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Portables (Games)

PSP Site Launches, Launch Titles Confirmed 193

Posted by Zonk from the i-said-lunch-not-launch dept.
The Official PSP Website has launched with details on the system and games. GamesIndustry.biz has a list of the PSP Japanese Launch Titles we can expect when the system hits retailers. From the Article: With just over three weeks to go until the PlayStation Portable launches in Japan, Sony has revealed that buyers will have six games to choose from on day one, with around 20 games total due out before the end of December."
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PSP Site Launches, Launch Titles Confirmed More

PSP Site Launches, Launch Titles Confirmed

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  • Will these things be region locked, or can I order on from the Japanese release and play US games on it when they are released on this side of the pond?

    • Re:question (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Since nobody has one in their hands yet and even if they did there would only be JP games to test on, there are only rumors to go by, but the "word on the street" is that the movie playing aspect will obey region locking, but that the games will not

    • Re:question (Score:2, Informative)

      by pcosta ( 236434 )
      Movies will be region locked. Games won't.
    • "Will these things be region locked, or can I order on from the Japanese release and play US games on it when they are released on this side of the pond?"

      Why? Do you want to transfer PSP over P2P?

    • Re:question (Score:3, Informative)

      by be-fan ( 61476 )
      Sony has announced that PSP games will not be region-locked. I'm planning to import one from Japan when it comes out :)

  • Beautiful! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by kc0re ( 739168 )
    BLOCKED BY WEBSENSE. What would really be cool, although not very... ergonomic is if we could bring our memory cards and Playstation games that already exist and play them on the machine.
    • Hehe, have you read Maddox [thebestpag...iverse.net]'s websense fiasco. It is, as usual entertaining. More on topic: I'm so glad that my parents didn't let me play video games when I was a kid because it's that much more exciting when all the new games/systems come out as an adult. Seriously, I'm already fairly strongly addicted to HL2. Games are good, they give us something to look forward to. PS, I like your sig.
      • The poster indicated that this article was blocked by websense. Maddox indicates that his page is blocked by websense. The poster presumably is on a connection using websense. You linked him to Maddox's page. With these facts in mind let me answer for him, "No, I haven't read Maddox's websense fiasco." (BTW, I know perfectly well that he most likely has other means of connecting to the internet.)

  • Mah Jong? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Cowclops ( 630818 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @01:47PM (#10855918)
    A third of the release day games are mahjong.

    I guess those Japanese GOTTA have their mahjong.

    • Re:Mah Jong? (Score:2, Funny)

      by error502 ( 694533 )
      It's not just mahjong; it's a mahjong *fight club*. Now you know that's intense.

      • Re:Mah Jong? (Score:1, Redundant)

        by Joe Random ( 777564 )
        It's not just mahjong; it's a mahjong *fight club*. Now you know that's intense.

        The first rule of Mahjong Fight Club is - you do not talk about Mahjong Fight Club.
        The second rule of Mahjong Fight Club is - you DO NOT talk about Mahjong Fight Club.
      • Weren't you paying attention? Whats the first rule of mahjong fight club? You do not talk about mahjong fight club.

        Sorry Adam.
    • It's not just mahjong. It's widescreen mahjong!

    • Re:Mah Jong? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Correction, Japanese PSP players need their mahjongg. Nintendo DS players have no such fetish, and we'll be getting our hands on them first thing Sunday morning here in North America.

      Metroid Prime Hunters wireless multiplayer is T3H R0X0R. I played it from Best Buy against somebody in an Electronics Boutique in a strip mall on the next block. "!!!!!" is all I'll say about that.
    • Ah, but one of these titles is Konami's Mahjong Fight Club:

      "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are two beautiful but identical snowflakes."

  • Competition is good (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MinusBlindfold ( 775913 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @01:47PM (#10855921) Journal
    in this particular market.... Its pretty much just been Nintendo Gameboy in the mainstream... its good to see a name (Sony) that everyone is familiar with finally breaking into it. Hopefully this will cause pressure to reduce pricing of systems overall. I believe the new system coming from Nintendo will have a similar number of launch titles. The pressure is on.

