Official PSP Thread!

[Tank]

Im not sure if I should post this here but it certainly has something to do with my PSP.

I have Itunes and as you know all of the music stored on there is in M4P, the PSP only accepts MP3 and some other kind. I know I can change how I want to import the music etc, but how can I "unprotect" my music I have bought through the Itunes music store?

[NoahsMyBro]

Short answer - you can't.
Long answer - investigate Hymn - http://hymn-project.org/

[wheelsx45]

Has anyone played Twisted Metal online yet with their PSP?

[Jasoco]

A friend has, he says it kicks ass.

Glad I didn't have any dead pixels.

Anyway, I must have a second game. Which of these two would you recommend?
Twisted Metal
Ape Escape

[norkusa]

I got a question about ripping movies. I have some movies on my Mac that'd I'd like to put onto my PSP (a .mov & .avi) These movies are 650mb & 1.2GB in size but I can only afford a 256mb memory stick right now. Will these movies shrink in size when I rip them, or do I have to buy memory stick that is at least the same size as the movie I want to rip?

[Jasoco]

Convert 'em to MPEG4 forst off. That'll shrink 'em a lot.

[portnoyd]

[quote="pacmanhat" I think my g/f got a glitch when playing Lumines the first time, though...she tried it without really knowing what was going on, and lost almost instantly, but still somehow managed to get over 10,000 points. @_@[/quote]

If you clear the entire board, you'll get 10k points right then and there. I'd imagine that's what happened as it's possible at the start moreso later on.

dave

[Querjek]

Has anyone played Twisted Metal online yet with their PSP?
I tried it... I can get online and start a match, but, after a few minutes, I get booted. I don't know what's doing this either, but I have already tried standing directly against the router and connecting.

[Tank]

About the protected Itunes music.

I just figured out how to, burn it to a cd- r and then import them.

[Querjek]

A friend has, he says it kicks ass.

Glad I didn't have any dead pixels.

Anyway, I must have a second game. Which of these two would you recommend?
Twisted Metal
Ape Escape
Get Ape Escape.

[Jive3D]

I'm sure that some of you know that I was the biggest DS supporter, now I'm a huge frustrated DS owner, came THIS CLOSE to buying a PSP with Wipeout Pure today, it was at FYE, and it was 299. I came very closer, especially b/c I have a plane ride back to NYC tomorrow...

I need some support here, should I get it? are you guys generally satisfied with your PSPs? & Wipeout? (which is getting rave reviews...) The Cash is burning a hole in my pocket...

[Cmosfm]

I'm sure that some of you know that I was the biggest DS supporter, now I'm a huge frustrated DS owner, came THIS CLOSE to buying a PSP with Wipeout Pure today, it was at FYE, and it was 299. I came very closer, especially b/c I have a plane ride back to NYC tomorrow...

I need some support here, should I get it? are you guys generally satisfied with your PSPs? & Wipeout? (which is getting rave reviews...) The Cash is burning a hole in my pocket...

I'd say buy two PSP units, just because they rock THAT much. If you have the cash, get it, I cannot be more satisfied with mine. Ask anyone, I was backing up the DS left and right, Love the DS, it's great.......but the PSP blows it out of the water. I still love my DS, but not as much as the PSP.

I haven't spent anytime with wipeout yet, Lumines and THUG 2 have been taking up all my time. :)

[Drexel923]

I'm sure that some of you know that I was the biggest DS supporter, now I'm a huge frustrated DS owner, came THIS CLOSE to buying a PSP with Wipeout Pure today, it was at FYE, and it was 299. I came very closer, especially b/c I have a plane ride back to NYC tomorrow...

I need some support here, should I get it? are you guys generally satisfied with your PSPs? & Wipeout? (which is getting rave reviews...) The Cash is burning a hole in my pocket...

This question is seriously ridiculous. Why does the DS even have to be brought in to the conversation. You know it is possible to like both systems...one does not necessarily have to be better than the other. There's nothing wrong with owning and liking two different systems...if you like what you see with the PSP, then buy it...but I don't think the DS should even enter your mind when making a decision.

[Jasoco]

Actually, I got Twisted Metal. It just looked like total fun from the video review on GameSpot. So did Ape, but this one had a better review.

I'll probably get Ape Escape later on. Maybe when I pick up Mercury.

I love that Sony's games are $40. Wish Nintendo did the same thing. (By which I meant charge less rather than keep the price high as long as possible.)

Haven't opened it yet. Give me good reason not to before the craving hits.

[SoulBlazer]

Anyone know a site that has the PSP games coming out in the next four weeks?

From everyone I've talked to so far, the best original games for the PSP are Lummines, Metal Gear Acid, and Untold Legends.

Twisted Metal and Wipeout are the best online games, but the Tony Hawk game and and Ridge Racer are quite good also.

Deathstalkers, Spider Man 2, and Dynasty Warriors have been done before. If you enjoyed the games enough to REALLY just buy the same game, go ahead. ;)

The sports games look nice but don't play that well.

Again, that's from what I've been hearing from reliable sources.

I picked up more stuff for my PSP today -- a screen, a flip top case, some UMD holders, and a Power Pack. It can recharge or power a PSP for twice the normal charge of the PSP. Good idea for trips. :)

[norkusa]

Twisted Metal and Wipeout are the best online games, but the Tony Hawk game and and Ridge Racer are quite good also.

WTF??? Wipeout, Ridge Racer and THUG 2 are also playable online? For weeks I kept hearing that Twisted Metal was going to be the only online PSP game released for a while, now there's more?

By looking at the boxes, how can you tell if a PSP game is playable online? On the back of my Darkstalkers, it says Wi-Fi Compatible (Ad Hoc/Infastructure)...what the hell does this mean? I assumed this meant that it can only be linked up with another PSP that is across the room, not playable online.

It would be nice if online PSP games were labeled clearly like the Xbox ones that have that bright orange strip across the spine. No mistaking if it's Live compatible when you see that.

[Biff_McFresh]

Loving Wipeout Pure so far. Gonna throw a few mp3s and pics on later to see how all that works. Hopefully within the month get a 1 gig pro duo.

[Drexel923]

Found a decent deal on the 1 gig Sandisk duo card...it's on backorder so I don't know how long it will take, but it might be worth the wait for the price:

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10398736&loc=101&sp=1

[zmweasel]

Here's a brief summary of my PSP experiences on a game-junket trip to Las Vegas, from which I just got back a few hours ago.

Of the two dozen or so journos at the event, at least six of us had PSPs. (None of us had DSes. I asked.) We played a lot of WiFi two-player Lumines, which was drooling bliss.

Two of us had the PlayGear Pocket, which is Logitech's hard-plastic PSP protector, and which is a mandatory purch. It's rock-solid, and it looks almost as cool as the PSP.

I used the PSP almost continuously during three hours of plane flights to Vegas, another hour or so of airport layover, and an hour or so of downtime at the event, without dipping lower than two bars on the battery gauge.

The guy sitting next to me on the flight back to Redding also had a PSP, but no games; he bought it at Best Buy on Thursday, and planned to use it mostly as a movie player. He was totally engrossed in the Spider-Man 2 UMD when I bugged him and asked if he had Lumines.

Two people walked up to me at the airport and asked me some questions about the PSP, which they thought was the coolest thing ever, and which they planned to buy as soon as they had some disposable cash.

