In Depth: PSP2: everything you need to know
E3 is coming soon, prefigured by the annual rounds of speculation as to what the big three gaming brands – Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo – are planning on announcing at the LA-based games trade show.
One of the bigger surprises this year may well turn out to be the Sony PlayStation Portable 2. Senior industry sources have suggested that Sony might well show off the PSP2 out in La La Land this June.
For its part, Sony Computer Entertainment remains defiantly tight-lipped on the matter. So here's a round-up of what we know, what we've heard and what the games rumour mill has said about the next version of Sony's PSP handheld console to date.
Note that this page will be constantly updated as new information comes to light.
PSP2 rumours rumble on
Industry rumours about a PSP2 have been doing the rounds for years, with rumours of a touchscreen handheld certainly dating back to at least 2006.
These rumours have been circulating for almost as long as the original console itself has been around. Sony originally launched the handheld at E3 back in 2004, after making the announcement of its portable gaming plans the year before that in 2003.
Indeed, Sony was still denying plans for a touchscreen-version of the PSP back in early 2009, when it was (as we now know with the power of hindsight) still finalising plans for the release of the UMD-free, download-only PSPgo. It now seems highly likely that the PSPgo is the final iteration on Sony's original PSP form factor. And, by extension, the PSP2 will be arriving very soon.
PSP2 release date
Seven years after Sony originally told the world about its plans for the PSP, we are now, more than ever, certain that SCE is finalising its plans for a true successor to the original machine.
Not only are the key summer gaming events on the near-horizon – with E3 in LA this June, followed by Gamescom in Cologne in August and the Tokyo Game Show in September – but a number of developers and unnamed industry sources are now starting to reveal the first bits of information on the PSP2.
"As luck would have it, we'd uncovered PSP2's existence in the last issue of PSM3 – a week or two before the [most recent] net gossip - when Lost Planet 2 creator Jun Takeuchi casually referred to its existence in an interview," PSM3 magazine's Editor, Dan Dawkins told TechRadar.
So will we see the PSP2 at E3?
"It *might* be at E3 in one form or another – especially if Sony's hand is forced by the 'leak' – but I suspect Sony would rather save the announcement for Gamescom/TGS in August/September," adds Dawkins.
CVG Editor Tim Ingham agrees with Dawkin's informed speculation as to when the announcement (and following retail launch) for PSP2 will occur, telling TechRadar this week:
"If you look at the past few years, Sony has tended to use Gamescom in August as a good place to make hardware-related announcements, because they don't get as lost in the noise as they would do at E3 earlier in the summer."
So it looks like we should hear more from LA in June or from Cologne in August and, wherever the original announcement is made, the following retail release looks will be "most likely in early 2011," according to the PSM3 Editor.
PSP2 games - how to combat rampant piracy
Sony is going to have to mobilise all of its games marketing might, in order to re-establish the forthcoming PSP2 as a games console, first and foremost.
Much of the criticisms directed at the original PSP focused on the fact that Sony was trying to make a device that was a little too 'all things for all people' – offering web, music, video and multimedia capabilities – at the expense of focusing on what gamers want. Which is massive, exclusive blockbuster titles.
On that front, Konami's recent Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker could not have been released at a better time for Sony, reminding the hardcore PSP gaming fans why they originally fell in love with the PSP.
In addition to more big-name blockbuster titles and franchises such as Metal Gear and Grant Theft Auto, there is also a clear trend to shorter, punchier (and cheaper) downloadable games – following the runaway success of the iPhone and Apple's App Store model. So what of the PSPgo? Why has it failed?
"[PSP2] is above all, a tacit admission that PSPgo has, unsurprisingly, flopped, and was – surely – just an attempt to make a pirate proof iteration of PSP that, ironically-ish, ended up drying up the flow of original games, since gamers, and in turn developers, lost interest," notes PSM3's Dan Dawkins.
So PSP2 will have to develop the piracy-protected distribution model Sony has already introduced with PSP go (which means that download-only seems likely) as well as making the hardware – and, crucially, the supporting online shop and download service – "irresistible to developers and gamers alike."
PSP2 price – a must-have PS3 accessory?
If PSP2 can promise near-PS3 quality visuals, with much-improved PS3 integration as well as those "iPhone-style downloadable apps and inventive mini games, we'll all want one, for sure," says the PSM3 Editor.
But what price will we be prepared to pay for the PSP2?
Don't forget that Sony ran into considerable pricing issues with the last iteration of the PSP, with PSPgo costing £225 in the UK around the time of its September 2009 launch. (Retailers were quick to knock it down to a sub-£200 price point within weeks of the launch).
Then of course you have the fact that Nintendo is sure to price its forthcoming 3D handheld as competitively as it possibly can. One reason that the DS continues to sell so well is down to its sub-£100 price point.
With all of that in mind, it's hard to see how Sony could justify a PSP2 that was priced at OVER the £200 mark, even if they do what all the hardcore PS3 faithful really want and provide them with a dual analogue stick handheld console which they can control very much in the same was as they are used to controlling their PS3 games via a DualShock 3.
PSP2 specs – a four-core CPU?
The 'leaked' tech specs that are doing the rounds online right now suggest that Sony's PSP2 will boast an array of new features to help to differentiate it from (and make it more appealing than) Nintendo's new ('code-named') 3DS, which we already know for sure is going to be announced at E3 in June.
PSM3 expects to see a number of new features such as that long-mooted touchscreen, in addition to two cameras, possible 3G-connectivity (as opposed to PSPGo's Wi-Fi only), and – "as hard to believe as it would be welcome" – a four core Cell CPU (the PS3 uses eight).
There are no reasons to believe why all of these new tech specs could not make up Sony's PSP2, putting it on a more-than-equal footing with that other handheld gaming device that has gained a lot of attention from consumers in the last two years – the Apple iPhone.
The only real question that hardware specialists would ask would be about the possibility of that four-core processor, which PSM3's Editor admits, "sounds energy intensive, drawing practical considerations for battery life."
PSP2 console – publishers plans
Trade magazine MCV is also certain that publishers are already ramping up their own plans for an imminent launch of the PSP 2
MCV has recently reported on a"significant increase in [PSP] marketing spend at two key publishers for Q4 2010, at a time when the PSP is languishing in Western markets – and its most recent iteration, the PSPgo, is falling flat."
