Schild's PSP Countdown Thread

[jiffy]

It's sleek and sexy, and the ability to play divx movies on it intrigues me.  If I were to get one I'd wait until there's titles I'm interested that are coming out for it (and a price drop).  I play my DS and Cube because I enjoy the titles on that platform.  People play other platforms because they enjoy its titles.  To each their own, and whatnot.

One note Schild:  The DS is slightly more powerful than a N64. Mario 64 DS is a good example of this.  Unfortunately, there's not too many games to show off the DS's potential, which is why most things look like GBA/Snes games.  Check out Nanostray and Meteos.

Oh yea, and Mario Kart DS has good graphics too.

[Rasputin]

waiting for AOK and Katamari Damacy DS.

It seems there's a lot of waiting for decent stuff on the DS. I'll take a pass on both the DS and the PSP. I have better things to spend my money on, like a big-ass aquarium for my kid because my wife told me I had to and I'm not holding any kind of grudge against her on that or anything.

Where was I? Oh wait, PSP, DS, meh.

See, that would require me to have children and less disposable personal income.

At this point, I'd say I win, but I'm busily saving up for an engagement ring and potentially a down payment for a house.

[Shockeye]

waiting for AOK and Katamari Damacy DS.

It seems there's a lot of waiting for decent stuff on the DS. I'll take a pass on both the DS and the PSP. I have better things to spend my money on, like a big-ass aquarium for my kid because my wife told me I had to and I'm not holding any kind of grudge against her on that or anything.

Where was I? Oh wait, PSP, DS, meh.

See, that would require me to have children and less disposable personal income.

At this point, I'd say I win, but I'm busily saving up for an engagement ring and potentially a down payment for a house.

Good luck with that. Let me throw a tip your way. If a new gadget comes out, like a PSP, and you mention to your wife that you'll be picking one up and she replies with either a "no" or an "over my dead body", as funny as it seems in your head, accusing her of spousal abuse by denying you the gadget it not the best course of action.

[voodoolily]

Not to rub anything in, but.... oh what the hell. I bought the GBA-SP for my boyfriend.    nyah nyah nyah! Some guys are lucky enough to have girlfriends who game with them. He will NEVER have to get my permission to pick up a game, as long as he keeps picking up games for me, too.   :-D

Which reminds me: assuming you haven't already exhausted your resources on the subject, have you guys tried playing rilly pretty games in front of your sig others to suck 'em in (assuming they're females who frown on your gaming)?

[Lum]

Since schild seems to know more about the PSP than Sony at this point - let's talk video. How can I take my collection of WMVs and DivX files that I've taped off cable and copy them to my PSP? Is that even possible?

DivX is easy, particularly since some of it is already mpeg4. Now, WMV, not so easy. Use premier (which I'm pretty sure in the latest version can accept WMVs), wait, no. Screw it.

No no, I know all about how to screw with movies on my PC (remember, you're talking to someone who takes his video collections and turns them from WMV to DivX for fun and to save space... go go gadget AutoGK!) but how to actually get them in the PSP and play them.

Getting them to the PSP: am I stuck with memory sticks (I assume the Sony VAIO ones)? Or will there be a way to burn new whatever-DVD-substitute they're using?

Playing them: What video format does it use? Proprietary/MPEG4/???

[Shockeye]

My wife doesn't play any games except for a word game like Text Twister every so often.

My 4 year old son loves playing "Star Wars: Bounty Hunter", "TMNT: Mutant Melee" and "Super Smash Bros. Melee" on his Gamecube, though.

Yes, I do get accused of "corrupting" him quite often from my wife. However, I let her take him to church so I figure we're even on the corruption.

[Hanzii]

I'm probably going to get one of these eventually, but I really don't want to spend more than $200 on a handheld. (I was going to get a DS, but the game selection is pretty meh). Hopefully, I'll be able to get one for $200 from the eBay aftermarket before E3 (my next out of town trip, looks like).

Since schild seems to know more about the PSP than Sony at this point - let's talk video. How can I take my collection of WMVs and DivX files that I've taped off cable and copy them to my PSP? Is that even possible?