-- Z.

[Eric Dude]

ive played one, and the PSP is the phantom menace of handhelds. its all sizzle and no steak.

- luminese is the only truly original game worth picking up
- load times are awful
- battery life is terrible
- infamous shoddy sony hardware
- too expensive

the 00's (or whatever decade you want to call this) idea of convergence is a joke. we all know that UMD movies will be about as popular as original minidiscs and beta. the mp3 and movie playback features have some potential, but will cost you an additional 100 bucks for enough storage to do anything worthwhile. In this day of 30+GB ipods, a $350 PSP setup is hardly going to put a dent in Apple's sales.

this is a portable system, features like battery life and durability while not as sexy as screen size and color are essential. if you put your PSP in your pocket, and bump into a wall, you shouldnt have to worry about killing pixels, scratching the screen, or damaging the UMD slot. in 2005, a notebook computer can run for 8+ hours, there is no reason a handheld should have less.

people will disagree, but optical media was a poor choice this time around. the prime advantage of optical media over solid state has always been cost, but UMD's are just a proprietary as a cartridge, so costs will stay rather high even on budget titles. There wont be many games that utilize the extra space for gameplay. instead youll just see a lot of battery wasting FMVs and redbook audio.

i have always set my price limit of consoles at $200, there is no way ill pay more than that for a flawless handheld, the PSP is nowhere near that. The saving grace of the PSP will be the homebrew and emulation scene that is bound to develop. It could become a portable xbox, and the prospect of MAME on the go is very tempting. but that prospect is not yet reality, and its refreshing to see that sony's hype machine didnt drown reason this time around.

So you don't even own one and yet you are an expert now. :hmm:

Ok thanks for your "OPINION". Next.......

I think his opinions are well reasoned enough that you can't dismiss them out of hand. Is he making stuff up? Please refute his points.

[Uzi 9mm]

Alright, how are you supposed to import images to your PSP? I found some old Sony USB connector, that fits on my PSP. Will I need any special software?

[zmweasel]

Alright, how are you supposed to import images to your PSP? I found some old Sony USB connector, that fits on my PSP. Will I need any special software?

RE: JPEG importing, RTFM. :) MP3 importing is also described in the docs. There's no special software required to copy JPEGs or MP3s onto a MS Duo.

Video clips are trickier. I thought iPSP (www.kaisakura.com) was the way to go at first, but the more I use PSP Video 9 (www.pspvideo9.com), the more I prefer it. PSPV9 is also free.

-- Z.

[Cmosfm]

ive played one, and the PSP is the phantom menace of handhelds. its all sizzle and no steak.

- luminese is the only truly original game worth picking up
- load times are awful
- battery life is terrible
- infamous shoddy sony hardware
- too expensive

the 00's (or whatever decade you want to call this) idea of convergence is a joke. we all know that UMD movies will be about as popular as original minidiscs and beta. the mp3 and movie playback features have some potential, but will cost you an additional 100 bucks for enough storage to do anything worthwhile. In this day of 30+GB ipods, a $350 PSP setup is hardly going to put a dent in Apple's sales.

this is a portable system, features like battery life and durability while not as sexy as screen size and color are essential. if you put your PSP in your pocket, and bump into a wall, you shouldnt have to worry about killing pixels, scratching the screen, or damaging the UMD slot. in 2005, a notebook computer can run for 8+ hours, there is no reason a handheld should have less.

people will disagree, but optical media was a poor choice this time around. the prime advantage of optical media over solid state has always been cost, but UMD's are just a proprietary as a cartridge, so costs will stay rather high even on budget titles. There wont be many games that utilize the extra space for gameplay. instead youll just see a lot of battery wasting FMVs and redbook audio.

i have always set my price limit of consoles at $200, there is no way ill pay more than that for a flawless handheld, the PSP is nowhere near that. The saving grace of the PSP will be the homebrew and emulation scene that is bound to develop. It could become a portable xbox, and the prospect of MAME on the go is very tempting. but that prospect is not yet reality, and its refreshing to see that sony's hype machine didnt drown reason this time around.

So you don't even own one and yet you are an expert now. :hmm:

Ok thanks for your "OPINION". Next.......

I think his opinions are well reasoned enough that you can't dismiss them out of hand. Is he making stuff up? Please refute his points.

- luminese is the only truly original game worth picking up

That's his opinion, I felt that at least 6 games were worth picking up. Lumines is original? ha! It's really just tetris in a DAMN nice package. I dare you to try to find anything truely "original" anymore.

- load times are awful

Not from my standpoint, I've got 6 games and none of them have any longer load time than your standard PS2 game.

- battery life is terrible

I clocked in at 6 hours with Lumines last night, I got about 4 on Tony Hawk. If you are honestly gonna sit and play for more than that on a regular basis in one sitting...you need to get out more.

- infamous shoddy sony hardware

Buy an extended warranty. :roll:

- too expensive

A (pretty much) portable PS2, a portable movie player that looks better than anything on the market, a all in 1 media player with MP3 and video playback and picture viewer. It comes with a movie, very nice headphones, memory stick & pouch. 250.00 is a damn good price for all it can do, I feel it's worth more than that honestly.

Face it, his views are biased. He doesn't own one and all he can do is spew off the same stupid opinions that everyone's been throwing around for the last year.

[digitalpress]

Alright, how are you supposed to import images to your PSP? I found some old Sony USB connector, that fits on my PSP. Will I need any special software?

As stated in the manual, just copy JPG files to your [PSP DRIVE]:PSP/Photo/. MP3 files go in [PSP DRIVE]:PSP/Music/. For both, you can save your stuff in sub-folders but you can't go more than another level deep (ie Music/80's or Photo/Porn) As Zach said, the video isn't as obvious, it's stored as .mp4 files at [PSP DRIVE]:MP_ROOT/100MNV01/.

I love this thing.

[SoulBlazer]

Shoot, I just GOT a hard platic PSP protector -- the Pelican one. It's a little heavy but it protects the whole front of the PSP nice.

The Hoei scratch screen that EB sells is MUCH better. It has two tabs for easy application of the gurd and bubbles are VERY easy to smooth out to the sides.

Also picked up a power pack. When charged it has enough juice to recharge the PSP TWICE. Plus you can play while its charging. Also by Pelican.

Pelican also has some nice UMD protectors.

The Intec kit that I got with my PSP from Best Buy is very good as well. Only the screen guard did'nt work that great.

Anyone else have any accesories that are worthwile getting?

The only cons I see to the system are:
Analog button is a little unconfertable after a while
Sound is rather low for some things
Smudges and fingerprints all over VERY easily -- hard to clean
Load times for some games are rather long

Something else I've not seen mentioned -- the UMD drive is VERY quiet. You really only hear it when it's in use. It's a snap to replace memory cards. And the weight and layout of the unit is quite good.

That 1 Gig memory card price is quite good -- one of the workers at EB today said he saw another website where it was even cheaper -- for $65! He did'nt know the URL at the moment, though. :angry: Give us a yell if anyone finds it!

Those are the games I have been TOLD support MP in some function -- weather you can play them over the wi-fi network, I don't know.

