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10/07/05
- Australian Court Rules 'Mod Chips' Legal: Australia - Australia's High Court ruled unanimously that modifying Sony PlayStation consoles so that they can play cheaper overseas versions of the company's games does not violate Australian copyright laws.
09/30/05
- Analyst Predicts PS3 Lead, Next-Gen PSP: Gamers can barely predict what will happen within the industry between today and tomorrow, let alone sound respectable and forecasting two years from. That's the job of analysts at Piper Jaffray, though... more here!
Sony recalls 3.6 million PlayStation 2 adaptors
Sony said it would recall 3.6 million adaptors for its popular PlayStation 2 game console sold worldwide because of a risk of injury from overheating. More here!
Sony Invention Beams Sights, Sounds Into Brain: If you think video games are engrossing now, just wait: PlayStation maker Sony Corp. has been granted a patent for beaming sensory information directly into the brain.
The technique could one day be used to create videogames in which you can smell, taste, and touch, or to help people who are blind or deaf.
The U.S. patent, granted to Sony researcher Thomas Dawson, describes a technique for aiming ultrasonic pulses at specific areas of the brain to induce "sensory experiences" such as smells, sounds and images.
"The pulsed ultrasonic signal alters the neural timing in the cortex," the patent states. "No invasive surgery is needed to assist a person, such as a blind person, to view live and/or recorded images or hear sounds."
According to New Scientist magazine, the first to report on the patent, Sony's technique could be an improvement over an existing non-surgical method known as transcranial magnetic stimulation. This activates nerves using rapidly changing magnetic fields, but cannot be focused on small groups of brain cells.
Niels Birbaumer, a neuroscientist at the University of Tuebingen in Germany, told New Scientist he had looked at the Sony patent and "found it plausible." Birbaumer himself has developed a device that enables disabled people to communicate by reading their brain waves.
A Sony Electronics spokeswoman told the magazine that no experiments had been conducted, and that the patent "was based on an inspiration that this may someday be the direction that technology will take us." (Reuters)
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Official US Sony PSP Launch Date and Pricing: Sony announced today the official launch date for the Sony PSP in the US and the
pricing.
The Sony PSP will launch on March 24th and will sell for $249.99. The product code is 1001K for the US version of the Sony PSP.
Sony will also offer a Sony PSP Value Pack that will include a UMD with the feature film Spider Man 2 (for the 1st million value packs sold). Other accessories include: 32 MB Memory Stick Duo, headphones with remote control, battery pack, AC adaptor, soft case and cleaning cloth, and movie/music/game video sampler UMD disc.
Sony to Release PlayStation Portable: (AP) Sony Corp said it will release the PlayStation Portable in North America on March 24 and have 1 million units ready for sale in the first week.
The PSP machine, a challenger to Nintendo Co.'s long-standing grip on the handheld video gaming market, will be sold as a "value pack" for $250 in the United States and for $300 Canadian dollars. It will include numerous accessories and — for the first million sold — a copy of the "Spider-Man 2" movie on the new Universal Media Disc format that Sony designed for the PSP.
Sony said it has already shipped 800,000 PSPs in Japan, where it went on sale on Dec. 12 for about $190.
By comparison, Nintendo's newest product, the Nintendo DS sells for $150. It was among the must-have Christmas gadgets, with more than 2.8 million sold worldwide since its release in late November.
The PSP is designed, however, with more multimedia features. It can play digital music, movies and display photos on its 4.3-inch color screen, using Sony's proprietary 1.8-gigabyte UMD discs or a Memory Stick.
With the PSP, the Tokyo-based electronics giant is targeting a wider consumer base and not just young gamers.
"It has gaming at its core, but it's not a gaming device. It's an entertainment device," Kaz Hirai, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. said in an interview.
In addition to working with its own Sony Pictures film division, Sony is in discussions with other movie studios to support the new UMD format for future releases of movies, Hirai said.
Sony said 24 game titles will be available around the time of the launch with prices starting at $40 each.
According to market research firm DFC Intelligence, the DS and PSP are expected to drive the global portable games market from $3.9 billion in 2003 to $11.1 billion in 2007. The overall global video game industry saw sales of about $23 billion in 2003.
Hard-core gamers will propel the initial sales of the PSP, analysts say. Its unique combination of gaming and multimedia features in a 7-inch by 3-inch device that also has Wi-Fi wireless connectivity, could spur a new market for Sony, however.
"When it comes to entertainment, Sony has advantages over other players in the market," said P.J. McNealy, analyst at American Technology Research. "But success drives imitation, and if this thing is a wildly successful platform, you'll see knockoffs by the holidays in 2007."
More at the new Sony PSP News Page!
