PSP missing the point

setanta5

Hi,

i know i would probably not get much support for saying this in Playstation forum, but am i alone in thinking the PSP has missed the point of handheld gaming?

For me a handheld should be something i can pick up and have a quick spell of playing and then put down again and not feel like i need to spend an hour at a time playing it. Tetris was the ultimate handheld game for just that reason.

I imported a PSP about Feb '05 from Japan but by the time they were out over here i was ready to sell it. At the time i was travelling quite a bit and thought it would be useful for train journeys and airport waiting lounges to be able to dip in and out of games. I got the PSP and loved it. It was by far a better designed, more powerful and more capable machine than anything that had been ever done before on handheld. The thing is it was too good. Games designers began porting PSP games that A) didn't work with the limited controls and b) aren't suited to the handheld environment.

If i wanted to play a 3D shooter/adventure game i would set up my PS2 or xbox and play at my tv. For me it got to the stage where the only games i played on the move were mercury and lumines. I felt like i was wasting the power of the machine. The other "fancy" games became a showpiece to wow my mates but they really didn't work very well with the controls etc and i just got frustrated playing them, wishing i had a second analogue stick...or that the first one wasn't like a castrated version of the PS2's. More often than not i used to watch movies off the Memory stick (getting them there was a painful process) or simply listening to music. In the end i decided the games were'nt worth it and got an Ipod and gave my PSP to my nephew.

Now though i'm thnking of getting a DS lite. For me that is what a handheld is all about. Games like the brain game are for me just what is needed. Its inovative and different machine which doesn't rely on ports of games that really need a tv and joypad. New Mario Bros for example. Simple old fashioned game designs that work well on a handheld....and nintendo should know having invented the dang things.

Anyway these are just thoughts....feel free to disagree. But note that i'm not saying the DS is better...I acknowledge that in nearly every way its outclassed in terms of design, power, screen and desirability. But having tried both i still want to go back to the DS. And i think its going to be a similar argument with the Wii vs PS3/360. I could really not be bothered about getting a 360 or Ps3....i mean i will buy one or the other, just waiting for ps3 to arrive before making my mind up. But i will definitly get a Wii.

projectmayhem

i somewhat agree. right now there simply isn't enough of those "pick up and play" games. but that's not really sony or the PSP's fault, it's down to the developers. they do seem to be catching on though, killzone:liberation will work with mini-tasks and stuff that'll take a few minutes each time, rather then forcing you to play through 30minutes of gameplay before the next save point (GTA, i'm looking at you).

LoGiE

I think maybe you've missed the point of the PSP:) . It IS trying to more then just a handheld game system. The fact you can watch video's, listen to mp3 and browse the web and a dozen other things make that obvious.
As regard to pick up and play personally I feel there's plenty of games you can just play for a few minutes.
A Pro Evo match takes ten minutes, Virtual tennis five, Champ manager on standby, Lummies can be as long or short as you want and now Loco Roco which is probably the best €50 I've spent in ages. I agree Sony rehashes and ports far to much stuff from the PS2 to the PSP but so does Nintendo and any other console manufacturer that's ever released a hand held. Franchises equal money simple as that. I think I'd choose to carry one PSP in one pocket rather then an IPod, DS and PDA in three pockets! My 2c

setanta5

Good point Logie, but the point is it tries to be a bit of all three things and kinda falls short on all counts. I don't doubt it is a great games machine...but slightly flawed controls let it down in that respect. For me, the best games on the thing went nowhere near exploiting its true power..the rest were fiddly to control and just took more getting used to i found.

While the screen was fantastic, it did suffer a little from poor refresh when watching games, but that was only minor issue, the lack of hard drive or really large Memory sticks, not to mention the cost (A 2gig stick costs nearly as much as a 2 gig Nano!, or the same as a DS lite!!!) and the messing involved in getting movies compressed etc. just became for me more of a hassle.

I found the web browser a novelty...but the updates they kept making were jsut an incentive to keep you updating your firmware to get the latest features really. And in reality it wasn't worth it.

And as an MP3 player it was neither as intuitive or practical as an Ipod. I would never take it with me jsut to listen to music, though i suppose it was a nice option to have included for the occasional track.

I'm not really trying to rubbish the machine as i do think, for the money it is a decent bit of kit. It does try to offer multi funtionality.

I jsut think for me, nintendo gets the whole handheld thing far better than sony. They understand there's a different mentality when you pick up your handheld than on a home console. You don't want to wait for UMD disc accesses when you're out and about. Some games have ridiculous load times. I know the DS has load times but in general solid state will always outperform optic media for load times.

Placebo

i agree 100%, i posted here about the exact same thing, no one would have time to play metal gear solid at the bus stop. It seems more like a high tech show off gadget. I got it at its release here, i dont ever play it.
i am also considering DS lite for the exact same reason.
How much would a psp go for now ? too bad i updated.

ALSO i dont know anyone that listens to mp3s on their psp.

projectmayhem

Placebo wrote:

ALSO i dont know anyone that listens to mp3s on their psp.

i did for a while and ruined the screen (got a new one thanks to the "broken pixels" scandal). it's also too heavy to be a proper mp3 player

Retr0gamer

The PSP is a fantastic piece of hardware. It's the games that aren't living up to it's potential. Most are poor PS2 ports or games that just aren't suited to the handheld. There are some real gems like Lumines and Loco Roco but they are few and far between compared to the superior selection that the DS has. As for the movie and music features, I feel they are handled badly and aren't worth the effort. Currently my PSP is gathering dust. I'm just hoping there are more games like Loco Roco in the pipeline.

It's nothing to blame sony about, everything from their software devs has been mostly excellent and well suited to the handheld format. They are being let down by their third parties.

krinpit

Hi projectmayhem,

What do you mean when you say the playing MP3s ruined your screen?

I'm contemplating picking up a PSP and I think I will be using it as an MP3 player quite regularly.

scrapland

have to agree with all of you.

I bought my PSP Dec 04 (Japan Launch) from Liksang. You dont even want to know what it cost at launch :eek:

Bar a small number of titles. LocoRoco - Lumines - Wipeout - Mercury

There has been nothing but crap PS2 ports that are totally unsuitable to the handheld system period.

I also have a DS Lite, whilst it suffers from problems that the psp does too, (when they port games like Fifa to it, just a waste of time) there are far more games suitable for handheld gaming available for it.

And whilst cartridges dont allow fancy stuff like FMV and audio, it has the benefit of instant load times. Somthing VERY important for handheld gaming. Turn it on, start gaming...

2-3 minutes or 8 minutes (in the case of smackdown) to start a game is just stupid and missing the point...

UMD movies were always destined to die.

I havent written the PSP off, but have bought very little for it...

DeVore

I use the my PSP for a number of things, mostly for plane travel which I do a lot of (or trains). I listen to Mp3's (I bought the 2gb card and have a 1gb Card already), watch films/tv (BSG being a case in point) and play the occasional game (the length of time doesnt really bother me in this case because I'm traveling for hours). I like watching films on it as I think it works very well for that, with the exception that the screen tends to reflect my t-shirt.... grrrr. For me it works great but I agree that there are too few innovative games for it. I liked LotR's Strategy because it was new and very pick-up-and-play.

DeV.

projectmayhem

krinpit wrote:

Hi projectmayhem,

What do you mean when you say the playing MP3s ruined your screen?

I'm contemplating picking up a PSP and I think I will be using it as an MP3 player quite regularly.

should have clarified, carrying the psp in your pocket as an mp3 player knocks it around, and it banged mine up a fair bit (screen got little scratches on it etc.)