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.

Comments

Messed up link

[Grant29]

The original link was messed up. Here is the correct link: Link. I also got a mirror if needed.
--
199 Gmail accounts!

Nintendo V Sony

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that no matter what happens, Nintendo will be hard pressed to keep the throne... or at least hard to keep 50% market share.

Re:Nintendo V Sony

[UWC]

I suppose as has been pointed out countles times, PSP is aimed at a significantly different market than the GBA is. And the DS is kind of floating out there in some weird other market that probably intersects with the GBA and the PSP in some areas.

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.

Re:Nintendo V Sony

[Petrol]

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.

Re:Nintendo V Sony

[superpulpsicle]

I am just happy to see anybody compete with Nintendo in this monopoly market of theirs.

Call me evil, but I want to see Nintendo tank the same way Sega did with dreamcast. Like it or not, they'll have to make Zelda, Metroid and Mario available on all other platforms to survive.

Re:Nintendo V Sony

[Yaotzin]

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.

Re:Nintendo V Sony

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Bad link

[Ec|ipse]

Should be PSP411.

Re:Bad link

[hunterx11]

Look at the timestamps, mods. The parent poster probably hit "reply" before the first post hit the page. Objectively redundant, yes, but not his fault.

Removed before we can slashdot them?

[lordsilence]

Not Found
The requested URL /show/news/13" was not found on this server.

Apache/1.3.22 Server at www.psp411.com Port 80

Re:Removed before we can slashdot them?

[lordsilence]

Nevermind :) FP got the corrected link. Thanks.

yay

[Anonymous Coward]

As if the gameboy was enough of a classroom distraction...

Re:yay

[Eohl]

Don't worry. You'll only be able to play for about half of a class hour before the battery dies.

Re:yay

[sk8dork]

but then you remember that it actually lasts longer than that, depending on what you're doing...

Re:yay

[Anonymous Coward]

Watching loading screens is ALWAYS fun.

Hacked Apache

[Anonymous Coward]

Not Found The requested URL /show/news/13" was not found on this server. Apache/1.3.22 Server at www.psp411.com Port 80

Maybe someone hacked their old Apache install?

Re:Hacked Apache

[Ec|ipse]

Nahh, it's the quote on the end of the link.

Bahhh

[yorkpaddy]

bahhh, bahhh, new product, must buy.

Every time I see "PSP"

[Anonymous Coward]

I think of Paint Shop Pro. We really need a standard set of acronyms.

Re:Every time I see "PSP"

[Anonymous Coward]

"The good thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from."

Re:Every time I see "PSP"

[chipset]

I got so sick and tired of acronyms while working in the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), I came up with my own. S.A.M.B.A. Society Against Making Bad Acronyms.

Re:Every time I see "PSP"

[gazoombo]

Using the 26 letter English alphabet there can only be 17576 possible TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms). And nobody wants to settle for a five letter acronym. Three is the only way to be cool. So how about setting up a standards body to hand out these precious TLAs?

Re:Every time I see "PSP"

[KillaKen187]

Well if you add numeric characters to that you get 46656 different combinations, but of course not all will be used (e.g. 666 or KKK) :)

Re:Every time I see "PSP"

[WinterSolstice]

Well, in that case, can I order a subset of TLAs? I'd like the KFA.WS set.:)

-WS

Re:Every time I see "PSP"

[slapout]

I can see it now:

"I was using PSP to create some graphics from my new PSP game. Of course I'm using the PSP to develop it. I just hope the PSP don't think I'm violating the DCMA."

Re:Every time I see "PSP"

[Anonymous Coward]

And everytime I see SAMBA, I think of NAMBLA, the group of old pedophiles from South Park.

Re:Every time I see "PSP"

[Anonymous Coward]

How about "Please Supply Power".

Re:Every time I see "PSP"

[Anonymous Coward]

NAMBLA isn't a South Park creation, it's based on the ACTUAL organization in the real world. Get a clue.

Re:Every time I see "PSP"

[Reignking]

Well if you add numeric characters to that you get 46656 different combinations, but of course not all will be used (e.g. 666 or KKK) :) Um, those ARE already used...

Re:Every time I see "PSP"

[pretentiousPPC]

Not if we included case-specifice TLAs, then we could have 140,608.

Re:Every time I see "PSP"

[tuba_dude]

Might I suggest this slogan: "TLAs are the DEVIL." "Three Letter Acronyms are the Deviously Evil Villans Immolating Life."

Re:Every time I see "PSP"

[Anonymous Coward]

NSFW!! NSFW!! NSFW!!

http://216.220.97.17/ if anyone wants to visit the NAMBLA website.
(this site is NOT SAFE FOR WORK, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!)

While i'm here, does anyone happen to know what happened to their old domain, www.nambla1.de ?

NSFW!! NSFW!! NSFW!!

FP!

[Anonymous Coward]

frist pist

I will never buy a sony launch platform

[MakoStorm]

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.

Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform

[Tink2000]

I'll agree:
I got the Disc Read Error (which eventually led me to buy the Xbox, so yay!) with my PS2 and I got one of the first runs of the PS, you know, the one where the laser focus was a micrometer off and caused FMV to skip like mad and back in the day I bought an original Walkman that got recalled later because of battery issues.

So as bad as I want a PSP, and as much as I want a PS3 to replace my PS2, I've learned my lesson and am going to wait at least 9 months before I pony up the dough.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice ... who the hell are you (or insert some other The Who song lyric here).

Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform

[radish]

Errr...provided they come with a warranty, what's the problem?

Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony is still getting your money so why should they care?

Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform

[slackingme]

The weeks upon weeks it takes to ship your shit around while you sit and wonder why you didn't get a fucking DS? :)

I really don't like that warranty defense; I had a warranty on my iBook all four times the display died on it. Sure, Apple fixed it (and eventually replaced it with a newer model) but the warranty doesn't pay ME for the amount of time the thing was out of commission, the warranty doesn't say "Sorry!" when my laptop dies in the middle of a long trip, the warranty doesn't give me a pat on the back for dealing with those Abercrzombies/pseudo-techies at The Apple Store/mall.

Don't go buy a PSP without thinking about if you're willing to wait for Sony to work out the bugs/replace your unit :)

Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform

[Chemical]

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 :)

Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform

[Anonymous Coward]

Yea a whole 90 day warranty which by the way EXCLUDES dead pixles on the LCD screen vs Nintendo's standard 1 year warranty that covers everything that you don't specificaly break.

Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform

[xgamer04]

Nintendo Hardware = Tank.

Oddly enough, the first console I had to send back to the manufacturer was a Gamecube. It was a first-run model, though, so I guess it's to be expected nowadays (sadly). All my other Nintendo consoles still work (even the NES).

Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform

[xgamer04]

This didn't have anything to do with the console (logic) itself, but with the way that the catridge connection was designed. Nintendo made a huge effort to make sure that the NES in America wasn't perceived as the "toy" that the Famicom looked like in Japan, so they made it look more like a VCR. The "zero insertion force" connections were very susceptible to dust, though, so it got the reputation of being unreliable. Mine still works, though.

Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform

[plumby]

Nintendo Hardware = Tank.

I guess everyone's experience is different. I've had 1 PS (admittedly hardly used), 1 PS/2 (used regularly), 1 XBox (again, not used that much yet), and 4 N64s - the first 2 dying within a couple of weeks of their warranty running out. I had to keep buying new ones though, as virtually every game I played at the time was on the N64.

Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform

[Anonymous Coward]

How many months has it been since February of 2004? HA HA - don't read any replies from xgamer04 - he's fucking stupid.

he thought 8 months have passed since February of 2004. what a fuckstain...

perhaps his mother will get cervical cancer.

Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform

[hunterx11]

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice ... who the hell are you (or insert some other The Who song lyric here).

Surely instead you meant:

"Fool me once...shame on...shame on you. ...You fool me...can't get fooled again."

Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform

[Anonymous Coward]

It's true: The only unreliable system that Nintendo's ever produced was the Nintendo of America redesign of the Famicom. And that redesign was only commisioned so stupid American parents would consider the device to be a reliable consumer electronics device as opposed to an unreliable toy. The Europeans adopted the retooled design too, so the redesign was nearly doubly as unfortunate.

Meanwhile, all across Japan, those who still have their "toy" Famicoms to this day have never heard of the blinking screen problem, and have never resorted to blowing air and saliva into their cartridges in frustration. Just goes to show that if a Japanese company did the initial design work on your electronic product, DO NOT rework it for another region. It's already as good as it's going to get. :) However, regarding foreign products that are exported to Japan, the reverse is sadly almost never true.

Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform

[Anonymous Coward]

He didn't make that mistake in the other article; I did. I was blitzed drunk and was thinking in terms of fucking 10-month years, but I'm definitely not xgamer04. For one, I don't think xgamer04, or any other person for that matter, is as capable of forming such otherwise coherent arguments while under that level of intoxication. (No offense, guys.) I think most humans would just die of poisoning at that point, unless aided by an emergency medical team or prescribed pharmaceuticals or the like.

What, are you stalking him or something? Why? Does it make your weewee move?

Re:I will never buy a sony launch platform

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but it was a joke. I have a wierd sense of humor.

Not to hard to take out the DS

[Mofo196]

It shouldn't be too hard to take out the DS as long as they have more than one game on launch that's worth a crap.

Re:Not to hard to take out the DS

[Anonymous Coward]

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??

Re:Not to hard to take out the DS

[Anonymous Coward]

DS + Movie Player = Better than PSP.

Re:Not to hard to take out the DS

[xgamer04]

sorry but I played at least 12 different games that were blockbusters on my DS the day I got it.

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 /.'er (or sane gamer).

Re:Not to hard to take out the DS

[TomHandy]

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).

Oh, Good.

[ackthpt]

Now if I could just find a game on this that I consider worth playing.

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^)

Re:Oh, Good.

[PSP411]

I hear your pain, the list of games currently available is a little timid. But that's always the case in the first few months. You should be optimistic though, there are already a host of RPG's , puzzlers, fighting games, FPS (Ghost in the Shell - http://www.psp411.com/show/product/34) and plenty more planned. Check out this list of games for more. Or goto the frontpage of the site for the latest. Also, you can find cheaper prices for the PSP using our handy import price watch guide. Currently there are some going for under $400 from reputable importers. Hope that helps.

Re:Oh, Good.

[88NoSoup4U88]

That's a boardgame ? Or is it a videogame ?

If the first ; I never knew that Capcom also dealt in boardgames.

Re:Oh, Good.

[ackthpt]

That's a boardgame ? Or is it a videogame ?

Board, with little magnets(!) to hold pieces in place.

If the first ; I never knew that Capcom also dealt in boardgames.

I don't know the history of CapCom, but I wouldn't be surprised to see they originated somewhere other than video games, like board games, ceramic capacitors, bicycles, refridgerators or aircraft.

A version of SoC for PSP would probably be enough cause for me to buy it, but only if it's a really good version of the game. Knowing Sony it'll probably only be available in Japan, so you'll have to pry it open, move some jumpers and learn to read japanese to play an import.

Re:Oh, Good.

[Ashyukun]

Damn. It sucks that I can only find like 1 real Mah Jongg computer game here, but there appear to be two for a system that's barely out.

And no- the tile-matching crap that almost everyone instantly thinks of when you say 'Mah Jongg' most definitely does not count...

Re:Oh, Good.

[wheresdrew]

Your friend shouldn't have listened to you.

I live in Tokyo and managed to get three PSPs on launch day and a fourth one a week later during the next shipment. Three of them went up on Ebay and I made just over $700 profit.

Because of that, my PSP (with 4 games) and my DS (with 3 games) were essentially free. ^.^

The Ebay prices have levelled off in the few weeks since the launch and the huge profits aren't there anymore, but it was great while they lasted.

Re:Oh, Good.

[ackthpt]

Your friend shouldn't have listened to you

Good thing he did, as he'd have had customs issues bringing several back into the country. For the paltry few hundred $$$ he could have made, he could also have paid duties and had to deal with the scumbags on eBay who bid but don't pay.

Re:Oh, Good.

[vrai]

Why would anyone buy it off eBay when you can get it from Lik Sang for 400USD? Not to disparage the majority of eBay sellers but there is no way I'm sending some random punter two hundred quid on the off chance he'll send me the console. I ordered my PSP from Lik Sang on 2005/01/02 and it arrived at my office in London two days later - unlike the few things I've ordered off eBay which have never arrived in less than a week (from such remote locations as Stoke and Gillingham).

On a vaguely off topic note - anyone who has a PSP and hasn't visted wooba.com should do so. I has a very handy guide to playing video on the machine and has a link to a drag'n'drop video encoder.

Re:Oh, Good.

[MyDixieWrecked]

I ordered mine from http://www.wanpakuusa.com/index.php for 300$ and it came with that golf game.