PlayStation Portable a Likely Hit: 12/22/04 Even if you don't particularly like video games, you'd best resign yourself to what appears certain to anyone who's spent a little time with Sony's new PlayStation Portable:
This is a gadget that's likely to eventually become a worldwide household hit. That holds true especially if your household includes, as mine does, a young man who grew up with the original PlayStation.
Yet while the PSP is a dazzling game machine, delivering sharp graphics on a 4.3-inch display and weighing just 10 ounces, it is also a multimedia player designed for music and movies.
And within the sleek, black plastic shell of this 7-inch by 3-inch wonder, there is Wi-Fi wireless connectivity and a USB 2.0 port for mating with computers.
The only big drawback is Sony's decision to go with a proprietary format for the PSP's main media: a 1.8-gigabyte disc the size of an Olympic medal. It's dubbed UMD for Universal Media Disc.
That's what the games come on — and Sony Corp. promises to also deliver Hollywood movies on the discs, though it hasn't said when or offered a lineup.
The PSP went on sale in Japan this month and won't be available in the United States and Europe until next year. It's likely that the U.S. price will be similar to the $190 the device costs in Japan. That feels like a bargain to anyone who remembers paying more than $299 for the original PlayStation in the mid-1990s.
But then, the PSP has a competitor this time around in Nintendo's DS handheld. Perhaps that's why the PSP is stoked with enough technology to be worth twice its price tag — it's got a Memory Stick slot for storing music and photos when the 32 megabytes of onboard memory don't suffice. You'll have to buy the Memory Stick, though.
There's good news, also, for music fans who prize to open MP3 standard for music. Sony formerly pushed its ATRAC proprietary standard. No longer. The PSP is an MP3 adherent, and its sound quality is quite good.
If you want to play video that doesn't come on a UMD disc, Sony recommends you buy special $10 computer software that will convert it to the MPEG-4 video format that the PSP and Memory Stick support.
As for recording your own content for playing on the PSP, Sony hasn't said whether it will sell recordable versions of UMD discs.
PSP games range in price from $24 to $46, but unfortunately there aren't many yet. About a dozen are available so far in Japan, including "Hot Shots Golf" from Sony Computer Entertainment and "Vampire Chronicle: The Chaos Tower" from Capcom Co.
Sony says some 100 games are in the works, with about 20 titles promised by the end of the year.
By contrast, about 15 Nintendo DS games are on sale in Japan so far. But Nintendo DS, which costs about $145, can also play all the Game Boy Advance games.
In the games I played on the PSP, the attention to detail in the graphics was impressive.
In scenes from "Ridge Racers" made by Namco Ltd., camera flashes blink from roaring crowds and frothy waves break on sandy beaches. I found myself pushing on the joystick button for steering until my thumb got sore, happily tilting the PSP with the twists and turns as roaring race cars zipped through a swerving course, screeching on corners and sending tire-skidding virtual sparks on the screen.
The display, from Sharp Corp., is surprisingly easy on the eyes. The removable Lithium Ion battery lasts about four to six hours for games on a single charge. And the built-in 802.11b Wi-Fi chip allows up to 16 PSPs to play together.
PSP also has a microphone slot for future software with voice-recognition and an infrared connection whose uses aren't yet spelled out. My son needed just a few minutes of checking out PSP before deciding he's definitely going to buy one.
Never mind that he isn't exactly sure how he's going to use its non-game functions (He's already got an iPod, a digital camera, a cell phone and a laptop). (AP)
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Sony Announces PlayStation Portable Price: 10/27/04 Sony Corp. announced a price more fitting of a video-game machine than a slick movie-playing gadget for its new PlayStation Portable — 19,800 yen ($186).
Ken Kutaragi, Executive Deputy President in charge of Sony's game business, said he thinks consumers will be pleasantly surprised by the price for the device, which he said may be worth twice as much.
But he acknowledged the Japanese electronics and entertainment giant doesn't expect to turn a profit on the machine until the fiscal year that starts April 1, 2005.
The PlayStation Portable, or PSP, goes on sale in Japan on Dec. 12. Dates and prices for the United States and Europe are still undecided, although overseas sales are being planned for the first quarter of next year.
The PSP is Sony's entry into handheld game machines — an area now dominated by the Game Boy series from Japanese rival Nintendo Co., which makes Super Mario and Pokemon games.
The PSP, which uses a new disk format, is being billed not only as a game machine but also as a mobile gadget for watching movies and listening to music files. But such uses will have to wait.
The standard for films was still under discussion with several movie studios, and a movie lineup and download services won't be announced for several months, Kutaragi said.
Sony plans to sell 200,000 PSP machines in the initial shipment, 500,000 by the end of this year, and 1 million by March 31, 2005, in Japan, Kutaragi said.
