Does the PSP really load this slowly?
 

I was reading EGM and the "By The Numbers" part had this....

4.6 - millions of PSP units sold to date in the US
350 - films, tv prorams, and other content you can access on your pop
100 - games currently available
6:28 - minutes it takes to load a match on WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw 2006 as documented by a GameVideos clip

Is that common or uncommon? Does it really load super slow.

Some games are really bad. Probably the worst I had was Tiger Woods (the one that came out at launch). It would take a few minutes to load a hole.

By the time you get to the menu screen on a PSP you can already be playing your DS game. So, yes, load time is an issue but I think WWE Smackdown is an extreme example.

Think of the load times more like a console as opposed to a traditional portable.

I think the PSP is a little worse than normal consoles because seamless loading techniques are looked down upon as the drain on the battery would be murder. Of course, it's always going to vary on the type of game and the laziness or cleverness of the developer. Keep in mind that if you are using the PSP as a portable device that then 30 seconds here, 1 minute there routine is a real kick to the nuts for those 5-15 minute gaming spurts.

That video clip has become a common joke... but it was an extreme example, mainly because the game not only had long loading times, it had really long loading times for custom characters. Most games will not have long loading times, and if they do, you can be sure someone is going to mention it in a review. It is a disc-based media, and it will require loading, unlike cartridges.

That's a lie about the Smackdown thing, UNLESS you are doing a 6 man battle royale where ALL the wrestlers are CAWs.

For just a normal match with normal wrestlers, the load times are just as "bad" as the console version.

So then, 5:28 instead of 6:28.

Yep, load times are bad enough on a console, but they pretty much kill any desire I have to play a portable game for just that reason.

I like the fact that I can be playing <b>Advance Wars: Dual Strike</b> (as in, selecting commanding officers and deploying) in literally 6 or 7 seconds.

Some games have the load times right so developers can work around this. GTA for instance has fairly quick load times. If GTA can do this so could other developers if they felt like putting in the time. Part of the problem as mentioned above is the PSP has to be crippled because of battery life. Disc access has to be limited and the processor speed is restricted. Definitely a piece of hardware that will probably never live up to its potential.

I think thats one thing Sony was hoping would not annoy people. Loading to play a *portable on the go* game. I dont even remeber when the last time I turned on my PSP where as my DSL is on at least every other day mainly for tetris WIFI.

Face it, the ds is a better system overall. Graphics aren't everything.

Daxter is an enormous, beautiful game with almost NO loading times. OK, they fudge a little while showing elaborately opening mechanical doors or elevator rides, but essentially it's load-free and very impressive.
I agree GTA is really pretty painless; better than the PS2's GTA games.

I think most developers have gotten the hang of limiting the load times. One thing I have noticed is that the console ports temd to have much more painful load times than the PSP-dedicated games.

I'm temped to pick up Mignight Club 3 now that it's so cheap, but I hear those load times are pretty awful.

get rid of the PSP its a useless thing Go Nintendo DS become a convert I did

This video is of a one on one match and it looks like one character is a CAW. Total video time is over 5 minutes from when the loading starts to when the actual match starts (which includes their entrances).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjf0D...mackdown%20psp

Well, it is definately a good point about all disc based media and load times. I use to think carts would be a thing of the past, but I think we will see them on portable systems for a very long time.

Hmmm. Do they have a Brain Age-type of game that teaches grammer and punctuation?


As far as the PSP being "useless", I compeletely disagree. I have several games for the PSP that I really love and though the DS is a wonderful system for what it does with some terrific portable games, I doubt it could duplicate some of the PSP's best games such as Daxter, GTA:LCS, Burnout Legends or the upcoming Tekken game with much success.

I recently played a friend's PSP and it had pretty bad loading times. I've also actually seen that Wrestlemania video and it was absolutely awful. I own a DS Lite and I'm glad that I decided to buy that instead of a PSP. The DS (in both incarnations) is a superior system.

I agree, it's a great system for people who simply want a portable PS2, which is a great many people.

It's not for me as I'd rather just play Daxter, Burnout, Tekken etc. on my consoles instead of my portable since my DS also gets played at home 99% of the time.

I like the DS as it gives me types of games I can't get on the consoles. I don't game on the go hardly at all, so I have no use for a portable like the PSP that largely gives me the same type of games I could play (and enjoy more) on my consoles on the TV with surround sound.

But that doesn't mean the PSP is useless by any means, just that it's not for me.

I played around with the PSP my roommate had and the greatest joy I got out of it didn't bring Sony any additional money. The homebrew/emulation market is killer, I loved it! I would also load tv shows that I converted onto the memory stick and watch it at the gym.
The PSP is not useless, unf. its not being used in a way that Sony intended.

I agree. I have seen them and been very impressed with the picture quality, but I find that I really don't care much about PQ when dealing with a portable game.

My portable gamin tends to be puzzle crap, stragtegy crap, etc.

