Japanese PlayStation Portable Launch Confirmed

PSP News | Looks like the info from our latest rumour harvest was spot on - importers get your credit cards ready.

Got them? Good. The PSP is scheduled for a Japanese release on the 12th of December this year, for a healthy price of 20,790 yen - this translates (with current exchange prices of course) to 261 AUD, 152 EUR and 106 GBP respectively. And whilst no doubt there will be some rounding in all cases, the unit has managed to come in at a price significantly lower than what was predicted. Bravo, Sony.

The stock model. You'll need a memory card to go with that one.

There are a host of accessories to go along with the unit, such as headphones, case, battery packs, power supplies (in addition to the original ones we would suspect from the pictures) as well as an essential 32MB memory stick, all ranging from 2,000 yen to 4,500 yen. A PSP bundle with the console and all accessories will be available for the added price of 24,800 yen (311 AUD, 182 EUR, 126 GBP).

The uber pack.

Now this is all well and good - but what about the games? Thankfully there will be 21 titles available for Japanese punters by the end of December. Of course, many of these are the quirky Japanese titles (really, what is it with the Mahjong games!?) that won't even remotely interest most westerners, but there are exceptions. Anyway, the list:

• Music & Luminary Action Puzzle - Action/Puzzle
• Gagharvtrilogy White Witch - RPG
• Vampire Chronicle: The Chaos Tower - Fighting
• Kollon - Puzzle/Action
• NFS: Underground Rivals - Racing
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour - Sport
• Armoured Core Formula Front - Mech Simulation
• Renguku: The Tower of Purgatory - Action RPG
• Dynasty Warriors - Action
• Mahjong - Table Game
• Metal Gear Acid - Action
• Mahjong Fight Club (!? - Ed.) - Board Game
• AI Go - Board Game
• AI Mahjong - Board Game
• AI Shogi - Board Game
• Katoba No Puzzle Mojipittan Daijiten - Puzzle
• Ridge Racers - Racing
• Puyo Pop Fever - Puzzle
• Dokodemo Issyo - Misc
• Hot Shots Golf - Sport
• Puzzle Bobble Pocket - Sport

No shortage of choices for Mahjong fans in December, then. Are three Mahjong games in the first month of release really necessary?

One final note: Sony also cleared up the issue of battery life. As expected it's not the greatest news, with Sony stating the battery will last between 4-6 hours before needing a recharge.

Aside from that, it looks like Sony's competitive pricing will be seriously challenging Nintendo worldwide in the handheld arena.

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25 Comments

Gtpod

7 years ago

Not a bad price. I won't be importing..

ObsoletE

7 years ago

are these going to be as region-free as the DS?

i'm guessing not, but who knows?

Mark

7 years ago

Much like the DS, the actual retail price of the console, when it hits other countries outside Japan, will go up. There's no doubt about it.

I'm expecting it to retail anywhere between AU$300-$350. And with 4-6 hours battery life I'm beginning to get concerned with it. I mean how's the PSP portable if you've got to keep recharging it every couple of hours? And I'm sure that's with the more 'basic' games. Imagine a game with an overhaul of graphics and so forth. I think that's going to the PSP's huge concern with success.

I can't wait to hear more about it though. Should definitely make up to br some worthy competition for Nintendo in the handheld market, for once.

Gtpod

7 years ago

ObsoletE wrote

are these going to be as region-free as the DS?

i'm guessing not, but who knows?

Not with those discs.

mrcivic

7 years ago

It's got a reasonable price, but that's the basic model. You need a memory card for who knows what too.
Might wait and see.

Hyperworm

7 years ago

Definitely not region-free - that's official. Importing may be a mistake.
Sony are doing well in launching the PSP so cheap, only a little bit more than the DS

No comment on battery life. I'll wait for release and see what people have to say about it then, I think.

The article wrote

Katoba No Puzzle Mojipittan Daijiten

That's kotoba. kotoba.

Chris

7 years ago

From 'nixice' the IGN-PSP guy on the PSP board -

'Games are unlocked. Direct from Sony. Music and movies are still undetermined -- it's there, but they dunno if it'll be used. Movie makers care, CD makers usually don't.'

So basically, games ARE region-free but movies probabily won't be.

from the PSP FAQ ign just put up.....

Will I be able to import games or other multimedia releases from other countries to play on my PSP?

Yes and no -- you will be able to play games on a PSP from any country, but you may not be able to play all types of PSP media. The PSP UMD format is fully equipped with region encoding procedures on all formats published to the media -- games, movies and music. However, Sony Computer Entertainment has chosen not to use the region encoding system on videogame titles. Importers should exercise caution in purchasing products from other countries, but import gaming fans will be able to play games from other countries on PSP.

Time to order methinks.......

Anonymous

7 years ago

Hyperworm

7 years ago

Ahh, I see. Count me as wrong, then

I read (officially) that Sony had chosen to include region encoding on all discs for PSP, and assumed that that meant the games would be locked according to that encoding.

Gtpod

7 years ago

How does the PSP play movies?