Yet another publisher told them that they are awaiting "a specific announcement" from Sony before revealing its future plans for the PSP platform. All of which strongly suggests that a consumer announcement of the PSP2 console is close by.
So while much of the pre-E3 hardware hype is still focused on Sony's Move and Microsoft's Natal motion-sensing controller tech - in addition to Nintendo's handheld plans for a 3D-ready successor to the hugely-successful DS - the official news about Sony's own release and tech plans for the true to successor to the PSP is clearly coming very soon.
Will Sony have finally learned a number of important lessons about effective download-only game development, pricing and marketing from Apple and Nintendo? We certainly hope so.
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iPhone app promises to locate World Cup pubs
An app for iPhone is promising to take you to the nearest pub screening the World Cup matches, and tip off your favourite social network so your friends (or boss) can track you down.
The Footy Pubs 2010 app has now launched on the iTunes store and should ensure that you don't get stuck trying to convince unfriendly landlords that they really should turn over for the big games.
"The applications developed by Drinksin, work anywhere in the UK to bring you bang up-to-date World Cup match information and amazing money saving deals from pubs and bars across the country," says Drinksin.
Wanderers
"When you next need to find a World Cup pub, don't waste time wandering the streets trying to find somewhere, download Footy Pubs 2010 for Free.
"Tap the Matches Nearby button, which uses GPS to locate you, for instant access to a list of glorious pubs showing the game just around the corner from where you're stood.
"Once you've found a pub you like, hit directions, follow the arrows, arrive at destination and order your pint!"
Usefully, you can also tip off your mates where you have found a spare table with a 'meet me here' message though Twitter or Facebook. Handy.
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Exclusive: Microsoft's Ozzie says Apple is very 'device focused'
Microsoft's chief software architect Ray Ozzie says that although he has tremendous respect for Apple, the rival company is 'very device focused' with its current closed approach.
Ozzie, in an interview with TechRadar, believes the future of technology lies in devices with software and services available in the cloud.
"We're heading to a world where many devices are more appliance-like; you don't have to think about what you're going to lose if you drop it," said Ozzie.
"If you prefer a different form factor or a different colour you can just buy it and start using it without worrying about how I get my stuff here from there."
Tremendous respect
Ozzie adds that he has "tremendous respect" for Apple but that the Microsoft rival favours "a very device-focused play and a closed system".
"Everyone has kind of agreed that even though Apple has its API set when you're writing an app, when you step back you're don't find too many people arguing that for client developer HTML ++++, HTML 5, some future HTML that goes further towards storage isn't the way.
"Most people agree that's direction we're headed. But Apple would still rather have you code in different ways for the device and for HTML in the browser."
Google-soft
Of course, another of Microsoft's key rivals – Google – is well aligned for the cloud revolution, but Ozzie thinks the internet giant is too HTML focused.
"Google says HTML is the answer for both the browser and the device and it doesn't really enhance the device story as much," adds Ozzie.
So, Apple is too hardware focused, and Google too browser focused, which means that Microsoft has to tread a very fine line if it is to find the sweet spot between the two.
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Hands on: HTC Wildfire review
The HTC Wildfire is the new phone from the Taiwanese firm, and it's taking a slightly different tact to its bigger brothers.
Basically, it looks a lot like the HTC Desire, but it's got a better screen than the HTC Tattoo and it's packing the same processor as the HTC Hero... got all that?
The main thing to realise is that the Wildfire is a budget phone - this is apparent when you turn it on for the first time.
The chassis itself isn't too low-rent, as it not only has the looks of the bigger Desire but also comes with a distinctive metal band across the back, aping the design of the HTC HD2.
It also feel rather nice in the hand, not too small but compact enough to be more pocket friendly than the Desire, using the same slightly pronounced chin.
The touch sensitive keys are back once more, but are a little more responsive than on the Nexus One. The optical keypad is back too, and works well for when you want to get fiddly and enter text.
But if you've used one of its pin-sharp brothers in the HTC Legend or the Desire, you'll notice the QVGA screen looks a lot less impressive than the high-res monsters.
That's OK though, as there's only one way to make a phone cheaper and that's to lower the spec inside.
The HTC Wildfire itself works at a pretty cracking rate, meaning that not only do you get seven home screens, but swishing from one to the next is pretty fast too.
The internet is less of a joy with the phone though - the QVGA screen means that it's a little hard to see what's happening when zoomed right out of a screen, although there is pinch to zoom and text reflow on offer, meaning the columns will auto-format themselves into legible text no matter how close you get.
The camera is only average too - the snaps we took with it always wanted to default to flash, despite there being enough light to get a decent enough picture. The result was always slightly out of focus and a little over exposed.
We're probably being picky, but with the HTC Desire having a 5MP camera with flash, we though this might be just as good too.
Video didn't look too bad though, and is perfectly acceptable for a basic player - it's not going to replace a dedicated PMP or rival the iPhone for performance in terms of media, but if you're going to do that then you'll probably want a more expensive phone anyway.
There were some obvious areas where the HTC Wildfire struggled, like the weather widget, which took quite a while to cycle between different cities, and the Friendstream application being a little sluggish.
We're sure when we put up our full HTC Wildfire review that we'll find more applications than want a little more power too - but it's unfair to judge this phone on those areas.
This is a nice phone that's well packaged - it just needs a decent price to go with it and HTC could have solved the problems posed by the HTC Tattoo: a budget Android phone that doesn't scrimp on hardware specs.
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Mass Effect 2 voted most popular Xbox 360 game
Mass Effect 2 is the most popular Xbox 360 game to date, according to the loyal readers of computerandvideogames.com
BioWare's classic certainly divided opinions amongst gamers and reviewers at launch, although it has clearly stood the test of time, according to CVG's reader poll.
Mass Effect 2 is followed in the top five most popular Xbox 360 games' chart by Bungie's sublime Halo 3, Bethesda's Fallout 3, Epic's Gears of War series and Valve's mighty Orange Box package of pleasure.
Definitive list of 360's best
"We asked our good, loyal following for their top five Xbox 360 games - so that we could make a definitive list of the console's best," notes CVG.
"You sent us your opinions... and we were left with a pretty clear picture.
"We took your favourites, threw in a few of our own and took into account the scores of the most trusted gaming mags in the business - and came up with an incredibly extensive list, which you can see below."
