Rumours of Sony producing a handheld system have been around for years, but the many rumors were finally confirmed at this year’s E3. Sony announced the PSP, or Portable PlayStation, and it is scheduled to come out in the fourth quarter of 2004.
Just like the GBA-SP, the PSP will be powered by a rechargeable battery, but Sony hasn’t announced exactly how many hours the battery will last before it will need to be charged.
So what else is powering this new handheld system? The handheld system will use what are called Universal Media Discs (UMD, which is a 60mm optical disc (1.8 GB) into a cartridge. This kind of cartridge will allow for larger data capacity, lower media costs, and shorter manufacturing times. The cartridges will also have the latest copy protection technology implemented, so making copies of the games will be a lot harder.
The PSP will also have a wide screen 480x272 pixel (16 by 9) TFT LCD monitor, and it will have a backlight (again, like the GBA-SP). The screen will also be powered by some of the newest and most powerful super chipsets (90 nm superconductor technology). So the screen is good, but what will the graphics be like? The graphics will be 3D, and this 3D rendering will be enhanced by the employment of curved surfaces (known as NURBS), and will also still have conventional polygons. Video wise (for cut-scenes etc.), video quality will be enhanced with MPEG4, which is like a DVD format, only at a lower data rate.
Another interesting feature of the PSP is that it will have a USB 2.0 port. This will allow possible connectivity to other PSP’s, PlayStation 2’s, and possibly other systems as well (such as PC). The other slot the system will have is the Memory Stick Slot, which Sony says is for “network applications and data transportability in a wireless environment.” Whatever the case is, it sounds like the memory stick will be used for more than just game saves.
So now you know most of the heavy details about the PSP, but you’re probably still wondering about the sound quality. Well, the PSP will have PCM (which are built-in stereo speakers, with a stereo headphone output).
Sony will also make it very easy for developers to start making games for the PSP, and in autumn 2003, would-be game developers can buy a license from Sony. This license will get them PC-based development tools for use with the PSP. It’s not known how much this license will cost, but Sony will reveal more information later in the summer of 2003.
Sony is claiming PSP is the walkman of the future, and with all of the features announced, it looks like it very well could be. The only flaw so far is that it looks like the PSP will not have backward-compatibility, so it will not be able to play PS1 games. This is unfortunate, but hopefully we will see great original titles for the PSP, and not just ports. No price has been announced yet, but Sony will likely reveal more information as the 4th quarter 2004 release date approaches. CD
 gamingheadlines |
|
|
|
Options: (Print) (Send)
The Playstation Portable has been announced.
|
Sponsored Links
Latest
Releases
Web Statistics Powered By MetaTraffic