correction. the ps2 also offers HD output as well. the ps2 was released before xbox. few select ps2 games [in comparision with xbox offerings] actually support HD however.
its crazy. games are infamous for being challenging to the point where the great majority of us have at least during one point during our gaming lives thrown a controller out of frustration. imagine the number of these suckers that will get thrown about if someone loses their last continue due to the controller freaking out or not responding?
i dont doubt that there will be some excellent titles coming forth from the nintendo camp. im almost 100% sure. my question that i pose is just that we have to wait and see. things can still go either way for the revolution. if there is still no third party support, or if there is a hitch with the controller, that could be a dealbreaker. until we actually see the games and play the system ourselves, we are still only buying into a dream; the exact same thing we criticize sony and MS [and their fanboys] for.
yes, the revolution is more than just the sum of its controller, BUT its controller can make or break the system. look at how many people were turned off by the original xbox controller. the controller is usually the only interface used during actual gameplay, so if its non-responsive, or needs lots of calibration, or causes arm/ wrist fatigue, you have a dealbreaker. what good is an innovative game if it hurts your arm, or you spend as much time calibrating it as you spend playing it?
perhaps you sit your ds on your lap or a surface to play, but some people actually hold it in their palm with one hand [like a pda] or in the case which i mentioned, some people still hold it by the left side [like a normal controller] while they use the stylus.
my post is not saying that nintendo WILL mess up the concept. im just saying that the potential is there, we still have to wait to see what they can do with it before we jump on board and praise it the way im starting to see. its the same thing with the ps3 and 360. it sounds great on paper but until we, the public actually get our hands on the consoles and games its a moot point to talk about how grand things will be now.
just like all the rest of the consoles, the revolution has promise... im waiting to see what they can do with it.
please dont hate me for speaking up, but someone has to say this.
im sure there are many amongst us that feel that nintendo can do no wrong. and i doubt they would mess up on something as major as their flagship console. that said, [developers excluded] NONE of us... not a single one has put their hands on a revolution controller. NONE of us, not a single person here has seen a single screenshot of a revolution game. hell, we havent even seen a screenshot nor at the very least a cinematic that the machine is capable of running.
i have faith in the company that helped bring video games into the mainstream, but they havent shown us anything yet. for all the hate that was going around when sony revealed their possible ps3 controller, i havent heard anyone that loves the premise of the revolution controller ever doubt for a second the possibility that there could be shortcomings.
the power glove setup required positioning a bar of sensors around your tv, and trying to calibrate it was not a simple affair. i trust that those kinks have been ironed out. and the gyroscope etc... will help alot. still, in games where control is everything, different people will need different setups. control in games where the analog range is predefined and hard coded into the controller standard go out the door. my range of motion will be alot different from say... my grandmother's. no more passing around the controller after your turn; it has to be recalibrated each time.
not to mention possibly the most annoying aspect of it all: its one thing when you use your thumbs to push a button a couple thousand times during the course of a game. its a totally different monster when you have to shake and hold your arm out for an extended period of time. for instance, take the example from the video of making mario jump simply by flicking the controller... thats fine for a quick 30 minute session, but most games require much longer involvement. most people get tired of holding their arms out painting for a few hours, can you imagine trying to complete an rpg like zelda? have you any idea how many fliocks of the wrist a game like mario requires? nintendo has a good track record with hardware, but can at times neglect ergonomics. [see: powerglove and virtual boy. the terrible backlight of the original GBA, or ask a DS user with hand cramps from controlling the DS with his left hand and using the stylus in his right]
i have faith in nintendo, but the truth is that they havent shown us anything other than a promise for a continuation of a few of their flagship titles. [duh, we knew that already...] just like the other next generation systems, lets wait and see before we proclaim the revolution the savior of video game entertainment. i have high hopes, but until i see it in action and play it for myself, the revolution is just as real to me as a sony prerender; something to look forward too, but im not going to put blind faith into it.
the problem this idea leaves is the demo-hoggers, swagbaggers, and people who this writer wants to distance himself from taking up all the time and not having enough time to go about their generally surly ways. if you want to split the first several days up like that, maybe you could extend the final few days to allow more of the 'regular joes' who go to actually enjoy e3, learn something and make a few informed decisions, and not rip and run trying to see it all.
you nor the author may like them much, but those same people are the ones that everyone at the conference serves. they ultimately represent the greater consumers whom the developers hope to please, the publishers hope to woo, and the reporters hope to inform. you have to cater to them just as much.
