While it won't be another year before we see the judges of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) weigh in their votes for the best video games of 2009, the group has already confirmed a place and date for the upcoming event - the London Park Lane Hilton on March 10, 2009. More in the full article.

Sony Computer Entertainment UK managing Director Ray Maguire was at the recently-held ELSPA press conference and he had a few things to say about the now popular Byron Report. The boss commented that the report's recommendations are valid today, but when the time comes that brick-and-mortar retailers take a back seat to online stores, things will be done differently to enforce the rating system. More in the full article up next.

March 13, 2007 - After all the rumors and speculation, a Sony exec has finally gone on record to say that a redesigned version of Sony's PSP handheld is in the works.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, SCE UK managing director Ray Maguire told an invited audience of press, teachers and education specialists at the national launch of Sony's PSP in Education initiative that the current PSP is just the "first iteration", and that a "smaller, lighter" system will be introduced in the future.

Maguire also said that any redesigns would not affect the PSP's screen, which is apparently "fixed." Judging by Sony's track record of cutting the size and cost of their redesigned consoles since the PSOne was first introduced, a redesigned PSP could also presumably carry a lower price tag.

Following Maguire's statement, a Sony spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz that apart from firmware updates, no "immediate changes" are currently planned for the PSP. "In the longest term, of course we are always looking at ways to continue our platform development," said the spokesperson, "and this normal business practice is what Ray was referring to."

---

UPDATE (May 15, 2007): We were informed by QJ reader whoelse about a report at PSPGen regarding the "lighter and smaller PSP" allegedly in the works. Apparently, French magazine - The Official Guide of the PSP, has picked up this piece of info causing a bit of resurgence in this rumor.

As of now, there's still no new and official information about the "PSP Light" from the Sony camp. As always we will keep you posted about this matter, but for now, feel free to check out the PSPGen report complete with magazine scans and have your trusty Babelfish and Google Translate ready if you don't understand French.

Good news for Sony fans across Europe! If you're thinking of getting a second PlayStation Portable (or first, depending on how new you are to handheld gaming), then you may want to wait for May 4 to come around. According to Games Industry, there'll be a price cut for the PSP, which will retail for £ 129.99 in the UK and 169.99 Euros elsewhere.

In the United Kingdom, some Platinum PSP titles will also be getting a price cut with this new initiative, namely Ridge Racer 2, Tekken, Killzone, LocoRoco, and Moto GP. The titles will get their prices shaved down to a more manageable £ 14.99.

Said Sony Computer Entertainment UK managing director Ray Maguire of the price cut,

PSP is unique and is constantly evolving. It offers the widest palette of mobile entertainment, from gaming to video, music, photos and Internet. But now the exciting possibility of connecting remotely to PlayStation 3 makes PSP more relevant than ever. So what better time to offer a brand new price point, and the launch of five new Platinum titles?

Well, short of cutting the PS3's price, he's probably right.

In the second part of Game Industry's interview with Sony UK's Ray Maguire, the managing director admitted that they have been slightly more focused on the PlayStation 3. But now, after the European PlayStation 3 launch, they can split resources to give more focus on the PlayStation Portable. So Sony will go ahead and just do that.

In his own words, Maguire said, "We've been putting quite a lot of energy behind PS3, now we'll be able to split some of those resources and go back to the PSP to make sure we've got some compelling games coming."

For Sony, the PSP and the PS3 are both highly regarded, although it appears that the titles slated for the portable handheld have been lackluster of late.

As Ready at Dawn Studios learned from the PSP fan base, PSP gamers are looking for exclusive titles that they can boast about to their console cousins. It's a matter of addressing this major concern that Sony has to get on right away, as the PlayStation Portable could just end up as being a music player first, gaming handheld second.

But could it be that the lack of ideas for the PSP is because Sony isn't sure of it's full potential? All we do know is that it is a PlayStation 2 that fits in your pocket, but it could probably be capable of so much more. Sony is focused on turning it into another multimedia entertainment system like the PlayStation 3. Whether this is good news or not, they already have "a solution in place."

Lest we get misunderstood, kindly let us state first that we so dig our PlayStation Portable (PSP) unit. Like most of you, we think it's more than a video game device - it's life. With that said, can we say that Sony is kind of annoying at times?

One representative from Sony Computer Entertainment UK (SCE UK) just issued this statement: "There are no immediate changes planned for PSP." Just the other day, we ran a rumor from gaming site Kotaku that the much-talked about PSP2, or whatever they want to call it, is going to be available this year.

And then after that, Managing Director Ray Maguire came out and announced that a smaller and lighter version of the handheld is indeed coming. So what's the real deal here? We say that a new and improved unit is coming. And all this hullabaloo is but a well-thought out marketing strategy.

These talks will not persist if they are not coming from anywhere, right? Besides, history dictates that most consoles get a makeover sometime after they have been launched. Even main competition Nintendo DS was transformed into this thing called DS Lite after some time. But let's not look elsewhere and keep our discussion within Sony's backyard.

The original PlayStation, PSOne, went through a number of modifications during its production run which lasted for 11 years. PS2, as great as it is, was modified, and a slim version came four years after the original version was released.

The PSP community is weighed down with these seemingly mixed and contrasting statements from Sony itself. For once, we hope that the company thinks about its fans and stop keeping them on their toes.

 

Sony's PSP may not have the best reputation in the classroom due to certain events involving the so-called "Playstation Pornable", but despite the reservations of some teachers, Sony today held a "PSP in Education National Launch" day at its 3Rooms brand space in London. Sony is trying to propel the PSP into mainstream education and promote its uses as an educational tool rather than just a games console.

Sony has already tried introducing its products to the education sector starting off with the Eyetoy and PS2 back in 2003. This time, Ray Maguire, Managing Director for Sony Computer Entertainment UK (SCEU) said that the expansion of Wi-Fi and the PSP's ability to connect using wireless internet expanded the PSP's uses in education even more. This wasn't just about how good the PSP is according to a Sony exec either, as Richard Owen from Maplesden Noakes school has tested the use of PSPs in the classroom and praised the console.

According to Owen, pupils responded well to being able to work at their own pace, rewinding audio if necessary so they don't miss anything. Relentless Software also took the opportunity to show off its Key Stage 2-themed version of Buzz! quiz game which has been designed for use in education.

Classroom trials for the Buzz! quiz KS2 game have allegedly gone well too - so does this mean we'll be seeing the PSP go into use in schools? Well, if it does they'll certainly have the backing of homebrew coders. There's already loads of calculators out there to freely download!

SCE UK Managing Director Ray Maguire mentioned the other day that there will be a total of 220,000 PS3 units available for their market by launch. There are no reports, however, regarding other territories. Despite that, we're kind of betting that there will be shortage problems as well. Because it seems that the long wait hasn't dampened the feelings of our European friends for the console.

 

Anyway, lucky you if you live in Germany. Your local Amazon is offering pre-orders of the 60GB version of the console for 599 Euros (US$ 776). Sounds great? Yeah, except that you need to purchase first a Sony PSP with Ridge Racer Platinum to avail of the pre-order. In case you're wondering, the PSP bundle will cost you another 199.95 Euros (US$ 260).

Wondering why? Don't look at us because we don't quite understand this as well. We looked deeper into the Amazon Germany site and this is how they explained the matter (Pardon the transalation):

If you should not have ordered PSP up to the initial delivery of the PS3, no PS3-Konsole can be unfortunately reserved to you. The supply of the PlayStation 3-Konsole is possible only if you ordered both the PSP inclusive Ridge Racer Platinum and the PlayStation 3-Konsole.