Sony's iPod, Gaming-Video player, keitai for $60?

[Taro Toporific]

As of 6 P.M. today, dudes were already lining up in Akihabara to try and get a PSP. I think there are gonig to be some unhappy gamers tomorrow.
But they guys who were there early looked like they were going to have a good time of it - tarps out, lots of food, other portable systems to pass the time with...

Homeless in Tokyo gather in long lines for sustenance

[Caustic Saint]

I knew Akihabara would be crazy. That's why it was all about the Ikebukuro campout!

[Taro Toporific]

I knew Akihabara would be crazy. That's why it was all about the Ikebukuro campout!

Dude you SCORED No. 5 chan. Who cares about the Sony PoopStations?

[emperor]

I knew Akihabara would be crazy. That's why it was all about the Ikebukuro campout!

I wish i had been there doing it too, I was gonna ask my friend whose visiting tokyo this week to pick me up one but i knew what he tell me i could do if i expected him to stand outstide Bicu all night

as a consolation i got one of the few remaining ps2s in dublin from work today - its the "new" model with the slim design ...man we are so behind here

[Caustic Saint]

I wish i had been there doing it too, I was gonna ask my friend whose visiting tokyo this week to pick me up one but i knew what he tell me i could do if i expected him to stand outstide Bicu all night

Well, as I showed in my blog post, you didn't have to wait outside all night to get one. I got in line for my second one at 7:22 and had it in my hands at 8:00. The reason I camped out was to increase my chances of getting more than one.

[moog]

i scored one at Yodobashi in Shinjuku, but I had to wait in line for 14 hours to get it.

it was quite the experience. as for the psp itself, it kicks ass. it's so much more than a portable gaming device. and the sexy quotient is off the scale.

i wrote a brief entry about the experience here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/moog55/13742.html

[emperor]

..it's so much more than a portable gaming device..

could you burn los res divx or mpeg movies to mini-dvd discs and stick em in those UMD cases?

I was considering selling my and mine sisters iPods in order to buy an iriver HP320 and one of these two options:
http://www.iriver.com/html/product/prpv_product.asp?pidx=45

http://www.creative.com/PortableMediaCenters/productinfo/features.asp

Anyone have any inputski?

[Caustic Saint]

The second shipment of PSPs is hitting the streets. I was in the main Bic in Ikebukuro this morning when an announcement came over the PA system saying they had more PSPs in stock.

I went upstairs and saw this:



So I bought another one, of course!

[kotatsuneko]

heh only ds has mario kart and wario ware -^^=

[Caustic Saint]

heh only ds has mario kart and wario ware -^^=

Mario Kart's not out yet, but Wario Ware DS is pretty fun. I've gotten all but about 8-9 microgames unlocked.

[kotatsuneko]

heh, both machines look totally awesome, i just dont trust sony's build quality though. the psp screen looks brilliant i have to say. the ds isnt gba2 though, so we shall have to see what nin comes up with, its a shame that the public have little patience for nin's ideas about gameplay over graphics as only they have this vision, 90% of the third party publishers gnash their teeth as they know for the wider market its graphics all the way. only chance nin has with the ds now is to ban all non japanese developers its sad to say , but foreign development ruined the image and library of the gbc and gba, even the last 2 years of the gboys life were messed up by licenced games.

imho the psp will also suffer, as 9/10 ps/2 games are licenced shite, i just hope that enough quality games come out for it that do the hardware justice. other than that, with a nice big memory stick it could be used for some amazing emulation. hell with the right card, you can now play pcengine super cd games on gba

excellent report btw, Moog

[Mulboyne]

Full Priced UMDs in Japan
When Sony Computer Entertainment revealed solid plans to introduce a small lineup of movies to the UMD format as early as April, one area was not addressed: price. How much can we expect to pay for movies on the miniature format? While we still don't know American pricing for video UMDs, Sony Pictures Entertainment has gone on record with plans for Japan. SPE representatives reveal that while the final lineup of releases has yet to be set, Japan will see its first UMD releases in April, similar to America. Pricing for Japan is expected to be in the same range as current DVDs, which the representatives state is between 3,800 yen and 3,980 yen. DVDs tend to cost more in Japan than they do in America, so we expect far cheaper pricing for the US. However, if pricing strategies remain the same in all territories, you should expect to pay DVD prices for UMD movies in April.

Sony Announces Sony PSP UMD Movies
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announces movie releases for the Sony PSP with release date of mid April. Sony announced to release XXX, Hellboy, Resident Evil 2 and Once Upon a Time in Mexico on Sony PSP UMD discs. More UMD movies to come each month after April. The movie Spiderman 2 will be bundled as UMD disc in the Sony PSP release in the US.

[kotatsuneko]

now, rather than concentrating on all those funky new shells, they could just figure out how to stop the buttons falling/sticking into the unit.. at least nin know a toy has to be built to last

[Kuang_Grade]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/02/16/news_6118718.html

It looks like Sony is following a similar approach in the US using the standard US DVD price point for UMD movies.