yes, expensive was the word used. but then again, sony has tradition that they dont like to break from easily. if they like a certain price point then they will bend over backwards determining how best to make sure they hit that same sweetspot they found with the consumers. if they can get the technology into the homes this generation too, they will have the budget and finance department working overnight moving money here and there to make sure they can afford to take the hit. its been well publicized that sony is reorganizing itself, but the ps3 and psp are at its prime focus. thats company wide... the gaming sector is sonys only real money maker. sony may not have the money that microsoft has, and sony has taken a hit by selling its systems at a loss, but its gaming division isnt in the red, and thats due to its ability to sell/ license games. sony will try to follow its current working model, and change the things that hurt them this generation [going wireless, higher capacity drives, HD compatible games, hard drives inclusion, networking options...]. microsoft is playing it safer this go around. maybe they can afford it, but no company can keep taking a 4 billion dollar hit on the chin.
as for what sonys surprise will be, my guess is [and you heard it here first] they are going to drop their price point, maybe a controller redesign [maybe] and finally reveal their "sony network" or whatever its called; basically their answer to xbox live. theyve been really quiet about that, and i think that will be the big secret that they will use to their advantage when they feel they need something to take the wind out of microsofts sails.
as for the revolution, i dont foresee sony even competing with nintendo. sony doesnt see the consoles really fighting for the same marketspace, and im not sure i see the revolution launching before the end of next year. the controller has been under wraps, so developers really havent been able to start working on launch games. it will take them a while to get up and running with at least some form of library. sony developers on the other hand have been working on launch games for almost two years. now their main task is porting the ideas and demos over to the dev kits and tweaking them to work with the cell.
finally, im really getting annoyed with the toy story comment. bill gates claimed that the xbox would be able to deliver "toy story in realtime"-level graphics. not sony. if you find the quote; it will come from some other gamer, or some copy and paste journalist. gates' quote was directly out of his mouth in an interview. so please please please, lets leave the toy story graphics misquote alone. no one [from sony] has said that about this generation either. they said they can animate a million rubber ducks in a tub and they can give a million leaves each their own audio channel using software only; no mention of toy story. besides, why would they even bring up one of the highest grossing films of their film divisions' rival?
i think rockstar usually has the right take on in game music. they give you a couple of different playlists in several genres to choose from. i think midnight club3 has the best soundtrack overall. albeit its a lil heavy on the hiphop and reggae; considering the game, it is quite fitting. it was frustrating to have to cycle through the entire playlist to get to the one specific song you wanted to hear. custom playlists are definitely the way to go though.
yeah, the cause for that is most blockbusters are starving for shelfspace. they barely have enough room to stock new releases. add games for the top three systems to that list and you are pretty much strapped for space to have a shelf for psp titles.
the movies i am slightly mixed on. dvd sales truly didnt start taking off until they started adding in the extra content, director's commentary... etc. i like the direction sony may start going with the whole bundling of umd movies and games. thats cool. but what would really set umd sales off is bundled additional game content. not just an extra car, or an outfit or whatever. i like how wipeout pure has gone with the additional content, but how about being able to have access to the movie soundtrack via the umd? that would be a nice touch. i dunno, with me personally you gotta hook me with the extras.
the blockbusters here rent where i live umd movies and games. they have been renting them since at least as far back as may/june.
also, you can rent them from www.gamefly.com and a few other places, if you are more a www.netflix.com person than a www.blockbuster.com person.
as for playing them on a regular sized tv screen: http://www.pspupdates.com/2005/09/teamxtender-upda te.html there you go... its not the most elegant solution; it requires some weirdness with the faceplate. but its a proof of concept. also, when look at the link above, keep in mind that the video on the screen is distorted due to the fact that they are displaying 16:9 content on a 4:3 screen. if you set the psp to 'display: original', it would display properly.
> Are you lucky enough to have 1.50 firmware on your PSP? If not, the Nintendo DS has relatively painless homebrew.
not quite. it still requires additional purchases and equipment. if the rumors are correct, soon you will be able to run homebrew on any psp including version 2.0. the price you have to pay for it is in patience.
> Not necessarily. What kind of control would you have in an RTS game with the PSP analog stick? Now compare to the Nintendo DS touch screen?
my initial statement only referred to the psp's power and graphics. as far as the touch screen goes, its nice, but console users have gotten by with using analog sticks and directional buttons for RTS games for a great many years now. the touch screen is nice, but is it a complete necessity? not really.
> What specific kinds of movies are you encoding?
my own.
> And with the Nintendo DS you get the option of playing 99 percent of the GBA library on the same machine. The Nintendo DS is also cheaper, letting you afford a portable DVD player and have options other than the limited selection of movies on UMD Video.
thats nice, but i already have a GBA. if i were to buy a DS it would be in order to play DS games, since that is the only thing i can do with it without making modifications or purchasing extra equipment. if i wanted a portable dvd player, i would buy one. personally, i like the psp's screen better than any $100 range portable dvd player ive seen.
