And here we are once more with our Tuesday goodie, the QuickJump QuickGuide now at Issue 3. As promised, we will be continuing the (already-long) PSP Firmware Database. We left off with 3.40 IE in Part 1. Today, we give you Part 2, starting off with the OFW 3.50 from Sony, all the way to 5.30, and of course including the brilliant CFWs and other exploits by the gods-that-be of Homebrew. This piece needs no more introduction; the stars of the show are already tabled below:

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan has sent word via their official site that they're readying a demo of Echochrome for both the PSP and PS3 for next week. Wondering exactly where this game teaser is expected to appear? Head over to the full article to find out!

More often than not, Sony releases PlayStation Portable firmware updates without early formal announcements. This time however, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan sent out a press release informing everyone that the official PSP firmware 3.80 will be made available this coming Tuesday, December 18.

Check the PSP firmware 3.80 changelog by clicking the "read more" link below.

 

Japanese videogame news site Game Watch informs that as of February 22, Monster Hunter fans were able to download news quests for Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable 2nd at their local game stores and demo kiosk's via Sony's PlayStation Spot service. Fans who don't already own the game (unlikely given the reportedly good launch) can also download demos of the game.

Given the arguable existence/popularity of the PlayStation Spot service outside of Japan, with word (unconfirmed) that the title will make its way to North America, will this offering pave the way for even more downloadable and hopefully gameplay relevant content for the PlayStation Portable?

Of course the hopeful among us are dreaming of a utopian merger of the PlayStation Network, the PlayStation Spot service, and gameplay, but again, that's us getting ahead of ourselves.

Over at the Land of the Rising Sun, Capcom's latest PSP title comes into the scene with an encouraging amount of fanfare from the eager Japanese audience. On its release day, many of the stores which participated in the simultaneous release of the game were practically mobbed as people lined up to get copies of the game.

Over at Shinjuku, the main branch of the popular retailer Yodobashi Camera opened its doors for business that day around 10 a.m., only to find more than 140 people gathered in front of the store, and each one waiting for his turn to either purchase a copy of Monster Hunter Portable 2, or get one of those bundles which include the new Champagne Gold PSP. Some fans have even reportedly lined up as early as 5:30 a.m. just to make the purchase.

Find out how it goes in other stores, right after the Jump!

 

PSP owners have PlayStation Spot, a retail download service that lets them download game demos. PS3 fans have the PlayStation TV kiosk where they can check out PS3 game demos and give the PS3's multimedia features a try. Now Sony is going to combine both.

At least 70 PlayStation TV kiosks have been converted to allow PSP Spot downloads. According to IGN, Sony will eventually convert all 1, 035 PS3 kiosks.

To the best of our knowledge, PlayStation TV kiosks can only be found in Japan. Yes, there are PS3 demo kiosks all over the world, but they don't look like the PlayStation TV kiosk in the image above (that images is of the Japanese PlayStation TV website). We'll have to wait for clarification if the "demo kiosks" will also be upgraded to handle PlayStation Spot services.

Still, if you've seen PlayStation TV kiosks outside of Japan, do the rest of the PS3 community a service and post a comment below. Thanks!

Given that they had around 200 plus PS3's on the floor, they better have backed that up with content or the fans would've gone bonkers. Despite the fact that Ken Katuragi's key-note speech didn't really give out a lot of details, most of what Sony had on the floor was actually decent and mostly playable content. Thank bob Sony delivered this TGS 2006.

Warhawk, Resistance: Fall of Man, and Heavenly Sword were the games that dominated the floor space with their humongous displays. For the portable crowd, Sony set up a Playstation Spot area where attendees could charge and download the latest material for their PSPs. Trailers, demos, and other digital goodies were up for download. The PSP booth that gathered the biggest crowd of PSP fans was the kiosk for Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.

Check out the pictures below, and see the crowd for yourself.