I think the Japanese PSP had a MP4 converter on cd.
I didn't get to try it out myself, but the one I borrowed had about 300 megs of music videos and trailers on the memorystick - in Danish. Somebody put it there, so I am sure converting stuff will be easy. Well, not so much WMv, but that's Microsofts fault...

[schild]

Getting them to the PSP: am I stuck with memory sticks (I assume the Sony VAIO ones)? Or will there be a way to burn new whatever-DVD-substitute they're using?

Playing them: What video format does it use? Proprietary/MPEG4/???

Memory sticks are made by Sandisk and Sony. Regular MP4 works. I think the value pack comes with a USB cable.

[schild]

I'm sorry, I can't hear you, I'm too busy playing Daigasso! Band Brothers and waiting for AOK and Katamari Damacy DS.

Enjoy your DS. EB has dropped the price on the trade-in value 5 times in the last month because no one gives a fuck about Daigasso and AOK and Katamari. Seriously, those aren't gonna sell the system. Polarium, you might be able to argue. But not against Lumines.

Oh, and I give it a month or two before they announce Katamari for the PSP. Which can actually draw out at distance and has an analog nub.

[Trippy]

Since schild seems to know more about the PSP than Sony at this point - let's talk video. How can I take my collection of WMVs and DivX files that I've taped off cable and copy them to my PSP? Is that even possible?

Try this thing: PSP Video 9

[schild]

Try this thing: PSP Video 9

I hadn't downloaded this yet. But holy god. It's beautiful. So easy, renames everything. Keeps track of original names. 4TEHWIN. Must have! A+++++! Would do business with again!!!!

I'm converting some TV shows and movies for the launch day. Oh and some pr0n. I'll give the new sizes vs. the old sizes later.

[Trippy]

Getting them to the PSP: am I stuck with memory sticks (I assume the Sony VAIO ones)? Or will there be a way to burn new whatever-DVD-substitute they're using?

Memory sticks are made by Sandisk and Sony. Regular MP4 works. I think the value pack comes with a USB cable.

Remember, though, that you'll need a "Memory Stick Duo" or "Memory Stick Duo Pro" and not a "Memory Stick" or "Memory Stick Pro".

[Paelos]

I'm so confused by all of this. It's supposed to play games right, exactly how much shit do I have to buy and what is this going to cost me if I want to get one of these at optimal levels. If the package is more than my new LCD monitor, I'm passing.

[schild]

I'm so confused by all of this. It's supposed to play games right, exactly how much shit do I have to buy and what is this going to cost me if I want to get one of these at optimal levels. If the package is more than my new LCD monitor, I'm passing.

How much was your new LCD monitor?

Let's see though.
PSP - $249.99 (you'll have to camp out in front of a Best Buy from 5am or earlier to get one on launch day if you didn't preorder)
Games - All except the EA ones and THUG2 are $39.99. The Aforementioned are $49.99.
Online Service is free.
512MB Memory Stick Pro Duo is $89.99. 1GB one is $149.99 at EB (coincedentally, the lowest price around) - Sandisk Brand

So uhm. I don't know. On Day 1 I'm spending about $150. My PSP is paid for in full from GBA, GBA SP and Nintendo DS trade-ins.

[Paelos]

The monitor was $400 with a $100 mail-in rebate.

This is damn pricey. And no I didn't preorder. And no I wont be camping. I'll be in the wait a month and see crowd on this.

[schild]

The monitor was $400 with a $100 mail-in rebate.

This is damn pricey. And no I didn't preorder. And no I wont be camping. I'll be in the wait a month and see crowd on this.

It's tough to compare the PSP to a monitor. Seeing as the monitor is in a market with competition and the PSP has no competition...Seriously.

I figure the wait a month and see crowd will last one, maybe two, weeks before they go hunting for one.

[Shockeye]

I'm hereby asking everyone to not buy a PSP. I would like to make sure schild has no one to play against and then he will come crawling back to us talking about how much it sucks because he can't play anyone and we can all just laugh as the last whisps of fanboy drift from him.

[schild]

I'm hereby asking everyone to not buy a PSP. I would like to make sure schild has no one to play against and then he will come crawling back to us talking about how much it sucks because he can't play anyone and we can all just laugh as the last whisps of fanboy drift from him.

