Playstation X: Officially Released and Reviewed

Sony has released the Playstation X as of Dec. 13th in Japan. The Playstation X is a hybrid game console, PVR (like TiVO), music jukebox and DVD player/recorder that Sony has just released in Japan. There are two models, one with 160 gig drive, another with 250 gigs, for around $750 and $950 respectively. From the few reviews that are available in Japanese, from what I gather there are some problems with the PSX, namely that video quality is not great, and that it may not play MP3s from the HD — only ATRAC. Which is to be expected I suppose, but it does signal’s Sony’s intent to strictly control the content on the PSX. On the upside, the PSX is capable of multitasking, for instance it can record a TV program at the same time that the user is playing a networked game that also uses the HD for game information. There are also some interesting connectivity options — it appears the PSX can download photos directly from some cameras, and may be able to interact in other ways with some Sony Clie handhelds. I haven’t seen any news on when it might show up in the US, but I expect it’ll be by March 2004. Hopefully by then the dollar will be a little stronger…