Finally, it does take a while to convert movies using PSP Video 9 to get them ready to copy over. You have numerous options on tweaking the sound and picture quality, though, to help to minimize space. The videos play REALLY sharp. :D

[le geek]

Sounds like you guys are having fun! I just bought a Neo Geo game I shouldn't have, so I'll have to wait but I'd sure like to play some Lumines :D

Cheers,
Ben

[chrisbid]

That's his opinion, I felt that at least 6 games were worth picking up. Lumines is original? ha! It's really just tetris in a DAMN nice package. I dare you to try to find anything truely "original" anymore.

you seem to agree with me then, i can find original games on the three consoles. how about i expand the idea of original to include any game that isnt a franchise on another machine


Not from my standpoint, I've got 6 games and none of them have any longer load time than your standard PS2 game.

i haven't clocked it against a ps2 or even a psone, but you're trying to say that moving backwards from zero load times on a GBA is an innovation?


I clocked in at 6 hours with Lumines last night, I got about 4 on Tony Hawk. If you are honestly gonna sit and play for more than that on a regular basis in one sitting...you need to get out more.

modern gaming is not apt to brief play sessions. and again, why are you resorting to flaming somebody that doesnt agree with you?



Buy an extended warranty. :roll:

sony should build reliable hardware, 5 or 6 percent failure rate was the norm in the computer business (a few years ago when i worked at a computer store), the latest numbers on the DP poll has a defective rate of 33%... much much much much higher than the %.02 percent Sony of Japan claimed had problems


A (pretty much) portable PS2, a portable movie player that looks better than anything on the market, a all in 1 media player with MP3 and video playback and picture viewer. It comes with a movie, very nice headphones, memory stick & pouch. 250.00 is a damn good price for all it can do, I feel it's worth more than that honestly.

well agree to disagree, but the number of PSPs sitting on store shelves would show that a lot of other people think it is too expensive


Face it, his views are biased. He doesn't own one and all he can do is spew off the same stupid opinions that everyone's been throwing around for the last year.

everybody's views are biased, that is what an opinion is. at least im not resorting to call early adaptors stupid.

[Jasoco]

I opened Twisted Metal, but I couldn't get it to stay online. I never got into an arena. It kept getting kicked off. :( 1-player mode sucks. I need other people! I should have just gotten Ape Escape. :/

Anyone know if this is a Sony problem or a problem with my network?

[Querjek]

I opened Twisted Metal, but I couldn't get it to stay online. I never got into an arena. It kept getting kicked off. :( 1-player mode sucks. I need other people! I should have just gotten Ape Escape. :/

Anyone know if this is a Sony problem or a problem with my network?
I can get into an online game after a few tries, but, then, after I play the game for a few minutes, my network connection is lost, which is really pissing me off.

That 1 Gig memory card price is quite good -- one of the workers at EB today said he saw another website where it was even cheaper -- for $65! He did'nt know the URL at the moment, though. Give us a yell if anyone finds it!
It's from this website called "ZipZoomFly", but IIRC, it's out of stock and has been for a long time.

[Jasoco]

I manually set my Network Settings this time instead of auto. It worked. I was kicking ass, of course the other two left early so I was the only one left in there. It didn't seem to count their totals. :/

Just the sheer thought that I am playing a portable buy with people across the country or world or wherever it is, kicks ass. Wow. Shocking. Amazing. Yeah.

[zmweasel]

you seem to agree with me then, i can find original games on the three consoles. how about i expand the idea of original to include any game that isnt a franchise on another machine

Your definition of "original" works for me. And I don't think anyone denies that Lumines is the best original PSP game, or that most of the PSP launch games are extensions of existing franchises--which is pretty much what you'd expect from launch games. Nintendo has brought or is bringing all of its 20-year-old franchises to the DS, so are you as annoyed with that system's library as you are with the PSP's?


i haven't clocked it against a ps2 or even a psone, but you're trying to say that moving backwards from zero load times on a GBA is an innovation?

It's not an innovation, but it's the nature of optical media, and the UMD format certainly moves videogame portables forward in terms of storage capacity at affordable prices. A 1.8GB cart certainly wouldn't clock in at $40-$50.


modern gaming is not apt to brief play sessions.

Many of the PSP games thus far are actually very well-suited to brief play sessions. Sony has talked numerous times about making sure its PSP titles can be played in short spurts. Also, basically every PSP game thus far allows you to put the system into sleep mode and resume gameplay from where you left off, or save your game at any time, or both. If the battery runs low, you just sleep/save, recharge, and resume.


sony should build reliable hardware, 5 or 6 percent failure rate was the norm in the computer business (a few years ago when i worked at a computer store), the latest numbers on the DP poll has a defective rate of 33%... much much much much higher than the %.02 percent Sony of Japan claimed had problems

Looking at a DP forum poll and thinking it reflects North American PSP defect rates as a whole is a little bit crazy.


well agree to disagree, but the number of PSPs sitting on store shelves would show that a lot of other people think it is too expensive

What numbers are you quoting? Where are you finding PSPs sitting on store shelves? Are you citing anecdotal "evidence" or actual sales statistics, which won't be available for a while yet?

-- Z.

[Jasoco]

The sleep feature (Like the DS') is awesome. But I have a peeve about its functionality. It's the same flaw the PS2 has. When I want to turn something OFF, I want to click once. Not have to hold the button/switch down. This irks me. Why not reverse it? Flip and release will power off, hold down will restart (PS2) or sleep (PSP). Sony will never learn. I don't need a sleeping giant in my pocket. I want him turned off, not sleeping.

Oh well. No biggie. The PSP rocks. And I never thought I'd say that. Just a few months ago I was shouting Sony's doom in the portable market. "Nintendo will kick Sony's ass! Sony can't do it!" But well, after seeing it.. I have a feeling I will be plesantly wrong.

Lumines still owns me though. And Mercury will have my head in April. Must have more puzzle games! MUST!!!

[goatdan]

sony should build reliable hardware, 5 or 6 percent failure rate was the norm in the computer business (a few years ago when i worked at a computer store), the latest numbers on the DP poll has a defective rate of 33%... much much much much higher than the %.02 percent Sony of Japan claimed had problems

Looking at a DP forum poll and thinking it reflects North American PSP defect rates as a whole is a little bit crazy.

I'd actually say you're both wrong...

The DP forum probably does reflect the average dead pixel ratio on consoles across America... but as collectors and techno-people, this is also the board that will recognize it the most as being a problem and return it.

In the computer industry, a failure rate of 5-6% on LCD monitors would have been an insanely good rate a few years ago. Personally, I'd bet it was really quite a bit higher, and most of the people just didn't see it as a problem.

Sony is well known in the LCD monitor business for two things -- having a high rate of failure and for having some the best looking monitors on the market for the price. They make money because they deliver a top-notch product to stores, and 97.5% of the people that get them don't have a problem or perceive that they have a problem. I have a Sony LCD monitor, and it is awesome. I did return it (as well as another identical one) for dead pixels when I first got it, but again... I'm one of the 5% (or less) of people that would actually care to do such a thing.

So anyway, the PSP probably has a 33% ratio of having dead pixels, but only about 5% of those people will care. It just so happens most of us frequent boards like this one.

[zmweasel]

In the computer industry, a failure rate of 5-6% on LCD monitors would have been an insanely good rate a few years ago. Personally, I'd bet it was really quite a bit higher, and most of the people just didn't see it as a problem.

