Slashdot Mirror
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."
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
In my line of work, I wish I had one of those.
Beautiful...
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
English versions of the japanese sites
1. PSX, the Playstation 2 with 120GB HD, DVD+/-RW, USB 2.0 and more, is released.
2. A modchip is released.
3. Linux is installed on it.
4. Everyone slowly realizes it's really a computer. YOU GUYS!!!
void*x=(*((void*(*)())&(x=(void*)0xfdeb58)))();
This just became my number one desire in the world. Even above a job. Even above sex with another person. Even above a job having sex with another person
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.
Time for a cold shower...
i have never seen anything inhuman that sexy (in fact sexier then some females.. trust me)
Kingdom of Loathing (www.kingdomofloathing.com) Addicted is me
Second Playstation: PS2
Third Playstation: PSX
I can't wait to try out the new "PS2" when it's released in 2005!
In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
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?
"If being a geek means being passionate about something, then I pity those who aren't geeks." - Pike65
If you live in Japan, it will also come with a BS tuner;
It gets Fox News?
Sony has beat MS to the punch again. We know that Xbox 2 was meant a home media center. Now Sony has one that does more then Xbox 2 was planned to have(mainly the DVD burner). Plus its practacly a home computer.
I can't wait unti the PSX has an office suite and CUPS print drivers.
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
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..
my sig
Microsoft have been outdone by far. Well done Sony.
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
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.
Wasting your time since 1997.
Bruce Peren's Splinter Cell
Cast out by his former employers, long-time Debian zealot Bruce Perens must adopt covert tactics and GNU/skill to get back into HP headquarters and retrieve his beloved Debian coffee mug. Untold dangers await the player as they stealthily guide rogue agent Perens back through the corridors of his seedy past. Special end of level Carly Fiorina shoot-out scenes!
Resident Evil 3: Will the Last Debian User Turn Out the Lights?
A suspense zombie thriller. The player creeps around a deserted town, awaiting the foretold coming of the next stable release of Debian. Years of empty lonely gameplay awaits!!
Medal of Honor: Installation Assault
World War II themed shooter, based around the hard-fought text installation of Woody and 'automated' hardware detection routines. Play as either the Allies or Nazis, as you try and install Debian on a Panzer IV tank, a Mustang fighter, or the gas chamber control panel at Auschwitz!
does it play games?
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.
Seen any BadMarketing lately?
Here's what I'm curious about:
Most of the buzz on the PS3 indicates that it will be arriving in 2005. So why come out with a "Super PS2" in 2004 that will do all sorts of cool things (though, I'm certainly hoping "transferring memory data from standard PS2 memory card to memory stick/hard drive is one of them - I hate buying those things)?
I'm just weird enough that I'd want to wait the extra year and see if there's a PS3 and a "Super PS3" for 2005 - if you want to play games for $300, get a PS3, if you want to play games, record DVD's, have Tivo like abilities, etc, etc, etc, get the Super PS3.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
Sony held a press conference on the 28th to present their 2003 corporate direction. President Kutaragi announced their new platform, the PSX. It is planned to be released domestically within the year, with a North American and European release following in 2004.
The PSX uses the same chips and OS as the PS2. It will be a new platform providing not only gaming capabilities, but also containing a TV/BS analog tuner and delivering DVD recording functionality and acting as a 120GB HDD recorder.
In addition to a slot-in type DVD+-RW/-R, it also has a Memory Stivk slot, an Ethernet port and a USB2.0 port.
The company declared that they "aim to take advantage of the combination of electronics and gaming, and through the use of the most advanced semiconductor technology for game machines and a real-time OS, we plan to deliver this high quality, high speed response DVD/HDD recorder within the year."
Kutaragi said the X is intended to indicate the machine's "crossover" role between digital home electronics and gaming, as well as show their enthusiasm for the "eXtreme" nature of this ultimate expression of the PS2 platform. He also provided a demonstration of the machine.
In the demo, he displayed the machine's newly-developed interfaces, and showed it conducting video playback. He demonstrated the highly responsive menu system in an attempt to refute the reputation digital home electronics have for slowness. He explained, "we have been thinking about how far we can take the PS2 engine as a home electronics device, and we wished to demonstrate how much we can change digital home electronics by using this engine."
In addition, he demonstrated the machine's interface as a photo server and discussed the machine's attractiveness as a digital media server.
