Param Tech Reviews

Sony already announced its intentions to bring more developers to the PSP platform at the big E3 gaming show last month. And the move to simplify its development tools was seen as a hint of new PSP applications beyond games. Now Develop has laid bare Sony’s PSP development strategy as explained by Zeno Colaço, Sony’s head of developer relations. According to Zeno, over 50 studios are working on “new kinds of games and applications” that will be sold via a “specially-branded separate area” of the PlayStation Store accessible by PSP and PSPgo owners. In effect, Sony is going after the kind of “snackable content” made popular by Apple’s App Store — inexpensive games and apps that can be downloaded in less than a minute for immediate gratification — according to Subatomic Studio’s Ash Monif. In fact, Subatomic, best known for its massive App Store hit, Fieldrunners, is developing a PSP-exclusive version of its tower defense game. Unlike Apple, however, Sony is charging for its PSP SDK in a bid to keep things, uh hem, “professional,” as Zeno calls it.[Thanks, Calvin H.]Keywords:   Gaming, HandheldsSony’s plan for “snackable” PSP game and application downloads revealed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Given the current state of Sony Ericsson, we completely understand the re-heating of rumors regarding a nasty breakup. That said, a new report from Dow Jones confirms that Ericsson (at least) has “has no plans to abandon its joint venture Sony Ericsson,” with spokesperson Minako Nakatsuma Olofzon stating that “[Ericsson is] committed to the joint venture; it hasn’t changed its view on that.” Of course, the report makes no mention of Sony’s take on all of this, but at least one half of the equation is still in it for the long haul. Publicly, anyway.[Via mocoNews]Keywords:   CellphonesEricsson reaffirms commitment to Sony Ericsson joint venture originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Sheesh — this is dangerously close to getting out of hand. We’ve got Hulu, boxee, ZeeVee and Vuze (amongst others) all vying for your attention in the wide world of broadband video, but it’s the latter dishing out a potent new offering with its latest version. Today, Vuze has announced a new iteration of its online video portal application that integrates playback with iPhone, iPod, AppleTV, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 devices. So far as we can tell, no other competitor offers that much integration (read: direct Mac / PC-to-device transfers) across so many products. Of course, none of this matters if you aren’t a fan of Vuze itself, but you can surf on over to download it (gratis, naturally) in order to test the waters.Keywords:   Handhelds, HDTV, Home EntertainmentVuze brings online video to game consoles, portable media players originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Keywords:   Portable Audio
You remember Gracenote, right? They’re the company that some years back kinda sorta misled everybody that populated the CDDB with data by selling the whole thing and closing off the platform. Well, they’re laughing all the way to the bank once again: Sony just bought ‘em up for $260m, with the deal set to close in late May.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Keywords:   Portable AudioStep aside Universal Music, Sony BMG is now offering its catalog of music on Nokia’s Comes With Music service. You know, the freebie, all you can eat music download service expected to launch mid-2008 (oops) “second half” of 2008. Remember, you’ll have to buy a Comes with Music device first and the free download period from the Nokia Music Store (to your PC or phone) only lasts for 12 months. Still, consumers keep the downloaded (and DRM’d) tracks at the end of the period and “can transfer their downloaded material by substituting their new [Comes with Music] device or computer for the original devices” later on. While no Comes with Music devices have been announced yet, we certainly wouldn’t be surprised if Nokia’s touch-screen Tube or some other S60 touch device was first.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments