Today's round-up includes the possibly final demise of the PSX console/DVR hybrid, and some interesting Japanese-imported acquisitions for the U.S. division of publisher Atlus.
- Sony has canceled production of the DESR-7500 and DESR-5500, its last models of the PSX, the device that combined TiVo-like digital video recording via a large hard drive with the PlayStation 2 hardware. The initial models had significant issues revolving around bugs and missing features, which Sony never entirely fixed with its series of firmware upgrades. The often cited reasons for the device's poor performance have to do with compatibility issues between the Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Electronics divisions, who were first-time partners in the development and production of the PSX, but no formal reason for the ceasing of production was announced.
- Atlus announced three new game pickups for the U.S. market:
Samurai Western for PlayStation 2,
Puyo Pop Fever for Nintendo DS, and
Riviera: The Promised Land for Game Boy Advance.
Samurai Western, slated for summer 2005, is an action game starring a samurai out to clean up the Old West;
Riviera: The Promised Land, also due out summer 2005 is a traditional RPG developed by Sting; and
Puyo Pop Fever, to be released in April, is the Nintendo DS iteration of the long-running Puyo Puyo series, originally developed by Sega.