Cerebral

7 years ago

You stick a special movie UMD in and it plays the movie.

This does mean it will have a very limited library of movies, and the fact that they'll be region encoded (read: Redundant) won't do thePSP any favours.

Gtpod

7 years ago

I heard the PSX can write UMDs, it it unconfirmed or..?

Anonymous

7 years ago

how do we buy or order this unit complete? Can it be done before Christmas?

John Low

6 years ago

This message is to Brendan:

100% (or 99.5%) of all the mahjong video games made in Japan are REAL 4 PLAYER MAHJONG, the type which actual Chinese and Japanese people play. It's not that stupid tile matching solitaire crap created by retarded Western programmers who erroneously call them "Mahjong".
Real 4 player mahjong is similar to the card games Gin Rummy and Canasta, it is way more fun than stupid mahjong solitaire. Thanks to the 100's of fake tile matching computer games, many young people today don't know what REAL mahjong is.
Gomennasai.

Lord InuYasha

6 years ago

^You go girl friend!!!

I to have a set oh Mahjong, its a pitty i never learned to play.

But i get by with my trusty Big 2 skills.

Infested Jibbs

6 years ago

Whoa man.......10 month old topic.

Unless your a grave digger dont go unearthing the dead lol

Lord InuYasha

6 years ago

This is old.......

Oh god!!! I feel so dirty........

Hyperworm

6 years ago

Lord InuYasha wrote

This is old.......

Oh god!!! I feel so dirty........

It wasn't you, it was John Low, of course...

(You'd have thought he'd have known it was old by the title

)

Mahjong looks interesting, but I've really no idea how to play. I should learn it sometime.

David

6 years ago

There's some pretty funny stuff here though. A year ago Mark guessed a maximum price of $350 for the PSP - a fair to high estimate. But we got rorted far more then that, espescially considering the exchange rate has gone down since then (ie the aussie dollar is worth more).

John Low

6 years ago

Lord Inuyasha, I find it strange that you have a mahjong set at home but you never learned the rules. If your (Asian?) parents know how to play, ask them to teach you.

I actually came onto this site as a result of an Aussie Google search on "mahjong", then I saw Brendan's comments on the "mahjong" in his article on PSP.

Anyway, the absolute basics of REAL mahjong is simple. All 4 people start off with a specific score amount. In each mini mahjong round, they then get dealt out a specific number of mahjong tiles (usually 13 or 16, 13 for Japanese) and take turns drawing and discarding 1 tile in order to achieve a winning hand of 4 GROUPS and 1 PAIR (winning on 14 tiles or more if there are quads).

There are 3 types of groups: Sequences, Triples and Quads.
Sequences are a run of 3 numbers in the same suit, e.g. 123 Bamboo, or 567 Dots.
Triples are 3 of the exact same tile, e.g. EEE (Triple East) or 777 Crak.
Quads are 4 of the exact same tile.
Pair is just 2 of the same tile.

The winning hand can also represent 1 or more of numerous mahjong combos, eg "Chinitsu" which is when your entire mahjong hand is the same suit like 100% bamboo or 100% dots. Or "Pinfu" if your hand consists of 4 SEQUENCES.
These combos are measured in a unit called "fan" and the more fan you have in a hand, the more score you receive off the other players if you win.
And then, when the entire game finishes (2 Wind Rounds for Jap or 4 Wind Rounds for Chinese) or if someone goes bankrupt, the person with the highest score is 1st place etc.

Lord InuYasha

6 years ago

^Wow thats heaps of help!!

I have tried to learn many times before, once from my mum, but she got susspitious cause i was bringing sets of cards and dice to school and coming home with a ussually full wallet.

Then from my old chinese teacher, he left be for the first lesson!

But now i sort of get what your saying.

Before this i used to just use them as dominos or obsticles to drive my mini rc car.

I'll try get into it like i did with big two and that other awsome 1,2,3... snap game.

And its seems you know a lot different versions of the game e.g. Chinese and Japanese mahjong.

Why are there many versions of Big 2?? I mean every time i challenge someone different we play different suit orders or dragons no dragons, bombs, no bombs?? It all just seems a little confusing.

onggie

6 years ago

Chris wrote

Ah thanks for the clearing up, that means I can buy a PSP in Malaysia

John Low

6 years ago

Ah, I see. Inuyasha, if you want to start learning mahjong, I think Hong Kong style is the easiest. This is one of the best REAL mahjong sites in English, you can get an overview of mahjong there: www.sloperama.com/mjfaq.html

Hope you can play mahjong with your parents in the future. I suck at Big2, when we play it, the ranks are follows: diamonds smallest, clubs, hearts, spades biggest. 2 spades is the largest, the person with 3 diamonds gets to go first.
We allow bombs too (Quad + 1 card etc).

Lord InuYasha

6 years ago

^YAY, im learnding.

Ah, well i've played many versions of big2 (ussually if i play my neighbours we play the version you mentioned, but if i play other poeple, like on the train i sometimes have to adapt to other rules.)

When i get good enough i'll be in the world poker series, Big 2 division.

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