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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?"
People asked the same things when Sony announced the original Playstation. Give them a shot, it's not like they're totally out of touch with the gaming community.
"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?"
Maybe I'm crazy, but it looks to me like Sony already has experience in the whole "beating someone after over a decade of dominance" thing.
However, many of its launch titles are just watered-down versions of PS2 games
Yeah because it's not like the biggest appeal of the GBA/DS games are all the SNES ports/rehashes.
I went to Gamestop earlier today. Some poor guy pre ordered a PSP and got the system. When he asked for games, the store guys said "Too bad, every PSP game has been either sold or are on reserve".
I cannot remember the last time a system launched and 100% of a store's inventory is gone.
I think this is kinda like when the XBox came out:
Microsoft has no experience in console gaming. Nintendo has been doing it right for a decade and half, why should we think the Xbox can just waltz onto the scene and take over?
While these are not quite the same scenarios, both MS and Sony have advantages in these new markets: MS had a hojillion dollars and Sony has the console market by the balls. PlayStation fans will probably pick up the PSP, and that could really make the PSP turn up in the black (not to pun the PSP's color)
What I see a problem is perception. Most of my friends enjoy playing games like Minish Cap and old school mario on their GBA's.
In fact, playing these games on the GBA is almost an excuse to return back to the simpler, yet highly addictive, 16-bit era where pixels were the rage and polygons only existed in arcades.
When I think of Sony, I think of Gran Turismo and realistic RPG's, not quirky sprites with catchy music that makes me want to play my GBA.
Maybe if Sony could get something like Bubble Bobble or another old franchise, PSP would have more appeal.
Just my two cents.
IGB: More fun than eating oatmeal!
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.
I don't know a single person who's even considering getting a PSP. Sure, we all agree it looks like a great little machine, but it seems that almost all it's selling features are just so... limited. The comment from the post is right on. Do I really need another Wipeout or Ridge Racer game? Wasn't I playing those on the first Playstation, like um, ten years ago?
I can play more music on a dedicated mp3 player, and for less money. A 4 gig iPod Mini costs 199, and this is 249 + another 119 or so for a gig of storage. That's not very good. I can also use an iPod for days before it dies, when a PSP will probably wear out in about five hours, which is shorter by far than your average work day.
Oh, but it can play movies! Yeah, but I'm not going out and buying the same movies I already own just in case I randomly want to watch them on a 4 inch screen (assuming they even come out), or spending the time to convert a movie to the MP4 format, then copy it to a huge memory stick, only to erase it again if I'd rather take something else on the go, well, that just seems like a pain in the ass to me.
So, I'm left with games, pretty much. Games that I played and got sick of ten. years. ago.
I just read about this in the Seattle Times, and wrote a letter to the columnist (the article is: PlayStation Portable: Sony's new handheld does a lot more than play games):
Hi Mark,
Long time Seattle Times reader here....
Liked your article on Sony's new playstation... a few thoughts though...
I too have long considered Sony to be a great innovator but here is what has frustrated me for sooooo long and here is why I probably will NEVER buy a Sony product again unless and until they change some of their practices.... I'll illustrate by example:
Come to think of it... I'm not so surprised, or maybe it's a lucky thing Sony's Beta never became the standard, while I wasn't really there to be part of that decision in my purchasing power... but maybe VHS was the better choice after all (even though it wasn't quite as good technically).
Just my $.02
Anyway, thanks for the article, a good read....
I can't seem to find any benchmark on this.
For days until Linux can be put on it?
The Peanut Gallery, Ubergeek, Biblically Sober
NCAAbbs.com: Thousands of fans, Hundreds of teams, Just one place
40 GB of Memory Stick Duos is over $10K
A 1gb MS Duo is $110, so 40GB would be $4400. Sure it's a lot, but you are out by more than 100%. PSP is not an iPod, plenty of people use flash mp3 players with less than 1gb on them. It might not suit you, but it might suit others just fine.
I can get a portable DVD player, and have all my DVD extras (because I'm fairly certain all the bonus features I buy DVDs for won't be on UMDs), and not have to buy my movies all over again.
Or you can rip your exising DVDs to mp4, and watch them on your PSP for free, just like I do.
Sony really hopes that they can sell tons and tons of Memory Sticks.
Given that they overcharge for MS versus what others (like SanDisk) charge, I don't think they'll be selling many.
So, yeah, it's a gaming device
It's a FUCKING good gaming device. And you're right, that's what's important.
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
Is this a hardware or software problem?
Sounds like rushed software.
Someone set us up the bomb, so shine we are!