What's the current failure rate (and by failure, I assume we're talking about one or more dead pixels) of LCD monitors?


Sony is well known in the LCD monitor business for two things -- having a high rate of failure and for having some the best looking monitors on the market for the price.

Is the first thing (heh) statistically bolstered by studies or polls, or monitor-geek anecdotal "evidence"?

-- Z.

[goats]

I went to bestbuy today to try out a psp, just to see how my hands would fit and check out the gfaphics, and was really dissapointed that they did not have a display model. The clerk told me that they were not allowed to have a display model for a month but didn't know why. I would imagine alot of the general public might want to check it out before buying it, I can't imagine why Sony or Best Buy wouldnt allow it.

[Eric Dude]

I went to bestbuy today to try out a psp, just to see how my hands would fit and check out the gfaphics, and was really dissapointed that they did not have a display model. The clerk told me that they were not allowed to have a display model for a month but didn't know why. I would imagine alot of the general public might want to check it out before buying it, I can't imagine why Sony or Best Buy wouldnt allow it.

Yeah, I was hoping to find a display model at Gamestop, too, but no dice. Seems pretty damn weak to me.

[Jasoco]

What exactly do I need to look for when shopping for memory cards?

[Gamereviewgod]

Man, can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong in Ridge Racer? I finished first in every single race in the Basic tour. Not a single problem (few close ones though). Now I get to pro-12, Class 4, Red line, and I can't do it. I've been trying all day. I'm on the final race. I'm not doing anything different. I have to finish first. It simply seems like my car isn't fast enough. Should I have more then 3 selectable right now???

[Jasoco]

Why can't we do what we did when the DS came out and create a forum specifically for these systems? It's getting too confusing in this one thread. No ones questions are being answered.

[Kroogah]

For what it's worth, we did have a forum du jour dedicated to both the PSP and the DS for several months. As that's not a permanent thing, the threads were moved in here to the video gaming area and the forum was reassigned. Also, while it was there, the PSP/DS forum was the home to an awful lot of fanboyish system-vs.-system crap, which was not the purpose anyone had in mind for that forum.

It'll do just fine out here, but this seemed like the best way to keep the entire first page of the VG forum from being flooded with PSP-related topics.

[Jasoco]

This is way too confusing! Just make a PSP forum! :/

Or let us post other PSP topics without locking them! :(

I have many questions. And I have asked many questions. As have others. They all get buried under other peoples posts!

[norkusa]

This is way too confusing! Just make a PSP forum! :/

Or let us post other PSP topics without locking them! :(

I have many questions. And I have asked many questions. As have others. They all get buried under other peoples posts!

Yeah, really. This thread is starting to get messy. I think a temporary PSP forum is a good idea. Just for a couple weeks or so. I'll even help mod it if needed. :)

[Cmosfm]

That's his opinion, I felt that at least 6 games were worth picking up. Lumines is original? ha! It's really just tetris in a DAMN nice package. I dare you to try to find anything truely "original" anymore.

you seem to agree with me then, i can find original games on the three consoles. how about i expand the idea of original to include any game that isnt a franchise on another machine

It's the launch, "original" games aren't going to push sales. Tony Hawk, NFL Street, Ridge Racer....big name games....THAT'S gonna push sales. Give it a little time for the original games come out.



Not from my standpoint, I've got 6 games and none of them have any longer load time than your standard PS2 game.

i haven't clocked it against a ps2 or even a psone, but you're trying to say that moving backwards from zero load times on a GBA is an innovation?

Welcome to the world of CD Roms, where you can fit bigger games, CD quality music and movies, and an overall cheaper and larger capacity media compared to carts. Without UMD media, PSP wouldn't look HALF as good as it does



I clocked in at 6 hours with Lumines last night, I got about 4 on Tony Hawk. If you are honestly gonna sit and play for more than that on a regular basis in one sitting...you need to get out more.

modern gaming is not apt to brief play sessions. and again, why are you resorting to flaming somebody that doesnt agree with you?

you get 4-6 hours! that is not BRIEF. I wasn't flaming you either, I was making a statement, not directly at you or at anyone.



Buy an extended warranty. :roll:

sony should build reliable hardware, 5 or 6 percent failure rate was the norm in the computer business (a few years ago when i worked at a computer store), the latest numbers on the DP poll has a defective rate of 33%... much much much much higher than the %.02 percent Sony of Japan claimed had problems

I've said it once and I'll say it again...a few dead pixels that you cannot even notice unless you have a black screen and are in a dim lighted room is NOT defective. We can have perfect screens.....and we can pay 800.00.



A (pretty much) portable PS2, a portable movie player that looks better than anything on the market, a all in 1 media player with MP3 and video playback and picture viewer. It comes with a movie, very nice headphones, memory stick & pouch. 250.00 is a damn good price for all it can do, I feel it's worth more than that honestly.

well agree to disagree, but the number of PSPs sitting on store shelves would show that a lot of other people think it is too expensive

Actually, the number of PSP's sitting on store shelves would show that IT'S HORRIBLE TO LAUNCH A SYSTEM IN MARCH! People are broke, they spent out at Christmas time, most everyone's already gotten back (and spent) their tax checkes as well. We'll see how things churn out in December though, when you can't find em anywhere....and their hitting 500.00 on eBay.

[zmweasel]

What exactly do I need to look for when shopping for memory cards?

#1: Make sure it's a Memory Stick Duo or Memory Stick Pro Duo. Regular ol' Memory Sticks don't work. Far as I know, only Sony and SanDisk manufacture Duo cards.

#2: Get the biggest MS Duo you can afford. SanDisk announced a 2GB Duo last month, but it's nearly $400 (!). Someone earlier in this thread posted a link to a SanDisk 1GB Duo, which is big enough to hold three hours of the highest-quality video (768kbps video and 128kpbs stereo audio), or an arseload of MP3s and JPEGs. You can squeeze full-length flicks onto a 512MB Duo, but you'll have to mess around with PSP Video 9's settings to find a level of video and audio compression you can tolerate.

-- Z.

[zmweasel]

This is way too confusing! Just make a PSP forum! :/

Or let us post other PSP topics without locking them! :(

I have many questions. And I have asked many questions. As have others. They all get buried under other peoples posts!

At the very least, I'd love to see threads for iPSP and PSP Video 9, so we can compare notes and figger out the best settings for both programs.

-- Z.

[pacmanhat]

Maybe I'm just missing something, but causing minor (and for the most part, unnoticable) scratches on the PSP screen seems completely unavoidable. I've had mine for a day, keeping it in its holder all the time unless I'm using it, and to my knowledge I've never touched the screen with anything other than the cleaning cloth. And yet, in certain light (and when it's off), I can see a scratch on the screen. A minor one, but it's still bugging me.

Anyways, enough of my rambling...has anyone else had this problem? If so, how do you feel about it?

[zmweasel]

By looking at the boxes, how can you tell if a PSP game is playable online? On the back of my Darkstalkers, it says Wi-Fi Compatible (Ad Hoc/Infastructure)...what the hell does this mean? I assumed this meant that it can only be linked up with another PSP that is across the room, not playable online.

