1.000.000 PSP Slim’s sold in Japan

Sony has announced that it has shipped more than one million units of the revised PSP model in Japan. The handheld has been performing particularly well at retail since its release on September 20th, even outselling the all-conquering DS for the initial period following its launch. Indeed, it managed 300,000 units in just three days, before going on to sell 580,000 in two weeks.

However, since then it’s not dropped below second position in the weekly hardware sales and has maintained a far closer gap to Nintendo’s than the original PSP model ever managed. No latest figures have been released for the Slim & Lite’s performance in Europe, other than Sony’s announcement of first-week UK sales of 17,000.

Via PocketGamer.

PSP Slim - SDTV video output problem

According to Kotaku, PSP Slims video output feature is not so fabulous when it comes to playing games on a Standard Definition TV (SDTV) set. In order for games to work properly on SDTV, you need to connect to the TV set with either D-terminal AV cable or component cables, and your SDTV must support progressive scan. This is not the case with UMD videos which will play just fine, but the games will apparently cause a hedache to some of PSP Slim owners whose SDTVs doesn’t support progressive scan.

Guys at Kotaku did a little Internet research and found out that only 20% of US homes do have HDTV. A fact which could easily produce industrial conspiracy theories, how Sony might push people to buy HDTVs. Conspiracy theories? You’re telling me that Sony is not pushing towards HDTV? Read the full Kotaku article here.

PSP Slim strong in third week

After three weeks of PSP Slim sales in Japan, it still dominates the sales charts. Even though many has expected PSP Slim sales to go down, PSPs younger brother proved them wrong. Weekly sales are falling, but still PSP Slim is firmly on the first place of the chart. In the third week of sales PSP Slim almost managed to sell the number of units just like all other consoles combined.

Read the rest of this entry »

PSP Slim eclipse in Japan

Just two weeks after the debut of PSP Slim in Japan, new Sony device has eclipsed all other consoles on the market. With over 580,000 sold units PSP is crushing the competitors in Japan. PSP Slim surpassed his older brother with sales figures,  PSP which debuted in December 2004 had less sold units in short time period like this. Sales figures include over 70,000 PSP Slim units sold in special Crisis Core bundle.

Sony: No PSP S-Video cables for US

S-Video cables for freshly released PSP Slim will not be available on the US market, because Sony has decided to “streamline” the selection. As bizzare as this may sound, unfortunately it is true, as Sony representative has confirmed such decision to the GameInformer. Sony considers that this move will “give owners a choice between cables supporting composite and component inputs”. Since when less products on the market meant having a choice?

PSP Slim sales in Japan hit 130,000 mark

First day of PSP Slim sales in Japan have became second best-selling day in the history of PSP. First place still belongs to official release date of PSP, back in 2004, when 171,963 units were sold. Yesterday, the day of the PSP Slim release in Japan, numbers stopped somewhere around 130,000 mark - even more then the Crisis Core release when 95,487 units of “old” PSP were sold.

How did PSP Slim loose weight compared to PSP?

Extensive testing and comparison between PSP and PSP Slim in the past few weeks have shown almost every single difference between the two. But a single question has not been answered in all that time of exploring new PSP Slim - How did PSP Slim, became so slim?

In our FAQ Roundup - PSP vs PSP Slim we explored functional differences between PSP and PSP Slim, and in our Technical specification comparison - PSP vs PSP Slim we have explored technical differences.

Read the rest of this entry »

PSP Slim loading time makes a difference?

As previously reported in our FAQ Roundup - PSP vs PSP Slim, there was no apparent load-time difference between PSP and PSP Slim. Even though PSP Slim does contain double amount of NAND memory compared to PSP, a total of 64mb compared to 32mb, PSP Slim did not significantly outperform his older brother, the PSP. As reported today by GameBrink, there is a possibility that PSP Slim - will be able to outperform the PSP. It seems that key factor is in the games themselves, not the device.

GameBrink has tested the loading time of recently published Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core on the PSP and PSP Slim, and as seen in the released video - PSP Slim did load significantly faster. Since previous load-time comparison tests were performed with the aid of games that have been released before PSP Slim hit the stores, this GameBrink test surely arises some questions. The most important one of them all, is PSP Slim really faster than PSP, and will its speed become even more obvious with the release of the new games?

Unfortunately, there is no definite answer to this question but even more questions. What we can figure out, is that there is a possibility that a game has to be “aware”, meaning coded that way, of added 32mb of NAND in PSP Slim in order to use it. Thus explaining, why the “old” games had same, or even worse performance on PSP Slim. All this, further meaning, that upcoming games will perform better on PSP Slim instead of PSP.

