Earlier today, Kaz Hirai kicked off Tokyo Game Show with a keynote speech that unveiled some interesting tid bits about the future of PlayStation. Customarily starting with some sales figures, it was revealed that the new slimmer PS3 has sparked a massive sales surge, with over 1 million PS3s sold through to consumers worldwide in the three weeks since its launch on September 1st.

Hirai also showed off the motion controller, reiterating that they would be released in the Spring of 2010. They feature a pair of motion sensors, a three axes gyroscope and a three axes accelerometer, along with Bluetooth and a rechargable Li-on battery. A list of games in development for the peripherals was revealed, though there’s no word on which of these will be available outside of Japan. On top of that, it was confirmed that PAIN, Flower, Hustle Kings, High Velocity Bowling and EyePet will get compatability patches to add motion controller functionality. LittleBigPlanet and Resident Evil 5 were also demonstrated to be working with the motion controllers.

The PSPgo will also be getting a couple of new peripherals in January – a Bluetooth Stereo Head Set Receiver and a Converter Cable Adapter. The latter will allow you to use any PSP 1000 – 3000 peripheral with the PSPgo. These will be available in Europe and Japan. The European price will be €39.99 for the Bluetooth Head Set and €14.99 for the Converter Cable Adapter.

If the 120GB hard drive in the new PS3s isn’t big enough for you, you’ll be happy to hear that a 250GB version will be out in October in Europe (no word on 250GB bundles coming to America) . It will be bundled with various games and will retail for €349.99 (£284.99). We’ll have more details for you soon.

Finally, Gran Turismo 5 now has a solid Japanese release date – March. An European release date will be announced in due course.

We’ll be looking to go into more detail with the above information over the coming weeks.

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Sadder than Aeris dying, sadder than realising you’ve hit 100 per cent and there’s nothing left to do in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, sadder even than the inevitable demise of that big pet animal in Trico in the final scenes (and you KNOW that game won’t end any other way), is the news that the Gathering Hall is closing. In fact, this Sunday is the closing party. I can’t even find a smiley that accurately conveys how sad this makes me.

In the two months we’ve been open we’ve had thousands of visits from Monster Hunters from all over the UK, proving to us not only the popularity of Monster Hunter but also the dedication of its players. Dwarfing even the efforts of visitors from as far as Scotland were the visitors from Poland, one player’s pilgrimage from Kuwait for two whole weeks (thanks for the home-made baklava, Sai) and a surprise two-day visit from a middle-eastern royal family whose origin I dare not disclose. It seems geographical location is no barrier for the dedicated Hunter.

So this is your last chance! Your last chance to experience Monster Hunter the way it was meant to be played – with others, in the flesh. It’s true social gaming at its best. So if you’re free (or just need to get away from the Notting Hill Carnival) then please, come visit us one last time. Help us drink the last of our alcohol (over 18s only) and be a part of the end of a truly unique gaming experience.

The Gathering Hall will open on Sunday 30th August at 12pm for the last time, and close at 10pm for the last time. The final playoffs for the Rajang time trial challenge will begin at 12.30pm and the winners declared by 4pm at the latest. The Hall is located at 121 Charing Cross Road, which is an extremely short walk from Tottenham Court Road tube station. Entry is free and exclusive to anyone with a PSP and a copy of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite.

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Below is yet another video interview from the PlayStation booth at gamescom. I’m sat on a see-saw with Mark Green talking about Create mode, which is being shown fully for the first time.

A million points to our cameraman Pete for making it look as if he is being interviewed by Sackboy.

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There were lots of comments following my summary of the press conference asking for more information on the big announcements so I caught up with two of my colleagues, Isabelle Tomatis and Mark Hardy from SCEE’s marketing team, to gather more details.

Many thanks for everyone’s questions. Stay tuned – we’ve got plenty more video interviews locked and loaded.

