SONY PSP

The fellas at the Giz have stumbled upon an interesting patent being developed by Sony Ericsson. Labeled as a "MOBILE INFORMATION TERMINAL APPARATUS" in order to, where guessing here, deter patent crawlers looking for a PSP/Gaming Phone application from Sony (HA! They got you!), the device includes a rotating screen for video playback and camera operation. Yes, there will be a camera built. Let's just hope they can be more creative than Talkman for a killer app for it.

What's missing? Well if they want to be an iPhone killer, a touch screen is missing. As lame as it sounds, "touch" is the new pink. iPhone wasn't the first, but I can guarantee that you'll see more and more consumer electronics, everything from phones to mp3 players to gaming systems, have touch screens. The DS is already on the bandwagon, will we see a touch-PSP in the future too?

They are also crowding the surface with too many buttons and this may be a fatal flaw for PSP purists. The shoulder buttons, if you could call them that are kinda lame and seem like an after thought. But this might on purpose since the shoulder buttons are very identifiable to the PSP and by showing the shoulder buttons in the patent app it would be a dead give away that this was indeed a PSPhone. Remember, it's a "MOBILE INFORMATION TERMINAL APPARATUS", ok?

I hope this isn't a phantom application honestly. I would love to see the PSP, or PSP compatible mobile information terminal apparatuses, get into more peoples pockets no matter what form factor it is in. If the PSP installed userbase were to increase by double-digit percentages or more, it will catch they eyes and budgets of more game producers--which would hopefully mean a better selection of games for the PSP public!

So, Sony, I say let's do it. Sign me up for your beta list, I want to be the first to test out the PSPhone!

There are only a few of the big name video sites (Google and GameTrailers yes, but no, not YouTube) that offer their video content in PSP and iPod compatible MP4 format. It's something we definitely need more of. Have you ever been at a party, or a friends house, or even lunch with your coworkers talking about the latest viral video and wish you had it there, on your perfectly capable PSP or other portable player? Instead, you get to try to deliver the funny parts yourself. Only problem is, you're not funny, you can't sing whether in English or in Numa Numa, and definitely don't sound like the voice of Leroy Jenkins. You're friends are only laughing at you because you look like a dork as you act out Star Wars Kid.

Avoid the embarrassment. The boys at MP4point are collecting viral videos and making them available in that MP4 flavor you all know and love. What I like about the site is they seem to favor videos about the PSP. Remember that weird PSP commercial? How about the PSP smashers?

The site also features the TMNT LARPer. Which I'm still trying to determine that video is funny or just pathetically sad.

There's a lot of other great viral vids that you just have to hunt for. The best thing to do, if you're into mobile video and want lots of it, is to subscribe to their RSS feed.

OK, we know you need your daily YouTube habit but you haven't figured out how to confert YT to your PSP yet. MP4Point provides us with a quick and dirty list of MP4 converters. They also have a few reviews of PSP movies services and sites.

I'm looking forward to using this site more and more. The fact that the MP4 videos they put out are already pre-formatted for your mobile device holds

If nothing else, at least visit for the Sexy Videos. That should be reason enough to justify a quick look.

WOW!

That's pretty much all I have to say about this ad for the PSP. I work full time in the advertising industry and I'm still debating if this ad is 100% diabolical genius (look at the buzz it is getting) or if it is just plain tacky and distasteful.

Did it work? Well that depends on what the goal of the ad was. I really don't think the aim is to increase sales of the handheld. And do you really want your brand associated with pedophilia and bladder control issues. What's next, a packaged coupon with your brand new PSP for a free pack of Depends underwear?

Here's the full video:

Sony: PLEASE get back in touch (but not in THAT way) with your user base. You seem to be missing the mark a lot lately.

[FOUND via WellWTF]

It's news about media convergence like this that I LOVE to hear:

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) is in talks with Sky to allow PSP owners to download Sky content such as Lost and 24 onto their handheld devices.

[via PSPworld]

I was looking around teh good ol' trusty internets to see about breathing some life into Portagame. I really don't have the bandwidth (meaning personal time--I have a job to keep and a family to feed, and a wife who yells at me for being on the computer too much. sob.) to do game reviews. I have in the past said "So this seems cool" about a game or two, but I really enjoyed reporting on the new hardware and accessories for handhelds.

