Portable Gaming Revolution

We had a hunch that it was coming due to the trademarks filed earlier this year, but today Rockstar has confirmed that Vice City Stories will be making it to the PSP on October 17th, 2006! An announcement and release date, that’s allmost unheard of. Here is the Press release:

New York, NY – May 10, 2006 – Rockstar Games, the universally-renowned publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), is proud to announce Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. Developed by Rockstar Leeds in conjunction with series creators Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories will be available exclusively on the PSP system in North America on October 17th, 2006 and Europe on October 20th, 2006.

“The success of Liberty City Stories on the PSP system was nothing short of spectacular,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games and Executive Producer. “The incredible PSP system technology allowed us to do things we never thought possible on a handheld system and we are excited to once again give our audience a fresh experience in one of their favorite locales in the Grand Theft Auto series, Vice City. With Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories we look to once again smash expectations of portable gaming, bringing an all new story and exciting new gameplay elements to this classic setting.”

“Our collaboration with Rockstar Leeds has been a tremendous experience,” said Leslie Benzies, President of Rockstar North. “Together we have been able to create uncompromising experiences on the PSP system that not only stay true to our initial vision for the series but that surpasses our own goals of what could be done on a handheld. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories will thrill longtime fans and excite new PSP system gamers like never before.”

“We are proud of what we were able to achieve with Rockstar North on Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories,” said Gordon Hall, President of Rockstar Leeds. “By staying true to the high standards of the series and surpassing fans’ expectations for a Grand Theft Auto title on a portable machine we feel confident that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories will redefine what handheld gaming is capable of with the most intense PSP system experience yet.”

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is a new game in the Grand Theft Auto series with an entirely new storyline, new missions and gameplay that brings an unprecedented experience to mobile gaming. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories features the interactive, open environment of Vice City with professional voice talent, a diverse soundtrack and high production values that have become trademarks of this landmark series.

GameSpot has posted some new info on the much anticipated Metal Gear Solid game for PSP. Today, Kojima Productions revealed Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. This Metal Gear game won’t be using a card based system like Acid does. Instead, it will be using the classic real time neck snapping gameplay Metal Gear Solid has become famous for.

Portable Ops looks like it’ll play just like the console Metal Gear Solid titles, which is exactly what fans have been waiting for. What’s even better is, this game is considered part of the core Metal Gear Solid timeline as defined by Hideo Kojima, so it counts as an installment in the saga of Solid Snake. The game is set in 1970, six years after Snake Eater, and rejoins Naked Snake (nee Big Boss) now that’s split away from the FOX unit. Big Boss is now being charged with treason, and you’ll have to fight your way through any number of heavily guarded compounds and take out a number of renegade FOX agents to prove your innocence.

At the pre-E3 conference yesterday Sony has announced that it is bringing it’s Greatest Hits program to the North American market. Looks like you’ll soon be able to pick up a copy of Hot Shots Golf Open Tee, WipeOut Pure, Twisted Metal, ATV Offroad Fury and Ape Escape. Unfortunately Sony didn’t announce the pricepoint for these titles, but I’m assuming that they will be priced in line with the PS2 greatest hits games.

It’s nice to see Sony bringing this program to North America, as it’s a great way to get some good cheap games that you might as missed.

The PS1 emulator in action:

SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2:

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII:

Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters:

Joystiq has posted an interesting picture for us all to look at. It’s a picture of a “Zoom Shop” they found at an airport. Apparently, its a vending machine that offers some some really neat gadgets including iPods, accessories, Nintendo Game Boys Advance SP’s, and Sony PSP’s. The PSP is sold at $249.99 so there isn’t really any advantage to buying it through a Zoom Shop other than convenience, but it is kind of interesting to see.

We have a great episode of the Rewind for you guys this week. There is a lot of news and homebrew releases to report on this week for a change. As a special treat Cara sits in for the episode, enjoy!

Call our voicemail line and leave us a comment! 1-206-326-1221

If you would like to give it a listen you can either download it [directly [mp3 26min 11mb], or subscribe to the podcast RSS feed in your favorite aggregator.

Standard Podcast Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Warner Bros has announced that they have signed on some big name voice talent for the upcoming Justice League Heroes for the PS2, XBox and PSP.

Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Blade II, Justice League TV series) as Batman
Michael Jai White (Spawn, Spawn: The Animation) as Green Lantern
Crispin Freeman (Viewtiful Joe, Kingdom Hearts II) as Superman
Courtenay Taylor (God of War, Call of Duty 2: Big Red One) as Wonder Woman
Chris Edgerly (Drawn Together, Chicken Little) as The Flash
Kari Wahlgren (The Wild, Steamboy) as Zatanna
Daniel Riordan (Transformers, Star Trek: Enterprise) as Martian Manhunter
Peter Jessop (Spawn: The Animation) as Brainiac
Carlos Alazraqui (Reno 911, Duck Dodgers) as The Key

Justice League Heroes is due out in Fall 2006 and you can find out all about it here

Atari has announced that they will be bringing Test Drive Unlimited to both the PSP and PS2 this fall. Test Drive Unlimited will feature 70 Supercars, server-based online play, upgradable cars and downloadable content. They also promise that the PSP version will take full advantage of the PSP’s online capabilities.

