European PSP release date

yawnstretch

Well - I think everyone is blowing the battery thing way out of proportion but whatever.

Regarding the ipod - I've heard of loads of issues with its battery component dying a year after purchase etc but an ipod isnt a psp.

All I know is that if I went into Game with a PSP or a DS I know which would get more of a reaction and I know which has impressed me more from what I've researched for the past year and a half.

Nintendo had a good idea but it was poorly implemented - Im not sure how it might have been better designed but the fact remains that it leaves a lot to be desired. I think my disappointment with the DS style coupled with sonys fantastic creation makes the decision an easy one.

Had there not been a PSP I still wouldnt buy a DS. I love metroid but I dont feel like carrying "My First Computer" around the place with me.

evad_lhorg

if you walked into GAME you think the psp would get more of a reaction? well you should've seen the reaction when one of the grafton st lads came over to dawson st with his ds. we crowded around like school children!

ill agree the psp looks super slick and i think the ds shouldve been released black but thats nothin to go on. they just need to get more 'real' games on the ds and not just mini games showing what the stylus can do but i fear that's all it will be good for apart from fps.

projectmayhem

the psp battery is clearly a bone of contention but apparently it's been resolved, with an extra hour being sucked out, but they're releasing a cheap peripheral to plug in somewhere to give it another few hours worth of gaming

steviec

tck wrote:

Well the game gear was a good piece of kit, reasonably priced and some good games, it went thru 6 batteries in a few hours.. the gameboy (then monochrome) still kicked it's ass because of the games and battery life.

The psp is a nice system, no ones denying the gfx, but i don't think the gfx are enough of a selling point, people will care about getting 10/12 hours from their DS and only 4 hrs (and maybe even less as time goes on) for a game or about 1.5-2 hrs for a movie from their psp.

It's about portability, playing it on trains/cars/buses/holidays etc.. having to go re-charge it and that takes hours will piss most people off something awful.

The thing about the Gamegear was that you had to keep buying normal AA batteries for it, or god awful AA rechargeable batteries that you had to buy a separate charger for and took longer to charge than they did to waste.

That's not an issue anymore. 4 hours battery life in full use seems grand to me. I honestly can't think of an example when I'd ever be sitting down in one place with no access to anything I can charge from for more than four hours playing a game. Maybe if we lived in a bigger country you'd need it for train journeys but not in Ireland.

koneko

I loved my Game Gear. I really did. But after a while, I got sick of the battery life. I used it on the power outlet most of the time, I might aswell have been playing MegaDrive games (within reach!) at the time instead. So I sold it. I never once missed it.

Some PSP videos and things here:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-17-74-ox.html

I was stuck on flights to the US recently. 8 hours. Imagine if I had a PSP, play it for 2 hours, then what? Boredom. Instead I listened to music (my MP3 player has 24 hour battery life, I charged it once throughout the whole trip) and read books.

The PSP is going to be have to be pretty frelling good to convince me to buy one, and nothing I've seen so far has convinced me.

Retr0gamer

the psp has absolute pants games so far on the line up except the final fantasy VII game

I don't hold too much hope for that. Hironobu Sakaguchi has left and Square enixs output has been less than stellar ever since.

steviec

koneko wrote:

I loved my Game Gear. I really did. But after a while, I got sick of the battery life. I used it on the power outlet most of the time, I might aswell have been playing MegaDrive games (within reach!) at the time instead. So I sold it. I never once missed it.

Some PSP videos and things here:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-17-74-ox.html

I was stuck on flights to the US recently. 8 hours. Imagine if I had a PSP, play it for 2 hours, then what? Boredom. Instead I listened to music (my MP3 player has 24 hour battery life, I charged it once throughout the whole trip) and read books.

The PSP is going to be have to be pretty frelling good to convince me to buy one, and nothing I've seen so far has convinced me.

Aren't gameboys and the like banned on aeroplanes anyway? I seem to remember my brother not being allowed to use his on a trip to Spain a while ago.
I could easily be wrong though, even if I am you'd want to be a pretty frequent flyer if that's the only time you can think of when battery life would be an issue.

Rew

steviec wrote:

Aren't gameboys and the like banned on aeroplanes anyway? I seem to remember my brother not being allowed to use his on a trip to Spain a while ago.
I could easily be wrong though, even if I am you'd want to be a pretty frequent flyer if that's the only time you can think of when battery life would be an issue.

That policy is changing slowly but surly. There are a few threads here about it.

Retr0gamer

Most airlines allow them but not during take off or landing. A few ignorant such as aerlingus won't allow them at all despite allowing laptops and CD players.

steviec

Yea it doesn't really make any sense not allowing them. I haven't been on a plane in a good few years so wasn't aware they'd changed.

tck

I think another reason thats making developers walk away from it especially in japan is the cost of producing games.

The resources / people / and kit is very expenisve, approaching a Ps2 budget.
Some companies can't compete, they like the smaller production costs of the DS.

we'll just have to wait and see.

koneko

steviec wrote:

Aren't gameboys and the like banned on aeroplanes anyway? I seem to remember my brother not being allowed to use his on a trip to Spain a while ago.

They're not banned, at all.

I could easily be wrong though, even if I am you'd want to be a pretty frequent flyer if that's the only time you can think of when battery life would be an issue.

So you don't see any disadvantages to a portable unit having short battery life? Why have a portable unit at all then instead of just playing Xbox/Gamecube/PS2 games?

