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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.
Okay, I've got my asbestos suit on. Flame away.
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{ Mar 8th 2005 at 8:03AM } 
_thumbnail.jpg "Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce (Ryu)")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tesla @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Kamalot seems to be much of a Nintendo Fanboy who is slowly realizing that Nintendo has repeatedly shot themselves in the foot on the console market and has started doing so again with what we know as the Nintendo DS. While the big N has had a good hold for some time, Sony is going to bring a lot of the older generation (those who grew up on Nintendo, Super Nintendo, etc) into handheld gaming.
I've no complaint that Nintendo, Super Nintendo where the best of thier time (not counting out Sega either), but ever since then Nintendo has failed to nail down enough software support for the new systems they released after that. I graduated to Sony when Metal Gear went the way of Playstation and have been a loyal fan to Kojima ever since (contrary to all you MGS2 haters). I've also been able to play a great many games on PS2 (never actually bought a PS but caught up on some good PS games with the PS2 backwards compatability), but getting back to the issue at hand...
Nintendo staying with cartridges for handheld gaming, while that has helped out in battery life, has severe shortcomings is storage space. While I agree the GBA SP is a great handheld, I find it hard to find games I haven't already played many years ago on Nintendo or Super Nintendo. Yes, there are many new games, but not all that many that entice me... *cough* pokemon overkill *cough*..., but with a UMD disc you have roughly 1.8GB of storage space. Great for storing textures, voice, music, and all else associated with gaming to create a better game. I find it difficult to believe that Sony primarily chose the UMD for movie and music alone. Look at the GBA cartridges like Spongebob and Pokemon cartoons. Sony has just taken it to the next level in storage space for a handheld (something nintendo has passed up repeatedly).
As for Sony selling Movies on UMD, I agree that it is a move that will fall flat on it's face and only be a novelty at most. I don't plan on getting any other than the free Spiderman 2 that will come with my PSP unit.
You complain that the battery life isn't 8 hours but if you're playing that much time in one sitting you need to turn it off and go outside. If you want a crippled system, then look at the Nintendo DS, which has potential but no support and it's been out for four months now.
From what I've been reading (and forgive me, I wasn't an importer, so I don't know for sure), but high brightness is totally not necessary with the PSP. And most battery testing I've read has been on high brightness. I anxiously await making testing it out myself in just over two weeks.
I for one want a solid software supported gaming system with no crippling gimmicks like two screens and touch screen that'll make a system die a death which was previously reserved for the Virtual Boy. I also want one that won't have a "newer" version released every two years. The final nail in the DS coffin is the new Gameboy that will be out within a year probably. Anyone who argues that the PSP is too expensive should think of all the game boys they probably purchased.
I commend Sony for taking portable gaming to the next level (catering to the larger gaming audience who is growing older these days) and waiting for a solid software backing to release with it. While I wouldn't mind some longer battery life, I still think it is more than adequate for most if not all gamers, including some of us hardcore gamers who still have lives outside of gaming.
Sony fanboy? Probably, and with good reason.
Shawn @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Right on Kamalot... I own a DS and battery life can range from 6-10 hours.. Depending on Wireless use. Still 10 hours playing without wireless is a long time. Plus Nintendo is focusing on something fun and different. There are so many more things nintendo can do with the microphone, touch screen and extra LCD display that sony can't.. Sure Sony PSP has better graphics, but when it comes down to it, i'd rather play something fun then some that looks good.
Justin @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
I'm not a fanboy of either side, they both have their good and bad sides. But I totally agree with Kamalot on their decision to go with optical media for the games. Boooo Sony.
Shawn @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Tesla you go on about how great Sony is, but honestly Sony PS, and PS2 both suck. Besides GTA, and a few others (not even worth mentioning) no 'great' games or 'classics' have arised from sony. They tried with crash bandicoot but failed miserably. When my friends come over we choose to play nintendo GC over the PS2, because nintendo games are more fun. Nintendo has Mario, Metroid, Donkey Kong, MarioKart, and Starfox to name a few. ALL CLASSICS!!! I'd take MarioKart Double Dash any day over Ridge Racer or Grand Turismo, Why? Cause the replay value is a thousand times better. Sony owners are only loyal to sony due to excellent marketing by Sony claiming it's 'cool' or 'hip' to own a PS2 and that the Nintendo GC is only for little kids.
