Sony PSP Hardware Completed

An anonymous reader writes "Sony CEO Ken Kutaragi has today announced that Sony has finished work on the Playstation Portable hardware, and the handheld is scheduled to be released later this year. No details have emerged on the pricing of the PSP, but Kutaragi stated that plans for movies on the UMD - the disc format the PSP will use , are now in the final stages."

portable media

[alatesystems]

Regarding movie playback, I hope that they allow for portable storage attachments, allowing use of the PSP as a portable media center [creative.com]. I'd buy one if it did this.

Chris

Re:portable media

[karnal]

On a related topic, Sony probably won't allow anyone to put anything on these UMD discs... but I know for a fact if I'm buying a handheld gaming system, I'm not going to put more money into a movie collection so I can watch them on the go.

I think they'll find that the majority of the market would agree with me as well. But I also say that as a guy who has no children.......

Re:portable media

[GoodbyeBlueSky1]

You would think Sony would have learned from their MiniDisc to avoid proprietary media with Draconian restrictions. Not that MD has been a total flop, but, you know, neither was BetaMax. Still doesn't make it a success.

Then again it's not like they can make a portable gaming system capable of playing DVDs (unless you consider an etch-a-sketch sized machine "portable").

But I do agree with you totally; I have no desire to re-buy my movie collection for such limited use.

Here's my suggestion:
First off, let me start by saying I thought the idea of divx (the circuit city one, not the avi one) was quite stupid. Couldn't see any use for it. But....what if there was a similar divx-type UMD disc (it plays for, say, a week then dies)? EA could pack in a free week's worth of LOTR for a PSP Rings game. Or Blockbuster could offer a $1 UMD add-on to any game rental. THEN I think I'd find ways to watch movies on the PSP.

Otherwise, it looks like one of those features I'd never use.

Member of the Minority

[C0rinthian]

I must be one of the few people who thinks that the MiniDisc kicked ass. But, being a music major in college, I had a lot of use for a handheld, cd quality recording device. (Depending on the quality of microphone of course)

These things are insanely useful to about 2% of the population.

Re:Member of the Minority

[drinkypoo]

Unless you get pro quality gear, minidisc is not the same quality as a CD. Minidisc uses ATRAC3, a sort of cross between MP2 and MP3 audio, in order to achieve good compression. Sony units are known to perform an EQ pass to make the audio sound better. Only pro gear stores uncompressed 16 bit 44.1kHz audio on minidisc, and IIRC it only stores 30 minutes or so. The new minidiscs hold considerably more, and I don't know much about them, perhaps there's recording equipment that uses them now. Nonetheless the o

Re:Member of the Minority

[mrgreen4242]

I've been reserching MiniDisc players his week because I am in the market for a new MP3 player, and I'd like something with cheap removable media.

The ATRAC format, in all it's versions (there's like ATRAC1, ATRAC2, ATRAC3, ATRAC 2 (note the space), and ATRAC3plus, and maybe something I am missing) seems to something that has little to do with the MP* codecs, as far as the actual mechanics (it's similar in the theories involved, but handled differently). ATRAC3plus seems to be a hit with users, many of whom

Re:portable media

[AvitarX]

You could use Game cube sized DVDs. I have seen DVD cam corders that burn them.

Still, I would imagine the size and shape is also optimized for lower energy spinning.

Re:portable media

[pocopoco]

They've already announced the PSP will have a MemoryStick slot and Sony already sells video recorders [anl.gov] that record video onto those. So you can stop hoping and start complaining about Sony's stupid proprietary formats/lock-ins, etc..

Is it really finished?

[Cutriss]

It seems that this is more of just a well-timed announcement to try to steal some of the wind from Nintendo's sails. Everyone knows the PSP is going to be expensive, and the Nintendo DS having a lower-than-expected MSRP of $149 has surprised a lot of people.

I would not at all be surprised if it was just "finished enough" for an announcement. Sony has done this before.

Re:Is it really finished?

[mausmalone]

It's a really weak announcement, all things considered. Combined with the PStwo announcement, I'd say that there's a reasonable chance that they delayed this announcement at least to steal the spotlight.

DS

[StevenHenderson]

It will be interesing to see how Sony re-adjusts their pricing plan now that the DS low-balled them at $149. That makes it a necessity for Sony to be less than $250 to competitive...maybe even $200 I'd say.

Re:DS

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, it is stated that their price in Japan will be 33000Y, over $300 American. I doubt they will be able to reduce the price much from there, considering the amount of industry people that are surprised at that price. Most of them expected it to come in at $499!

Re:DS

[tolan-b]

Considering the supposed sweetspot for home consoles is around $200, I can't see this getting much takeup except for early adopters until mass production brings the price down..

Re:DS

[TechniMyoko]

And the source that said that was called by Sony and told they were wrong. They admitted it shortly afterwards.

Re:DS

[gl4ss]

unless ds turns out to be another virtua boy with gamers.

(you know, a neat idea but just doesn't fly)

Re:DS

[mrgreen4242]

The DS has some protection from ending up as a virtualboy level flop... it plays GBA games, which is the biggest selling console still available (of all time?). That combined with its fairly low price should keep it from being a complete flop.

I still have high hopes for it as a game machine that will (eventually, with the right software) fullfill basic PDA and portable communications needs.

Seems like alot of PDA users have a machine that they want to do basic address book, note taking, etc with (things tha

Re:DS

[NeMon'ess]

What if Nintendo made a PDA cartridge that connected by USB to a PC for syncing? Easily upgradable firmware this way also.

Re:DS

[harrkev]

Great idea -- as an afterthought. I would not be surprised if such a beast is at least launched by a 3rd part, if not by the big N themselves.

But how much better would it have been to build this into the DS in the first place. It would probably have only taken a meg or two of Flash, and maybe a meg or two of battery-backed RAM. It might have raised the price by $10, but would have made this a more attractive purchase for adults.

But, then again an extra $10 might have hurt sales. What do I know? I am

Re:DS

[gyrojoe]

Nintendo is, and hopefully always will be, about games. They have stated this numerous times before. When the Cube first came out it was criticized for not being able to play DVDs (you could get a Panasonic Q though). This strategy is somewhat similar to the Unix/Linux philosophy about command line tools. A tool should do one thing and it do it well. Having PDA functions in a gaming device (or similarly, a DVD player in a console) is almost like having a web browser as an integral part of the OS :)

In short

Re:DS

[mrgreen4242]

I agree that adding any sort of PDA type functions to the DS firmware would have been a mistake. The needed space for a decent PDA and basic communications package would have added at least 4 or 6 megs of flash space (gotta be patchable!), plus some decent amount for user data, so maybe 8 or 12 altogether. The cost of also writing said software and supporting it would have added an unneeded expense to the system, which is not aimed at people who want a PDA.

Nintendo has stated they don't plan to develop any

Re:DS

[buffer-overflowed]

You should be able to use the flashcarts for current GBA systems, which work that way. The question is, will you be able to access all of the hardware this way?

If you can, or a new flashcart comes out that lets you, the DS is a tinkering dream come true.

Re:DS

[NeMon'ess]

I know jack about how the wi-fi works, but could someone transmit a homebrewed virus if given too much access to the hardware? If so, that reason alone is probably enough to keep Nintendo from letting people do it.

Re:DS

[Anonymous Coward]

I find it very interesting how armchair analysts in the gaming industry think that it's only Nintendo who are capable of Virtual Boy-scale flops. The good ole' VB is never brought up when talking about other people's products. It's about as stupid as those who _still_ use MS-Bob as the butt of their anti-MS jokes. It's passe', and by now, totally irrelevant.

I don't see anyone doubting the PSP's success because of Betamax's defeat at the hands of VHS. (I do see people doubting the success of the PSP for

Re:DS

[unclethursday]

It's doubtful that it will $200 or less. $250 or more seems more likely, especially based on the fact that Sony has repeatedly stated they want to at least break even or even make a profit on the hardware sales of the PSP.

What about European Prices?

[slot32]

If we did a straight exchange rate comparison it would mean the Nintendo Handheld would be somehting like: 150 £80 Sony will no doubt do the same. However Does anyone know if Nintendo and Sony will keep to this 'straight exchange rate' price or will they rip us Brits off... Like usual and make a $150 unit cost £150 in the UK????

Compared to the DS announcement...

[MMaestro]

This is newsworthy? No, seriously on the part of Sony.

