Sony PSP wins at E3

Reuters reports that the upcoming Sony PSP handheld gaming device won the Best in Show award at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) held recently in Los Angeles.

"Sony did really well to age-up its audience, [and to] appeal to people over 18," says Geoff Keighley, co-chairman of the Game Critics Awards.

The world`s largest video game publisher, Electronic Arts, walked away with five critics` awards from E3, more than any other publisher.

The most critically celebrated games were Microsoft`s Halo 2 and Ubisoft Montreal`s Splinter Cell 3, each sweeping three categories.

Representatives of the Beatles are in discussions with online music services about licensing the band`s songs for distribution on the Internet, Reuters reports.

Negotiators for the Beatles have talked with several companies, with a particular emphasis on Microsoft`s MSN, which is expected to open an Internet music store later this year.

EMI owns the Beatles` master recordings and would be involved in any final agreement, sources close to the situation said.

Sharp is previewing its largest liquid crystal display (LCD) yet, the 45-inch LC-M4500, at the InfoComm conference in the US this week.

PC World reports that the monitor can display 1 080 high-definition video signals in a 1 920x1 080 format without scaling the image.

The monitor`s 60 000-hour backlight life is double that of similarly-sized plasma displays and once the backlight burns out, it can be replaced, Sharp claims.

The company estimates the list price to be around $11 000.