Autumn Brings Gamers' Delights

Handheld game devices and satellite radio receiver vie for gadget fans' attention with camcorders, big LCD TV, and more.

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service

Martyn Williams is Tokyo bureau chief for the IDG News Service, a consortium of IDG publications.

The year is ending with great news for Japanese gamers, who are enjoying a new selection of consoles and games. But consumer electronics fans are finding some exciting new products, too, ranging from a 65-inch LCD TV to new camcorders and projectors and--in Asia only--a handheld receiver for satellite entertainment.

The biggest splashes are soon to come from Nintendo and Sony, which have released their next-generation portable game units. Nintendo has had an effective lock on the portable sector for the last couple of years with its Game Boy devices, which are still popular today: The latest sales rankings show them in top position and easily outselling consoles like Sony's PlayStation 2.

But Sony is challenging that lead. The company revolutionized the console sector about ten years ago with the introduction of the PlayStation, when Sony took on Nintendo and Sega, the major players at the time. The result? Sega exited the hardware business; Nintendo dropped to the number-two spot in Japan and even lower overseas.

In December, both Nintendo's Dual Screen and Sony's PlayStation Portable are scheduled to launch within a few days of each other in Japan. All eyes are on this sector of the market.

Also drawing interest is a new version of the PlayStation 2 (featured in last month's column), which just went on sale in Asia. It's much smaller than the first-generation version. Sony hopes it will attract new users and lure some current PlayStation 2 owners to switch to the smaller model.

Nintendo DS Handheld Gaming Device

Nintendo's $142 Dual Screen player is scheduled to go on sale in Japan in early December, a couple of weeks after its U.S. launch in late November. Both Nintendo and Sony previewed their handhelds in the spring.

The player's most distinctive feature is its dual 3-inch LCDs, one of which is touch-sensitive. Nintendo has embedded a microphone that can be used to feed information to games. Nintendo says 12 titles will be available at launch.

The DS includes a preinstalled chat program that allows users who are within range of a wireless LAN to communicate.

Sony PSP Handheld Gaming Device

The PlayStation Portable, which Sony has called its "Walkman of the 21st Century," promises to pack the power of a PlayStation 2 into a handheld device that will be priced at $188. That's about the same as the PlayStation 2 console.

The player has a 4.3-inch wide-screen display and supports IEEE 802.11b wireless connectivity. Its battery life is open to some speculation; when showcasing it at the Tokyo Game Show earlier this year, Sony said it would play for about 2 hours. But at the product announcement, Sony said the player would last between 4 and 5 hours on one charge.

Sony plans to launch the PSP in Japan in December; the company has said it intends to release the player in North America and Europe during its current fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2005.

Sony Vaio X PC/Video Server

Think of it as TiVo on steroids: Sony's Vaio X can record up to seven television channels simultaneously.

To best understand the Vaio X, think of it as three devices packed into one shiny, black box. It's a multimedia PC, with two 250GB hard drives and a television tuner. Also packed into its tower case are two video server boards. What's more, the unit contains three analog TV tuners connected to a 250GB hard disk drive. Those two boards plus the tuner in the PC add up to seven TV tuners. As a result, users can call up a grid-like electronic programming guide on the screen that, instead of looking forward, lists the past five days of television. Any of the programs listed is available at the press of a button.

The Vaio VGX-X90P goes on sale in Japan in late November priced around $4930. Sony has not released any details for overseas sales.

Toshiba Handheld Satellite Receiver

Entertainment from the stars is made possible with Toshiba's MTV-S10, a handheld receiver for a new satellite broadcasting service launched in Japan in October by Mobile Broadcasting.

The service uses frequencies much lower than conventional satellite broadcasts and at a much higher power, so you don't need a dish antenna to receive the program--the handheld device can make the catch. The Toshiba unit has a 3.5-inch display and records programming on a Secure Digital Card.

Mobile Broadcasting offers a subscription service of seven TV channels and 30 radio channels. The Toshiba receiver costs around $570; it won't be available outside of Japan.

JVC Hard-Drive Camcorders

The latest gadgets to feature a miniature hard drive are the GZ-MC100 and GZ-MC200 digital still/movie cameras from Victor of Japan (known as JVC).

The two new cameras have the same specifications but different forms. The GZ-MC100 is built into a thin case held upright with a monitor that hinges out from the side. The GZ-MC200 is built more like a square that you grip with one hand; its lens swivels to point forward. Both come with a 4GB MicroDrive for storage and provide a pretty good movie mode: A built-in MPEG-2 encoder chip supports 720-by-480-pixel wide-screen video. You can record up to 2 hours of video at this resolution. Both cameras also have a 2-megapixel still image mode and a 10X optical zoom.

JVC is releasing both products in Japan, Europe, and the U.S. this fall. The GZ-MC100 is priced at $1230; the GZ-MC200 is $1327.

Sharp 65-Inch LCD TV

One of the biggest events at October's Ceatec show in Chiba, Japan was Sharp's introduction of a 65-inch LCD TV.

It's only a prototype, but Sharp is using it to drive home its message that LCD is just as suitable a technology for large-screen TVs as plasma displays. Right now, most flat-panel sets larger than about 40 inches are plasma-based. Companies like Sharp that are major manufacturers of LCD panels want to change that.

Clearly, a battle is brewing. Sharp won't say when its 65-inch LCD TV will go on sale or how much it will cost, but says consumers in Japan can expect to see 50-inch LCD TVs on sale in 2005.

Sony High-Def Projectors

Sony has announced a two projectors that are the first to use its second-generation Silicon Crystal Reflective Display technology. SXRD is Sony's answer to Texas Instruments' DLP; the second-generation panels deliver a picture that, at 4096 by 2160 pixels, is twice the resolution of current versions and double that of HDTV.

Two projectors that feature the panels, the SRX-R105 and the SRX-R110, are scheduled to go on sale in Japan in March. Their main difference is brightness: The SRX-R110 offers 10,000 lumens, double that of the SRX-R105.

Both models are aimed at digital cinema and other professional applications. They're expected to carry hefty price tags: The SRX-R105 will cost $76,200 and the SRX-R110, $123,200. Sony has not released details of its plans for sales outside of Japan.

Olympus Hard Drive Multimedia Player

Olympus, a major manufacturer of cameras, is entering the market for hard-drive-based consumer devices with a combination music player and photo viewer.

The MR-500i incorporates a 20GB drive and a 1-megapixel digital camera, and has a 3.7-inch VGA resolution touch-screen display. A companion product, the MR-100, has a 5GB drive and is limited to playing music. Both devices are scheduled for release in Japan in November, and Olympus plans to begin selling them overseas early next year. The MR-500i will cost around $568; Olympus has not released pricing for the MR-100.