Rumor Mill: Sony to announce PSP2 January 27th?

Sony is sending out invitations to an event on January 27th for what they are calling a “business overview and strategy meeting”. Some websites in the industry are speculating though that this may be a platform to  officially announce the PSP2. Not much else to report here so I'll just list some of what we know about the PSP2.

Just the facts:

1. Publishers in the US and UK have admitted to receiving development kits and test units for the PSP2.

2. Early leaked pictures of the unit show two analog sticks with a slide form factor reminiscent of the PSP Go, though we know this has been changed due to issues with overheating. 

Rumors:

1. The unit will have a touch panel on the back for special controls.

2. The PSP 2 "‘is as powerful as the PlayStation 3" according to some of the publishers developing titles for it.

Sprint Announcement February 7th.

When I first saw this floating around the different blogs on the internet I'll admit the first thing that came to my mind was "CDMA iPhone on Sprint too?" Soon I dismissed this idea as far fetched as I received a more clear and readable version of the invite. It's really hard to predict what this "industry first" is. They really are pulling out all the stops here though, David Blaine definitely is not a cheap guest to have at a meeting and I'm sure these "culinary creations and cocktails" are not going to be made from cheap ingredients or liquors. I'll update with more information as it becomes available.

iPhone 4 Launching February 10th on Verizon!

"We've known this since Tuesday" I hear you snicker. Well give me a break, I just started this blog today guys. I was following the press coverage live though and I'm now going to give you the most up to date information on the Verizon iPhone 4. Just as I and many other media outlets expected this is not a new iPhone, it is simply a CDMA redesign of the one currently on AT&T. They decided not go with an LTE design because Apple is not a big fan of early adoption, so you're still tied to a 3G network. The price points for the phone are exactly the same as they are on AT&T ($199 16GB version, $299 32 GB version) and no pricing on the plans has been announced at this time. The Antenna has been slightly adjusted and this has affected the placement of both the ringer switch and volume buttons. Early reports suggest the Antenna problems that plague AT&T users is almost nonexistent, though we will need to wait until the unit is out in the wild to officially confirm this. Verizon has interestingly chosen to include the ability to make your iPhone a hotspot for other devices (no pricing has been announced for this feature) and AT&T is said to be looking into doing this to match. As with all good news there must also be a little bad new, right? Well here it is, since the Verizon iPhone uses CDMA technology you cannot have simultaneous Voice and Data streaming. Put simply this means while talking on your phone you cannot surf the web, watch videos, or download data. If this isn't a problem for you then take the plunge! Join Big Red in their endeavor with Apple. I know I will as soon as my bank account allows me.Verizon iPhone 4 Page

GameStop Planning Integrated XBOX 360 Support.

If GameStop has their way they could soon have their hands on your XBOX 360 information (with your permission only I assume.) The plan calls for your details so when you pick up a card in store and make a purchase for anything like say a Microsoft Points card or a Map Pack the purchase will automatically queue up the download on your console at home. As convenient as this may be, I don't know how trusting I am of allowing GameStop access to my account details. Here is the full quote: "Today you pick the card up off the rack that's associated with that map pack, we ring it up as part of your transaction in the store, and then we give you the code that allows you go home and [access the content]", GameStop's Shawn Freeman tells Ars Technica.

"Ultimately, we want to reduce even more of that friction, so when you buy that map pack in our store, we're going to be able to associate your Xbox profile with your GameStop profile, and then automatically push that to your download queue."