Digital downloads might seem like the future when it comes to consoles, but realistically it is still a long way off, according to Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai. He ruled out future digital-only PlayStation consoles (perhaps thinking about the PS4), despite Sony being the first company do so with the PSPgo. In that case it didn’t go over so well.

Most gamers still prefer physical media anyway, so it will be a long time before we see digital only consoles go mainstream. Would you want physical content or digital?

Here’s some bad news for PSP owners who want to upgrade to the PSP Go when it’s released. Sony has killed the UMD conversion plan. The idea was that PSP owners who had original UMD copies of their games would be entitled to free PSN downloads of the title, so that they can play it on the PSP Go when they upgrade.

But sadly “legal and technical reasons” put the axe on this plan. Which really sucks for PSP owners who have games they absolutely love. It sure doesn’t encourage PSP owners to upgrade and must feel like a slap in the face.

Sure, the PSP Go! looks awesome. It’s slimmer, lighter, has downloads instead of UMD. But where’s the full QWERTY keyboard? Acidmods forum member folklord36’s PSP Laptop does have QWERTY, thanks to an Xbox Chat Pad. It also has relocated speakers, LED lighting and more.

The screen section is a modified Joytech visor that has the same finish as the PSP, and its sturdy hinge can be positioned at anything up to 180-degrees. We don’t know how long it took him to create this or how much it cost, but we wouldn’t mind having one ourselves.

Apparently Sony’s been thinking of doing a PSP games rental service for a while. A recent consumer survey that Joystiq discovered yesterday gauged interest in a PSN-powered games rental service for the PSP. The theoretical service would have PSP owners pay a monthly fee for access to a library of new and archived games on the PlayStation Store.

According to a report by Develop, Sony unveiled plans of a rental service to developers at GDC last March. A PSN-centric PSP would be far more attractive to developers who have shied away due to piracy or other concerns. This news re-enforces that rumor regarding music downloads for the PSP.

CNET has word that Sony’s been talking to some of the big recording labels about putting their music on the PlayStation Network for download, specifically for the PSP. It makes sense. The service already has a growing library of movies and TV shows. It’s just lacking music.

And since Sony is one of the four largest music companies in the world, they should be able to provide a few good artists. It resides in rumor territory for now, but we’d be real surprised if this didn’t happen. The PSP has never really lived up to it’s potential. This could help.

We’ve heard all of the rumors that a new PSP will be arriving with a sliding touchscreen, but now Pocket Gamer says they’ve confirmed it with a developer working on the system. It will be here before Christmas.

The source repeats earlier rumors about the design: Like the touchscreen that will slide open to reveal a D-pad and….two analog thumbsticks. And as we told you before, the UMD will be gone in favor of digital downloads. According to Pocket Gamer it’s more like an iPhone than the last PSP you’ve come to know and love.

The Sony PS3 is one of the most popular game consoles on the market. One of the best things about the console for me is that I can use it as a Blu-ray player in addition to a gaming system. I also believe that it is one of the best Blu-ray players around thanks to the continual updates Sony adds to the Blu-ray player via downloads.

Another nice thing about the PS3 is the PlayStation Network and Sony says that the network has reached a significant milestone. After being available for two years and three months the network has exceeded 20 million registered accounts worldwide.

I don’t know how you are, but when I buy something, like say a movie, I like to be able to use it as many times as I see fit. I paid good money for it after all. Apparently, users who purchase movies from the Sony PS3 video store are allowed to download it only one more time. Which sucks. Sony does tell you in their license agreement that “Content cannot be redownloaded once it has been downloaded to either a PLAYSTATION 3 or PSP system.” I guess the moral of the story is to treat digital downloads as rented movies rather then purchases.

Sony has recently launched the online Playstation Store that allows PSP owners to download games, wallpaper and themes for their PSP. This online service makes a lot of sense for multiple reasons. For one it gives a central place to instantly get games and other things for the PSP online. But for many of us it more importantly could help due away with that goofy UMD media for the PSP games.

Sure the new PSP Slim offered a little bit faster startup time for games but a person still had to load it up and wait a while for the game to start. Also, the spinning of that UMD used up batteries that wouldn’t be the case with a game saved all in memory.

Sony has released a new firmware update available now for the PSP, bringing the version up to 3.7. The new update can be picked up automatically through the Network Update Wi-Fi connection on the PSP.

Some of the updates with the new 3.7 version include revisions to increase security and an increased number of Playstation network titles that can be played under “Game”. The system will now also let users set custom theme settings in the Themes menu and a number of features for viewing media have been added.

Sony has now released a new version of its firmware for the Playstation Portable (ver. 3.50) that enables the Remote Play capabilities through a wireless internet connection from your PS3 sitting in the next room, the next town or the next country.

The Playstation 3 firmware was updated recently as well in order to support this feature and the PSP upgrade closes the loop to allow you to control your PS3 using your PSP. The Remote Play feature to me sounds a little better than it is. Remote Play …

Yesterday Sony released a version 3.10 firmware upgrade to the Playstation Portable system with some increased security among other new features. By the end of the same day, hackers had already decrypted the 3.10 firmware to allow third party applications to run on the PSP.

The party claiming responsibility for the PSP hack, “C + D”, was boastful about the day 0 hack of the new firmware stating, “$ony has lost another batle and will loose the war…”. Obviously they are better at hacking than they are spelling.

The …

According to the Financial Times, Sony has plans to start allowing video downloads to the Sony PSP. This would be direct competition for the video iPod from Apple, and according to Sony this would really “open up” the movie download market. Apple iTunes only provides downloads to the iPod and only Disney movies have been available to download due to fear of piracy from other studios.

Fortunately for consumers the new movie download service would not require a new distribution or upgrade of the PSP. This is also important to Sony after having …