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Redesigned PS2 Coming This Fall? A possibility.
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| SnOw DaWg |
By David Smith
09/16/2004
While rumors of a redesigned PlayStation 2, nicknamed "PS two," have made the rounds for some time, Sony may be ready to pull the trigger on shrinking down its system this fall. The Hollywood Reporter, evidently hearing from some of the same sources that have been dropping hints to 1UP of late, reports that Sony Computer Entertainment America may be ready to release a new version of the PS2 console on October 26, alongside Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.
The new console would reportedly be about 30% smaller than Sony's original design, and retail at the same $149 price point.
American Technology Research analyst P.J. McNealy noted that while Sony hasn't officially announced plans for such a console, it has applied for a copyright on the name.
If Sony were to bring a redesigned PS2 to market this fall, it would be a surprise in a few ways. The PS one console, which shrunk the original PlayStation into a more compact and attractive shape, didn't see release until its successor had already hit the market, and was announced well in advance of its eventual retail release. By comparison, October 26 is only six weeks away -- not much lead time for the debut of new hardware -- and the PS2 is still at an earlier stage in its lifecycle.
On the other hand, debuting new hardware alongside the biggest PlayStation 2 release of the year would certainly be a smart move, and would help Sony swipe some thunder from Microsoft two weeks before the release of its big fall system-seller, Halo 2.
Sony Computer Entertainment has its strategy meeting for the second half of the current fiscal year scheduled for September 21, next week, and the Tokyo Game Show will take place just afterwards, September 24-26. Both events would provide a suitable opportunity to debut a new hardware design, so we'll see if this week's rumors prove founded next week. |
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| DJPrototypeX |
| Sony trademarked or copywrote "PStwo" awhile ago.. i wouldnt be too surprized though. it would make sense why they would do it now, but PS2 sales arent droppin that dramatically yet for somethin like this i think. we'll see though.. |
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| ogvh5150 |
PSP, PSX3 and PS Two Coming Soon
| quote: | Description
Sony has revealed plans to re-release PS2 as PS Two, to offer PS3 in a PSX style package for approximately 600-700 Euros and to distribute content, including games, for PS3 electronically by 2006.
An in-depth interview with SCEE president and COO David Reeves leaves few of the company's future plans to the imagination. The interview appeared on Playstation's official web site and many call it a PR blunder, not believing that such information could have appeared willingly since Sony is usually very secretive about its future projects. The interview is still up on the Playstation.com site, for the time being, and can be found by following the download tab above.
In the interview David Reeves mentions Sony's plans to re-release the PS2 in a slimmer version which he calls PS Two. He also suggests that PS3 will become available in a, fully-featured, PSX style version and in a cheaper gaming-only version.
David Reeves also mentioned the PSP and claims that games will most likely not have regional coding while movies almost certainly will. When asked to describe the PSP Mr. Reeves said It's not, as people have said, a new Game Boy. There are so many other features that you can add onto it, whether it's GPS or GPRS even.
Regarding PSPs launch the interview further confused the subject since the initial 2004 date had been challenged by Sony who hinted at a 2005 US release but SCEE'S boss claims I'm pretty confident that it will come out in calendar year 2004. Emulators are out, and I think dev kits will probably go out in March or April...
Reeves also addressed another issue which had come up with the PSP regarding the amount of RAM it will have, claiming that it will have 30Mb of RAM, now (which it didn't have before).
The question of how PSP compares to Sony's other two consoles, PS One and PS 2, also came up and the reply was that the handheld will lie in the No Mans Land between its two bigger relatives, although people who get an early start - probably someone like Square - will take it beyond PS2. Because it's a small screen, it will just look... there's so much depth and perspective on that size screen, it will look better than PS2.
Will it play as fast? Probably, technically, just a little bit below...
There was also talk about the look of the PSP since the image to your right was only a concept design. Mr. Reeves suggested that that design was by no means the final one and even added that I honestly don't know if it'll look like that or not.
Talking about Sony's proprietary format, UMD Reeves said I think they will come up with quite a few surprises, so that you'd want to buy a movie on UMD as well as having it on DVD.
The interview however, did not stop at the PSP and addressed Sony's upcoming PS3 console. Mr. Reeves hinted that Sony might release two versions of PS3, one which will act as the main home media centre and will include features like a hard-drive and another, normal PS3 for gamers, who just want to play the movies and have better games. So you might see two versions; one is a home server, the other is for someone that can't afford whatever it might be, 600 or 700 Euros, and wants just to pay 200 Euros for a new generation games machine.
According to Reeves Sony's ultimate goal, of course, is to get into electronic broadband distribution... Sony is hoping that it can use the next 3-4 years in order to educate consumers in the use of broadband distribution, once that is done and if broadband has become widely available it will launch such a system for the PS3. This would be feasible if connection speeds reached 2 or 3Mb, something like that... Ken's (Kutaragi) even talking about 30Mb!
Finally Mr. Reeves hinted at an E3 surprise by Sony claiming that PSX and PSP may not be the only two hardware residents in Sony's booth. We made a change from PlayStation to PS one, so we may, in the course of time, make some cosmetic changes to PlayStation 2 and come out with something that's a little bit sexier, but probably no changes to specs or anything like that. |
New PS2 On the Way? | quote: | New PS2 On the Way?
Reports suggest a smaller, cheaper, online ready PlaySation could be just around the corner.
September 16, 2004 - Word on the virtual street is a more compact PlayStation 2 could be released next month right alongside Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The new PlayStation, said to ship at a $150 pricepoint, is allegedly 30% smaller than the current design and will come with a built-in broadband adapter (hopefully there's still room for the hard drive if it's true).
These reports come after American retailers have asked Sony to once again drop the price of PlayStation 2 in time for the holiday shopping season. And while it's not exactly what Wal-Mart and the rest have requested, it might boost sales.
Officially, "Sony has no PStwo plans at this time." Unofficially, Sony has already applied to copyright the PStwo. And this extra bit of analyst driven rumor only helps to bolster the likelihood of it being real, though it seems October may realisitcally be a bit too soon for a launch, given there has been no marketing whatsoever up to now, and the original PSone launched right alongside the PS2, so as to not hinder any additional sales of the first system,.
We'll have more information on this if and when it becomes available.
-- Ivan Sulic |
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| Radagast |
| Well as long as they fix the problem of it collecting more dust on the inside than the Sahara desert, it will be fine. |
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| Marcy |
| I like the new look of it a lot. It looks more compact and modern and save some room at the same time. Im not buying another tho...fook that. |
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