Yeah, differences in transmission range crossed my mind, and I considered deleting that portion of my post. Makes perfect sense when you explain it like that.
You mention being able to play it on an airplane. I wonder how long until they start thinking about these new gaming systems with wifi, since both the DS and the PSP have them. And a lot of laptops have it, too. I guess if they were going to do something about wifi, they'd have done it by now.
Also, that keyboard looks nice. The prospect of using it like a little PC excites me for some reason. I'm glad to see that it apparently acts as a USB host instead of limiting the USB port just to PC connectivity.
I got one after a friend convinced me that it was worth it for the sheer spectacle of the thing. Sure it's $250, but it's $250 for probably $400 worth of hardware. Everything just feels and looks so polished (even if it's not necessarily). Like you said, the screen is very very impressive. I got Lumines (the last copy at Best Buy, while all the EA games still stuffed the shelves) and Wipeout. Lumines is indeed an amazing puzzle game, and I'm enjoying Wipeout. The battery life doesn't seem all that bad for someone who doesn't play all day. The square button feels fine, and my UMDs have stayed in.
The one thing I've been thinking about is something you covered in your post, too. I noticed on the Game section of the really well-designed interface that there's a Memory Stick option that, when clicked, says "No games on Memory Stick," which, as you said, indicates that gaming won't be limited to UMDs. I definitely hope that this means a potential for a homebrew gaming scene. With USB and easily obtained storage, this could be much more widespread than GBA homebrew stuff that requires you to use unofficial cartridges or emulators. That's of course assuming that development tools are available at some point.
Anyway, good review there. I get the feeling that the PSP will be pretty big. It just feels like the next step in portables.
I'd consider the Live subscription a sunk cost. You don't consider sunk costs when weighing differences like that. It's like complaining that a particular Linux distro isn't free because the only alternative to paying to order the CD is to pay an ISP subscription fee.
In that vein of thought, I wonder if the DVDs will install the content completely to the hard drive, and, if so, if there's any way to limit the number of times you can install it. Without a Live subscription, you have no reason to connect your XBox to the Internet and therefore no way to validate the install. Unless you have to have the DVD inserted in order to use the content, which seems unlikely unless it includes the Halo 2 engine on it or requires a supremely annoying "insert-disc-for-verification-and-then-put-Halo2-d isc-back-in" deal.
Oh! To add to my last sentence there. Andrew Bird is the artist on whose CDs I've seen that copyright notice. Thus I feel able to spread around some of his music to friends. One such friend, who enjoys the music, lives near a concert venue at which Bird recently performed for two nights. I told the friend about the upcoming performance one or two weeks before the cancert date. Friend went to the (I assume fairly small) concert venue for tickets to find out that both nights had sold out. I know that does not mean a great deal, but just some interesting evidence that openly lax views of copyright do not mean financial disaster. Or maybe just evidence that Andrew Bird is gaining in popularity and that they are not scaling concert venues up appropriately. Regardless, it lets me know that I should buy tickets well in advance when he comes around here in May.
He's sure to advocate concert venues, merchandising (t-shirts, etc.), and purchasing of legitimately offered media. He could go on to mention the undeniable substance of having an officially-made CD with liner notes, cover art, and so on, or the possibility of releasing low quality or sample tracks over P2P and advocating the purchase of higher quality (maybe even lossless) media through official channels. He'd then go on to say that when artists recognize the needs of the fans and fans know that the artists actually benefit, offering DRM-free media would pose an insignificant problem.
That's not to say any of that is correct. It would take trying such methods to find out (does Wilco do such things? I've yet to listen to them or investigate that). I do know that I purchase the CDs of artists that I like. I also like the copyright notice of independent Righteous Babe Records: "Unauthorized duplication, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing."
The DS had the "Dead pixels!" problem, too. The top screen of mine has one. Nintendo, though, has already said that they would replace units with dead pixels within the 1 year warranty period. Plus, it's more likely to have dead pixels on larger screens.
Just thought I'd provide at least a slight counterpoint to that.