Ad Hoc is the local Wi-iFi mode, and Infrastructure is the Internet Wi-Fi mode, but some of the launch games seem to be mislabeled. Metal Gear Acid lists both Ad Hoc and Infrastructure on the back of the box, but only has a two-player Ad Hoc mode. Ape Escape, Lumines, and Untold Legends are all properly labeled as Ad Hoc only.

-- Z.

[buttasuperb]

Returned my 2nd one this morning, the 3rd one had 6 dead pixels, returned that one this afternoon and finally one with at least no noticible burnt pixels.

[zmweasel]

A quick tip for PSP Video 9 users:

If you're converting a fullscreen video (1.33:1 or 4:3), choose 320x240 resolution (also 4:3).

If you're converting a 1.85:1 or 16:9 (1.78:1) widescreen video, choose 368x208 (1.77:1).

If you're converting a 2.35:1 widescreen video, choose 416x176 (2.36:1).

Not a tip, but a very preliminary observation: video quality seems to affect filesize much, much more than audio quality. I'm cranking out a series of sample clips at various audio/video settings, and I'll share the results here when I'm done, if anyone cares. :)

-- Z.

[Jasoco]

I been using iPSP, or ffmpeg4 or QT Pro. So far I successfully got the Hitchhikers Guide trailer to copy over and look pretty good even squished to 13MB using the "Force Full-Screen" option which basically resized the video and added black space to the top and bottom to make it work.

[Jasoco]

Hey! Here's a question I have been meaning to ask.

Why is it the screenshots on Lik-Sang show the menu as being blue rather than green?

Is there a way to change it? The PSP has the coolest, nicest, smoothest looking splash screen to menu transition I've ever seen, I'd love to be able to customize the color though. Green's nice, blue's also, but I'd love to be able to pick a color. Like red or orange.

[mosesshirai]

I assume alot of people have seen my rant about having to return my PSP three times. Today, just as I said I would, I went to get another one for the third time. I looked at 5 different PSP's and they all had minor defects. Either screen blemishes or dead pixels. I finally settled on keeping my two-dead pixel unit, and raising a big commotion at Sony. :D

So here I sit with a unit I am unhappy with. I mean the store really tried to help me they broke open 5, count em five, PSP's for me to look at. They even took one out of a different box of 20 units(I think it was 20) hoping that it would have less defects. No chance.

Concluding, having seen at least 6 units, including the original one that had dust all up in it (I should have just kept that one and blown it out the dust if that was even possible), I am so over launch days for new systems.

The only thing keeping me civil right now is two beers and tiredness.

Laters :/

[goatdan]

In the computer industry, a failure rate of 5-6% on LCD monitors would have been an insanely good rate a few years ago. Personally, I'd bet it was really quite a bit higher, and most of the people just didn't see it as a problem.

What's the current failure rate (and by failure, I assume we're talking about one or more dead pixels) of LCD monitors?

From my own experience -- and while this is only my observation, I see TONS of LCD monitors at work and will only say this based on those numbers (probably 250 within the last year) -- I would say that the amount that have dead pixels are currently around 10%.

Also, as I've stated before, I'm overly sensitive to dead pixels, and I always check them. I know for a fact that most normal users don't even notice them, because of the ones that I have found, I've probably only sent back 1/3rd as the users say they don't see it, so they don't care.

So the actual failure rate is about 10%, but the amount of monitors I've sent back is around 3%.



Sony is well known in the LCD monitor business for two things -- having a high rate of failure and for having some the best looking monitors on the market for the price.

Is the first thing (heh) statistically bolstered by studies or polls, or monitor-geek anecdotal "evidence"?

Just my evidence from my own experiences and speaking with others. When I went searching for my monitor, I was told that Sony was the company to look for (when I bought it, it was one of only a handful of LCD monitors with a DVI in, another thing I was really looking for), but be prepared to return them if dead pixels bothered me. In looking at reviews at the time and more recently to help with some higher-end LCD purchases for work, it seems like Sony monitors have a higher rate of people complaining about their pixels. I've also been told this by people "in the industry" for various things.

All that I know is that personally, I believe it. For the price, it seems to me like the PSP screen is an excellent screen. But I think that when you pay that little for something with so much quality, you sacrifice a little bit of quality assurance.

[zmweasel]

Hey! Here's a question I have been meaning to ask.

Why is it the screenshots on Lik-Sang show the menu as being blue rather than green?

Is there a way to change it? The PSP has the coolest, nicest, smoothest looking splash screen to menu transition I've ever seen, I'd love to be able to customize the color though. Green's nice, blue's also, but I'd love to be able to pick a color. Like red or orange.

Quoting the PSP manual:

"When the month changes or if you change the month under 'Date & Time Settings,' the background color will change automatically."

-- Z.

[chrisbid]

Your definition of "original" works for me. And I don't think anyone denies that Lumines is the best original PSP game, or that most of the PSP launch games are extensions of existing franchises--which is pretty much what you'd expect from launch games. Nintendo has brought or is bringing all of its 20-year-old franchises to the DS, so are you as annoyed with that system's library as you are with the PSP's?

yes, i am annoyed, sega stole nintendo's thunder in the early 90's with original games, and sony took over the industry on the back of original titles. im not saying there is no room for sequels, but there has to be a good mix of original material. This is a knock on modern gaming as much as it is a knock on the PSP or the DS.


It's not an innovation, but it's the nature of optical media, and the UMD format certainly moves videogame portables forward in terms of storage capacity at affordable prices. A 1.8GB cart certainly wouldn't clock in at $40-$50.

the biggest upsides to optical media are price and storage. But UMDs are proprietary as any cartridge, meaning that Sony manufactures all the discs and gets a bigger cut of money as opposed to standard CD or DVD roms. first party games are 40 bucks, and third party games are 50. it remains to be seen what the price point will be for greatest hits and budget titles, but my guess would 30. thus the price advantage of optical media this time around is null

the other upside of higher storage sounds great, but how many games truly take advantage of the extra capacity to enhance gameplay? most of the data on modern games arent polygons and AI, it is FMVs, and music. on a console these features are great (especially on a huge TV with surround sound), but the effect on a handheld (even with a great screen) is greatly diminished. plus, loading and playing FMVs or audio directly from the disc sucks down battery life, but thats another bullet point.


Many of the PSP games thus far are actually very well-suited to brief play sessions. Sony has talked numerous times about making sure its PSP titles can be played in short spurts. Also, basically every PSP game thus far allows you to put the system into sleep mode and resume gameplay from where you left off, or save your game at any time, or both. If the battery runs low, you just sleep/save, recharge, and resume.

sleep mode is nice, but its an emergency measure that skirts the real issue. what fun is a game system if the battery dies on me, sure i wont lose my progress, but im SOL until i get home.

the battery itself seems to be fine, reports say that if you are playing mp3 files from a memory stick, you can get 12 hours out of the battery. it goes back to the decision to use optical media. if sony wasnt so dead set on making the PSP a movie player, solid state media couldve been used for games, and the cost of the unit, and its battery life and load times wouldve been much better.