So back to my story. I was crawling the web, looking for things that interested me. I usually look for tidbits that don't already have fanboy gizz all over them, as I don't prefer to contribute to their noise (but have in the past). I decided to look at some the advertisers in my pocket to see if anyone was doing any PSP or DS promos for the holidays. That's when I noticed a promo for GameFly. Yes the GameFly that lets you rent PSP, GBA, and DS games via mail. Looks like they are gearing up big for the Wii launch and giving out a Wii everyday in November. A Free Wii! Did you hear me? A Free WII! (I give up on the fanboy noise thing). So if you are a poor Wii-less gamer (ah geez) who needs a Wii, go check out the ad below. You might just pee a little.

The main way to enter the drawing is to register for a new account. But if you have an account (you smart thrifty gamer, you) and you don't know about this promo yet (not so smart), all you have to do is login to your account and enter the contest. For the rest of us tin-foil hat wearing paranoids who don't like to buy things online, you can relax: THERE'S NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Find the rules page and there is a link to the alternate entry (hooray for legalaties!).

Now in the comments, please be sure to leave us with your best "Wii" pun. Thank you for visiting Portagame. Have a nice day. Buh Bye!

God Save The Queen! But homebrew'll save the PSP. There is nice Geometry Wars clone (sans Evolution) out there called, ready, get this: Trigonometry Wars. Ok, ok, we know the name lacked creativity but give the developer some major credit for figuring out a control scheme without dual-analog control sticks. If you are a Sony fanboy and have been missing out on the Xbox Live Geometry Wars action, give Trigonemtry Wars a try. It isn't the best graphics we know, but believe us when we say the graphics are not what made Geometry Wars popular ("Look! Its a flying decahedron!"). We're cool with Trig Wars, but if anybody tries making a Calculus Wars or a Grammar Wars, we'll offially call you LAME.

Since we're on the 360 to PSP porting note, let's also mention that Lumines Live has finally received a release date for Xbox Live. (September 6th for those too lazy to click the links below).

Trigonometry Wars Official Site
Kotaku: Trigonometry Wars: Geometry Wars For Your PSP!
Kotaku: Lumines Live Dated

Portable Gaming World is reporting that news has surfaced about "Dokodemo Issho: Let's School".

For those of you who are saying, "Dokowhat?", Dokodemo Issho is similar to those Tamagotchi games. It's sort of like a virtual pet program. In this edition you can teach your pet a new word, and tell them whether it is a noun, verb, adjective and so on. The pet will try to learn more about it by using it in conversations when talking with you. You can even teach it incorrect things like saying food is a "toilet" and the pet will think it's correct and say something like "I'm hungry and would like to have some toilet." Things like that.

I need some toilet!

More pictures of the new SONY PSP set that comes with the game after the jump......

I'm watching the SCEA press conference right now, and it was just announced that Sony is going to open their library to allow many PSone games to be downloaded to your PSP to be played off of your memory stick! More Crash Bandicoot, yes!

Before all you fanboys get so excited that you pee a little, I hope you take a brief moment to download the E3TV / PermissionTV Player. This application rocks. It will stream eventually play all three of the major press conferences from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, FULLSCREEN AND FREE OF CHARGE. If you have to go to school or work (What? You used up your vacation already? Call in sick already), the media player will download the press conferences for later viewing. So don't fret about paying Gamespot for a subscription or battling 1UP users for bandwidth. This media gobstopper of a goodie is coming directly from E3Insider.com, the official news site of E3.

Also, if you enjoyed last years Floored and FanCam blogcasts, the E3TV app will work like a podcast retriever and download those episodes for you as soon as they become available.

Hurry, the Sony event is only a couple of hours away. Download now before their server bogs up.

[UPDATE: The player is cool in concept but poor in execution. I still have yet to see the Sony conference available through the player and it has been over for 8 hours. Verdict: Stick with the low-res free Gamespot coverage.]

For all of you who have been patiently, ever so, waiting for a price drop before you buy a PSP, now is your rare opportunity. Guess what, Dell sells them. I know, "That's crazy!" And Dell has coupons too. "More Crazy!" PSPWorld will tell you how to use your chump change and a coupon to get your PSP on the cheap...only $159 (and free shipping!). So, now what's your excuse, huh?