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PSP North American Launch Date
captain writes "According to PSP411, Sony C.E. President and CEO Ken Kutaragi announced today at CES 2005 that the PSP will have a North American launch in March, followed by Europe around the same time. In Japan, the near-PS2 quality portable gaming device sold only about 500k units on account of GPU shortages. While the price and exact date aren't entirely clear, the USD equivalent of the Japanese sale price is a little under $200USD. Some are speculating that the price could be even lower to contest Nintendo DS's long-held portable gaming throne even further." Some good writeups about the announcement at Gamespot and 1up.com.
The original link was messed up. Here is the correct link: Link. I also got a mirror if needed.
--
199 Gmail accounts!
Should be PSP411.
Not Found /show/news/13" was not found on this server.
The requested URL
Apache/1.3.22 Server at www.psp411.com Port 80
As if the gameboy was enough of a classroom distraction...
I think of Paint Shop Pro. We really need a standard set of acronyms.
Nahh, it's the quote on the end of the link.
Because I was one of the massess that felt the sting of the PS2 Disc Read Error monster.
:-)
Sorry Sony, I am going to wait 2 years before I will buy it.
However I love my Nintendo DS
Nintendo Hardware = Tank.
A friend is returning from Japan and was contemplating joining the hordes selling the Japanese model on ebay, for up to $400 each. I explained the logistics and other troubles he may encounter and thankfully he elected to drop the scheme. Though he is bringing in the Capcom Travel version of Settlers of Catan for me 8^)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Here are a couple of pictures for anyone that hasn't seen the media or the screen in action...
Screen
Media
There are lots of things to complain about with pretty much everything that gets posted to Slashdot. You have stumbled upon one thing that is not a problem.
Every time an acronym gets posted, it should be explained? That seems a little silly, don't you think? How hard is it for you to talk some personal responsibility and figure out what the acronym is referring to in the context it is given. And for fuck's sake, Sony is mentioned, there's a Playstation icon used - what more do you want?
Nice troll, btw.
THIS ACCOUNT IS OFFICIALLY RETIRED/RETARDED.
It does say so, though not in the headline. Why did you use your +1 karma bonus to say something so dumb?
Sony will likely take a big loss on the device in order to challenge Nintendo, just like Microsoft did with the XBOX to challenge Sony. The difference between the two is that the XBOX could be used with standard non-proprietary media and converted to a stand-alone media center ... bringing no more revenue to Microsoft. The PSP, as I understand it, requires that users either use Sony's new disc format or Sony's memory stick. They're almost guaranteed to derive at least some profit from the sale of games or memory for the device. Seems to me that Sony can afford to take a huge hit in device price to encourage more users to buy.
In Japan, the near-PS2 quality portable gaming device sold only about 500k units on account of GPU shortages.
If I recall correctly, the PS2 had a similar problem on its launch--there was a shortage of CPUs.
Who supplies Sony with these processors, and why can they never meet demand?
Learn to cope, ass.
Of course! After all, an article about 'PSP' in the 'games' section of Slashdot is really very likely to be about a small Dutch political organization!
It couldn't possibly be about a well-known and much-debated games platform called the PSP!
Oh, wait, actually it could. After all, that would be the sensible, obvious and non-silly option.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
Oh wait, [you didn't mean a pacifist socialist political party;] you mean[t] "Playstation Portable". In which case *Why Didn't You Say So?*
The blurb describes it as a "near-PS2 quality portable gaming device", and the article contains a photograph of the device with the PlayStation's characteristic A # O X buttons. Did you also say "To me, 'PS2' is an old IBM PC" back in fall 2000?
Remember kids: Articles are more than 'a', 'an', and 'the'.
I thought we'd already heard how the PSP is poorly made, ha sno battery life and we shouldn't touch it incase it falls apart/gets scratched.
Seems we may as well wait for the PSportable in a couple of years fine and hopefully they will have fixed these problems.
I like muppets.
It was called the Neogeo pocket. Fantastic platform. Then the company threw a fit and pulled it from the US Market. Hopefully Sony won't be that way. Anyone want a used Neogeo Pocket with one game?
If you see spelling or grammatical errors don't blame me. I tried to preview but IE here at work borked the CSS
Wow, it's only been a day and at least one analyst is predicting a delay until June.
The Gameboy as a brand certainly has a long-held portable gaming throne, I mean the 1989 original lasted virtually 10 years on its own...
