Sony shows off Playstation Portable at E3 press conference

May 12, 2004

dag655321 used our news submit to tell us
that Sony flaunted it's new PSP or Playstation Portable unit during a
press conference at E3 in Los Angeles. This diminutive hardware weighs only
9 ounces and features a high capacity "UMD" disc. They will be courting movie studios to support the disc format.

Sony also demonstrated the PlayStation Portable, first announced a year ago and set to be released by the end of 2004 in Japan and by March 2005 in the United States and Europe. Ken Kutaragi, group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, told Reuters the company was likely to announce launch and pricing details around the Tokyo Game Show in late September.

The PSP, which will weigh in
at just over 9 ounces (260 grams) and feature a 4.3-inch screen in a
wide-screen format, will be targeted initially at men ages 18 to 34
years-old.

"The initial target audience
for PSP is more reminiscent of our approach in the home console space,"
Hirai said, noting the PS2 went after the same group at its late-2000
launch.

The PSP uses Wi-Fi wireless
networking and has battery life from 2 hours to 10 hours depending on
usage.

Universal Media Disc (UMD), a 60mm optical
disc will come in a cartridge similar to a Mini-Disc. The UMD
developed of course by Sony, can store about 1.8 gigabytes of
information.

Source: Yahoo!