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Severed Hand of Skywalker · Mar 31, 2005, 01:53 PM

IGN's PSP vs DS story:
http://gear.ign.com/articles/599/599454p1.html
"But when it comes down to it, the PSP is much better suited for 99% of the games on the market"

"So in theory, the Nintendo DS is a better portable system but the PSP is the better all-around system. This seems like a fair enough assessment and the final word we'll stick with."

And the fanboy reaction to his story which sounds very familiar.
http://gear.ign.com/articles/599/599884p1.html

budster101 · Mar 31, 2005, 02:00 PM

I've done some research as I am looking for a future portable movie / game / music device, and came across some strong opinions regarding the PSP. It looks as though I shall be waiting a bit longer for that dream machine.

1. Battery Life (Short and inconsistent)...

Reasons:

- UMD disc motor, media is not solid state.

- High Speed CPU = more wattage, more power consumption.

- CPU(MIPS) not really made for PDA like device power efficiency.

- Video Chipset more powerful, hence requires more power. (Sony has already asked game developpers to dumb down gfx because of battery issues).

- Performance of battery will not be stable, watching a video, cheap gfx game, high gfx game, listening to music = battery life varies.

- 802.11B, unmodified standard, meaning no power efficiency.

2.Fragility

- UMD motor has moving parts, more likely to brake down. You will have to be much more careful not to shake or bang your psp, lifespan is shortened because of this.

- UMD media is not tolerant with misuse or abusive handling, a few scratches or bumps, bye bye game/movie/music.

- Exposed LCD screen, nice and wide, susceptible to constant scratching, you will require to buy additional casing!!

3. Cost

- Expensive, not cost efficient. People who can afford PSPs certainly can afford Ipods and other media devices which do there media roles much better. Lack of value for hybrid gaming system.

- Price not competitive against DS.

4. Noise

- UMD disc motor makes sounds, doesnt matter how small the media is or slow it spins, it will make sound, you wont be able to stop this. Concentration on puzzle games will be frustrating.

5. Proprietary Media Formats

- UMD discs have special format for music and movies. Meaning, you wont be able to just upload or transfer mp3 songs or movies to your PSP. Doesnt work that way.

- You will have to buy your music and movies AGAIN from SONY on UMD format JUST FOR PSP. Meaning, you wont be able to listen or watch the media on any other device!

6. Launch titles and beyond...

- Very little amount of exclusive ORIGINAL titles for psp only.

7. Load times

- Any disc type media has load times, which is a disadvantage vs solid state media.

similar opinion (a):

similar opinions (b)

similar opinions (c)

justinkim · Mar 31, 2005, 02:15 PM

Originally posted by RonnieoftheRose:
1. There's no space at the moment. If you look at the device the two processors and memory are crammed in an area no bigger than 1 inch by 1 inch. Amazing feat. The rest of the machine is taken up by the screen, memory stick slot and UMD drive. The only way a micro HD will ever be fitted in is if Sony gets rid of memory stick, which won't happen as they make money from them, or if the price of micro HD comes down a lot.

2. A third party might make them but not in the foreseeable future but don't count on it. The PS2 doesn't play burned a lot of burned material such as some music CDRWs.

3. What's the point of a PSP Linux when the OS on the PSP is based on Open BSD and will be expanded to include more functionality? Linux is pretty useless in this case as it won't be able to boot games or play UMD movies. There's no Linux support for the format.

1) I know - I've seen pics of disassembled PSPs, and I'm not surprised that Sony hasn't included one yet. Doesn't mean I wouldn't like to see an HD-equipped PSP. Speaking purely from my standpoint, I wouldn't mind a modest increase in unit thickness for the HD.

2) More's the shame. Hopefully, there will be support for inexpensive large capacity removable storage for the PSP at some point. I do, however, remember that this is Sony we're talking about

3) It's cool because, IMHO, linux on consumer electronics is inherently cool. Also, having a open and useful Linux distribution available for the PSP enhances the versatility and usefulness of the platform as a whole -- at least for me. I'll grant that for most people this isn't all that useful. As I'm mostly interested in the PSP as a mobile media and data device, it's potentially very useful for me.

As for those grumpy macnn-ers who are no doubt getting ready to tell me to buy a Palm or WinCE PDA, I answer - what's the fun in that?

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Mar 31, 2005, 02:17 PM

Originally posted by justinkim:
1) I know - I've seen pics of disassembled PSPs, and I'm not surprised that Sony hasn't included one yet. Doesn't mean I wouldn't like to see an HD-equipped PSP. Speaking purely from my standpoint, I wouldn't mind a modest increase in unit thickness for the HD.

They have hinted at at but they also have to worry about how to distribute games if it has no UMD drive. Also the battery would die even faster.

RonnieoftheRose · Mar 31, 2005, 02:17 PM

Super fixed

Originally posted by budster101:

1. PowerBook G4 battery Life (Short and inconsistent)...

Reasons:

- DVDRW disc motor, media is not solid state.

- G4 not really power efficienct compared to Pentium-M

- Video Chipset requires power. (Apple has already asked developers to dumb down Quartz effects because of battery issues). We should have a really old graphics chip with 1997 technology.

- Performance of PowerBook battery will not be stable, watching a video, cheap gfx game, high gfx game, listening to music = battery life varies.

- 802.11b/g meaning no power efficiency. We need serial modems and telephone line cables.

2.Fragility

- DVDRW motor has moving parts, more likely to brake down. You will have to be much more careful not to shake or bang your PowerBook, lifespan is shortened because of this.

- DVDRW media is not tolerant with misuse or abusive handling, a few scratches or bumps, bye bye game/movie/music.

- Exposed LCD screen and aluminium casing, nice and wide, susceptible to constant scratching, you will require to buy additional casing!!

3. Cost

- Expensive, not cost efficient. People who can afford PowerBooks certainly can afford Dells and other media devices which can do there media roles much better. Lack of value for hybrid gaming system.

- Price not competitive against Dell's which have tacky plastic cases.

4. Noise

- DVDRW disc motor makes sounds, doesnt matter how small the media is or slow it spins, it will make sound, you wont be able to stop this. Concentration on 'puzzle games' (Get a ****ing clue, Budster - games load into memory) will be frustrating. Funny sizzling noise under the keyboard.

5. Proprietary Media Formats

- Apple has special formats for music and movies such as Quicktime and AAC.

- You will have to buy your music from the iTunes Music Store in AAC format for iTunes and the iPod. Meaning, you wont be able to listen to the media on any other device!

6. Launch titles and beyond...

- Very little amount of exclusive ORIGINAL titles for Mac OS X only.

7. Load times

- Any disc type media has load times, which is a disadvantage vs solid state media.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Mar 31, 2005, 02:21 PM

Originally posted by RonnieoftheRose:
Super fixed

don't worry about it. He is one of those "I'll get it when it has..." crowed that are never happy with it, always have an excuse not to get it and never end up owning a damn thing.

goMac · Mar 31, 2005, 03:01 PM

Originally posted by RonnieoftheRose:
Super fixed

Isn't a PSP supposed to have better portability/battery life than a Powerbook? I thought that was the point...

RonnieoftheRose · 03:21 PM

Originally posted by goMac:
Isn't a PSP supposed to have better portability/battery life than a Powerbook? I thought that was the point...

Obviously you don't get satire. But then you think the Cell chip can't run different operating systems and that Virtual PC 7 has hardware graphics acceleration...among other theories that are abound in your head such as the three machines you claim to have but don't and the DS and the PSP you played with but haven't. Oh, and that everybody agrees with you

Edit: And you claim to be an Open GL programmer and developer...phoney.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Mar 31, 2005, 03:17 PM

Originally posted by goMac:
Isn't a PSP supposed to have better portability/battery life than a Powerbook? I thought that was the point...

6-10 hours so yes

goMac · Mar 31, 2005, 03:45 PM

Originally posted by RonnieoftheRose:
Obviously you don't get satire. But then you think the Cell chip can't run different operating systems and that Virtual PC 7 has hardware graphics acceleration...among other theories that are abound in your head such as the three machines you claim to have but don't and the DS and the PSP you played with but haven't. Oh, and that everybody agrees with you

Edit: And you claim to be an Open GL programmer and developer...phoney.