Well you can have your Sony, and while you get bored of the games after 10 minutes i'll be thinking about you. Actually no i won't i'll be too busy having fun playing nintendo...
LATER!!!!
GTi-VR6 @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Time to throw my hat into the ring here too.
No one is forcing you to buy UMD movies, or UMD music. Sony went with optical media for more capacity. Besides, from the beginning Sony has been making consoles with optical based media. (Lest we forget the unholy alliance of Nintendo and Sony back when Nintendo was kicking around the idea of adding a CD-drive to the Super Famicom console.....)
Battery life will only get better. 4-6 hours or whatever it is right now is actually pretty good when you think that the DS can only get 6-10 WITHOUT an optical drive.
Look at it this way, the all-conquering iPod has only just recently cracked the 10 hr barrier in its last generation, and all it does is play mp3's.
As for Shawn's statement about great games and such. Remember, everyone has their opinion. I think I'd rather play ANY version of Gran Turismo (and still do) than play MarioKart more than once. But that's just my opinion. I'm sure a lot of people agree with you, and a lot of people agree with me.
If the PS and the PS2 truly sucked, they wouldn't have been succesful.
Markus @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
I agree more with Kamalot's comments more than the Joystiq intro paragraph. I don't see any comparison to the DS in Kamalot’s article. I see a long, hard look at Sony’s decision to sacrifice the PSP to the movie and music divisions.
I hadn’t really thought of it before, but optical media in a portable is a really dumb idea. Everything I use these days is flash memory or a hard drive, both of which are much more portable friendly than a slow, fragile optical disc.
Townsend @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
How come games for the GameCube have almost no load time but games for the PSP have 30+ second load times for each level? Don't they use what is, in essence, the same discs?
RSX @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
I think I see what is going on. While nobody is forcing us to buy UMD movies, the very fact that the PSP uses a fragile, cd-like disk with moving parts, huge battery drain, load times, and can be scratched is reall dumb. If they sold games on nemory-stick like carts, the whole umd drive could have become battery.
Memory these days is cheap. Games don’t use all 1.8 gigs of umd. Most ps1 games didn’t even use 1/3 of a full cd unless they had full motion video, which developers aren’t supposed to use for the umd cause of battery concerns. With 128 meg cards going for $8, Sony could have sold games on carts easily. Carts could grow in size over the system's life as memory prices continue to fall but a umd will always be slow and fragile.
While I thought umd was cool, I didn’t really think about it fully. Now that someone points it out, Umd is about as cool as using a portable cd player compared to an mp3 player. Not cool at all.
Misasfasise @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
I know the GC doesn't use dvd format for it's games, and Dvds have to load everytime. But the psp is, I think, one inch smaller than the 3 inch GC disc.
GTi-VR6 @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Markus: You ever have a portable CD player? What about one in your car? Are they fragile? Don't know about you, but all of the CD players I've had from different mfg's have held up just fine. Nothing fragile about them.
MrTroy @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Well Tesla, one thing I have to say about your argument(where I find the flaw). First you compair the DS to the PSP then GBA to the PSP. In all fairness. Most people don't like 2d Games. But who cares how good a game looks if you can't sit there and play it on the road for too long? Try taking a 6 hour trip somewhere. Depending on time of day you may just need that lighting.
And saying every two years for a handheld is wrong. If you bought an original Gameboy, you didn't really need another unit until Gameboy Color came out. Then Advance. That's 3 game boys over the how many years? Sure you can go ahead and say "Well you want the latest and greatest" But how many people bought a new PS2 cause they came in different colors. Oooh ooh or bought a new playstation OR PS2 cause they're smaller?
Blademonkey @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Nothing fragile? I guess that's why they have skip protection, because they are so sturdy?
Markus 1 - Gti Noob 0.
Bob @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
I'm sorry, Kamalot, did you say something?
Oh, yeah. . .Sony wants to sell movies. OK, I get that. Their movie division is hugely profitable, and is the cash engine that drives innovation in other divisions. They're even putting Spiderman 2 in the box to show off how delicious an experience it can be for Joe and Jill Baloney Consumer.
