First Sony PSP Pictures Revealed

iamhassi writes "Pictures of the PSP concept design have shown up on The Register. I'm impressed: when I first heard the screen was 4.5" I was afraid the device would be unusually large compared to the GBA with its 2.9" screen. Obviously those worries were unfounded." Update: 11/06 15:28 GMT by S : A section-specific post from yesterday provided the concept pictures from a different source.

Re:daddypants seems to be broken....

[aliens]

Of course this thing will be great to put in your pocket for easy carrying.

Oh wait, no it wouldn't.

It reminds me of the Sega Gamegear

[FrankGibson]

It's also reminiscent of the Megadrive/Genesis "Mars" portable system. At least Sony has the cash to put behind such a product, unlike Sega did.

Hm...

[Worminater]

I have played extensively with gameboy from the first itteration to the current, and honestly, does sony expect to compete with that?

Look at Segas Game Gear way back when. Yea that thing was sweet as a system, but could it hold its own against a plain ol gameboy, even though better gphx, backlit, and color?

hell no, it got clobbered. Same with Nomad, and there the difference was even greater SYSTEM wise.

I look at this, and I see a cell phone. No raised buttons... I like the screen though.

I also like the integrated 802, meaning it will be easy to get a web browser on it :) If they release it to be competative with the GBA series price wise, I might pick one up just for the 802 support, whith the assumption that it will be hacked later(probably will wait for it though)

Features

[WhytTiger]

7.1 surround? MP3 Playback? Is it just me, or are these things unnecessary on a PORTABLE device that will only accept proprietary discs (no burning MP3's and playing them).

Uh.. battery life?

[Rinikusu]

2 MIPS CPU's, LCD backlit screen + oodles of other things, my guess is that you might be able to squeeze about 5 minutes from a quad of AA's..

A portable game machine with a crappy battery life won't go too far.... I hope they have something up their sleeve, because even if they go battery-pak route, my experience with their laptop batteries is that they pretty much suck, too.

Founded on what?

[hellfire]

I was afraid the device would be unusually large compared to the GBA with it's 2.9" screen. Obviously those worries were unfounded."

As the article states, this is only a concept design, and that the final product may be less sleek. I wish people would pay attention, this is not the final PSP and its not coming out next week.

I also wish /. would do more content proofreading but oviously those worries continue to be founded and unaddressed.

Just a coincidence I'm sure...

[DrXym]

... that this mockup (and it's just a mockup) appears just as the NGage goes on sale. Personally I reckon the NGage is bulky crap having seen it working, but Sony looks like it is sowing a little FUD here.

What's Missing.

[Malicious]

Where are:
The USB Port;
HDD Size;
Headphone jack;
Battery

All these things will take up a great deal of space, that their design hasn't incorporated. That design looks AWEFULLY hopeful...

Re:WOW

[The One KEA]

You have a point. But if they can fit an entire x86 system onto a single die with only I/O and memory external to the die, then Sony can probably pull a Centrino and get away with the same thing.

Re:First Post?!?!?!

[KDan]

How much free time does a real adult have to whip out a gameboy? And boy, doesn't THAT look professional!

So, I'm curious, what exactly do you think the reason is why Nintendo came out with the Game Boy Advance SP, with its more elegant, office widget style look? For the kids? Hmm... Don't think so.

The fact is there's a whole generation of people who grew up with Gameboys, who are now working, some of them in pretty good cushy jobs, possibly commuting, eg on the tube in London or in other large towns, and who want something cool to mess with while they're sitting on their ass waiting for the train to arrive at work. Some of them read books, but a lot of them want to be doing something else. These slick portable consoles are designed precisely for that market.

Daniel

Re:Just let me know when Chrono Trigger is availab

[Medieval]

Diablo is an excellent RPG because it has swords, archery, dungeons and monsters.

Diablo and its ilk are hack-and-slash. You kill stuff, you get money, you get experience, you buy better equipment, you kill bigger things, you level up. Not that there is anything wrong with this, its just not roleplaying.

Real RPGs allow you to actually assume a role and play it out. Play Neverwinter Nights online some time with a good DM. Hell, play any decent tabletop RPG system, such as GURPS, D&D, possibly even Warhammer.

I suspect you're a troll, but that's OK.

Re:daddypants seems to be broken....

[_bug_]

Slower load times, cart over disc usage. We'll see if they can work around that.


Note the use of mini-discs. The load times are going to be on par with what you see from the Gamecube, which is not much at all.

Because they can

[Sycraft-fu]

That's probably all it comes down to. Whatever sound chip they chose was probably capable of 7.1 as a side effect (seems even cheapie chips do that these days) so they advertise it. Does it matter? No, but like much else in the consumer world, what matters doesn't always drive sales. It's another feature they can claim never mind if it's useful or not.

Re:daddypants seems to be broken....

[default luser]

You forget that the Gamecube disc is continuously spinning, as is the case for most consoles.

I wonder how Sony is going to deal with this concept: continuous motion would make their game loads more responsive, but would also drain the battery faster. Even with a smaller diameter, the spin-up for an optical drive is measured in seconds.

Another problem everyone else overlooks concerning spin and power usage: isn't this thing going to waste a significant amount of power counter-acting rotation of the spinning axis?

I always recall that old demonstration in my physics class, consisting of a bike wheel mounted on an axle with handles. You spin up the wheel, then try to turn it, and you HAVE TO DO SIGNIFICANT WORK to change the axis of rotation.

Now, imagine a gamer with his hands changing angle pretty often, probably jittery hands plugging away at the buttons, and I can imagine even more power lost if the disc keeps spinning constantly. Every movement of the player's hands will cost the disc momentum.

I am really curious how Sony is going to aproach this problem, because I am certain that a disc that spins down will be a blow to usability ( think slower than PS1 load times ), while a disc that spins constantly will suck battery life like nothing before.

How may speakers???

[MhzJnky]

"The PSP will feature Dolby 7.1 multi-channel audio, with 3D sound"

7 speakers and a sub-woofer kinda defeats the definition of portable.

Re:Really???

[Anonymous Coward]

Nintendo a distant third? Are you living on some wierdo bizzaro planet?