However I wouldn't say the DS had a long-held portable gaming throne, it's only really just come out!
I used to run PSP (Paintshop Pro) on my PS2 (IBM PS2 Model 70). Yeah, I've been burned by Sony's shitty hardware too many times. A $650 Mavica, $300 PS2, $200 PSX, $450 DVD player, all with dead drives, all purchased brand new... so even though I'm still pissed at Nintendo about the Gamecube NIC, AKA the $35 paperweight, I'd still rather get a DS. Gimmick Gadget! Touch screen, wireless linking, dual cart slots, and built-in junk. At least I'll still be able to play the same copy of Mario Kart Super Circuit that I've been playing for years, all the while putting off getting x-new game.
Change is good, but not in a wallet.
Some are speculating that the price could be even lower to contest Nintendo DS's long-held portable gaming throne even further.
The DS has only been out for, what, a couple of months? It hardly holds the portable gaming throne, let alone for a long time. You're thinking of the Game Boy Advance. Granted, I'm sure that the DS will hold the throne in due time, and it probably will until Nintendo releases their next system.
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
Actually, Sonys announcement was at CES yesterday, around 4pm EST. Of course, they didn't really announce any new information, ie: price.
Chewie does not get a medal. Come on, George. Can a Wookie get a medal?
Now that we all realise it's just another Gamegear in another case. I'll pass.
PSP is coming to America. I've long thought that America could do with a few stronger influence of Paint and Shops on its software scene... Oh wait, you meany "Playstation Portable". In which case *Why Didn't You Say So?* Some of us have interests outside of gaming you know (Lives, too, but thats a rumour).
I look forward to it so i can use it to play back media off a memory stick. If it supports divx I'll be all over it. I already have a cybershot camera, it'll be interesting to see how they work together. I don't expect it will play MP3s, but perhaps someone will create a game shark type cart that will allow divx, mp3, and other useful screen-on-the-go type applications. Does it have wifi like the DS?
I keep hearing 3 to 3 hours and a half.
You have to set it to medium brightness, and yes, medium brightness is brighter than it's DS counterpart.
- sigs are for wimps.
Where are you getting your information from?
The PSP does not have as short of a battery life as you claim. It may not come close to the SP's 11 hours worth of play, but it is reported to be variable between 3~7 depending on the task. This value is close to the DS' 7-9 hour play time but it is no where near an hour and a half as you stated.
Chewie does not get a medal. Come on, George. Can a Wookie get a medal?
Something like TLA (TLA Licensing Agency)?
And yes, I was aware you can get longer life by screwing around with settings. But why should we have to? We shouldn't.
At $200 with $50 games, the PSP is in more of a luxury range than is the $80 GBA SP with games ranging from $10 to $35. I've not made the following comparison before, and it still might not be valid, as there are several orders of cost magnitude difference in this parallel, but it's like assuming that since some manufacturer is introducing a line of luxury cars, Ford will start losing buyers of its Taurus. Obviously, the market size and selection is significantly larger than the handheld gaming market, which, again, is why I'm still not sure I'm making a valid comparison.
My point, though, is that the PSP may draw away a few older gamers that didn't have much other choice than to buy Nintendo (you know they don't want an nGage), but its larger effect is more likely that it will draw a new group of people into the handheld gaming market. I doubt the new influx of consumers will be enough to dethrone Nintendo's dominance, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Honor Among Slackers. A veri
As far as I am aware the PSP failed to sell its entire initial shipment. There were reports of shortages on the first day, but this was because the launch was practically engineered to create the appearance of shortages-- the major department stores did not allow preorders for the PSP, and most of them failed to put out their entire stock. There may well have been a GPU shortage, but as far as I know Sony didn't sell even all the PSPs they did make. In the absence of reports saying otherwise, I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense to blame the low sales on unit shortages.
..the christmas market has already been hit by nintendo DS. Kids are gonna buy what their friends have adn their friends have the DS. Especially when it's as cool as the DS. PSP is gona have some serious high quality features (divx mp3 etc.) if they want to pull this off. But if the PSP costs more you can hang it up.
http://psp.ign.com/articles/574/574557p2.html
... specially one with such a high quality screen.
In their test they got 3.5 hours with full brightness.
If you lower it to medium, it should do much better, and at least for me it's not unreasonable to adjust the screen brightness in a portable system
- sigs are for wimps.
