[animosity]

It's official!

Sony Computer Entertainment America just sent out a press release containing the launch details for its upcoming PSP handheld.

The Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable) will be made available through retail outlets in North America on March 24, 2005, at a suggested retail price of US$249.99 ($299 CDN).

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe sent out a similar release, confirming that region will also get the system on March 24th.

In Japan, Sony sells two flavors of the system: a standard package (system only) and a value package (system plus 32MB memory stick, headphones, carry case). The package that will go on sale next month in North America and Europe is the Value Package.

The pack will also include an AC adaptor, cleaning cloth, and a sampler disc containing video and music clips.

The first ONE MILLION units sold (in North America only) will contain a special UMD video release of the blockbuster feature film, Spider-Man 2.

http://www.psxextreme.com/scripts/news3/new.asp?newID=47

i guess the rumors of 150 are completely untrue and its MORE than the japanese systems..wtf :bh

 

[animosity]

here's the games...

Along with the announcement that the PSP will begin shipping in the U.S. on March 25, 2005, Sony also provided a list today of the launch titles that will be available when the system goes on sale.

24 titles will be available when the system ships--more than doubling the number of games that were available for the Nintendo DS when it went on sale. (That's also more than the current DS line-up in total)

Launch Games:

Ape Escape: On the Loose
ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails
Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower
Dynasty Warriors
FIFA 2005
Gretzky NHL
Lumines
Metal Gear Acid
MLB
MVP Baseball
NBA
NBA Street Showdown
Need for Speed Rivals
NFL Street 2 Unleashed
Rengoku: Tower of Purgatory
Ridge Racer
Smartbomb
Spider-Man 2
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix
Twisted Metal: Head On
Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade
Wipeout Pure
World Tour Soccer

Software prices will range from $39.99-$49.99 SRP.

"The high profile lineup includes a wide range of products that will appeal to every type of gamer -- from the sports fan to the action enthusiast -- providing consumers with the ultimate entertainment experience in the palm of their hands," said Andrew House, executive vice president, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "Combined with a strong first party lineup, the portable entertainment space will be catapulted to new heights as we engage in the single biggest consumer launch of the year."

http://www.psxextreme.com/scripts/news3/new.asp?NewID=48

 

[tqhx]

here's the games...

Along with the announcement that the PSP will begin shipping in the U.S. on March 25, 2005, Sony also provided a list today of the launch titles that will be available when the system goes on sale.

24 titles will be available when the system ships--more than doubling the number of games that were available for the Nintendo DS when it went on sale. (That's also more than the current DS line-up in total)

Launch Games:

Ape Escape: On the Loose
ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails
Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower
Dynasty Warriors
FIFA 2005
Gretzky NHL
Lumines
Metal Gear Acid
MLB
MVP Baseball
NBA
NBA Street Showdown
Need for Speed Rivals
NFL Street 2 Unleashed
Rengoku: Tower of Purgatory
Ridge Racer
Smartbomb
Spider-Man 2
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix
Twisted Metal: Head On
Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade
Wipeout Pure
World Tour Soccer

Software prices will range from $39.99-$49.99 SRP.

"The high profile lineup includes a wide range of products that will appeal to every type of gamer -- from the sports fan to the action enthusiast -- providing consumers with the ultimate entertainment experience in the palm of their hands," said Andrew House, executive vice president, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "Combined with a strong first party lineup, the portable entertainment space will be catapulted to new heights as we engage in the single biggest consumer launch of the year."

http://www.psxextreme.com/scripts/news3/new.asp?NewID=48

Crap i was hoping for GTA and GT4


Need for speed is probably good enough though. Guess im just going to have to plan on spending another 100 bucks! Good info tho, thanks

 

[BabyVadah]

Cost more than the current PS2's, weak.
I'll get one when they are teh cheap, maybe.

 

[animosity]

Cost more than the current PS2's, weak.
I'll get one when they are teh cheap, maybe.

the ds costs more than a gamecube :dunno:

 

[BabyVadah]

the ds costs more than a gamecube :dunno:

Double weak. But since they are new systems it's not surprising.

 

[p_r0phet]

i bet dynasty warriors is gonna own on the PSP cause i love that game on any system

 

[Hi-TeK JZA70]

250 is alot... i'll wait till i can get it for 200

 

[tha_con]

I could have called this, lol.

Anyway, I'll get my free PSP in, though I don't think I'll be able to have much time with it, it will probably go back to the main office...we'll find out, lol. Hopefully I can test it out for battery life, and see what's REALLY true, haha.

 

[animosity]

I could have called this, lol.

Anyway, I'll get my free PSP in, though I don't think I'll be able to have much time with it, it will probably go back to the main office...we'll find out, lol. Hopefully I can test it out for battery life, and see what's REALLY true, haha.

give ya 100 bucks for it

 

[tqhx]

I could have called this, lol.

Anyway, I'll get my free PSP in, though I don't think I'll be able to have much time with it, it will probably go back to the main office...we'll find out, lol. Hopefully I can test it out for battery life, and see what's REALLY true, haha.

Thats cool, how early will you get to test it? I cant even pre order it yet :td

 

[tha_con]

Well, we got our DS abouuut....a month before it's release, so if we do get a gift package from Sony (as we like to call them, lol) it should be about a month out...which is soon. But I dunno

And no I won't sell it, I have to write too many articles for it

 

[Shiba-Kun]

Sony to release PSP March 24 in North America

Friday February 4, 3:15 AM

Sony to release PSP March 24 in North America

LOS ANGELES, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Sony Corp. will release its long-awaited PSP portable video game system on March 24 in North America, it said on Thursday, challenging Nintendo's more than 15-year dominance of the handheld video game market with its Game Boy and DS handhelds.
Industry insiders see the PSP as Nintendo's most serious contender yet, though the $250 PSP is targeted at an older market -- teenagers and young men -- than the $80 Game Boy Advance SP and the $150 DS. Handheld sales growth is expected to drive the $10 billion U.S. video game industry this year.

