The other game is Feel the Magix XY/XX. It is a fun game, but entirely too short.

2/17/2005 11:26:13 AM

Quote :

"BLOW on the unit "

2/17/2005 1:04:33 PM

Quote :

"You'll blow into the built-in microphone to blow out candles before they start a fire."

http://www.nintendo.com/gamemini?gameid=55de1815-9b38-4285-8db4-df439384927b&

2/17/2005 1:15:54 PM

well, perhaps i'm one of the few who will have one, but i'm going with PSP

seems like you're comparing a 64 to a ps2 and saying the 64 will win

too many games coming out for PSP that look good
that and i'm a RPG fan, and DS is going to have a slim line if any other than the old gba games
they're focusing too much on the touch pad and microphone

while i'm sure its fun to rub the screen and blow into a microphone i'd rather play something that makes me feel a little less retarded

2/22/2005 9:43:13 AM

The RPG aspect of the DS will be great though. Since you are an RPG fan, you probably know how absolutely frustrating it is having to access your inventory to change weapons/items or whatever. With the touch screen, you could just touch it instead of having to move over to it and hit a button. That would make things a hell of a lot easier.

2/22/2005 10:40:21 AM

using the controller is so hard

2/22/2005 10:43:32 AM

fps's on the ds will pwnt the ones psp. i really think psp overall is better though (i.e.better graphics, better games). i give the ps mad props, but in this dept. the ds has a wonderful advantage, which the touch screen functions the same as the c-stick on the standard console controller. also, plz realize that the ds is not to replace the gameboy, so in fact, when the new gameboy comes out next year that will tell the story. i like them both. also, i think the 'blow' mechanism of the ds is stupid as well, but it was prolly designed for kids.

and do not forget about this:

Quote :

"nintendo ds scores 1 in the 'redeeeming attribute' department. being able to play some multiplayer games with only one copy of the game is awesome. http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/ds/multiplayer.jsp#multi_pak"

[Edited on February 22, 2005 at 12:57 PM. Reason : n]

2/22/2005 12:54:06 PM

Quote :

"The RPG aspect of the DS will be great though. Since you are an RPG fan, you probably know how absolutely frustrating it is having to access your inventory to change weapons/items or whatever. With the touch screen, you could just touch it instead of having to move over to it and hit a button. That would make things a hell of a lot easier."

while that's going to be true having that second screen, they're all ports
i see ff3, but is that the ff3 from japan or the U.S? meaning is it the ff6 that we came to know and love? terra, sabin, shadow, etc? and is having a port going to be that good at this point?

i think i'd sacrifice the second screen for some games i've not played before

Tales of Eternia, YS VI - The Ark of Napishtim, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Far East of Eden

also i'm picking the PSP since sony is notorious for having hordes of RPGs with 2-3 on release date
looking at release dates on DS i see that there are some (2 pokemon, ff3, ffcc, harvest moon, marvelous project) due out on the DS, but all TBA 2005 dates according to ds.ign.com

Quote :

"fps's on the ds will pwnt the ones psp. i really think psp overall is better though (i.e.better graphics, better games). i give the ps mad props, but in this dept. the ds has a wonderful advantage, which the touch screen functions the same as the c-stick on the standard console controller. also, plz realize that the ds is not to replace the gameboy, so in fact, when the new gameboy comes out next year that will tell the story. i like them both. also, i think the 'blow' mechanism of the ds is stupid as well, but it was prolly designed for kids. and do not forget about this: [quote]nintendo ds scores 1 in the 'redeeeming attribute' department. being able to play some multiplayer games with only one copy of the game is awesome. http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/ds/multiplayer.jsp#multi_pak"

[/quote]

i agree on the redeeming factor with the only needing one copy of the game being a HUGE help
and it will help it sell more copies, but the wario ware everyone was waiting for, i got to play it and it doesnt seem to be one of those titles that completely stuns me, it has a lot of mini games, but they're just that, mini

2/22/2005 4:23:54 PM

not all multiplayer games will play with only one copy.

2/22/2005 5:04:01 PM

^if you read that quote more carefully you would see that i indicated that 'some' but not 'all' of them would offer that feature.

[Edited on February 22, 2005 at 5:30 PM. Reason : b]

2/22/2005 5:18:47 PM

it deserves its own post. I don't believe there will be many if any developers who won't require their customers to buy the game to play it.

2/22/2005 5:35:12 PM

ok, so I know someone here has seen in in person, is the psp as nice as the commercial makes it look?