Come on man! It's about time that Nintendo gets a little knock back!Those morons have had it coming for years! The PSP is really going to fix thier heads!
I thought the same.. until I read about this
0 4. 1223.1054.34002.htm
Lumines - Bandai - 2005
Take one part puzzle game with one part musical experience and tack on some trippy visuals and you've got Lumines, the brainchild of Tetsuya Mizaguchi (the man behind Rez). We've managed to get our hands on the Japanese version of the game and needless to say, we have to do everything in our power not to play it all day long.
The idea I simple: match up four colored blocks to that they form a square. But add to mix a unique music-based combo system and you have one of the most innovative puzzle games every made on any console. Lumines also packs in some truly impressive music and sound that will have you toe-tapping for hours on end. Out of all the PSP titles we've played so far, this is the one that's consumed our lives and we bet it will consume yours, as well.
http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200412/N
no
You'll see that this is the same news we heard yesterday. Only this site took the quote "probably be March" and made it into an announcement that it would be in March.
Hell with the Gran Turismo 4 debacle (delayed after the announcement that it went gold) I wouldn't be sure it would come out in March if they had announced it.
Golly! I've been trying to get my kid one with "Legend of sucess Joe" for five years! Please! Get me the details!
I'm a case in point. I am older than the typical target audience, have no interest in a GBA, but the PSP - with game, movie, and music capabilites - has me very interested in getting one of these things.
I'm most certainly part of a new segment with a little mor emoney to spend on toys.
...and that's the end of our show. Donk!
I sure hope that modchips will work in the PSP. In the PS and PS2 none of my modchip attempts worked. The results were bad! I've had four PS's explode! and three PS2s. And all because of those blasted modchips. (get it; "blasted"? HAHAHAH!) But I don't have too many woories. My japanesse associiates assure me that modchip will work. I just need the disks....(will 50mb business CD-Rs work?)
Is that Sony, unlike Microsoft, is run like a business and thus cannot just lose money indefinitely.
Sony does make a lot of money, but overall a lot of their divisions haven't been doing so hot lately. Their games division actually is one of the ones that has been supporting the rest of the company. They've done some restructuring and seem to be making solid profits again, I think, but I don't think losing profitability in the games division, even temporarily, is going to be a good thing for them.
Basically Sony is going to have to scrounge up some profit on the PSP eventually, or show the indication that they can. Microsoft doesn't-- they've lost so many billions of dollars on the XBox there isn't any realistic hope of making it back at this point, and their stockholders don't care because this is just the way Microsoft operates. Everything that isn't Office or Windows is a charity. Sony's games division isn't a charity. They can get away with spending money to make money, but only if they make money in the long run.
The amount of money Sony may possibly be spending on creating the PSP-- we don't know how much it is-- might mean that overall, they might not make more money on the games licensing than they lose on the units. The sale of memory sticks is a good thing from Sony's perspective, but the memory sticks are so high priced (at the sizes that you would have to buy to seriously use the PSP as an mp3 or video player) that I somewhat question exactly how many of them Sony is willing to buy. The XBox and PS2's compatibility with "real" media (DVDs, I mean) may not be as likely to directly result in sales for Microsoft or Sony, but it provides benefit in that it makes the unit as a whole more attractive to consumers...
Basically something I've suspected for some time is that Sony, when they designed the PSP, was expecting to take a huge hit on hardware so that they could make it back in sales of video UMDs. People only buy a certain number of video games, but they buy DVDs like candy. If Sony could put out its movie division's movies on UMDs and convince people to buy them, it could cover a lot of hardware losses. However if Sony was expecting this this was a massive miscalculation, since there has been no response indicating people would actually be willing to buy UMD movies and Sony appears to have scrapped plans to sell UMD movies-- the only UMD movie yet announced, by anyone, even now that the PSP's out, is Square's upcoming direct-to-DVD FF7 movie. So for Sony's sake, let's hope my theory here is wrong.
The SoC (system-on-chip) of the PSP contains all processing units including 2 CPU cores, a graphics core, eDRAM, and other goodies in a single 90nm-process die chip, so what in short is not specifically GPU. Besides this main chip, a PSP unit has a wireless controller, a DDR-SDRAM chip and a UMD controller on the motherboard.
Yes.
Just like they did the last time there was a PSP story.
And the time before that, and the time before that, and...
