Topic: psp specs revealed

[joeamis]

the psp does plan to have built in rechargeables.
hehehe, sony already has a line of batteries hehehe
alkaline and rechargeables

[boggy b]

The PS2 design was not too bad, but Sony did make some huge mistakes. The worst mistake that they made was giving it so few hardware effects. The other worst idea was giving it only 4Mb of VRAM and no texture compression. I'm sick of people claiming that it's a bad architecture because it's not; it's just different.

[Bartman3010]

Arent they comming out with another version of the PS2 that has slightly better specs? Sony is notorious for doing stupid stuff like this, especially back in the haydays of the PSX.

Anyway, this still cant work. But I guess they'll have some sort of rechargable battery they'll build into the system to make it last longer, but thats just a far out guess. I think that the PSP is full of empty promises, and Sony will only show off half of what they planned. Also, calling it a Playstation Portable is okay, I probably would've got one if it could play the old Playstation games. Especially since the PS2 can play the old PSX games. But apparently all we're gonna get a bunch of PSX ports like Crash Bandicoot Portable for $30.  

[Termin8Anakin]

Yeah, the new PS2 is called, wait for it........

PSX.

Sony sure love the PS name.

I think the PSP will fail because of games.
It's bad enough that developers have to make 3D epics for the home consoles, but imagine having to do full ports for the bloody handheld!
Even though it's said to be as good as the N64 or Dreamcast, I still bet that having full 3D games on handhelds will only be possible thru some sort of hologram device that  projects images as big as a 32cm TV (or like that new technology that was mentioned somewhere before).
It's cool and all that all the technology can be squeezed into a small(?) case, but the 3D graphics will be a problem. I don't doubt the developer power, nor the console's power. Only the games themselves.
With that new technology thing (forgot where it was), Nintendo should use that.

[Grey Ninja]

Quote
Sony sure love the PS name.

I think that's mainly to piss Nintendo off.  It was originally Nintendo who thought up the name Playstation, and it's always been an impression of mine that Sony keeps it to annoy Nintendo.

[Termin8Anakin]

yeah, that's what i meant.

[joeamis]

Quote
Originally posted by: Termin8Anakin

I think the PSP will fail because of games.
It's bad enough that developers have to make 3D epics for the home consoles, but imagine having to do full ports for the bloody handheld!
Even though it's said to be as good as the N64 or Dreamcast, I still bet that having full 3D games on handhelds will only be possible thru some sort of hologram device that  projects images as big as a 32cm TV (or like that new technology that was mentioned somewhere before).
It's cool and all that all the technology can be squeezed into a small(?) case, but the 3D graphics will be a problem. I don't doubt the developer power, nor the console's power. Only the games themselves.
With that new technology thing (forgot where it was), Nintendo should use that.

actually GBA has some full 3d games, so why do we need holograms for a game to be 3d?
Don't you think that sony has done technical demos to simulate a 3d game working on a 4.5 inch size lcd screen, using PSP specs to run it?  They would not be creating the PSP with 3d games in mind, without running tests on how games will perform using such technology.
You guys who despise the PSP, just seem to come up with a new reason why it won't work once your other reason can't fully prove it won't work.

[boggy b]

According to chairmansteve, the PSP will have the geometry processing power of the PS2 combined with the texturing abilities of the GCN...a bit unbelievable, if you ask me.

Also, I'd like to see proof that RS2 runs at 15mps and is constantly 60fps, because there's certainly a lot of slowdown, especially when there's too much on-screen at once.

[Termin8Anakin]

I know that the GBA has full 3D games.
I'm just saying (well, I haven't said it before, but anyway) that 3D graphics on a small screen like that would be a little limited when it coems to detail.
Imagine trying to play Ocarina of Time on the GBA. Sure it's bloody cool that they could do it, but there are a number if small items that would go unnoticed, simply cause there is so much detail. Again, play Splinter Cell, and you'll notice that you are contsnatly in the dark. I have a hard time seeing things on my old 50cm TV (I have a 83cm), so imagine that darkness on a 4inch screen.......the amount of people with glasses would triple.

