I would love to have a portable system that would play my PSX games. Many portable cd players are pretty darn small now. So do you think we will see this type of platform? If Sony would put one out, I think they could give GBA some tough competition.

while I don't count it out at some time in the future, it's just not feasable right now. It takes alot of power to run a screen on a portable system. It also takes alot of power to run a cd-rom laser lens and mechanism. I would say until they perfect these fuel cells that are the future of cell phones and laptops, we'll won't see any.

You probally wont see one for "full sized" CD's like a PSX game.

However, Nintendo has gone on record saying that the 1.5gig discs they are using will be ideal for portable gaming, and hopes that it will become a standard.

In other words I think they are saying that after the GBA, probally 4-8 years down the road, nintendo will probally release a portable unit that uses these smaller discs. You can also look for it to actually play Gamecube games.

But again this is far off, which is good, because until electronics improve enough, running a CD just sucks to much juice now.

I concur, the combo of spinning and reading the disc, and powering the screen would suck batteries and power packs to fast for it to be feasible. It would kick ass though.

I'd rather have a wireless internet-based handheld. Think of the possibilities - with CDs, you have to carry around discs, which are pretty big, and with the Internet, you can play streaming games, and no dial-up, either. I saw a cool pic of the GBA running Windows Me. I was truly impressed by that...

I could see a handheld CD or DVD based system. It'd probably be a mini-CD or DVD to make it small enough. If memory became cheap enough, then you wouldn't have to constantly read the CD. Just load it up into memory once every few minutes, like my Rio Volt. You might not get 15 hours out of a set of batteries, but 6-8 would be decent.
BTW, Freedexter, Where did you see this pic of the GBA running Windows ME?? I could see it running on Windows CE, but ME is 500MB minimum install.....

The PS One that came out in Japan has a little screen on it. But it expensive. Supposedly it's going to get released here.

Yes but it is not a true portable as it does not have the capability of using batteries, you still need access to a power supply.

I thought that the PSOne could be powered off a crapload of batteries?

Anyway, still not really a "handheld" is it, more of a "portable"; unless they plan on integrating the control pads somehow, you still need somewhere to plonk it down to play it.

Not entirely sure a handheld CD-based unit would be that good, I mean, would the gamne crash or lock up everytime the unit got a jolt and the CD skipped? That's the good thing about cartridge-based handhelds; virtually no moving parts, so nothing to skip or jump when you jolt the unit around.

Well excuse-m-wa. But isn't anything that can be easily moved considered "portable"? The first line of this thread is "I would love to have a portable system that plays my PSX games" - he didn't say handhelds.

But have you seen the Japanese PS One? It is very small, and is intended to be taken and played anywhere you'd take a handheld system. And it has a little screen too! You could even set it on the dash of your car and play it while you drive. Woohoo everyone play Ridge Racer while you're in heavy traffic! Or you could play Gran Turismo, and during the driving tests in the game you could also try them in real life. It's educational!

Well, I think if you have to plug it in to something, tts not a true portable. Other wise the normal playstation is easily unplugged and movable. Exspecially if you have a TV/VCR with front RCA jacks.

I guess I think it would mainly be cool to play a lot of old PC cd-rom games on a handheld.

You can say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

Why would a cdrom take more juice than a cd player? Is there something involved I don't get?

The Japanese and US PSOnes ar identical, neither of them are handhelds and neither of them are true portables. It's possible there might be a car adapter, but that still prevents you from using it on the plane, train or anywhere else but in a car.

By the way there is no need to get testy.