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EU PSP Release Delayed Until Summer

Posted by Zonk on from the keep-your-patience dept.

Gamespot has the news that the European launch of the PSP is to be delayed by several months in order for the company to build up enough units to meet demand. From the article: "Americans need not fret--Sony has promised one million PSPs for its launch in North America."

23 comments

  1. FP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Frosty The friendly post.

    1. Re:FP by xMonkey · · Score: 1

      Should that be,

      Casper the friendly post.

      Anyway, the link in the articel is dead. Not even ./'d

      --
      Now I've seen Everything
    2. Re:FP by Look+KG486 · · Score: 0

      Unless he was referring to Frosty the Snowman. It's been cold of late. Perhaps a Freudian slip.

      Freudian post!

      --

      "Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold." -- Joseph Chilton Pearce

  2. Not only that... by black+mariah · · Score: 5, Interesting

    According to a friend of mine that works at Gamestop they're taking a large portion of the PSP's that were bound for Europe and bringing them here instead. Retailers were told by Sony to go ahead and up their preorder limits because of the Euro delay.

    --
    'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
    1. Re:Not only that... by News+for+nerds · · Score: 2

      No way. They belong to different regions (the US is Region 1 while Europe is Region 2)

    2. Re:Not only that... by black+mariah · · Score: 4, Informative

      Most DVD players can change regions through a simple internal menu. I doubt the PSP is much different. What was your point again?

      --
      'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
    3. Re:Not only that... by Hast · · Score: 3, Interesting

      PSP isn't region coded at all. Perhaps the movies will be but who cares about that?

    4. Re:Not only that... by black+mariah · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What I last heard was that the PSP had region coding abilities, but that Sony didn't intend to use them. Whatever the case, I'm sure that the region coding can be changed via internal software. I doubt a manufacturer would make it difficult to change since that would require more effort at the factory.

      --
      'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
    5. Re:Not only that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Entirely possible that it works similar to RPC2 dvd-drives which region lock to region X after the Nth region Xth disc.

  3. Real link by Loadmaster · · Score: 5, Informative

    The link in the summary is wrong. Here's the real link.

    PSP Delayed

  4. They're not that hard to get.... by ReKleSS · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you don't mind lack of warranty, PSPs don't seem that hard to find. I'm in Singapore at the moment, I managed to pick one up for S$375 (US $230 or so), which wasn't too bad. The only issue is the games being in Japanese, but Ridge Racers isn't a problem (finished it in 5 days), Puyo Pop Fever is in English, and Lumines is mostly in English... If you can be bothered looking there aren't too many barriers to getting one.
    Also, regarding some of the hardware issues... My square button is fine, I can't make UMDs shoot out, and I got 5+ hours playing Ridge Racers at min brightness on headphones. Those were my 3 concerns, and none of them occur on my unit (or my brother's, for that matter).
    BTW, I'm Australian so if I didn't grab it here I would have to wait until july or august.
    -ReK

    --
    md5sum -c reality.md5
    reality: FAILED
    md5sum: WARNING: 1 of 1 computed checksum did NOT match
    1. Re:They're not that hard to get.... by miaDWZ · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm also Australian and got my PSP in Hong Kong on a holiday, only a few weeks after it was released in Japan.

      To tell the truth, it was more of an impulse buy. I went to this huge computer place (I forget it's name, something like Golden City) - they had PSPs everywhere. I just couldn't resist as I knew that it would be months, maybe years before it reached Australia.

      As a general rule, we are behind the UK in launches like this, who are behind the US etc. We didn't get the Xbox until a good six months after it was released in the US, and I feel bad for New Zealand who got the Xbox 1-2 years after the US got theirs.

      Anyway, getting back to my point, I'm now a little worried about my purchase as the thing is classified Region 2. Not Region 4, with the rest of Australia (for obvious reasons). Now with details of movies being released on UMD, I don't think I'll be able to play them due to this region coding, which is a real shame.

      I just hope that a mod-chip type device will be able to save the day bypassing region coding in both games and movies.

      So whilst importing may seem like a good idea now, just make sure you don't regret it in the future.

      Oh, also, before other people reply, I know the PSP's games don't have region coding *currently*. The technology is there, Sony's official comment was "There are no 'active' plans to utalize this 'feature'". Take that any way you like. Reminds me of the AOL story a day or so ago "Yes, we have the right to screw you over, but we won't. Trust us."

    2. Re:They're not that hard to get.... by GrosTuba · · Score: 5, Informative

      I just hope that a mod-chip type device will be able to save the day bypassing region coding in both games and movies.

