Runaway success delays PSP's arrival

Sony's PSP uses discs with 1.8GB of storage, letting it store high-quality sound and video files.

Video game fans will have to wait until September to get their hands on Sony's PlayStation Portable, and they have a voracious overseas appetite for the device to blame.

Sony this week announced a release date for New Zealand, Australia and Europe of September 1. Stronger-than-expected sales of the PSP, first in Japan, then in the United States, have led to a production backlog, delaying its local release. The company had hoped to launch the PSP in Europe and Australasia soon after its US release.

More than one million PSP units have sold in Japan since it went on sale there in December, and about 600,000 in the US since its March 24 release. Sony had planned for production of three million units by the end of its fiscal year, March 31, but with sales going so well, a delay for the rest of the world was inevitable.

"A decision was made as to how to allocate that [number]," said Warwick Light, director of sales and marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment New Zealand.

The company was quick to put the delay in a positive light.

"New Zealanders will benefit in some ways because there will be more titles to choose from at the launch," Light said.

EB Games in downtown Auckland expects about 30 titles to be available by the launch.

The PSP represents a huge, new potential market for Sony by taking advantage of the popularity of Apple's iPod and Nintendo's Gameboy, and blending the best elements of the two.

The device is only slightly bigger than a PlayStation controller, or about the size of a typical handheld computer. With a 4.3-inch screen, built-in stereo speakers and headphones, and 32MB memory stick, the PSP packs a more powerful punch than Nintendo's portable game systems.

The PSP's driving element is the Universal Media Disc (UMD), a tiny, 60mm disc that can store up to 1.8GB of data, or three times the average CD. The PSP can thus handle high-quality graphics and sound, which means it can double as an mp3 and movie player. With a USB plug and wireless internet connectivity, the PSP is a potent portable media device.

Sony's Computer Entertainment division, under which the PlayStation 2 and PSP fall, is big business for the firm. While a breakdown of Sony's most recent results isn't yet available, the Computer Entertainment division accounted for about 60 per cent of Sony's overall profit a year ago, Light said.

Sony expects to ship 12 million PSPs in its 2005 fiscal year.

Gamers, meanwhile, are going ga-ga over the PSP.

"It's going to be huge," said an EB Games salesperson. "It's going to make mincemeat out of all the other handhelds out there."