So, I had a go on a PSP today...

[Tornado]

...and my god it was hot. It's the perfect size, and the buttons all just feel....right, except the rather weird looking analouge stick. The quality of movies it plays is outstanding, and the graphics blew me away. I only got a chance to play Ridge Racer, but what I saw impressed me. Might have to get me one when it gets released.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Theres no really good games out yet unless you're a Ridge Racer freak (bar Lumines but no-one will ever buy that genius) so I'm holding off judgement until theres a game out I can get stuck into.

But there is one MAJOR reason to try it out:

http://www.xbchelp.com/network/psp.php

Online PSP! I just hope they do DS tunneling too for online play

[AareDub]

I've got mine on reserve at work now. I think it's gonna be pretty awesome.

[DaveWadding]

I think I'll stick to my SP...seeing as I hardly ever play with that anyways.

[AareDub]

Honestly when I have time to play games it's usually when I'm at home. It defeats the point of a portable game system. I kinda see the PSP as an MP3 player that can play some pretty good games on occasion.

[Jonster]

I want Lumines.
It's actually the game that might convince me to buy one upon launch.
However the problems I've heard about (Square button being less responsive and some UMD discs falling out when it's held a certain way) might change my mind.

We'll see.

[TheNamelessOne]

Honestly when I have time to play games it's usually when I'm at home. It defeats the point of a portable game system. I kinda see the PSP as an MP3 player that can play some pretty good games on occasion.
Well, considering it has an extremely short battery life span, the only way you can play games on it for a long time is if you keep it at home.

[Kane Knight]

Well, considering it has an extremely short battery life span, the only way you can play games on it for a long time is if you keep it at home.
Or anyplace you can jack it in, but yeah.

[DS]

It just uses more power because it has more power then the rest of the portable systems. 3-8 to 6-10 with the DS. That's still 3 hours of beautiful picture with the most demanding games. Developers know this too so its not like they are going to make games that use up so much. Lumies would probably get you around 6-8 hours.

The problem with the square button is they had to put the sensor to the right of it due to the screen size so the trigger underneath has a hard time sometimes reaching it. The disc problem is for those who like to twist their systems while playing. If you move one hand toward you and one away at a certain angle sometimes the disc will pop out.

[Xero]

It just uses more power because it has more power then the rest of the portable systems.
Plus the fact that it uses discs, which need to move to be able to be read. That saps up a lot of battery power.

I doubt I'll get a PSP, at launch, anyway. Nothing really sparks my interest. I may pick it up way down the line, but right now I'll stick with my DS.

[Jonster]

It's something each game developer is looking at at a game by game basis, as everything you do, and the game does uses power, and they can plan their games around that.

I remember reading something with one of the guys who made Ridge Racer for the PSP and was saying to help conserve battery power they clocked the processor down.
It is something that's being addressed, but it does depend on the game and I suppose how lazy the developers are feeling :-\

[AareDub]

Plus the fact that it uses discs, which need to move to be able to be read. That saps up a lot of battery power.

I doubt I'll get a PSP, at launch, anyway. Nothing really sparks my interest. I may pick it up way down the line, but right now I'll stick with my DS.

The PSP is actually going to copy the game data and store it locally while it's being played. The disc will not be constantly spinning.

[Xero]

The PSP is actually going to copy the game data and store it locally while it's being played. The disc will not be constantly spinning.
Oh, I didn't know that.

[AareDub]

Yea it will also allow you to play 2 player games wirelessly with only one copy of the game. It just sends that game data it copied over to the other system.

I think the DS can do this as well, but I'm not 100% sure.

[Jonster]

DS can do it with 8 players that's so far been demonstrated.

[Kane Knight]

DS can do it with 8 players that's so far been demonstrated. It can do it with the full 16, though there's not a game out that illustrates this.

[Kane Knight]

It just uses more power because it has more power then the rest of the portable systems. 3-8 to 6-10 with the DS. That's still 3 hours of beautiful picture with the most demanding games. Developers know this too so its not like they are going to make games that use up so much. Lumies would probably get you around 6-8 hours.
Well, duh, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a power draining whore.

[Kane Knight]

The PSP is actually going to copy the game data and store it locally while it's being played. The disc will not be constantly spinning.
NO, but every time it starts up spinning, it will take up more juice.

There's only so much they can buffer on the rather limited memory of the PSP, so the disc will still spin often. IT won't be like MP3 CD players, where it can spin for 1/15th of the time and buffer that far in advance. Videocompression is nowhere near good enough for that.

[Tornado]

The one my collegue has at work was run for a good 4 hours and showed no sign of loosing any power.
The one thing that worries me is the disc tray, it looks a bit flimsy.

[Jonster]

It can do it with the full 16, though there's not a game out that illustrates this.
That's why I said that has been demonstrated, cause Picochat can handle 16 people in a room at once, but that's pre-installed on everyone's DS.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I want Lumines.
It's actually the game that might convince me to buy one upon launch.
However the problems I've heard about (Square button being less responsive and some UMD discs falling out when it's held a certain way) might change my mind.

We'll see.

I'll see if I can find that video where if you hold it that way and hit open, it launches the disc about 20 meters

[Kane Knight]

That's why I said that has been demonstrated, cause Picochat can handle 16 people in a room at once, but that's pre-installed on everyone's DS.
I'm pointing out that the dowloading of software will work for the full 16 though. IT's not that radical a concept here, Jonster.

[Kane Knight]

The other problem is that the battery life most people are reporting is based on fresh batteries, brand new or relatively so. With LION batteries, there's a tendency for battery power to get shorter over time. Now when you only get about 2 hours of WIFI time, and you factor in wear and tear (The industry standard calculations are always for 80%), it's suddenly close to 90 minutes.

That's not to say the same won't be an issue with the DS, but with a longer battery life, you have less need for charging and a smaller drop in noticable power loss. When all you're getting is a couple hours, though, it's noticable.

On the other hand, WIFI takes up more battery power than normal.

By the bye, there are apparently some games where the disc spins fulltime. I suspected as much. Battery life for any such game is @ 3 hours.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

The other problem is that the battery life most people are reporting is based on fresh batteries, brand new or relatively so. With LION batteries, there's a tendency for battery power to get shorter over time. Now when you only get about 2 hours of WIFI time, and you factor in wear and tear (The industry standard calculations are always for 80%), it's suddenly close to 90 minutes.

That's not to say the same won't be an issue with the DS, but with a longer battery life, you have less need for charging and a smaller drop in noticable power loss. When all you're getting is a couple hours, though, it's noticable.

On the other hand, WIFI takes up more battery power than normal.

By the bye, there are apparently some games where the disc spins fulltime. I suspected as much. Battery life for any such game is @ 3 hours.


IGN left Ridge Racers on replay mode (Minimal disc spinning and no wi-fi) and it lasted 3 and 1/4 hours

[Disturbed316]

I'm gonna stick with the DS. I wouldn't want to watch movies on a little screen like that, and I feel it just takes up pointless space. Whats the point in making the games region free, but the films not? I dont quite understand it.

Either way, I want my portable to give me quality gameplay, and I think that will be where the DS wins it.

[Kane Knight]

IGN left Ridge Racers on replay mode (Minimal disc spinning and no wi-fi) and it lasted 3 and 1/4 hours
So even with minimal disc spinning, it only lasted 3.25 hours? :eek: