“Deep Red” PSP announced

Releasing this June is a new red PlayStation Portable. It’s a beauty, actually. Nice red enamel and on the back a silkscreen of Kratos, the protagonist of the God of War franchise.

It’s part of a package that includes the PSP, a copy of the game Chains of Olympus, Kratos' first appearance on PSP, the movie Superbad on UMD, and a voucher to download the PSP game Syphon Filter: Combat Ops onto a Memory Stick. The God of War package deal has a MSRP of Cdn$199.99.

God of War: Chains of Olympus, the new PSP game starring Kratos, will be available on March 4 for those of you already in possession of a PSP system.

In related PlayStation news, Sony has come up with a PS3 bundle for late Q2 that includes an 80GB PS3, a new Dualshock 3 wireless controller, and a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for only Cdn$499 (suggested).

The Dualshock 3 game pad combines the rumble feature of the old PS2 controllers with the motion-sensing Sixaxis technology. They will be available in April for Cdn$54.95.

Handheld Xbox still a possibility?

There've always been rumours floating around that Microsoft had a portable, handheld Xbox in the works, something to compete with the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.

For a while, it was thought that the Zune might be this device, but now that we've seen the Zune - most have been unimpressed - we know it is not in the same market segment as the DS or PSP. And, it should be noted, Microsoft has always denied it had a portable game system in the works.

Well, in an on-stage interview with New York Times video game reporter Seth Schiesel, Shane Kim, corporate VP of Microsoft Game Studios added some fuel to the perpetual motion machine that is Xbox Portable.

When Shiesel asked about Microsoft's plans for a portable gaming device, Kim said:
Never say never ... launching a portable device is like launching another Xbox 360 ... you have to really step back and ask, devoting whatever bandwidth and resources you would have to to make the Zune a multifunction device, is that really the best way to go?

So maybe the Zune is going to be a gaming gadget after all. The Zune seems to be having troubles getting traction against the iPod, so maybe this is how Microsoft tries to keep the device relevant.

Anyone out there used a Zune? Let us know what it's like in the comments.

White PS3 coming to America

A number of gaming sites (here, here, here, and here) are reporting that Sony is ready to announce the release of a white PS3 - sorry, ceramic white - in North America.

The console has been on shelves in Japan since last November. It's one of the 40GB units, so it will not have backwards compatibility or memory card slots.

The white - sorry, ceramic white - PS3 will ship with a ceramic white DualShock 3 controller. Now with more rumble.

No availability date has been announced, but we like the idea of crisp white in the spring.

Anyone out there like the idea of mixing up their black and white peripherals, a la Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney?

Resistance 2 confirmed

It's not news, at this point, but we have confirmation that Resistance 2, the sequel to Insomniac Games' Resistance: Fall of Man, is well under way.

Game Informer magazine has the game as its cover story for its February issue, and scoops that Resistance 2 will boast eight-player co-operative play, 60 player multiplayer, and two campaigns, although I'm not sure what that refers to.

The first game was a launch title for the PlayStation 3, and was on my list of best games of 2006. I found it to be a better story and game than Gears of War, actually. (Let the flaming begin.)

Now we just need to scrounge up a release date for Resistance 2. It'd be nice to see it this year.

CES 2008: Blu-ray support for PSP

Sony has revealed Blu-ray Discs that include not just a bright, fancy high-definition version of a film, but also a lower-resolution version of the same content.

The idea here is that you can watch the high-def version on your high-def television, and copy the low-res version to your PSP for remote viewing. One price gets you multiple versions of the same content to use on the devices you prefer.

That's more like it.