Sony Announces PSP Launch Date

Today we have word that Sony has announced a U.S. launch date and price for their upcoming PSP handheld. The date? March 24th, and the unit will retail for $249.99 when it hits the street. From the article: "the PSP Value Pack contains ... [a] 32 MB Memory Stick, headphones with remote control, battery pack, AC adaptor, soft case and cleaning cloth, movie/music/game video sampler UMD disc including multiple non-interactive game demos, and for the first one million PSP Value Packs shipped, a special UMD video release of the feature film Spider-Man(TM) 2 from Sony Pictures Entertainment."

Comments

What's the best strategy....

[Total_Wimp]

To be in that first Million?

Re:What's the best strategy....

[McKinney83]

Go reserve it at your local gamestore. I think at most places it's a $50 deposit, but it means you don't have to worry about not getting one.

Re:What's the best strategy....

[themurph17]

EBWorld.com $400 pre-order (price subject to change). includes 3 games of your choice and an "accessory" to be named later. you can cancel up to 10 days before the release. Gamestop - retail stores - $50 deposit for value pack only. no games to buy minimum. my plan is to get 3 and sell 2 on Ebay to pay for mine. i have 1 order with EB and 1 Gamestop. just need to go to another Gamestop and pre-order there. the Spiderman 2 UMD pack-in is a great little bonus from Sony that should help my auctions!! thanks Sony!

Re:What's the best strategy....

[Anonymous Coward]

Scum-sucking fucker - your the reason the things are so hard to find in the first place. I hope you get what's coming to you.

Re:What's the best strategy....

[Impotent_Emperor]

I hope eBay will not reward you for your speculatory activities.

Re:What's the best strategy....

[Anonymous Coward]

Use the same strategy to be in the first million as the GNAA uses to try to get that ever elusive first post on Slashdot. ;)

Re:What's the best strategy....

[daveo0331]

No, he's not. If there's enough PSPs to go around, then there might be a shortage initially, but afterwards the resellers won't be able to find enough buyers on Ebay. You'll be able to go on Ebay and get one for a little less than what it would cost in the store, and the reseller will lose money. The same thing happens all the time with sporting event tickets.

If there really AREN'T enough to go around, you'll have a hard time finding one no matter what people do on Ebay. If this happens, get mad at Sony for screwing up the distribution.

Re:What's the best strategy....

[themurph17]

the UK release is the week before. i think that helps me out. whatever stock they've built up since Japan launch will need to be divided up between US/UK. I know the Nintendo DS was going for $200-225 on Ebay in the begining.

Re:What's the best strategy....

[aichpvee]

You've got to remember though, DS came out before the biggest shopping holiday of the year. PSP is coming out before what? Though in all likelihood you're right, there are a lot of morons out there who will pay premium to have something a couple weeks early.

Re:What's the best strategy....

[poofyhairguy82]

I hope eBay will not reward you for your speculatory activities.

I hope that Ebay does what it was created to do- match an able buyer and seller. Who are you to cast aspersions towards this entrepreneur? If someone is willing to pay him a higer price for the unit on ebay because they did not take the steps neccesary to get a unit before it was released, then why is it negative for this person to offer such a product? Why is making money a bad thing?

In all truth, the parent posters plan probably won't work- but not because some enitity (such as EBay) decieds that his plan is too immoral to succeed. It won't work because this sort of speculative buying is best for shortages, which with Video Game products usually only happens around Christmas. There will probably be enough units for early adopters when it releases, and the parent will most likely have to sell the units at a price lower than they were aquired. But this failure will be a result of the parents lack of understanding regarding the Video Game economy, and not because what he/she planned to do was immoral.

If you think selling game systems on Ebay is immoral, how do you survive in a world where a lot of Wall Street money is procured through much more evil means? (such as insider trading) Do you not buy anything for big companies, for fear that that product is provided in an immoral fashion (such as slave labor)?

Re:What's the best strategy....

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, buy the Japanese version?

Re:What's the best strategy....

[FatherOfONe]

Well I agree with all you said except the last part. "get mad at Sony for screwing up the the distribution."

Sony is generally does an excellent job of creating enough product for demand. This issue is that they only produce what the distributors ask for. So lets say Circuit City ask for 25k units. Sony will take that as gospil and product 25k units 4 to 6 months in advance. Sony is notorius for not producing more than the distributors requested. There are some rare examples (PS2), but that is very very rare when they don't produce exactly what the distributors asked for. Most of the time this allows Sony to produce a product and then refine manufacturing and then produce a better product. It also allows Sony to not store inventory themselves. The bad news is that it makes it hard to increase supply if a product exceeds the distributors expectations.

So to make this even longer....

Blame your distributor, they could have asked for more. They will lie to you and say that they were only "shipped" so many, but their head of purchasing for their chain could have ordered more to begin with. So in this example; Sony is probably 2-6 months in to producing another product and has scaled back the production of the PSP to what the distributors said they would purchase over the next year, and they can't produce any more without killing "new" products that will be comming out later.

Again there are those rare examples where Sony does screw up (PS2). So a better question to your local BestBuy guy is: "How many PSP's did your chain order, and how many did you recieve?" The problem is that the lacky on the floor won't know Jack. If he is smart he bought as many of these hot items as he could and would be selling them on Ebay for a profit. Or holding some back for people that would pay him more.

Re:What's the best strategy....

[Anonymous Coward]

Me, im stickin with my Game Gear for now. Long live GAME GEAR!!!

Re:What's the best strategy....

[Impotent_Emperor]

I was merely stating my preference and, as such, can cast all the aspersions I want. Speculation is not necessarily illegal or unethical (except in certain circumstances). So, why would I dislike speculators? Perhaps because "make a quick buck" conflicts with my personal work ethic. Or maybe it's because I associate it with the likes of Spam. Both are extremely annoying and a waste of time. If you found something annoying, you wouldn't like it, would you?

Re:What's the best strategy....

[alan_dershowitz]

Because, when you have the expectation of being able to buy something at the store at retail price, you get a little irked when you can't because a bunch of people bought 20 of them each and jacked up the price on ebay. He didn't say it was wrong, he he very well just could have meant it was distasteful. I find it distasteful as well. It gets tiring fighting tooth and nail on ebay for every frikking thing.

It's not even capitalism, it's like a sort of meta-economy. He's not producing anything, he's just eating up finished resources and ransoming it.

As for your last statement, are you saying that basic moral values should be abandoned because you're likely to have indirectly participated in some larger immoral act? It's a good thing the world doesn't really work like that.

Re:What's the best strategy....

[Anonymous Coward]

No strategy required to be one of the first million. Nobody is expecting shortages in the U.S., especially given the recent revelation of the high price for the only pack that will be made available for launch. Even in Japan, where a system-only package was made available for a lower price in addition to the accessory bundle, it took exactly 4 days to sell out of the first shipment of 200,000 units.

Peronally, there's no way in hell that I'd pay $250 for the PSP as it is now. Especially not when the price is guaranteed to drop sooner rather than later, and hopefully Sony will be fixing all the flaws in a future second revision of the system.

Re:What's the best strategy....

[Total_Wimp]

I paid $400 for my daughters iPod. No color screen, no optical drive, no Wi-Fi, no dual processors running at a combined nearly 700mhz withought significant heat buildup. The damn thing didnt' even have a removable battery. It's basically just a portable HD with headphones and a cheapo B&W screen.

My buddy recently paid $600 for a PDA that had close to, but not quite the specs of the PSP in screen and processor. It did have expansion ports and Wi-Fi, but no optical drive that'll hold a feature lenght MP4 movie and no significant 3D capability.

Heck, even a full sized PS2 still costs $100 with no minaturization, no screen, no Wi-Fi and you have to buy the memory card, at a massive premium, seperatly. Oh yeah, it doesn't come with a movie either.

Why in the hell are you bitchin' about $250 for this thing when anything remotely close to it's specs costs so much more? If you're thinking of it as just a little bit better GBA then I'm sure you're gonna be disapointed at the price. But if you look at what it's actually giving you then it's one hell of a bargain.

TW

Re:What's the best strategy....

[Anonymous Coward]

If someone is willing to pay him a higer price for the unit on ebay because they did not take the steps neccesary to get a unit before it was released, then why is it negative for this person to offer such a product?

If you have to ask, you'll never know. It beggars belief that you can write this down without slapping your forehead and saying "Oh yeah".

If you think selling game systems on Ebay is immoral, how do you survive in a world where a lot of Wall Street money is procured through much more evil means? (such as insider trading) Do you not buy anything for big companies, for fear that that product is provided in an immoral fashion (such as slave labor)?

You think seeing immorality makes it impossible to survive?

That explains your blinkers.

Re:What's the best strategy....

[Anonymous Coward]

I paid $400 for my daughters iPod. No color screen, no optical drive, no Wi-Fi, no dual processors running at a combined nearly 700mhz withought significant heat buildup.

Hey, not my fault, and not my problem. The same thing can be had much cheaper now, with better specs. I wouldn't be bragging if I were you - the only reason to pay a premium on common tech is for time-sensitivity reasons, and even then, there's nothing interesting or relevant about this.

My buddy recently paid $600 for a PDA that had close to, but not quite the specs of the PSP in screen and processor. It did have expansion ports and Wi-Fi, but no optical drive that'll hold a feature lenght MP4 movie and no significant 3D capability.

Again, not my problem that your friend overpaid for his tech. At least he can claim that it was for work's sake, though, right?

Heck, even a full sized PS2 still costs $100 with no minaturization, no screen, no Wi-Fi and you have to buy the memory card, at a massive premium, seperatly. Oh yeah, it doesn't come with a movie either.

Great, I'm not paying for things that I don't need in a come console, then. When the PS2 is designed to be used as a portable, feel free to bring it up its price and featureset relative to what we're _actually_ talking about again - portables.

Why in the hell are you bitchin' about $250 for this thing when anything remotely close to it's specs costs so much more?

Because, as I posted originally for the literate /. community (sadly, this excludes more than several people), the price is sure to come down sooner rather than later and the outstanding technical flaws of this first version have not been addressed to my satisfaction, although SCEI knows about the problems. Just like it was folly to pay $300-$1000 for a launch PS2 that was louder and less reliable than later versions, it is foolish to overpay for the "privilege" of owning any Sony launch model, especially considering Sony's legacy of underdesigning their hardware in the first place, only to revise it massively in the following months. Of course, this general Sony rule applies to the PSP in spades.

Now, why in the hell are you bitchin' about the good sense behind my reasoning? Do you have a predisposition towards overpaying for tech on purpose or something, just because you've heard of the brand name before? You asked a question, and I explained why it is irrelevant. There will be no shortages, unless Sony falls back on their age-old tactic of purposefully underdelivering units to drive up demand. It didn't quite work in Japan, but perhaps they'll give it another go here to test their luck.

Re:What's the best strategy....

[Total_Wimp]

The hardware issues make sense. If you wait for gen 1.1 you're likely to get an improved model. But you're price issues don't make any sense. There's no reason at all to expect a quick price drop. The PS2 took a long time to come down by significant dollars and portable devices in general tend to hold onto their release prices very well.

Similarly, your range for prices on the PS2 launch is ridiculous. People were still paying $300 in the store for some time to come. That price didn't come down for a serious while and even then only trickled down slowly. You're right to point out that people paying $1000 on eBay were chumps, but they don't deserve at all to be lumped in with the folk who were simply paying retail prices.

Finally, you seem to have no concept of what things actually cost. you said "The same thing can be had much cheaper now, with better specs." about my daughters ipod and that's simply not the case. iPods are not now dramatically cheaper for dramatically better features. A 40gig iPod runs $399.00 at the apple store as of 10 seconds ago. Good luck finding it much cheaper anywhere else. And "time sensitive" my ass. This device has been this price minus a few gigs of data since it's release years ago.

If you're waiting on a similar price drop on the PSP, be prepared to wait until much later, not sooner, to get it. Since game device manufactures are in it for the long haul with the exact same spec devices, I predict you'll be waiting at least a year to save as little as $50.

TW

Re:What's the best strategy....

[superpulpsicle]

The concept is simple. Let's say circuit city asks Sony to make 100 units. Keeping the math simple, it may cost them $50 to make in 2004. If they wait till 2005 to manufacture again, it may only cost $48. Parts become cheaper over time. A manufacture engineer actually told me this.

Re:What's the best strategy....

[Anonymous Coward]

I predict you'll be waiting at least a year to save as little as $50.

Great, sounds like a good plan, because one year is soon enough for me. Hell, three years would be enough for me (to take even more than $50 off of $250, of course). Because, like with the PS and PS2, the PSP has no compelling titles prepared for launch or the months following launch and is currently severely overpriced. I may be a geek with an interest in new tech, and I may have enough money to be able to afford most of these things most of the time, but I'm not so stupid as to buy whatever shiny object other people are telling me I should have at the popular going rate.

It's not like $50 is some magic amount that I'm waiting to save. The price could be 50% less ($125) and I'd still have very strong qualms about buying a launch model. It's that I don't have to have Ridge Racers or any other of the currently released/announced titles in my hands right now (or even ever - I'm waiting for good software) and don't want to subsidize Sony's costs on a known-buggy first-rev launch model (I'm bringing this up for the third time now!). I will let the beta testers (a.k.a. early adopters with more money than sense) do that for me, so that if I ever do buy a PSP, it will be cheaper and not quite the same piece of poorly-designed shit as the launch model. Spider-Man 2 as an enticement to pay _more_ for a _buggy_ launch PSP? No thanks.

Spider-Man 2, along with every PSP launch title, will cost peanuts in time. It happened with PS2 launch titles (look at this - almost none of them are greatest hits titles yet they are all still in abundance at retail, sealed and unopened, most having been available for less than $10 each at North American retailers for the past 3 years already), and it will happen with PSP, if we make assumptions that it survives (a safe enough bet, considering American buying habits). Nobody is saving any kind of money by getting Spider-Man 2 in the first million (remember time-sensitivity?). Very soon, sooner than you realize, the combined cost of a _more-reliable_ PSP and Spider-Man 2 (if you still choose to buy it at that time) will be less than $250. How anyone with knowledge of Sony's pricing history can doubt this is incredible.

Getting back to something else you mentioned, it's one thing to break down the parts and look around to see how much you can get them for elsewhere. I do that myself when it comes to modularized devices like computers and home theater equipment. But it just doesn't make sense for proprietary devices. It's not as if I could assemble a device from random parts that is compatible with PSP stuff. Therefore, I can only consider the PSP on its own merits as a whole, not as a list of parts. And by its merits, I do not find value in the current model at its current price. Big screen? Great, but it's tied to a poorly-designed controller button layout, an underdesigned disc transport ejection mechanism, an unprotected and easily-smudged/scratched faceplate, and an _expensive_ default battery with severely unsatisfactory functional life/performance.

So would I ever consider a PSP purchase? Okay, why not. Of course that's assuming that _both_ the price comes down by a reasonable amount _and_ the faulty hardware is completely fixed, but that time is obviously not now. No launch PSP for me, at any realistic price. (But hey, if someone bought one for me, it's not like I'd throw it away. I'd accept it gratefully and graciously, still uncomfortable in the fact that such a generous person paid so much for something that has a good chance of failing on us.)

with this price

[Prince Vegeta SSJ4]

I assume they are shooting for a niche market, and therefore will not have to compete with the Nintendo DS (at least not yet). If they can get a foothold in the handheld market, this may be a way for a top down sort fo approach.

Re:with this price

[Reignking]

That's how I read it, too. OTOH, they seem to be trying to position it as higher-quality or with more functionality.

Re:with this price

[Anonymous Coward]

PSP is already outselling Nintendo DS in Japan...

Re:with this price

[EpsCylonB]

Three handhelds will be with us this year, the DS, the PSP and an outsider, the Gizmondo.

Out of the three I think the PSP is the most likely to succeed. Sony's strategy is very similar to that of the first playstation, they don't want Nintendo's market, they want to open up handheld to a new more mainstream demographic. The Game Boy, while succesful, has always been seen as a childs toy. The PSP with its sexy design, playstation type games and ability to play movies will appeal to the same 15 - 25 male demographic that has made the playstation so successful.

The DS will also be succesful due to the current large Game Boy fanbase. However I predict that as Sony open the market up Nintendo's dominant share of that market will decline an they may well lose customers to the PSP if it gains enough momentum.

It would be easy to write the Gizmondo off but its GPS features (cheap for its price) mean it could well find a market amongst older people. It could open up a new 25 - 35 year old market, people who use its navigation functions but also want games, music and film. However I do think there is a risk of the Nintendo and Sony marketing machines making the Gizmondo seem invisible.

There are other factors which could affect the outcome of this handheld war. Most notably there are question marks over the PSP's battery life and loading times, these are things that shouldn't be underestimated.

Re:with this price

[centauri]

Sorry, but I don't think the handheld market is ready for a footheld gaming platform.

Re:with this price

[American AC in Paris]

The Game Boy, while succesful, has always been seen as a childs toy.

No, the Game Boy has always been seen as the undisputed king of handheld gaming. If you wanted handheld gaming, you got a Game Boy; that the market for handheld gaming systems has traditionally been saturated by younger consumers is not the fault of the Game Boy.

There has yet to be a single entry that has even come close to challenging Nintendo's dominance in this arena; while the PSP may stand the best chance yet, let's not re-write history to make the Game Boy seem like something it really isn't.

The PSP with its sexy design, playstation type games and ability to play movies will appeal to the same 15 - 25 male demographic that has made the playstation so successful.

The biggest reason the 15-25 male demographic has been the "big" demographic in video games has more to do with the relatively short history of video gaming in general than anything. You're seeing so many 15-25 year-old males because they're the ones who were playing Nintendo and Sega Master System back when video games really were considered toys for little boys--and by and large the only people playing them were little boys. Now that video games are becoming more mainstream--now that they're no longer seen as the exclusive domain of small children and nerds--you're going to see a much broader market for this kind of thing. Heck, we're seeing it already.

I'm not saying that PSP isn't going to become a serious force--it may yet, I honestly don't know--all I'm saying is that you're making some erroneous assumptions. The world of video games looks radically different today than it did ten years ago, and a lot of the old assumptions really aren't valid anymore.

(On a tangent: I'm not convinced that the "playstation-style games" are going to go over as well on a handheld-sized screen. Part of the reason handheld games so often look cartoony is that it is very, very hard to do the realistic, highly-detailed game environments we've come to expect from consoles on a small screen. What looks stunning on a television often looks cluttered, nondescript and smudgy on a handheld screen...)

Re:with this price

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I'm a 20 something gadget geek, your proposed PSP demographic, and I'm firmly in the DS camp. The PSP can only hope to win xbox gamers and people with more money than sense.

Re:with this price

[EpsCylonB]

The biggest reason the 15-25 male demographic has been the "big" demographic in video games has more to do with the relatively short history of video gaming in general than anything. You're seeing so many 15-25 year-old males because they're the ones who were playing Nintendo and Sega Master System back when video games really were considered toys for little boys--and by and large the only people playing them were little boys. Now that video games are becoming more mainstream--now that they're no longer seen as the exclusive domain of small children and nerds--you're going to see a much broader market for this kind of thing. Heck, we're seeing it already.

So ?, it doesn't why this demographic became open to video games, what matters is that it was Sony that managed to exploit it with the Playstation, undermining Nintendo and forcing Sega out of the business (note: I am not a Sony fanboy, if anything my loyalty lies with the big N).

And nothing you have said changes the fact that the Game Boy has always been very kid friendly. Usually when I see a GB or a GBA out in public its a little kid that is holding it.

I'm not saying that PSP isn't going to become a serious force--it may yet, I honestly don't know--all I'm saying is that you're making some erroneous assumptions.

Where ?

The world of video games looks radically different today than it did ten years ago, and a lot of the old assumptions really aren't valid anymore.

Agreed, the handheld market is not the same as the one that the playstation one shook up a decade ago. However there are parallels. Sony are taking more of a risk than Nintendo but the pay off could be huge, also Nintendo's prominence in the handheld market is so strong that Sony will not be able to walk in undermine them in the same way as they did with consoles (at least not with this generation of consoles). But just destroying Nintendo's market share will be good enough for Sony.

I'm not convinced that the "playstation-style games" are going to go over as well on a handheld-sized screen.

Again I agree, I don't like the idea of playing 3D games with a D pad and on a small screen. Having played tomb raider on a friends N-Gage I was even more sceptical. However I have been hearing good things about Mario 64 on the DS and the racing games on the PSP. I can't afford any new consoles this year so I can take the time will tell attitude.

Re:with this price

[rhavyn]

Except the DS isn't a GameBoy. So how does your argument apply to it?

Re:with this price

[sterno]

On a tangent: I'm not convinced that the "playstation-style games" are going to go over as well on a handheld-sized screen. Part of the reason handheld games so often look cartoony is that it is very, very hard to do the realistic, highly-detailed game environments we've come to expect from consoles on a small screen.

I've seen a PSP. It looks really good. The form factor makes the PSP less portable than a game boy, but the screen is really quite large and high quality. Ultimately I think games like GTA should translate onto the platform quite nicely.

I've not seriously considered buying a gameboy since the first generation one that I used to play tetris on all the time. The PSP is really tempting me though because it has the potential to play some more serious games. I probably won't buy one because for $250, I'd rather upgrade the video card on my PC, but it is tempting.

Re:with this price

[generalleoff]

One common thing I still here that is DEFFINITLY no longer valid is "The PSP will just be another Game Gear". People that say that need to open your eyes and read your post. This isn't 10 years ago... In my personal opinion tohugh I think the PSP will become the mainstream handheld machine thus fourcing Nintendo into a smaller nich market that there consoles have mostly been in sence the N64 and I think they will be happy with that. Another assumption people tend to keep making though is that the DS is the replacment for the gameboy. It is not and the GameBoy Advance 2 is announced to come out in the next few years. This little fact does give Nintendo a good chance to change there marketing stratagy after they see whats up as SONY can be included in the people that assumed the DS was the next GameBoy and thus Nintendo foruced everyone to play there cards early.

Re:with this price

[EpsCylonB]

It plays Game Boy games, it's killer launch title is Mario 64. It's Nintendo which people associate with a "for kids" image. Bearing all that in mind it's fanbase is likely to be made up largely of former GB and GBA owners.

Re:with this price

[Bill_the_Engineer]

The biggest reason the 15-25 male demographic has been the "big" demographic in video games has more to do with the relatively short history of video gaming in general than anything. You're seeing so many 15-25 year-old males because they're the ones who were playing Nintendo and Sega Master System back when video games really were considered toys for little boys--and by and large the only people playing them were little boys. Now that video games are becoming more mainstream--now that they're no longer seen as the exclusive domain of small children and nerds--you're going to see a much broader market for this kind of thing. Heck, we're seeing it already.

I would have to disagree with your premise. I remember Pong, and I have personally owned a Intellivision, Magnavision, Atari 2600 & 800, Sega and Sega Genesis . I had friends that owned the Colecovision, Comodore 64, and Nintendo. At 37, I have to say that my age group 35-41 are pretty avid gamers. That said, let me make an observation.

I never got a Gameboy, because let's face it most Nintendo games are marketed to the younger crowd. I am more of a Grand Turismo type rather than a Mario-Cart type.

Also I have outgrown the platform games from the 80's, so I tend to go for First Person Games and the like. Sony recognizes this and produce products that appeal to me. They also know that I can afford the extra power required to run these games, so the PSP is born.

I fear that handheld devices are a dying market in general. PDA sales are down for the 3rd year in a row, and I don't see a huge growth market in handheld games. I wish Sony luck in their new venture.

Re:with this price

[iamhassi]

"It would be easy to write the Gizmondo..."

That Gizmondo sounds like a very interesting device indeed, bascially the PocketPC equivalent of the Tapwave. That 400mhz Samsung ARM processor should be impressive since the 266mhz Samsung ARM processor in pocketpcs ran games about as fast as a 400mhz Intel chip. GPS, camera, mp3 and movie player all in one.

However at $400+ it'll never sell, no way no how, not when the PSP can be had for $250 with it's excellent range of titles. But if it had a cellphone too...

Remember folks it's not the size it's how you use it, or in this case, it's not the processing power it's the titles. Look how well the b&w gameboy did for years, crushing all competition that was faster with color.

Re:with this price

[aichpvee]

PDA sales are being eaten by cell phones. Given recent attempts at merging the handheld gaming market into a cell phone and their obvious success I don't think there is anything to worry about for the forseeable future.

I do however agree that there isn't a huge growth potential for the PSP, because I don't see where the market is for a 250$ portable game player.

Re:with this price

[PONA-Boy]

I have both the DS and the PSP.

The play on the DS is much like the GBA, with modestly improved graphics and functionality. It has the new second screen on the bottom-side that is touch sensitive. The DS games are approximately the same size as a SD card.

The PSP is smaller and definitely sexier. The graphics are on par with the console system...MUCH better than the DS. While there is only so much Japanese I know, the gameplay is smooth and crisp, with a flat eraser mouse/joystick on the left side of the screen. The PSP games are the same approximate size as a micro CD (2in. diameter at best) and are fitted into a sealed caddy.

If Sony adds IM and WiFi to the lineup and drops some serious effort into getting games out for it, the PSP will absolutely KILL the DS. The screen and graphics on the PSP are so good that I couldn't put the thing down, unlike the DS where the awkwardness of the second touchscreen below made me quit after a few minutes of play.

Oh, I recommend DriftRacer...it is very good.

-PONA-

Re:with this price

[fwitness]

"No, the Game Boy has always been seen as the undisputed king of handheld gaming"

As much as I would like to believe you, this is dead wrong. When you see a Game Boy in public it is invariably in the hand of small children, or at best some overly-goth teen. Now, in the *gaming world* the GB is known to be the 800lb gorilla of handheld gaming.

In the *real world* however, the Game Boy is seen as a hobby for children. I don't understand why this stigma still exists, and why it does not apply to the prolific and rapidly expanding phone-game genre, but it is there.

After I reviewed this, a thought came to me. Maybe the name has something to do with it? Game Boy? Isn't it time he learned how to Walkman? Sorry, couldn't resist, but removing 'Boy' from the DS is probably one of the smarter moves Nintendo made, even though the name seems to have stuck anyway.