    • Re:Competition is good (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Goldfinger7400 ( 630228 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @01:56PM (#10856051)
      How exactly is this going to drive down pricing? The nintendo has always been priced very affordably. Plus, these PSP games are like $50 bucks while Nintendo DS games are $30, according to EBGames. As for launch numbers, I'm not terribly excited about any of that list for the PSP (albeit I'm not Japanese) whilst the Nintendo has Mario at launch! and tons more next!

      My prediction: PSP = GameGear = nGage = flop.
      • If I remember right they were showing DS games at $50 as well until Nintendo actually announced American prices for them. They'll probably do the same for PSP games until Sony starts announcing American prices. That won't be for a long time.

        Does anyone know, does the Japanese site linked here say anything about game prices?
      • I think the DS has one more advantage going for it - one that Sony nailed down for the PS2 - backwards compatability. Having a few hundred titles for your old system playable on your new system is a good selling point.
    • Oh yah, like Atari (Lynx) and Sega (Game Gear) and don't forget NeoGeo (Pocket [Color]).

      This will surely get squashed.

      • It's all about battery life. No handheld has ever came close to the Gameboy.

        You'd figure the GameGear/Lynx came out what, 15 years ago...they'd have figured out how to get 10-20 hours of out of the damn things by now.

        Maybe Duracell/Energizer should give these away, and then make the profit on the battery sales.

        • Re:Competition is good (Score:4, Insightful)

          by real_smiff ( 611054 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @02:09PM (#10856226)
          they could, but they can't resist the tempation to put bigger processors in 'em. only Nintendo seems to have the discipline to balance speed with battery life properly (& realistically).

        • Re:Competition is good (Score:5, Interesting)

          by vasqzr ( 619165 ) <`vasqzr' `at' `netscape.net'> on Thursday November 18, 2004 @02:12PM (#10856250)
          You'd figure the GameGear/Lynx came out what, 15 years ago...they'd have figured out how to get 10-20 hours of out of the damn things by now.

          Anyone use a laptop back in 1990?

          $3,000. 2MB RAM. 386 processor. 40MB HD. 640x400 CGA screen. 2 inches thick, 10lbs, and you'd be lucky to get anywhere near 2 hours battery life out of the thing.

          What are todays laptops like?

          Half the cost. half a gig of ram. 1.5ghz processor. 60GB HD. 1200x800 screen. 1 inch thick. 4 lbs. 5 hours battery life. Integrated sound, DVD drives, wireless networking...

          You'd figure we'd have some pretty decent handhelds by now. We're better off emulating SNES games on our PocketPCs.

          • Re:Competition is good (Score:2, Insightful)

            by Anonymous Coward
            Please let me know what laptop you are using that gets 5 hours of battery life.

            You are remembering the laptop in 1990 as actual battery life and new ones for advertised battery life. I still only get about 2 hours from any laptop.
            • Please let me know what laptop you are using that gets 5 hours of battery life.

              It's called the Pentium M [cnet.com], dude. Look into it.

              The laptop at that review gets 5.5 hours in real usage. IBM and others supposedly have models that'll get 7.5-8 hours, but I haven't seen that really tested (no doubt that's really stretching things in low-power mode, but still).

              But even my old-skool (by today's standards) Pentium 4-M laptop gets 3.5 hours without any real coaxing, and this is a big, heavy, widescreen laptop.
  • Then I might be able to learn a bit more about it on its official website. Does anyone have a translation that isn't taken from BabelFish or some other lame auto translation site? I'd like to know all the official specs and stuff.

    --
    Sounds like a scam, but it works. [wired.com]
    Free Flat Screens [freeflatscreens.com] | Free iPod Photo [freephotoipods.com] |
  • Let the hacking begin!

  • not impressed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by acvh ( 120205 ) <geek.mscigars@com> on Thursday November 18, 2004 @01:49PM (#10855950) Homepage
    The games available at release and soon after do not look very interesting. Granted that the Japanese have different tastes in gaming, but other than Metal Gear it's a pretty bland list. I'm sure that the US launch will look quite different.

