Sony Details PSP Launch Pricing, Date

By Nate Mook | Published October 27, 2004, 7:05 PM

Sony is gearing up to take on Nintendo's DS in the battle for handheld gaming dominance. The company announced it will deliver its PlayStation Portable, or PSP, in Japan on December 12 for the equivalent of $185 USD. Sony says 21 games will be available at launch. With a large high-resolution screen and new optical media format, the PSP can also be used for music and movies - although battery life of the device is only four to six hours. While a US debut of the PSP is still up in the air, rival Nintendo is taking an opposite approach; the DS will be first available in the US in mid-November for $150 USD.

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"[B]attery life of the device is only four to six hours."

Consider it this way: The best laptop batteries last only slightly over five hours, with many not reaching three. Portable DVD player batteries seem to average less than four hours.

These figures are as good as I hoped for this kind of device. I'll pre-order it for North American launch.

Thanks,
Brian

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Not only that but, the battery is replacable.
You can have a spare charged one near by and swap em out when one dies.
Sony already stated they will be selling the extra batteries.

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and we can always trust the company to tell us the actual battery life of the product..

i doubt it can even last 4 hours

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Batteries are always a concern when it comes down to portable gaming. The fact that the current batteries don't last that long shouldn't lie on the shoulders of console developers. A cheap and abundant chemical source decent charge should be all that's needed for a better battery. However, console developers have to work with the consumer resources that they have.

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$185, that is very cheap when you think about it

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