[joeamis]

I see, they will have to think about that when making games for it.
It will be upto developers to make games that best utilize the hardware.
In that respect, and don't make important things to small to see.
i don't think anyone will make a game as dark as splinter cell because of
the small size of the screen.
this reminds me of when people complained about the size of the screen,
yelling 4.5 inches!?  and i just said, it has to be that big for 3d graphics.

[Termin8Anakin]

You know what I find intereting?
If dark games like that will be too hard to see on a small screen, the 'only' 3D games that would really be well done on the PSP and I guess other future handhelds are happy, cutesy, bright games, like Mario or Rayman! Hahahaha, take THAT into account you blood, violent, explosion loving freaks!

[Ymeegod]

Why would a smaller screen matter on the contrast?

It wouldn't.  The reason Dark games don't work with the GBA is because it's not backlit, hell even the GBA SP is only front lit.  

The PSP is going be backlit so you really don't have much to worry about.  
The big issue is the compact mini-dvd disc player durability.  Moving parts on a portable might cause alot of issues.

But a few folks at EB were trying to explain that the disc's themselves are going be encoded in a plastic case (think of a modern day flobby drive). Which is kinda neat.  Always hate little nicks are scratches on my DVD's hopefully someone would create some type of cases for them as well  (Anyone recall those Mac's CD tray).

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[manunited4eva22]

Err, backlit=far more battery power. Unless they manage to pull off OLED or something similar, don't count on it.

More likely it will be frontlit.

As for the disk concept, what does that have to do with moving parts? the only thing that it will do is add one or two more moving parts...

[KDR_11k]

A friend of mine stated his Laptops battery life goes down to less than 2 hours (from if he uses the CD drive. Imagine a device that constantly accesses it. But then again, that won't be the selling point of the PSP.

Sony focuses on power and features, while N prioritizes size and battery life over the rest. Nonetheless, the lifetime isn't important for most buyers (at least prior to buying) so N won't score with that.

So it depends on the games: Sony can't get GTA for the PSP, as GTA1&2 are on GBA and 3 won't run on the PSP (requires better hardware). While Nintendo currently scores with having the most popular franchises on the GBA (e.g. Pokemon). If sony can't deliver a "killer app" most people will reason that for USD200 they can get a full console and get one instead. Parents will more likely get their kids a GBA than a PSP, just because of the price.

boggy b: If the thing can handle 15mps, it can handle 15mps. Slow down would mean it had to draw more than 15mps. Millions per second is a unit that includes time, so it is irrelevant whether it's 15mps@60FPS or 15mps@30FPS. The latter just has more polies per frame.

[joeamis]

Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11k

So it depends on the games: Sony can't get GTA for the PSP, as GTA1&2 are on GBA and 3 won't run on the PSP (requires better hardware)

Sony can have GTA 1&2 for PSP, they're not exclusive to GBA like GTA 3&4 are to PS2.
But that's irrelevent anyways, noone will really be interested in GTA 1&2 by the time PSP comes out.  GTA 3 could be ported to PSP and scaled down as far as graphics go.  However, they will more likely make a new GTA for PSP, not port an old one.  I wouldn't be surprised to see GTA PSP not long after PSP launches.

[VideoGamerX]

KDR_11k brings up some good points. Many of you are overlooking the simple facts about Sony's handheld. It doesn't matter if it's superior to the Gameboy Advance. It doesn't matter if it's ever superior to a Nintendo handheld. It doesn't matter what it looks like (really) or how big the screen is. The battery-life is not as important. There are key points to Sony's handheld doing well. Sony is going to put together a machine that a majority of gamers will be able to take to, it'll have the right amount of hype, and it'll play the games that people want to play.

Here's how I feel about the PSP:
The screen? It'll be big enough. The size doesn't matter. It's a portable game player. That does NOT mean I have to be able to put it in my pocket. A book bag will suffice just like a carrying case for a laptop. With that said, the battery life can be dealt with appropriately since I just have to able to carry the PSP with me and play it either by holding it or whatever. I doubt it'll run on double A batteries or something.