    And is it just me, or is this recent trend toward "Sponsored Links" a real pain in the ass? When I see text in an article that is a link I expect it to be relevant, not a redirect to a merchant site.
    • I'm not really sure what the fascination is with card game simulations, but so it goes. Then again, maybe I shouldn't knock it until I play it.
    • The games available at release and soon after do not look very interesting.

      Bullspit they don't! Mahjong Fight Club? I have no idea what this game could be about, but it sure sounds interesting to me! (I acknowledge that interesting does not necessarily equal fun.)

    • Bland? (Score:2)

      by oGMo ( 379 )

      Bland? Bland? Compared to what, Mario and Metroid? We could consider those "bland": just another franchise release, right?

      Armored Core? Ridge Racers? Vampire Chronicles? One of those has to appeal on opening day. (Or maybe Golf or Mahjong, but those seem like obviously low-end titles.) Then there's Dynasty Warriors, Metal Gear, Puzzle Bobble, Puyo Puyo, NFSU, and Tiger Woods. Those are big names we recognize over here; some of the Japanese titles might be big names over there, too. Add on top of th

    • And is it just me, or is this recent trend toward "Sponsored Links" a real pain in the ass? When I see text in an article that is a link I expect it to be relevant, not a redirect to a merchant site.

      Yes it is a pain in the ass, but that's why they do it. They are placing the banner ads in the content and relying on your experience that text links will lead to more content.

    • Re:not impressed (Score:3, Interesting)

      by DarkEdgeX ( 212110 )
      I dunno, this alone has me wanting to buy one--

      Vampire Chronicle: The Chaos Tower (Capcom)

      Let the uber-accurate Capcom fighting games begin! (Now they just need to bring out a port of Super Street Fighter II and all will be right in the world).
    • '... The games available at release and soon after do not look very interesting ...'

      yes the Japanese games are different but there is a good reason. Firstly the system is not capable of running a full blown title as per PS2. So the designers are really forced to rethink their game style (and do they think) to fit the limitations of the hardware format. Take for instance konami [konamijpn.co.jp] with MG. They release MG but not *solid*, but Acid [ign.com]. Same franchise, different game style (with a card twist [ign.com]).

      Konami already mak

    • And is it just me, or is this recent trend toward "Sponsored Links" a real pain in the ass? When I see text in an article that is a link I expect it to be relevant, not a redirect to a merchant site.

      Not to pimp or anything, but there's a handy way around that. Adwords/sponsored links/whatever use Javascript to replace this and that with links, to do their evil work. All you have to do is stop their javascript from loading.

      The first step to undoing this is to download the adblock [texturizer.net] extension for Firefox. Af

  • Uh huh... (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by JoeLinux ( 20366 )
    Ok...raise your hand if you actually think this has a chance in hell of actually beating Game Boy.

    Didn't think so.

    I think this will go the way of the N-Gage, and Atari Lynx: *Bing* Thank you for playing.

    Gameboy has the games, the market, the shelf-space, and the name recognition. And to top it all off, it's a good product. If the DS is going to ship with the perpetuating network, as has been hinted, it will be unstoppable.

    That's all /soapbox

    • Re:Uh huh... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by FortKnox ( 169099 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @01:53PM (#10856012) Homepage Journal
      Go back a decade.

      Raise your hand if you think Playstation can beat Nintendo. It has the games, the shelf-space, and the name recognition. And to top it all off, its a good product.

      Never underestimate the consumer. I don't think this generation of PSP will woo over customers, but I think its got a shot after a generation or two...

      • Re:Uh huh... (Score:3, Insightful)

        by dead sun ( 104217 )
        *Raises hand* I didn't doubt it for a second when I first played an N64. The first playstation was a decent system. The N64 is the nintendo system I don't own because everything about it sucked. The graphics sucked. The controller was the most awkward thing in the world. The only thing I'll give it is the lack of need for a multi-tap, but four player games didn't seem that common. Sony brought new and good things to the table with the playstation, Nintendo failed to do so with the N64.

