You've seen the PSP Go on video. You've seen it compared to its older cousin in good, old-fashioned shaky-cam glory, but how about some nice, clean side-by-side comparison shots? Game Watch has you covered with some nice photos that show each device from different angles. Regrettably, you still won't be able to see each device from behind, but that's not really the important side anyway [Gold Five disagrees! - Ed].

Head over to Game Watch for more shots.

[Via CVG]

A recent survey seeks consumer interest in a PSP game rental service. With the PSP Go all but confirmed a possibility and UMD on its way out, a PSP that takes full advantage of the digital age and the PSN doesn't exactly sound like crazy talk. Plus, there's always going to be a rental market, so why shouldn't Sony take advantage of that?

Depending on the terms and price, the idea of a direct rental service sounds like a potentially cost effective option for gamers during these hard economic times. Should it ever come to fruition, that is.

[Thanks, MrEverdred01!]

Sony Asia has revealed two new striking "Carnival Color" PSP-3000 models for the region. The "Radiant Red" and "Vibrant Blue" handhelds will begin burning Asian retinas on January 17th for roughly $177 each.

There's no word on whether these colors will make it to other regions; however, CES is currently going on, so there may be an announcement buried in the circus. We've contacted Sony and will update with any new info.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

Famous for its imperviousness to hackers, the PSP Brite has now been hacked by one MaTiAz over at lan.st. An exploit was supposedly found in the 2005 title GripShift and has been described as "a buffer overflow vulnerability when loading savegames [sic]." It is now available for download, as well as an accompanying new SDK. Remember however, this exploit doesn't grant the all-important kernal access. A video of this proof of concept in action, after the jump.

[Via Engadget]

It didn't take long now, did it? As of last month, hackers and pirates have yet to to find a way to run custom firmware on the latest iteration of the PSP. Well, things have changed. Datel has unveiled to the world a "special mode battery" called the Lite Blue Tool which allows the PSP Brite to enter service mode. Once in service mode, you're home free, baby -- you can downgrade to the firmware version of your choice. The "crypto processor based battery" even has a built in LED power gauge and will sell for $29.99 come November 28th.

[Via Engadget]

Out with one SKU, in with another. The 4GB PSP Entertainment Pack may be dead, but in its place is the Ratchet & Clank Entertainment Pack. Wait, what? Yes, looks like Sony is offering two versions of the R&C pack -- the current one offers a silver system and echochrome. The one releasing in December will include a black system and Everyday Shooter. Both will be available for $199.

If that's not your style, you can try the black PSP Brite a la carte for $169. However, no release date has been set for the standalone system.

[Via PlayStation]

If you still had any doubt over Apple's plans to launch an assault on the portable gaming industry, VP of iPod and iPhone Marketing Greg Joswiak has made the company's intentions a bit more obvious. In an interview with T3 magazine, Joswiak touts the iPod Touch as the "future of gameplay" (and notes that current handhelds, PSP and Nintendo DS, are "in the past").

Beyond the interface and the wireless App Store, Joswiak said, "The 3D graphic power here [iPod touch] is significantly greater than what you have here [picks up Nintendo DS]. So this allows people to do significantly higher quality games."

It all sounds well and good, but Joswiak doesn't address the pink, polygonal elephant in the room: the games themselves. The platform and hardware is great, but Apple's catalog doesn't yet have the muscle nor brand recognition that's driving sales of the PSP and the Nintendo DS (whose Wrestling name, we might add, is "The Money Printer").

It's worth noting that a recent study by the NPD Group suggests smartphone (and particularly iPhone) gaming is growing dramatically. Check out our comparison chart of the DSi, iPod Touch and PSP Brite.

Out of all the frightening images we've been subjected to this Halloween, this one easily ranks as the most terrifying. It's an intensely intimate view of the PSP Brite (or PSP-3000 if you want to get all technical) and the screen that's drawn some disapproving squints in recent weeks.

The folks at Logic-Sunrise have apparently peered at the brighter screen (magnified by a factor of 40), pinning the blame for the perceived interlacing issue squarely on our ex-friend, the now horizontally lined, observable darker blue pixel. Oh, when we're done with you, pixel, you'll be all shades of black and ... well, blue.

[Via Engadget]

Logic Sunrise took a microscope to both the PSP-2000 and 3000 to see why the 3000 has interlacing issues. At 40X magnification, it's clear that the two screens have very different pixels. Can you see what some of the major differences are?

The 3000 series has pixels aligned horizontally, not vertically. In addition, the blues of the 3000 are much darker. These two in tandem may be behind the interlacing "feature" of the 3000 screen.

[Via Gizmodo]

Sony's latest hardware revision, the PSP-3000 aka PSP Brite, is doing well in standing up against pirates, hackers and their tools. According to PSP World, previous exploits which allow access to kernel memory and firmware are now patched up -- no way getting in there now.

Infamous hackers like Dark Alex have yet to find a way through the PSP Brite's new specs. Other hackers are getting frustrated; take Royginald from the Philippines who has swapped in the PSP Slim's CPU into a PSP Brite while keeping the screen and case intact. All that to run custom firmware and homebrew which doesn't even run properly because of signal output differences. We wonder if Sony has finally found a solution to its custom firmware woes.

Already have Echochrome on PSP, Ratchet & Clank Size Matters on UMD, as well as the DVD and Blu-ray release of National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets? Yeah, us too (except for the National Treasure 2 part ... seriously, what's your problem?), which is why we're drinking early this morning. Sony's John Koller reports, via the PlayStation blog, that Sony has decided to nix the so-called PSP-3000 Core pack in favor of just one option: the already available Ratchet & Clank Entertainment Pack.

The Core Pack was to be released in November with a 4GB Memory Stick (a boost from the R&C pack's 1GB stick), an Everday Shooter PlayStation Network voucher and, of course, a PSP Brite in sleek "Piano Black" instead of "Mystic Silver," all for the same $199.99 asking price. If you're really just waiting for a black PSP Brite, Koller says the Ratchet & Clank pack will be back in black (as well as silver) starting in December. Upshot: you can totally regift the stuff you don't want!