Prelude to the PSP Launch

Posted by Zonk on Friday December 3, 2004 @05:05AM from the she'll-be-comin-round-the-mountain-when-she-comes dept.

Josh writes "Because the Japanese Launch is quickly coming upon us, we at PsiNext decided to put together an editorial which talks about the important events in getting to the final product release for the PSP. It is a good chance for those who are just getting into the PSP to catch up on what has been happening for the past 18 months." From the article: "The dream of a portable gaming unit began many years ago for Sony, around the time Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) was preparing to release the PS2 to the world. Work began in 1998 under the codename "E.T." and it was to be Sony's first stab at the portable gaming market to try and take down the then industry leading Nintendo with their GameBoy."

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Codename ET? by Pentomino · 2004-12-03 05:31 · Score: -1, Offtopic

Do the Japanese know the role a game named ET played in american video game history?

For the uninitiated, it was a movie license game for the Atari 2600, programmed in a two-month rush when most games took six, and they manufactured more cartridges than the number of consoles that existed to play them. The game bombed so badly, they had to bury their unsold and returned inventory in the desert -- and you can still find a dozen ET cartridges at any thrift store.

And now it's the codename for a portable system that's going up against the universally loved Nintendo DS.