PSP System Software Ver. 5.02

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General

System software stability during use of some features, including PlayStation Store, has been improved.

PSP Firmware v5.02 available soon

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The PlayStation Portable will be getting a minor update soon according to Eric Lempel over at the PlayStation.Blog. The minor update "improves system software stability during use of some features, including the PlayStation Store." Other than some bug fixes, it doesn’t look like anything new has been added to the update. The update may also patch some recently discovered "hacks".

We will post the changelog once the update is released. Watch this space!

PlayStation Home v1.0 available tomorrow

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PlayStation Home will be updated to version 1.0 tomorrow, and soon after it will be released to the public. Closed beta testers will have the first chance to test out the new version, but invites to non-testers will be going out from Friday. The update on Thursday 20th November will mean there will be some downtime on the service. Two batches of invites will be going out to gamers in the SCEE territories so be sure to check your email on Friday.

The new version of PlayStation Home will ask you to reserve some hard disk space for use with the current versions and the future versions. Home will occupy 3077MB of space on your hard disk so be sure you have enough space available. If you are a existing beta tester, any clothes you have purchased will be replaced with the default set and furniture from your Home Space will also be removed. Any items you have unlocked will remain in your inventory.

SCEE announced UK release date for PlayStation 3 Wireless Keyboard

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If you are looking to get yourself a early Christmas present, you will be glad to know that the Official PS3 Wireless Keyboard will be available to purchase in the UK from November 28th 2008, for £24.99. The US can expect to get the new accessory in early December, while Japan is getting their in mid-December. The wireless keyboard attaches onto the USB port of the SIXAXIS and DualShock 3 controllers and can be charged via USB.

If you have missed our previous coverage, you can check it out here. The keyboard, which uses BlueTooth technology, can also be used with other compatible devices.

Alone in the Dark: Inferno Trophies

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Taking the fear to a new level, the next-gen Alone in the Dark features the macabre style of the series played with new gameplay mechanics and a broader-reaching, action-packed play style. Explore fully-interactive realtime worlds, interacting with physics and roaming the wide-open, fright-filled environments.

PlayStation 3 turns two years old

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November 17th 2008 marks the second birthday for the PlayStation 3 in North America. Japan celebrated the PS3’s birthday last week and Europe will have to wait until March 2009 to celebrate the PS3’s second birthday. Since the launch of the PS3, there has been several changes to the system and its software, not to mention the number of great games available on the platform. Of course, it doesn’t end here. Sony will support the PlayStation 3 for another 8 years, so there is still plenty to look forward to.

So far, 17 million units have been sold worldwide, and in the last year sales in the US have gone up by nearly 100%. Over the next few months, look out for exciting new content and games like the PlayStation Home Open Beta, Killzone 2 and other high-profile games. Please join us in wishing the PlayStation 3 further success over the next 12 months!

PlayStation Store update for Nov 13th 2008

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A huge update to the PlayStation Store this week. Both the US and European Stores have received a ton of new game add-on content. The stores have new content for PAIN, LittleBigPlanet, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Star Wars Unleashed and Sid Meier?s Civilization Revolution. There are no new demos to either store this week, which is a shame, but the update also includes new game videos and trailers, movie trailers and some new wallpapers and themes. Check out the list below.

European Additions:

Game Add-on Content
- PAIN
  - David Hasselhoff add-on pack (£1.19/?1.49)
  - Movie Studio add-on pack (£3.99/?4.99)
- Dead Space
  - Astronaut Pack (£2.39)
  - Big Gun Pack (£0.79)
  - Heavy Damage Pack (£2.39)
  - Hot Rod Pack (£0.79)
  - Military Pack (£3.19)
  - Pedestrian Pack (£1.19)
  - Scorpion Pack (£3.19)
  - Scorpion Weapon Pack (£1.59)
  - Speed Kills Pack (£1.59)
  - Tank Pack (£3.19)
  - Obsidian Weapon Skin Pack (£1.19)
  - Obsidian Pack (£2.39)
- LittleBigPlanet
  - Sack-Eating Plant costume
  - Animal Costumes pack (£2.39/?2.99)
  - Lily Pad costume (£0.79/?0.99)
  - Hugo costume (£0.79/?0.99)
  - Great Blue costume (£0.79/?0.99)
  - Frost-E costume (£0.79/?0.99)
- Guitar Hero World Tour
  - "Another Way To Day" – Jack White and Alicia Keys (£1.49/?1.99)
  - "Bag It Up" – Oasis (£1.49/?1.99)
  - Hendrix track pack (£3.99/?5.99)
  - "Horse To Water" – REM (£1.49/?1.99)
  - "Man Sized Wreath" – REM (£1.49/?1.99)
  - Oasis track pack (£3.99/?5.99)
  - REM track pack (£3.99/?5.99)
  - "Supernatural Superserious" – REM (£1.49/?1.99)
  - "The Shock Of Lightning" – Oasis (£1.49/?1.99)
  - "Waiting For The Rapture" – Oasis (£1.49/?1.99)
- Rock Band
  - Foo Fighters’ The Colour and the Shape album (£9.99/?14.99)
  - "Doll" (£0.99/?1.49)
  - "Monkey Wrench" (£0.99/?1.49)
  - "Hey, Johnny Park!" (£0.99/?1.49)
  - "My Poor Brain" (£0.99/?1.49)
  - "Wind Up" (£0.99/?1.49)
  - "Up in Arms" (£0.99/?1.49)
  - "My Hero" (£0.99/?1.49)
  - "See You" (£0.99/?1.49)
  - "Enough Space" (£0.99/?1.49)
  - "February Stars" (£0.99/?1.49)
  - "Walking After You" (£0.99/?1.49)
  - "New Way Home" (£0.99/?1.49)
- Soul Calibur IV Equipment
  Customization Packs (£0.79 – £1.59/?0.99 – ?1.99)
- Star Wars The Force Unleashed Character Pack 1 (£6.29/?7.99)
- Everybody’s Golf 5 character pack (£3.19/?3.99)
- Sid Meier?s Civilization Revolution
  - "The Terrestrial" Multiplayer Map Pack (£0.79/?0.99)
  - "Elemental" Multiplayer Map Pack
Game Videos
- 6x Shoot videos
- Bioshock 2 teaser trailer
- Shaun White’s Snowboarding trailer
- 2x Soul Calibur IV trailers
- Tomb Raider Underworld trailer
- Tom Clancy’s EndWar video
- MotorStorm Pacific Rift "Air Zone" trailer
Themes and Wallpaper
- Gran Turismo 5 Prologue theme
- 4x Far Cry 2 wallpapers

US Additions:

Downloadable Games
- Age of Booty ($9.99)
Game Add-on Content
- LittleBigPlanet
  - MotorStorm Stormers Costume ($1.99)
  - Sack-Eating Plant Costume (SCEE contest winner)
  - Lilly Pad Costume ($0.99)
  - Hugo Costume ($0.99)
  - Great Blue Costume ($0.99)
  - Frost E Costume ($0.99)
  - Animal Costume Bundle ($2.99)
- Hot Shots Golf Out Bounds Costume Pack 2 ($2.99)
- PAIN
  - Movie Studio Lot ($5.99)
  - The Hoff Character ($1.99)
- FIFA ’09
  - Brazilian Commentary Pack
  - Czech Commentary Pack
  - Dutch Commentary Pack
  - English Commentary Pack
  - English #2 Commentary Pack ($4.99)
  - French Commentary Pack
  - German Commentary Pack
  - Hungarian Commentary Pack
  - Italian Commentary Pack
  - Mexico Commentary Pack
  - Polish Commentary Pack
  - Portuguese Commentary Pack
  - Russian Commentary Pack
  - Spanish Commentary Pack
  - Swedish Commentary Pack
- Need for Speed: Undercover
  - Aftermarket Body Kit Package ($2.00)
  - Aftermarket Hood, Spoilders and Exhaust Package ($2.00)
  - Aftermarket Wheels Package ($2.00)
  - Collector?s Edition Upgrade ($10.00)
  - Exotic Car Bundle ($7.50)
  - Muscle Car Bundle ($5.00)
  - Paint and Vinyls Package ($2.00)
  - Pro Handling Bundle ($2.75)
  - Pro Power Bundle ($3.75)
  - Race Handling Bundle ($2.25)
  - Race Power Bundle ($3.00)
  - Street Handling Bundle ($1.75)
  - Street Power Bundle ($2.25)
  - Tuner Car Bundle ($5.00)
  - Ultimate Performance Bundle ($10.00)
  - Ultimate Visual Bundle ($5.00)
- Sid Meier?s Civilization Revolution
  - Multiplayer Map Pack 1: Elemental
  - Multiplayer Map Pack 2: Terrestrial ($1.25)
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Costume Pack 1 ($4.99)
- Guitar Hero World Tour
  - Hendrix Track Pack ($5.49)
  - "Horse to Water" – R.E.M. ($1.99)
  - "Man-Sized Wreath" – R.E.M. ($1.99)
  - "Supernatural Superserious" – R.E.M. ($1.99)
  - R.E.M. Track Pack ($5.49)
- Rock Band
Game Videos
- Alpha Protocol Trailer
- Guitar Hero World Tour Zakk Wylde Vignette Network Trailer
- Soul Calibur IV Gameplay Preview Network Trailer
- WWE Smackdown vs RAW 2009 Network Trailer
- AST Play The Pros Cleveland
- AST Orlando Pro Moment
Movie and Blu-Ray Trailers
- Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian Blu-ray Disc Trailer
- Wall-E Blu-ray Disc
- BD-Live Educational Demo Blu-ray Disc Trailer

