It looks like those UMDs you bought for your PlayStation Portable will be completely useless if you decide to upgrade to a PS Vita.

With the pending release of PlayStation Vita in Japan, Sony has finally revealed how owners of UMD-based games will be able to get digital versions of them on their new PlayStation hand-held devices. All games will have to be re-purchased to be played on Vita, but those who can prove via UMD that they already own games will get a discount when re-purchasing the same content digitally.

There's an interesting story in several Filipino newspapers involving the president of the Philippines, Angry Birds, and the PSP this week. According to several Filipino newspapers, the president is being grilled about his gaming habits, which he vehemently denies. In fact, President Aquino finds the whole line of questioning insulting. President Aquino told the press at an event yesterday that he felt "insulted" when asked to comment on rumors that he was playing video games at the height of a hostage crisis in Manila last year.

In a recent interview with Dengeki PlayStation, Sony Corp.'s Yoshio Matsumoto told the publication that his company is still trying to figure out what it plans to do with consumers who own games on the UMD format as it heads towards its March release of PlayStation Vita. He said that Sony is "looking into" offering UMD owners the chance to re-download their games on the Vita for a special price.

A little public service announcement for all PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable users that play games over the PlayStation Network in Europe: on Sunday, between the hours of 5am and 12pm British Standard time select PS3/PSP titles will go offline for maintenance.

Sony also noted that users may experience "some additional downtime after the maintenance for testing purposes."

During that time the following games (and associated websites) will not be playable over PlayStation Network:

Sony is claiming that it may have a solution for PSP UMD game owners as it relates to using them on your spiffy new PlayStation Vita when it is released sometime in March of next year. Sony is considering some kind of special program to offer special download versions of games consumers own on UMD as replacements, according to Destructoid.

Sony has hired a heavyweight in its ongoing fight to protect its online game services from hackers. The company has hired Philip Reitinger, former director of the U.S. National Cyber Security Center, as its new chief information security officer.

According to a New York Times report, Spanish police have arrested three men they claim were involved in hacking Sony's PlayStation Network and the PlayStation Store. Police also claim that the trio are part of the hacktivist group Anonymous. The three men were released on their own recognizance pending formal charges but are expected to be charged with "forming an illegal association to attack public and corporate Web sites," which carries a maximum sentence of up to three years.

The official Twitter feed for the hacktivist group does provide some confirmation that the three are somehow connected to the group:

It's E3 week and that means that top executives make the rounds to as many media outlets as possible. Sony's Kaz Hirai is no exception, speaking to a number of publications in North America and Europe this week. In an interview with the BBC, Hirai admits that Sony has not been able to catch whoever breached the PlayStation Network's security in late April, and it is not exactly sure what they might have taken. All they really know is that they accessed user data and took some of it.

Sony Computer Entertainment America has released a brand new firmware update for the PlayStation 3 that adds a new option to the SaveData Utility in the XMB. The firmware, v.365, changes the XMB item SaveData Utility (minis) to [SaveData Utility(minis/PSP)]. It also improves the "operating stability of some PS3 format software."

Sony says this is an optional update (you'll need it if you want to connect to PSN, so it's not really all that optional), but if you own a PSP then you'll want to download it. Basically, When you have a PSP connected to the PS3, you'll gain the ability to copy your PSP save data to the PS3. This will allow you to backup your PSP data, although its availability is dependent on the game.

Source: PlayStation Blog

Sony's Welcome Back program content is now available to PlayStation Network users. For the PlayStation Network and the PlayStation Store being down for nearly a month, Sony is offering consumers an apology in the form of two free games for the PS3 and two free games for the PlayStation Portable. Here's the message Sony posted on its PlayStation blog:

If you try to log on to the PlayStation Store this morning, you may encounter some technical difficulties. Apparently the massive amounts of traffic slamming the network is spitting out an error message to some users. Sony says that this is entirely due to extremely high traffic volumes and that this should ease up as the day goes on.

"There are so many of you accessing the store at the moment that due to the excessive load, it is a little slow," said SCEA's Nick Caplin. "We are improving it as I write this, so you will see improvements in speed as the day progresses."

This sort of thing is to be expected considering that the store dedicated to PS3 and PSP has been down for well over a month.

Source: Destructoid

Sony Computer Entertainment America has relaunched the PlayStation Store and unleashed a massive update, offering lots of new games, downloadable content, demos, special discounts, and more for both the PSP and PS3. The "Welcome Back" games are not available yet but Sony plans another update to the system on Friday, June 3. The PlayStation Store has been down for over a month so you can expect that - in order to play catch up - SCEA will be releasing a ton of new content over the next two to three weeks.

You can check out all the new content on the PlayStation Blog. The most exciting thing for PS3 fans may be the release of the InFamous 2 demo, which is available now.

