Sony PSP developer kit?
By Barb Dybwad 
posted April 4th 2005 6:35PM
posted April 4th 2005 6:35PM
PSP Vault has some photos of what looks like a PSP developer kit. The unit looks like a tower PC with what appears
to be a UMD drive in one of the bays. The included PSP unit has both a USB cable and what looks like perhaps a VGA
cable, as well. We've got no other details on this, but we know these kits exist, they're very expensive, and good luck
getting your hands on one even if you've got the dough to shell out. Click on for a photo of the tower unit.
[Thanks, Anuj]
I wonder how many smelly gamer-nerds just soiled their Wranglers when they saw these images.
Fishes,
narco.
it looks more like that "vga plug" plugs into the matching socket on he front of the tower unit. Just a guess anyway...
i have read at psphacks.com that those devkit PSP's are just for testing only. theres just the display and the controls in it. the rest of the hardware is in the PC.
hey just wanted to report i just figured out a new psp "hack"(if you consider anything besides the webbrowser as a hack this most definetly is) It allows you to play multiplayer with only one copy of the game(i thought that was supposed to be supported standardly, but have had no luck with download play)Well heres the link
http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=52573
is that a recordable umd drive in that dev kit? If it was, it would show that Sony could bring out a consumer umd recorder if they wanted to.
They never will, of course. Because they carry more about proprietary technology and drm than the consumer and succeeding in the marketplace.
interesting.
Even with developers they manage to do it in style.
Even if the UMD driver is only a reader Sony better keep a good leash on these things lest the decryption and emulating should commence.
GamePark 32's and Gizmondos really only lack main stream games to be genuine *potential* competitors, and I think they both can run emulators...
True, true emulation usually degrades overall quality, but still...
its funny but those same shots were posted at http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk around 6 hours earlier than PSP vault http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=24212#post24212 is the link to where the pics were posted. Bit naughty methinks
A consumer UMD drive is a moot point for now, or in the future. It took some years before DVD-/+R/RW drives became popular enough, and many PC games are still distributed via CD-ROMs instead of DVD because there are far more people who still uses CD drives as opposed to DVD drives. Even if a UMD-R/RW drive became available to the consumers, what device other than the PSP would support it? The PS3 maybe, and that's a longshot maybe. Also consider the cost of the drive, the media, and its availability- UMD drive for the consumers will never work out, unless it became the next DVD, which it isn't.
The best thing Sony could do is to release a PSP with a hard drive, but that would be too expensive, at least $3-400, or cheaper Memory Stick Pros. I'm guessing that Memory Sticks will go down in price once more PSPs are introduced into the market.
Imagine if you had a dead pixel on that PSP :)
Who would exchange THAT?
"Even if the UMD driver is only a reader Sony better keep a good leash on these things lest the decryption and emulating should commence."
You could say that about any dev kit ever released...
The PS2 dev kits were/are pretty cool, btw.. they look like a monstrous PS2. (They are basically a tower PC in a PS2-styled black case - I've always wanted one.) Most dev kits are just plain white boxes like this one for the PSP (and I'm sure this is legit).
The big cable on the PSP unit attaches to the Dev Kit Tower. This is because the actual PSP is just a screen and buttons, all the processing is done in the tower, as is the UMD drive. It can play games from UMD, the CD drive, or over ethernet.
Funny how I posted these images a few MONTHS ago and NOW all of a sudden it's news.
http://www.teambfmc.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=5
check em out.
Bring it on!!! Only good things can come from a developer kit. Now lets see if they can get some emulators running on this guy :)
Is that PSP thing STILL around?
Yes, emulators would be cool. Although if that's your thing, I suppose the Zodiac fits the bill right now. Unless we could get faster frame rates and such on the PSP.
Someone here said it best recently, Engadget is a PSP fanboy site.
When is it news that a development kit is news? Any little article that remotely smells of PSP gets top billing here.
Lord help us if someone poops a slightly PSP shaped turd, cuz it'll show up here on the home page.
That must have been the world's most shiny PSP ever. They should go easy on the Brasso.
To #11
The psp devkit that required the ps2 TOOL box is an older version. The newer version shown in the picture that most developers have looks similar but all the hardware is in the white tower box.
Also, that DVD drive is on the devkit so that a dvd can be burned on a development pc and then emulated as a umd to push the content to the psp display controller, hence eliminating the need for devs to have a umd burner.
I thought only Sony would be able to create UMD's period? Or is that just for the mass creation of the UMD's?
Actually, this originated on ASSEMbler's board a LONG time ago, like most of the dev photos that get ripped off by everyone else.
imagine this though
if we the umd burners will be available for consumers, instead of hard disk based movies, imagine lining up all your songs on 1.8 gig and movies too, i know it might not sound much but it would be better than using cards. if they sell about 15-20 bucks at max i would still buy it
If you want specifics on the layout of the devkit... hit http://www.psphacks.net. I've got an interview there with someone who has one.
Explains the cables, the UMD drive's capabilities, etc...
"Lord help us if someone poops a slightly PSP shaped turd, cuz it'll show up here on the home page."
yeah and Golden Palace Casino will buy it for 15-20k!
well screw me sideways (cause I like it that way).
we won't get the psp until SEPTEMBER! SEPTEMBER? forget UMD writers...forget UMD media...forget everything you know about the PSP because the only time you'll see anything in this pathetic country is in SEPTEMBER!
Well I suppose I can go play with the lions that are running through our streets...
any have a clue how to convert digital video to umd format?
This is a total fake. Just look at the power supply line for this unit.It does not have enough power to support a processor and the other componets.
It looks lagit to me. A laptop runs off of a small power brick so why can't this. The connector does look like the digital outs that used to be used for early LCDs before DVI got big.
It's for real. I just saw one today. All sitting sad and alone in a small room waiting for a non-existent, un-hired Java Developer to bring it to life.
I could tell you where it is, but then I'd have to kill you.