Specs for Sony PSP Handheld 497
doctor_no writes "Sony has announced the specs for its upcoming handheld gaming device,
the PSP, at their PlayStation Meeting 2003. Most interesting is that this device promises Playstation 2 level graphics, a compact 1.8GB media, Wireless 802.11, USB 2.0, 7.1 channel Audio, and a
24bit 16x9 screen TFT LCD screen. Sony has called this device the 'Walkman for the 21st Century', and plans to allow the user to enjoy
movies and music for the device, along with games. Full specs can be found at ZDNet Japan. The PSP will debut at next year's E3."
Re:my dear lord.... (Score:3, Insightful)
You're forgetting another important reason. They have a lot of money, and already control a large protion of the consumer electronics market.
There are other issues besides the device itself that effect the success or failure of a piece of hardware, let the ability to get stores to carry it.
Re:my dear lord.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:7.1 audio? Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:my dear lord.... (Score:4, Insightful)
leveraging existing library key (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:my dear lord.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Also, this thing is going to be rather large, just based on the physical requirements -- a widescreen display and buttons on the front/top, a speaker, a disk loading mechanism, a USB port, an IRDA port, some other port, a memory stick port, a headphone jack, and some place for the battery. There better also be a DC input jack and audio/video output jacks (although all 3 of these could be done via the unknown extention port). There's absolutely no reason for 7.1 sound if you can't output the sound to an external receiver. And if you can do that, you'd better be able to output the video too -- since I sure wouldn't play on a tiny little screen when my TV is right in front of me.
The specs do sound intriguing, but some of them also seem off kilter, like the 7.1 sound.
I'm definitely sticking to the "wait and see" camp.
The 7.1 Audio (Score:5, Insightful)
As sony as mentioned, this will be an all in one media device. Let's compare it with somewhat similar media devices like the portable Archos video jukebox. It plays videos on a tiny little screen but you can plug it to your tv and enjoy the full experience.
My guess is that the PSP will have audio and video out to. Problem with 7.1 Audio is that you need an optical audio out cable, and it's not like many people even have 5.1 audio, or even receivers that have an easily accessible dolby digital input.
Anyhow, I am betting that this feature won't actually be used, they are probably just using Ps2 compatible hardware that's CAPABLE of processing 7.1 audio, but will not actually do it or output it. It's just ridiculous.
whee, movies (Score:3, Insightful)
Difference in Market (Score:5, Insightful)
Playstation 2:
Plays DVD movies
Plays Audio CDs
Plays games
Gamecube:
Plays games
There are people who think that part of the reason why the Gamecube hasn't been doing so well is that it doesn't fill multiple niches. And after a *lot* of thought - I have to agree. If you're going to pay $150 for a game system, or $199 for a game/dvd player/cd player - which will you go for? I've often told people who ask me which console is the "best" that:
Playstation 2 has the most games.
Xbox has the nicest looking games.
Gamecube has the best games.
But - that's not enough. And if you look at the PSP versus Gameboy Advance, notice an interesting trend:
PSP:
Plays games
1.8 G cartridge - could play MPEG-4 movies (more than enough space for that + subtitle/language track at MPEG-4)
Plays music (again - at 1.8 G, more than enough space)
802.11 - can play games via network, possibly Internet
Playstation 2 graphics - I'll say "Playstation 1.5", which means that we could get Final Fantasy VII on the PSP (would not surprise me as a "launch title" - that would ensure a million sales right there), or Suikoden I & II Collectors PSP game
Gameboy Advance:
Plays games
Sony's may be more expensive, but if they get the price at around $150 (yeah, I'm stretching, but you never know), and if they start to offer movies, I can see myself getting one. Perfect for riding the train, flying on a long plane flight (and I don't have to pay the annoying $5 for a set of headphones), I can be sitting in the living room while my wife watches TV, my kids are playing at my feet, and I'm weeping as Aerith gets killed again. (Hey - I'm a sensitive guy!)
What will be interesting to see is what "other uses" Sony has for the PSP. Nintendo's "Connectivity" between the GBA/Gamecube has been pretty good at times (Zelda being the best, and at least the Metroid additions were worth buying both games). If Sony can play up the memory stick issue, you could have a game you could have 2 copies of - one for the road, when you get home, stick in the memory stick and play on the "big screen".
At least it's competition - and most of you know how much I like to see that happen.
