Exclusive: PSP Slips out of 2004, or to Launch With Only First-Party Titles - Concise Coverage Inside

It has come to our attention that the development community is still awaiting development kits for Sony’s PlayStation Portable, craftily-dubbed as PSP.

Specifically, full development kits were scheduled to hit in the summer, but that date passed, with some firms complaining of a wall of silence regarding exact shipping dates.

Sony insiders have confirmed that the kits will be going out to third-parties soon, perhaps within the next ten days. It is also believed that various first-party studios have already taken receipt of preliminary devices. Related news sees Sony considering lumping almost all of its first-party PSP development into a new, as yet unannounced studio. For example, rather than Polyphony Digital developing/porting Gran Turismo for the PSP, the work, which would largely comprise porting PlayStation 2 code, would be carried out at the new studio, overseen by Polyphony.

However, there is a growing feeling that the console might not make it out as planned next year, given the tight development deadlines involved.

Should development kits arrive this week, that will allow studios around ten months from the first digit to UMD mastering. That's not a long time. Although the console will be “as close to a PlayStation 2 under the bonnet as is humanly possible”, according one Sony staffer speaking some months back, Nintendo has learned the hard way that porting from one system to a similar system isn't as easy as perhaps it might be.

Speaking to one senior development source, under terms of strict anonymity, we were told, “The whole thing is shrouded in mystery at the moment and a lot of questions have to be answered. We have received compiler information and technical specifications, but that’s all. So we, like everyone else, are working in the dark.”

Another source, speaking under the same terms of anonymity, said, “At present, I think that only three studios have any kind of working emulator of any use.”

So does this spell a first-party only launch for the PSP, if it is to make its launch slot of late 2004? Possibly so. “How do you know that it won’t just launch with titles well underway at our own studios?” one Sony employee asked. A good point, well made.

In other news, various prospective launch lists have come to light over the past few weeks with this one gaining the most notoriety:

Metal Gear Solid: VR Training
Tony Hawk's vs. Jackass
GTA
Gran Turismo Mini Challenge
SSX 4 Pocket
Final Fantasy Monsters
WipeOut Warp Mode
FIFA 2005
Madden NFL 2005
Ratchet & Clank - The Puzzle City
Spheda Dungeons
NBA Street Vol. 3
Resonance
Rayman in the Jungle
Zone of the Enders: Tactics v2
The Sims Pocket
Pinball Dreams
Think Pocket
Worms: Nano World
The Incredibles
Tactical Warzone
Zero Gravity
Super Bust-A-Move 3
Tetris Evolution
Bounce Jack

It must be said that the consensus is that this list is entirely bogus, a consensus with which we very much concur.

Bringing up another potential stumbling block, one source stated, “What a lot of developers and publishers are worried about is the cost involved, and the possible revenue split Sony is talking about. For instance, at present, perhaps six or seven people will work on a Game Boy Advance title. Given that we have been told by Sony that the PSP will be just as complicated internally as the PlayStation 2, with about half the RAM to work with, this will see a lot of man-power required, a lot of money spent. We estimate that a team of around 15 to 20 guys will be needed for a PSP project. And all this with an unproven machine. If Sony intends on mirroring Nintendo’s unfair handheld revenue model - and remember that developers are struggling to make a living with GBA games - it’s going to be torrid when it comes to PSP.”

We’ll have to wait and see.

The PSP is without question the most interesting, and perhaps most important hardware in development at the moment. It’s interesting because it’s so close, you can almost smell it. It’s important because it will be the first proper challenge to Nintendo's omnipresent cash cow that is Game Boy.

Whatever happens, the PlayStation Portable has a lot to do in the coming ten months, from hardware manufacturing routines and facilities, UMD manufacturing, all of which will be dogged by the fail-rates that always accompany production of new product. Sony must settle third-party scepticism, as well as sign all the agreements and approve all the software, decide on royalty costs, and actually realise a full product launch. All of the aforementioned within ten months - that's a tall order, without question.

You’ll find below the full technical specs released by Sony earlier this year.

UMD(Universal Media Disc)
60mm
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 4x4, 16x16, 64x64 sub-division

PSP Graphics Core 2
'Rendering 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, etc

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

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

Communication
Wireless LAN (i802.11)
IrDA
USB 2.0