Sony PSP review @ Bjorn3d

***Zardon*** · Mar 27, 2005, 07:10 AM

One company has held the portable console market in an iron grip for a lot of years. Of course I am talking about Nintendo. True, other competitors have briefly popped up but over time Nintendo has dominated the market with its GameBoy portables. I’m pretty sure Nintendo didn’t expect this to change for a long time so it must have come as a surprise when Sony announced that they would enter the handheld market with their PlayStation Portable.

While Nintendo has dominated the handheld market Sony has dominated the stationary console market with the PS2. I’m not sure why they have decided to release a portable console but maybe they feel the pressure for the next generation of consoles and want to diversify or they just felt it was a good time to enter the market. Whatever the reason Sony is one of the few companies that has enough behind them to take on Nintendo.

When the Sony PSP was released in Japan December 2004 I promptly imported one (and paid through the nose for it) and this review is based on 3 months of gaming on this unit. The US version will be the same, possibly without some of the smaller glitches that the Japanese PSP has.

bjorn3d

***Zardon*** · Mar 27, 2005, 07:26 AM

Looks like a great handheld and will hopefully give bigsonypimpsta something new from sony (and actually good!) to rave about

***Zardon*** · Mar 27, 2005, 07:30 AM

good size comparison shot

Sauro · Mar 27, 2005, 08:14 AM

The nintendo DS sucks. The psp will run as long as it sticks to games and not tries to be anything else

Logla · Mar 27, 2005, 10:08 AM

I want one.

I really want one.

***Zardon*** · Mar 27, 2005, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Logla

I want one.

I really want one.

they are selling them on ebay already, some decent deals if you are interested, and not all coming from Hong Kong either.

Kaize · Mar 27, 2005, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

they are selling them on ebay already, some decent deals if you are interested, and not all coming from Hong Kong either.

Or you can go down to your local gaming store and pick it up. The PSP is a great system, but it hasn't really sold too well so far. People don't like the 250 price tag, and anothers just hate the little problems that come with launch systems. I called all of my gamestop stores around me, and all of them had PSPs there last night. Which is 2 days from the lauch date. I got one btw, and I love it. The battery life hasn't come into factor yet, the loading is just like ps2. And for the person that said Nintendo DS sucks,"shut up". I also have one, and I love that system as well. The graphics of the DS can't compare to the PSP and everyone knew that, Nintendp doesn't care about graphics if you didn't know. Nintendo cares about putting out great games. Remember that. Also, look at ign's page. They have up an article about how bad the sales of PSP have been in other areas.

Sandok · Mar 27, 2005, 12:55 PM

I want one too... Who's ready to donate the money for me?

***Zardon*** · Mar 27, 2005, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaize

Or you can go down to your local gaming store and pick it.

Logla lives in the UK, its not offically released there yet, hence my post.

Tipstaff · Mar 27, 2005, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaize

And for the person that said Nintendo DS sucks,"shut up". I also have one, and I love that system as well. The graphics of the DS can't compare to the PSP and everyone knew that, Nintendp doesn't care about graphics if you didn't know. Nintendo cares about putting out great games.

I have the DS. The main reason I bought it was that my GBA games looked ten times better on it simply because of the LCD, and I want the games that will eventually come out for it. However, I am still pissed off with Nintendo on their game content. Nintendo may care about putting out great games as you say, but where the hell are they?!? Since it's release Nintendo has put out 20 games. 20. This month they've released 2 more: a Pokemon game, and Yoshi Touch. Pokemon is dead. Dead dead dead, and I'll admit Yoshi is fun, but.. where's the rest of the 'great games'? Sure Metroid is coming, Mario Kart, Zelda for sure, and a Final Fantasy game, and God I can't wait for Castlevania either, but what about the rest? I got a survey from Nintendo recently asking what games I own, or plan to own. I nearly pissed my pants laughing at the short list of games. It was a joke. Compare that with the NorthAM PSP release. Sony has 1/2 that number at release time, and will have a total of 23 within the month. Don't get me wrong. I won't get rid of my DS anytime soon. As I said my GBA games look better than they ever have, and I'm interested in the games that are coming, but Nintendo needs to wake up.