It should be the type of thing that works just as well as my mobile and MP3 player do. I use it, put it in my bag, use it again later, put it in my bag, use it when I'm waiting again for something else. With the PSP it sounds more like I use it a while, then again later, and Oopsy I'm out of battery.

Aer Lingus have no problem with them either, for the record. Flown with them several times recently and everything was allowed during the flight, but nothing during take-off and landing.

Cows With Guns

March 25th 2005, the day before my birthday. Parents, don't make me ask!

steviec

koneko wrote:

It should be the type of thing that works just as well as my mobile and MP3 player do. I use it, put it in my bag, use it again later, put it in my bag, use it when I'm waiting again for something else. With the PSP it sounds more like I use it a while, then again later, and Oopsy I'm out of battery.

A couple of hours of continuous use would kill your phone too, I play Ancient Empires(game a bit like advance wars) on mine and it doesn't last too long. That's never been a problem though, I've never ended up with a dead phone and not been able to charge it. If I'm at home there's a socket, if I'm in work there's a socket, if I'm in college there's a socket, if I'm anywhere else chances are I'm doing something more important than staring at a game for four hours or more. As I said plane journeys and train journeys are the only exception, but I don't know how many people, particularly in a country the size of Ireland, are frequently sitting on a train for that length of time.

koneko

You're not getting the point here, but there's no point in me repeating the same thing over and over again.

I don't want to have to charge a portable unit every 2 hours. I don't carry a charger around for everything I own.

yawnstretch

You're not getting his point either koneko.

Also its 4-5 hours video viewing, 4-6hours gaming.

Do you really think that you're going to be playing LAN with external speakers on full every time you play? - as that's all that will bring it under 4 hours.

koneko

The indications I've seen on the web are a lot less than 4-6 hours of gaming. We'll have to see what it's really like once it starts shipping and reviews end up on the web. It's hard to say in advance whether the unit is worth buying or not, I didn't end up getting a GBA until the SP was out for ages (and there were plenty of games available).

Oh and I get his point, I just don't agree with it.

Retr0gamer

Aer Lingus have no problem with them either, for the record. Flown with them several times recently and everything was allowed during the flight, but nothing during take-off and landing

Wasn't allowed use mine when going to New York. However that was a year ago.

koneko

Must have been a recent change so (last few months). They pretty much said they allow everything (including discmans which were banned on a lot of airlines), except at take-off and landing. Change for the better anyway

tck

yawnstretch wrote:

You're not getting his point either koneko.

Also its 4-5 hours video viewing, 4-6hours gaming.

Do you really think that you're going to be playing LAN with external speakers on full every time you play? - as that's all that will bring it under 4 hours.

4-5 by sony's standards

u WONT GET 4-5 hours for gaming out of the psp

yawnstretch

We'll see!

koneko

Sure Sony never lie, do they? :rolleyes:

I await the reviews, and real testing.

tck

yawnstretch wrote:

We'll see!

are you mad?

think of it, they are saying appox 90mins-120 mins for movie playback if even

your saying "Also its 4-5 hours video viewing" ??

i doubt you'll even get that for gaming!

yawnstretch

You're the one with the unsupported figures. Im the one with official information - PSP developers are well quoted as saying that it will at minimum be able to show an entire full length movie with battery life to spare.

Personally I wont be watching entire films on the bus but Im blown away by what theyve done with the PSP and if you're not impressed then its not me who's mad its you.

tck

i'm hiring a hitman to assassinate yawnstretch : donations are welcome.

yawnstretch

Have I 'tck'd you off?

Here's some more official interviews for you anyway:

(from TechJapan)

Q: For example, the PSP will also be able to deal with video content - will you be able to watch at least one movie?

Kawanishi: Of course, that's the mimimum requirement. The battery will last quite a bit longer than that.

http://www.techjapan.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=611

tck

head of Sony's Network System Development Section,

I thought this was cleared up, no matter what company you are with, it's the independent review that counts.

yawnstretch

All I can say is that if you dont want one of these then portable gaming must mean little to you; everything else out at the moment pales in comparison.

Wait till you see someone playing Ridge Racers or Gran Turismo on a PSP, I guarantee you'll wish you had one.

The PSP is not a Gamegear and you wont be stuck to the mains like you were on electronic devices back in 1989!!! (which by the way is when the Gamegear came out) - stop with the scaremongering and appreciate Sonys latest for the genius it is.

Hugh Hefner

yawnstretch wrote:

All I can say is that if you dont want one of these then portable gaming must mean little to you; everything else out at the moment pales in comparison.

Wait till you see someone playing Ridge Racers or Gran Turismo on a PSP, I guarantee you'll wish you had one.

How can you say that when most of the PSP's functions don't have a thing to do with gaming (e.g. video play and music storage)? With your examples I assume you're commenting mainly on the graphics (since the DS has Ridge Racer), which, I think we can all agree, is NOT THE POINT OF GAMES. It's not like I have a problem with good graphics, but it's your entire arguement for the PSP.

P.S The DS has fine graphics and good games, plus I've never been a big racer fan (except for Mario Kart ).

yawnstretch

Of course graphics arent the only issue with games but answer me this: If you had the choice between Ridge Racer with utterly crap graphics and Ridge Racer on a mega sweet screen with Ps2 graphics which would you choose?

Its a simple question. Also - which would you prefer to drive with an analog stick or a stylus?