Austin Game Conference - Programming the PSP

well done! It may not have been loads of information as hoped, but even the small bits are just as much appreciated (and needed) in any pre-launch phase. Especially the launch accessories!

Hmm…makes me wonder, if it uses USB to connect to a PC (I assume that would only be if your PC was sans WiFI), what types of hacks await this little system. Some alpha geek will run Linux on it and then, perhaps then, will it be an iPod killer as well as a gaming machine.

Only regrets - I was hoping they would spill any internal storage size (RAM, HD, whatever)

I still want to know the final battery life. The bit of jawing they have here is good for game developers, but Handheld Gamers only need three bits of information.

1. Battery Life. (So, you can change the battery? That’s good, but how long before I have to do that when I play? How long is the battery life with WiFi on? Does the battery come back from being recharged and blame you for atrocities that never happened in a bid to make itsself look better in the eyes of special interest groups?)

2. Durability. (How tough is that “analogue” stick? To test a system, I have to abuse it sometimes. The PSP units they had playing Tales of Eternia’s playable talking demo at E3 would mess up if you smacked the system. Yes, I’m the guy who goes up a store display and tries desperately to crash it. I saw one of those Color VideoNow displays at Target, and one quick smack later.. the demo unit was frozen. Portables take abuse and I want to know if the PSP can hack it. If it can not take it, there is no way it can compete.)

3. Price. (Portable gamers love stuff, and we love stuff even more when we can afford it.

dmgice - you are a true portagamer. I bow at your feet.

On the internal storage I think there is none. The no video out
so I thought that was strange.

This entire thing is in geek to me. No I didn’t miss an “R”

The Nintendo DS, even thugh not in competion with PSP obiviosly offer a better gaming experience. Everything about thre machine is inovative. I agree with Dmigice. Battery life is a huge issue. Thats a major factor in purchase and also the cost. And most important DURABILITY. Sony is not a stickler in that department at all. Remember the problems with the Playstation? I dont see what the PSP has done to revolutionize portable gaming. If anybody considers the intergration of movies and music and all this PC conectivity is sadly mistaken.

Take a close look at the PSP. Its screen is a dead give away that its roots are in movies. 4.3” wide and a 16:9 aspect ratio. So is it a movie player, or music player or game machine. I dont think Sony even knows what it is. Come on really Sony. Im not easily fooled. Pretty graphics dont make a machine. Its all the factors listed iin this rant along with gameplay!

Look at the DS. Dual screens, touch screen, vioce mic, stereo sound, backwards compatability, Wi-Fi connectivity. Built in chat program and sample game. Flip design for durability(those LCD’s look nasty when broken :)), rechargable battery(10 hour life) $149 and its from Nintendo. The makers of dedicated game machines!

PSP-Large movie screen, plays movies, music, games, no backward compatabilty, Wi-Fi connectivity, no rechargable battery that I’ve heard of. $249 for the pack.

Look at what your buying

The DS is a decent system for kids, but it just doesn’t have the power for more adult oriented games. I like games like twisted-metal and they will never be on the DS. The Gizmondo is a neat idea but im afraid it’s going to be another N-Gage. If a company like nokia fell on there faces trying to compete with Nintendo, what’s going to happen to this little company fighting Sony and Nintendo? It has a 400 MHz CPU that supposedly makes it the most powerful handheld gaming system, in that case someone please run and tell AMD that their CPU’s are slower than Intel’s because they run at only two third the MHz :).Megahertz isn’t everything. From the sample movie on gizmondo’s site it’s obvious that the PSP has far better graphics. I have a PSP, would buy a DS because it’s a cheap and funky little console with “at least at the moment” the best game-base. Ill give the gizmondo a BIG miss. It’s not competitively priced and I don’t see it giving either console a run for its money. I’m sorry to say it also looks cheap and uninspiring. Time will tell.