Re:my dear lord.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:my dear lord.... (Score:2, Insightful)
battery life? (Score:3, Insightful)
Perhaps Sony can pull of a miracle and make this thing successful, but I think it'll be too much, too soon, for too much money and without enough software to challenge the GBA's expanding library.
this will not be successful... (Score:2, Insightful)
My sentiments exactly. (Score:2, Insightful)
1) Only available in Japan, or
2) WAY too expensive
3) Hidden from the light of day forever. My nerd instincts tell me something like this is simply far too good to be true. And the sad thing is I don't need a justification other than that, and I'll probably still be right.
Erring on the side of pessimism with things like this is almost always the safe course to take. Why?
Re:7.1 Audio? (Score:2, Insightful)
7.1 audio on a handheld? With headphones like that, you'll look like a cyborg.
True, but less because of what you wear on your head and more because of the sub-woofer you have to stuff down your underpants.
Sure, whatever (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a thing called a Game Boy. The Game Boy was a complete and total hunk of junk. It had an unlit screen that displayed four shades of burnt yellow, unspeakably tinny sound, a limited processor, and limited ability to display large or numerous sprites at any given moment. After the Game Boy had been out a while, a couple of competitors were released: the Sega Whatsit, the Atari Lynx, and the Whatsit By Whoever Made the TurboGraphics 16. Now, these were really impressive little machines. They had lighted LCDs with bright, eye-catching colors. They had the ability to have large things moving. They had deep sound. The Sega handheld had a Sonic game that was almost as impressive as what you might find on the genesis at that time.
The Sega, Atari, and TG16 handhelds all crashed and burned violently, and the 4-shades-of-yellow hunk of junk went on to be one of the most successful video game consoles of all time. Why? Because everyone but the Game Boy tried to do too much. All the more powerful handhelds were bulky as hell, didn't fit in your hand or pocket as easily, cost twice as much (bad for something like a handheld, which is usually an impulse purchase), and most damning of all SUCKED BATTERIES LIKE THERE WAS NO TOMORROW. Meanwhile, the 4-color, dinky, tinny games for the gameboy just somehow wound up being really fun.
Now, is the point of me bringing this up to say that the PSP is going to crash and burn, or that I think Nintendo will crush Sony mercilessly because I am a nintendo fanboy and think Sony can do nothing good? No. Not at all. Sony is smart, and what they are describing is a kick-ass little machine. However, I do really have to wonder about what kinds of tradeoffs they're making to fit this in there-- because there WILL be some. How expensive is it going to be? Most importantly, how much *battery life* will this thing have?? I really have to wonder about the minidiscy optical drive; if ANYONE could pull off a CD-based handheld game system, it would be sony, but is that going to have any impact on the battery?
Basically the only reason i'm going on about all this is to counteract the inevitable group of people that (i'm guessing; there's probably like a hundred more comments in this story right now then there were when I started typing) are going to say this is going to be Nintendo's doom. Unless Sony does the x-box thing and dumps on the market to kill Nintendo, I don't quite think so. Better is not always better with handhelds, and in terms of Games, Sony has a rediculously uphill battle. The Game Boy game library is one of the biggest and best ever, rivalling even the PS1's, and the fact you can hop on ebay and get a bunch of dinky but fun gameboy-1 games for $5 a pop is nice. Moreover, Nintendo *really* understands how to build a good game library, the same way Sony *really* understands how to build gaming hardware. Sony is still mostly dependent on third-parties. And note that despite LOTS of talk about specs, Sony's said *nothing* about games. I predict that the first we hear about the GBA2, the first thing we're going to see, before we hear about polygons or anything else, is videos of games.
Here is my prediction: all the golden ages of video games have happened when there was healthy competition between two big consoles. Not like today, when the PS2 is all-owning and the other two are fighting over the "distant second" title; real, healthy competition. I think the PSP and the GBA/GBA2 (whenever and whatever that is; hopefully nintendo's been working on such a thing since well before the PSP announcement) are going to have one such healt
Re:Other specs... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:my dear lord.... (Score:5, Insightful)
I think most people would feel the same way. Do you really think Sony would spend zillions of dollars on developing the PSP without taking that into account? Sony isn't 100% successful at every prodcut they release of course, and I have plenty of beef with many of their *successful* products, but I find it hand to believe that they'd even consider releasing the PSP if they couldn't achieve a reasonable price point and form factor.