With little further ado, here's the top ten:
1. Mass Effect 2
The incredibly cinematic sequel treated us to an engrossing universe with brilliant characters, while at the same time improving combat and providing another strong RPG adventure.
2. Halo 3 ODST
Halo's epic forth outing may have essentially been an upgrade of the hugely successful formula, but you guys love it for that and what an upgrade.
3. Fallout 3
The wonderfully atmospheric and massive gameworld put Fallout 3 in a lot of gamers' top five lists. It's an incredibly immersive experience you'll desperately try to hang on to.
4. Orange Box
You might consider this a gaming essential because of Half Life 2 or Portal or Team Fortress 2 ... We think we've made our point.
5. Mass Effect
The RPG integrated a complicated story into a stunning world with unprecedented freedom.
6. Left 4 Dead
There're only four levels and no single player, but somehow the wildly unpredictable and universally applauded co-op that is Left 4 Dead simply doesn't need anything else.
7. Fable II
Fixing the flaws of the first Fable, the charming world of Fable II captivated fans with thought provoking challenges and combat that was simple but satisfying.
8. Gears of War 2
One of the most action packed action games of 2008 with a sophisticated story, expanded multiplayer and stunning visuals.
9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
The genre defining FPS that is yet to be beaten. The single player was packed full of action and set pieces while the multiplayer set the bar for online gaming
10. GTA IV
The GTA experience was revamped in every way with impressive visuals, an eclectic city and a chaotic multiplayer to create the ultimate sandbox title.
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Interview: Microsoft's Ray Ozzie on the privacy issues of cloud computing
When he joined Microsoft, Microsoft's chief software architect Ray Ozzie got a chance to take a step back and look at the technology industry.
What he saw was that the PC wasn't the centre of the computing universe any more – but like Nvidia's Jen-Hsun Huang, he told the Future in Review conference this week that he doesn't think it's going away any time soon either - he also had words to say about the cloud, online privacy, HTML 5 and Apple.
"The world that I see panning out is one where individuals don't shift from 'I'm using exclusively this one thing called a PC as a Swiss army knife for everything I do' to using a different Swiss army knife. The beauty of what's going on in devices is you can imagine a device.
"Previously you could imagine software and build it but hardware was very hard and took a long time to build. Now you can imagine end-to-end device services.
"So there's probably a screen in the car that federates with the phone when you bring it into the car. Will we have a device with us that's always on? Yes. We call it a phone but it's a multi-purpose device.
"Will we also carry something of a larger form factor that we can quickly type on? For many of us, the answer is yes." And what will it look like? "The clamshell style of device is a very useful thing and I think it will be with us for ever. I think there is a role for the desktop too…"
Apple and HTML 5
The common theme isn't just that these are online services; it's that they're services that bridge online, PC and often mobile access. That fluidity is key to his vision (and it's why he predicts we'll all have multiple devices).
"We're heading to a world where many devices are more appliance-like; you don't have to think about what you're going to lose if you drop it. If you prefer a different form factor or a different colour you can just buy it and start using it without worrying about how I get my stuff here from there."
While he says he has "tremendous respect" for what Apple is doing he calls it "a very device-focused play and a closed system" and he thinks open systems like HTML 5 will offer more for users and developers.
"It depends on how far you step back and blur your eyes. Everyone has kind of agreed that even though Apple has its API set when you're writing an app, when you step back you're don't find too many people arguing that for client developer HTML ++++, HTML 5, some future HTML that goes further towards storage isn't the way.
"Most people agree that's direction we're headed. But Apple would still rather have you code in different ways for the device and for HTML in the browser." Doesn't that give Google a big advantage?
"Google says HTML is the answer for both the browser and the device and it doesn't really enhance the device story as much." And where does Microsoft stand on the Flash issue? "Adobe has said it will be doing developer tools for that future world," he comments diplomatically.
Office, Docs and better productivity
Ozzie's pet projects at Microsoft include the Azure cloud service and the social computing tools like the Spindex social aggregator, the Outlook Social Connector and Facebook Docs (which all come out of the new Fuse Labs Microsoft site near his home town of Boston).
Hands on: Microsoft Docs review
Office is a good example of that, because it's not just PC software any more. "What Office is, is we're selling productivity. It's not so much the software on one PC; we're selling the notion of productivity.In a world of many devices where my goal is to do productivity, what is therole of the server, of the service, of the mobile, the PC and so on? Each has a very unique role.
"On the PC many people are doing large documents and spreadsheets. It's hard to argue against the use of local memory, local computing and a big screen is the best editing environment you can possibly get. That's why people do interactive games on the PC. You want to take advantage of all that productivity in front of you."
Sharing and location-based services
But that's not enough for documents any more. The PC is a very personal thing but most documents made are for sharing. The internet is about sharing and the browser-based complement to the PC is the most obvious place to share those documents or to co edit them.
"And when you have a mobile phone it can be always on, it can notify you of something, it can notify others of your location…it's got a camera so you can take a photo and add it to the scenario."
So far, he agrees these services are piecemeal rather than seamless and there are still a lot of pieces still needed to make that work. In fact, he suggests the question of privacy is as important as the technology involved.
"Identity and synchronisation and state management and policy management are a collection of services that I think are going to be core. But there are some very tricky things in balancing the federation of that between enterprise and personal or between the different facets of your life.
Privacy and security
"The biggest industry-wide point of controversy right now is how independent of a service that is.There are some very significant privacy issues related to that. At one extreme I think some people would like a service that they can count on but that they know that no one is mining the data in that service for marketing.
"We aren't there yet; the identity systems for enterprise work but they're disconnected from everything else and the consumer services that are out there gaining tractions are increasingly under privacy scrutiny."
Obviously one of those services under scrutiny is Facebook (which Microsoft has an investment in) but he hints at issues for search engines like Google too.
"We as a society have never had to deal with privacy issues at the scale we're dealing with right now. Talking more about search; when you have business models that are fundamentally based on matching intent, on understanding what the user really wants, on understanding the user better than the user understands themselves and matching them with advertisers and making money onthat brokering, it's very difficult to cope with…"
With only a hint of irony, he says "Facebook is doing us all a favour by pushing the edge and causing the conversations to be very broad."
