E3 Round-up - Sony

Sony's big news is the PlayStation Portable Slim will launch in September and October in limited edition packs for $200. The big new feature (apart from the thinner form factor) is a video-out port so you can stream your reduced quality videos and UMD programs to a TV (oh boy). The Daxter PSP Entertainment Pack features a silver PSP Slim, the Daxter game, a Family Guy UMD and 1GB Memory Stick Duo. On Oct. 9, it's joined by the Star Wars Battlefront PSP Entertainment Pack, which includes a white PSP Slim with Darth Vader silkscreen design and Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron. It appears you'll also eventually be able to get the newly redesigned PSP Slim in black for $170.

Other news from the Sony press conference at E3:

• Due in 2008, Metal Gear Solid 4 will be a PS3 exclusive, and also the last in the series
• Unreal Tournament 3 is a PS3 exclusive due in 2007, and it will permit PC mods to be downloaded (though only through PlayStation Network; wonder if they'll charge for them)
• PlayStation Home, due this fall, will include a mobile phone component that enables pictures from your phone to decorate your space and provides remote access to some PS3 features
• Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will add online play when it's released later this year
• SOCOM: Confrontation is due for holiday release
• Echochrome is a puzzle game that will get released as a download and features M.C. Escher-style graphics to make your head spin
• NCSoft (known for Lineage, Guild Wars, Auto Assault and City of Heroes) is up to something for the PS3, but nothing specific has been announced (it smells like an MMO, though)

It will be interesting to see if Sony ponies up a bunch of PlayStation Network videos and other downloadable goodies, since they posted zip last week...