> Which genres would those be, for reference?
as of now, there are few rpg's for either system. currently the DS has a multitude of adventure games and simulation games, with a handful of puzzle games. granted, the psp has way more than its fair share of racing games, but i happen to like many of the ones available. it also has a slew of adventure games, and puzzle games as well. in effect, its lineup encompasses the ds lineup in terms of genres represented and gives them to you in 16:9 handheld high-res. mario hasnt done anything new [and therefore garnered my attention] for the last two console generations. in exchange for choice, you have innovation. some people choose innovation, and thats fine. i just choose choice.
save for nintendogs and say advance wars DS, there arent many system selling games available in general for the DS yet. i personally dont like the premise of nintendogs; so in my opinion, the number of games id like to try is down to one. that doesnt justify me making that purchase just yet. as far as the psp is concerned, i have found more software that fits my tastes, the option to download my morning headlines to read on the way to work, the option to play online, watch a movie whenever i have to wait, delivered in a single package that fits my travel and handheld needs. all at the expense of the ability to play games using a stylus. oh well...
i dont represent everyone, but i am just speaking as one of the many psp owners that actually enjoys their purchase. they may not frequent slashdot, but we are around.
i agree with you. ive tried to force myself to buy a ds to complement my psp, but as of yet, i havent found a reason to. the main thing stopping me is that i havent found any games that i am willing to play just yet. nintendogs doesnt interest me in the slightest. honestly the only game i would be interested in is advance wars ds, due to my enjoyment of it from the gba versions.
i enjoy the portables for the same reasons you list. i like the promise that the psp shows. graphically and in terms of power, it can do what the ds does and more. i like the ability to encode a movie and take it with me without anything extra other than the cost of a memory card i would have bought anyways.
i hope nintendo sticks to their guns and releases some serious software in the upcoming months. no one really cares about the hardware. the "innovative" aura wears off rather quick. its the software that will keep the ds afloat. otherwise i predict that sony will end up steamrolling the ds once thier AAA titles start rippling onto the scene. its the games that keep people hooked, and sony has shown that they definitely are going to flood the psp with games, in time.
so far the psp has about 50 games upcoming, and the ds has about 35. sure some of of the games for psp will be crap and people will hate them, but like most people; i like that. i like having options. i like sleeper games. games that some people consider crap, i actually enjoy. case in point: coded arms, metal gear ac!d... etc. its the same as in the console world. by and large, the nintendo console catalog may just have the highest ratio of good to bad games, but they dont have enough games that appeal to me in genres i enjoy. id rather have 10 b-level games, opposed to 3 a-level games a year. its a shame that the ds seems to be following suit with its consoles rather than the gameboy blueprint.
wow, after re-reading the story via that link. i am really excited by the premise of them re-releasing ff7. i played the game to DEATH back in the day, and could not bring myself to play anything else until id beaten both weapons. i only tore myself away from ff7 in order to play ff tactics.
its been so long since i played through ff7 that ive forgotten that the storyline went a little deeper than i remembered. these are exciting times...
ive been a fan of the series and the controls arent different per se. its just that the controls are now mapped to a controller with less buttons and obviously the analog nub doesnt quite fit your hand the same way as the dualshock controllers.
personally i dont have a problem with the game, and just as most wipeout fans feel; i love it. its actually garnered more love from fans and critics than its ps2 older brother: wipeout fusion. it took the series back to its pinnacle: wipeout XL.
the downloadable content isnt quite as trite as you guys make it seem. its more than just the same tracks over and over again with pallette swaps. they are actual new courses/locations/backgrounds, racers and in some cases music too. maybe you were mistaking comments about the menu skins. those are simple pallette swaps, but its a skin... thats what its supposed to be. the downloadable content is an excellent idea and has added alot more replayability to the game. i just wish theyd release a track editor or something.
Is there a bigger difference from MIDI/MOD to say a 32 kbps MP3, or from a 32 kbps MP3 to Red Book CD audio?
no, but the additional space allowed by umd grants you to have your soundtrack stored as atrac or aac or even mp3s sampled at any quality you like. 32kbps? how about 96 or 128 kbps?
Are all PSP games required to support custom soundtracks...
no not at all, but depending on how lumines was programmed, ie. if the timeline actually monitored the waveform of the music; changing the music tracks yourself could allow you to build your own custom "skins".
Download the soundtrack? Companies would rather sell you another copy on CD and then sell you the privilege to copy it to a Memory Stick.
very true, but a'la the custom downloadable music available for wipeout pure and atv offroad, just because the music is available on the Memory stick doesnt allow you to outright just play it.
Want a CD player emulator that works on the Nintendo DS? Start here.
nothing wrong with a bit of self-promotion, but if you could rely on external equipment for everything, given time and money, i could build an external add on dreamcast and ps2 player. the necessity for much external equipment is a sign of the physical handhelds' limitations.
hmmm... seems like he might have you here tepples.
>But where are you going to find opponents for such multiplayer? Nintendo DS games tend to have "spawned" versions (DS Download Play) more often than PSP games do
nearly all psp games will load of of a single UMD passed amongst your friends. and they have actually demoed the game sharing feature of the psp too, so the two are on a quite even playing field. but with the psp's internet based play, you have an added ability.
also, fastloader works wonders as well. and here we actually "may" find another quasi-legitimate use for it.
>Who's to say that a particular highly anticipated title won't end up poorly engineered like Midnight Club or Need For Speed?
yeah, but thats not up to anyone except the QA guys for letting something really poorly engineered leave for the UMD press. there are badly engineered games all over the place, and for every system imaginable. at launch when people are hungry for games in general, companies figure they can get away with it easier.
>It does when the difference is MIDI to CD quality. Doesn't have to happen
theres a major major difference when you switch from midi to cd quality in game music. on top of that the psp also allows you to play from custom playlists. i would like to see a company give you the option to download the soundtrack to memory stick and save you the trouble of needing to read from UMD. lets see the DS 'emulate' that...
i will agree with you on your first point, only when i see MS based games available for PSP as well. the way i see it, they are feeding the enemy of their enemy. they dont have a foothold in the handheld market so they are feeding nintendo in an effort to destroy sony's hold there.
if they published for only psp, i would say the exact same thing, but in favor of them trying to win against their nearest rival [in terms of console sales].
MS knows that they at least stand a chance against nintendo in the console realm. sony is a much bigger beast to deal with, and the best way to hurt them is in an area where they are not yet as strong: the handhelds.
great piece of software, considering its freeware. the only thing its missing is music and gamesave backup functionality. they should look into creating a suite.
at least your honest. im a big nintendo fan myself. thats why the emulator scene on the psp is so big. everyone loves pre-64 nintendo. but lately they havent been churning out the hits at a steady pace.
i own a psp, and other than game releases... im more than satisfied with it right now. i dont mind the ports so much, but even the ports are few and far between.
nintendo creates some gorgeous and fun games, but they are so distant from each other that sometimes entire genres go unnoticed. thats not good. and not what i want from a console right now. i initially wanted to buy both systems, but i havent seen any games interesting enough for me to pick up the ds yet, IMO.
oh, and by the way. maybe its the volume on yours. my speakers are pretty loud at least they are indoors. make sure you turn off the AVLS in sound settings and turn UMD volume +2 in the video settings. that should help out a bunch.
well, in this case, i think sony made an exception since it wanted to let people know how well it was beating the ds in regards to a launch.
if the sales figures were much closer to the ds range, im sure sony would have just mentioned units shipped.
you shout your successes, and overlook your ties and failures. i dont blame them. besides, with the buzz surrounding nintendogs etc, sony needed something big.
a battery that doesnt hold a charge is a prime reason to be able to return your psp. but one caveat however, you have to be ready to deal with the store if they happen to have a spare battery or AC adapter on hand. they may try to sell you a new peripheral rather than exchange an entire unit.
maybe you can tell them you tried a second battery from a friend, and it didnt work either. explain that there is a short or something in the unit, and doesnt charge the battery properly. if they ask why your battery is fully charged, tell em you have your friend charge it for you.
"Any time we created any content it looked exactly the same on PC as it did on PS3. The only thing was, even though we had these ass-kicking Nvidia 6800 Ultra SLI systems, when we got the actual RSX card, even though it's not running anywhere near full speed, it was more than twice as fast as our SLI setup." - Mark Rein
it sounds like your statement may turn out to be false. theres a jump from the 6800 to the 7800 esp in SLI, but the developers' statement makes me wonder exactly whats under the hood.
overall, it doesnt matter when and if pcs will surpass the rsx in graphical quality. it always happens; it will most likely happen again in a few years. all i care about is the system looking good enough for me to play games for the next couple of years. i like pretty graphics too, but i have no problem playing my ps2 even though i have a pc sitting in the corner as well.
