Kutaragi Ken interview on PSP

[cthellis42]

I'm also not quite understanding why people are hopping up and down on UMD as a format. Would you rather have a portable gaming machine that bulks up to play regular DVDs? Would you rather have games either cost WAYYYYYY too much or have WAYYYYYYY less space to work with using solid-state media?

Frankly, they're trying to push UMD as another standard, not as "the thing you can only use with your PSP." That will be its first real exposure, but if they're trying to push UMD as lower-cost alternatives into music (which can offer HIGHER quality than CDs) and movie-playing, do you seriously think it will only have one device ever? Of course not. As with anything, it will ramp up slowly--and in this case its primary exposure will start with the PSP. But if they manage to do what they WANT to do with it, we'll see a broad range of devices aimed for it and able to play them, so...? How will this be any different from DVD's or the upcoming Blu-Ray? (Other than Sony owning--so far as I know--all of the rights to UMD.)

Will it get AS popular? No, likely not. If it picks up at all, it will probably build into a nice little niche area, but who knows? I think much of the success just depends on the price. After all, if you could get a few of your favorite movies to play on a PSP for $3-4 each, would you even particularly care? If they're trying to forge up to $8-10 for the media... well then, they'll have a lot more people choking.

So mainly it depends how they want to handle it, but I certainly don't see the PSP being the only thing to USE UMD's or support playing the media thereof if it gets at all popular--it will just be the first and likely remain the biggest.

 

[wazoo]

Sony is just trying to build some hype for their new console. Iti s not the first time they are pushing a new format (BetaMax, MiniCd,MemoryStick). Not all of them were big success 8)

They should remember their big success (Walkman, discman) were built around existing technologies.

I understand that PSP will/could be huge for games, they could be ok for MP3 player using moderatly cheap Memstick, but using UMD as a format for commerical movies

I will own one but I do not live in the same fantasy world as some here.

 

[cthellis42]

As I said, I think it basically depends how they price it at. Are people even going to blink if something costs only a few dollars to pick up in that format? Even up to $5 most people don't think too much about. (Though at that price it's not going to replace their whole libraries, but I certainly don't see them balking too much at picking up a few of their favorites to play on the road.) If Sony owns the whole license for UMD, then they'll likely still get comparative profit while being able to really scale down the price--which will give that format more exposure and easier adoption lead to them being able to license out to other hardware companies as well who get interested in making their own products for it. Certainly the RIAA and MPAA's ears perk up at the words "secure" bandied about with it. (Though we all know SOMEONE will hack it somehow anyway. Heh... It just makes things more difficult.)

It's not going to replace anything as a standard, of course, but its size and capacity and perhaps even the "secure" part will attract a number of publishers looking to explore new options--which will bring other hardware companies in time. (With Sony happily enjoying the big jump, of course.) I wouldn't even want to place bets on it REMAINING at all locked, either, as in time Sony will likely see advantages to offering burnable media and selling new drives that can do it. <shrugs> All depends.

DVDs will eventually move on to Blu-Ray or other higher-capacity media but will remain a staple for years to come. CD's may eventually move to DVD-audio or who knows--if they see UMD's or something similar as a LOCKED standard, the RIAA might want to push that way to secure their end as much as possible. They certainly seem random and skittish enough right now to try just about anything.

Remember, a push for UMD isn't a push for "commercial movies" but one for "portable movies." Considering how much portable DVD players cost at the moment--and that they do nothing BUT play movies--many people will certainly be willing to pay a bit extra to overlap some movies on UMD to use on a device that they probably got for entirely different reasons anyway.

HUGE success? No. CDs and DVDs are too universally established to be replaced by anything new, but UMDs can likely sit in their own market--perhaps carve it out a bit more--where the others are not as optimal.