3/24/2005 5:06:08 PM

saw a psp this morning when i stopped in at the beast (they opened an hour earlier because of the psp release)...it was pretty enough, didn't play it though

3/24/2005 5:15:33 PM

A guy at work bought one this morning before coming in. Did not get to see any games on it but movies look very nice on it. The screen is beautiful.

3/24/2005 5:54:33 PM

had a couple PSP's in my hands, out of the box today, and I gotta say, I was DAMN impressed by them in person. I wasn't too big on the idea of it, but it felt NIIIIICE!

3/24/2005 6:12:28 PM

2 guys came into the office this morning with them. Doesn't come with any games although it cost $250+. Only come with a spiderman movie. Graphics were bad ass and widescreen beats DS hands down. I'm no gamer but it looked pretty sweet.

3/24/2005 8:53:39 PM

The PSP is a nice system, and has a great platform, but for gameplay, the DS is going to be better, I would guess. The touch screen would make RPGs a lot cooler (instead of having to click through menus, you could just tap the attacks on the other screen), and if you have ever played Metroid using the stylus on the DS, there is no question FPSes will be better. Plus, the DS has longer battery life, smaller game cartridges (which means you can carry more games with you), instant arbitrary sleep/wake up (does the PSP do this too?), and I think the unit itself is a bit smaller.

I can't really see people seriously using something as monstrous as the PSP to watch movies on, on the go, and with a 3hr battery life, that's barely enough for playing in between classes for a day. Not to mention the UMD cartridges are huge.

3/24/2005 9:40:59 PM

OK, so my best friend is the manager of Gamestop over in Chapel Hill. He's got both a DS (which he got for free at his last manager's conference) and a PSP as of today. In my personal opinion, there is absolutely no comparison - the PSP is vastly superior. He picked up 4 games for it, and it also came with the Spider Man 2 UMD. Visually it is, in a nutshell, mind boggling. I was tremendously impressed with how crisp the movie looked on the screen. Wipeout Pure is blisteringly fast, and it also looks unlike anything I've ever seen on a handheld before. I had been slightly hesitant to want to drop the cash on a PSP until now. Once I get my tax refund, it's a done deal.

Don't get me wrong, I've owned nearly every Nintendo system since the NES. I have been extremely loyal from the get-go. However, I just do not think that the DS is even remotely an adversary for the PSP. They are two extremely different systems, and I personally find the PSP much more appealing in that it can play games, movies, music, and various other things loaded from a PC. The DS is a novel idea... but not novel enough to really draw me to it.

3/24/2005 11:30:11 PM

The whole PSP thing has me in a pondering mode. It almost seems like a portable console that you would not want to take anywhere.

3/24/2005 11:30:16 PM

Graphics do not a good game make. With the PSP, the types of games are going to be limited to the same old, same old that the gaming industry has been cranking out for the past few years. With the DS, the second screen+touch capability and voice recognition HW open up the possibilities for game designers. It's up to the programmers to make good use, but at least they have the options there.

With the PSP, you are only at best going to get rehashes of old game styles.

3/24/2005 11:48:56 PM

^^^Pretty much everything Axelay said.

3/25/2005 12:18:27 AM

when you think about it, it is a decent price for what it does.

3/25/2005 12:37:38 AM

thing is, I dont have 250+ to drop on a handheld that has a high chance of me or someone else breaking or stealing it...

3/25/2005 3:59:10 AM

I don't have the money either, but I will soon.
https://www.treasurer.state.nc.us/dstmcmsweb/unclaimedproperty/search.aspx

3/25/2005 4:03:27 AM

I think that if Sony dropped the price on it by even $50 (bring it below 200) they would get a whole lot more sales. I think that people aren't going to get it because since it does cost so much for a handheld, people would be scared to take it too many places with them (especially since it is huge for a handheld) without fear of it getting stolen/broken. The screen is big but that just means it is easier to break. Maybe they will come out with some kind of cover you can put over it or something, but that would just make it bigger.

Anyone that has experience with it, how is the battery life? I heard it is only like three hours, which is another thing that might impend sales.

3/25/2005 7:45:37 AM

Picked up one of these yesterday and I have to say it is amazing. Just jaw-droppingly good. The screen on this puppy is outstanding.

The thing that really did it for me was the ability to play movies on it. And I am not talking about the UMD movies (which do look great) but the fact that I can convert my own movies to play on it. Grabbed PSPVideo9 and was able to convert a divx movie to the psp format in no time and load it to a memstick. plays great and looks awesome.

As for the 3 hour battery life, I guess that is subjective as I was able to get around 6 out of mine last night.

