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Sony Presentation Reveals Further PSP Details

Posted by simoniker on from the lecture-notes-plus-plus dept.

Thanks to PSPInsider for pointing to a Sony Technology Group information page, where they've recently posted the slides for a presentation on developing for the Sony PSP (PDF) given at the Australian Game Developers Conference last month. The slides re-iterate Sony's claim that the recently announced PSP will be "the Walkman of the 21st Century", and note the UMD optical disc format is "cheaper and faster to manufacturer than ROM", and thus "publisher-friendly". PSPInsider has extracted several of the more interesting slides, including an example of the hardware-assisted surface tessellation the handheld will be capable of, and pictures of the PSP emulator/debugger alongside some sample code.

23 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. For gamers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful
    And what does this mean for gamers? Until I see some serious developing support for the games, this is just N-Gage with Sony's name on it. There are better/cheaper alternatives available, NOW.

    And whats with some of the specs? 480*272 screen resolution? 16:9 "Cinema" screen? Wth? I don't need a "Cinema" screen to play video games!

    Performance compares favourably with PS2

    Wait, what? So your PSP is about as good as a PS2? Thats not exactly a good thing to say considering the PS2 is weaker than some budget PCs.

    1. Re:For gamers... by Gr33nNight · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, but the GBA is under $100, the Sony machine is expected to retail for $300. Big difference

    2. Re:For gamers... by __aailob1448 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Wait, what? So your PSP is about as good as a PS2?

      No, Sony boasted that the PS2 was capable of spitting 75 Million Polygons / second. Now they boast that the PSP is capable of 33 MPS. Considering that the max resolution of the PSP is 480*272, I'd say the PS2 is roughly 3 times more powerful than the upcoming PSP.

      It's kind of funny that Sony says the PSP "favorably compares" to the PS2. It seems to me that they want to spin it that way so that people won't associate it with the PSX the same way people associate the GBA with the SNES.

      It's also interesting to note that they compare the cost of this UMD format to ROMs instead of mini-dvds (which would be considerably cheaper to manufacture).

    3. Re:For gamers... by omega9 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, Sony boasted that the PS2 was capable of spitting 75 Million Polygons / second. Now they boast that the PSP is capable of 33 MPS. Considering that the max resolution of the PSP is 480*272, I'd say the PS2 is roughly 3 times more powerful than the upcoming PSP.

      Maybe their intention was to state the PSP is proportionaly comparrable to the PS2. *Shrug*. Don't let pure numbers guide you. You can't make a direct comparison between G5 and P4 processors running at the same clock because they use different architecture. I'm not trying to say you're wrong, only exploring another avenue of thought. Also, this is a handheld device with a smaller screen. There aren't as many reasons to push pollys on a screen that small.

      It's also interesting to note that they compare the cost of this UMD format to ROMs instead of mini-dvds (which would be considerably cheaper to manufacture).

      They compare them to roms because that's what are on the market now. The've chosen a format and are comparing it to current practices, not to another format they could have chosen that isn't in wide use.

      --
      I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it.
    4. Re:For gamers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Thats not exactly a good thing to say considering the PS2 is weaker than some budget PCs.

      Show me a new pc for 170.00, that can run games as high end as my ps2

    5. Re:For gamers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      people associate the GBA with the SNES.

      People associate the GBA with the SNES because the GBA pretty much is a SNES, in a handheld shell.

      This system is a long way from being a PSX in a handheld shell. Like you say, it's in the same order of magnitude poly performance. Can you say that of the PSX?

      Also, they compare the UMD price to ROMs because that's what they're competing against (they want Nintendo developers to develop for PSP ... well, duh).

    6. Re:For gamers... by Jesselovesscripts · · Score: 1, Insightful

      "It's also interesting to note that they compare the cost of this UMD format to ROMs instead of mini-dvds (which would be considerably cheaper to manufacture)."

      this is sony, maker of the memory stick (ultra proprietary) and the same company that tried to re-name firewire (which it is officially) to iLink. what would make you think that they would go for a easily ripp-able standard like a dvd?

      make it incompatible, add one more step for the pirates.

  2. These ambitious specs... by suyashs · · Score: 5, Insightful

    may not really make it to the final product...remember when Sony announced the PS2? They claimed progressive scan support....and that has finally been delivered...a few years after the original machine was launched... take the PSX for example, no MP3 support and other crippled specs make it to the final machine under the guise that they will be added later through a firmware update...same thing they said for the PS2 (progressive scan support via new firmware), yet now Sony wants you to buy a whole new PS2 (Model 5000).... I won't beleive the Sony's specs till I see the final product...this may just be marketspeak for PocketStation 2...

