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PSP Launch Coverage
Sony's handheld console has launched with great fanfare, and already there are plenty of places to get opinions and reviews. Shacknews has a nice hands on with the player itself, Gamespy has reviews of the launch titles, and Gamespot has coverage of just about everything on its PSP Launch Center page. From the Shacknews hands-on: "Technically speaking, the PSP is a far superior machine to the Game Boy Advance or Nintendo DS. It's a powerhouse device, capable of displaying modern graphics, playing robust sound, and can even replace a portable DVD player. However, many of its launch titles are just watered-down versions of PS2 games and Sony has no experience in portable gaming. Nintendo has been doing it right for a decade and half, why should we think the PSP can just waltz onto the scene and take over? Can it even be done?"
I picked up a PSP, and I must say I am impressed. The device is great, technically and asthetically.
I also picked up two games, Tony Hawk and Lumines. I've had the chance to play each for about 30 minutes, and I must say, the PSP needs more games like Lumines (which is a puzzle game similar to Tetris, for those unaware.)
The great thing about those types of games, is they are quick to play. You can pick it up and put it down at any time, without having to get into a story or finish some long drawn-out goal or mission. I'm hoping both Sony and the game studios see a benefit in creating more games like this, especially for the PSP, but also stand-alone consoles.
I've posted links to pictures and more info to my blog, if you are interested. More info will be posted as I get a chance.
-- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.
Yes, sony are geniuses...as seen here...lol
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
I actually think I like the UMD's design...but I do hate that it's proprietary. CD's and DVD's are extremely easy to scratch, so a nice protective shell around them is very welcome...in fact, didn't the first CD's come with caddies? What ever happened to those? I want them back!
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
I was thinking the exact same thing, even last night. I didn't even know the thing was coming out until the guy in the next cube said something about it. I asked the price and he says "$250", and I almost spat out my coke. "WTF $250 for a portable? Hello TurboGraphix16!" That is until he brought his to work today. WOW. Seriously, like holding this thing is like being able to hold on of those fake portable electornic devices they always have on shows from the "near future". The screen on this baby is BEAUTIFUL. Try playing Metroid on the DS with its squinty little screen, then bust out Waverunner on the PSP and see which one is better. As for MP3 playing, well, I don't know. I think if you think of it as a game machine first and Mp3 player as an extra, it makes better sense. Movie playing I can see though. Yeah, its a second format, but I usually rent movies anyways. If blockbuster rents these I could easily see taking this on a trip and watching movies here. The picture quality is great, easily beats some dedicated portable DVD players costing as much. Bottom line: don't knock this sexy beast until you've actually used it.
Sony won't replace the unit (they already lose money on every unit) http://portable.joystiq.com/entry/1234000037037383 /
Movies, however, are region-locked. That won't stop me from eventually getting the PSP, though.
Keep your eyes to the sky.
According to the CNN article here, about four hours appears to be the norm.
PSPVideo9 converts any kind of video file to PSP format, making it a great dual purpose device.
The UMD's shell is fairly useless for preventing scratches as it allows a postage size hole to be left vulnerable to dust/scratches. The Minidisc has a sliding cover for this portion of the disc, yet Sony thought it would be cheaper to leave this moveable part out. The cover could be more trouble than help if dust gets in through the small hole to the plastic covered sections of the disc.
http://chrono.posterous.com/
It's nowhere as large as an Atari Lynx, and I'm referring to the second version. It's about the same size as the original GBA, which wasn't THAT big.
Nintendo HAS NOT announced the next Game Boy yet. I have the document this rumor is based on. It was an stock market analyst's prediction and had zero concrete evidence.
Long live the DS.
You can get metal slug and now even Garou! There is Garou: Mark of the Wolves with online play mode for PS2 right now... what a moron.
Better go tell Evo2k they've been holding fighting tournaments for a 2D PS2 game that doesn't exist...
It's not nearly as big as the Lynx. Here are some pictures to put things in perspective.
You must live in a high population density area, there are tonnes of PSP stuff, including systems, here. And game dedicated stores like gamestop/EB always sell out of stuff early, everybody goes there first, but the walmarts and other places usually have stuff left.
True genius is grasping a situation like a peice of fruit, and peircing it just right so that it drains dry.
MP3s will last longer than games. A good rundown of the different times: http://psp.ign.com/articles/572/572563p1.html
--
Want a free iPod?
Or try a free Nintendo DS, GC, PS2, Xbox. (you only need 4 referrals)
Wired article as proof
As geeks, I know we love to apply patterns to everything. But you can't just take one situation, switch the names in another situation, and claim they're the same. There are way too many external factors that affect outcomes of things. We all know how Nintendo shot itself in the foot and has been limping since. That has nothing to do with now because this is a new situation.
Except no one would have ever said that. The Super Nintendo was five years old when the Playstation touched down in America and well on its way out. Meanwhile there was no question that one of the five or six cd-based video game consoles that were coming into being at about that time were "the future". The Super Nintendo was still selling surprisingly well for a console of its age at that point, but there was no doubt it was being replaced. And the Playstation was as much as a credible contender to be that replacement as anything else, if not more likely.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Another selling point is that, from what I understand, PSP games aren't region-coded in any way.
Actually the games being currently released are region free but later titles might become region-coded if Sony/the publishers decide to do so. On the other hand, the DS has no such "features" as it his -and will remain- completely region free.
It's the physics engine. Multiple collisions is a really hard problem for a physics engine to solve.
There are different ways of approaching this.
- Check your collisions once a frame and bounce or something when you collide.
DOWNSIDE: If you have a car running at really high speed you could actually run through a wall or another car, totally unacceptable.
So you have to do a time-sweep. In other words trace the entire movement of the object from time when the movement started until the end, ie do the calculation between 2 consecutive frames.
Now all collisions are detected, but how do you handle the collision?
- Stop the object at location it had in the previous frame.
DOWNSIDE: if you are chasing another car and bump into the rear your car would loose all speed. totally unacceptable in a racing game but could work in a platform game. Another illustration is a box sliding down a slope, it would never get down the slope because it would be stopped from "falling" each frame without sliding.
- Create bounces to be calculated next frame and forward the time.
DOWNSIDE: if your car rams into a wall at high speed it could possibly be stuck, the problem would manifest itself as an erratic bouncing. You can sometimes notice this problem when throwing grenades in various games for example.
- Stop the time when the first collision occurs, recalculate trajectories and do a new collision test to see when the next collision occurs. Do this over and over until you've reached the target time.
DOWNSIDE: Every iteration of the collision tests has to be run several times for each frame. This will take ALOT of time and could cause bad stalls if you don't have plenty of CPU.
The last solution shown above could possibly be the one they selected for the game, that the problem occurs when all the cars collide is almost the type case for the problems. However the method works in a stable way and they probably couldn't get any tweaked way to work in a reliable way so this was the least horror.
/ Jonas Lund
I can also use an iPod for days before it dies
In what alternate reality? An iPod mini lasts about 6 hours (if you drain it completely), and my 4G iPod lasts about 10 hours. In IGN's MP3 test, the PSP lasted 10 hours and 39 minutes.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
The DS is only a gimmick stop gap between the GBA SP and the next gameboy, Nintendo don't claim it to be anything more.
They didn't claim it was that, either. Nintendo has always said the DS is a third platform. They're not only still making GBA games, but they haven't even slowed down making GBA games.
The coolest part about the DS sleep mode is you just need to close it up. You don't even need to push a button! Just shut the clam up. Mario evens says 'buh bye!' in Mario 64 DS, I thought it was cool.