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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 battery time issue is fixable. Everyone was worried about what kind of battery time we would be looking at with such a powerful system. Well as of now, you can expect even the most intensive games to last well beyond 3 hours of play time, while other less graphically intense games can reach up to 6 hours.
Well beyond 3 hours! What is this, a joke?
It was dead before it was even released, and this is why.
"An infinite number of monkeys typing into GNU emacs would never make a good program."
I am definitely going to spend a lot of time deciding where to plop my $150. It takes about six months to see where the best games are coming out for a system. The PSP looks to be more hackable than the DS - AVI playback built in? MP3? Gorgeous screen? Nice. Now, what about the games?
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.
Signed,
Hector Martinez
Sony PSP Marketing Dept.
Seriously though, the guy gets his own article posted on Slashdot and it is a "nice read". More like PSP love fest. The article failed to mention all the complaints that have been reported about discs popping out, bad pixels, etc. Why didn't he just title the article "The Top Ten Ways to suck Sony Off."
but I can remember a great handheld coming out by a company called Sega that was everything the game-boy wasn't and I haven't seen a game-gear around since 96. weird.
"It'll destroy you if you try to make it mean anything to anyone but yourself." - Henry Rollins
10 Great Things About the N-Gage (not the N-Gage QD)
1. Plays MP3s.
2. Runs the popular Series 60 OS, for which many non-N-Gage-specific apps are already available.
3. Synchronizes built-in PIM software with Mac OS X (iSync) and Windows (Intellisync).
4. Built-in FM radio.
5. Supports on-line play with built-in GPRS radio.
6. Available used for about the same price as a Game Boy Advance SP.
7. Memory expansion with widely-available albeit slow MultiMedia Cards.
8. Includes software that lets me surf the web and check e-mail using the built-in modem.
9. Supports Bluetooth, letting me use a cordless headset instead of Sidetalkin'.
10. Has a built in Media Player, which supports not only MP3s (#1) but also video clips and streaming media.
There, that wasn't too hard. Maybe I should put it on a web page myself and submit it as an article!
For more information, click here.
Live mid-market rates as of 2004.12.28 21:36:07 GMT.
20,790.00 JPY Japan Yen = 201.768 USD United States Dollars
They still claim $186. The 20,790 includes tax. How much is tax in JP? The dollar has been falling a lot lately. I wonder how much more of a loss Sony will be taking, or how much they will have to raise the price in the US.
It may have been $186 back in October, but it is getting more expensive every day.
Hell! When you break it down, the N-Gage sounds MUCH better than the PSP!
I just got my Dell Axim x50v. It's a Pocket PC.
It was $375 - quite a bit more than the PSP. Keep in mind, however, that Dell is making a profit on the unit while Sony is selling the PSP for a loss.
It's clearly not optimized for gaming. But, here's the lowdown.
The screen is VGA (640x480) with a 3:4 aspect ratio. It's quite a bit higher in res than the PSP screen.
The unit has WiFi, like the PSP, but it also has bluetooth for connecting to a mobile phone.
It doesn't need expensive memory sticks. You can use either CF-based (up to 8GB flash, or use a microdrive like the iPod Mini) or SD-based (up to 2GB flash) media. You can use both slots at once.
The unit has a faster processor than the PSP (Intel PXA270 @ 612MHz) and it has a good 3D accelerator (Intel 2700G - based on the PowerVR core used in the Dreamcast, with 16MB of memory - 4 times more than the PSP).
Battery life is only around 2.5 hours, but that's with wireless on, the processor set to full speed, and the brightness set to the maximum.
The unit has 64MB of main memory - 8 times more than the PSP. It's an ARM core, like the DS, GBA, Pocket PCs, Palm OS devices, and 100s of other products.
Thanks to the PXA270 and the 2700G, the unit has no problem playing back DIVX/XVID movies at VGA resolution. You can download the trailers off of the Divx website and play them right on the unit without conversion - and they look great.
The Axim isn't really a Dell product at all - it's produced by a company called HTC. HTC also produces many of the iPaqs.
Microsoft could absolutely own the mobile market. Here's how:
1: Call up HTC and ask for a unit with these specs
- VGA touchscreen
- Intel PXA270 + Intel 2700G platform
- 64MB SDRAM, 64MB flash, 16MB VRAM
- 2 SD slots
- WiFi
- A game optimized case & buttons
Since the device is based on existing hardware and could simply be a modification of an existing Pocket PC, design time would be short and the unit could be on store shelves in quantity by next Christmas.
2: Develop an OS to run on the system based on Windows CE. Since similar hardware platforms already run Windows CE, there isn't a lot of work to be done there. Microsoft already has a compact DirectX framework that works with the Intel 2700G, they already have the OS, they already have a media player. All they need is a nice UI to tie everything together and a SDK to make development easy.
3: Ship the SDK. Get game development going. The SDK should make it easy to port XBox games - not a huge problem given the fact that WinCE has a similar API to Windows and the fact that the unit runs a variant of DirectX.
4: Launch. If Dell can make a profit at $375, Microsoft loses only about $110 on each unit at $200 (assuming that Dell's profit is $10, that Microsoft is charging $20 for the WinCE license, that the cradle costs $10, that the Bluetooth chip costs $10, and that Dell's "free" shipping costs $5.)
Regardless, here's what we see:
- Microsoft launches a product that is largely compatible with the XBox. Call it the XBox pocket.
