Is the PSP dead? No, screams Cecil and Kain from the world of Dragoons and Paladins! Final Fantasy IV was a major milestone in JRPGs, because it revived the Final Fantasy franchise. The series was becoming stagnant due to the constant light vs. dark theme. FFIV changed the formula by introducing new plot elements to the series which include; constant squabbling, heartbreak, betrayal, and scariest of all……..death. Yes, not everyone makes it to the end of the rainbow. Oops, should i have put in the **Spoiler Alert** tag for a 20 year old game?

Click on the jump to see some screentshots and the trailer.

FINAL FANTASY IV: COMPLETE COLLECTION will include:

• Full game of Final Fantasy IV
• 2009 sequel Final Fantasy IV: The Years After

Fans of the series will be excited. The story still holds up by today’s standards, which are lower  due to the sludge of crappy JRPGs. Cecil and Kain will keep your attention through their tear inducing journey. Don’t be intimidated by the 2D graphics. The battle system is top-notch, and the characters will draw you in with their moral ambiguity.

Today, at a press event in Tokyo, Sony announced its next portable device–and guess what? It ain’t no phone.

The company name for the device is the NGP (Next Generation Portable). Basically, here’s what the device has under the hood–or screen as reported on Playstation.com:

5 inch OLED multi-touch front display
Multitouch pad on the rear
Dual analog sticks
2 cameras (front/rear)
Motion sensitivity: 3 sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer, electronic compass
Wi-Fi, BlueTooth, and 3G network connectivity
PSN, LiveArea, Near, Activity (social gaming functions), Trophy Support

The system will not be UMD based. Instead games will ship on dedicated flash cards. You’ll also be able to play all your PSP titles (downloadable ones), minis, PS1 Classics, digital comics, and video content from PSN.

Games for NGP either shown or discussed at the presser:

Killzone
Uncharted
WipeOut
LittleBigPlanet
Call of Duty
Resistance
Hot Shots Golf
Reality Fighters
Gravity Daze
Hustle Kings

There is a more complete official writeup including full list of games shown/discussed as well as tech specs on Playstation.com. I also found a GameSpot YouTube video showing Uncharted running on NGP. I’m sure its an early build, but sure did look a hell of a lot like Uncharted 2 on PS3 graphically. From the features and specs, this may very well be a “pocket PS3”.

No info was given on price, battery life, or an exact release date. You can bet that this will be shown prominently at E3 this year (if not sooner).

My Sony fanboy-ism is pretty known on this site, but I do have a concern. That being, I don’t necessarily want to play portable versions of games that I already have on PS3. The appealing thing about Nintendo’s portable systems has been that there are a lot of gaming experiences that you can only get on DS. It would be nice if at least some of these familiar franchise names presented the NGP player with truly differing gaming experiences than you get from their home console counterparts. I’m not saying turn Uncharted into a 1st person shooter, but I hope that with some creativity and finesse developers will be able to make me WANT to buy Killzone or Uncharted for the PS3, AND for the NGP as well.

That being said, I think the tech is hot, and it looks geek sexy. I don’t have much use for a portable system, but yeah–I’m getting one.

Just some FYI, just in case you’ve been wondering. For the complete list check out, the Playstation Blog.

Click on the jump to see the list!

Updates

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords PSP Temporary Price Drop (now $7.99)

Cube Temporary Sale (now $4.99)

Dead Head Fred Temporary Price Drop (now $7.99)

PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient Temporary Sale (now $4.99)

PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient 2 Temporary Price Drop (now $7.99)

WTF: Work Time Fun Temporary Sale (now $4.99)

Prinny: Can I Really be the Hero? Temporary Sale (now $9.99)

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! Temporary Sale (now $9.99)

TV Show King Permanent Price Drop (now $7.99)

PSone Classics: PS3/PSP

Jumping Flash! 2 ($5.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 269 MB

Um Jammer Lammy ($5.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 512 MB

Nuclear Strike ($5.99)
ESRB Rated T
File size: 476 MB

Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko ($5.99)
ESRB Rated T
File size: 259 MB

Game Demos (free)

Brutal Legend Demo
ESRB Rated M
File size: 1.58 GB

Need For Speed Shift Demo
ESRB Rated E
File size: 854 MB

The game that attracted the masses to the PSP, will now give the system much needed life-support. Grand Turismo PSP is now slated to skid it’s way on to UMD and Digital Download on October 1, courtesy of the Playstation Blog. The 5 years wait is totally worth it after taking a gander at the nicest visuals to grace a handheld. With the 4 player ad-hoc mode, you can compete against 3 other people. We know the real luxury is sitting on the porch, nursing a beer, while you race that $700,000 Ferrari Enzo into the sunset.

Hit the jump for a video of the game running on the newly released PSP Go.

Here’s an actual video of Grand Turismo running on the PSP Go.

The E3 leakage keeps on rolling with official photos, specs, and games of Sony’s PSP Go–courtesy of Playstation LifeStyle.net, and Eurogamer. Rumors of the UMD being history are correct, as games will be downloaded only. Here’s what the specs are so far:

3.8″ LCD screen


Lighter weight than previous gen PSP by 43%


16GB Flash Memory


Memory Stick Micro Support


Blue Tooth support


Slide-out digital controls


Remote Play with PS3

According to the article, Gran Turismo PSP, LittleBigPlanet PSP, Metal Gear Solid, and Jak & Daxter will be hitting to Go at some point. The PSP-3000 has been selling well north of 100,000 units per months over past 3 months of NPD data. The unit has also been selling rather well in Japan over the past couple months too. I feel sorry for those folks. If they have resisted the temptation of easy PSP piracy, they won’t be able to play their UMD based games on the Go. Will they have to re-purchase their games from PSN if they trade up to a Go? I’m sure Sony will have answers at E3, but I’d like to see them set up a voucher system of some sort to take the sting off of purchasing Chains of Olympus for a second time.

