SCEE's Phil Harrison PSP talk

[hey69]

According to SCEE's Phil Harrison, Executive Vice President of Product Development, the PSP battery pack is meant to be worn on players' wrists -- we're not sure how this works, considering that the battery was nearly the size of the PSP at E3 (the article mentions that the final version will be 8mm thick). Running time of either the battery pack or the system itself was not discussed.

As far as codecs go, Harrison mentions the ATRAC audio support of the system, but the article goes on to say that MP3 will not be supported by the system -- this is in contrast to versions of the official specs that list MP3 as a supported codec. It was always known that PSP would push Sony's proprietary ATRAC3plus audio codec, for both security and corporate reasons, but it was assumed that ATRAC would mostly be the codec for UMD Audio and downloadable content releases, so it is unknown where this will fall out in the end (a third party MP3 player would be a given if Sony doesn't provide it, and users would have to convert their previously-encoded music files to the ATRAC format, so if this is the case, we're not sure what ends Sony plans to meet by omitting the feature.)

Harrison is also written up in reiterating the plan to have game and UMD Video movie prices in line with current PS2 and DVD prices. Movie and music producers have expressed interest in publishing to Sony's new disc format, and Harrison says that he expects a rental market to pop up around the PSP video releases.

One last note of the article is Harrison's personal, off-the-cuff opinion of Nintendo's DS ... which we will not get into here in order to save Nintendo fans from having to write yet another flurry of hate mail (needless to say, he's not as impressed with the system as some others have been.) Keep an ear out for more whispered words from Europe before the Jedi Masters send their padawan attendants out to quell the insurgence. .

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During an interview in this month's Edge Magazine, SCEE's Phil Harrison confirmed that downloadable content will be available via Wi-Fi for Sony’s upcoming futuristic racer, Wipeout Pure.

According to Harrison, a new track will be available for download each month. Just how many new tracks in total will arrive, and whether or not players will be able to download new vehicles is currently unknown.

For reference, Wipeout Pure footage was displayed at Sony’s pre-E3 press conference last month. IGN has the clips here.

Pick up a copy of this months Edge Magazine for a round-up on all the games which have been announced for the PSP, plus the full Phil Harrison interview.

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Suposely this comes from EDGE magazine, but I don't know it's 100% correct
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Is this the powerpack?

 

[Paul]

.....Morons

 

[wco81]

Don't understand. The battery is not integrated within the PSP unit?

What is it, a wire dangling to connect it to the battery pack?

Doubtful about a rental market. Shelf space doesn't come easy. Maybe if they make a deal with Netflix.

And they would have to give people some way to play the movies at home or else people won't buy UMD movies and DVDs.

Prices comparable to DVD won't cut it either. Who's going to pay the same money to watch it on a 4.3-inch screen? It's not the same experience, period.

 

[GwymWeepa]

Don't understand. The battery is not integrated within the PSP unit?

What is it, a wire dangling to connect it to the battery pack?

Doubtful about a rental market. Shelf space doesn't come easy. Maybe if they make a deal with Netflix.

And they would have to give people some way to play the movies at home or else people won't buy UMD movies and DVDs.

Prices comparable to DVD won't cut it either. Who's going to pay the same money to watch it on a 4.3-inch screen? It's not the same experience, period.

From what I understand, its an additional battery, could be wrong.

 

[Paul]

It's the external battery pack to extend the life of the PSP.

 

[Pepto-Bismol]

Don't understand. The battery is not integrated within the PSP unit?

What is it, a wire dangling to connect it to the battery pack?

Sony has a keen eye for fashion. PlayStation Portable is overpriced and inconvenient!

 

[Phil]

True. Definately morons, but I saw it coming. It's insane really how they're still pushing ATRAC, cotnrary to the popularity of MP3s. Damn, at least the success of the iPod should get them thinking.

Anyway, doesn't bother me as I wouldn't have used it for mp3s anyway (I have my iRiver for that). Still think it's a big failure, especially if they're trying to market the PSP as the "walkman of the 21st century".

 

[Evil_Cloud]

Imagine having to carry a PSP, and an external battery pack, which is half the size of PSP, at the same time in order to play...

 

[thop]

Why are they still desperately trying to push ATRAC? And i thought they learned sth. from betamax.

 

[jvd]

Imagine having to carry a PSP, and an external battery pack, which is half the size of PSP, at the same time in order to play...

good way to build up your arms. Just switch arms every once in a while

 

[wco81]

ATRACS for the DRM, I believe. Remember, the electronics division has clashed with the music division in the past.

I thought I heard the MD is moderately successful.

But the hard disk digital music players they've introduced in Japan and the online music store they announced recently are full of ATRACS, reportedly.

The software they wrote to load the music from PCs to these devices apparently transcode MP3 files into ATRACS and I've heard people complaining that the software, when it wasn't locking up, was slow and clumsy.

iPod and iTunes had nothing to worry about, according to these people.

 

[cthellis42]

Offhand, I think a wrist-attached extra battery is sort of a neat idea, if you're going for longer time. I was wondering how PSP could integrate a bigger battery with its slim line design, and I certainly couldn't see them letting you open up a battery component and just hot-swapping lithium-ions... Having a battery you could wear on your arm or belt loops would be handies--and on the arm would be more universal and less of a tether. Knowing just what the built-in one CAN do, however, would be nice--instead of getting the usual song and dance around the topic.

