A cartoon game is displayed on Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation Portable (PSP) at a press preview in Tokyo Monday, July 12, 2004. The 260 gram (9.1 ounce) portable game machine features 16:9 wide and high quality liquid crystal display with built-in speaker with headphone and microphone outputs. It is also feasible to play small size UMD optical disc for wide range of music, film and sports. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) Link to story Sony Corp. says it expects to demonstrate a working version of its next-generation PlayStation video game console at a trade show next May. Sony has been secretive about its next-generation consoles because of stiff competition from rivals Microsoft Corp. of the United States and Japan's Nintendo Co. To date, Sony has not specified a launch date for the follow-up to the popular PlayStation 2, but company officials in Tokyo on Monday told reporters they'll unveil more details about the highly anticipated product by the end of its fiscal year, which ends in March, said Molly Smith, a spokeswoman for Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., based in Foster City, Calif. "We wanted to let our business partners know that our development is progressing as planned on the future platform," Smith said. Takeshi Kutaragi, president of Sony Computer, said the PlayStation Portable, dubbed PSP, would be on store shelves by the end of March but didn't reveal the product's specifications, Kyodo News agency said. If Sony meets its targets, then the public will finally get a glimpse of the next-generation game console at the E3 convention in Los Angeles, set for May. Sony and other video game makers have used E3, which draws game developers, fans and industry officials, for major product launches. Sony's PlayStation2 game machine is the industry's best-selling console, though Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube have been gaining some ground. Microsoft has not said when its next-generation Xbox might be available, while Nintendo announced last month that it would "show" its GameCube successor, code-named "Revolution," in 2005. Kutaragi also said Sony will sell its PlayStation Portable a handheld device with a color display, stereo speakers and wireless Internet for multiplayer games, music and videos in Japan by the end of December. PSP will be available in the United States and Europe by March 2005, Kutaragi said, according to Smith. Officials at Sony's headquarters in Tokyo couldn't immediately be reached for comment. --------------------\Pretty groovy
What are the specs on that thing ~ are the graphics equal to a PS1 or 2..? (or neither) Looks expensive.
Graphics are a little less than PS2, but far better than PS1. Xbox 2 or XENON will be out next Christmas. DD
Not to sure if I'll get a PSP. Seems like it could be pretty expensive and I usually don't use portable devices like this anyways. Though I am stoked about FF7: Advent Children which I believe is lauching with the PSP, or something like that. I'm more stoked for the PS3. I thought it would be out mid to late 2006, but with it being playable at E3, maybe they're ahead of schedule. All the technology they seem to have put into it sounds amazing. I think they are suppose to use Blu-ray, which I heard could make it so discs could hold 200GB! Plus the Cell seems pretty interesting. I just hope it is easier to program that the PS2. I actually learned that the PS2 was a lot more powerful than the XBOX in several things, but its inability to do those graphics tricks as well as the difficulty in programming it made it hard to truely use all of the power of the PS2. I'm starting to go a bit off track now, just really stoked...for something that will take at least a year to get any good info about.
PSP is starting to grab my interest, price though? Nintendo needs to just scrap their DS now, I love Nintendo, but there is no way that thing will have any sort of success. They were lucky to have Pokemon and the Gameboy to keep them afloat the last few years, now they just need to do something really revolutionary (haha I just read the rest of the article and saw it is in fact code-named "Revolution," how funny, I hope they mean it!) with their next console or I see them going the way of Sega.
I heard the price point was $400. It could be as low as $300, but I think they are still debating it. We are making a PSP game called Sticky Balls. DD
I read in an article that Nintendo will probably not go the route of online gaming, which seems to be very popular to me. Seems like a main focus of the PS3 and probably the new XBOX will be strongly designed for online gaming from what I've seen, yet Nintendo does not seem to care for it. I would think that the console would have to be very innovative and have awesome games, or your prediction could be right. Here's the article if you want to read it. It also talks about what Nintendo thinks of the PSP.
It just baffles me as to why Nintendo is being so stubborn with the whole online issue. This isn't 5 years ago, broadband is main-stream, it's not some tiny market. I just picked up the Network Adapter for my PS2 the other day and tried it out with Splinter Cell: PT and was AMAZED at how absolutely lag-free the game was. Hosting a four player game off of my home DSL modem, which was also being used by other computers on the network at the time and I experience ZERO lag, it was just as if we were all on the same console. If you can do that in a game like SCT (as opposed to some simple Tetris clone), then its clear that online gaming is ready to go. Nintendo knows people want to play games TOGETHER, hence them pushing all their 4-player games (Mario Party, Smash Brothers, Zelda game, all that GBA connectivity), which is why I don't get them stayign away from online... and sure it's more personal being in the same room, but especially with the headsets, online gaming is really a damn nice alternative for playing games with friends down the street... I'd rather not split up my screen and share anyways. WAKE UP NINTENDO!
lol i have the scoop... i read an electronic gaming monthly the other day. graphics between ps1 and 2... price they estimated to be 300 bucks when it first comes out.