Yep:
The only thing Nintendo has is the handheld market, and with Sony's might in the console market they will be bringing a whole lot of people who would never consider a handheld into that market. Since the PSP has so many more features than anything Nintendo has, the outlook isn't so rosy for them. They will be in the unusual position of playing catch-up even though they are the dominant player in that area.
yeah...screw the iPod, get a Neuros!
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
I work at Gamestop, and I can tell you that there is a lot more buzz about the PSP than there ever was about the DS. We had extras of the DS, we have plenty of them lying around now that we can't get rid of as a matter of fact. The PSP? Nope. First and second shipments, both reserved out. There's a lot more interest from consumers, and Sony has been hyping this (at least to the retail outlets) a lot less than Nintendo hyped the DS.
The other day I bought a snes controller from ebay, & a snes adapter. To be perfectly honest, the idea of reliving a bunch of *hard* hand/eye reaction platform games from 1996 got me a lot more excited than I was when I received the latest GTA clone (as great as that game is)...some games are designed for long hours in comfortable conditions (high res rpg's) - others are just quick, skillfull and fun. In an era where platform games are becoming extinct thanks to every console manufacturer bragging about their console being better soley on the basis of hardware specifications (before a games line is even released), I took solice in the fact that, as good as the latest armchair console gets, I could always go retro with some hardcore platform/strategy games (has bomberman even been ported to the X-box/PS2)??
This might not be such a good thing. There's no way I'd consider completing (and hence for that matter starting) half the games in my PS2 collection on a portable device.
"You know you don't act like a scientist, you're more like a game show host." Dana Barret
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.
umm, shacknews reviews it strictly as a gaming device, and it still comes out on top. the extras are just the frosting. and we all love frosting :)
? Pr oductCode=82531
but seriously, you can put any movie you want on a gigabyte memory stick, and considering there's always new music, I always preferred flash memory for mp3 players. I can play my favorites on my home stereo if I need to.
And I don't even know where the hell you pulled that stupid 40k figure out of. ZipZoomFly had a sandisk memory stick pro duo 1gb for 67 dollars a couple of days ago. I even got myself one. Too bad it's sold out now.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp
I pwn this comment. "The Fine Print" says so.
Are the USERS old enough for it? After all, when the NES was hitting it big, most of the audience was pre-teen (though not all, of course). The audience of gaming consoles seems to have grown up with each subsequent system. People who buy systems are getting increasingly older, and I don't think that it's so much because a lot of the content appeals to older audiences, though that may drive some of the youngest players away. I think it's because it's the same generation of NES hardcores (and to a certain extent the 2600 generation) that have been the biggest buyers of systems.
There is obviously some bleed in the age around the edges, but it is my understanding that it's been roughly the same age group that's been following the gaming industry along all these years. If this is the case, a lot of these older gamers now have jobs. And $200 is a lot cheaper to a 20-something than a 13 year old with an allowance.
Especially since the PSP is capable of so much (music, videos, photos, etc), the older crowd that's been following for so long can now get a fancy new hi-tech device that serves a lot of their purposes. After all, why have an iPod, portable DVD player (I know it doesn't play DVDs), and a GameBoy when you can have all in one? Personally, I'm rooting for Nintendo, as I don't really care for all these extra bits (I just wanna play some games), but frankly I believe Sony's got the market on this now.
Finally, the system doesn't have to rely on excellent titles to make it work all the way, because they have some backup with the extra features included. And even so, we all know Sony's track record with title quality... Sorry Nintendo. It was nice knowing you.
Digital Sailor
Slap a "bullet time" label on it and call it a feature instead!
"People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
"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?"
WTF? If MS had done to the PC what Nintendo did to the hand held gaming market, it would make the current and past antitrust cases look like a walk in the park.
remember the Sega game gear or the Atari Lynx?
Those other hand helds that are also dam close to a decade and a half old.. remember colour screens and the ability to watch TV on them(well i only remember the GG having a TV adapter but i never liked the lynx)
Imagine MS having held us back at Dos 5 for 10 long years as the default desktop OS, and Linux and Mac having systems of today to compete with Dos 5 and 386's, but still losing?
You have 5 Moderator Points!
Which Helpless Linux zealot/MS basher do you want to mod down today?
I'd say the PSP is a _much_ better mp3 player than the iPod is a game machine. Sony isn't saying it's an iPod-killer, so get over it, already. It's a gaming machine that does other things, and that's cool.
Sony won't replace the unit (they already lose money on every unit) http://portable.joystiq.com/entry/1234000037037383 /
The problem is that Nintendo is a Japanese company and lacks the marketing-engine and mouth-to-mouth promotion that native US-companies like Sony have.
