Sony reveals some specs for PSP handheld

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Sony is coming out with its own portable game player this year, and it's going to have one complex processor inside it.

The PlayStation Portable will come with a 333MHz processor that includes integrated graphics, a specialized core for video, a reconfigurable processing core that will enhance sound and 4 megabytes of integrated memory, said Masanobu Okabe, a Sony researcher attending the Hot Chips conference this week at Stanford University.

The system will also include a 4.3-inch screen and play 1.8-gigabyte optical disks based on the Universal Media Disc standard from Sony, he said.

Integrating all of these functions into a single piece of silicon will help reduce both power consumption and size, important characteristics in a handheld. Overall, the processor will run on 0.8 volts to 1.2 volts. Integration was a major characteristic of PlayStation 2 chips as well.

Sony executives have touted the PlayStation Portable, which combines game and multimedia features, as "the Walkman of the 21st century." Sony, the market leader in living-room consoles with its PlayStation 2, plans to enter the market for handheld games with the device later this year, with releases in Japan, then in the United States.

The Japanese company will be competing with a growing number of ornate 3D handhelds. Nintendo's Game Boy has been the dominant player to date, but Nokia recently released a handheld player, and Samsung will come out with a phone designed to play games.

In the PSP, the core microprocessor unit--which essentially runs the handheld and manages the integrated chip cores--is based on the MIPS R4000 chip design, Okabe said. Both the PlayStation 2 and Sony's Qiro robot are based around MIPS processors, which are derived from chip designs created originally for Silicon Graphics Inc. servers.

In contrast, Sony's next living-room console, the PlayStation 3, will have a Cell processor derived from IBM's Power line of chips.

Half of the 4MB of integrated memory in the PSP chip will connect directly to the main microprocessor, while the other half will link to the media cores, Okabe said. The memory split is possible because the processor has a separate bus. The direct connection from the chip to the memory should help ensure that there's a steady flow of data, he said.

Earlier presentations by Sony showed the chip with 8MB of integrated memory.

The graphics unit will be enhanced by Sony technology that will smooth out geometric wrinkles in graphical images, Okabe added.

The reconfigurable core inside the processor, called the Virtual Mobile Engine (VME), exists so that the main chip can make changes depending on its workload, offloading calculations or operations that tend to require a lot of power, if necessary. (Chips from Xilinx and other makers also have this capability.)

Like the integrated graphics core, the integrated VME runs at 166MHz. Sony first started integrating VMEs into products last year with the Network Walkman, a portable music device.

The graphics unit, the VME unit and the video unit are designed to power down independently when not in use, to cut energy consumption.

The chip will be made on the 90-nanometer process, Okabe said.

[jamie.p.walsh]

Why does Sony insist on their own propietary formats

And why do they always seem to survive. For instance, how does MD still hang around?? Now UMD for the PSP and BluRay for the PS3. Its not that I don't think these are good products, but NO ONE ELSE SUPPORTS THEM. Aside from Samsung on occasion. Media Stick....WHY, why can't Sony support xD or SD?? Are Media Sticks better??? in what way??? I, for one, would just like to see more collaboration on products than the competition ... in this particular arena. I know that market pressures are better with more similar products out there, but has it really benefitted the consumer??? Will prices drop significantly when BluRay and HD DVDs become mainstream?? Probably not and then we'll still have to suffer through the decision of buying for one or the other, or, in the case of flash media, buying for the other, or the other, or the other, or the OTHER.

[Andrew J Glina]

It isn't just Sony

Why did the xD and the SD format come out when there were CF and SmartMedia? I agree that there should be standards, but it isn't just Sony's fault. Sony invented the best video tape format, but JVC had to make another that was worse. It has been going on for years. Don't forget that some of Sony's stardard have actually succeded. The 3 1/2 inch floppy is probably the most notable.

Andrew J Glina

[David Arbogast]

Why? Its simple.

Once you've bought a camera that uses memory stick storage, you are more likely to buy other products that will work with your existing memory sticks. Like... a Sony TV that can read your memory stick and display your photos. Its Sony's way of tying it's products together to encourage sales. So long as you have a house full of Sony equipment, everything plays nicely.

[rpms]

Sounds like an exciting device; standards not too important in *this* case

Well, the device itself sounds interesting, even to non-gamers like me.

Although I am generally in favor of standardization, it doesn't seem particularly important in a portable game device. Standardization certainly should be used as a barrier to the introduction of new technology. Let's wait and see whether the new optical disk format sticks.

Side note, not related to the game device in question:

What you call "Media Stick" is actually Memory Stick", and it's nothing to sneeze at. According to NPD, Memory Stick represents 25% of the U.S. flash memory market, and CompactFlash and SmartMedia are actually losing market share (see <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://news.com.com/Sony+makes+gains+with+Memory+Stick/2100-1040_3-268460.html" target="_newWindow">http://news.com.com/Sony+makes+gains+with+Memory+Stick/2100-1040_3-268460.html</a> ). According to Sony, Memory Stick represents 23% of the worldwide market (see <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.memorystick.com/en/support/faq.html" target="_newWindow">http://www.memorystick.com/en/support/faq.html</a> ). Sony is an innovator in the flash memory field, both in terms of form factor and data transfer speed. Memory Stick Duo is among the smallest memory cards available, making it ideal for cell phones. Memory Stick Pro has offered high data transfer speeds, suitable for video, for some time now; competitors are just now entering the high-speed field.