Sony's new handheld official specs...

Sony's new handheld official specs...

I want Nintendo to come out with a device that is a lot sturdier.

No more simple plastic.

I'm content with everything else.

I'm not looking for 3D -- just give me good 2D games for handheld gaming
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

Originally posted by Scared0o0Rabbit@Jul 30, 2003 @ 06:23 AM

I want a portable snes ^_^.

It's called the GBA ;) .

I'd also like portable gaming to stay predominantly 2d since that's pretty much the only outlet for 2d now, but if the PSP has an analogue stick it doesn't bode too well..
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

As its CPU, PSP will make use of twin MIPS R4000 32 bit processors running at max 333 Megahertz. One of these units is referred to as the Media Engine, and is to be used for sound, movies and I/O management. In addition, the system will include a so-called VFPU floating point vector unit with calculation capability of up to 2.6 Gigaflops. This latter unit is meant for assisting the CPU in 3D calculations.

Sounds a bit like they're taking a play from Nintendo's (or is it SGI's?) book with the main/media CPU setup. With good management on Sony's part, this could provide for some pretty impressive middleware for developers to take advantage of. N64 may not have had a huge processing power advantage, but I'd imagine nobody was complaining about having an IrisGL/OpenGL-based graphics API to play with...

Multimedia support is big for the system. Sony announced MPEG4 support at E3, and now they've gotten a bit clearer, revealing that the PSP will use the AVC decoder, which has a high encoding rate. This will allow the UMD to store up to two hours of DVD quality video. Sound is also taking a high place on the system's feature list. The PSP will feature reconfigurable DSPs which can be rewritten allowing for support for the latest sound technology. Sony announced today compatibility with the ATRAC3 plus format along with AAC and mp3. In addition, the system will support playback of 3D and 7.1 channel sound.

In so many words: it has shiny FMV bits.

Sony is also promising the highest level of copy protection for these discs using DiscID and AES encoding technology.

I suppose it's not terribly insightful at this point to point out that a security system is only as strong as its weakest link. Microsoft uses RSA on Xbox discs, for crying out loud, and it's now possible (if a bit of a hassle) to defeat that scheme with software. Anyway unless Sony can throw the boot ROM and main RAM into the same package as the CPU (unlikely due to manufacturing complications), they can throw around all the encryption algorithms they like and hackers will be all too happy to yoink the vector table or some other known entry point to take control of the machine. Still, like in Xbox's case, this will probably be an effective protection against some serious threats to the bottom line: unlicensed commercial publishing, mass-marketed copies, and counterfeits.

On top of all this is Wireless Lan. The system will include as standard IEEE802.11 wireless LAN. Sony had originally intended to make this an option, but game creators were pretty adamant about its inclusion.

Smart move. Without this, PSP is essentially playing GBA's game. By including this in the system rather than making it an add-on, Sony has equipped PSP with something that could tip the "social gaming" playing field (the reason Nintendo keeps making multiple versions of each Pokemon game) in their favor.

Notably absent are any mention whatsoever of the screen and power supply, two elements that can singlehandedly break a handheld design. My guess is that the sprinkling of "up to"s in the article reflects a lot of speed scaling, and developers will be encouraged to use as little of the system's processing power as they can get away with, similar to the situation with most battery-powered systems. The screen will probably be 320x240 (to make life easier for developers without making the system cost too much), frontlit, and a little larger than GBA's screen. Sony might be able to leverage its relationship with Toshiba to cut a deal on high-capacity Li-Ion batteries, who knows...
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

Hype Hype Hype give me a prototype test then i'll consider not putting it down as crap
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

Oh yeah, have they said anything about a target price yet? I get a funny feeling that Nintendo's going to school them on that matter...
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

That thing has so many input/output jacks that it might be physically impossible to make it smaller than a PSOne.

I think they have no idea on how to fit everything inside a handheld yet, and it's all hype machine vaporware up to this point, with slave workers in the design labs exploding their brains out trying to please the weird dreams of the money dudes.
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

A couple notes...

One....must every SCEA hardware prduct have the name "Playstation" attatched to it? They must be scared shitless it won't succeed without that name. Kinda like Square with FF. (See other thread)

Two....Don't you guys think that given Nintendo's HUGE lead and seemingly endless supply of backwards compatible games and systems...that this race is already over?

Three...IF they actually gain on Nintendo and succeed...whats gonna keep Nintendo afloat now that their Pokemon Gameboy cashcow dies? (Not that I think theres any shot Pokemon will ever stop making money)

Four....With the overhyped BS polygons per second number of 33 million....I still think its at least possible to have graphics as good as Dreamcast on the thing....doesn't that kinda frighten anyone else?
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

I know everyone is bitching about battery life but think of these few points first.

There are currently high speed (1.4ghz) laptop pc's now that get an average battery life ot 6-8 hours. If a laptop with it's huge screen, fast cpu and all the other stuff can get that much life out of the battery imagine what a portable system can do.