Slashdot Mirror
correction. the ps2 also offers HD output as well. the ps2 was released before xbox. few select ps2 games [in comparision with xbox offerings] actually support HD however.
its crazy. games are infamous for being challenging to the point where the great majority of us have at least during one point during our gaming lives thrown a controller out of frustration. imagine the number of these suckers that will get thrown about if someone loses their last continue due to the controller freaking out or not responding?
i dont doubt that there will be some excellent titles coming forth from the nintendo camp. im almost 100% sure. my question that i pose is just that we have to wait and see. things can still go either way for the revolution. if there is still no third party support, or if there is a hitch with the controller, that could be a dealbreaker. until we actually see the games and play the system ourselves, we are still only buying into a dream; the exact same thing we criticize sony and MS [and their fanboys] for.
yes, the revolution is more than just the sum of its controller, BUT its controller can make or break the system. look at how many people were turned off by the original xbox controller. the controller is usually the only interface used during actual gameplay, so if its non-responsive, or needs lots of calibration, or causes arm/ wrist fatigue, you have a dealbreaker. what good is an innovative game if it hurts your arm, or you spend as much time calibrating it as you spend playing it?
perhaps you sit your ds on your lap or a surface to play, but some people actually hold it in their palm with one hand [like a pda] or in the case which i mentioned, some people still hold it by the left side [like a normal controller] while they use the stylus.
my post is not saying that nintendo WILL mess up the concept. im just saying that the potential is there, we still have to wait to see what they can do with it before we jump on board and praise it the way im starting to see. its the same thing with the ps3 and 360. it sounds great on paper but until we, the public actually get our hands on the consoles and games its a moot point to talk about how grand things will be now.
just like all the rest of the consoles, the revolution has promise... im waiting to see what they can do with it.
please dont hate me for speaking up, but someone has to say this.
im sure there are many amongst us that feel that nintendo can do no wrong. and i doubt they would mess up on something as major as their flagship console. that said, [developers excluded] NONE of us... not a single one has put their hands on a revolution controller. NONE of us, not a single person here has seen a single screenshot of a revolution game. hell, we havent even seen a screenshot nor at the very least a cinematic that the machine is capable of running.
i have faith in the company that helped bring video games into the mainstream, but they havent shown us anything yet. for all the hate that was going around when sony revealed their possible ps3 controller, i havent heard anyone that loves the premise of the revolution controller ever doubt for a second the possibility that there could be shortcomings.
the power glove setup required positioning a bar of sensors around your tv, and trying to calibrate it was not a simple affair. i trust that those kinks have been ironed out. and the gyroscope etc... will help alot. still, in games where control is everything, different people will need different setups. control in games where the analog range is predefined and hard coded into the controller standard go out the door. my range of motion will be alot different from say... my grandmother's. no more passing around the controller after your turn; it has to be recalibrated each time.
not to mention possibly the most annoying aspect of it all: its one thing when you use your thumbs to push a button a couple thousand times during the course of a game. its a totally different monster when you have to shake and hold your arm out for an extended period of time. for instance, take the example from the video of making mario jump simply by flicking the controller... thats fine for a quick 30 minute session, but most games require much longer involvement. most people get tired of holding their arms out painting for a few hours, can you imagine trying to complete an rpg like zelda? have you any idea how many fliocks of the wrist a game like mario requires? nintendo has a good track record with hardware, but can at times neglect ergonomics. [see: powerglove and virtual boy. the terrible backlight of the original GBA, or ask a DS user with hand cramps from controlling the DS with his left hand and using the stylus in his right]
i have faith in nintendo, but the truth is that they havent shown us anything other than a promise for a continuation of a few of their flagship titles. [duh, we knew that already...] just like the other next generation systems, lets wait and see before we proclaim the revolution the savior of video game entertainment. i have high hopes, but until i see it in action and play it for myself, the revolution is just as real to me as a sony prerender; something to look forward too, but im not going to put blind faith into it.
the problem this idea leaves is the demo-hoggers, swagbaggers, and people who this writer wants to distance himself from taking up all the time and not having enough time to go about their generally surly ways. if you want to split the first several days up like that, maybe you could extend the final few days to allow more of the 'regular joes' who go to actually enjoy e3, learn something and make a few informed decisions, and not rip and run trying to see it all.
you nor the author may like them much, but those same people are the ones that everyone at the conference serves. they ultimately represent the greater consumers whom the developers hope to please, the publishers hope to woo, and the reporters hope to inform. you have to cater to them just as much.
