Gavin Cheshire, Vice President of Codemasters Studios, recently described his opinion of the PSP in an article in Edge magazine. Cheshire, being an owner of a PSP himself, expressed that he thought “it was such a bollocking useless waste of space; just getting stuff on it was ridiculous.” He continued to comment on the newer PSPgo saying that it’s a “lovely device” but just figuring out how to do basic “stuff” on it was difficult.

While I disagree on the ease-of-use complaints, I will agree with him that the PSP isn’t doing so hot lately and mine has been collecting dust for almost two years now. While Cheshire doesn’t express much faith in the PSP platform right now he believes that there is potential in the iPad because of the ecosystem and “straight-to-console” nature of the App Store.

Cheshire: PSP is a “bollocking useless waste of space” [Eurogamer]

According to The Wall Street Journal, Sony is currently developing a new “lineup of handheld products”, including a smartphone capable of “playing PlayStation games” and a tablet. The article does not present too many details but the tablet is described as a mix between a netbook, PSP and an e-reader to compete with Apple’s latest iPad. No details were given on the PSP smartphone but, as we all know, this device has been rumored for a really long time now so take it with a grain of salt if you will. Both devices will also use the Playstation Store for downloadable content, much like the XBL integration with the Windows 7 Series phones.

Sony Readies Gadgets to Rival Apple [Wall Street Journal]

Today Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) announced that it has acquired LittleBigPlanet creator, Media Molecule. Sony states the acquisition as a “strategic move to continue to secure excellence in game development for current and future Playstation platforms..”. LBP was the first title to introduce the concept of “Play, Create, Share” that will be seen in future Playstation titles, including Mod Nations Racers.

LittleBigPlanet recently reached the 2 million map creation mark and has received over 90 awards since its debut a few years ago. So a big congratulations goes out to the Mm team and hopefully they will continue to produce unique and exciting games to come!

Several users on our forums and over on the official Playstation forums are reporting that they are unable to access the Playstation Network, and thus unable to play some games (Error 8001050F). Some other users are also reporting that their trophies are corrupting for no good reason. Sony has acknowledged this problem and are actively looking into it, so now all we can do is wait.

The cause of this outage is not known but it is theorized that the cause has something to do with the date, almost like Y2K for PSN. So far reports have only been with the PS3 Phat models, Slim models seem to be unaffected. There's a large majority of users reporting failure while a select lucky few are still able to access PSN. A temporary fix can be found below:

1. Go into System Settings and disable your internet connection
2. Set your date to 3/1/2010 (March 1st, 2010)
3. Reboot your system

Sony [Twitter]

Temporary Fix [PlayStation Boards]

UPDATE

Some new information that has cropped up by way of a new post over at the official PlayStation Blog site can be seen below.  The best advice for people who are effected is to keep your unit turned off until a fix is hopefully rolled out within the next 24 hours:

As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3.

We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.

Errors include:

• The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
• When the user tries to sign in to the PlayStation Network, the following
  message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been
  signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”.
• When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears
  on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install
  trophies. Please exit your game.”
• When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the
  Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date
  and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)”
• Users are not able to play back certain rental video downloaded from the
  PlayStation Store before the expiration date.

We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.

As mentioned above, please be advised that the new slim PS3 is not affected with this error. We are doing our best to resolve the issue and do apologize for any inconvenience caused.

So there you have it.  We'll keep you posted as new information is made available on this story.

Today's update can be summed up in one word - bundles. On the PS3 side, we got 4; two Burnout Paradise bundles, a Sonic Unleashed bundle, and a Valkyria Chronicles bundle. Regarding the PSP, Sony bundled the rather curious choices of Full Auto 2 and Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars, and also released a Sonic Rivals bundle. All of the bundles are priced pretty decently, ranging from $9.99 to $29.99.

Three PSX classics were also released; Dirt Jockey, Populous: The Beginning, and Sim Theme Park.

On the demo side, three new ones were released; Heavy Rain, echoshift, and Socom: Fire Team Bravo 3. Personally, I can't wait to try out the FTB3 one. Be sure to check out the full content of the update after the break!

Today Sony released their Q3 Financial Report for the 2009 Fiscal Year which described an increase in PS3 sales and a decrease in other gaming systems when compared to with last year’s 3rd quarter.

