sony's new handheld - PSP
 

I went to megagames and to my surprise stumbled upon the news that sony is launching it first handheld. from what i read so far, i believe this new handheld is gonna revolutionize the handheld industry and is gonna make nintendo work super hard to compete with this handheld. i recently wondered how badd ass it would be if sony came out with a handheld with very good processing power and overall capabilities. well, my dreams have been answered. as the CEO(Ken Kutaragi) put it "This is the ‘Walkman’ of the 21st century" I cant wait till it comes out in the market

here is the link http://www.megagames.com/news/html/h...handheld.shtml

PSP Specifications
Platform name: PSP
Display: Wide screen (16:9) TFT LCD with backlight
(480 x 272 dots)
Disc medium: UMD 60mm optical secured ROM disc with cartridge
(1.8GB)

Video CODEC: MPEG4
Graphics: 3D Polygon/NURBS

Sound: PCM (built-in stereo speakers, stereo headphone output)
I/O: USB 2.0, Memory Stick slot
Battery: Rechargeable (lithium-ion:) :)

No matter how big the company, nobody is gonna put a dent into Nintendos Handheld market share. Same as no on can put a dent into Sonys Console Market share.

Thats what i thought when i bought my N64 over PS1, no one can ever take down Nintendo! Boy was I wrong, look at the Game Cube compared to PS2.... Sony will rule all.

u took the words right out of my mouth jarek23 :D
hundreds of thousands of people believed that nintendo would be unstoppable, but then came the psx came out and started to take over the console gaming world. and now with the ps2 out, not only is it taking over all next gen consoles but its making it hard for them to come back and compete with it. with that said i believe that sony's new handheld is gonna take over the portable handheld as well with its superior technology and numerous functions as compared to the gameboy advance sp. sony's one of the leaders in the electronic business. what makes u think its gonna take ove the handheld market. this is just my opinion on this matter :)

The trouble with nintendo is that they use media that can't be copied and who in their right mind would buy a console where u couldn't back-up yr software!

Sony know this and are willing to make the sacrifice in order to sell more ps2 units whereas Nintendo still go soldiering on as the underdog with cartridges/wierdly small discs.

Regards

ur right ottoman in that aspect as well! there are alot of factors that go into as to why sony's ps2 is king. but it seems that sony is going in the path as did nintendo on secured optical disc/cartridges on its soon to be new handheld. if this happens it will only stop back up process for a few months or so till someone cracks it. cause as the old saying goes "if its made by humans...it can be cracked by humans" or something like that...hehe :D

Hahaha, bunch of Sony Fan Boys... :p

i just like good quality gaming...haha :D

i guess u can say im a big electronics freak...hehe.

hmmm makes you wonder if Gates has got a hand in the sony market.... :p

i wouldnt doubt it one bit. this guy wants global domination. this guy wants to be THE gaming industry....he wont stop 'till he has taken over everything. i wouldnt be surprised if all three new handhelds from sony, microsoft, and nintendo, came on the market at around the same time and started competing against eachother. cause i read in gameinformer that nintendo is already working on a new handheld. all that is left is microsoft, and them being the greedy company that they are will most likely throw in their handheld in the mix.

yeah I've seen it in the irish times on friday
the disk will be able to contain 1.9GB

r u talking about the nintendo's future handheld or sony's?
cause sony's optical disk will be 1.8Gb. either way thats still alot of data squeezed in that disk.

just for fun, consider that nintendo was having sony develop the psx as a means of fighting segacd.

and console specs dont sell consoles. games sell consoles. with how cumbersome developing for the n64 was, its a small wonder any 3rd party games came out.

I dont think some of the people on this forum will understand what you meant by that. Its pretty clear from the tone of this thread, that these people are the type of people who believe Sony started the console business from scratch. The 'WipeOut Generation'.

To be honest Sony didn't start the console market, but neither did Nintendo. Nintendo may have saved it true...but Sony has taken over. As for the handheld, it's really simple. sony has designed a better product than the one Nintendo is pushing. I mean for christ's sake the GBA Advance SP is STILL not backlit but front-lit, making a decent amounts of wash-out in the colors. (I know this for a fact, I work in a video game store and as a side project we take apart the floor models sometimes) Not only that but Sony while owns the copy right to the discs they'll sure as hell make it really easy to make games for and with all the thrid party support for it already. The PSP contains a stronger processor than the PSX (it needs to for the 3D engine inside). Nintendo really needs to come up with a decent competing system (which they should at some point) or else it will lose the handheld market like it did with the console market.