2D games like Guilty Gear X (and sequels)? Alien Hominid? DDRMAX? Contra: Shattered Soldier? Gradius?
(OK, at least with the last 2 they're rendered with 3D, but they're still 2D sidescrollers.)
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
You'd have a point if every single portable gaming device ever made didn't rely on proprietary cartridges. I think your point about them trying to force an alternate media is completely invalid because there is no other mass market alternative.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
Nintendo is announced a new Gameboy later this year. That's right, the DS isn't the official successor to the Gameboy. It remains to be seen how it will actual be improved over the previous Gameboy and DS, though I have a feeling Nintendo has rejected using optical discs for their portable systems due to load times (and as a result, more wear on the batteries).
Plus, there's been a huge game library built up for the past Gameboy systems, and I'm sure backwards-compatibility will, again, be built in. It's hard to be the huge library available. We shall see. I think this will be as popular as Sega's color handheld was back in the day (that damn thing even had a TV tuner, remember?). I saw a few people with one here and there on the schoolbus back then, and it was the technically better system, but for some reason, Nintendo's ugly green-and-black just won out.
At $125 each, 40gb of Memory Stick Duos is actually only $5,000.
But, seriously, the PSP isn't meant for people who are going to be having 40gb of music. It isn't meant for people to backup their harddrive onto. Its meant for people to buy 2gb of memory and put some music on it, and fill the rest with movies. And when you're done with those movies and bored of those songs, you swap them out for new ones.
You can't really compare an iPod, a music-only device, to only the music function of the PSP. It would be like me saying the DS is way better than iPod because the games on the iPod suck.
By the way, you can reencode your DVDs down to 300mb each and play them from your Memory Sticks without having to buy a UMD.
PSPVideo9 converts any kind of video file to PSP format, making it a great dual purpose device.
Ah yes. Who can forget the Sony Playstation's handy defeating of the Atari Jaguar, the 3D0, the CD-I, and the Saturn? If Sony can outlast this guantlet, surely they can defeat anyone.
Wait, no, that isn't it at all. The only reason Sony got anywhere with the original Playstation was everything else at the time fucking sucked. The Jaguar and Saturn were jokes, the N64 wasn't what consumers wanted and only had like three good games max (all by Nintendo), and Nintendo was such a jackass in the mid 90s under the old CEO that nobody wanted to work with them.
Sony's takeover of the video game industry in the mid 90s and their capable defending since of the ground they took shows an enormous degree of business saavy. What it doesn't show is skill. Sony grabbed the market in the startling way they did less because of what they did right than because of what everyone else did wrong; all their competitors were either incompetent or, in Nintendo's case, incompetent and repulsive.
Well, the handheld and media player markets that Sony is trying to slip somewhere indeterminately between right now are a good bit different from the video game industry when the Playstation was released. The media player market is extremely rich right now, and on the video game side the PSP (unlike the Playstation) actually has a viable competitor; Nintendo is no longer particularly repulsive to developers, and they're even doing things lately that you could almost call competent, sometimes. Meanwhile, frankly, looking at the Playstation, the Playstation 2, and the PSP, the first two of these are just plain good products. The third... how shall I put this... seems to me rather lacking, and doesn't really seem to serve any utility at all unless you really want a Video iPod and don't mind spending lots of money on memory sticks. This seems likely to be a bit of a hard sell given alternative systems with a fair degree of quality really do exist.
I'll agree the person you quote is being silly; I don't think there's any reason to think that Nintendo can magically and eternally defend itself from all challenges to the Game Boy. But if you look at the products on the market right now... meh, I think it's pretty safe to say they can defend themselves against the PSP.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
"Sony's Playstation 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 Playstation is a far superior machine to the Super Nintendo. It's a powerhouse device, capable of displaying modern graphics, playing robust sound, and can even replace a CD player. Nintendo has been doing it right for over a decade, why should we think the Playstation can just waltz onto the scene and take over? Can it even be done?"
I think we know how history played out...
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
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.
Since the PSP has so many more features than anything Nintendo has
I'm sorry. But I don't class:
* Analog sticks
* movie-playing ability
as a whole lot more features. Nintendo has one feature this doesn't have. Dual-screen. So PSP has 1 more feature then the DS.
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
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
Actually, as far as features go, the DS has the PSP beat. If you subtract extraneous "features" like the MP3 player and the ability to play movies on yet ANOTHER format, features that have nothing to do with gaming and will likely not see much use, all the PSP has going for it is its graphics. No one can deny that it is capable of better graphics than the DS, but then, the same was true of the Sega Gamegear vs. the original Gameboy, and we know how that turned out.
