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PSP Pricing, Battery Life Announced
zmcnulty writes "The day has finally come: Over at TechJapan, we've got a translation of a Japanese BB Watch article stating that Sony has announced the Playstation Portable will cost 20,790 yen (about $195 USD) and is to be released on December 12th. Also, the battery life is quoted as being 4 to 6 hours. Not exactly what I'd call fantastic, but at this price, looks like Nintendo is in for some serious competition. Free your doubts about software too, as Sony has announced 21 titles will be released in December as well. Here's the official Japanese PDF press release regarding the PSP's release."
Just remember that 4-6 hours really means 2-3 hours.
I will wait until someone test this out to check real battery life.
Game Gear and Lynx both advertised '4-6 hour battery life'
They both failed. Why? They ate through batteries too fast.
The original Gameboy lasted 15-35 hours. If I took my Gameboy on a family trip, I'd get bored of it before the batteries ran out.
Looks just like when GameGear or AtariLynx tried to take on the GamBoy:
Higher Spec, getter graphics but bigger, more expensive and shorter battery life than the GameBoy.
Two hundred smackers for something you might accidentally leave on the bus. Nintendo has the right idea, I think. $80 for a brand new Game Boy SP, with older models selling at even cheaper prices.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I still take the 4-6 hours of battery life to be optimistic given their past articles wrote on this topic.
There are articles like this one circulating the web that says developers are responsible for good battery life on the PSP
http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=2305
What are developers going to do ? Randomly decrease the screen brightness or turn off the screen for a couple seconds at a time ? Half the processor speed ?
Maybe games like Metal Gear Acid and Gran Turismo run fine for 4-6 hours now and that is why they are releasing these figures. I guess we will have to wait and see.
For 195$, this is a cheap alternative to a portable DVD player. This feature alone might get me to buy one, not to mention it also plays games.
Given the anounced price and the speculative pricing I guess Sony decided to take a hefty loss on the hardware. Either that or they found some really creative ways to cut costs.
devmage
" this is a cheap alternative to a portable DVD player
It can't play DVD's.
And unlike portable media players, you can't convert videos to a different format and download; you'll have to either buy your movies again in a new format or hope that Sony's new movie format catches on so that you can rent them.
Not terribly appealing, particularly since cheap portable DVD players can be purchased for well under $200 these days.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
Awesome, I was really starting to wonder why they haven't announced it yet. Also, isn't it a really bad marketing decision on sony's part to come out with the PSP in December and not in November when most of the holiday shopping takes place? I know a lot of people who don't know a whole lot about a whole lot of things, the typical people who buy these consoles as geeks are the minority, who will get the Nintendo DS just because it's coming out before the Sony PSP.
at this price, looks like Nintendo is in for some serious competition.
The NDS has double battery life, is significantlly cheaper, and can run games from the gba. Where is the competition? I'm only seen a better N-Gage, but without the phone. It's been born dead.
DON'T PANIC
"My mobile phone costs A LOT more. My sunglasses costs more. My wrist watch costs more. My ring"
And how many of these have you bought for an 8-10 year old child?
Do you think the criteria for an adult purchase is different than that of a child's purchase? Do you think the primary audience for a portable game system is children or adults?
A clip on battery. Just like the first addon for the Advance was a clip on light so you could see the awful screen. And the first one for the SP was a headphone jack to replace the one nintendo took out.
Game systems often have their weak points adressed by other companies. Except Microsoft, who decided just outright buying Bungie was better than waiting for someone to fix their no games anyone gives a damn about problem.
Introducing the new Occam Fusion! Now with sqrt(-1) fewer blades!
You know that extra insurance that Best Buy keeps shoving down your throat? Buy it for PSP. Trust me.
the games..
That's all that really matters. Have you looked at the lineup for the two systems on ebgames?
Nintendo's games are, for the most part, hand-hend games. The GBA's best titles (Advance Wars, FFT:A), would not work as home console games. They were designed specifically to be 'pick up and play', and put down for an hour, then play again.
