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[DrLazy]

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer
Posted Monday, January 03, 2005

Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) - Even if you don't particularly like video games, you'd best resign yourself to what appears certain to anyone who's spent a little time with Sony's new PlayStation Portable:

This is a gadget that's likely to eventually become a worldwide household hit. That holds true especially if your household includes, as mine does, a young man who grew up with the original PlayStation.

Yet while the PSP is a dazzling game machine, delivering sharp graphics on a 4.3-inch display and weighing just 10 ounces, it is also a multimedia player designed for music and movies.

And within the sleek, black plastic shell of this 7-inch by 3-inch wonder, there is Wi-Fi wireless connectivity and a USB 2.0 port for mating with computers.

The only big drawback is Sony's decision to go with a proprietary format for the PSP's main media: a 1.8-gigabyte disc the size of an Olympic medal. It's dubbed UMD for Universal Media Disc.

That's what the games come on - and Sony Corp. promises to also deliver Hollywood movies on the discs, though it hasn't said when or offered a lineup.

The PSP went on sale in Japan this month and won't be available in the United States and Europe until next year. It's likely that the U.S. price will be similar to the $190 the device costs in Japan. That feels like a bargain to anyone who remembers paying more than $299 for the original PlayStation in the mid-1990s.

But then, the PSP has a competitor this time around in Nintendo's DS handheld. Perhaps that's why the PSP is stoked with enough technology to be worth twice its price tag - it's got a Memory Stick for storing music and photos when the 32 megabytes of onboard memory don't suffice. You'll have to buy the Memory Stick, though.

There's good news, also, for music fans who prize to open a standard for music. Sony formerly pushed its ATRAC proprietary standard. No longer. The PSP is an MP3 adherent, and its sound quality is quite good.

If you want to play video that doesn't come on a UMD disc, Sony recommends you buy special $10 computer software that will convert it to the MPEG-4 video format that the PSP and Memory Stick support.

Because of its networking capabilities, the PSP looks to have an edge on Nintendo DS. The new Nintendo handheld works strictly as a game machine.

As for recording your own content for playing on the PSP, Sony hasn't said whether it will sell recordable versions of UMD discs.

PSP games range in price from $24 to $46, but unfortunately there aren't many yet. About a dozen are available so far in Japan, including "Hot Shots Golf" from Sony Computer Entertainment and "Vampire Chronicle: The Chaos Tower" from Capcom Co.

Sony says some 100 games are in the works, with about 20 titles promised by the end of the year.

By contrast, about 15 Nintendo DS games are on sale in Japan so far. But Nintendo DS, which costs about $145, can also play all the Game Boy Advance games.

In the games I played on the PSP, the attention to detail in the graphics was impressive.

In scenes from "Ridge Racers" made by Namco Ltd., camera flashes blink from roaring crowds and frothy waves break on sandy beaches. I found myself pushing on the joystick button for steering until my thumb got sore, happily tilting the PSP with the twists and turns as roaring race zipped through a swerving course, screeching on corners and sending tire-skidding virtual sparks on the screen.

The display, from Sharp Corp., is surprisingly easy on the eyes. The removable Lithium Ion battery lasts about four to six hours for games on a single charge. And the built-in 802.11b Wi-Fi chip allows up to 16 PSPs to play together.

PSP also has a microphone slot for future software with voice-recognition and an infrared connection whose uses aren't yet spelled out.

My son needed just a few minutes of checking out PSP before deciding he's definitely going to buy one.

Never mind that he isn't exactly sure how he's going to use its non-game functions (He's already got an iPod, a digital camera, a cell phone and a laptop).

Don't worry, mom, he said, everybody is going to figure it out.

Sounded a little too much like free advertisment for a "news" article.

 

[Amir0x]

This article is SO OLD that it's turning to dust as we speak.

 

[DrLazy]

Really? Why is dated for today? Not trying to be a jackass here. Or are you saying the info is old?