Should Microsoft be moving faster in mobile, in browsers, in the cloud, into this future world? "We're very impatient in the technology industry," Ozzie points out. "We get very enamoured with the next shiny object. Let's get real here. How many years have any of these things actually been out? How many years have we all been using these pocket internet companions?
"It's actually been a relatively small number of years. We haven't even seen the TV get lit up yet as a communication device; we haven't seen all the screens on the wallbeing lit up as devices. Every single one of these is going to get lit up as a similar kind of device."
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PSP 2: everything you need to know
E3 is coming soon, prefigured by the annual rounds of speculation as to what the big three gaming brands – Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo – are planning on announcing at the LA-based games trade show.
One of the bigger surprises this year may well turn out to be the Sony PlayStation Portable 2. Senior industry sources have suggested that Sony might well show off the PSP2 out in La La Land this June.
For its part, Sony Computer Entertainment remains defiantly tight-lipped on the matter. So here's a round-up of what we know, what we've heard and what the games rumour mill has said about the next version of Sony's PSP handheld console to date.
Note that this page will be constantly updated as new information comes to light.
PSP2 rumours rumble on
Industry rumours about a PSP2 have been doing the rounds for years, with rumours of a touchscreen handheld certainly dating back to at least 2006.
These rumours have been circulating for almost as long as the original console itself has been around. Sony originally launched the handheld at E3 back in 2004, after making the announcement of its portable gaming plans the year before that in 2003.
Indeed, Sony was still denying plans for a touchscreen-version of the PSP back in early 2009, when they were (as we now know with the power of hindsight) still finalising plans for the release of the UMD-free, download-only PSPgo. It now seems highly likely that the PSPgo is the final iteration on Sony's original PSP form factor. And, by extension, that the PSP2 will be arriving very soon.
PSP2 release date
Seven years after Sony originally told the world about its plans for the PSP, we are now, more than ever, certain that SCE is finalising its plans for a true successor to the original machine.
Not only are the key summer gaming events on the near-horizon – with E3 in LA this June, followed by Gamescom in Cologne in August and the Tokyo Game Show in September – but a number of developers and unnamed industry sources are now starting to reveal the first bits of information on the PSP2.
"As luck would have it, we'd uncovered PSP2's existence in the last issue of PSM3 – a week or two before the [most recent] net gossip - when Lost Planet 2 creator Jun Takeuchi casually referred to its existence in an interview," PSM3 magazine's Editor, Dan Dawkins informed TechRadar.
So will we see it at E3?
"It *might* be at E3 in one form or another – especially if Sony's hand is forced by the 'leak' – but I suspect Sony would rather save the announcement for Gamescom/TGS in August/September," adds Dawkins.
CVG Editor, Tim Ingham agrees with Dawkin's informed speculation as to when the announcement (and following retail launch) for PSP2 will occur, telling TechRadar this week:
"If you look at the past few years, Sony has tended to use Gamescom in August as a good place to make hardware-related announcements, because they don't get as lost in the noise as they would do at E3 earlier in the summer."
So it looks like we should hear more from LA in June or from Cologne in August and, wherever the original announcement is made, the following retail release looks will be "most likely in early 2011," according to the PSM3 Editor.
Sony is going to have to mobilise all of its games marketing might, in order to re-establish the forthcoming PSP2 as a games console, first and foremost. Much of the criticisms directed at the original PSP focused on the fact that Sony was trying to make a device that was a little too 'all things for all people' – offering web, music, video and multimedia capabilities – at the expense of focusing on what gamers want. Which is massive, exclusive blockbuster titles.
On that front, Konami's recent Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker could not have been released at a better time for Sony, reminding the hardcore PSP gaming fans why they originally fell in love with the PSP.
In addition to more big-name blockbuster titles and franchises such as Metal Gear and Grant Theft Auto, there is also a clear trend to shorter, punchier (and cheaper) downloadable games – following the runaway success of the iPhone and Apple's App Store model. So what of the PSPgo? Why has it failed?
"[PSP2] is above all, a tacit admission that PSPgo has, unsurprisingly, flopped, and was – surely – just an attempt to make a pirate proof iteration of PSP that, ironically-ish, ended up drying up the flow of original games, since gamers, and in turn developers, lost interest," notes PSM3's Dan Dawkins.
So PSP2 will have to develop the piracy-protected distribution model Sony has already introduced with PSP go (which means that download-only seems likely) as well as making the hardware – and, crucially, the supporting online shop and download service – "irresistible to developers and gamers alike."
PSP2 price – a must-have PS3 accessory?
If PSP2 can promise near-PS3 quality visuals, with much-improved PS3 integration as well as those "iPhone-style downloadable apps and inventive mini games, we'll all want one, for sure," says the PSM3 Editor.
But what will we be prepared to pay for the PSP2?
Don't forget that Sony ran into considerable pricing issues with the last iteration of the PSP, with PSPgo costing £225 in the UK around the time of its September 2009 launch. (Retailers were quick to knock it down to a sub-£200 price point within weeks of the launch).
Then of course you have the fact that Nintendo is sure to price its forthcoming 3D handheld as competitively as it possibly can. One reason that the DS continues to sell so well is down to its sub-£100 price point.
With all of that in mind, it's hard to see how Sony could justify a PSP2 that was priced at OVER the £200 mark, even if they do what all the hardcore PS3 faithful really want and provide them with a dual analogue stick handheld console which they can control very much in the same was as they are used to controlling their PS3 games via a DualShock 3.
PSP2 specs – a four-core CPU?
The 'leaked' tech specs that are doing the rounds online right now suggest that Sony's PSP2 will boast an array of new features to help to differentiate it from (and make it more appealing than) Nintendo's new ('code-named') 3DS, which we already know for sure is going to be announced at E3 in June.
PSM3 expects to see a number of new features such as that long-mooted touchscreen, in addition to two cameras, possible 3G-connectivity (as opposed to PSPGo's Wi-Fi only), and – "as hard to believe as it would be welcome" – a four core Cell CPU (the PS3 uses eight).
There are no reasons to believe why all of these new tech specs could not make up Sony's PSP2, putting it on a more-than-equal footing with that other handheld gaming device that has gained a lot of attention from consumers in the last two years – the Apple iPhone.
The only real question that hardware specialists would ask would be about the possibility of that four-core processor, which PSM3's Editor admits, "sounds energy intensive, drawing practical considerations for battery life."
