PSP's true potential untapped.

[katamari]

Probably old news to some of you, but Sony have deliberately capped the PSP's performance at two-thirds of it's actual potential. They'll unleash it's true power at a later date. Expect future games to clearly demonstrate the PSP's superior hardware capabilities over those of the PS2.

Interesting read here: Unlocking PSP's future @ Consoul Games

[charlesr]

Seems a useful feature. Are there any heat issues with the PSP at all? If so, upping the clock from 2/3 power to full power might create some probs. The battery life being better in the future seems sensible - technology marches on.
The psp screen is 480x272 I believe. What res are the games pumped out at? The same? That's slightly less than the PS2 has to cope with, so the psp shouldn't need as much power to match ps2 gfx.

[katamari]

No heat problems. At the voltage the PSP's ICs run at heat isn't an issue.
Yeah, afaik the games are rendered at 480x272, so yeah, the PSP should be able to produce better looking graphics (albeit at a lower res) than PS2 for sure.

[AllYourBase]

Quite interesting news, when the new battery comes out that'll be great news for the older games, maybe 12+ hours battery life?

[Salsa Party Animal]

So there could be firmware crack to release all the power in the future.

[ThoseOfTheUnlight]

Its nothing to do with firmware - its do do with them limited the developers so that the graphics will improve with the next generations of software..

[MonkeyWrench]

I thought this was known news? I read about this a while back.

Sure it could be cracked (once the guys on PS2dev get their heads around it), but it wouldn't make any difference to the games that are out as they've all been coded within the speed restrictions set by Sony in the libraries.

[Kotatsu Neko]

Nothing clever about this, it's just Sony panicing that the battery life would make them a laughing stock. Crippling the GPU and CPU so you can play for a little longer.

So when they do release a new higher capacity battey, and allow developers to use the higher clock speeds everyone with a 1st gen PSP will suddenly find they are running out of power even quicker than usual. Upset? Well you can always pay Sony for a new battery.

Really sounds to me like inexperience in the market. The graphics guys living in a world of their own and not talking to the power guys. Either that or Ken 'No Compromise' Kutaragi pushed and pushed and made another screw up.

[dataDave]

LOL. So what? Surely this isn't as bad as the N64 expansion pack. At least people only have the 'option' to pay ?20 for a higher capacity battery cell and aren't forced into it..

[charlesr]

Crippling the GPU and CPU

Heheh. Hardly crippled - games look top dollar to me. I question Sony's decisions as much as the next man, but have to keep some objectivitiy here. They have hardware in the there based on the PS2 - it doesn't work with current battery tech, so sensibly, they limit it so that battery life isn't so much of an issue. If things improve in the future, we can look forward to increased performance and if the battery is affected, then it'll probably be time for a new battery anyway. Rechargeables dont last forever.

[MonkeyWrench]

I smell another GameFAQs type thread developing.

[bignige]

I thought the first load of Jap PSP's weren't capped?

[mattSix]

^ lol!

i just happen to have 40 of them for sale in a thread on ebay...

[edit: just in case you're wondering, i'm joking & i don't actually have any psps to sell...]

the psp certainly seems futureproofed for eye candy enhancements... not a bad thing, but not exactly much of a deviation from the reason you'd buy one in the first place.

it's a reassurance for adopters, but not a new reason to adopt. vintage gamefaqs!!!11! *ahem*

[Sega Ages]

This is a great idea. Building in future-proofing when battery technology improves. Nice.

[Square]

Agreed. I can't wait to see the jumps in performance - Devil May Cry 3 Mobile? o_O