The graphics? They'll be good enough to play enhanced Playstation games I hope. The textures just have to be flashy for a small screen. Will the game have Grand Theft Auto 3? You bet. It'll have some form of Grand Theft Auto in 3D form and it'll be kickass. They'll figure out some way to make it work even if it has to be GTA PSP (a PSP version). The graphics are not to be directly compared to a console or PC game, but they'll be good enough for fun portable 3D gaming, and the rest is really just to add to the hype.

The games? This is the biggest selling point. It has the Playstation brand name. People will buy this thing, rest assured! It's a guarantee. It will have games. That's a guarantee. Who wouldn't want to play PS1 games in portable form? For that matter, just think of the games that will be on this machine overall. That's all that's important. Think of portable wireless online RPGs...

I think we (the people at this board) will be the only ones sitting around worried about size, battery life, screen size, texture quality, and all that other googly gop while twenty million other gamers flock to the stores to pick up this baby.

Of course, we want competition against this thing. Nintendo is the one that really has to be smart. Sony can just toss out flaming heaps of electronic goodness and people will support it to a varying degree.

[joeamis]

I agree with you completely accept on a few points.

actually the screen needs to be big for 3d games.
The screen sounds like it will be perfect at 4.5 inches.

The machine is far superior than PS1, even if it's specs turn out to be
much much much much much less than they are now.

[Clonester]

Quote
Originally posted by: joeamis
this reminds me of when people complained about the size of the screen, yelling 4.5 inches!?  and i just said, it has to be that big for 3d graphics.

Were you talking about me? I wasn't complaining about the screen size at all. In fact, I wish the GBA had a bigger screen, though it certainly doesn't need it. It's nice to see the PSP having a large screen. What I was getting at is the fact that with such a large screen it will not be very portable unless Sony comes up with some sort of spectacular (or miraculous) design.

[joeamis]

I'd rather have the console be 1-2 inches bigger with a 4.5 inch screen
than have the console 1-2 inches smaller with a 2.5 inch screen...

the system isn't going to be the size of a laptop so I don't see any problem

[BlkPaladin]

Battery life is a big problem with porables. You don't want to have to quit a game or a have game quit on you in the middle of playing. Even if its rechargeable if there is too much draw you will spending most of your time attached to a cord then being truely portable.

The games, price point, and comfort are also big.

There is no doubt that the machine will sell big at the begining, it depends on wheather they can deliver with all three of these areas weather it will continue as such.

Just ask Sega it was battery life that destroyed the Nomad, NeoGeo Pocket Color.

If a Lith-ion battery only last 90mins-to-2hours the interuption in gameplay will be too much for most gamers. It doesn't matter if you have to killer app to end all killer apps, if your battery runs dead because you are too engrossed in a game and you forget to save you can lose everthing you have done.

[strikeagle]

Grey Ninja, where did you get that information about Nintendo64 pushing 600k - 900k
polygons? that simply isnt true. that would make it more powerful than Sega's Model 2 arcade board that drives Virtua Fighter 2 and Daytona USA, or Namco's System 22 board that drives Ridge Racer.  N64 does more like 160,000 polygons with texture mapping and features on, not 900,000 or 600,000.  maybe it does that many flat shaded, but not with texturing and FX.


As for the PSP, it looks like it is going to be roughly 1/2 has powerful as the PS2, with some graphics features that even PS2 does not have.  that would make it at around 10-20 times more powerful than N64 at least.   the PSP is going to be closer to Dreamcast
performance.  In fact, more powerful than Dreamcast in most areas, except amount of memory.  

PSP's pixel fillrate is over 600 million pixels/sec - that's more like GameCube's filllrate (648M pixels/sec) but since PSP has a lower resolution than GC, that will mean it has to fill less space, its like having more fillrate to work with.

And 33 million polygons/sec is likely a peak figure, much like PS2's 66M polygons.  but that is a helluva lot more than N64's peak polygon rate, which is well under 1Mpps.  