 

[Amir0x]

Really? Why is dated for today? Not trying to be a jackass here. Or are you saying the info is old?

Heh, I have no idea why it is dated today. And I don't think you're a jackass, really I'm the one being a jackass.

But back on point, this very article was posted like maybe two or three weeks ago. There was a pretty big discussion about it. I'd link you to it but the search function seems to be down.

 

[DrLazy]

Heh, I have no idea why it is dated today. And I don't think you're a jackass, really I'm the one being a jackass.

But back on point, this very article was posted like maybe two or three weeks ago. There was a pretty big discussion about it. I'd link you to it but the search function seems to be down.

Huh, well I guess it was just "posted" at the site on January 3rd, not written. My bad. Mods can lock this if they want.

 

[JJConrad]

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer
Posted Monday, January 03, 2005

... with about 20 titles promised by the end of the year.

The PSP is doomed!!

 

[Midas]

Well, it's actually old. Weird.

 

[calder]

It's a wire service story, doesn't the date just mean that whatever paper/newsite posted it did it today? They probably had it for a few weeks and today decided to run it for whatever reason.

 

[The Faceless Master]

But then, the PSP has a competitor this time around in Nintendo's DS handheld. Perhaps that's why the PSP is stoked with enough technology to be worth twice its price tag - it's got a Memory Stick for storing music and photos when the 32 megabytes of onboard memory don't suffice. You'll have to buy the Memory Stick, though.

wow, you dont even need a memory stick, because the 32MB of onboard memory can be used to store music and photos?

 

[radioheadrule83]

The PSP went on sale in Japan this month and won't be available in the United States and Europe until next year. It's likely that the U.S. price will be similar to the $190 the device costs in Japan. That feels like a bargain to anyone who remembers paying more than $299 for the original PlayStation in the mid-1990s.

Interesting comments on pricing...

But then, the PSP has a competitor this time around in Nintendo's DS handheld. Perhaps that's why the PSP is stoked with enough technology to be worth twice its price tag - it's got a Memory Stick for storing music and photos when the 32 megabytes of onboard memory don't suffice. You'll have to buy the Memory Stick, though.

I second the onboard memory inquiry. Is that even possible?

Because of its networking capabilities, the PSP looks to have an edge on Nintendo DS. The new Nintendo handheld works strictly as a game machine.

What???

Sony says some 100 games are in the works, with about 20 titles promised by the end of the year.

By contrast, about 15 Nintendo DS games are on sale in Japan so far. But Nintendo DS, which costs about $145, can also play all the Game Boy Advance games.

And how many are "in the works" for Nintendo DS?

This guys comments on pricing are suddenly uninteresting.

Sounded a little too much like free advertisment for a "news" article.

Agreed. Was there any news there at all?

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I second the onboard memory inquiry. Is that even possible?

What do you mean? Ever had a PDA or equivalent?

 

[radioheadrule83]

I mean with the PSP in particular. I know people have it here. It was a genuine question as to whether or not that guy was pulling it out his ass.

onboard memory, is that extra memory that games don't use or can you just fill that with stuff?

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I mean with the PSP in particular. I know people have it here. It was a genuine question as to whether or not that guy was pulling it out his ass.

onboard memory, is that extra memory that games don't use or can you just fill that with stuff?

It usually reserves space for the OS but the rest you are able to load whatever you like on. My PDA has slots for media, but has 128MB internal memory, this seems to have a lot of the same functionality with music and such so it wouldn't surprise me. But I get what you're saying better.

 

[Fafalada]

My PDA has slots for media, but has 128MB internal memory, this seems to have a lot of the same functionality with music and such so it wouldn't surprise me.

Your PDA will still require you to delete all that storage from internal memory if you want to run an application that requires close to 128MB of memory (I actually know of one graphical adventure that does ).

Anyway this kind of storage use on a gaming device where user space is exclusively addressed by games would be literally useless, as everytime you startup a game you'd need to backup your data from memory to MS.

But technically, it's possible.