8.3 isn't the only thing special about the naming convention. Files have to be called "100MNV01". You can't call one "FindNemo" and have it work.
Sorry about the confusion about Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Duo Pro. I find the naming convention for Memory sticks very confusing.
Engadget did say you could fit more video on the system, at a "choppy" 15 frames per second. Hardly what anyone would call impressive or high-quality.
So, you are going to buy a system knowing that it is broken, but hoping you can spend more money on the battery to fix it?
I also like how you doubt that you even play for an hour. Why get one if you aren't even going to play?
Your thinking astounds me.
You can store your files in multiple folders, although the system only allows your folders to go one level deep (so no directories within directories to organize your music).
The PSP is lacking some of the nicer features of the dedicated music devices. There is no form of database support which, in portable players such as the iRiver, allows users to easily view all the music contained on the device sorted by artist, genre and album. The system does support M3U playlists, but it's very specific about where you need to put files, and also somewhat limiting.
The PSP also loses points because it doesn't allow you to browse the full directory structure of the Memory Stick. Your stuck looking at whatever the XMB interface decides to show you, which is limited to music files and directories contained in the one Music directory. iRiver and iPod feel more convenient in the amount of access they give.
If someone has an example of the PSP showing album covers from ID3 tags, I'd be happy to see it.
For photo viewing, GIF, BMP, and PNG files aren't supported by the PSP, but standard JPG ones are. When you have a full-sized 4 or 5 megapixel JPG file, the PSP takes a bit of time for it to load, about 3 seconds for a 1.8MB JPG file. It automatically crops the photo (most photos are in the 4:3 format), leaving white space on the sides of the picture when it is displayed.
PSP only plays 320 x 240 movies. You can stretch them to fill the whole screen. The video is the same resolution that most PDAs can play. newer PDAs have 4x the resolution for playing back Divx movies.
File names have to be all uppercase and be formatted like this "E:\MP_ROOT\100MNV01" where E is your memory stick drive. Not intuitive. Even the extension has to be upper case or the PSP won't recognize it.
"if you had a 90 minute movie, and used the the same settings we did to convert to to AVI then to MP4, you would have the whole movie in 1100MB, which, unfortunately, is larger than the largest Memory Stick Duo currently available."
My top-ten may be a little harsh, but it isn't out of left field and makes direct reference to how silly the original article is.
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
Well, i think they need to specify cause the PSP also comes with "wireless not through walls" called Infra-red. In fact, I hear many games suggest you use this method of line-of-sight multiplayer since it uses less battery than the wi-fi.
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.
Well, your Dell makes a MUCH better multimedia device. You make some interesting ideas for Microsoft. They wouldn't even have to make the device themselves, they could simply set out a list of specs and have other companies make the hardware like they do with Pocket PCs.
It would have a touch-screen too so they could make DS-like games for it or even a DS emulator.
Neat idea!
I'd be interested in seeing the sales numbers and the ratio of PSP/DA/GBA SP sales to see how they stack up and see what people are really interested in.
While I know they sold out of the PSP, they also didn't make all that many to begin with. Even fewer if you consider the number of defective units.
Only 320x240 - it stretches the low-res movie to fill up the screen.
Converting is a pain in the butt. Not easy. The article explains.
Engadget wrote an article about it that said they had trouble fitting an hour of video on a 512 card. IGN writes that card transfer rates are slow. At that rate, it hardly seems worth it when my PDA or Phone can watch the same resolution video on MUCH CHEAPER SD cards.
1 Graphics
Sony kept telling us that the PSP was a mini-PS2 in your pocket. Now
that we have screen shots and movies we see overly-simple character models
with fewer polygons than characters on the PS1 and games that skimp on textures
like Wipeout Pure. Thats okay though because on a tiny screen you wont
miss the extra polygons or textures. Just buy our crap and I promise well
make better looking games in the future. Honest!
2 Battery
Okay, the battery thing isnt an issue. Really! If
you are in the middle of a game and the battery runs out, just plop in another
$45 battery and keep playing. Just make sure to keep your spares charged and
in a huge bag to carry around with your huge game cases and the charger. Also,
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.
3 - Music playback
Yep! Now you can play music on your PSP. If you dont
believe us, check out the great article about it on IGN that gives us the low-down.
1 directory of music with no ID3 tag support to sort on artist/genre/album.
No crossfade like your rio Karma so expect a gap between songs. No album art
cover or any imaginative use of the huge screen at all. No real EQ settings
for bass and treble. Look out iPod, we have the Walkman of the 21 st century
here.
4 - Wireless too
The PSP follows in the footsteps of the Nintendo DS showing
that you can have fun without wires. Unlike the DS, you have to manually turn
on the wireless capabilities or your battery will loose juice like a sieve.
It kind of sucks that you cant just automagically find other players
and that you have to worry about the battery slipping away faster than the
awesome 3-hours than you may already get, but hey, thats progress!
5 - Sleep mode
One of the drawbacks to a disc-based system is load time. To
help overcome some of the boot-up and loading time for the PSP, it allows you
to put the system on sleep mode with a flick of a button. You wont
really need this feature though, since after a short burst of gaming, your
battery will need a recharge anyways.
6 - Movie playback.
The PSP plays back MP4-formatted movies, right off the
memory stick. Were still working on a way to make this thing less
complicated, but right now you need at least a couple pieces of software to
make the movie conversion. One is Decrypter,
to rip movies off of your DVDs and store them in VOB format files, and
in conjunction with that you will need 3GP
Converter, a free utility that converts video files to MP4. (really,
I dont even need to make fun of this one. It is a joke already. It should
be noted though that you can only play 320x240 movies, the same resolution
movies my phone already plays. So much for a high-resolution screen since you
can only play low-resolution movies on it.)
7 - Strong third-party support.
The PSP should have a huge selection
of craptacular 3 rd party games available throughout its short lifespan. 3
rd party support is guaranteed cause Sony does not really make any 1 st party
games, but buys other companies to support its own products. You are
sure to see games like generic off-road racing PSP, retarded golf simulation
that tries to be funny PSP and a shitload of shovelware from the evil EA games.
3 rd party companies are expected to show the greatest support making extra
batteries for the PSP that explode in your pocket when they bump your keys.
8 - The price is going to be right
If the unit comes in at the totally reasonable
price of $185, like it is in Japan right now, you may be a happy camper. Before
you have the register biscuit ring you up, make sure to grab a few added necessities
to make playing fun. Memory Card - $49 You dont HAVE to have a memory
card, but you really do. Extra Battery - $
You should try playing Metroid Prime: First Hunt on the Nintendo DS. You can use your right hand on the touch screen, just like you would use a mouse. Your left hand does a WASD dance on the D-Pad and the left trigger shoots. Brilliant! Try the thumb-strap thing to. Your right-thumb acts JUST like a mouse!
You knew the D-Pad was being evolved out. It went from the primary position in the old controllers to secondary status on recent controllers; Dreamcast, Xbox and GameCube. Most games only use it as a means of selecting weapons or menu items these days.
Only the PS2 keeps the D-Pad (or D buttons) in the primary gaming position and that is simply because it is more important to Sony that the controller "look good" rather than arranging the elements based on frequency of use and usability. It is a carryover from the PS1 controller, with the analog sticks slapped on as an afterthought. Even more impressive news would be is Sony decides to bring the PS3 controller into the modern age by putting the analog stick in the primary thumb position. After looking at the analog nub on the PSP, I highly doubt it will happen.
I totally know how to solve this problem! Attach each UMD (Unbelievable Mystic Disc) to a string/lanyard/bungie cord. Then, then the game mystically leaps from the unit, you won't have to worry about it landing on the filthy ground and getting gunk on the exposed surface of the disc.