The DS can do a lot more than the PSP as far as unique features go. I just hope people realize that. And I hope that Nintendo can improve their game lineup for the DS in a hurry.
There they were, sitting in the van with all those dials, and the cat was dead. -V. Marchetti, CIA
That's pretty much it. They are in completely different leagues, but they're still playing against each other.
I do think the fallout will be pretty minimal, though. The PSP is going to be big, oviously. It looks like it'll be bigger than the DS by far, and challenge the GBA.
But, something that people have largely stopped pointing out is that Nintendo and Sony target different groups for the most part. Nintendo targets younger gamers more than older ones. Yes, they sell to older gamers, like me, but Sony's games and systems have appealed to me more for a long time.
Sony doesn't have the "kids" games that I've seen. Nintendo doesn't have the "grownup" games. Both of them will be able to have solid places in the market without wiping each other out.
sure, but how many 1-D games have you seen?
But, something that people have largely stopped pointing out is that Nintendo and Sony target different groups for the most part. Nintendo targets younger gamers more than older ones.
Yes, but it's not just the games. The DS has kid-friendly features like a clamshell design (harder to damage), cartridges (disks scratch, we've had gameboy games go through the washing machine ok), the resulting quick cartridge game-start time, and lower prices.
The PSP is getting plenty of attention, though; I think it's actually making a new market as much as it is taking potential Nintendo customers.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
- Ridge Racer : This game is an awesome arcade racer. The multiplayer is terrific. The graphics are practically PS2 quality.
- Lumines : This game is the puzzle game I've been pining for for years. And it's drop-dead beautiful.
- Metal Gear Acid : A tactical/strategy game? Metal Gear Franchise? Card-based mechanics that don't suck? I may not be as eloquent of Tycho about strategy games, but I'll still try to say what I feel: Gimme! GIMME NOW!
You may not like these games, but I sure do. Ridge Racer is a high quality racer with fun multiplayer that's also on a handheld! What more do you want from a racer? Whatever it doesn't give you, NFS:R will.Metal Gear Acid is an awesome strategy game. You know, strategy? Where you have to think? Occasionally?
And for puzzles, which are a big portable genre, Lumines is a big deal. It's fast, fun, has a good multiplayer, has a good soundtrack, looks good, and has good short-session playability.
You can wait as long as you like, and that's prudent. But don't assume these titles aren't must-have just because you don't like the genres. For anyone who's into these kinds of games, the PSP has some kickass titles.
Slashdot. It's Not For Common Sense
Oh yeah.
You think that touch screen is not an extraneous feature? If Nintendo was going to do something with it, they had a chance at launch.
Because the DS has so many more games! Wait, that's wrong. You realize how few games the DS has, right? The PSP has some strong launch titles and some good games are in the pipe allready. The DS, on the other hand, seems almost stagnant.
We're still waiting for Nintendo to release that darn Metroid game that has been demoing since launch, and I've tried using the DS's screen as an analog controller. It sucks!
I can't look into the future and say that the PSP wins out, but I sure hope it does. It really is a superior console, and the games its offering fill out genres and franchies I'm far more interested in.
Slashdot. It's Not For Common Sense
Surely it does. The PSP's specs actually slightly exceed that of the PS2, and the PS2 can emulate most of those late 90's games-with some exceptions relating to devices, of course.
But remember, emulating those old games is much easier on a portable because the screen, large and beautiful as it is, is still smaller. You can get away with less detail and let more things slide because people just won't be able to notice. Much like the free anti-aliasing effect consoles enjoy when displayed on televisions.
Oh, and I've talked to someone with a PSP developer kit. Heresay, so take it with a grain of salt, but by all accounts the PSP developer experience is not the painful ordeal that PS2 development is.
More powerful, more portable, better networking, AND easier to code?
Slashdot. It's Not For Common Sense
I tried the Metroid demo, too. And I can say that the DS will be THE handheld platform for FPS games. The touchscreen makes a fantastic substitute for a mouse.
Can't argue with you about the lack of games, yet. Nintendo really needs to get moving on that.
Most of the PSP's launch titles, from what I've read, are pretty lame. Lots of PS2 rehashes. They seem to be in the same boat with Nintendo on that.
Personally, I think the DS is a much better handheld gaming platform. But that's just me. The whole battery life thing helps out a lot, too. When they get some good games out, I'll buy one. Probably next Christmas.
There they were, sitting in the van with all those dials, and the cat was dead. -V. Marchetti, CIA
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.