Sony Announces a Super Playstation 2, the "PSX"

Doctor_No writes "Sony has announced a souped-up Playstation 2 in Japan. The machine, named the "PSX", comes with 120GB hard drive and a DVD+/-RW for recording videos and DVR features much like Sony's Cocoon. The machine will be released sometime in 2003, and come with a service that offers multimedia content such as video and music through internet connectivity. If you live in Japan, it will also come with a BS tuner; which is a Japanese Satellite Broadcast tuner. The new machine also boasts a real-time OS, USB 2.0, Memorystick slot, and a connection with Sony's Portable handheld, the "PSP". UBS Warburg has an article here, but these two Japanese sites offer better information (albeit in Japanese); Watch Impress, ZDnet Japan. Here is a rather large PDF presentation."

Comments

RIAA/MPAA Nightmare

[sweeney37]

Anyone foresee this problem?

120GB HDD + DVD-R/RW + Mod Chip = a PS2 that will make copies of it's games for you.

If you add into the equation the multimedia via internet connectivity, it sounds like you've got a multi-purpose piracy machine.

Mike

i.Link/Firewire

[FosterKanig]

I couldn't find anywhere that it included i.Link?Firewire. I find it hard to believe that Sony would make a multimedia product that didn't have a port or two
Maybe I just need to brush up on my Japanese.

Confusing?

[Pike65]

What with PSX being the code for the original PlayStation format, isn't this going to get a little confusing?

Or is that only a British thing?

Not a bad idea

[Openadvocate]

I think it is a good idea, I would like a combined console, sat. reciever, tv recorder in one package. One could fear that such a box would be too expensive, but couldn't that be solved by making it so you could upgrade it with the diffent features.
Another problem would be the TV recording feature, I fear that it would not be available in my country to get tv listings for it. It could be solved by having a subscription service that was independent of the manufacturer of the box. But I guess they wouldn't do that unless the company that makes the box got a percentage of the subscription fee. Well, the possibilities are endless..

Anyone notice this?

[Dot.Com.CEO]

There is a port in the back that seems to be a normal monitor port. If it really is, and if you really can connect a normal monitor there, then the PSX will be a truly great home PC. With a respectable and professionaly supported Sony Linux distribution (that already exists), killer looks and EXCELLENT capabilities for being a one-stop do-it-all machine, this will be the Amiga of this decade. As long as it costs less than 1000 euros, it has a place in my living room.

Microsoft have been outdone by far. Well done Sony.

Memory Stick

[Strepsil]

It's about time they put a Memory Stick slot on those things. Sony put them on everything else they make.

I hope they move to using Memory Sticks for saved game storage, instead of having to buy another special card for the next console. It never made sense to me that on one hand, they're pushing these things as your personal magic solution to portable storage, then not use them on one of their biggest products.

Odd decision

[rkischuk]

The articles state that the PSX would probably come out in the US in 2004. Given that the next generation of consoles is slated to arrive in 2004-2005, it seems strange that they would spend extra money on a redesign of the PS2 instead of putting their resources into the PS3.

The possibilities seem to be 1) This machine is a test bed for many of the technologies they plan to put in the PS3, and they want to use the PSX as a dry run, 2) They plan to come to market late with the PS3, and this is a stopgap measure, or 3) They're morons, and are spending all of this money to release a dated gaming system (with nifty bells and whistles) just as consumers have started salivating over the next generation.

Re:PS1

[MikeFM]

Maybe this is the Japanese name and they'll rebrand it for us western folks for which the original Playstation was usually called the PSX. Maybe it'll become the PS2X or something? Myself I like the name PS2 Extreme (pronounced Playstation tooooo Extreme).

How will they use it?

[rkischuk]

One has to wonder how they intend to use the enhanced features. It seems to me that this configuration is a toy for technophiles, and little more. With the mix of technologies, it looks like they're trying to merge a PS2 with a PVR.

If they're smart enough to do this in the PS3, and maintain backward compatibility with PS2 and PS1, they have a strong entry into the next generation. The PS2 grabbed a lot of sales because it combined a gaming console with something many people didn't have yet, but wanted - a DVD player. This next time around, they could do that same thing with a PVR, but only if Microsoft and Nintendo don't do the same thing first. Sony stole that DVD player/game console market because they were the first to market. Microsoft offered the same functionality (albeit hamstrung out of the box), but most of the people who could be coerced to buy a game console because it would also net them a DVD player had already bought a PS2.

The more I think about it, the more this looks like a proof of concept to beta test the convergence of these technologies. This PSX is a niche product at best, but it will give them a change to iron out technical issues with the PVR/console combination so the can comfortably launch the PS3 with all of this plus a new core for the console part.

The DVD burning functionality is also an interesting cross-over play when combined with the memory stick slot - it adds a new audience. It Sony can bundle the right tools in there, users will be able to pull the memory stick out of their digital cameras (and digital videocams in the mid-term), and burn those images to a DVD. The possibilities are broad, but signs point to this being an R&D product that will be sold to niches to cover some of the R&D costs.