Media Manager
RRP: $34.95
Sony has just released its own software for easily moving music, movies and more to your PSP. The program comes on a CD and with a manual, which basically explains how to connect your PSP up to your computer. The first thing you'll need to do when you insert the CD is install the Media Manager. Installation is relatively painless, and only takes a couple of minutes. After you've installed the program, it advises you to connect the PSP up before starting the Media Manager.
When you first begin the Media Manager, it will recognise every file you've currently got on the PSP and quickly import everything. The bottom left hand corner of the Manager is divided up into six categories: bookmarks, documents, game saves, music, photos and video. You can add bookmarks to your PSP by simply typing in a URL, and the media manager will retrieve the title of the page off the web automatically, which is extremely convenient.
Under the documents folder all you have to do is drag a document over to the PSP and the Media Manager will quickly (under 10 seconds for a 200k file) encode the file so it can be viewed on the PSP. The document gets saved as a HTM file, and can be viewed in the PSP internet browser by going to your bookmarks and then selecting "my media manger" bookmarks. I found my documents by trial and error though, so it would have been good if it was explained a little more where you could find them.
Next up is the game saves option. As soon as you push the game saves button, the Media Manager automatically loads images of your save files and alphabeticises them for you. You can easily drag save games over to the Media Manager if you want to import them. Dragging music and photos over is simple, and doesn't require any encoding at all. You can add shortcuts to the Media Manager so that you can transfer your entire MP3 folder or only transfer a few songs. With only a few clicks, you can actually display all of your songs and import however many songs you want.
The final option on the media manager is video. Once again, all you have to do is drag a video file and the media manager will encode it. A 5.2 MB file took 1 minute to encode, and came in at just over 6 MB, so the file size didn't really get any smaller. Despite the high price tag, the Media Manager is just about a vital application for anybody with a PSP. There are numerous free alternatives out on the web, but Sony's official application is just so incredibly simple to use. It's certainly taken a long time for Sony to bring out the Media Manager, but it makes everything so much easier.
Talkman
Attachment: USB Microphone
RRP: $79.95 AUD with Talkman title
Talkman was a multilingual interactive phrase book with a language tutor who dressed up as a blue bird. The software supported up to six languages - Spanish, English, French, German, Italian and Japanese - and the USB microphone connected to the very top of the PSP. Whilst the idea of a USB microphone was clever, the actual software for the program was pretty poor, which meant that Talkman ended up being a pretty useless tool. There may be more uses for the USB microphone in the future though, and currently if you want the microphone you have to purchase Talkman to get it.
Passport To...
Attachment: None
RRP: $79.95 AUD, exclusive to EB Games in Australia
Sony released six different UMDs with different content for six of the most famous cities in the world - Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, London, Prague and Rome. Sony teamed up with Lonely Planet for the Passport To... titles, so everything you'll find in the books is on this UMD. You can see the best sights for a particular location, learn some local language and even get directions on how to get to the best places to eat. The problem however, is that the disk is rather expensive and the Lonely Planet books can be picked up for about a third of the price. You're also at no risk of the battery going flat on your book.
Eyetoy USB Camera
Attachment: USB Eyetoy Camera
RRP: $TBA
Release: TBA
The PlayStation Portable Eyetoy camera was first revealed earlier in the year. At the time, it was announced that the camera would be available in September. September has since long gone and information on the USB camera has been hard to come by. Recent images of the camera have been spotted which confirm that the camera will be 1.3 mega pixels. The camera should allow you to take images and video. It is expected games like Eyetoy Play will be available alongside the camera's launch. For now it seems like the camera won't be available until 2007, which is a shame as the Eyetoy has been such a hit for the PlayStation 2, it could help boost PSP sales.
PlayStation Portable GPS Plug In
Attachment: GPS Attachment
RRP: $TBA
Release: December
The GPS attachment for the PSP was revealed at the same time as the Eyetoy camera and just like the camera it hasn't been released in PAL territories yet. However, games like Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Everybody's Golf Course support the attachment. In Everybody's Golf Course the GPS functions can be used during your real life golf game to give you location feedback, which is certainly pretty clever and useful if you're a golfer. Sony also claims that there are already a few titles released which take advantage of the GPS adaptor, although they haven't announced which titles these are. We're still not sure whether the GPS adaptor will be released in PAL territories, simply because there would be a lot of localisation required.
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