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Sony PSP To Be Available March 24th

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In addition to the PSP hardware, the PSP Value Pack contains an added-value package of accessories and entertainment content, including 32 MB Memory Stick Duo, headphones with remote control, batterypack, AC adaptor, soft case and cleaning cloth, movie/music/game video sampler UMD disc including multiple non-interactive game demos, and for the first one million PSP Value Packs shipped, a specialUMD video release of the feature film Spider-Man 2 from Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Sony Computer Entertainment will manufacture one million units for sale in the North American market by the close of its fiscal year ending March 31. This figure is part of the company’s total three-million-unit worldwide PSP system shipment estimate within the same time period. PSP released in Japan on December 12, 2004 and is already a hit, with more than 800,000 units shipped, including a 200,000-unit allocation that sold out on day one.

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Featuring graphics rendering capabilities comparable to the company’s leading in-home console, PlayStation2, the PSP allows users to enjoy 3D games, with high-quality, full-motion video, and high-fidelity stereo audio. PSP also allows for digital photo display and supports digital music playback in both MP3 and ATRAC formats.

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“PSP will evolve and elevate portable entertainment, giving users the freedom to play full 3D games, watch movies, listen to music and connect wirelessly on their terms, their time and their place,” said Kaz Hirai, president and chief executive officer, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. “More than ever, today’s consumer demands access to entertainment outside the home without compromising quality. With more than 100 PSP game titles currently in development worldwide, and the ability to download and listen to digital music and view feature films with breathtaking screen quality, PSP lets users control their entertainment options, all in one package.”

PSP features a 4.3-inch, 16:9 wide screen TFT LCD that displays full color (16.77 million colors) on a 480 x 272 pixel high-resolution screen. PSP also comes complete with built-in stereo speakers, exterior headphone connector and diverse input/output connectors such as USB 2.0, and 802.11b (Wi-Fi) wireless LAN, enabling users to connect to the Internet and play online via a wireless network.* Up to 16 PSPs in the vicinity can also be connected to each other directly in ad-hoc mode, allowing for wireless head-to-head competition. In addition, wireless capabilities will allow software and data to be downloaded to a PSP and saved onto a Memory Stick Duo.

PSP also adopts a newly developed proprietary, compact, but high-capacity optical disc, Universal Media Disc (UMD), as its storage medium. UMD is only 60mm in diameter but can store up to 1.8GB of digital data — more than three times the data held on a CD-ROM. A broad range of digital entertainment content such as high quality 3D games, music, movies, video clips and other programs can be distributed on UMD. To protect this content, a robust copyright protection system has been developed for UMD, which utilizes a combination of a unique disc ID, 128 bit AES encryption keys for the media, and individual ID for each PSP hardware unit.

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Ian Bell
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