PSP2 console – publishers plans
Trade magazine MCV is also certain that publishers are already ramping up their own plans for an imminent launch of the PSP 2
MCV has recently reported on a"significant increase in [PSP] marketing spend at two key publishers for Q4 2010, at a time when the PSP is languishing in Western markets – and its most recent iteration, the PSPgo, is falling flat."
Yet another publisher told them that they are awaiting "a specific announcement" from Sony before revealing its future plans for the PSP platform. All of which strongly suggests that a consumer announcement of the PSP2 console is close by.
So while much of the pre-E3 hardware hype is still focused on Sony's Move and Microsoft's Natal motion-sensing controller tech - in addition to Nintendo's handheld plans for a 3D-ready successor to the hugely-successful DS - the official news about Sony's own release and tech plans for the true to successor to the PSP is clearly coming very soon.
Will Sony have finally learned a number of important lessons about effective download-only game development, pricing and marketing from Apple and Nintendo? We certainly hope so.
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HTC unleashes Desire Mini: the Wildfire
HTC has announced another Android phone in its range: the HTC Wildfire, a budget effort in the sea of high end smartphones.
The main difference with this phone is the 3.2-inch screen: in a bid to save costs, it's only packing a QVGA display, meaning everything is pretty low-res.
However, the rest of the line up is still present and correct, with a capacitive, multi-touch display that still has the cool 'Leap View' where you can pinch the screen in to see all seven home screens at once.
There's also a 5MP camera with LED flash, a microSD slot and 3.5mm headphone jack and most importantly Android 2.1 with the Sense overlay.
Speedy... ish
Processor-wise it's not too bad either: it's the same as used in the HTC Hero, which is a Qualcomm 528Mhz chip. It's not going to set any speed records, but with a low-res screen and no 3D graphics around, HTC claims it's plenty powerful.
Other new additions include Facebook statuses when a friend calls you, as well as a reminder if their birthday is coming up too.
Other than that, it's the same HTC experience on the Legend and Desire - but at a much lower price point. We've no word on UK pricing as yet, although it's probably going to come in at a lower point than the HTC Tattoo, so fingers crossed for £20 a month for this bad boy.
We've been given a Q3 UK release date for the HTC Wildfire, but there are rumours that could even be pushed forward to late June. Either way, if you're after a cheap Android phone this could be a summer of love.
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Sky shows off designer Sky+HD boxes for World Cup
Sky has released a trio of new designer HD boxes to celebrate this summer's World Cup, with Wayne Hemingway, Gerald Scarfe and Phil Daniels' version all available on 26 May.
The boxes, which will no doubt divide opinions, bring designs from fashion man Hemingway, illustrator Scarfe and, oddly, actor Phil Daniels.
"To mark the World Cup being broadcast live and in high definition this year, Sky has joined forces with three famous faces to produce a limited edition collection of football themed Sky+HD 1TB boxes," explains Sky.
Exclusive designs
"The exclusive designs are a must have for any football enthusiast looking to soak up every detail of World Cup drama," it adds.
Of course, Sky's celebrated sports channels will not be broadcasting the World Cup, but the company is still keen to show off its leading role in high definition broadcasts in the UK.
Sky has both ITV HD and BBC HD, which means that Sky HD subscribers will get the high definition matches, potentially on a shiny new designer box.
If we had to choose, we'd go for Hemingway's low-key effort, utilising the score, kit colour and year of England's World Cup win.
However, we're relatively certain that Phil Daniels' career as a designer may not be especially lengthy. Stick to the day-job Phil.
The boxes are out on 26 May, priced at £249.
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HTC unleashes Desire Mini: the Wildfire
HTC has announced another Android phone in its range: the HTC Wildfire, a budget effort in the sea of high end smartphones.
The main difference with this phone is the 3.2-inch screen: in a bid to save costs, it's only packing a QVGA display, meaning everything is pretty low-res.
However, the rest of the line up is still present and correct, with a capacitive, multi-touch display that still has the cool 'Leap View' where you can pinch the screen in to see all seven home screens at once.
There's also a 5MP camera with LED flash, a microSD slot and 3.5mm headphone jack and most importantly Android 2.1 with the Sense overlay.
Speedy... ish
Processor-wise it's not too bad either: it's the same as used in the HTC Hero, which is a Qualcomm 528Mhz chip. It's not going to set any speed records, but with a low-res screen and no 3D graphics around, HTC claims it's plenty powerful.
Other new additions include Facebook statuses when a friend calls you, as well as a reminder if their birthday is coming up too.
Other than that, it's the same HTC experience on the Legend and Desire - but at a much lower price point. We've no word on UK pricing as yet, although it's probably going to come in at a lower point than the HTC Tattoo, so fingers crossed for £20 a month for this bad boy.
We've been given a Q3 UK release date for the HTC Wildfire, but there are rumours that could even be pushed forward to late June. Either way, if you're after a cheap Android phone this could be a summer of love.
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Musicians keen on iPad potential
Music experts believe that Apple's iPad has the potential to become a key tool for musicians, with the big touchscreen and portability already bringing apps that suggest a harmonic arrangement.
Speaking to T3.com, experts from MusicRadar.com have taken a look at the iPad as a musical tool, and all agree that the early signs are very positive.
"I think that [the iPad will take off as a music creation tool]once we see a proper digital audio recording station that's on a par with programmes that people are using on laptops," said MusicRadar's Hi-tech editor Ben Rogerson.
"That will enable you to record audio and midi while having samplers in there and that's when you'll see music makers really embrace it."
The Guitarist
Guitar editor Chris Vinnicombe believes that the iPad already has a number of key features that could potentially make it a much-desired musical accompaniment, but admits there's an app he'd like to see surface.
"I think if Apple could develop a lite version of Garage Band…then it'd be an amazing musical notepad for guitar players, said Vinnicombe.
"You could take it to a practice room, you could take it on holiday with you and wherever you are you've got a fully featured recording suite."
You can watch the full video feature on T3.com and it's well worth three minutes of your time. Oh, and in the interests of openness, MusicRadar is published by Future - just like TechRadar: the clue's in the name.
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In Depth: The best mobile phone data plans for UK users
Trying to compare UK mobile data plans? It doesn't have to be difficult - because we're here to help.
We're going to highlight the key things to look out for when choosing a mobile data deal for your smartphone.
