[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Lots of videos and pics:

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-17-71-7o-74-ox.html

[SafariX]

PIcs are kinda shitty. :/

I'm dling some of the vids.

[SafariX]

What's the schedule on the PSP coming stateside?

[Lancer409]

those vids kinda sucked
... wow so those bidders dont get nothing besides the system, and a demo disk? and only 1 week before it's out on the market? I just glad it went to a good cause instead of just an open auction for the sake of making more money. now they gotta wait a week since no games are out?

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

So for the most part it is actually smaller than the DS.

http://image1.play-asia.com/gallery/...00008.0044.jpg

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Sony PSP Will Play Video from MemoryStick

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-...ick-026970.php

[spatterson]

Some of those backgrounds in the menus look awful like apple's backgrounds.

[maxintosh]

I'm sorry, that thing looks HOT, if only just from a design standpoint.

I'd take it over a DS any day of the week.

[WiggMuffin]

Metal Gear: Acid = A card game.

'Nuff said.

[Visnaut]

The more I read about this thing, the more I'm convinced it will sweep the market. It's got the right balance of features.

Since you can even run programs from the memory stick, I bet you a fervent development community will rally around it and come out with lots of interesting doo dads. Christ, within a month, someone will get Linux running on it, in some form or another.

What would truly be funny is if someone somehow got a few emulators to run on it...

[Goldfinger]

Originally posted by Visnaut:
What would truly be funny is if someone somehow got a few emulators to run on it...

A Gameboy emulator

[wataru]

So you can only use it with one hand? Or was the reviewer an amputee?

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Get a big memory stick and you can convert DVD's and tv shows to MPEG-4 and watch em on the PSP. I love it.

[wataru]

Sounds like a big waste of time and money if you ask me.

[TheBadgerHunter]

Crap. Pretty crap, rather nice looking graphics, but crap. Exposed screen scratches like hell, battery life is so low an I bet the batteries don't last very long.

[The Godfather]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
So for the most part it is actually smaller than the DS.

http://image1.play-asia.com/gallery/...00008.0044.jpg

You can't say that

http://image1.play-asia.com/gallery/...00008.0042.jpg

[Lancer409]

psp looks nicer. ... the ds with touchscreen seems very interesting to me .. i do feel it is innovative.. my big gripe with gaming these days is that it's usually just graphical improvements .. sometimes even getting crappier gameplay ...

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by The Godfather:
You can't say that

http://image1.play-asia.com/gallery/...00008.0042.jpg

it is not as thick or deep. That is 2 out of 3 that it is smaller.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

This shot makes the DS screen look tiny:

[MindFad]

That makes the PSP look big as hell, especially if you've held a DS.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by MindFad:
That makes the PSP look big as hell, especially if you've held a DS.

Even though the PSP is not as deep or as tall?

[mishap]

UMD load times are going to f*cking suck!

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by mishap:
UMD load times are going to f*cking suck!

10-20 seconds from a cold boot.

[MindFad]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Even though the PSP is not as deep or as tall?

Not as deep closed, I imagine, with the flip-top. Barely any taller. But that perspective makes the PSP look much longer than I thought it was going to be. I wonder when the demos will start showing up in stores so I can get my hands on one.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by MindFad:
Not as deep closed, I imagine, with the flip-top. Barely any taller. But that perspective makes the PSP look much longer than I thought it was going to be. I wonder when the demos will start showing up in stores so I can get my hands on one.

it is a tiny bit wider, that is it.

http://image1.play-asia.com/gallery/...00008.0042.jpg

that is a better pic.

[justinkim]

Add a mozilla browser and a non-joke email client, and I'd buy one in a second.

Add a 5 gig micro HD, an ssh client, some minor productivity apps, and an optional keyboard and I'd do a good imitation of the Road Runner in my haste to get to a store to buy one.

And I don't even like console games.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by justinkim:
Add a mozilla browser and a non-joke email client, and I'd buy one in a second.

Add a 5 gig micro HD, an ssh client, some minor productivity apps, and an optional keyboard and I'd do a good imitation of the Road Runner in my haste to get to a store to buy one.

And I don't even like console games.

Sounds like you need a laptop but don't want to spend more than $200.

[justinkim]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Sounds like you need a laptop but don't want to spend more than $200.

I have a laptop, carrying it around all the time along with its assorted junk is not what I want. In fact, I've mostly given up on carting the thing around.

What I do want is a relatively small and light information appliance I can use to read email or cached web pages, watch a video on, or play games with on the train. Having some productivity apps so I can do a little work on it wherever would make it even better.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by justinkim:

What I do want is a relatively small and light information appliance I can use to read email or cached web pages, watch a video on, or play games with on the train. Having some productivity apps so I can do a little work on it wherever would make it even better.

