Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Hardware Entertainment Games

More PSP Impressions, Loading Times Examined 137

Posted by Zonk from the has-to-be-shorter-than-windows-95 dept.
ACTRAiSER writes "Lik-Sang.com once again took a close look at a new toy for gamers: the Sony PSP. The loading time for several games seems to be quite long." From the article: "Loading time and battery life seem to be the big factors which decide about the PSPs success or failure in many gamers eyes right now. While we can't comment on the battery life as of yet, latest reports from Japan about loading times on demo units that actually have access to the games are as follows..."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

More PSP Impressions, Loading Times Examined More

More PSP Impressions, Loading Times Examined

Comments Filter:

  • I RTFA (Score:4, Funny)

    by igorthefiend ( 831721 ) on Tuesday December 07, 2004 @01:41PM (#11021273)
    So what are "chirurgical gloves" and are those Ipod earphones? Heck, muggers are going to be using those as a beacon of who to pick for years to come at this rate!

  • Good God! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Mr.Dippy ( 613292 )
    24 seconds to from power off to Title/Menu for a game seems a little extreme. The DS seems to gimmicky for me and the PSP seems like the system can't handle all the graphics powers making the games less enjoyable because you have crappy load time and battery life. I think I'll keep waiting for another portable system to come out (I'm looking in your direction Microsoft) **shutters**

  • After considering the factors... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by arashiakari ( 633150 ) on Tuesday December 07, 2004 @01:48PM (#11021343) Homepage
    ...we're all going to buy one anyway. :)

  • My vote for a PSP Slogan (Score:5, Funny)

    by SetupWeasel ( 54062 ) on Tuesday December 07, 2004 @01:49PM (#11021361) Homepage
    "The Lik Sang crew actually wore chirurgical (sic) gloves during the whole process of testing the unit and while performing the photo session."

    I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

    Touching is bad.

  • Cache (Score:3, Funny)

    by scottind ( 838186 ) on Tuesday December 07, 2004 @02:06PM (#11021627)
    with the prices of flash memory falling, maybe a future solution sony could implement is by creating a disk cache on the memory stick? then again these ARE first generation psp games, and much like first generation ps1 games, the load times will improve with better programming.
    • One catch, though. Even though flash memory prices are falling, Memory Stick® prices aren't. Sony keeps them up higher than, say, compact flash because their users have no choice. If you get a Sony product, it most likely uses Memory Sticks, and since only Sony makes them you have to pay their prices.

  • Has Sony never heard of the Game Gear? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by BTWR ( 540147 ) <americangibor3@yah o o . c om> on Tuesday December 07, 2004 @02:10PM (#11021704) Homepage Journal
    Back in 1990 (or so), the Game Gear launched against the Nintendo Gameboy. This is looking very similar:

    Better graphics: Game Gea (by far)

    Backlight: Game Gear

    Color Graphics: Game Gear

    TV Tuner option: Game Gear

    Battery Life: Gameboy (by FAR)

    Overall Winner: Gameboy

    (hint, hint, Sony...)

    • Small size - Gameboy
      More games - Gameboy
      Loyalty of fans to games like mario, metriod, double dragon, Zelda, etc - Gameboy

      Combine that with the better battery life, and you see that there's more to the gameboy's success than just power. The Game Gear had a lot of bells and whistles, but the gameboy had the core elements of lots of good games with solid gameplay and a long battery. Why would you trade those items for things like a TV tuner? You don't buy a portable game system to do things other than p
      • You don't buy a portable game system to do things other than play games
        (Hint, hint Sony)
      • Why would you trade those items for things like a TV tuner?

        I fully agree NOW. But... back in 1990, in 3rd grade, that just sounded SO COOL! The idea that you could watch tv anywhere, that everyone would crowd around your tv at recess seemed so sweet (though we didn't think of things such as "what the hell is a kid gonna watch at 12 noon - news, or soaps. to a 10 year-old, both sound ugh."
      • Erm, the original GameBoy was actually pretty large. Not as large as a GameGear, but still too large to comfortably fit in pockets (though I still did it). The version that fixed this problem - the GameBoy Pocket - had low battery life problems, yet still sold very well. The GameGear wasn't entirely bereft of loyalty-inspiring games, either - it had stuff like Sonic that should've sold like hot cakes.
    • It all makes perfect sense when you look at Sony's PSP/PS3 Launch Business Plan

      1. Annoy the Crap out of Nintendo.
      2. ?
      3. Profit.
      4. For great justice!!
    • There is more to it than this.

