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PSX Production Stops, Development Issues Rumored?
Thanks to GameScience for translating the news that Sony's PlayStation 2/DVR combination, the PSX, has temporarily ceased production in Japan, apparently "since the start of April." According to Sony representatives, the company is "in the middle of deciding when production will start again, based on the current stock levels, as well as the shift in demand for the unit", but the Japanese article claims "a development problem", suggesting "...both SCE's game unit and Sony's Blu-ray team are involved in the project, and apparently things haven't been running smoothly, resulting in some of PSX's functionality being mismatched" - is this partly referencing the PSX's initial feature downgrade? However, the PSX is "still on track for launch in Europe and North America in the second half of 2004."
Also, I think the chances of success in America are nil. As people will point out, its success is linked to limited space in Japan and the popularity of all-in-one units. At its price-point and with far more space in America, I don't see this selling well. Especially to those who have already bought a PS2.
God Bless America. Why? Did it sneeze?
Sony can't live up to the hype!
I suspect that the real cause for stopping production is low sales, duh. I was in japan when the PSX launched - for the first week or so, you had to pre-order them, but after that, you could just walk into a store and buy one. Within about a month of launch, stores were giving 500-1,000 yen discounts (less than $10, but still).
With the pace of change in the hardware market, the PSX is steadily losing its feature edge. It's getting stale fast - I wonder if we'll really see it launch here in the U.S.
Sony must be dying! They have to be, or else why would they stop production on the machine? I mean, when Nintendo stopped production on GCN, everyone and they're mom said they were dying. So it only follows that Sony will go out of business soon after Nintendo.
[/sarcasm]
It's like sex, except I'm having it!
When I heard about the PSX project I thought it was cool as hell. But I never knew who the hell Sony believed would buy this unit. I mean maybe if Sony had released it during the beginning of the Xbox and Game cube launch people would have bought it up in mass numbers it would be great. But the Sony Playstation2 is showing its age as a console system. Everyone who wants a PS2 owns it already. So who the hell where they marketing this too.
It's unfortunate they did not pursue this route right from the get go. They could have marketed the PSX as the "deluxe" version of the PS2, and the PS2 as the low-end unit. As someone else posted here, it's now a bit late in the PS2 architecture's lifespan to be introducing a "deluxe" device like this. Most people who would want to purchase a PSX are probably holding back, knowing full well the PS3 is around the corner.
~RB
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play games online: www.LilGames.com
Since this is another "swiss army" knife device that claims to do it all well then I have one more feature suggestion. Seeing as the N-Gage was such a phenominal hit how about adding phone functionality to the PSX? It's probably easier to use than an N-Gage, phone wise, and although it doesn't resemble a taco you could say it's more akin to a block of cheese in the looks department.
:D
It could be used as a portable device as long as you can strap it to your back and roll around a gas generator on a hand truck to power the thing.
Why did they miss all of these great ideas?????
You aren't free to do anything, until you've lost everything.
after all the downgrading they've mentioned in order to get the PSX out the door, what is the pull for buying it? I don't get it.
Are they hoping that people who read about all of those features will have missed the part where they 'removed' all of those features and end up buying something they thought was something else?
seems a bit dishonest in some aspects. Not because of 1 or 2 features being removed, but because of the bulk of the features being removed.
This is probably part of the reason why they have halted production. Someone may have stood up and said 'wait a minute...'
LOST: Sense of Humor, mint condition, rarely used.
Please return to NIN1385.
The psx is a great system (hmm yes I still associate that acronym with the ps but lets skip that) just the dvd recorder is enough for anyone to consider the purchase add to that the fact that is also a full ps2 and you have a deal, unfortunately the price is definetily a problem ($700 bucks) with a price like that lets just face it, everybody who was able to buy it, has already bought one.
Besides a real tech savy guy only needs to do the math, they can upgrade their computer to have a video-in card ($50) a half decent dvd-recorder($150) and buy a brand new ps2 ($150) all for ($350) half the price, and enjoy the same features of the psx in the living room. (not under the same case though).
Why this doesnt look like (and actually isn't) terrible news for sony? well for starters they are heading the "console wars" for what? 20 million sales? also the PSX is just a "bundle product" not their main console? and the ps2 is selling at almost the same rate? AND they are also a huge company who gets money from just about everywhere (movies,tv,electronics,evercrack addicts)? I mean seriously feelings aside at what point Nintendo was in the same position when they had to stop producing the cube? we were worried for nintendo back then. (fortunately we now realize they have never been in trouble since they are actually getting a profit for each console, contrary to other companies. So they will still be around for a while. thankfully for their fans)
However back at the PSX maybe sony should consider a price drop. I will definetily pick one up, if they put it around $350 or $300. I will ran to the mall if its on $250 Hell would be unleashed if its $200-$150 (but thats daydreaming).
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
i live in tokyo and have a psx. and it rocks. but the way to think about it is not as a souped up ps2. its a HDD recorder with a whole bunch of extra stuff, including a 24x DVD writer, ps2, optical audio out, built in electronic tv guide, etc chucked in to sweeten the deal. When i first heard of them i thought the same as you guys, 80 000 yen for a ps2 with some extra stuff - bullshit !
/. It won't appear here because seems like japanese just aren't much of a hacker nation.
but when i checked out the price of HDD video recorders with DVD burner built in, they were all 40-60 000 yen more. so i bought it, hooked it up to cable, set it up, went to Hong Kong for a holiday and it recorded the entire series of classic 007 films while i was away, from Dr No thru to Live & Let Die. pretty cool.
the GUI also rocks. super simple. one button record. edit. burn to dvd at 24x. plug in a usb keyboard for naming all of those movies. all good.
obviously when it was released it was still in development and pushed out the door for christmas. The second upgrade for it has just come out. includes things like ability to burn DVD-+R/RW, supports some more music playback functions etc but still doesnt include what i'd like - DIVX support and the ability to network it via the ethernet port.
This is the one thing i really want- so that i can network it with my macs and upload movies into it. That is the one "feature" that Sony will not implement but i expect to appear at latest 2 weeks after it appears on the US market, no doubt via
you can of course transfer DIVX's in the old-skool way by playing them in via line in.. but once this thing can be networked it will totally kick ass..