It was totally worth it. So far, I've got no complaints. batterylife isn't THAT bad (although I do wish it was a little better). I managed to almost run the thing out once between taking the train to work, showing it off at work, and playing it on the train home again.

I just got a 512mb MemoryStick and have had no luck whatsoever getting pr0n to play on it. But Jpegs and Mp3s work fine. =)

Brilliant

[gowen]

The PSP is coming to America. I've long thought that America could do with a few stronger influence of pacifism and socialism on its political scene...

Oh wait, you meany "Playstation Portable". In which case *Why Didn't You Say So?* Some of us have interests outside of computer gaming you know (Lives, too, I've heard).

Re:Brilliant

[Jane_the_Great]

This article was posted to the games section, Sony was mentioned in the summary, and doing a google search for "Sony PSP" yields, as the first result, "IGN PSP: PlayStation Portable Games, PSP Cheats and PlayStation ..."

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.

Re:Brilliant

[Anonymous Coward]

It does say so, though not in the headline. Why did you use your +1 karma bonus to say something so dumb?

Re:Brilliant

[kahei]

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.

Re:Brilliant

[Tezkah]

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).

Re:Brilliant

[cybrthng]

I hate You too.

Re:Brilliant

[the_mad_poster]

You did it! (it is trolling liberals).

I did it! (it is being trolled by you).

Damn....

Re:Brilliant

[Allison Geode]

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!

Re:Brilliant

[Anonymous Coward]

thanks for a completely worthless reply asshole. go fuck yourself and never post on slashdot ever again you worthless douchebag.

Great, 3 day old news

[chriskzoo5]

Glad this made it to /., it's only 2-3 day old news.

Re:Great, 3 day old news

[astrokid]

Actually, Sonys announcement was at CES yesterday, around 4pm EST. Of course, they didn't really announce any new information, ie: price.

pictures

[Anonymous Coward]

Here are a couple of pictures for anyone that hasn't seen the media or the screen in action...

Screen

Media

Price

[telstar]

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.

Re:Price

[drinkypoo]

The same is true of the PS2, which requires a fairly sophisticated (and thus expensive) modchip to play the latest copy-protected games. The modchips require a whole lot of soldering so people either have to buy premodded, pay a lot for shipping, or drive somewhere that they can find someone to do the mod in most cases. Xbox is trivial to mod even in the new versions, though now you do have to buy a modchip for the latest couple of revisions since they took away the pads to enable flashing TSOP. There's not going to be any room to mod the PSP :) Personally I'm quite surprised that they're not just potting the board in heat-conductive epoxy, which would solve a lot of these problems for them. It's not like those are the parts that are repaired when an Xbox is refurbished...

Re:Price

[pele_smk]

Sony could finally have a chance to capitalize on it's proprietary formats. The PSP uses a memory stick and if enough people purchase memory sticks this will indeed encourage them to purchase more products that use the memory stick because they already own the media. Similar to the reasons Nintendo customers love the reuse of there gameboy uno games, and the playstation 2 appeased to playstation 1 owners.

Sony has a great opportunity to take a chunk of the electronics market if it can successfully lure new buyers to purchase any of there products. Unfortunately Sony seems to change there media as often as new products come out. AKA my new sony dsc-t1 camera uses memory stick duo instead of the classic memory stick. Now I have to buy new media. I'm gonna get tired of this someday, don't know when, but someday.

As far as only selling 500k due to lack of hardware. I don't understand how this is possible. Once or twice by mistake, but repeatedly happening is just non-sense. Playstation 2 "slim" for most recent example. If sony were to raise prices and create an artificial lack of supply I would understand, but they don't change the price of the product. End consumers are changing that price through Ebay, but sony isn't reaping the benefits of this. Maybe sony is playing it safe and testing the waters before releasing a huge order. Better yet, giving them the ability to sustain a higher priced final good.

I'm lost on the marketing scheme Sony uses, but it works on me, since I'm typing on a sony laptop, taking pictures on a sony camera, video taping on a sony camcorder, and saving my information on sony media. Darn I guess they got me. Pure brilliance. I won't buy the PSP because, well, I still own my gameboy 1 from 1990 and it still works. That's more than I can say for many playstaion 2's and this memory stick slot that died on my laptop last week. If sony didn't look so damn good I probably wouldn't own soo many sony goods. I also want a Sony Aibo, yep uses sony memory stick and this sony wireless card I have. Unfortunately I can't afford an Aibo and I'm sitting at college student status for another couple years. Sony, I'm due for some Sony reward miles!!!

Re:Price

[Destoo]

So can you see a bit of yourself in this comic.

They do make sexy hardware, but somehow I managed to shake it off before I got really enthralled. And Nintendo was waiting for me in the curve and they're the ones getting my money.

Re:Price

[tonejava]

However it's not like you can go down the road and get some blank media for Nintendo products at all though.

Do Sony really need to drop the price to compete with Nintendo? They do have different markets - while Nintendo is branching from it's usual kids-teens market to the young adult market, Sony is targetting the adult market specifically. Surely anyone at around 18-35 can afford a PSP - even with the reported defects - at it's current price (relative to the Yen of course).

Although I'm a DS fan, how many people will be at risk of having a DS stolen (there are so many out there already as it is) compared to someone having their PSP stolen?

Just a thought...

Re:Price

[Anonymous Coward]

the store were i buy my flash carts for gba is down the block from me actually :P

Re:Price

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

wrong.

hdloader and a hdd drive cage.

not to mention some 'cheat devices' are including media players.

Processor Shortages and Sony

[TarrVetus]

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?

Re:Processor Shortages and Sony

[basilisk12]

Sony has a joint venture with Toshiba that does all of their manufacturing. Rumor has it that they have only one 90nm capable facility, so they need to split time there between the PSP and the chip for the slimline PS2.

Re:Processor Shortages and Sony

[stratjakt]

It's an artificial shortage to drive up demand, silly.

Look how wildly popular the PS2 was when there weren't enough for it's christmas launch. The DS was the "hot item" this year.

You get all kinds of free publicity, every time some housewife is bludgeoned to death in a Wal-Mart parking lot, everyone watching the news thinks "now that's the perfect monetary expression of the christmas spirit! Must buy!"

Tickle-me-elmo's and Cabbage Patch dolls still sell well, based on Christmas shortages past alone. They get ingrained in the public mind as some sort of "gotta have it" perennial christmas favorite.

Re:Processor Shortages and Sony

[TarrVetus]

Rumor has it that they have only one 90nm capable facility...

That explains why Sony is spending $1.6 billion on the next plant for the PS3 Cell processors. I guess all of those unit shortages are eating into their profits and reputation, so they need a bigger plant for the next generation of processors.

Re:Processor Shortages and Sony

[Anonymous Coward]

>It's an artificial shortage to drive up demand, silly.

>Look how wildly popular the PS2 was when there
>weren't enough for it's christmas launch. The DS
>was the "hot item" this year.

I've seen a PSP sold @ $700 at eBay, but no DS @ $300

Re:Processor Shortages and Sony

[MORB]

It's called "supply and demand". It doesn't means anything regarding the respective merits of the two consoles.

Re:Processor Shortages and Sony

[TarrVetus]

Actually, this DS sold for $5,300!!!

Context.

[Anonymous Coward]

Learn to cope, ass.

Which division of Nintendo do you work for?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just curious. :)

RTFA

[tepples]

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'.

You %FaiQl It?

[Anonymous Coward]

there are only series of internal and shower. F0r something ccol are the important what provides the Engineering project

Erm..

[Turn-X Alphonse]

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.

Re:Erm..

[j.bellone]

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.

And the Nintendo DS interferes with Television signals; what's your point? Every system has problems when it's first launched. Yes, you are right though, the major problem happens to be the battery life of the system.

The damn thing is rechargeable, extra batteries are more than affordable, and I don't plan on playing this thing for more than an hour at a time (if that at all). Sure it may not be a viable platform of entertainment for you, but hell, everyone has different needs.

For me, it all comes down to what the games bring. At first I didn't like the DS at all; after watching people play it, playing some games myself, I'm reconsidering buying one. Sure there aren't *that* many games that I want to play, but I'm sure some will come out. I feel the same way about the PSP right now; but not having played one myself I'm reserving my choice until I get that chance.

Re:Erm..

[SkyWalk423]

The damn thing is rechargeable, extra batteries are more than affordable...

...and besides, is there any doubt that Sony will come out with a compatible, improved, twice-as-long-lasting battery within a year of launching this thing? We'll never know, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it turned out Sony purposefully gimped the battery in order to drive sales of additional batteries.

Re:Erm..

[j.bellone]

Neither would I; just as Sony purposely left out an Ethernet controller and a hard-drive on the PS2 but left an expansion slot for both. That may have been a good idea for a hard drive (because, face it, how many games actually utilize this) but it wasn't for the ethernet (once again, depending on whose perspective you're looking from).

Re:Erm..

[Kamalot]

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.

Re:Erm..

[j.bellone]

I also like how you doubt that you even play for an hour.

For more than an hour at a time. Anywhere where I'm going to be playing it for more than an hour at a time will have somewhere I can charge it. If I can spend $35 more to get another battery just in case it runs out while I'm playing it on the road; then it would be worth it.

Re:Erm..

[vrai]

I've got both a PSP and a DS and the build quality on the PSP is far higher. The DS is a cool little machine and I can't wait for the new versions of Advance Wars and Mario Kart. But it looks and feels like a toy - it's clunky and made with cheap looking plastic. The PSP, as befits a machine costing 100USD more, looks and feels like a quality piece of consumer electronics. My machine has no dead pixels, twisting it doesn't cause the UMD lid to open and using it in public generates a crowd of interested observers.

My only real gripes are that it uses Memory Stick DUO media, which are very expensive in comparison to non-Sony memory cards, and that the shiney facia seems to get fingerprints on it no matter how careful you are.

I tried an alternate handheld once....

[Zphbeeblbrox]

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?

Re:I tried an alternate handheld once....

[pixelgeek]

Then the company threw a fit and pulled it from the US Market.

Actually the company couldn't sell them in the US or in Canada because everyone wanted a Gameboy. Can't blame them for pulling a product it appears that no-one wanted.

Re:I tried an alternate handheld once....

[stratjakt]

Actually the company wen't (or was going) bankrupt, the NGPC was it's last dying gasp. SNK is no more.

I'll take your NeoGeo pocket, they're actually pretty cool and really hackable (a blank cart and writer are pretty cheap).

Re:I tried an alternate handheld once....

[Kenshin]

The thing that really annoyed me about that is that they didn't just pull the NGPC from the market... they sent out an order to pull all the games FROM THE SHELVES!

Immediately it was next to impossible to find any games for this nice little system I had...

Re:I tried an alternate handheld once....

[Zphbeeblbrox]

Exactly, They could at least have let the stores sell out the games they did have. Instead they pulled the games and player from the market practically overnight. It's not like they couldn't have at least left the games for those of us who recognized the platforms superior attributes and invested in it.

PSP Delay Expected

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, it's only been a day and at least one analyst is predicting a delay until June.

Re:PSP Delay Expected

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes but analysts are approximately two-thirds anal

long-held portable gaming throne?

[AC-x]

"Nintendo DS's long-held portable gaming throne"

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!

Re:long-held portable gaming throne?

[sokoban]

I think it is kind of odd too that Nintendo has kept backwards-compatibility in their portable gaming lineup, but has failed to do so with their consoles. At this point, gameboy has so many hundreds of titles available both new and old that it probably crushes any console as far as available titles (anyone got any hard data on this?).

Re:long-held portable gaming throne?

[KevinKnSC]

I noticed that too, and it's even worse when you consider that the DS isn't even part of the Gameboy line.

Re:long-held portable gaming throne?

[anakin876]

As far as backwards comaptibility goes, the last generation of Nintendo's consoles switched from the cartridges to the disc format. They would have had to add in the cartridge connector and then designed a software emulator that ran on top of the GC hardware. Another option might have been a device like the gameboy player that just attached to the bottom of the gamecube and was actually more like a n64 than anything else. However, they seem to have decided to discontinue production of the games for N64 so a device like this would be practically useless.

Re:long-held portable gaming throne?

[kin_korn_karn]

I'm sure they meant "Nintendo's long-held portable gaming throne", but they couldn't write that because people who successfully submit articles to /. have a fetish for mentioning product names in the copy. hmmm.....

Re:long-held portable gaming throne?

[fistynuts]

"However I wouldn't say the DS had a long-held portable gaming throne, it's only really just come out!"

In the US and Japan maybe. Us poor Europeans are still waiting for it. Even the ones who only speak English - I mean why can't we just have the US version?

Re:long-held portable gaming throne?

[thebosz]

One of the reasons that Nintendo has kept backwards compability with the Game Boy series is that they reuse the processor.

