Sony unveil new PlayStation

[mysticgohan17]

Sony unveil new PlayStation



[28/05/2003: 12:53]
PSX combines PS2 with a TV tuner, hard drive and DVD recorder... UK release next year


Sony have unveiled the first details and images of a brand new PlayStation - although it's not PlayStation 3.

Instead, PSX will combine PS2 technology with a TV tuner, hard drive and DVD recorder in order to provide an integrated home entertainment unit that covers games, music and movies.

On top of that little lot, the device is designed to be linked up to multiple monitors, thus allowing you to pipe its output to different rooms around your home.

All of which sounds very snazzy although it's worth bearing in mind that, games-wise, PSX will just make use of PS2 technology.

Beyond that, Sony have given little away about the machine, saying only that PSX "will mark the beginning of a new series of products that will unite the most advanced electronics devices with the leading-edge semiconductor technology associated with the game sector."

Judging by the first images of PSX (see below), it looks to be roughly Xbox-sized although has far more aesthetic appeal than Microsoft's console. Oddly, the dummy machine doesn't appear to have any ports whatsoever, with just a CD/DVD-sized slot at the front. Look closely, and you'll also notice a PS2-esque PSX logo carved onto the top of the console.

PSX is due for release in Japan by the end of the year. According to giant news agency Reuters, US and European releases are pencilled in for early next year.

PSX is a logical move for Sony, who always pushed PS2 as being a home entertainment device as opposed to just a 'mere' games console. PlayStation 3, meanwhile, is now expected to be launched in 2005.

Sony have just posted their largest quarterly net loss in over eight years and the launch of PSX, along with their recently announced PSP handheld, appears to be part of an aggressive strategy to inject its games technology into its struggling electronics division.

[28/05/2003: 17:21]
UPDATE!

We've just got hold of an additional seven images of the PSX - and it's apparent that this is one seriously nice looking bit of kit. Like PS2, it appears as if you'll be able to stand it horizontally or vertically. We're horizontal fans, ourselves.

Interestingly, none of the shots show any of those cumbersome game pads plugged into the PSX. Obviously they'd mess up the whole Wallpaper magazine-style look of the photos...

View The photos here

[Will Hay]

The last games console I had was a sega megadrive and then I only had three games, but that is something I'll seriuously consider, providing it's £79.99 of course
Will

[flaninacupboard]

i was sitting thinking to myself "but who is sonys' market on this one?" and then realised, me! i'm looking to buy a DVD recorder once the price is right and the quality is better, i like being able to jump online while sat in front of my TV, i watch a lot of DVD's, a tv recorder with a hard drive would be nice, and i do play the odd game. admittedly i've got a gamecube so it that respect i'd be pissed off, but if i was already a PS2 owner, i'd jump at the chance.

[DonVito]

More news about Sony:

[29/05/2003: 11:08]
Still no sign of PSP itself yet but, for now, here's a look at what the unique game discs will look like...



We wouldn't usually make a point of showing you a picture of a games disc but we thought we'd make an exception for the first image of Sony's new Universal Media Disc - the format that the forthcoming PlayStation Portable will make use of.

PSP, which is expected to be released towards the end of 2004, is Sony's first foray into the handheld market (well, if you don't count the Tamagotchi-esque PocketStation, which was only released in Japan).

As well as running games, PSP will also support music and video files - hence the new 1.8GB disc format (three times the capacity of a PSone disc and large enough to store a two hour DVD-quality movie).

Unfortunately, there's still no sign yet of a prototype PSP, although we're expecting it to look something along the lines of a portable DVD player. Certainly, with its 4.5" screen it'll be a much larger proposition that Nintendo's GBA SP.

http://gamesradar.msn.co.uk/news/default.asp?pagetype=2&subsectionid=157&articleid=65397

Even more:
As a portable device (i.e. not reliant on a TV), the PSP will also be free from region coding, meaning that PSP games from Japan and the US will work out of the box - good news for import fans. Besides the aforementioned Universal Media Disc (which houses a whopping 1.8Gb - around three times as much data as a PS one disc), PSP is powered by super chipsets that take advantage of the latest 90nm semiconductor technology. Alongside traditional polygons, PSP also utilises NURBS (that's Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline for the technologically minded among you) for graphical quality that far surpasses that of PlayStation. The PSP's 4.5" screen is a 480 x 272 pixel TFT LCD monitor that uses the widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9. The video CODEC is MPEG4, and it's estimated that the PSP will be capable of around two hours of high resolution full motion video playback at DVD quality.

http://au.playstation.com/news/psp.jhtml

[EddyH]

But why oh why oh why (etc) did they call it the PSX? Do they think we've forgotten the original big grey box already?

PSX = SHCP1000 thru 9000 and so on. The daddy playstation, obscene loading times and all.
PS1 = that funny dinky white thing that works like a PSX.
PS2 = the unneccisarily noisy god-box monolith console.
..meh..

This should be... I dunno... the PSV?

[Conquest10]

wasn't playstation 3 supposed to come out in 1999-2000.

[mrtristan]

I was just talking with the wife about something like the PSP. I was thinking that blue ray DVDs would eventually take over, enabling the use of miniDVDs in a pocket sized playstation. Add miniDVD playing capability and there's your PSP. They already have that portable Sony DVD player that's the size of a discman. I'm sort of anxious to see the PSP when it comes out.

[Will Hay]

This should be... I dunno... the PSV?

Isn't that an underwater tv show?
How about...
..."PSsssstttttt".
Will

[Craig Tucker]

I think it should be PS off.

[Will Hay]

I think it should be PS off.

Yup, that's a better one.
W.