GristyMcFisty used our news submit to tell us this about this bit of off topic but interesting information, it seems that Sony has reiterated its plan to ship the Sony PSP handheld by the end of the year in Japan, Europe and the US would follow in the first quarter of 2005. Sony Computers Entertainment CTO told Japanese gaming site Famistu last week that the handheld console will be ready by the end 2004 and plans to start selling the handheld units are secure. Even with this speech Sony's shipping dates have been called into question by a number of analysts.
It has been pointed out by analysts that the late arrival of development kits has meant that the handheld unit will launch with a very small amount of games. Games developers are working with emulators for development of their games and quality of games won't be as much of an issue as once thought. Sony may have enough titles developed in house to support the handheld in the Japanese market, but still need more titles built up for the US and EU release that can attract buyers.
Other questions still remain about the PSP including issues such as the battery life with some estimates being put at just 2 hours as well as the size of the unit and the availability of the new proprietary UMD (Universal Media Disc format). The people that seem to be pointing out the flaws in the unit are Sony's competitors and Sony is keeping quiet about the unit after shelving various PSX features so it could make its shipping date.
| Sony has once again reiterated its plan to ship PlayStation Analysts have pointed to the relative late arrival of PSP software development kits with console hardware, and the knock-on effect that will have on the availability of games for the new machine. Games developers are believed to have been working with emulators, so the arrival of quality titles may not be as much of an issue as previously thought. Sony may well have enough games of its own up its sleeve to ship the product to gadget-hungry Japanese. That would give it up to three months to build up sufficient titles to win over European and US buyers. Questions remain over aspects of the PSP"s design, including battery life - just two hours, claimed a Nintendo executive last week - its size and the availability of content on the handheld"s Universal Media Disc format.It has to be said, most of the folk mentioning these potential pitfalls are Sony competitors. The manufacturer itself is keeping very quiet about it, presumably after having last year to drop a number of promised PSX features in order to meet its ship date. |
Full story over at The Register. Lets hope the battery life isn't as poor as reported but news has been circling that Sony has imposed limits on the amount of power developers are able to use from the PSP. Supposedly a battery emulator is provided with the development kit to make sure the developer can pass Sony's technical guidelines. This means the PSP may never have its full potential used without killing the battery in a very short time, all we can hope is that battery technology evolves.
Source: The Register