Re:with this price

[x40sw0n]

gain I agree, I don't like the idea of playing 3D games with a D pad and on a small screen. Having played tomb raider on a friends N-Gage I was even more sceptical. However I have been hearing good things about Mario 64 on the DS and the racing games on the PSP. I can't afford any new consoles this year so I can take the time will tell attitude. except that the PSP has an analog stick as well... (that's what the little nondescript knob is to the right of the d-pad)

Re:with this price

[Anonymous Coward]

Holy shit you need to stop spending so much time playing video games and re-take English.

Oh oh - or maybe you could start play some of the better translated RPGs, at least then you might be exposed to the correct use of hear, niche, their, and so on.

Re:with this price

[captainserial]

As a PSP owner I can tell you that NOTHING looks smudgy or nondescript on its screen. The screen is much larger than on any gameboy, and is clear with high contrast and quality PS2 level graphics. People I have shown Ridge Racer to are blown away by the graphic and screen quality. My 20 year old girlfriend is always playing Lumines (which also has crisp, clear, awesome graphics) on my PSP. My girlfriends mom saw my PSP playing a demo movie and said that she would buy one when they came out here just to watch movies on, and she's 50. All of my co-workers love it and have professed their intention to buy it. Go see a demo. This thing will sell to the technology oriented, the new generation of video game users you speak of, and many others as well.

Re:with this price

[tonejava]

Hmmm.. here in Australia you find alot of the 20-30 year olds with a Gameboy and I'm not sure many "kids" can afford to purchase their own DS unless of course a parent is willing to dish out the money to keep them quiet.

One thing that keeps coming back from more senior people is that the GBA screen is too small. They [think they will] get headaches staring at such a small screen.

Granted the games you list are titles most of us grew up with with Nintendo and I think Nintendo need to develop a new theme if they want to start targetting the senior audience. With their "Touching is Good" campaign I don't think they are selling to kids anymore - I'm sure you would probably get arrested if you said that to someone elses kids!!!!

Re:with this price

[jensen404]

Just like the "Enterprise" TV show wasn't called Star Trek.

Re:with this price

[incom]

Actually, there are MANY people for whom the DS is there first handheld system. And having an FPS demo at launch isn't exactly "for kids", neither are the PDA-like attributes, online prospects, launch games like 'feel the magic' and 'sprung' etc. This isn't a kids gameboy, it's a promissing gaming gadget.

Re:with this price

[Anonymous Coward]

Early adopters who wanted Mario all already have a DS. No big releases since then, though they are coming. Also, no importers imported from Japan, since the U.S. version launched first, which means Japanese numbers are not inflated by first-sales to exporters. OTOH, the PSP came out later and has Ridge Racers, Minna no Golf, and a card game based on Metal Gear out right now, with others on the way as well. The PSP launched in Japan, so people all around the world are importing it from Japan to get a hold of one, which inflates Japanese sales numbers.

I do not expect the PSP to continue to outsell the DS when the big releases on both systems hit full stride, and especially not in the next three months (the DS is getting its big games sooner after a sparse launch lineup, while there are no games as big as the PSP's launch games set to be released in the coming months). And when the PSP is launched in other regions, Japanese PSP sales will no longer benefit from the inflated number due to sales to exporters.

Re:with this price

[generalleoff]

Seems yo understood it didn't you? Whats the use in spending so much time giving a damn about something like spelling anyway? Havent you anything better to do? :)

Re:with this price

[Abcd1234]

My girlfriends mom saw my PSP playing a demo movie and said that she would buy one when they came out here just to watch movies on

I hope you told her it uses custom media, not DVD, and thus, like the dearth of mini-disc albums, it's very likely that only a small subset of movies will be released for it (and most from Sony's collection, I would wager).

Re:with this price

[captainserial]

Or I could load movies I rip from DVD onto a memory stick for her.

Re:with this price

[Abcd1234]

Interesting point... hopefully they use standard video codecs. And has it been confirmed that playing from memory stick would be an option? The cynical part of me wonders, considering that might encourage "piracy", and Sony has a studio arm...

Re:with this price

[Zen Punk]

There's a reason the only person to respond to your message urged you to re-familiarize yourself with the English language. Your rambling blather makes my head hurt. If it's not worth your time to express your thoughts clearly, it's not worth my time to try to decipher your meaning.

Re:with this price

[captainserial]

It works, and they use MPEG4 H.264. I've done it myself and it's fairly easy. I put the FFVII AC trailer on it. :-D

Re:with this price

[Anonymous Coward]

How much money does she have? She's going to need a honking big memory stick, and they sure aren't cheap to buy just for that purpose.

At least the low price of the PSP helps to offset the cost, right? Hmm, no. Come to think of it, a portable DVD player would cost less and you wouldn't have to transcode a damn thing. But maybe she wants to play games, so the PSP still remains an option. Otherwise, no fucking way.

Re:with this price

[Lynxara]

What looks stunning on a television often looks cluttered, nondescript and smudgy on a handheld screen...

The PSP has the 16:9 screen for a reason.

$250 for a handheld?

[bbzzdd]

That's steep. I would grab one for $150 unbundled. $250 is too much for a console, much less a handheld.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[SilentChris]

I don't think so at all. It's not just a game console: it's an MP3 and movie player (MPEG4s). Granted, the big limitation for awhile will be storage (memory sticks don't hold much), but you shouldn't be comparing it to Nintendo's machine. Personally, I'd compare it to any of the various video players out right now. For a screen like that, it's a steal.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[XxtraLarGe]

The screen does look extremely nice, but I really can't see too many people buying this for the MP3 or movie functions. Those are nice extras, but how many MP3's are you going to store on a 32 MB Memory Stick? You'd be better off getting a Nintendo DS & an iPod Shuffle for about the same price.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[MyDixieWrecked]

that's making what I paid for mine seem more and more worth it.

Originally, all the websites/ebay/chinatown had them selling for 4-800$ each, and I found a website where I got it for 315$ including shipping AND a game (Minna No Golf). Since the games were selling for 70-90$, it seems I got a really good deal on it, even imported from japan and almost 4 months earlier than the rest of the US.

Only downside is that I didn't get the value-pack, so I only got the PSP and the charger in the box.

I also dropped 80$ on a 512MB MemoryStick, but now I have mobile pr0n. Hooray for bangbus on the train! =)

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Basehart]

"and movie player (MPEG4s)"

That's the best bit. One less WMV player on the planet earth is a good thing IMHO.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[DarkEdgeX]

It'd be in a lot better shape if there were a way to write your own UMD media (especially if it were an RW format so you could reuse the media a couple thousand times). MemoryStick sucks.

I'll never understand why they didn't adopt 8cm DVD media. IIRC, UMD only holds 1.8 GB, while DVD-1 (single layer) can hold 1.46 GB and DVD-2 (dual layer) can hold 2.66 GB. And Sony already uses this media for some of their camcorders (and the only 8cm media I can find in the store is made by... Sony!).

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[k_187]

Because they didn't want you to be able to pop a PSP disk in your computer and make copies of it for your friends. Which is exactly what's happened with the two other consoles that use standard media types (PS2 & xbox) The only one that doesn't, the Gamecube, has no piracy problem.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gee, I saw $250 and thought "That's a good deal!"

I was expecting something a few $100 more.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[DarkEdgeX]

I suppose the GameCube warez I see are all in my imagination then...

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Anonymous Coward]

It took them a while, but you can pirate GameCube games now with this and some 8cm DVDRs. http://www.divineo.com/cgi-bin/div-us/gc-viper

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[ackatack]

It is expensive when you consider the fact that you'll have one more version (UMD) of your favorite movies to purchase that won't work on any other system. I've read else where that Sony doesn't plan on selling UMD writers so that you could copy your currently owned video content to the UMD format.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Corngood]

Pretty much, yeah. The gamecube pirate scene is a joke.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[MilenCent]

Granted, the big limitation for awhile will be storage (memory sticks don't hold much), but you shouldn't be comparing it to Nintendo's machine.

But with that Playstation brand name, people are going to be thinking of it as a video game system above all else, which, like it or not, positions it squarely against both the GBA and DS in the marketplace.

Personally, I'd compare it to any of the various video players out right now. For a screen like that, it's a steal.

People are more likely to get a DVD player (that can play, you know, actual DVDs) than this. The screen quality is irrelevant if you can't watch what you want on it.

That brings us to video playback off of memory stick. Maybe you might be able to get video onto a memory stick, but I'm still not sure Sony hasn't put some kind of restriction, in that regard, into the console. Does anyone have information on their stick video playback function besides "[Video}: "Memory Stick": MPEG-4 SP,AAC"?

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Methuseus]

I think you're wrong about those discs.....

I work at Office Depot and we have store branded discs that are completely compatible. (at least as far as I know. I don't have a camcorder to try it)

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[blueZhift]

That's a little steeper than first anticipated, but mainly because of the bundled memory stick I would guess. Anyway, $250 for a portable game machine may be steep, but as others have mentioned, it does more than games. In particular, I'm considering it as a PDA replacement. If Sony follows through and releases a productivity pack of applications like a web browser, address book, etc., then $250 for a wi-fi enabled PDA that also plays music, movies, and (ahem) games, is not too bad. There was a story today reporting that PDA sales are down again. I think the PSP is a definite threat to that market, along with cell phones. Besides games, all I want is a decent calendar, address book, and a web browser that'll let me surf using my living room access point. The PSP might just do that cheaper than any of the PDAs out there right now.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[DarkEdgeX]

Oh, I'm sure other manufactuers put them out, but if you go to a regular department store like Target, Wal-Mart or such, I've only ever found Sony branded media. I wasn't trying to say they were the only ones making it, just that because of their investment in the media format with their camcorders, that they're already ramped up and ready to go with media.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[TechniMyoko]

You can watch what you want on PSP, thanks to the memory stick

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Wescotte]

The screen does look extremely nice, but I really can't see too many people buying this for the MP3 or movie functions. Those are nice extras, but how many MP3's are you going to store on a 32 MB Memory Stick?

I'd assume you can play MP3 cds/dvds as well.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[SilentChris]

"But with that Playstation brand name, people are going to be thinking of it as a video game system above all else"

Doubtful. Many early Japanese PS2 buyers bought it more for it being a cheap DVD player than a game system. Think how often your PS2 (if you have one) has been the DVD player to use when friends come over. Mine got quite a workout.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Destoo]

The only one that doesn't, the Gamecube, has no piracy problem.

Sorry, that information is just plain wrong.

Read up on the PSO exploit, and the new Starcube loader.
No more skipping.

Your right in the fact that it is not as "mainstream" as a chipped PS2 or Xbox..
but the ViperGC modchip looks like it is changing that.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[XxtraLarGe]

I'd assume you can play MP3 cds/dvds as well.

I doubt it. The PSP uses a proprietary miniature disc (which comes in a tray), regular sized CD's/DVD's won't fit.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Anonymous Coward]

Many early Japanese PS2 buyers bought it more for it being a cheap DVD player than a game system.

Source? Sounds like Sony marketspeak to me. Besides, Japanese early-adopters should hardly be used as a representative sample of the ultimate user base. Personally, if I was looking for a cheap DVD player, I'd look for one that can, you know, play DVDs. The PSP is a gaming device, accept it.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[ATN]

I agree, Sony has made a very big mistake going with proprietary memory technology. Change UMD to a mini dvd format, burnable on any dvd burner and change the sony memory stick to SD Cards that go for 60 CDN for 512MB and you've got yourself a killer system that would sell like you wouldn't believe, and let's face it Sony's strength in the home console buisness is partly due to how easy it was to mod the original playstation to burn content for it. I know that was a huge selling point for the guys at my highschool. I don't know if it was the same everywhere but I suspect it is partly responsible for sony's dominance in that era and their strong position now.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[ATN]

So's the gamecube market share. Microsoft and Sony seem to be making plenty of profit despite all this horrid piracy.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[ATN]

Mine used to too, until dvd players hit the 50$ mark. :) then it was more important to save the poor PS2 from over use and the dreaded laser problems. Although I haven't had any issues with it since I got it, and it's been 4 years.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Wescotte]

I doubt it. The PSP uses a proprietary miniature disc (which comes in a tray), regular sized CD's/DVD's won't fit.

Hmm, I haven't been keeping up with the PSP but I thought it was basically a portable PS2 and had the ability to play actual PS2 DVD games. Very surprising they went with a proprietary format.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[tepples]

I've read else where that Sony doesn't plan on selling UMD writers so that you could copy your currently owned video content to the UMD format.

The only video content that is copyright-owned by a typical PSP owner is home movies shot with a cheap consumer camcorder. Who would want to watch such home movies on a PSP?

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Maestro4k]

• The only one that doesn't, the Gamecube, has no piracy problem.

It's just a matter of time, even now there is a Gamecube warez scene, it's just not as easy so less people bother. Don't forget that the Dreamcast also had a non-standard media type (GD-ROM) and it was hacked so bad it helped kill off the machine. You can find nearly every game every made for the Dreamcast online for free and you don't even need a modded Dreamcast to play them.

Basically if Sony is relying solely on non-standard media to stop piracy, they're going to get burned. It's like security through obscurity, we all know how well that works.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[lordofthechia]

Their new memory sticks will be available in sizes larger than 32MB so one would hope that in the near future 512MB and 1GB sticks would be made available and for a reasonable price. This would definitely make the video and MP3 playback much more useful.

The main reason I've avoided Sony Digital cameras in the past has been the fact that they use the proprietary sony memory sticks (which are usually quite a bit more expensive than their SD coutnerparts). A quick look in the flash memory section will show how a 256 MB SD stick can be had for $27 while futher down the page the Sony Memory stick costs $38 (40% more).

Then again, having a game system using the same memory as their future cameras and such may help boost its popularity and acceptance. I know that if the PS2 had used standard memory sticks that I would have probably considered a Sony Camera since I would already have the media available.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[MilenCent]

Doubtful. Many early Japanese PS2 buyers bought it more for it being a cheap DVD player than a game system.

That's early buyers. This is not a portable DVD player... plus, we're talking about the U.S. market. And again, it's called a Playstation. It's definitely positioned (much as I hate to use that word) to compete against Nintendo's portable systems than portable media players, even if it can be used as such.

Think how often your PS2 (if you have one) has been the DVD player to use when friends come over. Mine got quite a workout.

I don't have a PS2, though I've been thinking about getting one lately. But I'm thinking about buying it for certain games, not its DVD playback. As far as DVD players go, a PS2 is rather lackluster, and new players are going for as little as fifty bucks these days.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[LilMikey]

Pretty much, yeah. The gamecube pirate scene is a joke.

You mean 'was' a joke. The first real mod chip for the machine came out late last year and now with nothing more than a Gamecube, Broadband Adapter, and a PC you can rent and copy. Honestly, the GameCube probably would've done better if the pirates were able to get their hands on this device sooner.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Jozer99]

Memory Sticks are not priced too badly. Of course they cannot be compaired to Compact Flash, but if you look at the price for SD cards, which are of a similar size to Memory Stick Duos, then the prices are definitely in the same ballpark. No comment on Sony's self destorying all propriatary technology trend, since Sony promised a couple of weeks ago to mend its ways.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks for contributing absolutely no content to the conversation, dumb ass.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[tonejava]

Ironically your right, it appears because games are easier to pirate on the XBox and PS2 that they have done so well. Burn a GameCube disc? Okay sure in my umm... ahhh... Oh I don't have one of those burners.......

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[tonejava]

Right and how quickly can you type up a memo using a triangle, circle, square and star???

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[unclethursday]

It's no secret. All one has to do is look at what happened with sales after the PS2 was released in Japan. Game sales were near nonexistant for a good while, but DVD movie sales skyrocketed (at that point, for some reason, DVD players were still relatively expensive in Japan).

Just one particular DVD in Japan, The Matrix, had its release date moved up a week to match the PS2's launch date in Japan, and sold 600,000 copies in its first 2 weeks. Previous DVD movies in Japan were considered hits if they hit 10,000 copies sold.

According to a spokesperson for one such company, "The size of the DVD recording market was about 30 billion yen [286 million dollars] in 1999, but in 2000 it is sure to expand to 100 billion yen [952 million dollars]." From this google cache.

An expected increase of over 3x for the whole market in 2000, and one movie selling 60x the amount that was condiered to be "hit" material within 2 weeks of the Japanese PS2 launch should tell you something.

The PS2 also only sold around 1 game per system in March 2000 in Japan. While that's still a lot of games, a mere 1:1 sales ratio isn't what cosnole manufactures want--especially because of the massive loss Sony took on the PS2 at launch-- since they make the money back on game royalties; meanwhile the sales of DVD movies went though the roof, as evidenced by just one movie out of the tons of other DVDs that ended up selling way more than the games for the PS2 at the time.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, the PSP is Sony's portable that is halfway between PS and PS2 in graphics quality, with a big-ass screen that scratches like a mofo unless you keep it in a case. The game discs come in permanent caddy casing that has a permanently-open window on it, which means sand and dust can get in and scratch the media. This window can't be closed, so keeping a PSP game in your pocket or any other unprotected place is dangerous to the media.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[LilMikey]

? Most DVD burners can burn mini-DVDs. If you don't have a DVD burner you won't be able to burn PS2 or XBox backups either...

Oh, I see what happened now. You were commenting on something without much knowledge of what you were talking about... my bad. Let me fill you in. With a modded Gamecube, BBA, and a PC you can copy off the games across a network much like you do on the XBox. That data can be burn directly to mini-DVD and play it right on your cube.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[tonejava]

Well I must have been given the wrong information because IIRC Nintendo use a propriatry format not mini-DVDs.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Anonymous Coward]

How many years did Viper take? How's compatibility (and the lack thereof), again?

Great job on Nintendo's part, if I might say.

@tonejava: The Cube's mini discs are regular pressed mini DVDs with a non-standard layout that is optimized for speed and many security/anti-copying features. The Viper chip, released in the past few months, is the first to allow regular mini-DVD backups to work in a modified Cube, but compatibility is very low, certainly nothing like the PS2 and Xbox pirate-fests, where even plenty of DVD-9 (dual-layer DVD) games are copyable and playable at this point. Sony spent so much money going through at least 15 revisions of the PS2 in order to combat piracy and try to cut other costs, yet they failed at every step. Nintendo held pirates off for _years_ starting with the very first revision of the Cube hardware. Other revisions exist now (including the the PAL Cube that uses a different display subsystem, the value model, and the Q), but these have used exactly the same anti-piracy tricks as the first model.

I repeat, great job on Nintendo's part. Nintendo's huge success in this area on their _first_ optical media-based system is what drove MS to make anti-piracy measures a major design goal of the Xbox 2. The infamous MS job posting for this position is well-known to have followed Nintendo's announcements about the success of their anti-piracy work on the Cube.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[LilMikey]

I've been agreeing with you the whole time. Nintendo did an awesome job at preventing piracy. I'm just arguing that in the most recent console wars, a little piracy a litte sooner might've sold them some consoles and maybe a game or 3 on the side.

Re:$250 for a handheld?

[Khaotix]

usb port 4tw

Buzzwords

[Anonymous Coward]

including multiple non-interactive game demos

Wow... I never thought a marketing drone would be able to come up with such a convoluted way of saying 'commercials'.

Re:Buzzwords

[dr_dank]

I never thought a marketing drone would be able to come up with such a convoluted way of saying 'commercials'.

I'm sure the same drone will see to it that the "fickle spinning disc of death" from the Japanese models will be renamed "unannounced projectile gaming episodes".

Re:Buzzwords

[Anonymous Coward]

$250... wow that could buy me one alot of those $1 computers and all those free videos i keep hearing about on slashdot.

Re:Buzzwords

[DrEldarion]

Actually, these (and this term) have been around for quite some time. I remember getting a bunch of "non-interactive demos" on the CD that came with my PC Gamer magazines.

Re:Buzzwords

[fox8118]

I'm sure the same drone will see to it that the "fickle spinning disc of death" from the Japanese models will be renamed "unannounced projectile gaming episodes".

Or how about "force feedback"?

Sweet

[Anonymous Coward]

So 25th will be the return date for me.

Yes, but...

[Stormwatch]

...does it still spit discs? Does the square button still get stuck? Does it suck batteries like a vampire? And, most importantly: does it run Linux?

Re:Yes, but...

[Reignking]

Well, the square button getting stuck was not an error, but an "undocumented feature".

Re:Yes, but...

[grub]

re: your sig. If they outlaw circumcision how will guys like Michael get their chewing gum?

Re:Yes, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, Yes, Yes, and No, Respectively.

Re:Yes, but...

[TupperTrenine]

PSM ran a test on their imported PSP and got a 5.5hr gametime on Ridge Racer 4, with almost 100% in-game time. That's a pretty anemic vampire you got there

Re:Yes, but...

[Maestro4k]

• ...does it still spit discs? Does the square button still get stuck? Does it suck batteries like a vampire? And, most importantly: does it run Linux?

I'm all for promoting Linux, but unless you're just joking you have strange priorities. Since the PSP's a gaming/mobile multimedia device first and foremost, the first three issues are going to be far more important. Hell, even if it did run Linux, it splitting discs and running through gobs of batteries would still win the day. Not much you can do with a Linux-running device that has no power and/or breaks its media regularly.

Re:Yes, but...

[owyn999]

Alright 1 I'm a coward and damn proud of it

2) 5.5 hours... They better have an auto save feature cause I would suck every ounce of life from that to get through a game... In a month I had put 220 hours on my GBA-SP that adds up to 40 charges that's more than 1 a day... I played weekends and on the bus to and from work and during lunch I could make it near two days of my playstyle before the little orange light of near death came on... I can't believe that we are having this conversation... The Vampire that is in that box is the disc... the mini cd's are
1) going to need to spin which takes power
2) going to need a brake for when they are ejected
3) if this is a portable system then they better sell those little things that the old CD drives needed the cases that held the CD while they spun.
4) We better hope that they don't split too many of the 50 + dollar a pop discs

and I don't know I don't think I'm gonna pay that much for a system that is primarily an MP3 player because currently most of the games are reruns... I don't want that... and are they going to have VoIP or PictoChat... I don't think so... I don't want it

Re:Yes, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

> unless you're just joking

You must be new here.

Re:Yes, but...

[TupperTrenine]

PSP also has VoIP, along with 802.11b (i forget what DS uses to connect, but I don't think its 802 standard? correct me if i am wrong please) PSP also can play movies in a nice compact format (again, i am out of information on this), and i don't really mind med-low quality on a small screen like that, so you could probably compress one of the LoTR movies down to a gig and play it off a memstick pro duo 1gb. at least that's what I plan to do :)

Re:Yes, but...

[tonejava]

DS uses 802.11b however there are some Nintendo modifications i.e. extra software is required for standard wireless network discovery - they have somehow restricted it to other DS's only. I've tried with little success to track it with a wireless router but there is more to this little machine's wireless connectivity. So consider it 802.11b+N

Re:Yes, but...

[SetupWeasel]

The DS uses 802.11b and a Nintendo proprietary protocol. There will be games that use the regular 802.11b, or so we are promised.

As a Nintendo fan, I don't give Sony any credit for their promises, so I'm not going to give Nintendo credit for theirs. Know that the DS is capable of it, and that current games do not use it yet.

You will pay $100-200 for that 1GB MemoryStick online. That is enough for a portable DVD player that can play burned discs.

Re:Yes, but...

[TupperTrenine]

I'd prefer a smaller player, and something where I don't have to wrestle with encoding and audio ripping and stuff. DVD authoring is such a daunting task that this nice 8x DVD-R I got has been used for nothing but data storage. I havn't even bothered trying to burn a CD... which is why I'd prefer putting a movie file on a memory stick so I can watch it in a nice compressed format. I dunno, that's just my opinion. I really don't know how PSP is going to do. It might fall flat on its face, but then again, it may do really really well. I guess we'll see :p

Re:Yes, but...

[SetupWeasel]

You will have to convert to MPEG-4 to watch things on the PSP. I don't know about you, but I don't have a single file that is straight MPEG-4.

All I'm saying is if you want a movie player, there are cheaper options that have bigger screens and can play more formats. If you want a game system that plays the occasional movie, the PSP would probably suffice.

You are stuck with what is on that Memory Stick until you get back to your computer. 1GB would hold a trip's worth of music for me, but I would probably need more than 1 GB in a day if I wanted to watch video. The PSP does have the cheap optical media, but Sony won't let you use it

If they haven't

[the_skywise]

fixed their japanese launch problems
(like "launching" disks and the flakey square button)
I don't feel the need to preorder... I'll wait for the 2nd generation.

This should be exciting.

[Sheetrock]

Not only will it pack more power than the Playstation 2 (consolidated 128-bit blit) but it'll be the first handheld to really take advantage of object-oriented development methodologies.

At $250 it sounds a bit steep (one would think they'd charge less at first and ramp the price up as more games are released) but hopefully someone will circulate a petition to get Linux ported to this thing! Besides, people pay that just for portable DVD players...

Re:This should be exciting.

[dfj225]

How would being able to "take advantage of object-oriented development methodologies" make any difference to the consumer or the way the games look/play?

Re:This should be exciting.

[SilentChris]

The same way Macromedia Flash made it feasible to create a whole new genre of cartoons (web-based). If you put easier tools in the hands of the artists, more (and sometimes better) art is created. You honestly think GTA3 would've been successful if they were still drawing out individual sprites using assembly, like they used to?

Re:This should be exciting.

[Anonymous Coward]

It will not pack more power than the PlayStation 2.

Re:This should be exciting.

[That's Unpossible!]

one would think they'd charge less at first and ramp the price up as more games are released

One would think they'd charge more at first, and ramp down as games are released. In the beginning it is more expensive to manufacture a device, and they are bringing in less revenue from games sales than they are later in the life of the device.

Re:This should be exciting.

[cbrocious]

In many cases, the easier it is for the developers to work, the more functionality the end-user gets and the less bugs there are. I can see this doing nothing but helping the consumer. Of course, if they abstract things to far it could cause problems, but Sony knows what they're doing.

Re:This should be exciting.

[Jerf]

I too was going to post a "WTF?" post, but are you saying the SDK for the PSP has native and at least somewhat optimized support for OO?

First, I find this interesting, do you have a link to back it up? I tried to Google 'PSP "object oriented"' but I got a lot of false positives for PSP, mostly from something called a "Personal Software Process".