Who said anything about the Cell chip, cause I sure didn't. I think you have your arguments mixed up. If anything, an OS needs to be heavily modified to work on Cell. And VPC does have limited hardware acceleration, you can enable and disable it in the debug menu, but I digress, a guy who posts a bunch of threads here while drunk must know what hes talking about...

Three machines I don't have but claim to? Which three machines are these I claim to own? and who said I've never played a DS?

Are you sure you're still not drunk? Cause I have no idea what you're talking about besides the VPC thing.

And I do OpenGL programming. In fact, my whole project senior year in high school was OpenGL programming.

RonnieoftheRose · Mar 31, 2005, 03:51 PM

Amazingly fixed!

Originally posted by goMac:
I said tons of **** about the Cell chip, I'm I sure did or it might have been my alter ego. I think I have my arguments mixed up. If anything, the world needs to be heavily modified to work on my brain. And my heart does have limited hardware acceleration, you can enable and disable it on the pacemaker remote, but I digress, a guy who posts a bunch of threads here while drunk must know what hes talking about...that's me - goMac! I'm going now to boot Virtual PC 7 on my Nintendo DS that has full PDA functionality, web applications and amazing graphics!

goMac · Mar 31, 2005, 04:02 PM

Originally posted by RonnieoftheRose:
Amazingly fixed!

Dude... are you ok? First you accuse me of "claiming to own 3 machines I don't" (which I still don't understand... what, the machines in my sig? I don't get it). Then you rant about how I claimed VPC7 had hardware acceleration when it really does have some (as I recall the argument was about whether or not giving VPC direct access to the graphics was a good idea). And there has been tons of discussion about the Cell running OS X (hint: it's an extremely multithreaded chip without a pure AltiVec unit, so OS X would have to be re-written to run in extreme parallel and AltiVec support would have to be modified, and the next PowerPC's will be faster anyway. Running in extreme parallel usually only works well in games and a lot of multimedia, but not general computing).

But hey, you know what you're talking about. I'm only a Computer Science student. And if you don't believe me you could email me at my student address ccornaby at up.edu (hey! I also work there! look at my sig!) and maybe I could reply with some code to the Cocoa wrapper I wrote for OpenGL!

mdc · Mar 31, 2005, 04:15 PM

i bought one now!

it is on the table sitting next to me charging. is it okay to use it while it charges for the first time? or better to let it charge and do the whole battery drain/charge/drain for the first time?

i am blown away at how amazing it looks. the screen is *huge*. i had yet to see one in person since none of the shops i have been to since launch day had any out, only in boxes. i can't wait to play with it.

i wanted to get ridge racers, but they were out of stock. i am on the fence about lumines(sp?) since i am not a big puzzle fan, but i might pick it up since i'm road tripping this weekend with a friend i'm sure she will love the game.

waxcrash · Mar 31, 2005, 04:33 PM

Originally posted by mdc:
i bought one now!

it is on the table sitting next to me charging. is it okay to use it while it charges for the first time? or better to let it charge and do the whole battery drain/charge/drain for the first time?

i am blown away at how amazing it looks. the screen is *huge*. i had yet to see one in person since none of the shops i have been to since launch day had any out, only in boxes. i can't wait to play with it.

i wanted to get ridge racers, but they were out of stock. i am on the fence about lumines(sp?) since i am not a big puzzle fan, but i might pick it up since i'm road tripping this weekend with a friend i'm sure she will love the game.

Congrats! You can charge it why you play games - I did when I first got it and have suffered no consequences. Be prepared to spend the next few days sucked into playing it. It is very addicting.

