Today Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) announced that they have formed partnerships with several major movie studios in the United States. The studios announced include: 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution.

With this new partnership Sony will be able to deliver high-definition movies through it’s PSN service, including such movies as Up, District 9, Zombieland, Inglorious Basterds, The Hangover, Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz and more! There was no mention as to whether or not this content would be 720p or 1080p, but my guess is on 720p. You can check out a full list of some of the new titles that are available on the store today as a result of this partnership after the break.

According to SCEA hardware marketing director John Koller, PSPgo sales are still "over-forecast" from what the company thought they would be. While maintaining steady support in the retail sector, Sony plans to sharpen its focus towards digital distribution in 2010.  Sony acknowledges the fact that some publishers have been slow to make the jump to digital -- Square Enix anyone? -- and is in the process of laying down the groundwork to encourage third-parties to release simultaneously on both distribution fronts.

SCEE may not feel PlayStation Home is a priority right now, but the opinion of SCEA differs radically. Speaking in response to comments made by Pete Edwards, U.S. PS Home director Jack Buser says the service is currently bustling with activity, with over 200 events and parties hosted in the virtual community since its soft-launch last December. Suffice to say, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen both divisions on separate wavelengths.

In an email communication with Kotaku, Buser labels Home as a “huge priority” on all fronts, noting that “Home’s growth and success is a huge priority for us from a business standpoint, a platform standpoint, a community standpoint, as well as a personal standpoint. Everyone on the team is a heavy user of Home, and we love and use it ourselves nearly every day!”

It’s reassuring to hear that interest in expanding Home is still high on at least one side of the fence. The potential is there, we’d hate to see it go to waste.

SCEA: PlayStation Home Bustling With Activity, Still A Top Priority - [eXophase.com]

Although the ultra portable PSPgo has received mixed reactions in the enthusiast press, it appears that the handheld is becoming a hot item at retail, if early launch sales are any indication. According to SCEA corporate communications director Patrick Seybold, the go has managed to spark interest in the platform as a whole, netting a 300 percent increase in overall sales within a span of three days.

The launch of PSP Go has generated strong consumer interest in the overall PSP platform and the PlayStation Network’s digital content offering.

Offering more insight on PSN momentum, Seybold noted that PSN transactions also saw a considerable boost during the same timeframe, with sales of digital offerings up 200 percent. While we’d still like to see hard sales figures, it sounds like the PSPgo is off to a steady start, which points towards a bright future for digital distribution in the portable space.

PSP Go Launch Boosts U.S. PSP Sales 300 Percent In First Three Days [Gamasutra]

SCEA: PSPgo Catapults Hardware Sales, PSN Transactions In US - [eXophase.com]

The recent PS3 price cut has brought about a tremendous increase in demand, so much so that Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton believes that shortages are within the realm of conceivability. First it wasn’t selling enough and now stock is apparently running dry, go figure:

If things continue at this pace, it is conceivable that there will be product shortages.

Something seems a bit fishy here. Considering Sony has had months to ramp up production in order to prepare for the price cut, we can only guess that if a shortage develops, it will be short lived.

Tretton Says PS3 Shortages Are “Conceivable” - [eXophase.com]

A candid recount of an alleged private meeting between SCEA and Sega appeared on Sega’s public asset FTP earlier today. The companies talked digital distribution, revealing Sony’s long-rumored intent to publish emulated PS2 titles over PSN. Sega was also approached with the idea of bringing over classic Dreamcast titles to PSN. The memo notes that in exchange for exclusivity, more marketing support would be provided.

On the topic of motion control, a Spring 2010 release date was once again reiterated in this meeting for Sony’s wand-based motion controller. Interestingly, however, a March 2010 date was specifically mentioned for Japan.

Keep in mind this was apparently a business meeting between the two parties and as such none of the ideas exchanged may come to fruition, but the possibility is now out there. See the full memo in all its entirety past the break, which also discusses the prospect of selling import titles directly over PSN.

Although comments made by SCEA senior account manager Justin Cooney painted a bleak picture for the possibility of WiFi support and DLC with PSP Minis, PSN boss Eric Lempel clarified the situation today, letting us breathe a sigh of relief.

The long and short of it is that while both features are out of the question right now, that could very well change going forward. Essentially, Sony wanted to debut with a solid foundation, making it easy for smaller devs to jump on board. As time goes on, we may see an expansion of the Minis program and a subsequent loosening of requirements, giving studios more in the way of freedom.

So you can patch Minis, but we won’t have multiplayer functions in the beginning. Basically, to get these developers on board, and to make it easier to test and get it through the pipeline, we won’t be allowing that functionality for the first stage of Minis.

It’s something we will consider in the future.

Glad that’s cleared up.

Future PSP Minis could support DLC, multiplayer [CVG]

PSN Boss: WiFi Support, DLC for Future PSP Minis Not Ruled Out - [eXophase.com]

We know of the 100MB size limit that titles under the PSP Minis banner must adhere to, but it appears there are more restrictions in the content department, if comments from SCEA senior account manager Justin Cooney are anything to go by.

Cooney says no form of WiFi multiplayer component is allowed, nor is downloadable content. Additionally, software updates are also a no-no, meaning quality assurance testing will likely be more stringent as opposed to a standard PSN effort.

When you look at it from a testing perspective, you have to do more QA. [Allowing those features] would defeat the purpose of having a dedicated service for smaller content.

From our perspective, if we’re going to reduce the time it takes to get through our internal process, it helps that we don’t have to check multiplayer features.

The first serving of Minis are slated to hit the PlayStation Store on October 1 to coincide with the launch of PSPgo.

GDC Austin: PSP Minis Drop Features To Hasten Approval Time [Gamasutra]

Sony Says No To WiFi Multiplayer, DLC for PSP Minis - [eXophase.com]

Citing a “trusted retail source,” Eurogamer has it on good authority that Sony will debut a set of PS3 Slim bundles later this October, each packaged with a 250GB hard drive — more than double that of the standard configuration.

Said to be priced at £299.99, the bundles will include your choice of either Uncharted 2, Assassin’s Creed II, or Gran Turismo 5. We won’t see them all at once, obviously, considering the latter of those titles aren’t due for a release until after October.

Consider it rumor for now, but we have little reason to doubt the validity of such a move when an conspicuous FCC listing turned up a 250GB PS3 model last month. The only question is if SCEA will employ a similar marketing strategy, as they’re not as bundle happy as SCEE is.

PS3 250GB bundles priced, detailed [Eurogamer]

Rumor: PS3 Slim Bundles Hitting Europe In 250GB Variants - [eXophase.com]

In case you hadn’t noticed from product photos and the like, the PSPgo lacks a user removable battery. Meaning, it can’t be replaced unless the unit is sent back to Sony, or you are a daring soul that doesn’t mind voiding the warranty.

The long and short of it is that this design decision was made solely in prevention of piracy. While Sony seemingly did a sound enough job of blocking the infamous Pandora battery hack on PSP-3000 units, it wanted to take things a step further with the PSPgo. SCEA marketing man John Koller explains:

You won’t be able to rip your games and play them on the system, the firmware precludes that, Koller explained. There’s no external battery, so there’s a number of protections put into place on the system.

Considering the situation at hand, we can understand the motivation behind this decision, but all things considered, this is stepping into the territory of punishing legit end-users for the nefarious actions of pirates.

Why You Can’t Remove the Battery From the PSP Go [PSInsider]

Koller Blames Pandora Battery Hack for Lack of Removable Battery On PSPgo - [eXophase.com]