slim & Light white, MS 8GB and 3 movies to download and an additional bundle offer with a 4GB MS + a film for 30 euros. Be warned though that the above program prices will only allow you a 48-hour viewing period.

[via gmp3]

Sony Ericsson is throwing a low-end gaming phone at iPhone 2.0 and SDK. The iPhone could already play Quake 3 unlocked, but SE thinks it can do better with a phone specifically made for motion gaming. Don’t worry, though, if you’re a tactile button kind of gamer because under the screen is a four-way control pad that should be adequate for some off-the-cuff gaming.

[via engadget]

For Sudoku fans who are getting tired of carrying paper books around, here’s a handheld from Zhengchang Electronics with 10,000 Sudoku games preloaded. Now, I am not a Sudoku fan myself but I am assuming 10,000 games should last you a couple of years of dedicated Sudoku gaming, so this gadget should be totally worth its price. It’s available wholesale for stores interested in re-branding it and selling it retail. Unlike other Sudoku gamers, it’s completely touchscreen with a stylus and should be a pleasure to play Sudoku on.

[product]

We here at PMPToday have no idea what all the fuss was about. So a couple of Swedes ad come up with an idea of putting GPRS and GPS on a gaming console, so what? Now we hear that Carl Freer, the non-embezzling co-owner of Gizmondo’s parent company, Tiger Telemantics, will release a new version of the Gizmondo device this time running on Windows CE 6.0. Windows CE 6? The same operating system that has been mocked and ridiculed when it runs inside a Chinese-made hardware, will now be used to harness the gaming capacity of a device that was solely responsible for the over $1 billion-dollar valuation of its manufacturer? Freer says the new Gizmondo will have a separate graphics chip and will be an open platform. Target release date is late this year… or thereabouts.

Read an old article on how Gizmondo had it all and lost it all, or nearly all, here. Ferrari Enzo driven by Stefan Eriksson crashes and torn in half.

[photo: gizmodo, story: engadget]

Shenzhen Derisson Imp. & Exp. Co., Ltd. portable game-centric PMP will have the honor to be the first device of its kind to boast a built-in camera (that we’ve heard of). Sure, the PSP has the Go!Cam but that one’s sold separately and attached in semi-ludicrous fashion. The DPMP-003’s camera is built into the body. It’s not a webcam but a real photo shooter with 1.3 megapixels with the option to make it a 2 megapixel or 3 megapixel. The DPMP-003 has a 3-inch screen screen and records scheduled TV programs (don’t know how this works exactly but the specs says so). It supports NES games and ASF format of MEPG-4 videos. It also comes with a TV Out and support for music files as well as photos and TXT. Full specs after the break.

[source] Read the rest »

Pandora is both a UMPC and and a gamer. It’s got a QWERTY keypad and gaming buttons similar to your SNES console. Don’t be fooled by how these buttons are arranged. If you noticed the coins put in front of the device for size comparison, the Pandora is an tiny little beast. The Pandora is powered by an ARM® Cortex™-A8 CPU and runs Linux. The screen is 4.3″-inch 800 x 480-pixel touchscreen LCD with 16.7 million colors. It has WiFi, USB, TV out, USB, etc. It’s not cheap with an MSRP of $330, but with the looks and everything it can do - currently, it’s available for developers and by June or July we can buy the Pandora on a retail store with all the UMPC and SNES goodies ready for handling.

Pndora specs after the break.

[via crunchgear] Read the rest »

Is there a DS 2.0 in the works. Hirokazu Hamamura, the head of the company that owns Famitsu mag, says that Ninetendo will unveil a new DS at E3 2008. As you know, Sony PSP has been gaining ground on DS in Japan even though it will take PSP some time yet to beat the DS’s 50 million lifetime sales. As for me, there’s not much I’d like to improve on the DS except the screen size and a slimmer form factor won’t do any hard either.

[via newlaunches]



My favorite first-person-shooter game can now be played on the iPhone. You move your character around using the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer. You shoot by tapping on the screen. It actually looks like a fun way to play Quake 3, but I doubt if you’re going to be beat anyone on a keyboard and mouse. Apparently, there’s no skipping in this version of Quake but still…

[via crunchgear]

Nokia’s N-Gage software is now available for download. If you own a N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95, or N95 8GB, point your browser to n-gage.mobi/d. I take N-Gage will be official on Monday and eventually other phones will be added, particularly the N73, N93, and N93i models. Other Nokia phones will follow.

[n-gage via cellphones]