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Plenty of gamers would give their left arm to be included in Grand Theft Auto IV. Miami attorney Jack Thompson, however, claims that he's depicted in the game and wants out. And he threatens to block the release of GTA IV if Rockstar doesn't comply....

The headquarters of Rockstar Games, a thin 6-story building squeezed between Best Buy and Adidas, stands just north of where Broadway cuts through Houston Street flowing downward into a mecca of trend -- or shopping for trends -- known as SoHo. A few blocks away Sony has erected one of the world's largest PSP displays (seen here), which towers over the intersection of Lafayette and Houston. But it's not just neighboring downtown-Manhattan real estate that connects Rockstar and Sony. "Rockstar + Sony" boils down to "Grand Theft Auto + PlayStation 2," or its derivative, "Grand Theft Auto + PSP." Few...

It's official: The Elder Scrolls IV is coming to Sony's newest consoles. Though given long-circulating rumors, it may not be shocking to our regular readers, Bethesda Softworks today announced that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the acclaimed RPG which has already wowed Xbox 360 and PC gamers, will arrive for the launch of PlayStation 3. Further, the company is adapting the game for portable play in the form of The Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion for the PSP. The Elder Scrolls IV arrived for PC and Xbox 360 in March, and quickly nabbed numerous high scores and Game of the Year...

The new white PSP is coming to Europe soon, and Sony’s marketing department has put together an ad that will certainly be “controversial” (read: racist). The billboard shows a white woman, white hair and white clothes “abusing” a black individual. I bet she’s thinking “white PSP power”. Clearly this doesn’t appeal to anyone else than Starbucks Moccachino-drinking buzzword-throwing Manhattan marketers. I feel like getting rid of my (black) PSP in protest.

Following last week's unveiling of a white PSP in Tokyo, we've collected new details and three new photos of the device. Here's what we know so far: The "ceramic white" PSP will be released in Japan on Thursday, September 15, 2005 for 26,040 yen (about $235) in a Value Pack identical to today's save for a white pouch. There's currently no plans to bring it to the U.S. or Europe. In addition to its white body, the device features a white control stick, white speaker grills, but will not have clear D-Pad and face buttons — it instead has opaque...

A 14-year old boy in North Dakota was cited with a class C felony after bringing his PSP loaded with digital images of pornography to school. The Bismarck Tribune reports: "Bismarck Police Lt. Dan Donlin said staff at Wachter Middle School called police after finding pornography on the boy's PSP. The boy was charged with promoting obscenity to minors for showing other students the pornography. Donlin said the boy also was cited with simple assault, a misdemeanor, for scratching another student with a key. Donlin said the student who was scratched was the one who told school officials that the...

I need to get my son a PSP. I have found the same (or what I think is the same) PSP for $150 on ebay as compared to a $200 one at Wally world. Before I go the cheap route, is there something I am missing? There does not seem to be a difference. Can one of you adults please go ask your kid to help me!!

Sex workers cry foul, say game "accrues points to players for the depiction of rape and murder of prostitutes." The Grand Theft Auto franchise is getting attacked from all angles. Joining the ranks of politicians, policemen, and attorneys in their crusade to see the game lifted from shelves are the nation's sex workers. On its Web site, the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA is asking parents to assist them in calling for a ban of Take-Two Interactive's controversial game. Citing a 2001 document from the National Institute on Media and the Family's David Walsh, SWOP is calling "on all parents...

But why do you have to say pistachio? Everyone knows cashews have more flavor.

Sony's apparent underground graffiti-ad campaign is rankling some citizens. While Sony has not officially endorsed the campaign, the series of identical PSP-toting graffiti characters appeared in the last few weeks in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Chicago. "Is anyone else concerned that Sony Playstation paid someone to vandalize our neighborhood to sell their latest toy," writes a Los Angeles resident. "It's quite obviously an advertisement, but when I called Playstation Consumer Services this morning, they claim to know nothing about the campaign. I guess there's just some clever youngster out here in LH that just really LOVES...

TiVo, the maker of digital video recorders, plans to announce a new feature on Monday that will let TiVo owners watch recorded television shows on Apple's video iPods and on Sony's handheld PSP game machine. The announcement builds on TiVo's release in February of an update to its video recorders that allows its users to transfer programs to personal computers and DVD's, as well as to portable video players that support Microsoft's mobile video format. When the company releases new software in the first quarter of next year, it will extend that capability to the video iPod, released last month,...

October 20, 2005 - Sony Computer Entertainment announced today the PSP Giga Pack for worldwide release later this year. The Giga Pack is a bundle that includes the PSP hardware, AC Adapter, standard battery pack, headphones with remote control, pouch, cloth, USB cable and a stand. And the best part: an included one gig Memory Stick.

