Sony Presentation Reveals Further PSP Details

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.

Comments

Re:Mmmm....NURBS...

[neostorm]

Sony successfully raised a lot of press about the inclusion of NURBS compatible hardware with their original PS2 announcements (Ooh! Such a powerful machine!) and are just trying to recreate the same hype around the PSP.
The PS2 supported them all this time as well, but NURBS are inefficient and not the best for real-time 3D. I still have yet to see/hear of any PS2 games that use NURBS either, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Wrong Question

[Guppy06]

"and note the UMD optical disc format is "cheaper and faster to manufacturer than ROM", and thus "publisher-friendly""

But is it more important that the media be more publisher friendly, or more crush-test friendly? What about media that's jiggle-friendly? I know it's been said a million times before, but is Sony really going in the right direction media-wise on a device you're supposed to be able to use wherever, whenever? This isn't something that's supposed to sit on a shelf somewhere and collect dust.

There's also the fact that optical media can be easier to pirate/crack. Nintendo seems to have done it right with the GameCube, but is Sony going to be able to do that as well or is there a rude Nokia-esque wake-up call for them in the future?

Oh, and one more question about Sony's handheld all-in-one media device: Are we to expect a device that plays movies about as well as a PlayStation 2?

Well, they desparately need another Walkman

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

They are phasing out all CRT manufacturing, cheap Chinese CD-RW drives are more reliable than theirs, their Broadcast division is in shambles because what once took $1,000,000 worth of Sony equipment now can be done with a $1,000 camcorder and a PC.

Sony is in a world of hurt, with massive layoffs in progress and on the way.

The next Walkman myth undoubtably helps Sony execs sleep better at night.

Re:One big problem (at least how I see it)

[NanoGator]

"quick, tell me why my launch PS2 runs perfectly fine, even though i've spent countless thousands of gaming hours on it, and i've never sent it back to sony for anything. not to mention the fact that none of my Friends have had any problems with any of their PS2s. the Problem really isn't as big as the media likes to hype it up to be"

You got lucky. If your machine broke down, Sony'd find a way to tell you it was your fault, and charge you for them to fix it.

Piece of advice: When people start saying a machine is commonly defective, the lamest thing to do would be to go defending them. People don't just get up and say "I hate Sony!" and then start spreading stories that their machine broke down. If the machines are breaking down, then you should be paying very careful attention. Why? Because you need to think about what could happen when you buy your next system from them. I can't speak for the PS2, but the original PS1s were crummy pieces of garbage, and Sony treated their customers like shit over it. They just refused to admit they built faulty machines. Do you really want to gamble $300 of your hard earned money with a company that behaves like that? I won't, and I didn't. I'm personaly boycotting Sony over it. I'm not telling you to go do the same. Far from it. What I am telling you, though, is to not ignore people's complaints. Caveat emptor.