Sony has a pretty good track record as far as it's devices with battery life. Most of their new camcorders boast 10 hour battery life (or more) on one li-ion battery. They're portable MD players can do 30 hours on a SINGLE AA battery. Chances are the PSP will get at least 10 hours of battery life and I wouldn't be surprised if that grows to 15.
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

There are currently high speed (1.4ghz) laptop pc's now that get an average battery life ot 6-8 hours. If a laptop with it's huge screen, fast cpu and all the other stuff can get that much life out of the battery imagine what a portable system can do.

Average battery life of 6-8 hours... while doing what? IDLING.

And keep in mind, laptop batteries are big, and heavy. Not at all feasible if you're trying to compete with Game Boy.

Sony has a pretty good track record as far as it's devices with battery life. Most of their new camcorders boast 10 hour battery life (or more) on one li-ion battery. They're portable MD players can do 30 hours on a SINGLE AA battery. Chances are the PSP will get at least 10 hours of battery life and I wouldn't be surprised if that grows to 15.

MD players, camcorders... do you really think they have anything comparable to what's being suggested in PSP's specs? Or do you think that camcorder with 10 hours' battery life is using a 333MHz processor, along with a vector unit at that same clockspeed, and a 166MHz rasteriser?

For comparsion, GBA (-SP) has a 16.7MHz processor and the system as a whole draws about 0.6W of power.
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

I own a GBA SP, and the only thing Sony has to do to succed in the portable market is releasing at least some games that aren't totally shitty. Since 95%+ of the Gameboy games are the worst crap I've ever played, sad but true.
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

33 million polys per second eh? This on-screen or just it can calculate that many? If it's on-screen... that thing'll be able to do more polygons than the PoS2! Remember with the PoS2 hype? They touted 80 million polys a second, then theykept lowering it lower and lower. I think it can only do about 15 million polys a second on screen. HA!

Also, I read somewhere, that Sony doesn't want this to be like the GB/GBP/GBC/GBA/GBSP, in that you can just whip it out anytime and play it (in other words, carry it in your pocket and all). They want it to be a "serious" game machine.

Hm... chances are this'll just end up being a stand-alone console within a year. I mean, the GBA isn't considered a "serious" game machine (at least not to me), it's a nice little handheld that can do some good SFC like things.
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

Originally posted by crystalmethod@Jul 30, 2003 @ 11:32 PM

Two....Don't you guys think that given Nintendo's HUGE lead and seemingly endless supply of backwards compatible games and systems...that this race is already over?


Well, no-one would have seen the Playstation being a success ten years ago..

As far as the price goes, they said a while back it'd be 'competetively priced' with the GBA. Easy to say now with the launch so far away I guess.
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

IMO Nintendo sucks, they been ruling the portable scene so long that they've gotten lazy. The gba could have been so much powerful but there competition was poor so they though "Lets make a snes with double the power". Shit the gba could've been the first handheld with true 3d rendering, but nooooooo,"We'll wait and make an FX Chip", damn "The Big N" is resting on ther lurals,and all of you know it, and damn these remakes of old games. I want new stuff.(Flaming is welcomed by BlacK)

(P.S> I hope the PSP crush the gba and the next GB!)
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

black, the thing about GBA is, it's designed to be insanely low-power, and it damn well IS insanely low-power.

Running more chips, more powerful chips, larger chips, or even increasing the clock speed of your chips ends up increasing your power draw.

GBA as a whole draws about 0.6 Watts of power. That's just maddeningly low, and why the original GBA unit can pull around 14-15 hours on a pair of AA batteries.

All the questions about PSP's battery life have some foundation. PSP is reportedly going to have a larger CPU with 20x the clockspeed of GBA's (16.7MHz up to 333MHz)... that combined with a second R4000 CPU at the same clock, a Vector Unit like PS2's, and graphics core(s) (not sure if it's two, or just looks that way because the presentation split graphics into two slides) which will also do a whole lot more than GBA's.

That combined with a larger screen with more pixels and a backlight... PSP can't possibly have battery life comparable to GBA's.

Then you consider the amount of chips, and amount of plugs the monster is sure to have - keep in mind, GBA-SP doesn't have a headphone port because there isn't enough space in the unit for one.
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

This thing will surely make the Game Gear looks like a tamagotchi, when comparing sizes. ;P

My concers is that this thing is unlikely to flop, due to the "PLAYSTATION" scribble engraved on it, and the fact it can do 3D. The masses will love that things instantly, even if it ends up requiring a portable fusion reaction, become as big as a shoes box and costs the same as a brand new PS2.

Specially if Sony starts puping PSOne re-releases on it (and they will do it). A single FF7 re-release is enough to drive the mob into buying it in insane amounts.

And *then* the 2D games will be led into their graves.
 
Sony's new handheld official specs...

We shall see what they actually deliver. The PS2 isn'tt anywhere near what they originally were hyping. I do agree with the idea this will drive Nintendo. They do need to make their next handheld a radical departure from the GB. Remember, the GBA can plays the older games. That does limit what they could do with the unit itself.
 
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