I just got back from my lunch break and picked up Lumines. I just played it for the first time and it's really good. If you like Tetris, you will like it. The sound and visuals are amazing. If you are on the fence about what games to get, I'd say you can't go wrong with Ridge Racer, Wipeout, or Lumines.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Mar 31, 2005, 04:34 PM

Originally posted by mdc:
i bought one now!

it is on the table sitting next to me charging. is it okay to use it while it charges for the first time? or better to let it charge and do the whole battery drain/charge/drain for the first time?

i am blown away at how amazing it looks. the screen is *huge*. i had yet to see one in person since none of the shops i have been to since launch day had any out, only in boxes. i can't wait to play with it.

i wanted to get ridge racers, but they were out of stock. i am on the fence about lumines(sp?) since i am not a big puzzle fan, but i might pick it up since i'm road tripping this weekend with a friend i'm sure she will love the game.

get wipeout Pure, it is better than RR.

Any any rate you can use it while it is charging so go nuts.

Hey goMac, looks like you lost ANOTHER sale

You're not terrible convincing I guess.

goMac · Mar 31, 2005, 04:36 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Hey goMac, looks like you lost ANOTHER sale You're not terrible convincing I guess.

If you look at the numbers Sony has already lost a lot of sales... But, have fun glowing over each person who buys a PSP.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Mar 31, 2005, 04:38 PM

Originally posted by goMac:
If you look at the numbers Sony has already lost a lot of sales... But, have fun glowing over each person who buys a PSP.

Huh? What numbers?

goMac · Mar 31, 2005, 04:42 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Huh? What numbers?

I'd have to go look it up somewhere... but the number of PSP's at the Best Buys in an area got out. Some of the bigger ones had over 600 in stock. I have to wonder why Sony delayed the Europe launch.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Mar 31, 2005, 04:46 PM

Originally posted by goMac:
I'd have to go look it up somewhere... but the number of PSP's at the Best Buys in an area got out. Some of the bigger ones had over 600 in stock. I have to wonder why Sony delayed the Europe launch.

What does that have to do with anything? The best buys are the only ones selling these things?

They delayed the launch to make sure they had enough for the US, so far they seem to have sold over 600,000 units out of the 1 million that shipped. That is damn good for non-christmas time.

Also it is outselling ALL systems in Japan. Sony makes the money off of the game sales not the hardware.

itai195 · Mar 31, 2005, 09:41 PM

Originally posted by budster101:
I've done some research as I am looking for a future portable movie / game / music device, and came across some strong opinions regarding the PSP. It looks as though I shall be waiting a bit longer for that dream machine.

I'd recommend not listening solely to negative opinions.

itai195 · Mar 31, 2005, 09:43 PM

Originally posted by goMac:
If you look at the numbers Sony has already lost a lot of sales... But, have fun glowing over each person who buys a PSP.

Why so much harping on sales numbers already? It's pretty early.

mdc · 11:51 PM

ok, the psp is awesome. played about 2 hours of a 3.5 hour class, playing tony hawk

the only thing i can not get working is connecting to my powerbook. i picked up some $5 usb pelican usb cable/charger. it appeared on my desktop once, then i fired up pspware, which did not get past backing up.

9.9 out of 10 times it does not show up on the desktop. i guess i can get a new cable and try that out.

anyone else had issues?

---edit---

it was the cable. i found a usb cable that came with one of my digital cameras. plugged it in, and automatically the psp mounted, pspware synced in about 10 seconds.

oh well, i guess i'll be returning the cable

meelk · Apr 1, 2005, 07:12 AM

QUOTE:
5. Proprietary Media Formats

- UMD discs have special format for music and movies. Meaning, you wont be able to just upload or transfer mp3 songs or movies to your PSP. Doesnt work that way.

- You will have to buy your music and movies AGAIN from SONY on UMD format JUST FOR PSP. Meaning, you wont be able to listen or watch the media on any other device!

*You obviously didnt do your homework worth a crap, because you can easily convert and load up just about any video you would want to see via memory stick (mpeg4, theres a ton of different tools to do this already), and you load all your mp3s this way, plenty of people are converting their own DVDs down to a gig and putting them on memory sticks for play in the system.

waxcrash · Apr 1, 2005, 08:41 AM

Bah! My PSP's background for April is pink. Must be an April fools prank. I have to change the date.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Apr 1, 2005, 12:15 PM

Originally posted by waxcrash:
Bah! My PSP's background for April is pink. Must be an April fools prank. I have to change the date.

It's going to be like that all month. Each month has its own colour.

