Emperor Pan I
Respected Member
The following is all negative things about the PSP. I can sum of the positive things in one paragraph, and expand the negatives into several.
First off, the PSP has a large screen, biggest in the handheld market. Screen is LCD, with a backlight, and wide as hell. PSP uses 1.8 gig UMD disks, and the games are Slightly worse than a PS2 quality. The PSP enables music, and movies, and the bundle released in the USA includes a UMD copy of Spiderman2. PSP also offers a Lithium Ion battery.
Everyone’s heard all that, the “omg I am so going to buy a PSP because it plays music and movies and it’s a PS2 in my hand!!†I am not saying this so you don’t buy a PSP and buy anything else, I am saying this. Read this, then decide if you want to invest 300$ on this game system. I say this, wait, wait a long ass time. Maybe a newer model will come out. Here is why.
Pricing
U.S. gets the $250 PSP (299.99CAN) this price is purely because of the crappy bundle. Not because the PSP isn’t worth the cash, but because of all the useless accessories Sony decided to bundle with the system. Apparently Americans are too stupid to purchase better alternatives for themselves. Because of all the accessories, Sony had to raise the price to $250 U.S.
Hardware/Manufacturing
Take a moment before we begin and watch this:
http://www.gamesarefun.com/consoles/psp/pspbreaks.mpg
Talk about the LCD screen. What genius decided on the GBA advanced approach opposed to the GBA-SP approach. I have a GBA, it isn’t an LCD screen and that thing has more scratches than, god damn I cant think of anything that scratches enough like a GBA. What does Sony think, that the screen isn’t going to crack incredibly fast regardless it is almost the width of Canada. It is like dust, and oil and fingerprints are directly attracted to the screen.
“When a system comes with a wipe-down rag to erase the smudges you’ll get, you know something is wrong. Where are you supposed to keep the rag when you’re not using it, anyway?â€
The systems durability is a joke. It is more fragile than a wet paper house. You drop it, your buying a new one. If it does still work, your screen is screwed
The pouch that comes with the system is a joke. Not only is it too thin to offer any significant protection against bumps and bruises, it’s also too small to fit any other accessories in it, like any extra UMD games you’re going to want to carry around. To add further insult, the pouch doesn’t zipper up, so if you tilt it in any significant way, your PSP will succumb to the mysterious force of gravity and die a quick painful death on the hardwood. It’s another reason the accessories, and the price that comes because of them is an issue. Yeah the PSP is the only handheld you need to buy memory cards for
Downloading firmware: an unnecessary hassle. A lot of these issues can be fixed with some updated firmware. We’re wondering why they weren’t with the system to begin with? How long does it take for a company this big to develop a web-browser and an email client and have them at launch? Something smacks of a lack organization on Sony’s part. Yes, these things are eventually coming, but we don’t have a solid time-frame for them. Besides that, the average person may not feel comfortable having to completely overhaul the interface via a USB or WiFi connection for these killer features to be added.
There were tons of people complaining about the numerous dead pixels, random crashes, dead screen, stuck pixels, dead drives, analog sticks not working and even falling off, and even screens with dust and “air bubbles†(whatever that means). PSP have been reported to not turn on and not ejects by twisting the unit in a particular way.
Though one of the biggest things is the “square buttonâ€. The Designer of the PSP said that "It wasn't a mistake. There may be people who complain about it, but that's something users and game developers will have to adapt to." The fact is, the square button can be non-responsive and stuck and the damn developers just say “get used to itâ€. This also means, don’t expect the U.S. to be rid of this problem. PSP design FLAW
Movies
The PSP uses a UMD format, sorta like small DVDs to shaft the public. I mean its not like an owner who has a DVD can place it in a PSP. No, but the PSPs boastable features is it’s ability to play DVD movie. Of course a high quality 1gig UMD disk costs nearly 200$. That is not all, it requires an Mp4 format. Just to get your movie onto a card, you have to rip the DVD onto your computer, covert it to AVI, then convert it to MP4, then blindly change the screen size because they decided to make it impossible to get a DVD movie on a PSP without first testing it several times to make sure u didn’t distort the image. The real trick is, you can’t get away without distorting the image to watch a move on a handheld! Have fun paying 200$ to watch a 15$ DVD on a 300$ PSP. Solution, buy a portable DVD player.
Music
The PSP does not let you sort your music by artist, genre, date uploaded, or other ID3 tags. You place them all in the same directory, and will basically need to scroll and select each song you want to hear. Either that or be subject to a “shuffle†option that will juxtapose your gospel tracks with your gangster hip-hop. Sweet Lord, please let there be a firmware update soon.
There is also a large limitation to the number of songs, and pricings for that. Anything else, and that number becomes insignificant when the Ipod, which costs incredibly less can hold a lot more songs. Solution, buy an Ipod.