I bought a DS on launch day. I probably won't get a PSP for a while. But I'm not about to defend the DS for its game library. I know it probably is because developers are having trouble figuring out how to make games fun on the DS, but in the meantime, we're getting stuff that ranges from crap (Ping Pals) to highly polished tech demos (Yoshi's Touch & Go) to one of maybe 3 games worth buying for the DS (Wario Ware Touched). And don't bring out the GBA library stuff; if you have a DS you probably already have an SP. The PSP's launch lineup has really impressed me. Obviously its variety is due primarily to its interface being very similar to a modern console's, but there are apparently a couple of games that really take good advantage of what's there. Lumines apparently has the trance-inducing appeal that Tetris did on the original Game Boy. I've heard equal parts praise and disdain for Metal Gear Acid, but it doesn't try to squeeze MGS gameplay into a slightly simplified control scheme, which I see as admirable and in the meantime becomes an apparently enjoyable turn-based strategy game--with level design and encounters actually integrated into both gameplay and story--for those who enjoy such things. Wipeout Pure and Ridge Racer are apparently very well implemented on the PSP. The only real criticism I've seen is that some concessions had to be made for Darkstalkers, as the analog nub is not suited for fighters.
Anyway, I'm not buying a PSP at the moment, but its game selection right out of the gate (in the US at least) easily matches that of the DS even 4 months after its release.
Dead pixels are a manufacturing problem from what I've heard, so it's always gonna be right out of the box. As far as I know your unit should never have more than just those two while it functions properly.
For what it's worth, Nintendo has offered to replace any DS systems with any dead pixels within the 1-year warranty period. No such luck with Sony from what I hear.
Wow! You just reminded me of a hilarious tabloid headline I saw while standing in line at (I think) Wal-Mart. It read something like, "SADDAM'S SECRET WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION REVEALED TO BE DINOSAURS" and there was a picture of some oddly contorted raptor of some sort.
I... wow, yeah, that's pretty much amazing. I wonder if it's that they perceive there to be no social rank difference warranting even the slightest indication of standard formality or if it's, as you suggested, a result of conditioning toward an automatic expectation of complete self-service and no realization that there are situations in which some modicum of formality and indication of respect for the trouble of others is required.
I'm also surprised every time I hear about people using such abbreviations in business correspondence.I have trouble convincing myself of the appropriateness of such abbreviations and grammatical looseness even in much less formal situations. Is it a "Hey, it's the Internet! Anything goes! Do you see any paper? I know I don't!" mentality that suggests a complete lack of decorum in electronic communications, maybe because of the seeming ethereal/no-cost nature of such, or is it just another case of being conditioned to not know to care?
I can't say I'm a perfectionist, but yeah, reading the forced netspeak elicits a negative emotional reaction from me without fail, especially when the replacement is just as long as--and often harder to type than--the actual word that it attempts to emulate. I can't imagine what makes a person think that tieping thangs fonetikly is apropriet or kewl, especially when numbers are inserted seemingly just to infuri8 those who, oh, I don't know, have actually learned the language.
I know this bit gets trotted out time and again, but there are tales of students submitting papers rife with the shortenings and intentional misspellings. Whether it's from not knowing the correct spellings, not realizing that that is somehow inappropriate for formal written material, or that it's become so automatic that it happens without notice, I'm still amazed.
With the exception that text has the advantage of silence, you might be on to something there. You could have a separate window for each conversation. To send a voice clip, hold a button while you talk, and be given a send, discard, or append option. Clips from those you're chatting with queue up and either automatically play when the window is in focus or there's a Play button.
Still, while that offers a potentially more natural means of communication, text still has the (in my opinion very large) advantage of silence and easy editing. And much smaller storage options if need be. Admittedly, that last one is becoming less of a concern as storage media continue to balloon out toward infinity. I'd say that that has a chance of gaining popularity in keyboardless markets, but people seem to enjoy typing on their phones, whose primary function is (two-party, single-conversation) voice communications.
Also, I wonder if this post could ever be posited as prior art if someone tried to patent such an implementation. I suppose I'm also assuming that such an application does not yet exist.
Just for information, the 4 movies you listed are apparently around $15 each at Wal-Mart, and House of Flying Daggers is $20-ish. Also of note is that the version of Hellboy offered on UMD is the director's cut.
And at least the PSP has a replaceable battery so that if the only physical upgrade in the next version is battery capacity early adopters won't be completely out in the cold.
Also, I'll probably not buy a PSP any time soon. Just offering some extra thoughts/information to this riveting discussion.
At least someone noticed. While I'm not sure if your comment was a compliment or not (I'll just blithely assume it was), we've been trying to make ourselves update for quite a while. No luck yet, apparently.
My experience with the demo has been that the stylus allows me control that's a bit finer than I can get with the thumbstrap, and makes it easier to click the Morph Ball and Missile buttons on the bottom display. I'm able to hold the DS with my left hand for movement and firing, and use the stylus for look direction and jumping. To each his own, apparently. I agree that Mario 64 is unplayable with the stylus, of course.
