Sony Playstation news round-up

Fortunately good news for PSP fans comes in the guise of a camera and a GPS unit, which have finally received release dates and pricing in Japan.

The camera will be available in Japan on November 2 for ¥5,000, about £23, and is a 1.3 Megapixel device capable of capturing both stills and 30fps video in conjunction with a built-in microphone. The GPS receiver will be available just over a month after the camera's release on December 7, and will be priced at ¥6,000, around £28 - which is fairly respectable pricing.

The PSP will also benefit from the launch of the Playstation network, also aimed at PS3 owners, in November. According to Sony boss Izumi Kawanishi , PSP's download service will open up the console to Playstation one games running under an emulator, full length films, and will also be able to stream content from a PS3 acting as a home server. Oh and it will also function as an expensive remote control for the large-than-life console.

In further Playstation related news, the PS2 is to receive a price drop in Japan prior to the release of the PS3, by almost 20%. Sony have also announced that the PS3 console will not come with an HDMI cable, something that has caused much controversy in the games press, but is probably a wise cost-cutting measure considering the expense of the console's other components, and the lack of ubiquity of HDMI-enabled TVs in the home. µ

See also
EA puts out 14 classics for the PSP
PSP2 rumoured again
PS3 downgraded again
PSP crackers allow the homebrew in