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Hi everyone. My name’s Adam and I am the European Product Manager for PSPgo. Thanks to all who answered the call earlier this week and submitted questions, we have literally had hundreds! It is great to see that there is so much interest in PSPgo. I will try to answer as many as I can but any questions not answered in this post will be answered in forthcoming updates. I will provide you with as much detail as I can.

xeeki: Are there any technological improvements over the PSP-3000? Like, the screen, or hardware-wise…

Xeeki has asked about detail on the technological improvements of PSPgo over other models. The 2 biggest differences are the removal of the UMD drive and the new design. PSPgo replaces the UMD drive with 16GB of flash memory and the stylish slide open design has made the PSPgo smaller and lighter than ever making it truly pocket-size.

We have also added 3 new features:

• Game sleep function: You will be able to operate the XMB™ (XrossMediaBar) while suspending the gameplay temporarily.
• Bluetooth function: This is going to let you use your favourite wireless head phones to listen to music, play games and watch videos….
• Clock and calendar application: We have included a clock and calendar application which can be viewed both when the sliding panel is open and closed.

Nemhome: Will the PSPgo be delivered with a USB cable?

I am happy to say that the answer is yes. PSPgo will come bundled with everything you need for you to start enjoying all it has to offer. Included in the box along with the PSPgo will be a USB cable, AC adaptor and Media Go software.

PSPgo comes bundled with Media Go, which is an easy to use PC application that makes it simple for you to browse PlayStation Store, as well as organise and store all your favourite downloaded games, demos, music, movies and photos.

We know that being able to effectively store, organise and access your content is key so we have created a video to help explain how you can make the most of PSPgo. Check it out.

disc: What is the battery life like?

We have adopted an embedded battery to realise a smaller and lighter PSP system. The battery life is equivalent with the current models meaning approximately 3 to 6 hours for gameplays and approximately 3 to 5 hours for playing back videos. Hope that answers your question disc.

KSPRAYDAD has been asking about peripherals so here is an update:
The peripherals on offer at launch for PSPgo are USB cable, AC adaptor, Video-out cables (AV cable and component AV cable) and a Cradle. We are currently considering introducing other peripherals for PSPgo but can not provide details at this point.

Another big question was if the current peripherals can be used with PSPgo. We have reduced the size of the USB connector and introduced multi-function features which has allowed us to obtain a smaller and lighter PSP. As such the peripherals for the current PSP models do not currently work on PSPgo however we are considering introducing a special attachment that can connect current peripherals to PSPgo.

Can I download games on to a memory stick?

PSPgo is disc free with a 16GB of built-in memory for storing all your essential games, videos, photos and music. However if you do fill this up there are a couple of options to store and manage your games, music, videos and photos. You will be able to back up to a PC via Media Go or to the M2 Memory Stick to store more content for PSPgo.

Torence: Why have you changed the format of the removable memory?

Torence has asked the above question and it is a good one. PSPgo uses M2 memory sticks which are smaller and take up less room on the device. This meant that we saved space and could make the PSPgo pocket-sized. However, you will be able to transfer the data from your Memory Stick Duo to your PC via Media Go and then transfer it to the PSPgo or M2.

theTMO / pavianexodus: Will it be possible to transfer my UMD games to the new PSPgo?

We know that there are many of you excited about PSPgo but are hesitant at leaving your UMD games collection behind. We recognize this and as such we are planning a goodwill programme and will unveil more details soon.

We also know that there are many already released UMD games that you may not own but want to play in the future on your PSPgo. To make this happen we are considering every possibility to bring downloadable versions for the majority of past titles available only in UMD to the PlayStation Store along with all new releases. We will announce further details on this.

How much will PSPgo cost?

Many of you have asked about the price of PSPgo throughout Europe and the PAL territories and we announced at E3 that PSPgo will retail in Europe at 249 Euros. Many of you have asked more specifically what price this will mean in your local currency. Unfortunately at this stage we are unable to define prices in countries where the Euro is not present at this time but I can assure you that as soon as these prices have been agreed upon I will let you know.

Will the price differ between the UMD version and the downloadable version?

I know this is something that is a concern for you. Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer for you on this at the moment. I can however assure you that I will share this information with you as soon as I get it.

I hope I have managed to answer some of the most burning questions! Feedback is always welcome and we do appreciate all the comments and questions. I will be posting regularly to update you on the latest information on PSPgo.

Thanks!
Adam

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