Get a PDA. Seriously, for $300 you can do all those things.

[justinkim]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Get a PDA. Seriously, for $300 you can do all those things.

I don't think the Palm machines are quite up to the video playing part. I know some of the later models at least have the capability, but lack the PSP's big screen. I'm also happy about the PSP's support for MPEG-4 H.264 video. Screen size is also an issue with email and web browsing applications.

I've had several Palm PDAs, and they never quite cut the mustard. Speed, memory, applications, display, and battery life were never quite where I wanted them to be (though the T5 seems close). Don't get me wrong, the PSP certainly has deficiencies in these areas, too.

I'm not hailing the PSP as the second coming and I realize I probably have unrealistic expectations. Nevertheless, I think the PSP has good potential to be more than just a games machine.

Originally posted by justinkim:

I'm not hailing the PSP as the second coming and I realize I probably have unrealistic expectations. Nevertheless, I think the PSP has good potential to be more than just a games machine.

Toshiba used to make a tiny laptop. It was about the size of the DS. I think it was called the Libretto. It ran Windows95. If they still make them, it sounds like that is what you want.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

A great hands on report:

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000510024287

"We love the Nintendo DS, but it is bulky and feels and looks like a child�s toy from the 1980s compared to the PSP, which is definitely one well-designed, slick little handheld. The DS weighs exactly 10 ounces with the thumb strap, battery, and DS game inserted (10.4 ounces if you add in a GBA cart), just slightly less than the PSP�s 10.3 ounces. But two 3-inch screens does not beat one 4.3-inch one, at least not in this case.

The DS has a touchscreen on the lower LCD, which makes for more interactivity than the PSP, and the PSP would make for a great PDA if it had touchscreen functionality. While Nintendo is planning to add music and video to the DS for $50, the PSP has both features already, and video just won�t be the same on a 3-inch DS screen, especially when compared to the PSP�s 4.3-inch one. When we consider that the primary purpose of the PSP is to play games, the graphics of the PSP just blow away the Nintendo offering. The two powerful 32-bit MIPS R4000 CPUs overwhelms the Nintendo DS ARM7 and ARM9 processors. One direct comparison would be Ridge Racer DS vs Ridge Racers for the PSP, both created by Namco. The DS version has some chunky pixelated graphics (see above picture courtesy of GameSpot) and the lower touchscreen looks rather useless in terms of gameplay usage. The PSP�s Ridge Racers is Playstation 2-like, with smoother graphics and more detail in the cars. The one redeeming factor of Ridge Racer DS is that only one copy of the game is needed for up to 6-player wireless multiplayer action.

[Spliff]

I got to try out a PSP the other day. It's very cool and Sony is going to sell millions. The screen is gorgeous.

[goMac]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
A great hands on report:

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000510024287

"We love the Nintendo DS, but it is bulky and feels and looks like a child�s toy from the 1980s compared to the PSP, which is definitely one well-designed, slick little handheld."

I bet within 6 months Nintendo has a redesigned DS with perhaps a bigger screen. They did the same thing with the Game Boy Advance SP. By the time the PSP launches they could have already refreshed the DS.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by Spliff:
I got to try out a PSP the other day. It's very cool and Sony is going to sell millions. The screen is gorgeous.

Ya I saw someone on the subway with one before christmas. He was asian and obviously on his way home from the airport. At anyrate it really turned heads, the screen was much bigger in person and the unit smaller overall. Stunning, it looks very modern and it going to sell like hotcakes when it hits the west.

[mdc]

Originally posted by goMac:
I bet within 6 months Nintendo has a redesigned DS with perhaps a bigger screen. They did the same thing with the Game Boy Advance SP. By the time the PSP launches they could have already refreshed the DS.

the gameboy advance sp has the same size screen as the gameboy advance. it got a backlight and a new form factor.
the gameboy advance got a bigger screen from the previous gameboys.

if nintendo did bring out a bigger screened ds it would have black borders around existing games, or it would have to stretch them. like what happens if you put a (original) gameboy cart in an advance (triggers will stretch the game to advance widescreen)

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by goMac:
I bet within 6 months Nintendo has a redesigned DS with perhaps a bigger screen. They did the same thing with the Game Boy Advance SP. By the time the PSP launches they could have already refreshed the DS.

I don't think they can do a bigger screen as all the games are built for the current small one. I bet within 1.5 years the DS is in the dust for the next gameboy and they will say the DS games will play on it.

Again, it was just a distraction from the PSP and a prototype for the next gameboy.

