PSP Phone reference spotted in Sony Magazine

Now obviously, before proceeding here you're going to want to find the largest grain of salt you can locate and keep it nearby. According to SEfanatics, a page in an issue of Sony Magazine (an office favorite over here) makes passing mention of a "PSP-Style phone" which is supposedly in development, then casually suggests the device could be "in shops as early as February." Of course, we've been hearing hushed conversations about this topic for some time now, though it does strike us as slightly odd that it's referenced in what is essentially a multi-page Sony advertisement. Sure, it's possible that something like that patent we recently saw could be headed our way -- obviously the company is still capable of throwing a few curve-balls in our direction, though we're going to need to little more evidence than this to start cracking open our piggy banks.

[Thanks, Teemu]

Sony Expecting 'Great Deal of Momentum' with PS3

Sony has commented on its October performance and hyped the growth of the PlayStation brand for the month. Going forward, they're expecting a sizable sales spike for PS3.



Although it would appear that Nintendo has decided not to bother discussing October's NPD results (letting the data speak for itself), Microsoft has already issued its response and now Sony has chimed in.

"October 2007 was a strong month for the PlayStation brand, according to NPD data. Overall the PlayStation brand showed a 39% increase in total retail dollars generated year-over-year in the US with total sales of $353.4 million for the month. Overall, SCEA's console business remains strong with combined sales of PS3 and PS2 for the month of October at $258.5 million in revenue," commented SCEA in a release, according to Wired.

And while the PS3 sold just 121K units for October, the price cut hadn't taken effect yet. According to CEO Howard Stringer, PS3 sales have recently zoomed to 100,000 per week. "SCEA expects a great deal of momentum moving forward this holiday and beyond with the availability of new PS3 hardware and pricing. Based on internal data, the company is already seeing a great spike in sales with a 192% lift for the PS3 over the past two weeks," SCEA continued.

The company also commented on the growth of its portable: "The PSP sold 286K units at retail for the month of October. Overall sales of the PSP are up 120% year over year due to the popularity of the slimmer and lighter PSP , which includes video-out capabilities for $169. And with 24 first and third-party software titles being released this holiday season, such as SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike and Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of The Lions, as well as new spots for the wildly popular "Dude, get your own" campaign, the PSP will undoubtedly continue to gain momentum through the coming months."

Finally regarding the aging PS2, SCEA noted: "Seven years into its life cycle the PS2 remains the best-selling gaming platform ever released, selling 183K units for the month of October. The release of games such as BUZZ! The Mega Quiz, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, and the just released limited-edition PS2 bundled with SingStar Pop will continue to make the console a perfect choice for families interested in social games and will be hugely popular this holiday season."


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10 PS3 tricks Sony doesn't tell you

Got a PlayStation 3? For those of you that have picked up Sony's shiny black plaything, we've put together a Digital Home top ten of tips that you won't find in the user manual.

1) Play games from any country

Harbouring a desire to play Super Gaiden Ninja XI? Now you can. In fact, you can handily play any PS3 game from any country. On holiday in the States and spot the latest release at a bargain dollar-to-pound price? Help yourself. So far, at least, PS3 games aren't being region coded. That said PS2 and PS1 games are so you can't play a US title on a Euro console.

And let's not forget that Blu-ray movies are region-coded so the barriers aren't completely down yet.
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2) The secret video reset

One of the most annoying aspects of the PS3 are its video settings. Take it up to the bedroom portable or round to a friend's house and there's a good chance that you won't be able to see anything onscreen because your 'new' TV is running at a different resolution or using a different cable connection. And - because you can't see anything - you can't change it. Until now. Shut down your PS3 then restart by pressing and holding the power button. This will reset your PS3 to its most basic 480p graphics mode so you'll be able to see enough to choose RGB SCART, component, HDMI or whatever from here.

3) See how much charge is on your pad

There's no indication of how much charge is left on the pad itself. Instead it appears on screen during games. Press and hold the PS button on any joypad. An indicator will appear, showing your pad's charge as a small battery. A full battery pic means a fully-charged pad. Neat.

