Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

PSP North American Launch Date

Posted by Zonk on from the not-a-lot-of-detail,-there dept.

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.

6 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. I was thinking the same thing.. by Viewsonic · · Score: 0, Troll
    Who wants a portable system that only lasts an hour and a half with a game that actually uses the processor for 3d? I can see the Japanese being suckered into it, but not the USA. They didn't have any idea how awful the system life was on these things when they came out.

    Now that we all realise it's just another Gamegear in another case. I'll pass.

  2. Be nice! by Id+guy · · Score: 0, Troll

    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!

  3. Re:Cheap Media Player by Kamalot · · Score: 0, Troll
    It only plays specially formatted MPG4 movies up to 320x240 resolution.

    Files have to be named in a special 8.3 naming convention, all upper case as well, or the PSP won't see them.

    An hour f video fills up a 512 memory stick.

    Read about it here:

    You can only use the memory stick duo pro. All other memory stick formats are unrecognized by the PSP.

    The video aspects are underwhelming, unintuitive, unfriendly and unimpressive.

    http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000980024404

  4. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 0, Troll

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  5. Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform by Chemical · · Score: 1, Troll
    Nintendo Hardware = Tank.

    Ah yes, I remember the NES. The flashing purple screens. The futile attempts of blowing the dust off the cartridge. The crossing of fingers and praying that the game would load. Just trying to get the thing to start up was half the fun :)

  6. Re:Erm.. by Kamalot · · Score: 0, Troll

    So, you are going to buy a system knowing that it is broken, but hoping you can spend more money on the battery to fix it? I also like how you doubt that you even play for an hour. Why get one if you aren't even going to play? Your thinking astounds me.