Playstation Portable

[Johnny Nighttrain]

From Polygon:

Sony held their "PlayStation Meeting 2003" today in Tokyo to highlight several software titles in development for PlayStation 2 and shed new light on the company's forthcoming handheld entitled "PSP." Speaking at the event, Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi revealed that a prototype of the device will make its debut next spring at E3 2004. Thereafter, next fall at the Tokyo GameShow 2004 the first games for the system will be shown. According to Kutaragi-san, the PSP is still on schedule for a simultaneously worldwide launch in Q4 2004.

As for hardware specifics, Kutaragi-san also shed some new light on the device. First and foremost the PSP will be powered by two MIPS R4000 32bit processors running at 333mhz each. The system will incorporate 8MB of eDRAM with 2.6/GB bandwidth. Kutaragi-san referred to the system's capabilities as close to the PlayStation 2 in terms of performance. In an emphasis to tie the handheld to Sony's previous game consoles, the PSP will utilize an analog-style controller with four face and two shoulder buttons. The PSP will boast embedded wireless LAN 802.11 technology, IrDA and USB 2.0 terminals, ATRAC3 technology for MP3 playback, 7.1 channel 3D sound, and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Kutaragi-san also confirmed plans to release expansion modules for the PSP to offer GPS and digital tuner capabilities. Unfortunately, pricing for the device remains undisclosed.

don't like the idea of system expansions, but aside from that, i guess everyting else sounds good.

[Tain]

That's a hell of a lot more impressive than I was expecting. Damn.

two MIPS R4000 32bit processors running at 333mhz each

omfgsaturn!!1!

[Joust Williams]

Sounds like the PS2/DC all over again. TBH, I don't see those specs coming to reality. Eights MBs of eDRAM? THat's pretty beefy right there.

[MVS]

People who use the suffix -san should shampoo my crotch.

[Dolemite]

IGN posted an article on the PSP as well, including the official specs:

PSP Specs Revealed
Processing speed, polygon rate and lots more.

July 29, 2003 - At a press briefing held in Japan today, Sony Computer Entertainment at last revealed detailed specs for its PSP (PlayStation Portable) portable system. Although first unveiled at E3, Sony left showgoers in the dark about what form the system would actually take. Today's announcement covers most bases, from planned CPU speed and memory space all the way to networking ability.
As its CPU, PSP will make use of twin MIPS R4000 32 bit processors running at max 333 Megahertz. One of these units is referred to as the Media Engine, and is to be used for sound, movies and I/O management. In addition, the system will include a so-called VFPU floating point vector unit with calculation capability of up to 2.6 Gigaflops. This latter unit is meant for assisting the CPU in 3D calculations.

Memory for the system is divided into two areas. In all, the system is expected to feature 8 Megabytes main memory with bandwidth of 2.6 Gigabytes per second along with two megabytes of sub-memory, also at 2.6 Gigabytes per second, which will be used by the Media Engine.

Outside of the CPU and main memory, the system will of course include a graphics processing unit (GPU). The GPU is made up of a Rendering Engine and a Surface Engine and has access to 2 Megabytes of VRAM with a bandwidth of 5.3 Gigabytes per second. The hardware will include support for traditional polygons as well as curved surface primitives along with such things as clipping, morphing and more, freeing up software from having to deal with these. Sony claims a theoretical polygon performance of 33 million polygons per second.

The system's UMD (Universal Media Disc) optical disk format has also been clarified a bit. A UMD is a 60 millimeter dual layered disk that can store up to 1.8 Gigabytes of data. Transfer rate for the reader unit is 11 Megabits per second, which is twice the transfer rate of a standard DVD system. Sony is also promising the highest level of copy protection for these discs using DiscID and AES encoding technology.

Multimedia support is big for the system. Sony announced MPEG4 support at E3, and now they've gotten a bit clearer, revealing that the PSP will use the AVC decoder, which has a high encoding rate. This will allow the UMD to store up to two hours of DVD quality video. Sound is also taking a high place on the system's feature list. The PSP will feature reconfigurable DSPs which can be rewritten allowing for support for the latest sound technology. Sony announced today compatibility with the ATRAC3 plus format along with AAC and mp3. In addition, the system will support playback of 3D and 7.1 channel sound.

On top of all this is Wireless Lan. The system will include as standard IEEE802.11 wireless LAN. Sony had originally intended to make this an option, but game creators were pretty adamant about its inclusion. Sony revealed no further details about the system's networking features, unfortunately.

The PSP will, of course, play games as well. Sony will be tapping into its PlayStation heritage and including the familiar triangle, circle, X, square, start, select, L1 and R1 buttons on the system. These will be digital. In addition, the system will include a single analogue thumb pad.