• For the Game Boy Color, the Z80 was the same processor, just clocked twice as fast.
• For the Game Boy Advance, the Z80 is used for sound (I think), or is was just negligble to add it in.
• For the DS, the ARM from the GBA is used to power the non-3D screen.

This wasn't so for the consoles. None of the Consoles shared any electronics, and the GameCube has an entirely different media.

So backwards compatibility for the handhelds was a no-brainer, but for the home consoles, it was a harder choice.

Re:long-held portable gaming throne?

[thebosz]

Another option might have been a device like the gameboy player that just attached to the bottom of the gamecube and was actually more like a n64 than anything else.

Actually, in a recent Nintendo Power online poll, Nintendo mentioned this. They asked what price the user would pay for an add-on for the GameCube that would play N64 games like the Game Boy Player.

This got me all excited! Imaging playing Perfect Dark with 4 players, 8 bots and no lag! :)

Re:long-held portable gaming throne?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's never been a concern, so there has never been a "failure" to bring this concept to fruition.

Actually, I lie. Nintendo toyed with backwards compatibility with SNES. It never got past testing, but the CPU choice (NES : 6502 :: SNES : 65816) stuck as a remnant of that research. And as any good old-school Apple IIgs tinkerer knows, the 65816 runs a superset of the 6502's instructions, explaining the Apple IIgs's ability to run 8-bit Apple II software natively.

Re:long-held portable gaming throne?

[Anonymous Coward]

One processor can power two screens. How many times have you set at your computer and went, "Damn, if I only had two processors, I could use two screens." There is a little mini game in SM64DS where both screens have 3D characters.

The only reason there isn't a game where both screens do 3D is, there hasn't been a practical use for it yet.

Re:long-held portable gaming throne?

[Orinthe]

Import one--the same DS is sold in Japan and the US, just with a different default language. You can choose English, Italian, Spanish, German, French or Japanese from the system menu for the system language. Plus, th DS, like all Nintendo handhelds, is entirely region free.

On a related tangent...

[Raijin Z]

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.

Long-held throne?

[Yosho]

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.

Re:Long-held throne?

[rmccann]

Not to mention that here in Europe we have no DS. Long Held throne? On a device that we can't even buy?!

Re:Long-held throne?

[ppp]

Not to mention that here in Europe we have no DS. Long Held throne? On a device that we can't even buy?!

Where is this strange place you call "Europe"?

Re:Long-held throne?

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps the person was intending to say Nintendo has long held the throne, and simply stated it poorly. For example, the House of York has held the throne of England for hundreds of years. But Queen Elizabeth II has only held it for, what, half a century or something? But we might say "Queen Elizabeth of York's long held throne" and it might be conveyed what we mean.

Re:Long-held throne?

[Juanvaldes]

It's that place some call the old world which American and Japanese companies always seem to give the shaft.

Re:Long-held throne?

[wheany]

There are 3 major markets for console games: Japan, USA and other. Well, it feels that way anyway.

I was thinking the same thing..

[Viewsonic]

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.

Cheap Media Player

[blackmonday]

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?

Re:Cheap Media Player

[Augusto]

It does play mp3s, and it does have wifi.

I read that the firmware upgrades to it go through the internet, so you can connect to other PSPs, as well as a router.

I have a cybershot too, the only thing that sucks is that my memory sticks won't work with the PSP ... because the PSP uses the smaller Duo memor sticks.

So any new memory sticks I'll get in the future (if any) will be Duo for me, since you can make them work with my camera via the included adaptor.

Re:Cheap Media Player

[astrokid]

It plays MP3s and MP4 encoded movies.
No divx support though.

Re:Cheap Media Player

[Kamalot]

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

Re:Cheap Media Player

[Plaid Phantom]

first: skyshock21- you're not sounding so impressive yourself. Troll. Anyway, Kamalot, I just had to laugh at your calling the 8.3 naming system "special". That naming system has been in use longer than I've been alive. I also find it interesting that

Re:Cheap Media Player

[Kamalot]

8.3 isn't the only thing special about the naming convention. Files have to be called "100MNV01". You can't call one "FindNemo" and have it work. Sorry about the confusion about Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Duo Pro. I find the naming convention for Memory sticks very confusing. Engadget did say you could fit more video on the system, at a "choppy" 15 frames per second. Hardly what anyone would call impressive or high-quality.

Re:Cheap Media Player

[Plaid Phantom]

100MNV01 is a folder you put it into, according to the site you linked. They mentioned calling a file M4V31337.MP4. Thus, the file would be E:\MP_ROOT\100MNV01\M4V31337.MP4

Re:Cheap Media Player

[jt007]

I don't know what is sadder: him doing it, or you searching the internet to find several instances of him doing it!

Ridge Racers latst more than 1 1/2

[Augusto]

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.

misinformation?

[astrokid]

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.

PCP?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony's gonna have a hard time legally selling that in the US.

Irony?

[Anonymous Coward]

Does anyone else find it ironic that the icon on the main page for this news story is a GameBoy unit?

Re:Irony?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes.

Just like they did the last time there was a PSP story.

And the time before that, and the time before that, and...

TLA?

[E IS mC(Square)]

Something like TLA (TLA Licensing Agency)?

Re:TLA?

[gazoombo]

Recursive, I like that!

Ugh.

[Viewsonic]

No offense, but even 3-3.5 hours is still really weak for a portable system. The Gamegear actually lasts longer regardless. You could get 4 hours out of that sucker.

And yes, I was aware you can get longer life by screwing around with settings. But why should we have to? We shouldn't.

Re:Ugh.

[radish]

How many people regularly need more than that between charges? This is a games system after all, not a phone or pda. And for those that do need amazing battery life, just buy another battery, they're not expensive.

Re:Ugh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh...me? I never plugged my GBA (or SP) in more than once every 2 weeks. My DS? Well it's getting a bit more play so once a week. I'd practicaly have to be teathered to a fricking wall socket with a PSP.

"GPU Shortages"?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:"GPU Shortages"?

[Anonymous Coward]

the major department stores did not allow preorders for the PSP

I stopped reading your anonymous troll attempt here.

Re:"GPU Shortages"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Huh?

The reports that many of Japan's larger department stores did not accept preorders for the PSP fearing shortages was widely reported, as was the fact this contributed to the long lines on the PSP's launch day. A few quick glances at google turn up:

Like many other major retailers in Japan, Yodobashi did not take PSP preorders. As a result, more than 1,200 hopeful game fans lined up throughout the long, cold night, some taking up their position as early as 3pm the previous day. .

