Topic: Any Info on the Sony PS Handheld?

[Brandonn]

Is there any information about Sony's new handheld yet? I'd like to see what will try to be competing with GBA SP.

[DRJ]

There hasnt been any info on the specs or price yet. The release date is Q4 2004 so no cometition for GBA for a while.  

[boggy b]

On a technical level, it's more powerful than the N64 (!) and will be around 4.5" across, using the standard Triangle, Square, Circle and X of the PSX as its own buttons. It uses a Li Ion battery and has a media storage capacity of 1.8Gb on a 60mm disk (!).

If Sony plays their cards right they could beat Ninty at their own game :-O

[almondblight]

4.5" across is the screen, no?m  Wouldn´t that make the system considerabley bigger?  Could be a GB killer, could be another Nomad.  Have to see the designs before I begin speculation.

[PIAC]

it sounds like its going to be way too big, sure having the name playstation on it will sell some units reguardless if all you could do on it was watch the scary monkey show, but something troubles me, moving parts = draining battery life = bigger battery to counter = bigger system over all

so unless you want something thats atari lynx size in your pocket then i doubt many people would goto the trouble to carry this thing around

[Magus]

I just hope Sony doesn't take some Square titles away from the GBA...

[Stimutacs Addict]

sony would have to really offer some good deals to steal GBA support... developers develop for the system with the bigger userbase, right? so then they will probably want to develop a less expensive game for a system that is very well established


now, if Sony gets a GTA game on their PSP, lots of Americans will be drawn to it...

now is the time for nintendo to really start utilizing the classic games and putting them on the GBA (which is what they are doing...) to make the GBA like a NES that's portable.... and of course Nintendo needs to make some innovative stuff.. they are way too conservative (that is the priority.. they need to experiment in the market that they practically own before its too late)

edit: it may seem like i contradict myself, but i think that the most important thing for nintendo to do is branch out an make new series and games on the GBA as a main objective, then to capture more of the casual crow they need to release more classic titles (some with the polished graphics) and maybe some additions to the series... they have excitebike only through the e-Reader.. they should make it easier for the public to access these classics .. not everyone is willing to buy an e-Reader (though i think that it is the best form of GBA-GCN connectivity if used for card dueling games)

[Magus]

Nintendo has to release a brand new zelda and mario game for the GBA, in the style of Super Mario World and LOZ:Link to the Past....if those wouldn't be killer aps, I don't know what is (unless they can get Chrono Trigger on the GBA, but I think I am dreaming there)

[Hostile Creation]

I imagine Nintendo will make a more impressive and even smaller system soon.  They're very good at size.

[enigma487]

i wouldn't expect anything smaller or better from Nintendo for a while.  Seriously.  of course... if they don't have anything up there sleeves, why wasn't the SP kept secret till E3?  purely speculation, and i REALLY wouldn't get my hopes up.

Edit:  that may be the stupidest thought i've had all day.  why would they sit on killer hardware that was ready to be released?  i wouldn't expect anymore hardware than the Game Boy Player, or maybe a keyboard for PSO.

[Strell]

Well, here's the deal with the PSP.

The bad: It has moving parts.  It is massively big.  It has no real support as of YET (this will have to come later).  It's going against Nintendo in an industry they dominate and know the ins and outs of.  It has optical storage that will be much more difficult to maintain (the only way around this is if it is encased in something, like the mini-disc format, and they honestly would HAVE to do this in order for it to even be playable).  It will not be released for over a year.  It will be much more expensive than the GBA SP (which could be, relatively, half its price by now).  It claims to do NURBS, but if its slightly more powerful than the N64/PS, then I highly doubt this.  

The big problem is that it's trying to have a full on 3D system handheld, and I say this as a problem beacuse of the resolution of the screen.  Try fitting a game like Mario 64 onto the SP's screen.  Do you realize how much detail will be lost and how difficult it will be to navigate the world?  Not to mention that it will require a much beefier processor and hardware, meaning it's going to get hot and use up battery extrememly fast.  Factor in the added time and cost it will be to force developers to make 3D software for a handheld.  Also factor in that not many companies are going to devote this sort of time and development to a handheld that will have virtually NO usebase for the first year it will be out.  I'm predicting that Sony will be lucky to sell 2 million units in a year.  LUCKY.

The only good things that can be said are that A) it will force Nintendo to trump Sony with the GBX, or whatever they'll call the new one (which is lalready in development), and B) it will at least bring about some new software.

But by the time the PSP is getting close to launch, Nintendo will probably have the newest iteration of the GB out, or they'll be blitzing the media with it like crazy.  Except a system comparable to a Dreamcast, probably, with GC-sized media, headphone jacks, and a bigger resolution screen.  

Honestly I don't think Nintendo has much to worry about.  By the time the PSP comes out, the GBA will have...what...35+ million units sold?  Who in their right mind would pass up developing for the GBA to take such a costly gamble on an upstart?

Nintendo might not think it's a threat, and it probably isn't, but they'd better treat it as one.  I dont' want it to be N64 vs PSX all over again.

I honestly think, though, that Sony is now giong to feel what its like when a developer says "Are you kidding?  Make a game for you when Nintendo has a system with 35 million users?  Get lost."  I get the feeling Nintendo has heard that excuse from developers concerning the GC enough lately....

[Strell]

Well, here's the deal with the PSP.

