We already knew that a new PSP was rumoured to be in development, and now we have some official looking shots and leaked interview footage that pretty much confirms the speculation. Coming just two days before E3 is due to kick off all these leaks may have just ruined Sony’s big surprise, but if that’s the only big thing Sony was planning for their E3 press conference then it would have been extremely boring to sit through.

The buttons in the image above are said to slide back in under the screen when not in use, leading to a much smaller and lighter design. The biggest change though, although it has really been a long time coming, is the absence of a UMD drive. Games will be provided through digital downloads, which can be saved to memory sticks or the handheld consoles 16GB of flash memory. While it is apparently not intended to replace the PSP-3000 (much like the DSi and the DS) it is pretty much the last nail in the coffin for the UMD format.

Other little tid-bits include the ability to rent videos through PSN - just like the PS3 - and has new games such as Gran Turismo, LittleBigPlanet, Jak & Daxter and Metal Gear Solid lined up for it. It will also apparently arrive by Autumn, but we don’t know if that means a worldwide release or not.

The age of the Internet means it’s pretty much impossible to stop any secrets being released before they were intended. Even with all this information in hand it will still be interesting to see Sony demonstrating it at E3. Plus we will also get official confirmation on what’s true and what’s not; although due to it being so close to E3 I’d be greatly surprised if any of the information turns out to be false.

If you’re interested in seeing how the PSP Go’s size compares to the other big handheld players on the market then Kotaku has some interesting size comparisons.

What do you do with a tired old franchise that had its day a long time ago, along with the man it represents? Well, if you’re Activision you introduce yet another game – Tony Hawk: Ride – into the franchise and throw in a peripheral that looks like a skateboard.

Pictured above (in case you didn’t notice) the new controller is a ‘motion sensing balance board’, which sounds eerily familiar, that Activision are touting as a “massive step forward for the franchise and the gaming industry as a whole” (Source). At first you may just think it’s a third party attempt to rip-off the Wii Balance Board, but when you take in the details you realise that it’s actually a lot more advanced than the controller that obviously inspired it.

For example, the skateboard actually acts like a real skateboard. Tilting the skateboard in either direction will make the skater on your TV screen do likewise. Infrared sensors in the board also allow the game to figure out where your hands are and carry out appropriate actions based on their positions. So if your skater was up in the air placing your hands to the front of the board would make the skater on the screen grab the front of their board. It’s easier to show you then describe how it works any further, so simply go here to see the board and game in action.

It sounds and looks like a really good idea, and may just make a tired old franchise worth playing yet again. I loved the first two Tony Hawk games, but from then on I just felt that it when downhill – especially introducing all the silly vehicles and characters in the Underground installments – and was easily surpassed by EA’s Skate franchise. However, I do have some reservations about the controller itself as it is yet another bulky peripheral that’s going to clutter up our homes. The Wii Balance Board may now look a little primitive, but at least it encompasses a wide range of games and not just a single one. Of course, the Wii Balance Board was intended as a general peripheral while the new Tony Hawk one is in a niche of its own, but it still means that people have to find somewhere to store it along with all the other contraptions on the market today. To adress this problem the developers promise that there will be other uses for the board;

“We started out with skateboarding because it’s easy to understand,” he said. “But there are a lot of games we realize could be used on the board. We were surprised at some of the ideas we listed out .”

Now the team has a “huge list” of potential future games for the board.

And that will be key to Ride’s success, said Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter.

“I think the problem with all peripherals is that you have to make them reusable,” he said. “They must be acceptable to be used with more than the original game.” – Kotaku
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see when it comes to other uses. As for the game there will be more details at this year’s E3.

Nintendo have announced that the follow up to Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, will be out in Japan this June with an “overseas release” following the month after in July. The game is designed to take advantage of the new MotionPlus technology and, as such, will also come bundled with the new control device and an extended Wii Remote Jacket.

In case you have been hiding under a rock for the last year or so MotionPlus is the technology which captures your motion to a more accurate degree. We’ve all found out that big swings of the arm when playing Tennis on Wii Sports are no better than just sitting down and flicking your wrist, even though the latter is far less fun.  So, if you want to play the game properly, this means you’ll have to make the same motions that you’d have to make with, say, a real tennis racquet.

Let’s just ignore the fact that MotionPlus should have been part of the Wii from the start and concentrate on the fact that we may be getting far more innovative games - even if barely 1% out of the Wii shovelware will make good use of MotionPlus.

For more on Wii Sports Resort and MotionPlus you can check out this video from Nintendo’s E3 2008 press conference.