PS Meeting 2003: PSP, PSX Specs Revealed

More details on Sony's two newest consoles.

At the PlayStation Meeting 2003 conference held in Tokyo today, Sony vice-president Ken Kutaragi announced more detailed product information on both the PSX game console/set-top box hybrid and the PSP handheld system that stole the show at E3 last spring.

According to Kutaragi, the PSX's target audience is a fairly different breed from your average game player. "This is not a game machine, but rather a home appliance," he said at the conference. "It is a post-VHS machine, and it will help discs spread around the world and replace videotapes." As such, the emphasis is on high speed and ease of use?the PSX uses the PlayStation's hardware in its speedy yet simple menu system, and recording video onto DVDs or the PSX's internal hard drive is meant to be as intuitive as possible. The story doesn't end there, however: Kutaragi also noted that the PSX's hard drive is compatible with the Broadband Unit that Sony sells in Japan for use in Final Fantasy XI and other online titles. "We are considering a dramatic price point for the PSX," he said. "If the system sells, then that will enhance the spread of the PlayStation BB Unit, and that in itself will lead to the further expansion of online gaming." While he stopped short at announcing the price he has in mind, he obviously has high hopes for the hybrid system.


Ken Kutaragi calls the PSP "the ultimate portable machine". Will the final unit live up to the hype?
Kutaragi spent the majority of his keynote speech, however, discussing the abilities of the PlayStation Portable system. Although the basics were the same as he previously revealed at E3, more details are now available, and new amenities (such as wireless LAN play and an analog stick) have been added at the suggestion of Sony's third-party developers.

The PSP's CPU is a MIPS R4000 processor?basically the same type used in the original PlayStation, but running about ten times faster at 333 MHz. There are two 32-bit cores within this processor: one, the "main" core used for games, holds 8MB of DRAM memory, a floating-point unit, and a Vector Engine similar in concept to the PS2's internal design. The other core, which has 2MB of RAM built-in and doesn't feature the extra FPU and vector unit, is used for playing movies and music on the PSP system.

As announced earlier, the PSP will be one of the first portables (besides Nokia's N-Gage) to treat 3D graphics with any degree of seriousness. In addition to the ability to display regular 3D polygons, however, the PSP's internals allow for the use of NURBS, a form of polygon technology that allows for smoother curves within normal 3D models. NURBS are already used in many console games, but the PSP will feature support for them within the hardware, allowing developers to display smoother graphics without the large amounts of memory a software implementation of NURBS normally requires. The TFT backlit screen will have a 16:9 aspect ratio and feature a 24-bit color palette.

Sound processing will be handled by a VME (Virtual Mobile Engine), the same chip used by Sony in their MD Walkman series. Movies, on the other hand, will use an AVC (Advanced Video Coding) decoder based on the H.264 standard, allowing for two hours of DVD-quality video and four hours of digital cable-quality video on a single 1.8-gigabyte Universal Media Disc (the PSP's software format).

Although Kutaragi didn't reveal the PSP's external design, he confirmed that the system will have the standard circle-square-triangle-X button arrangement (now a trademark of the PlayStation line), as well as a control pad, analog stick, and L1, R1, Select and Start buttons. The PSP will also feature both USB 2.0 and Memory Stick ports for expansion, with additional proprietary expansion ports in the planning stages.

The biggest surprise for PSP hypemongers, however, was Kutaragi's announcement that the system will come with IEEE 802.11-based wireless LAN technology as a standard feature. Apparently originally planned as an optional extra, Kutaragi said that Sony is now including it standard in the PSP due to requests from developers and the spread of hotspots and other wireless networking technology. The system can also connect to PSPs, PCs and other appliances via IrDA infrared technology or through a USB 2.0 connection cable.

During his speech, Kutaragi emphasized that the PSP is a system designed as a platform that's easy to develop for on the part of game studios?the concept, in fact, is to introduce a development environment similar to the one used in the days of the original PlayStation. The implementation of NURBS, music and movie playback, and other amenities in the PSP's hardware was done to take some of the load off the backs of developers, and Sony also plans to support game makers with middleware, programming libraries, and sample code. A PSP software emulator for the PC is scheduled to be released to developers this fall, and higher-level support tools will launch by spring 2004, allowing game makers to map out PSP games in time for the system's debut in stores.

Which reminds us?when is the PSP launching, anyway? According to Kutaragi, a prototype will be revealed at the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles next May, and playable titles will be shown at the Tokyo Game Show the following September. The current plans call for a simultaneous worldwide launch in time for the 2004 holiday shopping season?a dream come true for gamers if it happens.

"There's no mistaking the fact that games will be the main focus," Kutaragi said at the end, "but not all digital content is games. The ability to use the PSP and the UMD media is a very big break for all sorts of digital entertainment." While gamers have a while to wait before the PSP really begins to take shape, the system?if it lives up to Kutaragi's promises?could revolutionize the way people use portable appliances.

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