So, if they get to sell movies for the PSP. .
. . .then they make money. . .
. . .and they can continue to sell the PSP at a loss, and develop even better batteries, and even cheaper memory sticks, and invest more in marketing and attract better gaming titles. . .
The UMD in the PSP is the moneymaker for Sony that will fund everything else.
Sony didn't sacrifice the PSP for movies. They've created a platform for the broad adoption of high-margin content. Sounds like a solid formula for success - and as the numbers of PSPs in the market increases, they can shift the equation from high per-unit margins to lower ones as volume sales increase.
Honestly, it's like you
Mr Wizard @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Any mechanical device WILL fail. UMD drives are no exception.
And I believe Marcus was referring to the optical disc itself being fragile. They are. Ever had a scratched CD? How about a scratched memory card? No?
Last I checked you could run your solid-state memory through the wash and have it come out fine.
This digital camera film survived the recent tsunami. Photos attached.
http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=14787
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/02/24/tsunami.digital.photos.ap/index.html
GTi-VR6 @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Monkey: Thats my point....they all have skip protection nowadays. Having skip-protection has nothing to do with being fragile.
There's nothing wrong with having an optical drive in a handheld. The next gen Gameboy will likely have an optical drive as well.
Drop an iPod while its running and see how well it's hard-drive holds up. Remember, once the head hits the platter on a hard drive, its all over. Not just a skip.
BTW, thanks for stooping down to the childish level by calling me a noob.....real classy and intelligent.
Geez! @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Well said both Kamalot and Markus.
I use my SP frequently for long journeys, the biggest of which is a yearly holiday in Greece (I'm in Scotland). That's a 5 hour flight, with 2 hours travel time (to the airport) and 2 hours in the Airport etc. I can get away with the battery's holding out, just, and all goes well.
Now if I did this with the PSP and played with mates over wi-fi I could potentially be looking at the battery not even making it to the airport let alone the further two hours in the place (another battery anyone) then 5 hours on the plane - do Sony expect me to pay for 3 or 4 spare batterys just to "enjoy" their system if I leave further than 60 miles from my own house.
What if I fancied a visit over your neck of the woods, America's a nice country after all - how many battery's would I need then?
Now then let's have a look at disc streaming - a feature that GTA rely's on heavily for that nice seamless romp around town. The PSP will choke and die after an hour or two if it attempts a "proper" GTA - my guess is you'll get either a tiny city, load times in game or rubbish battery life. By the way none of them are acceptable if you hadn't guessed.
What's next, UMD movies? No thanks, I lived with a little 14" screen growing up. Now I'm an adult (and a bit snobbish about films) and wouldn't watch on anything less than 28" Widescreen, especially something 7 times smaller than that!
OK music, I'll skip paying 1990's prices for Sony's stupid little memory stick - this is the new millenium and I won't pay more than £20 for 256MB thank you very much.
What's left after all these flawed things, oh yeah games *rolls eyes*
I think I'll stick with the full screen PS2 (and Cube - phenomenal system) versions of all the scheduled games - not fork out another £40 on the weaker version, limited by batterys and graphically much weaker. Great logic, are people actually going to sit at home playing their PSP (which sounds like most will) and not realise they just bought (wasted money on) a dud when they turn off GT4 PSP and play the far better, in every single department, PS2 version.
And just for the record, as I was avoiding any of that PSP vs DS business - I'll be getting the hugely exciting DS on Thursday night when the wonder machine is released. It's the most impressive thing that's happened to gaming since the good old N64. A quick glance at the upcomming new and innovative games, including so many big franchises as well, and IMO you'd be thick not having your DS sitting eagerly waiting.
My 2 cents, peace out.
GTi-VR6 @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Wizard: So you're saying they should have had the games in a solid-state mem device like a CF or an SD or something?
Wouldn't that be a bit expensive? Even a 1GB CF is over $50.
Asier @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
First thing: I think that you, Tesla, are the most fanatic one that have posted a comment on this entry.
