Anyone getting a PSP at launch?

[Lox]

I'm not. The release titles aren't all that interesting to me and the price is a bit out of my price range.

I'll wait and see what else comes out for it. I'm sure they will have a nice lineup at some point in the future since it is Sony.

[Kupek]

I usually don't buy a system until it's been out for at least a year. There's generally a particular title that makes me get the game. For PS2, it was FFX, and for GameCube, it was Metroid. Launch titles are rarely a must-have game for me.

[Lox]

I usually don't buy a system until it's been out for at least a year. There's generally a particular title that makes me get the game. For PS2, it was FFX, and for GameCube, it was Metroid. Launch titles are rarely a must-have game for me.

I'm pretty much the same way. I got the PSX for FF7, the PS2 for GTA3, the GC for Animal Crossing.

I'm going to give it some time too. I might end up getting a DS near the end of the year if Animal Crossing DS looks promising.

[Eric]

The release titles are hella better then the DS's lineup. I'm almost regretting purchasing the DS, the lil Touch Screen gimmick is cute, but it's jut another example of Nintendo using gimmicks to sell their shit. There's not a single game on the DS that I want to run out of my house and buy. The best thing about my DS is that I can play my Gameboy Advance games.

At least the PSP launch gives you variety, and has some type of 3rd party support.

[Julius Seeker]

Nope, there aren't any games on the system that I would want to play. As for drawing comparissons to the DS as people did above, the DS (like thew PS2) is backward compatable with a lot of great games, plus it also is my portable alarm clock =)

I like The Urbz for DS the best of the launch titles, it wasn't rated high on IGN, but it's probably the game I have been playing the most lately. Then again, IGN isn't that reliable anymore I don't think, they gave Shadow Hearts a 5.5 out of 10, and it was one of my favourite RPG's of this generation.

I don't know, portable systems are important to me since I seem to be travelling a lot lately, I've been all over the world in the last 8 months. I am getting prepared for a trip to Honduras soon as well.

Anyways, I'm looking forward tot he Mistwalker RPG (The company founded by the old Final Fantasy development team before the Quest guys took over), Harvest Moon DS, Animal Crossing DS, Age of Empires DS, Final Fantasy Dawn of Souls 3, Lunar Genesis (I really love Lunar Legends, I didn't really like the original Silver Star Story, but the handheld version seems to be much improved in every aspect except music which is lower quality, even when the graphics are higher quality), then there's also Castlevania DS which is looking quite amazing, the new Legend of Zelda DS game. The DS also has a lot of interesting features emerging, the wireless internet connection could be interesting, as well as its wireless hook-up capabilities to the new Nintendo console out next year, then there is also that encyclopedia in the works for it as well.

On the PSP though, when it becomes worth buying, I'll buy it; otherwise I think I will just wait, maybe someone will get it for me as a gift.

[Lox]

The release titles are hella better then the DS's lineup. I'm almost regretting purchasing the DS, the lil Touch Screen gimmick is cute, but it's jut another example of Nintendo using gimmicks to sell their shit. There's not a single game on the DS that I want to run out of my house and buy. The best thing about my DS is that I can play my Gameboy Advance games.

At least the PSP launch gives you variety, and has some type of 3rd party support.

I think, at this point, I don't know of any must have games for the PSP in the near future except maybe GTA. But that's because a ton haven't been announced yet, I'm sure.

The DS has a lot I want, but not enough for me to buy one right now either.

[Andrew, Killer Bee]

I spend over an hour on the train every day to work, so I am looking forward to picking up a PSP at some time in the future (the DS is, sadly, not representing at the moment). And I want Lumines bad, man, real bad (Wipeout Pure looks neat, also).

But given my history with Sony hardware, I <i>refuse</i> to buy a launch system. I have been the subject of Sony's fuck-the-earlier-adopters policy too many times! I will resist, god help me!

[Tortolia]

I see no reason to buy either a PSP OR a DS.

[Flip]

Not on release, but i will try and get one around Christmas time this year.

I have a MiniDisk mp3 player right now, and the PSP can be a better one with a 1 GB memory stick... plus, it plays games i think.

[SineSwiper]

That reminds me: I need to hunt for a portable MP3 CD player.

Edit: Hmm...very good reviews on the Panasonic SL-SX430 Portable CD/MP3 Player. Just wish it had a text display.

[Lox]

A guy I work with got one this morning and brought it in to work.

Wow. That thing is beautiful, graphically and the hardware itself. If a bunch of awesome titles come out for that I will definitely be getting one.

I was impressed for sure.

It's heavy for a handheld, to me at least. And the analog stick seems pretty good but it'll take a little bit to get used to. But I like it.

[Flip]

I love the screen, so beautiful. The extra things is can do does make it pretty amazing for a 250 dollar piece of electronics.

It says it can play video, does that include full movies? Will we see full length movies come out for it on those little disks?

Games, movies, music... what else could you want from a handheld?