Analysts have said the price will be key in determining how well the machine does against Game Boy.
They had expected a price of about 30,000 yen ($280) because of the machine's sophisticated functions.
Nintendo, based in Kyoto, has already announced that the Nintendo DS, a revamped Game Boy Advance with two screens, will go on sale for $150 in the United States Nov. 21 and 15,000 yen ($140) in Japan on Dec. 2.
Kazuya Yamamoto, analyst at UFJ Tsubasa Securities Co. in Tokyo, said PSP's fate depends heavily on the movies and music that will become available.
"Sony put up a good fight by setting a price that's cheaper than expected," Yamamoto said. "But everything still depends on how widespread it can become as a game machine." (AP)
Sony to start marketing “mini” PS2 in November and PSP in 1Q 2005: 10/19/04
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) unveiled a slimmer and more lightweight version of its PS2 game console in Taipei last Friday, and the company will begin shipping the product in Taiwan on November 3.
The new “mini” version of the PS2, model SCPH-70007CB, has only 25% of the internal volume of the original PS2, weighs half as much and is only 2.8cm thick, down from 7.8cm. Sony expects sales of the new mini version PS2 to reach 100,000 units in Taiwan within one year of the launch, according to sources at SCE Taiwan branch.
The sources noted that Sony will begin phasing out the current PS2 model, following the introduction of the new version.
Sony has shipped over 73 million PS2 consoles worldwide, since the company started marketing the product four-and-a-half years ago, the sources said.
The sources also indicated that Sony will launch its new console, the PSP (PlayStation Portable), in the first quarter of 2005. Source: www.digitimes.com
Sony Shows Smaller PlayStation 2: 9/21/04 Sony Corp. showed a smaller book-size PlayStation 2 going on sale worldwide next month that will help the Japanese electronics and entertainment giant cut costs as video-game consoles continue to drop in price.
The downsized PlayStation 2, which weighs half of the current model at about 900 grams (32 ounces), will cost US$149 in the United States and 149 euros in Europe, the same price as the current model.
The Tokyo-based company said the Japan price will be set by stores and did not give a price, but it is expected to be slightly cheaper than the current 19,800 yen (US$180; euro 148). Those are about half the prices of the PlayStation 2 when it first went on sale.
Competition has been heating up among the world's video-game makers, especially in pricing.
Nintendo Co., known for Super Mario games, offers a rival console called GameCube, and is coming out with a version of its popular Game Boy portable with two screens called Nintendo DS on Nov. 21 in North America for US$149 and in Japan Dec. 2.
U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp., a relative latecomer to the game-console market, sells the Xbox. Earlier this year, Sony cut the price of its PlayStation 2 by US$30 to US$149 following a similar move by Microsoft for the Xbox in March.
Sony Computer Entertainment Chief Executive Ken Kutaragi said PlayStation 2 sales were still going strong after more than four years, and sales are expected to grow during the key Christmas shopping season.
"The PlayStation has grown into a stable platform," he told reporters at a meeting to discuss PlayStation strategy.
The smaller PlayStation 2 is about a fourth the weight and size of the regular PlayStation 2 but has all of its functions such as playing CDs and DVDs. It comes with a built-in Ethernet port for online gaming. The U.S. model will also have an analog modem port for homes still without broadband.
The machine, which is 3 centimeters (1 inch) thick, down from 8 centimeters (3 inches), will hit stores Nov. 1 in North America and Europe, and Nov. 3 in Japan. It uses fewer parts than today's PlayStation 2, cutting manufacturing costs, Kutaragi said.
Contrary to expectations, Kutaragi did not announce the price of the PlayStation Portable, a handheld going on sale later this year in Japan and next spring overseas.
He said he wants to gauge reaction when it's shown with playable games at the Tokyo Game Show later this week. He said 22 games will be at the event, including "New Ridge Racer" and "Metal Gear Acid." More than 100 games are being planned for the sales date.
The PlayStation Portable, nicknamed PSP, is about the size of a VHS tape and its surface space is mostly made up of a display for high-quality video as well as games.
"You will see the PSP is totally different from mobile devices that have been around up to now," Kutaragi said.
Kutaragi also said the next-generation PlayStation, the successor to the PlayStation 2, whose sales date and other details are still undecided, will use the Blu-ray disc format.
The announcement was not a surprise as Sony is among the chief backers of Blu-ray technology over a competing standard, High Definition DVD, promoted by Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp., for next-generation digital video.
The PlayStation series is a key part of Sony's business strategy to fuse music and movies with gaming and boost electronics sales. Nearly 74 million PlayStation 2 machines have been sold worldwide, 40 million of them in the United States and nearly 21 million in Japan.
