Ironic that PSP wins best in show at E3, as with its high specs and hefty price tag it appears to be targeted as a slick high end, ultra portable multimedia device. It’s not the accessible portable games machine some wanted (Sony look like leaving that area to Nintendo and new entrant pretenders). PSP rather than being the killer toy for casual gamers looks like the perfect prestige device for viewing and interacting with mobile media and moving image. A digital entertainment device rather than simply a movable games machine. Whether access to the proprietary UMD storage media can be unlocked and save us from endless Sony studio movies repurposed and resized for the device remains to be seen.
Pertinent handheld specs: 16.77M colours at 480×272 resolution, with a 4.3 inch screen sporting a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, super-crisp display).
“After impressing many at the recent E3 show, Sony’s forthcoming PSP handheld has been hailed the ‘Best in Show E3’ by the Games Critics Awards, which was decided by a panel of journalists from 35 publications.
According to the co-chairman of the Games Critics Awards, Geoff Keighley, the miniature console proved a hit, not only by appealing to a wider demographic, but by promising to be the latest ‘hip’ item. He said: “Sony did really well to age-up its audience, [and to] appeal to people over 18. PSPs will be as hip as iPods for people in their 20s and 30s who haven’t experienced portable gaming.”
[Via Indie magazine]
