It’s been over a week since the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, inflicting serious loss of life and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. The Japanese people, together with support and compassion from the global community, are beginning what will be a long recovery process.

Sony Computer Entertainment’s headquarters are located in Tokyo, and so we’ve heard firsthand of the disaster’s impact from our colleagues and friends. As we here in Europe watch the tragic events that continue to unfold, you might be left thinking, “Is there any way I can help?”

Sony Corporation is aiding the recovery through financial contributions and donating radios, batteries and other equipment that can be used in the relief efforts. Today we’re making it possible for you to contribute directly to the earthquake and tsunami recovery efforts through a medium you’re already quite familiar with – the PlayStation Network.

You can make donations in the amounts of €2, €5, €10, €20 from your wallet in the PlayStation Store. With your donation, you’ll get a free Sunrise Blossom Theme for your PlayStation 3. In order to make a donation, click on the ‘Japan Tsunami Appeal’ banner on the homepage of the PlayStation Store or via the latest category.

It’s important to note that your contributions will go directly to the British Red Cross, part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement – Japan Tsunami Appeal. Every penny and cent will go to the fund, which supports emergency relief and recovery efforts, including deploying personnel, sending relief supplies and providing financial resources.

Many gamers in particular feel a special bond with Japan, even if they’ve never traveled there personally. Its ingenuity and innovation have shaped our industry, and its culture and style have spread to communities across the world.

Please join us now in helping the Japanese people during this great time of need. Together we can have a significant impact on the relief process.

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For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Andy House and I am President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. I’ve not participated on the blog before, but with the announcements that were made a few hours ago in Japan, I thought that this would be an ideal time for me to write my maiden post.

In case you haven’t heard, earlier today in Tokyo, Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, introduced PlayStation’s portable gaming strategy, which included our much anticipated next generation portable entertainment system (codename: NGP), and details on our first foray into providing PlayStation content on Android based portable devices, via PlayStation Suite (PS Suite).

I’d like to start by introducing you to NGP. It is an innovative and powerful next generation portable entertainment system, built to deliver the ultimate gaming experience on the move.

At the heart of NGP is cutting-edge technology that will deliver the best performance and graphics, multiple control inputs for new ways to play and complete integration with PlayStation Network for a truly next generation portable gaming experience.

NGP introduces new ways to play and interact with PlayStation games, giving gamers and developers the biggest range of control inputs, offering the best gameplay experiences for all types of games. It features the much requested familiar two analogue sticks, as well as motion sensors, a front touch display, plus a unique multi-touch pad on the rear for a truly innovative gameplay experience. Coupled with a stunning 5″ OLED screen, NGP offers gamers the opportunity to experience quality handheld gaming that’s way beyond anything experienced in the portable market.

NGP will also be supported by an incredible software line-up with all titles being developed to maximise the capabilities of the system and provide the richest portable gaming experiences. I’m particularly excited to see that the best PlayStation exclusive franchises will be coming to NGP, including Uncharted, as well as fantastic new IPs that will provide ingenious uses of the NGP functions. And let’s not forget the incredible titles being provided by our 3rd party developers and publishers.

We have learnt a great deal from our previous experiences and as such will be distributing games both at retail and via the PlayStation Network. We want to give consumers the choice as to how they access the great content available on NGP.

For the first time on a PlayStation platform, we will be offering a choice of connectivity options – including 3G network support, providing a completely connected experience, fully integrated with PlayStation Network, allowing you to enjoy true social gaming, entertainment on demand and anytime, anywhere* communication with your PSN Friends.

I am extremely excited about the potential of this innovative and powerful next generation portable entertainment system, which has been built to deliver an unparalleled gaming experience.

NGP is the first step in our portable strategy as we start to offer PlayStation experiences to a wider audience than ever before. As well as offering the ultimate portable gaming experience, via NGP, we will also be introducing a new way to deliver PlayStation games, via PlayStation Suite.

Casual gaming on multi-purpose mobile devices is a growing market that we simply cannot neglect. With that in mind, PS Suite is a new initiative to offer PlayStation quality games on Android based portable devices, be it mobile phones, smartphones or tablet PCs. By offering a fantastic selection of legacy PlayStation games (PS one classics), alongside content made specifically for PS Suite, we believe that we will be offering the PlayStation experience to a wider base of users.

Via a program, called PlayStation Certified license program, we will work with hardware manufacturers to provide devices that optimize the gaming experience. We want to give consumers the freedom to choose between various devices when they wish to enjoy a certain piece of PlayStation content.

We also realise that PlayStation content should be provided through a secure and unique means, that is both reliable and user friendly. Therefore we also plan to open PlayStation Store to download content on the Android based portable devices. This is a significant move for us and one that we firmly believe will make PlayStation content more accessible than ever before.

So as you can see, today’s announcements we have set out our Portable Strategy for a significant length of time. We see huge potential in this market and with our experience and knowhow, believe that we can not only improve on the portable experiences previously offered by PlayStation, but make it more accessible to a wider audience.

If you want to see more about today’s announcements, visit www.playstation.com/psmeeting2011.

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