Second, that would make sense and you probably should have made that more clear in your original post; I'm keeping up with the PSP news but I haven't been obsessive about it, and this is the first hint I've heard that there is anything special about the SDK in that regard.

OO certainly isn't a miracle drug, but for game development, it's a better start than an assembler and a handful of libraries.

Re:This should be exciting.

[_Pablo]

Yes, so long as it is the same game GTA3 would have been equally successful.....is there actually any evidence that "object-oriented development methodologies" create better games?

Setting a lower bar of entry into a given artistic field doesn't mean the quality of the art gets better.

Re:This should be exciting.

[Thud457]

Don't be hatin' on assembly & sprites!!!

Re:This should be exciting.

[duckpoopy]

That is just market-speak. All it means is that you can compile C++ code for it.

Re:This should be exciting.

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Besides, people pay that just for portable DVD players...

For good DVD players or low end DVD set-top recorders. $100 gets a pretty decent DVD player. Up to $250 is a good price for a top-notch player with a Faroudja deinterlacer chip though.

Re:This should be exciting.

[dfj225]

I'm pretty sure many of the popular games made in the last few years have used functional programming methods. If I'm not mistaken Quake 3's engine is not written using OOP code. Honestly I think it probably comes down to the choice of the code. I know for GBA it is possible to write a game using either assembly, C, or C++.

Re:This should be exciting.

[jxyama]

>one would think they'd charge less at first and ramp the price up as more games are released

um, can you name me a single gaming device (or any electronics device, for that matter) where the price started low and went up without improving the specs?

you always start "too high" and then lower the price as the demand picks up.

Re:This should be exciting.

[MilenCent]

The same way Macromedia Flash made it feasible to create a whole new genre of cartoons (web-based). If you put easier tools in the hands of the artists, more (and sometimes better) art is created.

That's only true in an environment where the tools are "democratic," that is, are available to everyone.

Flash is relatively inexpensive. Anyone can make a Flash cartoon, and thus, lots of people do. 90% - nay, 95%, or more - of those are crap, but with so many out there it's inevitable that things like Homestar Runne crop up among them.

But not everyone can afford the pricy development kits and licenses that Sony sells for development on their systems. Hell, not everyone can afford those homebrew kits they made available for the PS1, or PS2 Linux.

It is this that tears the "ease of programming" argument to bits -- since it costs so much to make games for the system, only the people who can afford to hire really good programmers do so.

You honestly think GTA3 would've been successful if they were still drawing out individual sprites using assembly, like they used to?

If it were still somehow in 3D, then yes, I think it would. It takes less time to draw 32 or so really good sprite frames than to make one really good 3D model and animate it. Or at least, that's how it seems to me.

Re:This should be exciting.

[zippthorne]

So they'll be using all that power to pay for the performance hit of OO programming?

Re:This should be exciting.

[Jerf]

In which case my response would be, "That's hardly news, is it?" :-)

(Gotta keep an open mind, right? Like I said, I haven't heard any details about the SDK.)

Re:This should be exciting.

[TechniMyoko]

yes, it does

Re:This should be exciting.

[MilenCent]

Not only will it pack more power than the Playstation 2 (consolidated 128-bit blit)

I'm not sure about this... most reviewers have said the graphics look "almost as good as a PS2's." Regardless of blit speed, this seems to be the objective measure of the system's ability.

I did a little looking into the specs of the PS2 though, and it turns out that the PSP actually has a slightly faster clock speed than the PS2 -- 333mhz as opposed to the PS2's 300.

Of course, clock speed is not necessarily a good indication of how powerful a system is.

Re:This should be exciting.

[rpeterman]

What do you mean, $250 seems steep? The 32MB memory stick pro alone is worth the price tag. I'll take two!

Re:This should be exciting.

[mrtroy]

Any company tries this.

1.Get as many people as you can to purchase your product, and get your profits

2.Lower your price, get as many people as you can to purchase your product

Repeat 2. a few times.

It makes sense because instead of getting X buyers at your final reduced price (usually as low as possible so that u can still profit), you get X buyers at an average price higher than final price.

Another reason is it is easier to produce less quantity at your release date (economies of scale are reduced after u have to do something like build a whole new factory), and then keep producing more shipments later on.

Re:This should be exciting.

[Alan Partridge]

I've been working with one recently and the gfx look a lot more like enhanced PS1 than PS2. there are definitely some nice particle and lighting effects that the PS1 doesn't offer, but it definitely looks a LONG way down on polygons compared to the PS2.

It's till absolutely fantastic, though. I love the machine.

Re:This should be exciting.

[Banshee99]

So they'll be using all that power to pay for the performance hit of OO programming?

This is what makes Slashdot so exciting. Ignorant people preaching falsities as fact. OO does not incur any noticable performance hit. And for people who do OOD, it actually speeds up development, which is a more important factor.

Re:This should be exciting.

[Anonymous Coward]

More powerful than the Playstation 2? If this is the case then why are the games nowhere close to the PS2 standard of graphical quality?

Re:This should be exciting.

[Destoo]

More marketing power, that's for sure.

Re:This should be exciting.

[Luthair]

Game systems also get royalty on games sold, often the system gets sold at a loss!

Re:This should be exciting.

[alan_dershowitz]

You can't even program in C++ for most of the other handhelds, which is a PITA if you are used to programming using OO. There's no compiler, or it's 8-bit and precludes having a C++ compiler, etc.

The GBA can have stuff compiled in C++, but if you start actually USING the functionality, you bog it down with virtual method tables and RTTI and it's slow as crap.

So, by virtue of being significantly faster and having more storage than most other handhelds of the past, it can take advantage of C++, where the others could not.

I'm certain that's all that it meant.

Re:This should be exciting.

[Radius9]

You can turn off RTTI and you don't have to use virtual functions, in which case, the C++ on the GBA is fast enough. I have programmed the GBA, and in C++, and it wasn't a problem.

Re:This should be exciting.

[alan_dershowitz]

This is true, but then you don't get the benefits of them, which is the problem.

A particular problem with it on the GBA, having all the extra crap in the binary makes the size so much bigger that it can exceed the limitation on binaries you can send over the link cable. I have a cart writer myself so it's not a problem for me, but I've heard others complain about it.

Re:This should be exciting.

[tepples]

Don't be hatin' on assembly & sprites!!!

It's too bad that Grand Theftendo, the game you mention, will never see a release on cartridge, as nobody can manufacture the MMC5 mapper chip that it uses without buying up expensive Castlevania 3 carts and tearing them apart.

Re:This should be exciting.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm pretty sure many of the popular games made in the last few years have used functional programming methods.

Not that I've heard. I don't think there are many examples of games that've been written in functional programming languages. I read about one that used a form of LISP for internal scripting, but that's about it.

If I'm not mistaken Quake 3's engine is not written using OOP code.

Correct. However, that was 90s technology. They switched to C++ for Doom 3, which strongly implies OOP.

Re:This should be exciting.

[solios]

If object-oriented programmings means what I always _thought_ it did but doesn't _seem_ to (that is, a string of modules knitted together like a necklace, self-contained), then it would have the potential to speed the annoying bits of game development by reusing and making minor improvements to things that already work.

Hell, look at any EA sports title.

Re:This should be exciting.

[AmberBlackCat]

Sheetrock's comment is just another example of why night clubs aren't worried about competition from Slashdot as a place to meet people.

Re:This should be exciting.

[Anonymous Coward]

Do some research into the actual clock speed used on that 333 MHz part.

Really, the PSP does not match the PS2 in any way.

Re:This should be exciting.

[Anonymous Coward]

no it doesn't

Re:This should be exciting.

[SetupWeasel]

Because this is the era of videogames in which XBOX can be the "most powerful console ever" when GameCube games can push more polygons. It's all about spinning the best theoretical number as the most important feature in your console.

Re:This should be exciting.

[Anonymous Coward]

You two don't know what you're talking about. The two C++ features you don't use in embedded development are RTTI and exception handling. Virtual functions are fine.

RTTI has a heavy cost on any MPU, but it's a feature of C++ you don't need if you know how to use the language properly. It is no worse on GBA than on any other small embedded machine. But if you miss RTTI in C++ you're not trying very hard. It doesn't enable anything new.

Exception handling is harder to do without since constructors cannot fail, but again it is perfectly possible to write large C++ projects without EH by using MFC-style methods of construct + initialize. C++ didn't used to have EH so there are widely understood idioms to get around that.

PSP programmers don't use RTTI and EH. GBA programmers don't use RTTI and EH. Many PC programmers don't need them. These are useful but optional features of C++.

Virtual functions on the other hand are fundamental to C++ and are cheap on all modern MPUs, the GBA's ARM7 being no exception. It is 1 more cycle to do a call through pointer versus a linked call. GBA games in C++ use virtual functions; GBA games not in C++ use assembly to achieve the same effect. It's a fundamental technology, regardless of what language you use.

Just to recap:

RTTI and EH - no dice on GBA or PSP.
Virtual functions - equally usable on GBA and PSP.

In other words, the whole premise that PSP somehow "enables" C++ is bollocks.

Your specific problems with C++ on GBA are almost certain to stem from linking with glibc and/or using the STL and/or using a poor quality linker. You don't need any of that stdlib functionality in a GBA game. All you need is for the compiler to make object code from your source code. Stick your own crt0.s in and you're done.

Re:This should be exciting.

[alan_dershowitz]

virtual function tables take SPACE. Space is LIMITED on platforms with 96K of memory. They are not necessary if you do not use virtual functions. There are GBA games that use C++, and I mentioned as much. Most people don't want the overhead associated with using the full C++ featureset on the GBA. On prior handheld game systems, it wasn't even an option, you programmed in C or ASM. That was all I was saying.

I agree with you that the PSP enabling C++ doesn't actually "mean" anything. It probably just "means" that the provided development kit includes a C++ compiler. I'm pretty sure the GBA development kit didn't do this, even though the docs said that C++ programming was possible with the 32 bit processor.

Frankly, I didn't even think about exception handling because nobody uses them because they are expensive and flaky on _all_systems, and are not really recommended for portability (not an issue with handhelds I know, but that's not the only system I've programmed for.)

I did all my experimentation on the GBA as soon as it was possible in GCC, and these are all the things we had to do to get stuff working at the time.

$249? Ouch!

[XxtraLarGe]

I thought they were going for about $179 to be competitive with the Nintendo DS. Looks like it'll be a year or two before I even consider getting one of these bad boys. Besides, it's best off not to be an early adapter--hold back and wait for a decent game library to develop.

Re:$249? Ouch!

[SilentChris]

As I mentioned in another post, Sony is not competing with the DS. They're competing with just about every portable video player on the market (and the eventual iPod Video, whenever they decide to release one). The DS is a game player that's wireless. The PSP is a game player that's wireless, plays MP3s and plays movies (just pop a MPEG4 on a Memory Card). The only limitation to its success will be memory card storage costs. At $250, comparing the PSP to portable video players, with that quality a screen... it's a steal.

Re:$249? Ouch!

[Anonymous Coward]

Or you could buy it early and use the PS2 and PS1 library that has been building since the 1990s.

Eh? Care to explain how to insert PS1 or PS2 games into the PSP?

Re:$249? Ouch!

[Anonymous Coward]

You are a dumbass, it does not play ps1 and ps2 games.

Re:$249? Ouch!

[Anonymous Coward]

If everyone hangs back to wait for a game library to develop though, no game library will develop. Early adopters are need.

Re:$249? Ouch!

[KDR_11k]

Hammer. Available at every decent tool shop.

Re:$249? Ouch!

[Anonymous Coward]

"At $250, comparing the PSP to portable video players, with that quality a screen... it's a steal."

If you're the type of person who would buy a portable video player. And you haven't already bought a portable video player. AND you don't mind storing your videos on Sony Memory Sicks (TM).

Then yeah, pick it right up.

Re:$249? Ouch!

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not entirely true. Sure, it may have more features than the DS, however as long as it's primary function is playing games, it will be competing with the DS. The bottom line is, if someone is looking to buy a portable gaming system, they will be choosing between the DS and the PSP. Only a very small percentage of the market will own both. That's competition is my book. You can spout Sony's marketing-speak about how the PSP is in a class by itself and has a long list of extra features, but that doesn't change the fact that as long as consumers see them as competing products, they will be. Not saying that being able to play MP3s and movies isn't a good thing, put you're paying a premium to get those features. Many people just want a portable gaming device and that's a steep price to ask them to pay for features they don't want and won't use. So those people who might otherwise have bought a PSP, will end up getting a DS just because it's a lot cheaper. Net effect: Sony loses profits due to the DS. Whether Sony likes it or not, they're competing with the DS.

Re:$249? Ouch!

[Pxtl]

Two launch titles I've seen so far are WipeOut and Armored Core. Those are easily two of the best console titles I've ever played. I've followed both series on the PS1 and PS2, and they haven't failed to impress - but never seem to pick up a massive following here for some reason.

Meanwhile, the best stuff I see on the GameBoy is just Nintendo being formulaic - timewasters and remakes. I really can't find titles that make my happy for my GBA. While the DS has real potential with its sexy hardware and stylus, the only game that's turned my crank on that thing is the new Metroid demo (finally a console FPS with a real aiming device).

Re:$249? Ouch!

[SoVeryWrong]

Yea, the Sony Memory Stick thing is a dealbreaker for me. Considering that even the Memory Stick Pro only goes up to 1Gig, and they cost a hell of a lot more than a comparable Compact Flash or Secure Digital card.

I thought Sony said they learned their lesson from the new Walkman...

Re:$249? Ouch!

[millennial]

I read that as:
Hammer. Available at every decent tool shop. only in Kenya.
Which makes it even funnier. Want to play PS1/PS2 games on your PSP? Go to Africa and buy a hammer...

Re:$249? Ouch!

[Anonymous Coward]

Except that Sony IS competing with the DS. It's called the PSP (PlayStation Portable), not the Sony MediaMan. It's sold in game stores. Most interest so far has been from the gaming community.

Who would buy such a device?

1. Children

They don't usually make high-end purchases themselves. Parents will likely make them choose ONE portable game platform. Higher platform cost PLUS higher software cost (and we are talking $15-$20 more PER GAME, plus Memory Stick costs) will be a dealbreaker for many parents. Oh, and no Pokemon for the PSP, ever. Lots of kids like/want Pokemon.

2. Adult Gamefans

Large disposable income, so higher costs aren't a problem. But the PSP is not pocket-sized (like iPod or Game Boy Advance). Only question is- where do they play it? Commuting? Sure- hope you can save frequently. At work? No. While driving? Hopefully not. At home? Why play on a four inch PSP screen when you can play essentially the same game on your much larger home screen. Who chooses to play Grand Turismo on a MUCH smaller screen?

Nintendo DS also offers unique content with a touchscreen component- seems like a better value to me. PSP Networking assumes you have 3 or 4 pals who also have $250 to drop on a handheld only (versus $175 for DS WITH A GAME). Again, why play on the four inch screen versus the 27 inch? What's the killer app? Nintendo already has Mario, Mariokart, Zelda, and Metroid games for the DS, all proven brands with unique DS elements and enhancements. The Metal Gear game for the PSP is a turn-based card game, not a regular port. More money for less content? Who wants that?

Also, what's special about, say, Grand Theft Auto on the PSP? You can take it with you? Where? Where do wealthy adults go where they have no access to a TV but can play games? Business meetings? I can get a CAR with a Playstation 2 in it, why do I need a handheld at all? Kids don't control the TV all the time, that makes sense to me. Mom watches Survivor, you play Mario. Mom drives, you play Mario. Mom is on line at the supermarket, you play Mario. Kids have a LOT of free time to carry games around and not a lot of control over finances or the household.

3. Adult nongamers

I buy the multimedia argument. But why on earth would this person pay extra to be able to play games? If they are not a gamer, the idea of portable Playstation is unlikely to excite them. Can you get e-mail on it? If not, no business use whatsoever. The screen quality is excellent, but it uses proprietary media. I can watch a portable DVD player and use my regular DVDs with a similar form factor and much lower cost. If money is no object, a laptop is the obvious solution.

FYI, I have no dog in this hunt- handhelds are not that useful for me. But if I were buying a system, I would be sold on Nintendo's lower cost, unique content, and the Nintendo brand's reputation for quality.

If the PSP was only slightly more expensive than the DS, and the software was similarly priced, the bigger, better screen and movie capability would make me think twice. But, it's cheaper for me to just get an XBox as a second console at this point- the games would be CHEAPER than the PSP ones. And the console is half the price.

The PSP strikes me as a solution in search of a problem. IMHO, Sony should have focused only on games and delivered a better gaming experience for a lower/equal price to the DS. Only Nintendo offers serious competition in the handheld gaming category. They can be beaten.

EVERYONE else in the electronics biz will offer media devices soon, including Apple, which already locked up 70% of the portable music market. If iPod Video lets you transfer the content of your own DVDs from your home computer the same easy way iTunes lets you transfer your music from CDs, Sony is royally screwed. No one is going to want to move individual files onto memory sticks (does that even work with files from commercially available DVDs?) when they can just plug in a cord and walk away. Good luck with 128MB memory sticks when Apple advertises that you can carry entire seasons of Buffy or the entire Star Wars trilogy around with you on the iPod Video. But, hey, you can play a Metal Gear Card Game on Sony's entry into the category.

Re:$249? Ouch!

[hibiki_r]

I don't think the PSP has a chance against the portable DVD players. portable DVD players can play any of the 1000s of DVDs that anyone can buy at their local store. You can buy many used for under $5, and every DVD movie you bought in the last 5 years will work just fine. On the other hand, the PSP does not play DVDs at all, so the consumer has to buy a movie that is not compatible with their home DVD player, or go through a long and probably illegal process to copy a shrinked version of the movie into a stupidly expensive memory stick.

I don't have a portable DVD player, but having 300+ dvds, any random portable player beats the PSP hands down.

Re:$249? Ouch!

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait a minute. You're saying that:

(a) you're excited about the PSP because it has rehashes of a couple of long-running series, and

(b) you're not interested in the DS because it has rehashes of a couple of other long-running series?

Why is Sony releasing Yet Another Wipeout a good thing, but Nintendo releasing Yet Another Mario is a bad thing?

Re:$249? Ouch!

[Pxtl]

Well, most of the Nintendo titles are literal remakes - not just continuations of a series like the new AC and Wipeout games are. Plus, there are six bazillion platformers out there, but Armored Core is actually unique.

Revival of handhelds!!

[tux0010]

Nowdays, very few people use handheld game consoles. Will sony be able to rejuvinate the interest of masses towards portables? I for one definitely think so...here goes my next paycheck :)

Re:Revival of handhelds!!

[spiderworm]

Rejuvinate the interest of masses? If it looked like a respectible PDA and had basic PDA functionality, I might pick it up myself. However, the utility of a handheld reaches zero when the only thing I can do with it is play games. When I was a kid, this might have been an OK thing for me to buy, but what self-respecting adult would carry this thing around? I think there's a market for handheld devices that can be used for both business and games (and I'm talking serious gaming, not Bejewled), since the GameBoy generation has grown up. But this doesn't appear to be it.

Re:Revival of handhelds!!

[Freexe]

I think its more likely you will see a Nintendo DS next time you are on your way to work than a PSP.

If for nothing else than because they are easier to get hold of

Re:Revival of handhelds!!

[redivider]

Nowdays, very few people use handheld game consoles.

Is this based on some sort of actual information or are you just making an assumption? I wouldn't know either way, I'm just curious to know if that's actually true.

Re:Revival of handhelds!!

[sqlrob]

Considering the GBA is the number one selling console, how can you make that statement?

Re:Revival of handhelds!!

[bmabbott]

Yeah, that would be an assumption, and IMHO a false one. The Gameboy Advance has really been the only game in town in recent years, but it's sold like hotcakes: Total Worldwide Sales: Sony Playstation 2: 81,390,000 Game Boy Advance: 65,740,000 Microsoft Xbox: 19,900,000 Nintendo Gamecube: 18,030,000 Sales figures vary a little depending on who you ask, but all sources have figures pretty close to these. So I suppose it depends on what your definition of "very few people" is, but I'd say that a handheld being the second best selling game system in the world would indicate that his statement is false ;)

Re:Revival of handhelds!!

[Anonymous Coward]

All your figures are incorrect.

Of course you won't be able to show sources, and if you do they'll be from 2002 or from an incredibly unreliable site.

Re:Revival of handhelds!!

[bmabbott]

I just did a quick google search and found those numbers on a forum. Hardly an authoritative source, but I've seen similar numbers elsewhere so I figured they were close enough. Still, I'm perfectly willing to believe I'm way offbase...can you show sources proving me wrong?

Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[SpooForBrains]

Some intrepid explorer has travelled to the US and has posted a pretty thorough (and glowing) review of the aforementioned device.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/01/review_son y_psp/

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[Anonymous Coward]

How amusing that even the review unit had 3 dead pixels.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[rkischuk]

I lost faith in the article after reading, "the PSP is the most important thing to happen in the video game industry since the launch of the original PlayStation".

The LAUNCH of the original Playstation was a first-mover swipe to beat Nintendo with hardware originally developed FOR Nintendo as a SNES add-on. It had plain-as-grits graphics on a controller that was half-baked at the time (the non-lettered approach to button-naming confused almost anyone who had played any previous console). It was saved by severe screw-ups by both Nintendo and Sega. Sega beat Sony to the market with the Saturn, but the $399 price was WAY too high, and their rush to market meant that nobody had any time to develop games for it. Nintendo pissed off third-party developers by acting like a bully, and limited game size and (developer) profit margins with small and space-limited cartridges. The Atari Jaguar was still-born.

Sony won that generation of gaming with games, and with CD technology. The CD Audio wowed consumers while Nintendo had their characters speaking in noises like Charlie Brown's teacher. Their developer-friendly attitude left Nintendo scrambling for 3rd party games. Cheaper game manufacturing let them cut game prices faster amd lower than Nintendo. If Nintendo releases a CD-based console and treated its developers with respect, the PSX would have come in a distant 2nd.

That combined with his ignorance of Madden and SSX as A+ launch titles for the PS2 erode his credibility with me.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[Auckerman]

I just read that review. It plays mp3s, mpeg 4, can be connected to your computer, uses an 1.8GB disk for games. I was left with one question, how well does it play games?

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[hal2814]

I think a bigger factor in Sega's rush to the market was their last-minute decision to change the graphics processor. That threw developers for a loop because now the system was 10 times harder to develop for. The Atari Jaguar suffered a similar fate at the hands of programming difficulty. The Playstation on the other hand was based on the MIPS architecture which is taught in most CS and CE degree programs so a lot of programmers were already at least somewhat familiar with it.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[DrEldarion]

I lost faith in the article after reading, "the PSP is the most important thing to happen in the video game industry since the launch of the original PlayStation".

Okay, you described pretty well why the PSx succeded, but you did nothing to defend this comment.

The PSP is the first portable console in a long time that actually seems like it will provide Nintendo with some real competition in that market. This IS one of the most important things to happen in the industry in a while.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[CPUgrind]

Are you actually serious? You where confused by the symbols on the buttons of a PSX?

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[TechniMyoko]

Note: None of the original chipset or technology from the Nintendo/Sony SNES add-on was used in the Playstation that we know today. The new 32-bit console was re-designed from scratch.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[Mitaphane]

I think by confusing he means, hard to remember. I remember when I first saw the Playstation control I laughed. "Shapes for buttons? That's silly," I said. When I got one, it took a while to memorize all the button positions. With previous game consoles a lettering system made it very easy to figure out the ordering of the buttons. For example the SNES: XY on top tier that moves left to right and AB on bottom tier that moves left right. But with abitrary geometric shapes, it's a little tougher I would say.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[SilentChris]

"It was saved by severe screw-ups by both Nintendo and Sega."

Actually, the Playstation never needed saving, as Sony recognized the first rule of getting console marketshare: get lots and lots of developers. They had a ton signed on before the system was even released, while Nintendo and Sega (as you rightfully put it) bullied 3rd parties in an effort to sell more of their own wares. If anything, it's Nintendo and Sega that need saving nowadays.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[diamondsw]

WTF?

It had plain-as-grits graphics

And who else had a 3D system out to compare to? I know you're not going to try and say the N64's were any better, never mind THAT system's horrid design and controller. Speaking of which...

controller that was half-baked at the time (the non-lettered approach to button-naming confused almost anyone who had played any previous console)

So you really couldn't figure out shapes, but had no problem remembering where A, B, X, Y (and sometimes Z) were? I didn't realize shape recognition was so hard for you - infants tend to pick it up pretty quickly. Someone should also tell the designers of international signs.

That combined with his ignorance of Madden and SSX as A+ launch titles for the PS2 erode his credibility with me.

All bow down to sports games, for they are more important than all else... I suppose if we grant you that, you'll grant that Final Fantasy VII essentially defined 3D gaming when it arrived? No? Didn't think you would; it was just a Playstation 1 title...

Sony won that generation of gaming with games, and with CD technology.

So let me get this straight... They had the best technology. They had good developer relations and great games. The used CD's that could store *far* more game data than anything else, allowing for FMV, CD-Audio, and much longer games (and the dreaded "Now loading" screen). First to use 3D graphics and first to really prove disc-based games and memory cards (which allows for a much better swapping and renting of games - don't lose your save file with the game). And all of this from a "new" entrant into the video game arena.

And you're trying to tell me that the Playstation was anything LESS than revolutionary?

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[Methuseus]

Even when I owned a PS2 and was playing it for hours a day (spring break stuck at home with everyone out having fun) I never could reliably remember which button was which. I could remember in a specific game that the bottom button was the action button, but I only recently could name that button as X. Now, with the Gamecube when it came out, I could remember where A, B, X, Y, Z, R and L were because it's a natural progression from the AB of the original Nintendo through the Super NES and on with Nintendo.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[cancrman]

Might I ask what out of this list do you feel were better launch titles? Like many others, I had a PS2 on launch day and in my house SSX was the game of choice.

Ah, as they say, arguing on the Internet is like competing in the special olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[Alzheimers]

I'm sure there's microsoft joke in there somewhere, just screaming for freedom...