According to the report, Sony sold approximately 6.5 million Playstation 3 systems, 4.2 million Playstation Portable systems and 2.1 million PS2 systems. The PS3 was the only system to see an increase in sales, boosting a remarkable 2 million more sales than the previous year. The PSP and PS2 both saw a decline in sales.

However, Sony reports that because of “improvmenet in the cost of PS3 hardware” the profitability of their game business remains relatively unchanged from last year. You can read the full financial report via the source link below (warning: PDF)

Sony Q3 2009 Financial Report [Sony]

Another Thursday, another PSN update. Some suck, some don't, and this one definitely makes up for last week's rather unsatisfying update.

This week Sony unveiled it's '10 for '10 Game Sale,' where it slashed the price by half for 12 games, both on the PS3 and PSP. And no, I don't why it's called '10 for '10' when there's 12 games.

Regarding new games, the classic Championship Bass for the PSX was released, as well as Konami's latest addition to the Vandal Hearts series, Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgement. On the PSP side the offerings were quite nice as well, with the revamped edition of Valhalla Knights 2, Valhalla Knights 2: Battle Stance, being released, offering improved warp points and new content over it's predecessor. The Metal Gear PSP bundle was also added, putting the Metal Gear: Portable Ops series and the Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel in the hands of all PSP owners. And finally, DJ Max Fever, the popular music game, has been uploaded as well.

Check out the full content of the update after the break.

After all the waiting, the day has finally come. (Or should I say the day is finally coming?) Atlus USA has announced on their forums and the US PlayStation Blog that Persona 3 Portable is coming stateside  for both PSP and PSPgo users. Here are a few details from the Atlus press release:

"Terrible creatures lurk in the dark, preying on those who wander into the hidden hour between one day and the next. As a member of a secret school club, you must wield your inner power—Persona—and protect humanity from impending doom. Will you live to see the light of day?"

Key Features

* Maximum Persona 3—The RPG that captured critics and fans alike achieves a new level of excellence. Built upon an enhanced version of the game, players will find numerous significant improvements, including the addition of Skill Cards, part-time jobs, a total of five difficulty settings (ranging from the newcomer-friendly "beginner" to the ultra-hardcore "maniac"), and most importantly, the ability to directly control your teammates in battle.
* Gain a whole new perspective—The choice of your protagonist's sex at the start of the game has a dramatic impact on the game's intricate social dynamics. Persona 3 veterans will get a kick out of playing through the story from a new female perspective, gaining new Social Links, special events, and unique romantic opportunities.
* Slick system enhancements—Improved playability permeates every aspect of the gameplay experience. One-button menu shortcuts, streamlined team equipment changes, incredibly short load times, and other tweaks and enhancements create an ideal pace for portable gaming.

Persona 3 Portable will be available for purchase on July 6th of this year.

Well it's the famed update Thursday for PSN, but sadly there's not much more content added. PS3 users did get a new demo of Uno and a permanent price drop of $15 on Steamboat Chronicles, but PSP owners got a single game, Luxor: The Wrath of Set. Other notable inclusions are Dynogems, a new PSP mini Puzzle Bobble clone, and a Gran Turismo car pack. Given the two week hiatus Sony had over the holiday, there's not much excuse for the PSP to have such a minimal amount of games - especially when they have the download only PSP Go to support.

On the PS3 side of the update, the quality was a bit better. Rock Band songs, as usual, are aplenty and DLC for Magic Orbz was also present. A White Knight Chronicles combat trailer was also uploaded, along with Socom US Navy Seals: Fireteam Bravo 3 dev diary, definitely pleasing both RPG  and FPS fans alike.

Check out the full content after the jump.

In a press release that was shot out earlier today, Electronic Arts hosted a conference call for their investors about the downturn in the 2010 financial projections. The end result is that the primary contributing factors to the change in expectations are the result of "weakness for EA and the overall packaged goods sector in Europe, " and "a product mix shift to lower margin distribution products in the December quarter, primarily in North America." In layman's terms, the profit margin for their top sellers in North America were not very big.

The full scale of the losses don't look that big at first glance, but they really are some decent sized swings in the wrong direction. It will be interesting to see how the other big publishers weathered the Holiday Season this year, and chances are good that EA won't be alone with a negative projection year over year. If you're interested in seeing the full financial numbers, follow the break: