New PSP Slim rumor

[one]

Another rumor released yesterday but hey.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumor/psp-slim-details-revealed-267108.php

PSP Slim Details Revealed

...

The new Playstation Portable will have a much slimmer design, thanks mostly to a new LED screen that will deliver an ultra-crisp image but take up far less space. That LED also helps pump up the battery life of this sexy new model, which can last as much as four times longer than the original PSP. While the new PSP still makes use of the UMD drive, it will be a faster version and to help speed up loadtimes and gameplay, the portable will come packed with 8GBs of internal flash memory. Finally, the PSP's much maligned buttons have been revamped and the D-Pad has gotten a major overhaul, giving portable gamers something more like a Playstation 3 D-pad to play with.

...

The final price for this new PSP hasn't been set, but Sony is hoping to sell it for under $170 or so. Manufacturing should commence in the upcoming weeks, and the product is going to be officially unveiled at this year's E3.

If it's $170 it sounds like almost a too good deal. A possible reason for the delay of Crisis Core FF7?

 

[infinity4]

square button was fixed properly long time ago anyway.

hopefully they fix shoulder buttons.

 

[DieH@rd]

If it's $170 it sounds like almost a too good deal. A possible reason for the delay of Crisis Core FF7?

And why would they delay Crisis Core? All of the "old" PSP controlls are still here, just little... moved...

 

[cthellis42]

I do believe he meant it in the "to time the release of a big game to the release of the new unit" way.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I do believe it's too good to be true. 8GB of internal storage along with the rest? Nah-uh! If they do release it, and £100 over here (yeah, right), I still probably wouldn't buy one because it doesn't have the online coop I was hoping from it. Which is a shame as it was a machine I was keen on for a good while.

 

[vazel]

This seems a little out there for some reason but I hope it's true!

 

[pakotlar]

That doesn't make sense. LED screen? That's impossible. OLED screen? Far too expensive. LED backlight? Wouldn't cut power.

Edit: I guess the new Mackbook Pro's use an LED backlit screen that actually cuts power pretty well. So I guess it's LED backlit afterall. Just surprised considering how much power HDTV's use to power LED's. At best they reach parity with high-pressure sodium backlights.

 

[Capeta]

Um..current PSP LCDs just like cellphone LCDs are already being lit with LEDs...in fact you can see the indiviudal brightness of the LEDs at the bottom of the screen. The last portable game console that used CCFTL for LCD backlighting was the TurboExpress.

 

[Npl]

8GB internal flash makes alot of sense...NOT. I can attach any amount of flash by using a Memstick, why would I care and why would Sony want to up the BASE price by including it? (not everyone would have a use for 8GB, so why pay for it)

 

[Shifty Geezer]

For a portable media player, especially with high-res movies (relative to video iPod), lots of storage makes sense. You'd probably have 1.5 GB reserved for drive cacheing. Maybe less as you could load levels etc. That'd leave 7 GB for songs and vids without having to keep moving files around. The only downside to it is the phenominal price, which would exclude 8GB anyway. But I've no problem with the concept. They'd also benefit with support for non-MemStick storage, as Memory Stick is way too pricy.

 

[Npl]

For a portable media player, especially with high-res movies (relative to video iPod), lots of storage makes sense. You'd probably have 1.5 GB reserved for drive cacheing. Maybe less as you could load levels etc. That'd leave 7 GB for songs and vids without having to keep moving files around. The only downside to it is the phenominal price, which would exclude 8GB anyway. But I've no problem with the concept. They'd also benefit with support for non-MemStick storage, as Memory Stick is way too pricy.

I dint say there arent uses for 8GB - especially those .iso`s take up alot of space. But for someone who only wants storage for gamesaves its bloody overkill. It sure adds 30-40$ to the price and that doesnt floats well if you are already more expensive than your competitiors.

