The PSP's Comeback Trail 148
Next Generation has up a feature on the rising fortunes of Sony's PSP. Overlooked for quite some time now as the DS dominates the headlines, the article argues that the handheld console still has a lot to offer ... and people are starting to notice. "Sony has always commanded strong third-party support for its systems since the success of the original PlayStation, and [senior PSP marketing manager John Koller] believes that PSP developers are similarly finding ways to get creative and present fun titles. 'Upcoming launches such as God of War: Chains of Olympus from a first-party perspective, and Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron from LucasArts, are certainly good examples of fantastic franchises made unique on the PSP,' he says. 'It's clear that consumers do not want the same game on their PSP that they play on console.'"
Me and my (Score:2, Interesting)
Not very clear (Score:5, Insightful)
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Speaking of which, when are we going to get Starcraft on Wii?
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Sony's alleged 2D ban (Score:2)
Also to point out... (Score:2)
I don't expect much for GoW either.
Some of the best titles for the PSP are the PSX rebuilds, as long as you don't need to juggle L1/L2/R1/R2.
Sony's biggest problem for the PSP? They didn't think harder on their button layout.
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It's a portable game, that usually implies it is some kind of secondary action, whether you're in a bus, waiting a
switch media type (Score:5, Interesting)
I keep 4 DS games in my WALLET at all times, I keep my DS Lite in my pocket and the outside gets scratched to hell, but of course since the clamshell design protects the screens, the device is still as playable as the day I got it. Somehow I doubt the PSP would hold up to the abuse I dish out to the DS Lite daily.
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I dunno; the iPod seems to have done quite well for itself using a good old Winchester drive for storage.
But then again, playing MP3s or videos uses an almost entirely linear disk access pattern; dealing with the random-access requirements of portable gaming is another issue entirely.
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Why is this modded flamebait? Its true. If Sony really had the business brains, they would allow down loadable content to SSD memory sticks as most people do with the ripped movies and homebrew apps.
Heck, if they really had the balls they allow a legitimate method for PSP users to actually rip their games to SSD, but they seem to be so against that. Actually, people already do that for "backups" and
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Your comment about "scratching the disk" is kinda stupid, UMD is alot like mini-disc (there in a big protective case), my Wipeout disc from launch day still works fi
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The UMD case design is just broken. It has a big honking hole which can't be closed. If something gets into the hole, it's hard to get it out again. Maybe Sony would have done better not having a case at all.
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Solid state is the only reasonable media (Score:3, Interesting)
I'll agree that "Solid state is the only reasonable media for a handheld device."
I've washed some DS games a few times in the laundry. When in the hospital, I vomited on a cartridge once too. No damage, the labels looked fine, and they play no problem.
I know washing a minidisc will kill it, but I don't know about a UMD. I can't imagine a UMD being nearly as rugged.
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I hope so (Score:2)
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Also, Disagea would probably be a no-brainer for you.
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In such a case, solid state does seem to be the way to go. Then again, if it is at all cost effective, short of going back to floppies, anything is better than optical.
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Re:I hope so (Score:5, Informative)
Just a sampling:
* Jeanne D'Arc - Take FFT and Fire Emblem. Have them fuck. Take the child, and put it in the Hundred Years War. Add in magic transforming armour and British soldier ZOMBIES. Hit puree. This is probably the best strategy game out for this system that didn't come out years ago.
* Disagea - The same game as the PS2 version, with additions.
* Generations of Chaos 1 + 2 - Decent games from the same people that did Disagea.
In addition to those, there's a host of JRPGs, such as Riviera (which I don't particularly care for), three Legends of Heroes games, and a few others from NiS (Disagea). It's an awesome system.
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Awesome! I didn't realize they'd ported "Zelda: Phantom Hourglass" and "Final Fantasy III" from DS to the PSP.
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I know that the plot in FF3 is on par with what's expected for its time, but for better or for worse, it is competing against modern RPGs. It has fun combat, and is good for fans of the series for nostalgia-ish purposes, but for RPG fans in general, I'd give it a pass.
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FFIII is the lone bastion of decent RPGs on the DS; everything else RPG wise is either action based, or cookie cutter (why hello there Pokemon).
1st Meteos Disney Magic, now Lumines Arc the Lad? (Score:2)
I'm not sure how Lumines=Luminous Arc (they both have Lumi in it--don't you think that's, I dunno, a bit of a stretch?)
"Hello, this is Tetsuya Mizuguchi, and I pronounce Lumines as luminous." If you pronounce it Loo-mines, you've been playing too much Minesweeper.