Interesting point is that basically, we will be in a way - forced, to upgrade to PSP Slim. Upcoming games will use all of PSP Slims NAND memory, thus leaving PSP users dry with their puny 32mb of NAND. Of course, this is all a theory, considering that these assumptions are - correct. On the bright side, we seriously hope that PSP Slim does have faster loading-time exploiting double amount of NAND. And on the dark side, we do not want to see PSP going PC way - upgrading the device every year in order to keep up with the gaming industry.

Currently, only thing we can do is to wait and see what of all this is correct and what is just a theory.

GameBrink comparison video

PSP Sales down due to PSP Slim

For the last couple of days, numerous reports of PSP sales dipping were available on the Internet, and many speculated that Sony should be worried. After processing all the last-month numbers Sony has issued a statement about the sales of PlayStation brand in general, and a brief explanation of what’s going on with the PSP sales. According to Sony, August was a strong month for all of PlayStation consoles, with the $340.000.000 in sales.

PSP sales hitting all-time low, were explained by PSP Slims debut. A lot of customers were holding out on cash, waiting for PSP Slim to come out. And second problem in row, was a small supply stock of both PSP and PSP Slim. Retailers wouldn’t keep a large stock of PSPs since PSP Slim came out, and Sony couldn’t deliver enough of PSP Slims. Sony is hoping that, PSP Slim will regain the sales chart position of his older brother, in the next few months.

Simpsons and Spider-Man limited editions of PSP Slim, a peek

At Leipzig, Sony has announced two limited editions of PSP Slim, which will be released along side with the official PSP Slim in Europe. Allegedly, the devices will be customized for Simpsons and Spider-Man. Bundles, simmilar to Daxter Entertainment Pack will include customized PSP with the either Simpsons or Spider-Man 2 game. Only thing that Sony didn’t do then is to release photographs of the devices, but that has been corrected, and you now can see how that two PSP Slims will look like. To be completely honest - plain yellow and red PSP Slims, they look cool or at least yellow one does, but to call them customized versions? Not quite. The God Of War: Chains of Olympus is customized, those two … just lack imagination. Below you can see the full gallery of customized PSPs.

PSP Slim hacked! M33 custom firmware v3.60 released …

It seems as Sony hasn’t done much to protect new PSP Slim from homebrew community modders. Or is it more adequate to say that Sony hasn’t done - enough? Homebrew community - M33 team of modders, has just released a custom version of the PSP Slim firmware v3.60. It includes all of the features of their previously released M33 custom firmware v3.52, with the exclusion of v1.5 kernel support. Meaning, that homebrew specifically written for v1.5 will not run on M33’s custom firmware v3.6. As disclosed, installation of M33 custom firmware v3.60 is difficult requiring Pandora battery and Pandora Memory Stick, a non-Slim PSP with firmware v1.5 and of course the PSP Slim.

M33
We are proud to present the first custom firmware for the PSP Slim, and the first custom firmware
that runs using a 3.XX IPL (3.60)

3.60 M33 for PSP Slim has all the features of 3.52 M33, except the 1.50 kernel support, as
that kernel doesn’t work properly on psp slim (hardware problems, screen problems).
3.60 M33 will load homebrew from GAME, GAME150 and GAME360 directories, but all will be executed
with 3.60 kernel.

This mean that some homebrews done specifically for the 1.50 kernel cannot work on 3.60 M33.
However, the adaptation of code to 2.XX+ kernels is not difficult, and homebrew developers can
port their applications to work in these firmwares.

Read the full article at DCEmu.

Technical specification comparison - PSP vs PSP Slim

If you’re still thinking about PSP Slim and wondering if it’s worth the upgrade, we’re continuing to compile detailed comparisons of both devices. We managed to find the technical specification of new PSP Slim and compare it to the “old” PSP.

If you’re not so crazy about the technical comparison of both devices, but interested in more real user-based approach you can check out our FAQ Roundup - PSP vs PSP Slim. We have also added an insight to How did PSP Slim loose weight compared to PSP? which you can also check out.

Read the rest of this entry »

FAQ Roundup - PSP vs PSP Slim

Since PSP Slim hit the shelves, many users are asking themselves is it worth the upgrade, and will new PSP Slim fulfill their expectations. Many questions plague the PSP fans around the globe. Are new features of PSP Slim worth it? Is new PSP Slim better at this and that? Does PSP Slim contain everything Sony really says? So in order to clear up most of the indecision, we decided to make a compiled list of frequent questions asked about PSP Slim, and it’s differences to it’s older brother - the PSP.

If you are interested in technical comparison of both devices head to our Technical specification comparison - PSP vs PSP Slim. We have also added an insight to How did PSP Slim loose weight compared to PSP? which you can also check out.