Looking at a DP forum poll and thinking it reflects North American PSP defect rates as a whole is a little bit crazy.

even if you cut the rate in half, you still have a very high number of bad units. in the past, bad consoles were defined by the lack of abuse it could take (NES, Brickboy, original PSX), but with the PS2 and the PSP, machines are broken out of the package at a higher rate


What numbers are you quoting? Where are you finding PSPs sitting on store shelves? Are you citing anecdotal "evidence" or actual sales statistics, which won't be available for a while yet?

there are no hard numbers to quote, and Sony will certainly spin the initial sales report, but i go by a few observations

- PSPs are still readily available
- news reports on launch day said PSPs would be in short supply and sony expected to sell 1 million units "within a few days"
- retailers had low supply measures in place, such as 1 system per customer rules
- both sony and retailers positioned the PSP in a bundle package, banking on high demand and limited supply. both parties wanted to squeeze extra profit from what was expected to be a slam dunk launch.

[Jasoco]

Hey! Here's a question I have been meaning to ask.

Why is it the screenshots on Lik-Sang show the menu as being blue rather than green?

Is there a way to change it? The PSP has the coolest, nicest, smoothest looking splash screen to menu transition I've ever seen, I'd love to be able to customize the color though. Green's nice, blue's also, but I'd love to be able to pick a color. Like red or orange.

Quoting the PSP manual:

"When the month changes or if you change the month under 'Date & Time Settings,' the background color will change automatically."

-- Z.Whoa! That's cool! I wonder if it's random or set by month. I gotta go check this out! I didn't read the whole thing LOL, it's so huge. Even just the English section.

[zmweasel]

I'm cranking out a series of sample clips at various audio/video settings, and I'll share the results here when I'm done, if anyone cares. :)

-- Z.

I just DLed version 1.1 of PSP Video 9, which has a new "Profile Picker" feature that gives estimated filesizes for video/audio settings. That'll save me some work. :)

-- Z.

[chrisbid]

It's the launch, "original" games aren't going to push sales. Tony Hawk, NFL Street, Ridge Racer....big name games....THAT'S gonna push sales. Give it a little time for the original games come out.

on the contrary, "killer apps" that sell systems are almost always original games

VCS - Space Invaders
NES - Super Mario Bros
Game Boy - Tetris
Genesis - Sonic the Hedgehog
SNES - Street Fighter II


Welcome to the world of CD Roms, where you can fit bigger games, CD quality music and movies, and an overall cheaper and larger capacity media compared to carts. Without UMD media, PSP wouldn't look HALF as good as it does

i made the point before, solid state media can produce the exact same graphics as UMD discs. music can be compressed, and FMV movies are totally pointless on a handheld. UMD were used so Sony can push yet another proprietary format that few people will use.



you get 4-6 hours! that is not BRIEF. I wasn't flaming you either, I was making a statement, not directly at you or at anyone.

4-6 is not 8-10, and with a rechargeable battery, you do not have the option of bringing a couple extra AA batteries for a quick change if you run out of power at an inopportune time. you are stuck until you find an outlet


I've said it once and I'll say it again...a few dead pixels that you cannot even notice unless you have a black screen and are in a dim lighted room is NOT defective. We can have perfect screens.....and we can pay 800.00.

250 is already a high price for a handheld, there should be a higher standard of quality, than there is for an 80 dollar GBASP. but its not even equal.


Actually, the number of PSP's sitting on store shelves would show that IT'S HORRIBLE TO LAUNCH A SYSTEM IN MARCH! People are broke, they spent out at Christmas time, most everyone's already gotten back (and spent) their tax checkes as well. We'll see how things churn out in December though, when you can't find em anywhere....and their hitting 500.00 on eBay.

maybe that will be one of the excuses sony will give us with their initial sales report. but i still think price is the number one keep away factor. time will tell

[chrisbid]

bah, double post

[zmweasel]

yes, i am annoyed, sega stole nintendo's thunder in the early 90's with original games, and sony took over the industry on the back of original titles. im not saying there is no room for sequels, but there has to be a good mix of original material. This is a knock on modern gaming as much as it is a knock on the PSP or the DS.

Fair enough. Unfortunately, game-development costs have reached the point where no one can afford to innovate, but that's a whole 'nuther topic.


the biggest upsides to optical media are price and storage. But UMDs are proprietary as any cartridge, meaning that Sony manufactures all the discs and gets a bigger cut of money as opposed to standard CD or DVD roms. first party games are 40 bucks, and third party games are 50. it remains to be seen what the price point will be for greatest hits and budget titles, but my guess would 30. thus the price advantage of optical media this time around is null

Not all third-party games are $50; Lumines, for example, is $40.


the other upside of higher storage sounds great, but how many games truly take advantage of the extra capacity to enhance gameplay? most of the data on modern games arent polygons and AI, it is FMVs, and music. on a console these features are great (especially on a huge TV with surround sound), but the effect on a handheld (even with a great screen) is greatly diminished. plus, loading and playing FMVs or audio directly from the disc sucks down battery life, but thats another bullet point.

This sounds more like another knock on modern gaming as opposed to a PSP-specific complaint. In any case, Lumines is a good example of a game that benefits from the UMD, packed with high-quality tunage that both enhances and is tied into the gameplay.


sleep mode is nice, but its an emergency measure that skirts the real issue. what fun is a game system if the battery dies on me, sure i wont lose my progress, but im SOL until i get home.

This complaint applies to every handheld system ever, except that the PSP (and DS) offer sleep mode to make the outta-juice experience as painless as possible.


the battery itself seems to be fine, reports say that if you are playing mp3 files from a memory stick, you can get 12 hours out of the battery. it goes back to the decision to use optical media. if sony wasnt so dead set on making the PSP a movie player, solid state media couldve been used for games, and the cost of the unit, and its battery life and load times wouldve been much better.

This isn't a complaint about the PSP, but Sony's decision to make the PSP into a multimedia doohickey. And I'm very glad Sony went with the "Walkman of the 21st century" approach; the PSP's movie-playback capability is friggin' fantastic, and I've had almost as much fun goofing around with that aspect as with the games themselves.

DVD playback certainly didn't hurt the PS2 (especially in Japan), and the PSP's non-gaming functions certainly won't hurt it. Even Nintendo has realized this, hence the DS's forthcoming PDA functions.

Also, the PSP *does* support solid-state media in the form of the MS Duo, which geeks are already joyfully exploiting; see the slashdot link earlier in this giga-thread.


there are no hard numbers to quote, and Sony will certainly spin the initial sales report, but i go by a few observations

- PSPs are still readily available
- news reports on launch day said PSPs would be in short supply and sony expected to sell 1 million units "within a few days"
- retailers had low supply measures in place, such as 1 system per customer rules
- both sony and retailers positioned the PSP in a bundle package, banking on high demand and limited supply. both parties wanted to squeeze extra profit from what was expected to be a slam dunk launch.

I don't disagree with any but your first observation, which I have to assume is referring to online PSPs; I don't know that anyone in any region of the country can easily locate a PSP at a local retailer.

Did retailers expect too much of an off-season, holiday-weekend launch? Seems like it. And Sony will surely cite sell-in numbers instead of sell-though numbers. But what would you consider a "flop" of a launch? Half a million PSPs sold through in the first week? A quarter-million?

-- Z.

[zmweasel]

the contrary, "killer apps" that sell systems are almost always original games

VCS - Space Invaders
NES - Super Mario Bros
Game Boy - Tetris
Genesis - Sonic the Hedgehog
SNES - Street Fighter II

Space Invaders and Street Fighter II were ports of coin-op hits, not original games, and Tetris was already established as a hit on the PC before it appeared as a Game Boy title. Those games don't strengthen your argument.


i made the point before, solid state media can produce the exact same graphics as UMD discs. music can be compressed, and FMV movies are totally pointless on a handheld. UMD were used so Sony can push yet another proprietary format that few people will use.