      First rule of gaming:
      More power != more fun

      Back in my day, we only had 8-bit graphics. Everything was done in SPRITES. And we LOVED IT. And I had to walk to school, uphill both ways.

      I certainly don't mean to sound like a troll, but there comes a point when graphics are good enough. I had loads of fun dumping quarters into Donkey Kong when I was a kid. That that had a processor speed measured in low single digits.

      When it comes to 3D, if you can do a certain amount of polygons and apply textures, that is probably good enough. How much eye candy do you need? Certainly walls might look flat without bump-mapping. But you can still tell that it is a wall, and it will still protect you from the enemy on the other side. Anything more makes it LOOK better, but not PLAY better. When I buy a game, I want gameplay. Many people still consider the original Half Life to be fun to play. And the graphics engine is rather dated by now. But if it is still fun, who cares.

      I know that there is a point in here somewhere. Oh, there it is. Simply throwing more hardware at a game does not make it a better game. Not that the DS has it made. If anything, the DS has too little graphics, and the PSP has too much. But somewhere in the middle is probably a happy medium that is powerful enough to show you what is going on, but simple enough not to suck batteries. I think that if you gave the DS something about as powerful as a Voodoo 2 or so, you would have a winner. Certainly that would not suck up batteries too fast using modern silicon technologies.
      • All excellent points. I have a DS, and will probably buy a PSP if they launch at a reasonable price. However, you should really see the DS in action. The graphics look incredibly nice. Spiderman, for example, is a essentially a 2D game which is rendered in 3D at 60fps, which looks great, and is a ball to play. It's even *difficult*. Something that's hard to get used to in todays game design. Usually, games that are too hard don't sell well.

        Anyway, I'm trying to remember my Voodoo2, and I'm pretty su

      • Not that the DS has it made. If anything, the DS has too little graphics, and the PSP has too much. But somewhere in the middle is probably a happy medium that is powerful enough to show you what is going on, but simple enough not to suck batteries.

        I agree, but I think Sony has a good gameplan here. The (apparent) battery-life problem can eventually be solved through better battery technology - the DS is stuck with underpowered graphics forever. (Software tricks will help a little here - but they can also


        • The (apparent) battery-life problem can eventually be solved through better battery technology

          Sounds like PSP version 2.0 is the way to go... I just hope this won't be too late for the PSP, like the improved 2nd version of N-Gage doesn't sell so well. Because once a console has the image of a "loser" it's difficult to get rid of this image...
          • Pretty sure the PSP batteries are completely replaceable. So really just PSP Battery version 2.0 is all you need. Very smart on Sony's part. Early adopters will buy it anyway, and a complaint of "it doesn't have enough battery life" is much easier to dissuade through a proposed upgrade then "its games suck".

            And I still find it a little hard to believe, but supposedly the N-Gage is doing great business outside of the US. It is apparently very popular especially in Asian countries where it is 'free' (through
      • PREAMBLE: Please don't flame me, I'm not advocating either system here.

        First rule of gaming:
        More power != more fun

        In theory, that's true, but not in practice. There's a certain minimum level of power you're going to need to do a decent quality 3D game without it being a totally jarring experience. That's not to say that it can't be done (hey, look at Star Fox), but it is to say that it can be harder for a developer to make a quality game when the platform limitations constrict them too much. Here's

        • it can be harder for a developer to make a quality game when the platform limitations constrict them too much.

          Meh.. it depends on your metric of "quality", which is subjective at best. One problem with the PS2, particularly in the early days, was the amount of effort spent on battling with the more powerful but more complex hardware, instead of spending the time making the game fun. More power != Easier development.
        • When I was buying Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Cima at Electronics Boutique, the sales-guy nentioned to me that he was surprised at how many RPGs they sell for the GBA, especially in comparison to the other consoles.

          I speculated that perhaps the time not spent on 3D engines & fancy graphics (not that either of these titles look bad or feel unpolished, esp. FFTA) got put into making the games good.

          Again using Final Fantasy as an example, look at how many copies of FF I&II have sold (PS/Wonde
        • When you say portal "cheat" are you trying to say that it is not the same as Quake 2 because the whole level is not in memory at once? If this is what you think, you should try the survival mode on Hunters...there are no portals in the level and the level is of decent size. I am happy with the graphics for Hunters. For some reason screen shots of the game look much worse than the actual unit.
      • I think what it will really come down to is what games get developed for each system. With the exception of Mario 64 DS, I am dissapointed with the launch games for the DS. Now I haven't played all the games, but going on reviews and my own tastes I don't think it is very great. However, it does seem like some great games are in development for the DS, but I don't want to judge a system on games that don't exist yet. So far, the PSP doesn't seem like it has a great list of games for launch either. I don
      • Tetris: Gameboy
      That's probably what did it.