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[brkello]

Who the heck was confused over having no letters on the controller? I remember playing the Play Station and thinking that it was pretty cool. And I wanted to hate it because I couldn't afford another console...I wanted everything to stay on Nintendo. Nintendo stuck with cartridges because they found the load time unacceptable with CDs. See, the problem that you have is a common one here on games.slashdot.org. You have this Nintendo fandom problem. Just step away and look at these things objectively. Competition is good, it encourages innovation and price drops. Trying to argue that if Nintendo did X and Y then Sony would have been second is stupid. I could just say, well if Sony did X and Y then Nintendo would be a company that sold only board games. Sony won this round...who will win the next one? I don't care! I will get the best console (i.e. has the games I want to play) and I will enjoy it. Wanting one to beat the others down is fine, until you realize then you just have another Microsoft. Sony wasn't saved by screw-ups from others, they won because they did stuff better than Nintendo. Just because you love Nintendo, doesn't mean that the only way people can beat them is if they screw up.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[Anonymous Coward]

That combined with his ignorance of Madden and SSX as A+ launch titles for the PS2 erode his credibility with me.

SSX I'll give you, but Madden? A little hint for you, my disturbingly ignorant friend: El Reg is a BRITISH website. Madden is an AMERICAN FOOTBALL game. American football is a niche interest in Britain; it is considered about as interesting as tiddlywinks.

Look at it this way. If a new console came out, and the only decent sport sim on it was a cricket game, would you start ejaculating with excitement?

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[Blakey Rat]

It confuses me now when I read walkthroughs of cross-platform games. I was reading a walkthrough of Whiplash and the author for whatever reasons described the controls by the buttons you press, the function. (i.e. he'd type "push the square button," not "push the jump button.") As an Xbox owner, that was pretty damned confusing until I figured it out.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[rkischuk]

And who else had a 3D system out to compare to? I know you're not going to try and say the N64's were any better, never mind THAT system's horrid design and controller.

Calling the PSX a "3D system" is a stretch. At first it was a "system that played back pre-rendered 3D scenes" - the actual 3D games came later in its life, and well after Mario64. The Sega Saturn was already out, and the N64 was on the way. Both had better graphics than PSX - denying that is nothing more than fanboyism. The N64 batwing-esque controller is also odd, but the button layout's similarity to the SNES made it more accessible to existing gamers.

So let me get this straight... They had the best technology. They had good developer relations and great games. The used CD's that could store *far* more game data than anything else, allowing for FMV, CD-Audio, and much longer games (and the dreaded "Now loading" screen). First to use 3D graphics and first to really prove disc-based games and memory cards (which allows for a much better swapping and renting of games - don't lose your save file with the game). And all of this from a "new" entrant into the video game arena.

And you're trying to tell me that the Playstation was anything LESS than revolutionary?
Actually, yes. The Saturn had memory cards and CD Audio, but Sega CD had the 'CD' part before that. The system hardware itself was nothing special, the sum of all the obvious console technologies. I never said it wouldn't have been successful, I say i was more successful than it should have been due to other console makers being stupid.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[rkischuk]

Okay, you described pretty well why the PSx succeded, but you did nothing to defend this comment.

The PSP is the first portable console in a long time that actually seems like it will provide Nintendo with some real competition in that market. This IS one of the most important things to happen in the industry in a while.
My point is that the PSX LAUNCH wasn't the main event there. Nintendo already had the Saturn to compete with when the PSX launched. My point is that the important events in the life of the PSX were made before and after launch, and many of the key decisions were blunders made by Sony's competitors.

The PSP launch is interesting, but its importance can't be gauged until several years from now. It could be merely as important as the launch of the Game Gear, which is to say that it's an interesting footnote in the history of gaming, but by no means a defining moment.

So a) The PSX launch wasn't the important moment in its lifetime, and b) it's too early to say how important the PSP launch is. As it stands, it sounds like the guy's just jumping on the hype train.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[ArhcAngel]

Nintendo pissed off third-party developers by acting like a bully, and limited game size and (developer) profit margins with small and space-limited cartridges.

Actually it was more about the cartidges as I recall. It cost distributors a couple of cents per CD to pump out titles for the new PS whereas with a cartidge based system the cost was much higher even if Nintendo hadn't put a tax on each catridge. So you could charge the same amount for a PS & Nintendo game and make more money on the PS sale. Simple math says develop all your titles for the cheaper alternative and - PROFIT

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[Ian_Bailey]

Hmmm...

Hate to break it to you, but the N64's 3-D engine was much more powerful than the Playstation. Mind you, the lack of space meant the textures were not always high quality, and there weren't any FMVs, but if you are just talking about
the 3-D system, the N64 was far superior to PlayStation.

I also find it amusing that you bash the N64's controller. Nintendo invented both analog controls and the added rumble pack for the N64, something Sony copied after in their (now much more popular) dual shock controllers.

And yes, FFF VII sold millions, but sports games sell millions each year. They are far more popular, and far more important. I personally don't know what you're talking about with FF defining 3D gaming. It was just characters running against a static background. Sure, it was a neat story, and it had purty graphics, but the ultimate 3D game it was not.

Oh, and there were lots of 3D graphics games (that were good!) before the Playstation came out, as well.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[brkello]

Yeah, that's fine, but this guy wasn't talking about cross-platform walkthroughs...he was saying the controller confused people when it first came out. Like...dear god, it isn't labeled "A" or "B"...it's now "X" and "O" and "triangle"...I am so confused. I better not buy this console.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Come on, quit being an ass. One would hope that you wouldn't be like that in a real conversation, so quit pretending to be a tough guy on the internet.

Shape recognition is simple, sure. But just as there is a reason that itemized lists are not measured with arbitrary symbols, there is a reason that numerals and letters are better suited for the task. Even color-based identifiers are easier to remember.

This may have been a long time ago for you (as it was for me), but remember the very first time you picked up a PS controller. Did it really only take one look down at the controller and/or one round of button presses for you to remember that square was on the left instead of on the bottom or on the right? I've asked friends about this before, and the consensus among all of us was that the first thing you learn when using that controller is that triangle is on the top, thanks to the direction that the tip of the triangle is pointing, but all the other buttons take more serious memorization. All for marketing's sake. Think about it (really, dedicate some time if you have to).

Now, assuming you are American, you may be one of those guys who didn't do well on the SAT but got a perfect ACT score, which would explain a lot. But for the majority of people (who tend to do equally well on both, when given the opportunity), shapes are harder to remember than letters when used as identifiers for ordered spaces, which are what console controller buttons are. There's nothing infantile about these people, nor anything particularly special about people who deviate from this norm. We are not talking about road signs, where numbers and letters are reserved for forming words instead of sign shapes, so start making some sense. The next time you write or read a game FAQ or set of steps for a friend, think about the multiple levels of abstraction involved in writing "square button," relating that to the button on the left that is marked by the symbol of a square, and you can see why it is not as intuitive as using numbers or letters.

Just because problems are easy to work around is no excuse for introducing these problems in the first place. Sony, in their attempt to differentiate themselves, created such a problem. As a designer who tries to avoid these mistakes whenever possible, to me it is a stupid mistake that is hard to forgive.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[zonker]

say what you will about 3rd party support but the psx and ps2 have a ton of really garbage games from 3rd parties (of course all systems have their share of junk but the psx and ps2's collection are very impressive). the real trick for sony was to get EA and Square on board. the rest just fell in place with the help of excellent marketing.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[zonker]

i think sony is hoping that you won't look to hard into that feature. by the time you find the answer the batteries will have died. ;p i kid!

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[totipotentsoul]

yeah, N64 and X-Box, those are controllers, what the hell was that thing that Sony . . .

wait . . .

That was the best controller ever. Shapes are confusing? The original nintendo put B before A. My hands practically mold into shape thinking about the playstation controller.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[rkischuk]

SSX I'll give you, but Madden? A little hint for you, my disturbingly ignorant friend: El Reg is a BRITISH website. Madden is an AMERICAN FOOTBALL game. American football is a niche interest in Britain; it is considered about as interesting as tiddlywinks.
Look at it this way. If a new console came out, and the only decent sport sim on it was a cricket game, would you start ejaculating with excitement?

You know, if I went and bought a console from another country on their release date, I wouldn't resent their lack of an American football game. If he wants a solid lineup appealing to someone from the U.K., perhaps he should wait until the EUROPEAN release date. Supporting someone's assertion that a release lineup is crap simply because their culture doesn't match the country in which the hardware was released is the ignorance. Or should I pick up the Japanese PSP and complain the lineup is crap because I don't appreciate puzzle games or Mahjong?

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[SetupWeasel]

The PlayStation controller is simply a SNES controller modified enough to escape patent infringement.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[totipotentsoul]

which, of course, was awesome.

I'm just saying, how can someone complain? Because it's not the x-box controller?

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[Anonymous Coward]

And where on earth has signing developers left and right with almost no care for quality been a problem before...I know I've seen this before...give me a second...oh yea...Atari back when the great crash happened and imo it's happening all over again, but for the most part your going to be left with the latest EA Sports game, couple small games here and there, and even fewer "chance" game that turn out great. Sounds like another chance to me for Nintendo to just wait and revive the industry again.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hate to break it to you, but the N64's 3-D engine was much more powerful than the Playstation. Mind you, the lack of space meant the textures were not always high quality, and there weren't any FMVs, but if you are just talking about
the 3-D system, the N64 was far superior to PlayStation.

Nope. Playstation, even then, could render more polygons per second with full effects than the N64. No texture antialiasing, but it could.

Ever wondered why did most N64 games have that gruesome fog? Cause the lack of polygon rendering speed didn't allow for a deep field of view, that's why.

Nintendo invented both analog controls and the added rumble pack for the N64

Bullshit. Sega bundled an analog controller with the Nights game for Saturn, much before N64, and Sony then introduced an analog controller with two analog sticks, again before N64.

Oh, and there were lots of 3D graphics games (that were good!) before the Playstation came out, as well.

I'll tell you where they were: on arcades. PSX and Saturns were the first consoles to bring real 3D gaming to most houses.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Calling the PSX a "3D system" is a stretch. At first it was a "system that played back pre-rendered 3D scenes" - the actual 3D games came later in its life, and well after Mario64.

Puh-leaze. Just checking the PSX game list will prove you're just being a Nintendo zealot. PSX was launched on 1995 and N64 on 1996. Even at launch time, the PSX already had real 3D games. Heck, there was a demo disc where 3d capabilities were shown by rendering a dinosaur. I remember playing Doom2 in 1996, when Soul Blade appeared in PSX. And it was breathtaking compared to the PC games. The PSX 3D capabilities were astounding back then.

The N64 was a late newcomer to the 3D gaming world, like it or not. And it failed miserably back then, to the point of losing studios like Rare. Nintendo survived basically on Zelda and Pokemon.

Actually, yes. The Saturn had memory cards and CD Audio, but Sega CD had the 'CD' part before that. The system hardware itself was nothing special, the sum of all the obvious console technologies. I never said it wouldn't have been successful, I say i was more successful than it should have been due to other console makers being stupid.

"Being stupid" isn't rude enough when talking about Nintendo. They actually chose cartridges to put some obstacles to piracy even when it meant expensive-as-hell games with serious memory limitations.

They got what they deserved for treating customers like sheep.

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a review, not a history lesson. You have issues if you can't listen to a product review from a guy just because you disagree with him about his specific interpretation of a specific event in history. Weird.

In any case, whatever you might feel about the circumstances of the PSX launch at the time, it was an important moment in video game history, as we can see with hindsight (please switch yours on now).

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Playstation, even then, could render more polygons per second with full effects than the N64."

Patently false. Textures were bigger and more plentiful on the PS, but that's the only graphical advantage it had over the N64. That is thanks entirely to media size and Sony's blind-eyed stance on long loading times. These two factors overcame the PS's ridiculous lack of RAM for 3D games, but rendered it a horrible system for 2D games that were not done in pseudo-2D via 3D.

"Ever wondered why did most N64 games have that gruesome fog?"

Nope, because everybody already knows that the "foggy" nature of most complex games was due to the primitive AA approach of the hardware. There was certainly no abundance of games that featured intentionally rendered physical fog as a graphic element compared to PS games. You might know this if you were making (or even playing) games during this period.

"Bullshit. Sega bundled an analog controller with the Nights game for Saturn, much before N64, and Sony then introduced an analog controller with two analog sticks, again before N64."

Bullshit yourself, kiddo. N64 had already been in development with a finalized controller by the time Sonic Team began work on the Nights into Dreams project, although Sega did release their analog Saturn controller first. Sony's first analog controller (which even predates the original Dual Shock) was released after N64. Plus, Ian points out another fact that you gloss over: Nintendo introduced rumble functionality to console controllers, which Sony then copied in the Dual Shock that replaced their analog controller. In both cases (analog sticks, rumble), Sony's solution was to copy Nintendo and multiply by two. Two analog sticks, two vibrators. Were you even born back then, or what? How could you get these common facts so wrong, macho man?

"I'll tell you where they were: on arcades. PSX and Saturns were the first consoles to bring real 3D gaming to most houses."

This is only true in that PS and Saturn combined outpaced early 3D-capable home PCs in sales for a short period soon after release when FF7 came out, before leading to today's situation of there being far more PS2s and GBAs than up-to-date PCs suitable for modern gaming. But there really were lots of 3D games available for play before then, going back to arcade fighting and driving games, DOS games that used software renderers, and early work on games like StarFox on the SNES. Just think of the ancient demo scene and remember that a lot of those demo coders were making 3D games, and even there you have your precedence.

Pre-order on Amazon.co.uk

[danormsby]

Here is the link. Unfortunately the UK price for the basic version is £180 or about $340. :-(

Re:Pre-order on Amazon.co.uk

[znaps]

I don't think that's too bad. The first minidisc player I bought was 150 UKP, and my SNES was 150 UKP also when I bought it. Considering the extra engineering that has obviously gone into this, it seems a fair price to me.

Re:Pre-order on Amazon.co.uk

[hattig]

The US price of $250 translates to around £157 when you add in VAT. So it seems that there is a £23 Sony UK price-bump-for-profits. That's not too bad really I suppose, 15% or thereabouts. Probably around the same as Apple's UK price bumps.

Re:Pre-order on Amazon.co.uk

[millennial]

Wait, wait... why is the UK getting it on the 18th?

Re:Pre-order on Amazon.co.uk

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait, wait... why is the UK getting it on the 18th?

Because there is more competition in the UK market.

Pricey

[Bonzor]

A $250 portable. I'm sorry.

Re:Pricey

[redivider]

Why are people willing to pay $400+ for an iPod, but for a powerful gaming system, video player and an audio player, all in one $250 is too much? Sure you don't have 20GB of space, but that's really the only difference. Plus you can play PS2 quality games and watch movies. You can't really compare this to the Game Boy or DS since it's not *just* a game system.

I *was* expecting the price to be lower, but I don't think it's that outrageous.

Re:Pricey

[Anonymous Coward]

Plus you can play PS2 quality games...

Not exactly a compliment... ...and watch movies.

Provided you buy them all over again in a format that only (for now) works in this one device.

Re:Pricey

[Anonymous Coward]

People pay for the iPod because it has a 10 hour battery life and small dimensions. To claim that the 20GB (which is really 40GB if you want to talk about the $400 model) is the only difference is just naive.

Re:Pricey

[MilenCent]

Why are people willing to pay $400+ for an iPod, but for a powerful gaming system, video player and an audio player, all in one $250 is too much?

The iPod can hold a bunch more songs, is integrated with iTunes, and is damn tiny.

But most importantly, the iPod is hip, so people who'd never be caught dead with a video game system will get one. Not even GBAs have ever been hip. It may be impossible for a handheld game system to be that, in an adult sense.

Re:Pricey

[Anonymous Coward]

You really can't count playing movies as a bonus since you'll have to buy the movies AGAIN in their crappy proprietary format. That means you'll pay $20 for a DVD and $20+ for the UMD. I don't think many people will pay another twenty bucks for a movie they can only watch on a tiny screen with their PSP plugged in to a wall (if the movie happens to be longer than 2 hours due to battery life). The iPod, on the other hand, will play many hours of songs that you can get just about anywhere for less than a buck. I'm afraid this really is *just* a game system. You can get a GBA and a 7" portable DVD player for less than a PSP, and not have to buy all of your movies twice.

Re:Pricey

[millennial]

Yes, but why an iPod? If you get a Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra, you can get a 40GB MP3/WMA/Audible audio player for about $250. The battery lasts more than ten hours, you can copy songs back OFF of the player (rather than just onto it), and you don't have to pay over $100 for a battery (which isn't true for the iPod, last I heard).

Where do I line up???

[georgep77]

I try not to get too excited about new toys (especially now that I'm in my 30's) but the PSP has put a spell on me. I think this will be the first portable that doesn't make any excuses (nice screen, fast processor etc.). Now if I can only convince my wife that I need an early birthday present...

Cheers,
_GP_

Re:Where do I line up???

[Bonzor]

I agree, it looks awfully nice and the power is there. However I don't think I'd get much use out of a portable gaming system. It would be great for those who fly a lot though.

As a best buy Employee...

[bjjohnson]

... We haven't gotten any product konwledge yet. I will say that we won't be able to get it until day one here in the us. I personaly haven't touched a handheld device since my OLD SCHOOL original gameboy. But, this has promise, and with the recent release into the consumer channel of an affordable 1GB memory stick, I could actually see myself buying one. Gasp, I might actually own a portable gaming device. Hmmm.. one quesiont for the masses, would you prefer this device or a portable media center....???? feed back apreciated.

Re:As a best buy Employee...

[e2ka]

None of the Best Buy employees I have ever seen have had any product knowledge anyways.

Re:As a best buy Employee...

[MilenCent]

How much is that 1GB stick? 'Cause even the 64MB sticks I've seen around here (which is, admittedly, backwater Statesboro, Georgia) cost more than a Flash USB drive with the same capacity.

Which is not to say that there are 1GB Flash drives here.

Re:As a best buy Employee...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd rather have an Ipod than a PSP.

In 5 years the Ipod will be as useful as ever (maybe after a battery replacement), but the PSP will be phased out - the PSP2 ppl will be wishing that the PSP3 games were available to them by that time.

Re:As a best buy Employee...

[mr_spatula]

I was checking out the Metroid demo on the DS at my local Best Buy, and I overheard an employee say "The battery lasts like 40 hours. but never play it while it's charging, or else the battery will explode."

I don't think my laughter helped his credibility any.

Re:As a best buy Employee...

[bjjohnson]

Well, I think that they are going for about $100-$150. I haven't seen the price yet. Check out BBY.com. And no, this isn't a shamelss plug for the store, just a reference to where they can find the price. I know that 1GB USB drives are going for $60 - $109. Someitmes you can find tham for the $60 online, or about$70 when they go on snail mail rebate. Let me know if youhave troublke finding them. Also, there are these 2.5gb and 5gb coaster drives that are kinda cool and about $150 and $200 respectively.

Re:As a best buy Employee...

[bjjohnson]

Well, yeh, we have some not-so-smart people. Just like every industry. It just seems that some try to say they know something when they don't. The bad thing is, we have a ton of tools to look up specs and people don't always use them. In situations where the store is wall to wall with crabby people who all want your attention and have no problem interupting your mini lesson on what exactly the dif is between RAM and that GB number, we don't always have time to check, but atleast then, we should say I am not sure on that and I can check for you in a few minutes when I am done with this customer. Anywho, not all of us are idiots. Myself, I am a MCP, and I have a linux training and certifications, I got let go from a job after the slow season in consulting up here and I am working at BBY because it is actually fun to go to work, and the pay for me is decent. I am, however possibly looking for work in the twin cities, so if anyone is hiring, let me know! Peace

Re:As a best buy Employee...

[Anonymous Coward]

Technically literate people seem to have some fascination with bashing Best Buy employees. It's not like your average CompUSA or Circuit City schmoe is any better. It's retail for god's sake. The way it is now is the way it always will be. Anyone who can do a better job will GET a better job. ::}

Re:As a best buy Employee...

[BenZoate]

Thats what my Sone and Nintendo Reps say about the people who work at Best Buy. The X-Box rep is a douch bag and likes the Besy Buy guys.....

Who whould have thunk....

Re:As a best buy Employee...

[bjjohnson]

very True. I am in the process of looking in the Twin Cities. The only way I will stay at BBY is if I can get some kind of promotion soon or a raise that would put me where I could go to school full time and work full time on ly at BBY. ( I need to finnish the 4 year degree)

Popping out

[Enevitable]

I heard that after the japan release, the PSP had a real problem that if you applied a twisting motion to it, the cd can pop out. I wonder if they have fixed this for the US release, other then that, 250$ would put it up with the prices of the old xbox's right? At least they had hard drives ;)

The 2nd Million

[Anonymous Coward]

The second million people receive a small note with a B&W picture of spider-man reading "You didn't buy fast enough. FOOL!."

Re:The 2nd Million

[hobbesx]

The second million people receive a small note with a B&W picture of spider-man reading "You didn't buy fast enough. FOOL!."

It's actually a picture of Mr. T, reading "You didn't buy fast enough, Fool!"

Re:The 2nd Million

[Anonymous Coward]

I pity the fool who doesn't whore themselves out to buy the PSP ASAP OMGWTFBBQ!!!!!!!!4!!$!!!!!!!!!!1

Re:The 2nd Million

[Anonymous Coward]

What 2nd million?

Re:The 2nd Million

[Anonymous Coward]

Re-purchases of the PSP (version 2.0 this time) to those who bought the first million, thanks to design and build flaws purposely engineered into the first version of the hardware. This is Sony we're talking about, remember!

It's all about the form factor.

[bennomatic]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me I've seen a bunch of gaming devices with this sort of form factor come and go over the years, and for whatever reason, they just don't catch. I call it the curse of the wide, center-screen game systems. Well, I don't, but I'm sure there's some curse that could be ascribed to this phenomenon.

It just doesn't seem very comfortable or thought out. In a time when systems are getting smaller, more portable and comfortable to hold, this looks like something designed in the 80s. It may have great games, but how is it going to sell if it doesn't look cool? Maybe I'm suffering from too much iPod exposure, but there is definitely something to good packaging, and my $0.02 says that the PSP just doesn't have it.

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[XxtraLarGe]

The original GBA seemed to sell pretty well.

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[PSP234]

What are you talking about man? Most people who have seen the PSP in person positively rave about it. Many online writeups have mentioned this incredible, got to have it wow factor when you see it in person. It looks sleek and modern as hell. If you want me to link a picture of a DS and PSP next to one another I will, but be warned, it isn't pretty. The DS looks like a joke next to the PSP. It looks like it was designed in the 50's or something by comparison.

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[rpdillon]

The PSP is all about good packaging. Maybe you don't like "buttons-on-the-sides-screen-in-the-center" format, but no matter how you slice it, this thing is sexy.

Maybe this is something you should reserve judgement on until you hold one. I, for one, really think Nintendo messed up in the packaging department far more than Sony did...the DS is just huge - effectively twice as big as a GBA SP. The "pocketability" of a system is key, and I think the PSP has it.

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently you're a dumbass, the DS is smaller than the PSP when it is folded up.

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[MilenCent]

I agree. Further, I tend to discount people's opinions when they say things like "the thing is sexy." That kind of thinking sets back geek culture at least a decade!

For the record, I own an Atari Lynx. Some of the games for it seriously give Gameboy titles from the same era a run for their money -- things like KLAX, Rampart and Todd's Adventures in Slime World. Really nifty things. It really wasn't like the Jaguar at all, there were some really nice games for it.

But I can't help but think that it was the form factor that did it in. When the system gets beyond a certain size, you start having to rest it on things to play. Of course the Lynx was heavier than the PSP is, but I'm not sure if it's much bigger.

Anyway, two cents.

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently you're a dumbass, DS's volume remains the same opened or closed, at aprox. 1000 cubic millimeters bigger than the PSP

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[hedley]

I differ here. I have a lynx and have played a PSP. The PSP is 1/4 the size volumetrically as the lynx.
Don't take my word for it, hold one. Make sure you have some cash in your pocket because you will want it, it really is that simple.

Hedley

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[Juanvaldes]

but the lynx is 15 years older!

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[MilenCent]

I differ here. I have a lynx and have played a PSP. The PSP is 1/4 the size volumetrically as the lynx.

Volume matters here less, I'd say, than the size of its "face." Is it like holding a small, square dinner plate in front of you? A flatter Etch-a-Sketch? I'll admit I'm not up on its relative size.

Don't take my word for it, hold one. Make sure you have some cash in your pocket because you will want it, it really is that simple.

I'll decide what I want for myself, thanks.

(This is one of the secret rules of advertising in this age: don't tell someone they *will* want something because, just like if you tell someone a joke is funny before telling it they're less likely to laugh, it compels some people to say "Oh, yeah?")

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[hedley]

The PSP is a similar form factor to the lynx in terms of where you place your hands. Everything is scaled down though except for the display which is enormous by comparaison and of really high quality. The form factor is slick too, shiny black plastic and pretty trim on it. I think it looks quite nice.

Sure I won't tell you what to do with your money, I am sorry I ever indicated you would like it and would desire one were you to handle one and try it.

Hedley

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[Anonymous Coward]

Size comparison based on the published dimensions of the handheld consoles. The PSP is slightly wider due to the widescreen, but height and thickness are small enough to more than make up for it. Now who's the dumbass?

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[jrumney]

I agree the DS looks old in comparison (I'd say '70s though, not '50s), but the shiny black plastic of the PSP looks very '80s to me.

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder how he found the volume. Did he drop it in the toilet or somesuch?

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[SetupWeasel]

They are roughly the same size, but the DS does not have anything exposed other than the L and R buttons when closed. The PSP has every button, every control device, and the screen unprotected without a case that will add size, and still may not protect the system adequately.

If you are looking for "pocketability," the DS is better suited to putting in an actual pocket, but I don't even pocket my SP. I'm more careful with my systems than that.

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[G-funk]

no matter how you slice it, this thing is sexy

Bullcrap. The screen looks mighty nice I'll agree, but there's nothing sexy about the psp. It's a (massive) rectangle with round ends. If it were any bigger, you could rest your xbox on the thing.

Re:It's all about the form factor.

[rpdillon]

OK, this is inherently subjective...but take a look and tell me honestly this isn't hot:

So hot!

