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Sony CTO Reassures PSP Fans
Thanks to GamesIndustry.biz for its article regarding new PSP news, including statements by Sony CTO Masa Chatani that "our plan to sell the PSP within the year is secure". He also revealed some new features of the PSP, such as a "home page" type screen, while being quite quiet on the battery issue. Commentators still seem to find it unlikely that the PSP will be out before 2005.
Given the plethora of comments, it appears that /. readers are incredibly concerned about the PSP. [/sarcasm]
Do pre-sales count as "sales in '04"?
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
Some games just go right to the game when this disc is in and the unit is on, but many don't.
Frankly, with the PSP, if battery life is an issue, and I can't see why it wouldn't be, I don't want to waste time/battery life going to a damn homepage. I want to play a game. This isn't a handheld computer, this is a portable gaming device, don't add steps that make me wait longer to play the damn game.
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I'm much more worried about the speculated $350 price tag. That's one great way to keep it out of my pocket.
Lex orandi, lex credendi.
I've been burned by too many Sony promises and lies to believe anything they say any more. I am still waiting for my Toy-Story-like-graphics and the ability to download music, movies and games on my PS2; the same PS2 that keeps breaking because of poor build quality and quality control.
I am waiting for my PS2 to actually show some anti-aliasing and get rid of the jaggies that come extra in every game.
Sorry Sony. Your practices of trying to lock me into your devices (MiniDisc, Memory Stick AATRAC3) suck. I'm taking my important game time elsewhere.
Money can be spent only once. By the time the PSP is in the stores, my cash will be alreasy spent on a Nintendo DS or two.
:: LoveChess
Eh? Your PS2 doesn't always boot into the game? That, my friend, is most likely a physical problem (or you're just being impatient). It is certainly not a programming fault. Any time you power up your PS2 with a PSX or PS2 game in the drive, it should (barring harware failure or scratched up discs) boot straight into the game.
If it stops at the menu, give it a few seconds. It has to validate the disc. If it never moves on, then your system is lacking functionality that other PS2s have, most likely due to a worn out laser assembly.
Unless, of course, you're talking about the specific game's menu. That would just seem like whining, though.
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
Why should there be any PSP fans when the thing hasn't even come out yet?
My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
If Sony was truly confident about releasing it this year, the specs should be near final.
Three main issues exist with the PSP. Launch time, price and playtime. Launch time is only questioned because of the neglect to the other 2 factors. Saying they'll release it this year should do nothing to relieve anyone because they haven't done anything else to confirm it. When they release REAL info regarding playtime and price, THEN you can estimate how far along they are.
Only two situations can exist. They know the price and life. The question is if they are good or not.
If it is expensive and dies like a fruitfly, then by not releasing info, they get fanboys to defend Sony by saying "They didn't confirm anything yet."
If it is cheap and long lasting, keeping it hidden only instills doubt into the people. There's NO good reason to keep it hidden from us unless it's negative.
Also, I'm not calling the people who put down speculation Sony fanboys. I'm just saying Sony fanboys will use that excuse to defend Sony.
After seeing Nintendo's DS presentations in the US and Japan, there should be no doubts left about the system. You know whether you want it or not. Battery life, price, availability and launch games are set, mostly because it's launching in about 6 weeks.
The PSP should be launching in the same timeframe, and battery life and price are hidden. Availability is questionable and launch games are shaky and unconfirmed mostly. (Maybe I'm wrong, but GT4PSP was delayed, right?)
The battery life was very vaguely referred to as being around 8 hours. Then they threw in the wildcard of power conservation requirements for developers effectively negating what was already revealed. Also, the still yet-to-be-disproven pricepoint rumour of $350 dollars hangs over this system like a dark cloud. If I was Sony, and there was this rumour floating around about how the handheld I'm supposed to be debuting soon is grossly overpriced, I would hastily take motions to put it down. So it leaves me to wonder. If Sony hasn't yet to put down such a "rumour", what does that say? I'm guess its not so much of a rumour as we think. Sorry, Sony, but I would never even consider buying a handheld priced over even $200.
-Zeecog
One thing that I don't really understand is why Sony seems to think it is okay to release in Japan before they can possibly have much of a line up of games ready. If there is even a smidgen of truth to the rumors going about, then the line up will not be great and battery life will be between 1.5 and 2 hours. Yet they insist on launching! This is starting to sound like the first iteration of Nokia's N-Gage handheld console, and we know how successful that was!
If Sony goes through with it, expect to see some movies. I can imagine a portable movie player being popular riding the trains in Japan. So expect to see some titles from Sony's library in the new format at launch. Movies couldn't take nearly as long as games to write to the new format assuming there aren't any major disk production problems. On the games front, expect to see mahjong variants, puzzles, and of course, the ancient game of go! Why? Because these are easy to produce titles that almost always accompany the launch of a console in Japan. And these games should be pretty easy on the batteries. There may be a port or two of older, but popular, dating sims too if Sony really wants some more filler.
While I have little hope that GT for PSP will make the Japanese launch date, I'll bet there's a serious death march going on at Polyphony right now to get it out!
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