Sony's PSP stumbles (link)
 

It hoped to turn the gaming handheld into a portable entertainment unit, but those prospects are fading. Plus: Korea goes open-source.

SAN FRANCISCO (Business 20) - Sony (Research) hoped to turn its PSP handheld gaming console into the next big portable entertainment gadget by getting studios to release - generous compared to the Apple (Research) iPod's 2.5" screen. But the PSP can only work with movies released in Sony's obscure UMD disc format, or with movies downloaded online. However, the fare online is very limited, and consumers don't want to buy both a UMD copy of a movie and a normal DVD that they can play on other systems. Indeed, Engadget notes that Warner Brothers' decision to cancel six scheduled releases for the UMD format highlights the problematic nature of Sony's unpopular, proprietary format. In fact, there are now rumors that Sony may create an adaptor that lets users play UMD movies on home entertainment systems in a bid to save the market.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/13/tech...0213/index.htm

DH

Dumb asses. When are they gonna learn that the 21st century is not a friend of propriatary formats.

Beta should have taught them something. And didn't the walkman just die a slow painful death for ignoring that as well?

pspnetwork.com

I havent bought one game or UMD movie for my PSP. Got it with Lumunies, and quite frankly, I have no interest in playing it.

$50 for a portable game, and $20-25 for a UMD movie for the portable PSP is highly outrageous.

Then havign to buy the real DVD or the game for my xbox, ps2, or whichever you have.....

this market is slowly dropping, and i doubt Sony will be able tp pull this one out.

I just use my PSP for an EBook reader. It's pretty kick ass for that, I can read in bed at night without having to have a light on bothering my woman.

Santa brought me a PSP (I was envious after seeing porn on Tofu's PSP)

The unit kicks ass, with a gorgeous display, and I bought the Stewie Griffin (Family Guy) video for it, which allowed me to enjoy a flight delay in LA ? I wasn't put off by a delay in Vegas, either, accessing McLaren's Wi-Fi network and surfing some porn with it.

I have awesome images on it, and will encode some vids for it too.

The biggest drawback isn't UMD, but the lack of a video-out capability to let you watch the vids on a big screen.

Now if Sony would release UMD burners, the situation would change :winkwink:

You're a webmaster and you actually surf for porn in your free time? :error

im glad that i get all game free from diffrent gamecompanies - because i wouldent buy a expensive game for the PSP. okay, there are some really cool ones, but there are also some huge shit - and they cost the same as the prof PSP games...

Looks like they didn`t learn from Minidisc.
MD is huge in Japan but I believe it would have been huge everywhere in the world if they hadn`t been so stubborn against releasing the specs.

Ugh MD. I spent big $ on MD, and it never took off. Now sits in the closet with my betamax unit. Hey Sony :321GFY