We know Sony Ericsson's PS3-lovin' Aino would be hitting European shelves at some point during the month, and now Sony itself has stepped forward to confirm that the handset is on sale. We're hearing that it's selling for £399.99 ($639) sans a contract, and just in case you're wondering why you and your PlayStation 3 should care, the Aino is capable of turning your console on and off, browsing the XMB user interface, accessing DRM-free content on the HDD, shopping for items in the PS3 Store and watching live TV via PlayTV. Hit up the read link for all the nitty-gritty, and be sure to hit your British friend up if you're stuck yearning here in the States.

[Via Joystiq]

Okay, so we sort of understand molding soap into familiar gadget shapes, but this bar of Pre soap utterly baffles by being scented "bourbon and Coke," which seems a bit self-defeating. Smell like a hobo with webOS for just $13 -- and don't worry, there's BlackBerry, iPhone, and Playstation soap on offer as well, presumably scented with Boone's Farm and OE 800.

[Via Pocket-Lint]

The good news, if you want to call it that, is that Sony Ericsson's most recent quarter loss is not as bad as its epic $382 million tab prior, and at this point there's no talk of further en masse job cuts. That said, this new report isn't exactly sunshine, and the Q2 results show a 213 million Euro ($299 million) net loss. Product shipments were around 13.8 million, down 43 percent compared with last year. Some blame is attributed to the focus on mid-tier feature phones in lieu of a greater smartphone push -- SE says it's working to correct that direction, but its higher end devices won't hit until fourth quarter. One interesting note is that one of those late-year handhelds is said to "integrate with PlayStation," but before you get excited over the oft-rumored PSP phone, we'd venture to say it's more likely that description's referencing the Remote Play-supporting Aino. From what we can tell, there's no indication of what's in the cards to improve Q3, so we won''t exactly be surprised if the story repeats itself three months from now.

If you're familiar with the emulation scene (and let's be honest, you are reading Engadget), then you know the name ZodTTD -- the brain behind some of the best jailbroken emus for the iPhone, including variations on the PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, and most importantly... the TurboGrafx-16. Now the master-hacker has brought his goods to the Pre, cooking up a version of psx4all on the Palm device, with the aforementioned GBA and TG16 ports on the way! Interestingly, he reports that the performance on the Pre is actually better than that of the iPhone 3GS, and of course he's hacked access to the keyboard, allowing for (more) proper control of games. There are still kinks that are being worked out (sound emulation, screen scaling, etc.), but it looks like we can expect big things in the near future. We at Engadget know everyone will rest a bit easier tonight knowing that real gaming on the Pre is at hand. We'll hopefully be getting our hands on a version soon, but for now hit the read link for more info, and check out the full video after the break!

A final iPhone 3GS jailbreak hasn't been released yet, but that isn't stopping enterprising hackers from trying to get at all that extra horsepower, and some of the first notable hacks we've seen are these updated PlayStation 1 and Game Boy Advance emulator ports, which run way faster than the versions for the original and 3G. The revved up hardware in Apple's latest is apparently capable of running either of these at 150 - 225fps with zero frameskipping, which is pretty impressive. Of course, we'll be way more impressed when the Dev Team releases a 3GS jailbreak and we can hit these up ourselves, but in the meantime there are plenty of videos to with which to while away the time at the read links.

Read - Emulator videos
Read - ZoTTD blog post with more info

We've been following PSP Phone rumors since 2006, forever on a tech timeline. A device we figure to be in-line with the natural evolution of mobile gaming and by the fact that Sony already licenses its Bravia and Cyber-shot brands for use on other Sony Ericsson phones. Not so fast buster. Mobile Today (citing "several sources close to the matter") is reporting that Sony Ericsson has been refused the use of the PlayStation brand by Sony Corp. after pitching the business case in December. A spokesperson for Sony Ericsson wouldn't comment directly on the matter but did say, "In the past, we have been keen that our product proposition lives up to brand promise, and we feel at the moment the technical specs are not high enough to put such a prestigious brand on a phone." With Sony Ericsson posting a massive $346 million dollar loss today compared to the $95 million expected, well, maybe Sony's wisdom shouldn't be questioned. Then again, Sony's not doing much better.

[Thanks, Matthew A.]