And for the record, I'm not a sony fanboy, I've got all the systems (Cube, Box, PS2 (the damned best one out of the three), GBA (afterburner installed), and a dreamcast (Soul Calibur baby) )

I play the best system the most, go PS2

i agree with u MrCaine in all ur points. everyone thinks that nintendo's handheld which is the Gameboy Advance SP will not be affected by Sony's more powerful and functionality, the PSP. i think there are somewhat in denial. those are probably the same people that thought that nintendo's 64 wouldnt collapse when the psx came out. im not baised but sense i have all next gen consoles as well as all the old nintendo systems i can honestly say that sony by far has the best system. The PSP will probably be on everyone's wish list for christmas. i believe there's no
comparison between the PSP and nintendo's gamebody advance sp. not to mention the games that will be out for PSP.

MrCaine01, hmmmm, so what you saying is, if I released a handheld with specs that far surpass anything on the market at this present time, I am guranteed massive sales? Then why did the Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear & Neo Geo Pocket all fail? Each of them didnt even put a dent into the Game Boy market share. Heck why arent the PS2 sales slowing down or stopping altogether, Even though there are two consoles that far surpass it in terms of Specs? Brand loyalty? or perhaps its the range and choice of games on offer? Hmmmm, what other format offers a similar kind of choice on games?

The two main reasons why the N64 did badly (which it didnt do too badly actually, its just that everyone and their mother was replacing the term console with the word Playstation), was because of the massive royalties Nintendo demanded off its Developers which lead to poor software support and the very, very high prices of the games.

Anyways, Gran Turismo is calling me, so I'm out, ok, fanboys? :p

If Sony wanted they could challenge microsoft in court over the xbox & win. Microsoft is subsidising the xbox, but this type of trading is illegal. Various companies have been forced in the past by fair competition laws to raise prices in order to be profitable.

An example in the UK was the BT chargecard, BT was subsidising its charge card, and was forced to raise its charges because rivals couldn't compete.

But then we are talking Bill Gates.

Hull_Chipper get some shades those eyes are too scary.... :eek:

Hey m8.

Two quick ones here. Some techy on this forum did a quick check-up on which was the superior console in terms of total performance rather than just looking at how fast processors r clocked etc and found that there was very little if any difference in them. Also the reason that Nintendo 64 sales were poor is that U couldn't back-up the software easily ( just like the gamecube) and a console will always suffer in that situation.

ottoman, hmmmm so every single comparison chart I have ever seen showing the PS2 to be a distinct third has lied to me? I dont care for console specs... so I aint even gonna argue that issue.

And I still cant believe that people assume that because a console cant be modded or play copied software easily it will fail in the stores.. Thats what people who do use warez software believe...

ottoman go back to making your 100+ 'backups' ;)

well, just what does decide the best selling console then?

Clearly it doesn't rely on specs of machine, and nintendo have been in the console market far longer than the two competitors so should know the game a lot better.

Clearly that is a question for the console gods.. But SONY have the situation licked. Nobody can touch them at all in console sales..

Personally I think what SONY do so well is market their hardware and software. I mean everytime theres a commercial break on TV you are practically guranteed to see a SONY advert. Heck, SONY sponsering the show you are/were watching is becoming even more common place.

I think that is where SEGA and Nintendo failed in the 90s. They still marketed their consoles as toys.. Meanwhile, here comes SONY with its PlayStation console and loads and loads of mainstream advertising/sponsering/shiling and voila it litterally brought the Console Market. FACT!.

I believe, or at least hope and pray, that this PSP will fail miserably. Even Nintendo simply brushed it off when pressed for a comment at E3. Perhaps the higherups are scared in private, but publicaly this is what wanted I to hear from them. Nintendo has seen off other competitors and it WILL see off SONY. Also Nintendo has gone on record to say that the biggest threat to its Handheld Market Shared is not another handheld console, but Mobile Phones. I wonder, who understands the Handheld Market more? Nintendo, or SONY?

Why would you want something to fail? I think YOUR the fanboy.

Sony were allowed to tie up the market with playstation1. Everybody had one. There was'nt another worthy competitor. Playstation is now a brandname.

I still come across people that own a ps2, but have never heard of the xbox.

Yes you got me, Im the fanboy....

OK, why do I want it to fail? the same reason you want and still want the XBox to fail. Which in way it already has.. but lets not get off topic here.

What are you talking about? I am a proud owner of an xbox, and soon to be a gamecube.

Hmmm OK, in simple terms. Nobody wants Microsoft to control the world (or in this case the Entertainment Market). The same can be said about SONY. Comprende?

