The 4GB Memory Stick Duo Pro continues to slowly lose a few dollars in price. Back in June, we were able to score a 4GB stick for $40 ... now we can get one for $5 less: $35. If you don't have a Memory Stick yet (maybe you're waiting for the new redesigned PSP?), getting a large capacity stick is crucial to having fun with the system. We're quite pleased with the amount of music, videos and demos the 4GB card can hold (although we're keeping an eye out on the 8GB Memory Stick!).
Go to FRYS.com to take advantage of this great deal.
While we'd love to get our hands on a 8GB Memory Stick Duo, our wallets cringe at the sight of its steep price tag. Thankfully, 4GB cards continue to plummet in price. Fry's is offering a Lexar stick for only $40, including shipping. 4GB is more than enough space, even for videophiles that like to encode their videos in full resolution. As these sticks continue to slowly decline in price, one wonders when a 8GB card will be as affordable as this.
Sony is finally upgrading their long-forgotten "Memory Stick Entertainment Packs." These packs come with a bundled DVD that features four movies, pre-encoded for PSP playback. The previous pack came with the choice of cinematic masterpieces, such as The Grudge, S.W.A.T., Hitch, and XXX: State of the Union. Yeah ...
According to IGN, the new MSX-M2GSEP model will feature a different collection of four movies: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Spider-man 2, Hellboy and S.W.A.T. (again?) While the selection isn't too great, the sheer convenience is certainly appreciated. Unfortunately, the DVD can only be used to unlock one movie, so make sure you choose wisely.
This package will be available at Sony Style stores for about $60. The package will also include a 2GB Memory Stick.
Memory Sticks just continue to get cheaper and cheaper. FRYS.com is now offering a 4GB Gaming Memory Stick Duo Pro for only $50, after rebate. What's so special about the gaming cards? Well, they come in colorful plastic! And ... that's about it. Of course, does it matter if your Memory Stick is bright red, when it's hidden away in your PSP? Don't think so.
For those of you still struggling with the Value Pack's original 32MB stick, now is the time to upgrade! Certainly, this deal won't last long ... until the next dirt-cheap Memory Stick deal comes along.
Posted Feb 25th 2007 5:00PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News
Memory Stick prices just keep on going down and down. Frys.com has a sweet deal where you can get 4GB for only $60, after rebate. You'll be able to place a mind-numbing amount of music and videos on a Memory Stick that big!
I personally use a 4GB Memory Stick, and I find it's ridiculously huge. It's much more storage than I could possibly ever need ... and that's a good feeling. Sure, there's an 8GB stick coming down the line, but you certainly won't get such a sweet deal for quite some time. FRYS.com has a 4GB SanDisk card for only $70, after mail-in rebate. Yes, the website lists the card as $120, but once you add it to your cart, you will see the price magically change.
There are tons of fake Memory Sticks out there, and while some of them do work, many feature less than reliable performance. mavy, a programmer from PSX Reality, has come up with a comprehensive, homebrew method to check if your flash card is a fake. The test won't be fast, and it will involve doing a reformat of the disk, but it does appear to be quite comprehensive.
However, I've also heard that there's a poor man's way of checking for the real deal. Go to the PSP's XMB, and have "Memory Stick" highlighted as one of your options. Hit Triangle and then "Information." If MagicGate, Sony's proprietary copy-protection scheme isn't supported, chances are high that you have a fake.
Portable flash memory continues to get more and more impressive every year. Sony has announced pricing for the impressive 8GB Memory Stick PRO Duo at CES ... and as expected, it's not coming cheap. It'll be released in February for $300.
You'll need firmware 2.81 or above for your PSP to recognize such a massive card.
Posted Dec 11th 2006 4:00PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News
Sony has to start making "Value Packs" that live up to their name. The latest effort in the bundle-crazed European market is a new "Value Pack," going for €329 ($425 US). This package, a mark-up of €130 contains a 4GB Memory Stick and Sony's Media Manager 2.0. Considering how most freeware makes Media Manager unnecessary, and how Memory Stick prices are plummeting, there's no reason for Sony to charge as much as they are. Educated European customers will obviously avoid this bundle, and simply buy the Core system, with a Memory Stick of their own choosing.
Sony and SanDisk just revealed a new extension of Sony's popular proprietary flash media. The PRO-HG series is "theoretically capable" of sizes up to 32GB, with write speeds of up to 60MB/sec. PSP owners can celebrate that HG line is backwards compatible with the regular PRO series of cards, meaning you'll be able to buy an HG card and use it in your PSP. You won't get the same speed advantage, but you will be able to use the card's ridiculous amount of storage.
Even thinking up ways to fill a 32GB card is mind-boggling for me. Hopefully, we'll see more when CES comes around next month.
Next time you buy a Memory Stick, consider getting it used. Who knows what kind of bonuses you might unlock. Like... well, porn. John, a boy from Fort Worth, Texas, discovered porn on his supposedly formatted Memory Stick, purchased from Gamestop. "Oh my goodness. I just, my stomach turned, you know. I just was sick. I just couldn't believe they had witnessed that," the mom told NBC news reporters.
Apparently, the Gamestop corporate office will investigate. However, looking at the slight grin on the kid's face, I'm sure he's not complaining.
If you're like me, you're going to download a ton of old new PSone games to your PSP via your PLAYSTATION 3. Those suckers take up a whole lot of space. Thankfully, Buy.com seems to be giving away these 4GB Memory Stick Duos, for only $65. The same kind go for $90 on amazon.com, meaning you're saving quite a bit of cash.
Once these babies arrive to my doorstep, I'll be downloading every single PSone game and reviewing them for you all. Sweet, no?
It's a little depressing for people like myself who remember how costly Memory Sticks were at the PSP launch. My measly 256MB card cost as much as the 2GB does now!
Posted Nov 22nd 2006 3:10PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News
Slowly, but surely, more details about the PSone emulation service are popping up on the internet. The service just recently launched in Japan, and PSP GadgetZ had an opportunity to play. There are a few interesting points to note:
Tekken 2 clocked in at 542MB, and took over an hour to copy to the Memory Stick. (Joystiq has all the file sizes of the games available.)
L2 and R2 and mapped to the analog stick. "Left = L2, Right = R2, L2+R2 = UP. Sounds awful.
There is a long lag time when switching between Normal, Original and Full video modes.
At least load times in the games have become considerably better.
Posted Nov 21st 2006 12:45PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News
I've been looking for days to find a direct-feed version of Sony's new commercial, entitled "Find Me." Unfortunately, I couldn't. "Find Me" is part of Sony's newly revamped PSP marketing plan. It tells the touching story of a man who must find a girl through a Memory Stick loaded with clues in photo and video form. A hard-to-get girl that plays with a PSP must be worth the effort of running around the city. The ad can be seen on shows like Family Guy, The Daily Show, and Sports Center.
"The PSP system has already been established as a popular gaming handheld, but it was designed to do so much more -- from playing music and videos to sharing photos and accessing the Internet," said Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing, SCEA. "These marketing initiatives deliver the broader PSP brand message and offer PSP owners the entertainment experience they're thirsting for from a content perspective."
The 4GB Memory Stick Duo Pro continues to slowly lose a few dollars in price. Back in June, we were able to score a 4GB stick for $40 ... now we can get one for $5 less: $35. If you don't have a Memory Stick yet (maybe you're waiting for the new redesigned PSP?), getting a large capacity stick is crucial to having fun with the system. We're quite pleased with the amount of music, videos and demos the 4GB card can hold (although we're keeping an eye out on the 8GB Memory Stick!).
There are a ton of great post-Thanksgiving deals at retailers everywhere.
