PSP Games....or not?

[Biobanger]

This thread + pretty shiny = http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/2/7

[schild]

This thread + pretty shiny = http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/2/7

I'm fairly certain Max Steele is Alex Macris, aka Arch0n. Oh, on topic, uh...

Death Jr. looks really fucking good and the collector's edition (preorder, same price as regular a la Jade Empire) comes with UMD holders  .

[AOFanboi]

Death Jr. looks really fucking good and the collector's edition (preorder, same price as regular a la Jade Empire) comes with UMD holders  .

It's still strange that one of the first announced PSP games isn't out yet.

[schild]

Metroid Prime: Hunters, one of the first announced games for the DS came as a demo and isn't out for another 3 months. Death Jr. was never confirmed as a launch title. Nor Metroid. Just sayin'

[Shockeye]

Sony busts out version 2.0 of PSP firmware + new ceramic white PSP

Posted Jul 21, 2005, 7:16 AM ET by Peter Rojas



We know that your friend who has a friend whose dad works at Sony sent you a pic of a white PSP months ago, but this is the real deal: Sony officially announced a new white PSP, as well as version 2.0 of the console’s firmware, at the PlayStation Meeting 2005 in Japan earlier today. The update will be free, natch, and besides almost certainly disabling any and all homebrew hacks (you know how Sony rolls…), v2.0 of the firmware will add WPA (finally!), a legit web browser, a new mode for wirelessly swapping pics with other PSP users, and support for a new service called Portable TV for transmitting video directly to a PSP (this one might only be for Japanese users). Firmware 2.0 should be available in Japan this coming Wednesday, with the new white PSP due out September 15th.

[Daydreamer]

I give it 3 months before it gets cracked, at most.

To Sony: Surrender now and save us all a lot of trouble, eh?

[MrHat]

Mmmm, that eb warranty might pay off in Sept.

[Hanzii]

Great, it finally matches those stupid headphones that came with mine.
When do they release a version with black hedphones, so I don't look like an iPod owner?

[AOFanboi]

so I don't look like an iPod owner?

With a white PSP, you would.

Frag it, Sony, why not go the whole nine yards and call it an iPSP? You are so scared of Apple's upcoming video-iPod it smells.

[schild]

Frag it, Sony, why not go the whole nine yards and call it an iPSP? You are so scared of Apple's upcoming video-iPod it smells.

Apple's upcoming ipod can play games to?

Seriously though, unless it has a widescreen, better sound, a better LCD and will play any divx file I feed it, it's a waste of money. It'll probably cost at least twice as much as a PSP and only be half as functional. I've yet to have been given a reason to upgrade from my 2nd generation ipod.

[AOFanboi]

Apple's upcoming ipod can play games to?

Why not? The current ones can.

[Hanzii]

Frag it, Sony, why not go the whole nine yards and call it an iPSP? You are so scared of Apple's upcoming video-iPod it smells.

You still need an extra piece of hardware to get your iPod Photo to act like a simple photobank, so the chances of them releasing a functional video-iPod that would compete with the PSP (or even an Archos) out of the box is pretty unlikely (You would probably need to use iFilm  just to get you movies converted to a special version of Quicktime, then you'd need a special adapter to put the movies into your Video iPod... and you'd still only get pretty low res. films on a 2 inch screen - but I'm sure you could do some funky special effects and quick edits with the click wheel as well as adding add your own soundtrack to the films)
Apple is a one trick pony... but they're really good at their one trick.

What I meant was, that I don't care about a white PSP, I just want some decent black headphoes to replace the crappy white ones Sony provided.

[Kitsune]

Both DS and PSP have failed so far in my book.  Neither has properly exploited their wireless capability, neither has any game that makes me fall out of my seat in my haste to run buy it.  Sony's still fucking around and not putting out the firmware to let the PSP show video at full resolution, even the 'improved' 2.0 just stretches a 320x240 video to fit the screen.  Paying $20+ for a movie on the PSP is simply idiotic from the start, anyone who does that needs to be slapped.

1. I want good games.
 DS - Which means no crap games using the touch screen as a useless gimmick.
 PSP - Which means not flooding the market with remakes of old PS2 games.

2. I want good multiplayer.
  Both - Which means I can take a game and play anyone, anywhere, from any wireless access point.  DS - Without having to use a proxy server on my home network as a hack to trick it into thinking my router is another DS.

3. I want useful Internet utility.
 DS - Picto Chat doesn't count.
 PSP - Good start with the new web browser, but needs to be better.

First one to meet all three requirements gets my money that very same day.

[Rasix]

Death Jr. not being received well.

Looks like the major points against it are that it's too short, there's little to no polish in the way of music and voice acting, and the level design/monster design is less than inspired.  Sounds like this one was pushed out a tad too early.

As periodically intense and initially charming as Death Jr. can be, the whole of the game isn't engaging. The fact that there's no real storyline or charm to latch onto makes the unremarkable gameplay and presentational components that much worse--not to mention how short the whole adventure is. Hopefully, DJ and his pals can one day star in a game that gives them some personality and a captivating adventure, because Death Jr. offers them neither.

Anyhow, looks like there's some decent games on the horizon which may turn my PSP into something more than an a portable SNES/NES/Gensis emu (Lumines is STILL pretty fun).

8/25   Nobunaga's Ambition: Tenshoki (dunno if this one is coming stateside, I do hope so.  Loved me some Nobunga back in the NES days)
9/1     Gran Turismo Mobile
9/1     World Poker Tour 2K6 (might be interesting if they offer an online mode, WSOP game out 2 weeks later)(Just looked today, seems to be pushed out to 3/2006 according to EB games while ALL other versions are now out to 10/17.  Something's amiss. )
9/27    Madden NFL 06 (rest of the EA porfolio also)
10/4    Virtua Tennis World Tour
10/11  X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (4 extra levels for psp)
10/24  Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
(some of these dates may be complete bullshit)

And it seems like a number of Japanese PS1 RPGs will be released for the system also. Some look promising but I'm not counting on them coming stateside since I couldn't see any screenshots in English.  It looks like they're trying to address some of the big gaps in the library for the PSP but it's still going to be a while until it's something less pathetic.   However, those last 3 listed should end up being great reasons to own a PSP.