How can a game be "exclusive" at all if it's on more than one platform-holder's hardware?
Because it's not on HP's hardware (iPAQ or Pavilion) nor on Nintendo's hardware (DS or Wii), apart from homebrew [pineight.com]. Owners of Nintendo systems or commodity computer systems are excluded, matching the plain definition of "exclusive".
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Owners of Nintendo systems or commodity computer systems are excluded [from a PSP/PS2/Xbox 360 title], matching the plain definition of "exclusive".
Except that the "plain defintion" of exclusive is 'excluding all others.'
Citation needed for "all" in your definition. American Heritage Dictionary: exclusive adj. Excluding or tending to exclude. [reference.com] Wiktionary: exclusive adj. Excluding items or members that do not meet certain conditions. [wiktionary.org]
Soukou Kihei... (Score:2)
DarkAlex (Score:1)
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I bought mine around 2 months ago, immediately downgraded it and have been using the hell out of it.I have a ton of SNES,NES and GB roms on it and some movies on my 4gb memory stick
I'd like to get a PSP slim for the TV out but I'm not sure how the homebrew scene is coming along w
What, more of the same? (Score:3, Interesting)
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I don't know. I've never been comfortable flying at night
Re:What, more of the same? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What, more of the same? (Score:4, Informative)
Point the first: Sony made a loss on every PSP for at least the first two years, while the GBA, GBA SP, and DS all sold at a profit.
Point the second: Sony's gaming division posted losses for quite some time after the PSP was released.
Point the third: Over 110 million units sold for GB and GBC combined, over 80 million GBAs and SPs. Each unit sold at a profit. 25 million PSPs sold? That's not just chicken scratch, that's chicken shit - especially given how many were sold at a loss.
Selling 25 million units of anything doesn't automatically denote success. You have to actually make money.
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But I'm guessing Nintendo is going in the general direction of the bank.
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An albatross has a lot of lift (Score:2)
Albatrosses actually can generate a lot of lift with the large wings they have.
I used to think the PSP was a failure too. But then about a year or two, I actually saw PSP sales figures - they were pretty good.
The thing is that the DS sales figures are supernova spectacular, and that is blinding everyone to the fact the PSP is indeed a success in it's own right, just not on the same scale.
P.S. Albatrosses are actually also good luck. It's only when you attempt to
PSP is a failure, there's no getting over it (Score:2)
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The Atari Lynx? That was a failure. The NGage? Please. There are plenty of handholds to look to if you want to define failure. But the PSP is what it is, and that is (while not exactly what they set out to be) not a failure.
Nintendo has every right to be beaming with pride, but that doesn't take away from what Sony has managed to do with
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Sorry, I don't even own a PSP
I do.
but I consider selling a few million of anything to be a success
That's a pretty absurd statement. Apple sells way more iPods each year than the PSP has sold since its introduction early 05. Selling only "a few million" iPods next year would be a miserable failure for Apple. Obviously, selling "a few million of anything" is not always a success.
no matter how you wearing DS colored glasses would prefer to color it.
Yeah, I also own a DS. But my imaginary glasses are hardly DS colored (would that be pink?). As I said, I also own a PSP and even an N-Gage. I'm "platform agnostic." I actually bought about 20 PSP games (although I on
sony's problem (Score:4, Insightful)
with the ps3 and psp is that the technology they choose is ahead of its time. this translates into slow starts with their systems, as the hardware in the systems is beyond the price range of what people want to pay. /P
the upside of this is that it ensures longevity of a system if and when popularity takes hold.
the psp is a great little gadget that, much like the ps3, got off to a slow start.
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It's not about PSP vs. DS (Score:5, Insightful)
Going forward, the PSP still has the technical capabilities and the software development to be a competitive product for 2-3 more years at least.
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Do you have a link to those numbers? I've been poking around, but I'm having trouble finding anything more recent than March 31, 2007 (pre-PSP-slim), when Sony was reporting 9.77 million sold worldwide, with 25.39 million shipped. (http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdatapsp_sale_e.html/ [scei.co.jp] and http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdatapsp_e.html [scei.co.jp], respectively)
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Since the start of 2006 it looks like that page sums to 14.49 million units sold, but the PSP appears to have been shipping (at least in Asia) since December 2004. That still leaves us with roughly a year unaccounted for, and while it doesn't seem impossible for that year to include ~10.5 million sales, It'd still be cool to find actual numbers.
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I guess technically that's a "shipped" number, but technically, it was also 6 months ago and Sony has sold some PSPs since then.
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Rob
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My PSP story (since others are sharing) (Score:5, Interesting)
A month or so ago, I finally got around to modding mine so as to be able to play roms and utilize the (huge) homebrew scene...best move I ever made. I have since bought a 4 gig memory card, and currently have every NES, SNES, Genesis/game gear, game boy games on it as well as a decent amount of GBA and MAME roms. I use the homebrew scene to help control my home theater, play movies better, and just make the interface look nicer. Unlike many others, I have no plans to actually download any PSP ISO's (except manhunt 2, just to try out the uncensored version...it's just as bad of a game, not really worth the time)
In fact, I like the ability to do all this so much that I recently bought both my fiance AND my best bud a PSP, just so that they could have the same fun I am having. Yes yes eys, I know there is a lot of talk about roms and such, but sitll...doing this has breathed new life into my PSP, and has actually gotten me more interested in buying PSP games than I was before (primarily because I used to simply like the system...now I love it) Add to that the non-shiny outerbody casing I bought, coupled with a very good but very inexpensive screen saver (screws onto the two mounting holes on top, and flips down over the screen when you aren't using it, protecting it from scratches), my PSP is likely one of my favourite gaming objects for the time being.
Despite Sony's efforts to thwart homebrew on it, homebrew is the very reason they got more money out of me and my friends than they would have if it were not possible. If you are into emulation or just plain messing around with your gadgets, the PSP is your best bet as far as portable gaming is concerned...as far as actual games goes, the DS blows the PSP out of the water, but the PSP still has some decent games out there for it...much like a PS3 (for now) however, don't buy it expecting to play a lot of great NEW games on it.
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What I believe Sony is legitimately afraid of is homebrew capabilities being used to pirate games. Easy homebrew equals easy piracy (unless you design for a sandboxed homebrew from the outset, like Microsoft's XNA Studio). That in turn equals a precipitate drop in game sales, which is where Sony gets a lot of its profit.
Hans
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Or what about games that were never released in the US, such as Secret of Mana 3? How is it stealing for me download a game that I had no way of buying in the first place?
Lemme guess, import the game right? If I did that, it sure wouldn't be from Ni
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I mean, really, think about your statement...I want to play these games, the only way for me to legally obtain these games would result in ZERO money going to the company ANYWAY, so what difference does it make to them (morally, anyways) if I download them? I don't care about the legality of it...you break a law every time you go over the speed limit, yet still do it. Why? Cause you don't care. Just like I don't care that I am ob
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As far as not downloading PSP games, I don't do it for two reasons.
1. As with any console I mod, I do still buy games for it (my 360 is a perfect example of this...the last 6 games I have obtained for it were bought, not downloaded and burned)
2. PSP games take up a large amount of space on a memory stick (this may seem like the primary reason, but it's not. I recognize hard work, and I recognize what I enjoy. If I download a game, and really enjoy it, I will
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Copying a game from the Internet, even if you own a lawfully made copy on a ROM cartridge, is probably copyright infringement. Buying a used game cartridge from a seller within your country is not copyright infringement in the United States and other countries that have exhaustion of exclusive distribution rights at first sale.
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So is it stealing? Legally I would say yes. How you feel about it up to you.
NES games that probably will not show up on VC (Score:2)
Well the Virtual Console on the Wii has shown that old games do still have value.
So what should I do if Virtual Console has very few of the specific NES titles I want? When will Hot-B's Palamedes or Nintendo's Earthbound: Prototype[1] show up there? What about Midway's Klax[2] or Wisdom Tree's The King of Kings[3] or Panesian's Bubble Bath Babes[4]?
[1] Earthbound: Prototype was the English version of the Japanese game Mother, the prequel to Mother 2 (Earthbound in North America). Nintendo canceled the North American release due to a perception of not enough demand to justify manuf
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Why ask me? I was saying legally pirating software is pirating software.
Somebody somewhere still holds the copyright to those games. If they are copyrighted at all.
If they never filed a copyright then you are good to go. I would love to see companies that go bye bye release there work into the public domain.
Legally your are infringing on copyrights by playing those games on emulators. Ethically that is up to you, it isn'
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Same as with a rom. Again, show me someplace that will allow me to buy Secret of Mana 3 directly from Nintendo, or Faxanadu, or any other number of games that haven't been made and distributed from the manufacturer for a number of years, and I will stop "stealing" roms. Until then, have a great day!