There is definitely a lot of horsepower under the hood of the PSP, but not much of the tech is *new stuff... it's more like a miniaturization/integration of existing tech. With Sony's deep pockets they should be able to achieve a really high level of integration, cramming all that functionality into a small number of chips. Expensive up front, but that would really help with manufacturing costs down the line and it would help with power consumption too.
Re:my dear lord.... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:my dear lord.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Other specs... (Score:2, Insightful)
ITYM "angular momentum"
Re:my dear lord.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Both the PSX and PS2 have had absolutely horrifying product runs of hardware that dies very quickly despite having been remanufactured to new specs (supposedly to improve reliability and cheapen production..)
Unless they can do better than the PS2, I shudder to think of how many hardware returns they'll have from normal hardware use, much less the special kinds of abuse that handhelds are prone to.
As nice as the hardware specifications are, I'm DEFINITELY not going to buy it on the first run and likely not the second either.
Re:my dear lord.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Do people really want a 3D do-everything device? Gameboy Advance has some pretty fine games and they could be better if developers realized not all the market is kids. Personally I'm sick of everything having lens flare and transparent water and billions of triangles, a nice flat 2D strategy game like Advance Wars or Tactics Ogre is sometimes just what you want and the pixels are all part of the charm.
If all people want is 3D why is MAME so popular? Of course this new Sony thing could have some nice strategy games but chances are the focus will be on pretty polygons rather than gameplay.
Bullshit (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:my dear lord.... (Score:3, Insightful)
What Nintendo waited for, and what cost Sega, TurboGrafx, Atari, Bandai, and others the handheld war, was twofold. One was console cost, but that's not as big a del as everyone makes it out to be.
The big deal is and always has been battery life. Nintendo understands that if the game goes away every two hours, and you have to shell out $5 for new batteries, the kid is not going to be satisfied, and the console won't sell, since in honesty they sell on jealousy alone. If a kid doesn't like his AGB, the other kid won't want one. Nobody seems to understand this but Nintendo; that said, Nintendo makes a *huge* deal out of it to their developers (since they have access to bios calls that shut parts of the system down.)
Battery life is the reason that the AGB is popular a decade after the turbografx portable, which was significantly more powerful.
The screen is sorta big-ish, but not that huge. The CD drive (minidvd drive?) won't take that much space; look at MD players from a decade ago: they're not that thick. They won't be now, either. The controls? Ha! They're buttons on the surface. The space underneath is negligable. Haven't you ever taken one of these apart?
Look, it's not about miniaturization, or the SP wouldn't be half the size of the AGB less than two years later. It's about cost and power draw. The thing that made the backlight of the SP possible was the proprietary rechargable battery, and I expect Sony will have just as good if not a better one, owing to their laptop research.
Besides, Sony's been doing Miniaturization since five years before N stopped being a playing card company. I mean, come on, very few companies cram stuff into small places like they do.
What I want: a Dual Shock 2 with a big screen and some CPU built in. I think it's finally on its way.
Re:So now.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, but for portables there are three problems. If you've seen the video of that guy putting CDs on a dremel and firing them into acrobatic feats, you realize the tremendous force that a spinning disc can contain. While a portable isn't likely to spin them that fast, consider the GameCube. Nintendo has frequently stated that the reason they waited so long to use disc media was because of the load times involved (though proper software hides them anyway, grumble.) When they made the minidisc format for the gamecube, it wasn't for antipiracy reasons like everyone thinks; pirate mass producers can make those discs just as easily as any others (so can I, with my DVD burner, actually; they put their standard barrage of copy protection in for that.) It's because the smaller disc carries quite a bit less weight, and so can be spun up and down much faster, dramatically reducong load times.
The portable will want small discs for a similar reason; above and beyond time, it has to worry about power. Spinning a disc isn't cheap, battery-wise. The smaller discs will cost a lot less energy to use.
Furthermore, the smaller discs are far less susceptible to wobble, both due to the lower weight and the shorter lever arm away from the spindle (as well as the proportionally larger spindle area.) So it's gonna skip a hell of a lot less for the same amount of shakage, before you consider whatever buffering systems they have in place.
For a variety of reasons, the smaller disc is a huge win for portables. Yes, they could have made something where the media is larger than a comfortable game system. But you're not going to see it any time soon, methinks.
OTOH, it wouldn't be unreasonable for the PS2 or PS3 to play the smaller discs. So maybe, though you'd have to replace your library, future small-disc titles might make crossplayability a selling point? Backwards compatability was and still is, for Sony, and I bet they'll remember what a boon a starting gate library is.