Have you actually looked at the PSP's screen for any length of time? :) It's pretty much a mini-HDTV. Movies look absolutely incredible on it. Spider-Man 2 is amazing. Even homebrewed PSP Video 9 clips look pretty damn good.


4-6 is not 8-10, and with a rechargeable battery, you do not have the option of bringing a couple extra AA batteries for a quick change if you run out of power at an inopportune time. you are stuck until you find an outlet

I'm okay with Sony leaving out AA battery support in order to keep the PSP's design as sexy and streamlined as possible. And $20 gets you an external AA battery pack or rechargeable battery, which you should buy if you're traveling so much that you're away from a power outlet for 8 to 10 hours at a time.


250 is already a high price for a handheld, there should be a higher standard of quality, than there is for an 80 dollar GBASP. but its not even equal.

As Dan pointed out earlier, all screens of this nature are prone to dead pixels, not just the PSP's.

-- Z.

[chrisbid]

This sounds more like another knock on modern gaming as opposed to a PSP-specific complaint. In any case, Lumines is a good example of a game that benefits from the UMD, packed with high-quality tunage that both enhances and is tied into the gameplay.

high quailty tunage can be done on solid state, compressing songs to a format similar to mp3 wouldn't require the space of a UMD


This complaint applies to every handheld system ever, except that the PSP (and DS) offer sleep mode to make the outta-juice experience as painless as possible.

not entirely, a built in rechargeable battery cant be switched on the fly like a set of AAs.


This isn't a complaint about the PSP, but Sony's decision to make the PSP into a multimedia doohickey. And I'm very glad Sony went with the "Walkman of the 21st century" approach; the PSP's movie-playback capability is friggin' fantastic, and I've had almost as much fun goofing around with that aspect as with the games themselves.

the problem with convergence generally is that the extra functions are rarely up to snuff with dedicated devices. in the case of PSP's video playback, if sony had simply had a video out function on the unit, then it would've been in a much stronger position in the portable video player arena.


DVD playback certainly didn't hurt the PS2 (especially in Japan), and the PSP's non-gaming functions certainly won't hurt it. Even Nintendo has realized this, hence the DS's forthcoming PDA functions.

DVDs are a standard format, UMDs are bound to be second class


Also, the PSP *does* support solid-state media in the form of the MS Duo, which geeks are already joyfully exploiting; see the slashdot link earlier in this giga-thread.

the hackability of a game machine will always propel sales, once games can be ripped to memory sticks, and we start to see homebrew and emulators running on the PSP, things will get very interesting. though the DS also has its fair share of funtime vulnerabilities


I don't disagree with any but your first observation, which I have to assume is referring to online PSPs; I don't know that anyone in any region of the country can easily locate a PSP at a local retailer.

Did retailers expect too much of an off-season, holiday-weekend launch? Seems like it. And Sony will surely cite sell-in numbers instead of sell-though numbers. But what would you consider a "flop" of a launch? Half a million PSPs sold through in the first week? A quarter-million?

i dont set sony's goals, the PSP isnt going to die in a month, but im bold enough to assume that sony and many retailers did not meet their goals with the launch.

[Jasoco]

The battery compartment on the PSP opens without the use of tools. So yes, it IS as easy as changing AA batteries. Except easier because it's one battery rather than fumbling with 2 or more AA's and trying to get them in right.

The DS of course requires a screw driver.

[chrisbid]

The battery compartment on the PSP opens without the use of tools. So yes, it IS as easy as changing AA batteries. Except easier because it's one battery rather than fumbling with 2 or more AA's and trying to get them in right.

The DS of course requires a screw driver.

i dont see too many people buying a second battery for the PSP

[Jasoco]

I was replying to your


This complaint applies to every handheld system ever, except that the PSP (and DS) offer sleep mode to make the outta-juice experience as painless as possible.

not entirely, a built in rechargeable battery cant be switched on the fly like a set of AAs.

Also, who says people won't buy second batteries? Yeah, yeah. I know, still Someone out there might.

I for one am more interested in that Pelican thingy.

[zmweasel]

high quailty tunage can be done on solid state, compressing songs to a format similar to mp3 wouldn't require the space of a UMD

Until someone releases a DS game with as much quality and variety of music as Lumines, I have to disagree with you.


not entirely, a built in rechargeable battery cant be switched on the fly like a set of AAs.

But there's very little difference between carrying around a four-pack of AA batteries and carrying around an external battery pack. Pelican's PSP Power Brick is as tiny and as light as a AA four-pack.


the problem with convergence generally is that the extra functions are rarely up to snuff with dedicated devices. in the case of PSP's video playback, if sony had simply had a video out function on th
e unit, then it would've been in a much stronger position in the portable video player arena.

I assume you mean a video in function, but that would've added jacks and cost to the PSP, not to mention wounding its sexy profile. And, hey, perhaps Sony will release a PSP cable that allows for video input.


DVDs are a standard format, UMDs are bound to be second class

It's hard to tell at this point, although there's no question that Sony's previous proprietary formats have flopped. I've spoken with more people who are impressed with the UMD's size and quality than aren't--mostly casual/non-gamers, exactly the folks Sony is targeting.


i dont set sony's goals, the PSP isnt going to die in a month, but im bold enough to assume that sony and many retailers did not meet their goals with the launch.

I know you didn't set their goals, but what I'm asking is if you consider the PSP launch to be a failure if Sony fell even slightly short of a million units sold in, or sold through, or whatever. What's your personal definition?

-- Z.

[chrisbid]

But there's very little difference between carrying around a four-pack of AA batteries and carrying around an external battery pack. Pelican's PSP Power Brick is as tiny and as light as a AA four-pack.

but a four pack of AA's do not need to be physically attached to a unit. extra cables and wires severely upset the portability of any handheld device


I assume you mean a video in function, but that would've added jacks and cost to the PSP, not to mention wounding its sexy profile. And, hey, perhaps Sony will release a PSP cable that allows for video input.

i did mean video out. portable DVD players, camcorders, laptop computers, and other devices can be easily hooked to a standard television for viewing. in the case of DV camcorders, a three-tiered 1/8" jack allows for video out. that would not require any additional ports

a video in function would also be cool, but a PC seems to be better suited for the dirty work of video compression.


It's hard to tell at this point, although there's no question that Sony's previous proprietary formats have flopped. I've spoken with more people who are impressed with the UMD's size and quality than aren't--mostly casual/non-gamers, exactly the folks Sony is targeting.

if that is going to happen, then UMDs will have to expand beyond the PSP. UMD playback on sony DVD players would be a good start.


I know you didn't set their goals, but what I'm asking is if you consider the PSP launch to be a failure if Sony fell even slightly short of a million units sold in, or sold through, or whatever. What's your personal definition?

again, im not sony, and we will never know what their goals were, but i have to think that they expected the launch to follow the example of the PS2 and the JPN PSP. if I were running the company, i would be satisfied, but i dont have the global domination mentality of a corporate executive.


btw, this has been a very good exchange... if this were say IGN, things wouldve gone to crap by now :)

[zmweasel]

but a four pack of AA's do not need to be physically attached to a unit.

extra cables and wires severely upset the portability of any handheld device

The Power Brick actually recharges the PSP's own battery, so you can disconnect the PB after the PSP has been replenished.