- The unit has comparable graphics to the PSP, plus a better screen, enhanced video/audio playback, a touchscreen, and better battery life.
- Microsoft ships the unit with IE for Windows CE, plus an organizer that syncronizes with Outlook.
- Microsoft ships the unit with Windows Media Player 10. The unit plays Windows Media files, MP3s, and even WMA-DRM files purchased online.
- Microsoft ships a cable that allows the unit to link to the XBox. The device already has a USB client port (for connection to a PC) and the XBox controller ports are USB.
- Users can download games from XBox Live or purchase them at a place in a retail store. Games have DRM (of course) and are loaded onto SD cards. A 1GB SD card holds 16 games (at 64MB each - plenty of space with careful programming) and is only around $80.
Any thoughts?
The Dreamcast, in many ways, was more powerful than the PS2. Lots of Dreamcast games look better than modern PS2 games. If Sega had Sony's deep pockets, the Dreamcast would still be a contender.
Bzzt. GT3 didn't hit until July '01, 9 months after launch (11 months if you're going by the Japanese dates). IIRC, Smuggler's Run was a launch title, for comparison. And you obviously haven't seen ICO or MGS3 if you think GT3 is the pinnacle of PS2 poly-pushing prowess.
The PS2 is the weakest of the three in terms of raw potential, but there are excellent teams that can wring more out of its silicon than average teams on GCN and XBX...
GTRacer
- I'm a functional alliterate
Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
1. 0h
2. my
3. gawd
4. my
5. batteries
6. ran
7. out
8. again!
9. and
10. again
From TFA: "Here at Gear Live we're a little more patient, (okay, maybe just a little more broke) but that hasn't kept us from finding out all we could about the handheld. "
The author doesn't even have a unit yet! This entire article is based on what they could "find out." This is not much different than the Nintendo Fanboy article posted not to long ago. (Just not quite as childish sounding).
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
My site
Cripes!
Buy what you like, no need to bash the other guys system. Nintendo and Sony are heavyweights, you don't need to promote their products for them, they'll still have the same libraries they were planning anyway.
I for one own a DS and I plan to buy a PSP if it ever gets a game I want on it. (Yeah, I'm a 29 year old man who likes playing Super Mario 64 DS, laugh it up)
First it was Atari vs. Coleco, then NES vs. SMS, then Gameboy vs. a ton of other portables, then SNES vs. Genesis, then Playstation vs. N64 vs. Saturn, then Dreamcast just plain fell on its ass, then X-BOX vs. Gamecube vs. PS2, and now this!
If there is one thing that has ever remained constant across ALL of these fights, It does not matter whose hardware is better, whoever has the best software library wins.
In terms of hardware, if I recall correctly:
Coleco > Atari
SMS > NES
Gamegear, Lynx, and that Turbo Grafx 16 handheld > Gameboy
Genesis somewhat > SNES (SNES had better sound and more colors, but Genesis had a better processor)
Saturn > N64 !! Playstation
Dreamcast = Nice hardware but only like 1 good game and the worlds worst controller design ever.
X-BOX > PS2 !! Gamecube
and just for fun:
PSP > DS - Yes the hardware is better for the PSP. Only a Nintendo fanatic will argue otherwise. But as can be demonstrated throughout history. It does not matter whose hardware is better, it matters who has better games. (that, and with portables, battery life is a huge factor)
Heh, if the original poster was a troll, you're obviously an astro-turfer.
One of the games I own is Ridge Racers. The graphics are comparable to Gran Turismo 3 on the PS2, as is the framerate.
I've seen movies of Ridge Racers running. No, it isn't comparable to Gran Turismo 3. It's graphics look better than the PlayStation, if only for the bilinear filtering, though. Textures on the PlayStation looked fugly, it's good to see the PSP isn't repeating that. So I'd say that the both of you are exagurating, the PSP is in between the PS1 and the PS2 in graphics capability - about what I'd expect, really.
Battery
I've heard figures of 1.5 hours to 6 hours life. Regardless, that's way too short. If you're correct that it's around 6 hours life, then it may be acceptable, but if it's around 3 hours average which seems to be the most widely agreed on figure, then that means that after every play session I'd have to recharge it. How hard is the charging process anyway? You can play while charging?
Depending on the answers, you may need an extra battery. One of the things I'm planning on using my GBA SP for is plane trips, and sorry, but 6 hours battery life isn't good enough for one battery. (Of course, I never travel, though, so it doesn't come up much. But it almost came up a while ago.)
I could honestly care less about the PSP's media capabilities, since I can't imagine it being comfortable to watch a movie on a portable game system unless you can place the unit in front of you somehow. I've already got an iPod mini, so I've already got MP3s covered.
These videos [of throwing-star like PSP discs] are fake. The eject mechanism isn't strong enough to throw discs out.
They aren't fake, exactly... They just aren't honest. The PSP really does have a flaw where you can get the disc to eject by twisting it in just the right way. However, the disc just kind of pops out, and isn't at all like a throwing-star. That's a massive exageration. Most of the videos of the PSP disc flying out at things have been taken with the disc flying straight down, so it was gravity helping with the speed, not the PSP itself. From what I've been read, it's really hard to do this by accident while playing, too.
Ultimately, though, it's the games that matter. I'm not going to be getting a PSP on launch. If titles I want to play come out for it, then I'll consider. Right now, even if it were technically flawless, I'd rather get a Nintendo DS - it has games I'm actually interested in.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.