Any new info on battery life?

[rokzy]

...or is it still appallingly low?

and what about the flying carts of death issue when you put a little twisting force on the console? fixed, or did they just attach a warning sticker to stay away from PSP players?

Re:Any new info on battery life?

[PSP234]

It's still terrible, man. 5 minutes I think. I heard the screens can blow up and kill you, too. Dont buy it, dude, that's YOUR best bet. Whatever you do guy, dont buy it. LOL. Who cares if you dont buy it. DS still doooomed.

Re:Any new info on battery life?

[Anonymous Coward]

Okay, fanboy.

Re:Any new info on battery life?

[Anonymous Coward]

Define pathetic.

Metal Gear Acid, eh?

[xXunderdogXx]

Sony said around 24 titles would be available at launch or in the days following, representing all of the industry's major game publishers and genres. Games include "FIFA 2005," "Metal Gear Acid," "Need for Speed Rivals" and "Twisted Metal: Head On."

Sony to Release PSP March 24 in North America

Metal Gear Acid: Best Played While Tripping.

Re:Metal Gear Acid, eh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, cuz card games are so fun tripping.

Obviously you've never tripped before.

Re:Metal Gear Acid, eh?

[xXunderdogXx]

Or I had no idea what the game was about and I was joking?

Re:Metal Gear Acid, eh?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Twisted Metal: Head On."

That'll be the disc popping out of the PSP and slamming into the nearest meathead who'll then proceed to smash your PSP into little bits.

Re:Metal Gear Acid, eh?

[Anonymous Coward]

One would hope so.

Re:Metal Gear Acid, eh?

[eric_brissette]

But have you ever played your PSP...

...on weeeeeed?

Re:Metal Gear Acid, eh?

[mapmaker]

Must be an online multiplayer version. Cuz playing FPSes on laggy servers feel like an acid flashback to me.

Re:Metal Gear Acid, eh?

[Anonymous Coward]

But its a bloody Card battle game!!! What the hell are they thinking? No-one likes Yu-Gi-Oh! and Metal Gear Solid.... It shall fail miserably.

Re:Metal Gear Acid, eh?

[Alan Partridge]

You've not heard of the Metal Gear series? What kind of a geek are you?

Re:Metal Gear Acid, eh?

[xXunderdogXx]

If we were talking about the series then my comment is all the more appropriate! The series is not a card game. :P

Re:What's new?

[badasscat]

So then, really, this is nothing new, just a new package made by marketing as a new way of selling accessories that have been on the market for years? And why is this being advertised as a "story" on Slashdot? I don't remember reading about Tide's new 64 oz bottle, with New Easy To Pour Handle (tm)

Huh? What's new is that Sony announced official pricing and a launch date for their new game system that is not yet on the market in NA. That qualifies as "news" to me, you know, considering that nobody knew it before.

Sheesh.

ok but...

[Tepshen]

How much are the games? 50-70$? I think I might just stick with my outdated gameboy at prices like that. Tetris has served me well for almost a decade and I think that is value Sony will be hard pressed to compete with.

Re:ok but...

[Landazar]

Yea, the game price is really a problem for me. To be worth $50 a game has to give at 'least' 25 hours of total quality game time to me. I'll wait and buy one when the initial games go greatest hits and are cheaper to still give me a $2/hour of game time. They're still pricing most DS games in the $30-$35 range...

Going to wait...

[Audigy]

This is going to be one piece of hardware I don't purchase on the launch date.

It's not backwards-compatible with any older technology like the DS was (it plays GBA games great, and is easier to hold than the GBA SP) ...and there aren't any launch titles that appeal to the RPG addict in me.

I'm going to wait for at least the first hardware rev and a price drop.

Only 3 things missing

[digitalgimpus]

1. Video Out (how cool would an S-VIDEO port on there be). Hook up an S-VIDEO --> RCA adapter, and hook it into any TV, and play full screen. Oh how life would change.

2. WiFi instead of IrDA. Come on, what were they thinking? IrDA sucks, WiFi has so much more going for it. IMHO that was a poor choice.

3. Drop Memory Stick Duo and use Compact Flash. Lets face it... I'm a Clie owner myself. CF is the better of the two. It's price per MB is much cheaper. Not to mention you can buy them anywhere, and they are improving in capacity and speed.

I'm sure it will be a success regardless, but if it had those 3 things, it would be the ultimate killer device. A must have for anyone.

I'm curious how long it will take until someone gets Linux running on this thing. Sounds like a good device for it. Then we could (perhaps) use a WiFi or Bluetooth USB adapter!

Re:Only 3 things missing

[mbbac]

They should have used Bluetooth 2.0 EDR instead of IrDA or Wi-Fi.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[Drey]

From the specs at the end of the article, reformatted to pass a /. whitespace lameness filter:

Main Input/Output
-----------------
IEEE 802.11b (Wi-Fi)
USB 2.0 (mini-B)
Memory Stick Duo(TM)
IrDA
IR Remote

Looks like it has Wi-Fi.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[hopelessOne]

err... try reading the article first. WiFi is included.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[PhiberOptix]

1. why would a portable *need* video out? if youre sony. it makes sense to sell it as an accessory for some extra cash from those that want it

2. it has wifi. ppl are even tunneling this connection on the internet and playing it online.

3. its a sony device. why would they care to expend big bucks in RD to develop memory stick and then use CF? I agree that a standardized memory really should be adopted, but from their business pov it doesnt make sense.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[U1timateZer0]

WiFi instead of IrDA. Come on, what were they thinking? IrDA sucks, WiFi has so much more going for it. IMHO that was a poor choice.

If you had RTFA, you would know that the PSP is capable of either infrastructure or 16-device Ad Hoc wireless networking, based on the IEEE 802.11b standard.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[lidocaineus]

2. WiFi instead of IrDA. Come on, what were they thinking? IrDA sucks, WiFi has so much more going for it. IMHO that was a poor choice.

Am I missing something here? On the second page of the article, it clearly lists WiFi as an addition, as well as how to disable it when not in use.

Another post was right on though... Bluetooth would've probably been the better choice.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[seanadams.com]

1. Video Out (how cool would an S-VIDEO port on there be). Hook up an S-VIDEO --> RCA adapter, and hook it into any TV, and play full screen. Oh how life would change.

I imagine the goal here is to get you to also buy a PS2 for home.

2. WiFi instead of IrDA.

A wifi interface probably costs $10 in their volumes, sucks tons of power, and also has certain IO requirements that may not easily be met by their processor. IRDA, however, costs just a few cents, uses very little power, and is a fairly simple serial interface that's easy to glue onto most processors. If the goal is to link two PSPs together, this is a much more reasonable and cost-effective interface than WIFI.

3. Drop Memory Stick Duo and use Compact Flash.

Yep, Sony's dumb.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[Momoru]

1. Video Out (how cool would an S-VIDEO port on there be). Hook up an S-VIDEO --> RCA adapter, and hook it into any TV, and play full screen. Oh how life would change.

Then you would see how crappy the graphics are...they "got away" with "PS2-like" graphics by only having to display them on a tiny screen. They would look prehistoric on a TV.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[rpdillon]

I agree on (1).

As far as (2), from TFA:

PSP features an unmatched 4.3-inch, 16:9 wide screen TFT LCD that displays full color (16.77 million colors) on a 480 x 272 pixel high-resolution screen. PSP also comes complete with built-in stereo speakers, exterior headphone connector and diverse input/output connectors such as USB 2.0, and 802.11b (Wi-Fi) wireless LAN, enabling users to connect to the Internet and play online via a wireless network. Up to 16 PSPs in the vicinity can also be connected to each other directly in ad-hoc mode, allowing for wireless head-to-head competition. In addition, wireless capabilities will allow software and data to be downloaded to a PSP and saved onto a Memory Stick Duo.

What where you saying about wireless? =)

Re:Only 3 things missing

[redivider]

1. Video Out (how cool would an S-VIDEO port on there be). Hook up an S-VIDEO --> RCA adapter, and hook it into any TV, and play full screen. Oh how life would change.

I could be wrong but wouldn't the video look like crap on a TV? This thing is powerful and the graphics looks great, but that's because it's a 480 x 272 screen. Even on a standard TV that would look pretty bad.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[scottme]

Video out would be good to have; however it would generate issues like having to support multiple WW TV standards.

WiFi is there already as everyone else pointed out.

Space must to be at a premium in the PSP phsyical package, so why on earth would any designer choose to use the relatively huge CF format rather than the dinky MS Duo?

Re:Only 3 things missing

[e2ka]

Then you would see how crappy the graphics are...they "got away" with "PS2-like" graphics by only having to display them on a tiny screen. They would look prehistoric on a TV.

Heh, what's wrong with that? I love playing Gameboy games on my TV through the Game Cube. It feels like I'm going retro even if the game is brand new!

Actually, the best part is the sound. Listening to Gamboy waveforms through a home stereo... heh heh.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[Anonymous Coward]

MS is slow. MS is more expensive. MS is less ubiquitous.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[DJNephilim]

Uhh...it has WiFi built in, or didn't you read TFA.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[Niosis]

Or did you not read how everyone already told him that there is already wifi?

Re:Only 3 things missing

[jxyama]

>3. Drop Memory Stick Duo and use Compact Flash. Lets face it... I'm a Clie owner myself. CF is the better of the two. It's price per MB is much cheaper. Not to mention you can buy them anywhere, and they are improving in capacity and speed.

i'd think this point is a good one if the use of memory stick would compromise the overall design/functionality. but i don't think so. putting a CF reader would have required more space. this isn't quite like sony digital music players not playing mp3 - that went against the core functionality of what society defined as a digital music player and they had no chance in hell to try to sell their proprietary format.

i think the reasonable alternative would have been using SD, but since memory stick is fairly small, i think sony did ok to stick with what they own... i think most people will simply look at it as another investment you have to make, instead of thinking CF/SD/Memory Stick all serve pretty much the same function so should have used the cheapest one.

if anything, some users with sony digital cameras will be enticed, while those without will simply decide whether this device is what they want without much regard to the flash memory format being used. remember, this is a consumer targetted device - most will not care or know better.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[Zed2K]

Why? So you could use it with all those other bluetooth 2.0 devices that don't exist?

Re:Only 3 things missing

[SirLeNerd]

Huh? The PSP has WiFi ... check the specs again.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Looks like you already got whipped pretty big on the WiFi snafu.

For a device where space is a premium, SD or MMC would be a better choice. CF cards are nice but are larger in volume than even the large Memory Stick size, Memory Stick Duo is closer to SD in size.

Normally, I prefer CF, but the more functions you cram into a portable device, the more space becomes a premium. Sure SD is often a bit more expensive than CF, but not much more, and still cheaper than equivalent Memory Stick or Duo capacity.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[Anonymous Coward]

What an awsome troll! Did you see all the replies? Let me try ...

Linux would be awsome if only it had these three things:

1) The ability to switch windows managers - can you imagine changing the whole look of your OS by switching windows mangers? THat would be sweet!

2) Good security - I get all these viruses on my Windows machine! Isn't there any alternative?!

3) A way to share files with windows machines - Linux is great and stuff, but if I can't network with Windows then its just a no go!

I'm sure it will be successful among the Geeks regardless, but if it had those 3 things, it would be the ultimate killler OS. A must have for anyone.

I'm curious how long it will take someone to make a beowulf cluster of linux devices. Then we could (perhaps) use it for scientific computing!

=) not to harsh on your post, digitalgimpus. It's just that this Linux thing could be really big if they'd step up to the bar windows has set...

Re:Only 3 things missing

[Anonymous Coward]

MS is less ubiquitous

Ubiquitous means "existing or being everywhere at the same time : constantly encountered".

"less ubiquitous" is sort of like saying "infinity - 1".

Re:Only 3 things missing

[hattig]

This thing is powerful and the graphics looks great, but that's because it's a 480 x 272 screen. Even on a standard TV that would look pretty bad.

SNES: 256x224
Megadrive: 320x224
Playstation: 256x224 up to 640x480
PS2: 256 x 224 up to 1280 x 1024
PSP: 480x272

I think that compares pretty well with even fairly recent consoles. At 60Hz you can only fit around 240 lines onto an NTSC display anyway.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[Bobman1235]

1. Video Out (how cool would an S-VIDEO port on there be). Hook up an S-VIDEO --> RCA adapter, and hook it into any TV, and play full screen. Oh how life would change.

I don't think the resolution would be even tolerable if you take an image designed for a 6 inch screen and threw it on something 5 times or more larger than that. These aren't DVDs, they know their screen size and they develop accordingly.

. Drop Memory Stick Duo and use Compact Flash. Lets face it... I'm a Clie owner myself. CF is the better of the two. It's price per MB is much cheaper. Not to mention you can buy them anywhere, and they are improving in capacity and speed.

People have been telling Sony to drop Memory Stick for YEARS. They'll never do it. THey're morons. It's almost the entire reason why I rarely if ever do business with that company.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[grumbel]

### I don't think the resolution would be even tolerable if you take an image designed for a 6 inch screen and threw it on something 5 times or more larger than that.

The resolution isn't much of a problem. Sure you might never get full Playstation2 quality out of that thing, but you don't have to. Sometimes its more then enough to simply have a bigger screen instead of being forced to look on the small one, a few pixels don't matter much. I for one have enjoyed playing Gameboy and GBA games on TV via the SuperGameboy or now the GameboyPlayer.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually MS Duo is 30% smaller than regular SD cards (about the same size as the new "Reduced Size SD" cards).

Also, SD and MS are the two biggest formats, both in US and in Japan (and has been so since 2003).

Both SD and MS have options to use DRM, which is important to prevent tampering with downloaded contents, high scores etc.

So, both SD and MS would have been equally good choices for use on a PSP-like device.

A good thing is that MS prices will drop as the market for MS is going to explode ;)

To set thing in perspective, Sony was number one seller og digi-cams back in 2004 (1 mio total in the US last part of 2004, Kodak at second and Canon third with 800k sold cameras).

PSP is projected so sell 10 mio units in its first year, and also most probably will ... that is 10 mio more MS consumers, with needs for big cards for storing music, movies, gamesaves etc.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure it will be a success regardless, but if it had those 3 things, it would be the ultimate killer device.

It would make sense, then, for the government to track the purchasers of these ultimate killer devices and apprehend them before they make use of their new weapons. Perhaps Sony just doesn't want all of that bad press.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[tepples]

why would a portable *need* video out?

Why did Nintendo make the Super Game Boy and Game Boy Player accessories? Some people occasionally have access to a big screen, and they want to play the same titles on the handheld and the big screen.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[tepples]

I imagine the goal [of lack of TV output] is to get you to also buy a PS2 for home.

Will Sony sell a stripped-down PSP that connects to the PS2's ports or provide some other way to run PSP-exclusive titles on the PS2 the way Nintendo has the Game Boy Player accessory for GameCube?

A wifi interface probably costs $10 in their volumes, sucks tons of power, and also has certain IO requirements that may not easily be met by their processor.

If Nintendo managed to stick WiFi into the Nintendo DS and keep it affordable...

If the goal is to link two PSPs together, this is a much more reasonable and cost-effective interface than WIFI.

News flash: It often takes more than two to multitango. Would you want to play FPS deathmatch with only two players?

Re:Only 3 things missing

[DeadScreenSky]

It does compare well, and I think that's actually the problem. It will actually look worse on a TV because a standard television will have to use less resolution. The widescreen image could be a problem, too.

And like others pointed out, Sony doesn't really want to compete with the PS2/PS3.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[mbbac]

So you could use it with all of the other Bluetooth 2.0 EDR PSPs.

Re:Only 3 things missing

[Khaotix]

super game boy
that thing was gold

Warning!

[HarveyBirdman]

Meta Gear Acid is a card battle game.

Beware! :-o

The reason this story is so important

[Anonymous Coward]

The reason that this story is so important that it needs to be posted on /. is so that we, as the entrusted community of all-knowing geeks that we are, can provide Sony with important feedback on their marketing decisions.

Sony is reading all of these comments and producing nifty flowcharts and pie graphs based on them. They seriously want to know what the geek community thinks of their latest folly.

Well, here's what we're thinking:

• Does the PSP have to cost as much as a console?
  
• Why do we have to spend even more after buying it to get at least one game?
  
• Why don't they specify on the packaging that the battery life is intolerably poor?
  
• Are we going to be able to modify it to run our own power-concious operating system such as Linux?
  
• Will the UMD discs eject during board meetings, leading to your co-workers shouting "BUSTED!" at the top of their lungs?
  
• Will the copy of Spiderman 2 that comes with the first x number of units be so grainy that we'll be reminded of how bad Sewer Shark was for the SegaCD system?
  

You know that the above list goes on forever, don't you Sony? After all, we're geeks!

Re:The reason this story is so important

[FLAGGR]

Somebody mod this funny, haha Sony, actually listening to customers? Bahahahahaha

Thanks Sony, Now I'm Officially Not Interested

[BRock97]

Sorry, but I think I will sit this one out. I this release announcement extremely upsetting for a couple of reasons:

• $50 more than the Japanese release. Now, to be fair, I am not sure extactly how the US package differs from the Japanese package, but I would have hoped for a game for the extra $50 bucks.
• The Spiderman 2 movie is only available to the first million? I can't believe they wouldn't make that a standard packin.

Sure, I might be nitpicking a little bit, but with all the recent press, Sony has an uphill battle in my book. Be it the "twist-and-shoot" problems with the UDM slot, the fact that the square button isn't as responsive as the rest do to a "design decision", 2 hour average battery life, or the general issue that this is a 1st generation product from Sony, I will take a wait and see approach.

Plus, I still can't get over the fact that the games are going to cost practically the same price as those for the full size consoles. To be honest, this is an issue I have with the DS as well. The reason I didn't include it up above, though, is that this seems the direction the hand held market is going and I will probably have to grow to live with it.

Re:Thanks Sony, Now I'm Officially Not Interested

[PSP234]

The twist and shoot stuff is made up by Nintendo fanboys, and their accomplices like slashdot. The system has no more problems than any other, in fact far less dead pixels than the DS. Battery life is not 2 hours, LOL. I can see where you're coming from.

Re:Thanks Sony, Now I'm Officially Not Interested

[radish]

Battery life has been measured at 5.5 hours when playing Ridge Racers (one of the more disc intensive games).

The flying disc thing is something you can _make_ it do if you try really hard. It's not something which happens in normal use.

The square button is something which some people complain about, but most don't even notice.

Personally, given the US launch price of $250, I'm even more glad I imported mine from Japan for $350 and got it early.

Re:Thanks Sony, Now I'm Officially Not Interested

[Anonymous Coward]

The twist and shoot stuff is made up by Nintendo fanboys, and their accomplices like slashdot.

I guess you missed the videos floating around a few weeks ago that showed how easy it was to make the disc eject by twisting the unit.

in fact far less dead pixels than the DS

Every report says the PSP has more dead pixel problems, and Sony's replacement policy is much harsher than Nintendo's. See, Nintendo will replace your DS if it has one dead pixel, while Sony requires 4 dead pixels in 1 square centimeter.

Battery life is not 2 hours

You're right; its lowest time is 2.75 hours. What a difference.

Re:Thanks Sony, Now I'm Officially Not Interested

[jxyama]

with the value pack in japan, psp is 26,000 yen. so $250 is about right. you just don't have the same choice as in japan to purchase without the value pack for $200.

Re:Thanks Sony, Now I'm Officially Not Interested

[Tumbleweed]

It's about the same price (and same configuration) as the Value Pack version of the Japanese release. No word yet on whether the US will get the 'regular' version without the memory stick.

Re:Thanks Sony, Now I'm Officially Not Interested

[rpdillon]

I realize there are counterarguments to what I'm about to say, but it's worth mentioning:

The "square button" problem affected 4,700 units, out of over 800,000 shipped. The chnaces are about 1/150 or so that you'll actually have an issue. While not Six Sigma, it's still not bad.

Re:Thanks Sony, Now I'm Officially Not Interested

[rhpot1991]

The UMD Disk shooting is real, gamespot and several other large gaming sites had articles on it, and there were even videos to prove it, apparently your just uninformed. As far as the dead pixels, all you have to do is send your DS to Nintendo and they will give you a new one, their support is second to none, we all know that cannot be said with Sony and all the PS2 and now PSP problems.

Re:Thanks Sony, Now I'm Officially Not Interested

[rhpot1991]

Actually most DS games are much cheaper than console games. A majority of them were going at $30 on launch. I have seen some games which are not yet released that were quoted with higher prices, but that isn't really trustworthy. Madden I believe was going for $40, which is still lower than the $50-$60 that it launched for the consoles.

Re:Thanks Sony, Now I'm Officially Not Interested

[kerrle]

No, the square button problem affects every PSP produced everywhere - 4,700 people felt it was bad enough to actually send it in. I would also point out that Sony has flat out stated they aren't fixing it.

Re:Thanks Sony, Now I'm Officially Not Interested

[rpdillon]

Err, the "design decision" affects everyone, everywhere. But it doesn't pose a problem for the VAST majoritry of users. Just read 10 sites that talk about it...they'll say that their personal PSPs don't have a problem, even though the design causes some units to malfunction.

You're making the argument that everyone is having an issue, but only 4,700 people were pissed of enough about it to send it in. That is simply NOT the case.

Re:Thanks Sony, Now I'm Officially Not Interested

[incom]

"Battery life has been measured at 5.5 hours when playing Ridge Racers (one of the more disc intensive games)."

Umm... how about no:

Q: How long does the PSP's battery last?
A: The short answer is that it depends on what you're doing. The longer answer is that Sony has stated that the battery should last around six hours. With simpler-looking games, like Lumines or Mahjong Fight Club, that definitely seems to be the case. But with more graphically intensive games, like Ridge Racers, the battery doesn't last quite as long. Based on our estimates and a few battery-draining tests, Ridge Racers seems to last somewhere between 90 minutes and three hours. Playing with the wireless networking switch flipped on will also further reduce your battery life. The system has an auto-sleep function that stops the wireless drain, but that switch is there for a reason. Turn it off when you're not using it.

"The flying disc thing is something you can _make_ it do if you try really hard. It's not something which happens in normal use."

I wonder what led to the discovery of the problem then, if it wasn't during the course of normal use.

"The square button is something which some people complain about, but most don't even notice."

http://www.gamersmark.com/news/2005/01/1/5166/ Thousands of PSP returns out of only a few hundred k psp's sold? Sounds pretty serious. And it also sounds like there are no plans to fix the problem.

"Personally, given the US launch price of $250, I'm even more glad I imported mine from Japan for $350 and got it early."

It's too bad that sony didn't have prices as low as the japanese launch prices here, with thier basic pack working out to $185USD, $250 minimum at US launch looks pretty high.

Re:handheld gaming

[Anonymous Coward]

Too bad you feel this way. The Metroid demo that was included with the unit is awesome. I have played so much multiplayer with that thing, I have lost count. Your loss.

Re:What's new?

[Anonymous Coward]

The grandfather poster probably doesn't realize that PSP != PS2

"Or you could use PS2 and PS1 games..."

[Nomihn0]

...which cannot be used with the PSP?

This is not the Playstation 3. The PSP is a portable media player designed to play last-generation games in a compact form factor. Compare it to the Nintendo DS.

Assuming you knew this already, I suppose you meant that Sony will port older games to the new architecture? PS1 games may be ported to PSP, but licensing issues and a general lack of funding tend to limit the selection of titles.

Different disk format

[LiquidCoooled]

The code may be the same, but the media format is different.

Re:handheld gaming

[hobbesx]

Nintendo DS has already pwn3d handheld gaming ... PSP is too little, too late. Too bad, so sorry.

Nintendo SNES has already pwn3d home consoles for 5 years, PS1 is too little, too late. Too bad, so... Wait? What!?

Pricey still

[sosuke]

$250 isn't a bad price considering what the system can do, but where it starts to hurt is the memory sticks that it uses! 1GB Sony Memory Stick is ~$200USD 4GB Sony Memory Stick is ~$900USD those prices are insane where as you can buy and entire PVP, MP3 player, and handheld game system (NDS) for cheaper cost per GB of storage if they brought their memory costs down this would be a killer piece of hardware

Re:Pricey still

[znaps]

$200?? I don't think so. More like $100 from Sandisk.

http://www.buy.com/retail/product_jump.asp?sku=1 03 60534

Re:Pricey still

[sosuke]

you are right, but is still a far stretch from the cost of SD memory or Compact Flash, but those prices are only online, regular consumers are still going to see the inflated price tags in stores movies on this thing are still large, you wont be able to fit much on to one card, you might need a stack, lucky for me i have a sony camera, so ive already sold out to memory stick, damn

Re:Pricey still

[ivan256]

$250 isn't a bad price considering what the system can do

When you think of what the system can do, forget about the processor specs and think of it this way:

The system can play the latest handheld video games.

In that past that ability has cost at least $100 less.

Re:Pricey still

[sosuke]

i guess i was thinking more of the video and mp3 playing bonus, i can just copy movies to the memory stick, instant pr0n on-the-go

not that i dont already have it on my SMT-5600, or on my Pioneer Car MP3 player, but thats beside the point...

and yes i know my DS will be able to playback video as well, i just haven't imported the cart yet, and the PSP is a good reason to get a 1GB memory stick card for my camera

Re:Pricey still

[SetupWeasel]

not that i dont already have it on my SMT-5600, or on my Pioneer Car MP3 player, but thats beside the point.

That is the point. If you already have an mp3 player, it isn't worth the extra money for its inclusion in the PSP.

How about a game

[Telvin_3d]

With all that bundled in, it would be nice if it came with an actual game. I am not buying the PSP to watch Spiderman.

Re:How about a game

[javaxman]

I am not buying the PSP to watch Spiderman.

Sony knows this, which is exactly why it's a movie that they're making a 'special' promotion over.

I ( and many others, from what I gather ) would prefer a cheaper system that plays great games and does nothing else... but being Sony, they have to try to sell proprietary memory and movies...

Re:How about a game

[MC Negro]

With all that bundled in, it would be nice if it came with an actual game. I am not buying the PSP to watch Spiderman.

