Sony close to releasing PSP
by Kit

Friday, July 16 2004

Nikkei Eletronics story hints Sony may be close to releasing console.

A story on Nikkei Electronics Asia provides some more insight into Sony Computer Entertainment’s (SCE) plans for both the PSP and the next PlayStation.

During a Tokyo-based conference dubbed “PlayStation Meeting 2004,” president Fumiya Takeno stated that the manufacturing costs for the PSP’s proprietary media format, the Universal Media Disc (UMD), are currently at 250 yen (approximately $2.30 U.S.) per disc, a cost that the company expects to lower as it goes along.

SCE CEO Ken Kutaragi added that final development of the PSP’s microcontroller would be completed “before long,” and also said that PSP development kits would be provided to developers “within” Sony’s current fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2005.

Regarding the next PlayStation, Sony plans to present the device next spring, before exhibiting the actual hardware for the first time at the 2005 E3Expo, where “some” playable game titles will be shown. A first-generation development tool for the device is expected to be released sometime between the spring presentation and E3, while a second-generation development tool will be issued in the fall of 2005.

--- Kit