| Volume 1, Issue 1 | 20 October 2004 |
Sony Counters Nintendo Innovation with Very Similar Innovation of Its Own
(Tokyo, JAPAN) -- At a large gaming summit held this morning, Sony officially announced the PSP QS, or QuintiScreen, a highly anticipated revision of its unreleased PSP handheld.
The PSP QS promises to one up Nintendo's DS handheld by offering not two, but five screens guaranteed not only to enhance gameplay, but to enrich life.
"We are positioning ourselves to be two and a half times better with this latest product," said Sony President Kunitake Ando.
In addition to its primary gaming screen, which purportedly "harnesses the power of light," and boasts what Sony analysts have called "lots of colors and polygon mappers for alpha-rendering and NURB buffering," the QS will feature a touch-screen serving as a secondary gaming experience. "The second screen displays the current gaming image just as the first," said QS designer Toshiro Kaeda, "but this screen is able to be touched. Perhaps there is a tree or cute bunny rabbit you wish to place your finger upon. Now with the second screen, you can put your finger right on top of them."
Though the second screen offers no actual sensitivity to touch or any feedback to the player, its brilliance lies in its resilient smooth plastic. "Its sturdy finish allows a player to safely place all manner of digits on its surface without fear of repercussion," Kaeda stated.
The third screen is considered by analysts to be by far the most innovative. Sony engineers have developed a new technology allowing the classic 80's sitcom "Who's the Boss?" to be integrated into their new flagship handheld.
"Using our new DanzaX technology, we are able to bring 'Who's the Boss' to a place it has always belonged - in your hands," said Kaeda.
Players will be able to catch up on their favorite show while playing any PSP QS game thanks to this new screen, which will loop through all the critically acclaimed episodes of the third season. The technology is still in its infancy, however, not allowing players to select which episode, control playback, or turn off the screen, even when the batteries are removed.
"Who's the boss?" asked one industry expert. "With this third screen - Sony, that's who."
Sony continues its innovation with yet another incredibly original screen. Dubbed Project Mother by its design team, this new screen detects certain chemicals in a stream of urine provided by the player, actually serving as a home pregnancy test right in the palm of your hands.
With the home pregnancy test screen, we are able to offer players limitless gameplay opportunities, said Kaeda. Imagine a game where certain rooms in a dungeon can only be entered by someone who is not pregnant. This is just one of the ideas we are working on.
The fifth and final screen is the technologically ground-breaking one, and the screen that promises to be the most fun for children. Though President Kaeda understands some may be skeptical, what he calls the "Roll-up" screen is actually his favorite of the five.
"My favorite screen is the Roll-up screen. This screen is actually a fruit Roll-up. You see, you can simply peel the Roll-up off like this, and then you eat it up! It is a Roll-up and you eat it up! This is the best screen."
Kaeda proceeded to eat the Roll-up screen.
"Some may have concern about what there is after you eat the Roll-up screen. On this model there is just nothing. But you see, in the final version of the handheld, there will be a nice picture of Earth underneath. This will certainly enhance gameplay. For instance, if you were playing a space game you could look at that screen and be reminded that you are not on earth, further enhancing the mood. In addition, if you were playing a game that took place on earth, you could look at the screen and remember that you are on the earth instead of not."
Kaeda stated this was just one possibility for the Roll-up screen and that several new game-play ideas centering around static logos and pictures of inanimate objects were forthcoming.
The actual dimensions of the QS are just as impressive as the revolutionary DanzaX technology: measuring a mere inch thick and a comfortable seventeen inches long, the QS is just portable enough to fit inside your everyday luggage bag, and at its light weight of seven pounds finds itself no heavier than your notebook computer circa-1993.
The QS is also backwards compatible with all QS software. Previously announced PSP discs will not be playable, because the new QS discs are orange and the PSP discs are not orange.
Though the battery life when using the pregnancy or Who's the Boss screens is estimated to be little more than 23 minutes when not plugged in with an AC adapter (sold separately), many experts were reportedly quite excited at the new gameplay innovations that the QS is offering. One former Acclaim employee stated that the QS seems to be an absolute joy to work with," and a Sony representative assured us that the QS is poised to "absolutely decimate the DS and its gimmicky extra screen."
The QS is slated for a late 2007 launch.
Front Page | 20 October 2004 Edition