Sony Hand-Held PlayStation Offers Wireless Network

[SALvation]

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp (news - web sites) (6758.T) said on Tuesday its new hand-held PlayStation console would be equipped with a wireless network system which allows users within a close area to play games together and download game characters.


Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), Sony's game unit, mapped out technical details of the upcoming "PSP" hand-held platform, which will compete head-to-head with Nintendo (news - web sites) Co Ltd's (7974.OS) dominant Game Boy Advance handheld console.


"We will be using some challenging technologies including wireless (news - web sites) LAN," SCE President Ken Kutaragi said at a meeting of game software makers and retailers.


"The PSP is a product with huge potential, following PlayStation and PlayStation 2 (news - web sites). The video game market may change in a big way," he said.


Kutaragi said the PSP, scheduled to debut in the fourth quarter of 2004, would employ "the latest and the most cutting-edge technologies" including two powerful micro-processors and an advanced 3D-effect graphics engine.


The new device will process data ten times faster than the original PlayStation console, SCE said.


Kutaragi also said the PSP would adopt advanced security technology which will help protect the copyright of game developers.


Sony, the dominant force in the $30 billion video game market, took industry watchers by surprise in May by unveiling its plan to launch the PSP, which features a color screen and a new high-capacity optical disc created especially for it.


The move puts Nintendo and its Game Boy hand-held platform directly in its sights, just as in 1995 when Sony first ventured into the game console business.


Sony has not set a price for the PSP, a multi-media unit that also plays movies and music, but analysts expect it to sell for 19,000 to 30,000 yen ($159-$251), well above the 12,500-yen price tag for Game Boy Advance SP, Nintendo's smaller version of its hot-selling device launched in February.


SCE plans to start distributing PC-base software emulator tools to game developers this autumn, followed by the final hardware tool next spring, Kutaragi said.


"We plan to demonstrate our prototype version of the PSP at the E3 trade show in the United States next May, and a software line-up at the Tokyo Game Show, ahead of the worldwide launch in the fourth quarter of 2004," Kutaragi said.


The news came after the Tokyo stock market closed.


Shares in Sony closed up 0.52 percent at 3,840 yen, while the Nikkei average (^N225 - news) index fell 0.06 percent.

[Dissectional]

SAL, do you know when they are releasing this in Japan? I am going in August, and if it is available, I may try to pick one up

Whoops...read the whole post you moron....

[EXEcution]

Have the specs for that thing come out yet?
Like screen res and stuff!

[SALvation]

From IGN:

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.

Memory for the system is divided into two areas. In all, the system is expected to feature 8 Megabytes main memory with bandwidth of 2.6 Gigabytes per second along with two megabytes of sub-memory, also at 2.6 Gigabytes per second, which will be used by the Media Engine.

Outside of the CPU and main memory, the system will of course include a graphics processing unit (GPU). The GPU is made up of a Rendering Engine and a Surface Engine and has access to 2 Megabytes of VRAM with a bandwidth of 5.3 Gigabytes per second. The hardware will include support for traditional polygons as well as curved surface primitives along with such things as clipping, morphing and more, freeing up software from having to deal with these. Sony claims a theoretical polygon performance of 33 million polygons per second.

The system's UMD (Universal Media Disc) optical disk format has also been clarified a bit. A UMD is a 60 millimeter dual layered disk that can store up to 1.8 Gigabytes of data. Transfer rate for the reader unit is 11 Megabits per second, which is twice the transfer rate of a standard DVD system. Sony is also promising the highest level of copy protection for these discs using DiscID and AES encoding technology.

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.

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. Sony revealed no further details about the system's networking features, unfortunately.

The PSP will, of course, play games as well. Sony will be tapping into its PlayStation heritage and including the familiar triangle, circle, X, square, start, select, L1 and R1 buttons on the system. These will be digital. In addition, the system will include a single analogue thumb pad.

For a list of specs on the system, see just below this article.

If you find yourself salivating at these specs, you're not alone. Unfortunately, Sony shared nothing but words today. A prototype of the PSP will debut at E3 of next year (May of 2004) with 2004's Tokyo Game Show (September of that year) expected to bring with it the unveiling of the system's game lineup.

A worldwide simultaneous launch for the unit is expected for the fourth quarter of 2004.


[PSP SPECS]

UMD(Universal Media Disc)
60mm
Laser Diode:660nm
Dual Layer :1.8GB
Transfer Rate:11Mbps
Shock Proof
Secure ROM by AES
Unique Disc ID

PSP CPU CORE
MIPS R4000 32bit Core
128bit Bus
1 - 333MHz @ 1.2V
Main Memory :8MB(eDRAM)
Bus Bandwidth :2.6GB/sec
I-Cache, D-Cache
FPU, VFPU (Vector Unit) @ 2.6GFlops
3D-CG Extended Instructions

PSP Media Engine
MIPS R4000 32bit Core
128bit Bus
1 - 333MHz @ 1.2V
Sub Memory:2MB(eDRAM) @ 2.6GB/sec
I-Cache, D-Cache
90nm CMOS

PSP Graphics Core 1
3D Curved Surface + 3D Polygon
Compressed Texture
Hardware Clipping, Morphing, Bone(8)
Hardware Tessellator
Bezier, B-Spline(NURBS)
ex 4x4, 16x16, 64x64 sub-division

PSP Graphics Core 2
'Rendering Engine' + 'Surface Engine'
256bit Bus, 1-166 MHz @ 1.2V
VRAM :2MB(eDRAM)
Bus Bandwidth :5.3GB/sec
Pixel Fill Rate :664 M pixels/sec
max 33 M polygon /sec(T&L)
24bit Full Color:RGBA

PSP Sound Core: VME
Reconfigurable DSPs
128bit Bus
166MHz @1.2V
5 Giga Operations /sec
CODEC
3D Sound, Multi-Channel
Synthesizer, Effecter, etc

AVC Decoder
AVC(H.264) Decoder
Main Profile
Baseline Profile
@Level1,Level2,Level3
2Hours(High Quality) - DVD movie
4Hours(Standard Quality) - CS Digital

I/O
USB 2.0
Memory Stick
Extension Port(reserved)
Stereo Head phone Out

Communication
Wireless LAN (i802.11)
IrDA
USB 2.0