We'll let you know when the free games that Sony promised are available. We expect to see them on the PlayStation Store soon.

Sony announced via its PlayStation Blog today that the network will go down for scheduled maintenance from 1:00 AM - 5:00 PM ET. Obviously, during that time users will not be able access the registration and account management system or the password reset process. But the real story is that the rumored restart of PlayStation Store will not happen today. Sony did say that it should be back online "this month." Considering that t"this month" ends next Tuesday it is likely that the PS Store will be back up by at least week's end. Full message below:

Sony announced via its PlayStation Blog details on the games it will offer for free as part of its "Welcome Back appreciation program."

North American PlayStation Network users will get to choose two games from a list of five games, which Sony claims are BD compatible. They are:

-Dead Nation
-inFAMOUS
-LittleBigPlanet
-Super Stardust HD
-Wipeout HD + Fury

These games will be available for 30 days (to download) after the return of the PlayStation Store, which Sony plans to relaunch soon.

PSP owners with a PSN account can download two games from a choice of four, which will also be available for 30 days after the relaunch of the PlayStation Store: They are:

-LittleBigPlanet (PSP)
-ModNation Racers
-Pursuit Force
-Killzone Liberation

Yesterday a Bloomberg report indicated that Sony expected the PlayStation Network to be "fully operational" by May 31. Sony's U.S. division quickly tried to clarify that statement, saying that it currently had no specific timeframe for when its services would be fixed. It's either a matter of miscommunication, backpedaling on Sony's part, or Bloomberg misunderstanding what Sony Japan spokesman Shigenori Yoshida said Sunday. Speaking to VentureBeat, U.S. Sony Computer Entertainment America spokesperson Patrick Seybold said the May 31 date is incorrect and that there is no new information about when the service will be back up.

Sony is having a busy news day today. First, a story has been circulating that the company has hired yet another security firm to help it with its investigation of the PlayStation Network security breach. According to GameIndustry.biz, Sony has retained Data Forte, a company led by a former U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service officer. Security firms Guidance Software and Protiviti consultants are also involved in the investigation.

Yesterday multiple outlets reported that the PSP Go was being discontinued. Today that rumor has been confirmed by Sony as the truth. Sony told Japanese website AV Watch that new PSP Go units would no longer be manufactured or shipped "in order to concentrate on the NGP." The remaining PSP Go stock will be sold until it's gone.

And what of the PSP-3000's fate? Sony told the web site that "it will continue to be sold," and that the company will keep focusing its attention on it from here on out.

The PSP Go went on sale in the fall of 2009, but was not well received by some. Last October, the system's price was slashed. Sony took a real gamble on eliminating UMD support in the new system. It has proven to be a gamble that they have lost.

Source: Kotaku

According to several published news reports, Sony plans to halt production of the PSP Go. The story's origins can be traced back to a blog post by a Sony Shop employee at a store in Shinjuku, Tokyo. According to that employee, a Sony representative told his sales manager that the handheld was no longer in production (as translated by Andriasang). The blog post goes on to say that the Japanese Sony online store will no longer allows users to purchase the PSP Go, marking it as "out of stock."

For its part, Sony is not confirming or denying the story. The company issued the following statement:

Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton said that the Nintendo DS, is nothing more than a kids-only "babysitting tool." He made the comments during a recent interview with CNN.

"Our view of the 'Game Boy experience' is that it's a great babysitting tool," Tretton said in a bruising chat with CNN, "something young kids do on airplanes, but no self-respecting 20-something is going to be sitting on an airplane with one of those. He's too old for that."

Not content to bag exclusively on the DS, Tretton also took shots at the Wii and Xbox 360.

Maybe it's just an anomaly, but Nintendo can't be happy that Sony’s hand-held is beating its new 3DS system in Japan for the week. According to data from Media Create and posted on Kotaku, combined sales of the PSP hand-helds reached 58,075 - an increase of 7,000 on the previous week. This compares to 42,979 for the 3DS, which experienced a drop of almost 8,000 over the last seven days.

Combined PSP sales from last week beat the 3DS by a small margin, but this week sales of the PSP-3000 managed to outpace the new portable.

What happens when you are playing a game in the subway and you don't pay attention? A ten-year-old boy from Milan, Italy found out when he fell off a subway platform and onto the tracks below because he was engrossed in playing a PSP game. Luckily a police officer nearby sprung into action and lifted the boy back up onto the platform.

On a personal note, I have a 10-year-old son and I could see the same thing happening to him. But it wouldn't matter if he was reading a comic book or playing a video game - sometimes he pays little attention to what is going on around him. It happens.

Anyway, watch the dramatic video to your left. Yes, I’m overselling it.

Thanks to nightwng2000 for the tip.