        Look at the PS2, it ha

        • Re:Uh huh... (Score:5, Insightful)

          by thatguywhoiam ( 524290 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @02:50PM (#10856772)
          Now, turn it around and look at the game boy and the PSP. The PSP hardware looks like it's going to eat batteries in no time flat. Remember the Game Gear? The PSP has no library. It's PS2 vs. Game Cube with the big N on the winning side this time. The PSP is just another Sega Game Gear or Atari Lynx. Nothing special, plain old portable with fancy graphics and no battery life. The DS brings fantastic innovation, like the wireless networking. We'll see about the second screen, but it's at least a move towards something creative.

          I generally agree with your points - although there are a two great big caveats worth pointing out that might change the game.

          Convergence - my pet theory is that the PSP is not designed simply to take on the DS in the game space, but also the iPod/MP3 player market, the nascent portable video market, and some of the wireless gadget market. Of course it is way overpowered to compete with the oh-so-simple GameBoy, but that's a hint right there. The PSP has 802.11, and will play MP3 format. These are big design decisions from Sony's point of view, particularly the MP3 support as up until now they have stuck doggedly with ATRAC.

          Furthermore, we have seen some interesting moves from Sony in regards to expanding the PS2 beyond its original game console roots, such as the EyeToy. With the extra hardware in the PSP they can leverage the thing to more powerful pursuits, like ad-hoc WiFi videoconferencing for example. Nintendo could do something like this as well but historically its this space where Sony really shines.

          Form factor - the PSP is probably sexier than the DS. The point is up for debate depending on your taste of course but I can easily see the sleek black PSP appealing to the older (read: richer) crowd more than the DS. I have not played with the DS yet but I have concerns about that touchpad deal - we should all applaud Nintendo for pushing the envelope but let us not forget they have pushed it too far in the past (*cough* VirtualBoy *cough*). I don't think its a disaster or anything but it hardly seems like the kind of feature people will instantly get - and want- when they first see it. Perhaps the software innovation department will help out here.

          Sony obviously has a problem on its hands with the late launch of the PSP in terms of Xmas sales but I would hardly count them out of the game just yet. Nintendo has the jump on the early market but who knows, we may just see the same phenomenon with the handhelds that we have witnessed over the last 1.5 years with the consoles - that consumers have often chosen not one or the either, but both.

          • Fantastic points. The problem I, and everybody else, probably even Sony, sees with the convergence bit, is that it doesn't do much good if it only stays powered on for a couple hours at a time. I mean, I like my Sony Minidisc player because of good sound quality (at best ATRAC encoding) and it has a ~48 hour battery life on 1 AA. I can grab it and run without really worrying if the battery I have in it has a full charge. Even with a quarter charge it'll play all day.

            I'm also personally anti-converged device

        • Were you playing the same systems as I was? The playstation graphics were horrible. Games weren't even perspective corrected for like 12 months. And the controllers? The only thing i've ever used easier on the hands than a nintendo64 controller is the gamecube controller (tho i prefer the buttons on the n64 one). playstation controllers are great if you've got tiny hands, just as the xbox controllers are great if you're shaq. But the n64/cube ones were awesome.

          And don't get me started on goldeneye. Greates
          • Okay, a Goldeneye player. Give me any, yes any, FPS on a PC over Goldeneye. Wolf3d is a hands down winner vs. Goldeneye in my book. It's merely preference. If it makes you feel any better, I don't care much for Halo either. Console FPS just never hit it off with me. However, it is proven fact that people who rave about Goldeneye will say anything in defense of the N64.

            Playstation 1 graphics weren't stellar, but the only thing that looked better at the time was a PC or the Dreamcast. I liked the Dreamcast be

            • Huh? Dreamcast? The dreamcast wasn't in competition with the n64 and the playstation. It was 2 years too late for that. Funnily enough the playstation2 has better graphics than an n64 too. And yes, I also would prefer any pc shooter to goldeneye if i'm playing by myself, but I'm not a lanner and neither are all but one of my friends, so for playing against regular people i stand by goldeneye as the most fun.