The PSP won't fail for one reason...it has the name Sony attached to it. What is in 8 out of every 10 homes? A Sony Ps2. As for Sega and Atrari and all the other handhelds they had one serious strike against them.....NO SOLID BRANDNAME. Hence Forth everybody had a nintendo so Nintendo gameboy was the thing to own. Now here comes Sony, The new leader in the console market making their own handheld and since everybody knows the name of sony it'll sell. And if you try to compare the fact that everybody knew the name sega Nintendo had a stronger console to back it up. (Snes anyone?) It was easy for Nintendo back then because their main competitor was Sega whose name was not as well known as their own.

Second off Sony is scoring points again for aiming it at a larger market then just children. The PSP will be USB compatible for your PC and has Mpeg4 video quality...as in DVD picture.

Also you forget the gullibily of children as a whole. Nintendo releases the GBA and then a few years later release the GBA SP. Now, kids who have a GBA want the latest and greatest thing. With Sony's name behind it, what should be great graphics for a handheld, and a immense 3rd party line-up how can Nintendo no see them as a threat to their handheld business. Sony knows how to market their products and if Nintendo isn't worried then they're in for some serious trouble.

Wait, didnt SONY already try a semi handheld, the Pocketstation? Lots of confidence they had in that, didnt they? People seem to be thinking that this PSP is ready to launch now. SONY themselves have said that they will not be sending dev kits out until late Q4 2003 at the earliest, and wont be on sale in Japan until Q5 2004, Which is what? 18 months away? God knows what the release date will be for Europe, and thinking back to the Pocketstation, heres hoping ;) .

In between now and then you will have some pretty big advances in the Mobile Phone Market. (which I notice MrCaine01 failed to even mention). If anyone here has played on the Nokia 7650, the Samsung v200 and the Panasonic GD87, they have to admit the games look pretty good on them. Of course how they play is another matter, but that will improve time.

Even though the franchise is slowly dying, PokeMon is still a huge franchise especially in Japan. SONY have to come up with a killer app like that, to put even put a dent into it. Of course, they wont because the 'suits' will be marketing it at teens & adults.

MrCaine, SEGA owned Nintendo in Europe, which contary to popular belief, is still an important gaming market. The reason why SEGA fell on its ass was because by the time the Game Gear did launch, it was 3 years too late. Game Boy had an absolute huge user base, and was still selling like bread. Also the Game Gear did not Tetris. That was the kind of title that even women could play. Of course the female market, is something SONY has to figure out.

You know when people announce any kind of console, they always announce it with unheard of specs, that leaves fanboys, marks & rubes shooting the 'white stuff' all over themselves. Wait until you actually see it...

with sony behind the driving force of its new handheld, its gonna be just like the ps2 in terms of being in almost every home abroad. with a name like sony branded on that handheld we know we cant go wrong in purchasing this new little toy. plus sony has many great third party developers, which in turn will spell success :) for their PSP. for me as a consumer, if a product is great overall and if it catches my eye, then that means that the company has done their job in terms of making it appealing to the customer. and im sure sony wont have any problems in that department.

McCaine, I hat to point this out to you but MPEG4 is not DVD. DVD is MPEG2. MPEG 4 is the latest video codec, popularized by Divx. Now I can guarentee you that if the PSP can play divx video, it will sell uncoltrollably. Currently the only Divx compatible players are set top and cost an arm and a leg. To add to it, the PSP is portable. Many of the the Divx-heads, me included, would buy one just for the Divx playback. It would become a highly valued commodity for gamers and movie afficionados alike.

for all the fanboys out there

specs are meaningless. if specs were everything, xbox would be the dominant system. the ps2 isnt close to it in processing power.

dvd / divx doesnt mean it will have dvd. if they can squeeze 720 x 5(something, forgot the number) resolution out of a screen not capable of half that, i'll eat my shoe.

third party developers must learn how to develop for the system. they dont just wake up and make their games work, instantly. if it were like that, nintendo would have the same market share sony does in the console market.

more about specs. its one thing for something to be possible, its entirely another to implement it into a game.

//back to opinion

sony is fighting a terribly uphill battle. the gameboy already has a huge user base. developers already know how to develop for it. they know its number one. they know sony probably cant produce enough units in a year to catch up. that means the number one handheld through the year 2005 is likely to be the gameboy.

if you were a developer, what would you do? trust in something still being developed, or go with the proven one? i know where i'd be.

okay let me elborate. I did not say that Sony didn't have an uphill battle or that they're definitely gonna come out on top. What I said is that it will be more powerful than the GBA. As for proven yes Nintendo is the market leader now but if the psp is easy to program for why wouldn't developers develop games for it? Sony has a HUGE ammount of support from developers on almost anything they do. As for specs, you're right it's meaningless, but it seems that everybody is forgetting why we all think the Ps2 is a great system, the software.