Read the rest of this entry »

PSP Slim on flaws

Nice guys from Gamepro have taken out PSP Slim to a test drive, and put up article about flaws of Sony’s new baby. We were a bit worried when we saw that new PSP Slim actually has flaws (Hey Sony, you’re supposed to improve the da*n thing!), but afterwards we realized that Gamepro guys are really picky ones. Disregard that. It’s pretty much obvious they did a really good job looking into the new PSP Slim. Here are flaws the guys at the Gamepro found :

1. Sticky directional pad
2. New UMD slot
3. Too many separate outputs and inputs
4. Plastic bezel

Any of that worry you? Now head over to Gamepro and read the whole review …

You’re going down PSP Slim

It has been less than 24 hours that PSP Slim hit the shelves, and it’s already on the way of being - hacked. Even though PSP Slim features modified hardware and new version of firmware - v3.6, modders known as Mathieulh and Dark_Alex already have dumped the firmware from PSP Slims internal flash memory.

Many have feared that modified hardware in PSP Slim will add an addional security layer making it harder to hack, but it seems that is not the case. Mathieulh and Dark_Alex not only started to crumble security wrapped around PSP Slim but also confirmed that new unit does have 66MB of NAND memory - twice as much as original PSP.

…we wont tell how it’s been done, however it shows that hacking into the slim is possible with enough will…

Load time comparison, PSP vs PSP Slim

Guys at joystiq got their hands on PSP Slim, and made a nice video comparing load time on PSP and PSP Slim. They have used Star Wars: Battlefront to compare loading times, and from what it looks like, there isn’t much difference. Even though Sony announced modifications to PSP Slim - adding more memory in order to speed up game loading times, it doesn’t look it helped much. PSP Slim loaded game second or two faster, not much of improvement. Although one game has been used for this test, our hopes of faster loading UMDs are going down, down, down …

PSP Slim big debut in USA

New version of ice-silver colored PSP has debuted in USA in best pack so far, named Daxter PSP Entertainment Pack. Besides a more colorful packaging than ordinary PSP box, new pack besides PSP unit features couple of UMD’s. In the box you will find Daxter and The Family Guy - The Freakin’ Sweet Collection, but be careful, the latter is not the game but animated series. If this is still not enough, SCEA has thrown in a 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo for your storage needs.

SCEA head Jack Tretton
“PSP sales have soared since we introduced the $169.99 price point in April, and that momentum will only continue with the launch of the newly designed PSP, which has generated strong interest among consumers since we announced it at E3. With our growing software library, which includes more than 140 new releases in the pipeline this fiscal year, the PSP platform is poised for significant growth. The Daxter Entertainment Pack offers a great opportunity for consumers to jump in to PlayStation Portable experience with content that demonstrates the multi-functionality of the system, all for a great value.”

Oh, a price tag? Affordable - $199. Later during the month pack containing only new version of black colored PSP unit will go out to stores with a tag of $170. Third - Star Wars pack featuring Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron and a white PSP with a Darth Vader image on the back will appear during October with $200 price tag.

Oh uh. A/V cables needed to output PSP display to a TV screen will not be included in any of the packs but sold separately. They will come in two variants - component and composite, tagged $20 a piece.

New PSP is slimmer, ready at hand, new best friend!

Sony is giving its handheld console a serious refresh in the form of a slimmer, lighter and faster “updated” PSP. The new unit still includes the 4.3-inch LCD and UMD drive, but is 33% lighter, 19% slimmer, has sped up game load times and improved battery life, which is, You’ll agree, one hell of important improvement. This new model “is equipped with enhanced feature to temporarily store game data from UMD, reducing load time during game play”. As we understand it should mean that PSP got more RAM for buffering. Thanks for that!

The only real “new” feature is a video output capability to allow you to play your PSP games on a big screen TV. You can score one in September in the original Piano Black, a new Ice Silver color, and a Star Wars Battlefront special edition. The latter two PSPs come in $199 bundles with related games and a 1GB Memory Stick in the case of Ice Silver. The price of Piano Black model will presumably be around 160$.

“We are delighted to announce the arrival of the newly designed PSP to the SCEE region, whilst also providing something unique and special for our consumers.” David Reeves explained. “With the addition of two limited edition color bundles, inspired by the blockbuster Spider-Man and Simpsons Hollywood movies, together with the new video-out port, which gives consumers the option to enjoy PSP content on the big screen, we are confident that this now brings a whole new dimension to the PSP entertainment experience.”

C|Net has and excellent video review of new PSP Slim at Crave, to see the review click here.