If you are REALLY good, you can swing the UMD through the air and land it back in the PSP, just like one of those ball-on-a-string-on-a-cup games. Man, it is like having a whole new game built into every PSP!
?
What are you talking about?
Each DS game saves the state of the game on the DS Game Pack. You don't need to buy a memory card or use the GBA slot at all.
???
I've been burned by too many Sony promises and lies to believe anything they say any more. I am still waiting for my Toy-Story-like-graphics and the ability to download music, movies and games on my PS2; the same PS2 that keeps breaking because of poor build quality and quality control.
I am waiting for my PS2 to actually show some anti-aliasing and get rid of the jaggies that come extra in every game.
Sorry Sony. Your practices of trying to lock me into your devices (MiniDisc, Memory Stick AATRAC3) suck. I'm taking my important game time elsewhere.
So, again, this comes down to another way for Sony to make more money. My point is, they made sacrifices to the core system in order to make money, either through selling you things that are not games or by cutting the costs of the game media.
For a home system, discs may be fine. While on the road, battery life and loading time are two of the primary concerns, two that aren't addressed by Sony.
The ONLY reason battery life is a concern is because Sony based the system around discs.
Had Sony decided to build the system around their Memory Stick line, they could have had a system that was MUCH smaller and had a MUCH longer battery life.
Instead, someone got the bright idea to base it around discs. Why? Do you NEED a Disc to make a game system? Their current proposal of loading the game into the system memory says, "No". In fact, the disc based system introduces a whole host of problems such as: poor battery life, load times, moving parts to break, exposure of dirt to the laser / moving parts, etc.
Why make a such a poor design decision?
The ONLY reason Sony has decided to base the system around discs is so they can sell you movies.
This money-grubbing decision has introduced fundamental design problems into what otherwise could have been a great game system. Instead, it comprimises some core functions in return for making Sony more money by adding additional, potential revenue streams to the device.
Slashdot Mirror
8.3 isn't the only thing special about the naming convention. Files have to be called "100MNV01". You can't call one "FindNemo" and have it work. Sorry about the confusion about Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Duo Pro. I find the naming convention for Memory sticks very confusing. Engadget did say you could fit more video on the system, at a "choppy" 15 frames per second. Hardly what anyone would call impressive or high-quality.
So, you are going to buy a system knowing that it is broken, but hoping you can spend more money on the battery to fix it? I also like how you doubt that you even play for an hour. Why get one if you aren't even going to play? Your thinking astounds me.
Files have to be named in a special 8.3 naming convention, all upper case as well, or the PSP won't see them.
An hour f video fills up a 512 memory stick.
Read about it here:
You can only use the memory stick duo pro. All other memory stick formats are unrecognized by the PSP.
The video aspects are underwhelming, unintuitive, unfriendly and unimpressive.
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000980024404
The PSP is lacking some of the nicer features of the dedicated music devices. There is no form of database support which, in portable players such as the iRiver, allows users to easily view all the music contained on the device sorted by artist, genre and album. The system does support M3U playlists, but it's very specific about where you need to put files, and also somewhat limiting.
The PSP also loses points because it doesn't allow you to browse the full directory structure of the Memory Stick. Your stuck looking at whatever the XMB interface decides to show you, which is limited to music files and directories contained in the one Music directory. iRiver and iPod feel more convenient in the amount of access they give.
If someone has an example of the PSP showing album covers from ID3 tags, I'd be happy to see it.
http://psp.ign.com/articles/573/573413p4.html
For photo viewing, GIF, BMP, and PNG files aren't supported by the PSP, but standard JPG ones are. When you have a full-sized 4 or 5 megapixel JPG file, the PSP takes a bit of time for it to load, about 3 seconds for a 1.8MB JPG file. It automatically crops the photo (most photos are in the 4:3 format), leaving white space on the sides of the picture when it is displayed.