Meanwhile, shortages of Sony's PlayStation Portable are already beginning to hit home in Japan, with the vast majority of retailers no longer able to take preorders ahead of Sunday's launch of the console."

It will be interesting to see what happens (in just over a week) when the PSP is launched in Japan. Retailers have not been accepting many preorders, and the device will be in short supply.

Sony's PSP preorder campaign was... practically nonexistent. There was no advance warning of preorders, which had most people checking in with shops on an almost daily basis trying to find out what was up. Of course, shopkeepers were completely in the dark as well.

What you won't find if you look around, however, are reports that the 2005 shipment of PSPs sold out. The first day shipment of PSPs of 200,000 did mostly sell out (i saw a figure of 160,000-180,000 in the hands of consumers on day one, which would seem to imply it would have been sold out entirely in some areas), but by the end of the year there would have been many of the PSP's 2005 shipment of 500,000 available-- I cannot find total sales figures for the year but by December 26 only 360,000 PSP units had been sold, which would have meant nearly half of the PSPs sold were on the first day. Again, the illusion of PSP "shortages" appears to mostly be a result of low availability on the first day, and since such a large chunk of 2005's PSPs weren't sold it seems reasonable to say that even if Sony had had more GPUs, they would NOT have sold any more PSPs.

PSP will fail

[Darthmalt]

..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.

Re:PSP will fail

[rcs1000]

I am a gadget freak. I own both the PSP and the DS. I have owned every Nintendo Console and handheld since the original GB and the SNES.

The PSP will win, unfortunately. It is the better machine. There really is no contest. The screen rocks. The movie playing rocks. Super Nintendo 64 DS has graphics slightly worse than the N64 version. Ridger Racers has better graphics than - the admittedly disappointing - Ridge Racer V launch title for the PS2.

I will mourn Nintendo losing the handheld throne. They truly are good guys in an industry full of punks.

But /.'ers need to understand: once you've seen the PSP, once you've played the PSP, you'll want to own one.

Re:PSP will fail

[lavar78]

AFAIC, neither system is as good as the GBA SP. It has a great game library, excellent battery life, and it's extremely portable.

BTW, you really need to do yourself a favor and buy the NES.

Re:PSP will fail

[Anonymous Coward]

Who are the morons modding this up?

It is full of factual errors. Don't mod things up if you don't know if the facts contained within to be true.

Re:PSP will fail

[Darthmalt]

Not sure what you meant by do yourself a favor and buy the nes but that gave me an idea.

why doesnt nintendo rerelease the NES price it $50 or less and watch the things fly off the shelves. esp. around christmas. Surely they could be made cheap very easily with todays technology and components. Make it look just like the original but remove the blinkies problem

Re:PSP will fail

[ooPo]

The war of the handhelds will be a war of prices, not power. If Nintendo gets off its ass and changes the DS price to $99, or even lower, they will have no problem selling circles around Sony. The PSP, while worth the extra cost, will not appeal to the traditional handheld market of parents buying for their kids. Its not cheap or rugged enough.

What Sony needs to do is create a new market, much like what the Xbox is doing. Unfortunately, this kind of market creation is expensive, in time or money, and you have to wonder how long Sony will eat losses to make it happen in one generation.

Either way, its a good time to be a gamer. Both are quite enjoyable...

Re:PSP will fail

[focitrixilous P]

Super Nintendo 64 DS has graphics slightly worse than the N64 version.

I own Mario DS, and the graphics aren't really worse. The textures are improved (mario's jeans have texture) but some things are simplified to be more visible on the small screen. I'd say they are just about the same, if not better.

But /.'ers need to understand: once you've seen the PSP, once you've played the PSP, you'll want to own one.

I'm sure the graphics rock, but sony has a less than perfect record of harware endurance compared to nintendo (PS2 disc read error has hit a lot of people) and I can only imagine what it will be like in a handheld.

Also, Remember what has killed every technically superior hand held: Battery Life. Sega's attempt had far superior graphics, backlit screen, it was awesome. The problem: battery life. DS lasts 8-10 hours, PSP 2-6 depending on use. That might be bad for sony.

I just can't risk it. I'll let this one slide for a while and see how the hardware holds up in the real world, though it does look promising. Ridge Racer does look amazing.

Re:PSP will fail

[Plaid Phantom]

The PSP will win, unfortunately. It is the better machine.

Not to be a nay-sayer, but tell that to SNK, Sega, and Atari. The NeoGeo Pocket, Game Gear, and Lynx were all better than the Game Boy yet the Game Boy is the only one that's lived past its first generation. Sony has a climb if they hope to break the curse (if I may call it that). Even with the name recognition. I somehow doubt that your non-techsmart "soccer moms" (and dads...you know what I mean) will have a really good idea that the PSP is better. I have a feeling that they'll see "Game Boy" and grab it because they're familiar with the name. Initially, at least. But by the time they know the difference, it may be too late. Unless there's fewer of these people left than I think there are.

I honestly hope I'm wrong. I hope Sony stays around and gives Nintendo a run for their money, if only so Nintendo will get off their arses and actually come up with a winning a system against real competition, which I haven't seen them do since the SNES.

Re:PSP will fail

[Miraba]

Actually, according to a few articles I read when the DS was first being being written up, Nintendo has said that they will be making a proper GB2. I expect a major graphics upgrade then.

Re:PSP will fail

[lavar78]

Not sure what you meant by do yourself a favor and buy the nes

He said he owned every Nintendo system since the SNES. Personally, I think it's a crying shame there are console gamers who've never played/owned the NES. So yes, I like your idea. Unfortunately for Nintendo, it would probably undercut GCN sales. FWIW, you can probably find a used NES pretty easily.

Re:PSP will fail

[vrai]

No self respecting 18-35 year old is going to start playing a DS on the train. It looks like a childs toy because, in essence, that's what it is. The PSP looks cool - I've yet to use mine without generating a crowd of admiring observers. In comparison I've had my DS for over a month more and it's never generated anything like the same interest.

For the market Sony is aiming at the price difference is trival. They are after the kind of consumers who upgrade their phones every three months and happily spend hundreds of pounds/dollars/euros on the latest and greatest gadgets. When Sony released the original Playstation they made gaming acceptable to the mainstream. Nintendo and Sega were/are seen as toy companies - Sony were the acceptable face of videogaming. Handheld games machines are still seen as toys. In the UK I have never seen an adult playing on a Gameboy in public - ever. Sony will market the PSP as a portable entertainment device - a machine that plays music, videos and (whisper it) games. Expect an enormous marketing blitz that emphasises the 'cool' aspect of the machine, rather than it's (admittedly very good) abilities as gaming device.

