Sony PSP Hardware Completed

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."

Comments

portable media

[alatesystems]

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

Re:portable media

[GoodbyeBlueSky1]

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.

Is it really finished?

[Cutriss]

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.

DS

[StevenHenderson]

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.

Re:DS

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

Re:DS

[gl4ss]

unless ds turns out to be another virtua boy with gamers.

(you know, a neat idea but just doesn't fly)

Compared to the DS announcement...

[MMaestro]

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.

On the announcement...

[Bagels]

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.

Damage control

[clu76]

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

Re:Member of the Minority

[drinkypoo]

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.