Slashdot Mirror
Prelude to the PSP Launch
Josh writes "Because the Japanese Launch is quickly coming upon us, we at PsiNext decided to put together an editorial which talks about the important events in getting to the final product release for the PSP. It is a good chance for those who are just getting into the PSP to catch up on what has been happening for the past 18 months." From the article: "The dream of a portable gaming unit began many years ago for Sony, around the time Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) was preparing to release the PS2 to the world. Work began in 1998 under the codename "E.T." and it was to be Sony's first stab at the portable gaming market to try and take down the then industry leading Nintendo with their GameBoy."
Can you say "utterly worthless article"? This goes into only moderate detail on the good points and COMPLETELY skips the bad points! (battery life, anyone?)
This is HARDLY the kind of article that should be reccomended to someone who hasn't heard of the PSP-- this is fanboy press, pure and simple.
Nobody wants to hear it but this HAS to be a paid slashdot post.
Most media (specially print magazines) is really just outsourced PR. It was really only a matter of time before Slash did the same.
I'm sure developers are looking forward to breaking even if the PSP takes off. Seriously though, if you're gonna launch a portable, launch a portable. Don't try risk adverse techniques; they screw early adopters and the market share. Every PSP that could have been sold but wasn't is a loss, a customer that every game developer just missed a chance on. If I were a developer, I'd be either pissed or sceptical, depending on how committed my own company was to the PSP.
UMD is relatively small, somewhat smaller than a gamecube disc. But I don't think its a brilliant move; I know that they're pushing the format as a portable, low-power media but nothing reads it, and given Sony's style, nobody but Sony ever will. I mean, do you plan on purchasing any movies released on the UMD format?
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Open Source Sysadmin
I wonder, how is it that the PSP stays cool? It seems like it is very similar to the PS2, so wouldn't it require some kind of active cooling or at least a good passive system? To me it looks like there is no way for heat to escape the unit.
SIGFAULT
I agree to a point. I mean there's absolutely no doubt the games look amazing. But the battery life issue and UMD movies are the kiss of death. It's almost emberassing how bad UMD movies are going to fail. I don't like to speculate much as anything can happen, but making people buy the DVD and UMD is insane. The only way I can see UMD succeeding is if the discs cost 1/4 of what a DVD costs, or they are given away for free in magazines, etc. Like promos.