The Official PSP Thread.

[SaveMySoul]

Hey people, this is the official PSP Thread so feel free to talk about it here and post pictures and all that stuff.

[Nitrous]

I have not got much news about this new PSP but I would like to find out.
I have sticked it for you as well for now.

[SaveMySoul]

Thanks Lee!

This is from the official Playstation website:

First concept art for PSP officially revealed!

PlayStation top man Ken Kutaragi reveals a possible - emphasis on possible - look for the portable PlayStation, PSP. First images inside.

At an investor's meeting yesterday Ken Kutaragi, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, revealed the first ever concept art of PSP, which you can see above and in larger form below. At the same meeting, Kutaragi expanded on his plans for PSP, positioning it as a rival to Nintendo's Game Boy, Nokia's N-Gage and even Apple's iPod music player.

Re-iterating his belief that PSP will be "the Walkman of the future", Kutaragi displayed the concept art you see here. It has to be stressed that this is strictly concept art, and that it's possible PSP will look entirely different when it's officially unveiled - expected to happen at next May's E3 games expo in Los Angeles.

As you can see from the images, PSP is looking pretty damn slick indeed, with a large, 4.5in LCD screen that will support a 480 x 272 pixel resolution and a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9. The expected PlayStation 'symbol' buttons are all present and correct, along with Select, Start and power buttons. There's even a nice looking 'UMD' logo, which stands for Universal Media Device - the disc that will store PSP's software. On the reverse you can see a circle which may, perhaps, show the UMD spinning as it's read. However, we have to again say these images don't necessarily represent what the final PSP will look like... and a lot could change between now and launch.

For now though, Kutaragi is content to tease us even further with the possibilities of PSP. For one thing it's expected that PSP will eventually be able to act as a telecommunications device, perhaps similar to Nokia's N-Gage which doubles as a mobile phone. In addition we already know about the built in USB 2.0 and wireless network connections, which could well make PSP the on-the-go gaming platform of choice. Yesterday Kutaragi also stated his intention to take on Apple's iPod head-on, as PSP will allow you to listen to music and potentially watch videos too.

2004 is shaping up to be the most exciting year for PlayStation since launch, and we're going to be there all the way with the official information - stay tuned.

http://eu.playstation.com/iw_images/...psp_02_big.jpg
http://eu.playstation.com/iw_images/...psp_03_big.jpg
http://eu.playstation.com/iw_images/...psp_04_big.jpg

[SaveMySoul]

More news on the psp, from the official website:

At a press conference in Japan recently, Sony Computer Entertainment teased the world with just a few more details of PSP, the portable PlayStation gaming platform that's set to turn the world of gaming - and mobile entertainment - on its ear.

We already know the PSP will be portable, will feature a 16 x 9 aspect ratio widescreen LCD screen, and will use Sony's new Universal Media Disc as its storage medium, among other things that you can read about in our Related Stories. At the press conference however, concrete details began to emerge about the PSP's CPU, graphics processor, keypad configuration, and (perhaps most interestingly) network connectivity.

The core of PSP will be a MIPS R4000 32bit chip, with 8Mb of main memory, along with a 128bit Bus chip with bandwidth of 2.6Gb/sec. In other words, it'll be fairly nippy. The graphics core, which will handle the display of both 3D graphics for games but also DVD-quality movies (if ya like), has a 256bit bus, with 2Mb of VRAM and a pixel fill rate of 664 million pixels per second. Or, 33 million textured and lit polygons per second, if you prefer to go that way. Did we mention it also uses NURBS? In other words, PSP's graphics are going to look considerably better than PlayStation, but probably won't shine as much as top-notch PS2 games.

While there are still no pictures of PSP available - even though we begged - details have emerged on what you might find on it. There will be a single ****og stick included, instead of the dual sticks you'd find on a usual PlayStation controller. L1 and R1 buttons will also be found on PSP - presumably, but not definitely, shoulder-mounted. And finally our old friends, the square and circle buttons will also be included - but we're hoping perhaps triangle and 'x' don't get left out of the PSP party. Rounding out the reunion are the Start and Select buttons. Let the poor faked Photoshop images begin! (Remember folks - you'll see it here, and officially, first.)

All this power is great when you're playing alone, but what if you want to get your game on with other PSP owners? You're going to be spoiled for choice. Apart from a USB 2.0 connector and Infrared to allow you to communicate with other PSPs, it's now been revealed that PSP will include a wireless network connection too, meaning that in theory, you could join a number of PSPs together and make a moveable, wireless LAN. Bored on a plane? Whip out your PSP and play deathmatches with no wires. It could well happen.

To top off all the technical detail, SCE answered the question everyone's been asking: when the heck are we going to see this thing? It's not unexpected: the first prototype of PSP will be on show at next year's E3 trade show in Los Angeles. That's next May, people. After that, you'll be hearing about the first PSP games when next year's Tokyo Games Show comes around in September; and finally, the wait will be over when PSP launches in Q4, 2004. Start counting the days....

[SaveMySoul]

More here:
Sorry about the continues posting!

Check out the first picture of Sony's UMD, the all new disc format to be used by, amongst other things, the new PSP handheld.

One of E3's hottest announcements was undoubtedly the unveiling of PSP (PlayStation Portable), an all new handheld entertainment platform from Sony Computer Entertainment. In case you missed our earlier story on PSP (conveniently situated under the Related Stories link to your left), it's an all singing, all dancing handheld entertainment system that'll play games, music and video, and much more besides. The system is based around the Universal Media Disc (UMD), a 60mm double-sided optical disc that can house up to 1.8GB of data.




We'd love to be able to show you PSP's 4.5" 16:9 (widescreen) ratio TFT LCD monitor, its (no doubt) sleek casing and ergonomic control interface, but unfortunately we're not expecting to see a prototype of PSP for some time yet. What we can show you, however, is the Universal Media Disc, which you'll eventually be feeding into your PSP. It might not look much, but consider what'll fit on there and you might start to feel a slight tingling of excitement. Snugly cased in a plastic cartridge, the UMD is capable of storing three times as much information as a PS one disc. Or, if you prefer, around two hours of high resolution full motion video playback at DVD quality.

Pretty much all the other information we have can be found in our earlier story. We don't know anything else about the games, the exact European launch date or the other Sony devices that'll use UMD. What we do know about PSP is this: we really, really want one. Stay tuned to PlayStation.com for further details as we get 'em.

http://eu.playstation.com/iw_images/...umd_intext.jpg

[SaveMySoul]

Last bit of news i have so far:

The world's favourite computer entertainment system prepares to bust out of the living room and take on the wider world, as SCEI announces an entirely new platform. Say hello to PSP.

This is absolutely huge. I mean, gargantuan. You might want to sit down and take a few deep breaths before reading on. At the annual SCEA press conference (held today ahead of E3), Ken Kutaragi, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, unveiled PSP, a brand new handheld entertainment platform. Pencilled in for release as early as late 2004, PSP (PlayStation Portable) is based around the Universal Media Disc (UMD), an entirely new 60mm optical disc housed in a cartridge similar to that of a Mini-Disc. The UMD has been developed by the Sony Group using its latest disc technologies, and will be used across a range of Sony products besides PSP.

While SCE has long been rumoured to be considering entering the handheld market (you may remember speculation about 'PocketStation' a few years back), this is the real deal. A new licence scheme that will allow third party publishers to develop for the platform will be announced as early as this summer, with the first PC-based development tools rolling out in autumn. Several of the major Japanese players are already said to be on board as partners in the project. As a portable device (i.e. not reliant on a TV), the PSP will also be free from region coding, meaning that PSP games from Japan and the US will work out of the box - good news for import fans.

