Developers finally get their dev kits, but all is not perfect in PlayStation land

More than 40 US developers have recently received their first PlayStation 2 development kits, two development teams (who asked to remain anonymous) told us today.

Following through on their promise to development teams, Sony came through with at least a partial delivery - the $20,000 kits don't include several major elements. These "partial" kits run at half the processor speed of the PSX2, don't have sound chips, and don't run DVD.

Supporting Merrill Lynch's analyst report, which was first posted three weeks ago on Gaming Age, one developer said that the system probably won't support DVD movie playback for quite a while, certainly not right out of the box. Whether Sony supports an add-on or a new system, is still pure speculation.

Sony have told Japanese development teams that they will receive the full kits by the end of October, with US teams receiving them by the end of November/beginning of December.
In line with many other developers' opinions, Sony's PlayStation 2 appears to be difficult to program. And while Sony's rival, Nintendo, doesn't actually have a machine to show, at least one developer told us that the Dolphin is going to be easier to program.

Another complaint, regarding programming, surrounds the VMU (Visual Memory Unit). Both developers explained that the VMU caused difficulties while programming. The VMU? Is this the lost PocketStation? Or is it a new one? Hmmm...

Sony have said that they will announce most of the pertinent details - price, what the unit looks like, playable games, release date, et al - on 13 September at a special press event in Japan.

Courtesy of IGN.com