Nvidia Working On New Sony Product

- Engadget tell us that Nvidia are working on a GPU for a new Sony product that is not the PS3.
- So what is it? A PSP2? A cell phone? A DVD player? Who knows.
- I'll guess its Sony's version of a handheld PC.

Fate Of UMD Mixed

- Future Publishing in the UK are preparing a new magazine, "Official PSP Guidebook" which goes on sale 27th April.
- What makes this special is that it will include a cover mounted UMD with new demos.
- Meanwhile, Wal-Mart are expected to drop UMD movies from their shelves after movie studios cut back on production last month.
- Engadget reports on that very story. Joystiq wonders if this bodes well for Blu-Ray.

News From Sony Keynote At GDC

- Having returned from GDC we can finally update you with what we learned.
- "PlayStation Network Platform" is just an internal name, not the name consumers will be seeing.
- There will be free online multiplayer. So what will the premium subscription be for?
- Here are Joystiq's notes.
- GamesIndustry.biz tells us that Sony intend to allow PS3 owners to download some PSone and PS2 titles to their PS3 hard drives.
- They are also allowing PSP owners to play PSone titles from Memory Sticks.
- Not a bad feature to have when Nintendo are improving their library of downloadable titles for the Revolution all the time.

New PSP Hardware From Sony

- Sony have let information leak about some of the accessories they are releasing for the PSP, and we have listed some links below.
- Email and GPS
- Keyboard and Cellphone
- More on the Keyboard and Cellphone patents
- EyeToy, GPS and boot from MS Pro Duo
- Downloading original PlayStation one titles to a Memory Stick should be a great boost to the PSP library. They EyeToy could be fun too.
- The GPS and cellphone addons could be just plain cool.
- But after Logic3 killed off their keyboard it is a bit shady of Sony to start releasing their own.

Homebrew On v2.00 - v2.60 PSPs

- Got a PSP with a firmware v2.00 or above? Still can't get homebrew working? Here is a guide to help.

Griffin Accessories

- Griffin, famous for their third party iPod accessories, are putting some new PSP products on the market.
- $50 gets you an "iFM PSP Radio Tuner with Remote" or an "iTrip PSP Radio Transmitter" while a "SmartShare PSP Headphone Splitter" is just $15.

Homebrew Links

- Mario Bros for v2.60 PSPs
- PSP Mod v1.00 Media Player
- Modified version with more features
- And even more!
- Quake 2
- Custom Firmware based on v1.50 with Media Features (Load with MPH's Firmware launcher.)

Google WiFi and Sony PSP

- Old news, but Google and Sony have been talking about how Google's WiFi service in San Francisco can best serve the PSP.

Bluetooth Headphone Adaptor

- Check out this Bluetooth adaptor for the PSP from Bluetake.
- The "i-PHONO mini Bluetooth Stereo Pod Transmitter" clips onto the bottom of your PSP and transmits stereo sound wirelessly to your Bluetooth headphones, (which they also sell.)
- No price or date yet.

Congas

- Remember that we mentioned some of our conga lines have a 90 day limit now? Well FreePay who run those free gift sites has let us know why.
- If you don't want to read the below, just be safe in the knowledge that it does not affect most users since they get their gifts really quickly. Most in around 6 weeks.
- So sign up to some of our congas now and score a Free PlayStation 3, Free Sony PSP, Free Xbox 360 and a Free iPod Nano.
- There are more options if you follow the links on the sidebar to the left.

"We instituted the 90-day change so that our operations would work in tandem with the way people actually use our sites. The bottom line is: You move fast and we want to do the same.

We did a survey and found that 93 percent of our users complete their offers within 90 days of opening their account - and a sizable majority of those users (about two-thirds) actually complete their offers within six weeks or less.

It seems that if you're using a Gratis site to score a free iPod, or flatscreen or PlayStation 3 or whatever - there are 15 offers in all, check out freepay.com to see them all - you want to get the whole thing wrapped up pretty quickly - and that's fine with us.