Battery
The battery life is laughable. With full lit screen, highest quality settings on a graphically intense game, your pushing 2 maybe 3 hours of battery life. You can reduce that, by reducing screen quality, game quality and playing a crappier game. Some people don’t care, saying “what do you need lots of time for, who plays more than 2 hours a day.†This is not the issue, the issue is it is a portable system, it is going to spend more time being recharged than being portable. A movie alone will not last on highest quality, because the battery will die out (especially on movies like LOTR, which you would probably need 2 UMD to watch it anyways.) This is a huge problem for me, and why when a new battery comes out, it is a must something that requires more money to spend to bring the PSP up to par with anything else. Then what about the music, you can get about 5-10 battery life listening to just music on your gaming system. You also can't play both with much success, and the system becomes awkward to handle music and any other games u want to play with it.
Games
With the Prices above, if you want to use the PSP for a full entertainment system you need to be spending a lot of money (a couple moves and music alone can cost 600$ easily). However Sony has decided to take another grab at your wallets. A single game is going to be expensive, even though one of the big things publishers liked about the UMD is it is cheaper to make than a cartridge game. Awesome, so after they gouge us with the system price, they gouge us again with the software.
Let’s look at the starting line up, 24 craptastic games. (full list edited, I took out the no-name/sports games that were beyond the realm of crap.)
--Ape Escape(R): On the Loose, Sony Computer Entertainment America
The game is called Ape Escape, need I say more?
-- ATV Offroad Fury(R): Blazin' Trails, Sony Computer Entertainment
America
It sucked on the consoles; it isn’t getting better on a handheld.
-- Metal Gear Acid(TM), Konami
They turned the game into a ****ing CARD GAME, wtf is wrong with Konami and Sony. Do they want to look like retards? Like failing at MGS2 was bad enough, they want to fail again?
-- Need for Speed(TM) Rivals, Electronic Arts
Granted, this looks cool I would rather play it on the computer than on a small screen, even one as big as the PSP.
-- Ridge Racer(TM), Namco
Wasn’t this game on N64, hasn’t it already been released on the DS? Why would I want a third copy?
-- Spider-Man 2(TM), Activision
Better than the DS’s attempt at it, still a load of crap.
-- Twisted Metal: Head On(TM), Sony Computer Entertainment America
The series ended at Twisted Metal 2, stop beating a dead horse. Move on and make a better game idea.
-- Wipeout(R) Pure, Sony Computer Entertainment America
Might be good, but I’m not spending 350$ to play that game.
What does the future hold for PSP games? Not much. After going through the list, most interesting looking games was Devil May Cry 2. There is this big hype about FFVII Advent Children.
I am going to clear this up. FFVII: Advent Children is not a game, it is a movie. A movie only on UMD format, meaning only on the PSP. It’s not a ****ing game, but it is advertised as one. It’s a ****ing movie. I wanted a FFVII remake, not a movie that takes place 2 years after the game I never got to beat.
Think before you leap, look before you buy.
First off, the PSP has a large screen, biggest in the handheld market. Screen is LCD, with a backlight, and wide as hell. PSP uses 1.8 gig UMD disks, and the games are Slightly worse than a PS2 quality. The PSP enables music, and movies, and the bundle released in the USA includes a UMD copy of Spiderman2. PSP also offers a Lithium Ion battery.
Everyone’s heard all that, the “omg I am so going to buy a PSP because it plays music and movies and it’s a PS2 in my hand!!†I am not saying this so you don’t buy a PSP and buy anything else, I am saying this. Read this, then decide if you want to invest 300$ on this game system. I say this, wait, wait a long ass time. Maybe a newer model will come out. Here is why.
Pricing
U.S. gets the $250 PSP (299.99CAN) this price is purely because of the crappy bundle. Not because the PSP isn’t worth the cash, but because of all the useless accessories Sony decided to bundle with the system. Apparently Americans are too stupid to purchase better alternatives for themselves. Because of all the accessories, Sony had to raise the price to $250 U.S.
Hardware/Manufacturing
Take a moment before we begin and watch this:
http://www.gamesarefun.com/consoles/psp/pspbreaks.mpg
Talk about the LCD screen. What genius decided on the GBA advanced approach opposed to the GBA-SP approach. I have a GBA, it isn’t an LCD screen and that thing has more scratches than, god damn I cant think of anything that scratches enough like a GBA. What does Sony think, that the screen isn’t going to crack incredibly fast regardless it is almost the width of Canada. It is like dust, and oil and fingerprints are directly attracted to the screen.
“When a system comes with a wipe-down rag to erase the smudges you’ll get, you know something is wrong. Where are you supposed to keep the rag when you’re not using it, anyway?â€
The systems durability is a joke. It is more fragile than a wet paper house. You drop it, your buying a new one. If it does still work, your screen is screwed
The pouch that comes with the system is a joke. Not only is it too thin to offer any significant protection against bumps and bruises, it’s also too small to fit any other accessories in it, like any extra UMD games you’re going to want to carry around. To add further insult, the pouch doesn’t zipper up, so if you tilt it in any significant way, your PSP will succumb to the mysterious force of gravity and die a quick painful death on the hardwood. It’s another reason the accessories, and the price that comes because of them is an issue. Yeah the PSP is the only handheld you need to buy memory cards for
Downloading firmware: an unnecessary hassle. A lot of these issues can be fixed with some updated firmware. We’re wondering why they weren’t with the system to begin with? How long does it take for a company this big to develop a web-browser and an email client and have them at launch? Something smacks of a lack organization on Sony’s part. Yes, these things are eventually coming, but we don’t have a solid time-frame for them. Besides that, the average person may not feel comfortable having to completely overhaul the interface via a USB or WiFi connection for these killer features to be added.
