The Franchise

2 Problems with a laptop for watching movies:
1) Form Factor: you can very well put a laptop in your pocket and take it anywhere anytime. Even the bags are bulky.
2) Battery life: (this is speculation) If the PSP UMD disc's can hold a 2 hour Divx movie, I assume they are going to engineer the battery to last at least that long and probably 2x to 3x as long. This would be way better than a laptop's battery usage.

Josh H

I know a laptop isn't ideal, I was just playing devil's advocate.

IMO portable movie players are pointless. I want to watch a movie either in the theater, or on my hometheater, not on some little screen with crappy speakers or headphones.

cheapskate

C'mon... we're all geeks here - the first thing we think of is "How can I **** with it?"

Also, MiniDisc isn't a PLAY ONLY system, as you know, it's also recordable, so you can grab stuff from another source and record it onto disc. Doesn't seem like the PSP has this ability so far - meaning we're going to be stuck with a small selection of movies to watch... or music, or whatever you want to put on it...

But we're getting closer to the ultimate geek toy... I was really hoping that the PSP would be just a little closer to this:



http://www.archos.com/products/prw_500542.html

Of course, I'll still be a total whore and buy one because it sounds so damn cool!

joshd2012

You guys are forgeting the fact that it will have a memory stick. Now, memory sticks can hold anything - movies, music, photos, documents, etc. If I remember correctly, they have a 1 gig memory stick (though, it is quite expensive right now). Technically one could *cough* transfer *cough* there favorite movie into MPEG-4 and then save it on the memory stick. Also, the amount of MP3s you can stick on that thing would be amazing.

draggoon01

this would be incentive to buy an psp to ps3 adapter. more reason than buying gba to gamecube currently selling.

jeffdsmith

No doubt the device as "proposed" could have all kinds of connectivity. However I can tell you Sony will put a crap load of protection into the device to prevent any form a piracy, exspecially movies.

Yes people will hack, they always do, but it won't be easy. Sony is nortorius for their work to prevent easy sharing of data. They fought MP3's forever, went against the original DVD standard, insisted on BETA (although better) because of it's piracy control, etc. That's why they are using these special discs, so they can prevent piracy. I doubt it will be as easy as putting a movie on a memory stick and loading some software hack.

cheapskate

True... but even a 128MB Memory Stick and the cheapest memory stick reader will cost you around $100 ... almost half or a third of the non-existent price, depending on which baseless prediction you decide to believe in

But I still want one...

joshd2012

Me thinks that the USB 2.0 port will negate the need for a Memory Stick reader.

tanman

You don't visit the Hot Deals forum very much do you.

tanman

What the heck are you talking about?

For one: You're comparing two different generations of video games. Not to mention that the GBA to GCN connection has NOTHING to do with te surround sound of the system.

Two: There hasn't been anything more than speculation if the two will connect, and if they do they will likely connect via Bluetooth or such. Not to mention nobody knows if the 7.1 sound will still be available IF you can connect it.

Three: This is more personal opinion but I really don't care if it is in 7.1 sound or not. I just care about the game itself. If it has surround sound that that is just an added bonus.

blakwngbrd

Not to mention that if they can cram 7.1 surround sound into the PSP, I sure as hell expect to get 7.1 built in on my PS3...

jeffdsmith

The whole 7.1 thing... Currently there are very special processors for "creating" 7.1 material by analyzing 6.1 and much more common 5.1 sources. I believe that currently there are no true 7.1 sources available on DVD's, nor will their likely ever be according to most.

The recievers with these processors that have this capability usually cost around 1k.

bodhi

My thoughts regarding the WiFi is that it will be used mainly for "linked" games. Imaging being able to, with just the touch of a button, scan for other local WiFi gamers when commuting to school/work or traveling . Man, now that would be cool.

And about the price...we have to remember that this thing is still 2 years away from hitting store shelves. Technology prices can change a lot in 2 years.

gcribbs

I have not owned a portable gaming unit in a long time except for my laptop and if they can come close to these specs I would buy one.

For $200-$300 even I would get one. I spend far more on many other toys I bought for myself so why not buy this toy.

tanman

That may well be the attitude of a lot of people but the price point may well exclude the all important "kid dollar".

joshd2012

Actually, its just over a year away. Q4 2004

mmconhea

EA predicts a $199-$249 price point. Software should carry an MSRP of $39.99 .

That pretty much excludes it from my want list. $40 games are just too expensive- considering how much abuse my GBA gets, i'm not going to risk dropping $200+ on a system that has a high probability of getting lost, stolen, broken.

Josh H

Same here. Plus the only reason I play a GBA at all is to get good, new 2D games and I bet the PSP will have mostly 3D games.

Hell, since the GBA player came out the only time I play my GBA is in bed when I can't sleep so I really have no need for a portable system anyway.

chess

mmconhea

I wonder how durable a portable will be with moving parts (optical drive). I've gone through at least 5 portable CD players in the last 8 years.

joshd2012

If it does come out for $200, I will be purchasing. I don't treat my electronics like crap, so I'm not worried about the breaking. I'm still waiting for Sony to officially announce the price.

Josh H

Well, it does use a variation of mini-disc's and I've heard the portable mini-disc players are much more durable than discman's.

jiggawhat

I went to a focus group last night at it was about the PSP. And many of the specs that were in the originating post are still valid.

Apparently, it will also have some sort of camera phone attachment.

Also they said that all the things that it does might not be working at launch time such as Wi-Fi capability and playing videos.

What they did tell me is that it will be as good as PS2 in terms of power and that it will play the same games. They also said that if you are playing tiger woods for example and you beat a couple of guys. You can download the info to your PS2 and carry on from where you finished on the PSP.

speedyray

Well, Sony looks to be breaking my No. 1 rule KISS - Keep it Simple Stupid. There is no reason for it to have a camera, etc. Just like that damn NGage that was a phone. I will stick with a game player - GBA or next version - since my goal will to be - imagine this - play games with my portable game player.

joshd2012

The camera is an add-on.