Playstation Portable

[Hexidecimal]

Sony biggest E3 announcement, in case you haven't already heard, was a new addition to the Playstation Family.

Dubbed the Playstation Portable, sony believes they have a handheld to rival to GBA.

The following taken from the August 2003 Issue of GamePro:

Commonly referred to as "the father of playstation" Ken Kutaragi, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertaiment Inc. said, "There's a new member of the family, and it's not the Playstation 3. The baby is in the incubator, but as the father, I can look in the window and see his face, and he is very cute."

Featuring a widescreen (16:9) backlit 4.5-inch LCD screen wth a resolution of 480x272 pixels, the PSP will support 3d polygon graphics, 3d curved surfaces, and MPEG-4 video codec. The machine will use a new disc format called the UMD, or Universal Media Disc, a prototype of which was shown by Kutaragi during the presentation. The optical, Cartridge encased disc will be 60 millimeters - half the size of a standard DVD but capeable of holding 1.8 gigs of information. 3 times the storage of a standard CD-ROM.

The entire unit will be built on single chip technology, so one processor will control the sound/video/input and output.Features built in stereo sound, headphoine jack, and a rechargable Lithium-Ion battery. The PSP will also support USB 2.0 for connecting to PCs, the PS2 and other PSPs.



So that's the news from sony, and I for one am glad I didn't run out and buy a GBA or GBA SP, espically when I can play those on my PC already. If it looks as cool as it sounds, You can count me in on picking one up. And as far as the one chip technology goes, any one care to take a wager as to weather or not they just need a reason to test the one chip PS2 engine they just finished building?

The one downside however is the whole new format of media, for 2 reasons.

1) Not read by standard computers, not easily emulated..

2) Look at any console that's decided to stray from a mainstream form of media storage. Currently all I can think of is the Dreamcast, which is now not being widely developed for anymore, and is considered a dead console by most.

 

[MECCA]

there is also news that the movie industry might have an interest in it as well, and with network connectivity it surely will be the walkman of the 21st century. Let's hope Sony can pull this off.

 

[AlphaWolf]

They once said that sony would never replace nintendo as the top console games company, much like they are saying sony will never replace nintendo as the top portable games company now...time will tell...

 

[Doomulation]

Sorry to tell, but...gamecube is also using this UMD format. And we all know what has happend with those.

 

[blizz]

I think Nintendo need competition on the handheld front, it's healthy

 

[2fast4u]

I think Nintendo need competition on the handheld front, it's healthy

agreed. nintendo needs competition on the handheld sector badly. im a tad sick of recycled snes games and fuckups like the one below.

 

[Remote]

Very true that the Big N could need some serious cometition on the handheld market but I wouldn't like to see Sony take it over bit by bit. Probaly not to likely the closest years but if they throw something really good at us it might be the tragic outcome.

Luckily the Big M have their hands full with the console market because if they also got in the race I see no other way then our beloved N ending up like Sega did....

 

[blizz]

agreed. nintendo needs competition on the handheld sector badly. im a tad sick of recycled snes games and fuckups like the one below.

hehe, funny thing I've never used headphones with my GBA

why the GBA wasn't designed like the SP in the first place is the problem

 

[Tagrineth]

Um.... just an aside, all the people who bitch about the lack of a headphone port have no idea why it isn't there.

There's a really REALLY simple reason. Well, two actually.

1. Look around the edges of the GBA. Where would it go?

2. There isn't enough space on the PCB.

3. Ports are expensive to add. How would you like to pay $120-130 for your SP?

 

[AlphaWolf]

3. Ports are expensive to add. How would you like to pay $120-130 for your SP?

what? I could solder one on for 10 cents!

 

[Remote]

I doubt Paco & Enrico, who spends all day putting GBA SP's together, could...

 

[AlphaWolf]

2. There isn't enough space on the PCB.

 

[Hexidecimal]

When I first posted, I said it wouldn't be easily emulated, now that I've thought about it, I take that back, I now say the following:

I both support and go against the inclusion of USB 2.0 interface on the PSP, for these reasons:

1)it will allow for lightning fast communication between PSP and PCs PS2s and other PSPs, which is of course, good.

2)it will take a skilled hacker, very little time to start tapping into the console to start emulating it, which is not necessicarily a bad thing, i mean, im pretty sure anyone posting on these forums is a fan of emulation, but at the same time it could cause the system to fail from lost revenue because everyone is playing the games free on their PC.

No i realize that because its a 3d engine for all the games, emulation would take time, but theyve given you lightning fast access to the thing via a USB 2.0, give it to Jabo or someone who knows what theyre doing in the 3D Graphics plugin field, and watch the sucker get cracked.

 

[Tagrineth]

Yeah... AlphaWolf, thanks for proving my point.