Stop stealing music and you'll be fine.
You want room 20a
This is room 20b
I hate You too.
You did it! (it is trolling liberals).
I did it! (it is being trolled by you).
Damn....
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
I have had all kinds of issues with my Playstation 2. Most of them caused by moving and or dropping the console on the floor. I've been able to fix them all thanks to the information one can find on the internet.
The last time I messed up my PS2 was when my cat ran into it and it fell about a foot and a half to the floor. When I picked it up the disk drive was stuck in a semi-in, semi-out position. I took the whole think apart, which required me to seperate the disk drive from the motherboard. When I put everything back together again it worked better that it had in a year.
So even though I agree that early adopters accept a certain amount of fishiness when it comes to consoles, it can also be a useful learning experience for those who like to deal with hardware issues.
Go Gusties
You should read the book The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christenson... it will answer a lot of your questions about hard drives and declining hard drive sizes. It's a bit of a dry read, I had to read it for class, but it'll tell you more about the history of the HD industry than you'd ever care to know!
Yeah... Remember that article a few hours back about 'borrowing' power from airports and Starbuck's? Well, if you buy a PSP, prepare to be tethered...
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
Every time an acronym gets posted, it should be explained?
depends on the acronym, really. in this case, however, i don't believe it has to be explained, no-sir!
SNK is dead, long live SNK Playmore. Same developers, same properties, same core product focus. Which is to say, they make some of the neatest 2D games in a market where no one makes 2D games.
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Correct me if I'm wrong but you have a grudge on Nintendo because Mario, Zelda and Metroid are Nintendo consoles only? In that case you could have a grudge on all of the consoles all the same.
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sorry but I played at least 12 different games that were blockbusters on my DS the day I got it.
there are over 1000 games that will play on the DS right now.
or are you trying to ignore the entire SP game selection that works awesome in the DS??
Paint Shop Pro sucks, nobody talks about it, so any reference to "PSP" will be to the PlayStation Portable.
> An hour f video fills up a 512 memory stick.
Did you even read the article you linked to? You can tweak it to fit a whole lot more, even 90 minutes with 300 megs.
> You can only use the memory stick duo pro. All other memory stick formats are unrecognized by the PSP.
"article:When you format a Memory Stick Duo or Pro Duo stick in your Sony"
You have to use a memory stick DUO , which there are several flavors of (one with magicgate too). You imply that only Duo Pro works, that's not the case.
> The video aspects are underwhelming, unintuitive, unfriendly and unimpressive.
What's unfriendly, the process they described here does not use the Sony software that costs 5 bucks to transfer movies, of course it looks unfriendly, ripping videos is an unfriendly process. Wait for a review of the Sony software before you say that.
- sigs are for wimps.
...that I'm stupid and hit the submit button.
All comments are properties and trademarks of the voices in my head. Not like I'm gonna claim them.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I asked the people at Electronics Boutique a couple weeks ago whether they had any Nintendo DSes in. The response: "No, but we've started taking pre-orders for the PSP. It's coming out in March."
My question is this: Why was there such a long delay in getting this news out in the open? Obviously some people already knew about it.
I am scientifically inaccurate.
I'm not really so sure..
The PSP will win, unfortunately. It is the better machine. There really is no contest. The screen rocks.
The Game Gear was also clearly the better machine. Its screen rocked too. It didn't help. The problem is that what is "better" for a video game console may not be better for handhelds, since "better" comes with portability costs. So far Nintendo's been the only company to ever realize this, and this is the reason they've owned the market for so long.
The movie playing rocks.
I'm not so sure this is really going to help it though. Since UMD movies appear to not be happening anymore, the movie playing is limited to what you can stuff on a memory stick. It seems kind of hard to find a memory stick big enough to comfortably hold a movie for less than the $100 range. This might help the PSP into a super-high-end gadget-addict niche, but probably won't help in the general market-- and on the offchance the general market decides they like this feature, it doesn't mean the PSP will be able to benefit from it. Nintendo has an aftermarket movie and mp3 player they'll be releasing in Japan soon, and they can release it in America if it's to their benefit. It fits into a GBASP or the GBA slot of a DS, and it uses SD cards instead of memory sticks, which seem to run at about half the price.
The only thing you say I really object to though is this:
Super Nintendo 64 DS has graphics slightly worse than the N64 version.