Oh, and while the DS sold like crazy at first even Nintendo has said that they are disappointed in it's recent sales. Nobody is buying it for 2 simple reasons: the PSP is out now, plus there are zero, nada, NO 'buy me' games for the system. Name one that screams 'buy me and a DS' to you. You can't. If Nintendo doesn't change this Sony will win this round with the PSP.. even with it's faults. Thing is people are being cautious with the PSP, and that's why the sales are not as expected. Once these faults are fixed though... then the we'll see who has the better handheld.

- Tip

Kaize · Mar 27, 2005, 06:33 PM

I went over to ebworld.com and took a look at the PSP and DS gaming list. The PSP as of right now, has 35 games listed. The DS has 53 games listed. I agree that nintendo needs to come up with new chars, as people tend to look at the ones they have as kiddy ones. "Nintendo has put out 20 games", Are you talking about Nintendo made games or games by other company? If your talking about Nintendo made games, WOW..go nintendo. For one company to support their own system like that, thats great. And for your reasons as to why people are not picking up the DS, ya they are pretty much right. You also have to remember, nintendo is not a company for tech heads or noob gamers. The people that buy nintendos hardware and have supported them for so many years, is the hardcore nintendo group + the hardcore gamers. Sony tends to appeal to more people because of their Name and they way to hype up their products. I was watching a video where this guy was asking people why they wanted the PSP. Most of them being old people, did not give one good reason, most just said "I heard its cool, and it can play movies". Oh yea, thats a reason to throw 250 at a handheld system. Well anyways, I have both of them and enjoy both of them.

mkk · Mar 27, 2005, 06:40 PM

Reminds me of the good old Atari Lynx. Just a bit more expensive.

Logla · Mar 27, 2005, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

they are selling them on ebay already, some decent deals if you are interested, and not all coming from Hong Kong either.

Nah gonna wait to see if they are released over here anytime soon.

I hear that sony might release them in the UK sometime in 2009

The psp is one of those things I'd like to purchase from over here. Although if they haven't been released by August, I'll be importing one as I need one for the 10hour flight to Mexico (and before anyone mentions it, I know the battery wont last that long)

TJ- · Mar 27, 2005, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

good size comparison shot

that thing is tiny, i can see alot of people dropping/sitting on it, breaking it etc... I still dont see the appeal of watching movies on a screen that small, or playing games like that...

Tipstaff · Mar 27, 2005, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaize

I went over to ebworld.com and took a look at the PSP and DS gaming list. The PSP as of right now, has 35 games listed. The DS has 53 games listed. I agree that nintendo needs to come up with new chars, as people tend to look at the ones they have as kiddy ones. "Nintendo has put out 20 games", Are you talking about Nintendo made games or games by other company? If your talking about Nintendo made games, WOW..go nintendo. For one company to support their own system like that, thats great.

I don't mean to be rude, or contradict/attack you, but what I meant was that the DS, as of now, has only 20 games out, and that includes first and third party games. If you look at the list of games to come out, yes, Nintendo does have a lot of games coming out.. although the majority of them come out by the mid to end of the year. On that list, Advanced Wars, Castlevania, Metroid, Kirby, Mario Kart, and Viewtful Joe are all on my 'want' list. But, look at the dates: Kirby in June, 2 games in August, and the rest in October/November (such as Metroid which got delayed.. again). So, in total they will have 45 games by the end of the year. Great. Sony, on the other hand, they have 32 of their listed games coming out between now and August (barring delays). That, to me, is a big difference.

The reason?