Sony is giving developers a lot of power to make some really good and versitile games. Sony is the market leader in the console market and kids will want the new sony handheld epecially when it'll connect to your ps2 and your pc. It's a versitile unit and Sony knows how to market things. Also it seems like a lot of people didn';t read one of my other posts carefully as in I said that it wasn't like Nintendo wasn't gonna come up with a good competing system.

So, in conclusion Sony does have a fight but with a very strong instilled console I don't think it's as uphill as some people believe and I didn't say that Sony was gonna completely take over the market. And as for developers go they go with what's making money and if the PSP is a hit they'll be definitely onboard as proven with the PS2

As a developer, I dont think they will be stupid enough to make games only for one console. The point u made about "if you were a developer, what would you do? trust in something still being developed, or go with the proven one? i know where i'd be"
First it wont be game boy anymore. It is psp vs N DS. So psp and Nintendo ds will be at the same lvl of development. You cant compare a psp to GBA. Gba is kids, hence no real graphics. Psp games are targeted towards 18-31 and Nintendo DS as usual targets under 18. Not either one is going down but there is a variation of systems that is going to be sold. Second as for developers, i dont see why they will not make games for a new console unless the console is proven to be dead. For example, when FFVII came out, square announced that it will make games exclusively for PSX but at the end they made games for gba also. Developers not interested in what is proven or not, they interested in their market. SquareEnix see that GBA has a lack of rpg games so they decided to make FF chronicles on there to get a demandin share of rpg games of the gba market. Hope you will understand

Spike, kudos for bringing this thread up. See folks, actual discussions do take place on FileForums :)

Anyways, at the time the discussion in this thread took place, Nintendo had yet to announce the DS System. That was only about 18 months ago. Now Nintendo is ready to launch in the US and Japan this November/December (from what I think I have read, the US gets the system first?). Web Advertising has started, and I'm sure in the US and Japan, TV Advertising is currently in full swing. Again, Europe is being treated badly as we wont see the DS until March 2005. But thats another discussion right there :p

The reason I point this out is that I feel Nintendo might have done a rush job on this System, just to answer the perceived threat that the PSP might be. The PSP was announced first (was that at E32003?), Nintendo, at the time, basically gave SONY the finger, and now Nintendo have a new System and ready to launch before the PSP? Thats messed up.

From what I have been reading as well, the developers for the DS are finding it tricky to come up with a Gimmick in order to use the Dual Screen feature. Heck, the Mario Kart DS one sounds lame to me; the second, lower, screen is basically a map of the track you are racing. Again, Nintendo insists on milking its mascot, Mario, for all he's worth. :rolleyes:

The PSP on the other hand, is basically getting ports of familier Playstation franchises like Gran Turismo and Metal Gear. Thats the ****ing problem with the current generation of Consoles, the Publishers focus on milking brands instead of trying to be inventive and making new ones.

Personally, I dont think either System will sell even half of what the GBA has sold. The developers love making games for that little beast (Best selling console of all time :p). They wont abandon that machine overnight, and I think its wrong to say that its marketed soley at kids. I see more teenie boppers with it, heck I have one and I'm 23 :). I think the older generation enjoy the fact they can visit yesteryear through the GB/GBA and enjoy such classics like Mario Kart all over again (still the only game I own for it)

In terms of exterior looks, both systems look ugly too.... :cool:

If anybody thinks the DS is gonna beat off PSP - stop smoking that sh*t :D ;)

if had a choice between the psp or ds ...ill choose the psp over that dual screen crap any day :p

Ds
 

It is without doubts that the Sony system is graphically better.
But there is a big but here...
The Nintendo system wasn't developed in a rush... using arm processors made it simple but it is also very clear that alot of thought was put into this system.
The nintendo system has a built in microphone and a touch screen ; also wifi based rf connectivity which means that it has the potential of becoming a very capable PDA as well. Since sony has quite alot of other interests in the field with both its clie pdas and P9XX smartphones, the PSP would never be allowed to fill this niche.
The DS has battery life of 6-10 hours... the PSP has 3-4 hours...
PSP uses Gamecube like media... Gamecube media "on the run" seems like an awful idea - lots of scratches with no way of backing up your games. The DS uses small memory card which are more durable and make it easier to create flash carts for back ups and dev. (Sony also uses memory sticks but those are not meant to be used for games, and 1 gig of memory stick duo, which only holds 67% of the standard PSP media, cost more than a PSP...)
Last but not least, the DS would offer decent 3D with innovative gameplay which would most likely mean that it would be more entertaining.