Your contract smartphone usually comes with two kinds of data tariff - the data you've already paid for and the data you haven't. Most providers have a standard data rate per day. If you haven't paid for a data bundle or you exceed your allowance, that's what you'll be paying. So, rule number one: if you're a regular mobile data user, get a mobile data plan upfront.
A point worth noting - in some cases, data allowances are included with smartphone pay monthly plans. Orange and O2 do it, for example. Remember, you'll have to consider the total cost of your package to work out any savings - not just the price of a mobile data plan.
The bandwidth question
The second most important question you need to ask is: how much bandwidth are you likely to use?
Mobile data plans are streamed according to data allowance. If you think your needs are heavy, an "unlimited" package may be tempting - but make sure you check the small print. "Fair use" or "excessive use" policies often hide bandwidth limits. In some cases, it's impossible to discover what those limits are until you hit them...
Prices can vary, too - but average out at around £5 a month for 500MB - that's the case with Orange and Vodafone. On Three and T-Mobile, your £5 gets you 1GB a month.
A cheap plan with plenty of data allowance may seem good value, but it's worthless if you can't get on the net. If you're switching providers, it's worth checking out who has the best coverage. To help you pick, here are links to the main mobile data network's coverage checkers:
Orange * Vodafone * O2 * T-Mobile * Three
Want even cheaper calls too? The only provider we found that explicitly allows you to use your service for voice over IP (VoIP), was Three Mobile.
The one thing almost all mobile data contracts now exclude, is tethering; using your phone as a modem. You'll have to check your mobile network's separate mobile broadband tariffs to see how much extra it'll cost you.
Of the separate mobile data tariffs currently out there - the best mobile deal on paper is Three Mobile's "Internet Max" add on. £10 a month gets you a guaranteed 1GB of allowance with Skype and Windows Messenger usage included.
The best inclusive UK mobile data deal is on T-Mobile where, uniquely, Android phone users get 3GB a month fair use.
The worst deal? We don't like the idea of a mobile network charging an extra £2.50 a month in case you want to stop using their product - so Vodafone's £7.50 Regular User Flexi Pack gets that unwanted accolade.
One last piece of advice. If you can't find the deal you want on your provider's web site, give them a call. You'll find that some of the tariffs quoted online can be tweaked when you're talking direct to a salesperson.
For more information in the deals available, view our UK mobile data deals spreadsheet.
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Samsung investing in 'viable' big screen OLED TVs
Samsung has announced a major investment in OLED, with the Korean giant keen to bring the long-heralded display technology to mass market big-screen televisions.
According to Samsung Korea, Samsung will invest a reported £1.5 billion on an AMOLED assembly line with the goal of reducing the cost of the technology.
The Korean giants are desperate to bring the price of OLED down, so that much bigger screen sizes are possible without breaking the bank.
Phone displays
Currently AMOLED is most heavily used in phone displays, where the small size keeps production costs down, but the high-contrast, high-quality displays would be a major boon for televisions.
And Samsung is prepared to put its money where its mouth is after Brian Berkeley, vice president of OLED R&D Center, insisted that: "Large-size OLED TVs are viable."
"We have significantly improved yields and line efficiency," Berkeley told EETimes. "Material development has been accelerated, backplane technology improved and a number of advancements [have been] made in color patterning."
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Facebook 'sexy video' adware luring in thousands
A video attack on Facebook users is luring thousands of thrill seekers into installing malware, falsely offering clickers the 'sexiest video ever'.
According to Sophos, thousands of people have already been caught out by the fairly obvious ploy of offering sexiness on video – in this case a 'candid camera prank' offering a thumbnail of a woman in a skirt on a bike.
When you click on the link you are prompted to install the 'correct video software' which is, as you probably guessed because you aren't the kind of fool who falls for this, actually an adware installer.
Plagued by pop-ups
"You may want to watch a sexy video, but you're more likely to end up being plagued by pop-up advertising," warned Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.
"Not only is adware being installed on your computer, but the rogue Facebook application is posting the same message to all of your friends' accounts.
"It's no surprise that your friends might click to watch the movie when it looks to all intents and purposes that you are the person who has sent it to them."
So if you did fall for this, not only will you be left fuming at the pop-ups, but you'll also have propagated the link to all your friends, who will then know you clicked on it in the first place. Embarrassing.
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Review: Opera Mini
We joined the rest of the world in slack-jawed amazement when Opera Mini popped up on the App Store.
Compared to Safari, it's like your iPhone has had a processor upgrade, especially over 3G, EDGE or GPRS. Pages load so quickly you will be amazed, but there have been some sacrifices made here.
First of all, there's only one level of zoom, so the web page either fills the screen or you zoom in to a fixed reading level. All text is rendered in the same font, making pages look a bit ugly.
Scrolling up and down is also an issue. Safari forces your scrolling to be either vertical or horizontal; in Opera Mini it's more like ice skating for the first time – you never quite know where you're going to end up.
Opera Mini achieves its speed by routing all its web traffic through its servers in Norway, where images are heavily compressed, which also means it costs you less if you're on pay-as-you-go since less data is being downloaded.
Unfortunately, it also means that sites detect your login as coming from somewhere that's not your usual location (unless you actually live in Norway). So Facebook, for example, freezes a UK account if you log in through Opera Mini.
Despite the flaws, there are a few nice features here beyond raw speed – the start page with its quick links, and a passable attempt at tabbed browsing – but we soon found ourselves returning to Safari when on Wi-Fi, just to make pages more readable again.
Related Links
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Exclusive: Intel explains how it looks to the future
Intel is already planning for the devices of 2015, with the chip giant telling TechRadar that it keeps its concepts of the future grounded in immutable habits of everyday life.
Intel's Wendy March, a people and practices expert who works in the future technoogies research branch of Intel labs, explained that silison development is still a slow process, which means that Intel has to look ahead.
"We're looking at least five years ahead, but often in the five to 10 year span," she said.
"That starts to be a little strange because what's really going to happen in five years, even beyond three years, is quite hard to predict.
"But the development of silicon is a slow process we do plan a long way out for that."
The lunch of 2015
Intel Labs is already thinking about the world of 2015, but the company is keen to ground its research in the knowledge that people's everyday lives will not change that dramatically.
"Quite recently we were working with planners and architects for our architecture for 2014 and 2015 and thinking 'what will everyday life be like?'" added March.
