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Specs for Sony PSP Handheld
doctor_no writes "Sony has announced the specs for its upcoming handheld gaming device,
the PSP, at their PlayStation Meeting 2003. Most interesting is that this device promises Playstation 2 level graphics, a compact 1.8GB media, Wireless 802.11, USB 2.0, 7.1 channel Audio, and a
24bit 16x9 screen TFT LCD screen. Sony has called this device the 'Walkman for the 21st Century', and plans to allow the user to enjoy
movies and music for the device, along with games. Full specs can be found at ZDNet Japan. The PSP will debut at next year's E3."
when this thing was first announced, there were a lot of naysayers, "Nintendo rules the market, and it's going to be hard to beat them." but these were some of the same comments that were being made in 1995 when the PSX was introduced. the specs on these thing are unbelievable.
the reason Sony does as well as it does in the videogame market is because it tries to find out what it's competitor does well, and improves upon it. I'm not saying this is going to be a GBA killer, (price is going to be a big factor) but it looks as if there is finally going to be a viable GBA competitor. (N-Gage eat your heart-out.)
but as we all know, it all comes down to software. personally, I'd love to be able to play Vice-City whenever and wherever I want.
Mike
....you'll have to rebuy all your PS2 games you know and love, even though they'll be exactly the same on this.
Would it have been possible to make something that can take PS2 discs? I remember that portable PSX that guy made, it didn't seem too bad. Another idea would be to make a discman-like device you put in your pocket but it has a cable running to a screen/control pad thing. I saw a portable DVD player made by Sony at the Metreon last year based on that idea (although it was just a screen, no control pad).
I belong to the ______ generation.
While the PS2 may not have the best graphics out there, they should be fine for the size of screen this device will have.
Makes me think back to replaying Wolf 3D on the GBA, having a tiny screen sure helps make those low-res graphics more palatable...
"There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer
... 7.1 channel Audio
Why?
It's a HANDHELD!!!
I can just imagine the proprietary headphone now... it's a wrap around band for your whole head, with a subwoofer on top.
Oh and the name... PSP?
I hate to say that this guy is already using the name....
Oh and in case I haven't karma whored enough?
Here's pics of the presentation
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
Sony has a real knack for convergence amongst devices. If proplerly implemented, this device could be an excellent multimedia/gaming/internet system capable of eroding futher nintendo market share and challenging the pocket pcs growing presence. As always, software will be the factor that will decide this devices fate. Certainly will be interesting to watch though, Im sure Nintendo wont take this lying down.....
Walkmans were around US$400 when first released.
sony needs -games- to compete with nintendo in the portable market.
whereas nintendo basically rolled over and gave up in the console market; the gameboy has fought off hoards of similarly impressive technical specifications.
sony needs a solid price, a solid lineup, and a good darn screen (properly lit the first time would be nice).
nice specs - but how about we hear a list of developers and games planned for the psp? or even the dimensions of the screen, or the battery life/recharge time?
after that 98% dip in revenue last quarter, it'll be interesting to see where sony puts its continued marketing force.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
You can use other people's PS3s (well, PS4s, the PS3 isn't going to have the new cell processor) to handle other kinds of work besides processing which has to be done right now or just in time. For example, you could use their processing power to do simulations of long-term game dynamics like weather effects. Imagine if you had an empire building game (or anything else) whose weather was based on CFD. It doesn't have to be computed right away, just in a "timely" fashion (before too much time passes) and it could really enhance gameplay.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
That's quite some time for Nintendo to get serious with its Gameboy.
How often are GBAs dropped? Alot.
How often are GBAs given to young kids? Most of the time they are.
How often do young kids take care of thier stuff? Consider that I NEVER give my GBA to a young kid, and I cringe as I hand them a PS2 contoller...
Take this device that has a rotating optical media. Take it for a drop. Is the head still going to be aligned? If yes, repeat 200 times. You just simulated a weeks worth of use. Also, what parent is going to buy thier kids this thing? That's like sending your kid to school with a laptop.
PS2 quality graphics are nice, but when they're applied to such a tiny screen, who's going to be able to read anything?
Battery life? Consider that the day they release this thing is the day that Duracell and Energizer's stock split 3 times in one day.
I think they're missing the market.
If you think education is expensive, you should try ignorance -- Derek Bok, president of Harvard
Yes... but the dimension has more to do than the resolution, sincerely. If you have a screen the same size as a GBA but twice the resolution, it won't give any advantages for the type of games that are best to be played. I can't imagine play vice-city over a 3.5" per 2"... no matter what the resolution is. Worse is, if they have 3D graphics, I wonder what will be the quality of those graphics in small environment. Sprites are ok because you can draw them so that they are easy to see, but if the PSP doesn't include built-in anti-aliasing, then it will be the worst graphics ever seen on a handheld, at least for the first generation games/software.
Of Code And Men
One minute. It'll probably burn your hands too with the heat from a ps2 class graphics processor alone...
I agree that this device is getting enourmous featurewise. I wonder if this is truely a handheld device as the media (and headline) says, or if its simply a portable ps2 just like the psOne, as the PlayStation Portable title suggests.