File names have to be all uppercase and be formatted like this "E:\MP_ROOT\100MNV01" where E is your memory stick drive. Not intuitive. Even the extension has to be upper case or the PSP won't recognize it.
You can find out more on the Engadget article.
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000980024404/
"if you had a 90 minute movie, and used the the same settings we did to convert to to AVI then to MP4, you would have the whole movie in 1100MB, which, unfortunately, is larger than the largest Memory Stick Duo currently available."
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
Well, i think they need to specify cause the PSP also comes with "wireless not through walls" called Infra-red. In fact, I hear many games suggest you use this method of line-of-sight multiplayer since it uses less battery than the wi-fi.
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.
Well, your Dell makes a MUCH better multimedia device. You make some interesting ideas for Microsoft. They wouldn't even have to make the device themselves, they could simply set out a list of specs and have other companies make the hardware like they do with Pocket PCs.
It would have a touch-screen too so they could make DS-like games for it or even a DS emulator.
Neat idea!
While I know they sold out of the PSP, they also didn't make all that many to begin with. Even fewer if you consider the number of defective units.
For that matter, who will buy it if they are waiting for V2?
Some things to note.
Only 320x240 - it stretches the low-res movie to fill up the screen.
Converting is a pain in the butt. Not easy. The article explains.
Engadget wrote an article about it that said they had trouble fitting an hour of video on a 512 card. IGN writes that card transfer rates are slow. At that rate, it hardly seems worth it when my PDA or Phone can watch the same resolution video on MUCH CHEAPER SD cards.
Hell! When you break it down, the N-Gage sounds MUCH better than the PSP!
1 Graphics
Sony kept telling us that the PSP was a mini-PS2 in your pocket. Now that we have screen shots and movies we see overly-simple character models with fewer polygons than characters on the PS1 and games that skimp on textures like Wipeout Pure. Thats okay though because on a tiny screen you wont miss the extra polygons or textures. Just buy our crap and I promise well make better looking games in the future. Honest!
2 Battery
Okay, the battery thing isnt an issue. Really! If you are in the middle of a game and the battery runs out, just plop in another $45 battery and keep playing. Just make sure to keep your spares charged and in a huge bag to carry around with your huge game cases and the charger. Also, 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.
3 - Music playback
Yep! Now you can play music on your PSP. If you dont believe us, check out the great article about it on IGN that gives us the low-down. 1 directory of music with no ID3 tag support to sort on artist/genre/album. No crossfade like your rio Karma so expect a gap between songs. No album art cover or any imaginative use of the huge screen at all. No real EQ settings for bass and treble. Look out iPod, we have the Walkman of the 21 st century here.
4 - Wireless too
The PSP follows in the footsteps of the Nintendo DS showing that you can have fun without wires. Unlike the DS, you have to manually turn on the wireless capabilities or your battery will loose juice like a sieve. It kind of sucks that you cant just automagically find other players and that you have to worry about the battery slipping away faster than the awesome 3-hours than you may already get, but hey, thats progress!
5 - Sleep mode
One of the drawbacks to a disc-based system is load time. To help overcome some of the boot-up and loading time for the PSP, it allows you to put the system on sleep mode with a flick of a button. You wont really need this feature though, since after a short burst of gaming, your battery will need a recharge anyways.
6 - Movie playback.
The PSP plays back MP4-formatted movies, right off the memory stick. Were still working on a way to make this thing less complicated, but right now you need at least a couple pieces of software to make the movie conversion. One is Decrypter, to rip movies off of your DVDs and store them in VOB format files, and in conjunction with that you will need 3GP Converter, a free utility that converts video files to MP4. (really, I dont even need to make fun of this one. It is a joke already. It should be noted though that you can only play 320x240 movies, the same resolution movies my phone already plays. So much for a high-resolution screen since you can only play low-resolution movies on it.)