"I think it's a very interesting balance that we bring from our ethnographic process in grounding future concepts in real life environments.
"Even in five years we're likely to still be having lunch so if you think about what your day is going to look like there are still certain things that you will be doing that you will want to do, but the way you are going to be doing them and the devices that are going to support you will be different, and that's what we think about."
Social trends
March explains that planning for future devices and services is more about keeping an eye on social trends, rather than trying to back a particular technology horse.
"Most of [tech development] is evolutionary," said March. "You can see certain trends happening, but there are shifts happening; there are technologies that just appear out of nowhere that you can't predict.
"So Facebook comes up and you are like 'oh, well who'd have known?'
"We're not crystal ball gazers; we can't say in five years this is definitively going to happen, but we can see the way that tech starts to unfold and the way in which some social trends are happenings."
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Review: Apple Numbers (iPad)
When Apple introduced Numbers on the Mac, it did something nobody had dared attempt before: produce a spreadsheet app that reflects what people actually use spreadsheets for.
Few people, we suspect, use Excel for high-level statistical and financial analysis, compared to those who think of it as an easy way to lay out a timetable or football fixtures list.
On the iPad, Apple has been similarly innovative, and Numbers is actually the most successful of the three iPad apps. Everything that makes Numbers good on the Mac is here; it's friendly, easy to use (once you find your way around the necessarily spartan interface) and tries as hard as it can to make the business of entering formulae unthreatening.
This is because the on-screen keyboard changes to reflect what task you're doing. Enter text, and it's a standard QWERTY keyboard; tell some cells that they're for dates, for example, and you'll get a special keyboard for picking dates; and when you're entering formulae, it changes again to help you do that.
And it's possible to do some pretty sophisticated analyses with Numbers' formulae, especially since referenced cells aren't listed with grid references but are colour-coded and take on the correct names scraped from the column and row headers.
The genius of Numbers on the iPad, though, is its Forms. Tap the + tab at the top of the screen once you've created a table of information, and you have the option of creating a form for easily entering information into that table.
It turns your iPad into what feels like a big clipboard, with the added advantage that all your data is being recorded in a flexible, analysable way, and we can imagine it being tremendously useful in schools, clubs, sport associations and so on. It's also a possible competitor to Bento if your database needs are modest.
It suffers from the same infuriating round-tripping process for sharing files with a Mac that bedevils all the iWork apps and there's no way to email a version of your spreadsheet in Excel directly from the device; you'd have to save it on the Mac version of Numbers.
At least Numbers documents seem to be more resilient in the translations when they're being punted back and forth between the Mac and iPad.
Related Links
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Review: Apple Keynote (iPad)
While Apple's new iWork suite (three separate productivity apps) for the iPad is an impressive technical and usability achievement for a mobile device, it quickly begins to frustrate.
They're beautiful apps, yes, and they're packed with clever, though not especially intuitive, gestures and interface flourishes that genuinely begin to replicate what you'd expect a traditional desktop app to do, and all on a glorified mobile-phone-with-a-big-screen.
But while Keynote is fine if you're happy to use the few beautiful themes Apple supplies, you quickly run into limitations if you try to tinker or, worse still, import your own existing presentations. Never mind that the process of getting the files onto the iPad in the first place is a hideous and convoluted mess (see the Pages review); once they're finally imported, you're likely to see glitches.
Carefully laid-out slides can find their layouts messed up, especially if you've created a widescreen presentation that Keynote has to reformat for the 4:3 iPad screen.
Limited scope
Though Keynote comes with 43 fonts, you can't use your own for brand consistency, and heaven help you if you try to export anything vaguely complex from PowerPoint via Keynote on the Mac.
And just how do you get assets onto the iPad to use in your presentation? Local side loading through iTunes is the standard method, but yuck – how finicky. The most convenient method for images, bizarrely, is to copy them from the web and paste in, but again, it just feels nasty.
What about master slides you've created? Keynote ignores them, so your only option is to copy and paste an existing slide unless you want to create each one from scratch.
Presenter notes are stripped out when you copy from Mac to iPad, which is a shame given that with the purchase of the VGA-out connector you can run a presentation from the iPad to a projector. Unless you're happy to create presentations that stick pretty closely to Apple's templates, you're going to find the whole experience exasperating.
We had hoped it would at least be a decent player for Mac-created presentations that you could make last-minute edits to on the way to a meeting, but it's not even there yet.
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Guitar Hero 6 drops playable celebrity likenesses
Activision's forthcoming Guitar Hero 6 is set to drop one of the series' hallmarks – playable likenesses of your favourite rock stars.
Recent legal wranglings with the likes of Kurt Cobain's ex-wife Courtney Love and the band No Doubt may well have contributed to the decision.
Unique and special guitar power
Instead the new game will feature real-life rockers such as Metallica's Lars Ulrich to be recruited to your virtual band in Quest mode. Once you complete their tunes you will then unlock an alter-ego character with uniquely special powers.
Legendary Kiss frontman Gene Simmons will narrate the new Quest mode in Guitar Hero 6. Queen and Black Sabbath have also been confirmed to star in the new game's Quest mode.
Guitar Hero 6 has yet to be 'officially' announced, but we expect that Activision will be making a lot of noise about the new title in its mammoth rock game franchise at E3 in Los Angeles next month.
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Google 'profoundly sorry' over network data capture
Google has expressed 'profound' sorrow following evidence that it has collected information from open networks as part of Street View, with a blog post admitting 'we failed badly here'.
What Google claim was a mistake surfaced as part of the German authorities look into the Street View data, and the company has also been forced to admit that an earlier denial that this type of data was stored was wrong.
"It's now clear that we have been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open (i.e. non-password-protected) WiFi networks, even though we never used that data in any Google products," admitted Alan Eustace, Senior VP, Engineering & Research on the Google blog.
Acutely aware
"The engineering team at Google works hard to earn your trust—and we are acutely aware that we failed badly here'.
"We are profoundly sorry for this error and are determined to learn all the lessons we can from our mistake."
Google has insisted that the data collection was simply an error, but the company will be hugely embarrassed that an investigation into its propriety has found a huge breach of privacy.
Mistake
"… it was a mistake," adds Eustace. "In 2006 an engineer working on an experimental WiFi project wrote a piece of code that sampled all categories of publicly broadcast WiFi data.