Read -- Sony refuses to license PlayStation brand
Read -- Sony Ericsson slips into the red

Perhaps one of the largest barriers to a massive, all-out, unqualified success for Nokia's latest incarnation of N-Gage is that it takes two to tango -- yes, it's as much a single-player gaming platform as it is a multi-player one, but the community features are its crown jewel and it's pretty tough to find another N-Gager in some parts of the world. Nokia's Aki Jarvilehto told attendees of the Develop 2008 conference that it's looking at using N-Gage's "assets" on Xbox Live or PlayStation Online, though it's not clear whether there'd be any interactivity between console players and their mobile equivalents, or if Nokia's just looking for another revenue stream to augment on-phone sales. Either way, Creatures of the Deep on the big screen without having to jack into our N95's TV-out? Bring it on.

[Via The Nokia Blog]

It seems that several years of taking their lumps on the long road to mobile gaming success has hardened the boys and girls at Nokia just a bit, and they're ready to come out swinging. The target? Fellow European manufacturer Sony Ericsson, of course, which has been rumored for eons to be cooking up some sort of PlayStation- or PSP-branded handset to go head to head with the likes of Nokia's N-Gage service. The head of Nokia's games division went on the assault at a recent press event for its brand spanking new N-Gage client, saying "I'm not scared about anybody. The real question is how do they do it? Can they create a link between the PSP games and a phone? Can they do the multiplayer and online stuff? We've been doing this for two years and it hasn't been easy." In other words: bring it, Sony Ericsson, because we don't think you can do it. Kind of funny to be lashing out against a product that hasn't been announced (much less launched) though.

[Via Tech Digest]

ZodTTD has made good on a promise to release their psx4iphone app to the public just a handful of days after announcing the project, meaning that the iPhone could very well end up taking a slot beside the PSP as a premier destination for portable PlayStation gaming. We're still not entirely convinced that the transition from PlayStation controller to touchscreen is going to be an easy one, though we're pretty sure hardcore gamers have overcome even greater obstacles in the past in the name of emulation. The package is being billed as a 0.1 release, meaning that it may not be the most solid build in the world -- but then again, it's not like you're getting your PlayStation jollies from Sony Ericsson any time soon, right?

[Via Mobilewhack]

Those of you who have already loaded up like 1,000 NES ROMs on your iPhone will be excited to learn that an even more powerful emulator is on the horizon, this one for the original PlayStation. Called psx4iphone, and currently in pre-beta, the software is being developed by ZodTTD, the same programmer responsible for the gpSPhone GameBoy Advance emulator for the iPhone and iPod touch. According to ZodTTD, if enough people donate, the program could be out within days, complete with sound implementation and memory card support, along with compatibility for a claimed 75% of titles. Still, we've played with the DualShock a time or two before, and considering how difficult FPSEce playback is on Windows Mobile devices with full QWERTY keyboards, we're not sure how well all those buttons, triggers, D-pads, and analog sticks will translate to the touchscreen experience.

[Via pspsps]

Well, that didn't take long. Just shortly after Sony Computer Entertainment co-chief operating officer Jim Ryan opened his mouth and rekindled rumors of a PlayStation Phone, Sony has now shot back and flatly denied that any such device is in the works. According to ComputerAndVideoGames.com, Sony says, "Jim Ryan was in fact misquoted by the Economic Times of India about this issue," adding that, "We do have talks with other arms of the Sony family about various topics but I can confirm we are not currently working together on the creation of a PlayStation Phone." So, that certainly seems to put a damper on that idea for the time being, although we suspect it won't take all that much longer for the rumor to crop up once again, at least as long as Sony is in the business of making both cellphones and video games.

As far as rumors go, this one is about as thin on the deets as they come, but Cnet Asia is reporting that Sony Ericsson senior VP of Product and Application Planning, Rikko Sakaguchi, actually alluded to plans for a game-playing phone at a recent press event in Sweden. During what was presumably the Q&A portion of a media conference in honor of the merged company's fifth anniversary, Sakaguchi reportedly answered a question about a theoretical PSP phone (most decidedly NOT pictured above) by saying simply that Sony Ericsson "is working on something," but that "the surprise must be kept for the future." Yeah, we know, not too much meat here -- Sakaguchi did mention that the objective was to integrate gaming and communications functions, not to create a dedicated gaming device (whatever that means) -- however, after the relative success of its Walkman and Cybershot lineup of handsets, it certainly makes sense for the company to leverage the PlayStation brand in this market as well. Sony Ericsson would be wise, though, to learn from Nokia's experience with the N-Gage, which is that, well, people don't like the N-Gage. So, here's to hoping that the Ericsson side of the equation can knock some sense into the Sony side of the equation, or else we may end up with a bulky, side-talkin' handset which uses even more proprietary formats that no one is interested in.

[Via Maxconsole]