EA confirmed today that the sequel for Army of Two is in the works. For some fun 2 player co-op action, Army of Two is the best. Can’t wait for this one. D1C for Tilt and me.

Those of us with PSPs have been in a gaming dry-spell for some time…Unless you’ve got a hacked one. Anyway, Vogster Entertainment is looking add something new to the stagnant PSP lineup with Unbound Saga.

Based on the comic series of the same name, players assume the role of Rick Ajax, who does battle within the pages of the comic at the whim of the artist, called the “creator”. I’ve never read the comic, but the game looks interesting. Basically its Final Fight and Comix Zone mashed together. Check out the GameTrailers video from the New York Comic Con.

America’s favorite Open-a-can of Whoop ___ on a Zombie, male female cop duo are bringing the T-Virus to a PSP near you this December. Resident Evil:Degeneration, the standalone CG movie, pits hordes of mutant zombies against Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. Both, coincidentally currently work as agents for different organizations. Claire is a special agent for bioterrorist/chemical attack prevention company. Leon, former Rookie Cop in RE2, is a super duper top secret government operative. Both are trying to stop an outbreak of the T-virus in two different locales. Leon is sent to stop a terrorists who threatens to release the T-virus out if his demands aren’t met. Claire is sent to an airport where an incident happens involving an infected. If the names Albert Wesker and Umbrella makes your toes twinkle, then this movie should top your holiday list! For more details read the PSP Fanboy article.

CVG has posted the details regarding Sony’s upcoming firmware update to the PSP, which were pulled from the Playstation blog. Version 5.0 will include a sleep timer, access to the PSN Store via your existing PS3 wallet and account info via wi-fi, and a re-make of the XMB.

I think that is all well and good, but the custom firmware development community has been implementing features like sleep timers and more for years. On my PSP, I have the ability to backup and load my games from the memory stick to save wear and tear on the UMD drive. I’ve had access to a limitless supply of custom XMB modifications, the ability to program my own games, processor over-clocking, and battery life saving functions for some time now. The homebrew community has been running rings around what Sony has been doing on the PSP.

Most folks relate “homebrew” with piracy. It’s true that piracy is a problem on the PSP (as it is with any gaming device), but its much deeper than that. Hopefully, Sony will pull a page or two from the homebrew community and really unlock the abilities of the PSP.

Our fast paced media rushes too quickly in pronouncing a format dead. UMD dead, really? What does it mean when the chimes declare a format dead? The studios have stopped production of new UMD movies. Maybe my hearing needs to be checked, because I heard, DEAL not DEAD. Well, here’s the deal. Amazon is offering a two UMD’s for the price of one. Click on the Amazon link to make your selections. This deal has been going on for over a month so act quickly. Thanks to chuckdogg80 for posting that. Also head over to the “What’s the Deal” thread in our forums to find the deal on all of the deals. I have been enjoying Lords of Dogtown (UMD) that I picked up for $1.99 at EB Games.

The unstoppable train of FFXIII games is full steam ahead. With the announcement of FFXIII for the Xbox 360, Square-Enix has secured the most fabled RPG series on the current gen systems. Once hailed as a Mobile game, Final Fantasy XIII Agito is now headed to the PSP. Square announced the news at the yearly conference codenamed, DKS3713, a private party that gave fans special access to upcoming Square-Enix games. Stay tuned for more announcements.

It’s finally here. The Skype compatible headset for the PSP went on sale yesterday. It was supposed to release last month but kept getting pushed back in true Sony fashion. Something other than the release date also changed. Now, instead of it being $20, it is $30. It looks pretty cool but since I don’t have a slim PSP, I wont be getting this accessory.

Buy.com has it in stock for 24.99 and free shipping so if you are going to buy it, that is the place to look.

So much for the rumor that GTA IV was going to hurt movie sales. It seems that the Iron Man movie has pulled in more than 100 million in ticket sales in the US in its first weekend alone. I must admit that our 16 dollars were part of that 100 mil and I loved the movie. The movie got over 200 million in sales worldwide. It came in second in opening weekend sales for non sequels beaten only by Spider Man which had 114 million in sales its first weekend. Iron Man is 10th on the all time opening weekend sales list. This all leads to my question, have any of you played the Iron Man game? If so I would like to know because I am tempted to pick it up. I know movie based games usually suck, but this one is getting average reviews. Some people say its good while other say it sucks so I want our listeners opinions. If everyone is still playing GTA IV I will understand but I was curious if anyone had picked this up yet.

*****Update*****.
Ok so the link I had up here earlier was not the one it was supposed to be. This is the correct link for where the info came from. I really don’t know where that other link came from. Sorry.

The more I read and watch about this game, the more I want it now. I have been on a big Star Wars kick recently and I am becoming enamored with all things Star Wars. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed hits store shelves on September 16th and will be available on PS3, Xbox 360 and the Wii. Some people I know who aren’t console gamers are thinking about buying the Wii for this game just because it will be the first time that you get to properly have a light saber duel. I am anxious to see how it turns out on the Wii. Check out the video of the game in action in the next section.