PSP NEWS!

[Grall]

N64 had two R4k cores in it, one CPU and one in the RCP.

I notice the PSP has an ACTUATOR (vibration force feedback most likely) and a SENSOR built into it... Now this is most interesting. Tilt sensor for driving or flying games perhaps? Wonder how that'll work with the screen built into the device!

How long do we have to wait to hear the screen res?


*G*

 

[vers]

this is the future ????

:LOL

 

[cybamerc]

Screen is 480x272... was announced at E3.

 

[Fox5]

Wow, and this is coming out for under $200 with battery life longer than 2 hours on like 20 AAs? I'm not really seeing a competitor to gameboy here, I see either.....
PSOne, ie, a console type thing that is small enough to be portable, but this time the screen is integrated.
Or it is a lot weaker than sony says, it comes out as a gameboy type handheld with around n64- early dreamcast quality graphics.

 

[Panajev2001a]

I think the design is also optimized for low power consumption ( as much as possible ) and if they come with rechargable batteries it should not be a problem...

 

[Cyborg]

Rechargable batteries doesnt solve the battery comsumption problem, it just avoids you to empty your pocket to feed the monster. Even if gamegear would of had a rechargable battery, if its empty every 4 to 6 hours, its a worthless piece of junk for gaming.

 

[DeadmeatGA]

...

■Cutting Edge Technologies
　-aiming to explore the future...
90nm Semiconductor Process
Dual MIPS R4000 core
Vector Floating Engines
Reconfigurable DSP Engine(VME)
Advanced 3D Graphics Engine
AVC(MPEG4) Decoder
AES Crypto System
1.8GB UMD

■21st Century Portable System
　-integrate all forms of digital entertainment
3D-CG Game
7.1ch Audio, 3D Sound
ATRAC3 plus, AAC, MP3 for Music
AVC/＠MP for Picture / Movie
16:9 Widescreen TFT LCD
Embedded Wireless LAN（802.11）
Li-ion Battery
Extension for GPS，Digital Tuner...

■Optical Disc System
　-seeking avanteges of “Mediaâ€
Large Capacity（3x to CD-ROM）
Media for Game/Music/Movie/Publishing
Lower Manufacturing Cost
Minimize Inventory Risk
Repoat Ordering System
Parental Lock System
Regional Code System
Copy Protection

■UMD ; Universal Media Disc
　-ultimate portable disc for SD system
60mmφ
Laser Diode:660nm
Dual Layer :1.8GB
Transfer Rate:11Mbps
Shock Proof
Secure ROM by AES
Unique Disc ID

■PSP CPU CORE
MIPS R4000 32bit Core
128bit Bus
1～333MHz ＠1.2V
Main Memory :8MB（eDRAM）
Bus Bandwidth :2.6GB/sec
I-Cache, D-Cache
FPU, VFPU（Vector Unit）:＠2.6GFlops
3D-CG Extended Instructions

■PSP Media Engine
MIPS R4000 32bit Core
128bit Bus
1～333MHz ＠1.2V
Sub Memory:2MB（eDRAM）＠2.6GB/sec
I-Cache, D-Cache
90nm CMOS

■PSP Graphics Core 1
3D Curved Surface ＋ 3D Polygon
Compressed Texture
Hardware Clipping, Morphing, Bone(8)
Hardware Tessellator
Bezier, B-Spline(NURBS)
ex 4×4，16×16，64×64 sub-division
>reduce program /data
>reduce memory footprint ＆ bus traffic

■PSP Graphics Core 2
‘Rendaring Engine’＋‘Surface Engine’
256bit Bus, 1-166 MHz ＠1.2V
VRAM :2MB（eDRAM）
Bus Bandwidth :5.3GB/sec
Pixel Fill Rate :664 M pixels/sec
max 33 M polygon /sec（T＆L）
24bit Full Color:RGBA

■PSP Sound Core: VME
Reconfigurable DSPs
128bit Bus
166MHz ＠1.2V
5 Giga Operations /sec
CODEC
3D Sound, Multi-Channel
Synthesizer, Effecter, ……

■AVC Decoder
AVC（H.264） Decoder
Main Profile
Baseline Profile
＠Level1，Level2，Level3
2Hours（High Quality）～DVD Mobie
4Hours（Standard Quality）～CS Digital

■I/O
USB 2.0
Memory Stick
Extension Port（reserved）
Stereo Head phone Out

■Communication
Wireless LAN（802.11）
IrDA
USB 2.0

 

[DeadmeatGA]

...

Still skeptical of my claim that Sega Saturn architecture had a profound impact on design philosophy of PSX2 and now PSP??? Twin CPUs, twin GPUs. Ouch

 

[MfA]

It seems almost certain that it will be able to power down units individually, and all the important stuff has a scalable clock. Power consumption will be a direct function of the complexity of the game, for your average super-nintendo port it will probably completely outclass the present gen gameboy-advance in playtime.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Re: ...