The demo units tend to have Metroid Prime or Wario Ware Touched, though, both of which are better played with the stylus.
Re:IMHO DS is far better and the review is compari
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PSP And DS Duke It Out
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· Score: 1
Ah, nice. I was not aware. Nintendo seems to have some sweeping online service planned for the DS. Which seems to mean that, in the meantime, Internet play won't be common.
Re:IMHO DS is far better and the review is compari
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PSP And DS Duke It Out
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· Score: 3, Informative
Nitpicky, I know, but the DS has 802.11something wifi in addition to its (presumably) proprietary short-range protocol. Just no games that use it yet. Are there any PSP games yet that use the wireless connection for Internet play, or are they all currently short-range, too?
Re:IMHO DS is far better and the review is compari
on
PSP And DS Duke It Out
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· Score: 1
I'm not sure if you're a Nintendo apologist/fanboy or what, but you're ignoring the obvious allure of the PSP. I'm as big a Nintendo supporter as the next guy. Gamecube was my first console of this generation, I have a GBA, GBA SP, and a DS, and I probably won't end up with a PSP for a while. That said, the DS is lagging far behind in games with wide appeal. So far I've bought Mario 64 and WarioWare Touched for it. The standard game types on the DS (racing, etc) are getting mediocre reviews at best, while the innovative games smack of gimmickry so far and it's questionable whether you want to pay $30 for a well-produced tech demo. It's not a promising outlook at the moment. Meanwhile, the PSP is launching with some great-to-amazingly reviewed games across the board, from Lumines (puzzle) to Wipeout and Ridge Racer (racing) to Darkstalkers (fighting). Add that to the mouth-watering style of the thing and the nigh irresistible screen, and even this Nintendo lover can almost look past the battery life, control, load time, and game price issues that plague this first-gen PSP.
And you're right that the two platforms differ pretty widely, and I still think that a lot of the DS's potential will be reached eventually, but the fact remains that they're both in the portable gaming arena and have similar release dates. That the DS's game library even four months after launch is less that compelling is further reason for most potential consumers to veer toward the shiny Sony product with its already impressive game lineup.
When I told a friend a while back that Hasbro owns both Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley, he asked, perfectly sincerely, "Isn't that some sort of monopoly?" And then instantly recognized the accidental pun.
Same here. I doubt I'll ever have an iPod, but I bought a Mini on release day (lucky enough to find one at a CompUSA). I've been really enjoying it, but I still need to get some more RAM and a putty knife.
And the fact that I do very little PC gaming did have a small part in the decision. The only thing I'm really missing is Half-Life 2, and I do still have my Windows laptop--for which I'm still paying--to (barely) play that. I have yet to try UT2004 on the Mini, but I figure it'll run okay with lowered settings once I get more RAM. Or I can just use the laptop for that, too. Or cobble together a Linux box.
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Yeah, differences in transmission range crossed my mind, and I considered deleting that portion of my post. Makes perfect sense when you explain it like that.
Also, that keyboard looks nice. The prospect of using it like a little PC excites me for some reason. I'm glad to see that it apparently acts as a USB host instead of limiting the USB port just to PC connectivity.
The one thing I've been thinking about is something you covered in your post, too. I noticed on the Game section of the really well-designed interface that there's a Memory Stick option that, when clicked, says "No games on Memory Stick," which, as you said, indicates that gaming won't be limited to UMDs. I definitely hope that this means a potential for a homebrew gaming scene. With USB and easily obtained storage, this could be much more widespread than GBA homebrew stuff that requires you to use unofficial cartridges or emulators. That's of course assuming that development tools are available at some point.
Anyway, good review there. I get the feeling that the PSP will be pretty big. It just feels like the next step in portables.
Valve's publisher is Vivendi Universal.
In that vein of thought, I wonder if the DVDs will install the content completely to the hard drive, and, if so, if there's any way to limit the number of times you can install it. Without a Live subscription, you have no reason to connect your XBox to the Internet and therefore no way to validate the install. Unless you have to have the DVD inserted in order to use the content, which seems unlikely unless it includes the Halo 2 engine on it or requires a supremely annoying "insert-disc-for-verification-and-then-put-Halo2-d isc-back-in" deal.
Oh! To add to my last sentence there. Andrew Bird is the artist on whose CDs I've seen that copyright notice. Thus I feel able to spread around some of his music to friends. One such friend, who enjoys the music, lives near a concert venue at which Bird recently performed for two nights. I told the friend about the upcoming performance one or two weeks before the cancert date. Friend went to the (I assume fairly small) concert venue for tickets to find out that both nights had sold out. I know that does not mean a great deal, but just some interesting evidence that openly lax views of copyright do not mean financial disaster. Or maybe just evidence that Andrew Bird is gaining in popularity and that they are not scaling concert venues up appropriately. Regardless, it lets me know that I should buy tickets well in advance when he comes around here in May.
