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The PlayStation Portable (PSP), which was launched in March 2005, was not Sony’s first attempt to create a portable gaming device. Sony had launched another device called the “PocketStation” in December 1998 to compete with Sega’s VMU for the DreamCast. The unit was originally released in Japan, but because of its unpopularity it was never released in the United States or other countries. The main reason the unit failed might be the fact that the PocketStation never had any type of game cartridge media to insert into the unit. To play games on the unit you were required to own a PlayStation One. Then to get games onto the Pocket Station you had to plug the unit into the memory card slot on the PS1 then transfer games over. (also serves as a Memory Card) Another reason for failure was the fact that there were only a handful of PS1 games that actually included “mini-games” for the Pocket Station. Because of this design, the unit was absolutely pointless for the majority to purchase.
[Thanks for the pics, lipanz]
Other things Sony had intended for Pocket Station to be a tool to “train” characters and unlock new features in the full game editions. This was pretty much a rip off of Sega‘s Virtual Memory Unit they released to go along with the DreamCast, which was eventually another failure because of the buggy parent unit. The Pocket Station also had speakers, a clock, infrared (for multiplayer), and once again served as a memory card. Pocket Stations are now “rare” novelty items and can only be purchased for high prices on sites such as eBay. This might have also been a plan to compete with Tamagotchi, but Sony obviously never came through.
Technical Specs:
- CPU : ARM7T (32 bit RISC Processor)
- Memory : SRAM 2K bytes & Flash RAM 128K bytes
- Graphics : 32 x 32 dot Monochrome LCD
- Sound : Mini Speaker (12 bit PCM) x 1 unit
- Switches : 5 input buttons + 1 reset button
- Infrared : Bi-directional (IrDA based)
- LED : 1 indicator
- Battery : Lithium battery (CR 2032)
- Other functions : Calendar & Identification #
- Dimensions : 64 x 42 x 13.5 mm (L x W x H)
- Weight : Approx. 30g (w/ battery)
Links: PlayStation | Sony | SCEA
Related: Free PS3 Conga | 8GB MS Duo
I’ve considered closing this post, but it has been quite amusing reading these comments. (People are still fighting even though this article will be about 2-years-old in about 2 months.) It doesn’t look like this has gotten dangerous or heinous just yet, so I think i’ll keep it open for a bit longer. :-)
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, I’ve been getting response emails, so randomly form this article..
i keep checking in to see if anyone has answered my very first post on the LOM thing. i still havent found the answer anywhere!
Sahas Katta, I think one of the reasons people are still commenting is that you never gave a source for your unverified claims that the Pocketstation was unpopular and that the Dreamcast was buggy. Honestly though, I also wouldn’t want to give the satisfaction of an answer to someone who was so brash as Techni.
Lady Ashley, I remember looking this up when you first asked, but I never figured it out. In the Japanese version, the option is at the Monster Corral and is one of the options that you can select in the Menu Ring. Unfortunately, I don’t have a save of the game anymore so I couldn’t check. I did look in my manual and saw that they list the options for the Monster Corral, and don’t talk about the Pocketstation one. That might mean that they took it out (but that would be surprising because Square didn’t take out Pocketstation functions from the American FF8 and Saga Frontier 2). All I can suggest is that you go to the Monster Corral with the Pocketstation plugged in, and hope the option shows up.
http://maru-chang.com/hard/scph/index.php/english/
SCPH-4000 PocketStation It’s the MemoryCard with monochrome LCD-screen. It can be playing “Doko Demo Issyo” etc.. January 23, 1999 for ¥3000. Shipment finished at July 19, 2002. It was shipped 4.9 million units in Japan.
4.9 million is a failure? At least we can put this disgusting argument to bed what with this failure talk being complete bs.
Sahas Katta says: I think i’ll keep it open for a bit longer. :-)
Only about a year and 3 months so far. See ya next year!
I just recently purchased a Pocketstation from ebay last week. It’s a neat little device it came loaded with Crash Bandicoot and Chocobo RPG. I’ll be holding onto this forever.Great read by the way,Very informative
haha just stumbled across the pocketstation. Awesome comments over the past five years…