Sony has more third party companies making games than they have first party, and this is exactly the problem facing Nintendo. From my understanding, based on talking with game developers, this is the main reason why there are few third party games for or coming out for the DS... they just don't know what to do with them, and that's a shame. Nintendo needs to teach developers how to properly program and design games that use the 2 screens to their fullest. Otherwise all you will have are games that have a 'gimmicky' feel to them, and sadly, will be viewed that way too. Truthfully though, I have a feeling Nintendo is trying to lay the foundation for their next, or future handheld system/s, and I think they brought out the DS mostly to introduce developers to a new way of making games rather than to compete against Sony or other companies. Question is, will it pay off for them?

- Tip

Mar 27, 2005, 07:10 AM	#1
*Zardon* enchanted Join Date: May 2002 Location: Driverheaven Posts: 32,283 Rep Power: 3150	Sony PSP review @ Bjorn3d One company has held the portable console market in an iron grip for a lot of years. Of course I am talking about Nintendo. True, other competitors have briefly popped up but over time Nintendo has dominated the market with its GameBoy portables. I’m pretty sure Nintendo didn’t expect this to change for a long time so it must have come as a surprise when Sony announced that they would enter the handheld market with their PlayStation Portable. While Nintendo has dominated the handheld market Sony has dominated the stationary console market with the PS2. I’m not sure why they have decided to release a portable console but maybe they feel the pressure for the next generation of consoles and want to diversify or they just felt it was a good time to enter the market. Whatever the reason Sony is one of the few companies that has enough behind them to take on Nintendo. When the Sony PSP was released in Japan December 2004 I promptly imported one (and paid through the nose for it) and this review is based on 3 months of gaming on this unit. The US version will be the same, possibly without some of the smaller glitches that the Japanese PSP has. bjorn3d

Mar 27, 2005, 06:33 PM	#11
Kaize DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 28 Rep Power: 0	I went over to ebworld.com and took a look at the PSP and DS gaming list. The PSP as of right now, has 35 games listed. The DS has 53 games listed. I agree that nintendo needs to come up with new chars, as people tend to look at the ones they have as kiddy ones. "Nintendo has put out 20 games", Are you talking about Nintendo made games or games by other company? If your talking about Nintendo made games, WOW..go nintendo. For one company to support their own system like that, thats great. And for your reasons as to why people are not picking up the DS, ya they are pretty much right. You also have to remember, nintendo is not a company for tech heads or noob gamers. The people that buy nintendos hardware and have supported them for so many years, is the hardcore nintendo group + the hardcore gamers. Sony tends to appeal to more people because of their Name and they way to hype up their products. I was watching a video where this guy was asking people why they wanted the PSP. Most of them being old people, did not give one good reason, most just said "I heard its cool, and it can play movies". Oh yea, thats a reason to throw 250 at a handheld system. Well anyways, I have both of them and enjoy both of them. __________________ AMD Duron 1.8Ghz @ 2.1GHz Biostar Model "M7NCD" nForce2 400 Kingston 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 Sapphire ATI Radeon 9600 128Mb @ 400/480 Maxtor 40GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2

Mar 27, 2005, 07:26 AM	#2
*Zardon* enchanted Join Date: May 2002 Location: Driverheaven Posts: 32,283 Rep Power: 3150	Looks like a great handheld and will hopefully give bigsonypimpsta something new from sony (and actually good!) to rave about

Mar 27, 2005, 07:30 AM	#3
*Zardon* enchanted Join Date: May 2002 Location: Driverheaven Posts: 32,283 Rep Power: 3150	good size comparison shot

Mar 27, 2005, 08:14 AM	#4
Sauro DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 28 Rep Power: 0	The nintendo DS sucks. The psp will run as long as it sticks to games and not tries to be anything else

Mar 27, 2005, 10:08 AM	#5
Logla DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 3,310 Rep Power: 48	I want one. I really want one.

Mar 27, 2005, 12:55 PM	#8
Sandok DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 9,501 Rep Power: 53	I want one too... Who's ready to donate the money for me?

Mar 27, 2005, 06:40 PM	#12
mkk cheap philanthropist Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 3,700 Rep Power: 67 System Specs	Reminds me of the good old Atari Lynx. Just a bit more expensive.