The PSP seems to have mostly ports of PS2 games. This won't work, but I suspect most people will ignore this fact, and be turned on by the sexy graphics of the PSP, and the PSP will do well, with shitty games, because most people are too stupid to base their opinion on anything that matters anyway.
I would've thought it's to Sony's advantage if the format doesn't catch on in a big way.
If I had a UMD burner and discs cost 20c a pop, the first thing I'd want to do is pirate me the entire PSP library.
Seriously, though. If it had a 2 hour life, I'd still consider it. This thing looks gorgeous, and I am not really away from an outlet for more than 2 hours at a time (let alone able to play for more than 2 hours, sheesh.)
I make a sacrifice with my Area51m every day, and it's one I made a conscious decision about when I bought the thing. Buy what fits you best - If you want to play 6 hours a day, and recharge the thing on weekends, get a GBA. If you can take the responsability of nightly charging, and dont play all day long, you can get a PSP.
The best solution now, however (with the price drop)----
GET THEM BOTH - WOOT!
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
The UMD is about as open as all the other gaming formats for portable game systems out there:
What successful portable game system has used any sort of "standard" media? The Game Park GP32 doesn't count; it's not successful, and SmartMedia hasn't been "standard" for years.
For more information, click here.
P.S. Anyone who says the screen is sexy is a liar, too, as pretty much nobody has actually gotten a chance to use it and determine its quality in person.
-=-=-=-=-=
I'd rather be flamed than ignored.
Some of the claims of this are ridiculous.
...ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the NEW minidisc player.
1. Four to six hour battery life.
I would guess that it would be less than that. Playstation 2 processor and a beautiful screen? It will eat those batteries alive. Those screens don't just bust out all of those colors so efficiently.
2. Plays movies in letterbox format.
Correction. Plays movies in a proprietary format in letterbox. If you can rip to and burn these disks, great. If you can't, then you are just buying another movie on the same old format. Remember, the market has never loved the better format, the market has only loved the cheaper and more universal format. *Cough* Betamax *cough*
Sony, of all people, you should know this!
3. Plays awesome video games.
Making Metal Gear into a card battle game? That is the one they keep showing? Aw, Cmon! Card battle? Has any American bought a card battle video game besides the PA guys? I admit I haven't researched them all, but if you just show Solid Snake and you can't control him directly (an amazing NES feature), you just lost me. Why did they do that? Is there a limitation that allows you to not control him directly? Is the Wifi/processor too slow to go head to head? Does the disc not hold enough image space for a full experience? Is there a RAM issue? Look, it just doesn't make any sense why it is card battle. I think that it is a card battle game because there is a limitation somewhere. They shortchanged something in the machine, and they said "we can't do Solid Snake like we should, make it card battle so it doesn't have to cache so much!" If it was Konami's idea to try something different? Then they need to stop sniffing glue, and remember that interactivity is not what card battle is about.
4. It will revolutionize the way that people carrry around data and information.
Uh, not without a hard drive. Hard drives are where it's at these days. Not much more to say.
Look, it's a toy. It is not a personal video player. If you purchase movies in that format with no video out, then you are just totally messed in the head. I'll be sitting next to you on the plane with a only slightly larger flip-top DVD player with a slightly crappier screen, AND A BAG FULL OF DVDs. When I get to my hotel room, I'll plug it in the back of the TV, and watch them all night. Why? Because I bought something that is agreeable with the rest of the world, and I bought it cheaper at Sam's Club or Costco. If I lose it, or somene rips it off, I'm not crying.
(Walking on the plane with the new PSP)
"Hey, I have two movies that I payed $30 for! Let's see, we have FF:Spirits within or Akira! I sure won't get tired of these titles! Nah, let's card battle with Solid Snake, YEAH!"
Conclusion? It is a game machine. If you buy it for any other reason than the games, you're fooling yourself. You certainly don't want to get into yet another proprietary format that you cannot mess with without outrageous expense, when everyone is just getting to the phase where they now start burning their own home movies on DVD.