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Most of the games released for the PSP and the DS are just PORTS of older games for old consoles. I find it crazy that Sony and Nintendo feel the need to charge $30 for a game released 15 years ago. And why not release multi-game carts or carts that contain flash memory that you can download multiple ROMs? (like the 3rd-parties have done for the DS
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Personally (again, while everyone's sharing), I tried the PSP a few times at a friend's house. My thumb hurt after about 20 minutes, the control stick is iffy for me, and it's positively gigantic, requiring a shell to protect its screen. Not to mention battery life that's abysmal (3-4 hours on UM
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Homebrew games, for example, include a port of Doom. It comes wi
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Yikes! I guess there was a reason I stopped looking into home theater builds a while back. Figures like that require either I rebuild Enron and plunder it like it's 1999 or win several jackpots.
Interesting. Looks like the PSP might actually be a useful portable computer.... once you've freed it from Sony's shackles.
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If you want a PDA, get a DS (Score:2)
Kinda...there are numerous homebrew programs for it that enable PDA-type function, although typing on it is quite a chore
That's why if I want to use a handheld gaming system as a PDA, I put an R4 card into a Nintendo DS and start DSOrganize. Then if I'm feeling artistic, I put in Colors! and draw this [isthething.com] or this [isthething.com]. It sure beats an analog stick.
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I have since bought a 4 gig memory card, and currently have every NES, SNES, Genesis/game gear, game boy games on it as well as a decent amount of GBA and MAME roms. [...]. Unlike many others, I have no plans to actually download any PSP ISO's
Let me get this straight : you say the PSP is good because you can play pirated Nintendo and Sega games on it? And you won't pirate PSP games? But you won't buy any either?
Do you even know why the PSP is a bomb? No, it's not because it sold 25 M units despite being trounced by the DS.
No, that's because Sony uses a loss leader strategy, and lose money on their consoles. Perhaps they don't anymore, but they used to.
And they need software sales far more than Nintendo does. But here's the catch: the PSP softwa
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Besides, I bought my PSP from a friend, so it's not like Sony got my money in the first place...I mean, say I bought a PSP and 20 games on Ebay...Sony STILL wouldn't be making money off me. Are you saying that if I bought gaming stuff off Ebay that I would be screwing the gaming company over?
Lighten u
PSP (Score:2)
From Illfated to Goodfated (Score:1, Insightful)
I bought the PSP when the PS3 got into my grasp. Both just seem perfect together as sadly both aren't as fast going forward. There are quality in both that need time to work
Remember the Dreamcast (Score:1)
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Except you've got it backwards: there are more PSPs in the wild than PS3s, and Sony would be more interested to pin the PS3 onto the (relative) success of the PSP because of it. For example, note that you can only access the PlayStation Store to buy games through the PS3, in spite of several of the games being playable on the PSP and the PSP's ability to access the internet without an intervening PS3.
Think of the children! (Score:2)
Big Brain Academy and other DS edutainment (Score:2)
Can anyone recommend educational software for the PSP? (Or the GameBoy DS, I am not vested yet.)
There is no such product as "GameBoy DS". There is Game Boy Advance, and there is Nintendo DS.
Seriously: You may want to start your kids on Big Brain Academy for DS and then head on to the rest of educational games for DS [gamespot.com]. To teach them to draw, you can buy an R4 expansion card [r4ds.com] and then load Colors! [isthething.com] on it.
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Thanks! (Score:2)
Off topic: Is it really up to Nintendo if people call the DS a GameBoy or not? I know several people who deliberately insist on calling contemporary Apple laptops PowerBooks.
Computers and Consoles for Children (Score:2)
There are a few brain training clones on the PSP, but they are few and far between.
But maybe the best solution would be a "real" computer like the OLPC box. [laptopgiving.org] You can even easily create y
Problems with the PSP (Score:2)
There are two problems with the PSP:
Firstly, it's too large to comfortably fit in a pocket; you're not going to just casually take it with you along with your wallet, phone and keys, but have to explicitly decide to take it.
Secondly, while it may have a more powerful processor, better graphics and a better-looking screen, Nintendo have stolen a mar
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I have a PSP and a DS. I find these days that the PSP largely sits gathering dust, while the DS lives in my pocket and gets a fair amount of use whilst commuting.
The exact opposite for me, actually. I spend far more time with my PSP than my DS, and the time I do spend with my DS is generally not spent playing the "innovative" titles that have become Nintendo's claim to fame in recent years. Games like New Super Mario Bros., Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, or Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass aren't exactly innovative, but they're also the most enjoyable games for a system that seems to flounder under the weight of innovative-but-unpolished first party titles and a