You're just mad because you can't get one and continually smell like pet stores. Biatch.

[schild]

One note Schild:  The DS is slightly more powerful than a N64. Mario 64 DS is a good example of this.  Unfortunately, there's not too many games to show off the DS's potential, which is why most things look like GBA/Snes games.  Check out Nanostray and Meteos.

Oh yea, and Mario Kart DS has good graphics too.

One word as far as NES/SNES/N64/GB/GBA stuff goes. Emulators. I'm willing to give it, I don't know, a month before we start seeing emulators that run off the memory stick. And you know what? I don't think Sony will make any attempt to stop them.

Also, I reasonably liked Mario 64 DS. Unfortunately it really wasn't any more impressive than the n64 version at all. And it's nowhere near the power of any current generation. My comment about it being prehistoric still stands. As for Mario Kart, I can't help but say I'd much rather play Wipeout.

[Jain Zar]

Im not buying it.

As I said before, but with added bullet points and additional reasons.

1: No must have games.  Versions of games I can grab for 20 on my PS2/XBox/Gamecube?  Don't think so.

2: Portable that won't fit in my pocket.  The point of a portable is something that can fit in my pants pocket so I can use it at work.  This thing isn't it.

3: Too expensive.  Even if 2 were not a problem, which it is, the fact its a 250 dollars plus 50-100 bucks more for memory sticks and other needed accessories means I could either grab 5-10 new release and or budget titles for my existing systems plus necessities like cold medicine, and depending on your mindset, pizza and beer.  100s of hours of fun vs day 1 hardware?  Tough choice.

4: Its a Sony.  Have you ever used first release Sony videogame products?  Even the US release versions are modestly unreliable poo.  Given 3 above, its smarter to wait at least till the first price reduction, if not the third when they finally release a version of the hardware not designed by well meaning but fundamentally retarded monkeys.

5: Battery life is poor.  Sub 5 hour times?  Ick.  Rechargable or not.  What does this thing think it is?  A Sega Nomad? 

6: Its not Nintendo.  Sony isn't exactly Microsoft or EA, but they are still far too popular and powerful.  I don't feel like empowering them thanks.  Sony in 96 was cool and apt to do things differently from the big dogs.  Now they are the big dogs so enjoy 3d only games. 

7: It looks butt ass fugly.  This is NOT a pretty videogame system.  The DS is pretty.  This system is ugly as sin and becomes even more a pocket hog if you would like to protect your overpriced investment with extras to protect all its fiddly bits from the basic realities of roaming about with a portable.  Because if you aren't taking a portable around why even own one?  Last gen tech at next gen prices because its portable means its for on the go.  If you are sitting at home go play an existing racecar game kids.  Outrun 2 is 20 bucks for the X Box now.  Why pay 50 to play Ridge Racer on the PSP?

8: Not just a games device.  The more things a game console tries to do, the more it sucks at it. 

[schild]

7: It looks butt ass fugly.  This is NOT a pretty videogame system.  The DS is pretty.  This system is ugly as sin and becomes even more a pocket hog if you would like to protect your overpriced investment with extras to protect all its fiddly bits from the basic realities of roaming about with a portable.

What the fuck are you babbling about? Do I need to do this AGAIN?




How the fuck do you say the DS is pretty? It's grey plastic. And then a lot of extra grey plastic. Then some dark grey plastic.

It IS a video game system and you're just being contrary.

8: Not just a games device.  The more things a game console tries to do, the more it sucks at it.

Yea, the Xbox had a hell of a time playing DVDs and music. Woooo weeee, I can't imagine using my xbox for anything but games.

Edit: Redundancy.

[Jain Zar]

Its pretty silver plastic.  Minimalist. 

The PSP is this big black thing with lots of buttons sticking out of it from every possible point with all this interruptive text.
Your pictures show exactly why the DS is prettier.

The DS is a sleek euro import.  The PSP is a Honda Civic covered in decals, ground effects, and whatever other ugly ass crap your average Fast & Furious fanboy has all over his car thinking it looks cool.  The difference between a slinky black dress and a pair of jeans & "Who Farted?" Tee shirt combo.