Second: When turning to portable devices one has to balance lots of things: price, size, battery life...and honestly, i think that nintendo has done it very right. I have the sensation that nintendo doesn't pursuit the most powerful machine, but the most balanced one. A machine that _anybody_ can buy and enjoy without being a real "battery-saving" gur?ony's PSP's external design is far superior to DS's, but lacks the easy of use of a nintendo device. The 1.8GB for storing textures...in such a small screen you don't need 1024x1024 textures. The psp seems like an engineering bad dream. Soney wants it to be the new iPod, and it's not me who says such a thing, it's sony itself.
Third: like ps, ps2 or xbox, it will triumph if "someone" manages to crack the gadget, and boot games from the memorystick. If such a thing happens, it will be really a nice device that will burn the market. I think that sony will "lose" some security info if the machine doesn't sell well, and make money from the hardware. It's a sony!
Codejoy @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Ugh, this is almost making my head hurt, after seeing some of the launch games for the PSP, I dont know if I care so much about the hardware between the DS and the PSP, I have the DS< might get the PSP (if it drops in price) but it comes down to the games. And while the DS doesnt have squat out now, which irritatse me, the potential for something that *I* find new and fun and exciting is there, plus there are trusted brands that I know what to expect. Would I love to see nintendo do new innovation? YA , will they NO. Same with PSP. I personally think the Untold legends is its strongest launch game (perhaps the ridge racer as well)...Id want the PSP at launch just for UL. Its all about the games. Hardware matters not, its a risk buying hardware just like buying anything electronic (gee the joy I had of spending 400$ on a digital camera that I didnt' research and ended up sucking). Anywho, I think it is all a moot point, everyone gets mad at sony thinking their UMD is a way to sell movies and make money, everyone gets mad at nintendo for not branching out and sticking with its brands to make money. Guess what folks, Sony and nintendo are BUSINESSES. They exsist to MAKE MONEY. They dont exist to make everyone on the planet happy, or developers happy, or all the consumers in the world happy. If they can do that, fine, they will make MORE money. But as long as they MAKE PROFIT they are happy and thats what counts being a BUSINESS that is in the BUSINESS to MAKE MONEY.
Hello.
RX8 @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
A portable CD player is much more fragile than a GBA or Nintendo DS.
A minidisc player is much more fragile than a solid-state MP3 player.
You made Kamalot's point perfectly, GTI. An iPod has many moving parts, like a PSP. Drop it and see how sturdy it is.
Now drop an iPod shuffle. Much Much more durable.
CDs, DVDs and UMDs are much more fragile than a Memory Stick, SD card or Compact Flash card. The Nintendo DS's memory cards are probably the most durable the industry has seen. If you are getting on the bus, and your game drops into the gravel, which is more likely to survive the abuse, the DS cart or the UMD?
I think that Sony fans are getting a little defensive. The original article didn't say the DS was better. The article says thet the PSP could have been better than it already is if it was designed to be soley a game machine instead of being a jack-of-all-trades. With this, I have to agree.
If you already like the PSP, just think about how much better it could have been if Sony wasn't concerend about selling movies and music and had they focused on making the best gaming machine they can.
Skippy @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Don't forget the piracy issue. It's going to be MUCH harder for people to figure out a way to dupe UMD discs than a game on a card.
GTi-VR6 @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
RX8: I wasn't comparing an optical drive to a DS or GBA cartridge.
I was merely commenting on Markus' statement that of comparing optical based devices with flash or hard drive based devices, and saying that hard drive devices are just as fragile as optical devices.
Dropping the PSP or a GBA or an iPod or a PDA or whatever is irrelevant to me. If you're careful with your gadgets, you don't have to worry about them. Its just like the "ejecting UMD" phenomenon. It only happens if twist the PSP HARD in opposite directions. Why would you do that unless you were trying to break the thing?
And for the record, when I said iPod, I meant the hard drive based ones, not the stick of gum sized waste of money iPod Shuffle.
rene @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
To all the PSP FFans. I'm Sorry you have to put up with everyone bashing new the system most of you don't even have. The reality is Sony is even changing management because of the PSP and the functions it has. Most of the old School fighting inside the company is out, and the new school is going after apple and it's ipod, microsoft and it's mdia center pcs not just Nintendo and their portable games. Will They win? who knows... the problem is everyone knows the PSP is flawed, but since Sony is the King right now, they're ok. For games, this is not the first time someone has tried to steal nintendo's thunder with better systems (remember the NEC's Turbographx Express, Atari's Lynx, Sega's Game Gear and even Nintendo's virtual boy) that sonner or latter they all failed because one thing: No battery!!