As for "upsetting the portability," what exactly do you mean? How does stuffing the Power Brick into a jacket or pants pocket make the PSP any less portable? How does a single thin cable ruin the experience of playing the PSP in a car or on an airplane--especially when it's a backup power source, not a primary one?

I expect that the vast majority of portable gamers don't play for six hours at a stretch, and I assume Sony and Nintendo felt the same way when designing the PSP and DS without AA battery slots. This issue is only going to be a concern for a tiny minority, and that minority can purchase (for the PSP, anyway) a small, affordable external battery pack.


i did mean video out. portable DVD players, camcorders, laptop computers, and other devices can be easily hooked to a standard television for viewing. in the case of DV camcorders, a three-tiered 1/8" jack allows for video out. that would not require any additional ports

Why would you want to hook up the PSP to an external video source when its own screen is better than most anything you could hook it up to?

I could see this working as a Super Game Boy-style function, but not for video playback. UMD discs aren't meant to be played back on standard TVs, but on self-contained screen-sporting portable devices such as the PSP. It would be defeating the purpose of the format to play back UMDs on large-screen TVs.

-- Z.

[chrisbid]

The Power Brick actually recharges the PSP's own battery, so you can disconnect the PB after the PSP has been replenished.

As for "upsetting the portability," what exactly do you mean? How does stuffing the Power Brick into a jacket or pants pocket make the PSP any less portable? How does a single thin cable ruin the experience of playing the PSP in a car or on an airplane--especially when it's a backup power source, not a primary one?



i didnt realize that, i thought that it was only useful if it was attached to the system




Why would you want to hook up the PSP to an external video source when its own screen is better than most anything you could hook it up to?

I could see this working as a Super Game Boy-style function, but not for video playback. UMD discs aren't meant to be played back on standard TVs, but on self-contained screen-sporting portable devices such as the PSP. It would be defeating the purpose of the format to play back UMDs on large-screen TVs.

that is limiting the function of a UMD and it doesnt address video or photos ripped to memory cards. even the ipod photo has video out for slide shows. there are some portable video players on the market, but none have really broken through as the leader, the PSP could've opened a door for sony

[digitalpress]

I was really hoping we could avoid the "atrocities of the PSP" in this thread, which should be a celebration by the system's owners.

If it MUST continue I'll split the topic and let you guys duke it out.

PS I love this thing.

[evilmess]

Hey! Here's a question I have been meaning to ask.

Why is it the screenshots on Lik-Sang show the menu as being blue rather than green?

Is there a way to change it? The PSP has the coolest, nicest, smoothest looking splash screen to menu transition I've ever seen, I'd love to be able to customize the color though. Green's nice, blue's also, but I'd love to be able to pick a color. Like red or orange.

From the PSP Hardware FAQ at Gamefaqs

A. The PSP's menu changes colour every month according to the PSP's time and
date settings. The colours are:
January: Light Grey
February: Light Yellow
March: Light Green
April: Pink
May: Green
June: Light Purple
July: Cyan/Light Blue
August: Blue
September: Purple
October: Yellow
November: Brown
December: Red

At the time of writing, there is no way to manually set the colour, other than
by changing the date to the colour of the month you require.

Please note: There have been some reports that the PSP does not properly change the menu colour if the PSP is asleep over the month change. This is apparently automatically corrected once the PSP has been turned off, or a game played.

[zmweasel]

I was really hoping we could avoid the "atrocities of the PSP" in this thread, which should be a celebration by the system's owners.

If it MUST continue I'll split the topic and let you guys duke it out.

PS I love this thing.

I'll shut up now and return to celebrating. :)

-- Z.

[ClubNinja]

I was really hoping we could avoid the "atrocities of the PSP" in this thread, which should be a celebration by the system's owners.

If it MUST continue I'll split the topic and let you guys duke it out.

As a bystander, I've found the particular exchange in question to be MUCH more informative and insightful than the assorted "PSP is great!" celebration posts. Celebration of a great shift in gaming is wonderful, and it should have its own thread, but I think this is a product of only being "allowed" one PSP thread, while it's obvious that there should be a few more - if not a dedicated (temporary) forum of its own.

[GarrettCRW]

No, I don't have a PSP yet (but I will comment on the launch).

Why, you ask? First of all, look at the systems I've bought in the past year:

AV Famicom-$95
Famicom Disk System (with games)-$100
Genesis (with games)-$25
Power Base Converter-$15
DS-$149.99
PS2 (with ATV Off Road Fury 2 & online adaptor)-$149.99
PSOne (with three near-worthless games)-$69.99
Sega CD-$40

Throw in some games, and I'm kinda poor right now. ;)

Also, we have the hardware issue. Sony's rep in electronics is falling, and the quality of their console systems (or their quality assurance, at least) seems to prove the point. Even if the UMD drive/launcher and the Square button issues have been solved, I ain't buying a $250 portable with less battery life than a Gameboy Color. (The Target pre-sell info actually plays off the poor battery life as a way to sell more battery packs, so our store can increase the all-important software & accesories to consoles sold ratio.)

I'm not impressed with the games (as rehashes/sequels on the DS at least have the benefit of experimenting with the touch pad and mic to intrinsically distance themselves from the prior and/or PSP equivalents), but launch libraries usually and should look kinda boring compared to the library when a system gets retired.

It should be noted that my Target had about 10 in stock yesterday morning. I have no clue how many we got for Thursday, though, so no idea if it can be called a slam dunk (I doubt it was, though). Call me a skeptic or a Nintendo fanboy, but Sony has to prove to me that this is something worth buying. Nintendo, on the other hand, doesn't (it's just a waiting game for the "right time" with their consoles, since there's always something new with the Big N).

[l_lamb]

I picked one up Friday afternoon; I had tried at a couple of Gametop stores that were sold out. I found 2 left at Micro Center, then got games at the Target nearby which had 4 PSP's in stock.

For the record - no dead pixels so far.

Question: Does anyone know if the faceplate is going to be easily changed? It looks like the analog stick and one small screw on the bottom are all that's keeping it on. I anticipate this thing looking pretty messy after a lot of use. Seems like there would be a whole aftermarket for personalized faceplates like with cell phones.

Why didn't they print anything on the back of the case inserts? Kinda defeats the purpose of using clear cases just to look at white paper.

Here's a list of UMD movie releases that I got from Home Media Retailing Magazine.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment (Disney)
National Treasure (May 3 - same date as the DVD), Pirates Of The Caribbean (no date), Reign Of Fire (no date), Hero (no date), Kill Bill Vol. 1 (no date)

Sony/Columbia/MGM (all April 19)
XXX, Hellboy, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Once Upon A Time In Mexico, House Of Flying Daggers (same date as the DVD)

Lions Gate (no dates)
Saw, Punisher, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Open Water, House Of The Dead, Rambo: First Blood, Total Recall, Young Guns, Step Into Liquid, Universal Soldier, Stargate, National Lampoon's Van Wilder

Lions Gate will add extra content when possible.

Looks like action movies aimed at the early-adopter demographic :)