Meanwhile, I see nothing universally "evil" about UMD. Sony may be trying to market it as more of a locked standard to attract big publishers and widen its exposure, which certainly niggles at me as a consumer, but I'm not forced to buy any extra squat for it. And I highly doubt anyone on here is primarily interested with the PSP for other than its game-playing abilities, at which point UMD is exactly the same as GameCube's media format--except it holds more data.

 

[Deepak]

Is UMD (size) smaller than a DVD...like a GC OD??? May be another reason not to go with DVD...

 

[Paul]

UMD is smaller than a Gamecube Disk.

 

[wazoo]

UMD is smaller than a Gamecube Disk.

1.8GB on UMD

 

[Vince]

I don't question that there were more sophisticated solutions available even back in 2001 but how many of them were able to compare with the GBA chipset on things such as power consumption and price.

Very. Ask someone like Tag or Sage how small they were.


What you're doing is avoiding the point and spewing BS. When PSP launches, it will be on par with or beyond the status-quo as established by the PDA sector. What ever they're doing to get there is insignificant:

Why wasn't Nintendo there?

Again, while I'm sure more sophisticated technology was available it wasn't feasible for that kind of product. I find it amusing how you have nothing but complaints about what is essentially a very balanced piece of hardware yet have no complaints about Sony's decision to go with a mid-90ies feature set for the PS2 rasterizer - a piece of hardware that could actually benifit from contemporary technology.

This is getting OT, but contemporary like what? In 1998/1999, contemporary was an nVidia TNT2 and a Voodoo2/3.

Obviously not but based on the available information we know for a fact that the unit will be considerably larger than modern music players - that is unless Sony has invented a screen technology that is magically reduced in size when not used for games or movies.

Again, you don't know. How you can pass judgement is beyond me. There are ways of masking the size when not in use - look at the latest Clies. Again, as most of the PSP is integrated into one IC - the screen size alone is perhaps the biggest single thing.

The other thing I wish to address is this consistent referral to this "Nerd" & "Casuals" duality. It existed 5 years ago, and still exists in the halls of E3 (which is disgusting in itself) - but it's really disapeared as a 'hard' boundery outside of the PC realm. Consoles in particular have been the driving action in this paradigm shift in usage that's engulfing the traditional 'casual' users up.

Several important things can be seen and deduced from society - the one with the biggest implications is that gaming is inheriently a mainstream phenomina. People want to play - just need convienent and easy access to it that isn't "gay," ergo the rise of PS. And the more they remove the physical (eg. eYeToy, the Sims) and metaphysical (eg. traditional "nerdiness," people who think like you) bounderies as Sony is doing - the phenomina will just continue to expand. People like pervasive computing - this is observable everywhere and cell phones are a good indication with their latest functionality or electronics in their cars and it will only get closer to our consciousness. This is a very active area of research and thought in which DemoCoder would be much better at talking to if you wish to do some enlightenment. People also prefer convienence over money (seen everywhere in society, especially the younger generations). What you'll find is that many of these aspects converge in a device like PSP - people want something like it. And if it's as good looking and size comperable as their Clies, then it's going to be big indeed.

Things like UMD in itself are a non-starter issue. It's literally irrelevent. Cartriges didn't kill GBA and this is the same. You buy Games, Movies, Music on them and thats it - this is fundimentally a game machine. You pay the base cost and get a game machine that plays studio media. Hell, it's already great.

And beyond that, if you want to use it as an MP3 player or home movie player/camera than you drop $50 on a MS and it's better than stand-alone players for 3X the cost. You buy a GPS solution if you want GPS. You buy the phone features if you want to use it as a phone.

Will everyone buy every feature? Hell no, but it's amazingly openended and that's what's great about it and what will make it tomorrows Walkmen - a device that converged yesterdays bleeding-edge media into one portable device. PSP will do the same.

 

[jvd]

Very. Ask someone like Tag or Sage how small they were.


What you're doing is avoiding the point and spewing BS. When PSP launches, it will be on par with or beyond the status-quo as established by the PDA sector. What ever they're doing to get there is insignificant:

Why wasn't Nintendo there?

