PSP owners have just been given another reason to think twice about upgrading to the PSPgo. The first pause would naturally be caused by the PSPgo’s $249.99 price point, about $100 more than a standard PSP and now even $50 more than a Wii. The second pause will be caused by the latest news from Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) – there’s no method for converting UMD games to digital ones in sight.

That’s right owners of PSPs with a UMD drive. If you decide to upgrade to a PSPgo, all of those UMDs are useless. They’re even to small to use as coasters! Last night Kotaku reported the heartbreaking news that the UMD conversion program was a pipedream. The SCEA representative spoken to said the program won’t be available “at this time.” So much for the conversion kiosks people were teased with at E3 2009. Now, at TGS 2009, SCEE has announced that there won’t be any UMD conversion method available in Europe either.

Yes, SCEE is going to offer you three free games with the PSPgo Rewards Program if you have an existing PSP and UMD, but IndustryGamers has gotten word from SCEA that residents of North America aren’t going to have that luxury…

The Square Enix Tokyo Game Show 2009 website is now online and all set for viewing! So even if you can’t make it to Japan, you can kind of get the same sort of experience. Well, if you can read Japanese you can.

The site is primarily a guide to the show. You can see where Square Enix’s booth is, tell what games are playable at the event, see which games will have footage and videos displayed, see the Square Enix booth layout, read a blog and tell what you thought about Square Enix’s displays. Little icons under each game on the game listing page tell you if it is playable at the event or if game footage is going to be shown.

Let’s look at all the games appearing at TGS 2009 that are listed on the site…

Sony already used the TGS 2009 as a forum to announce that the PS3 motion controller will be out in 2010, perhaps even by March. That alone was a promising little nugget of information, but Sony and Capcom decided to go a step further and start announcing some of the PS3 games that will either be immediately compatible with the forthcoming motion controller, or made compatible with a patch.

The biggest announcement was Capcom’s, when it announced during its press conference that Resident Evil 5: Alternate Edition is going to feature PS3 motion controller compatibility, along with other additional content. Only the Japanese version of the game (Biohazard 5: Alternate Edition) was announced at the event, and a release in other regions wasn’t mentioned.

Let’s look at an alphabetical list of games that will be compatible with the PS3 motion controller…

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) used the 2009 Tokyo Game Show to make two big announcements concerning the PS3 and PSPgo. First, the SCEE announced a new version of the PS3 Slim that has a 250GB hard drive which everyone is excited about. The second announcement was the PSPgo Rewards program, which will reward existing PSP owners who purchase a PSPgo with three downloadable PSP games.

The PSPgo announcement is an attempt to get current PSP owners to upgrade to the PSPgo. When the system debuts October 1, 2009, the PSPgo Rewards program will launch as well. Users with both systems can then log into the PlayStation Network with both systems to unlock three free game downloads. There are some catches though. First, you have to claim your three free games before March 31, 2010. Second, You have to have a UMD in the old PSP unit. Third, you can only choose from 17 PSP games.

Here are the 17 PSP games you can choose from, in alphabetical order…

The 2009 Tokyo Game Show is in full swing now, which means announcements concerning new games are slowly starting to trickle out of Japan. This year Kaz Hirai, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. was keynote speaker at the event. On September 23, 2009, he presented “Sony Computer Entertainment 2009 Strategy” in front of a room of anxious journalists. Pretty appropriate since, as Hirai pointed out, it’s the 15th anniversary of the original PlayStation and Sony’s first foray into video games.

Hirai’s keynote wasn’t all that eventful. There weren’t many major announcements made, aside from a 2010 release window for the PS3 motion controller. Instead, it was more of a summary of the latest PS3 and PSP related numbers. Hirai did also briefly mention at the end of the speech that he felt 3D gaming was the next big step that Sony should take and footage was shown from a number of key releases (FFXIII, The Last Guardian, LBP PSP), but mainly it was all about the numbers.

Let’s take a brief peek at the numbers he mentioned…

It’s the week of the 2009 Tokyo Game Show, which means companies are preparing all of their latest games for the event and making all kinds of juicy announcements concerning what games you’ll be able to see there. Sony is the latest major company to announce some of the PS3, PSP and PSN games and services that will be either debuting or appearing at the event. The initial list isn’t a complete compilation of 60+ games scheduled to appear, but is instead a sampling of some of the biggest and most anticipated games that will definitely be shown off.

Three services are definitely going to be shown off at the PlayStation booth. You can test firsthand Home, of course. The PSP PlayStation Store comic delivery service is also going to be ready for people to come up and start reading. The PlayStation Store video delivery service is also going to be shown off as well.

Let’s look at the games that will be appearing…

In North America, E3 is the king of video game trade shows. In Japan, it’s all about the Tokyo Game Show. Held every fall, the Tokyo Game Show is the place to see the latest and most anticipated video games in Japan.

The 2009 Tokyo Game Show spans four days next week. The first two days of the event, September 24 and 25, are business days, where it’s press and industry members only. September 26 and 27 are the days to watch – those are the ways where anyone can come in and explore.

To help everyone get ready for this major event, Important Importables has put together a smattering of information on the history of the Tokyo Game Show and helpful things to know about the 2009 Tokyo Game Show…