SCEA stated this morning that there are 14 million active PSN accounts, globally. The 14 million users have downloaded over 273 million different bits of content, as well. In July, Sony said that there were 9.8 million registered users, this is a big jump for less than a year.

"With 14 million active accounts and 273 million pieces of content downloaded, we know that you're thirsting for this digital entertainment," said John Koller, director of hardware marketing for SCEA, on the company blog.

Apple iPhone Marketing man Greg Joswiak has said that iPhone is "the future of gameplay." Whatever that means. He also said that Sony and Nintendo's dedicated gaming portables are "in the past."

"The [iPhone] gameplay I think has surprised a lot of people, because it's not just the casual games. There are real 3D games, and it's hard to imagine we're only a little over 100 days into it," said Joswiak.

SCE UK Boss Ray Maguire says that they need to "work a little bit harder" on getting across the message to gamers that the PSP and the PS3 function together very well. Because the PS3 was launched with the cross platform features not totally finished, users were not able to experience the functionality as a launch feature. Now that it has been polished off with firmware updates, Maguire says Sony needs to start pushing the cross-platform functionality. We must say, remote play with the PSP, and being able to stream a DivX movie to your PSP from your PC, over the internet, using your PS3 as a "slingbox" of sorts, is a very cool feature (hope you got all that!).

"Those are the things we have to work a little bit harder on - the GPS functionality, the camera functionality - all of those elements which of course give us content to sit on the PS3," he added.

Sales of PS3 titles doubled in the past 12 months, but apparently that was not enough to offset the declines of the PSP and PS2 game sales for Sony's fiscal outlook. PSP game sales fell by 0.8 million units to 11.8 million, while PS2 games dropped by 14.9 million to 23.1 million. Of course, we expect PS2 to decline, that's what old systems do. As for PSP, we love our handheld, but Sony needs to now focus on games instead of new PSP models.

Users have been complaining about the new PSP 3000 screen, apparently. The LCD on the new hardware apparently has evident scanlines in certain situations. According to Sony, nothing can be done to fix this problem, and nothing is planned for users. More woes for Sony, it seems.

"Yes the colour gamut is wider, yes the black levels are lower, but this screen now has what looks like scan lines that were not visible on PSPs before," commented one user, adding: "I am not happy about my 'upgrade'."

Ubisoft has announced Tom Clancy's Endwar for both the Sony and Nintendo handheld units. Unfortunately, the revolutionary voice command system will not be included in either version, it seems. The DS will utilize the stylus fully, though, and the PSP will feature ad-hoc multiplayer play. Click read more for the full info.

PRESS RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO - OCTOBER 20, 2008 - Today Ubisoft announced that Tom Clancy's EndWar™ will be released for the Nintendo DS™ system and the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system. Developed by Funatics Software and optimized for the handheld platforms, Tom Clancy's EndWar is rated T for "teen" and will ship to retailers on November 4, 2008.

The Wii topped the NPD hardware sales numbers again for September, with 687,000 units sold. The Nintendo DS came in second, of course, with 537,000 units sold. The Xbox360 is doing well, coming in third, beating all three Sony systems, which occupied the bottom three slots. Sony PSP with 238,000, the PS3 with 232,000, and the good old Sony PlayStation 2, with 173,000. Click read more for the full info.

PRESS RELEASE

Backed by a variety of unique interfaces, Nintendo's Wii™ console topped the U.S. video game hardware sales charts with nearly 687,000 units sold in September, according to the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. Nintendo DS™ was the No. 2 best-selling system, with nearly 537,000 sold.

Sony has released the official info on the upcoming firmware upgrades for both the PSP and the PS3. The PSP 5.00 firmware update and the PS3 2.50 firmware update both add significant features and updates. Click read more for the full info.

PRESS RELEASE

FOSTER CITY, Calif., October 13, 2008 – Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) today announced details of the next PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) and PSP®(PlayStation®Portable) system software updates, adding new features to both platforms to benefit consumers. PS3 firmware update (v. 2.50) will include the implementation of advanced voice chat features for the PS3 Official Bluetooth® Headset, the ability to capture screenshots in-game with supporting titles in the future, and enhancements to make the PlayStation Trophy interface more intuitive. PSP firmware update (v. 5.00) will add direct access to PlayStation®Store on PSP, enabling consumers to browse the store and download games whenever they’re at a Wi-Fi hotspot. Both system software updates will be released this month.

Sony Japan has announced that all future first-party PSP games will now be available for download as well as their retail UMD release. On October 15, this service will begin, the same day users will be able to access the PSP store directly from the PSP handheld. The digital revolution has begun?

Those of us lucky enough to play in the Little Big Planet beta have come to appreciate just how powerful the game is. The developer, Media Molecule, have really provided PS3 users with one versatile bit of software, as well as one that provides tons of fun. Mark Healy, co-founder of MM, spoke with Eurogamer, and revealed that he would certainly like to do a PSP version of the game. Gamers could use the Sony handheld to create even more custom content for LBP, which already features so much.