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PSX Review At Lik-Sang
bhtooefr writes "Over at Lik-Sang, they've got a review of the new PSX, which was released in Japan on the 13th. In it, they take a look at the new design, debunk some myths (that the new controllers were incompatible, and that the ports are USB 2.0 - they're 1.1), and crack the case open. They didn't like how it's incompatible with some peripherals and the MultiTap doesn't work."
Doesn't look like a modern device. Looks like a prototype of something. The marketing guys and gals must have been on a time-out. Not that I really care what it looks like, but it doesn't look like Sony to me.
I suppose this isn't supposed to appeal to my mother looking for which console to get me for Christmas, and having no clue which one is better, basing her decision solely on appearance and a pretty box...
Its missing such obvious features as component video out and mp3 playing! Although the latter is slated for a late upgrade, but even the most rudimentry DVD players have that, I can't imagine why they left it out. And why the incompatibilities with exotic controllers usable with PS2? Just who makes these sorts of decisions - it's so very frustrating. Could have been an amazing machine.
// It had been Fat's delusion for years that he could help people. --Philip K. Dick, Valis
Regular PS2 systems have a i.link port on the front. So much for using this thing to hold your DV camera video.
It's worth noting, too, that the PSX is a PVR device released after Sony quit producing TiVo PVRs, almost certainly because they didn't want TiVo to have their cut.
Sony is well on their way to marginalizing themselves in the consumer electronics world with their insistence on supporting primarily, and sometimes ONLY, their own proprietary media formats. One would have thought they had learned their lesson from the VHS/Beta debacle oh so long ago.
The article complains about sites that say that the PSX has USB2.0, saying that instead it is USB1.1. I thought that everything was now USB2.0 and that the difference was High-speed versus Full speed. There was an older slashdot article about it here.
--If you don't test it, it won't work. Guaranteed.
Basically everyone is trying to cash in on what they think will be the next big thing, the set-top home entertainment "black box". It does video games, it does DVR, it does MP3, it does WWW, it does DVD, etc... except the biggest problem is that like most multi-function devices the first few generations are going to suck.
XBox2 is supposedly going to match many of these features...
I think the PSX is Sony biting off way more then it can chew... being able to record DVDs and having massive HD's, etc? The hardware cost is going to be gi-normous... at least MS knew that 10GB HD's were going to be super-cheap in the 6-24 (now 6-48) month selling window... 160/250s are still damn pricey.
I don't see many parents willing to buy their kids an $800 video game...
The other side of this (not to start a flame war) is that many of the games on the PS2 simply do not look as good as those on an Xbox. Sony needs to seriously bump their graphics! If this ends up being a "PS2 + DVD Burner" like someone else said it will suck. I know they plan to bump the power, etc, that's a given, but hopefully they will push past Xbox/Xbox2
Also, WTF is up with no 1394 port? It's a DVD recorder that doesn't interface w/ DV camera's to burn movies? Sony even has their "iLink" version of 1394!
and another thing... I didn't see any options for DVI, or component output... unless that D Line Out thing was it...
hopefully they're also planning to offer AC3/DTS via that optical out for most games, because that + HDTV output also put the current gen xbox way ahead of PS2.
There is also something to be said about reasonably pricing these things... even $200 is a bit much for the average parent/kid, top that off w/ games that are $50+/ea and you'll wind up with a much more limited market.
Gameboy Advance is great, TONS of games, most are sub-$40, plays all the old Gameboy & Gameboy Color games, the unit price is an easy to swallow $99... Game Cube is now following suit... I think Nintendo is poised to regain video game domination... After 30 minutes of carnage in GTA:3 on Xbox i want to turn it off, but I'll play Advanced Wars 2 on GBA:SP for hours... and the GC/GBA aisle is the first I hit at best buy...
I think PSX stayed in use since people (for whatever reason) wanted to refer to the system by an acronym and 3 letter acronyms sound a lot better to english speakers.
Hence the popularity of the term "Automatic Teller Machine" when either "Automatic Teller" or "Teller Machine" would be perfectly fine. Some people even go so far as to say "ATM Machine" (Similar to the much more commonly-heard "PIN Number") These people should all be gathered up and shot, but where's the Bush administration on this one? Huh? Huh?
OK, I'm going to sleep now.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!