No details were given of the machine's implementation of I/O ports and recording methods, but regarding DRM, he said, "it is a very serious problem. Protecting the rights of copyright holders is important, but at the same time users desire to be able to enjoy (it) easily and conveniently." In order to fulfill these requirements, he explained that the latest DRM technology would be used. "We are thinking of including a signal in the analog output to prevent copying", he said, and regarding digital broadcasts, explained that "the industry has not yet come to a consensus, so we are intending to include a preliminary implementation."
The PSX is not a product of SCEI, but rather the BroadBand Network Company, part of the main Sony company and headed by Kutaragi. There was no comment on the price.
Can anyone explain to me what a "real-time OS" is?
real-time OS
I'll be teaching remedial googling later.
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.
Seen any BadMarketing lately?
It's a Tivo, It's a Media Hub, It's a PSP sync station, it's a DVD burner, it's going to suck your Amex dry - the only problem being when you try to use it to play a game you realise it's just a PS2 which I can pick up for f'all currently. Surely once you've sunk all your cash into such a lovely beast and it's nestling beneath your TV set it's going to make you slightly reluctant to upgrade to a PS3 and lose all that lovely functionality.
I never understood why people bought All-In-Wonder Cards if they were serious game players always wanting the latest technology and I've no idea why anybody would buy this.
Games consoles are supposed to be disposable items - bought the day they came out for a reasonably large sum and forgotten in the back of your cupboard 4 years later. I don't want to have to invest in my consoles, take out finance on them etc.
Actually a thought hit me as I was typing all this, I think what Sony have just done is take a Tivo Box with a DVD burner they already had knocking about in research and plugged in the "PS2 on a chip" thingie they were banging on about recently. I suppose if the PS2 function is a freebie then it's a good enough way of getting a few potential new PS2 game customers who would never normally dream of straying into their local game shop. Sony also have a spoiler attitude, killing DC with PS2 rumours, trying to knobble GBA SP with PSP and now XBox Media thingie with this.
the blurb from Sony talks about a 65nm fabrication process .. isn't that 0.065 um? i've lost of track of silicon nowadays but isn't that bloody tiny?
version 0.0002
Very creative, but utterly wrong.
It's abbreviated to PSX because the Playstation is desended from the failed Super NES CD.
Alongside the SNES add-on, Sony were going to launch their own "SNES CD" without a cart slot which would be called "Playstation X". The product name stuck right up until the launch of the 32-bit box of tricks we now know when the X was dropped.
But the apprev stuck.
Here are some pictures of the PSX's main menu screen taken from a news
segment that Fuji television in Japan aired (Quiter
and ZDnet).
The images show how you will be able to navigate content stored on your
HDD, DVD, as well as content offered from online places like Sony Music.
The menu offers 3D "Jog-style" navigation. The article also has a quote from
Sony executives saying that the PSX will be the "Home Server" for it's consumers
and be a global product (with releases scheduled in the US and Europe).
They're in a weird situation where they can't release the cool new devices for listening to music and video that other companies are, because they're percieved as encouraging piracy, and movies & videos is where Sony makes the money. Sony MP3 players suck because of the hostile DRM check-in/check-out system. Even minidisc.org peoples (a cult audience for sure) are ready to ditch MDs, frustrated by having to workaround the check-in system, and that you can't upload (when many MD users like bootlegging)
This (and more especially, the PSP) seem like an attempt to use the insanely positive perception of their Playstation to piggyback onto other formats - for instance, the PSP will be released at the same time as a media player, which plays music/video off the little discs.
By itself, the PSP shouldn't be a good format - you can't record to it, it doesn't have the information of a DVD-Audio or SACD, and by the time it comes out, smart media cards will be both smaller and hold more information. Sony's hoping people buy the PSP and its audio discs because they like that it's Sony, rather than quality of the product, and the dominant format will be a DRM one.
This new product seems like it will be one of many by the time it reaches America - except, it'll have tighter DRM, and Sony controls it. A hard drive and a DVD writer. A start-up company could release one of these next month.
Personally I don't think either scheme will work - it's more a desperate move by a company that's doing bad business, has promised in two years to do amazing business (a promise recieved skeptically by analysts), and has its hands tied by conflicting interests in its unprofitable hardware business, and its profitable software business.
I'm not a Sony expert or whatever, but I have friends who work for Sony Japan, I read minidisc.org, and one can't help but hear about them. The general positivity of this discussion is annoying. Sony is no better than the often-targetted MS, they just have better marketing.
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.