  • So what? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Posting as AC to avoid flames...

    What makes this so different than PSX and PS2 load times? Some games seem to take at least 30 seconds to load.

    This is thing I miss most about cartridge based games.

    • Re:So what? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Ayaress ( 662020 )
      The main difference between load times on the PSP and load times on any disk-based console is where you are. The PS2, Xbox, GameCube, whatever is plugged into the wall, and won't run out of power at any point. You're also usually in a more comfortable environment, sitting on a couch or something. With a portable, you're on battery time (and not very much battery time in the PSP's case), and you may be standing in line, on a bus, or some other uncomfortable situation as likely as you'd be sitting on the couc
  • Ridge Racers:

    From power off to Namco logo and title: 16 seconds
    From selecting car/track to start the race: 14 seconds
    Exit the game back to car/track selection: 10 seconds

    Dokodemo Issho:

    From power off to PSP logo and title: 20 seconds
    Starting game from title screen: 10 seconds
    Going back to title screen: 5 seconds

    Mojipittan:

    From power off to title screen: 20 seconds
    No more waiting time

    Minna no Golf:

    From power off to PSP logo and title: 24 seconds
    From character selection to start:

    • I hope, somehow, that games run in two modes: plugged in and not. For me the PSP would be nice for a pick up and go then sit back down and plug in. I don't have to haul a TV, lots of wires, controllers, and it does support small amounts of battery life... but if I am just out to play a game anywhere I will be taking my DS.
    • Does the PSP have a sleep mode? I normally keep my DS in sleep mode with the cover closed, and I can be playing Mario almost instantaneously like that.

  • HD-DVD (Score:3, Insightful)

    by DrWho520 ( 655973 ) on Tuesday December 07, 2004 @02:13PM (#11021735) Journal
    Only movie play back puts the PSP at an advantage over the DS in my mind, although the GBA movie player will work on the DS. Considering I alread have portable DVD player, I have no disire to buy all my movies again in a different format (Blu-Ray) and we all read the article (ha-ha) about every movie studio besides Sony pictures signing up for HD-DVD, I have no use for a PSP. Spinning optical media in a portable format has not reached a level of maturity high enough for me yet. I will pass.
    • The PSP isn't using Blu-Ray discs, movies will be tied to the proprietary UMD disc format. The only way I'll be playing movies on the PSP is by converting my DVDs onto burnable UMD discs, otherwise forget it. I'm not buying movies twice just to make them portable.

  • Why.... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 07, 2004 @02:14PM (#11021755)
    Why can't any of the places comment on battery life yet? Gamespot said they can't either, and that it would come later. I don't see any reason for them not to mention it unless Sony told them they couldn't if they wanted to have the PSP early.

    I can't help but feel that there's something to hide if that's the case.
    • Its because no one knows anything about the battery life yet. There isn't any data strong enough to let anyone say anything. They'd rather not comment than say something completely wrong.
      • Not necessarily true. Most of the hardware reviews (with the exception of Gamespot, which got theirs at the auction) have been done at/with Sony and plugged into the AC Outlets. The Japanese consumers may be fooled initially if this thing goes for two hours, but they'll catch on and it'll get beat up over here real quick.
    • They have already tested the battery life at lik sang, is 2 hours IF you use the maximum "brightness" setting and dont let the battery charge to maximum.
      With the brightness diminished, they managed to get 6 hours of gameplay. And they didnt even charged the battery at full. so IS not that bad IF you know how to use it. (besides the battery is chargeable so you just need to plug it to the car cigarrete lighter or any regular plug each 4 hours or so you would be ok).

  • LCD? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Khuffie ( 818093 ) on Tuesday December 07, 2004 @02:20PM (#11021837) Homepage
    I wonder how the LCD screen will respond after being put in pockets/backpacks. Whats great about the DS/SP is the clamshell design: sure the outer parts may get scratched, but the screens are always protected. It seems that the DS is still smaller than the PSP; it's definitely smaller in width and they seem to have the same height, even with the clamshell design...

    As for load-times, I've got to see those are ridiculous. It's great being able to start playing immediately with the DS (if you have it in Auto-start). Heck, the best thing about portables is being able to play them in a bus/subway ride...those load times are just too damn long!