Here is the full press release:

Eden Games’ Hawaiian Automotive Opulence Scheduled for Autumn Release on All Platforms

LYON, FRANCE – 5 May 2006 – Atari today announced that the jet-set automotive luxury of Test Drive Unlimited is coming to Sony’s PlayStation®2 and PlayStation® Portable consoles in addition to the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC, and all platforms are scheduled for release in Autumn 2006. Packed with the most desirable vehicles on the planet, one thousand plus miles of open Hawaiian roads, a challenging single player game and a wealth of online features, Test Drive Unlimited is racing reinvented.

Currently in development by Atari’s Melbourne House studio, the versions of Test Drive Unlimited for PS2® and PSP™ retain most of the core gameplay features of the Xbox 360 and PC games, including seemingly endless miles of streaming Hawaiian roads, server-based online play, over 70 luxury supercars rendered in painstaking detail, solo challenges, player-created races, car upgrades and downloadable content. The version for PSP is one of the first ever genuinely online games for the console, making impressive use of Wireless and stepping way beyond simple LAN gaming. In addition, enhancements have been made to the single player game with an Arcade Race mode for snack-sized play.

“Test Drive Unlimited represents the evolution of racing games, and to bring all of this to PS2 and PSP alongside Xbox 360 and PC is an incredible achievement,” said Cyril Voiron, Marketing Director, Atari Europe. “For Melbourne House to put the streaming open roads of Oahu with full online play into the hands of PSP gamers is no mean feat. This game, much like the incredible vehicles featured in it, will turn heads.”

The action in Test Drive Unlimited takes place on the open roads spanning the Hawaiian island of Oahu. In solo mode, players complete challenges and pit their wits against realistic AI opponents to gain points, unlock further tests of their skill and open up more of Oahu’s diverse tropical road system. With the massive online component, which allows racers across the globe to challenge others in the virtual paradise of the game’s persistent online racing world, Test Drive Unlimited offers one of the most comprehensive video game racing experiences to date.

The Xbox 360 and PC versions of Test Drive Unlimited will also be released in autumn in order to fine tune the gameplay and vehicle handling, and to ensure the enormous technical demands of implementing the game’s original concept and technology will be met in full. For regularly updated information, screens and trailers please visit www.testdriveunlimited.com.

Sony has announced the games it will be showing at this years E3 for the PS2 and PSP. However, we will have to wait until E3 starts to hear about PS3.

PSP
Gangs of London
Killzone: Liberation
Lemmings
Loco Roco
NBA ’07
Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2
World Tour Soccer ’06

PS2
ATV: Offroad Fury 4
God of War II
NBA ’07
Rogue Galaxy
SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs Combined Assault

Looks to be a pretty good E3 for both the PSP and PS2. I for one am looking forward to Loco Roco, God of War II and Rogue Galaxy. How about you all?

Here are the UMD and PSP Game releases for the week of May 7th to May 13th

Games
NBA Ballers: Rebound

UMD Movies
Family Guy: The Freakin Sweet Collection
X-Men
X-2: X-Men United
Grandma’s Boy

As you can see, there is not much in the way of games this week but it is a decent movie week. Also not much in either department next week.

However, that all changes in two weeks with the release of number of games such as Field Commander and Lemmings.

GamesAreFun.com reports that Hideo Kojima has announced plans for bring the Metal Gear Solid universe to the PSP on his podcast. The game is scheduled for a Fall 2007 launch date and won’t be a spin-off title like Acid is. This game will be part of the Solid series and won’t be using Acid’s card based gameplay.

According to a translation done by members of GAF, the game will be take place after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3. The story will cover how Big Boss and how he founded Foxhound. Although the game won’t be using Acid’s card system, it won’t be using Solid’s system either. The player will have to control troops and if one of them dies, he will be dead for the rest of the game. At the beginning of battles, the player will have the chance to “bet” his troops. If you decide to surrender before the end of the battle, you will not losing any of your troops. The consequences for losing are still unknown at the moment. Kojima also said that the graphic quality will be on par with its PS2 cousins and that it feature multiplayer wifi. Whether infrastructure play will be available is unknown as well.

I can’t believe I missed this release. An update to Bookr, my favorite homebrew of all time, was released last month. This update brings loads of new features that I’ve been begging for and fixes a few bugs. The PDF rendering is a lot faster and the scrolling is much more smooth. I’m truly excited about this release.

New features:

• New toolbar interface, use the SELECT key to enable it.
• New bookmark system.
• Support for non-DRM PalmDoc/Mobipocket files (PDB/PRC extension.)
• Text-only support for basic HTML files.
• Screen rotation.
• New zoom options for PDF files.
• CPU and bus speed options.
• Option to disable page numbering labels.
• Option to invert PDF colors and to change out of bounds margin color.
• Added display of battery charge and clock to menu and toolbar.
• Fixed last folder viewing in the filechooser.
• Fixed centering in both PDF rendering modes.

Download Bookr 0.7.0 for 1.50
Download Bookr 0.7.0 for 1.00