              And no, I'm not a rabid nintendo freak, I own a ps2 as well as a cube (dog chewed through some cable
              • The dreamcast ended up not being in competition with much due to it's launch date. However, it was Sega's generation that fell in line with the N64 and PS1, even if it was late. Thus the comparison.

      • Re:Uh huh... (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Metroid72 ( 654017 )
        And may I ask how do you know it's a good product?

        Remember that the experience of a product like this is a very complex equation. In no order:
        1. Quality of the games
        2. Diversity of the games
        3. Platform durability (it is a portable system)
        4. Ergonomics (I hate the original PS controller's crosspad, and the fact that the GBA only has 2 face buttons, don't even go with the original Xbox controller, remember the headaches of the Virtual Boy and the original GBA screen?)
        5. Battery life (Yeah, yeah you can buy
      • But Sony doesn't need to 'beat' Nintendo, because there's a large segment of gamers that Nintendo is completely ignoring in the mobile gaming market.

        Think of it this way: Nintendo makes games that are the equivalent to G-rated movies. Some are aimed expressly at children, some are just good games that happen to lack socially objectionable content. But what about those of us that want a cool-looking game, as opposed to cutesy-looking? What about those of us that'd rather be playing a new Metal Gear than a n
  • Sorry to be a shill for Sony, but that thing looks great. My camera has a memorystick, by the looks of it I can use the PSP to look at the pictures on a better screen than the camera's. Anyone know if it plays movies off the memorystick, or what the price is going to be in the US?

    • 19,800 Yen = $190 (Score:3, Interesting)

      by kuwan ( 443684 )
      Well, it looks like the Japanese price is 19,800 Yen which turns out to be about $190. I don't know if that's what Sony will sell it for here and I expect they might sell it for lower considering the Nintendo DS will be selling for $150. But who knows.

      --
      Sounds like a scam, but it works. [wired.com]
      Free Flat Screens [freeflatscreens.com] | Free iPod Photo [freephotoipods.com] |
      • I thought it was confirmed recently that the US price would be $199. Which is still considerably lower than many people were assuming. I can't help but think that they lowered it to compete with the DS. At that price, I might even end up with one in a few months.

      • Re:19,800 Yen = $190 (Score:5, Interesting)

        by antifoidulus ( 807088 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @02:11PM (#10856236) Homepage Journal
        It will be interesting to see how Sony and Nintendo plan to play the strong Yen. Nintendo's first ever loss came largely as a result of the weak dollar, and that was when Nintendo did not have any major hardware rollouts(ssoftware has a very small marginal cost to produce). The Yen has been relatively stable recently(varying from 110-105 to the dollar), but there is very little to suggest that the dollar will grow stronger any time soon. Quite the contrary, because of the huge trade and budget deficits that show no signs of abating, there is a very real chance the dollar could take a plunge, and Sony and Nintendo could wind up losing a lot of money for each American sale...

  • oro™ŽÀw“\èL (Score:5, Funny)

    by SkuzBuket ( 820246 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @01:49PM (#10855957)
    Wow this is really interesting. Take a look at this quote from their website:

    "oro(TM)uvOECXe[V"E|[^uvÌ""ÉæìA2004"N11OEZ15"ú(O EZ)æè"OE zE'åãE-¼OEÃ&#174 ; Zå--vw\"àÉÄoro(TM)ÌZÀÝ'uê½"ÁZêLðOEfo'vÜB
    ±Ìoro(TM)ZÀw"\èLÅÍAoro(TM)Ìtæ-ÊÉÄuÝñÈÌfnk e |[^uvuDZÅàÁåviÈ&#227 ; ""OEFS"Z®ïZÐ\j[ER"s...[^G"^eC""gjuSbWOE[T[Yvu±ÆÎÌ pY àÒÁ½ñ'åZ"TviÈ&# 227; ""OEFS"Z®ïZÐiRjÌf'oeðSyÝ'±ÆÅ&#22 0;B
    VOEg'ÑOE^Q[@ oro(TM)Ìf'oeNISeBð----&#19 0;B"

    WTF????
    • Well, if you'll recall from early episodes of Rurouni Kenshin, "oro" is nearly synonymous with "what the hell" or "huh" which explains the rest of the quote....