    With all that said, the PSP does look like a sexy, sexy beast.

    • The PSP is slightly smaller in volume and weight.
      • Actually it is slightly heavier, at least w/battery and memory stick.

        Gamespot [gamespot.com] said:

        According to our calculations, the unit weighs in at 282 grams (around 10 ounces), with its battery and Memory Stick Duo. By comparison, the Nintendo DS weighs 276 grams (9.7 ounces).

        I don't think 6 grams will break anyone, but the PSP is heavier.
      • Here's a comparison [gizmondoforums.com] of next-gen handheld console sizes. I'd have to pick DS as the biggest of the bunch from that pic. The PSP is wider, but smaller in both other dimensions. Nintendo is also quite boxy too, so would fill its entire dimensions, the others have more curves and missing corners that make them smaller than that diagram suggests.

    • Re:LCD? (Score:1)

      by _egg ( 86248 )
      There's some super-hard coating on the PSP's entire front that's very resistant to scratching.
  • A 24 second wait is a throwback to game design 20 years ago [c64.com] . So what gives?

    Sony wants you to throw more money at the problem. Let me explain.

    When you format a Memory Stick with the PSP itself, you'll not only find it empty afterwards, there are some interesting directories on it. The existence of a games directory strongly suggests that Sony plans to enable users playing games directly off the Memory Stick.

    So it would appear that the memory stick will be used for caching content, so the disk drive w
    • And if you wait until it starts to die out, you can get a smaller version for the same price.
    • Actually, the Games directory is probably there to keep content on the stick organized. A friend of mine has a memory stick Walkman, and when looked at on a computer it contains a "hi-fi" directory, even though the only way to get music onto the stick in a playable form is though Sony's awful special-purpose iTunes wannabe.

      I'll say this about that Walkman. It certainly does make a passable USB hard drive of slightly less than the size of the memory stick inserted into it. As a music player, though, the
      • The Games directory is most likely to store games from the game sharing feature (similar to GBA multiboot, and DS download and play) rather than letting them get erased when you turn off the power, and also game demos
        • That, and saves, makes sense. I just think its unlikely that Sony will intentionally give out a means of allowing people to run arbitrary code on their system, especially if they're selling it at a loss. If we're able to run software off of a memory stick, you can bet it'll be crippled by some kind of shameless digital rights management.
    • So this will work? Yep, if you have a 512MB (or larger) memory stick on hand.

      Maybe it's just me but if I buy a 512 MB Memory Stick for my PSP (all of this hypothetically, of course) I would damn well expect it to hold 512 MB of game saves, and fuck off if you want to take some space for caching. The difference between using a hard drive and an external memory device to cache data is that the hard drive is optimized for it and people do not buy memory cards to speed up game play.
    • Memory sticks are flash memory, with the typical associated limited number of read/write cycles, and the very slow write time. You may be able to read it at 80Mbps, but I guarantee you're not writing at anything near that speed. There sill be no caching on memory stick. There are two kinds of games played on portables, those played in tiny snatches and those played for significant periods of time. The ones played for long periods can have longer load times than the others. The ones played in little bursts w
    • It seems that Sony's consoles are becoming all too similar to PCs, requiring upgrades to your hardware to do things rather than having everything come in one boxen. For now, it's just limited to hardware accessories (Want to be able to turn off your PS2 from a remote, or progressive-scan DVD playback? Upgrade to a 50000-series PS2. A four-player adapter that can do both PS and PS2 games? Upgrade to a 70000-series PS2), but I wonder how much longer it will be before simply seeing the PlayStation logo on
  • Is definetily way too early to call a winner in this, I mean seriously, the psp hasnt even launched yet. And xmas will be the proving ground for the DS.

    Second. Load times, shmock times, minimal load times did no favours for the n64 against the psx (and the PSX launching titles load times were terrible) The system which has more and better games wins, period. I dont mind load times if I can play Final Fantasy, GTA, tekken, devil may cry or Metroid in a console.(unless they are annoying and in the middle of

    • Re:Ok some things you are forgetting.. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MilenCent ( 219397 ) <johnwh AT gmail DOT com> on Tuesday December 07, 2004 @05:50PM (#11025214) Homepage
      The system which has more and better games wins, period. I dont mind load times if I can play Final Fantasy, GTA, tekken, devil may cry or Metroid in a console.(unless they are annoying and in the middle of the game like in hl2)

      Metroid games, even the 3D ones, have very good loading times, so it doesn't quite fit in with the other examples given.