[Lox]

It says it can play video, does that include full movies? Will we see full length movies come out for it on those little disks?

It comes packaged with SpiderMan 2 for the moment. I haven't seen how the movies look but the guy who bought it says they look good.

I suspect we'll see a lot of the blockbuster titles coming out for it. Now I'm curious whether someone will figure out a way to copy PSP games and movies and package them in those little cases.

The UMD is cool looking too. It's basically a mini-DVD in a clear case with a hole in it for reading the disc. Now, one thing for sure is that this thing will be sensitive. I could drop my GBA and it'd be fine. If you drop this, I bet you're screwed.

[Zeus]

Don't forget the major drawback: 4-5 hours on battery for gameplay, 3-5 for movies. That's deadly, even with a rechargable battery.

But it does look very cool and has a lot of really good things going for it. I'm just curious if people really want a portable set-top box, which is how they're marketing it

[Flip]

I dont have an ipod, i dont have a portable DVD player, hell, i dont have anything better than an original Gameboy... this is perfect for someone like me!

[ManaMan]

How's the battery life on one of those things?

[Tortolia]

Portable DVD players also don't require you to buy media in a specific proprietary format, and some are cheaper than a PSP.

[SineSwiper]

Why does the competition fuck up every single time with the battery life test? It seems like Nintendo doesn't really hold a monopoly; they just hand it to them all the time.

[Flip]

I am kind of surprised with the battery life of only 5 hours. My Sony MD player and most of their CD walkmen and stuff can run 60+ on one AA! I thought Sony had figured something out that noone else knew....

[Lox]

I am kind of surprised with the battery life of only 5 hours. My Sony MD player and most of their CD walkmen and stuff can run 60+ on one AA! I thought Sony had figured something out that noone else knew....

I'm sure that screen eats battery power rather quickly.

[Zeus]

The screen backlit and that large for sure. But more than anything, it's the optical drive that sucks battery like crazy. And with movies (like most DVD players), it's constantly running. Thus, bye bye battery life

[Don]

There hasn't been much backthrough in battery technology for a long time. I'm pretty sure the reason why Nintendo stuff lasts longer is because they don't need to use as much power due to lower graphic specs as opposed to knowing something someone else doesn't.

[ManaMan]

Perhaps the higher battery demands of the PSP will launch a revolution in battery technology! ...or perhaps not.

[Don]

That seems rather unlikely seeing electricity is generated by chemical reaction which maxes out at something like ~4 eVs (Lithium ions) per reaction, which is why Lithium batteries pack more power than say copper one (probably mid 1s eV per reaction), but the law of chemistry say you're not going to suddenly find a way to get say, 20 eV out of a reaction. Now, there are other way to produce electricity, but given batteries has used chemical reactions since forever, it'd suggest that this is probably still the most reliable one at least.

[Julius Seeker]

Well, did anyone get one?

[SineSwiper]

No. I'm not going to get something that runs out of batteries in 5 hours.

[Eric]

It's not like you have to pay for the batteries. >_>

Seriously, how often are you gonna play a handheld for 5-hours straight without finding a minute to recharge it?

[SineSwiper]

It's just annoying. Not only that, but isn't the movies supposed to be on a stupid mini-DVD format? It seems like if they are going to bother to make the thing that big, might as well make it about the size of a DVD, and put a DVD drive on the back, instead of this UCD format.

Honestly, I'm tired of buying games for portable systems. Just make everything backwards compatible with the maint console system. TurboGraphics 16 had this for its portable, and I haven't see it since. The GameCube adaptor comes close, but no cigar. Even if they have to do something like making it a portable for the previous console system (ie: restart game development for PSX games, and make the new portable good for PSX games.), it would be a leap forward. I hear that the newest Nintendo portable will do this, but I'll wait and see.

[Zeus]

It's not like you have to pay for the batteries. >_>

Seriously, how often are you gonna play a handheld for 5-hours straight without finding a minute to recharge it?

It has nothing to do with that. It's all about the regularity of the charge. With the SP, I only play it a few times a week for an hour at a time, so if I play the same with the PSP, the danger is there for me to have to recharge it every week, especially if I start watching movies, which I'll likely do. I don't want to watch a movie one day then have the thing run out of charge the next during the middle of the film, which is a real concern.

10 hours is about minimum for a convenient charge. Since these devices are all about convenience, that becomes a big deal. It's basically like having my laptop or a portable DVD player and I hardly use either without the battery plugged in

[Julius Seeker]

I'm not so sure about handhelds as a movie player. I have a portable DVD player that I bought when they were the craze in the electronics market; I used it maybe 4 times. It's one of those things that I bought and never really got any use out of. Either way, I don't think the 5 hours is a problem, unless you plan to play for more than 5 hours while travelling (which could be a huge problem for me, since I do travel a hell of a lot nowadays). The larger problem I think would be the durability, rechargeable batteries do not last forever, the more times they are recharged, the lower their lifetime becomes.