Exophase has got an interesting piece of information on the latest TA-085v2 motherbaords that can be found in the new PSP-Slim units – they can no longer be used to create the Pandora battery (aka the Battery Tool, or the Battery Downgrader).

It would appear that Sony have made some changes to the way the EEPROM works, meaning its no longer possible to create the battery. However, a Pandora battery created on a none-TA-085v2 motherboard is still useable on a PSP with the TA-085v2 board.

As for identifying which motherboard your PSP-Slim is using, if it shipped with 3.73 firmware as standard, its likely to be of this variety.

Sony Computer Entertainment Spain CEO James Armstrong ahs confirmed that European territories are set to receive a new, updated PlayStation 3 starter pack bundle from January 31.

The new starter pack includes a base 40GB PS3, along with two SIXAXIS controllers and individual copies of Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.

Price is reported to be 499euros (around £370GBP).

Sony have unleashed their latest PSP firmware, 3.90, with the new Skype feature added as was mentioned at CES. The firmware update is available for both old and new PSP units (PSP-1000 and PSP-2000), but the Skype funtion is only for the newer PSP Slim units.

The older PSP (Fat and Heavy) does not have enough internal memory to support the Skype features (and is in no way Sony attempting to get PSP-1000 owners to upgrade to the newer model by withholding functions from firmware releases).

Those of you who are upgrading to the official Sony PSP firmware on your Slim and Lite will be able to make use of the Skype system, which includes the following:

Outgoing calls between Skype ID (Skype ID) (free)
General and the outgoing phone calls (dialer, SkypeOut ™) (paid)
General mobile phones in the phone (Phone receiving, SkypeIn ™) (paid)
Voice mail exchanges (some paid)

Requirements to run Skype on the PSP are as follows:

PSP-2000 Slim and Lite
Wi-fi access
PSP headphone remote control
Headset

I guess the biggest issue will be finding people to talk to – in the UK Skype hasn’t reached a saturation point yet, so users off the system are few and far between. I’m sure this addition to the PSP’s multimedia capabilities will help propel Skype into more homes in the UK.

For PSP owners still on the older PSP-1000 unit, this firmware upgrade adds support for more Playstation store titles.