PSP...

[The Boye]

Godammnit - I've already bought a US wipeout - what the hell's wrong with it?
Colin said I'd be able to play it fine on my jap psp - PLEASE do not say I cant play multiplayer with someone who has a euro game because that would SUCK ASS. :

At least you can play it at the end of this month and not have to wait to what will end up the end of the year for any multiplayer shenanigans with the Euro release.

[Salt|Ultra]

The end of the year? How do you figure that?

The PSP will launch in the UK/EU by June at the latest (my money right now is on sometime in late April to mid May). Ninthendo is going to lauch the DS with 650,000 units in the EU and UK, just last month Sony made ~400,000 PSPs and more the 50% of those are sitting in storage somewhere (most likely for the US launch). It is not unrealistic to think that the surplus units from the March and April production runs (some 450,000+ units) would be slated for a May launch in Europe.

[Mobius]

Wahey! - more time to get some mon£y together

I don't know when im gonna get one - i dont have job (being 15 not many places will give you one) and i only have enough money to get the console.

Happy to sad in 32 words...thats a record!

[The Boye]

The end of the year? How do you figure that?

The PSP will launch in the UK/EU by June at the latest (my money right now is on sometime in late April to mid May). Ninthendo is going to lauch the DS with 650,000 units in the EU and UK, just last month Sony made ~400,000 PSPs and more the 50% of those are sitting in storage somewhere (most likely for the US launch). It is not unrealistic to think that the surplus units from the March and April production runs (some 450,000+ units) would be slated for a May launch in Europe.

Time will tell...

[Mobius]

Yeh, any more delays and Pure might be coincide with the first anti-gravity racing season...

[Hellfire_WZ]

It'd just be nice to have some sort of solid indication of a release, even if it's only to the nearest month. I don't know what's more annoying: having a set release date put back to another set release date with at least something to look forward to, or leaving us completely in the dark while the US and Japan already have their units. Just SOME sort of official statement from Sony would be enough to calm a lot of people down.

[Thruster2097]

From a consumer point of view, that it is an insult when we are the last in the world to get the new technologies, and we have to pay extortionate amounts to get it! However I do like the fact that it has been trialled everywhere else first, so our product should theoretically be perfect, but as the roll-out of the PSP is showing faults (dead pixels, button misallignment) it angers me that no preventitive actions (redesign) are even being considered as viable options. Surely, these are recognised faults which demand attention!! :

From a WipEout fan point of view, however.... I am overjoyed that I can play the next installment of the best and most influential game ever. And plus it gives me a new toy to play with.

I have got some money set aside for a PSP now, I just need to know HOW MUCH and WHEN. And I dont feel as though I am being too demanding about it, either, since we should already have both of these confirmed for the UK/EUR territories.

[Salt|Ultra]

Dead pixels are not a fault which be be corrected with a redesign, the most glaring button problem was dealt with very early on in the production cycle (but there really is no excuse for it not being caught before a single PSP left the factory). As for the slight displacement of the square button contact, I can not understand why they didn't just increase the length of the PSP by 2 milimeters, but at least on mine it seems to work fine (hopefully this is the rule for all other PSPs).

I do agree fully with you that it seems like you guys are getting the dirty end of the stick. A launch date and a price announcement seems like the easiest thing for Sony to give you. I really don't get EU/UK pricing at all, it just seems greedy to me and senseless.

[Lance]

.
i thought that a major part of the high price in the UK was due to stunning taxation rates; is that true? and what does the gov do with all that money?
.

[Thruster2097]

okay, I guess youre right about dead pixels not being a design problem. However, I have spent too many years working in quality control laboratories, and although it is impossible to check every single screen that is fitted, it is tarnishing sony's glowing reputation.

As for our taxes, I am hoping and praying that we get a president soon. This royal family stuff with their governments, ministers and way too many political parties. It is beyond a joke. So much so that it's not funny anymore. Every year our taxes have gone up. That wouldnt be a bad thing if I was seeing improvements in my neighbourhood, but I'm not.
I could rant for days about this, and in explicit detail. But I dont feel like depressing myself today. It's a Sunday!!

[Salt|Ultra]

I think the best way that Sony can deal with this dead pixel issue is to have a cast iron replacement policy and spell it out very clearly to consumers. Let people know that it is a normal fault with LCDs and then tell them the number of dead pixels that will trigger a replacement. A big part of the problem is that the average consumer expects things to be perfect and does not wan tto pay what perfect costs.

