Sony PSP Details Revealed

Sony PSP details revealed

Find out what will be powering Sony's upcoming handheld.

In the PlayStation Meeting 2003, Sony Computer Entertainment revealed details and specifications for its upcoming handheld, the PSP. SCE described the PSP as the "21st-century Walkman," showing confidence in the company's upcoming product, which utilizes a number of high-end components. The PSP will consist of two microprocessors, an advanced sound engine, a 3D graphics engine, a 4.5-inch, 16:9-format TFT LCD screen, and a number of connection capabilities.

The PSP will run under two 32-bit MIPS R4000 microprocessors, described by SCE president Ken Kutaragi as each having 10 times the clock speed of the PlayStation’s CPU and the same amount of power as the PlayStation 2's CPU. One of the microprocessors will be used as the CPU, and the other will be utilized as an engine dedicated to handling media, such as movies and music, with its own 2MB of memory. Although the PSP's main memory will be 8MB, Kutaragi commented that it is an extraordinary volume for a handheld game console. In general, all the components used in the PSP are designed for low-energy consumption since it is a portable device, and the microprocessors feature a low-voltage (1.2V) design.

The GPU (graphics processor unit) will work as both a 3D rendering engine and a surface drawing engine. Morphing, tessellation, and other rendering abilities are supported by hardware to reduce the loads on programs. The GPU will come with 2MB of VRAM and a bus with a 5.3gbps transfer rate. In theory, the PSP will be able to handle a maximum of 33 million polygons a second. In terms of sound, the PSP will feature 3D sound and 7.1 channels, adopting the use of a digital signal processor named the VME (virtual mobile engine). The VME is a technology developed by Sony for use in its portable MD and MP3 players, and it allows sounds to be processed with less energy consumption compared with traditional DSPs (digital sound processors). As firmware, the VME can be updated to the latest instruction codes when required. The PSP's VME will also allow playback of MP3-, AAC-, and ATRAC3-format music under SCE's current plans.

The control buttons for the PSP are similar to the PlayStation joypad--there will be circle, cross, triangle, square, R1, L1, start, and select buttons, as well as a directional pad and an analog stick. As revealed in prior announcements, the PSP will read proprietary 60mm-wide optical disks named UMDs (universal media discs) that can hold up to 1.8GB. The PSP will support advanced-video-coding-format MPEG4s that have high compression rates, and one UMD can contain up to two hours of DVD-quality video. There will be an advanced encryption technology used on the PSP for the copy protection of software as well. In terms of communication, the PSP will come equipped with 802.11-standard LAN, IrDA, and USB 2.0. 802.11-standard LAN is a wireless LAN specification that can communicate in a 100-meter range with a transfer rate of up to 2mbps, and IrDA is a standard for infrared wireless communication.

To promote early development of games, SCE plans to distribute development kits for the PC that will emulate the PSP at about a 10th of its actual speed. A more complete hardware-based developer kit will be released in spring 2004. SCE aims to make programming software for the PSP as easy to develop as the original PlayStation, and it also aims to provide programmers with a number of libraries and middleware to support development.

The prototype of the PSP and several game titles are scheduled to be revealed at E3 2004, followed by a display of games at the Tokyo Game Show 2004, and the release of the handheld in the last fiscal quarter of 2004. No price was revealed for the PSP in today's announcements.

PSP Specifications:

PSP CPU Core

MIPS R4000 32-bit core
128-bit bus
1-333MHz (1.2V)
8MB eDRAM main memory
2.6Gbps bus bandwidth
FPU, VFPU (2.6 billion flops)
3D graphics extended instructions
I Cache, D Cache

PSP Media Engine

MIPS R4000 32-bit core
128-bit bus
1-333MHz (1.2V)
2MB eDRAM submemory
I-Cache, D-Cache
90nm CMOS


PSP Graphics Core

1-166MHz (1.2V)
256-bit bus
2MB eDRAM (VRAM)
5.3Gbps bus bandwidth
664 million pixels per second pixel fill rate
3D curved surface and 3D polygon engine
Support for compressed textures, hardware clipping, morphing, bone, tessellation, bezier, b-spline (NURBS)
Maximum of 33 million polygons per second
24-bit full color (RGBA)

Sound Core

VME (Virtual Mobile Engine)
Reconfigurable DSP
166MHz (1.2 V)
128-bit bus
5 giga operations per second
CODEC capabilities
3D sound, 7.1 channels
Synthesizer, effecter, and other abilities
ATRAC3 plus, AAC, MP3 for audio


Media

UMD (Universal Media Disc)
60mm-diameter disc
660nm laser diode
1.8GB capacity (dual-layered disc)
11Mbps transfer rate
AES crypto system
Unique disc ID
Shockproof
Regional code system
Parental lock system
Repeat ordering system


Other Specifications

16:9-format widescreen TFT LCD (480x272 pixels, 24-bit full color)
MPEG4 AVC decoder
Wireless LAN (802.11)
IrDA (Infrared Data Association)
USB 2.0
Memory Stick
AV in/out
Stereo headphone out
Lithium ion battery
Expansion port

This new portable is going to be the shit. Nice 4.3 screen, USB hookups , Playable FULL movies, Play your music, Nice, sleek look, WiFi compatible for online play. Gonna pwn the DS.

Gonna pwn the DS.

I can give you a cornucopia of reasons why you're wrong on that one.

lmao this thread is going to be the same as it was before the database error...

DS is still gonna own PSP because it has double screens which of one has touchscreen ability, this could bring in some real original gameplay. Thats 100x more worth to me than the l33t power the psp has.

Then some1 is going reply, have fun playing mario and pokemon...to indicate its going to be a kiddy machine.

then some1 else is going to say, Mario and other nintendo games are great, dont see why those games cant be fun, just because they dont have gore and dark settings doesnt mean they're for kids only.

that sums up about the entire thread as it was.

Ok Look. Have you seen any pictures of this? Its So Ugly looking, and how ofter are you 'actually' going to use the Touchscreen during gameplay....?

Origional gameplay? Hardly. Most of Nintendo's games are multiplatform and the ones aren't, are themselves 'Kiddy Games'. Don't get me wrong, I love MarioKart DS, SSB4, DBZ Boudakai, etc.

Look, the PSP has More 'mature' games, indeed. But the titles alone will beat the DS. The PSP's lineup just for the releasal has highly outnumbered the DS and the DS will be released months earlier.

The PSP Can play FULL MOVIES. FULL MUSIC CDs, Has Wifi, a damn USB hookup for external storage, etc. Has a sweet ass 4.3inch plasma screen which has great great quality. On the other hand, the Ds just has two gameboy advance screens, and one is 'touch' screen. But the actual touch screen isn't big enough to use for the average Teenager, it's a few inches by a few inches, what are you going to do, hit ok? You can just use the A button or the Start button for that.

PSP wins.

Here we go...

I really almost kind of feel bad for Sony in this situation. They're walking into a minefield with the PSP. Nintendo has owned 100% of the portable market for how many years now? Five? Seven? Ten?

I don't think Sony understands the danger of this particular market. Handhelds are primarily dominated by a specific age demographic, those being kids age 6 to 14. Any age demographic above that doesn't hold nearly as much of the pie. Who are the people that are plunking down all the cash for those handhelds? Parents. Think about it logically: are a kid's parents going to shell out 200, perhaps 300 bucks so their kid can have another handheld? You know how parents are about these things: "Don't you already have one of those? I'm not buying you that!" That eliminates Sony's hopes of taking hold of the young gamer demographic.

What about older gamers? I'm talking about 15-25 year old nerds that carry their GBA with them wherever they go. What real motivation is there for an older nerd to pick up a PSP? Any older gamer who is interested in portable gaming already owns a Gameboy Advance, and has come to trust Nintendo as being The Bible in terms of handheld gaming. They automatically trust Nintendo, and are probably already intending to pick up a DS. So, that right there eliminates Sony's potential grasp on the older nerd demographic.

Sony's only hope of success with the PSP is to target older, casual gamers. The kinds of guys that own a PS2, a copy of GTA: Vice City and a few Madden games. Sony is banking the success of the PSP on the notion that there will be this massive influx of non-gamer college students and late-highschool kids that suddenly feel the need to play video games between classes. The PSP isn't being marketed to kids, parents shopping for Christmas presents or older nerds. It's being marketed to older "casual" gamers, and that's a really sketchy demographic to market a handheld for. I honestly can't tell you of a single college-age frat-type-guy that I know is just itching to pick up a portable gaming device.

I really think this is a bad move on Sony's part. It's certainly ballsy of them to try and wedge their way into this market, but I honestly can't see them getting anywhere with it. There's always a chance I could be horribly wrong about this, but logic dictates otherwise.

On top of that, since Sony announced that the PSP won't be coming out this year, their only option is to wait until next year. That automatically cuts the PSPs sales drastically. Why? Because the DS is coming out in November. The thing is finished, and it has a massive library of games to draw upon for launch, considering that it's backwards compatible with the Gameboy.

This winter, parents all over the country are going to be buying $120 to $150 DS handhelds for their kids this Christmas. Does Sony really think that those same parents are going to spend $200 to $300 on another handheld next winter? Hell no. Sony's only option is to release it this summer, when kids are out of school and can get jobs so they can buy the hardware themselves. If Sony waits unil next November, it will be too late. The DS will already be holding the vast majority of the market, and those buying kids will be back in school.