1. There's a screw hole between the link and headphone/power ports. Where would you put that?

2. The clamp notch for the GBA/GC link cable is on the other side.


Added:

what? I could solder one on for 10 cents!

What about the added gap in the plastic casing? And did you factor in the cost of the connector itself? What about the sauter you use to connect it? Plus precision equipment used to MAKE those connections isn't cheap to begin with, and it has to be fast and accurate for MASSIVE quantities of GBA's. Then there's maintenance for those machines... and validation.

 

[AlphaWolf]

1. There's a screw hole between the link and headphone/power ports. Where would you put that?

Easy, move the screw hole.

2. The clamp notch for the GBA/GC link cable is on the other side.

Move that specific receptacle over about a milimeter or two.

What about the added gap in the plastic casing? And did you factor in the cost of the connector itself? What about the sauter you use to connect it? Plus precision equipment used to MAKE those connections isn't cheap to begin with, and it has to be fast and accurate for MASSIVE quantities of GBA's. Then there's maintenance for those machines... and validation.

An extra dip in the plastic casing mold, a 10th of an ounce of solder, and a 3.5mm stereo receptacle, would probably add anywhere between a whopping 25 to 35 cents per unit over the current costs. The only realy expensive part would be re-designing the thing just to add this, but if they had it in mind to begin with, then we wouldn't have this problem!

For some reason you are thinking a stereo receptacle would be extremely expensive, but its nothing fancy at all, its just a 3 pronged peice of metal that makes the 3 wires connect with one little dummy proof plug that you can buy at radio shack for a dime. The technology is over 50 years old for gods sakes!

That little $5 adapter will cost a lot more to make than adding a built in stereo receptacle. But you know what? survey says, that people will buy the GBA SP with or without one, and the extra sales of the adapter will add a bit of extra juice to the profit margin, which means more money out of poor billys pocket, and more bling bling for the investors, so now everybody that is important wins, which is all that matters in the corporate game!

 

[2fast4u]

... which means more money out of poor billys pocket, and more bling bling for the investors, so now everybody that is important wins, which is all that matters in the corporate game!

damn. alpha im impressed with your way of thought. didnt expect to hear that conclusion

 

[alexa999]

Sony biggest E3 announcement, in case you haven't already heard, was a new addition to the Playstation Family.

Dubbed the Playstation Portable, sony believes they have a handheld to rival to GBA.

The following taken from the August 2003 Issue of GamePro:

Commonly referred to as "the father of playstation" Ken Kutaragi, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertaiment Inc. said, "There's a new member of the family, and it's not the Playstation 3. The baby is in the incubator, but as the father, I can look in the window and see his face, and he is very cute."

Featuring a widescreen (16:9) backlit 4.5-inch LCD screen wth a resolution of 480x272 pixels, the PSP will support 3d polygon graphics, 3d curved surfaces, and MPEG-4 video codec. The machine will use a new disc format called the UMD, or Universal Media Disc, a prototype of which was shown by Kutaragi during the presentation. The optical, Cartridge encased disc will be 60 millimeters - half the size of a standard DVD but capeable of holding 1.8 gigs of information. 3 times the storage of a standard CD-ROM.

The entire unit will be built on single chip technology, so one processor will control the sound/video/input and output.Features built in stereo sound, headphoine jack, and a rechargable Lithium-Ion battery. The PSP will also support USB 2.0 for connecting to PCs, the PS2 and other PSPs.



So that's the news from sony, and I for one am glad I didn't run out and buy a GBA or GBA SP, espically when I can play those on my PC already. If it looks as cool as it sounds, You can count me in on picking one up. And as far as the one chip technology goes, any one care to take a wager as to weather or not they just need a reason to test the one chip PS2 engine they just finished building?

The one downside however is the whole new format of media, for 2 reasons.

1) Not read by standard computers, not easily emulated..

2) Look at any console that's decided to stray from a mainstream form of media storage. Currently all I can think of is the Dreamcast, which is now not being widely developed for anymore, and is considered a dead console by most.

MPEG-4!?!?!? I bet after it comes out a dvd player will come out for it in a second!

 

[Hexidecimal]

Did you actually read the article, or browse it casually, i wont take DVDs, it takes a new form of media called a UMD that's like the third of the size of a DVD.

 

[alexa999]

Did you actually read the article, or browse it casually, i wont take DVDs, it takes a new form of media called a UMD that's like the third of the size of a DVD.

Mabye there will be a formatter or something.lain:

 

[Hexidecimal]

That magically trims your DVD to the correct size and incases it in plastic, making it un usable in any other DVD player? Doubtful, infact, nope, never gonna happen.

However it has been said that movies could be put on these discs and they would be slightly less expensive then the standard DVD of today.