Portable Gaming Revolution

I guess one of the games that I reported as having been available to download wasn’t released yet.

In case you haven’t been able to satisfy your crave for racing with either Rally Cross or Cool Boarders, another game has been added to the list. That game is Jet Moto and you should be able to find it now at the PlayStation Store. As usual, the game will set you back $5.99 and you still need a PS3 in order to download it.

Okay, okay… I know, this news is a little late for those of you who listen to the PSP Podcast, especially the one that Lloyd put out this evening, but I considered it newsworthy enough to post about anyways!

So yesterday, Konami announced that they will be releasing the next title in their Castlevania series of games, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP! The developers describe the game as a classic 2D adventure that takes place in a 3D world. This game is actually a remake of a Castlevania title that never made it’s way over to North America: Dracula X: Rondo of Blood. The UMD will actually contain the original Rondo of Blood as well… kind of a little added bonus goodness.

As if this weren’t reason enough to rush out and buy the game the second that it hits store shelves… Konami is also throwing in a port of the Castlevania game that got me started on the whole franchise in the first place: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night from the PSOne. I’m greatly looking forward to playing this game again, considering that my original copy mysteriously disappeared after being lent to my brother! Too bad that I have to wait until sometime this fall!

It’s kind of a good news/bad news kind of thing for Sony. First… the bad news: the sales figures for the PSP handheld system on it’s own were down 72% this holiday season (October to December) when compared to the same time period in 2005. That’s a massive drop from selling 6.22 million units to a paltry 1.76 million.

Now for the good news: even if the system itself isn’t selling as well as Sony would like, people are still buying games like mad! Their software numbers were up 24% during the holiday season over the previous year.

In response to that massive drop in PSP shipments for the quarter, Nobuyuki Oneda (Sony’s chief financial officer) said that Sony will not be giving on the platform, repeating past promises that a number of ideas are under consideration.

One of the ways that Sony has decided to try and get some momentum back for the PSP is to seriously push forward the multi-media capabilities of the system. They are looking at implementing all sorts of online goodies (think along the lines of downloadable content such as PSOne and PS2 games, movies and television shows) sometime in March, and are expected to go ahead with a massive partnership with a large ISP provider, such as Yahoo, to provide the service.

It was pretty much a competition issue with the Nintendo so we have to fight back by introducing more attractive applications [for the PSP] by using the network,” Oneda told the Financial Times.

I’m definitely pulling for Sony here, especially considering their financial outlook for this year: they are currently forecasting PSP hardware sales to be in the 9 million range, which is a considerable drop from the 14.06 million that were shipped in 2005.

I guess the biggest question here would be… are these new online services going to come at a cost or will they be provided for free??

Want more podcasts? All my shows have moved over to VGPodcasts.com! Current shows include the Nintendo Pulse, Touch of Gaming and XMBCast!

Hey guys, another week another PSP Podcast. This is a very news heavy episode for you guys, as there has been lots of news popping up lately.

In this episode we talk about Konami Gamers Day (rondo of the Blood), 3.03 downgrader, Rondo of the Blood, a pile of new games that have been announced, Exclusive downloads for EEE, Rondo of the Blood, Custom Firmware 3.03 OE-C, a new Wipeout title coming to the PSP and PS3, oh… and the announcement that Rondo of teh Blood is coming to the PSP! Should be an interesting year on the PSP!

Enjoy the podcast, and listen for the special announcement concerning all of the Bmashers.com podcasts.

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

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As always, the DS:Life podcast will be in it’s own feed, and downloadable from DSLifePodcast.com. Please visit that site to download/subscribe for automatic download.

Hey guys, we are back with Episode #10 for your listening pleasure. This is the first episode with our new format, well… sorta. We drop a big announcement that is sure to make many of you out there VERY happy.

In this episode we chat about Hotel Dusk, The DS’ strong sales, The software release list for the rest of the year, and talk about the new game Spectrobes that is sure to appeal to the Pokemon crowd. Oh yeah, there is also that huge announcement we make, can’t forget about that.

So until next time, enjoy your DS:Life.

Visit DSLifePodcast.com for downloads and subscription links.

Kotaku, is reporting that EA has confirmed that Spore will be coming to the Nintendo DS, and it should be in our WiFi loving hands some where around this time next year. Hopefully next week at DICE, Will Wright will let slip some juicy details about this super cool franchise coming to the Nintendo DS.

Midway has just announced that it is bring Mortal Kombat to the Nintendo DS. Midway’s only statement that described the game is “it [won't be] a direct port of a previous title, it [won't] be a brand-new game either.”

How cool will it be to use that stylus to perform some finishing move that sends your opponent into the next life in some unpleasant manner. This seems to be the series that will just not die. And some how Midway always manages to find some new aspect or some idea that breathes life into this franchise.

