PSP Questions

[science]

I heard that the PSP is going to retail for $300+!!! My question is, who is going to be able to dish that out for a portable???

[Lance]

.
same ones who dished out 300 to 500 for PS2 and 300 for PSX. i wonder how much that 300 would have inflated to in 9 years since intro

ps don't forget that the PSP is mOre powerful than the PS2
.

[Rapier Racer]

$300? thats about £160, I thought it was going to be more than that, I may reconsider buying one that seems like alot of swag for one game and I can't believe a handheld is more powerful than the PS2

[science]

ps don't forget that the PSP is mOre powerful than the PS2.

...huh...?
Do explain! (or at least direct!)

[Lance]

.
check out the stats; it's a considerably hotter machine, more polygons, equal or greater memory for various functions, more light sources [i think, not sure], more more more
.

[Rapier Racer]

If more people realised this then wouldn't it be a bad thing for sony? I mean if the PSP is the better machine then why bother buying games for the PS2? But then they'll always have the PS2 and PSP only games.

[science]

The ROM size of the game on the disc can't be as big as a ps2 game though, right? So we've got a potentially hotter system that can't play big games? hmm....
and does anyone know what the processor speed is on the ps2? whatabout on the psp? Im curious to compare that aspect.

[Asayyeah]

Sony has managed to cram the unit's Universal Media Disc optical drive in there too. The 6cm UMDs hold 1.8GB of data on a single-side.
I think 1.8 Gb is enough for having a great game, no? :wink:

[Rapier Racer]

Agreed but DVD disks can hold about 4 times as much, yeah there are still games that will ensure the PS2 keeps the edge, like the new GTA apparently six times bigger than vice city! sorry for going off topic

[Lance]

.
PS2 CPU runs at 300 MHz [Dreamcast at 200 {128bit processor}, PSX at 34, GameCube originally 500, reduced i think to 450, X-box 700] i've got to look for the PSP specs, hang on a bit.....

IGN [on this page: http://psp.ign.com/articles/496/496983p1.html ] said this a year ago:
July 29, 2003 - At a press briefing held in Japan today, Sony Computer Entertainment at last revealed detailed specs for its PSP (PlayStation Portable) portable system. Although first unveiled at E3, Sony left show goers in the dark about what form the system would actually take. Today's announcement covers most bases, from planned CPU speed and memory space all the way to networking ability.


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.



i think Dreamcast was only 3 million pps

i should look for something more recent
.

edit: from Ferrago, a partial list:

CPU: PSP CPU (System clock frequency 1~333MHz)
Main Memory: 32MB
Embedded DRAM: 4MB
Display: 4.3 inch, 16:9 widescreen TFT LCD
480 x 272 pixel (16.77 million colors)
Max. 200 cd/m2 (with brightness control)
Speakers: Built-in stereo speakers
Main Input/Output: IEEE 802.11b (Wi-Fi)
USB 2.0 (Target)
Memory StickTM PRO Duo
IrDA
IR Remote (SIRCS)
Disc Drive: UMD Drive (Playback only)



note the radical increase in memory

[Sausehuhn]

Is there a story behind the game like in Fusion (I mean: informations and other texts about the pilots, the crafts and the tracks)? And are you able to tune the ships (also like in Fusion)? I hope so!

[Shem]

I hope too.
Even if I'm not into upgrading ships (I still think Gran Turismo is the only game in which tuning was really important), I think that watching the craft as it modifies is good, since nobody would like to watch it again. In other words, once tuned ship is enough, after that we'll be flying same ships anyway (if there will be no part settings, guess not, since it ain't no simulator).
I'd be nice to see some reasonable history of new pilots, ships.....I'm always into that kind of things. All in all giving a plot to the game is not a hard work. Droping a few lines in the manual, some more onto the character/ship selection screens is no problem to me. At least I think so.
(*waiting till sb says it takes more effort than that to put these things in the game*)

[Set]

Plot is a wonderful thing. As for how hard it is to do, it's usually not too bad, but in the case of the Wipeout series, each game is connected in terms of chronology, and certain bridges must be built between elements in each game. I hope they keep a plot system going. If they do, it should be interesting to see how they develop it along the Wipeout timeline...

[piranha wiper]

er wow, ive had a look at some dates for release for this mini beast (early 2005 for those who dont know) and also i went onto the konami web site to lok for stuff on wgs3 and found metal gear acid for psp and i didnt know watching the movie, the graphics are better or equal to ps2 and mga is still in production!! so expect better graphics, as lance has said "psp is mOre powerful" ooh definatley, and also look at ps3land theres different covers for it, i want a lack or a japanese kanji(as far as i can tell thats what it looks like) and theres a pic of gt4 mobile and those graphics are spot on,
http://www.ps3land.com/psp.php
and here are some more pics of the umb discs and sony-san holding stuff somw pics on this are blurred, look at the botom for the specs aswell, and the link to 90+ pics
http://www.digitalbackspin.com/pspinfo.htm

[Thruster2097]

Release date (early 2005).

Last I heard, it was on for a global launch date of december'04 or whatever the japanese date is on the first site you linked to.

But this is Sony, and if its anything like waiting for the release date of Fusion, then I'm writing my xmas list for 2006 now

One thing that has just come to my attention, they come in other colours than black!! mmmmmmm, ice blue PSP......... :wink:
I wonder what colours they will come in, and I also wonder if it will come with a TV-out connector...

[Shem]

TV-Out connector is a MUST BE gadget!!! I don't know about you guys, but I don't plan to play games on such a small screen of PSP (even If I bought one). Just look at the spec of this handheld. That small screen of PSP would be just WASTING the power of it.

[piranha wiper]

just exactly how small is the screen? it says on ps3land 4.3 inches so im guessing thats hieght, but what is the lenght of it, if it were to have a tv connector then it would use up lts of power, probably, im just guessing things here as i know little about it so i cant really say much

[Lance]

.
the 4.3 inches would be the length of the diagonal line from one corner to its opposite, not adjacent corner. the longest side would be shorter than 4.3
.

[piranha wiper]

oh right i forgot about that diagonal line bussines, so ive drawn it out and its quite good for what it is, but what i want to know is how can that small thing be more powerful than a ps2??, technology today is getting better, i know size has got nothing to do with it but it just seems to be the most logical thing to think, 'bigger is better', with the ps2 its got allsorts to be considered that the psp may not need to be fitted with, like fans, transformers and all sorts of stuff,

[Thruster2097]

I know its going way way off topic, but can anyone here remember the spec for the Nintendo Gameboy Advance? (not the SP) I would find it interesting to compare the specs of the GBA and the PSP. Y'know, stuff like speed, available RAM... also how much info you can fit on one of those crappy cartridges that I keep on losing in nearly every space available.

PSP screen is big. But small. errr.... Big for a handheld system (infact ignoring PDA and Tablet PC's the PSP screen is the biggest handheld console screen ever - am I right?)
Regardless, I am used to the luxuries of big screen plasma TV's and speakers powerful enough to turn you inside-out. I will be requiring some sort of AV out on the PSP to fully enjoy it. And yes that sort of defeats the object of having a handheld system, but I dont think I am on my own in wanting this TV-out lead... :wink: