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Gizmondo Tilts At Windmills
The always excellent Game Over feature on CNN reports on the upcoming launch of the Gizmondo portable console, and what a colossally bad idea it is. From the article: "Assuming you do want to play one of those games, it's going to be a frustrating affair. The system's D-pad controller doesn't lend itself to accurate aiming, particularly in fast-paced games. Of course, you have to turn on the Gizmondo to play games or take advantage of any of its offerings. This is not a quick task. In fact, it takes 48 seconds. (Compare that to less than five seconds on the Nintendo DS.) "
There has been much discussion related to the Gizmondo. Specifically, the posting by Threep Doat on that link.
"(Not having played with the PSP for any length of time, I don't know exactly how long it takes to be playing a game on that system. Anyone know?)"
A bit longer when you first put the game in (it _is_ a mini-CD, so it has load times), but after that it's instant on/off. Turning it "off" really just puts it to sleep, so when you turn it back "on", you're playing again in less than half a second. Literally. No need to search for a save point or try to finish the level or whatever. You can literally just turn it off when you get off the train, and turn it back on later to resume from the same point as if nothing happened.
It has a "really off" mode too, if you keep the power button pushed for a few seconds, but it beats me why you'd want to. Pretty much everyone I know prefers to just put it to sleep.
Which is really what left me scratching my head when I've read the grandparent post, and all that rant about how games need to be instant-on and all that. I mean, wtf? It's like seeing someone ranting about how cars will never be successful until they start having 4 wheels. Well, blimey, they already do.
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