[mdc]

there was something from nintendo saying that the ds is not a replacement for the gameboy, but rather a new handheld.

no idea when the next gameboy comes out, but for all we know it could be something that can challenge the psp. we shall wait and see.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by mdc:
there was something from nintendo saying that the ds is not a replacement for the gameboy, but rather a new handheld.

yes but where does that leave the DS when the next gameboy comes out? I bet it will be abandoned and the next gameboy will have touchscreen..

[goMac]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
I don't think they can do a bigger screen as all the games are built for the current small one. I bet within 1.5 years the DS is in the dust for the next gameboy and they will say the DS games will play on it.

Again, it was just a distraction from the PSP and a prototype for the next gameboy.

uhhh...

Thats like saying when you change the monitor size on the computer all your games won't work because the games are built for smaller monitors.

Games will continue to work fine. Depending on the graphics chip the DS uses they might even be able to get them rendering on higher resolutions. It already seems to bump up the resolution of Advance games.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by goMac:
uhhh...

Thats like saying when you change the monitor size on the computer all your games won't work because the games are built for smaller monitors.

No it is more like saying if you take a small quicktime movie and double it than it will look like crap.

Most of these games are not vector based so they do not resize to whatever resolution you change the screen to.

[Peter]

i really want one, wish i could find a way to purchase from a japan retailer. Ebay is too expensive.

[goMac]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
No it is more like saying if you take a small quicktime movie and double it than it will look like crap.

Most of these games are not vector based so they do not resize to whatever resolution you change the screen to.

If they're 3D they can probably change resolution quite easily. Look at an N64 emulator. N64 games were designed to run at around 640x480. Put them in an emulator, and pump up the resolution, and they look good. You can usually get them looking as good as Gamecube games. It's possible to pump up the resolution and the quality. And, seeing how the DS is loosely based on N64 design (without the nice silicon graphics hardware) its perfectly possible.

Whether or not a game is vector based doesn't matter either. Note how Game Boy Advance games can run at higher resolutions on the DS screen.

[King Bob On The Cob]

Originally posted by justinkim:
I don't think the Palm machines are quite up to the video playing part. I know some of the later models at least have the capability, but lack the PSP's big screen. I'm also happy about the PSP's support for MPEG-4 H.264 video. Screen size is also an issue with email and web browsing applications.

I've had several Palm PDAs, and they never quite cut the mustard. Speed, memory, applications, display, and battery life were never quite where I wanted them to be (though the T5 seems close). Don't get me wrong, the PSP certainly has deficiencies in these areas, too.

I'm not hailing the PSP as the second coming and I realize I probably have unrealistic expectations. Nevertheless, I think the PSP has good potential to be more than just a games machine.

You sound like what you wanted was one of the Clies from Sony actually rather than on from Palm.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by goMac:
If they're 3D they can probably change resolution quite easily. Look at an N64 emulator. N64 games were designed to run at around 640x480. Put them in an emulator, and pump up the resolution, and they look good. You can usually get them looking as good as Gamecube games. It's possible to pump up the resolution and the quality. And, seeing how the DS is loosely based on N64 design (without the nice silicon graphics hardware) its perfectly possible.

Most of the games are not really 3D they are still sprites. Either way it will not look as good not matter what.

Not that I care either way as I am more interested in the HUGE SCREEN on the PSP available soon than already worrying about upgrading the month old DS.

[goMac]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
Most of the games are not really 3D they are still sprites. Either way it will not look as good not matter what.

Not that I care either way as I am more interested in the HUGE SCREEN on the PSP available soon than already worrying about upgrading the month old DS.

It doesn't matter if the game uses sprites. The general display can be smoothed. Most emulators use this for making early 90's games run at a huge resolution.

Sony better make some sort of cover for that huge screen...

[lavar78]

The GBA SP is still a better handheld than both the DS and the PSP.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by lavar78:
The GBA SP is still a better handheld than both the DS and the PSP.

Really? How? You have used all 3?

[lavar78]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
Really? How? You have used all 3?

No, but I can tell by the specs and reviews that it's the most portable and has the best battery. Furthermore, if you can't play pre-GBA Gameboy games on the DS (I don't think you can), it has the biggest and best game library. Those are the three most important things I look for in a handheld -- the GBA SP wins all three.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by lavar78:
No, but I can tell by the specs and reviews that it's the most portable and has the best battery. Furthermore, if you can't play pre-GBA Gameboy games on the DS (I don't think you can), it has the biggest and best game library. Those are the three most important things I look for in a handheld -- the GBA SP wins all three.

Hey, quantity of quality fine. Not that it has all bad games but they are definitely not all that good.

yes it is the most portable and has the best battery life, but so do game systems from the 80's. Most people wouldn't agree with you on that one.

For me it is screen quality and games and that means the PSP is for me.