      Loading times, it must be said, matter a great deal to me -- I consider FF VII unplayable to this day because of that damn wait before all those random battles. I'm still amazed I persevered through Chrono Cross. It is very possible for an excellent game to be crippled by bad load times. Although these games did very well despite the disk access, I don't think it can be questioned that they would have been even better without all those annoying, inescapable pauses in the action.

      It is possibly possible that PSP developers will use tricks to mask loading times. This is what the Gamecube does with Metroid Prime, the doors between areas hide the load time. That would be good, if they could do something like that, but it's not possible in all cases.

      Third. The battery is a problem YES but so it was anti aliasing for the ps2 and it still beat every other console it was against (which had better tech) Also they were eventually able to fix the problem trough programming.

      Smoothing edges is much less serious of a problem for a portable than battery life. ...according to what Ive read you can make the battery last up to 4 times by simply lowering your brightness and using an extra light source (which is what I've done for years with my gba)

      And a lot of people agree that the GBA's pre-SP popularity came despite that unlit screen rather than because of it. I barely play my original GBA anymore because of it. If you have to turn the light down to get decent battery life then something is broken.

      Anyway, are you aware the PSP runs on rechargeable batteries and AC ? all you need to do is to hook it to the car lighter, problem solved.

      But a portable system is made, above all, to be PORTABLE. The PSP's system specs look like an underpowered PS2, and many of the same games are coming out for it. If you're going to be tethered to an outlet to play the thing, then it makes a lot more sense to get a PS2 instead, especially since it's cheaper, there's hundreds of games, and you can play it on a TV.

      Simply stated the PSP is a console targetted at teens and young adults and weither you want to admit it or not, the DS is targeted at kids and teens. (how many "M" or even "T" titles does each console have now?)

      DS: A mixture. Feel the Magic isn't for kids, and I don't think Urbz is either.
      PSP: Zero, in either category. Because it ain't out yet.

      The GBA was popular across the board, and there's no reason to believe the DS will not be either -- after all, it comes with a pack-in demo that offers multiplayer deathmatch, which is rather surprising of Nintendo.

      My local shop is importing PSPs and they are getting sold out for xmas already.

      A sold-out importer is an entirely different thing than out of stock at Wal-Mart.

      Where I live the DS is making parents look at the GBA sp. Is a lot cheaper and is a nice Portable which is what little timmy wrote in his xmas list anyway. (the DS is at $200 and the GBA is $90)

      No, the DS is $150, and I think the GBA SP is cheaper by now as well. Where are you getting your information?

      P.S. Tekken? Is it the 90's again and someone forgot to tell me?
      • Your reply makes some valid points, but has Nintendo fan boy written all over it. People can fight the "Nintendo is kiddie," argument all they want. The fact of the matter is...it's predominately geared towards a younger crowd. Feel The Magic isn't aimed at kids...but than again, it's not really aimed at anyone in particular, actually. In general, most kids AND adults GET it.
        • Saying that "Nintendo is kiddie" means about as much as saying that "Pixar is kiddie."

          If you have to explain this to someone, then, in general, they just DON'T get it, and it's probably not worth trying to convince them.

          --Jeremy
        • Your reply makes some valid points, but has Nintendo fan boy written all over it.

          Whatever. It's true that I think Nintendo is the, shall we say, least evil of the current manufacturers. Isn't it possible to honestly think that Nintendo knows what they're doing? Names like "fanboy" are best applied to people who get, shall we say, way too into Inuyasha. I just happen to like Nintendo's games, but I don't write fan fiction. And there are some games for other systems that I like, and I recognize that N

      • DS: A mixture. Feel the Magic isn't for kids, and I don't think Urbz is either.
        PSP: Zero, in either category. Because it ain't out yet.

        Feel the Magic is really for all ages (though it is rated Teen). Nothing adult about it. Like nearly all EA games, Urbz (especially the GBA version and its DS port) is definitely aimed at kids.

        You are being pretty disengenous to say we can't see who PSP games are directed at "because it ain't out yet". Various big games for it are widely known and have been for some time

        • You are being pretty disengenous to say we can't see who PSP games are directed at "because it ain't out yet". Various big games for it are widely known and have been for some time: Metal Gear, Dynasty Warriors, Final Fantasy, Tenchu, Twisted Metal, Wipeout...