Uriel · Apr 1, 2005, 12:29 PM

Make sure your PSP is in USB mode before you can see it.

JohnM15141 · Apr 1, 2005, 03:00 PM

I got my PSP on launch day with Ridge Racer and Tiger Woods Golf.

The next day I went on a trip to Australia. I just got back. The PSP sure helped to pass the time. I played a lot of Ridge Racer.

I wished I had a 2nd battery but most of the time the battery outlasted my thumb. I also wish I had some sort of stand to hold it while watching Spiderman 2.

When I started the trip I had one stuck pixel. By the end, it became "unstuck" so now my screen is flawless.

One shortcoming I noticed is the volume just wasn't high enough when using the headset with lots of background noise, I wished I had a couple more notches on the volume, however switching to a Bose Quietcomfort noise canceling headset solved that problem.

A few more movies, and a spare battery, then it would have been a perfect trip! Other than that the PSP was great and I created quite a few future PSP buyers as well.

Now, to get it to work with my AirPort network.....

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Apr 1, 2005, 03:10 PM

Originally posted by JohnM15141:

One shortcoming I noticed is the volume just wasn't high enough when using the headset with lots of background noise, I wished I had a couple more notches on the volume, however switching to a Bose Quietcomfort noise canceling headset solved that problem.

Did you see the option to crank the movie level volume in the prefs?

starman · Apr 1, 2005, 03:21 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Did you see the option to crank the movie level volume in the prefs?

I saw that. It still doesn't help. There really needs to be a few more notches on the volume.

Mike

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Apr 1, 2005, 05:17 PM

What in the name of sweet baby jesus is this DS game all about? it is going to give me nightmares!

http://www.touchds.jp/mediagallery/st13.html

RonnieoftheRose · Apr 1, 2005, 05:23 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
What in the name of sweet baby jesus is this DS game all about? it is going to give me nightmares!

http://www.touchds.jp/mediagallery/st13.html

Incredible. The next evolution in human communication and learning.

Look at my bicep

Look at my bicep

Albert Pujols · Apr 1, 2005, 06:05 PM

Originally posted by RonnieoftheRose:
Incredible. The next evolution in human communication and learning.

Look at my bicep

Look at my bicep

Look at my bicep

Look at my bicep

Look at my bicep

Apr 1, 2005, 06:28 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
What in the name of sweet baby jesus is this DS game all about? it is going to give me nightmares!

http://www.touchds.jp/mediagallery/st13.html

It's called Elektroplankton and besides the nightmares, looks like it's going to be a pretty cool musical "toy" for the DS. Personally, I can't wait for it!

starman · Apr 1, 2005, 06:48 PM

WTF was that???

Oh, well. back to Wipeout.

Mike

JohnM15141 · Apr 1, 2005, 06:57 PM

Not until I saw your Reply. I set it to +2 it helped a bit. Thanks.

I got my PSP connected to my Airport Extreme Network. Can't do anything with it yet, but I'm ready when I can

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Did you see the option to crank the movie level volume in the prefs?

goMac · Apr 1, 2005, 07:51 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
What in the name of sweet baby jesus is this DS game all about? it is going to give me nightmares!

http://www.touchds.jp/mediagallery/st13.html

IIRC that game has been getting great initial reviews.

Link · Apr 1, 2005, 08:59 PM

Welp, I bought a PSP today..

Yep.

Ditched the gay 5 year old games for wipeout and GTA! Woohoo! I can finally play some REAL STUFF!

I've been playing Gran Turismo all morning though.. popping the clutch in the cheap little japanese wannabe racecar is endless fun..

Sandbaggins · Apr 1, 2005, 09:01 PM

"blook blat my blicep"

starman · Apr 2, 2005, 12:07 AM

Originally posted by goMac:
IIRC that game has been getting great initial reviews.

/checks clock

Yup, still April 1.

Mike

starman · Apr 2, 2005, 12:09 AM

Originally posted by Link:
Welp, I bought a PSP today..

Yep.

Ditched the gay 5 year old games for wipeout and GTA! Woohoo! I can finally play some REAL STUFF!

