E3: PSP

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From psp.ign.com:

May 11, 2004 - To say that Sony's PlayStation Portable handheld system dominated the company's E3 2004 press conference would be an understatement. Officially unveiled approximately 20 minutes into the presentation, the new game system was a big hit with the crowd and finally answered several of questions that most of us have been asking in the year since the hardware was first announced.


Scheduled to be launched in Japan at the end of the year (North America and Europe get it in the spring of 2005), The PSP is available in PlayStation 2 black with a 16:9 widescreen TFT LCD display that boasts over 16.7 million colors and a resolution of 480x272. Dimensionally, its numbers are 170mm x 74mm x 23mm with a weight of 260 grams. Basic portable functions like built-in stereo speakers, exterior headphone connector, brightness control and sound mode selectors are among the lineup of features, and the buttons mirror that of a PlayStation 2 controller almost exactly (Square, Triangle, X, and Circle face buttons, a digital pad, start, select, and an analog thumb stick populate the face, with two shoulder buttons on the top).

Additionally, the new system comes standard with USB 2.0 and 802.11b Wi-Fi wireless LAN connectors that allow for multiple PSPs to be simultaneously connected to one another. Data and software can then be downloaded either by using the wireless LAN connections or through the use of a Memory Stick Pro Duo. The PSP also adopts the small high-capacity optical medium Universal Media Disc, the UMD. This format not only allows for 1.8 GB of space, it also provides an extremely versatile format for games, music, and video. The press conference demo showed off the trailer for Spider-Man 2 (the movie not the game) as well as Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children which is coming to both the DVD and UMD formats. To protect the content, a robust copyright protection system has been developed which utilizes a combination of a unique disc ID, a 128 bit AES encryption keys for the media, and individual ID for each PSP hardware unit.



Unfortunately, Sony did not announce a price point for the system so how much the unit will cost is still somewhat of a mystery. We expect officials to announce a more formal pricing structure at the upcoming ECTS or Tokyo Game show events; but we wouldn't mind if something a little meatier came down the pipeline before then. Click on our media page below to view the first official images from the system and stay tuned to IGNPSP for more throughout the day.

Alright, here's what I think of the system so far. On a technical level it's amazing. 10 hour battery life for games, an amazingly huge (for a handheld) 16x9 screen, a nice button layout (including what I think is an analog... nipple or stick or something), the design of the system is very sleek (much better-looking than the DS IMO), and the games announced so far sound really great. I'm just not quite as exited about it right now as I am for the DS since we haven't gotten a good look at any of the big games, which is what matters. All I know is that as long as the price is right, Sony could very well dominate the portable gaming market, or at least take a huge chunk out of it. I can't wait until it comes out next spring.