PlayStation 2 is the dominant game system around the world, controlling about 80 percent of the market in Japan and Europe and about 47 percent in the United States, according to Sony. (AP)
Sony
to Show Working PlayStation 3 Next May:
7/13/04 Sony Corp. expects to show off a working
version of its next-generation PlayStation video game
console at a trade show next May, it said on Monday, increasing
pressure on Microsoft Corp. to take the wraps off its
Xbox successor by that time.
Sony's game-business head Ken Kutaragi said the consumer
electronics company plans to unveil the new console at
next year's E3, the annual video-game trade show scheduled
to take place from May 18 to 20 in Los Angeles.
"There has been some talk that development is not
going well, but we expect to have a playable version at
E3. We are pushing ahead with that schedule in mind,"
Kutaragi told a meeting of developers, suppliers and media.
Kutaragi did not mention a launch date for the new console,
expected to be called the PlayStation 3 or PS3, but company
officials said it may follow a similar timetable to market
as its predecessor, the PlayStation 2 which went on sale
in Japan almost a year after it was first displayed.
Analysts said they expected the PS3 to be released for
sale to U.S. consumers sometime in 2007.
"I would still expect a 2007 launch, at this point,"
said Schwab SoundView Technology Group analyst Colin Sebastian.
"
The PS2 had a head start of about a year on its competitors,
Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s GameCube, and
has a worldwide installed base far larger than the other
two combined.
Sony
Cuts PlayStation 2 Price to $149: 05/11/04
Sony Corp. said it would cut the price of its market-leading
PlayStation 2 video game console to $149 from $179, bringing
it in line with Microsoft, which has seen sales of its
Xbox soar on a similar move.
Sony, one of the world's biggest makers of consumer electronics,
said it would immediately begin a marketing campaign to
promote the new lower price, which follows a move by its
closest competitor, Microsoft Corp. which cut Xbox to
$149 at the end of March.
Sony said the lower price applies to both its stand-alone
PS2, which had been $179, and the PS2 bundled with a networking
adapter, which was $199.
Industry analysts had suggested that if Sony did not
lower the price on its PS2 to spur sales, U.S. game software
makers, many of whom track Sony's fiscal year, might find
sales growth targets harder to reach.
They had speculated that Sony might cut the price of
the PS2 by the opening of E3, the video game industry's
annual trade show, which started this week in Los Angeles.
Late in April, Sony forecast that PS2 sales in the business
year ending March 2005 would fall by as much as 30 percent,
a much sharper decline than analysts had expected.
In a press conference at the E3 video game trade show,
Sony also showed off live demonstrations of its PlayStation
Portable handheld video game device, set to be released
by the end of 2004 in Japan and by March 2005 in the United
States and Europe.
Among the demos Sony executives showed were a trailer
for the movie "Spider-Man 2" and a music video
from the alternative rock band "Incubus."
The PSP, which will feature Wi-Fi wireless networking
and a 4.3-inch screen in a wide-screen format, is expected
to have a battery life of anywhere from 2 hours to 10
hours, depending on how it is being used.
Electronic Arts, the world's largest video game publisher,
committed to have at least four titles ready for the PSP
at its launch, including versions of its "NFL Street"
and "NBA Street" and the racing game "Need
for Speed Underground."
Sony
Sees 10-Year Life for PlayStation 2 Console:
3/25/04 Sony Corp. believes that its market-leading PlayStation
2 video game console can continue to sell until 2010,
twice as long as most in the industry had assumed was
possible, an executive of Sony's U.S. video game unit
said.
In a keynote address at the Game Developers Conference
in San Jose, California, Andrew House, executive vice
president of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, said
the success of the original PlayStation, nearing its 10th
anniversary, had convinced the company that two-thirds
of its potential PS2 sales were yet to come.
The PlayStation 2 was released in 2000 in the United
States and game industry observers have expected Sony
and rival Microsoft Corp to shift their marketing efforts
to next-generation game machines in 2005 or 2007.
"There are some huge potential gains for us later
in the life cycle," House told a packed auditorium.
But with the lengthening of the sales window for PS2,
he said, Sony and the industry will also have to consider
the advancing age of the people who own and buy the hardware.
"We have to think very carefully about the type
of audience we're reaching with our games," he said.
House also sought to quash speculation that Sony might
accelerate development on its next console, the PS3, to
keep up with Microsoft Corp., which many in the industry
have speculated is preparing the successor to its Xbox
console for 2005.
"Competitive movement will not be a factor in determining
our launch release plans," he said.
But what drew the closest attention from the developers
on hand was the few words House said about the PSP, a
portable system expected to rival the PS2 in power and
capabilities.