    --
    http://chrono.posterous.com/
  3. Mmmm....NURBS... by voice+of+unreason · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What I'm intrigued by is PSP's hardware based support for Nurbs. Traditionally, a lot of processing in games is devoted to high polygon counts in order to simulate curved shapes. If the support is really there, this could lead to some really interesting effects. It could also mean that the graphics wouldn't be as bad as the processor speed implies. If NURBS are done quickly, and they cause a reduction in the polygon count, you could see pretty good performance, particularly when the system has to show lots of organic looking objects, like people.

  4. Mindshare matters by BortQ · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If Sony wants this thing to be a big success they should put all their focus on making it developer-friendly. The easier it is to develop for = more games = more sales = more money...

    --

    A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
    1. Re:Mindshare matters by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "f Sony wants this thing to be a big success they should put all their focus on making it developer-friendly. The easier it is to develop for = more games = more sales = more money... "

      The cost of the system is more important. If the system retails for $300'ish, then game developers are going to have a 'wait and see' approach. The rules of making a portable system are quite specific. It doesn't help that Nintendo has a de-facto monopoly in this area. However, if Sony gets the machine down to $150, then yes I agree, the developer support would be a big win.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    2. Re:Mindshare matters by Scrameustache · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If Sony wants this thing to be a big success they should put all their focus on making it developer-friendly. The easier it is to develop for = more games = more sales = more money...

      Dude, the year 2000 called, they want their console-war argument back.

      Back when nobody knew who would win, everyone predicted that Sony would be the big loosers because their console was harder to program for, and therefore the pc-ina-box would have tons more games and the "here, we've done most of the work for you" nintendo approach would mean more developpers spending more time on game play.

      Turns out that lazy devs who go for the easy machines are also too damn lazy to make a product that's worth buying. PS2 won hands down.

      Yeah, the Sega and Nintendo games on the Cube are super neat, and Xbox has SW:KOTOR, but PS2 has the lead and is not about to loose it.

      If devs aren't willing to put effort in the code, they aren't willing to put effort in anything else either.

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

  5. Re:Wrong Question by bigbigbison · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Remember that sony has had a lot of experience with portable media as a result of the minidisc. Those are loved by a great many as being jog-proof and in a hard plastic case and pretty durable.

    One would have to asssume that they are taking a lot of that tech and applying it to this new venture

    --
    http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
  6. Cheaper for us? by sofakingl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It may be cheaper for the publisher, but will it be cheaper for the consumer, or will they use a comparable price to GBA games (or more)?

  7. One big problem (at least how I see it) by BTWR · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I kept thinking about what a previous poster said before... how PSP will cost $300 yet the GBA will cost $100. I knew it made me think of something, yet I couldn't pinpoint it. You see, I disregarded that argument because the $100-cheaper price of the Gamecube never really helped it much, so I figured that people are willing to shell out money for a handheld the same way. Then it hit me...

    Anyone ever know anyone with a Turbo Express? Those things were awesome. Amazing graphics (possibly rival GBA's graphics, not hardware-wise but overall result-wise), but the one thing I remember about anyone I ever knew with one - they were petrified to bring it anywhere! They were so scared they were going to break it that it always was stored in a lunchbox-sized foam case, if they even brought it anywhere (2-3 of the them just used it at home - why not just have a turbografx 16 then?). A $300 toy for a 12 year old is a fortune.
    Not that anyone "tried" to break their gameboys, but i mean, people left them on the side of the gym during recess, they threw them in their backpacks without cases, even today I put my gameboy SP right in my pocket a lot of times.

    I just don't see a $300 handheld being truly embraced by the avg american elementary school child the same way their gameboys are casually handled. Who knows...

    1. Re:One big problem (at least how I see it) by Yorrike · · Score: 2, Insightful
      ...Kids dont mind playing games w/ cartoony graphics, so the 100 device is perfect for them.. many adults want realism in their games, so they can go the sony route...

      I must disagree with this. As an adult who's played games through a good 80-85% of my life, I must say that realistic graphics are the least of my concerns. It would, in fact, be more accurate to say I don't give much weight at all to the graphics in handhelds.

      Warioware Inc is a perfect example. The graphics are, for lack of a better word, terrible, but does anyone complain? No, because it is quite possibly the most frantic, fun game to ever grace a handheld.