I don't have a laptop, so it's my wifi access on the go. I do play SOCOM:FTB pretty much exclusively even tho I have 1 & 2 for the PS2. I do like that I take it on the plane ride to Hawaii and I can watch my ripped movies. I haven't homebrew'd it as I kept considering that option, but I recently upgraded to 2.7.1. which killed all thoughts of emulator games.

Of course, I didn't pay for it so that's a BIG plus!

I have smackdown for ps2, and at one time had it also for psp. Load times were definitely lengthy. And if your playing a CAW in season mode, its long. A warning even pops up telling you that using a CAW will result in slow loading times

Midnight club was mentioned. Stay away. When I played it, Loading time was longer than a typical race.

NFSU Rivals has good load time for a racer though.

:lol: That would be absolutely unacceptable.

http://www.gwn.com/articles/article.php/id/747/p/1/

I would love to disagree with this article, but I think it rings fairly true. There is some incorrect info. The PSP can be bought for $200 now and Loco Roco has potential to be a hit, but overall I have to agree the PSP is probably a dead system that will see its support drop quickly over the next few months. I'm wondering if Gran Turismo will ever be released at this point.

Let me outline how to correctly implement a PSP2. Some of these are obvious, but Kaz "Riiiidge Racer" Hirai can send me a check when this is done.

- Two analog sticks.
- Slightly larger screen, if you can manage it.
- UMD2: 80mm (small) discs, Blu-Ray based. For games, this single layered disc will hold about 6GB, enough for any game. For UMD2 movies, a dual layer can then hold a DVD-resolution movie that you can play in your PSP2 or Blu-Ray player (using the 80mm tray). If they ever get multiple layers working, you could even have an HD version of the movie.
- Built in Wi-fi
- Games
- Touch-screen

I don't know if you can pack all that in, but they should try.

I don't think any of that will address the problems people have.. in fact it'd probably just reinforce them. By making the system MORE powerful they'd be alienating developers even more on the cost of development versus software sales. I think the better option would be simply a redesign in another year or so that fixes the issues with the d-pad and the analog stick (both of them are horrible) and work whatever they can to ease the battery strain. With the recent announcement in Japan for three more Tales games on the PSP I'd have bought one if the controllers weren't so bad.

is this your opinion? or did u read it somewhere?

Sony made the same mistake Sega did with the Game Gear. Technically superior in every way to the Game Boy, but I like to be able to play my portable systems for longer than 15 minutes without being tethered to an electrical outlet. I had one, and I loved it--when I was at home.

No this is common knowledge. Many, many articles have quoted Sony about the limitations on the processor (333Mhz restricted to 222 Mhz) and on disc access that had to be made for the sake of battery life.

interesting aspect of programming for handhelds

I forgot all about Gran turismo. There was so much hype before the system came out for this game on the PSP. The hell ever happen to it

Were it me, I would go away from the UMD and go to a cart based deal (or some kind of propietary memory stick) to avoid the lag times. Looking at the computer power it takes to do HD, I don't see that as viable for quite some time so long as battery life is important.

No to UMD2. UMD was a bomb. It proved that Solid State game cartridges are the way to go. Just make the cartridges bigger so they can fit more memory. You can buy a 4GB Flash card for $80 now, so a 1GB memory card makes sense. Also, you could increase the size of the card in later generations of games.


Here's how Gallant Pig makes a PSP2:

> 2 analog sticks
> no "mirror" screen, too much glare, or make it optional.
> folding clamshell protector build in for max portability and safeguard
> memory card based cartridges
> no damn homebrew defeaters, need to make homebrew feel at home so they don't have to hack the system so bad to use homebrew
> mini-touch screen a la the DS
> 640x480 screen resolution
> max PMP functionality being able to DivX, Xvid, WMV, and all types of video files
> some PDA functionality, ie a planner/calendar, todo list, etc.
> builtin hard drive, standard is 60GB, 120GB is optional

It is quite the quandry. I agree with you. They can't make it more powerful, that would just magnify the problems. They also can't make it less powerful or people would completely shun it and wonder what was wrong with Sony. A lateral move with a redsign sounds like the best idea, maybe switching media formats in the process, I'd say abandon UMD alltogether. It isn't like they have the penetration Nintendo did when they introduced the GBA therefore "needing" backwards compatibility.

I don't think they should change media formats, though improving the joypad and the analog stick would do wonders. They need battery technology to improve, so that not only would battery life improve, but developers could design games around the inherent limitations of a disc-based format.

Technology needs major improvement in battery technology in general. Tech keeps moving forward, but battery technology is stuck two decades ago.

Same thing that happens to every GT game shown, its a proven life cycle for the series:
Life Cycle => Demo, hype, delayed, features cut out, hype, delayed, released. I'm not sure what part of the cycle they are on with this iteration.

I think the only thing the PSP needs is more good games. There are some good games, but not as many as the DS has.

- I think the battery life is good.
- I think the multimedia capabilities are excelent. I rip my DVDs and with PSP Video 9 convert them and transfer them to my PSP and have excelent quality.
- The web browser is goog.
- I have a 2 GB memory stick and I think that's enough for me for movies, music, etc.

So the only thing that's missing right now is more good games. We should be able to have one good game every month.