 

[strikeagle]

PlayStation Portable Specs

CPU Core
MIPS R4000 32-bit core
128-bit Bus
333MHz, 1.2V
8MB eDRAM main memory
2.6GB/sec Bus Bandwidth
I-Cache, D-Cache
2.6GFlops, FPU, VFPU (Vector Unit)
3D-CG extened instructions
Media Engine
MIPS R4000 32-bit core
333MHz, 1.2V
128-bit bus
2MB eDRAM sub memory
90nm CMOS manufacturing process
Graphics Core 1
2MB VRAM
5.3Gbps bus bandwidth
3D Curved Surface + 3D Polygon
Compressed Texture
Hardware Clipping, Morphing, Bone
Hardware Tessellator
Bezier, B-Spline (NURBS)
- reduce program, data,
- reduce memory footprint & bus traffic
Graphics Core 2
Rendering Engine + Surface Engine
256-bit bus, 166MHz, 1.2V
2MB VRAM
5.3Gbps bus bandwidth
664M pixels/sec fill rate
Max. 33M polygons / sec
24-bit full color
Sound Core
VME (Virtual Mobile Engine)
166MHz, 1.2V
128-bit bus
5 billion operations / second
3D Sound, 7.1 Channel
Support ATRAC3 Plus, AAC, MP3
Reconfigurable DSP engine
Media
UMD; Universal Media Disc, 60mm diameter
660nm Laser Diode
1.8GB Dual Layer
11Mbps transfer rate
Shock Proof
Secure ROM by AES
Unique Disc ID
Display
4.5" TFT LCD with 16:9 widescreen display
480 x 272 pixels, 24-bit full color
Communication
Wireless LAN (802.11) [Hotspots, Home Server, ...]
IrDA infrared wireless communication [PSP, Mobile Phone,...]
USB 2.0 [PSP, PS2, PC, ...]
Memory Stick
Controller
- directional pad, analog stick
- circle, cross, triangle, square, L1, R1, Start, Select buttons
Misc
MPEG4 AVC Decoder
Rechargeable Lithium ion battery
AV input / output
Headphone output
Launch Schedule Prototype: E3 2004 in May 2004
Title Lineup: Tokyo Game Show 2004
Worldwide Launch: Q4 2004
ProgrammingSimilar to the Original PlayStation
PSP Libraries
Middleware
Sample Code
Simple Programmable Field
* Media Engine and VME/AVE are not user programmable.


N64's fillrate is something well below 100M pixels/sec, probably like 30-40M pixels/sec -  and N64's floating point performance is around 100 MFLOPs for the CPU and 100 MFLOPs for the RCP (graphics processor)  

PSP's fillrate is 664M pixels/sec. and floating point performance is 2.6 GFLOPs.
Dreamcast has a 100M Pixel/sec fillrate and floating point performance of 1.4 GFLOPs.  

GameCube's fillrate is 648M pixels/sec. so PSP not only has a higher raw pixel fillrate GC, it needs to use less because its screen is lower res than Gamecube's display on a tv, or that of any console.  

In terms of polygon performance and fillrate, the PSP and Gamecube seem very close.
in fact, PSP is somewhat higher in both.  GC's raw polygon spec is like 25 or 30M polygons (I forget the exact figure) PSP's  is 33m polygons. pixel fill rate of PSP and GC seems nearly identical on paper, although Gamecube's fillrate includes trilinear filtering, dont know about PSP. even so, this is damn impressive for a handheld.

The only area where Dreamcast and Gamecube beat PSP is in amount of memory, but again, PSP will be more efficient because it needs to fill less pixels/less space, because of its smaller, lower resolution display compared to a 640x480 screen.

PSP is not only a massive, massive leap beyond GBA, its also a huge leap beyond N64, and conciderably more powerful than Dreamcast in most areas.  PSP is closer to Gamecube than it is to N64.  

And these are just raw specifications. not some over-blown hype.  PSP is not God, its simply a powerful handheld. I have every reason to believe that Nintendo will surpass PSP with its own next-gen portable in 2004 or 2005.    

[manunited4eva22]

Oh yes, and you have programmed on it, I forgot.

I have heard the logic you use by PS2 fanboys to no end. The PS2 in raw power is far more powerful than any other console, but it doesn't matter when it comes down to games.

Specs mean nothing when there isn't a way to judge how well they are implemented.

[strikeagle]

no, obviously I have not programmed for PSP.

I am simply saying the PSP specifications are closer to current generation consoles than they are to N64.

[ThePerm]

OMG LOOK ITS PSP!!!!!

omg look at teh psp!!!!! its so beutiful!!!!!