The bad: It has moving parts.  It is massively big.  It has no real support as of YET (this will have to come later).  It's going against Nintendo in an industry they dominate and know the ins and outs of.  It has optical storage that will be much more difficult to maintain (the only way around this is if it is encased in something, like the mini-disc format, and they honestly would HAVE to do this in order for it to even be playable).  It will not be released for over a year.  It will be much more expensive than the GBA SP (which could be, relatively, half its price by now).  It claims to do NURBS, but if its slightly more powerful than the N64/PS, then I highly doubt this.  

The big problem is that it's trying to have a full on 3D system handheld, and I say this as a problem beacuse of the resolution of the screen.  Try fitting a game like Mario 64 onto the SP's screen.  Do you realize how much detail will be lost and how difficult it will be to navigate the world?  Not to mention that it will require a much beefier processor and hardware, meaning it's going to get hot and use up battery extrememly fast.  Factor in the added time and cost it will be to force developers to make 3D software for a handheld.  Also factor in that not many companies are going to devote this sort of time and development to a handheld that will have virtually NO usebase for the first year it will be out.  I'm predicting that Sony will be lucky to sell 2 million units in a year.  LUCKY.

The only good things that can be said are that A) it will force Nintendo to trump Sony with the GBX, or whatever they'll call the new one (which is lalready in development), and B) it will at least bring about some new software.

But by the time the PSP is getting close to launch, Nintendo will probably have the newest iteration of the GB out, or they'll be blitzing the media with it like crazy.  Except a system comparable to a Dreamcast, probably, with GC-sized media, headphone jacks, and a bigger resolution screen.  

Honestly I don't think Nintendo has much to worry about.  By the time the PSP comes out, the GBA will have...what...35+ million units sold?  Who in their right mind would pass up developing for the GBA to take such a costly gamble on an upstart?

Nintendo might not think it's a threat, and it probably isn't, but they'd better treat it as one.  I dont' want it to be N64 vs PSX all over again.

I honestly think, though, that Sony is now giong to feel what its like when a developer says "Are you kidding?  Make a game for you when Nintendo has a system with 35 million users?  Get lost."  I get the feeling Nintendo has heard that excuse from developers concerning the GC enough lately....

[BlackGriffen]

This looks to me like it will be a semi-portable system at best. Also, remember that Sony is the master of pre-release hype. Remember how radically uber-powerful the "Emotion Engine" was supposed to be? Remember how crappy the initial clutch of PS2 games was? Sony looks to be making the same mistake of making a system that will be hard to program for with the PS3/cell thing. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as they have the same sort of head start they have now. My prediction is that Sony will initially lose some ground with the PS3 if all three players launch simultaneously. Note that losing ground does not mean that they'll be losing, just that they won't be as dominant as they are now. After that, I don't know. They have a lot of momentum from this generation that could carry them through the initial phase of developers learning how to use the system, but Nintendo and MS won't make the same mistake of leaving the market to Sony for a year again. Who knows, one or both may actually beat Sony to market by a month or two.

BlackGriffen

[Kirby_PopStar]

I didn't hear anything about this at E3, but, in my eyes it's going to be a big flop. I won't re-ramble about the above stated reasons, you people have already done an excellent job of pointing them out.

[yellowfellow]

remember though that alot of sales are generated not by quality, but rather by the "cool factor"... if this thing is cool enough and sony can convince  enough people that it is indeed cool enough, then more people will by into it leading to a snowball effect.

it seriously pisses me of is what it does... the last thing i want is for a friking handheld battle like the console battle... handheld is the last stand for 2D gaming... soon we'll go to 3D, "cool" "mature" shite will dilute the libraries, substance will mean nothing...

some things about this media filled world just vex me.

[Grey Ninja]

yellowfellow has it right.

But I wonder how cool a Game Gear reborn would be among people.  I don't think that this new system from Sony is going to be portable at all, and I don't think it will be cheap at all.  Those two factors are HUGE in determining the success of a handheld.

The GameGear was technically superior to the GB by far.  The Nomad was even better.  It was a handheld that would play Genesis carts 10 years before the GBA was released.  Yet both systems bombed like hell because they would consume more power than a 1950s computer, and were too bulky to be portable.

It goes without saying that it's going to be bigger than the GBA.  At this point in time, the GBA is a little on the big side for me, and will often get left at home.  Also, I will sometimes leave it at home if I am going to be doing some stuff that involves beating up the stuff in my backpack.  If your games are on an optical disc, kiss them goodbye.  My carts have been through hell and back, and it's demanded of a portable system.

And let's also remember that Nintendo is really pushing GBA-GCN connectivity.  What do you think the odds are that the new GameBoy will launch alongside the GameCube's successor in early 2005?

[ThePerm]

damn gamegear..id play shining force on it(awesome game!) with  6 batteries and it only last two hours on my road trips. I got my gba(classic) with only two batteries and it last forever...iv had it for along time..and iv not changed the batteries because htey were low..i was scared they were going to be low....then i put those batteries in my wavebird..and it hasnt gone dead yet...magic  nintendo power saving goodness.

[yellowfellow]

but remember Sony has been in the portable business for awhile now... Walkmans, Discmans, PDAs...

Sony's handheld maybe huge and it may not last (power-wise), or maybe its all just wishfull thinking... you have to realize that Sony won't enter this market arrogant and naive (they're not nintendo )... they've obviously done their market research and most certainly have the technology to make something interesting... just how interesting (to the public) is the question

[Hostile Creation]

I don't care if Nintendo makes a better handheld soon or not, because I don't buy handhelds.  I just think that they probably will.

Hey, I just thought that this thing will be just about as portable as the Gamecube is.  They have those screens that you hook right up to the system, don't they?