|  | It was initially thought that the PSP would be nothing greater than a toned down pocket sized PS One, but prepared to be shocked and amazed
for the PSP broaches much closer to matching the PS2 in terms of raw power. What, you do not believe us? Well then, check out these statistics straight from the horses mouth: PSP vital statistics: CPU: Two MIPS R4000; 32 BIT, 3D CG extended instructions, FPU, VFPU (Vector Unit) at 2.6Gflops. (One programmable for games and another dedicated to media playback capabilities)
RAM: 3Mb (Edram)
Other Processors: Advanced 3D Graphics Engine
Video: AVC MPEG4 decoder, Main and baseline profile, Level 1 to 3, 2h HQ, 4h in SQ
Graphics core: 3D curved surface + 3D polygon, Compressed textures, Hardware clipping, Morphing Bone (up to 8), Hardware tessellator, Bezier, B-Spline 2Mb VRam, 5.3Gb/s bus bandwidth, 664Mpizels/s pixel fill rate, maximum of 33millions polygon/s (T&L)
Protection: Region code, AES Crypto System
Media: Memory Stick (standard, Pro and Magic Gate); UMD 1.8Gb
Screen: Backlight, 24bit full colour RGBA, 480 x 272 dots, 16:9 widescreen format
Interfaces: Analogue joystick, L & R triggers, 4 digital buttons, Start, Select
Communication: Built in wireless LAN (802.11) Wi-Fi and IrDA
Sound Core: VME (reconfigurable DSP) at 128bit bus, 166MHz (1.2V), 5Giga operation/s. CODEC and multiple effects (Synthesizer, effecter, etc)
Sound: 7.1 channel, 3D Sound, CODEC
Sound formats: ATRAC3 plus, AAC, MP3
Memory Stick: standard, Pro and Magic Gate
UMD drive (= x2 DVD-ROM drive): Laser diode at 660nm, Dual layer for a total of 1.8Gb, 11 Mbps transfer rate, Shock Proof, Secure ROM by AES, Unique dick ID
IQ: USB 2.0 AV in & Out, Extension port, Stereo headphone out
Battery: Li-ion (Rechargeable)
These statistics (if unaltered) will place the PSP at the forefront of handheld technology, about 10 times more powerful than the GBA. The only noticeable difference between the PSP and PS2 is the Graphics Synthesizer the PSP runs at approximately half the clock speed however, because the PSP screen is smaller than its counterpart then there should (in theory) be no obvious distinction. Nevertheless, Secret Level needs a number of questions answered before it joins in with the festivities for any handheld revolution. For example, the cost of production is likely to be expensive, so the PSP is unlikely to carry an economically friendly price tag. Also, how accessible will the technology be for developers? And how long exactly will a standard battery power a PSP?
There is no question about it: the PSP is an impressive bundle of technology. But is there room in the handheld market for another player? Or will the public shed their love for Nintendo and commit to a new system? Secret Level waits in anticipation.
Clarkestar |