3/25/2005 7:58:42 AM

my friend picked up a PSP yesterday...

and now i want one...

granted, i'm not a big portable fan, so my knowledge about what makes them good is limited, but just comparing his PSP to the DS i played at EB Games i don't think there's any reason i would bother with the DS...

3/25/2005 8:21:32 AM

^ That's sort of my point. I am not a hardcorp gamer so the fact that the stylus works great with FPS games is irrelevant to me. I am the guy that just wants to play Tiger Woods or something to kill some time on a plane or if I am just relaxing. I think PSP will appeal to that market.

3/25/2005 9:04:31 AM

The very first time I saw the DS I had one thought - "Sure, that'd be great... if I had three hands." I do not care for the DS mainly because there doesn't seem to me to be any good way to hold it, use the stylus, and manipulate all of the buttons at the same time. It's just rather awkward.

3/25/2005 10:44:08 AM

ahh I want a PSP so bad, but I just don't think I'll have the TIME to really enjoy it

3/25/2005 2:10:54 PM

I gotta say that Lumines game has me intrigued, but I'll wait for a price drop before I get a PSP. I'm not too concerned about it breaking though, extended warranties exist for a reason.

3/25/2005 3:24:06 PM

OK, thus far, the only negative comments I can come up with regarding the PSP:

- You can get fingerprints on it way too easily because of the glossy surfaces.
- On the Spider Man 2 UMD, there's no way to jump directly to a specific scene. Dunno why this is or if other UMD movies will work differently. You can still skip scenes using the triggers.

Yeah, that's about it. This thing just plain rocks.

3/25/2005 9:06:06 PM

battery life

screen protection

3/25/2005 9:58:04 PM

Well, I can't say anything about battery life yet. So far, it's been running for at least 5 hours now with no sign of slowing down. And screen protection is easily solved, since there's a lovely Pelican flip-down cover you can get for it.

http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=801958

I'd call this a must-have accessory. Not only is it functional, it also looks like it was built there in the first place. (Which, admittedly, it should have been.)

3/25/2005 10:15:14 PM

PSPs appear to be doing pretty well, at work they are all sold out and people are pre-ordering for the next shipment next month.

The major complaint seems to be dead pixels. A lot of people have 1-2, and sony will only replace your model if you have 5+. If you have less, you are screwed.

3/25/2005 10:23:14 PM

I would like to reiterate my question/comment. The PSP seems to be more of an at-home sort of portable console. A lot of people I've talked to don't want to take it places because of its cost, size (minor issue), and low battery life.

So my question: why would you want an expensive portable system that you mostly use at home/at a friends house?

3/25/2005 10:56:51 PM

^^what the hell?

why would it be just for home? Having a girlfriend means spending a few hours shopping from time to time and having one of these would make it much more bearable.

[Edited on March 25, 2005 at 11:02 PM. Reason : .]

3/25/2005 10:56:56 PM

PSP wins

3/25/2005 11:12:27 PM

Quote :

"There's a lot of cursing coming from PSP owners, and it's not because they just struck out in MLB 2006. In a rush to get the PSP to the States, Sony seemed to forget something. Like how important pixels are. The early bird does get the worm, but sometimes the worm comes with dead pixels. Makes waiting until April for the next batch of PSPs seem not so bad now..."

3/26/2005 1:53:49 PM

My PSP has a perfect screen. Everything is great, and the battery life is nowhere as bad as people make it out to be. Kudos Sony.

3/26/2005 10:30:57 PM

a few things are detering me from getting a psp, though i could possibly change my mind.

first of all, as someone already stated, this thing is just too elegant to just carry around and not worry about something happening to it. if i owned one, i most likely would not carry it around with me. Secondly, most psp games are basically games that one would play on a console. and, the point i want to make saying that is you would have to play most psp games for 1+ hours to get a good amount of satisfaction. this could come in direct confict with how much time is there 'on-the-go' for this portable device to be played. i know i usually only play the gba and ds for 30-45 mins at the time, since the most games for them are better designed to be played 'on-the-go' vs psp games. moreover, by the time most people would have a few hours to spend playing a video game they probably would much rather be sitting comfortably on a couch with a controller vs have a psp held up to their faces.

also, the added bonuses -- music, umd playback, picture storage, etc. -- really will probably not appeal to most true gamers. in other words, if i had a psp i would much rather wear it out playing games that letting my need to take advantage of the added bonuses comsume any of its life. if they stripped the psp of these added bonuses, and made a model that just played games, there probably would be a surge in its sales. but, overall this device will appeal to a broad crowd.