[Strazos]

Eh, I think they both look alright, though the DS seems to have more "dead real estate".

[schild]

Its pretty silver plastic.  Minimalist. 

The PSP is this big black thing with lots of buttons sticking out of it from every possible point with all this interruptive text.
Your pictures show exactly why the DS is prettier.

I don't even know how to respond to you. You wouldn't be insulting it if you've held and touched one. Which you obviously haven't. This is simply a case of terribly bad taste.

Edit: Words are hard.

[Aenovae]

It's sad how no thread on any forum can ever be exclusively about one system.  People always have to compare and trash talk.

For example:

I'm not buying either but the DS is a hideous, ugly piece of shit.  It looks like a "futuristic" version of somthing from the 70s.  I bet Nintendo did it on purpose too, like the GBA.  So that they can re-release it as the Nintendo DS SDP, non ass version, so that suckers will have to buy it twice.

Meanwhile, the PSP looks badass.  Although I think the GBA SP is the best looking handheld yet made.

[Jain Zar]

Is it that my taste is bad SC, or that you are sadly becoming a raving fanboy over a cruddy piece of Sony Electronics?

I mean cmon!  Its only missing the TYPE R sticker as is...

Besides, if you like it, why do you care what I think anyhow?  You clearly want it.  I see a 250 system that needs about 100 in accessories that won't fit in my pants, looks ugly, and plays games for 50 bucks on a small screen that I doubt I would pay 20 for to play on my big 30 inch TV.  Enjoy it.  Rock out with it.  But don't be surprised if lots of folks choose to not praise you over it.  Or even mock it a little. 

Though if you start buying 60 dollar EA games for it, you deserve whatever abuse you get.   

Its all in fun, right?  Otherwise what is the point? 






(But if I start calling it the Gaystation Portable or something equally as retarded, feel free to kick my ass till I come to my senses.)

[schild]

Is it that my taste is bad SC, or that you are sadly becoming a raving fanboy over a cruddy piece of Sony Electronics?

I mean cmon!  Its only missing the TYPE R sticker as is...

Besides, if you like it, why do you care what I think anyhow?  You clearly want it.  I see a 250 system that needs about 100 in accessories that won't fit in my pants, looks ugly, and plays games for 50 bucks on a small screen that I doubt I would pay 20 for to play on my big 30 inch TV.  Enjoy it.  Rock out with it.  But don't be surprised if lots of folks choose to not praise you over it.  Or even mock it a little. 

Though if you start buying 60 dollar EA games for it, you deserve whatever abuse you get.   

Its all in fun, right?  Otherwise what is the point?

Can you show us on the doll where portable gaming touched you?

[NiX]

Can you show us on the doll where portable gaming touched you?

You'd like that, wouldn't you?

[Litigator]

- People will spend $400 on a high quality hi fi system, and for a source only, $400 is a very high quality one at that. No one pays $250 for walkman that looks like shit.

The iPod is NOT a very high quality hi-fi system. It's your above-average Mp3 player. Arguably a PSP is your above-average portable gaming system if you use the GBA as your baseline. Oh, but you can apparently run 3rd party apps from memory sticks (emulators anyone? I didn't think I'd have to spell that out for you people), play games over the net from any hot spot (it even apparently has logins and whatnot for shit with security - according to OPM), and enough bells and whistles to make your head spin. All things considered, I'd sell my ipod for a 2 gig memory stick for my PSP. At first all that space seemed useful. Then I realized I collectively listened to about 50-100 songs in total on the thing.

Someone seems to want shit like this and this and this. Oh and then there's laptops. I'd rather carry along something small than my laptop with a 17" widescreen. Particularly on short flights. Also, the personal movie screen thing - not quite caught on in America like it has in western Europe and Japan.

The iPod is a lifestyle device in precisely the way the PSP is not. Particularly in a city like New York where people get around by walking or subway, a thing like the iPod is a device that integrates into people's lifestyles in such a way as to become nearly as fundamental as cellular phones.  If you walk five blocks around here, you'll probably lose count of the number of people with white headphones. Most of my friends don't leave the house without this.  I listen to my iPod while I study, while I'm walking around the city, at the gym.  My whole music collection, about 250 full albums, fits on a device the size of a pack of smokes.  Rather than getting high-end component stereos, people buy nice speakers for their computers and set "shuffle songs" as the background music for their parties. People who get around by car probably don't use their iPods as much, bue this thing is the quintessential urban lifestyle device.