yes, expensive was the word used. but then again, sony has tradition that they dont like to break from easily. if they like a certain price point then they will bend over backwards determining how best to make sure they hit that same sweetspot they found with the consumers. if they can get the technology into the homes this generation too, they will have the budget and finance department working overnight moving money here and there to make sure they can afford to take the hit. its been well publicized that sony is reorganizing itself, but the ps3 and psp are at its prime focus. thats company wide... the gaming sector is sonys only real money maker. sony may not have the money that microsoft has, and sony has taken a hit by selling its systems at a loss, but its gaming division isnt in the red, and thats due to its ability to sell/ license games. sony will try to follow its current working model, and change the things that hurt them this generation [going wireless, higher capacity drives, HD compatible games, hard drives inclusion, networking options...]. microsoft is playing it safer this go around. maybe they can afford it, but no company can keep taking a 4 billion dollar hit on the chin.
as for what sonys surprise will be, my guess is [and you heard it here first] they are going to drop their price point, maybe a controller redesign [maybe] and finally reveal their "sony network" or whatever its called; basically their answer to xbox live. theyve been really quiet about that, and i think that will be the big secret that they will use to their advantage when they feel they need something to take the wind out of microsofts sails.
as for the revolution, i dont foresee sony even competing with nintendo. sony doesnt see the consoles really fighting for the same marketspace, and im not sure i see the revolution launching before the end of next year. the controller has been under wraps, so developers really havent been able to start working on launch games. it will take them a while to get up and running with at least some form of library. sony developers on the other hand have been working on launch games for almost two years. now their main task is porting the ideas and demos over to the dev kits and tweaking them to work with the cell.
finally, im really getting annoyed with the toy story comment. bill gates claimed that the xbox would be able to deliver "toy story in realtime"-level graphics. not sony. if you find the quote; it will come from some other gamer, or some copy and paste journalist. gates' quote was directly out of his mouth in an interview. so please please please, lets leave the toy story graphics misquote alone. no one [from sony] has said that about this generation either. they said they can animate a million rubber ducks in a tub and they can give a million leaves each their own audio channel using software only; no mention of toy story. besides, why would they even bring up one of the highest grossing films of their film divisions' rival?
i think rockstar usually has the right take on in game music. they give you a couple of different playlists in several genres to choose from. i think midnight club3 has the best soundtrack overall. albeit its a lil heavy on the hiphop and reggae; considering the game, it is quite fitting. it was frustrating to have to cycle through the entire playlist to get to the one specific song you wanted to hear. custom playlists are definitely the way to go though.
my exgirlfriend will give me ___ for life thanks to that link!
yeah, the cause for that is most blockbusters are starving for shelfspace. they barely have enough room to stock new releases. add games for the top three systems to that list and you are pretty much strapped for space to have a shelf for psp titles.
the movies i am slightly mixed on. dvd sales truly didnt start taking off until they started adding in the extra content, director's commentary... etc. i like the direction sony may start going with the whole bundling of umd movies and games. thats cool. but what would really set umd sales off is bundled additional game content. not just an extra car, or an outfit or whatever. i like how wipeout pure has gone with the additional content, but how about being able to have access to the movie soundtrack via the umd? that would be a nice touch. i dunno, with me personally you gotta hook me with the extras.
by the way, has anyone seen ds games for rent?
the blockbusters here rent where i live umd movies and games. they have been renting them since at least as far back as may/june.
a te.html there you go... its not the most elegant solution; it requires some weirdness with the faceplate. but its a proof of concept. also, when look at the link above, keep in mind that the video on the screen is distorted due to the fact that they are displaying 16:9 content on a 4:3 screen. if you set the psp to 'display: original', it would display properly.
also, you can rent them from www.gamefly.com and a few other places, if you are more a www.netflix.com person than a www.blockbuster.com person.
as for playing them on a regular sized tv screen: http://www.pspupdates.com/2005/09/teamxtender-upd
> Are you lucky enough to have 1.50 firmware on your PSP? If not, the Nintendo DS has relatively painless homebrew.
not quite. it still requires additional purchases and equipment. if the rumors are correct, soon you will be able to run homebrew on any psp including version 2.0. the price you have to pay for it is in patience.
> Not necessarily. What kind of control would you have in an RTS game with the PSP analog stick? Now compare to the Nintendo DS touch screen?
my initial statement only referred to the psp's power and graphics. as far as the touch screen goes, its nice, but console users have gotten by with using analog sticks and directional buttons for RTS games for a great many years now. the touch screen is nice, but is it a complete necessity? not really.
> What specific kinds of movies are you encoding?
my own.
> And with the Nintendo DS you get the option of playing 99 percent of the GBA library on the same machine. The Nintendo DS is also cheaper, letting you afford a portable DVD player and have options other than the limited selection of movies on UMD Video.
thats nice, but i already have a GBA. if i were to buy a DS it would be in order to play DS games, since that is the only thing i can do with it without making modifications or purchasing extra equipment. if i wanted a portable dvd player, i would buy one. personally, i like the psp's screen better than any $100 range portable dvd player ive seen.