Pricing for the pure gold case first shown at the Sony Pret a PSP event earlier this year has been set — and it ain't cheap. The case, designed by the wife of hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, will run you $35,000. Available this holiday season, the Baby Phat by Kimora Lee Simmons PSP case is made out of a pound of gold, alligator skin, and is encrusted with seven carats of yellow and black diamonds.

Well, it’s officially August 22nd in every time zone now, which means that Sony didn’t make good on its earlier promise to release version 2.0 of the PSP’s firmware here in North America during the week of August 15th. We still don’t know when they’ll get around to it, but check out this incredibly non-committal response reader Mike S. got from Sony when he emailed them asking about the delay: Hello Mike, Thank you for writing us. We do not know the exact date of the 2.0 system update for the PSP(TM) portable entertainment system at this time. We recommend...

Sony has delayed its firmware upgrade for North American PlayStation Portables (PSPs) to sometime this week, according to a posting on their Web site message board. “The PSP Firmware 2.0 Upgrade for the North American market will be available during the week of August 15th, instead of on August 12, as previously reported,” said the posting. Sony originally announced the North American PSP firmware upgrade as coming on Friday, August 12, 2005, but has delayed its release for as-yet unspecified reasons. Sony’s PSP is a portable gaming system that can also play videos, digital music and photographs, storing data on...

Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 games console will launch later this year in two versions, one priced at US$299 and the other at $399, according to a report on the Web site of the Los Angeles Times that quotes the company. The more expensive version will include a 20GB hard-disk drive, wireless controller, headset, Ethernet cable and wireless remote control, the report said. Previously Microsoft, which couldn’t be reached for comment on the report, had said the Xbox 360 would be available in North America, Europe and Japan before the end of this year. The company has already disclosed many key...

Star Wars Battlefront II is the sequel to last year's hit online multiplayer shooter. The 2005 version adds space-based dogfighting combat and improved single-player gameplay. Look for it to hit the PC, the PS2, the Xbox, and the PSP on November 1- - the same day as the Episode III DVD.

ony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) will release a system software update for its PlayStation Portable (PSP) next week that will add several new functions to the handheld gaming device, including the ability to browse the Internet and download TV programs, the company said Thursday. Chief among the additions to version 2.0 of the software will be a Web browser. Accessible from the PSP’s main menu, the browser supports HTML 4.01 and will allow access to most Web sites. The PSP already has a wireless LAN for online gaming and for downloading software from the Internet, but SCEI hasn’t officially allowed...

In his new book, "Porn Generation," Ben Shapiro points out that our culture is suffering from an over-abundance of smut. What's even more disconcerting is that the raunchy stuff is getting ready to invade kids' video games. The handheld version of Sony's successful video game platform, the PlayStation Portable (PSP), now reportedly has porn product that's been designed for it, which underscores the critical importance of parental responsibility in today's world. Eight pornographic videos will supposedly be released for the PSP by a Tokyo-based adult video company, with a second Tokyo company planning to produce another three titles. Through its...

"It is utterly undesirable, but we cannot stop software makers from selling such videos," a public relations official at Sony Computer Entertainment said. The hand-held PlayStation uses the universal media disc, or UMD, format, enabling the console to play games or videos recorded on optical discs 2.3 inches in diameter. Pornography producers will soon release sexually explicit discs for Sony's PlayStation Portable game console, most of whose users are minors. Two makers of adult movies plan to sell their products for the console as early as July, and several other pornographers are apparently ready to follow, Japanese newspaper the Asahi...

PSP UMD format cracked; game ISOs appear Posted May 5, 2005, 6:36 AM ET by Barb Dybwad Related entries: Gaming, Handhelds Another step forward in the race to crack open the PSP: Paradox has worked out how to get a dump from a UMD disc, and has released the ISO files for several PSP games (Wipeout: Pure US, Ridge Racers Japanese, and Vampire Chronicles: The Chaos Tower Japanese). Also of note, UMD discs use the standard ISO9669 format, so the released ISOs can be burned to regular CDs or DVDs. Know that the games are not yet playable in this...

Owners of the new PlayStation Portable handheld video game player can now take adult magazine Playboy on the road with them--and they don't have to bother with the articles. The online arm of Playboy Enterprises on Wednesday said it will offer photo galleries and videos shot and edited specifically for the PSP. Playboy said it has shot a "sci-fi themed" spread of model Amy Cooper that was formatted for viewing on the PSP's wide-angle screen. Playboy said "PlayboyStation Portable" is available for free, in the form of two non-nude picture galleries and one free video. Subscribers to Playboy's online service...

Sony Corp. on Thursday introduced its PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld video game console to North American customers. The device has been available in Japan since 2004, but today marks its debut in the lucrative and large North American market. Sony estimates that it has shipped about 1 million of the game systems to retailers in expectation of today's launch. Many retailers celebrated the launch by opening their doors at midnight or several hours early, depending on what their mall facilities or local regulations permitted. And retailers throughout North America are expecting a steady flow of hardcore gamers and early adopters...