Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

You wouldn’t necessarily think that San Diego’s annual Comic Con would be a hotbed of videogame news, but this year’s event proved different, as Sony revealed a number of exciting future plans for the PSP. At a seminar called PSP University (man, we sure wish we could have spent our college years at that institution), company execs confirmed that the portable console will indeed work as a remote for the PS3, and that the upcoming firmware update will support RSS video feeds for the built-in web browser. Furthermore, Sony is apparently in talks with wireless providers to provide more Nintendo DS/Wayport-like hotspots for online gaming, and is also looking at ways to bring downloadable movies to PSP owners — which sounds to us like another foot in the grave for the almost-dead UMD. Not all the news here is good, however, as those folks expecting a Sony-branded keyboard for their console will likely be in for a disappointment; in fact, the company has no plans whatsoever to improve text entry on the PSP at all. Other new info centered around games and demos, and since that’s not really our bag, we’ll leave those details to other fine publications like Joystiq and PSP Fanboy.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

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Filed under: Home Entertainment

Just days after MovieLink announced that it has licensed technology for burning flicks to DVD, rival download service CinemaNow has stepped up to the plate and begun actually offering consumers this very option. Starting today, about 100 titles are available for download through the “Burn to DVD” beta service, complete with all the interactive menus and bonus features you’d find on a store-bought DVD. Burnable titles start at $8.99, though if you’re looking for the latest releases, you won’t find them here — Disney, Sony, Universal, and friends have only provided older films for the initial roll-out. While MovieLink partnered with Sonic Solutions for its presumed entrant into this space, CinemaNow decided to go with technology based on fluxDVD from Germany’s ACE GmbH. Even though there may not be a lot of demand for the current crop of titles, assuming that the encryption scheme is able to ward off pirates and at least a few folks show some interest in “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” and “About a Boy,” among others, it’s likely that newer and more popular films will be added to the library in the near future.

[Thanks, Michael]

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