Playstation Network Update: Boring Sport Edition

Hot Shots Golf Out of Bounds

The update starts with some game demos for Hot Shots Golf Out of Bounds and Top Spin 3. Both boring sports to watch but fun to play, right? There’s also a new character for PAIN, a World of Warcraft song for Guitar Hero III, and the full “Doolittle” album from the Pixies and 3 songs from Weezer for Rock Band. There are also a whole bunch of game videos, a few blu-ray trailers and two PS3 themes.

For the PSP, you can buy Medievil Resurrection for $16.99, download a Medievil Resurrection interview trailer, and a Medievil wallpaper. Not a whole lot, but still good, since Medievil is a pretty fun game. You can visit the Playstation Blog for more information.

PSP v4.00 Update: Some Minor Changes

The new software update for the PSP should be out anytime now, if it isn’t already. You’ll just have to check. This update adds a few new features, the first of which being Google search functionality directly in the XMB. That’s simple. The other feature gives you the ability to change viewing speed during playback of videos on you Memory Stick PRO Duo. Not much, but not bad.

Playstation Store Update: Quake Wars Edition

Again, there isn’t much but there still is some good stuff this week. You can pick up Syphon Filter 3 from the PS1 for $5.99, and there some add-on content for Army of Two, Guitar Hero III, and Rock Band. There’s also a demo for Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars, which I’m excited to play. The rest of the stuff consists of a bunch of game videos, a blu-ray trailer, and two PS3 Themes.

For the PSP, you can purchase full games of Syphon Filter Dark Mirror and Syphon Filter 3 and you can download a free theme, wallpaper and some game music. Visit the Playstation Blog for complete details.

Ready at Dawn Says No More to PSP

PSP Dev Kits

The company who created Daxter and God of War: Chains of Olympus for the PSP, Ready at Dawn, have confirmed on their website that they will no longer be supporting the PSP. They commented a while back that after completing God of War that “our work on the PSP has come to an end,” so we all knew it was coming, but now it’s official. The picture above are the actual PSP dev kits that they are sending back too.

So what can Sony do to stop other developers from heading in the same direction? How about some more advertising? They don’t give the PSP enough publicity. Toss some money at it, and maybe it’ll start selling. Well, it’s been a top seller in Japan for a while now, so maybe things will pick up. To be honest, I don’t think thats the reason Ready at Dawn made their decision though. I think it just had more to do with company focus.

Madden NFL 09 PSP Bundle This Fall

Madden PSP Entertainment Pack

If you’re a Madden fan, you’ll really love this. John Koller, hardware marketing and Director of the Sony PSP department, just posted an entry up on the Playstation Blog detailing an all new PSP entertainment pack centered around the extremely popular Madden NFL franchise.

The deal is killer too. The Madden NFL 09 PSP Entertainment Pack will include a limited-edition “Metallic Blue” PSP system, the Madden NFL 09 game, “NFL: In Just One Play” on UMD Video, a voucher to download Beats from the Playstation Store, and a 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo. And all of that will be yours for only $199.99. Damn! If I wasn’t buying the God of War Bundle on June 3rd, this would definitely be in my shopping cart. Look for this one on August 12th.

New PSP Video Download Service Announced

Sky Logo

Sony has just announced that they will be providing a new service in partnership with the satellite broadcasting service, Sky, to users of their portable media center that is the PSP. Go!View will allow PSP users to download and watch videos, and will include lots of programming such as comedy, sports, and movies. It will be up to the user if they want to sign up on a subscription or pay-per-view basis, but no prices for the service have yet been stated. So far the service has only been mentioned as being offered in Europe and has a very general “summer” release.

Rumor: LittleBigPlanet on the PSP

PSP LittleBigPlanet

There are rumors flying around the internet about LittleBigPlanet seeing a release on the PSP. The rumor is that the highly anticipated game from Media Molecule is getting a port to the PSP from Sony’s Liverpool studio in the UK. How cool would this be? The game looks great and being able to take it with you just sweetens the deal. If this is the case, you can expect the PSP and PS3 versions to work together in some way as well. I sure hope this rumor turns out to be true.

New PSP Firmware Coming

There’s a new firmware update, which according to the Playstation Blog will be “available shortly,” for the PSP. Version 3.95 brings two new features to the PSP which are custom button configuration for PSone game playback and the ability to quit remote play with your Playstation 3 and leave the PS3 running.

PSP To Have Store Access

PSP

If you’ve been enjoying the great PSP content available from the Playstation Store accessible via your PS3 or PC, things are about to get better. Instead of having to transfer your files to your PSP every time you download something, the Playstation Store will soon be accessible directly from your handheld. No word yet on when, but at least you know it’s in the works.

flOw Coming to PSP

flOw Screenshot

Sony has announced that a PSP version of the small, but popular game, flOw, will be hitting the Playstation Store soon. Neither a release date or a price have been announced, but it’s likely to be coming this week during the regular Playstation Store update on Thursday. Hopefully.