While Ziyi's legions of fans will be pleased to hear Daggers is coming to UMD, Sony revealed more news regarding the format--namely its price. While no price was given for Spider-Man 2, which will ship free with the first 1 million PSPs sold in the US, XXX, Hellboy, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico will all retail for just $19.99, roughly in line with their DVD editions. Given its upscale pedigree, The House of Flying Daggers will retail for around 30 percent more, for $28.95. All five UMD films will be available on April 19, just under a month after the PSP goes on sale on March 24.

Although it is worth noting that $19.95 price point is really only for new releases in the US. Although not in all cases, it is not uncommon in the US for DVDs to drop to $15 within a few months of release and $10 (on 2 for $20 deals) after six to eights months after release.

[NeoNecroNomiCron]

Does anybody know where there is a good review of current games?

As I never liked ridge racer and dont ever intend buying it.

[Caustic Saint]

Does anybody know where there is a good review of current games?

As I never liked ridge racer and dont ever intend buying it.

You can play it this weekend and check it out for yourself.

[Failsafe]

[Caustic Saint]

Eikaiwa teachers may be out of a job...

Talkman was on display at TGS this weekend. I didn't check it out in person (too long of a wait), but the official site has a great video showing what it can do.

I may just have to pick this one up when it comes out in November.

[emperor]

Talkman was on display at TGS this weekend

I just might have to get a PSP now that it has educational value

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000270058941

[Caustic Saint]

OMGWTFFGPSP?!?

[emperor]

Can I Buy You A Drink?
Toliet Paper?

Lik Sang review & details of the software

Caustic have you played around with this yet?

I might have to get someone to ship me a *white gigapack* with a -copy of this- for xmas... cause im worth it... and my japanese needs improvement by any and every concievable way
... i might need some pocky thrown in too... ^fancy pocky^ mind you, none of that run of the mill stuff

[emperor]

http://www.jp.sonystyle.com/Company/Press/060201.html

...if you live in Japan and want to use your PSP as a navigational aid, Sony is making it a little easier with a UMD-based mapping program that the company plans to release in April. The software is similar to most PC-based mapping programs, and allows users to store annotations on Memory Sticks and share info via WiFi...

http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/01/psp-getting-maps-of-japan/

[maninjapan]

WHERE IS GRAN TURISMO sony! come on and get it out COME ON!

[Greji]

[url=http://image.lik-sang.com/trailers/talkman_tvcm1_buyyaadrink.wmv]Can I Buy You A Drink?[url]

Japan Trailer for Brokeback Mountain?

[Kuang_Grade]

Caustic have you played around with this yet?

Well, I've played around with it and I'll say its interesting...not great, but it is not bad for a first go. It has a pretty limited scope but does a mostly OK job in that limited scope.

I haven't had much luck with the speech recognition aspect&#8230]http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=232&stc=1&d=1138859551[/IMG]







The language tutorial is fairly basic. But it is nice to have an electronic device that will repeat a J vocabulary target word with a press a button rather than trying to rewind or back the track up two seconds and you can even slow the speed of the speech down a bit to better hear the syllables in the word… It uses the microphone attachment to grade your performance, although I think it judges cadence better than actually pronunciation. While the language teaching is not exceptionally deep, it is much more engaging than just listening to a CD.

Overall, it’s a pretty thin phrase book in an electronic form that is reasonably easy (although a bit clunky at times) to interface and can spit out clear phrases in both text and voice for many basic interactions. Like the TV commercials imply, it would be good for tourists but probably too simple for most people’s day to day life. But then again, your average J language class probably won’t cover “do you know of any gentlemen’s clubs”, “what are some popular casinos?”, "my period is late", or "I want a lawyer who speaks english" in the intro level coursework.

[oyajikun]

I haven't even explored that side of it yet. But the pronunciation game (particularly the Chinese) gets much love when I host dinner parties.

[Kuang_Grade]

For all of you with Japanese PSPs, Play Asia is running a pretty good sale on about 20 or so region 2 (Japan) UMD movies. While far from the best movies ever, some of them would be OK timekillers on a long train or plane journey.
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-14-71-c5-49-en.html
They are mixed within the various PSP related sale items.
Anacondas $6.99
Charlie's Angels $6.99
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon $6.99
Face/Off $6.99
Gone in 60 Seconds $6.99
Hellboy $6.99
Hollow Man $6.99
Lock Stock & Smoking Barrels $6.99
National Treasure $6.99
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
S.W.A.T. $6.99
Signs $6.99
Starsky & Hutch $6.99
House on Haunted Hill $6.99
The Chronicles of Riddick $6.99
The Rock $6.99
13 Ghosts $6.99
Unbreakable $6.99
You Got Served $6.99