No details have emerged on the pricing of the PSP, but Kutaragi stated that plans for movies on the UMD - the disc format the PSP will use , are now in the final stages.

Thats it? The disc format? Comon Sony, Nintendo just bitch slapped you with a release date AND a price of $150! At least give us a price range. Compared to the DS announcement this is a 'so what' announcement.

Sony certainly needs the PSP to make an impression at the Tokyo Game Show after mounting speculation that the handheld will slip to 2005, and rumours of discontent amongst PSP developers surfaced recently.

Personally, I think Sony should stop trying to beat Nintendo at its own game and get its act together first. They're not going in during the golden age of DVD players flying off shelves, nor are they going in with an entire library of games behind it. Best case scenario for Sony at this rate? They fight a long drawn out battle only to go down in flames a la Sega Game Gear.

Re:Compared to the DS announcement...

[hibiki_r]

The lack of a price range announcement IS a price range announcement IMO. If the PSP was going to cost $200-$250, the price would have been announced already. Do you think that a $350 price announcement would help them at all against the DS? I think that Nintendo would benefit from that kind of announcement more than Sony.

Sony is not the kind to hide good news, in fact, they'll overhype anything they have. Remember the PS2 as a supercomputer claims?. From their actions we can guess that it's going to be at least twice as expensive as the DS.

sony's should just keep quiet

[dr.fishopolis]

the psp seemed beautiful when it was announced, yet every detail released tarnishes it.

at this point, we have a $300 [gaminghorizon.com], oversized-yet-portable game player with 3 hour battery life, and the ability to play movies on a propietary format that you can't record to... don't worry though, i'm sure you'll be able to re-pay for the movies you own, so you can watch them for a few hours on the 3" screen before the battery dies...

... but that IS a a nice screen.

all we need now is some kind of phone attachment, and sony can have their very own n-gage.

Re:sony's should just keep quiet

[TechniMyoko]

If you even read that article, it says it gets slightly warm, not hot.

In that time, we noticed that the system got a bit warm, particularly on the left side (the D-pad side). We were, of course, expecting the system to heat up a bit as it's played, and, in fact, the level of heat isn't too bad. The system is certainly much cooler than our cell phones get when we play even simple 2D games. Amazingly, the system is very quiet -- there doesn't seem to be anything moving around to cool it off inside.

Ignoring

Re:sony's should just keep quiet

[cbirdsong64]

What the hell, the games are dark? Didn't Sony use an original GBA ever? The peoples, they didn't like that too much.

Re:sony's should just keep quiet

[mausmalone]

... portable game player with 3 hour battery life, and the ability to play movies ...

Well, as long as they're short movies.

Re:sony's should just keep quiet

[euxneks]

so... If the PSP is oversized.... What is the DS?

On the announcement...

[Bagels]

Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that this is Sony's way of saying "We toned down the hardware a bit so that our pricing/battery life could be competitive with the DS"? I don't mean to sound like a troll here, but they have had a *long* history of scaling back their hardware before it's released... look at the recent debacle over the PSX and all the features they cut from it before its release.

Re:On the announcement...

[Wyrmw00d]

Roger that, the PSX on pre-release specs seemed like an awesome home entertainment Tivo-esque/PVR system that just happened to play PS2 games as well. By the final release, it was an expensive PS2 with very limited PVR function. Bad Sony.

Damage control

[clu76]

I believe Sony is doing damage control by releasing this information. I have serious doubts the PSP will be sold by the end of the year. It's much more likely that they are just trying to delay consumers from buying the DS. If the DS does reasonably well pre x-mas, and gains a lot of momentum, Sony will have a much harder time selling their product. As nice as the PSP sounds, I really have doubts that it'll have the same impact the playstation had. imho

Thieving little...

[Rob_GIBiz]

Ack - it's bad enough that we've got some horrible little warez site stealing our content [gamesindustry.biz], but it kinda adds insult to injury when that then proceeds to be Slashdotted...!

By the way, we're expecting to see a price point on the PSP in the first week of October. Nintendo kinda caught Sony on the hop with the pre-TGS announcement; everyone expected them to hold off on saying anything about DS until their conference on October 7th.

Looks like the 33,000 Yen price is on the money though, which will make the