If they do end up dissing MP3 with the final spec, however, I will be sorely annoyed. (Though I imagine program you can install yourself onto a MS along with your MP3's to play them would follow soon enough.) Just what the hell is the POINT anymore? <sigh> More industry piracy concerns screwing with our hardware again, no doubt... :?

And this: Harrison is also written up in reiterating the plan to have game and UMD Video movie prices in line with current PS2 and DVD prices. ...had also better be "notably less" not "in line." But it seems the random video releases for the GBA player aren't paying attention to that either. :? :?

 

[a688]

And this: Harrison is also written up in reiterating the plan to have game and UMD Video movie prices in line with current PS2 and DVD prices. ...had also better be "notably less" not "in line." But it seems the random video releases for the GBA player aren't paying attention to that either. :? :?

Well he said "in line" so I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. I don't understand what he means by current PS2 and DVD prices? Is he talking about game prices and DVD prices which are quite different? Someone please explain this to me.

 

[pilonvone]

Games will fall in line with PS2 game prices, and UMDV video will be priced similar to DVDs. $40-50 PSP games then.

 

[PC-Engine]

The software they wrote to load the music from PCs to these devices apparently transcode MP3 files into ATRACS and I've heard people complaining that the software, when it wasn't locking up, was slow and clumsy.

So basically you take a compressed MP3 and compress it again to ATRACS? Why would anybody want to listen to double compressed music? I just shudder at the thought of listening to the final audio output quality.

Knowing just what the built-in one CAN do, however, would be nice--instead of getting the usual song and dance around the topic.

They've already said how long the included battery will likely last from previous articles. Why can't some people just accept it?

Anyway including a higher capacity battery would cost more and add too much weight and bulk so they this is their solution. Unfortunately, this is the price you pay for being graphics whores.

Too bad they're unwilling to use NEC's mini fuel cell which would give this thing at least 20 hours of continuous game use.

 

[Guden Oden]

So basically you take a compressed MP3 and compress it again to ATRACS? Why would anybody want to listen to double compressed music? I just shudder at the thought of listening to the final audio output quality.

It's not bad at all, even ATRAC3, which is now several years old, is superior to MP3 in the quality-vs.-bitrate comparison. The previous version of the software wasn't clumsy at all in my opinion, it had two listviews, it was easy to move files between either, or sort songs into folders on the MD player. It did occationally hang on me, there's a new one out now that I've only started up to confirm that it finds my MD (which it does), so I don't know if it's any more reliable.

ATRAC3+ as used in the new HiMD units (and I presume, PSP), is even better quality. I'm not sorry at all if this is a forced format. Why should I complain when Sony offers better quality at lower storage costs? Yes, transcoding may cost a little, but where are you going to listen to your PSP anyway, at home where it's nice and quiet, or out there amongst traffic and people and other noise through likely rather imperfect headphones?

I re-rip the music I want to download to my MD player to get the best quality possible, at the highest compression rate that ATRAC3 offers each song is TINY. Much smaller than ye average MP3, yet I hear only very little in the way of artifacts even when listening in a low-noise environment.

As for the external battery, it's not a bad idea, but I think I would prefer a longer cord and wear it on my belt rather than the arm.

 

[Evil_Cloud]

Imagine having to carry a PSP, and an external battery pack, which is half the size of PSP, at the same time in order to play...

good way to build up your arms. Just switch arms every once in a while

Maybe they can sell it as some kind of muscle trainer. Arms would get electric shocks from the battery power.

 

[rabidrabbit]

So basically you take a compressed MP3 and compress it again to ATRACS? Why would anybody want to listen to double compressed music? I just shudder at the thought of listening to the final audio output quality.

Obviously it is not meant to support transferring pirated MP3 files to the PSP
If you have a CD (that you legally own) you can compress it to ATRAC without converting ot to MP3 first.
We all do own the CD's we've made MP3's originally, don't we
And if you DL the songs from Sonys service, I think they're already on ATRAC.
Of course, if you have downloaded songs from some other services, that are originally MP3's, then there might be downgrade in quality as you'd re-convert them. But Sony naturally doesn't want you to buy songs from others

 

[jvd]

So basically you take a compressed MP3 and compress it again to ATRACS? Why would anybody want to listen to double compressed music? I just shudder at the thought of listening to the final audio output quality.

Obviously it is not meant to support transferring pirated MP3 files to the PSP
If you have a CD (that you legally own) you can compress it to ATRAC without converting ot to MP3 first.
We all do own the CD's we've made MP3's originally, don't we
And if you DL the songs from Sonys service, I think they're already on ATRAC.
Of course, if you have downloaded songs from some other services, that are originally MP3's, then there might be downgrade in quality as you'd re-convert them. But Sony naturally doesn't want you to buy songs from others

how about all the mp3s you legaly own from downloading them from sites . OR that i got free from drinking slurpees (up to 30 from that )

 

[-tkf-]

Obviously it is not meant to support transferring pirated MP3 files to the PSP
If you have a CD (that you legally own) you can compress it to ATRAC without converting ot to MP3 first.

Hammer on the head!

I guess you will hear lots of bitching about "i allready ripped my CD collection to MP3 why would i have to do it again" but you made the point.

But what interest me is where are these "mp3" files supposed to go? on the Memorystick? unless there is a UMD that is writeable we are basicly disccussing a function that is without use?