Today my PSN ID was hacked. After a 20 minute battle for control my ID is once again safetly in my control. In said battle I noticed something. You only need the e-mail address used to sing into the PSN to change your password, completely bypassing the secutiry question. Personally I believe that to be a huge flaw, but being that Sony allows it to remain that way maybe it's just me?

By now everyone has heard the rumors of a PSP 2 possibly being announced. The original PSP was a good handheld but it was not perfect. Many complained about the lack of another thumbstick, others about the lack of AAA titles. Over the years however, Sony has established its library and has added many new features to the PSP through updates both physically with new models and digitally through updates. Rumors have the PSP 2 adding another joystick and possibly having a touch screen, but there are a few things beyond that that Sony must do to make the PSP 2 a true must have handheld.

1. Trophy Support: This is a must as all PS3 games now must have trophies. Adding trophies to PSP 2 games and using them with your PSN account could not only help push PS3 owners to get one, but it may also get PSP 2 owners to want to buy a PS3. Either way trophies are a must for PSP 2 games.

2. Internal Memory: If Sony is going to push digital distribution of its games then they have to give us something to work with. Give us 2-4GB's at least, and then if we need more we can buy a memory stick. The internal memory will make it much easier for people to want to use the digital distribution from day one.

3. If there is no UMD drive then Sony must make a way to turn current UMD's into a digital file. The will have to make some sort of converter to allow people to still play their old PSP games on the new handheld. Also, they must have a means for those who cannot use digital distribution to be able to get games, even if that means making UMD's so they can later be converted.

4. HD Screen, and use it: This is not so much a must as it is a feature that can add to the value of the handheld. With HD movies being available on the PSN, users would be able to watch them in HD glory on their PSP 2. That could lead to much more money for Sony from HD movie rentals but it could also lead to an expansion of all of their available HD content, which would be a plus for everyone. It should also be used by all of the games, making the PSP 2 an elite HD gaming device.

5. Avoid Unnecessary Extras: Sure sixaxis is cool, but being that most developers can't use it well, and even more don't use it at all, keep it out of the PSP 2. The device doesn't need features just for the sake of features. Sony should do what they can to keep the price as low as possible. The should learn from the PS3 launch, sure on paper the console was worth the $499-$599, but only the hardcore fans would go out of their way to justify the purchase. If the PSP 2 has a price tag any greater than $250-$300 then it is going to be a difficult purchase, especially in theses times.

6. Have AAA Titles At Launch: All too often a console or handheld will be announced and there will be videos of all of these great games coming for it. Then it actually launches and it has only one or two games. Sony needs to have top notch games at launch the will make the PSP 2 the handheld to have, especially now that they are going up against both the DS Lite and DSi.

7. PSN: The PSP 2 must have support equivalent to that of the PS3. It needs the store, Home possibly, and the friends list. Pretty much just take what's on the PS3 XMB and put it in the PSP 2.

8. Solid Battery: The PSP 2 needs to have a powerful battery. With all of the already rumored features, a normal PSP battery would probably only last about 2 hours or so. The PSP's battery drained very quickly when watching movies and listening to music, the PSP 2 cannot do that. It needs to be able to last.

9. Exclusives: The DS has many great exclusive games that other platforms don't. Sony needs to make sure that the PSP 2 gets the same treatment, and that's not just PSP versions of existing licenses. That means making games for the PSP 2 that won't be anywhere else.

If Sony can do most or all of those things then they will have the best handheld on the market. If anyone else has anything else post it in the comments.

Here's hoping for a PSP 2 announcement at E3 2009!

After a year like 2008 expectations were set high for games in 2009. At first glance early this year it seemed like 2009 was going to be missing the same volume of top titles that 2008 featured. I myself looked at lists of upcoming releases and only saw a handful of games that really stood out. I am glad to say however that 2009 has already surpassed my expectations and could really be a great year for gaming. I am not, by any means, saying that 2009 will be better than 2008 or 2007. It is much too early to be making such accusations. 2009 still has a lot to prove before it can start bragging. I am glad however, to see that so many titles so far this year have gone beyond initial expectations. Who would have thought 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand was going to be as good as the game really is? Who knew Halo Wars would sell 1 million copies in its first month? Who would have ever predicted that the Wii would get such a fun beat-em-up like MadWorld?

Many games released so far this year have surpassed expectations, and we still get the games that are everything we wanted them to be. Games like Killzone 2 which gave the PS3 its first must own title of the year. Then games like Resident Evil 5 hit that satisfied its fans and newcomers alike. Dawn of War II also accomplished the same feat, as well as the same score from Gamespot. New downloadable content for games like Fallout 3 and Fable II have even brought games from last year extended life.

It is an unfortunate truth that 2009 also suffers from many flaws. Stormrise comes to mind as one of the year's biggest upsets. From a developer like Creative Assembly you expect a top notch game like they delivered with Empire: Total War. Unfortunately they led me to believe that this garbage was a good game. Now I'm stuck with it for PC which means no trade in or return. Lesson learned. More not as good as it was on the Genesis Sonic games came out that, not surprisingly, got bad reviews. Then there are games like Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad, which the developers should have know was going to be bad from the beginning. Sex can't sell everything as that game clearly proves.

With so much more to come later in the year like inFamous, Bioshock 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, and many others, 2009 has the potential to be a banner year for gaming. In these harsh times it is good to see that games still stand strong and that we can still see quality titles being released. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year and will probably post something similar to this in June to talk about what has happened since this blog. Thanks for reading.

NightmareCV