By contrary, the PSP is superfluous (so is the DS).  when am I going to play with the PSP? I have a GBA SP, and I rarely use it.  I don't think handheld gaming is something that is going to integrate into my lifestyle, and none of the bells and whistles that PSP has over the GBA will change that fact.

As for the movies, The PSP's video playback is the most worthless feature ever. I would prefer DVD over UMD movies in every scenario, without exception. I can't imagine watching movies often enough on the PSP to justify a UMD movie collection.  So even if I happened to find myself in a situation where I might want to watch a movie on that thing, I wouldn't have any movies to watch.   

[Hanzii]

Its pretty silver plastic.  Minimalist. 

The PSP is this big black thing with lots of buttons sticking out of it from every possible point with all this interruptive text.
Your pictures show exactly why the DS is prettier.

The DS is a sleek euro import.  The PSP is a Honda Civic covered in decals, ground effects, and whatever other ugly ass crap your average Fast & Furious fanboy has all over his car thinking it looks cool.  The difference between a slinky black dress and a pair of jeans & "Who Farted?" Tee shirt combo.

You've gone completely off your rocker.
To keep with your analogy the DS is a Yugo and the PSP is the new Mini Cooper.
Both are plastic, but the DS looks like plastic. Actually it looks better on Schilds picture than in real life - the picture looks metallic, the real deal looks plastic. Cheap ass plastic - something you'd give a child. The PSP looks like something a grown up could carry without embarassment.

And the PSP isn't bigger than the DS. It's a fucking myth. I measured it. I carried both around for a week. The PSP is 1½ centimeters longer than the DS, but even with the carrying "case" (a sleek wetsuit type thingie) it's thinner (about one centimeter) and thus less bulky. It won't fit in your pants, but unless you live in Florida, you'll have a coat/jacket pocket it'll fit nicely into.

And You don't need to buy anything extra. The value pack has everything needed to play games and save those. It's only if you want to use it as a media player, you'll need extra memory. So for $249 you get more than the DS.

And to answer Lum:
A bogstandard USB 2.0 cable does the trick. The difficult part is converting video, but since you've got that sorted - no problem. Plug it in and it shows like an external diskdrive. If you have a cardreader, you can just use that and have any number of Memorystics with movies laying about (depending on funds, those are pricey fuckers).

So far Sony is the only company allowed to print UMDs (the disc). Others will be allowed to make movies on UMD (and I suppose they don't have to be burned at a Sony factory), but no burners or anything has been announced. There's been speculation that burners will be avaliable, but only if Sony has invented some clever scheme, so that games can't be burned. And since that's unlikely (nothing a modchip won't break) Sony  most likely won't make UMD-burning avaliable for regular customers. But since the Memorystick Duo Pro goes to 4GB, that should keep you happy for a while.

[Lum]

Since schild seems to know more about the PSP than Sony at this point - let's talk video. How can I take my collection of WMVs and DivX files that I've taped off cable and copy them to my PSP? Is that even possible?

Try this thing: PSP Video 9

Thanks, you just cost me $250.

[schild]

Since schild seems to know more about the PSP than Sony at this point - let's talk video. How can I take my collection of WMVs and DivX files that I've taped off cable and copy them to my PSP? Is that even possible?

Try this thing: PSP Video 9

Thanks, you just cost me $250.

And 3 of my friends. Lum, what games are you getting. If everyone who's getting one gets some infrastructure shit, we can make it worth our while.

[Lum]

Untold Legends and Lumines to start, looks like. Maybe Rengoku and/or Dynasty Warriors, depending on reviews.

[schild]

Untold Legends and Lumines to start, looks like. Maybe Rengoku and/or Dynasty Warriors, depending on reviews.

None of which have infrastructure. Ironic. That. Sorta. OK, not really. There isn't a great list of infrastructure enabled shit.

[Lum]

In other news, schild may actually be slightly understated about the PSP's impact. According to Bloomberg, it may save Sony.