Comic browsing on your PSP.
(Credit: GameSpot)A new, slimmer PlayStation 3 wasn't the only news to come out of the Sony press conference at Gamescom in Germany Tuesday. There were also plenty of announcements about the PSP and PlayStation Network that weren't completely expected.
First, the PlayStation Network will get an overhaul beginning September 1. New features and a more logical navigation are among the updates. A "What's New" tab highlighting new PlayStation Store releases will also be accessible directly via the XMB (cross media bar).
There was also a lot of news regarding the PSP. Along with the PSP Go, October 1 will also bring the launch of PSP Minis, a new series of bite-size games. These titles will be more affordable, in addition to smaller in size (all games will be 100MB or less). PSP Minis will debut with 15 titles, totaling 50 by the end of 2009.
The PSP will also be getting a Digital Reader in December with various comic book publishers onboard to offer content. Marvel will be providing Spider-Man, X-Men, and Fantastic Four comics to start, with Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man, and the Hulk all to follow. Compatibility with other Sony readers and more digital comics publishers will be announced soon.
Sony also disclosed that the company will have more details on the PS3 motion-sensing controller at next month's Tokyo Game Show. In addition, customers who preorder Gran Turismo 5 for PlayStation 3 will get a free download of the portable version, Gran Turismo PSP.
(Credit:
Gyration)
The Gyration Air Music Remote with MotionSense technology made its debut Monday. This new universal remote is meant to replace all previous Gyration remotes with its new features. The Air Music Remote not only controls the satellite/cable box, home theater, and TV, it also controls Windows XP- and Vista-based computers.
This is all possible through the gyroscopic device in the remote, which allows in-air cursor tracking. A user can interact with and manipulate items onscreen through movement and pointing of the remote, similar to a Wii remote. It also has left and right buttons to launch and/or close applications.
In addition, the remote can play and manage music files from iTunes and Windows Media Player without having to turn a TV or PC monitor on. The backlit 1-by-1.5 inch LCD display, on the top of the remote, allows the user to search for artist, song, genre, or playlist.
According to Gyration, the PC remote's range is about 100 feet. This is due to the RF (radio frequency) on which the remote operates. It also works on IR (infrared), which is common with televisions and audio equipment.
Stay tuned for our full review.
GestureTek Mobile has bestowed the powers of movement-based navigation, popularized by the Nintendo Wii, upon cell phones. The one crucial difference: no Wii tennis elbow.
Since the technology in GestureTek Mobile's EyeMobile Engine is purely optic rather than hardware-based--unlike the accelerometer that tells iPhone when to jump into landscape mode--wrist motion is powerful and specific.
Here's an example from the demo: just click the soft key to zoom in on the map, and tilt the phone back and forth to zoom in and out. Do it again holding the scroll button to activate the motion detection, and tilt the handset from side to side to scroll around.
The zoom, scroll, and slow controls initiate motion response.
(Credit: CNET Networks)The demo also included games on Japanese phones, offering a glimpse of the future for us North American slackers. In one game, I rotated the phone in all directions to guide my sky-diving character through clouds to a landing target, all the while avoiding flying objects and collecting apples for points (apples?!). In a bowling game, I held down the center key to produce a digital bowling ball and whipped my arm upward to release it. It turns out that my GestureTek bowling score is pretty true to real life.
While those cool 3D games won't be available in this continent for a while, some technology, like the map I tested, is already available for Windows Mobile 6 and selected models for Verizon, Alltel, and Cellular South, with more to come. In Japan, advanced phones are already sporting 3D games made with the EyeMobile Engine tilt technology.
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