      Or you could go find your windows installation disk and/or find a place to download the japanese support for your OS...
    • (TM)
      (TM)20041115() (TM)

    • Re:oro™ŽÀw“\èL (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Well, clearly, ÄuÝ |[^uvuÇ"OE; z"E|[^½"ÁZêLð"TviÈ&# . That much should be obvious.

  • GT4? (Score:1)

    by donour ( 445617 )
    What happened to Gran Turismo 4?
    • They had to cut online out of the PS2 version because they were behind schedule. There's no way they can cut online out of the PSP version because wireless multiplayer is going to be a primary feature of that platform.

  • Gameboy icon (Score:5, Funny)

    by ttys00 ( 235472 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @01:54PM (#10856030)
    I bet Sony is impressed that Slashdot gave them a Gameboy icon. From the 1989 Gameboy no less.
    • That kind of sums up the Nintendo handheld monopoly. I want to see Sony eat them alive in this market.

      Nothing against Metroid and Zelda. It just pisses me off when Nintendo sat on their laurel for a decade with a black and white handheld system, and no one could challenger them until Sony today.

      • Except, lots of people did challenge them. And lost. Because the gameboy was simple, cheap, and ran for hours. Maybe "resting on their laurels" was a good thing for them to do?
  • JoeLinux, Blackmonday; it will b an uphill battle for Sony. But they started out some 11 years ago with another battle. Who won? There's no question that Nintendo has a very good grip on the hanheld marked now, but they had a stranglehold on the console market before. And things have happened in other markets as well.

    I hope it will (fo once) be a battle where the better alternative comes out on top. Unlike the VHS - Beta battle, WordPefect - Word Battle, OS/2 - Windows battle....

    • I hope it will (fo once) be a battle where the better alternative comes out on top.

      Define "better". How much time did a player get on one 24-pack (4 sets) of AA batteries in a Game Gear? Compare to a 24-pack (6 sets) of AA batteries in an original Game Boy, even with the lighting accessories turned on. Now compare the PSP battery life (3 hours on a charge in practice) with that of the DS (well over twice that).

    • First, let me admit that I'm something of a Nintendo fanboy. So take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt.

      I hope it will (fo once) be a battle where the better alternative comes out on top. Unlike the VHS - Beta battle, WordPefect - Word Battle, OS/2 - Windows battle.... --nordicfrost

      I share this concern and hope. In the perfect capitalist system, the better product always wins out, but we know that isn't always the case. A lot is determined by marketing and market influence, timing and other f

      • In the perfect capitalist system, the better product always wins out, but we know that isn't always the case.
        That's because the invisible hand has been busy jacking of CEOs for some time now...

    • How many times is the VHS/beta battle going to be misused as an example of better technology winning?

      VHS won [tafkac.org] because it could fit a film on one tape while beta couldn't.

  • Specs (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rpdillon ( 715137 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @02:02PM (#10856151) Homepage
    I'm not sure whether to jump at this or the Nintendo DS. To be honest, I love the Playstation 2, but after all the anti-hype about battery life on the PSP, I think its a tough question.

    Certainly the hardware on the PSP is extremely impressive, but I question whether it's impressive enough to warrant the two hour battery life (or less) that I'll have to spend another $45 for a spare battery (BTW, I like that you can buy a spare battery!).

    DS might have taken the safer road with the long battery times while still providing a very good graphical experience. I'll probably end up waiting and seeing how much Sony can squeeze from the PSP, and see what games come out for what platform. After all, SOny did say that in "later revisions" of the firmware, they would be able to extend battery life out to 6 hours and beyond for high end games. Sounds ridiculous, but one can always hope.
    • I tottaly agree. I am far more impressed with the psp's design and hardware over the ds, but I really think that its battery life is going to limit its appeal.

