PSP memory was key factor for Skype decision

[wraggster]

Following on for its official announcement of support for Skype wireless communication on PSP, Sony has confirmed the reason the service will only be available on PSP Slim & Lite (PSP-2000) is due to memory differences between it and the original PSP (PSP-1000).

Nick Sharples, director of corporate communications, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, told us:

"Although PSP-1000 and PSP-2000 are identical in basic functions, there are differences in hardware specifications to some extent and for that reason, PSP-2000 may differ in features from PSP-1000. We had studied the possibility of supporting Skype with PSP-1000 but had to give it up because of the smaller size of main memory on PSP-1000 series."

PSP Slim & Lite features 64 MB of internal memory, while the original PSP only has 32 MB, making it slower when loading games and, crucially in terms of Skype, web operations.

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/PSP/PSP+Slim+%26+Lite/news.asp?c=5326

[Tron_Fan]

We had studied the possibility of supporting Skype with PSP-1000 but had to give it up because of the smaller size of main memory on PSP-1000 series."

My guess is that they *could* have made it work if they really wanted to, but figured this might boost sales by making old PSP users buy new PSP's just for this functionality.

Well, I'm not.

[No_one_in_particular]

Who knows. At least they're saying they tried.

[mikebeaver]

They ddin't really try though did they, they are liars now and always have / will be.!!!

Fanjita and noobz have brought us "Furikup" which is a better product than what Sony are offering and is available, for free, to anyone who is running a homebrew enabled PSP.

Mike..

[No_one_in_particular]

Probably not. But I dunno, I guess I'd rather them say they tried (even if they're lying) than to completely ignore the 1000s, and not even bothering to excuse it, just moving on - which was I thought was going to happen.

[Gizmo356]

I was sure this was the problem but I would think that they could make it work somehow anyway

[Dorian]

let me reiterate what i said in a different post
DS has VoIP.PSP Doesnt
DS: 67MHz CPU, 4MB RAM
PSP: 333MHz CPU,32MB RAM

Im sure PSP could run skype without any trouble.

[F9zDark]

let me reiterate what i said in a different post
DS has VoIP.PSP Doesnt
DS: 67MHz CPU, 4MB RAM
PSP: 333MHz CPU,32MB RAM

Im sure PSP could run skype without any trouble.

Who provides VoIP on the DS? Is it simply a communication service provided by Nintendo for and only on the DS (meaning, you can only chat with people on other DS units). This is possible with little to no overhead required, as its simply "voice chat".

Make it require a special port, connect to other units through this port and do it over the internet and one can call it (legally) VoIP, although its quite simply "voice chatting".

However, I don't believe there is any issue with making it work on the PSP fat. Cell phones have very little memory (or processor speed) and although they do it mainly through hardware, they still do it. Skype also works on cordless phones (obviously special VoIP cordless phones), but if a cordless phone can do it, certainly can the PSP fat.

However, I am wondering if they are making it possible while gaming, now that would make it difficult on the PSP fat.

[Buddy4point0]

yea... BULL SHIT
Sony could have done it no problem
they're just trying to steal our money.

[xg917]

yep, they are bluffing just to make more sales on the PSP slim..

[myuusmeow]

Who provides VoIP on the DS? Is it simply a communication service provided by Nintendo for and only on the DS (meaning, you can only chat with people on other DS units). This is possible with little to no overhead required, as its simply "voice chat".
Google the homebrew SvSIP. It uses the SIP protocol to allow you to talk to real phones (Landlines/cell phones) and receive messages.

[F9zDark]

Google the homebrew SvSIP. It uses the SIP protocol to allow you to talk to real phones (Landlines/cell phones) and receive messages.

I thought it was something official. I didn't know it was homebrew. The PSP now has a homebrew SIP program also.

[Veskgar]

I don't see what all of the fuss is about. The original PSP is now 3 YEARS OLD! On top of that, the PSP Slim is homebrew capable, looks, feels, and even performs better.

Nintendo did it with the DS and released the DS Lite. I think SONY really didn't have a clue when the first released the PSP. They didn't utilize it for all its potential. They have learned and now with firmware updates and a more advanced design, the PSP is proving to be one incredible little machine.

I will say though, that a homebrew solution for VOIP that works on both PSP's is more impressive. Fanjita and Team Noobz deserve a lot of credit for that. I may have just sounded like a SONY fanboy but that is not the case. If they attempt to rip PSP Skype users off, I will never even use it and will go with homebrew instead.

[ab9003]

If thats true, homebrew developers will crack it for the psp 1000 within a few weeks after its release..

[bah]

Pathetic.
They 'tried'.

They 'tried' to find a way that they could make it for both and still make as much money, without screwing consumers.

Unfortunately all their financial modelling showed that A) there is more money in making it only for the slim and B) they are sony, if they're not using their 'power' to screw people then they're just not sony any more.