          These things are true, but I was referring more to what IS out than what is COMING out (which is what the parent post stated). So I don't think I was being disingenuous. The DS is out now, and the PSP has yet to appear. That was the point.

          Probab
      • Ok I could repply to each of your answers. But considering you got +5 interesting just for bashing my post , I wont even bother. (its not your fault, everybody knows slashdot is a bit biased) but some points just for documentation and completion sake.

        When I said you could put it in the cigarrete lighter, of course I meant to recharge it, not that you should play it always sticked to a wall, thank you for taking my answer out of context.

        I know that the ds is supposed to be $180.00 I specifically mentio
        • Dude, I think you're taking this a bit too seriously. I really wasn't aware my post got to +5, and in any case I've learned to stop worrying so much about Slashdot post scores. (Though if Slashdot were actually as biased as people say it is, there's no way in hell Halo 2 would be getting so much love from these halls.) Anyway, I wasn't trying to bash you. C'mon, let's be friends.

          You said cigarette lighter, but you also mentioned AC. Of course you can recharge them, but if you have to recharge them too
    • I totally agree that it's too early to call this. But at the same time it's time to get some realistic expectation as to what a consumer expects from a portable device. A load time of 20 seconds is probably unacceptable for someone whipping the thing out on the bus to play a couple holes of golf. Battery life of two hours is unacceptable to someone who wants to take the thing on a trip. That's the bottom line. If I wanted what you're selling me I'd save a lot of money buying an LCD for my PS2 and keeping i
    • Second. Load times, shmock times, minimal load times did no favours for the n64 against the psx (and the PSX launching titles load times were terrible)

      Yeah, no load times for the N64 didn't win the war, but after the Sega CD, the Sega Saturn, the PS1, the Dreamcast, the PS2, the Gamecube, the Xbox and the PC; we're STILL bitching about load times which accompany the use of CDs/DVDs. If theres a system that can avoid load times, hell yeah I'm gonna support that as long as I can especially if I'm not gonna s

  • Very back of the envelope, based on what we know about MiniDisc players. Everything very approximate.

    Assuming UMD is no more efficient than MD, here goes:

    MD is a mature technology ~ 150MB
    For a modern netMD:
    66kbps gives 50 hours on one AA battery ~ 2000 mAh

    so
    1.5 min / mAh

    1 min = 9000KB uncompressed = 150KBps = 1200kbps
    1200/66 = 18.18:1 compression

    so throughput for netMD is 495KB / min (9000KB uncompressed/18.18)

    which gives
    742.5KB / mAh (495KB * 1.5 min/mAh)

    on the equivalent of 2AA batteries that's ~ 4
  • Looking at the style/hip look, features (MP3/MP4 playback), and given either a big enough flash card or the ability to potentially read burned PSP sized dvds, I think the PSP is more a competitor to Apple's Ipod.
    • Competing with what? iPod mini? I'm sorry, but a clunky guy like that with 4gb of Memory Sticks doesn't sound like a competitor to iPod at all, it would rack you up to the cost of a full on iPod just to compete with the storage of the mini alone.

      Mp3 playback is needed for games anyway, and I think doubles as a nice throwback to anybody who doesn't already have a smaller more battery efficient player.

  • Has anyone mentioned that the DS will play the games that the massive installed base of GBA/SP owners already have?
    And that the huge library of good games available to it at launch might just win a few over?
    And that Nintendo have a lot more experience in the market than Sony?
    I'm sorry but I can't see the PSP shipping huge numbers and neither can sony as they have recently stated that they are not producing too many in the light of the flop the PSX was. They are instead focussing on knocking PS2's out - whic

  • My ADHD brain rejects the concept of portable loadtimes. It seems contradictory to the appeal of portables: Instant Gratification. Someone mentioned the bus/waiting in line? Play for 3-10 minutes at a time and 15-30 seconds of load time will feel a lot longer than if you're spending your weekend on final fantasy.

    And my dvd collection loudly protests! Buy all my movies again, are you joking? Buy a whole movie JUST for this stupid thing? If it was a movie I would never want to watch on a real screen I wouldn

  • Does anyone know if the covers for the screens and buttons in the following pictures (1 [lik-sang.com] 2 [lik-sang.com] 3 [lik-sang.com] 4 [lik-sang.com]) need to be put on manually?

    ie: To protect the screen and buttons do I need to carry those items along all the time?

    I haven't found any information on them yet.

Slashdot Top Deals

To be awake is to be alive. -- Henry David Thoreau, in "Walden"

Close