So last night I finally fired up my PSP and downloaded the latest firmware release. I was quite a few releases old, so with the new update I was able to access the Remote Play functionality for connecting the PSP to the PS3. What is remote play? Remote play allows you to use your PSP as a virtual XMB of yours PS3. That mean, you can see and access almost anything that is on your PS3 via your PSP. The coolest aspect of this is the ability to connect via the internet, so technically you can connect to your PS3 from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection.

After a few glitchy starts, I got the system up and running and it was absolutely slick. I was able to stream 1080p movies in realtime over the internet to my PSP. At one point I was literally browsing pictures that were stored on my Windows Vista Computer. Let me run that by you again. My PSP was connected via the Internet to my PS3, which was connected via my local network to my Windows Vista PC and streaming digital pictures back. God I love gross misuse of technology.

Unfortuantely you aren’t able to run any games via this method, it basically is like a remote desktop connection to your PS3. But the fact that you can stream videos and such, or listen to music is pretty awesome. And with the upcoming PS3 DVR, the ability to stream shows anywhere, anytime is huge. You are even able to adjust quality settings based on network performance, even on the default quality the videos look fairly crisp and sound great.

Finally I downloaded Syphon Filter for the PSOne via the Playstation Store and checked it out on the PS3. The title definitley shows it’s age, but it was still a blast. The really great thing is the ability to copy the game to the PSP then and play it on the go. Take note Nintendo, Sony has the pricing done right. $5.99 for a PSOne era game, something Nintendo charges $12 or more for), with the ability to copy and play it on your portable device. That’s value right there.

Say wha? Yeah that’s right. The fancy new Windows Mobile Device Center for Windows Vista isn’t able to Sync with Windows Calendar, Windows Mail, or Windows Address Book. How about a big…WHAT THE FUCK. Why Microsoft would choose to do this is beyond me, I guess they are trying to spur Outlook sales or something. Which is pretty stupid consider, Outlook comes free with any Windows Mobile device.

So I spent 2 hours loading up Windows Calendar with appointments only to find out it doesn’t sync. Luckily Windows Calendar easily exported to Google Calendar. Then I joined GooSync and all was good. The time it took me to set that up was less than the time it took me to find out that Windows Calendar doesn’t sync. What the hell is the SYNC option for in the menu then?

Well the invites continue to roll in. Over the past few days I got an invite to Gamecock’s EIEIO. This is a sort of pseudo side show for E3 that promises a lot of innovative and independant games. I’m sure there’s going to be plenty of college humor and cock jokes as well. Hell, the email already promised to have Gamecock Suckers available. Whatever that is…sign me up!

Next up was an invite to meet with the president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. I definitley think I’m going to jump on this one as it could be a great oppurtunity to pick someone’s brain that has a little perspective on the industry. In fact, these topics were listed as possible highlights to discuss:

* The 2008 D.I.C.E. Summit
* The Interactive Achievement Awards - why gamemakers’ opinions matter
* Into The Pixel - an art collection from some of the most popular video games developed by industry giants
* The state of next-generation consoles and games for those systems
* The evolving world of MMOs
* The changing dynamics of casual gaming
* The new face of game players

I’d really like to hear him sound off on the Wii and how a whole new dynamic of gamer has been brought into our industry.

Finally I bought some gear for the show. After pinging Tom Kim from The Gamasutra Podcast for Digital Recorder suggestions, and getting a response back that put the fear of god into me about being under prepared I decided to go for an Olympus DS-30. I’m gonna try to record just about every interview I do and get it up ASAP as a podcast and whatnot.

I also upgraded my laptop to Windows Vista and order 2Gig of RAM. This should help with video editing while on the road.

This beginning to be an expensive trip!!

I’ve been all down on the iPod and whatnot since I absolutely despise iTunes but I gotta say the new iPhone. Supa sexy!

Engadget has the scoop straight from CES 2007.

Sweet, glorious specs of the 11.6 millimeter device (that’s frickin’ thin, by the way) include a 3.5-inch wide touchscreen display with multi-touch support and a proximity sensor to turn off the sensor when it’s close to your face, 2 megapixel cam, 8 GB of storage, Bluetooth with EDR, WiFi that automatically engages when in range, and quadband GSM radio with EDGE. Perhaps most amazingly, though, it somehow runs OS X with support for Widgets, Google Maps, and Safari, and iTunes (of course) with CoverFlow out of the gate. A partnership with Yahoo will allow all iPhone customers to hook up with free push IMAP email.

The thing is god damn gorgeous.