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PSP Dated, PSX Convergence Plans Discussed
Thanks to PlayStation.com for their feature interviewing new Sony Europe boss Chris Deering about Sony's portable PSP, the multi-purpose PSX, and more. Notably, the interview strongly suggests that the recently-announced PSP will be simultaneously released worldwide next year: "There's no official date for its unveiling, but it has been announced that the target date for its global launch is November 2004." Deering also explains why Sony's PSX 'media center', encompassing a PlayStation 2 with TiVo-like capabilities, is the first stage of their attempts to create an all-in-one entertainment device: "PSX makes that all very simple with a fun and easily understood navigation system, which is the core of it really. And once you have that in place, along with the sizable hard drive capacity, you can also do other things that make more sense in the living room than on the desktop."
It's interesting that Sony is working on a series of "convergence" devices like the "multipurpose" PSX. That would be the caused by the many sales of xboxes related to people wanting to use it as a multifunction entertainment device.
Of course, people who use the xbox as a multifunction device tend to hack it and use linux or whatever to drive it. Not Microsoft's intention I'm sure!
So will Sony release an equally "hackable" playstation, or have they missed the point?
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From the article: "It's true that PSP is not directly compatible with PS one or PlayStation 2, but it may have several areas of compatibility, through the Memory Stick, with PSX. Consumers are getting smarter and more familiar with the digital era and the different ways to enjoy interactive entertainment.".
:-O
So, PSP is barely compatible with PSX - but not with PSone or PS2. Not good. And then the next sentence: consumers are getting smarter.... right! So if I'm getting smarter I have to own a PSX?? I mean if the products I bought from Sony are not compatible with each other, how is Sony rewarding me for being a smart consumer?
Unless... Consumers become smart buying the PSX and PSP, dropping their PS2 in a dump... yeah right, very smart!
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Of course, that doesn't mean that some multifunctionality isn't desired. Personally, I love the fact that my game consoles (minus the Cube) play DVD movies. That sort of convergence wasn't forced, but was just a natural choice, given the fact that Sony and Microsoft opted to use the DVD format for their game discs. Now, adding DVD to a console that doesn't use DVD for the game functionality would be a different story.
At this point, though, I don't see shoving TiVO-like capabilities into game machines. In the future, when the standard hard drives are much larger, maybe it will be just a natural feature to add in. But I think it is ill-advised to add features that require equipment above and beyond what you're using for the device's primary functionality.