Politics is depressing, and having a president isn't all flowers and candies either....

[Mobius]

All i can think of when I hear about Bush is "I can push the button, i can push the button..." Anyway as much as taxes suck big time in this country i am gonnasay this.

even tho sony's quality control has hit the floor faster than a chav at a wedding reception who had 20 pints of carling and been caught shagging the bride the fault rate ratio is about the same as the iPods but i dont here anyone moaning about that.

i just hope my psp (when i manage to cough up the dough to get one) will not have any coz my ps2 is riddled with faults.

[lunar]

I think the best way that Sony can deal with this dead pixel issue is to have a cast iron replacement policy and spell it out very clearly to consumers.

I agree. Any faults = unit replaced.

and then tell them the number of dead pixels that will trigger a replacement.

As far as I am concerned that number is 1. If I had a dead pixel I wouldn`t really give a toss what Sony think about it.

A big part of the problem is that the average consumer expects things to be perfect and does not want to pay what perfect costs...

Or is it that corporations don`t want to lose the profit that they would need to lose in order to have a more reliable product? Consumers just want a product that does what it says on the box without it breaking down or being faulty. That`s not unreasonable.

If it says on the box: "Sony PSP. May have broken pixels or dodgy buttons. Caveat emptor" then they might have an argument not to fix faulty units. It also might hurt their sales. Sure they can release a product with percentage of faulty units - they just can`t expect consumers to pick up the cost, and I`m sure, in the UK at least, they won`t.

[Thruster2097]

[quote="Mobius"] the fault rate ratio is about the same as the iPods but i dont here anyone moaning about that.[quote]
Probably because no-one in their correct state of mind will buy an iPod! Only suitable for presents to people you really hate.

:lunar
could not agree with you more if I tried.
so I am not gonna try

[Salt|Ultra]

It is not unreasonable to want a working product, but LCD defects are not a sign of a non-functional product. It is unfortunately a fact of the technology that there is the possibility for dead pixels to occur. Look I'm not here to, nor do I want to defend some of the policies I have seen regarding dead pixels, but it would increase prices hugely if every single PSP LCD was 100% defect free (it is probably pretty close to 95-97% of PSPs are dead pixel free). There just simply aren't 100% defect free LCDs at a reasonable cost.

I have heard that the offical Sony policy is to replace the PSP if it has 3 dead pixels (a defect rate of 1 in 43,520 pixels), but I have not seen this in writting from Sony. That is what I want to see, let us (the customers) know exactly what the limit is. Then replace our units with out hassle if they are defective.

Yes I would much rather that the limit was one dead pixel, and I am in no way trying to argue that anything other than that would be ok. It is just that I think some people have unrealistic expectations about the limits of our technology or the costs associated with cherry picking defect free units. That is why I want a defect policy spelled out so that I can decide if it is a good gamble for me or not.

In reality it is pretty rare to get an LCD these days with a dead pixel. None of the LCD devices I have suffer from pixel problems. So this really is not as big a deal as a lot of people make it out to be. So chances are you won't have any trouble with the LCD on your PSP. Just in case you do I suggest buying from a store that has a liberal return policy. I am not sure how stores over there treat returns/exchanges, but here lots of stores will take returns/exchanges for up to 14 days if you are not happy with your purchase. That is more than enough time to find out if you have any sort of screen defect.

[Ally Graham]

Does anyone know when there will be an official PSP mag, and if that will have playable demos on UMD?

Also, Japan is region 2 is it not, and that is the same as the UK, so that would mean that Video UMDs brought here should work in it. Or have I got it wrong?

[The Boye]

Yah, but you may still have no option for an english soundtrack or subtitles.

[edit by Lance: quote of entire immediately previous post removed]

[xEik]

Xiek, that's 250 pounds! 500 $ holy smokes, I'm not even going to sell the two that I preordered for that much. 450 maybe. I need my widescreen tv.

I was talking in euros, not pounds. It still makes as much as 325 $ though

[Salt|Ultra]

From what I hear the PSP will be covered in the official PS2/3 mag (at least in the beginning it won't have its' own), no word on UMD demos.

[Ally Graham]

Thought as much.

It would be cool to have playable demos, but the disc may be too expencive to produce for this purpose.