In the news today I read Sony Fined $90.7M in PlayStation Case - apparently, a company named Immersion won a suit claiming Sony used their technology for controller rumble during gameplay. The scary part was that the court also ruled that Sony can't sell Playstations in America, though this was immediately pushed off until after the appeal. It made me want to get a PS2 immediately (not that I could afford it, of course), but the broader cultural repercussions also gave me pause. We're talking an entertainment juggernaut, billions of dollars in this business, and to hobble the Playstation could cause far-reaching changes in the video game industry and culture.

And here's a neat irony:Immersion also sued Microsoft for the use of their technology on the Xbox, and Microsoft paid them off as well as bought a share in the company. So in a sense, Xbox versus Playstation has a new battle field - and Xbox is winning this one.

Meanwhile, the delicate PSP is apparently suffering some dead pixel issues. Which makes me glad I haven't gotten one yet. (Not that I could afford it, of course...) Though how widespread the issue is, is debatable. For me, at least, a few dead pixels wouldn't hurt. I'm amenable to flaws in new technology - if anything, caveat emptor is as much a part of the cutting edge as the actual innovation.

That said, I also found out there's a program to convert videos to a format PSP can show. So what I want a PSP to do - store Jpop videos that I can watch in high-res on a big portable screen - is definitely do-able. The program is called PSP Video 9 and it's freeware - so I can afford it, of course...

But I don't need it.

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