  • PSP is toast (Score:5, Informative)

    by RzUpAnmsCwrds ( 262647 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @02:11PM (#10856245)
    If PSP isn't launching in Japan fo another 3 weeks, it looks like the system will completely miss the holiday buying season in the US.

    Meanwhile, Nintendo is launching the DS in time for Black Friday. Current estimates show pre-orders running in the 5 million unit range in both the US and Japan.

    Nintendo will have 5 million systems in the hands of gamers before Sony delivers a single PSP.

    The DS has better battery life and it's $50 cheaper.

    There will be lots of DS systems sitting under the tree this year. There won't be any DS systems there.

    Which system would you develop for if you were EA? The one that will have 5 million units shipped in the US before the end of the year or the system that will have none.
    • The expectied US release date isn't until March, they're not even going to try for the US holiday year.
    • I wouldn't misunderestimate the Sony/EA relationship. That relationship had a HUGE hand in killing the Dreamcast and the Dreamcast beat the PS2 out the door by a wide margin. Take a good look at Nintendo's third party support for Gamecube. Take a good look at Sony's third party support for Playstation 2. Business relationships have a way of crossing from one device to the next. If this is the kind of thing Nintendo fan boys are grasping on, I think you are right to be nervous. The Gameboy Advance has
      • First and foremost. Companies are in this industry to make money, now that we have this out of the way, look at the industry:

        16bit Generation: Major japanese developers (capcom, konami, etc) jumped to make Megadrive/Genesis games. Why? Market share.
        Rationale: More Systems = More chances of selling games

        32bit Generation: Major publishers jump on CD-based systems. Why? To get away from the restrictive licensing practices of nintendo and to maximize on the cheap medium.
        Excuse: We want to make better

    • Re:PSP is toast (Score:4, Funny)

      by slashrogue ( 775436 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @02:42PM (#10856664)
      There will be lots of DS systems sitting under the tree this year. There won't be any DS systems there.

      You mean no PSP systems?

      Which system would you develop for if you were EA?

      Both, since I force my developers to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week with little or no compensation.

    • Re:PSP is toast (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Erwos ( 553607 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @02:49PM (#10856755)
      Sounds like the same advantages the Dreamcast had. Ask Sega how well things worked out sometime.

      The reason that the PS2 won wasn't that it had better graphics or was faster. It won because it had a DVD player built in. It was something utterly unrelated to game-playing that put the PS2 ahead - and that is what people are forgetting in the whole PSP vs. GBA discussion.

      If Sony turns around and gives people a semi-decent way to play video and music on their PSP, the entire equation gets altered dramatically. That $150-$200 PSP looks a lot better if it has more functionality.

      Similarly, Nintendo could also do something paradigm shifting (but I do not consider PictoChat to be any way, shape, or form to be a paradigm shift) to pull away.

      And, frankly, it might not even be features that distinguish the two. A single bad production run by either of them could ruin the product's reputation. Calling a winner before the race has started seems foolish to me.

      -Erwos
      • I think saying the reason the PS2 did better than the Dreamcast is because of DVD playback is oversimplifying. Sony built up a lot of hype around the PS2 - enough that most of the people I know who were considering buying a Dreamcast decided to wait and get a PS2 instead. DVD playback had a very small impact, at least in my personal experience.

        As for the PSP vs. the DS, I don't think Sony will be able to build up enough hype to make it appealing to wait, especially against Nintendo. Sega really dropped the
    • If PSP isn't launching in Japan fo another 3 weeks, it looks like the system will completely miss the holiday buying season in the US.

      Sony is not even attempting to hit the holiday buying season in the U.S.. The PSP is currently planned for a U.S. launch somewhere around march of next year.

      Which system would you develop for if you were EA? The one that will have 5 million units shipped in the US before the end of the year or the system that will have none.

      Well, the actual EA is developing for both. La
    • Which system would you develop for if you were EA?

      Well, if I were EA, I'd develop for both by ordering my developers to work 120-hour weeks....