Source: MSNBC

According to a report in the Japanese Newspaper Asahi Shimbun, the PlayStation Phone is set to be released in Europe and North America as soon as Spring 2011. The phone will combine Google's Android phone OS with Sony's PSP go design, according to the report.

The report seems to imply that a release in Japan is an afterthought, with the phone coming out in North America and Europe first. Sony has not officially announced the phone for any markets, but more and more news reports confirm that it does exist.

Could a PSP that doubles as a phone save Sony's struggling hand-held brand? I guess we'll have to wait and see, but at this point it is pretty doubtful.

Source: 1Up, Image credit.

iOS and Android-based devices are chipping away at sales of DS and PSP systems, according to a new report by research firm Interpret. The report found that mobile phones (44 percent) are the handheld device of choice for gaming (up 53 percent from last year), while DS and PSP usage declined by 13 percent during the same time period. The data comes from a report called "The Phone Gaming Revolution: Do the DS and PSP Stand a Chance?."

Approximately 27 percent of consumers who indicated that they play games on their phones only also own a DS or PSP, but do not actively use the devices.

A 39 year-old Toronto man has been arrested for stealing $500,000 (we assume CDN as the value) in PlayStation 3's, PSP's, and games, according to multiple Canadian press reports. Jason Meadus has been arrested and charged with three counts of "Possession of Property by Crime."

The charges stem from the theft of two tractor-trailers stolen on November 15 and 16, 2010 in Brampton. Each tractor-trailer load contained approximately $500,000 in PS3's, PSP's and video games. On November 17 both trailers were reported stolen.

A police investigation inevitably lead to Meadus. Only about half of the stolen property has been recovered, and it is unclear if Meadus was simply in possession of the stolen property or had a hand in stealing it. Investigators claim to have recovered approximately 1,600 pieces of Sony consoles and 2,000 games.

Meadus returns to court on January 10, 2011.

In an interview with Siliconera, Peter Dille, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment America, talks about how piracy has impacted the PSP:

Q: The PSP has a strong line-up of Japanese series including Monster Hunter, Final Fantasy, and Persona. While the handheld is thriving over there, in America the PSP seems to be struggling even though those games are coming over here. What do you think is the missing element, aside from trains.

While God of War: Ghost of Sparta is nearly complete, developer Ready at Dawn is not very delighted about it. Why? Because the company says that piracy on the PSP is way out of control and really hurts sales of even big PSP titles. Speaking to VG247 (thanks PlayStation Lifestyle), Ready At Dawn creative director Ru Weerasuriya lamented about dealing with piracy as a marquee PSP developer.

To give them hope, or to at least keep them occupied as they wait to be dug out, trapped miners in Chile have been given PlayStation Portables, according to MSN International. Copiapó, Chile - a provincial capital situated on the west coast of South America's Andes Mountain range - has been the focus of the international media as the story of miners wait for a rescue which some say could be two to three months away.

The trapped miners include 1 Bolivian and 32 Chileans, who are getting along well despite their current situation, are doing their best to keep hope alive as rescue crews lower food and supplies via bore holes that are described as "roughly the width of a grapefruit."

The PSPs were given to "help preserve their mental health" during the long wait for a rescue tunnel to be drilled and to give them a means to escape their current plight. The PSPs were delivered via the small cups that are used to shuttle supplies to the men down the mine shaft. A power supply was also lowered down to the men because the average battery life of a PSP is a mere 6 hours.

In an interview with VG247, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president, CEO and CFO Andrew House admitted that the company underestimated PSP owners' attachment to physical media (UMDs).

He also said that the "day all games go digital, like on iPhone, is hard to determine." His admission relates to the PSPgo, which eliminated support for PSP UMDs at launch and relied more heavily on digital downloads via the PlayStation Network.

With the release of SOCOM: U.S. Nave SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 for the PSP this week, Sony has implemented a new way to fight piracy on its handheld.

As detailed on IGN, those who purchase a physical copy of the SOCOM title will need to register the game on the PlayStation Network using a supplied voucher code in order to play SOCOM online. Those who download the game digitally will have their copy automatically registered in a background operation.

Anyone who purchases a used physical copy of the game will need to pay Sony $20 for a PSN entitlement voucher to play it online. A note on the back of the game box states: “Includes voucher for online play. The voucher can be redeemed by only one PSN account and cannot be transferred or sold.”

Sony’s Director of Hardware Marketing John Koller answered a few questions from IGN about the new scheme.

On whether this technology might also make its way to the PlayStation 3 in the future:

As with many programs, we're investigating future opportunities, but we have no announcements to make on it at this time.

How does Koller think PSP users will react to the new tech?

From our research, this will be received quite positively. Remember, piracy affects more than just the creators of the game. It also affects the consumers who purchase titles expecting a high-quality gaming experience.