Category: Video Games

The PSP got released 2 days ago and already there are 17 games reviewed on Gamespot. On the other hand the Nintendo DS got released last year, and till now there are only 16 games reviewed on Gamespot. Poor DS, its Virtual Boy Redux.

Today my brother did something very cool. He took an Apple iPod Shuffle, plugged it into the USB port on the front of his Sony PS2, copied pictures he took in Grand Turismo 4 onto the shuffle, then plugged the shuffle back into the Mac and copied the images onto his desktop. I think this is the coolest thing I have heard about the PS2. [IMG 1] [IMG 2]

From the Dept. of We Tried to Warn You, Sony user forums are already starting to fill up with laments about PlayStation Portables with dead pixels and other screen defects.

The PSP’s Japanese launch was accompanied by scattered reports of glitchy screens and Sony indifference to the defects. U.S. consumers can pretty much intuit the same from reading Page 13 of the instruction manual:

“Red, blue or green spots (bright spots) or black spots (dark spots) may appear in certain locations of the LCD screen. The appearance of such spots is a normal occurrence associated with LCD screens and is not a sign of a malfunction.”

Translated, that means Sony and its retail friends get to decide when a PSP screen is defective enough to merit replacement. Clerks at Sony’s PlayStation store in San Francisco, for example, appeared to be fairly generous with replacement requests Thursday, but results may vary with other retailers and Sony’s customer support phone line. [via]

You can now get the PSP Value Pack from Amazon.com for $399 [Link]

Everything you need to know about the PlayStation Portable.

I was just checking some Sony PSP game reviews on IGN and Gamespot and was happy to see that most of the launch games scored pretty decent and high scores. When the Nintendo DS and Ngage released the first batch of games, most of the games scored terribly low. Actually, if you take the average score of the PSP launch games which is 7.7 on IGN (7.8 on Gamespot) and compare it to the DS which has an average score of 6.4 on IGN, you will see Nintendo isn’t doing that well at all. The DS has even been out for awhile now and very little games have been released. Even the upcoming games for the DS aren’t that exciting at all. With the PSP on the other hand they have a pretty decent launch lineup with RidgeRacer, Wipeout, Tony Hawk, Need for Speed Underground: Rivals and Lumines. Plus there are some cool upcoming games coming up like Metal Gear Acid, Colin McRae Rally 2005, Grand Theft Auto and Grand Turismo. I am glad Sony decided to release a handheld system. I hate monopolies and Nintendo hasn’t been very innovative recently. It took them what, more then 10 years to come up with a backlit screen for the gameboy? Come on..

I am pro Sony PSP. I definetly think its a way cooler machine then the GameBoy DS which is big and clunky. The Sony PSP games are way cooler and the connectivity features of the PSP are also a lot cooler. In a recent comparison in WIRED magazine between the PSP and DS, the PSP ofcourse came out on top. But today I read an argument about the PSP that I found interesting. The PSP is better then the DS, we know that, but how much better it could have been is the issue here.

Here is the rant I read taken from Joystiq:

The PSP’s battery is a topic of huge debate. Depending on use, a single charge can last anywhere between 6 hours all the way down to 1.5, depending on which features the handheld utilizes. Why is this?

I seriously ask, should you as a consumer and gamer, have to juggle volume and brightness to eke out a bit more play time? Should game developers be asked to manage the battery consumption or should that be an issue for the developer of the system? Basically, shouldn’t the system, when used at maximum capacity, have a reasonable battery life?

If Sony hadn’t tried to force an optical drive in the PSP, there would be much more room in the system for a larger capacity battery. Load times would be nonexistent. The system would be less fragile and prone to breaking due to mechanical failure. The system wouldn’t have the shuriken UMD ‘feature’. Overall, it would be a much better system. Sony’s reliance on the optical disc has resulted in a worse product than could have otherwise been built.

Why? Why did Sony insist on putting an optical drive in the PSP when it had to compromise on so many other issues? Simple, Sony wants to sell you movies and music on the UMD. They want you to buy a UMD movie for $20. That UMD movie has 1/3 the resolution of a similar priced DVD. That UMD movie can’t be played back on a TV. That UMD movie does not have additional DVD features, menus, subtitles or other cool things you may find on a DVD. Sony makes nearly 100% profit on movies and music.

Sony sacrificed the PSP in order to make money off of movies.

Now, before you start calling names, I’m not laying hate on the PSP. Nice screen. Sleek, shiny case. Good graphics. Nice.