Re:PSP will fail

[MilenCent]

Don't count Sony out yet, they started out behind the Dreamcast after all, but it didn't take long to make up for all that lost ground. The portable race this time is more competitive that the DCD/PS2 battle, though.

Re:PSP will fail

[MilenCent]

Wow, you've gotten so many replies I feel kinda bad for adding another one. But no one's addressed this point yet, so here goes.

The PSP is not obviously the better machine. 3D graphics quality is better, but I think it could be said that means less on a portable. The smaller screen sizes make it a lot more difficult to judge rendering quality. This helps the PSP in comparasions with the PS2, but it also helps the DS.

Also, due to the way the portable market has developed (almost completely all Nintendo), 2D gaming is still big in handhelds. If it does come down to 2D gameplay in the portable space, then DS has a clear advantage, since it has a dedicated chip for both screens, and according to Konami (referring to their upcoming sequel to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for the DS), is better at pushing sprites than the PS1.

Finally a minor correction, the DS actually has better 3D graphics than the N64 (though again, it's harder to see this on the smaller screen), but it can only use its 3D hardware on one screen at a time.

Re:PSP will fail

[unclethursday]

Ok, I'll bite...

No self respecting 18-35 year old is going to start playing a DS on the train. It looks like a childs toy because, in essence, that's what it is.

Which would mean you aren't self respecting of yourself, since you not only say you have a DS but have pulled it out in public, right?

The PSP looks cool - I've yet to use mine without generating a crowd of admiring observers. In comparison I've had my DS for over a month more and it's never generated anything like the same interest.

So, you try and look cool by playing handhelds? Or do you try and show off that you have money to burn because of import prices to the UK? The PSP looks to be going for £196 for the standard pack, and £228 for the value pack, plus shipping, plus a potential customs duty, plus handling fee for UK courier, plus 17.5% of the price (for tax? not sure, just going by what I know from some UK importers I know)... that's a pretty hefty amount of money for a system just to have it 4 months before UK launch. How many games do you have for it, too? The price I see for games is US $59.90 (£32.0668).

Figure the DS is probably going for £100-£150 import price plus everything mentioned above (unless you can find a local import shop, but then they still charge more than the online importers for the console, but none of the extra fees are there after the price); plus games and all that jazz. Man, you must have money to burn, since you're importing electronics all the time.

When Sony released the original Playstation they made gaming acceptable to the mainstream. Nintendo and Sega were/are seen as toy companies - Sony were the acceptable face of videogaming.

Yeah, and look at the signal to noise ratio on the PlayStation line of consoles too. Sony brought us shovelware and then some. And look at what Sony has made the biggest selling franchise: Madden. Joy. Now there's frat boys and morons out there playing games who never would have touched them before the PSOne-- and I'd rather they weren't playing the games. That's the SpikeTV crowd, that's the MTV crowd, thats the crowd where if there was some genetic disease that would kill off stupid people, they'd all die.

Sony will market the PSP as a portable entertainment device - a machine that plays music, videos and (whisper it) games.

A device where you have to buy all sorts of over-priced Sony made or licensed products to use those multimedia features. Memory Stick Duo prices are outrageous for their sizes. And UMD movie disks haven't seen a US or UK and European price yet. Plus, who in their right mind is going to buy a movie a second time just to watch it on their PSP, especially when the UMD version won't have the special features and such available on DVD?

You made a good troll attempt, really... but we have yet to see how well the PSP will do in all the markets. The PSP hasn't sold out in Japan, in fact, the numbers showed it didn't even sell through 71% of its total shipped number in 2004 in Japan... and we won't know how it will do in the US and Europe, yet, because we STILL don't know the US/European price, or launch date, or price of games.

Re:PSP will fail

[vrai]

Which would mean you aren't self respecting of yourself, since you not only say you have a DS but have pulled it out in public, right?

What can I say - I'm a geek, and a geek who collects games consoles at that.

... that's a pretty hefty amount of money for a system just to have it 4 months before UK launch. How many games do you have for it, too?

I work in the City and so have a high disposable income. I choose to spend part of this income on games consoles, others spend it on coke - each to their own. Plus new console releases are few and far between - the last major one was the GBA/SP - so over time it isn't too expensive.

That's the SpikeTV crowd, that's the MTV crowd, thats the crowd where if there was some genetic disease that would kill off stupid people, they'd all die.

Damn right - but in case you hadn't noticed the world (or at least the Anglo-Saxon portion of it) is run by and for the lowest common denominator. A credit bubble has given them huge disposable incomes and they've chosen to spend it on a Playstation and EA FIFA/Madden/Hockey. These days image is everything, if its wasn't Nike would not be able to sell 2 dollars worth of shoe for 150 dollars.

Oh, and the PSP does look nice. It looks like someone took the time to design it - the DS looks like they only remembered about the casing at the last moment.

You made a good troll attempt, really... but we have yet to see how well the PSP will do in all the markets.

Shame, you were doing so well but couldn't resist a little ad hominem at the end. Anyway - obviously we'll have to wait and see. But of the two machine only the PSP has any chance of mainstream acceptance. There's always the chance it could flop 3DO style; but the DS will be, at best, a fun piece of curio.

PaintShop Pro...?

[argent]

I thought PSP has already been out for years...

Actually, RR might be more than 3 hours ...

[Augusto]

http://psp.ign.com/articles/574/574557p2.html

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 ... specially one with such a high quality screen.

Re:Actually, RR might be more than 3 hours ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, because lower quality screens are like black holes that suck up light.

Re:Actually, RR might be more than 3 hours ...

[Augusto]

Huh?

No, it means the highest brightness setting is way too bright on the PSP when compared to other handhelds, so it's not unreasonable to set it to medium when comparing it.

Re:Actually, RR might be more than 3 hours ...

[Anonymous Coward]

What does screen quality have to do with light quality?

Be nice!

[Id guy]

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!

Re:Be nice!

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

Yeah, just like the: GameGear, TurboExpress, Lynx, NeoGeo Pocket, Sega Nomad, etc. did in the past?

Re:Be nice!

[Anonymous Coward]

They already had a "knock back" when the PlayStation took dominance over the N64. I highly doubt that Nintendo is in anyway moronic about the handheld industry.

