Sony PSP Hardware Completed

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Posted by Zonk on Wednesday September 22, 2004 @07:55AM from the dueling-handhelds dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Sony CEO Ken Kutaragi has today announced that Sony has finished work on the Playstation Portable hardware, and the handheld is scheduled to be released later this year. No details have emerged on the pricing of the PSP, but Kutaragi stated that plans for movies on the UMD - the disc format the PSP will use , are now in the final stages."

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portable media by alatesystems · 2004-09-22 08:00 · Score: 4, Interesting

Regarding movie playback, I hope that they allow for portable storage attachments, allowing use of the PSP as a portable media center. I'd buy one if it did this.

Chris
1. Re:portable media by karnal · 2004-09-22 08:06 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  On a related topic, Sony probably won't allow anyone to put anything on these UMD discs... but I know for a fact if I'm buying a handheld gaming system, I'm not going to put more money into a movie collection so I can watch them on the go.
  
  I think they'll find that the majority of the market would agree with me as well. But I also say that as a guy who has no children.......
  
  --
  Karnal
2. Re:portable media by GoodbyeBlueSky1 · 2004-09-22 09:50 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  You would think Sony would have learned from their MiniDisc to avoid proprietary media with Draconian restrictions. Not that MD has been a total flop, but, you know, neither was BetaMax. Still doesn't make it a success.
  
  Then again it's not like they can make a portable gaming system capable of playing DVDs (unless you consider an etch-a-sketch sized machine "portable").
  
  But I do agree with you totally; I have no desire to re-buy my movie collection for such limited use.
  
  Here's my suggestion:
  First off, let me start by saying I thought the idea of divx (the circuit city one, not the avi one) was quite stupid. Couldn't see any use for it. But....what if there was a similar divx-type UMD disc (it plays for, say, a week then dies)? EA could pack in a free week's worth of LOTR for a PSP Rings game. Or Blockbuster could offer a $1 UMD add-on to any game rental. THEN I think I'd find ways to watch movies on the PSP.
  
  Otherwise, it looks like one of those features I'd never use.
  
  --
  why? forty-two.
3. Re:portable media by pocopoco · 2004-09-22 13:47 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  They've already announced the PSP will have a MemoryStick slot and Sony already sells video recorders that record video onto those. So you can stop hoping and start complaining about Sony's stupid proprietary formats/lock-ins, etc..
4. Re:portable media by AvitarX · 2004-09-23 02:46 · Score: 1
  
  You could use Game cube sized DVDs. I have seen DVD cam corders that burn them.
  
  Still, I would imagine the size and shape is also optimized for lower energy spinning.
  
  --
  Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
Is it really finished? by Cutriss · 2004-09-22 08:05 · Score: 4, Interesting

It seems that this is more of just a well-timed announcement to try to steal some of the wind from Nintendo's sails. Everyone knows the PSP is going to be expensive, and the Nintendo DS having a lower-than-expected MSRP of $149 has surprised a lot of people.

I would not at all be surprised if it was just "finished enough" for an announcement. Sony has done this before.

--
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
1. Re:Is it really finished? by mausmalone · 2004-09-22 13:34 · Score: 1
  
  It's a really weak announcement, all things considered. Combined with the PStwo announcement, I'd say that there's a reasonable chance that they delayed this announcement at least to steal the spotlight.
  
  --
  -=-=-=-=-=
  I'd rather be flamed than ignored.
DS by StevenHenderson · 2004-09-22 08:05 · Score: 4, Interesting

It will be interesing to see how Sony re-adjusts their pricing plan now that the DS low-balled them at $149. That makes it a necessity for Sony to be less than $250 to competitive...maybe even $200 I'd say.
1. Re:DS by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-22 08:33 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Well, it is stated that their price in Japan will be 33000Y, over $300 American. I doubt they will be able to reduce the price much from there, considering the amount of industry people that are surprised at that price. Most of them expected it to come in at $499!
2. Re:DS by gl4ss · 2004-09-22 08:49 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  unless ds turns out to be another virtua boy with gamers.
  