I'll go out on a limb here--

Sony's bundling Spiderman 2 with the PSP to combat the exact kind of thinking you're presenting in your post - which is to say, that the PSP is a gaming machine. Despite what it will actually be, Sony wishes to instill within the target demographic the understanding that the PSP isn't a gaming machine, rather, a portable media device (or so I've inferred through various articles in game magazines). While I personally believe this is the bullshit-ery typical of Sony (recall the hype surrounding the PS2's prerelease about how it would function as a "media center" that downloaded movies and such nonsense that never fleshed out), Sony seems to be willing to throw lots of money at this vie for the non-exclusively-gaming market.

I personally think everyone will use the PSP strictly for gaming. I base this on the fact that multi-tasking portable devices, however superior they are to their competition, never seem to do well (see iPod vs. "iPod Killers" for proof) and also on the fact that, from personal observation, simpler devices (e.g., Palms and Blackberrys) tend to have a more stable grab on their market than more advanced media devices (like Pocket PCs). All of this from a US-centric perspective. I have no idea how Europeans feel about multi-purpose media devices.

It'll be interesting to watch.

Re:How about a game

[Telvin_3d]

I can understand them wanting to combat the view of the PSP as a strictly gaming machine and that is fine. However, the 250 is US$. In Canada it will likley sell for 299.99 instead. Add tax to that, and then tack on another 60-70 for a game and you are talking a serious chunk of change in the range of $400. I can see Sony wanting to promote the other features of the PSP, but by NOT promoting the major faetures they are making it a real expensive proposition.

Re:How about a game

[Kenshin]

Not everyone likes the same games.

I'm sure you'd bitch up a storm if they packed in a game that you didn't like. ("Don't *force* me to buy this shitty game!")

Re:How about a game

[Telvin_3d]

Any game they bundled to start with would be something as safely generic as the Spiderman movie is. I don't know anyone who activly doesn't like that movie.

Re:How about a game

[Kenshin]

This is Slashdot.

People actively hate on EVERYTHING.

A portable mini-entertainment center

[jangobongo]

Looks to me like they are marketing this as a portable mini-entertainment center. By including the Spiderman 2 movie, they are differentiating themselves from other handhelds.

I'm wondering how much the UMD disc movies will cost. Will people really want to buy yet another version of their favorite movies for $19.99 (price amount is just a guess)?

Re:A portable mini-entertainment center

[Anonymous Coward]

It'd be nice if they bundled UMD discs for free with all Sony Entertainment DVDs. That way you'd have both DVD and UMD, which would also push up PSP sales.

Re:A portable mini-entertainment center

[javaxman]

Will people really want to buy yet another version of their favorite movies for $19.99 (price amount is just a guess)?

Let me guess, that's a rhetorical question, right ? We all know the answer is a resounding "no!".

Ask me if I even _want_ to watch a movie on something with a tiny like this, and the answer will be the same.

Sure, I might want to watch a movie on a laptop screen, but once a screen gets smaller than 7 inches or so, do you -really- want to watch a movie produced for widescreen theater release ?? Maybe I could watch cheesy anime on this little screen, but Spiderman 2 ? Why???

Re:A portable mini-entertainment center

[Queer Boy]

Will people really want to buy yet another version of their favorite movies for $19.99 (price amount is just a guess)?

Will people really want to hold passive entertainment for 2+ hours?

Re:A portable mini-entertainment center

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks to me like they are marketing this as a portable mini-entertainment center. By including the Spiderman 2 movie, they are differentiating themselves from other handhelds.

More like jumping on the bandwagon.

Re:A portable mini-entertainment center

[Anonymous Coward]

Will people really want to buy yet another version of their favorite movies for $19.99 (price amount is just a guess)?

Well since the guess completely affects the answer to the question, why don't you make a guess for which the question might have a "yes" answer.

I mean, of course no one will want to spent $19.99 on another version of every movie for PSP.

Which means, of course the price will be less than $19.99.

At the right price, people will start to buy them.

Non-interactive game demos!?

[kuwan]

...movie/music/game video sampler UMD disc including multiple non-interactive game demos...

So for $250 you get a portable game system with game demos that you can't even play. It seems like you should at least bundle something that people can play with. What good is a game demo that you can't play?

--
Join the Pyramid - Free Mini Mac | Free Flat Screens

Re:Non-interactive game demos!?

[Impotent_Emperor]

Perhaps they wanted to avoid erasing people's memory cards.

Pretty sweet deal

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the same price as it's going for in Japan. the system is $200 and the bundle is $250 which includes the types of accessories you usually buy separately (which probably would cost $50+ on their own). I've played the import model and it really is incredible. Sure, we'll see some rehashed PS2 titles, but the ad-hoc WiFi network gaming is huge. PS2 has some awesome titles that couldn't reach their full potential because networked gaming game along so late. Games like Wipeout will simply kick ass on the PSP.

Learn your history

[Anonymous Coward]

Nintendo SNES has already pwn3d home consoles for 5 years, PS1 is too little, too late. Too bad, so... Wait? What!?

Sega Genesis pwn3d Nintendo SNES. And now you have been pwn3d too!

Re:Learn your history

[Anonymous Coward]

So, how is Sega doing now?

Open disc format vs memory stick

[gosand]

3. Drop Memory Stick Duo and use Compact Flash. Lets face it... I'm a Clie owner myself. CF is the better of the two. It's price per MB is much cheaper. Not to mention you can buy them anywhere, and they are improving in capacity and speed.

I wondered the same thing, but if the UMD disc format is opened up and cheap enough, then you could burn things to those. That kind of eliminates the need for a large memory stick. Maybe that is their plan...?

Paint Shop Pro?

[Anonymous Coward]

How does Sony expect to compete against MS Paint?

My take

[jvmatthe]

Here are the factors that stand out to me:

• Minimum of $250 for system with memory stick, headphones with remote control, battery, ac adaptor, soft case, cleaning cloth, and a demo disc.
• First 1,000,000 buyers also get a Spider-Man 2 movie that plays on the PSP.
• Launch titles that are mostly franchises and remakes, including a whole pile of EA Sports games.
• Low-end games cost $40, with others presumably costing more. (Wal-mart's online store shows $49.92 for many games.)

That prices me right out of the market at $250, even with all that bonus crud thrown into the box. But that's not the worst of it, since the big stores, the ones most likely to have anything to sell, will be selling bundles that include two or more games and other needless crud. As of right now, EB Games has one way to buy the PSP and it's a bundle that costs $400. GameStop's got bundles that range from $380 to $480.

Look, all I want is basic system with a charger, a (small) memory stick, and one game. I don't need headphones or a remote control or a soft case or a cleaning cloth or a demo disc. I don't have any desire to tote around Spider-Man 2 to show off to friends. I don't doubt that the folks who can afford the PSP will think it's the bee's knees, and I'll even envy them their new toy, but I've got better uses for my gaming cash. With the robust used GBA game market, I'm going to get a much better fun-for-dollar return sticking with my 'burning GBA.

Sorry, Sony, you lost me on this one.

Re:My take

[brkello]

Yes, like the original deal is the only deal that will ever be offered . So you don't like the deal, wait awhile and they will offer one that is more appealing to you. It sounds more like you just want to complain about SOMETHING...guess what, any reasonable price for the PSP will still not yield more fun-for-dollar as a GBA. Cost isn't the only thing that drives what people buy (see Macs). If Sony gets the games on there that people want to play, they will get the handheld. I know I followed Final Fantasy on to the Play Station and off from Nintendo and I really enjoyed gaming on both the PS and the PS2. And there are plenty of us out there that make enough money that we don't mind owning multiple consoles or handhelds. This just reeks of a more subtle pro-nintendo troll.

Re:My take

[jvmatthe]

Oh man, that's rich. "Pro-nintendo troll"? You couldn't be more wrong. I've many, many more PSOne and PS2 games than I have NES, SNES, N64, and GameCube, GameBoy, GameBoy Color, and GameBoy Advance games combined. If anything, I want the PSP to succeed because it's pushing some really powerful hardware into the handheld market, the kind of hardware that could bring some real competition to that market the way the PSOne brought competition to the TV-based-console market.

But these are not enticing prices, and bundles that jack the prices up higher are even less appetizing. Yes, I know all about waiting, thanks. I've done it before, and I'm doing it still.

These prices are a bucket of cold water on an otherwise hot piece of gaming news. It has nothing to do with bias.

Re:My take

[Anonymous Coward]

This just reeks of a more subtle pro-nintendo troll?

You seem to have placed yourself in an imaginary us-against-them situation. I love it!

For your sake, I hope there really are trolls out there, meeting under bridges, trying to figure out the best way to make people buy things and not buy other things.

Re:My take

[brkello]

Just seemed odd to me...I don't know of any gaming technology that has come out at an enticing price. It's always best to let a little time pass and wait for the next rev to come out to get rid of bugs and get a better deal.

Re:My take

[brkello]

lol, I know...I am turning in to a typical slashdot user...tin foil had and all. But there really are people who are so pro-nintendo and pro-mac that they ignore reality and just say whatever to put down other companies. Seriously, read stuff more carefully...on this site, Sony is evil, and Nintendo is the last bastion of gaming hope.

Re:My take

[David Rolfe]

We meet again.

You: on this site, Sony is evil, and Nintendo is the last bastion of gaming hope.

This is such a load of crap. You consider the constant bashing of Nintendo and its "kiddie" games as some kind of ringing endorsement? The last bastion of gaming hope? This whole story is full of comments about how lame the GBA is and how it's all HUGE compared to the PSP and has no good games, except kiddie crap that no one likes to play (typical gamer: "No killing people with blood splashing around?! I can't wait to totally play GTA4 on my PSP in line to see Rise of the Phoenix 2"). Full disclosure: I love GTA:SA, and my wife loves Animal Crossing so that might reveal something about where I'm coming from.

The only console I haven't bought since the Atari 2600 (besides the Saturn) is the Xbox. And why? Because maybe I am some zealous nut, but frankly, I don't want Microsoft to have my sale.

If we are going to make grandiose statements about what Slashdotters do and don't think, let's go with some more mainstream stereotypes: Microsoft is evil, and anyone but Microsoft is the last bastion of gaming hope.

Finally, why does everyone take their platform choices so personally? Why was it even necessary to go on the warpath against jvmatthe's post. It's not like he was being particularly biased, just running out a pretty obvious fact: One can buy an SP for $80 bucks and some great games for $20 to $40. Compare that to a $380 bundle. Saying that the difference between $250 and $80 quenches his consumer desire is not zealotry.

(Whether or not that $250 gets you the ~200 bucks more fun and usefulness with new-format-movie playback and an analog stick is an individual decision. We don't all have agendas. Sorry for the rant, not really aimed right at you I guess.)

Re:My take

[Anonymous Coward]

It sounds like in fact EB and GameStop lost you on this one.

You can buy just the PSP. The ValuePack is the most sensible option for most people but it's not mandatory.

And just boycott EB and GameStop with their predatory pricing policies. If I were Sony I'd cut off their supplies for that shit.

WOW!

[jav1231]

Sony owns Paint Shop Pro!?

Re:handheld gaming

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, let's compare two different generations of consoles to the same generation of handhelds. There must be a correlation.

Why...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why don't they include USB capability to use an iPod as a hard drive? Now THAT would ROCK!

UMD Disc Movies - Anybody know more/Rip question

[mykepredko]

I'm wondering how much the UMD disc movies will cost.

I'm expecting that within a week, somebody will have a process that will Rip the contents of a DVD, convert the content into a (MPeg4?) format that is appropriate for UMD and provide a process for burning a UMD compatible optical disk.

The question is, will it be Sony? If Sony really wanted to knock MS and Nintendo out of the building, they would provide the ability to Rip a Sony/Columbia DVD into a UMD disk without an additional licensing cost.

Unfortunately, we all live in the real world where Sony will see the UMD drive as an opportunity to charge a customer two licensing fees for the same bit of content. Sigh.

myke

Metrowerks SDK

[Essef]

Dear Slashdot

Apparently Metrowerks already has an SDK out:

http://www.metrowerks.com/MW/Develop/Games/PSP.h tm

Unfortunately you traditionally need the blessing of Sony themselves to develop games for their platform. I wonder how much this right-to-code will cost for the PSP.

Sigless in Singapore

Re:handheld gaming

[tgibbs]

Yea, Nintendo DS is fine, if you're a TEN year old. What a load of crap.

Well, as a 50+ year old gamer, I see it exactly the other way around. The DS offers some real innovation, with features such as dual screens and touch/stylus control that aren't available elsewhere. The games aren't all just rehashes of console games. And it looks like it will have a good mix of 3D and 2D games, especially since it plays GBA games (in fact, you can have a GBA and DS game plugged in at the same time), while the Metroid demo demonstrates that its 3D capabilities are good.

A portable PS2 missing one of the analog sticks just doesn't excite me. I don't do that much gaming on the go, and if I want to play PS2 style games, I'll play it on my big screen TV and PS2 at home. Nor am I all that interested in watching movies on that little tiny screen. If I want to watch a DVD while traveling, I'd rather watch it on my laptop, which at least has a decently sized screen. But I think that the PSP will sell well with the kiddies. Features like movie play that aren't that appealing to adults will be more successful with kids who don't have their own TVs, laptops, and DVD players. I can imagine a parent setting a kid up with a movie on a memory stick to keep him quiet on a long auto trip.

iPod = Cool, PSP = Expensive Kid's Toy

[MMaestro]

People are willing to spend $250-400 on an iPod because its : A) looks cool, B) is cakewalk to use compared to other mp3 players and C) because you don't look like an idiot for staring at a 6 inch screen trying to select the right playlist. Compared to the PSP which : A) looks like the GBA (not SP) hence looks like a toy, B) plays video games (again childish) and C) plays movies? Whos gonna hold the screen upright to eyesight level for 90-120 minutes at a time? This isn't a portable DVD player where you can tilt the screen or a TV thats generally unmoved.

Re:iPod = Cool, PSP = Expensive Kid's Toy

[Anonymous Coward]

In other words, the iPod is a status thing, like owning an SUV and being seen at Starbucks.

Re:iPod = Cool, PSP = Expensive Kid's Toy

[diamondsw]

If you haven't noticed, video games are no longer relegated to "child's play". They have very much moved into the adult mainstream. The styling of the PSP is much more reminiscent of expensive adult toys (cell phones, PDA's, Sharper Image stuff ;) than of the plastic associated with kids' stuff.

No, the PSP is very interesting. If they can just open it up and let us get our own content on it and improve battery life, it could be THE portable media center.

Re:iPod = Cool, PSP = Expensive Kid's Toy

[SilentChris]

Disagree. I own an Archos gMini400 (video player) and it's the same principle: small screen. I've stored more than 20 movies on the thing and love it. Nothing wiles away time better than watching a good flick on the train home from work.

Re:iPod = Cool, PSP = Expensive Kid's Toy

[diamondsw]

Again, I want to find the asshat mod out there.

What about that post was flaming? Video games are NOT kids toys, as sales figures, news coverage, and a billion other things show (let alone coverage here). So why should something like a PSP be considered a kids toy? Look at the damn thing, the way it's designed and marketed. Look at the feature set with video, MP3 support, etc. That is targeted at adults with money to spare - not kids. It has media center written all over it, as the headphones, MP3 support, and MPEG4/SpiderMan thing all attest to.

So what in the hell in my earlier post is flamebait?

Re:iPod = Cool, PSP = Expensive Kid's Toy

[MMaestro]

I'm not the one who modded your post down but any heres my reply.

Obviously video games are not 'kids' toys' anymore if only because of the sheer amount of money they make. HOWEVER, the problem video games have is their image. Board games for example are a HUGE business. You may think after the 20th or 30th version of monopoly Milton Bradley would go out of business, but they don't. The same thing happens with Nintendo; you'd THINK they'd go out of business with their 'kiddie games' image but no, every year, every generation they teach their competitors on how to survive in the dog-eat-dog-then-feed-remains-to-vultures video game market.

What the video game industry suffers as a whole is the IMAGE of being aimed at children. Oh sure, theres press about GTA3/VC, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, maybe a couple commericals for some big name games, but for the most part movies DEMOLISH the video game industry when it comes to marketing and image. Sure people can identify Mario, the Master Chief or Link, but how many people do you know can identify or know about Luigi, Samus or the Fire Emblem series? Compared to movie stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Sean Connery, and Tom Hanks, and the video game industry is still an after-thought to the masses.

Just look at commercials for the iPod: you've got cool looking people, dancing to the beat of cool music, with a cool looking device. End result : "Its gotta be cool!" Can you image what a PSP commerical would be like? Maybe show a few clips of the PSP at work, zoom out and then show logo? Lame! People would just assume, "It's a handheld! It couldn't be as nice looking as in the commerical."

Re:iPod = Cool, PSP = Expensive Kid's Toy

[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't a portable DVD player where you can tilt the screen

LOFL. This is a troll, right? I mean, no, you can't tilt a handheld. LOL.

Wake me when it drops to $100-$150

[Zed2K]

Forget it. No way am I paying $250 for a portable game system. Maybe if they let you write your own UMD carts then maybe it might be worth that price (portable movie player). But at $250 for device then $50 or so per game no way.

Very few people?!

[mattcoz]

Tell that to the 65 million owners of a GBA.

Re:Very few people?!

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah, obviously the original poster of this thread has no kids

Why wait, instant gratification...

[illumin8]

Or, you could get yours now for only $20 more...

PSP Playstation Portable.

Re:Why wait, instant gratification...

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually for that $20 more you get a lot less. First off that site states that it is region-free and will play US games. UMD disk are known to be region encoded; however, it's unknown if games will be regioned (most likely they will be). The main issue is that this is the base package which includes just the unit and a charger, the US version will be the same as the japanese deluxe package which comes with headphones, UMD demo disk, and a 32MB memory stick. I'd personally would wait until the US launch to see whether or not games are region-free, and at that time why not buy the US version which includes more loot.

$65 for Headphones and a Memery Stick???

[CSchiewek]

The PSP sold in Japan for ~$185 USD right?

So Sony is charging $65 for a pair of headphones I don't want or need, and a memory stick that's too small to be useful?

I'm not at all impressed.

BZZZZ! You've already lost

[Anonymous Coward]

The DS has *already* been a success.

The PSP will have some success. The $250 is too much though.

Heck, ebgames is trying to get $400 for it.

Gizmondo? Huh? You can't be serious.

will they fix the square button?

[jeffehobbs]

It would be nice it they did. From:

http://cgw.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3137897

In an interview with Nikkei Business Sony Computer Entertainment President Ken Kutaragi admitted that the square button (one of the four primary buttons typically used for actions along with triangle, circle and 'X') on the PSP is less responsive than the others. This is a result of the design and "something which users and game software developers will have to adapt to."

At fault is the location of the button right next to the edge of the display. It is too close to put the button's switch directly underneath it, so instead it has been located off to the right. This results in the reduced sensitivity of the button and in extreme cases the button sticking. Although Kutaragi stated that about 4800 units have been returned for this behavior, he insisted that it was not a design mistake and that the location was precisely according to specification.

~jeff

It is usually...

[Anonymous Coward]

It is usually 13 year olds that say they want "mature" games.

Which is really a hoot.

"Mature" being defined as "has a lot of blood and guts" or "shows girls boobies!"

I've never heard anyone over the age of 21 talk about "mature" games.

Region encoding

[DrXym]

Do the games come with region encoding, or could I (for example) pick one up from the US and play games sold in Europe / Japan etc.? Same question as per movies if / when they get released.

Re:Region encoding

[EvilMagnus]

Region Encoding? Yes, 'fraid so.

First, this is Sony we're talking about.
Second, the UMD format is touted by Sony for it's encryption *and* it's regionalisation.
Third, the units themselves are regionalised.

So you won't be able to play import games on a US handheld.

Re:Region encoding

[SetupWeasel]

The Movies, if they ever really exist in any numbers, will be region coded. The games CAN be region coded, but Sony says they won't be.

The question is: can you trust Sony to tell you the truth about this? Certain games in Japan were launched with region codes. The first batch of Ridge Racers were region 1, but later copies were coded "all."

Another possibility is that Sony may not enforce it with other companies, and let them put a region code on it if they want to.

GameGear

[White Roses]

The last handheld I had was a Sega GameGear. Bought it in the UK, and bought a bunch of games to go with it. The main game I played had the secret code of 2-1-2-down-up. I really enjoyed the color graphics, as compared to my sister's GameBoy (first gen - she still has it). Alas, my GameGear died about 2 years ago. Not even the venerable Halley Wars would load.

PSP looks like it'll have better developer support than the GameGear ever had, and a huge leap in graphics over Big N's current offerings. I might just have to get a new portable game platform.

Re:GameGear

[goMac2500]

As a fellow Game Gear owner I have to ask... Are you crazy? Game Boy owned Game Gear...

Re:GameGear

[SetupWeasel]

This is a little off-topic, but I want to share this tip:

Two GBA carts fit into a GameGear game case perfectly. After all these years, my brother's gamegear was good for something!

Re:GameGear

[G-funk]

Ah yes, but he's talking about mortal kombat. Game gear owned gameboy if you were a mortal kombat fan, MK2 on gg even had very limited voice support, not to mention the fact you could pull of heads :)

Lots of Complaints about Price, BUT...

[EatingPie]

Sheesh, this thing is ALREADY selling like hotcakes on ebay and a few import sites.... at over $400.00 a pop!

Apparently Sony ain't marketing this to people posting on /., but they sure as hell *do* have a market.

Also, on the Memory Stick... isn't that a Sony-developed technology (like MD and BD)? If so that alone explains why they used that instead of CF.

-Pie

psp haha

[VariantX]

Hello, im new, so yeah im on slashdot :). Well anyway to respond to this, i would have to say i will not be buying a psp, for a couple of reasons, well ok i have owned just about every nintendo console, and handheld, i have never had any problems with them. Heck i still have my nes working great. OK well i have owned a PS,PS1 (the small ones) and my brother owns a ps2. well ok i have had to replace my ps 3 times because of the spinner/eye peice problems. My brothers ps2 he bot it last year and already its showing signs of wear and tear, really it doesnt play hardly any dvds and if it does it has a skipping problem. I has trouble playing alot of games without freezes, plus their is a weird problem with the controller, it will give me warnings while playing a game that my controller isnt plugged in, or the controller will just stop responding. I think i will never buy a sony product again. This has happen alot, actually with sony products, i mean, my father bot a sony vcr, and it lasted a week, i bot a sony boombox lasted about 2 weeks before the headphone plug-in went bad. I bot sony headphones, well i have had them for about 3 months then i wanted to check the quality of the sony headphones vs my audio technica headphones, wow i dont know why but the sony headphones really lost quality, from either being used so much or what i dont know. (note i did check the quality when i first bot them and they were great...dont know how they can just lose quality over time.) So my whole point to this is, i dont trust sony's products...i mean, i personally believe sony builds their stuff to break...(panasonic is just as bad). 250 bucks without any games and with only a 32 meg stick please...OH also since sony is hell bent over for microsoft good luck seeing linux on it..im sure it can be done but, i think that sony will find a way to stop it. plus also, if this thing can get onto the net i mean by me being able to play people from home with my psp, isnt their a chance for viruses...i mean would be a great script kiddie tool :).

Re:psp haha

[Anonymous Coward]

Consider this a flame.

Are you just a retard?
Just because you're unable to do any research, nor form coherent paragraphs, doesn't mean everyone is.

http://playstation2-linux.com/

The most heartening thing...

[Humorously_Inept]

About the discussion going on here is that at least it's not entirely full of hypocrites. A lot of people eagerly lambasted the N-Gage for its various flaws, which just like the PSP seem to include price, key functionality, media issues and size while totally ignoring its best features. Looks like Sony's getting the same shake from this community. Now that the final tally is rung, it apparently isn't what people were expecting and the sentiment is appropriately tempered. I, for one, am not surprised that the PSP did not turn out to be perfect.

For what it's worth, I wish the PSP had a phone... :P

Re:The most heartening thing...

[MikeBabcock]

I'd like to see a PSP upgrade that uses Bluray discs. Why? So we can watch real movies on it -- and use it as a Bluray player for some additional cost for docking station / whatever.

Sure, Bluray's bigger (physically) -- but pick up your CD player and hold it between your hands -- too big to play games on? I think not.

Re:The most heartening thing...

[fwitness]

You CD is too big to play games on, but then again neither is your PS2 or Xbox. The point of the handheld market is easy portability. A CD player sized 'handheld' (or what would you call it then? a palmtop?) is just too big for light travel.

That size form factor would be great for long trips (week long business meeting, going to visit a relative) but you could just as easily pick up an LCD for your favorite console and do it that way.

Re:The most heartening thing...

[Khaotix]

The real solution in my eyes would be to use a 80mm Bluray disc. It's small, holds a ton of info, and it will still support one of Sony's projects while allowing the average person to burn dvds to blu-ray once the recorders go mainstream.

UMD was a really bad call on Sony's part. I can handle their overpriced flash memory (I already have a 256mb card for my camera) but there's no way in hell I'm going to invest in new copies of movies ... I own ~200 dvds as is.

Re:handheld gaming

[Alan Partridge]

The screen is NOT tiny. You get a good angle of view when held normally, quite good for watching movies, in fact. Quality is really superb, picture size is 480x272 pixels. Sound quality is surprisingly good, too.

Re:UMD Disc Movies - Anybody know more/Rip questio

[Paladine97]

You can do that now. There are tools that rip a DVD and convert it into the correct video format. You then store the movie on a Memory Stick and watch it on the PSP.

I highly doubt they'll offer a UMD burner, but if you have a Memory Stick you can watch all the movies you want.

Official Launch Lineup

[mackman]

Ape Escape®: On the Loose, Sony Computer Entertainment America
ATV Offroad Fury®: Blazin' Trails, Sony Computer Entertainment America
Darkstalkers Chronicle(TM): The Chaos Tower, Capcom
Dynasty Warriors®, KOEI
FIFA 2005, Electronic Arts
Gretzky(TM) NHL®, Sony Computer Entertainment America
Lumines(TM), Ubisoft
Metal Gear Acid(TM), Konami
MLB(TM), Sony Computer Entertainment America
MVP Baseball, Electronic Arts
NBA, Sony Computer Entertainment America
NBA Street Showdown, Electronic Arts
Need for Speed(TM) Rivals, Electronic Arts
NFL Street 2 Unleashed, Electronic Arts
Rengoku(TM): Tower of Purgatory, Konami
Ridge Racer(TM), Namco
Smartbomb, Eidos Interactive
Spider-Man 2(TM), Activision
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR®, Electronic Arts
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix, Activision
Twisted Metal: Head On(TM), Sony Computer Entertainment America
Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade, Sony Online Entertainment
Wipeout® Pure, Sony Computer Entertainment America
World Tour Soccer, Sony Computer Entertainment America

Re:Official Launch Lineup

[RubberDogBone]

aw dangit, what happened to the Armored Core PSP game? That was going to be my excuse to buy this thing. Guess I don't need to wait in line on launch day.