For a list of specs on the system, see just below this article.

If you find yourself salivating at these specs, you're not alone. Unfortunately, Sony shared nothing but words today. A prototype of the PSP will debut at E3 of next year (May of 2004) with 2004's Tokyo Game Show (September of that year) expected to bring with it the unveiling of the system's game lineup.

A worldwide simultaneous launch for the unit is expected for the fourth quarter of 2004.

UMD(Universal Media Disc)
60mm
Laser Diode:660nm
Dual Layer :1.8GB
Transfer Rate:11Mbps
Shock Proof
Secure ROM by AES
Unique Disc ID

PSP CPU CORE
MIPS R4000 32bit Core
128bit Bus
1 - 333MHz @ 1.2V
Main Memory :8MB(eDRAM)
Bus Bandwidth :2.6GB/sec
I-Cache, D-Cache
FPU, VFPU (Vector Unit) @ 2.6GFlops
3D-CG Extended Instructions

PSP Media Engine
MIPS R4000 32bit Core
128bit Bus
1 - 333MHz @ 1.2V
Sub Memory:2MB(eDRAM) @ 2.6GB/sec
I-Cache, D-Cache
90nm CMOS

PSP Graphics Core 1
3D Curved Surface + 3D Polygon
Compressed Texture
Hardware Clipping, Morphing, Bone(8)
Hardware Tessellator
Bezier, B-Spline(NURBS)
ex 4x4, 16x16, 64x64 sub-division

PSP Graphics Core 2
'Rendering Engine' + 'Surface Engine'
256bit Bus, 1-166 MHz @ 1.2V
VRAM :2MB(eDRAM)
Bus Bandwidth :5.3GB/sec
Pixel Fill Rate :664 M pixels/sec
max 33 M polygon /sec(T&L)
24bit Full Color:RGBA

PSP Sound Core: VME
Reconfigurable DSPs
128bit Bus
166MHz @1.2V
5 Giga Operations /sec
CODEC
3D Sound, Multi-Channel
Synthesizer, Effecter, etc

AVC Decoder
AVC(H.264) Decoder
Main Profile
Baseline Profile
@Level1,Level2,Level3
2Hours(High Quality) - DVD movie
4Hours(Standard Quality) - CS Digital

I/O
USB 2.0
Memory Stick
Extension Port(reserved)
Stereo Head phone Out

Communication
Wireless LAN (i802.11)
IrDA
USB 2.0

[Mr_Furious]

Sony's going to kill Nintendo's GBA. The reason I know this is because Sony's actually listening to developers and what they want/need for a next gen handheld. 4 face buttons, analog, USB, disc media (much cheaper than cart), 8 megs, etc. Poor Nintendo's going to have yet another problem on their hands come Q4/2004. Don't be surprised if Nintendo suddenly announces plans release their GBA2 around the same time (unless their arrogant attitude is still in effect).

[MVS]

The competition is going to be good, but it's not going to be the end of the GBA or anything.

So long as the next one plays GBA games, they will still control the market. Oh, and cheaper games, as well.

[Mr_Furious]

The competition is going to be good, but it's not going to be the end of the GBA or anything.

Not immediately but once the PSP is in the market place, I think Nintendo's going to have a real hard time convincing consumers to choose their GBA over the much more powerful PSP.

So long as the next one plays GBA games, they will still control the market. Oh, and cheaper games, as well.

Not necessarily true. If developer support starts swaying towards PSP due to cheaper dev costs and what not then the GBA2 could be in some serious trouble in the long run. Sony knows how to maintain company relations with even the smallest developers. That's something that can't be said for Nintendo. If the GBA2 goes cart only then it very well could start their downward spiral in the portable market (see N64 for example). Developers will always want to go to the platform with the lesser dev costs and with the power of Sony's brand name there's no denying that the PSP is going to shove it's way into many households with little effort.

Seeing that the GBA is little more than a mini-Snes, it's going to age very rapidly in the next 14-16 months (possibly sooner, once the first batch of games are revealed at next year's E3). I'm convinced that Nintendo's secretly shitting a massive brick over Sony's PSP even if they don't publicly show any reaction to it. Their little FX chip isn't going to help them this time around.

[Shapermc]

*cough*Vaporware*cough*

[MVS]

Obviously Nintendo will lose some market share, you have to when you have 100% of it and someone else comes in.

I don't think they are going to keep the GBASP out there forever and they will likely release a new handheld (which, as I said, if it plays GBA games, would have a good selling point like the PS2-PS) and compete on that level.

I assume that Nintendo is not so arrogant as to do nothing.

Again, anyways.