      Sony already stated that games will not be region-locked (last paragraph). They rarely are on handheld consoles anyway.

      But I agree you still have a problem with movies...

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      Who needs a .sig anyway ?
    3. Re:They're not that hard to get.... by SetupWeasel · · Score: 1

      From your first link:

      However, Sony has quashed such rumors, stating that region-coding is available for games, but up until now no Japanese game has used it and U.S. games probably won't use it either.

      Sony has gone out of their way to not quite promise that all games will be region free. The PSP certainly has the ability to region lock games, and a simple policy change by Sony could make it happen.

      But, no, now it isn't, but the fact that the hardware gives the option at all for games is worrysome for the future.

    4. Re:They're not that hard to get.... by GrosTuba · · Score: 1

      Given the fact that the only media that is readable by the PSP is the UMD and that there is no way Sony will not offer content protection/region locking for UMD movies, it is completely understandable that their hardware supports it, and I would have been greatly surprised if it hadn't.

      The important point here is that as stated in the last paragraph of my second link, they decided not to implement it for games :
      The Sony PSP does have a region-lock mechanism, but Sony has decided to disable the region lock for games. Other types of media, such as movies, will still be region-locked. Anyone importing a PSP system from Japan should be able to play games released in different territories, but Sony has warned that, although it won't be actively barring cross-region game support, it won't be testing games for cross-region compatibility.

      Thus, I don't think that people considering importing a PSP ought to be afraid of this region-lock capability, it is IMHO a direct consequence of the adoption by Sony of the "handheld gameconsole meets audio/video media player meets proprietary format" paradigm.

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      Who needs a .sig anyway ?
  5. Most ridiculous price for PSP ? by CineK · · Score: 2, Informative
    Last week I've seen PSP in huge electronics store (Media Markt) for 2000PLN (which makes it over $650)
    laying down next to Nintendo DS priced at 670PLN, which makes around $230.

    Funny, isn't it ? And all this definitely in EU.
    I wonder what makes such big difference between the two...

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    -- echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln256%Pln256/snlbx]sb31350717901017685 42287578439snlbxq'|dc
    1. Re:Most ridiculous price for PSP ? by Fred+Or+Alive · · Score: 2, Informative

      Probably the fact that the PSP has been imported from Japan, and the DS is out in Europe officially. Imported stuff can cost you a lot of money (they know a certain group of people will [ay stupid money to get a system first), although I think you can get PSPs cheaper if you shop around.

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      10 PRINT "LOOK AROUND YOU ";
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  6. Meanwhile... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Meanwhile, the African launch has been delayed indefinitely, until that continent's population becomes majority white. A Sony spokesperson was quoted as saying, "If we sell the PSP in Africa right now, we will lose money because all the mud people will just steal it. In fact, they may even attempt to have sex with it in an attempt to cure their AIDS. After all, an electronic device counts as a virgin." The console may be test marketed in a few wealthy South African suburbs, but the rest of that country will have to wait until apartheid is reinstated.

  7. Gits! by Fred+Or+Alive · · Score: -1

    Sony are gits, bloody delaying the PSP in Europe. Why can't the delay something for the US for once. Gits.

    Nintendo are gits as well, we've only just got the DS, it's been out in America and Japan for months.

    Microsoft are gits as well. It's a bit off topic, as they don't have a handheld with a delayed release in Europe, but it had to be said.

    All Americans are gits as well, you get all this cool stuff first. :-p

    The Japanese are a bit less gitty as at least they invent the stuff.

    And you moderators, with your fancy pants mod points, you're the biggest gits of all! This rant is going to get modded -1 Troll or something, when it truely deserves +1 Funny. (Hint, Hint)

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    Although I can't really afford a PSP anyway...

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    10 PRINT "LOOK AROUND YOU ";
    20 GOTO 10
  8. US shipments by justkarl · · Score: 1

    Is it just me, or does one million units for a US launch seem a little low? Seems to me they'd want more. How many GBA's were shipped in the US?

    1. Re:US shipments by superpulpsicle · · Score: 2

      It's always low. Walmart ask for 4000 units, Sony manufactures exactly that number, maybe 3999 to create demand.

  9. And another by mcc · · Score: 2, Informative

    The last I had heard was that PSP movies have region coding but that PSP games do not.

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    Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
  10. Region coding and releases by aliquis · · Score: 1

    They wonder why europen have so much piracy and they they always give us the goods last... Well, guess what?