DS vs PSP

[TheBeno]

youre all being absolutely ridiculous saying that the DS, priced at $180, is better than the PSP at $250. I've owned both systems and the DS simply has nothing on the PSP right now. It doesnt have a single game or anything good coming out down the line. I owned my DS for like 3 weeks and then put it up on eBay. I've had my PSP for a few days and I'm blown away by it. The screen is huge and bright, the games use REAL 3d, the speakers are loud and crisp, the interface is simple and elegant, it plays Mp3 audio and Mp4 video flawlessly and the design is fantastic. I've got Hot Shots Golf and Ridge Racers and both of these games have already given me several hours of fun. I'm looking forward to Metal Gear Acid, Gran Turismo and some great looking 3d platformers. The Nintendo DS has NONE of this. I wish it did. I'm an old school Nintendo guy who has bought every Nintendo system since the NES, but seriously, Nintendo is gonna have to really work to win this battle. The PSP is just that much better than the DS. I think Sony's only flaw here is in not announcing a bare bones package with just the system. Mine cost 19,000 yen which works out to around $180 and I certainly didn't need a small 32MB card or a set of headphones.....

Re:DS vs PSP

[TheBeno]

er... the DS is $150 right? thats what i meant....

Re:DS vs PSP

[Anonymous Coward]

I fail to see how the DS's 3D is any less "real" than the PSP's. It can't push as many polies but it still makes some solid visuals. Check out this Mario Kart video:

http://home.comcast.net/~l3laze/mariokart.wmv
h ttp://media.jeux-france.com/Nintendo_Paris_2005/N intendo_Paris_2005_Mario_Kart_DS.wmv
This is why the DS is still cool.

Re:DS vs PSP

[ppp]

The PSP is a nice device, but the DS has the *potential* to be a more innovative gaming device. First of all, I think wireless multi-player is the potential killer app of both devices. However, the PSP requires all players to have a copy of the game to play, and at $40 to $50 a pop that's going to put a limitation on the festivities. On most DS multiplayer games only ONE copy of the game is required to play, which is a far more spontaneous and accessable way to go. Also, the DS has a touch screen, which opens up a lot of possibilities for innovative game play. The PSP has great graphics and sound, but brings nothing new to the table, just a mobile version of your standard PS2 game. The DS however has the potential of actually delivering unique gaming experiences. I'm hoping that developers have the vision to make that happen.

And I actually hope that BOTH devices are successful - competition is good for consumers.

Re:DS vs PSP

[TheBeno]

no doubt. i'll happily agree with you on all your points. oh and i know sony hasnt officially said the psp will do game sharing, but one of the options in the psp's home screen under games is something along the lines of 'game sharing'. clicking on it causes the psp to try to connect to something....so maybe some games will allow for this down the line. who knows... but yeh. the DS has massive potential, but so did the Gamecube and Nintendo really botched that. Not to mention the VirtualBoy. Who remembers that one? :)

Re:DS vs PSP

[TheBeno]

you're totally right about the 3D being real 3d. that was my mistake. I wasn't thinking right. And MarioKart does look like a lot of fun. Perhaps once Nintendo has put out enough good software, I'll buy another DS...but I still believe the PSP is the better system. Sure the DS has the touchpad, but what good is it being put to use right now? Its like when the Dreamcast came out and people were supposed to be able to use the memory cards with the lcd's to interact with the game, but none of the developers really used it and that innovative technology became obsolete. you guys mustve misunderstood me if you think i dislike the DS or want it to fail. i just think the PSP is a better system, has a better lineup of games and Nintendo is really going to have to work hard to win this fight.

Re:DS vs PSP

[BuddyJesus]

Actually, look at WarioWare DS. It uses it innovatively. And Feel the Magic: XX:XY, which uses ONLY the touch pad. There are so many ways to use it it's not even funny. It can even double as a joystick. People move their thumb across the touch pad and could react like a joystick. Now that's innovation.

Re:DS vs PSP

[Abcd1234]

Sure the DS has the touchpad, but what good is it being put to use right now?

Actually, I thought the Metroid Prime demo was an excellent example of the potential for the touchscreen as a control device... in fact, I can't play that game in any other mode (doubly brilliant, the buttons on the right happen to also be in the right configuration to use as a joypad, so Prime can be used by lefties, too). I can also imagine using the touchscreen to emulate the PSP's analogue control. Not to mention all the specialized games which use it (the minigames in Mario 64, etc).

Numbers seem close...

[raygundan]

The sales for 2004 (from here appear to agree fairly well with the overall numbers the previous poster had, with the PS2 just barely outselling the GBA (note: you'll have to add the GBA and GBA SP sales yourself) in 2004, and both of them putting the smack down on everything else.

System - Sales this week - Total this year
Nintendo DS - 221,625 - 889,400
PlayStation 2 - 112,970 - 2,503,532
PSP - 85,059 - 245,078
Game Boy Advance SP - 80,271 - 2,340,693
GameCube - 29,991 - 588,528
Game Boy Advance - 1,270 - 194,148
Xbox - 499 - 36,379
Swan Crystal 70 - 7,388
PSone 40 - 13,939

Overall numbers for the year are available here and agree with what the previous poster had:

Worldwide Hardware Sales (End of 2004)
PlayStation 2 - 81.39 million
Xbox - 19.9 million
GameCube - 18.03 million
Game Boy Advance - 65.74 million
Nintendo DS - 2.84 million
Sony PSP - 0.51 million
N-Gage - 1.3 million
PSone - 101.73 million

I'm too lazy to cut and paste any more, but everything I turned up from a quick google search seemed to agree fairly well. Overall-- PS1 is in the lead, PS2 is in second, GBA is third, followed by the Xbox and the Gamecube.

Re:Numbers seem close...

[JFMulder]

Xbox - 499 - 36,379
Maybe I'm not understanding something, but that number seems really fishy to me. Xbox selling only 37k units last year? Compared to ~600K GameCubes? This was the best year for the Xbox in terms of games, it must have sold more then that.

Re:Numbers seem close...

[dtfarmer]

Those are *Japanese* hardware sales numbers - thus you now understand why when people post that the x-box is dead in Japan, they really aren't kidding. The worldwide numbers show the x-box with about 10% more total sales than the gamecube, though, which is because of last year, but almost certainly owes much of that sucess to ex-mac developer Bungie - if not for them, MS would certainly not have been able to compete in the USA or Europe either - because of them MS finally had a single quarter of profits (no matter how small) instead of losses from the x-box division. It will be interesting to see if they slip back into the red, or if Halo 2 will be able to keep them in the black for another quarter.

Re:Numbers seem close...

[raygundan]

You're quite right, and I'm an idiot. That set of numbers is indeed japanese-only, and I missed it when googling. I apologize for any confusion.

The second set is still overall numbers, though, and backs up the original poster's assertions that the GBA sells like crazy. It's not in "Second place," though, because the PS1 has both the PS2 and the GBA beaten. If you want to include the "classic" gameboy, it's the runaway winner with 118 million units sold at the end of 2004.

That makes the Gameboy the best-selling console of all time, and the GBA number 3. And given the rate at which the GBA is selling, it may yet catch the PS1.

Compare and Contrast

[str0gg]

PSP - Initial Price $250 Games $45 (Average) Battery Life - Depends on what you are doing, but never too long lasting. Pushes graphics over game innovation. Inferier Wireless Technology. Expensive Movies and Extras Nintendo DS - Initial Price $150 Games $30 (Average) Battery Life - Usually a constant 6 or more hours Pushes Innovation over Graphics Standered Wireless Technology Lack Of Movies and many Extras For Me the biggest thing is price and innovation. I dont want to spend money on a PSP movie I already own on DVD only to have to charge the system right after the movie. Innovation is also a big factor. Nintendo is realizing that pushing graphics can only get you so far. Sorry Sony, unless you change your prices and approach I think Nintendo Has your Number.

Re:Compare and Contrast

[Anonymous Coward]

Well you don't HAVE top rebuy your movie, just convert and transfer it over. The fact that the PSP can do this, AND do it for less than any other portable movie player on the market, PLUS can play games, has wireless and USB 2.0 says they have already cut Nintendos phone line. People will buy this thing just for the movie playback, it will get hacked and more functionality will be added. I've seen the DS and used to be a Nintendo fanboy all the way until last year, the PSP is going to KILL the N. I promise you this.

Re:Compare and Contrast

[Anonymous Coward]

You're correct, Nintendo is pushing innovation over graphics...pushing it right down our throats. Their "innovation" was including an input device that is inferior to the standard controller. They did this at the expense of game quality. Who thinks ridge racer or Mario 64 are "better" controlled with the touch pad? No one. The DS's touchscreen capabilies can be used in some interesting, although limited ways. Unfortunately what Nintendo considers an innovation really just limits the different types of games one can play on it.

Re:Compare and Contrast

[podperson]

Pushing graphics over game design innovation is THE way to be successful in the games industry.

DOOM3 -- where's the innovative game play there?
Half-Life 2? -- ditto?

For that matter, where's the gameplay innovation in the DS? You can't look at two screens at once -- seems to me they're just recycling IP.

Re:Compare and Contrast

[Truekaiser]

the most inovation i have seen for nintendo's ds is a dateing sim that allows you to use the touch screen to touch *ahem* certian parts of person.

I don't really think so

[mcc]

Out of the three I think the PSP is the most likely to succeed. Sony's strategy is very similar to that of the first playstation, they don't want Nintendo's market, they want to open up handheld to a new more mainstream demographic.

The problem is when you say "mainstream" here you don't mean "mainstream", you just mean a different demographic niche than the SP targets. Specifically, XBox owners.

Meanwhile, the DS is targeting new groups of its own in the same sense. Did you actually read any of the mainstream media coverage when the DS was released? And no, I don't mean EGM or whatever, I mean the real mainstream, like USA Today. Almost all of them reacted in a very interesting way-- they said, "oh, ok, it's a PDA crossed with a game boy".

The look of the DS might not impress the group that, in my opinion at least, you have mistaken for "mainstream": 20somethings who are willing to buy appliances that make them feel cool. However, these people would very likely be buying video game systems anyway-- you aren't "opening up" the market one bit by appealing to them. However the DS's style does seem to be impressing the 30something set (at least the ones who work in the media), to whom the DS"s supposedly angular and clunky design just looks dignified and businesslike, and the stylus functionality seems natural and comforting. This is still a niche, but it's possibly something closer to the mainstream mainstream, and it's certainly a new market.

Sony might possibly have something on their hands with the whole "uh, it's a media device, really" thing, since lots of people who wouldn't be so interested in a video game system would be interested in a portable music player. But that doesn't really work since their "convergence" of an mp3 player and a handheld game system costs about as much as an equivalent mp3 player and a handheld game system would separately-- and isn't much physically smaller. This is why the price is a problem. For the $250 price of a PSP you could get a $150 Nintendo DS and a $100 iPod Shuffle-- and if you did, you'd actually be able to play mp3s, which you wouldn't with the PSP value pack (you'd have to shell out a nontrivial amount more for a memory stick, the value pack's 32MB stick won't cut it). I do not think the general market will fail to notice this.

Re:I don't really think so

[EpsCylonB]

Specifically, XBox owners.

Erm yeah, XBox owners, Playstation Owners, GameCube Owners, anyone who might buy a handheld basically...

Meanwhile, the DS is targeting new groups of its own in the same sense. Did you actually read any of the mainstream media coverage when the DS was released? And no, I don't mean EGM or whatever, I mean the real mainstream, like USA Today. Almost all of them reacted in a very interesting way-- they said, "oh, ok, it's a PDA crossed with a game boy".

I wasn't aware the DS had any PDA features...

As for the 20 somethings versus the 30 somethings, who do you think is goign to be more willing to plonk down $250 for a handheld games console ?. Sony are smart by targeting the 20 something demographic.

For the $250 price of a PSP you could get a $150 Nintendo DS and a $100 iPod Shuffle-- and if you did, you'd actually be able to play mp3s, which you wouldn't with the PSP value pack (you'd have to shell out a nontrivial amount more for a memory stick, the value pack's 32MB stick won't cut it). I do not think the general market will fail to notice this.

Except that a DS and an Ipod Shuffle won't let you watch movies. Personally this isn't something which appeals to me, I would much rather listen to music on a train than watch a movie. However those portable DVD players are supposedly selling very well...

Re:I don't really think so

[smaug195]

Portable DVD players, definitely, this isn't it. People have extensive DVD collections, but I don't think people will want to re-buy all their favorite movies on the DS format. It's really a niche format, and may have some limited appeal, but won't be hugely popular.

Re:I don't really think so

[SetupWeasel]

However the DS's style does seem to be impressing the 30something set (at least the ones who work in the media), to whom the DS"s supposedly angular and clunky design just looks dignified and businesslike, and the stylus functionality seems natural and comforting.

That is a good fucking point. I swear only to show my appreciation. Which one would you rather be seen with... by your boss? I like the look of the DS, but it is subtile. Subtile enough to pack in a briefcase on a business trip. Maybe not subtile enough to be played in a boardroom, but subtile enough to not be judged if someone sees it on your person.

I can't translate this

[Anonymous Coward]

it'll be the first handheld to really take advantage of object-oriented development methodologies.

Could you elaborate? Does this sentence mean, "I read some hype about a C++ compiler for the PSP and I thought it was a new thing" (it's not), or does it mean "I want attention and think I can get modded up by dropping buzzwords"?

"Already got one?!"

[Jackie_Chan_Fan]

ARTHUR:

It is King Arthur, and this is my my Knights of the Round Table. Whose castle is this?

FRENCH GUARD:

This is the castle of my master, Guy de Loimbard.

ARTHUR:

Go and tell your master that we have been charged by God with a sacred quest. If he will give us food and shelter for the night, he can join us in our quest for the Sony PSP.

FRENCH GUARD:

Well, I'll ask him, but I don't think he'll be very keen. Uh, he's already got one, you see.

ARTHUR:

What?

GALAHAD:

He says they've already got one!

ARTHUR:

Are you sure he's got one?

FRENCH GUARD:

Oh, yes. It's a Japanese... (I told him we already got one.)

FRENCH GUARDS:

[chuckling]

If we don't compare it to Nintendo

[mcc]

Personally, I'd compare it to any of the various video players out right now.

Well, probably not the DVD players, since UMD doesn't have exactly a certain future.

But if you're right, and we shouldn't be comparing the PSP to the Game Boy, then the thing we should be comparing it to is the Tapwave Zodiac.

The Zodiac's original model costs about the same as the PSP (the newest model is $100 more), but the memory upgrades cost much less than the PSP's and both come with the same amount of memory, 32MB. The Zodiac plays games, mp3s and video that you load from your computer, it has a more centrally-positioned analog stick, and it seems to be slightly smaller than the PSP. It definitely doesn't seem to be as powerful for games as the PSP and the screen definitely isn't as nice, but it has a vastly larger feature set since it's a fully functional PalmOS PDA and the screen supports stylus input.

In this case the PSP doesn't at all compare poorly to the Zodiac but it doesn't seem it would be automatically be one's first choice of a buy between the two either.

Re:handheld gaming

[diamondsw]

I see many problems with the DS suceeding.

Product Positioning
It's stuck between the GBA-SP and PSP. The GBA SP may be too popular for the DS's own good. I'm not talking games, I'm talking form factor and design. People almost universally agree it's an outstanding design - tiny with the perfect feature set. Meanwhile, the DS is very bulky in comparison - certainly isn't going into my top jacket pocket, and even may be bulky in my jeans pocket. Meanwhile, the PSP offers pure style and power. As Ridge Racer comparisons show, the DS simply does not compete graphically. It's really embarrassing for the DS, and it's only going to get worse. Why?

Third Party Developers
I doubt major game developers will do anything neat with the second screen, as the vast majority of games are multi-platform. Just like in cross-platform computer applications, when this happens the unique features a system may offer are almost always underutilized - here, the DS's second screen and touchpad. However, developers WILL use the PSP's graphics - that might as well be free to them - they know how to do it from years of console experience, and it's much easier to design a good game for the PSP and tune down the graphics for the DS. Meanwhile, I highly doubt many will give more than lipservice to the DS's second screen and touchpad. Nintendo will doubtless do some great first-party games (it's why I have a Cube), but even from them, all we really have so far is maps on the second screen, and some occasional minigames. That is NOT the revolutionary platform Nintendo would like us to think this is, and is worrisome.

Usability
I've played on a DS - I can't watch two screens at once. The stylus, while potentially very interesting, so far seems to be a crutch for the lack of analog control. Anyone who's played a racing game will tell you that nothing can replace analog control. Not to mention, how can you use all of the controls and stylus at once? It seems to make for games where most action occurs using the standard controls, and then different sections that use the stylus, whereas the analog controls can be used seamlessly. But the DS doesn't have it - the PSP does.

Rehashes?
Why does the PSP get such a bad rap on rehashes? Because it looks so much like a PS2? That should be a compliment. Meanwhile, the DS is offering us N64 and GameCube rehashes, scaled down to the DS's capabilities with some minor changes. Mario DS (Mario 64 with added characters and some levels), Animal Crossing DS, Metroid Hunters (not terribly different other than a poor multiplayer mode - haven't tried the stylus versus analog control yet). Rehashes. So why does the PSP get such a knock and the DS does not?

The DS is an interesting concept but ultimately not very compelling, especially when stuck between the minute perfect-ness of the GBA-SP and the sleek power of the PSP. I really see little to no market for it.

Time will tell, of course.

Memory Stick/UMD Sizes

[mykepredko]

Thanx for the reply, I didn't think of using the memory stick.

Just doing a quick search, the UMD Drive is 1.8 GB and Sony has announced a 2.0 GB memory stick became be available late last year. Right now, it looks like the 1.0 GB and 2.0 GB memory sticks are around $350 and $700 each, respectively.

I think this means there is still a market for a UMD disk burner.

myke

Re:Memory Stick/UMD Sizes

[Wesley Felter]

I think this means there is still a market for a UMD disk burner.

But Sony still won't sell one.

Re:handheld gaming

[tgibbs]

The screen is NOT tiny. You get a good angle of view when held normally, quite good for watching movies, in fact. Quality is really superb, picture size is 480x272 pixels

Remember that I was comparing it to my laptop, which has a resolution of 1280 x 854. In terms of number of pixels, that means that the PSP screen is about 12% of my laptop. I think "tiny" is a reasonable characterization. I'm simply not likely to want to want to watch movies on the PSP.

Um...

[millennial]

I announced this on the 6th of this month and people accused me of lying... See?

Re:Um...

[Anonymous Coward]

Welcome to the place with incredibly small minds that try to act like they think big. /. is saturated with idiots nowadays and it isn't going to get any better as long as the management leaves the current editors in place. It's become worse than high school journalism and is just watched for the entertainment value now.

Sony + Apple

[Bizzarobot]

I just glanced through the PSP specifications and features listing and saw this in the Codec section:


[Video]: "UMD": H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Main Profile Level3
[Video}: "Memory Stick": MPEG-4 SP,AAC
[Music]: "UMD": linear PCM,ATRAC3plus(TM)
[Music}: "Memory Stick": ATRAC3plus(TM),MP3(MPEG1/2 Layer3)


UMD video is H.264/MPEG-4. Everyone here remember the weird Sony president cameo at Macworld? And if you haven't already read Bob Cringley's article regarding the future of the Mac Mini, do so. I wonder if there might be some further connection with Apple & Sony and video playing using Sony PSP as the portable hardware. Steve Jobs doesn't want to have any part of the portable video player game, so maybe he'll let Sony have it, as long as Apple gets the digital content distribution rights. How long before UMD burners become available?

Re:What's new?

[millennial]

Nobody knew the launch date? I was close. I said I'd heard that it was in March. Ahem.

Missing the point?

[millennial]

If the developers of GTA3 had had to create all of the game's graphics on an assembly-based sprite coding level, as well as everything else, it would have taken much longer to make the game. They might also have rushed out a crappy product to meet launch dates. OO coding doesn't improve the gamer's experience at all, but it may produce higher-quality games that feature all sorts of nifty hidden stuff (like GTA3 did) because the developers had time to spare after the main engine was done.

Re:handheld gaming

[tgibbs]

It's stuck between the GBA-SP and PSP. The GBA SP may be too popular for the DS's own good. I'm not talking games, I'm talking form factor and design. People almost universally agree it's an outstanding design - tiny with the perfect feature set.

The way I see it, the DS offers most of the advantages of the GBA-SP, such as the built in lid and backlight, with the capability of playing even more games and the availability of wireless multiplayer. I think it will appeal to a lot of owners of the original GBA who weren't willing to shell out again for the same system in a better package.

I doubt major game developers will do anything neat with the second screen, as the vast majority of games are multi-platform.

I'm not interested in playing scaled down versions of multiplatform games on a handheld; I'll play those on console with a large-screen TV, which is really what they were designed for. I'm interested in titles that are designed specifically for the hand-held format. Nintendo is always the big draw for a Nintendo console. I have no doubt that they will find good uses for the second screen. I was very impressed by how well the supplied Metroid game plays with both screens. I imagine that more creative 3rd party developers will also come up with good uses for the second screen.

I've played on a DS - I can't watch two screens at once. The stylus, while potentially very interesting, so far seems to be a crutch for the lack of analog control. Anyone who's played a racing game will tell you that nothing can replace analog control.

I don't have any trouble watching two screens. I drive, and am in the habit of monitoring the road ahead and 3 mirrors, so two screens both in my immediate field of view is trivial. As for analog control, I am really impressed by how much better the touch screen works that an analog stick. In many respects, it seems closer to a mouse than a joystick. FPS games have never appealed to me on console because the joystick control feels so clumsy, but Metroid with the stylus actually seems to work. And I really appreciate not having to switch back and forth to the map, or having a "head-up" map obscuring the action.

I am particularly interested in Atari's re-releases of some of their old arcade games with trackball or knob controls. I have a feeling that this may be the system of choice for Tempest. I want to play Reactor, as well. If somebody comes out with Arkanoid or Tailgunner, I'll really be happy.

On the other hand, playing a racing game on a handheld seems like a very bad match to me--I'll stick with Ridge Racer on console.

Why does the PSP get such a bad rap on rehashes? Because it looks so much like a PS2?

No, because most of us already have a PS2. To rope me in, it has to offer me something different. So far, I've seen little indication of that.

That should be a compliment. Meanwhile, the DS is offering us N64 and GameCube rehashes, scaled down to the DS's capabilities with some minor changes.

As it happens, I don't have a N64, so versions of N64 games have some appeal to me. I'm interested in finding out how Mario DS plays with the touchpad. Console games have gone more and more into impressive graphical effects. I like that on a big screen where I can fully appreciate it. On a small screen handheld, I want games with clear action. I've been happy to see classic 2D Castlevania and Metroid series find a home on the GBA, and I see even more potential for such games on the DS.

Re:UMD Disc Movies - Anybody know more/Rip questio

[pikakilla]

IIRC, flash memory is not designed to be constantly read. I believe it has a limited amount of flashes, so you wont be able to watch movies from a memory stick.

Boys and toys

[Dobeln]

Let's not forget the primary reason for young kids dominating the handheld scene: Sex. After all, computer gaming has a rather serious geek factor.

Before puberty, it's kinda ok to be nerdy in public - afterwards, you'd rather keep your gaming in your parents' basement. This is going to be a semi-major hurdle to climb for Sony with the PSP...

(This is of course why cell phones are such great gaming platforms - they're stealthy!)

Dance Dance Revolution for PSP?

[tepples]

Sorry, but I don't think the handheld market is ready for a footheld gaming platform.

There is already a footheld gaming platform for the PS1 and PS2; why not make a foldable one for PSP?

Re:Dance Dance Revolution for PSP?

[centauri]

I'd call that a gravity- or floor-held platform, which happens to played with the feet. But it would be cool if something like that could be implemented on a handheld.

Xbox sells like crap... IN JAPAN!

[tepples]

[A joke is] the gamecube market share

Because of the dearth of exclusive titles designed for the Japanese culture, the Xbox is selling poorly in Japan. Even the PS1 outsells it. And this more than makes up for Xbox's alleged slight edge over the GameCube in North America and Europe.

Re:Xbox sells like crap... IN JAPAN!

[ATN]

Obviously the video game market is a more complex beast then just being able to pirate software; but my point is simply that the ability to easily pirate software on a system does not seem to have much correlation with profit or market share. It certainly didn't hurt the original playstation and it's not hurting the xbox. Maybe Nintendo needs to focus less on assuming it's customers are all greedy criminals and spend a little more time working on their 3rd party relations.

Can it multitask DVDs and games?

[tepples]

Think how often your PS2 (if you have one) has been the DVD player to use when friends come over.

I'll use my $60 Apex DVD player to play DVDs, thank you very much. I want to be able to use a DVD player on one TV and a console on another TV so that the younger kids don't get bored when someone else in the house wants to watch six Meg Ryan movies in a row.

Compile *fast* C++ code?

[tepples]

All it means is that you can compile C++ code for it.

Unless it means that Sony put some actual effort into improving some C++ compiler's MIPS code generator, as Nintendo did with contributions to GCC's ARM7 backend.

Re:Compile *fast* C++ code?

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean the GCC ARM7 production is now almost as good as its MIPS production? Good old Nintendo :)

It'd take more than a highly-resourced multinational corporation to make gcc create *good* code for either architecture, though.

For a "modern" compiler gcc sure sucks at generating code for RISC processors.

Pricing

[tepples]

Flash is relatively inexpensive [...] Hell, not everyone can afford those homebrew kits they made available for the PS1, or PS2 Linux.