  (you know, a neat idea but just doesn't fly)
  
  --
  world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
3. Re:DS by tolan-b · 2004-09-22 08:50 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Considering the supposed sweetspot for home consoles is around $200, I can't see this getting much takeup except for early adopters until mass production brings the price down..
4. Re:DS by mrgreen4242 · 2004-09-22 09:22 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  The DS has some protection from ending up as a virtualboy level flop... it plays GBA games, which is the biggest selling console still available (of all time?). That combined with its fairly low price should keep it from being a complete flop.
  I still have high hopes for it as a game machine that will (eventually, with the right software) fullfill basic PDA and portable communications needs.
  Seems like alot of PDA users have a machine that they want to do basic address book, note taking, etc with (things that that Palm, or even Newton) could do years and years ago, but want to be able to check their mail, do some limited webbrowsing and chatting, play games on, especially older emulated systems, and also use as a multimedia player on the go.
  For games, the DS has an PDA out there licked from the start, and it has all the hardware you would need for web, email, chat, and basic PDA functions, just lacks the software. Sadly, I don't see any good way to get multimedia content onto the DS, otherwise it could really be a great all in one gadget. (The PSP tries to do that, but is going to fail due to the high cost of getting content onto it, and, for web/pda type stuff, lack of a touch screen/non-gaming type controls).
5. Re:DS by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-22 10:25 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  I find it very interesting how armchair analysts in the gaming industry think that it's only Nintendo who are capable of Virtual Boy-scale flops. The good ole' VB is never brought up when talking about other people's products. It's about as stupid as those who _still_ use MS-Bob as the butt of their anti-MS jokes. It's passe', and by now, totally irrelevant.
  
  I don't see anyone doubting the PSP's success because of Betamax's defeat at the hands of VHS. (I do see people doubting the success of the PSP for many other reasons, but that's only tangential to the point I'm making.) Perhaps the Beta/VHS war occurred before the majority of today's gaming pundits were born....?
6. Re:DS by TechniMyoko · 2004-09-22 10:51 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  And the source that said that was called by Sony and told they were wrong. They admitted it shortly afterwards.
7. Re:DS by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-22 15:30 · Score: 0
  
  You are lying about this and still haven't posted the pictures of you playing FF:CC with 3 other people.
8. Re:DS by unclethursday · 2004-09-22 16:05 · Score: 1
  
  It's doubtful that it will $200 or less. $250 or more seems more likely, especially based on the fact that Sony has repeatedly stated they want to at least break even or even make a profit on the hardware sales of the PSP.
9. Re:DS by NeMon'ess · 2004-09-22 22:30 · Score: 1
  
  What if Nintendo made a PDA cartridge that connected by USB to a PC for syncing? Easily upgradable firmware this way also.
10. Re:DS by harrkev · 2004-09-23 02:46 · Score: 1
  
  Great idea -- as an afterthought. I would not be surprised if such a beast is at least launched by a 3rd part, if not by the big N themselves.
  
  But how much better would it have been to build this into the DS in the first place. It would probably have only taken a meg or two of Flash, and maybe a meg or two of battery-backed RAM. It might have raised the price by $10, but would have made this a more attractive purchase for adults.
  
  But, then again an extra $10 might have hurt sales. What do I know? I am just an engineer. I don't work in marketing!
  
  --
  "-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
11. Re:DS by gyrojoe · 2004-09-23 05:23 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Nintendo is, and hopefully always will be, about games. They have stated this numerous times before. When the Cube first came out it was criticized for not being able to play DVDs (you could get a Panasonic Q though). This strategy is somewhat similar to the Unix/Linux philosophy about command line tools. A tool should do one thing and it do it well. Having PDA functions in a gaming device (or similarly, a DVD player in a console) is almost like having a web browser as an integral part of the OS :)
  
