Sony has gone on the record saying that the piracy is affecting PSP game sales. That’s a givein; if it’s free, take it. This time around, a peripheral manufacturer called Datel has cracked the PSP 3000 by forcing it into service mode. Datel did some silicon hacking on a chip level to find out how it could force the PSP to run arbitrary code. You’ll be able to buy a battery called LITE BLUE TOOL battery that will enable service mode on PSP 2000 and 3000s, including yours. It’ll be a measly $30 when it hits North America later this month.

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Note: This in-depth review of SOCOM: Confrontation was done by my brother, Dave.

Can you believe this shit?

Where does Sony get off selling an online game that doesn’t work online, let alone a game that sucks ass when the online does momentarily work. You know what the game box is good for? A plate for my pizza. That’s it. As for the disc, that’s resting somewhere under my bed after I winged it across the fucking room.

What a piece of shit.

I can’t wait thirty minutes to join a game. I’ve got other shit to do, like masturbate and play Dig Dug. I’m a busy man.

SOCOM: Confrontation has wasted my time and my money.

Wearing a tuxedo without these cuff links should be a crime. Artist Laura Swingle hand crafts these highly detailed clay Nintendo cartridges in to a variety of jewelery pieces. Laura’s Etsy shop offers a limitless supply of creativity as she is open to taking requests on turning any two games into these cuff links, so long as she can find the cover art online.

Besides the popular Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, TETRIS, Super Mario Bros 3, Paper Boy, Bubble Bobble, Zelda (gold cartridge), Dr. Mario and Metroid games we all know and love, Laura will also accept requests for Sony PlayStation games. The cuff links range from $19-$22 dollars depending on how much of a pain in the ass your order is to fulfill. So, don’t go too crazy and try to request a Lester the Unlikely pair of cuff links: it’s just not happening.

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Stuart was in the market for a more comfortable controller for his rover platform. Unfortunately, all R/C controllers are flimsy and not so conforming to one’s hands. So instead, Stuart used a PlayStation 2 gamepad and totally DIY’ed himself a new controller for the rover. Operating wirelessly, the PlayStation controller controls the rover in such a way that you feel like you’re playing a video game. Could it be because this controller is a gamepad? We’ll never truly know.

Nintendo may have been the pioneers of the D-pad, but Sony perfected it. You wouldn’t want to control your rover with anything else.

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Microsoft has announced its New Xbox Experience will launch November 19, bringing a fresh look to the Xbox 360 Dashboard that integrates social features and customizable gamer avatars reminiscent of the Nintendo Wii’s Mii. In order to compete with the upcoming PlayStation Home, Microsoft is adding a slew of avatars, social networking features and more media to the Xbox 360.

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If you find yourself purchasing videos from Sony’s Playstation Network, be wary: You may want to read the Terms of Service thoroughly or you could risk the possibility of losing all of your purchased digital goods thanks to Sony’s DRM policy.

An Ars Technica forum-goer dubbed Noise found this out the hard way and warns others of this unfair policy. Having deleted purchased content from his hard drive in order to free up space - he later found that he was unable to re-download the videos.

“Purchased content can be downloaded to a single Playstation 3 or a single PSP system.” “Content cannot be redownloaded once it has been downloaded to either a Playstation 3 or PSP system.” “Consumer service can issue a redownload as a one-time courtesy, as provided by our guidelines, for the title to allow the consumer to go back and download the movie from their PSN download list.”

Noise may have lucked out this time with his “one-time courtesy” of a free download for video he’s already paid for but it’s his money and they should be his to keep for good. May this be a lesson and warning to all those who use the Playstation Network. Don’t let Sony screw you out of your money.

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You’d best get to your local convenience store and stock up on some Mega Man energy drinks because Mega Man 9 is coming - again. Knowing Capcom, it’ll probably come ten more times because Capcom just can’t quit anything.

Mega Man 9 has been given a release date of September 24th for the WiiWare in Japan. No word on an American release date so far but we’ll keep our eyes peeled. The game is expected to launch on the PSN and Xbox Live as well, but no news or dates have been announced. One can dream!

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We all have games that indirectly inspire our dreams. There may be even some that give us nightmares. Some games you can’t help but wish you were the main character of just so you can get with the princess at the end of the story. Hit the jump to see the games that I dream I’m in, whether it be a dream of cold steel and dungeons or espionage and poison capped teeth.
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What happens when you put Windows Vista on a Playstation 3? Just an assload of down time, that’s what. This video shows some schmuck successfully running the OS under emulation and requiring nearly 25 minutes to fully boot up.  It even takes twelve minutes to load up Notepad, which is an amazing feat considering how demanding the application is. This would be the equivalent of watching paint dry in Sony Playstation’s Home community.  It’s even worse than Linux for the PS3. Yuck!

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The main reason you bought a Playstation 3 was probably due to Killzone 2 or Playstation Home, Sony’s new online service that’s supposed to be something like Xbox Live meets Second Life. You and your friends can meet up with your avatars, talk, chat, shoot the shit and so on. Oh, and more importantly, you can play games together too.

As of today, Sony is accepting applications for the closed beta test of the Home service. Right now it only looks like Japan is lucking out but the US market could soon follow:

Applications are initially being accepted from Thursday until Aug. 11 from users in Japan only. Sony expects to offer access to about 10,000 gamers during the beta, which will begin in late August.

During the beta stage users will be able to play the games that make up Bandai Namco’s “Namco Museum” package, which include PacMan, in the service’s “Game Space.”

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