As we reported earlier this week, Skype is coming to the PSP and now Sony has made it official with a press release. The service will be available only to owners of the PSP Slim (sorry old school PSPers) and will have a number of features at your disposal including:
• Free voice calls between Skype users • Skype contact list management (view existing contacts, add new ones) • Skype presence (see which friends are online and available to talk) • SkypeOut(TM) calls to make calls to landlines and mobile phones anywhere in the world (requires the purchase of Skype credit) • Optional SkypeIn(TM) number that lets users receive calls on Skype from landlines and mobiles anywhere in the world (requires the purchase of Skype credit) • View and modify Skype settings and account details (including usernamecreation, SkypeOut settings, voicemail settings and call forwarding)
No formal launch date has been announced but users can expect to start using Skype on their PSPs in late January. Make the jump for the full press release.
Sony have announced that the redesigned PSP-2000 has now sold (well…they’ve shipped to retail, but it’s not like they’re gathering dust) over one million units in Japan since its launch there on September 20. That beats the previous record for a Sony handheld, which was held by the previous, more rotund PlayStation Portable, which took two weeks longer to reach the same milestone. That number doesn’t include the 77,777 Crisis Core PSPs which went on sale a week before the official launch, so feel free to bump that figure up to less catchy 1,077,777. [PlayStation Japan] More »
Just an hour or so ago I received a press kit for the Limited Edition Yellow PSP Slim & Lite, which is to be bundled with EA’s The Simpsons Game. You’ll be able to purchase said bundle starting from November 15, for the more than acceptable price of $299.
No PSP was included, but there was a packet of yellow jellybeans and two one Simpsons-themed shotglasses shotglass.
As you may have deduced, there should have been two shotglasses. Sadly, one failed to make the journey to my humble pad intact.
If those old Violet Crumble ads are to be believed, it’s the way it shatters that matters. Unless it’s something fragile. Like a shotglass. Mainly for the reason that it’s made of glass.
You can see both a whole shotglass, and less-than-whole shotglass, after the jump. More »
Square Enix is there whenever you need sequels or branded goods, and this time the company is back with Star Ocean: First Departure and a Star Ocean branded PSP Slim & Lite. Both will be bundled in a special First Departure Eternal Edition pack on sale December 27th for ¥24,849 ($US 216). Sure, it’s gonna sell big an all, but what we really like is the PSP pouch. It looks like a space blanket! That, after the jump. More »
An angry Kotakuite sends in this rather upsetting photo for those of you with standard definition TVs. If you are planning on picking up a new PSP Slim and want to play games on your SDTV, you may want to rethink your purchase, check the back of your TV or at least decide how badly you really want to play PSP Slim on it. According to the photo, the only way you can do this is to play connected with a D-terminal AV cable or component cables and the content must be output in progressive scan. UMD movies seem to work fine, but games are a no go unless your TV supports progressive scan.
I did a little research and according to the all knowing Internet (which is generally about as reliable as a Magic 8 Ball), only about 20% of homes in the US have HDTVs so you’d think that these companies would try and cater a little more to the other 80%. Of course this opens up all kinds of conspiracy theories about the game companies helping to support the sales of HDTV’s and vice-versa. Still, something tells me there are going to be quite a few angry PSP/SDTV owners out there. Why? Because they can be. More »
Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron hits next week for the PSP, exclusively, right alongside the Star Wars Battlefront Entertainment Pack bundle. That’s the one that comes with a Darth Vader portrait screened on the back of a white PSP Slim. To celebrate the release of the game, Sony is hosting a launch party with Lucasarts at PlayStation Store at the Metreon in San Francisco, bringing with them the usual bunch of Star Wars cosplayers, prizes, fireworks, dancing bears, etcetera.
The reason you might actually want to show up? They’re giving away Han Solo-trapped-in-carbonite PSP cases to the first 200 folks who buy the aforementioned Entertainment Pack. You’ll look at it, your PSP encased in Han encased in carbonite and say “I love you”. It will respond “I know”. I… I’m tearing up a little bit.
More details and a full-sized pics at the official PlayStation blog.
Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron Update [PlayStation.blog] More »
The PSP extends its winning streak to week three as sales of the PSP Slim and the continued love-in for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII make for strong sales. And look at those Xbox 360 numbers! Over 5,000! In a week, that is, not the total number of Xbox 360s sold to the Japanese. Blue Dragon may have outsold Halo 3 during its first week overseas, but Master Chief is moving consoles.
The Wii was slightly down again, the PlayStation 3 overtook its predecessor and some Game Boy Micros were sold. Your sales chart awaits below.
PSP – 102,809 Nintendo DS Lite – 72,895 Wii – 24,143 PLAYSTATION 3 – 13,105 PlayStation 2 – 12,980 Xbox 360 – 5,215 Game Boy micro – 229Japan has PSP Slim and Lite fever! In its first two weeks on sale, the redesigned portable sold 500,000 units. That’s a lot! The total count as of October 3rd is 580,000. Likewise, a lot! The PSP Slim is even outselling the original PSP when it was launched back in 2004. And with Hot Shots Golf Portable 2 hitting the PSP this December, the Slim and Lite juggernaut shows no signs of slowing down. Yup, year’s later, the PSP is gaming’s comeback kid. PSP Sales [Famitsu] More »
Sony have announced that they won’t be selling S-Video cables for the PSP Slim in North America. I know, I know, were I American I’d be taking the news as hard as you. Seems they’ve decided to “streamline their selection”, which in plainspeak means we’re stuck with those rubbish composite and component cables. Which nobody uses. S-Video fanboys left fuming and indignant at the decision can still import if they’d like, the cables are available in other regions. Sony Won’t Bring PSP Slim S-Video Cables To U.S. [Game Informer] More »
Last week, the PSP Slim and Lite went on sale in Japan. A new series of ads did a fine job of promoting the portable, which is raking up some impressive sales figures. I really like these ads, which show off different aspects of the PSP. They’re simple, to the point and not all fucked up. I hate fucked up Sony ads so hard.
More after the jump. More »
