Firmware 2.80 released
Then: Sony's 2.80 firmware upgrade was probably the most significant one in ages. Featuring video podcasting, better video support (no need for weird file names!), and a few minor adjustments made this release one of the most exciting.
Now: The PSP is at version 3.03 currently, and most people aren't enjoying the "new functionality." Why? Most of us don't have PS3s. Hopefully, Sony will get us excited about upgrading again.
Rumor: Half-Life 2 on PSP?
Then: "The research people of Penn, Shoen, and Berlan Association Inc. are notorious for slipping future releases of games. In fact, they revealed the Xbox 360 version of Half-Life 2 a full three days before Valve admitted to working on it. Considering how Half-Life 2 is branching out to other platforms, is PSP next?"
Now: Unlike Oblivion, this title hasn't appeared on anyone's radar. I guess most people thought it a bad idea. Or, most people have already played it.
Jaffe's episodic crying adventure
Then: "His new adventure will go all Half-Life on us, becoming an episodic adventure. Each "episode" supposedly comes in at a whopping 700MB!"
Now: Nope, isn't happening. Why? It sucked.
Lumines II to feature "pretty famous artists"
Then: "Speaking at the Develop conference in Europe, Tetsuya Mitzuguchi revealed that the PSP-bound Lumines sequel will feature some "pretty famous artists". Who could these artists be? I'll guess that they'll be Japanese."
Now: I was wrong. Real headlining artists like the Black Eyed Peas ended up in the game... but gamers didn't care. It bombed pretty badly at retail.
UMDs killed at Target
Then: "UMDs are now discontinued in all Target stores, as of last week. Could this be the beginning of the end of yet another one of Sony's proprietary formats?"
Now: Yes. UMD is a dead format, only to be found in bargain bins, or online retailers. No one was surprised.
Homebrew that gets you out of the home
Then: "In CollecTic, you're charged with doing something that no game has asked you to do before. You must get up and go. Go where, you ask? Wherever there are WiFi hotspots. See, that's the point of the game."
Now: Sounds a lot like Metal Gear Solid, doesn't it?
See entire year in review so far.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-29-2006 @ 10:13AM
Joe said...
I never knew there was plans for a Half-Life 2 and I guess at the same time there really was no plans for a Half-Life 2 game. But I would not really want to see HL2 I would be more thrilled for a spin off with online play and not just the Ad-hoc true online play.
As for the Firmware I would like to see the Internet get a make over. I really hate seeing the PSP say you ran out of memory and it could also use a boost in speed. As for another thing it would be nice to listen to your music at the same time as you are online.
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12-29-2006 @ 11:33AM
pixelator said...
I know everyone hates UMD movies, but this is quite wrong:
"UMDs are now discontinued in all Target stores..." "Yes. UMD is a dead format, only to be found in bargain bins, or online retailers. No one was surprised."
In fact, you can still find plenty of UMD movies at MOST stores like Target, Wal-Mart, Circuit City and Best Buy. New ones are still being released. True that they're being steeply discounted at some places, but they're definitely still available.
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12-29-2006 @ 2:33PM
Don said...
UMDs aren't dead yet... it's stupid to say that they are "now". They may still be dying but they're not dead... not yet. Quit trying to pat yourself on the back.
And 3.00 is a much better update than 2.80. Aside from 2.80 causing a glitch with music playback with mine & other PSPs, 3.00 offers a few new features that are used more than the ones in 2.80. Being able to drop a regular-named file into the VIDEO folder is cool, but I use the ability to turn off auto-UMD startup every day.
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1-02-2007 @ 11:26PM
MrGoodTime said...
Lumines II's release seemed so haphazard with randomly shifting release dates. I'm dissapointed but not surprised that it struggled at retail. Having Every Extend Extra come out during the same timeframe confused the situation even more.
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