Still skeptical of my claim that Sega Saturn architecture had a profound impact on design philosophy of PSX2 and now PSP??? Twin CPUs, twin GPUs. Ouch

Skeptical ? Oh no... absolutely not.. It taught M2 designers and PlayStation 2 designers how parallel procsessing should have NOT been implemented...

And Deadmeat...

Still speachless ? Do not worry, I will give you 1 day to grasp at straws and make a comeback...

 

[akira888]

You guys got to admit, for Sony to write "Similiar to the original Playstation" took some balls. Like a slap at themselves pretty much. But that's a wonderful sign for them (and us) as it shows Sony can learn and improve from their mistakes.

And Deadmeat[GA], sorry, but there are no "twin GPUs." There are two dies which each implement around half of the function of a GPU although they are kept seperate from each other. 3dfx Rampage was going to have almost the exact same layout, but I doubt any Saturn influence there. The two CPUs seem to be a potential difficulty I admit, but we'll just have to see later...

EDIT: One smart config for a dev would be to have one CPU handling game logic while the other drives the I/O. Sony probably used a software 802.11b ASIC that's going to need some hardware assistance (if they're smart and wanting to save money).

 

[zurich]

Great Jebesus, this thing looks amazing. I have an 802.11 router at home, so I'm very much excited about the WiFi. Perhaps the 7.1ch can be downmixed and used with headphones for 'virtual' surround sound?

 

[chaphack]

1~333mhz meaning variable cpu speed to save battery life? Why are there no talks about say, those fancy pixel effects? Does that show Sony's design philosophy, ie raw polygon vertices 'em all?

I guess the price will depend on whether Sony likens it to be the real Playstation portable or just PSX brother in love, PSP. Analysts' $150~250 doesnt sound that bad..

 

[Paul]

Fancy pixel effects on a handheld? Let's first get to quality 3d graphics and we'll worry about pixel effects another time.

 

[marconelly!]

and what Nintendo (and possibly MS) does to counter it are going to be very important factors in how successful the PSP is.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to Nintendo's answer, but I'm wondering when it will be announced. Will they be willing to launch a more expensive handheld, and so soon after the GBA SP (which is clearly branded at a more mature market, same people who would be interested in the new 3D console from Nintendo) Microsoft, I think they went on record saying they won't be making any attempts at this market.

~333mhz meaning variable cpu speed to save battery life? Why are there no talks about say, those fancy pixel effects? Does that show Sony's design philosophy, ie raw polygon vertices 'em all?

Heh, would you decide if you think this handheld is too powerful for it's own good/time it's released (like you claim at GAF) or it should be even more powerful?

In any case, I imagine doing multitexturing effects on a machine with such a fillrate should be a breeze. We'll see some nice texturing effects from it.[/quote]

 

[chaphack]

Fancy pixel effects on a handheld? Let's first get to quality 3d graphics and we'll worry about pixel effects another time.

Fancy pixel effects is quality 3d. I think you can video out PSP games/movies onto your TV. Here's hoping Sony get a much better DAC this time round.

Hint of battery life....or UMD playback length?
- 2Hours (High Quality) ~ DVD Movie
- 4Hours (Standard Quality) ~ CS Digital

 

[Paul]

Fancy pixel effects is quality 3d.

You don't seem to get it. We are talking about a HANDHELD not a console.

Do you really want per pixel effects with psone quality graphics? We don't even have a handheld out yet that is producing 3d graphics(no that dumb GBA game doesn't count, looks too horrible to even begin to think it's 3d) and we already have people knocking on PSP because of the lack of "pixel effects" and already we are dooming the thing to a "ps2 fate" because of a lack of shiny pixel effects.

I think you can video out PSP games/movies onto your TV.

Yea, in that stupid little PSP resolution? What are you going to do if a PSP game pushes the hardware's fillrate to the max, how are you going to magically double the fillrate to fit 640X320 on a standard TV?

 

[chaphack]

Yeay man, i readily admitted the specs are pretty impressive(on paper at least), just that well, pixel effects are cool. Not saying PSP is underwhelming, but it could just round things off with added cool pixel shading. I mean, pixel stuffs are the norm in 3D today, so it might feel slightly lacking if i see straight lines of a vertex lighting in a PSP game.

Ya know, that itch that needs to be scratched.

Guess that shows Sony design choice, right? So i expect that will carry on with pixel for polygons PS3?

 

[Paul]

There just is no point.

Imagine a psone game with per pixel shading..

Pixel shading only looks good and is needed when the rest of the graphics are of good quality, otherwise it's just a waste.

PSP will need it's GPU power to do other things than shaders.

 

[akira888]

Paul (great name ):

I (at least me) was not "dooming" the PSP to oblivion if the fraagment pipe wasn't programmable enough, I merely said it would be beyond incredibly neat to have it.

And "PSOne-quality graphics" seems to be underselling the unit by a very, very wide mark. Pixel-for-pixel, this thing will look tons better than PS2 if these numbers are right, so fragment programmability is far from out of the question. But either way, I want this thing released yesterday! This now means that all 3D titles of the last decade or so can now be at least graphically presented in some abstract sense on a portable. That is a huge leap forward that many seem to be missing.