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Top Ten Things About the Sony PSP
Hector Martinez writes "A very nice read on some of the features of Sony's portable device." From the article: "Simply put, the character models don't need to be as detailed, because you won't notice the difference anyway. That said, we need to keep in mind that these are first-generation PSP titles. Just look at how the PS2 games have evolved since its launch. If handheld games are looking this good at launch, imagine what a couple years of development time will do. You can expect the same leaps, similar to those found with home based consoles, as developers become more familiar with it. "
The PSP does not support AVI; it rather supports SVI, Sony's DRM-encumbered "replacement for AVI." Likewise, you must convert all your MP3s to ATRAC3, Sony's DRM-encumbered "replacement for MP3."
Frankly, I would sooner urinate myself than spend $150 for a "MagicGate" equipped Memory Stick. How can you break the worst memory card "standard" even more? Add encryption.
Oh, and I'm going to jail for violating the DCMA with this post. See you next year.
I'm not Seth Finkelstein. I still speak the truth.
I have a GBA with a third-party rechargeable battery, an SP, and a DS, in addition to many old GBs and other handhelds.
Battery life hit a peak with the GBA SP. No question, anyone with a GBA SP has been spoiled rotten with the amount of juice you can squeeze out of the thing. It's wonderful.
The DS has shorter battery life than the GBA SP, thanks in part to the move away from unlit/fronlit screens to backlit screens. The more advanced hardware (including surprisingly awesome stereo speakers that can be turned up pretty damn loud) and the wireless capabilities certainly contributed here too. But I find myself charging my DS up more often than my GBA SP, and it's a little strange to go back to doing that after going forever without charging my GBA SP.
People that are claiming that the PSP's typical average of 3-6 hours is enough really seem like weirdos to me. Have they never owned a GameBoy, PDA, or even a cell phone? I have owned many types of each aforementioned device, and 6 hours of usable life between charges is ridiculous - even worse is that's the commonly reported best case scenario for the device, while it goes way down for most games. That encroaches on the horror that is laptop battery life.
I think the PSP will be for people who will play them at home, which is strange considering superior full-sized versions of its games will inevitably surface on far the more capable home consoles that already exist. Real portable gaming will probably be done on more suitable systems like the Nintendo DS and the GBA SP, just because they really do make more sense for that purpose.
The original article is the one that makes excuses for poor graphics, "Simply put, the character models don't need to be as detailed, because you won't notice the difference anyway". Thanks for making that assumption pal. We were lied to about the prowess of the system, developers too. Koei, in a recent interview, stated that they had to dumb-down all of their PS2 graphics and textures to get them to work on the PSP. It isn't a PS2 in the palm of your hand. Maybe a PS1.5, but then so was the N64.
The battery is a huge issue, no matter how much Sony tells us it isn't. Don't kid yourself. What other device do you own that has such an amazingly short battery life?
Music playback is important. The top-ten article says so. They state it as #3. Sony tells us the PSP is the Walkman of the 21st century. Compared to MP3 players from the last century, it seems to fall short. Very short.
Wireless? The article says the wireless is like the DS'. Why is that in the top ten? On the PSP, the wireless will only be used by the hardcore since you have to coordinate when/where you will turn on the wireless. On the DS it is easy to find other people playing. Why not just let software control the Wi-Fi access? Do you REALLY need another switch/button on the thing?
Sleep mode is really a non-issue, I'll admit. It sleeps. Good!
The movie playback is a joke. Sony keeps stating that is one of the big draws of the system. It is poorly implemented and weak. It does not take advantage of the system's strengths, the big screen, to play high-resolution movies. Instead, it uses a cryptic file naming convention (movies files also have to be all upper case otherwise the PSP ignores them), and requires many steps to convert your movies. When done, you can watch low-resolution video clips off of overly expensive Memory Sticks. WHY is this considered a feature? As for UMD movies, do you REALLY want to buy your movies all over again on UMD? If they come with DVDs, can you buy a cheaper version of the DVD without the UMD, otherwise, you are spending the money to make UMDs that you'll never use.
So far, the PSP's biggest supporter looks to be EA. We know how they make such quality games. Personally, I'd rather have great-quality first-party titles rather than off-road-racing, tries-to-be-funny-golf or EA shovelware made by EA slaves. Maybe others like those kinda games. Go figure.