They have a tighter stranglehold on the handheld game industry than Microsoft has on the desktop OS industry. Afterall, Linux and Mac have taken whole percentages away from Windows dominance. There hasn't been a non-Gameboy handheld system to take away more than 1% market dominance (worldwide) from Gameboy ever. The Wonderswan came close with 3% in Japan but so much under 1%, close to 0%, worldwide since it didn't release outside of Japan.

Think about it. Microsoft completely wipes the floor with Apple in desktop OS dominance sure, but if M$ released an "iPod killer" would it kill iPod just because it's from Microsoft? I think not. Just because a company is #1 in one product they sell, doesn't mean they're gonna be #1 in every product they sell. Palm OS's higher popularity over Windows CE/Pocket PC is another good example of this.

Sony's console dominance in no way determinds their future handheld dominance, which won't happen. Afterall, Nintendo's handheld dominance didn't determind them to get back the console dominance did it?

Also about seeing Mario, Zelda and Metroid on other systems... it's not going to happen. Nintendo themselves said the day they go too bankrupt to make a new console, is the day they stop making games too. People seem to think that Xbox is #2 worldwide when it's not, Nintendo in fact makes more money from the game industry than anyone else does. If anything, you'll see Jak, Rachet & Clank, and the Getaway joining Crash Bandicoot and Spyro as ex-Sony-exclusives on Nintendo's systems.

Re:Be nice!

[Anonymous Coward]

There is nothing trollish about the above comment.

Get 'em, M2. You know what to do. As for this comment here, yep, it's off-topic.

From the creator of Rez...

[bludstone]

I thought the same.. until I read about this

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/N0 4. 1223.1054.34002.htm

If you click the link in the link.

[SetupWeasel]

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.

What game?

[Id guy]

Golly! I've been trying to get my kid one with "Legend of sucess Joe" for five years! Please! Get me the details!

Rate of Capacity Increase is Down

[jkheit]

Anyone else notice ever since IBM sold off its hard drive business, the rate of drive capacity increases for 3.5" and 2.5" drives has gone to heck? We've barely moved from 320GB to 400GB in roughly that time frame. Its just as bad for laptop drives only going from 60/80GB to 100GB in quite some time.

The only place where there has been some rapid increase is in the iPod 1.8" and 1" size drives. Perhaps it's because there will be much greater volume at these sizes, but one wonders why the slow down. The more conspiracy minded would say that there is not as much incentive to keep the increases going forward at the same pace as IBM once did.

I for one really need more space on my laptop. (No, not for pr0n, but between my MP3s and email alone I'm out over 60GBs).

Re:Rate of Capacity Increase is Down

[Anonymous Coward]

Stop stealing music and you'll be fine.

Re:Rate of Capacity Increase is Down

[Anonymous Coward]

You want room 20a

This is room 20b

Re:Rate of Capacity Increase is Down

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

Modchips

[Id guy]

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?)

Re: Modchips

[astrokid]

Why would you need a modchip, many sony execs have stated that the games will be region free, or to clarify; they (sony) will not impose any region lockout, it will be up to the developers.

SOURCE

GS: Why did you choose to make the system region-free for games? MC: Technically, the PSP does have a region mechanism in it, but, for now we decided to have all region discs work on all systems. This is because people who travel around the world may want to pick up games in different territories. However, each game will only be tested for that specific region and the hardware available in that market, so, technically, not every game may work.

Nah. The real difference between the two

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Not GPU shortage

[News for nerds]

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.

Re:fixing things for fun

[CosmicDreams]

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.

Battery life?

[Chordonblue]

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...

Incorrect, sir.

[Thedalek]

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.

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[account_deleted]

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It's already being sold in the U.S.

[Anonymous Coward]

I bought PaintShop Pro YEARS ago and I live in the U.S..

Yeah, I know it's redundant and pointless, but it irritates the hell out of me that Sony has stolen "PSP" from Jasc Software. If you or I tried to use the term "PSP", Jasc would be having a conniption fit.

No Confustion

[Anonymous Coward]

Paint Shop Pro sucks, nobody talks about it, so any reference to "PSP" will be to the PlayStation Portable.

Next time read your links

[Augusto]

> 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.

Oops

[Plaid Phantom]

...that I'm stupid and hit the submit button.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

OK then.

[millennial]

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.

Re:OK then.

[sammaffei]

I fine this comment suspect since:

1. Sony hasn't established a price yet.
2. You can't pre-order the actual device from EB's website yet.

Re:OK then.

[millennial]

Have you tried going to a local EB and asking? They said it would be "in the $200 range". They never said a price. They said that for $20 I could reserve one, then pay the rest of the price and get one when they came in. Just because the web site doesn't have pre-orders doesn't mean a local manager won't do them.

Mario 64

[mcc]

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...

What the hell?

[LilMikey]

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.

Re:What the hell?

[faragon]

Please, re-read the specs. In fact it is near-PS2 quality. The PSP has two R5000-like CPUs @333MHz (max clock), while the PS2 have one @~294MHz, that means a higher integer performance (64 bit integer operations), the PSP is weaker on floating point performance, with poorest VU's (vector units) and [I]DCT units. Also GPU and buses are less efective on the PSP (as the PS2 has 10 high speed DMA channels). I think that, as average, the PSP is near the PS2, still it is well known that the PSP will not run at his higher clock due to the need for preservate battery life.

Probably, in few months or a year a new "super long life" battery could be availabe, as new games with higher performance targets need to explode the 330MHz clock rates for the chipset. Anyway, who cares, who want to play with tiny screens when you can play on tv? Or, really do you have time to play very much for spending so much money in that apparatus? The point, for me, is not to enjoying with the games but with the computer architecture of these gems/handhelds, it's amazing to see the PSP diagrams! Enjoy, at your option.

Does this mean...

[MadAnthony02]

Does this mean that if I buy a PSP at Best Buy, they will try to sell me a PSP for my PSP?

From the creator of Rez...Meteos for Nintendo DS!

[Anonymous Coward]

Lumines was announced for the PSP during Mizuguchi's unveiling of Meteos for the Nintendo DS.

http://planetmeteos.com/

movie download page

Re:fixing things for fun

[MilenCent]

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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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Prices - Cutting into their own profits?

[mmortal03]

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.

Re:fixing things for fun

[Snowmit]

And despite thousands of testimonials like yours, the "Sony PlayStation 2: It's fun to fix!" campaign never really took off.