PlayStation Home v1.0 details

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Version 1.0 of PlayStation Home is close to release according to PlayStation Home Manager "TedTheDog" over at the Official SCEE forum. According to the forum post, notes of what version 1.0 will include will be made available to existing beta testers within Home. The new version is expected within the next few days, and then comes the open beta. The release date for the open beta will be announced in advance, but until then, SCEE will be inviting loads more users to part in the closed beta.

Main points from forum post:

The version 1.0 Patch Notes will be published in the closed beta forum so they know what to expect and to help plan testing.
A couple of days later Version 1.0 will be released into the Closed beta. That will not happen this week.
SCEE will be inviting a large number of extra testers into the closed beta to load test and that process will start within a day or so of v1.0 going live. We wont invite them all straight away, we’ll ramp it up over a a period of time. We will be inviting non-English speaking testers for the first time. Languages covered will be English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. Please remember these are languages, not countries, so more than the immediately obvious countries will be included to a degree. The lists have been chosen already, dont try changing your language to get included!
Once we start inviting people in to the Closed Beta the public SCEE Home forums will become the Home beta test forums.
The date of Open Beta start will be announced in advance
Open Beta starts and that will be just as it implies, Open to all

[Via: SCEE Forum]

Play Mirror’s Edge in 2D

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Mirror’s Edge hits retail shops in Europe today, available for both the PlayStation 3 and XBox 360. If you haven’t got yourself a copy yet, or are still deciding – a demo of the game is up on the PlayStation Store. EA and Borne Games have also released a 2D version of the game (currently in beta), which can be played for free. The beta contains one 2D level but the full release of the game will contain more levels.

[Play Mirror’s Edge in 2D]

PlayStation Video Store update for Nov 8th 2008

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Last week’s US PlayStation Video Store update adds 10 new television programs and 80 new movies for download or rental. New television includes Smallville (S8), The First 48 (S7) and The Unit (S4). As for new movies, Blood Brothers, Deja Vu, Shanghai Knights and We Were Soldiers are only a few from the list of 80 available for purchase or rental from the store. The top 20 downloads from last week include The Love Guru in first place, followed by The Forbidden Kingdom in second and Mongol in third place. Check out the list of content below.

TV:

Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Season 1
Intervention, Season 4
It?s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season 4
Pushing Daisies, Season 2
Smallville, Season 8
Solty Rei, Season 1
Squidbillies, Season 3
The First 48, Season 7
The Secret Saturdays, Season 1
The Unit, Season 4

Movies:

Action Jackson
American Gigolo
An American Rhapsody
Bad News Bears (2005)
Best Defense
Blood Brothers
Bonnie and Clyde
Bringing Down The House
Cannonball Run II
Charlie Bartlett
Chicago
Dance with Me
Dead Calm
Déjà Vu
Enemy of the State
Falling Down
Falling In Love
Fame
Fear Dot Com
For Your Consideration
Forced Vengeance
Funny About Love
Goin? South
Hardball
Hercules
Hero
Hustle & Flow
I Confess
Krush Groove
Lady In The Water
Let?s Do It Again
Lilo & Stitch
Mars Attacks!
No Way To Treat A Lady
Presumed Innocent
Private Parts (1997)
Pure Country
Rumor Has It
Semi-Pro
Shanghai Knights
Spy Kids 3: Game Over
Star Trek I: The Motion Picture – The Director?s Edition
Star Trek IX: Insurrection
Star Trek VII: Generations
Sweet Home Alabama
Swing Shift
Swordfish
Tarzan and the Lost City
Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo
The Accused
The Alamo
The Aristocats
The Big Bus
The Brotherhood
The Browning Version
The Cowboys
The Dead Zone
The Delicate Delinquent
The Emperor?s New Groove
The Glimmer Man
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunted
The Man with Two Brains
The Matchmaker
The Molly Maguires
The Mummy Lives
The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter
The Power of One
The Prestige
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Running Man
The Shawshank Redemption
The Two Jakes
The Virgin Suicides
The Wild
Timeline
Top Secret!
We Were Soldiers
What A Girl Wants
Yours, Mine & Ours