another issue i have with it is the memory card data storage system. with all of this hard drive technology out today, there should have been at least 4gb of storage on the psp. i understand that this is a good way to watch movies on the psp (so one will not have to go out and buy movies on the umd's that are proprietary to sony), and download pix onto it as well, but a usb port would have solved this problem. there is really nothing else that i can say about its memory storage.

ok, i did a little math (based on the retail price of the psp and its accessories, and not a special bundle of aome sort), and please correct me if i am wrong here: $250/psp + $50/game = $300 = the price to own the psp and one game. perhaps a decent sized memory card would be nice, so add another (at least) $50. $300 - $350 dollars is a 'pretty penny'.

however, other than those, small, though not too diminishing to its overall value, negatives the psp is an awesome device. truthfully, i think nintendo (be it the ds or the new generation gameboy, or perhaps both) will out the psp since there are a lot of 'nintendophiles' out there.

4/5 good job sony!



i just thought i would add this:

Quote :

" The PSP supports only MP3 and Sony's own ATRAC formats, so the only purchased music you can play is songs from Sony's Connect music service. Even then, purchased music must be stored on a special type of Memory Stick -- another Sony design -- that includes Sony's MagicGate copy protection. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_14/b3927029_mz006.htm "

[Edited on March 27, 2005 at 5:34 PM. Reason : x]

3/27/2005 5:22:00 PM

http://www.fumanchuu.com/pspdev/


For those that might not have seen it on /. PSP's looking better all the time. The screen technology has finally caught up with the 15-year-old GameGear.

Though I'm not really in the market for something like this.

3/27/2005 5:40:22 PM

psp will be mine in like two weeks and DS will be mine sometime in the near future....only because you know they will have some kick ass zelda game for it

3/27/2005 6:20:46 PM

Quote :

"- On the Spider Man 2 UMD, there's no way to jump directly to a specific scene. Dunno why this is or if other UMD movies will work differently. You can still skip scenes using the triggers."

That sucks considering its a portable device and most people probably wouldn't watch an entire movie in one sitting.

A buddy of mine picked it up and after playing it, I realized its a "grown up's" toy. I think as a result, the DS may do better in sales. Especially this Christmas.

3/27/2005 6:22:26 PM

PSP. That's what I would take. I mean, you can put audio, pics, and videos from your CPU onto the PSP. I'm going to wait a little while before I get my PSP.

3/27/2005 6:53:39 PM

well, as far as extensibility, the psp can play video and can be hacked to display web sites, among god knows what else

but, it does have that whole dead pixel problem

3/27/2005 7:00:51 PM

i think it is cool, but i would never use it

3/27/2005 8:25:07 PM

Quote :

"it does have that whole dead pixel problem"

yeah, I was expecting the first reports of mass malfunction in a month or two, but it looks like sony decided to make things simple and have them fucked right out of the box.

3/27/2005 8:38:24 PM

Quote :

"Sony ordered to pay $90 million Monday, March 28, 2005 Posted: 0246 GMT (1046 HKT) Sony has been ordered by a court to halt game machine sales in the U.S. TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Sony Corp.'s game unit said on Monday it was ordered by a U.S. court to pay about $90 million in damages and to halt game machine sales in the United States in a patent infringement case against Immersion Corp. Sony Computer Entertainment (SEC) said it disagreed with the decision by a federal district court in California and would appeal to a higher court. SCE said it will continue U.S. sales as the suspension order, which covers PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles, two game controllers and 47 software titles, will not go into effect before the appeal and because Sony will be paying compulsory licence fees to Immersion, an SCE spokeswoman said. Immersion, a California-based developer of tactile feedback technology, claimed Sony Computer Entertainment infringed on its technologies that make a game controller vibrate in sync with actions in games, the Japanese game maker said. The court's decision confirmed a ruling by a California jury last year that ordered Sony to pay $82 million in the case. The amount was raised to slightly over $90 million due to interest. Shares in Sony were down 0.45 percent at 4,380 yen near midday Monday, underperforming the the Tokyo stock market's electric machinery index, which rose 0.46 percent. In another intellectual property-related lawsuit between Japanese and U.S. technology companies, Toshiba Corp. was ordered by a California jury last week to pay a total of $465 million in punitive and other damages to Lexar Media Inc. for stealing trade secrets. Toshiba, the world's seventh-largest chip maker, suggested it would appeal the decision. http://edition.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/03/27/japan.sonysuit.reut/"

3/27/2005 11:57:35 PM

some things the psp needs...