At least Nintendo knows what they make are toys. Nintendo is out to maximize the toy experience, not add crap on top and charge you for it. I do believe I will be buying the PSP2 if I buy one, when all of the features make sense. Sony needs to get a grip on the idea that they go and bust out a new format every two years, and then surprise, no one buys it. Can you get a PSP disc recorder? Can you even buy blank media?
Not that it would matter...
Great, now the press can start comparing apples vs. apples.
Meet the new competitor... same as the old competitors? Maybe not.
ISTR my Atari Lynx having a 4-6 hour battery life... my Game Gear, too. I think the TurboExpress' batteries were rated to last 6 hours, too (they could only make it for about 3).
All three machines generally had better games and specs which crushed the Gameboy's.
But, all of the Gameboy's past competitors have also debuted at prices 2x or more the cost of a Gameboy system. Sony isn't making that mistake - and it could be the most important one. IMO Gameboy didn't get its market share based on better software or hardware... but it sure was cheap. Pricing may be the keystone of this war, and from there consumers will weigh battery life vs. eye candy in isolation - Gameboy won't have a price gulf to rely on this time.
I would guess that it would be less than that. Playstation 2 processor and a beautiful screen? It will eat those batteries alive. Those screens don't just bust out all of those colors so efficiently.
From one of the articles:
PSP features an integrated high output lithium-ion battery that provides play time of between 4 and 6 hours for game titles and continuous 4 to 5 hours for video viewing. (SCEI actual measurement) [...] Measurement conditions: display luminance set to maximum (180 cd/m2) and minimum (80 cd/m2) while volume is set to half of the maximum level, headphone in use and wireless LAN not in use.
Correction. Plays movies in a proprietary format in letterbox
No correction needed, it has a wide screen display, it was their only point, which is true. How is this "claim ridiculous"?
3. Plays awesome video games.
Let me get this straight, your saying that a game system manufacturer that "claims" that their system allows you to play "awesome video games" is a "ridiculous claim"? Would you prefer if they said that it played "mediocre games"?
Uh, not without a hard drive. Hard drives are where it's at these days. Not much more to say.
Sorry, where it's "at" these days is removeable USB storage, NOT hd's (other than in mp3 players). Removeable solid state storage is the big thing.
Conclusion? It is a game machine. If you buy it for any other reason than the games, you're fooling yourself.
Came to that conclusion all by yourself did you? No duh it's a game machine. I guess Sony's marketing dept should just not mention any features that are not 100% specific to gaming.
"It's nothing but a couple sports games, a couple platformers, two racers and a bunch of gimicky nonsense."
Look at the sony line up, some "X"-treme sports games, Japanese-like RPG games (blue hair, bad english dubs, wahoo), on the edge racing games, golf game, and some platformers.
Not much different is it. Ahhh fanboyism at its finest.
The problem is, in its console forays, Sony has a history of being a tad dishonest when it comes to specs. Yes, most companies tend to inflate specs but Sony tends to be particularly bad, enough so that it would be understandable if people decide to ignore any battery life estimates from them. Frankly, until we either get an estimate from a third party developer, or even more trustworthy, actual figures after the Japanese release, we basically have nothing.
Every handheld that has ever come out after Gameboy has always had better specs than Gameboy. You don't win on better specs. You win on games and battery life, and better games does not mean console ports.
Nintendo has sold more Gameboys than Sony has sold PSX and PS2s combined, they know what they are doing.
Not since Marie-Antoinette played milkmaid has looking simple and honest been so fake and complicated.
Nintendo will (like Nintendo always does) create great games that have a child-like sense of pure fun.
This is why I love Nintendo... but in this market, I don't know if it'll help them. It's not "hip" these days to admit you like Zelda's cel-shaded look, or enjoyed Mario Sunshine.
I don't think the PSP will rule over the DS like the PS1 did over the N64, but the jury's still out. One advantage in the DS' favor: portable systems are intrinsically more interesting to kids than adults.