Besides the aforementioned Universal Media Disc (which houses a whopping 1.8GB - around three times as much data as a PS one disc), PSP is powered by super chipsets that take advantage of the latest 90nm semiconductor technology. Alongside traditional polygons, PSP also utilises NURBS (that's Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline for the technologically minded among you) for graphical quality that far surpasses that of PlayStation. The PSP's 4.5" screen is a 480 x 272 pixel TFT LCD monitor that uses the widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9. The video CODEC is MPEG4, and it's estimated that the PSP will be capable of around two hours of high resolution full motion video playback at DVD quality.

But that's not all; PSP will include a USB 2.0 port for connectivity with other devices, such as PS2s or other PSPs, and a Memory Stick slot in place of a PS one or PS2 style Memory Card slot. As well as obvious functions such as saving game data, the Memory Stick can also be used for 'networking applications and data transportability in a wireless environment'. Now this sounds deliberately vague to us at the moment, but one thing is clear; the PSP's potential applications extend far beyond conventional handheld gaming. It's a brand new system, entirely separate from PS one or PS2, that is an entertainment device in the broadest imaginable sense of the term. Think games, think music, think video. Longer term, the potential uses are fairly mind boggling; radio, wireless communicator, digital camera, Global Positioning system...

Mind-blowingly exciting as this all is, we currently have no idea what the PSP will look like - it could be up to a year before the public unveiling of the first prototype - but SCE has confirmed that it will feature a similar button layout to the DualShock, albeit modified for the smaller, portable platform. Specifics on pricing are to be confirmed, but SCE is aiming to make the PSP a mass-market device, which suggests that affordability, both for the hardware and software, is likely to be a priority. If you're in any doubt as to just how huge an impact PSP will have, not just on gaming but on portable entertainment in general, we'll leave you with a quote from Kutaragi-san himself: "This is THE 'Walkman' of the 21st century". Enough said. Check back soon for more on PSP and other breaking news from the world's biggest games show.



Just to clear things up:

I wasn't going to wait for someone else to post just to wait until the next bit is given.

[Dark Realms]

No doubt an over priced hand held console. What are sony doing? This is NOT there teratory.

[JoshC]

well it certanly looks nice but thr price....tut tut...have sony gone mad????

[Laguna Loire]

Man, it sounds good but the price will be....overpriced. I think I'll stick with me little brother's Game Boy Advance thank you very much. Lol.

[Gou Shi]

All i have to say is Nintendo is stupid to try to make the same thing when Sony comes up with a good idea and that "The big N" will e left in the DUST! PSP WILL RULE!

PS: Black-name change-*rolls eyes*

[Psych]

Originally Posted by Shadow Stalker

All i have to say is Nintendo is stupid to try to make the same thing when Sony comes up with a good idea and that "The big N" will e left in the DUST! PSP WILL RULE!

PS: Black-name change-*rolls eyes*

yea i totally agree it may be over priced but it WILL sell for sure and then sony will make more millions .when i first heard about the PSP i knew instantly that it was gonna be way better then the game boy every was

[JoshC]

yeah it will be awesome!!! u can imagine running over ppl and **** on gta vice city or san andreas on the school bus home!!! i hope they make gt4 on it so badly!!!

[Nitrous]

lol GTA on the school bus.... cool.

oh yea and GT4.... Yes it will be on the PSP but from what I understand it will only be the Arcade Mode. I could be wrong but if the graphics chip in the PSP is not good enough to keep the frame rate up then they will have to lower the Graphic detail of the game.

[SaveMySoul]

Originally Posted by Shadow Stalker

All i have to say is Nintendo is stupid to try to make the same thing when Sony comes up with a good idea and that "The big N" will be left in the DUST! PSP WILL RULE!

Nintendo are releasing a new one, it is a onevsone battle just like NGC vs PS2.


It will be hard for both.

[Psych]

Originally Posted by killa_47

Nintendo are releasing a new one, it is a onevsone battle just like NGC vs PS2.
It will be hard for both.

it wasn't like that at all cuz it wasn't one on one
and whats saying nintendo wont screw up and just upgrade to N64 graphics cuz the GBA didn't look any better then SNES atleast the games a seen