There were tons of people complaining about the numerous dead pixels, random crashes, dead screen, stuck pixels, dead drives, analog sticks not working and even falling off, and even screens with dust and “air bubbles†(whatever that means). PSP have been reported to not turn on and not ejects by twisting the unit in a particular way.
Though one of the biggest things is the “square buttonâ€. The Designer of the PSP said that "It wasn't a mistake. There may be people who complain about it, but that's something users and game developers will have to adapt to." The fact is, the square button can be non-responsive and stuck and the damn developers just say “get used to itâ€. This also means, don’t expect the U.S. to be rid of this problem. PSP design FLAW
Movies
The PSP uses a UMD format, sorta like small DVDs to shaft the public. I mean its not like an owner who has a DVD can place it in a PSP. No, but the PSPs boastable features is it’s ability to play DVD movie. Of course a high quality 1gig UMD disk costs nearly 200$. That is not all, it requires an Mp4 format. Just to get your movie onto a card, you have to rip the DVD onto your computer, covert it to AVI, then convert it to MP4, then blindly change the screen size because they decided to make it impossible to get a DVD movie on a PSP without first testing it several times to make sure u didn’t distort the image. The real trick is, you can’t get away without distorting the image to watch a move on a handheld! Have fun paying 200$ to watch a 15$ DVD on a 300$ PSP. Solution, buy a portable DVD player.
Music
The PSP does not let you sort your music by artist, genre, date uploaded, or other ID3 tags. You place them all in the same directory, and will basically need to scroll and select each song you want to hear. Either that or be subject to a “shuffle†option that will juxtapose your gospel tracks with your gangster hip-hop. Sweet Lord, please let there be a firmware update soon.
There is also a large limitation to the number of songs, and pricings for that. Anything else, and that number becomes insignificant when the Ipod, which costs incredibly less can hold a lot more songs. Solution, buy an Ipod.
Battery
The battery life is laughable. With full lit screen, highest quality settings on a graphically intense game, your pushing 2 maybe 3 hours of battery life. You can reduce that, by reducing screen quality, game quality and playing a crappier game. Some people don’t care, saying “what do you need lots of time for, who plays more than 2 hours a day.†This is not the issue, the issue is it is a portable system, it is going to spend more time being recharged than being portable. A movie alone will not last on highest quality, because the battery will die out (especially on movies like LOTR, which you would probably need 2 UMD to watch it anyways.) This is a huge problem for me, and why when a new battery comes out, it is a must something that requires more money to spend to bring the PSP up to par with anything else. Then what about the music, you can get about 5-10 battery life listening to just music on your gaming system. You also can't play both with much success, and the system becomes awkward to handle music and any other games u want to play with it.
Games
With the Prices above, if you want to use the PSP for a full entertainment system you need to be spending a lot of money (a couple moves and music alone can cost 600$ easily). However Sony has decided to take another grab at your wallets. A single game is going to be expensive, even though one of the big things publishers liked about the UMD is it is cheaper to make than a cartridge game. Awesome, so after they gouge us with the system price, they gouge us again with the software.
Let’s look at the starting line up, 24 craptastic games. (full list edited, I took out the no-name/sports games that were beyond the realm of crap.)
--Ape Escape(R): On the Loose, Sony Computer Entertainment America
The game is called Ape Escape, need I say more?
-- ATV Offroad Fury(R): Blazin' Trails, Sony Computer Entertainment
America
It sucked on the consoles; it isn’t getting better on a handheld.
-- Metal Gear Acid(TM), Konami
They turned the game into a ****ing CARD GAME, wtf is wrong with Konami and Sony. Do they want to look like retards? Like failing at MGS2 was bad enough, they want to fail again?
-- Need for Speed(TM) Rivals, Electronic Arts
Granted, this looks cool I would rather play it on the computer than on a small screen, even one as big as the PSP.
-- Ridge Racer(TM), Namco
Wasn’t this game on N64, hasn’t it already been released on the DS? Why would I want a third copy?
-- Spider-Man 2(TM), Activision
Better than the DS’s attempt at it, still a load of crap.
-- Twisted Metal: Head On(TM), Sony Computer Entertainment America
The series ended at Twisted Metal 2, stop beating a dead horse. Move on and make a better game idea.
-- Wipeout(R) Pure, Sony Computer Entertainment America
Might be good, but I’m not spending 350$ to play that game.
What does the future hold for PSP games? Not much. After going through the list, most interesting looking games was Devil May Cry 2. There is this big hype about FFVII Advent Children.
I am going to clear this up. FFVII: Advent Children is not a game, it is a movie. A movie only on UMD format, meaning only on the PSP. It’s not a ****ing game, but it is advertised as one. It’s a ****ing movie. I wanted a FFVII remake, not a movie that takes place 2 years after the game I never got to beat.
Think before you leap, look before you buy.