The planets are aligning…

Sony works in mysterious ways but I do believe they have a plan and they won’t let anyone bully them into changing that plan* even when the lack of a price drop has brought them under fire from every conceivable angle. They have been saying for a long time now that there will be NO PRICE DROP stating various reasons such as, if you drop the price people expect that and then nobody buys your console until the price drops. This is true but there’s nothing you can do about that. A certain number of people aren’t price sensitive and will buy on day one or soon thereafter but most people are prepared to wait and if you DON’T drop the price they may give up waiting and go elsewhere.

Anyway, they have now come out and said that a price drop will happen once the “factors are aligned” and as far as the rumour trolls can tell the planets in the Sony  Solar System are starting to align. There’s the rumour of the Slim PS3 and the more recent rumour that it has gone into production. There’s the game bundles with current 80GB PS3 said to be clearing out current stock. There’s rumours that the price drop is happening in August which seems to align with these other rumours. Then there’s the  fact that Sony have the E3 game of the show, Uncharted 2, coming later this year and they’ll want to build some momentum in the run up to that date.

More here at Kotaku… Click through to Engadget to see the image of the new PS3 Slim packaging…

They say where there’s smoke there’s fire and now we have our smoke, lots of it. Of course it could all be smoke and mirrors too!? Stay tuned.

*He seriously said that? In a public forum? Usually this sort of stuff goes on behind closed doors. I’m sure he just said so that when the inevitable price drop happens he can go “See, they did cos I told them so!”.

PSP Go! confirmed, demo’d and games announced!

So it’s finally been semi officially announced. The PSP Go! is coming, UMD free and about the size of an iPhone but it’s NOT a PSP 2. This is the current PSP in a new form factor. Still only one analogue stick, still plays the same games albeit download only onto its internal memory or a memory stick. Still it has ditched the UMB drive so it’s headed in the right direction. Video and more at Kotaku. It’s essentially a rehash of the Mylo internet device Sony released recently in that it shares the same form factor as you can see here. If you want too see how it compares to the current PSP and the iPhone click here. More hi-res images here.

Here’s some preliminary specs…

• 3.8-inch display (resolution is undisclosed)
• 43 percent lighter than the PSP-3000
• 16GB of Flash storage
• Bluetooth built-in; supports handset tethering and BT headsets
• No UMD drive
• Memory Stick Micro slot
• New Gran Turismo, Little Big Planet and new Metal Gear Solid (!) on the way
• Full PlayStation Network support (movie and TV rentals / purchases)
• Integration with PlayStation 3 (works the same as the PSP-3000 does)
• Sony views each of its products as “10-year lifecycle products,” so the PSP “needs to live on.”

E3 Ahoy!

I think this E3 is gonna be HUGE what with the news that E3 is back to its old self and the fact that there are so many juicy rumours swirling and that this E3 is kind of a make or break in different ways for all three of the main hardware contenders.

The three big console makers each have something to prove…

Nintendo has seen sales NOT climb quite as fast as they are used to and are keen to show that last years disappointing E3 won’t be repeated! I expect to see Zelda Wii or Mario Galaxy 2 news! Anything less than that and they’ll get slammed by the core gamers again. Mind you they’ve sold more wii fit boards than Sony has sold PS3’s so they probably don’t give a shit!!

Microsoft has the lead over Sony but needs to show how it’s gonna hold onto that lead and extend it. It’s been pretty quiet on the software front lately but the rumour is there’s motion sensing hardware coming. Possibly something like Sony’s eye-toy but one that not only doesn’t suck but works amazingly well!

Sony are the laggards but they keep saying they have an amazing software line up this year including some really huge titles that haven’t even been announced yet. They have a lot to prove but if exclusive games like InFamous, Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain, God of War III and Project Trico can’t save them then nothing can!? Or do they also have a hardware surprise up their sleeve?? There’s been rumours of a PS3 Slim / hardware redesign and their own motion sensing tech floating around the intertubes! OR, shock horror, maybe a price drop!? Nah, that’ll never happen. Then maybe the rumoured PSP update that finally ditches the UMB drive in favour of digital downloads onto memory sticks and internal memory rumoured to be up to 16GB. We wait and see.

Here’s a few feeds to help you all keep track of the madness that is E3 2009…

http://au.e3.ign.com

http://e3.gamespot.com/

http://www.gametrailers.com/e3/

nzgamer.com

and if that’s not enough news for ya here’s a site that concatenates all their feeds and many many many more into one massive E3 mega news explosion!!
http://www.e3feed.com/

New PSP Go! to be unveiled at E3!

It’s been long rumoured but now the rumours are starting to be verified as people who have seen the new PSP2, supposedly to be called the PSP Go!, have spilled the beans, let the cat out of the bag and squeezed the toothpaste out of the tube! Here’s more info…