That's not to say any of that is correct. It would take trying such methods to find out (does Wilco do such things? I've yet to listen to them or investigate that). I do know that I purchase the CDs of artists that I like. I also like the copyright notice of independent Righteous Babe Records: "Unauthorized duplication, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing."
Just thought I'd provide at least a slight counterpoint to that.
Anyway, I'm not buying a PSP at the moment, but its game selection right out of the gate (in the US at least) easily matches that of the DS even 4 months after its release.
For what it's worth, Nintendo has offered to replace any DS systems with any dead pixels within the 1-year warranty period. No such luck with Sony from what I hear.
Wow! You just reminded me of a hilarious tabloid headline I saw while standing in line at (I think) Wal-Mart. It read something like, "SADDAM'S SECRET WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION REVEALED TO BE DINOSAURS" and there was a picture of some oddly contorted raptor of some sort.
[crazy 80s air guitar]
I'm also surprised every time I hear about people using such abbreviations in business correspondence.I have trouble convincing myself of the appropriateness of such abbreviations and grammatical looseness even in much less formal situations. Is it a "Hey, it's the Internet! Anything goes! Do you see any paper? I know I don't!" mentality that suggests a complete lack of decorum in electronic communications, maybe because of the seeming ethereal/no-cost nature of such, or is it just another case of being conditioned to not know to care?
I know this bit gets trotted out time and again, but there are tales of students submitting papers rife with the shortenings and intentional misspellings. Whether it's from not knowing the correct spellings, not realizing that that is somehow inappropriate for formal written material, or that it's become so automatic that it happens without notice, I'm still amazed.
It's a valid concern!
Still, while that offers a potentially more natural means of communication, text still has the (in my opinion very large) advantage of silence and easy editing. And much smaller storage options if need be. Admittedly, that last one is becoming less of a concern as storage media continue to balloon out toward infinity. I'd say that that has a chance of gaining popularity in keyboardless markets, but people seem to enjoy typing on their phones, whose primary function is (two-party, single-conversation) voice communications.
Also, I wonder if this post could ever be posited as prior art if someone tried to patent such an implementation. I suppose I'm also assuming that such an application does not yet exist.
And at least the PSP has a replaceable battery so that if the only physical upgrade in the next version is battery capacity early adopters won't be completely out in the cold.
Also, I'll probably not buy a PSP any time soon. Just offering some extra thoughts/information to this riveting discussion.
At least someone noticed. While I'm not sure if your comment was a compliment or not (I'll just blithely assume it was), we've been trying to make ourselves update for quite a while. No luck yet, apparently.
My experience with the demo has been that the stylus allows me control that's a bit finer than I can get with the thumbstrap, and makes it easier to click the Morph Ball and Missile buttons on the bottom display. I'm able to hold the DS with my left hand for movement and firing, and use the stylus for look direction and jumping. To each his own, apparently. I agree that Mario 64 is unplayable with the stylus, of course.
The demo units tend to have Metroid Prime or Wario Ware Touched, though, both of which are better played with the stylus.
Ah, nice. I was not aware. Nintendo seems to have some sweeping online service planned for the DS. Which seems to mean that, in the meantime, Internet play won't be common.
Nitpicky, I know, but the DS has 802.11something wifi in addition to its (presumably) proprietary short-range protocol. Just no games that use it yet. Are there any PSP games yet that use the wireless connection for Internet play, or are they all currently short-range, too?
And you're right that the two platforms differ pretty widely, and I still think that a lot of the DS's potential will be reached eventually, but the fact remains that they're both in the portable gaming arena and have similar release dates. That the DS's game library even four months after launch is less that compelling is further reason for most potential consumers to veer toward the shiny Sony product with its already impressive game lineup.
When I told a friend a while back that Hasbro owns both Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley, he asked, perfectly sincerely, "Isn't that some sort of monopoly?" And then instantly recognized the accidental pun.
And the fact that I do very little PC gaming did have a small part in the decision. The only thing I'm really missing is Half-Life 2, and I do still have my Windows laptop--for which I'm still paying--to (barely) play that. I have yet to try UT2004 on the Mini, but I figure it'll run okay with lowered settings once I get more RAM. Or I can just use the laptop for that, too. Or cobble together a Linux box.