This is just plain wrong. The DS doesn't have the graphics of the PSP, but the N64 just isn't any comparison to the DS at all. Mario 64x4 far outdoes the 64 version, plus the framerate is much better, and this is just a touched-up port-- the DS has much more to offer...
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
DS + Movie Player = Better than PSP.
sorry but I played at least 12 different games that were blockbusters on my DS the day I got it.
/.'er (or sane gamer).
Really? In this article I counted 11 launch titles, with one from Nintendo (I'm not counting Pictochat or the Metroid demo) and 10 from third party companies. I guess you could get 12 out of that, if you include Pictochat or the Metroid demo (or you live in Japan, I don't know about launch titles there), but that would mean that EVERY launch game is a "blockbuster", and that you either know a lot of people that have a DS, or you spent nearly $500 dollars on launch day, which doesn't seem reasonable for the average
When you look at the state of the world, how can you not become a radical, liberal anarchist?
thanks for a completely worthless reply asshole. go fuck yourself and never post on slashdot ever again you worthless douchebag.
near-PS2 quality
Getting a little ahead of ourselves aren't we? Both in specs and in previews people have likened it more to the original PSX than the PS2.
LilMikey.com... I'll stop doing it when you sto
Does this mean that if I buy a PSP at Best Buy, they will try to sell me a PSP for my PSP?
I have blog like everyone else
You make it sound as if it's a bad thing that Nintendo has a monopoly. It's a natural one though, Sega, SNK, Nokia, Atari, they all made a go at it and fell flat on their faces.
In case you didn't get the gist of his comment, he was pointing out that he's been able to play the blockbuster GBA games on the DS, which is a valid point. Especially in these early stages, it's actually really nice that the DS has GBA game compatibility (and aside from that, the DS's much improved screen makes GBA games look even better than they did on the GBA SP).
Lumines was announced for the PSP during Mizuguchi's unveiling of Meteos for the Nintendo DS.
http://planetmeteos.com/
movie download page
The last time I messed up my PS2 was when my cat ran into it and it fell about a foot and a half to the floor.
Wow, what does your cat have against Sony?
Lousy fankitten!
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One thing that Sony had going for them with the PS2 was that it played DVDs as well. A lot of people at the time bought a PS2 because they also didn't have a DVD player. A problem I see with the PSP is that it is too similar in price to a home console, but it doesn't have that "DVD feature" that the PS2 had to get it into the homes of the mass public, for the price. How is Sony going to get people to buy a PSP AND a PS2 or PS3, or if they already have one, buy a PSP and afford the games for BOTH the handheld and the home system? They aren't seriously banking on people making a choice between one or the other, are they? Is there a large enough niche in the gaming market for buyers of JUST a handheld?
I don't know if anyone has ever researched any on the topic, but how many people DO own a Gameboy, but don't own a home console? In other words, do handhelds have a seperate viable market, or is the marketing scheme for the handheld still to piggyback their way in by way of home console owners?
So, say they market the PSP as an alternative to the home console. What does the PSP have as far as TV connectivity? If you can hook it up easily to a television, and there is some kind of multiplayer capability, they might actually have found their niche there, as the quality will be good enough for people to put the money down for one. Kind of like a "console replacement". (The laptop equivalent of a "desktop replacement"). An improved Sega Nomad. Well, kind of like that.
I would bet that the vast majority of potential PSP buyers will be PS2 owners. Will the non-hardcore gamer (Average Joe) be able to afford games for both their PS2, PSP, and eventually their PS3?
It seems like Sony, with their pricing, will be forcing people to go one way or the other with their money, cutting into their own profits, because younger kids are still going to be getting GBAs and DSs. (Younger kids are going to want a home console too, and won't want to make that sarcrifice choosing one or the other. Most parents won't buy BOTH a PSP and a PS2 or PS3 AND games for both.)
Twenty and thirty year olds might be the ones that are a possible market for the PSP; they have the money to afford one and the games, and still have a home console. Maybe there is an untapped handheld market in that age bracket. Realistically, you start competing with the iPod market bracket if that is your primary target! If Sony would built good wireless internet browsing into it, a stylus, and the digital jukebox capacity for music into it, for the same price (to compete with the iPod and Palms) they might REALLY have something.
And despite thousands of testimonials like yours, the "Sony PlayStation 2: It's fun to fix!" campaign never really took off.
I have a lot of opinions about Cyborgs and Architects