The PS2 Linux kit wasn't priced very much higher than a single seat license for Macromedia Flash. I guess I'm bitter about Flash because I'm a have-not.

Re:Pricing

[MilenCent]

Well I opened myself up to that one, heh. Still, PS2 Linux isn't really a development tool, you can't expect a huge audience for your PS2 Linux software unless you distribute source-only -- and then, well, you're not really developing for the PS2, you're developing for Linux.

When talking about Flash, I was careful to say "relatively." I'm not fond of its pricing either, and I only have a copy because I'm a student. Still, console development kits are much more pricy.

Er, Is the price change that surprising?

[AzraelKans]

People are buying PSPs all over the world for $400 and $500 is it that surprising that some sony executive decided to price it at $250 instead of the rumored $150?

Lets all thank E-bay in chorus!
Thanks E-Bay! (and Lik-sang!)

OO performance hit

[tepples]

OO does not incur any noticable performance hit.

In practice, common implementations of OO give you just enough rope to hang your throughput with. Too many C++ programmers abuse virtual methods and RTTI.

Re:OO performance hit

[Banshee99]

Too many C++ programmers abuse virtual methods and RTTI
True, but this does not mean that OO is slow. Bad C code can be slow too.

Tetanus On Drugs

[tepples]

Metal Gear Acid: Best Played While Tripping.

GBA beat PSP to it. Try Tetanus On Drugs.

Not a design mistake?

[Anonymous Coward]

Although Kutaragi stated that about 4800 units have been returned for this behavior, he insisted that it was not a design mistake and that the location was precisely according to specification.

It may not have been a MANUFACTURING mistake, but it most certain WAS a huge design mistake.

Re:Not a design mistake?

[Anonymous Coward]

Really, what a fucking asshat retard. Oh yeah, the button is right where we planned it to be, works like shit, sticks sometimes, and has caused the return of 4800 units but WE DID PUT IT WHERE IT WORKS BEST.....f-ing a-hole Sony rep.

Re:Not a design mistake?

[fwitness]

Yeah, this sucks about the PSP and makes people like me wary of the purchase (especially at that price point.)

In an earlier post someone suggested it was probably one of those things where designers clashed on ideas (should we make it bigger to fix the button or move the button?) and nobody budged.

I'm more worried about dead pixels, since Sony still doesn't seem to care much, while Nintendo is actively caring about the issue. Of the 6 reviews I have read from people who have bought the PSP in Japan, 4 mention dead pixels, not many, but still. Maybe I'll just open the damn thing in the store and raise bloody hell if it's borked.

use your points against you

[Anonymous Coward]

You missed out on the fact that it has wireless, and everyone missed out on the fact that you can stream video over wireless.

I think sony would be smart to create a wireless streaming adapter for this so you can be playing on the PSP and wathing on the TV with no wires at all!

- sweetjesus

Re:use your points against you

[Anonymous Coward]

The original spec actually had video out

Re:UMD Disc Movies - Anybody know more/Rip questio

[millennial]

The flashing is done when the disk is written, not read. There is a virtually unlimited read capacity for flash disks.

How gay

[tepples]

Sony's bundling Spiderman 2 with the PSP to combat the exact kind of thinking you're presenting in your post - which is to say, that the PSP is a gaming machine.

But won't Spider-Man make you gay?

"Very few people" .. WHAT????

[Viewsonic]

Do you know how many Gameboys are out there being used? Have you looked at how much space Gameboys take up compared to your average console? Very few? I dont think you realise how huge of a market handheld gaming is, and how much cash Nintendo makes from it.

Battery life of 1.5 hrs stinks, though.

[Viewsonic]

It's simply not enough for a portable system no matter how cool the games might be. You need to be able to play it on long flights or trips, or without being chained to a wall socket.

Yes, I know you can dim the screen, turn the volume down, whatever to make it last longer, but it's crazy talk suggesting someone does this to get an extra hour out of a system.

Re:Battery life of 1.5 hrs stinks, though.

[TheBeno]

not sure where you got the figure of 1.5hrs but that hasn't been my experience. Its lasting about 3-4 hours per charge and has a removeable battery so you can swap it with another charged battery if you need to. It also has a cool sleep function where you can turn it off and when you pick it up the next day itll let you play the game from the exact place you were at. yesterday i picked up off the charger, played it for about 45 minutes, put it to sleep, picked it up again like 8 hours later and it had about 75% of its battery left.

Re:Battery life of 1.5 hrs stinks, though.

[Abcd1234]

Yet, the DS plays for something like 10-12 hours, and there are people who've put their DS to sleep for 2 *days* and picked it up and continued where the left off. Heck, I started playing my DS on the bus to work, put it to sleep when I arrived, and started back up for my trip home. Sorry, but the battery life plus cost of the PSP is a *serious* drawback.

Worse, 3-4 hours, the PSP battery life is *seriously* limiting. I go on road trips every couple months, not to mention air travel occasionally, and I'm *rarely* traveling for less that 3-4 hours. OTOH, the battery life of a DS means it will operate for, basically, a whole day.

March 24th

[Deathlizard]

Hey that's my Birtyday! Thats great timing on their part.

Why is the GBA devkit so cheap?

[tepples]

Still, console development kits are much more pricy.

Perhaps for the three major TV-top consoles. But if you have a PC running Windows and an Internet connection, you can get a fully functional GBA development kit for under $200. Just buy a GBA SP and an EFA flash card, and download devkitARM and VisualBoyAdvance.

Re:Why is the GBA devkit so cheap?

[MilenCent]

A link, man! Supply a link! I must have a link!!

Re:Why is the GBA devkit so cheap?

[MilenCent]

Er, I meant, a link to devkitARM. Sorry about that.

Re:Why is the GBA devkit so cheap?

[tepples]

Er, I meant, a link to devkitARM. Sorry about that.

umm... ask Google?

Re:Why is the GBA devkit so cheap?

[MilenCent]

But if you link it to your post, then anyone reading it will be able to find it, saving them a step. Which was the point... eh, never mind.

Shill

[Anonymous Coward]

TheBeno joined slashdot just to post in this thread. He's never posted before.

Can you say "Sony Shill?"

Re:Shill

[TheBeno]

awesome. i love conspiracy theories. this one is really great cause it supposes that Sony, a multi billion dollar international company thats going to spend millions of dollars advertising the PSP has hired me to log on to Slashdot to convince a bunch of nerds to buy their new product. yup. good one.

Re:Shill

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft has done it before as have many other companies. Its much less a conspiracy theory and more likely the truth.

This guy is a Sony corporate shill

[Anonymous Coward]

TheBeno's never posted before this thread.

I'll wager he'll never post again outside of other PSP threads.

TheBeno is a shill.

Re:This guy is a Sony corporate shill

[gorim]

I find it amazing that people who have glowing things to say about this product are call corporate shills.

Why all the vehemance denunciations against people who purchased one and realized that sony hit a home run with this one ?

Its perhaps more likely you and others like you are Nintendo corporate shills, people who are Nintendo fanboys who never will own PSP or touch one to be able to offer any real comment on it.

(btw, I do not work in the game industry, never have, do not work for anyone who remotely makes or sells games, nor has any such as a client, or otherwise gives me money. But no doubt you will still find a way to call even me a shill...)

Re:This guy is a Sony corporate shill

[TheBeno]

ive never really seen a thread on Slashdot that i felt i could offer anything different from what people were already saying. in this case, i found most people were speculating about a device that i managed to score from japan a few days ago and figured id chime in. if you want, you can check my blog at http://www.benackerman.com/ to see pictures of my psp other ramblings.....

Wait for E3 before buying any handheld...

[AzraelKans]

If the PSP pricing has dissapointed you (or at least has confirmed that you cant afford it) I suggest to wait for E3 before taking any decisions.

Theres a big rumor about a new GBA coming our way,GBA Evolution using technology similar to the PSP (bad for PSP users AND mostly DS users due to a possible shortenned lifetime), talk about a price drop for the DS and/or a bundle with metroid Hunters (in order to compete with the PSP release!) and the posibility of a surprise/bundle title for the PSP: GTA PSP no less!

Some of these rumors look very pausible so no matter what side you are on. It might be a very sensible thing to just wait and see what happens first.

Re:Wait for E3 before buying any handheld...

[daemonmonke]

> "the posibility of a surprise/bundle title for the PSP: GTA PSP no less!"

what'choo talkin' 'bout Willis?

GTA for PSP is only surprising if you live in a cave.

http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/255465.asp

Here's info on the GBE (due 2006 sometime):

http://www.engadget.com/entry/6436666222265311/

Isn't the internet fun?

commute uses..

[internetizen]

I think what is missing here in the discussion is the fact that there is hardly any commute for most US folks. If i were in NYC or SF or DC i can see myself recording shows that I miss or couldn't catch from TV on my tuner card, running a script to encode it, and take it on the go in the morning. If you target a 20+ demographic they will find uses for a decently built machine that is in essence a wifi capable portable media device. In due time someone (probably some /.-er) intelligent enough will probably be able to hack it to run some form of *nix on it. currently the wifi is implemented by NetBSD c/f here

linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Can we put linux on this thing?

2nd

[phriedom]

"The biggest reason the 15-25 male demographic has been the "big" demographic in video games has more to do with the relatively short history of video gaming in general than anything. You're seeing so many 15-25 year-old males because they're the ones who were playing Nintendo and Sega Master System back when video games really were considered toys for little boys--and by and large the only people playing them were little boys. Now that video games are becoming more mainstream--now that they're no longer seen as the exclusive domain of small children and nerds--you're going to see a much broader market for this kind of thing."

I too disagree with this. I grew up with and Atari 2600, and then a Commodore 64, I have a Playstation and a gaming PC. I'm a gamer. I seriously considered buying a Gameboy about 5 years ago, but after fiddling with one at an in-store display, I decided it was a kid's toy and I've never bought a portable.

This PSP merits some consideration by me, but I'm a little turned off that all my old Playstation games won't play in it.

Re:handheld gaming

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes but again you compare two different things. Next time you can put your laptop in your pocket, power it up and play content or use it without going through a "long" boot process please come back to the table.

Re:UMD Disc Movies - Anybody know more/Rip questio

[pikakilla]

I didnt think flash memory was designed to have constant reading though.

Re:handheld gaming

[tgibbs]

Yes but again you compare two different things. Next time you can put your laptop in your pocket, power it up and play content or use it without going through a "long" boot process please come back to the table.

The PSP is a bit big for my pocket. I could fit it into my carry-on bag when I travel, but that is one more thing to carry in addition to my laptop. And it doesn't have a flip top like the DS, so it'll need some kind of case to protect the screen from scratches.

I don't know what you mean about a long boot process. Maybe this is something that you do with Windows laptops? Mine is a Mac running OS X, so there's really no reason to ever reboot it. You just flip it open and it's ready to go.

usb drive

[crimson king]

Since the PSP has a usb port would it be possibe to use thumb drives on it?

Just think of all the EMULATORS

[Anonymous Coward]

The psp has enough power to run mame, gba and many other emulators :)

Tivo and PSP

[bagboy]

What a sweet deal it would be if Tivo and Sony would partner so you could stream from your Tivo to your PSP!!! Anyone have inside contacts that they can push this direction????

Re:Meanwhile, over at El Reg ... you're an idiot

[Anonymous Coward]

oh yeah, the triangle and the square really threw me off, I don't know what they were thinking. I almost gave up on gaming right then and there. I resorted to writing letters on the buttons with a sharpie.

Continuing trend

[Jozer99]

The PSP continues the trend of gaming devices that the manufaturer looses money selling. Pretty soon, we will all have $5 PSP3s, Nintendo Gameboy FXs, and Xbox Minis, whilst the big three game hardware producers vie for the top spot of who lost the most money selling units.

PSP wins out by Media's Eye

[fwitness]

Preface: I own a DS, and will probably buy a PSP (although the price looks pretty steep after games and a mem stick).

Anyway, the reason the PSP is going to be a huge success for Sony is that they can show it on programs like 'The Today Show' and have people immediately understand it. Sony is targeting a high-end market of older men who have paid big bucks for Blackberries and the like, and they can immediately see how this fits their lifestyle. It's sexy like an ipod, and does good gaming like the PS2, something many people are familiar with.

The movie features should really be viewed as a bonus since I really don't think this small a device is suitable for much movie watching. However, some may think so.

The DS, on the other hand, is a completely different not only from other handhelds, but also from other gaming platforms, due to the stylus/touch screen, microphone, and dual screen layout. Developers are still trying to figure out what to do with those screens and the stylus.

All that Sony is really missing is the 'Killer App' for the system. If they manage to release something like GTA:Wireless where you can go near any WAP and play GTA with a few hundred others the battle is won.

The bottom line is that you can show a PSP on a few TV Shows and it will instantly become a media darling, giving it that 'must have' conspicuous consumption quality. To anchor this image, think what would happen if Friends were still on and Joey was seen playing a PSP a few times. Or how about if one of the challenges on 'The Apprentice' somehow involves selling PSPs? You wouldn't be able to keep them on the shelf. While the DS would benefit from these similarly, it is a much more abstract concept to sell. Even now, it is marketed more for what it can do than for what it does.

As long as Sony releases some good games fairly quickly, this will severely hamper the DS's market share. I still say there is room for both in the handheld market, but Sony may just get a bigger slice of the pie.

how much unbundled?

[Anonymous Coward]

If it's $250 w/ the goodies... how much without?

Re:handheld gaming

[Anonymous Coward]

The PSP is a bit big for my pocket. I could fit it into my carry-on bag when I travel, but that is one more thing to carry in addition to my laptop. And it doesn't have a flip top like the DS, so it'll need some kind of case to protect the screen from scratches.

I don't know what you mean about a long boot process. Maybe this is something that you do with Windows laptops? Mine is a Mac running OS X, so there's really no reason to ever reboot it. You just flip it open and it's ready to go.

But, but, but....

Value...

[FoXDie]

So.... if this is the value pack for $250 can I assume that there will be a "tight-ass" normal pack for say $200 or $137.54?

I personaly can not wait....

[Zil_Daggo]

By including a media stick and internet upgradeable firmware (if the speculation in the article is correct) It will be a matter of time before you can kick you xvid flicks over to your Memory Stick and watch them, I can already see a PSP Media Center on source forge :D, and not to mention a 4GB Memory stick is likely to hold a few games with the UMD maxing out at 1.8 GB, they wont be hundreds of dollars for that long :P I personally am picking one up ASAP the 1st revision is typically the easiest to hack.

I like Nintendo

[ATN]

By the way I have nothing against Nintendo. They make some killer software, Metroid, Zelda, Mario all awesome games; I own a gameboy advance, and I hate all that is Microsoft.

Is it that great?

[0utRun]

My friend waited out in line for 90 minutes in the cold and finally got one the day it came out (in Japan.) His hopes for a cool portable system were dashed when:
- He found out that the PSP uses a slower LCD than the Nintendo DS (for example) thus causing unwanted blur in games like Ridge Racer.
- The left shoulder button sticks. When pushing it down, it tended to get stuck under the top of the PSPs body, and required flicking to get it back into the 'up' position.
He presented it to the store with his reasons and they quickly refunded his money.
I'm not sure if this is an isolated issue or not, but it remains to be seen if any other complaints surface. I imagine though, that it's not impossible as there's been a lot of grumbling recently about Sony's products.

Speaking of glass houses...

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess I should have re-read that last sentence. :-D "start playing some of..."

Re:UMD Disc Movies - Anybody know more/Rip questio

[murphyslawyer]

IIRC, flash memory is not designed to be constantly read. I believe it has a limited amount of flashes, so you wont be able to watch movies from a memory stick.

You've neatly contradicted yourself here. Flash memory does have limited WRITE cycles, usually in the neighborhood of 10,000 writes before failure, and failures are usually handled by a bad-block recognition and marking scheme so it is pretty much transparent to the user.

You can read from it forever.

Why the DS has already won...

[Jace of Fuse!]

I've ready many replies writing off the DS and hailing the PSP, most of which are easy conclusions to draw but unfortunately for the PSP I think they are the wrong atittudes to take when trying to feel out this situation.

The reason the DS is already succeeding is because it IS appealing to nontraditional gamers. It's appealing to them like no other system I've ever seen.

Where I work I have been surrounded by people who generally think I waste my time with video games. They used to even tease me when I brought my Gameboy SP in to work.

Here lately, something unpredictable has happened. Men, ages 25-40 have been sitting around beating each other up in Mario 64DS. They've been playing the puzzle games, and bragging about their stars.

Where I work, almost none of these people are gamers. Yet, in my immediate department there are 6 people alone who already have one (not counting myself) and several others who swore they will be buying one!

These are people who DON'T EVEN PLAY VIDEO GAMES!

Many of the sited reasons are how cool the touch screen is, how well the wireless works, how there are already thousands of games available for it (Advance compatibility) and (the most often quoted reason) the upcoming Mario Kart DS.

I'm not saying the PSP is doomed to failure, and I certainly will be buying one myself. But Sony will lose the first couple of rounds against the DS because an entirely unexpected niche has been filled, and it's a huge niche. By now Nintendo has already sold almost 2 million DS units, and it's this phenomena is viral. What starts out as two people huddled around beating the crap out of each other turns into 10. Being able to play off of one cartridge is also a major selling point.

I've never understood the whole anti-Nintendo atittude. People refuse to acknowledge that dispite their fun-loving non-hardcore non-adult-oritented attitude they still know how to make something fun, yes, even for adults. Everyone who writes them off unjustely is denying themselves some of the most innovative and entertaining games in the industry.

Fortunately for the DS it's appeal is to an audience that had no pre-existing "kiddie-oriented" view of Nintendo.

It cracks me up to hear 40 year old men arguing over who gets to be "The blue guy" and calling Wario "Fat Ass" because they don't know his name.

Sony has yelled out loud and clear that they want another section of the gaming market overtaken and polluted with drab and uninspired shovelware and cheap knockoffs, but the DS, I believe, in the end will scream out loud and clear, "DENIED!"

Re:Why the DS has already won...

[tuffy]

I think you're onto something. My 60 year-old mother, whose sole video gaming experience is NES Tetris and Windows freecell, can't stop playing Zoo Keeper for the DS. She'll play it for hours. When I see that, I know Nintendo made the right decision with the touch screen and have little doubt about the DS' success.

Re:Why the DS has already won...

[PSP234]

Actually, for all practical purposes, the PSP has already won.

Media create weekly sales in Japan for Jan. 24-30 show PSP at 71k, DS at 42k.

This makes the 3rd straight week PSP has outsold the DS in Japan, and the margin keeps growing. People in Japan say it's still very difficult to find a PSP, so if the supply was there, who knows how bad they would be outselling DS. More or less, it's fairly unlikely the DS will ever outsell the PSP in Japan, or any competitive market, ever again. March 24 will be the last week the DS is the top selling handheld in the USA.

The fact DS is being outsold in Japan within 4 weeks of PSP's release is pretty stunning. Most people knew the PSP would crush the DS, but I dont think anybody expected it to be this fast.

Nintendo is already back to the drawing board, with rumours of a portable gamecube swirling. The DS should be discontinued for all practical purposes within a year. However, personally I feel this will be too little, and far too late. The essential problem is Nintendo is not willing to lose money on hardware, and therefore simply cannot compete. Lets say they do make a portable Gamecube, well, it may be a little more powerful than PSP, since one would assume the Gamecube is, but can they put a high qaulity screen on it like PSP? What about Cube disc streaming, which will kill battery life? By that time, PSP will really be hitting stride, and if they wanted, with a year of mass production done, Sony could drop the PSP to $99 probably. At that point the thing would be so mainstream Nintendo would have little chance.

Re:Why the DS has already won...

[JackAxe]

The DS has still sold more, because of it's wider market. But when it comes down to it, neither is a looser, since both are still selling big time.

Back to the drawing boards, Crush!!! Nintendo has already sold about 3 million units. Errrr. Step back from the PSP-Crack-Pipe. Wishful thinking is one thing, but you've jumped off into "La La Land."

A couple of things about your GameCube portable theaory. First of all, Sony replaced the "high quality" screen they showed at E3, with a "cheaper" screeen. Secondly, battery life with the PSP can be quite poor. Just over 2 hours for a heafty game that uses Wi-Fi. So before you critisize, or talk down a system that doesn't even exist, think about what you're comparing it too. And on that note, err there is no such thing as a GC portable and taking advice from you or any other peep at this time is only pure speculation. Or did you learn about the GC portable in La La Land?

Something you are not accounting for, is that most Nintendo peeps already own SPs and since they only recently purchased them, most are waiting for a few more DS specific games to be released, before buying. And guess what, Nintendo is releasing several new titles right when the PSP hits the shelves here in the US. So don't expect a clean PSP sweep anytime soon.

For a pure game machine, the DS wins hands down. For a multimedia machine (That should've had a touch screen.) The PSP wins. But at $249 with Sony's crap headphones and a movie, I'm certainly not going to buy one. Where's the promised $199 price???

And like the original poster mentioned, I'm also seeing many non-gamers buying the DSs.

so for 100 dollars more

[focitrixilous P]

the extra 100 you spend on a PSP instead of a DS gets you the following features:

*shorter battery life

*Non-interactive technology demos

*Maybe a movie

*10 mp3 storage space.

*one screen

I'm not convinced it is worth the extra money. At least the DS came with a game you could actually play, which is why a person would buy a portable gaming system.

the cloth

[griff199]

ins ... [a] 32 MB Memory Stick, headphones with remote control, battery pack, AC adaptor, soft case and cleaning cloth

IOW..reports that this thing collects fingerprints like Mario collects coins are true...and SNE figures without the cloth, everything looks "CSI:-themed". I'm dissapointed that they settled on the "looks real nice till you actually pick it up" design.

Re:UMD Disc Movies - Anybody know more/Rip questio

[millennial]

Reading flash memory (at least the kind used in a flash drive) is far less stressful on the memory cells. Writing tends to involve a significantly larger electical charge passing through the cells, while reading is mostly passive.

Re:handheld gaming

[diamondsw]

I want to find the damned asshat who modded this. Don't just mod that "Flamebait"; there was nothing flaming about it. Do you think someone writes something that long and involved as flamebait? If I'm wrong and full of it, then tell me - how about addressing some of the main points?

1) Both the DS and PSP are full of rehashes, just from different platforms. Why do people call Metal Gear Acid a rehash and Mario DS innovative? Both are rehashes.
2) Third-party developers will have a harder time writing games for both systems and using the unique features of the DS effectively. The unique features of the PSP (graphics power) are relatively easy to code for, whereas the unique features of the DS (different interface/screen layout) are not, requiring reworking of the game layout and design. Not going to happen on cross-platform titles.
3) The GBA-SP was so popular most people in the market for a handheld system have one. This leaves only people who have held out, people who want 3D in a system, and people who are willing to buy a new system. I would posit that the latter two groups are unlikely to choose a DS over a PSP as the PSP has far greater capabilities.

How does this help?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't as a gamer say that any of that really sounds like a good thing. Just imagine, if you will, a larger number of generic non-gamers driving off the DS, not because the PSP was better, but because the PSP was the 'cool' system that they saw on a TV show. These people probably wouldn't care much about quality games, they would just want pretty graphics, lots of blood and movie tie-ins, just like all the other people of this type who play console games. If the market started to focus more on these people, games would start to grow less and less fun, innovation in gaming would decline, and gradually those people would get bored and stop playing games, leading to a possible collapse of the gaming industry... Which would be very ironic, when you think about it.

I can't help but feel that selling an item mostly on it's looks can't be a good thing, I suppose. I'm probably just being paranoid.

Re:How does this help?

[fwitness]

Good points all. As to the downward spiral effect, this only applies when the market is saturated with a small number of large companies. Which is why a lot of movies are not all that great these days. People want 'cool' movies, so the big 3 or 4 studios make those, and independent studios must struggle for the leftover market share with what you and I would think of as a superior product.

What you have described has already happened in the game industry though. About when the PS1 was released, many developers started developing more movie tie-ins (how many were there in the late 80s early 90s? Some, but not nearly as many) and making more me-too titles. However, the gaming industry is basically still in it's adolescence, so there is still room for a lot of growth in the middle and at the edges of the market. The PS2 library is a perfect example. I can find 100 titles I would never play, but still easily find 10 or 15 I'm dying to try. So in a nutshell, you're not paranoid, they really are out to get you. :)

Like them or not (I do) Penny Arcade rather succinctly described this phenomenon a while back.

March 24?

[Anonymous Coward]

Mac OS X 10.0.0 was released to the public on March 24, 2001.

Lets be honest here.

[Effugas]

Stop by EB, or Gamestop, or wherever you get games.

Look at the Gameboy section.

Try to find a game you'd actually want to play, you know, being over the age of 13.

There are indeed a couple. Some Castlevanias, the new Final Fantasy. Mario and NES remakes, if you like. But not nearly enough.

Nintendo has a real problem with the whole "my voice has broken, can I please play something fun now" crowd. Fantastic battery life ain't going to help with that, and neither is Feel The Magic XX XY.

--Dan

Re:Lets be honest here.

[Raverrn]

Ah, but there is a small flaw in your argument. You assume that there will be fun PSP games. Personally, I find sports games (racing included) to be incredibly boring, so what am I left with?

The only game for PSP that grabbed my attention was the new Armored Core, and once I learned you can't pilot ACs, the only reason I'm still intersted is because I'm a mecha whore.

Re:handheld gaming

[Anonymous Coward]

LoL!

Re:handheld gaming

[Anonymous Coward]

Yea, Nintendo DS is fine, if you're a TEN year old. What a load of crap.

Looks like someone's still stuck in high school where they think that image is everything. If you were a bit more mature you'd realize that gaming is more about fun factor then looks. I play Nintendo games because I get a fun and enjoyable and memorable experience. Almost every other game I've played I play through it once and never touch or mention it again to anyone because they were a nice play through game but the fun value wasn't as good. Every Nintendo game I've played made by them I remember and mention it to people when we're talking about games that are good. For example, 5 years down the road and someone asks me what games were good back then, I won't be thinking about Halo or Final Fantasy, I'll be talking about Zelda, Metroid Prime, Mario games because those will stick out in my mind first. These games stick out in my mind because they were worth the price spent on them because they were just that damn fun.