I did mention photo viewing because the original article did. Reviews state it is slow unless you are using the native resolution of the PSP. Also, the bars it puts around your photo if it isn't the right size are white, not black. Never put photos on white, especially when your device is black. Show them on a black background to make the photo stand out. Can you imagine watching a letterbox film with white borders? Silly.
More is coming, for both consoles. Just like how our PS2 was supposed to be able to download games, movies and music. Or remember how our PS2 was supposed to have toy-story-like graphics? It was going to be the media center of the future. Remember the printer and web cam that were supposed to come out for the Dreamcast? Point is; it is hype. You have to see through the hype to the truth. As for the DS, I believe it is just getting started, but I wouldn't buy a DS for the hype, I would buy it for the hardware and the games, including all the GBA games one could play on it.
I think you have mistaken my loathing for being lied to and deceived as Nintendo Fanboyism. The PSP isn't as good as we are being told it is. It is less-capable at a multimedia device than modern PDAs. It has serious shortcomings and is riddled with poor design choices. They could have forgone the UMD and used Flash media to eliminate the battery and disc issues, but Sony seems intent on forcing a power-hungry disc into a portable handh
You're obviously a troll, but I'll bite. Oh, and I DO own a PSP since the day it was released. Here we go:
1 Graphics [...]we have screen shots and movies we see overly-simple character models with fewer polygons than characters on the PS1[...]
One of the games I own is Ridge Racers. The graphics are comparable to Gran Turismo 3 on the PS2, as is the framerate.
2 Battery [...]If you are in the middle of a game and the battery runs out, just plop in another $45 battery[...]
If the battery starts running out, you'll know at least half an hour before, because the battery LED will start flashing.
[...]make sure to keep your spares charged and in a huge bag[...]
The PSP battery is quite small, so even if you're freak enough to want to carry more than the one on the console, it won't be a problem.
[...]make sure to save your game cause those rumors you heard about the game being suspended while you swap the battery were spread by Sony fanboys and arent true.
The suspend function works. I use it all the time because I use my PSP mostly on the train when commuting. And replacing the battery when the console is suspended works too. That said, I have been playing Ridge Racers for around 6 hours with one battery charge.
3 - Music playback [...]1 directory of music with no ID3 tag support[...]
The PSP supports directories and ID3 tags. I have a 512Mb MemoryStick with several directories of music on it. The PSP media browser displays the name of each directory, and inside of each directory it displays the title and artist of each song. You can also click to display more information on each song, that is taken from (guess where?) the ID3 tags.
[...]No album art cover[...]
Neither does the iPod, and I don't see you complaining.
4 - Wireless too [...]you have to manually turn on the wireless capabilities or your battery will loose juice[...]
The wireless switch is to lock/unlock the wireless functions. If you're not using wireless, it won't be sucking juice from your battery, regardless of the position of the wireless lock.
5 - Sleep mode [...]
This is only flamebait, doesn't deserve an answer.
6 - Movie playback. The PSP plays back MP4-formatted movies, right off the memory stick.[...] you need at least a couple pieces of software to make the movie conversion. One is Decrypter[...] and you will need 3GP Converter[...]
You'll need Decrypter only if you want to rip a DVD. Not only on the PSP, but also on any other case when you want to rip your movies to a hard disk. You'll need the MP4 converter if you don't have the movies in that format. Of course, there's the possibility of a firmware upgrade that includes other formats. Both my cell phone and camera save movies in mp3 format.
[...]you can only play 320x240 movies[...]
You're lying again. It can play movies at full screen.
7 - Strong third-party support. [...]
This is only flamebait, doesn't deserve an answer.
8 - The price is going to be right [...]make sure to grab a few added necessities[...]
Or get the Value Pack.
[...]Memory Card - $49[...]
$25, to be exact
[...]Extra Battery - $49[...]
The PSP already comes with a battery. I don't think you'll need an extra one, unless you're a freak.
9 - The screen is a marvel [...]the screen is bright and ghosts like a 1 st generation LCD monitor.[...]
This is not true.
[...]For something that is intended as a movie viewer[...]
It's not a movie viewer, it's a game console.
[...]we could have made a screen that didnt blur when there was motion or action on the screen[...]
The screen doesn't blur. Ridge Racers and Armored Core Formula F
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