Maybe it will be Mortal Kombat the RPG!

You’ll have to excuse the title, but I didn’t want to pass up the chance to post a EEEEE title. With the release of Every Extend Extra in the UK BVG and Q Entertainment have launched the official European website of the game. If you are unfamiliar with this great puzzle title you can checkout the new Experience area. This allows you to sample the visuals from the 9 phases of the game, and get some great bite sized tips and explanations by hovering over the different elements on the screen. Very cool.

I’ve also been given access to some great exclusive EEE content including some screenshots and great desktop wallpapers which will be included below.

So what do all of you think of this game? I know that it’s been out since November in the US and will hit the UK soon. You can expect my full review soon if you are still on the fence about picking up this quirky puzzle game.

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You heard right folks. It is now possible to run homebrew on all firmware versions. The Noobz team found a “goofy” exploit a few short days ago and has now released a downgrader for firmware version 3.03 (the latest). The exploit takes advantage of a kernel mode hole found in the old GTA exploit that wasn’t patched properly. To downgrade you will need an unpatched copy of GTA: LCS, a PSP with firmware 3.03, the downgrader files, and a 1.50 EBOOT. Once downgraded, you will be able to run homebrew as you please or you can upgrade to a homebrew capable custom firmware.

If you don’t feel like you’re ready to make the downgrade leap, the Noobz team has also create HEN 3.03 which installs a temporary patch in the memory of the PSP and puts it in a 1.50-esque state allowing you to run homebrew almost as if you had firmware 1.50 installed. The only downside is that the patch goes away after the PSP is fully restarted, so you will have to run it each time you turn on your PSP. Note that the patch persists in sleep mode. You will still need an unpatched copy of of GTA: LCS for this.

To determine whether a copy of GTA: Liberty City Stories is patched or not, look at the firmware update included on the UMD. If it contains the 2.00 update, it is unpatched. Patched versions contain higher version updates.

Please note that while the Noobz team has tested this exploit to be highly successful, there is still a small chance of brickage as usual with all homebrew that modifies the firmware of the PSP. If you are ready to take that risk for the sake of homebrew, checkout PSP Updates for more details and the installation procedure.

As always, the WiiSpot podcast will be in it’s own feed, and downloadable from WiiSpot.com. Please visit that site to download/subscribe for automatic download.

Welcome to the WiiSpot Podcast Episode #1. We had a huge pile of feedback on our Genesis episode, and want to thank each and everyone of you for writing in.

This being the first REAL episode we decided to take the time to chat about all the games we have played on the Wii, and offer up our thoughts. Please excuse the crackling that appears throughout the episode. We had some recording difficulties, and decided that we would edit it the best we could instead of scrapping the recording.

I’ve received numerous questions from people asking how they can subscribe to this podcast. While we aren’t in iTunes yet, you can always subscribe directly via the following url: http://wiispot.com/podcastfeed/

Catch you guys soon in episode #2!

Visit WiiSpot.com for downloads and subscription links.

It’s no secret that PSP-specific titles haven’t been as frequently released as most gamers would like… it seems that what a lot of publishers are tending to do is re-vamp games, usually from the PS2, to play on the handheld system. Well… part of that is about to change… and not the part about us getting a whole whack more exclusive titles, either!

It turns out that we’re going to be getting titles that were originally released for GBA, DS, XBox, Wii and even PC. We should be seeing games like Asphalt Urban GT 2 (originally from DS), Painkiller: Hell Wars and Xyanide (both from XBox), Gish (from PC), and there’s even a Wii connection here with Alien Syndrome.

I mean, I guess it’s a good thing that there are going to be a bunch of games coming our way… but why all the ports?? Developers should be spending more time creating brand new games for the PSP instead of taking the cheap way out!

What are your thoughts on these ports?

Given all the rumors that have been wildly circulating around the whole Guitar Hero franchise in the past couple of weeks (i.e. the ’80′s edition Guitar Hero in the works, that Harmonix wouldn’t be working on the eventual Guitar Hero III and that the names Guitar Villain and Drum Villain had been trademarked as possible game titles)… it comes as no surprise that there is some speculation that there may be a title in the series coming to a handheld system near you at some point in the future.

(concerning the DS and PSP) We don’t want to speculate at this point, though we can definitely say we are exploring every option there is, as we have an incredible fanbase which still has tons of room for expansion. The mobile and handheld market is continuing to boom, and the opportunity for growth remains incredibly strong, though whether or not this market is a truly viable option for ‘Guitar Hero’ remains to be seen.” – Red Octane’s Dusty Welch

I’m not too sure how this would work… considering that the whole point behind the game is to have the actual guitar contoller, but it’s a pretty neat idea! Personally, I’m a huge fan of both Guitar Hero games and would love to see more of the same… even an ’80′s edition!