The PSP will come in a "value pack" including accessories and a copy of the movie "Spider-Man 2" on Sony's new UMD disc format, designed for the PSP and capable of holding three times the data of a traditional CD-ROM.

"I don't think the $249 price point is going to deter any of the early adopters," said P.J. McNealy, an analyst with American Technology Research. "By the holidays they'll need a $199 stand-alone."

Sony, which has suffered a dry spell of consumer gadget hits in recent years, came in just under the wire on a self-imposed deadline to launch in the United States by the end of its fiscal year in March.

Sony sells the PSP in two configurations in Japan -- a basic unit for less than 20,000 yen, or $200, and a value pack for around 25,000 yen, or roughly $240.


"The experience that we've seen so far of the two (package) approach in the Japanese market has been demand overwhelmingly for the value pack," said Andrew House, executive vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, in a telephone interview.

The Japanese consumer electronics giant officially unveiled the PSP for North America at the Consumer Electronics Show in early January, but it did not commit to a launch date, leading to widespread speculation it would not have enough units available to make its target March release.

Most major game publishers expect strong growth in the handheld market this year to offset slowing sales of console games and to cushion the blow as the industry transitions from the current generation of game consoles to new machines expected in 2005 and 2006.

GAMES, MOVIES AT LAUNCH

On Thursday, Sony said around 24 titles would be available in the two weeks or so around the launch, representing all of the industry's major game publishers and genres. Some of those games include "FIFA 2005," "Metal Gear Acid," "Need for Speed Rivals" and "Twisted Metal: Head On."

Sony also said it would build 1 million units for sale in North America in its current fiscal year, ending March 31.

McNealy said he took that to mean there would actually be somewhere from 500,000 to 700,000 units available on retail shelves by the end of March, with the rest in transit from manufacturing facilities. House declined to forecast figures, saying it was a matter of logistics.

Handheld market leader Nintendo also faced problems meeting demand when its new DS portable was launched.

The DS lacks many of the PSP's multimedia functions, but the PSP is envisioned as a multimedia device for movies and music -- which is why "Spider-Man 2" will be included with the first million value packs sold.

And while Sony executives said last month the market for movies on the new UMD discs would be slower to develop, Sony's House said that has changed somewhat of late.

"I think it could be a little more aggressive earlier on," he said. "I think you'll see some movie releases within the first month after launch."

 

[adaaaam]

It's $250 for the value pack, which is essentially a small 32MB memory stick thrown in (plus worthless bag and earphones). But the unit itself is msrp $200, which won't be available by itself until later.

 

[animosity]

It's $250 for the value pack, which is essentially a small 32MB memory stick thrown in (plus worthless bag and earphones). But the unit itself is msrp $200, which won't be available by itself until later.

i doubt we'll see a system only for sale anytime soon.

 

[LevelSevenCivic]

why does it cost more here than in japan? probably because since we're importing them from japan, we incur the extra costs behind importing goods from other countries.

kinda like the way they do with cars. japan can build better cars cheaper than american cars so they incur a tariff (on top of shipping and handling costs)upon entering the states for sales among american consumers to give american automakers a fair chance in competition.

granted, the psp really has no competition here aside from the ds which is also imported but it does incur shipping charges and other stuff that we get to pay.

ill get it when it has the same status as gba did this time last year. when it's lowering prices to stay alive before the next big thing hits.

 

[animosity]

why does it cost more here than in japan? probably because since we're importing them from japan, we incur the extra costs behind importing goods from other countries.

kinda like the way they do with cars. japan can build better cars cheaper than american cars so they incur a tariff (on top of shipping and handling costs)upon entering the states for sales among american consumers to give american automakers a fair chance in competition.

granted, the psp really has no competition here aside from the ds which is also imported but it does incur shipping charges and other stuff that we get to pay.

ill get it when it has the same status as gba did this time last year. when it's lowering prices to stay alive before the next big thing hits.

they're giving us the value pack, which is the same thing in japan

 

[LevelSevenCivic]

they're giving us the value pack, which is the same thing in japan

and we still gotta pay what they pay to import it over here.
i think someone said that, converted to usd, it cost $150 in japan.
whatever they pay to have sony ship it to the dock... we probably pay.
whatever they pay to teceive it at a japanese dock... we probably pay.
whatever they pay to haul it across the ocean... we probably pay.
whatever they pay to receive it at a us dock... we probably pay.
whatever they pay to ship it to warehouses across the us... we probably pay.
whatever they pay to keep these on inventory... we probably pay.
whatever they pay to ship it to individual retailers... we probably pay.
whatever they pay to stock these things and have cashiers sell them... we probably pay that too.
and last but not least... whatever all these people feel they should be making above the cost of these services... we probably pay that too.

they own us one consumer at a time and theres nothing we can do but take it and like it. :cry

it sucks but im sure they do the same thing when importing goods from the us. everyone's gotta make that paper... ya know?

 

[animosity]

depending on the exchange rate, it was between 185-200 for the non value pack, we're not paying anymore than japan

 

[LevelSevenCivic]

depending on the exchange rate, it was between 185-200 for the non value pack, we're not paying anymore than japan

hmm... good point. i guess it could also depend on how strong the yen is compared to the dollar or whatever... ill never understand exchange rates