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On December 18th, PSP firmware 3.80 will be released in Japan with two new highly desirable features. First is digital video recording capabilities, made possible with the new Japan-only 1seg peripheral. With firmware 3.80, it will be possible to record television shows from the 1seg peripheral directly onto the Memory Stick for later viewing.

Internet radio will also be added in the next firmware upgrade. Exactly how the service will work is unclear at this time. [Update: Images have surfaced on Watch Impress' website.]

DVR is a huge feature that unfortunately isn't possible outside of Japan unless appropriate peripherals are released globally. However, internet radio is hopefully something all PSP users around the world will be able to take advantage of. Once again, PSP is expanding its capabilities, becoming more features-packed than anyone could've predicted.

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I think this is pretty cool, and I kind of wish the US was as forward-thinking as the Japanese.

seems like they're trying to turn the PSP into a PDA of sorts. gaming has been pretty lack-luster, so they're going for multi-media functionality instead. guess it's a way to go, but the N-Gage tried to take a similar approach and look where that went

still, it sounds cool, but is it any better than getting a smart phone?

No disrespect, but gaming on the PSP has come a long ways and it's actually pretty good.  I think the Japanese in particular just have more options than what we do.  I believe they have a mainly wireless high speed internet setup, so having a hand held that takes better advantage of that makes sense for them.  

I don't think adding PVR (personal video recorder) or Internet Radio is anything anyone anywhere else in the world would thumb their noses at if they had the ability to use it.  Hopefully this country will have that sort of infrastructure someday and we can get cool features like the Japanese do.

One other thing to remember is that every since the release of the PSP, it's been touted at a multimedia system, and they've really made no qualms about that. Adding these features just builds on the original idea of giving gamers functions they believe they'll like, and I'm sure the Japanese will enjoy these two new features...I know I would.

JPN PSP's are the future of portable multi media gaming.


ROM DS's are too.