I've been playing Gran Turismo all morning though.. popping the clutch in the cheap little japanese wannabe racecar is endless fun..

/checks clock

Yup, still April 1.

Mike

RonnieoftheRose · Apr 2, 2005, 04:15 PM

When is FIFA out?

RonnieoftheRose · Apr 2, 2005, 11:05 PM

Got Tiger Woods. Great game.

itai195 · Apr 3, 2005, 12:18 AM

Picked up Lumines, and it's as good as everyone says. Will hold my attention for a while. Wipeout is still excellent, and playing Twisted Metal online is very fun.

Now, if only I had time for my PSP AND God of War... It's like Christmas in March, with PSP and all these great PS2/Xbox games coming out.

Socially Awkward Solo · Apr 3, 2005, 02:23 AM

Originally posted by itai195:
Picked up Lumines, and it's as good as everyone says.

I got it last night and I am totally impressed with it. Instead of just giving us a new Tetris like Nintendo would have, they reinvented it. It is just as much a musical interaction/video as it is a game. Very addictive and fun to look at and hear.

Albert Pujols · Apr 3, 2005, 02:28 AM

Originally posted by JohnM15141:
I got my PSP connected to my Airport Extreme Network. Can't do anything with it yet, but I'm ready when I can

Have you surfed the web with it yet using Wipeout's browser. It's really cool, although it can be slow sometimes. Go to engadget.com for the tutorial. or.. http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000013038102/

It's definitely worth a look.

Hawkeye_a · Apr 3, 2005, 03:44 AM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
What does that have to do with anything? The best buys are the only ones selling these things?

They delayed the launch to make sure they had enough for the US, so far they seem to have sold over 600,000 units out of the 1 million that shipped. That is damn good for non-christmas time.

Also it is outselling ALL systems in Japan. Sony makes the money off of the game sales not the hardware.

launch estimates 500k.... you need to quite making stuff up... stick to the facts...no matter how hard it is for you.

....
http://psp.ign.com/articles/600/600453p1.html

Hawkeye_a · 07:18 AM

Originally posted by starman:
WTF was that???

Oh, well. back to Wipeout.

Mike

Yup... back to the cave from whence you came.

...to the land where everyone stands in line and never think different. Have fun..

Hawkeye_a · 07:19 AM

Originally posted by Socially Awkward Solo:
I got it last night and I am totally impressed with it. Instead of just giving us a new Tetris like Nintendo would have, they reinvented it. It is just as much a musical interaction/video as it is a game. Very addictive and fun to look at and hear.

Is it as awesome as a Metal Gear Solid card game ? lol. Man a MGS card game...thats the best thing ever !!!

Sandbaggins · Apr 3, 2005, 10:03 AM

Originally posted by Hawkeye_a:
Is it as awesome as a Metal Gear Solid card game ? lol. Man a MGS card game...thats the best thing ever !!!

Hmmm... looks like you are correct. It scored a crappy 77.5% on gamerankings.com

Metal Gear Acid
PSP
77.5%

****** But, compared to the DS line, it doesn't look bad at all:

Super Mario 64 DS
DS
87.1%
WarioWare Touched!
DS
84.3%
Feel the Magic: XY/XX
DS
76.9%
Yoshi Touch & Go
DS
76.4%
Zoo Keeper
DS
75.7%
Mr. Driller DS <---- glad this one doesn't have "Touch" or "Touched" in its name
DS
72.1%

It would be #3 on the DS list... Sammiched between "WarioWare Touched" and Feel the Magic: XY/XX"

mdc · Apr 3, 2005, 10:28 AM

i am having the hardest time finding ridge racer.
does anyone have any suggestions on a case for the psp? the stuff that i've read (like the arstechnica review) saying that the standard case can scratch the screen, and the guy's psp which slipped out the case and got scratched, makes me want to find a nice closable case.

tony hawk underground 2 remix is a lot better than i was expecting, having a lot of fun with it. and my other game, nfl street, is awesome. being able to play nfl street on a handheld, that looks just as good as the console version, is, imo, worth $250.

all we need now is fifa; which everywhere seems to have pushed back to the 25th of april.