7 - Strong third-party support.
The PSP should have a huge selection of craptacular 3 rd party games available throughout its short lifespan. 3 rd party support is guaranteed cause Sony does not really make any 1 st party games, but buys other companies to support its own products. You are sure to see games like generic off-road racing PSP, retarded golf simulation that tries to be funny PSP and a shitload of shovelware from the evil EA games. 3 rd party companies are expected to show the greatest support making extra batteries for the PSP that explode in your pocket when they bump your keys.
8 - The price is going to be right
If the unit comes in at the totally reasonable price of $185, like it is in Japan right now, you may be a happy camper. Before you have the register biscuit ring you up, make sure to grab a few added necessities to make playing fun. Memory Card - $49 You dont HAVE to have a memory card, but you really do. Extra Battery - $
This guy is on justification highway! A lot of what he spouts is really a stretch. I'd like to see him write 10 great things about the N-Gage.
Why do people flock to Halo 2? What do they see in it? It is dull and repetitive. Meh. What am I missing?
You should try playing Metroid Prime: First Hunt on the Nintendo DS. You can use your right hand on the touch screen, just like you would use a mouse. Your left hand does a WASD dance on the D-Pad and the left trigger shoots. Brilliant! Try the thumb-strap thing to. Your right-thumb acts JUST like a mouse!
You knew the D-Pad was being evolved out. It went from the primary position in the old controllers to secondary status on recent controllers; Dreamcast, Xbox and GameCube. Most games only use it as a means of selecting weapons or menu items these days. Only the PS2 keeps the D-Pad (or D buttons) in the primary gaming position and that is simply because it is more important to Sony that the controller "look good" rather than arranging the elements based on frequency of use and usability. It is a carryover from the PS1 controller, with the analog sticks slapped on as an afterthought. Even more impressive news would be is Sony decides to bring the PS3 controller into the modern age by putting the analog stick in the primary thumb position. After looking at the analog nub on the PSP, I highly doubt it will happen.
If you are REALLY good, you can swing the UMD through the air and land it back in the PSP, just like one of those ball-on-a-string-on-a-cup games. Man, it is like having a whole new game built into every PSP!
? What are you talking about? Each DS game saves the state of the game on the DS Game Pack. You don't need to buy a memory card or use the GBA slot at all. ???
To everyone on this list who mentions that the DS "seems large"...
...remember that comment when/if the PSP comes to town.
I've been burned by too many Sony promises and lies to believe anything they say any more. I am still waiting for my Toy-Story-like-graphics and the ability to download music, movies and games on my PS2; the same PS2 that keeps breaking because of poor build quality and quality control.
I am waiting for my PS2 to actually show some anti-aliasing and get rid of the jaggies that come extra in every game.
Sorry Sony. Your practices of trying to lock me into your devices (MiniDisc, Memory Stick AATRAC3) suck. I'm taking my important game time elsewhere.
So, again, this comes down to another way for Sony to make more money. My point is, they made sacrifices to the core system in order to make money, either through selling you things that are not games or by cutting the costs of the game media.
For a home system, discs may be fine. While on the road, battery life and loading time are two of the primary concerns, two that aren't addressed by Sony.
Had Sony decided to build the system around their Memory Stick line, they could have had a system that was MUCH smaller and had a MUCH longer battery life.
Instead, someone got the bright idea to base it around discs. Why? Do you NEED a Disc to make a game system? Their current proposal of loading the game into the system memory says, "No". In fact, the disc based system introduces a whole host of problems such as: poor battery life, load times, moving parts to break, exposure of dirt to the laser / moving parts, etc.
Why make a such a poor design decision?
The ONLY reason Sony has decided to base the system around discs is so they can sell you movies.
This money-grubbing decision has introduced fundamental design problems into what otherwise could have been a great game system. Instead, it comprimises some core functions in return for making Sony more money by adding additional, potential revenue streams to the device.