The device will have a wide-screen format, wireless Internet
connectivity and a proprietary storage device, the UMD,
with three times the capacity of a CD-ROM.
House was joined on stage by a team from Backbone Entertainment,
which showed a brief demo of its game "Death Jr."
running on a PC with PSP emulation software. The game
drew heavy applause from the crowd, with those who saw
the demo admiring the platform's graphics capabilities.
While "Death Jr." was popular, though, the
star of the keynote was an unlikely American pop hero
-- William Hung, who gained fame as a talent-show contestant
with limited talent on the TV series "American Idol."
Hung, who has devoted legions of fans and a record deal,
sang and danced to the song "YMCA" with Sony's
EyeToy, a device that connects to the PS2 and translates
the player's motion into on-screen action. He was using
"EyeToy: Groove," an upcoming game for the system.
Sony
Delays U.S., Europe Launch of PSP to 2005:
Sony Corp said on Thursday it would delay the U.S. and
European release of an eagerly awaited handheld version
of its PlayStation console until next year because it
wanted more time to prepare game software.
The electronics and entertainment conglomerate said the
handheld video game device, PSP, would still be released
in Japan this year, but some analysts also questioned
that target.
"We'd be very surprised if it was ready at the end
of the year," said Hiroshi Kamide, an analyst at
KBC Securities. "It will be a huge struggle to get
something out by Christmas."
Expectations are high for the PSP, already touted by
PlayStation guru Ken Kutaragi as "the Walkman of
the 21st century" for its ability to play games,
movies and music.
Analysts said the financial impact of the delay would
be limited for Sony, whose game unit generated 16 percent
of group revenue and almost half its operating profit
in the three months to December 31.
"2004 numbers are immaterial. As long as Sony is
in full production well ahead of holiday 2005, it should
not affect numbers in 2005," UBS analyst Mike Wallace
said in a note. The delay did offer a reprieve for Nintendo
Co. Ltd. and its market-leading Game Boy handheld platform.
Sony stunned the game industry last May when it unveiled
plans for the PSP.
Sony shares closed down 0.23 percent at 4,400 yen versus
a 0.91 percent gain in the Tokyo market's electric machinery
sub-index. Nintendo outperformed the broader market, rising
2.46 percent to 10,410 yen.
GAMES WANTED - Sony Computer Entertainment of America
spokeswoman Molly Smith said Sony was now looking to launch
the PSP in North America by March 2005. An SCE official
in Japan said it was also targeting an early 2005 launch
for Europe.
The company had said previously that it aimed to release
the new machine in the U.S. and Europe sometime this year.
Sony
PS2 Sales Down But Nintendo GameCube Surges:
The videogame industry received a dose of good news on
Wednesday when Nintendo Co. Ltd. said holiday sales of
its GameCube rose over 70 percent from a year ago, while
Sony Corp PS2 sales did not fall as sharply as expected.
A 27 percent rise in software sales for Sony's PlayStation
2 (PS2) console in November and December from a year earlier
confirmed that year-end sales were strong, but analysts
said the comeback by Nintendo was big news for the industry.
"Nintendo has managed to make a bit of a comeback,
which is quite important for them. It was make or break
for them this Christmas season and they have pulled it
off more or less," said KBC Securities analyst Hiroshi
Kamide.
A Nintendo spokesman said it would easily achieve a global
sales target of six million GameCubes for the full business
year, easing some market concerns about the feasibility
of that goal after it sold only 890,000 in the six months
to September 30.
The Kyoto-based company said holiday sales -- roughly
defined as the period from the end of November to early
January -- rose over 70 percent from a year earlier, without
specifying how many units it sold.
Nintendo got a boost from cutting GameCube prices in
Japan, Europe and North America in September and October,
ahead of a holiday sales push.
Sony said in a news release that global PS2 sales fell
about eight percent in November and December, but analysts
said a single digit decline is a good showing at this
point in the console's business cycle.
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), the company's game
unit, said PS2 sales totaled 7.83 million units in November
and December, down from the previous year's 8.5 million
units. Software sales rose to a record 66 million units.
PS2 has been a runaway success for Sony since it was launched
in Japan almost four years ago, grabbing almost two-thirds
of the game console market in competition with Microsoft
Corp's Xbox machine and Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s GameCube.
PlayStation head Ken Kutaragi told reporters last week
that the entire industry enjoyed a strong holiday season.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS?
Other industry officials confirmed Kutaragi's opinion.
Microsoft's Chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach told Reuters
in an interview earlier this month that the game machine's
holiday sales were "solid," without specifying
exact numbers.
Still, KBC Securities' Kamide cautioned about getting
too excited.
"The trend to November was so poor that people really
pushed down expectations so low and were a bit too pessimistic.