  In short, I am relieved that they didn't include PDA functions in the DS. I have a PDA already and I don't want to be paying for things that I don't need. If PDA functions are made available, great, I just won't buy it.
12. Re:DS by mrgreen4242 · 2004-09-23 07:21 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  I agree that adding any sort of PDA type functions to the DS firmware would have been a mistake. The needed space for a decent PDA and basic communications package would have added at least 4 or 6 megs of flash space (gotta be patchable!), plus some decent amount for user data, so maybe 8 or 12 altogether. The cost of also writing said software and supporting it would have added an unneeded expense to the system, which is not aimed at people who want a PDA.
  Nintendo has stated they don't plan to develop any non-game software for it, and I am glad they have. It would be a disaster, as they seem to market to kids almost exclusively, and I don't want a Pokeman themed PDA suite. However, they have also stated that other developers should feel free to do this sort of thing. Even with that, I am still looking to the opensource/community for the best package in this games. Once some 'developer' cards become available, and some sort of development enviroment is released, this is the kind of software that homebrewers excel at. On the other hand, I don't want to wait that long, so maybe Palm wil get in on the act and release something snazzy with the Nintendo Seal of Approval.
  Ideally I'd like just something basic: graphitti style handwrighting recognition, an address book, a notepad app that doubles as a universal document reader, an alarm clock/timer type program, a webbrowser, based on konqueor maybe, a simple email client, multo platform chat, or at least AOL, and a file management program to let me sync data back and forth from my PC to my DS wirelessly. A media player that streams audio and low bitrate video from a server computer would be kinda snazzy, too, but really superfalous(sp?). Some decent amount of on card flash memory, maybe 16 or 32 megs, would be plenty for what it needs to do. even 8 would probably suffice.
  As it is I am hesitant to get a DS when they launch (I've got a GBA atm, and would get a DS before a PSP in almost any case). I'll either wait until it can double as a portable wireless web/email/chat device or a must have MMORPG or a price drop to $99 to get one.
  Oh, as to the previous reply, the DS has integrate 802.11b so a USB syncing PDA cart would be uneeded, much better to utilize the wireless. Something like that for the GBA would be doable, but seems like the limited input capabilies and smallish screen would be a limiting factor.
13. Re:DS by buffer-overflowed · 2004-09-23 18:00 · Score: 1
  
  You should be able to use the flashcarts for current GBA systems, which work that way. The question is, will you be able to access all of the hardware this way?
  
  If you can, or a new flashcart comes out that lets you, the DS is a tinkering dream come true.
  
  --
  The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
14. Re:DS by NeMon'ess · 2004-09-24 01:06 · Score: 1
  
  I know jack about how the wi-fi works, but could someone transmit a homebrewed virus if given too much access to the hardware? If so, that reason alone is probably enough to keep Nintendo from letting people do it.
Compared to the DS announcement... by MMaestro · 2004-09-22 09:36 · Score: 4, Interesting

This is newsworthy? No, seriously on the part of Sony.
No details have emerged on the pricing of the PSP, but Kutaragi stated that plans for movies on the UMD - the disc format the PSP will use , are now in the final stages.
Thats it? The disc format? Comon Sony, Nintendo just bitch slapped you with a release date AND a price of $150! At least give us a price range. Compared to the DS announcement this is a 'so what' announcement.
Sony certainly needs the PSP to make an impression at the Tokyo Game Show after mounting speculation that the handheld will slip to 2005, and rumours of discontent amongst PSP developers surfaced recently.
Personally, I think Sony should stop trying to beat Nintendo at its own game and get its act together first. They're not going in during the golden age of DVD players flying off shelves, nor are they going in with an entire library of games behind it. Best case scenario for Sony at this rate? They fight a long drawn out battle only to go down in flames a la Sega Game Gear.
1. Re:Compared to the DS announcement... by hibiki_r · 2004-09-22 10:23 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  The lack of a price range announcement IS a price range announcement IMO. If the PSP was going to cost $200-$250, the price would have been announced already. Do you think that a $350 price announcement would help them at all against the DS? I think that Nintendo would benefit from that kind of announcement more than Sony.
  
