Playstation PSP, near-perfect digital convergence

Stan Beer
Monday, 19 September 2005 20:41

Your IT - Entertainment

Is the as-yet unavailable ‘Apple Video iPod’ dead on arrival?

Sony PSP, $399, www.sonystyle.com.au

Sony’s Playstation Portable (PSP) redefines the concept of digital media convergence by offering a unit that combines gaming, movies, music, photo display and wireless Internet capabilities.

It’s important to re-iterate here that it really does perform all of those functions – the PSP is not just for playing games.

That said, it is built upon the PS/2 platform, and the games we’ve seen for the PSP feature incredible graphics and pumping soundtracks that are totally unlike the original B&W gaming experiences of those early Nintendo ‘Game and Watch’ systems or even the original B&W Nintendo Gameboy from the early 1990s.

Another killer feature is the massive 3.8 inch widescreen LCD. It displays movies, games, photos and video in glorious detail, colour and sharpness, making it the best portable video player we’ve seen. Commercial movie releases and games are available on UMDs (universal memory discs). They store 1.8Gb of data and are basically mini-DVD style optical discs. Given that the PSP is aimed at kids through to 40 year olds and above, some PSP owners might never use it for games, preferring to use it for watching movies, seeing photo slideshows and watching video clips converted to the PSP’s widescreen format. There are free programs that let you convert existing video formats to the PSP format, and elsewhere on ITWire.com.au you’ll find a review of Movies on PSP, a software package designed to automate the process and make it as easy as possible to convert the most popular formats, including DiVX, to Memory Stick media for playback on PSP.

The ability to play mp3s gives it iPod capabilities, although given only a 32mb Memory Stick Duo card is included, and there is no on-board storage, you’ll need to buy a much larger memory card if you want to listen to dozens or hundreds of mp3 tunes.

Built-in 802.11b wireless capabilities let you play games against fellow PSP owners wirelessly. Better still, if you’re near a hotspot in your home, office or out-and-about, you can even connect to the Internet, surf the web, download new levels for games and check your email.

As with the iPod, there is a growing number of cool accessories available, from external speaker systems that the PSP plugs into, protective cases for the PSP, screen protectors, UMD disc protectors, screen cleaners and many more.

The slim and stylish nature of the PSP makes it a must have gadget, and for movie lovers, there are even more movies for the PSP than games at the time of release, with plenty more of both on their way!

One thing is for sure – when you buy a PSP, no content comes with it aside from a demo disc of games and movie trailers, so you’ll need to immediately buy something else, be it a game, a movie or an accessory or two, so while the $399 is eye-catching, the likely amount at time of purchase will be $500 or more. That said, the PSP performs all of its functions so well, it makes you wonder, if Apple ever decides to release a Video iPod – will consumers buy a device that just plays video and music – or will they want one that does so much more?

ALEX ZAHAROV-REUTT