> Which genres would those be, for reference?
as of now, there are few rpg's for either system. currently the DS has a multitude of adventure games and simulation games, with a handful of puzzle games. granted, the psp has way more than its fair share of racing games, but i happen to like many of the ones available. it also has a slew of adventure games, and puzzle games as well. in effect, its lineup encompasses the ds lineup in terms of genres represented and gives them to you in 16:9 handheld high-res. mario hasnt done anything new [and therefore garnered my attention] for the last two console generations. in exchange for choice, you have innovation. some people choose innovation, and thats fine. i just choose choice.
save for nintendogs and say advance wars DS, there arent many system selling games available in general for the DS yet. i personally dont like the premise of nintendogs; so in my opinion, the number of games id like to try is down to one. that doesnt justify me making that purchase just yet. as far as the psp is concerned, i have found more software that fits my tastes, the option to download my morning headlines to read on the way to work, the option to play online, watch a movie whenever i have to wait, delivered in a single package that fits my travel and handheld needs. all at the expense of the ability to play games using a stylus. oh well...
i dont represent everyone, but i am just speaking as one of the many psp owners that actually enjoys their purchase. they may not frequent slashdot, but we are around.
no, but you dont feel as guilty for not calling back the next day when your one night stand was with a shallow chick...
[just kidding people...]
are you aware that they have a version of nethack running on the psp?
i agree with you. ive tried to force myself to buy a ds to complement my psp, but as of yet, i havent found a reason to. the main thing stopping me is that i havent found any games that i am willing to play just yet. nintendogs doesnt interest me in the slightest. honestly the only game i would be interested in is advance wars ds, due to my enjoyment of it from the gba versions.
i enjoy the portables for the same reasons you list. i like the promise that the psp shows. graphically and in terms of power, it can do what the ds does and more. i like the ability to encode a movie and take it with me without anything extra other than the cost of a memory card i would have bought anyways.
i hope nintendo sticks to their guns and releases some serious software in the upcoming months. no one really cares about the hardware. the "innovative" aura wears off rather quick. its the software that will keep the ds afloat. otherwise i predict that sony will end up steamrolling the ds once thier AAA titles start rippling onto the scene. its the games that keep people hooked, and sony has shown that they definitely are going to flood the psp with games, in time.
so far the psp has about 50 games upcoming, and the ds has about 35. sure some of of the games for psp will be crap and people will hate them, but like most people; i like that. i like having options. i like sleeper games. games that some people consider crap, i actually enjoy. case in point: coded arms, metal gear ac!d... etc. its the same as in the console world. by and large, the nintendo console catalog may just have the highest ratio of good to bad games, but they dont have enough games that appeal to me in genres i enjoy. id rather have 10 b-level games, opposed to 3 a-level games a year. its a shame that the ds seems to be following suit with its consoles rather than the gameboy blueprint.
burnout legends?
if you can deal with the loading... midnight club.
and if you arent afraid to unlearn the normal console fps schemes: coded arms.
wow, after re-reading the story via that link. i am really excited by the premise of them re-releasing ff7. i played the game to DEATH back in the day, and could not bring myself to play anything else until id beaten both weapons. i only tore myself away from ff7 in order to play ff tactics.
its been so long since i played through ff7 that ive forgotten that the storyline went a little deeper than i remembered. these are exciting times...
ive been a fan of the series and the controls arent different per se. its just that the controls are now mapped to a controller with less buttons and obviously the analog nub doesnt quite fit your hand the same way as the dualshock controllers.
personally i dont have a problem with the game, and just as most wipeout fans feel; i love it. its actually garnered more love from fans and critics than its ps2 older brother: wipeout fusion. it took the series back to its pinnacle: wipeout XL.
the downloadable content isnt quite as trite as you guys make it seem. its more than just the same tracks over and over again with pallette swaps. they are actual new courses/locations/backgrounds, racers and in some cases music too. maybe you were mistaking comments about the menu skins. those are simple pallette swaps, but its a skin... thats what its supposed to be. the downloadable content is an excellent idea and has added alot more replayability to the game. i just wish theyd release a track editor or something.
Is there a bigger difference from MIDI/MOD to say a 32 kbps MP3, or from a 32 kbps MP3 to Red Book CD audio?
no, but the additional space allowed by umd grants you to have your soundtrack stored as atrac or aac or even mp3s sampled at any quality you like. 32kbps? how about 96 or 128 kbps?
Are all PSP games required to support custom soundtracks...
no not at all, but depending on how lumines was programmed, ie. if the timeline actually monitored the waveform of the music; changing the music tracks yourself could allow you to build your own custom "skins".