  Sony is not the kind to hide good news, in fact, they'll overhype anything they have. Remember the PS2 as a supercomputer claims?. From their actions we can guess that it's going to be at least twice as expensive as the DS.
sony's should just keep quiet by dr.fishopolis · 2004-09-22 09:36 · Score: 5, Insightful

the psp seemed beautiful when it was announced, yet every detail released tarnishes it.
at this point, we have a $300, oversized-yet-portable game player with 3 hour battery life, and the ability to play movies on a propietary format that you can't record to... don't worry though, i'm sure you'll be able to re-pay for the movies you own, so you can watch them for a few hours on the 3" screen before the battery dies...
... but that IS a a nice screen.
all we need now is some kind of phone attachment, and sony can have their very own n-gage.
1. Re:sony's should just keep quiet by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-22 10:27 · Score: 0
  
  It also won't be able to play MP3s without converting to Sony's proprietary ATRAC.
  And it runs hot (but, at least theres no noisy fan!), and despite the screen the games are dark
  But hey, at least there will be a camera and keyboard attachment available at launch, with yes, a cell phone attachement coming later!
2. Re:sony's should just keep quiet by TechniMyoko · 2004-09-22 10:55 · Score: 1
  
  If you even read that article, it says it gets slightly warm, not hot.
  In that time, we noticed that the system got a bit warm, particularly on the left side (the D-pad side). We were, of course, expecting the system to heat up a bit as it's played, and, in fact, the level of heat isn't too bad. The system is certainly much cooler than our cell phones get when we play even simple 2D games. Amazingly, the system is very quiet -- there doesn't seem to be anything moving around to cool it off inside.
  Ignoring the slightly dark look of the games (which is possibly due to the brightness of the room in which the demonstrations were taking place, and also possibly due to the system running off batteries),
3. Re:sony's should just keep quiet by mausmalone · 2004-09-22 13:37 · Score: 1
  
  ... portable game player with 3 hour battery life, and the ability to play movies ...
  Well, as long as they're short movies.
  
  --
  -=-=-=-=-=
  I'd rather be flamed than ignored.
4. Re:sony's should just keep quiet by cbirdsong64 · 2004-09-22 15:46 · Score: 1
  
  What the hell, the games are dark? Didn't Sony use an original GBA ever? The peoples, they didn't like that too much.
5. Re:sony's should just keep quiet by euxneks · 2004-09-23 15:07 · Score: 1
  
  so... If the PSP is oversized.... What is the DS?
  
  --
  in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
On the announcement... by Bagels · 2004-09-22 12:05 · Score: 3, Interesting

Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that this is Sony's way of saying "We toned down the hardware a bit so that our pricing/battery life could be competitive with the DS"? I don't mean to sound like a troll here, but they have had a *long* history of scaling back their hardware before it's released... look at the recent debacle over the PSX and all the features they cut from it before its release.

--
--- Bwah?
1. Re:On the announcement... by Wyrmw00d · 2004-09-22 22:49 · Score: 1
  
  Roger that, the PSX on pre-release specs seemed like an awesome home entertainment Tivo-esque/PVR system that just happened to play PS2 games as well. By the final release, it was an expensive PS2 with very limited PVR function. Bad Sony.
Damage control by clu76 · 2004-09-22 16:00 · Score: 4, Interesting

I believe Sony is doing damage control by releasing this information. I have serious doubts the PSP will be sold by the end of the year. It's much more likely that they are just trying to delay consumers from buying the DS. If the DS does reasonably well pre x-mas, and gains a lot of momentum, Sony will have a much harder time selling their product. As nice as the PSP sounds, I really have doubts that it'll have the same impact the playstation had. imho

--
the cosmos in 20 words or less: thumbuki.com
Member of the Minority by C0rinthian · 2004-09-22 17:27 · Score: 1

I must be one of the few people who thinks that the MiniDisc kicked ass. But, being a music major in college, I had a lot of use for a handheld, cd quality recording device. (Depending on the quality of microphone of course)

These things are insanely useful to about 2% of the population.
1. Re:Member of the Minority by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-23 01:22 · Score: 0
  
  Ahhh, of course - the 2% of the population who are music majors....
2. Re:Member of the Minority by drinkypoo · 2004-09-23 03:44 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Unless you get pro quality gear, minidisc is not the same quality as a CD. Minidisc uses ATRAC3, a sort of cross between MP2 and MP3 audio, in order to achieve good compression. Sony units are known to perform an EQ pass to make the audio sound better. Only pro gear stores uncompressed 16 bit 44.1kHz audio on minidisc, and IIRC it only stores 30 minutes or so. The new minidiscs hold considerably more, and I don't know much about them, perhaps there's recording equipment that uses them now. Nonetheless the old minidisc gear that was uncompressed didn't fit in your hand, unless I missed a fairly important product.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
3. Re:Member of the Minority by mrgreen4242 · 2004-09-23 04:59 · Score: 1
  