4) Download game saves

Chances are someone out there has already beaten that boss for you and saved their game afterwards. Why not take advantage of it? Google 'PS3 game saves'. There are hundreds of finished and half finished game saves scattered all over the internet. Download the save you want - it'll come in a 'PS3' folder that you can lift onto a USB stick and put into your PS3. Go to the Game menu, choose your stick and the game save you downloaded should be right there. Press Triangle to copy it to your hard drive.

5) Make free video phone calls

You will need a USB headset (like the one you use for PS2 Socom) and an EyeToy camera. Plug in both via USB then go to your Friends menu. Choose a friend you've signed up earlier and press Triangle. Choose Start New Chat and type a message. Something like 'Videochat?' should do the trick. Now, providing they're in front of their powered-up PS3 (perhaps you could text them to tell them to be in position?) then they'll see your message and be given the option to accept your videochat.

Now, provided they too have a camera and headset, two windows will open, one showing you (so you can make sure you're looking your best), the other displaying your mate. Best of all you can hit Triangle again and invite more people to join your chat - up to a maximum of six. And the cost? Not a bean above your usual broadband connection charges.

6) Browse multiple Internet windows

Open the browser (go to Network) and surf to a page you want. Now open up the menu with a press of Triangle and choose 'Open In New Window'. Enter another URL and then do the same again. Keep going until you've got six windows open. Now press L3 (done by clicking down the left stick). You're now in multi-page mode. Move the left stick to flick through the web pages as though they were bits of paper, then click L3 again to zoom in.

7) Upgrade your hard drive

We took the drive out of our PS3 and found it to be a Seagate Momentus 5400rpm 60Gb 2.5inch SATA drive. We swapped ours out effortlessly for a Seagate Momentus 120Gb 2.5inch SATA drive and it worked perfectly. Remove the cover flap on the bottom of your PS3 with a fingernail. Undo the blue screw and slide the drive over to the right and out of your PS3. Undo the four screws on the 'caddy' and remove the old drive.

Put your new drive in the caddy (it should be exactly the same size, of course) and re-do the four screws. Slot it back in and slide to the left to make the connections. Re-do the blue screw, pop the cover back on and restart your PS3. Say 'yes' to the message on screen and voila - new super-size hard-drive. (Go to Settings, System Settings, System Information to check).

8) Share your bought downloads

You can download anything you've bought from the store to five PlayStation 3's. This is useful if you've got more than one PS3 (of course) and also if you've wiped your hard-drive and don't fancy paying for the same download twice...

However, you can also choose to share your download with your mates. The PlayStation Store logs how many times each download has been downloaded by each user. On your mate's PS3 Create New User and log onto the store with your ID. You'll now be able to go to your download and see that you've already downloaded whatever it was that you paid for. You can now download it again, using another of your downloads and giving it to your mate for free. Or a small optional charge...

9) Force a PS3 to show your files

Put your photos in a folder called 'PICTURE' or your videos in a folder called 'VIDEO' or simply *force* your PS3 to look at your files on your stick regardless of what you called them or where you put them. Insert your stick and go to the menu option you want (Photos, Music, whatever). Press Triangle to bring up a menu and choose Display All. This will show every file on the stick. It even works for a plugged-in iPod, though the multi-folder structure you'll reveal is a bit baffling. Still, your songs are in there if you've got the patience to find them.

10) Change your album art

When you import a music CD your PS3 automatically pulls down the album art and stores it with the tracks. Occasionally it gets it wrong, however, or it may simply not be able to find the art of your hipper, less commercial tracks. This is easily fixed however. Download a pic of the art you need as a jpg on your PC and put it onto a stick (in a folder called PICTURE, ideally). Copy it to your Photo menu (press Triangle). Now go to Music and select the album folder with the offending art. Press Triangle and select Information. Go to the Photo menu and select your new picture. Bingo.

Words by: Dan Griffiths

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Sexy Red PSP With TV Tuner And Stand Coming To Japan

“PSP Deep Red 1 Seg Pack” bundles a “Deep Red” PSP, with a widely popular “1 Seg” tuner released on September 20th, a pouch that can store PSP hardware attached with the “1 Seg” tuner, a stand to place the PSP hardware for long time TV viewing using “1 Seg” tuner, a strap, a cloth, and a 1GB Memory Stick™ PRO Duo for storing game data as well as photos, videos and music contents.

Coming December 13, 2007.



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