I'm genuinely impressed with the PSP, I truly am, but Sony will fail. Nintendo has beat out 9 competitors in the handheld market and they did it with a clunky grey brick with nauseating green graphics. They have held 100% of the market for almost a decade. Again, I truly feel sorry for Sony, because the PSP will die.

You want an even better reason why the PSP will fail miserably?

The Sony PSP is basically a portable PS2. The screen is phenomenal, the graphics processing capabilities are astounding and it's an extremely sleek machine. It is capable of handling PS2-level graphics and the size of the games will probably be no issue either.

And that is precisely where Sony's problem lies.

It has already been established in America that consumers will not pay the same amount of money for a handheld game as they will for a home console game. Consumers expect handheld games to be 10 to 20 dollars cheaper, and to try and price them any higher than that is financial suicide. Nintendo has established this fact, and consumers will expect this same amount of pricing from Sony.

On the flipside, if people buy the PSP, they are going to expect PS2-quality games. They are going to want games that stack up technologically and structurally to a hit PS2 game. The problem with that is that PS2 games cost an enormous amount of money to produce. That's where Sony makes all of their video game profit, on the games themselves. Sony already loses enough money on their consoles, so the games have to be priced very high in order to make up for it.

This creates a very serious problem for Sony. We have already established that Sony can not afford to price their PSP games too high. The public won't stand for it. We have also already established, though, that Sony can not release lower-than-PS2 quality games on the PSP. The public expects PS2 quality games. So, what is Sony's only option? Ports. Sony's only viable chocie with the PSP is to load it up with ports and hope that the public doesn't have a problem with paying for a portable version of the games they already own.

The PSP is going to fail. It will die, just like every other handheld that has challenged Nintendo.

The PSP has every possible odd stacked against it. Already the PSP has had 75% of it's potential userbase dissolved, already it has had it's launch timeframe diminished and has had that time frame lose a lot of potency. Plus, the game selection on the handheld has shown a forecast of severe weakness.

Like I said, it's a very nifty piece of technology, but it won't go anywhere. There's nowhere for it to go.

Ok Look. Have you seen any pictures of this? Its So Ugly looking, and how ofter are you 'actually' going to use the Touchscreen during gameplay....?

Ugly looking? Does it have to have naked women painted on the case in order to not look ugly by your definition?

Origional gameplay? Hardly.

Ha! Do you call a roster full of PSP ports original gameplay?

Most of Nintendo's games are multiplatform and the ones aren't, are themselves 'Kiddy Games'.

Are you insane? "Most of Nintendo's games are multiplatform." Pardon me, sir, but I'd like you to tell me what other platforms any gameboy game ever made has appeared on. I'd like you to tell me what alternate platforms (besides the Phillips CD-i Zelda games) any of the Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong, Star Fox, F-Zero, Fire Emblem or Pokemon games have appeared on besides Nintendo platforms.

On top of that, I'd like you to name a single child (people ages 5 to 12, we'll say) that would be capable of beating F-Zero GX, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Metroid Prime, Mario 64 or Fire Emblem. I had a hard fucking time beating those games, there's no way a kid could do it.

Look, the PSP has More 'mature' games, indeed. But the titles alone will beat the DS. The PSP's lineup just for the releasal has highly outnumbered the DS and the DS will be released months earlier.

Again, are you insane? The PSP will have a maximum number of possibly 50 games at it's launch. The DS will have well over 600. Why? Because it's backwards compatible with the GBA. Pull your head out of your ass.

The PSP Can play FULL MOVIES. FULL MUSIC CDs, Has Wifi, a damn USB hookup for external storage, etc. Has a sweet ass 4.3inch plasma screen which has great great quality. On the other hand, the Ds just has two gameboy advance screens, and one is 'touch' screen. But the actual touch screen isn't big enough to use for the average Teenager, it's a few inches by a few inches, what are you going to do, hit ok? You can just use the A button or the Start button for that.

All the hardware in the world won't save the PSP. Let's take a quick look at the annals of history, shall we?

Gameboy: Clunky grey brick with nauseating green graphics, two face buttons and poor sound capabilities.

Vs.

Sega Game Gear: A slightly prettier, black brick with more roundness to it, more face buttons and color graphics.

The winner? Gameboy.

The same thing occured every single time a new portable competitor entered the market. The Atari Lynx, the Sega Nomad and the Nokia N-Gage have all been technologically superior to the version of the gameboy that they have competed against, and they, along with 5 other technologically superior competitors, have fallen before the mighty Gameboy.

The PSP will have a terrible selection of games throughout the entirety of it's lifespan, it will cost far too much for the key portable gaming demographics to afford and it will be released too late for anyone to care.

PSP dies.

Wow, Raziel, you wrote a fucking VOLUME on that shit. As pro-sony as I may be I'm with Raziel on this one. Everyone trust Nintendo for handhelds and thus will look there for them. Sony is stepping into the handheld market about the same way as the X-Box did the console market which wasn't too damn pretty.