New PSP details from the GDC
The little, powerful thing could be even more surprising than expected.
Thursday, March 25, 2004 - At the Game Developers Conference, Sony engineers talked today to an interested audience of developers about the development of games for the PSP, the new Playstation portable console. The conference, aimed at an audience of professionals and specialists of game development, was still source of interesting information for the "common" players.
First of all, the new PSP console will be an extremely powerful piece of hardware. When it was first announced, many said the console had a processing power comparable to the PsOne – which, on a portable system, was still an impressive achievement. Anyhow, it seems that the PSP will have a power superior to the Playstation 2, even if the developers will have to use Sony proprietary Application Program Interfaces (APIs), instead than creating their own tools. While this will most likely limit the possibility to experiment on the system, it will also result in a drastic cut in developments costs and times; this said, development costs for PSP games will be still much higher than those for current handheld systems, because of the high potential of the console.
Sony engineers also talked about piracy – something that plagued also the best selling console of all times, the GameBoy. The PSP will use Sony proprietary UMD discs, and in order to prevent the birth of a market of copied games, UMD writers will not be made available to the public or to developers. Once completed, all games will be submitted on a traditional support to Sony that will then transfer the code onto the UMD disc.
Among the other functions of the console discussed at the conference, Sony talked about the possibility to play videos and music on the system, and the possibility to connect devices of different types to the console via its USB port. The PSP will also support wireless gaming through the 802.11 specifications. What does it mean? 802.11 is a family of specifications created to support wireless LAN technology – in simple words, the PSP will be able to connect directly to another PSP console, or to a base station, a server able to connect simultaneously multiple players or two players physically located in different parts of the world.
Current official specifications of the PSP:
Display: Wide screen (16:9) TFT LCD with backlight
(480 x 272 dots)
Disc medium: "UMD" 60mm optical secured ROM disc with cartridge (1.8GB)
Video CODEC: MPEG4
Graphics: 3D Polygon/NURBS
Sound: PCM (built-in stereo speakers, stereo headphone output)
I/O: USB 2.0, Memory StickTM slot
Battery: Rechargeable (lithium-ion)
The PSP will be available in North America and Europe in 2005 - Japanese players should put their hands on the console at the end of 2004. More on the PSP soon!
First of all, the new PSP console will be an extremely powerful piece of hardware. When it was first announced, many said the console had a processing power comparable to the PsOne – which, on a portable system, was still an impressive achievement. Anyhow, it seems that the PSP will have a power superior to the Playstation 2, even if the developers will have to use Sony proprietary Application Program Interfaces (APIs), instead than creating their own tools. While this will most likely limit the possibility to experiment on the system, it will also result in a drastic cut in developments costs and times; this said, development costs for PSP games will be still much higher than those for current handheld systems, because of the high potential of the console.
Sony engineers also talked about piracy – something that plagued also the best selling console of all times, the GameBoy. The PSP will use Sony proprietary UMD discs, and in order to prevent the birth of a market of copied games, UMD writers will not be made available to the public or to developers. Once completed, all games will be submitted on a traditional support to Sony that will then transfer the code onto the UMD disc.
Among the other functions of the console discussed at the conference, Sony talked about the possibility to play videos and music on the system, and the possibility to connect devices of different types to the console via its USB port. The PSP will also support wireless gaming through the 802.11 specifications. What does it mean? 802.11 is a family of specifications created to support wireless LAN technology – in simple words, the PSP will be able to connect directly to another PSP console, or to a base station, a server able to connect simultaneously multiple players or two players physically located in different parts of the world.
Current official specifications of the PSP:
Display: Wide screen (16:9) TFT LCD with backlight
(480 x 272 dots)
Disc medium: "UMD" 60mm optical secured ROM disc with cartridge (1.8GB)
Video CODEC: MPEG4
Graphics: 3D Polygon/NURBS
Sound: PCM (built-in stereo speakers, stereo headphone output)
I/O: USB 2.0, Memory StickTM slot
Battery: Rechargeable (lithium-ion)
The PSP will be available in North America and Europe in 2005 - Japanese players should put their hands on the console at the end of 2004. More on the PSP soon!
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(Posted: Thursday, March 25, 2004, 2:54PM GMT)
- Harry
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