Given that, the psOne had a negligiable impact on the sales of the GBC or GBA. Very few people bought the psOne for its portability. But perhaps Sony is amending the mistakes that made this so by including a fliptop screen that was a popular bundle with the psOne.
I Browse at +4 Flamebait
Open Source Sysadmin
What an awful link in the article! I don't even mean it's awful because it's a Japanese link posted on the English slashdot site. It's awful because 99 percent of the gaming public would find it unintelligable (regardless of the language it's written in OR the primary language of the reader).
Honestly--I have an engineering degree and a fair bit of electronics knowledge under my belt and the stats made MY eyes glaze over. Dual MIPS4000 cores? 660nm laser diode to read a 60mm dual layer 1.8GB media disc? Hardware tesselator and surface mapper? Reconfigrable multi-channel sound DSP? Jeeeeezus who the hell cares (or even understands) besides the most hardcore geeks and hardware engineers in the videogame industry?
While all that is front and centre, why didn't the editors (of either ZDNet or Slashdot) include specs "real" people find important. What are the overall physical dimensions (not just screen size--and including the weight), amount of playing time from fully charged? How long can you play on a full charge? Can you toss in AA cells or does it use an expensive, cellphone-like battery pack? Are the discs enclosed in protective sleeves a-la 3.5" disks (being it will be used in a portable environment)? Can you connect it to an external monitor or television (I presume with "7.1" sound you could hitch it to your stereo being that 7-channel headphones or 7 tiny little speakers jammed in there would be silly)? How many and what games will be initially released?
Hell--there isn't even a picture of the damn thing! Even the folks making that "phantom" game box at least put a computer-generated mock-up out there! Is it going have a notebook-like "clamshell" design like Nintendo has moved to?
Until it's FULLY announced I consider this concept- or vapour-ware (ie. specs subject to change without notice--yes, even if it is from a big, rich outfit like Sony). I have my doubts about a product stuffed with so many processors, a mini laser disc player, USB, memory stick etc being practical from a price or portability standpoint.
I guess we'll see what chance it has when we REALLY get to see it at E3--it could be a great hit or it could merely be just small enough to slide into that shelf full of Betamax tapes that have been collecting dust for the past 15-20 years...
Just like the SUV doesn't compete in the same market as "trucks" or "station wagons," the SUV created it's own market. And unlike the in the car industry, the PSP and GBA will not be chasing the same dollars nearly as much.
In fact, there may instead be three classes here as the NGage seems to lie somewhere between the GBA and the PSP in terms of cost and capabilities.
Look at Sony's portable Minidisc players. Those things can go for HOURS playing minidiscs on 1 AA BATTERY!! UNO!
I don't think they're going to have a power problem, I think they have it worked out...
Well, congratulations. You named one product in Sony's vast array of electronic innovation that has failed you; where I can tell you that I operated my PSX on the abusive environment of an aircraft carrier where it was played 24/7 (by day and night shifts), moved and manhandled on a regular basis without failing once in my ownership of the console.
Beyond your issues with that one product, I have to say that most of their electronics lines are very well made, from experience no less. I've owned at least three of their portable audio products and an array of headphones and the only times any of them have ever failed me was after I abused them in some extreme way (dropped from height onto a steel deck for instance). Sony isn't the only portable audio hardware I buy (price factors in), but it is on the short list of consideration.
Sorry, but Sony does produce great hardware in most cases. You seem to have run into problems, but considering the PSX and PS2 have been the best selling consoles world wide for over a decade now should clue you in to the fact they must be doing something right. A lot of something as a matter of fact.
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Just a minor revelation while speculating as to the PSP's size, but I'll bet the damn thing is a clamshell configuration. I figure the screen is the best indication of the unit's overall size, in this case a 16:9-format widescreen TFT LCD (480x272 pixels, 24-bit full color). Kinda beefy if you're thinking of a classic flat gameboy layout. There the PSP was looking not so portable.
:P
Then I remembered my trusty Sharp Wizard organizer that solves the problem nicely. My OZ-9500 (not pictured) is about 4x6 inches and sports a nice wide screen (16:9?). This would provide any gamer with acceptable portablility (albeit not pocket) without sacrificing screen size or hardware. There aren't too many other ways to configue the unit without giving it a large footprint...
Remember, you heard it here first
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sony's method of marketing is annoying as hell. the annoying part isn't that they promise the moon and deliver a pile of rocks. the annoying part is that people buy into the hype. sony, like many electronics companies, promises all sorts of features and then blames the market when they fail to deliver a product that lives up to their claims.
for instance, all this talk about the cell processor for the ps3 seems awefully reminiscent of the talk about the rendering capabilities of the ps2. you can talk about vector capabilities until you are blue in the face, but the fact is that the system is designed by engineers for engineers. most game programmers aren't yet capable of vector programming. sony should have known this, but instead, they used it as a selling point (read: hype). how many games actually take advantage of the ps2's vector processing? very, very few. they should have engineered some full screen antialiasing in there instead. at least it would have gotten used. god knows it needs it...
Large print giveth, and the small print taketh away