 

[pakotlar]

Um..current PSP LCDs just like cellphone LCDs are already being lit with LEDs...in fact you can see the indiviudal brightness of the LEDs at the bottom of the screen. The last portable game console that used CCFTL for LCD backlighting was the TurboExpress.

guess it doesn't scale very well with size because LED backlights use a huge amount of power in TV's, at least have until this generation. Also, tone down the attitude, i don't own one of those shitbags.

 

[vazel]

here's some more info from 'undisclosed sources'. I hope the slot loading thing is true that would be so awesome. http://www.rumorreporter.com/?p=267#respond

- New slimmer PSP is indeed in the works. Hardware is essentially the same, and will NOT have any big speed increases.

- There’s no longer a UMD Tray, but a slot loader instead. Design is supposed to have an even “cleaner” look, much like the DS Lite.

- The screen is the exact same size, and is sidekick-esque. This means that there’s some sort of a flip-factor, making the overall system even smaller.

- The screen is still LCD, not LED. Either way, battery-life will obviously be improved.

- Sony is considering bluetooth capabilities.

- Underneath the screen is the home button, the brightness controls and the volume button. This revision will also include all-new controls for chapter skipping with UMD movies and music tracks.

- Not 8GB of on-board memory. 4GB is more likely. However, the storage capacity could change.

- Sony is still deliberating on the issue, but the PlayStation Portable name should stay put. This could eventually replace existing PSP models.

- Pricing is currently the same, and a release date is more likely for Fall 07.

 

[ban25]

Integrated storage is a bad idea -- it will be quickly outpaced by the size and cost of traditional flash cards. As long as the system includes a MemoryStick slot, why not just bundle a card in the package?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Presumably because internal storage will be cheaper. 4GBs of MemStick is pricy. 4GBs of CF is as much as a third the price at retail (£45 vs £17 in referencing the cheapest UK sources I could find). I'm guessing the price isn't just being kept high for healthy profit margins as that it has an adverse effect on buying MemStick devices, so I conclude for whatever reason it costs a lot more to make. Thus adding multiple GBs of flash internally would be the sensible way to provide the buyer with larger capacity and keep the price down.

 

[Fafalada]

I'm guessing the price isn't just being kept high for healthy profit margins

I'm guessing UK is just getting ripped off because I can already find 8GB MSs for equivalent of £45 over here.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Dunno about the UK getting ripped off. Checking newegg, 4GBs of MemStick is the same price as 8 GBs of CF, $70 minimum. The lowest price there for 8 GBs of USB flash is $58, and that includes costlier packaging and gubbins than a flash card.

As MemStick has always been a good 2x the price of every other media out there, I'm guessing it's at least 50% more expensive to produce. That'd mean an extra loss of maybe $10-20 per PSP 1.5 if they bundle a card instead of put the flash on the mobo, depending on how much they use.

 

[Fafalada]

I wasn't disagreeing with the built-in flash being cheaper - it's obvious it would be, regardless of what cartridge media you compare it to.
But MS hasn't been 2x more then other media for awhile now (unless you stick only to Sony branded ones).

 

[one]

An official response
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2007/06/12/mythbusters-psp-edition/

MythBusters: PSP Edition

+ Posted by John Koller // Sr. Marketing Manager, PSP

The rumor mill is flowing about new PSP hardware and a PSP phone, and I just wanted to take the time to clear the air. We haven’t announced anything about a new PSP, much less one that would have any phone capabilities. As SCEA’s resident PSP guru, I’m thrilled to hear that there’s so much interest in the platform, but sorry folks, these reports floating around fall into the rumors/speculation category.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I wasn't disagreeing with the built-in flash being cheaper - it's obvious it would be, regardless of what cartridge media you compare it to.
But MS hasn't been 2x more then other media for awhile now (unless you stick only to Sony branded ones).

Maybe that is the UK getting fleeced than, 'coz it has been here, even at cheapy shops. The prime culprit being only two companies making the stuff. There's a few more now, but I don't know that we're seeing the benefits in Blighty yet.