The actual result was good, but on the whole it was not
as fantastic as people think," he said.
Sony said PS2 sales in North America fell 27 percent
to 2.94 million units in November and December from four
million units a year earlier.
Sony
Pares Back Specs for All-In-One PSX Console: 12/04/03
Sony Corp said it had pared back specifications for its
all-in-one PSX console, an entertainment system that includes
a hard disk drive (HDD) and DVD recorder plus a PlayStation
2 game machine.
Sony reduced the PSX's dubbing speed from its hard disk
drive onto a DVD to 12 times normal speed from 24 times.
The machine also will not record or play DVDs in the
DVD+RW format, as in the original plan, but it will play
and record in DVD-R or DVD-RW formats.
The PSX will not play CDs in the CD-R format, as planned,
and there also will be no video format support for certain
Sony digital cameras and support for MP3 music playback.
The entertainment system, to go on sale on December 13
in Japan, is part of Sony's push to roll out cutting-edge
products from its electronics division in the October-December
quarter.
The company has rushed to get the much-anticipated PSX
on shop shelves before the end of the holiday shopping
season.
The original specifications were announced on October
7 at an industry event, but Sony had said then they could
be changed.
Nikko Salomon Smith Barney said in a note to clients
on Friday that electronics retailers were warning customers
that some of the specification have been pared back.
A PSX with a 160-gigabyte HDD will sell for 79,800 yen
($731) and be able to record up to 204 hours of television.
Sony will also sell a 250-gigabyte version for 99,800
yen.
The company said the missing functions can be replaced
from downloads via the Internet in the future.
Sony
PSX Console to Hit Japan Stores by Year-End:
10/07/03 (Reuters) - Sony Corp said on Tuesday it would
begin selling the "PSX," an all-in-one game
console and entertainment system, in Japan by the year-end,
in a bid to boost the company's sagging electronics sales.
Sony, the world's largest consumer electronics
maker, said the PSX would feature a satellite TV tuner,
DVD recorder, hard disk drive (HDD) recorder and PlayStation
2 (PS2) game player.
A version with a 160-gigabyte HDD will sell for 79,800
yen ($719) and be able to record up to 204 hours of television,
the company said. It will also sell a 250-gigabyte version
for 99,800 yen.
Chief Executive Nobuyuki Idei said in May that one of
the growth strategies for Sony's electronics business
would be to integrate it with the company's profit-making
games division.
Sony plans to market the PSX as a consumer electronics
product and aims to pitch the box as a do-everything entertainment
console for games, music and movies.
The company's games division has developed cutting-edge
semiconductors for the PS2 and the original PlayStation,
but it is the upcoming PlayStation machine that has people
buzzing about the integration of electronics and games.
Sony plans to invest 500 billion yen over the next three
years in semiconductors, including research and development
for a high-powered microprocessor codenamed "cell"
that is being developed with Toshiba Corp and IBM.
The chip is expected to power Sony's next-generation
game console, but the company aims to make "cell"
the global standard for consumer electronics in the high-speed
Internet era.
Sony
to Unveil All-In-One PSX Game Device Next Week: 10/5/03
Sony Corp the world's biggest consumer electronics maker,
said on Friday it would unveil its all-in-one PSX game
device to the public next week.
The PSX, which packs a TV tuner, DVD recorder, hard-disk
drive, and the PlayStation 2 game player into a single
white box, will be unveiled at the CEATEC Japan 2003 industry
show in Makuhari, near Tokyo, on Tuesday, Sony said in
a statement.
Sony plans to launch the machine in Japan before the
end of this year, and in Europe and the United States
early next year, but a spokesman for Sony said on Friday
the exact launch timetable and pricing were yet to be
decided.
Some analysts have expressed concerns the PSX could eat
into demand for other Sony products at a time when the
company is suffering from sluggish sales of its Vaio PCs
and home electronics goods.
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News:
Sony to Sell Linux Kits for Playstation 2 -
Sony Corp. said on Wednesday it would start selling Linux
operating system kits for Linux programmers around the
globe in coming months to allow Linux applications to
run on its PlayStation 2 game console.
The consumer electronics giant said it would begin selling
disks to install the Linux operating system (OS) on PlayStation
2 and tools to develop Linux applications. The kits will
go on sale in Japan in May and in the United Sates and
Europe in June.
``Many Linux fans have requested that they would like
to execute applications not only on personal computers
but also on PlayStation game consoles,'' a Sony spokeswoman
said. The kits will cost $188.30 in Japan, $299 in the
United States and $215 in Europe.
Linux, which competes with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows,
is an open-source model and has become a popular master
computer program. Sony aims to expand the role of PlayStation
as a platform and allow more applications such as word-processing.
