Sony Playstation Portable set for March 24 North American release

The droves of North American portable gaming fans watching their kindred overseas enjoy the new Sony Playstation Portable need not wait much longer to get one themselves: Sony today announced March 24 as the release date for the highly anticipated gaming gadget. On that date, the Sony PSP Value Pack, priced at $249.99 and containing the machine, memory card, headphones, battery pack, AC adaptor, soft case and cleaning cloth, will hit store shelves.

The Sony PSP (Playstation Portable) will provide users a handheld device which can play games, images, music, movies and provide wireless networking. It will, according to a press release, offer graphics rendering comparable to that of a Sony Playstation 2 on a 4.3" widescreen, color TFT display.

Other notable features of the PSP hardware include high quality built-in stereo speakers, exterior headphone connector and diverse input/output connectors such as USB 2.0, and 802.11b (Wi-Fi) wireless LAN.

Games and movies will be playable on the PSP through a new optical disc medium known as Universal Media Disc (UMD), which can hold more than three times the data on a typical CD-ROM. 24 gaming titles reportedly will be available when the PSP ships.