Portable Gaming Revolution

Silver Platter – Indie UMD Label

Silver Platter has announced that they have created the first UMD label with 3 UMD’s due out in January.

The DC Video: One of the best skate films of all time features a killer soundtrack and Danny Way’s epic mega-ramp session. In addition, we include bonus features of Danny’s record (and ankle) breaking 80ft jumps over the Great Wall of China. Also featuring Steve Williams, Colin McKay and Rob Dyrdek.

Teddybear Crisis: The new ski film by Henrick Rostrup and Kris Ostness. Watch 3 of the best newschool skiers in the world hit some of the biggest jumps you’ve ever seen, including the 90ft. Pyramid Gap and the 120ft Chad’s Gap. Perennial X-Games medalist Tanner Hall, Jon Olson, SImon Dumont and many more.

The Community Project: Features an impressive list of riders, headlined by Travis Rice, Shaun White and Andy Finch, this film takes the viewer on an exciting journey through some of the world’s most desirable winter locations. Complete with rails backcountry jumps and innovative terrain park sessions.

Silver Platter says that they intentionally seek out content that works well for the UMD format and plan to release new UMD’s soon including Cartoons, Auto, Comedy, Health and more.

Check the site out here.

I myself and a big fan of Danny Way so I will be checking out The DC Video when that comes out.

Thanks to Dave for the E-Mail!

Max Console has put the three main PSP to TV adapters to the test and posted the results in a great article.

Many a consumer will have received a PSP from Santa this year, it is inevitable there will be a rise in the demand for complimentary peripheral products such as adapters that put the PSP on tv screens. There are now three solutions on the market (Well 2 I would consider as a solution really) and we have been shocked by the unethical behavior and false advertising that has been seen from two of these 3 manufacturers. This editorial will take a look at all three, it is full of opinion and welcomes a nice debate ;).

So what were the results?

In our eyes the PSPonTV is the only product with the LEAST product flaws, yes we can all make jokes about it being a chin rest, or its semmingly simple concept and such – but it does its job very well and due to its lightweight and good distribution – the pyramid shape on the PSP is only a minor annoyance, one which isn’t felt at all when playing UMD movies or your media files. We were wrong on our initial speculation as to how such a concept would work.

If you are interested in getting something like this setup, I highly recommend reading this entire article. It is full of great information and is very througouth (hence the length).

Florian has informed us that he has released the m3u2rss PHP Script which allows you to convert your M3U playlists into RSS-feeds for the PSP. He says the big advantage to his version is that you don’t have to move your MP3-files.

The m3u2rss PHP script is able to make all your MP3-files available for the PSP as an RSS-Feed. You need a PC with a Webserver and PHP (eg. Apache) installed. Additionally your MP3-files have to be organized in one or multiple playlists in the “M3U” format (every Player can create that).

The download and instructions can be found here (Run it through babelfish for an English version).

Full Metal Alchemist The Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa is set to be released in Japan on January 25 on UMD and DVD. There will be two DVD versions, a standard one and a special edition.

The 3 Disc Special Edition DVD will contain the following features:

- Disc 1: feature film (Dolby 5.1 and 2.0)
- Disc 2: Group cast interview and making of the show
- Disc 3: Audio commentary, theater and TV trailers
- Full Metal Alchemist the Movie Illustration Collection
- The Conqueror of Shambala Guide Book

The Special Edition retails at 8,925 Yen (Approx $75 US) while the standard DVD and UMD retails at 3,990 Yen (Approx $34 US). No word on a North American release yet, but given the popularity of the series due to its Adult Swim run, I do not doubt it will make its way over here sometime.

Source: Active Anime

Warner Home Video has 6 new UMD’s on the way in three separate releases for 2006.

Feb. 7th will see the release of Batman and Training Day. Feb 14th will bring us Swordfish and Romeo Must Die and finally we will have Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and The Goonies on March 7th. Each title will be MSRP at $19.98 (US)

Source: Video Business Online

PSPUpdates has posted a link to an interesting new device. A company called Ever-E has released a Bluetooth Adapter for the PSP.

This dongle allows the PSP transmit digital audio wirelessly to any compatible Bluetooth Stereo headphones. It is also suitable for general audio player by using 3.5mm (1/8 inch) stereo audio extension.

Technical Specifications:

Frequency : 2.402~2.480GHZ
Bluetooth 1.2, up to 10 meters
GFSK(Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying)
Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)
3.5mm (1/8 inch) stereo audio plug.
3.5mm (1/8 inch) stereo audio extention to connect with general audio play
Sensitivity : < 0.1% BER at -80 dBm
RF Output Power : -6dBm to 4dBm
Listening time : more than 5 hours
Power consumption: around 30 mAh
Battery : 3.7V 200mA Rechargeable Li-Polymer
Power: input AC 100-240V, output DC 5v 500MA-1A, mini USB plug
Operating temperature : -10C to +55C
Dimensions: 126mm x30mm x20mm
Weight: 20 gram (including battery)
suitable for PSP, MP3, Hi-Fi, CD, TV, computer

While this looks to be a pretty cool product, I wonder why no price is listed. Hopefully it is affordable and works as advertised.

DeepDiscountDVD is currently having a great sale on UMD’s with over 65 titles to choose from.

If you want to stock up on UMD’s, there are some great choices on there.

PSP Hacking 101 has released the newest episode of their video cast. The Torrent and Direct Downloads are coming soon, but if you have subscribed to the feed, it is already available.

Episode IX covers the following topics:

*Connecting a PSP to an Xbox 360
* IrDA File Transfer http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewtopic.php?t=2568
* How to Replace the Face Plate
* Install of PSP2TV: (Part one F&*#!ng up your PSP)

For those who do not wish to wait for the direct download, you can download it here.

Overall it is not their best episode but it is interesting seeing how much of a pain replacing the face plate can be.

Game Infowire has posted 23 new screenshots of Mega Man Maverick Hunter X.

Check them out here.

Considering news has been slow due to the holidays, I thought you all might enjoy this video of the destruction of a PSP.

Similar in nature to the Smash my XBox and Smash my iPod videos but with better music and explosions!

Here is a video of someone installing PSP 2 TV.

Looks like a major pain to me and I personally wouldn’t be doing it. Still cool to see a PSP dismantled though.

Fanjita has released the newest version of his immensely popular EBOOT Loader (Version 0.9).

Here is a list of the added features in this new release:

- Added wifi support! Now the loader auto-detects if the wifi libraries are loaded (via the wifi load method above) and offers them to homebrew for use.
- Added call to application exit callback, to allow RIN etc. to save state when L+R+START reset is used.
- Added memory reset after running the menu. This should make things much less sensitive to whatever has been run before them. Can be turned off in config.
- Added memory reset on exit – this might make it easier to restart the loader.
- Added config option to fake success code from unknown functions.
- Added clock-speed option to the config file, to allow automatic overclocking / underclocking of applications.

More info in the included readme.

Download it here