Laser Sharks

EA announced recently that it will discontinue online services for pretty much any game that doesn’t have ‘07 written at the end of the title. The full list of games losing online support are as follows:

September 1, 2007 Online Service Shutdown
Arena Football (PlayStation 2, Xbox)
FIFA Soccer 06 (Xbox 360, PC)FIFA Soccer 06 (PS2, PSP, PC, Xbox)
Fight Night Round 3 (PSP, Xbox)
Madden NFL 06 (Xbox 360, PC, PS2, PSP, Xbox)
Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (PS2, Xbox)
MVP 07 NCAA Baseball (PS2, Xbox)
NASCAR 06 Total Team Control (PS2, Xbox)
NBA Live 06 (Xbox 360, PC, PS2, PSP, Xbox)
NCAA Football 2005 (Xbox)
NCAA Football 2006 (PS2, Xbox)
NCAA March Madness 06 (PS2, Xbox)
NFL Head Coach (PC, Xbox, PS2)
NHL 06 (PC, PS2, Xbox)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 (Xbox 360, Xbox)
November 1, 2007 Online Service Shutdown
Need for Speed Underground 1 (PC, PlayStation 2)
Need for Speed Underground 2 (PC, PlayStation 2)
Burnout Revenge (Xbox, Playstation 2)
Need for Speed Most Wanted (PSP, Xbox)

I highlighted the games that I thought it was most interesting they were canceling service.

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Sony has filled patent 20070174531 which details how a controller could be used with a PSP.  The patent details a “wired or wireless” link to connect the controller to the PSP, which suggestd that either the DualShock or Sixaxis controller could be used.  In addition, “the portable processing unit can be configured to provide additional functions, features, or enhanced operation when coupled to the control docking unit.”  Is seems Sony may finally start to be catching up with their scorned mod community.  A patent is no guarantee that the final product will ever be released, but it is at least a step in the right direction for Sony.

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Sony will launch a slimmer model of its PSP handheld in September, in another attempt to ignite demand for its game hardware and compete better with competitor, Nintendo. Sony and Nintendo both released their handhelds late in 2004.

The PSP plays movies, music, and games while the DS has two screens and touch sensitivity to play games. PSP sales have never quite been par with DS sales, however. Nintendo sold a whopping 23.6 million DS units this last year ending in March, while Sony only moved a measly (by comparison) 8.4 million units.

So, of course, Sony said,”What can we do to match Nintendo’s success? Oh, I know, we can copy what Nintendo already did and make a smaller, lighter PSP. Brilliant!” The new PSP will be 33% lighter and 19% slimmer. It will also retail for $170 dollars compared to the DS Lite’s $130. Unfortunately, it will still lack the much-wanted second analog stick. Oh well, guess we’ll just have to wait for the PSP2, or PSPNew, or whatever Sony will call it.

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Teckh.com is reporting that Dark-Alex, infamous PSP firmware hacker, has decided to leave the scene.  Dark-Alex credited a lack of time and threats by Sony for why he left.  On his website http://dax.st/ he leaves this parting note:

Bye, scene.

I’ve decided to cease OE development, and leave PSP scene.
The reasons are various.
One of them is the time it consumes, which i’m losing from other things.
The other is related to my security. I didn’t like Sony menaces to PS3 hackers.
I think it is better to leave now rather than end paying the consequences.

 This comes as quite a blow to the PSP-Scene as Dark-Alex’s work enabled people to downgrade their firmware to a more easily hackable version.  Without Dark-Alex on the scene who will pick up the slack bypassing Sony’s future firmware versions.
This is also quite a blow to Sony, as PSP sales will surely suffer.  Speaking as someone who has owned a couple of PSPs, I was not aware of any reason to own a PSP besides the modding community.  At the risk of being labeled a hater due to posting two anti-console blogs in the same day, I leave you with this classic video of the fun you can have with an unmodded PSP.

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