The PSP Weekend Warrior: the E3 buzz, PlayStation Store updates, and the Duke on your portable
Ready or not, here comes another segment of QJ.NET’s PSP Weekend Warrior! This week’s top picks include tons of updates from Los Angeles‘ E3 bash, not that we’ve also had a run of some big news from outside the event. Head on over to the full article for the rest of your weekend treats.
Fasten your seatbelts folks, as we careen into another segment QJ.NET’s PSP Weekend Warrior. Plenty of news comes in from the recent E3 event over in Los Angeles, with a couple of new games getting announced for the PSP.
Sony‘s also unveiled some of their possible plans for the handheld, which include prospects of a memory upgrade, and increased interactivity with the PlayStation Store. The rest of this week’s top news is available down below!
Right off the bat, this week sees the release of a whole new firmware update for the PlayStation Portable. It’s a minor visualizer update more than anything, though we imagine the homebrew community will be clamoring to keep pace with the release. That’s another story of course, for an entirely different article.
Link: Sony releases PSP firmware 4.05: expanded visualizer support *Update*
Chimeras are getting ready for an invasion of the Portable sort, as Sony announces Resistance: Retribution for the PSP. This third-person shooter will be developed by the same team who brought you Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror.
Link: E3 2008: Resistance: Retribution announced for PSP
Link: E3 2008: Screenshots and video for Resistance: Retribution
The duke isn’t just parking his bricks on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, at least if Apogee Software gets its way. The developer’s recently unveiled its plans to release a new Duke Nukem Trilogy for the PSP and DS.
Link: Apogee uncovers Duke Nukem Trilogy details
Link: Duke Nukem Trilogy coming to PSP and DS
RealTechVR proves that even the homebrew community can play with the big boys as they announce No Gravity:The Plague of Mind‘s expected arrival on Europe’s PlayStation Network. Did we mention the latest game build looks gorgeous?
Link: No Gravity: The Plague of Mind screenshots unveiled, to arrive in PSN Europe soon
Light or Dark, Jedi or Sith, your character will be making a lot of decisions in Star Wars: Force Unleashed. A new game trailer hints at some of the possible paths you can take, as well as some of the allies and foes you will encounter. Hot female Imperial officers are definitely a welcome addition.
Link: Star Wars: Force Unleashed release trailer
What lies beyond E3, you ask? For Konami, it’s their expected presence at the Leipzig convention scheduled for the end of August this year. For Square Enix, it’s the exclusive DKS3713 event. In either case, expect plenty of big – shocking even – revelations to follow.
Link: Konami Digital announces presence at Games Convention 2008
Link: FFXIII producers talk Xbox 360 version, confirms major shocking FFVII announcement at DKS3713 event
Not that E3 was an entirely sunny event, unfortunately. The Valkyria Chronicles “Portable” speculation was shot full of holes, while Gran Turismo 4 Mobile is revealed not to arrive until next year. Ahh, bad news – you gotta take it with the good.
Link: E3 2008: Valkyria Chronicles showing during PSP line-up just a mistake
Link: E3 2008: Yamauchi on expanding GT5 Prologue; GT5 and GT4 Mobile release after 2009
Sony Europe’s announcement of an 80GB PlayStation 3 goes beyond the hard drive upgrade, as they also announced a round of PSP promotional bundles to arrive for their territory. While the exact contents of those packs are still in the dark, North America’s getting its own bundle this fall.
Link: E3 2008: Sony Europe confirms 80GB PlayStation 3 and Platinum games line
Link: E3 2008: Sony offers a PSP Entertainment Pack for USD 199
A lot of the videophiles will love the new video store download service Sony’s unleashed on PSN. Europe in particular will be enjoying the benefits of their new Go!View service, guaranteeing them their choice TV programs wherever they go (provided you’re in a Wi-Fi hub).
Link: E3 2008: PS3 video store goes live tonight
Link: Go!View now live for UK and Ireland PSPs
Further on, there are also talks that the PSP will be getting a PlayStation Store all to its own. While new content’s definitely welcome, it can be a double-edged sword for a handheld that can only carry so many high-res videos. As Tretton recently discussed however, Sony might be addressing this issue by buffing up the PSP’s internal drive.
Link: Jack Tretton: Sony considering PSP with hard drive, internal memory
Link: E3 2008: Sony ‘looking into’ native PSP store
Bragging rights: You know you want them. And if a recent rumor that was picked up at E3 turns out to be true, you just might be getting them as well. Keep your fingers crossed!
Link: E3 2008: will the PSP get trophies?
Given that this year’s E3 is a corporate-only affair, it’s hard for the fans to keep pace with the updates hitting the event grounds. Fortunately, Sony’s more than happy to break with their Thursday-only tradition of PSN releases to satisfy our curiosity. To paraphrase Aerosmith: You don’t wanna miss a thing.
Link: E3 2008: PlayStation Store (PS3, PC) update
Link: E3 2008: PlayStation Store update Day 2 (PS3, PC)
Link: PSN US: Rayman returns, funky elephant puzzles, and E3 trailers
Link: PSN Europe update: Fatal Inertia EX and E3 trailers galore
It’s no secret that Nintendo’s Wii and DS consoles rules most of the regular sales reports we see. Does that mean the PSP has been defeated in market? Sony Japan doesn’t think so, releasing some figures from their territory to drive this point home.
Link: NPD Group releases June 2008 results
Link: Sony: PSP reaches 10 million sales in Japan
Link: Sony, Nintendo react to June 2008 NPD results
There’s plenty to look forward to on the gaming side of the PSP. For one, there’s the promise of Resistance: Retribution, which actually looks fun based on the screenshots. There’s also the prospect of the Duke Nukem trilogy of games, though quite frankly, the current info Apogee’s unveiled is looking dicey.
The Proving Grounds will be set in World War II? Hmm, that’s a little ambitious given that the PSP’s already got a solid shooter in Medal of Honor Heroes. Chain Reaction on the other hand will be facing off against the likes of the SOCOM franchise. On the other hand, this is the Duke we’re talking about after all, so it will be interesting to see what sort of surprises Apogee could put together by early next year.
Hands down though, I’m excited at the prospect of a built-in hard drive for the PSP. It’s a solid handheld, although as many an owner will remember, one of its biggest gripes has always been its memory capacity. With the addition of a hard drive though, the PSP’s looking like a pretty promising competitor against even the likes of the iPod. I realize that I’m being way too optimistic over this point, but if you’re gonna dream, you might as well dream big. Imagine – the entire Macross Frontier anime series fitting in the palm of your hand!
Keep on the lookout for Konami and Square, by the way. From the way things went in E3, it looks like both companies are saving the good stuff for their future events. A wise choice given that Leipzig will be a public expo, and Square’s own DKS3713 will ensure that all eyes will be on them alone.