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PSP Controller Layout, New Details Revealed
Thanks to IGN Pocket for their article discussing new PlayStation Portable (PSP) details revealed at Sony's Gamers' Day in San Francisco. The article discusses the PSP's controller configuration, which is "...now confirmed to consist of the four face buttons we all know and love (triangle, circle, cross, and square), a digital directional pad, two shoulder buttons (left and right), start and select buttons, and one analog joystick." It also reveals that "Sony compared the 3D prowess of the PSP to be more akin to the PS2 rather than the PSone", and other details emerged - the system's battery life was "...said to be comparable to other high-end devices (roughly 3-6 hours)", and GameSpot's Gamers' Day round-up relays that "a prototype will be unveiled at E3 2004... [and] currently, 10 first-party titles are in development for the new platform."
I remember when Sony first talked about the portable Playstation back in 1997.
I'm not endorsing 6-7 hours as being a great achievement, but keep in mind that the GBA SP isn't what most people (especially Sony) would consider a high-end device. I expect that they're probably comparing it to portable DVD players and multimedia jukebox-type gadgets.
"Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero
When Sony says "3-6 hours" for other "high-end devices" (like their laptops), in reality it's more like an hour or two. The problem is, this will hurt the PSP. It's one thing to carry a power brick with your laptop; it's entirely another to carry one for your pocket game device.
The GBA SP, with light on, easily gets 10 hours. It seems like I rarely ever have to charge mine. If I had to charge every three hours, this would be much different.
It won't stop me from buying one, since I do most of my gaming at home, and it'll probably have a boatload of great games---the main reason for investing in any console---but if they really want to succeed, they should take a good hard look at this.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
...and one analog joystick.
I wonder how far this will protrude and if durability will be a problem. I would hesitate to put this in my pocket (or even in a bag without a case) for fear that the joystick would wear unnecessarily.
As with the sun's light
My mom was magnificent
Unquestionable
Yes but people tend to play portables more hours than it would take to watch a dvd. So if this thing can't last the amount of time for a 2 hour flight and 2 more hours of sitting around waiting for the flight its not gonna fly. If you have to constantly plug it in to keep it charged and are walking around an airport looking for an empty outlet to charge your portable it ends up not being very portable.
Your viewpoint is similar to Sega's when they released the GameGear.
The GameGear had much lower battery life than the Gameboy. It also had much better graphics, and a color screen.
People simply wanted good games, without needing to worry too much about batteries. Hence Gameboy won.
Neo Geo pocket failed because of a complete lack of marketing.
Game Gear failed because of a lack of (interesting) games. (Sonic and Columns were about the only worthwhile games).
Lynx failed because of a lack of third party games. Atari wanted tight fisted control over the games that were released, hence only first part games ever came out.
Also to note, all three handhelds were expensive compared to the GB/GBA.
Until the GBA Lynx was my favorite handheld. The games were ultra small and ultra portable. Batteries lasted 6+ hours. 16-bit full color backlit display. Most of the games out on it were great, Rampart, Gauntlet, Red Baron, Todd's Adventures in Slime World. The multiplayer on it was great as well. I miss having 4 people deathmatching on Slime World. The only downside was the actual unit itself was fairly large (twice the size of a gameboy) and it's price (when the original gameboy was $70 an atari lynx was $120).