Sony said the kits also included a internal hard disk
drive with 40 gigabytes and USB keyboard and mouse.
New PS2 Games Cheat Codes Click
here!:
DVD
Remotes
DVD
Remotes for the PlayStation 2: By Raymond
WebTechGeek. Sony's Playstation 2 is a DVD player as well
as a game console, but it doesn't include a DVD remote.
Instead you're stuck watching DVDs with a game controller.
Now some alternatives are starting to appear. I checked
out remotes by Mad Catz, Pelican.
The Pelican
Fully functional Wireless DVD Controller Allows Simultaneous
Use Of PS2 Controller And DVD Remote If you want to use
two game controllers, or you just want to save some money,
then go with the Pelican, which at $14.95 is certainly
the best deal. Rating 4 out of 5 WebTechGeeks!
The Mad
Catz DVD Wireless Remote is one way to control the
powerful DVD features of the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment
system. Navigate through special menus, special DVD add-on
footage, director's cuts, theatrical trailers-- all from
the comfort of your couch! Designed with industry standard
Infrared technology, the DVD remote allows seamless, wireless
control of your PlayStation 2, VCR, DVD and television.
Cons: Mad Catz doesn't allow a game controller to be plugged
into it. Price $19.99 Rating
3 out of 5 WebTechGeeks!
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Most Popular PlayStation 2 Games:
1) Twisted Metal: Black!
2) Final Fantasy X!
3) NBA Street!
4) Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec!
5) Tekken 4!
6) Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty!
7) Virtua Fighter 4!
8) WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It!
9) NCAA Football 2002!
10) NHL Hitz 2002!
PlayStation
2's:
Available in the USA - October 26,
2000, Did you get yours? Not everyone that wanted a Playstation2
got one! Long line, as little as 6 Playstation 2's at
some national stores. Some "Super-Geek-Gamers"
camped out the all night in front of some stores to get
one. The Playstation 2, a combination of cutting edge
digital graphics, superb sound and DVD video. It will
open the doors to a new computer entertainment experience,
Or will it?. PlayStation2 draws high bids at auction.
Sony's new game console may be sold out at most retailer,
but you can still find it online--for a price! Hundreds
of consoles are for sale on the Internet on eBay, with
some bidders offering upwards of $1,000 per machine. When
will there be relief for the console searchers? It's hard
to tell. Sony plans to ship a total of 3 million consoles
between late October and March. But that number will still
leave many gamers out of luck. There are nine times that
many original PlayStations in North American homes. And
Sony expects to sell at least as many of the new consoles.
PlayStation2:
In the same way the first PlayStation
has brought interactive gaming to an unprecedented mass
market, PlayStation 2's combination of cutting edge digital
graphics, superb sound and DVD video will open the doors
to a new computer entertainment experience. Supporting
both the audio CD and DVD-Video formats, PlayStation 2
offers consumers a wide range of music and video entertainment
options. The new system is backwards compatible with the
original PlayStation, bridging the gap between the two
systems while legitimizing consumers' investment in their
existing PlayStation software libraries. Features: "Dual
Shock"2 analog controller AC Power Cord AV Multi Cable
Formats supported: Audio CD, DVD-Video Memory Card Slot
Accessories included: "Dual Shock"2 analog controller
High capacity 8MB Memory Card PlayStation2 Demo Disc AV
Multi cable AC power cord DVD player, if you're willing
to plunk down an additional $20, you can get your hands
on a remote control. Dimensions: 301mm (W) x 178mm (H)
x 78mm (D), (12" x 7" x 3") Weight: 2.4 kg (5 lbs. 5 oz.)
Media: PlayStation2 CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and PlayStation CD-ROM,
CD Audio. This means your PlayStation 2 will be able to
play all your old PlayStation games , all music CDs and
all DVDs from the same region. Suggested Retail Price
(US): $299 - $199 USA - October 26, 2000
Rating 5 out of 5 WebTechGeeks! ~ 
. CPU: U128-bit RISC chip
running at 300 MHz
. RAM: 32MB DRAM . Graphics processor: 150-MHz, 4MB integrated
VRAM
. Sound: SPU2, 2MB RAM (AC3, Dolby Digital, DTS support)
. Drive: 4X DVD, 24X CD read speeds (PlayStation, DVD,
audio CD support)
. Dimensions: 178 mm by 301 mm by 78 mm (12 inches by
7 inches by 3 inches)
. Weight: 2.1 kg (4 lbs. 10 oz.)