  I've been reserching MiniDisc players his week because I am in the market for a new MP3 player, and I'd like something with cheap removable media.
  The ATRAC format, in all it's versions (there's like ATRAC1, ATRAC2, ATRAC3, ATRAC 2 (note the space), and ATRAC3plus, and maybe something I am missing) seems to something that has little to do with the MP* codecs, as far as the actual mechanics (it's similar in the theories involved, but handled differently). ATRAC3plus seems to be a hit with users, many of whom estimate that 64kbps ATRAC3plus sounds about the same as 128kbps MP3. The high bitrate option for ATRAC3plus, 256kbps is suposedly indistiguishable from the source. I haven't heard anything off a ATRAC3plus player, so I can't say, but I have pretty aweful hearing, so I am guessing I would have no idea.
  The new Hi-MD discs, which use the ATRAC3plus format, are a higher density material and hold 1gig each. They can record uncompressed PCM data (presumably 100minutes a disc), and a wide range of ATRAC datarates, from 48kbps to 256, holding from 45 hours on a disc to about 8 hours. a Hi-MD disc costs about $7. You can put a regular MiniDisc into a HiMD player and reformat it to hold 305mb, roughly doubling what it can hold in a non HiMD player/recorder. Thats 2.5hrs to 13 hrs dependsing on compression. Standard MDs are about a buck.
  Technologically, the Hi-MD player are a winner, and according to the marketing speak they are, too. If you ask Sony, they can play MP3, OGG, WMA, Wave, etc etc. But they don't, they include software to convert those format over to ATRAC3 on he fly as you copy them. This has several downfalls, not least of which is the fact that it won't work w/ Linux. Plus, if you have an older computer, it slows the conversion way down. On the upside, the HiMD players mount like regular USB drives and can be used for data storage. With 1gb per disc, thats a pretty decent way to move data around.
  Now, with recent talk of Sony supporting MP3 playback, I am hoping to see a HiMD player that natively supports MP3s, and also lets you just drag MP3's to the mounted device to load them up, so it would add Linux support. Alternatively, if you can drag ATRAC3 files to the player in Linux and play them, and there was a library availe to play them on my PC, then I would actually consider moving my library over to ATRAC3 just to use a HiMD player, as technologically it seems like a pretty great device.
What about European Prices? by slot32 · 2004-09-22 20:37 · Score: 1

If we did a straight exchange rate comparison it would mean the Nintendo Handheld would be somehting like: 150 £80 Sony will no doubt do the same. However Does anyone know if Nintendo and Sony will keep to this 'straight exchange rate' price or will they rip us Brits off... Like usual and make a $150 unit cost £150 in the UK????

--
Visit London Scalextric Club
1. Re:What about European Prices? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-22 21:18 · Score: 0
  
  Knowing Sony of Europe, the PSP will probably cost £300... in which case they can go fuck off.
Thieving little... by Rob_GIBiz · 2004-09-23 08:07 · Score: 1

Ack - it's bad enough that we've got some horrible little warez site stealing our content, but it kinda adds insult to injury when that then proceeds to be Slashdotted...!
By the way, we're expecting to see a price point on the PSP in the first week of October. Nintendo kinda caught Sony on the hop with the pre-TGS announcement; everyone expected them to hold off on saying anything about DS until their conference on October 7th.
Looks like the 33,000 Yen price is on the money though, which will make the PSP twice the price of the DS. I think it's interesting how at E3 this year everyone was incredibly psyched about PSP and didn't give a shit whether it'd be more expensive than DS or not; indeed, everyone figured that PSP was Nintendo's death knell.
In the space of six months, public opinion (or at least, industry opinion) has about-faced and PSP now has a hell of a lot to prove, while DS looks better by the minute.
Personally, I think it's great that this is actually looking like a two-horse race now. Nintendo suddenly got fire in their bellies when it looked like the Game Boy's dominance of the handheld market was going to be broken. If they bring that same fire, and aggressive stance, into the next home console generation as well, things are going to get very interesting indeed.