Anticipation has been high ever since EA announced Def Jam: Fight for NY, their rappers-in-a-fighting-game game was coming to PSP. Some screens were released earlier this month, and now more Def goodness is here: Gamespot just released the first offical trailer for the title.

One of the striking things about said trailer is how well the game conveys a sense of weight; kicks, punches and bodyslams land with such intensity one can almost feel the pain. Of those shown, the sole-of-my-foot-to-your-face move, complete with a satisfying crunch, is by far this writer's favorite. Ouch.

Download: ["Def Jam: Fight for NY: the Takeover" Trailer]

Those still trying to decide whether to purchase the new Viewtiful Joe for PSP take heart: The Pal Gaming Network has released some new screen shots to help you make up your mind. The stylization seems as quirky and unique as ever, but in general the graphics appear a little vague and washed out. Let's hope that's a result of the nasty compression the images have been fed through.

Koukyou Shihen is out, both in Asia and import stores. This writer cannot personally vouch for the anime (Ereka Seven) that the game is based on, but a game based on an anime with mechs has to have some potential. From LikSang's product description:

"This PSP entry in the Eureka Seven series is a new game direction for the franchise designed, so that players who aren't even familiar with the anime will be able to pick things up quickly. In this adventure game, players get to experience the world of the anime, chatting with characters and reliving classic scenes from the show. The game also includes full 3D battles where you take to a mech and face off against enemies using a simple control scheme."

Again, keep in mind that this is an Asian release, which means everything will be in Japanese.

B0xx0r is back, and he's announced a rather ambitious goal: creating a turn-based isometric RPG in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics.  According to B0xx0r: "the first order of business was seeing if I could get the isometric map system working. Well, obviously, I have. I know, my textures are crap, but hey, give me a break, I'm a programmer!"

In a show of generosity, he's decided to make the map test and it's source code available to others who may wish to build similar RPGs, asking only that they "give credit where credit is due" if it proves useful.

DDS:AP Isometric Map System Beta 1 (What a title!) can be downloaded below!


Download: [DDS:AP Isometric Map System Beta 1]

(Thanks for the heads up, Glynnder!)

"Moonlight" over at the PS2Dev forums has just released simple piece of homebrew that allows users to play sounds and music encoded in the PSP's proprietary ATRAC3 format, presumably from game UMDs. While the author makes it clear that the program is simply a proof of concept, and still fairly buggy, the player still might be worth a look.

"This is a sample showing a simple atrac3 player using the libatrac3plus from the firmware.

This program does not pretend to be a serious player, it's only a sample on how to use the sceATRAC3plus_Library, and it have some bugs or incorrect code, mainly:

- The player supposes that all frames of the file have 1024 or 2048 sound samples, which is true in almost all cases, but not always.
- There is a bug in which sometimes one of the threads cannot be created because the previous copy of the thread is already running (probably, because of a deadlock). "


Download: [AT3Player]

(Thanks for the email, roberto!)

It's old news that you can set up a private internet radio station (via say, Shoutcast) and
then listen to it on your PSP via homebrew programs like PSPRadio. But what if you
tune in and don't like what you hear? You were out of luck, until now. Thanks to a
handy add-on to PSPRadio, you can control it all right from your PSP.


From the author:
"So you've learned how to stream your MP3's to your PC using this :
http://forums.qj.net/showthread.php...28&page=1&pp=10

But you can't use Winamp Remotely without an N-Gage/Bemused... I'm sure this will mean good news
for Mysticales

That's not a problem anymore with BrowseAmp Integration for PSPRadio I little mod i've came up
with that actually works! "

DeMoN X's handy ap can be downloaded here.

More or less anyway. Sony has released some new ads for the PSP in Japan, where their product probably needs all the help it can get. Two of the ads in particular, the "Good morning" and "Good night" ones, depict a Japanese gal beginning and ending her day with the handheld, using it for everything from listening to music while she vacuums to looking up recipes for dinner and nail care tips (seen on the left there) via the WiFi, and even (Gasp!) some gaming.

Recipes for dinner? Really? Maybe I'm just not devoted enough, but wouldn't it have been easier to do that with a real computer? With..you know..a keyboard? The commercials are catchy, but it's interesting that even this late in the game Sony continues to try to sell the PSP as an "It can do anything!" Swiss-army knife when it's clear many (if not most) gamers just want a solid gaming platform.

For years now, the beloved Worms series has reminded us just how fun it is to be destructive, especially when
trash-talking invertebrates are involved. And now all the 2D, turn-based mayhem is finally available for PSP.

The new game looks like an appetizing blend of old and new. In the face of some tweaks, old favorites like the
 sheep, uzi,  and "Dragon Ball" Remain. Predictably, the game also has wireless multiplayer support,
an important feature since at least half of the fun of a Worms game usually comes from playing it with friends.
Open Warfare also promises exotic new locations to annihilate, including Hawaii and London.

Worms: Open Warfare goes on sale at a suggested retail of $39.99.

(Note: Several people have written it (and commented) warning that this game requires firmware 2.6.
Consider yourself warned (and thanks to all those who wrote). ).

According to the Katamari homepage, copies of what is supposedly the last in the popular series should be popping up all over North America by now. The reviews have already begun to pop, and so far they're...somewhat lackluster: "still pretty entertaining — but only in small doses." reads 1up's review. It seems "Me and My" hasn't entirely managed to escape what seems to be a growing PSP curse: company ports popular PS2 games to the PSP,  only to discover it just isn't up to the task. Scale-backs in game content follow, and the end result is a weakened game.

Still, Me and My Katamari has a lot going for it. It's a Katamari game for goodness sake. The fans will come. Despite the flaws, the  rough edges, and even the new control system. And with any luck, I'll probably be among them.

Oh put you jaw back in place. Sheesh.

But it's true, just not for the PSP: According to Samsung, the company will soon release a solid-state (i.e. no moving parts) flash drive with a 32 Gigabyte storage capacity. The specs are even more amazing: The card/drive is only 1.8 inches long (about the same size as everyone's favorite PSP flash memory, the Pro Duo) and though its storage space dwarfs that of it's predecessors, it somehow manages to consume less power (An important feature for a device as power-troubled as the PSP). If that wasn't enough,
Samsung claims it's also twice as fast as what's currently available.

Two things to keep in mind though: One, the card doesn't appear to be directly compatible with the PSP (To this writer's knowledge,
only Duo and Pro Duo work with the PSP, and Samsung's card is something called "SSD"). Two, even if it was, the price would almost certainly be...prohibitive. According to TGdaily one of the few 32 GB drives currently available goes for $6,400. Don't be too sad though, there is one good thing about this release. Like most new technology, it will probably be priced competitively, which will hopefully drive down prices in general. A 32 GB flash drive may not be in your immediate future, but thanks to its coming that 2 gig Pro Duo you've been eyeing will probably get a bit cheaper.