Download the soundtrack? Companies would rather sell you another copy on CD and then sell you the privilege to copy it to a Memory Stick.
very true, but a'la the custom downloadable music available for wipeout pure and atv offroad, just because the music is available on the Memory stick doesnt allow you to outright just play it.
Want a CD player emulator that works on the Nintendo DS? Start here.
nothing wrong with a bit of self-promotion, but if you could rely on external equipment for everything, given time and money, i could build an external add on dreamcast and ps2 player. the necessity for much external equipment is a sign of the physical handhelds' limitations.
hmmm... seems like he might have you here tepples.
>But where are you going to find opponents for such multiplayer? Nintendo DS games tend to have "spawned" versions (DS Download Play) more often than PSP games do
nearly all psp games will load of of a single UMD passed amongst your friends. and they have actually demoed the game sharing feature of the psp too, so the two are on a quite even playing field. but with the psp's internet based play, you have an added ability.
also, fastloader works wonders as well. and here we actually "may" find another quasi-legitimate use for it.
>Who's to say that a particular highly anticipated title won't end up poorly engineered like Midnight Club or Need For Speed?
yeah, but thats not up to anyone except the QA guys for letting something really poorly engineered leave for the UMD press. there are badly engineered games all over the place, and for every system imaginable. at launch when people are hungry for games in general, companies figure they can get away with it easier.
>It does when the difference is MIDI to CD quality. Doesn't have to happen
theres a major major difference when you switch from midi to cd quality in game music. on top of that the psp also allows you to play from custom playlists. i would like to see a company give you the option to download the soundtrack to memory stick and save you the trouble of needing to read from UMD. lets see the DS 'emulate' that...
i will agree with you on your first point, only when i see MS based games available for PSP as well. the way i see it, they are feeding the enemy of their enemy. they dont have a foothold in the handheld market so they are feeding nintendo in an effort to destroy sony's hold there.
if they published for only psp, i would say the exact same thing, but in favor of them trying to win against their nearest rival [in terms of console sales].
MS knows that they at least stand a chance against nintendo in the console realm. sony is a much bigger beast to deal with, and the best way to hurt them is in an area where they are not yet as strong: the handhelds.
www.pspvideo9.com
great piece of software, considering its freeware. the only thing its missing is music and gamesave backup functionality. they should look into creating a suite.
at least your honest. im a big nintendo fan myself. thats why the emulator scene on the psp is so big. everyone loves pre-64 nintendo. but lately they havent been churning out the hits at a steady pace.
i own a psp, and other than game releases... im more than satisfied with it right now. i dont mind the ports so much, but even the ports are few and far between.
nintendo creates some gorgeous and fun games, but they are so distant from each other that sometimes entire genres go unnoticed. thats not good. and not what i want from a console right now. i initially wanted to buy both systems, but i havent seen any games interesting enough for me to pick up the ds yet, IMO.
oh, and by the way. maybe its the volume on yours. my speakers are pretty loud at least they are indoors. make sure you turn off the AVLS in sound settings and turn UMD volume +2 in the video settings. that should help out a bunch.
well, in this case, i think sony made an exception since it wanted to let people know how well it was beating the ds in regards to a launch.
if the sales figures were much closer to the ds range, im sure sony would have just mentioned units shipped.
you shout your successes, and overlook your ties and failures. i dont blame them. besides, with the buzz surrounding nintendogs etc, sony needed something big.
great idea. mod parent up!!!
a battery that doesnt hold a charge is a prime reason to be able to return your psp. but one caveat however, you have to be ready to deal with the store if they happen to have a spare battery or AC adapter on hand. they may try to sell you a new peripheral rather than exchange an entire unit.
maybe you can tell them you tried a second battery from a friend, and it didnt work either. explain that there is a short or something in the unit, and doesnt charge the battery properly. if they ask why your battery is fully charged, tell em you have your friend charge it for you.
"Any time we created any content it looked exactly the same on PC as it did on PS3. The only thing was, even though we had these ass-kicking Nvidia 6800 Ultra SLI systems, when we got the actual RSX card, even though it's not running anywhere near full speed, it was more than twice as fast as our SLI setup." - Mark Rein
it sounds like your statement may turn out to be false. theres a jump from the 6800 to the 7800 esp in SLI, but the developers' statement makes me wonder exactly whats under the hood.
overall, it doesnt matter when and if pcs will surpass the rsx in graphical quality. it always happens; it will most likely happen again in a few years. all i care about is the system looking good enough for me to play games for the next couple of years. i like pretty graphics too, but i have no problem playing my ps2 even though i have a pc sitting in the corner as well.