  • The prize (Score:3, Insightful)

    by arakis ( 315989 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @02:13PM (#10856271)
    I know many my-dad-can-beat-up-your-dad Nintendo people and their opinions on how this system is just derivative drivel. That argument is a loss despite being valid. The real prize here is that a company that both MAKES things and owns the means of production to ENTERTAIN people with that is throwing their hat into the ring. Does Nintendo make a better game system? Probably, although the final judgement is horribly subjective.

    Realize this device for what it is and not what refined old implementations it competes with now. This is a bona fide mobile communications/entertainment platform that also happens to play games. They made the screen giant and saw fit to include just one. Why? Look at the screen in the future and you will see.

    I am impressed with this from a company direction standpoint. This direction doesn't and shouldn't ever suit Nintendo. I believe they should focus on games and the marketing thereof. Sony on the other hand has albums to record, movies to shoot and entire mobile media platforms to leverage under one roof. This stuff is off the hook!

    May you live in interesting times.

    • Re:The prize (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Kirby-meister ( 574952 )
      ???? Nintendo makes the DS and provides games for it...how is that not providing entertainment for the people who buy their hardware?

      The N-Gage was also meant to be a mobile communication/entertainment platform that happened to play games...

    • Realize this device for what it is and not what refined old implementations it competes with now. This is a bona fide mobile communications/entertainment platform that also happens to play games.

      Funny, the N-Gage tried to be something like that, and look what happened - it crashed and burned for the most part, and the GBA didn't slow down one bit.

      Granted, Sony doesn't have the insulting PR nightmare and subsequent backlash to deal with that Nokia did, but still...
    • Er, the PSP has a pretty big screen for a portable game player, but I think watching movies on that tiny little thing is not going to be a very big draw -- nor, to be honest, will music, as there are far better alternatives like the ipod.

      The PSP will succeed only if it has good enough games (and the battery life doesn't suck too much etc).

      • I dunno... stupid it may be, but I have to confess a desire to watch something on this tiny device. It's like, stealth or something. I know it's irrational and pointless. But it's there nonetheless. Of course, the movies available for it will probably be Broken Arrow and TimeCop.

        Also realize that, yeah, of course the iPod's better at playing tunes but it's going to suck at playing PSP games, and it costs more.

        If the PSP offers real Wi-Fi-based Internet access (as opposed to just using it to frag proxima

  • Just in time for my trip to Osaka!
  • One of the games (Lumines by Bandai) seems pretty interesting to me, because it's from the makers of Rez...

    But not interesting enough to buy unto the platform. I just hope it comes out for some other system.

    I don't even have a GameBoy yet, not sure why I would spring for a PSP with a lot less titles and an iffy future. They did at least price it well, perhaps it will have a fighting chance.

  • Region Free (Score:3, Interesting)

    by x40sw0n ( 830531 ) on Thursday November 18, 2004 @02:34PM (#10856539) Journal
    Liksang.com reports that the PSP games are going to be region-free.... meaning you could actually buy an import unit from liksang.com in december and play your US games when they get released. -In Absentia

  • 333 Mhz is a lie (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 18, 2004 @02:38PM (#10856599)
    Sony continues to brag about the 333 Mhz processor in the system, but it's a lie. While the processor may technically be *capable* of running that fast, it's in fact been throttled to 222 Mhz. Developers have the option of running it even slower, but there is no way to run it faster.
  • What will sell me on the PSP is how developers will harness the capabilities of it. Supposedly, there have been prototypes [playstation.com] for a GPS, and a DVD player as well. Being able to dock my PSP in my car and use it for in-car navigation (hey Delorme - hint hint), or some other useful utilization of its capabilities besides games will sell me.
    I was disappointed at the lack of innovative uses for the Playstation 2's USB (and on earlier models, IEEE1394). Thankfully, Sony released Linux [playstation2-linux.com] for it, which have allowed m
  • The DS is going to beat them out of the gate with a massive library of games while the PSP misses the US 4th Quarter completely. In addition, the stylus and 2 screens are going to give the developers more flexibility to make better, more interesting games. I played the DS at E3, it's fun. The PSP is just going to be more of the same and it's going to get stomped.

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