A new report from market research firm Gartner on Tuesday suggests global spending on the gaming ecosystem will exceed $74 billion this year, up 10.4% from 2010. Gartner also expects annual spending on video games to reach $112 billion by 2015. As the video game industry undergoes a transition that places a sharper focus on casual gaming, Gartner now includes the following in its definition of the “gaming ecosystem:” dedicated video game consoles; software for dedicated consoles; handheld dedicate...

Sony has officially dropped the suggested retail price of the PSP in Europe to €129.99 ($187.29). This follows the company’s February 25th announcement that it was slashing the price of its gaming system to $129.99 in the United States. Sony also said that — beginning on April 14th — PSP owners will be able to access an unlimited cloud-based music service called Music Unlimited. Powered by Qriocity, Music Unlimited will allow PSP owners to listen to customized music channels or sync up with tunes ...

Neither major announcement comes as much of a surprise, but Sony on Thursday unveiled its portable gaming strategy moving forward. Two key pieces of Sony’s mobile gaming future were finally made official: the company’s next-generation PSP, known for now as “NGP” or Next Generation Portable, and its cross-platform mobile gaming framework dubbed PlayStation Suite. The former features a 5-inch, 960 x 544-pixel OLED touchscreen display, two analog controllers, two touchpad control surfaces...

Mirroring a Bloomberg report, which mirrored an MCV report, which mirrored earlier rumors, Reuters now reports that Sony plans to unveil its next-generation PlayStation Portable gaming device at an event on January 27th. The event, which will take place in Japan on Thursday, falls on the same day Nintendo is expected to report a 40% slide in its quarterly profits. Reuters reiterates that Sony’s new portable gaming device will feature a touchscreen display and integrated 3G connectivity. Reuters also n...

Sony is reportedly considering (yet again) the development of a new hybrid device that will combine the gaming features of its popular PlayStation portable gaming device with the functionality of a Sony Ericsson mobile phone. According to Nikkei Daily, the quintessential PlayStation phone will be developed by a new project team to be assembled in July. Rumors of a “PlayStation phone” have come and gone for more than two years now… Maybe Sony is so tired of hearing them that it will finally c...

With the E3 expo coming up in June, rumors of a refreshed PSP are surging once again. Now billed as yet another “iPhone killer”, chatter surrounding the possibility of a new PSP is reportedly firming up a bit with inside sources seemingly becoming more lose lipped lately. Current status of rumors: slider form factor,  touchscreen, two analog thumbsticks in addition to standard controls, “far more similar to the iPhone than the current device” (whatever that means) and a release schedu...

Gamers feast your eyes! We’re a few short days away from the official launch of the renovated PSP-3000 and the first unboxing images are upon us. We already know that the blazing new screen is tremendously better than the current model and now we know what the initial retail package has in store for us. The bundle shown above will ship complete with a 1 GB Memory Stick Pro Duo card, Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters and a copy of National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. There is also an Entertainment bundle ...

Hot off the press in China, a few pictures are currently working their way west that supposedly depict what will eventually be a new PlayStation Portable. There hasn’t been a huge amount of information about Sony’s upcoming third generation PSP, but these pics are actually pretty telling. Apart from the fact that the unit pictured is silver and pretty damn sexy, the top picture is of particular interest. To the left of the volume buttons is a restyled home button with the PlayStation logo on it. M...