The PSP is definitely the system to get for those interested in a portable media player. But obviously that doesn't matter for those who'd only use it to play games, and there's extra cost involved to use most of those features....

.....as most people don't have memory sticks lying around.

It's a review thread, albeit one that the original poster started positively. Being a review thread I expect to see the pros and cons of the system, with people saying what they liked and didn't like about to help me (and others) decide whether to buy one.

Thanks for your 2cents...errrr 1 cent

Hey, if you don't like my posts, put me on your ignore list instead of making little snide remarks all the time. That will just eventually get you in trouble.

Case in point: This week, Fry's is offering a 1GB Lexmark SD card for $60. So twice the storage for $5 less than a 512mb memory stick.

Yeah, proprietary formats suck for just that reason.

:lol: That's funny. I noticed that Amazon has a 1GB SD card for 60ish too...think it's time to get a new card for my Pocket PC.

But you're right the memory stick is still high, it's gone down in price...but it's still high next to SD, MC, XD

"Loving the PSP"

Now you are loving it....give it a week or two...you will be playing it less and less until it goes on the shelf, and you will be playing your PS2 or Xbox. Unless you are somebody who travels all the time and can't play a console. It's just the excitement around its launch and it's a new cool gadget that not many people have yet that you are loving. Please don't see this as a flame or negative post...I don't mean anything bad by it. Just my opinion :)

wlj

Not necessarily. As longtime portable player, I actually spend more time playing my portables (currently a DS, but GBA, GBC, GB, GameGear, and more before that) than my home console because I can do it while watching TV (or, more importantly, while my wife is watching TV), hanging out at my folks, etc. Because it is more versatile and I don't have to shut out the world to play it, it gets more attention.

So in my case, anyway, I'll probably end up playing the PSP and DS more than my regular consoles.

Come on man... you know that's not right!












(I put my GB Color in a drawer) :(

[QUOTE=
So in my case, anyway, I'll probably end up playing the PSP and DS more than my regular consoles.[/QUOTE]

Great...but you have to understand that you are in the minority. Most people do not play portables more than their consoles....unless all they do is travel or do not even own a console.

wlj

[QUOTE=wlj]wlj, You know with FPS on the PSP you wouldn't need a cardboard screen splitter....just a thought ;)

Well when you put it that way......SOLD!!!! :lol:


wlj

It depends on the games out at the time for me, in regards to whether I play my consoles or portables more. For instance, I recently played through Mario and Luigi (GBA) on my DS and loved it so much I didn't touch a console until I finished it.

I'll probably do that with the new Zelda GBA game and the new Mario DS game when it comes out. Though I'm forcing myself to play through Metroid Prime 2 first.

I was exactly the same way.. but (IMO At least) in the past the portable games havent been this extensive and in depth. You'd get NES and SNES ports for the most part, some other games that would look great.. for a super NES game, and most just werent very in depth (And I'm not just saying that because of the way they looked), with the PSP, they've really gotten to the point where they can have full new console-quality games on a handheld - And because of that, I fully expect to use it just as much as any other console - ragardless if I'm on the road or not.

It remains to be seen how "in depth" the PSP games will be. I don't consider in depth to mean graphics. I'm fine with SNES level graphics, if the game play is good. And games like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (which is crazy long, probably 40-60 hours to get all the way through) are pretty in depth in terms of having a ton of gameplay.

http://www.zbattery.com/zbattery/memoryeffect.html

Summary: With LiIon there's no memory effect.

Good to hear. Thanks for the info GatorDeb.

By the way I wanted to add that I have all three consoles and never play them (GC/XBOX/PS2). I'm so busy that games don't get any play time. But now that I had a break from school and nothing to do at work (I work overnight at a call center and in the first 5-6 hours we get an average of 3 or less calls an hour) I've been playing my GBA. It's great when you have to wait at the DMV, the doctor's etc. I start school again next week so it'll go back to the dustbin until the semester's over. But I'm definitely going handheld-only from now on (I plan to get both a DS and a PSP).

It's funny how you point out the price hasn't even been confirmed yet, but you seem to use the $50 price point of games as if it is confirmed. You do realize that Nintendo DS games cost $50 in Japan too right? You do realize GBA games go for $40 to $50 in Japan too right? You do realize that PS2 games are $60 to $70 in Japan right? Just because the current batch of PSP games are 4000 to 5000 yen or $40 to $50 in Japan does not mean the games will be that expensive here. There has not been any indication of how much games will be here so it's silly to try and argue that after buying a PSP and two games, you spend more than you would a DS and 2 games.

I've got my Nintendo DS and PSP here yet I'm still waiting for my first Nintendo DS game to buy. It's a system without any worthy games right now. It's a system with a lot of potential, and a lot of good games coming for it, but right now the Nintendo DS is hardly in great shape when it comes to software. The PSP on the otherhand, which I only paid $235 for the value pack, is by far getting more usage with at least 3 hours a day, and has several solid games that have great replayability and lastability thus far. They are not just great portable games, they stack up as solid console games, especially for launch titles. The PSP is off to a better start and right now offers better bang for the buck with its extra capabilities. Will it stay that way, who knows, and I sure as heck hope not, but as of right now the Nintendo DS is collecting dust. Hopefully my Japanese version of Mr. Driller finally arrives so I'll have something to play on it.