I look at the decisions made by Sony and I see decisions that are absolute trash for gamers but great for lining Sony’s pockets with money. I feel frustrated knowing the PSP could have been so much more if they would simply step up to the plate and decide to knock a home run out of the park instead of walking to first base on the back of movies and music. The missed potential for a system with an 8 hour battery, fully loaded with wi-fi on, makes me weep.

4 hours isn’t enough. 2 hours is a downright embarrassment. As gamers, we should demand more.

I just read an article on GameSpy about “The Top Ten Handhelds that Never Made It“. I believe the Sega Nomad should have been in the number 1 position since it seriously had a lot of potential and it was way ahead of its time. Gameboy is just so crap compared to the Sega systems (except SNES). I mean if Sega had solved the battery issue (6AA’s last 1.5 hours on gamegear) I think they would have easily won over the Nintendo. Anyway here is the list of the top ten:

1. Neo Geo Pocket Color
2. Bandai WonderSwan
3. Game Gear
4. GamePark GP32
5. NEC Turbo Express
6. Atari Lynx
7. Sega Genesis Nomad
8. Milton Bradley Microvision
9. Nokia N-Gage
10. Tiger Game.com

Link

As Busynow had predicted in his comments, Amazon has put the Sony PSP preorder back but this time the system is bundled with 5 games and the price is $450. Sadly this new price is way above my budget and so will now have to wait for Amazon to carry the PSP as a stand alone unit before I can purchase it and that might take a couple of months depending on the PSP stock in the market.

We are sorry to report that we will not be able to obtain the following
item from your order:

“Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) Value Pack”

Though we had expected to be able to send this item to you, we’ve
since found that it is not available from any of our sources at this
time. We realize this is disappointing news to hear, and we apologize
for the inconvenience we have caused you.

We have cancelled this item from your order.

I was reading Puss-In-Boots blog and she said she loves to collect rare stuff. But she didn’t say what stuff she collected. I know Nibaq likes to collect toy figurines, but what else does everyone collect? I personally collect 2 things. Wired Magazines (I have every issue since 5.01 and my oldest is 3.12), and also videogame systems. So since today is cleaning Firday, I decided to take out and shoot all my systems and then wipe the dust off before I put them back into the cabinets. Below is a list of all the systems I currently own and they link to their pictures.

Atari Jaguar
Atari Lynx
Coleco Vision
Commodore 64
Commodore VIC 20
Dingoo A320
Game & Watch – Chef
Game & Watch – Donkey Kong Jr.
Game & Watch – Mario Bros.
Microsoft Xbox
Microsoft Xbox 360
MSX2 (Sakhr)
NEO-GEO AES
Nintendo 64
Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS Lite
Nintendo Gameboy SP
Nintendo Gamecube
Nintendo Wii
Panasonic 3DO
Sega Dreamcast
Sega Gamegear
Sony Playstation 1
Sony Playstation 2
Sony Playstation 3
Sony PSP
Speak & Spell
Super Nintendo
Super Simon

I still have a couple of systems I would like to own, mainly a Nintendo Virtual Boy, a Sega Nomad and a Sega Saturn.

Before I got married and moved into my own apartment, I didn’t have any room to display the stuff in my old room so I had them all under my bed. Now though since I have my own place I have them all displayed in my cabinet (1,2) with the boxes and some accessories in the drawers and closests (1,2,3,4).

So what do you guys collect?

Thanks to BusyNow for the heads up. Amazon.com is now allowing you to preorder your Sony PSP value pack for a price of $250 (KD73). The value pack includes a 32MB Memory Stick Duo, headphones with a remote control, a battery pack, and a movie/music/video game sample UMD. Sony is also tossing in a special UMD-version of the film Spider-Man 2 with the first one million PSP Value Packs sold. So preorder your PSP now, this is the link.

This is my order:
1 of Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) Value Pack
Sony Computer Entertainment; @ $249.99 each

1 of PSP Ridge Racer
Namco; @ $39.99 each

——-
Item(s) Subtotal: $289.98
Shipping & Handling: $5.48
Total Before Tax: $295.46
Tax: $25.48

TOTAL: $320.94

Update: Amazon has stopped the preordering. It seems the first batch of PSPs on Amazon have already been preordered.

I have been checking Amazon.com daily for the Sony PSP so I can preorder one for me. Today I just checked and their now is a listing for the Sony PSP on Amazon but you can’t preorder! I dont know if this will change or not, at the moment I have the Amazon PSP page as my browsers startup page so I will know once they start accepting preorders.

For those interested, this is the link.