Sony promoting the PSP like never before

                    

Unless you've been living under a rock this summer, you would have noticed how hard Sony have been promoting their handheld games console. There's been new games, new bundles, a new colour and even a new console announced, the PSP Go. They seem to be promoting the PSP everywhere, online, off-line, on TV and even in the street. Last year (2008) with hardly any new games released, PSP game sales were at their lowest ever, so it is evident that Sony are attempting to turn around their ailing handheld business.

Summer of PSP

First there's the PSP bus that's been travelling around the UK This Sony themed double decker has been pitching up at various events and theme parks and people have been invited to come in and play on the latest PSP 3000's. As you would expect with this sort of promotion they're running a number of different competition and there's a chance you could win a prize. The 'Summer of PSP' 'tour dates are listed below.

July 4th / 5th - Warwick Castle
July 11th / 12th - Chessington World of Adventures
July 24th / 26th - Camp Bestival

Aug 2nd - Underage Festivals
Aug 3rd to 9th - Chessington World of Adventures
Aug 10th to 16th - Thorpe Park

New PSP bundles

Until recently I don't think I'd ever seen a TV advert for a PSP game. In the past week I have seen adverts for Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite and the new Harry Potter game - Harry Potter and the half-blood prince. Sony have gone to the effort of creating branded PSP bundles for both of these games.

Monster Hunter PSP bundle

First there's the Monster Hunter PSP bundle, this bundle contains a mystic silver PSP 3000 with a Monster Hunter branded PSP pouch, a Monster Hunter screen wipe and a Monster Hunter skin and the game of course. This PSP bundle is only available in Mystic Silver, but when you see the skin, you'll see why it's a good choice of colour for this bundle.

Harry Potter PSP bundle

Then there's the Harry Potter PSP bundle. This bundle is available in the latest PSP colour, Vibrant blue. This PSP bundle contains the latest Harry Potter game and a branded black (leather look) carry case. There's no skins included in this bundle, but would you really want to spoil that gorgeous vibrant blue PSP with a sticker?

Hannah Montana Lilac PSP bundle

There's even talk of a Hannah Montana lilac PSP bundle. There's no word on a UK release date yet, but we do have some details on this Disney backed PSP bundle. The bundle contains a Lilac PSP, a Hannah Montana game, a Hannah Montana movie on UMD, a 2 GB memory stick and a sticker pack to decorate your PSP.

Monster Hunter London

Capcom are also optimistic about the PSP. To promote their PSP game Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite they've setup a Monster Hunter drop-in center right in the middle of London. Players can meet up at the 'Gathering Hall' for network connected games with other Monster Hunter obsessive PSP owners. Entry is free to anyone that owns a PSP and has a copy of Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite. For the opening times and address take a look at this link, monster hunter London.

Sony drops the price of the SDK

In an attempt to kick start game development for the PSP, Sony have dropped the price of the PSP software developer's kit (SDK) to 80% of its original value. It's impossible to write a PSP game without the SDK and dropping the price should get more developers interested and also increase the profitability of these games.

Sony are also keen to get developers onboard to develop casual games for their online store. There is also a rumour that the online store may be the platform that Sony uses for an application store, which will contain non-gaming applications like the Apple app store.