For the record, I average at least purchasing one game a week and will likely own more Nintendo DS games than most people own across all their systems. It's just that right now, there is barely anything to play. I'm so disappointed in Nintendo's weak software offering for themselves. I would have expected more from them other than enhanced port of a game I've already bought twice. Where's Metroid? Where's Wario Ware? Those would have been great launch titles.

Well...you are in a situation where a handheld is your only option. So of course you are going to play a handheld more. But normal gamers in normal situations will play their console more.

Softdec....you should be in a commercial promoting the PSP :). I am glad you are having a blast with it. You use the term "new console" graphics with the PSP....I don't think that is true. I have done some reading on the PSP and I have read that the graphics are not even PS2 quality...they are somewhere in between PS1 and PS2. I am sure the graphics blow other handhelds away...but I really don't think the PSP has graphics like the "new consoles" XBOX2 and PS3 will have.


wlj

I understand how everyone is defending nintendo (they've made some great games), but its futile to say nintendo will have the same capabilities as PSP. How would you use the DS as a web browser? how would you upload the software? How would you play your own mp3s, movies, or pics? Sure there is speculation that some sort of add-on SD card converter will be release, but that's all there is, speculation. And besides if something does come out, itll cost money (which is what people are saying will hurt sony - buying additional peripherals) and will be extremely inconvenient.

What will be interesting is how modders exploit the Memory stick capabilities. I have a feeling people will be able to play many emulators.

The DS has built in WiFi, so I'd assume they'll put out a browser on a game card when they launch the online functions in the spring as currently rumored.

The MP3, player is announced. Movies are futile as the screen is too small IMO. But I'd never use the PSP or DS for either of these functions. Both are far to big for MP3 players, compared to Dell DJ's iPods etc that will hold a ton more songs and are much smaller. And the screen on both is far to small for movies. I'll stick with my laptop for portable movie watching.

What it comes down to for most is games, and which of the two will have better game lineups. After all these are portable gaming consoles first, all the other features are secondary.

Have you tried Feel the Magic? It's very similar to Wario Ware in that it's quirky mini-games. The main difference is that it's mini-games rather than microgames so there are less of them and they are more indepth and last longer. But it seems that most people that dig Wario Ware also like FTM.

You're in the wrong decade for this arguement Josh.

Wario Ware is coming in February.. or March. Well both actually, but I can't remember which month the DS one comes out (but both are going to be wildly different and both will be MUST BUYS).

I recently finished FFTA (well, the main plot portion, anyway) and saw, to my horror, that I had spent something like 270 hours playing it. Now, a lot of that time was not active playing, but still. No other game has held my attention for that long on ANY console, with the possible exception of Animal Crossing. I think that's indicative of the kind of gameplay experience that's possible on a portable (and not just the PSP).

The DS has wi-fi, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. And the media player for the GBA/DS is old news. Pictures and impressions of it have been available for weeks.

Here:
http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/573/573438p1.html

And here:
http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/573/573950p1.html

So, do you guys think that emulators will be coming out on the psp. Think of the possibilities. Playing zelda, metroid, old final fantasys on the psp. this gives me DOUBLE :drool:

That depends on if you can run external software from the memory sticks. I wouldn't count on that though, it just opens up too much possibility for piracy of actual PSP software. If you can run software off the stick, what's to prevent somebody from tricking the PSP into thinking the stick is the disc drive and running copied PSP games from it?

But weren't they talking about downloading games from the web to the memory stick to run them? (or was that the DS?) You probably need to be "signed" to run apps from the memory stick, but I'm guessing the hackers will find a way around that.

I doubt we'll see any emulators for just the reason Pixy mentioned.

Well.. if they do offer that, I'm sure fan-based software will show up.. but like I said, having the ability to do that opens up to many danger signs for Sony and it's publishers. The DS on the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if Flash RAM cards are already available. If you're looking for emulation I'd keep my eyes on the DS first until it's confirmed if the PSP will run external software of any kind. Still.. I wouldn't count on anything above SNES generation emulation on either handheld, which I'm sure both are capable of handling nicely.

Man, I'd kill to have Monster World IV on the go. :)

Pixy: It's just a shame that Wario Ware was available in the first week of December in Japan but isn't coming out till February or March here. You can't tell me they couldn't have at least had it out by Christmas. I think its poor planning on Nintendo's part to only have one title offering and it only be a port.

With regards to running applications and software on the PSP, Sony has already built in the functionality to run applications from the memory stick. It's really only a matter of time I think rather than a question of if it will happen.

Another question. Will you be able to store saved files on your pc and have the ability to e-mail them off to somebody else.

I wonder if game companies will have updates ready to download. That would be very sweet.

^ Yes :p

It's already being done. People are backing up their save files and swapping them with friends.

I'd imagine we'll also see some games on both the PSP and DS eventually allowing the sharing of game saves, codes, items etc. via WiFi. I'd be shocked if Animal Crossing DS didn't allow this.

The problem with Nintendo DS's wifi is the way Nintendo hides it and right now has only shown their protocol. That causes doubt if you will have easy access setup for 802.11b protocl which it supposedly supports, but we can only go by what others are saying. Thus there is doubt where as it's already shown how easy it is to set up wifi on the PSP and people are already connected to the net with it.

I was all set on buying one of those portable media devices but I think I'll hold off and wait & see how the PSP will do with converted video files.

Question - the PSP only accepts Memory Stick Duos right? Or will any memory stick do?

Only Memory Stick Duos and Pro Duos. Duo means its the smaller sized memory stick so normal memory sticks are too thick and too long to fit in the slot.