Go Play AV: Portable Audio, Video, Media and Game Players

Life in Tech has an interesting opinion piece about why they believe the Nintendo DS has out sold the Sony PSP despite all predictions to the contrary:

When I was looking for a portable gaming system the Nintendo DS was out of the question; It was a kid’s toy and nothing more. Sony’s PSP was much cooler with its larger screen, better graphics capabilities, music/video capabilities and decidedly more mature games (Grand Theft Auto, baby!).

Like many, I saw the DS touch screen as a gimmick. The same could be said for the dual screens. Nor did its cheap-looking plastic compare to the sleekness of the PSP.

Eventually, from the pressure of my girlfriend to play Mario Kart DS, I decided to give it a go. She was having so much fun with hers, after all. For a slick $149 I purchased the DS Mario Kart pack.

Now, nearly nine months later, I’ve found that I never (I mean never) play my PSP. The DS became my handheld of choice. I asked myself how this could be possible, citing all the reasons above and I’ve formed a simple conclusion: the DS is a better value, period.

Read complete article: How the DS beat the PSP (and how the Wii will do the same against the PS3) - Life in Tech

Technorati Tags: nintendo, nintendo ds, portable entertainment, portable gaming, sony PSP, sony

MobileWhack - and a couple of others - alert us to this rather interesting news:

Sony has launched their new Portable TV rental service for owners of the Sony PSP in Japan. The goal? To make the PSP more than just about gaming, videos and music. Through the use of WiFi support within the PSP, users can now purchase and download video content from Sony’s Portable TV network and store them onto their Memory Sticks.

Users will be able to download TV shows, music videos, trailers, and other video programming from Sony’s website at a cost of $1 - $3 dollars each. The catch? This is a rental service and not an ownership service. The content will be usable for 1 - 2 weeks and then the videos can no longer be viewed.

Yet again, Apple has kicked a snowball down the hill, and with rumors about their plans for 2006 in media, the snowballs only getting bigger.

Read complete article: Sony launches Portable TV network for PSP : MobileWhack.com

Lookup on Amazon: “Sony Playstation Portable IMPORT (PSP) Value Pack INCLUDES GRETZKY NHL Video Game” (Sony)

Technorati Tags: Sony, Sony PSP

PSP3D report the availability of PSP Firmware 2.6 for , of course, the Playstation Portable

Here are the new improvements as shown on the PSP:
-(RSS Channel) has been added as a feature under (Network).
-(Simplified Chinese(gb18030)) and (Traditional Chinese (big 5)) have been added as options to (Encoding) under (View) in the (Internet browser) menu bar.
-Characters may be indistinct in some cases when these encoding options are selected.
-(Volume ajustment) has been aded as a feature to (Location free player).
-You can now download video data that supports copyright protection using the (internet browser).
-WMA had been added as a codec that can be played under (Music)(This applies to music saved on the memory stick).

Note that you must adjust a system setting to enable playback of WMA format music data, a connection to the internet is required to adjust the setting.

Reports of streaming music through RSS feeds are coming in. More exploitation capabilities?

Streaming video has also now been reported.

Read source article: PSP Firmware 2.6 is OUT! - Home

Lookup on Amazon:

“Sony Playstation Portable IMPORT (PSP) Value Pack INCLUDES GRETZKY NHL Video Game” (Sony)

Technorati Tags: firmware upgrade, playstation portable, portable entertainment, portable game console, portable gaming, psp firmware, software, Sony, Sony PSP

Engadget have advised that Sony announced a PSP Giga Pack

Don’t get all excited here, this isn’t the PSP with the integrated hard drive we’ve all been lusting after. No, Sony’s Giga Pack is far less interesting—the PSP is now being bundled with a 1GB Memory Stick Pro Duo, a small stand, and the other usual suspects like USB cable, remote and earphones, slip-in case, etc. This does indeed make things easier (and cheaper) for those annoyed at having to spend a couple bucks in the regular PSP Value Pack bundle for the 32MB card when they’re just going to drop an extra $80 or $90 on the one gig card. Their listed price is ¥29,800 (about $250), which we’re hoping isn’t as much of a price cut as we’re going to see on the system for this coming holiday season—especially since it’s not really a price cut when they just bundle the same device with some more gear and then ask the same price. You’ll be able to get yours in Japan, Asia, Europe, and North America starting November.

Source: Sony announces PSP Giga Pack - Engadget - www.engadget.com

Lookup on Amazon:

“Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) Value Pack” (Sony Computer Entertainment)
(Note: This is not the Giga pack)

Technorati Tags: portable entertainment, portable gaming, Sony PSP

Another comparison of the video iPod vs. PSP, this time by Playlist:

It plays music. It displays photos. Oh, and you can watch video on it, too. No, it’s not the newly unveiled video iPod—this is the Sony PlayStation Portable. And while the PSP has a very different core function—it’s a portable video game console, first and foremost—the are enough similarities between it and the latest round of iPods to merit a side-by-side comparison.

Source: Playlist: Handhelds compared: video iPod vs. PSP

PSP World provide an interesting comparison of the video playback capabilities and potential of the video iPod and the PSP to determine if the latter is under threat. Interestingly although they acknowledge that the PSP is superior, they do have concerns.

The PSP is a wonderful game machine, and it is a joy to own — but if Sony doesn’t pull together and start taking advantage of the PSP’s multimedia capabilities, they are going to lose sales of PSPs to the video iPod. It’s just that simple.

Read more: Editorial: Video iPod a threat to PSP? | PSP World

Lookup on Amazon:

“Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) Value Pack” (Sony Computer Entertainment)

Technorati Tags: Apple, personal video player, portable video, Sony, Sony PSP, video ipod