[mike_jmg]

that's so unfair

[Qmark]

Skype is a superfluous app anyway.
There is no need for "Sony wants us all to ditch our fat PSPs" hysteria until a major-release game releases for slim-only.

[bah]

The original PSP is 3 years old, and identical for all intents and purposes to the slim other than the extra RAM, none of which can be reasonably claimed to be required to make a nice VOIP implementation for the PSP.

What game/application runs on the DS lite but not the fat? Even the browser can be purchased with a GBA cart sized to fit the lite or the fat nicely.

It's pure sony bullshit, with the only plausible reason for it being to sell more of the new hardware revision.
One more reason why sony should not have control of the next optical media format.

[Baboon]

It's pure sony bullshit, with the only plausible reason for it being to sell more of the new hardware revision.
One more reason why sony should not have control of the next optical media format.


I couldn't agree more. :thumbup:

My phat PSP will be my last console I buy from $ony. The money grabbing bar stewards! :mad:

[Qmark]

Here's a thought: not-quite-techie people tend to not quite get the lingo right.

More than likely "main memory" was meant to mean "internal storage", which the current firmware is eating up mostly all of all of it in the fat. Does the slim have more onboard flash or something?
This would be a legitimate reason to shaft the old model out of Skype if so.

[F9zDark]

The original PSP is 3 years old, and identical for all intents and purposes to the slim other than the extra RAM, none of which can be reasonably claimed to be required to make a nice VOIP implementation for the PSP.

Actually, if you watch the video on Skype they mention that it will be for communicating in game, which I dare say will make it memory hungry.

[Cloudhunter]

You know, I hope that when it comes out we find that it really does need more memory, so all you whiners can stop saying its a lie.

Cloudy

[jeegee]

Fanjita and noobz have brought us "Furikup" which is a better product than what Sony are offering and is available, for free, to anyone who is running a homebrew enabled psp

And its a pretty cool app :) Seems gocam, talkman or socom headsets work with it.:thumbup:

[bah]

F9zDark: SOCOM already has voice chat inside a game on the fat PSP, its possible.

The fact that the DS has a voip client and the PSP now has a homebrew option that works on the fat, there is no excuse for not supporting the fat to make voice/video calls when not in a game, and since SOCOM has it then surely voice in game could also be supported.

Cloudhunter: And how do you plan to do that, check for free memory once its running? How does that allow you to judge where they are using that ram or what they could have done with better programming or seriously minor modifications.

If there is a homebrew app that can do voice chat and is going to support video chat, then it clearly is possible for sony to do those things also. Given the desire to do so.

[Milleniumas]

Emm PSP has 32 memory (28 megs) 4 of them goes to xmb. So it seems that there has to be ~20mb left not used. Then another question, how they do a program that uses 20mb? Maybe there is no flash memory left? If that's so then why not to load skype from memory stick? Ahh yea, they just afraid that it will be hacked and everybody will play isos instead of useing skype....

[Raziel-chan]

F9zDark: SOCOM already has voice chat inside a game on the fat PSP, its possible.

The fact that the DS has a voip client and the PSP now has a homebrew option that works on the fat, there is no excuse for not supporting the fat to make voice/video calls when not in a game, and since SOCOM has it then surely voice in game could also be supported.

Cloudhunter: And how do you plan to do that, check for free memory once its running? How does that allow you to judge where they are using that ram or what they could have done with better programming or seriously minor modifications.

If there is a homebrew app that can do voice chat and is going to support video chat, then it clearly is possible for sony to do those things also. Given the desire to do so.

Okay... Well, not really okay, as that argument is nonsense.

"SOCOM has it" - well, yeah SOCOM has it... Why? Because it's built into it and the game was made taking that into account and thus they used less memory for the rest of the game to accommodate that feature.

Not to mention that built-in features usually use less additional resources than standalone programs.

Additionally, I think that it's also about the NAND size - the slim has double the firmware image size of the phat. Maybe there's space there for such additions.

cya
Raziel-chan

[Tron_Fan]

You know, I hope that when it comes out we find that it really does need more memory, so all you whiners can stop saying its a lie.

Cloudy

I think it's truly a memory issue. I also think that it's the way its being designed and implemented. I think they *could* have made something that worked on the 1000 series, but they just chose not to because it involved additional effort and in their minds consumers should buy the latest and greatest product to have all the features.

I stopped playing PC games because my PC was obsolete no matter what the configuration when a new product came out.

This seems to now be the trend with consoles. PSP... then version 1 ... then version 2.. etc etc... and you have to keep buying new hardware to support the latest features. That's not why I like console gaming and I won't play that game

Yes, I'm complaining. But I think I have a right to. I feel that they don't care about paying customers with the original PSP's because in their minds we should just "upgrade".