Why PSP will sell.

[Bunjiweb]

Display: Wide screen (16:9) 4.5" TFT LCD with backlight (480 x 272 dots)

Lovely sized wide screen TFT with a decent resolution for displaying the gorgeous graphics produced by the nearly PS2 spec graphics chip...

Disc medium: "UMD" 60mm optical secured ROM disc with cartridge (1.8GB)

We can expect to be able to buy the blank UMD discs to store movies, music etc on.... would be superb!

Video CODEC: MPEG-4

Can you smell DVD rips?

Graphics: 3D Polygon/NURBS

With advanced shading techniques and pixel/texel rendering the PSP is nearly as powerful as the PS2....expected to be similar standard to dreamcast visuals.

Audio Compression: ATRAC/AAC

compressed audio on the move..... you can fit a lot of that on a 1.8gb cart!

Sound: PCM (built-in stereo speakers, stereo headphone output)

Built in STEREO speakers... superb! Lets just hope they aren't tinny and horrid!

I/O: USB 2.0, Memory Stick™ slot

USB 2 for easy connectivity to a PC perhaps? or even a PS2 / PSX... Memory Stick slot for storing music perhaps? Depends how Sony work it!

Wireless LAN (802.11)

This will been properly portable multiplayer fun. Something the NGage tried to do and failed miserably due to poor implementation and marketing.

Battery: Rechargeable (lithium-ion)

A proper rechargable batteries means at least a good few hours of gaming before charging, which is a MUST for a successful portable.

CPU
MIPS R4000 32-bit core
128-bit bus
1-333MHz (1.2V)
8MB eDRAM main memory
2.6Gbps bus bandwidth
FPU, VFPU (2.6 billion flops)
3D graphics extended instructions

Graphics Core
1-166MHz (1.2V)
256-bit bus
2MB eDRAM (VRAM)
5.3Gbps bus bandwidth
664 million pixels per second pizel fill rate
3D curved surface and 3D polygon engine
Support for compressed textures, hardware clipping, morphing, bone, tessellation, bezier, b-spline (NURBS)
Maximum of 33 million polygons per second
24-bit full color (RGBA)


Sound Core
VME (Virtual Mobile Engine)
Reconfigurable DSP
166MHz (1.2 V)
128-bit bus
5 giga operations per second
CODEC capabilities
3D sound, 7.1 channels
Synthesizer, effecter, and other abilities
ATRAC3 plus, AAC, MP3 for audio

Media Engine
MIPS R4000 32-bit core
128-bit bus
1-333MHz (1.2V)
2MB eDRAM submemory
90nm CMOS


Media
UMD (Universal Media Disc)
60mm-diameter disc
660nm laser diode
1.8GB capacity (dual-layered disc)
11Mbps transfer rate
AES crypto system
Unique disc ID
Shock proof
Regional code system
Parental lock system
Repeat ordering system

More Specifications
16:9-format widescreen TFT LCD (480x272 pixels, 24-bit full color)
MPEG4 AVC decoder
Wireless LAN (802.11)
IrDA (Infrared Data Association)
USB 2.0
Memory Stick
AV in/out
Stereo headphone out
Lithium ion battery
Expansion port



Personally i cannot wait!!!!

Ben

[Applecrusher]

mmmm ps2 in a match box....
hope it doesnt hav an annoying fan...

[Skeps]

How much are these baby's gonna be sellin for though?

[nindo]

Will it cost as much as a PS2 or will it be cheaper?

[steve threlfall]

When are these coming out bunji?

I would have thought £200 initially

If they look half as good as the concept photos then i want one

[Bunjiweb]

Expect them to be released around November fingers crossed!

And yes, you can expect a £199.99 launch...

Ben

[spazman]

Could never understand how hand held consoles cost more.

[Devilbod]

Just to add to whats been posted

Charla also commented on the ease of development for the handheld system, a common sentiment among those working on the platform, stating that Backbone's first PSP game was up and running in two man-weeks, with a PS2 project ported to the platform within a month.

Much of the rest of Andrew House's keynote was also devoted to PSP, with the SCEA vice president telling the audience that 81 developers are now working on the device, with the largest number of the (34 in total) in Europe followed by 24 in Japan and 23 in North America.

He also confirmed that the device will sport 802.11b wireless LAN capabilities (contrary to recent unsubstantiated rumours that this had been dropped from the spec) and claimed that the system will be able to connect not only with the PlayStation 3, but also with home PCs, presumably in order to transfer digital media such as movies and music onto the handheld device.

So it's better than the PS2 and it connects to everything...

Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi has confirmed that the company plans to release peripherals which add mobile phone and digital camera functionality to the PlayStation Portable, as devkits for the new console begin shipping.

Add one moblie phone with a camera to the mix...

And click here if you would like to see the a shakey camcorder of a PSP game movie....
http://www.1up.com/article2/0,2053,1554460,00.asp

[directhex]

i have no doubt in my mind that it will sell well, but not because of anything in the spec - purely because it's "cool". i've had my gp32 for ages, i use that to listen to music on the move, watch divx, has a big screen, stereo speakers, wireless gameplay, etc etc etc. it's all about marketing.

"Polygon for polygon," he claimed, "PSP has more power than PS2," and it's apparently easier to develop for as well.

perhaps something to do with the ps2 having no real graphics capability & everything running in software, plus developers needing a degree in parallel computing just to get something mediocre out of the thing?

[Stoo]

And click here if you would like to see the a shakey camcorder of a PSP game movie....
http://www.1up.com/article2/0,2053,1554460,00.asp

ooh, that looks promising

[spazman]

After watching that video all i can say is HOLY CRAP! Nintendo better pull there finger out soon or they are doomed. Nokia may as well give up now.

[Bunjiweb]

yeh i agree, great looking visuals from a handheld!

They better bring out a good portable driving game (Grand Turismo Portable anyone?) if it is capable of those quality graphics and even better.

Ben

[Devilbod]

You can bet any money on the fact that Gran Tourismo will be on the PSP - the creater in the past said he wanted to make a Gran Toursimo more of an multiplayer experence, and if the PSP can do a straight port of GT 4...

[nindo]

GT4 multiplayer would be awesome...

£199.99 launch that would be great actually, slightly pricey for a handheld but worth the features

[steve threlfall]

video = omg!

if it looks like the pictures we have seen so far- all the better

£200 at launch is reasonable tbh but how much will the games cost?

[Aaron]

We can expect to be able to buy the blank UMD discs to store movies, music etc on.... would be superb!

I've heard that they won't be selling blank discs and that the PSP won't be able to record, due to piracy fears.

If you could put on your own music/video, it would definately be worth buying!