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Sony Touts PSX As Console and Gadget Hybrid

Posted on: Friday, 12 December 2003, 06:00 CST

By YURI KAGEYAMA

TOKYO (AP) -- Sony Corp.' (SNE)s PSX, touted as a crossover between a video game console and consumer electronics gadget, is trying to be too many things at once and falls far short of expectations, analysts say.

The PSX, seen by The Associated Press ahead of its launch Saturday in Japan, sounds like a good deal. It combines a DVD recorder, analog TV tuner, CD player with music file and digital photo album, and the PlayStation 2 game console in one sleek box.

The machine, planned for overseas sale next year, costs 99,800 yen ($920) for the 250-gigabyte hard disk version, which can record about 25 movies. The 160-gigabyte version costs 79,800 yen ($740).

But the deal begins to sounds less attractive if you are one of the nearly 63 million people in the world who already own a PlayStation 2.

If you've already bought PS2 - or have never wanted to own one - then a regular DVD recorder could be a better option. Standard DVD players tend to have better features than the PSX, but can be bought for around the same price. And there's plenty of competition - including from Sony itself.

Unfortunately, Sony had to downgrade certain promised PSX features at the last minute.

In October, the Japanese electronics and entertainment giant said the PSX would dub videos at 24 times the playback speed, but halved that just weeks before its release date. That means recording a two-hour movie onto disk will take about half an hour, instead of the 15 minutes that can be achieved with other DVD recorders.

The PSX was also supposed to handle three standards for DVD recorders: DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW. But the product doesn't handle DVD+RW at a time when compatibility is increasingly in demand.

The product also doesn't process MP3 music files as had been promised.

"Lowering the specifications of the PSX hurt Sony's image," Kazuya Yamamoto, analyst for UFJ Tsubasa Securities Co. in Tokyo, said Friday. "And did it turn out to be a superior machine as a DVD recorder? I certainly don't think so."

Sony officials say they merely ran out of time for fine-tuning, citing pressure to ship the PSX before the end-of-the-year shopping rush. They say such features could be added through downloads because the PSX has an Ethernet port.

Sony says advance orders are good, but refused to disclose numbers.

"The PSX is perhaps more of a publicity stunt," said Kazumasa Kubota, an analyst with Okasan Securities Co., who believes a game console can't quite fit into the electronics market. "It will probably sell well for a month or two but the momentum isn't likely to hold up after that."

Image credit: Sony

Running out of time and updates through downloads are standard fare for big-name releases in the game industry.

On one level, the PSX is a compromise because it allows Sony to play catch-up in the DVD recorder market by relying on tested technology from PlayStation 2. Sony lags behind Japanese rival Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes the Panasonic brand and dominates the global DVD recorder market with about a 50 percent share.

Where the PSX clearly comes out ahead is the nimble way the remote controller responds. Various options such as video, TV and games pop up as icons on the screen as soon as it's turned on.

A gentle bending of the control button zips the cursor through the icons in a similar way to how a gamer chooses a favorite hero from a fighting-game lineup.

White and metallic gray, the PSX looks classy enough to come out of the den and win a place in the living room. It is surprisingly dignified and absent of whimsy - almost boring.

Sony engineers say they intentionally left out toylike features so that the PSX would also appeal to people who don't play games.

"We made this so people don't have to try anything difficult," says Kenji Matsuoka, a senior manager on the PSX team. "Push the button, then it moves."

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