CPU: 128 Bit "Emotion Engine"
System Clock Frequency: 294.912
System Memory: 32 MB (Direct Rambus)
Memory Bus Bandwidth: 3.2 GB per second
Co-Processor: FPU (Floating Point Unit -- Floating Point
Multiply Accumulator x 1, Floating Point Divider x 1)
Vector Units: VU0 and VU1 (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator
x 9, Floating Point Divider x 1) Floating Point Performance:
6.2 GFLOPS
3D CG Geometric Transformation: 66 million Polygons Per
Second
Compressed Image Decoder: MPEG2
Graphics: "Graphics Synthesizer"
Clock Frequency: 150MHz
DRAM Bus bandwidth: 48 GB Per Second
DRAM Bus width: 2560 bits
Pixel Configuration: RGB:Alpha:Z Buffer (24:8:32)
Polygon Draw rate: 75 Million Polygons Per Second
Screen Resolution: Variable from 226x224 to 1280x1024
Sound: "SPU2+CPU"
Number of voices: ADPCM: 48 channel on SPU2 plus definable
by software
Sampling Frequency: 44.1 KHz or 48 KHz (selectable) I/O
Processor
CPU Core: Current PlayStation CPU
Clock Frequency: 33.8 MHz or 37.5 MHz (selectable)
IOP Memory: 2MB
Sub Bus: 32 Bit
Interface Types: IEEE1394 (iLink), Universal Serial Bus
(USB) X 2, Controller Port X 2, Memory Card Port X 2
Disc Media: DVD-ROM (CD-ROM compatible) Device Speed:
4 times speed DVD-ROM, 24 times speed CD-ROM
Other Features Drive Bay: for 3.5 hard disc
Expansion Unit: for network interface Built-in
DVD playback: Plays region 1 DVD movies
Formats supported: Audio
CD, DVD-Video, Dolby Digital(R) (AC-3), DTS(R) Interfaces:
(for more info, goto the interface page) Controller port
(2) Memory Card slot (2) AV Multicable output (1) Optical
digital output (1) USB port (2) i.Link (IEEE1394) (1)
Type III PCMCIA card slot (1) Drive bay (for 3.5" hard
disc drive) Expansion unit (for network interface) THE
INSIDES Emotion Engine The 128-Bit Emotion Engine is the
first chip of its kind. No other mass-market computer
technology on the market comes close to its power. In
the PlayStation2, It processes all physics and math calculations.
At one point was even classed as a supper computer. CPU:128-Bit
Emotion Engine The 128-Bit part of the title means that
this chipset both processes information and sends it over
a 128-Bit bus. By contrast, the Dreamcast has no true
128-Bit components. System Clock Frequency: 294.912 MHz
You may think that your PC has a faster processor, but
remember that the Emotion Engine has inherently faster
128-Bit processing and it is just a part of the overall
PlayStation2 power. The reason that the speed is 294.912
MHz, is that it must be a multiple of a required processor
speed that supports the DVD ROM operations. Main Memory:
Direct DRAM 32MB DRAM (Dynamic RAM) is much preferred
over SRAM (Static RAM) because it is able to store data
while transferring other data, making it twice as fast
as SRAM. The 32MB of main memory is by far the most for
any console we've seen. Memory Bus Bandwidth: 3.2 GB per
second This means the memory can store and send up to
3.2 Gigabytes per second. This speeds up overall processor
performance. Coprocessor 1: FPU This stands for Floating
Point Unit, which basically means it makes all the calculations.
Coprocessors 2 and 3: VU0 and VU1 These stand for Vector
Units one and two. These coprocessors are dedicated to
3D-vector calculations, and determine where the polygons
go in 3 dimensions. Emotion Engine Performance Capabilities:
MPEG2 Support This means that support for MPEG2 DVD ROM
compression is handled by the hardware, so your DVD movies
will look extra-good. It also means that PS2 developers
can compress texture images using MPEG2 compression to
save space without taking a hit on game speed. Performance:
Floating Point performance 6.2 GFLOPS This means the PlayStation
2 can process more than 6.2 billion floating point operations
(basic math equations) per second. This is about 15 times
faster than a Pentium II processor and three times faster
than a Pentium III. 66 Million Polygons per Second Geometry
Calculations This is basically a fake number because;
the polygons used for this number are not rendered with
all the effects that they will (need to) be rendered with
in a real game. 16 Million Polygons per Second Curved
Surface Generation This is a better real world test of
the PlayStation2, but remember this a best case scenario,
in game numbers will be lower. The current PlayStation
can only process around 350,000 polygons per second. Graphics:
"Graphics Synthesizer" (for more info about graphics and
graphics effects goto the graphics page) Clock Frequency:
147.456MHz Embedded DRAM: VRAM 4MB Because of the high
memory transfer speed in the PlayStation2, its 4MB VRAM
is just as effective than higher memory PC accelerator
cards.
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