Apart from the reported partnership with Taiwan-based MMO studio Yeck Entertainment, SCE Asia is apparently looking to beefing up their stronghold in the region by striking more deals with a variety of Asian game developers. This appears to be part of the corporation's direct response to their almost-US$ 6,000 million losses last year.

Sony has just shown Singapore some console lovin', as its PlayStation 3 (PS3) makes its way to the Lion City. The PS3's launch took place at The Clinic, a club over at Clarke Quay which may be familiar to some as the nesting ground for the Ministry of Sound.

The launch gave 200 Singaporeans an opportunity to purchase Sony's PS3 for its initial retail price of S$ 799 (US$ 523), along with a  one-year warranty. And for those asking, no - there is still no word on the PlayStation 3's 20GB version, with details only going down for its bigger 60GB variant.

For some retailers, this launch un-officially marks the end of Singapore's dependence on Japan and Hong Kong imports, with stores at the Lucky Plaza shopping center at Orchard Road reported to be slashing down PS3 console prices to within S$ 700 (US$ 460) to compete with the new retail price. In related news, the previously mentioned PS3 launch titles are reported to be delayed by a day - expect these 10 titles to launch by March 8 in authorized Sony stores.

Sony Computer Entertainment Asia managing director Tetsuhiko Yasuda had this to say regarding the Singapore launch:

I was involved in the development of PlayStation, and we successfully launched PlayStation 1 with 100 million units sold worldwide, and for PlayStation 2 we sold 120 million units. With PlayStation 3 we are targeting approximately 150 to 200 million units sold worldwide.

For today! We just got word from badrix that the Playstation Portable 3.00 Firmware Manual has been posted up on Sony's site. The manual details some of the mundane details for your typical firmware update, however there are a few hot topics in there which demand attention. I'll tell you right off that there was no information in their updated manual regarding the PSP supporting homebrew with firmware 3.00, and this was a rather large disappointment. On the other hand, the few additions that were made were helpful, one might even say overdue, but these added pleasures were still bitter sweet.

Remote Play - Remote play is a new feature in Firmware 3.00 that allows you to remotely control your PlayStation 3 from your PSP. This also includes the display of PS3 content on the PSP. "You can display a PLAYSTATION®3 system screen on a PSP™ system and play content that is on the PS3™ system. To use this feature, you must adjust the necessary settings on the PSP™ system and the PS3™ system." Using this new mode of playback, one can control the Photo, Music, Video, and Internet Browser features of the PlayStation 3 from a remote location via their Playstation Portable.

Video Compatibility - In this updated version of the Playstation Portable firmware, you are also able to play a few new video formats. The Motion JPEG format (M-JPEG), is an "informal name for multimedia formats where each video frame or interlaced field of a digital video sequence is separately compressed as a JPEG image" (Wikipedia). The PlayStation Portable plays both the Linear PCM and the μ-Law versions of the Motion JPEG video format. In addition, you will now be able to access the Camera (functionality) from the photo option menus, for quicker easier access when taking photos or video. Another nifty function is the ability to finally turn off Auto Play for inserted UMD Discs via UMD Auto Boot. (Thanks zerojay)

PlayStation Games - Here's the big tip you've been waiting for. Finally, Sony is going to drop their highly anticipated PlayStation One emulator onto the PSP. From the manual however, there seems to be a unavoidable catch. If you don't have a PS3, your not going to be enjoying PlayStation One games emulating on Sony's PlayStation One emulator for PSP anytime soon. From the manual it states that you must connect to the Playstation Online store with your PSP connected to the PlayStation 3 in order to download and play the games. In addition, they mention that you can in fact share the games, but you must activate the other system in the Friends menu as a PS3 Network Account.

Now to top it all off right before posting this, I came across a tip submitted by Jordan. Which led me to a post made by 0okm and from the looks of things, it would appear the PlayStation Portable 3.00 Firmware will be out soon - as soon as Today! just a few days, on November 22 to be exact, according to Sony Asia's Managing Director Tetsuhiko Yasuda. Remember, Sony didn't mention anything about homebrew this time around either, so make sure you are aware that the current methods for playing unofficial games will probably not work. No matter the consequences it would appear that if your looking to get into some PlayStation One gaming on the PSP, for now, you know what you gotta do...

Update: Just got wind that PSP 3.00 Firmware is out now! We have obtained the file and are uploading it as you read. If you were thinking about updating, check your network settings, reports have come in it is up and ready via network update as well. With the Japanese 3.00 firmware update finally out on the net, we can only assume it will appear in stores on the shelf very soon as well.

Download: [ PSP 3.00 Firmware Update (jpn) ]

  

Here's a bit of good news for the dudes over in Hong Kong and Taiwan: Sony just announced they're launching the PS3 over there on November 17 - the same day as the unit's U.S. release. Tetsuo Yasuda, SCEA's Asia managing director, states that they're planning to release the 60GB model on the launch day in Taiwan for a retail price of roughly NT$17,980 (USD $534.00), with the 20GB model being released in the month of December for a retail price of NT$14,980 (USD$452.00).

While the 20GB model is considerably cheaper, Yasuda expects the 60GB to draw in the larger market portion, owing to its higher memory capacity, and WLAN support. Yasuda did not say just how many units Sony will be shipping to both regions. The bad news for the guys living here is that there is still no Chinese Edition for the PS3's PlayStation Network. Hmm...PS3+Taiwan+Hong Kong=You get the idea.

In related news, Sony also announced their plans to ship the pink version of their PSP over to Taiwan by the end of this year, and we're hoping that it'll be as wildly popular amongst the men, as it was here and in Europe. As for its competitor, the Wii: there hasn't been any news on Nintendo's shipment plans to these two countries.