1. No alarm clock.
The PSP has a clock. It has an MP3 player. Why shouldn't you be able to set an alarm and have the thing automatically power on and wake you up in the morning to a favorite tune, particularly when you're on the road?

Odds of implementation: 2 to 1

2. UMD volume discrimination
For some reason, you can boost the volume with movies and games played on the PSP's UMD (Universal Media Disc) drive, but you can't boost the volume when you're playing back MP3s or your own video stored on a Memory Stick Duo card. Maybe I'm going deaf, but I feel the volume could go a little higher when I'm in noisier environments.

Odds of implementation: 5 to 1

3. No background screen customization
Currently, there's no way to customize the background screen on your PSP; it simply changes its color at the start of every new month (March was lime green; April is pink). Ideally, you'd have the option of assigning a photo stored on a memory card as a background image--or downloading new backgrounds from Sony or other sites.

Odds of implementation: 4 to 1

4. No e-book reader or audiobook support
The PSP could also be an educational tool ("I swear, Mom, I was reading a book, not playing a game"). One industrious PSP owner used a print application to convert a 432-page e-book into 432 separate JPEG images (150MB). Then he used the PSP's slide-show feature to read it. Nice hack, but there must be an easier way. Whether it's adding support for Adobe Reader (text downloads) or Audible's digital audiobooks, this seems like a no-brainer.

Odds of implementation: 10 to 1 by Sony; even odds by third-party developer

5. No video out
Even the cheapest digital cameras have a simple video-out connection for TV hookups. The PSP doesn't. We're hoping someone will make a cable and a driver for the USB port. Don't count on Sony to do it, though.

Odds of implementation: 50 to 1 by Sony; 10 to 1 by third-party developer

TalkBack
What little things irk you about the PSP? Any suggestions for improvements?
Post your comment here
6. Rudimentary image-viewing application
Sony's CLIE handhelds came with three photo apps: CLIE Album, PhotoStand, and Photo Editor. Right now, the PSP's image-viewing capabilities are adequate but very limited. Hopefully, Sony will dust off some of those CLIE apps and rev up the current slide-show app, adding support, for instance, to play music while a slide show is running.

Odds of implementation: 6 to 1 by Sony; 1 to 2 by third-party developer

7. Completely PIM-less
With your iPod, you can upload contact and calendar info. You should be able to do the same with the PSP. Third-party developers are already coming up with solutions, but we doubt this feature will become available through an official firmware upgrade.

Odds: 20 to 1 by Sony; even odds by third-party developer

8. No Web browser
The PSP has built-in Wi-Fi but, at launch, no Web browser. Sony's all but announced it will add a browser, so I won't knock the company too much for the omission. Still, I'm disappointed it wasn't there. Of course, if you're ambitious, you can play around with the hidden browser in Wipeout Pure. And while we're on the subject of wireless connectivity, it wouldn't hurt for Sony to increase compatibility by adding support for WPA-encrypted networks.

Odds of implementation: 1 to 3

9. No file management software
The iPod is renowned for its automatic syncing capabilities with iTunes. But the PSP's ID3 support for MP3 files is cursory at best, so if you have more than a couple dozen songs on your memory card or multiple songs by a single artist, it's annoying to scroll through every file before finding the song you're looking for. If Sony is serious about the public perceiving the PSP as more than just a gaming machine, it needs to step up to the plate and deliver similar software that makes converting and syncing video, audio, and image files to the PSP much easier than it is today. Sony's own tutorial for transferring video to the PSP only drives home what a Sisyphean ordeal the process currently is. We expect third-party apps to help fill the void (see "Video complications" below), but we're not sure why Sony didn't have something at launch, considering its history with its CLIE handhelds.

Odds of implementation: 3 to 1

10. Video complications
Much has been made of how unfriendly Sony made the PSP for playback of personal video content that isn't on a UMD disc. Video files, even MPEG-4 files (which the system supports), must be converted into a special PSP-compatible version with software that isn't included, and you must put them in a weirdly labeled folder on your PSP. Also, high-capacity Memory Stick Pro Duo cards are costly, with a 1GB version required to store a full movie at decent video quality. Sony allegedly will offer an English version of the Japanese-only Image Converter 2.0 for $10 at some point soon. Until then, programs such as PSP Video 9.0 will competently fill the void. Of course, it wouldn't hurt if prices for "official" PSP UMD movies such as Hellboy and XXX came down to $7 or $8 from their currently discounted price of $14 at Amazon.

Odds of implementation: 2 to 1

4/20/2005 6:55:10 PM