Slashdot Mirror
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. "
This guy is on justification highway! A lot of what he spouts is really a stretch. I'd like to see him write 10 great things about the N-Gage.
1 Graphics
Sony kept telling us that the PSP was a mini-PS2 in your pocket. Now that we have screen shots and movies we see overly-simple character models with fewer polygons than characters on the PS1 and games that skimp on textures like Wipeout Pure. Thats okay though because on a tiny screen you wont miss the extra polygons or textures. Just buy our crap and I promise well make better looking games in the future. Honest!
2 Battery
Okay, the battery thing isnt an issue. Really! If you are in the middle of a game and the battery runs out, just plop in another $45 battery and keep playing. Just make sure to keep your spares charged and in a huge bag to carry around with your huge game cases and the charger. Also, 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.
3 - Music playback
Yep! Now you can play music on your PSP. If you dont believe us, check out the great article about it on IGN that gives us the low-down. 1 directory of music with no ID3 tag support to sort on artist/genre/album. No crossfade like your rio Karma so expect a gap between songs. No album art cover or any imaginative use of the huge screen at all. No real EQ settings for bass and treble. Look out iPod, we have the Walkman of the 21 st century here.
4 - Wireless too
The PSP follows in the footsteps of the Nintendo DS showing that you can have fun without wires. Unlike the DS, you have to manually turn on the wireless capabilities or your battery will loose juice like a sieve. It kind of sucks that you cant just automagically find other players and that you have to worry about the battery slipping away faster than the awesome 3-hours than you may already get, but hey, thats progress!
5 - Sleep mode
One of the drawbacks to a disc-based system is load time. To help overcome some of the boot-up and loading time for the PSP, it allows you to put the system on sleep mode with a flick of a button. You wont really need this feature though, since after a short burst of gaming, your battery will need a recharge anyways.
6 - Movie playback.
The PSP plays back MP4-formatted movies, right off the memory stick. Were still working on a way to make this thing less complicated, but right now you need at least a couple pieces of software to make the movie conversion. One is Decrypter, to rip movies off of your DVDs and store them in VOB format files, and in conjunction with that you will need 3GP Converter, a free utility that converts video files to MP4. (really, I dont even need to make fun of this one. It is a joke already. It should be noted though that you can only play 320x240 movies, the same resolution movies my phone already plays. So much for a high-resolution screen since you can only play low-resolution movies on it.)
7 - Strong third-party support.
The PSP should have a huge selection of craptacular 3 rd party games available throughout its short lifespan. 3 rd party support is guaranteed cause Sony does not really make any 1 st party games, but buys other companies to support its own products. You are sure to see games like generic off-road racing PSP, retarded golf simulation that tries to be funny PSP and a shitload of shovelware from the evil EA games. 3 rd party companies are expected to show the greatest support making extra batteries for the PSP that explode in your pocket when they bump your keys.
8 - The price is going to be right
If the unit comes in at the totally reasonable price of $185, like it is in Japan right now, you may be a happy camper. Before you have the register biscuit ring you up, make sure to grab a few added necessities to make playing fun. Memory Card - $49 You dont HAVE to have a memory card, but you really do. Extra Battery - $
You've been up and down this thread bashing it. The people that I know that imported one love it and the developers that I know that have worked with it are busting a nut. But hey, you fanboy up huh?
Here we go...
1. False. I have played the PSP. The games look like PS2 games. Everyone who has seen the PSP launch titles in action is amazed and learns what a joke the DS is in terms of horsepower.
2. The battery thing isn't an issue. Unless you are the kind of cat that routinely has marathon handheld gaming sessions. If you are, maybe it is a problem, but I'm not.
3. Who cares? Music playback is a bonus that comes free. Don't like it? Keep your Ipod. Considering Nintendo didn't see fit to include it for free, music playback is automatically a wash at worst and a sweet bonus at best.
4. Once again, its a matter of the player. Noone will use the wireless on either system except for the hardest of the core (thats you fanboy) so it doesn't matter. Once again, nice bonus nothing more.
5. If this point is REALLY still about the batteries, see my #2.
6. See #3. Did Nintendo give us any free such option? It will also play UMD movies, which I hear will come with some DVDs.
7. Yeah, cause Nintendo always has killer 3rd party support. But hey, if you really need to pay for the rereleased NES classics again Nintendo is glad to oblige!
8. What does a touch-screen have to do with anything? Talk about irrational defense of Nintendo. At any rate, for most people the price isn't an issue. This isn't a device parents will buy for their kids, its clearly for big boys. So you play Touch the Pokemon over wifi with the other grade schoolers and we'll play big boy games. Price isn't an issue as long as its within even $100 of the NDS once everyone see P. Diddy and Kanye West with one.
9. The screen is very nice. If you have to turn it into an attack on photo viewing capability, well you showed how much you are stretching in your post better than I could.
10. I would assume more IS coming for the PSP. This is in contrast with the NDS which has already shown all its tricks. And we know how often Nintendo releases all those promised add-ons here in America! I mean, didn't such a misstep let Sony in the game in the first place? Let me just check the back of all my old Nintendo consoles for all those ports and expansion slots that were never used...
11. I'm just glad you haven't let your unrequited love for the Nintendo Corporation get in the way of your critical thinking.
Don't fear the PSP. If you don't like it, just don't buy one!