Making a handheld for children. That would a ) have long battery life B) stand up to what a normaly 7-12 year old would put the system through C) have games that can go through the same beating. D) driving all other handhelds out of busniess.

That answer that ?


As for this aslo being able to act as a cell phone. Not for nothing but i like my small phone that can fit in my pocket . I don't want to carry a big thing like a handheld around to answer phones. (Yes i know the handheld wont be hug. But compared to my cell phone it will and will also weigh more .

 

[Vince]

Making a handheld for children. That would a ) have long battery life B) stand up to what a normaly 7-12 year old would put the system through C) have games that can go through the same beating. D) driving all other handhelds out of busniess.

The battery life is the only "true" concern based on a theoretical increase in preformance. But, again I turn to known and liecencable 3D core of the time which are/were tiny and when integrated would have been more insignificant than not. Hell, Sega did it technologically.

This is very simple. Nintendo could have adopted (designed or licensed) a more advanced part - but they didn't because of their position in the pretty static marketplace that existed.

 

[DeadmeatGA]

Remember, a push for UMD isn't a push for "commercial movies" but one for "portable movies."

I am not so sure. Advances in compression algorithm makes 4.7 GB capacity of DVD unnecessary for movies, 1.7 GB will do just fine with a DiVX like compression codec. Furthermore, record label and hollywood executives are fed up with CD-R and DVD-Rs, I imagine the promise of a proprietary drive with a guarantee that no Recordable-discs and PC drive will ever appear is quite appealing.

 

[jvd]

Remember, a push for UMD isn't a push for "commercial movies" but one for "portable movies."

I am not so sure. Advances in compression algorithm makes 4.7 GB capacity of DVD unnecessary for movies, 1.7 GB will do just fine with a DiVX like compression codec. Furthermore, record label and hollywood executives are fed up with CD-R and DVD-Rs, I imagine the promise of a proprietary drive with a guarantee that no Recordable-discs and PC drive will ever appear is quite appealing.

It will only take a few days for whatever the proprietary drives uses as copy protection to be broken. Then a quick download to a pc and a burn to a dvd r and thats it .

The industry needs to stop being so cheap. In new york city you can buy a boot leg of t3 for 5$ and its dvd quality on a dvd disc. In 6 months when it comes to dvd its going to be over 15$ .

If the industry had the dvds rdy right when the movie leaves the movies and prices the dvds cheaper they would not have these problems .

 

[DeadmeatGA]

...

Then a quick download to a pc and a burn to a dvd r and thats it .

With no PC UMD drives and no UMD-R discs to go around, pirating is going to be a lot trickier...

 

[cthellis42]

Remember, a push for UMD isn't a push for "commercial movies" but one for "portable movies."

I am not so sure. Advances in compression algorithm makes 4.7 GB capacity of DVD unnecessary for movies, 1.7 GB will do just fine with a DiVX like compression codec. Furthermore, record label and hollywood executives are fed up with CD-R and DVD-Rs, I imagine the promise of a proprietary drive with a guarantee that no Recordable-discs and PC drive will ever appear is quite appealing.

Indeed, I'd say it's pretty reasonable as well. (Especially since few will be expecting all the extra features, which means you can get the feature itself down as much as desired, and throw in anything extra as there is room.) But I wasn't saying that to contrast the difference in quality, but to state where they are inserting themselves into the market to begin with. Sony isn't seeking to use UMD to replace DVDs--it has Blu-Ray for that. It is, however, seeking to carve out a niche, and where it lies right away is in "movies on the go" capability with the PSP. Where it extends from there depends on how both the industry and the public embraces it.

As I said later on, "the industry" may WELL embrace it more than we think with the allure of a proprietary and locked format, but I share JVD's opinion that no matter WHAT they do with UMD's, it will be hacked into somehow. However, that rarely matters, as so long as no burnable UMD media is created, most of their worries are gone for Joe and Jane Consumer.