"A year later, when our mobile team started a project to collect basic WiFi network data like SSID information and MAC addresses using Google's Street View cars, they included that code in their software—although the project leaders did not want, and had no intention of using, payload data.
"As soon as we became aware of this problem, we grounded our Street View cars and segregated the data on our network, which we then disconnected to make it inaccessible.
"We want to delete this data as soon as possible, and are currently reaching out to regulators in the relevant countries about how to quickly dispose of it."
The fact remains, whether Google are being evil or not, the efforts to collect all the world's information mean that this is not ever likely to be an isolated mistake.
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Google 'profoundly sorry' over network data capture
Google has expressed 'profound' sorrow following evidence that it has collected information from open networks as part of Street View, with a blog post admitting 'we failed badly here'.
What Google claim was a mistake surfaced as part of the German authorities look into the Street View data, and the company has also been forced to admit that an earlier denial that this type of data was stored was wrong.
"It's now clear that we have been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open (i.e. non-password-protected) WiFi networks, even though we never used that data in any Google products," admitted Alan Eustace, Senior VP, Engineering & Research on the Google blog.
Acutely aware
"The engineering team at Google works hard to earn your trust—and we are acutely aware that we failed badly here'.
"We are profoundly sorry for this error and are determined to learn all the lessons we can from our mistake."
Google has insisted that the data collection was simply an error, but the company will be hugely embarrassed that an investigation into its propriety has found a huge breach of privacy.
Mistake
"… it was a mistake," adds Eustace. "In 2006 an engineer working on an experimental WiFi project wrote a piece of code that sampled all categories of publicly broadcast WiFi data.
"A year later, when our mobile team started a project to collect basic WiFi network data like SSID information and MAC addresses using Google's Street View cars, they included that code in their software—although the project leaders did not want, and had no intention of using, payload data.
"As soon as we became aware of this problem, we grounded our Street View cars and segregated the data on our network, which we then disconnected to make it inaccessible.
"We want to delete this data as soon as possible, and are currently reaching out to regulators in the relevant countries about how to quickly dispose of it."
The fact remains, whether Google are being evil or not, the efforts to collect all the world's information mean that this is not ever likely to be an isolated mistake.
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LG predicts rapid growth in e-book market
LG Display is predicting rapid growth in the market for electronic books this year, which is set to be boosted by the recent launch of the Apple iPad.
LG predicts the market for electronic books will grow by almost 80 per cent in 2010.
And while the iPad and other new tablet PCs are proving popular for reading e-books, in addition to all of their other multimedia functions, LG is also sure that dedicated electronic-readers with limited multimedia features will still sell to readers.
Research group DisplaySearch notes that e-paper display shipments increased five-fold to 5 million units last year, boosted by the popularity of devices such as the Sony Reader and the Amazon Kindle.
iPad not a threat to e-books
LG is seemingly not at all concerned by the impact of the new tablet PC market.
"I think the iPad won't be a threat, but will actually have a positive impact on e-reader market," said M.B. Choi, VP of LG Display's electronic paper division.
"With iPad, Apple will boost consumer awareness of e-readers and boost digital content, which will help the market's overall growth.
"iPad is a multimedia gadget that also has digital reading. Pure e-readers, however, have their own advantages. They consume much less power, weigh less and are easy to read among other things. They simply target a different customer segment, like those seeking a serious reading experience," said Choi.
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WIN! One of ten USB Freeview tuners worth £80 each
TechRadar has teamed up with Elgato to give 10 lucky readers the chance to each win an EyeTV DTT Deluxe USB TV tuner.
The EyeTV DTT Deluxe is a small, compact USB dongle capable of decoding Freeview TV signals on any Windows PC or Macs running OSX - perfect for watching this summer's FIFA World Cup if you can't get to a TV for all the games.
EyeTV DTT Deluxe comes with a miniature telescopic aerial that attaches neatly to the end of the USB stick without wires or cables, and a larger portable rod antenna is also included as an alternative.
In areas where the Freeview signal is not strong enough for portable use, the included IEC-MCX adapter may be used to connect any type of active aerial that has an independent power source, or with a passive aerial such as a rooftop aerial.
EyeTV DTT Deluxe comes with an infrared remote and offers full-screen menus for comfortable TV viewing.
Also included in the box is the EyeTV 3 software for Mac, which lets you watch and timeshift live television, record, subscribe to TV series, and create Smart Playlists. EyeTV DTT Deluxe works great with Windows 7 Media Center.
Click here to enter this competition
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Google to stop selling Nexus One online
Google will turn stop selling its Nexus One handset on its online shop to use the site as an 'online store window' for a range of Android handsets.
A lot was made of Google's decision to sell unlocked Nexus One handsets from its store, but the company has now decided that many customers need to play with the phone before buying.
This has led to a move away from this particular experiment to a more traditional system of partnerships with service providers.
"While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not," blogged head of mobile Andy Rubin last week.
"It's remained a niche channel for early adopters, but it's clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to chose from."
Go Android!
After admitting defeat, Google will look to increase the availability of the Nexus One handset in shops and move from trying to sell its handset online to promoting slected Android phones.
"…we'll stop selling handsets via the web store, and will instead use it as an online store window to showcase a variety of Android phones available globally," explained Rubin.
"Innovation requires constant iteration. We believe that the changes we're announcing today will help get more phones to more people quicker, which is good for the entire Android ecosystem: users, partners and also Google."
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Robot priest marries Japanese couple
Japan has hosted the world's first robot-conducted wedding ceremony, as a Tokyo couple were married by an automaton called the 'i-Fairy' this month.
The i-Fairy priest married Tomohiro Shibata and Satoko Inoue at a rooftop ceremony in Tokyo.
Both humans work in Japan's thriving robotics industry, so they had decided to repay their debt to artificially intelligent 'bots by having one marry them!
The four-foot tall i-Fairy features flashing eyes and plastic pigtail.
Integrated robotics
"It's true that robots are what caused us to first begin going out, and as suggested by my wife, we decided that we wanted to try this sort of wedding," Shibata said at the landmark ceremony.
"I always felt that robots would become more integrated into people's everyday lives. This cute robot is part of my company, I decided that I would love to have it at my ceremony," added his blushing bride.
Inoue works for Kokoro Ltd, makers of the i-Fairy and her husband is one of the company's clients.
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