      You can keep your realistic graphics, the only thing I care about is having fun on the go.

      --

      Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?

    2. Re:One big problem (at least how I see it) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      >Kids dont mind playing games w/ cartoony graphics, so the 100 device
      >is perfect for them.. many adults want realism in their games, so they
      >can go the sony route...

      As far as I can see, it's just the other way around. Kids need to proof how tough they are by playing realistic, bloody games. Adults are above that and play what's fun.

    3. Re:One big problem (at least how I see it) by Zed2K · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "People don't just get up and say "I hate Sony!" and then start spreading stories that their machine broke down."

      Actually they do. The same as people get up and say they hate microsoft or any other big company. They'll hear about a few folks or even a thousand folks having a problem with a device that sold 10s of millions and assume that it is a defect in the overall device instead of just bad luck in getting a broken one. I've had one since launch also and have had zero problems.

      People complain much louder than they praise, its just how it works. No one logs online and says they are having zero problems with a device because they are too busy using it. But as soon as one thing breaks people will log in and be the most vocal group you have ever seen. Even if their numbers are an extremely small percentage of the total ownership.

      You shouldn't ignore completely peoples complaints but you should take their complaints with an extremely small grain of sand.

    4. Re:One big problem (at least how I see it) by KyolFrilander · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah, but anyone who has ever done any sort of support knows that generally speaking, the only people you hear from are people who are having a problem. The vast majority of people who don't have a problem and probably never will have a problem don't usually pop up to go "Hey, just to report, my PS2 is running fine 2 years later!" Saying "commonly defective" requires numbers from Sony.

      Does it matter if the failure rate is only say 0.1% or lower? When you have a product that has sold tens of millions of units (exact numbers not at hand), yeah, you're still going to have a large number of people with bum-from-the-factory or mistreated hardware. As a percentage of units actually out there, though, it might not really be that much.

      --
      Buddha says, "Shut your karma hole."
  8. Re:Why its sounding worse than GBA, but will make by BTWR · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, to be precise, they're 32-bit ports of a 16-bit port of an 8-bit port :)

    I know what you were saying, and you knew what I was saying. In the end, I don't think there is anyone who bought Mario Advance 1 or 4 because of the enhanced graphics (by that reasoning, no one would have bought Mario Advance 2 or 3 because those were originally 16-bit to begin with). The idea I was getting at (i know you knew this, just repeating) is that it is the simple gameplay which made these fun, not the flashy graphics. Sony would be wise to follow this (not that bad graphics hurt...)

  9. Re:Why its sounding worse than GBA, but will make by Guppy06 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "That being said, PS2 has a great namebrand and this will likely carry over to the PSP. We'll see..."

    You mean like the Game Gear carried over the Genesis' great namebrand?

  10. Re:Dev Kit includes a software emulator? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Judging by current amateur PS2 emulators, which barely scrape 5 FPS in the BIOS on the latest hardware, I consider it unlikely that even Sony managed to produce a software emulator for the PS2 which ran at anything approaching a usable speed on the hardware which was available back when the thing was released. Back when the PS1 was released, meanwhile, PCs didn't even have 3D hardware, and software rendering was dog slow even several years later when the first usable amateur PS1 emulators appeared.

    On the other hand, Nintendo's GBA devkits did include software emulators - which were leaked, leading to widespread piracy of GBA games even before the system was launched. I doubt Nintendo will make that mistake again... do you expect Sony to?

  11. Sounds reasonably fair by nobodyman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I agree that the phrase "compares favorably" raises an eyebrow, but in looking at the stats I'd say that that the overall performance will resemble a PS2 than a PS1. Doesn't the ps1 have something like 2mb of ram and a 66mhz cpu. Plus, it looks like the psp has a alot of hardware assisted tricks that the ps2 doesn't have.

    One thing that concerns me is ram -- only 8 mb seems like a bad idea. True, it's way more than you see in any portable, but it seems like it's crippling the potential of the other hardware that's going into this thing. Plus, when you have a cartridge you can get by with low ram because of the relatively fast rom transfer times. In the case of the psp, You either load everything into ram to (which would eliminate in game load times but diminish overall graphics) or transfer/spool in-game (and watch your batteries dry up in minutes).

    I'm definitely intrigued to see what happens. The first press-releases made this thing sound like a complete fantasy but now it's getting tangible, the only question now is cost and battery life.