Meanwhile it effects ME not at all, because it won't stop me from using CDs and DVDs how I will--it merely offers another option. If Sony indeed refrains from releasing burnable media and drives on the market, the industry might take to it more, but if it also brings cheaper video options with easier and less-espensive portability on a device that gives them many more options as well, the public may be perfectly happy anyway. Audio may or may not be adopted with UMD (after all the RIAA would like a more locked format, but may not want to hurt their margins by adopting a low-cost strategy with them--especially since they can provide higher-quality than CDs anyway with less packaging cost)--though Sony can always force the market somewhat with their own libraries and try to roll others in--but it will still have what the typical MP3 player offers through Memory Stick.

Basically it will be its own beast, and I can't see it adversely affecting the models we have right now with CD and DVD anyway, so it will live or die on its own merits. In many ways it will act much like what we have now, but it has its own individual properties, so the market will do with them as they will.

 

[jvd]

Re: ...

Then a quick download to a pc and a burn to a dvd r and thats it .

With no PC UMD drives and no UMD-R discs to go around, pirating is going to be a lot trickier...

all it needs is some video out jacks .

 

[Panajev2001a]

Re: ...

Then a quick download to a pc and a burn to a dvd r and thats it .

With no PC UMD drives and no UMD-R discs to go around, pirating is going to be a lot trickier...

all it needs is some video out jacks .

Analog ones, but the PSP will not have any of them

 

[Panajev2001a]

I have to agree with Deadmeat on the issue of UMD appeal for content providers due to the ROM only format ( UMD needs this more as it doesn't have $64 Billions of R&D behind its back and 10 HUGE giants of the Consumer Electronics world pushing it like Blu-Ray does [which is pushed also by Disney] ).

The point is not to make a format that can NEVER be cracked as that will happen sooner or later.

There are two goals with the UMD:

1.) to make it hard enough to delay a bit even the pro hackers.

2.) to make it relatively impossible for Joe Casualgamer to pirate stuff like he could while he used to quickly rip DVDs with friendly and easy to use ripping software and to pirate music on Kaazaa.

Number 2.) is perhaps the most important of the two and that is what should attract content providers and associations like the RIAA and the MPAA.

 

[Geeforcer]

I don't see why UMD is a huge deal. Yeah, Sony has unsuccessfully tried getting it's own format adopted as industry standard... so what? That's the beauty of free market. If UMD has no merits as a media distribution format, it will fail and be solely a medium for PSP game distribution. If it is indeed attractive as manner of movies/music distribution it will gain market share and wide acceptance. From a consumer point of view it's a "not lose (in case UMD fails) - win (in case UMD becomes popular)" scenario. Why are so many afraid to let consumers vote with their valets and market to sort things out?

BTW, if I had to pick between two formats one of which allows me to play movies/music/games while the other is games only, I would go with the former even if I had no plans to take advantage of said feature – extra options are good. How many of you play music CDs and MP3s on your home theater DVD player? However, all things being equal, would you not opt for a player that gives you an option to do so?

 

[Steve Dave Part Deux]

PSP won't be able to compete with the margins publishers are getting on GBA titles for years, even if it becomes the fastest seling system of all time.

 

[Panajev2001a]

GBA does not seem to be a system where all third parties are screaming about HUGE profit margins.

 

[cthellis42]

Re: ...

Then a quick download to a pc and a burn to a dvd r and thats it .

With no PC UMD drives and no UMD-R discs to go around, pirating is going to be a lot trickier...

all it needs is some video out jacks .

How does this matter? People will be ripping the same material off CD and DVD anyway. They can certainly transfer mediums, but it's not like they'll be doing anything not already done.

Unless some publishers start throwing content ONLY on UMD, but I can't see anyone abandoning CD or DVD for it.