Another reason we've made the 90-day change is that, without having an "end date" for accounts it was impossible for us to figure out where we were financially or to make accurate plans about ordering new goods to ship to our users. Sure, only about seven percent of our users had these never-ending (but never completed) accounts, but how many were going to finish the process and get their free item? None?, 10 percent?, 50 percent? More? Less? You get the picture. Too many loose ends and none of them actually doing anyone any good. So we made the switch to a 90-day structure.

However, we wanted to make the change in a totally fair and aboveboard way. Rather than instituting some kind of retroactive approach - i.e., "Hey there, wanted to let you know your account has been cancelled!" - we decided to set the clock evenly for everyone.

As of March 1, 2006, and going forward, all accounts need to be completed within 90 days of being opened. If you have an older account, whether it was started a couple of months ago or several years ago, you have until June 1, 2006 (i.e., 90 days on from March 1) to complete your account. So far, no one seems to mind, as (like we said) the vast majority of our users complete their offers within 60 or so days, sometimes less. If you're one of the few people who is disappointed by the change, then we're sorry, but we hope you now see why the change needed to happen."

Sony's PSP Media Manager

- Joystiq sits down with Sony's PSP Media Manager software and writes a review.
- The results are not good, according to them.
- The software costs $20 to download or $30 from a store, (with a USB cable and some free songs.)
- It also requires firmware v2.00 to be installed on the PSP to use their video codec.
- You may want to look elsewhere for your PSP media converting. There are plenty of third party apps on the Internet.

Boot From Memory Stick Officially

- IGN have also noted the "E-Distribution" features of the PSP just announced.
- PSP owners will soon be able to boot software directly from Memory Sticks without the use of homebrew hacks.
- This will first be used to play downloaded PlayStation 1 games.
- Just wait until this baby gets hacked! New firmware updates for all!

New PSP Prices Worldwide

- IGN have said the PSP will be priced at $199 in the US on 22nd March.
- Europe will get a 199 Euro price point too.
- Canada will get it for $229.99 CND.
- This isn't so much of a price drop, though; more of a re-release. Japan got a basic package at launch (PSP, AC adaptor and battery only,) while the rest of the world had to buy the Value Pack, (carrying case, wrist strap, memory stick etc.) All that is happening is that the basic pack is now being sold in other territories.
- However, lucky Japan will get "a new white PSP SKU... starting April 15th... for 19800 Yen (~$168 US)."

PlayStation Business Briefing 2006 Summary

- Joystiq has a great summary post on all the news from the PlayStation Business Briefing today.
- Details on the PS3 launch, new PSP price, PS2 staying at $150, online plans and more.

More Weird PSP Advertisements

- Take a look at these new PSP advertisements.
- They are appearing around the UK at train stations, and like previous PSP ads, seem a little odd.
- What do you think?

Me & My Katamari

- Joystiq says that Namco have confirmed that "Me & My Katamari" has gone gold and will be out for your PSP on 21st March.
- That looks like the end of the Katamari series though, so you better get out and enjoy it!

Flash Player And Halo Mod For Iris

- Check out some great images over at MAKE, a PSP Flash Player from PSP Hacks

"The current version supports most action script through version 7 and runs on 1.5 only. We are currently testing for 2.x PSPs and will announce when it is working on 2.x firmwares. If someone gets it working, be sure to let us know."

- Also out now is an initial release of a Halo Mod for popular multiplayer game Iris.

Conga Changes

- Freepay, who run some of the offer sites for our congas, have changed their terms and conditions as of yesterday.
- You now have to complete all requirements within 90 days of signing up.
- That should mean our congas start moving faster than ever before, so it is a great time to sign up.
- Lines affected are:

Free PS3
Free PSP
Free Xbox 360
Free iPod Nano

- Conga pages are here:

Free PlayStation 3
Free PlayStation Portable
Free Xbox 360
Free iPod Nano

Another New Site!

- PS2-Files.com now joins in on the fun, for those still in the "current-gen."