Better graphics mean less time to watch them. and portable systems need long playtime, not continuos but everytime you can find time to play, instead of being recharged. I remember all these sytems on display at the stores and were the future now, but seeing those grey gameboys at school and macdonald's and at the traffic stops everywhere made me realize why nintendo won. Now in 2005, nintendo had beaten everyone in the handheld and made millions selling the same gameboy and the gameboy Advance and now Sony is going to try to lure everyone with it's Playstation branded portable media center, and in that tries to punch everyone out of their respective markets, and it's going to lose. They talk about the PSP funcionality but not about games. They even say that game companies are the cause of the battery problem by draining to much power by not optimizing instead of them having a better system. That's why Kutaragi it's out management and the new occidental boss it's going to make it better. even if the new PSP is not going to cut it. they already are busy thinking of the next one, remember sony makes alot of gadgets that don't work like they should. you want proof? read this january 20 interview of Howard Stringer, THE NEW BOSS about his ideas for the company.
http://msn-cnet.com.com/2008-1041_3-5543793.html?tag=st_rn
Falsoman @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
I think that both NDS and PSP are great systems. If i can i will have both after price drops. The issue about the battery life i think is more important than the simple fact that wether or not you'll play 10 hours long, is the issue how many battery recharges your console will be put trough... having to charge more often the battery will affect how long it will last until you have to buy another one. Don't get me wrong, i would love to have a PSP but i think is not wise to have it first. I'll better wait until sony fixes all the hardware issues. I'm also planning to buy a DS but until both systems start competting for real, when the real games come along. I think both systems will do well. Things like "Die Nintendo DIE!!!" or "Sony is merely hype and no substance" are both stupid, is better have two companies (well three with M$) and have competitive prices and software than tearing apart another just because some people take the gaiming as their relligion and fill like cruzader wannabees. BTW sorry for my spelling, still learning english.
Eric Pobirs @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
While Sony is making a big bet on PSP that could meet with rejection once it needs to start selling beyond the hardcore gamer market, I don't agree with the belief that the product was sacrificed for the secondary media player functions.
While the cost of mask ROM has come down over the years it is still a costly medium compared to optical discs. After all the years since the largest game for the N64 shipped, Resident Evil II at 64 MB, the largest ROM size Nintendo offers publishers right now is only 128 MB. Anything greater would drive the retail price for that game unacceptably high.
Now, a lot PS1 games that original consumed several times that amount of CD-ROM capacity could likely be ported to the DS fairly well. Replacing Redbook audio with a compressed format can shave a couple hundred megabytes off many games where it was simply too convenient to do anything other than stream plain CD audio off the disc. Likewise, FMV sequences can use newer more efficient codecs the DS is capable of runnning. Factor in the reduced resolution and those can be made much, much smaller than the PS1 originals.
So we can probably look forward to a lot of good revivals from the Saturn and PS1 as well as N64 ports on the DS. But that isn't what Sony was shooting for on the PSP. By going with a subsidized hardware design that would still have a significantly higher retail price the intent was to come close to the current generation of console rather than those that launched close to decade ago. By this means it was hoped that tens of millions of late teens and young adults, many of who wouldn't want to be seen in public with a GameBoy, would see something they had to have. Part of pulling this off in a way that would be almost universally supported by developers was to have a substantially greater amount of storage available to exploit.
Those secondary apps are all well and good if they produce any positve revenue but the first order of business is making consumers see a major difference in what the platforms offer. Sony wants to have a situation like the point in the 90's when they had Final Fantasy VII and Nintendo had nothing remotely comparable on their side. Considering how well it worked back then it's understandable that they'd try to work the same ploy again when the opposition appears willing to follow the same pattern.
new age citizen @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Right on Kamalot. Boo to Sony. MONEY MONEY MONEY. Though I am not saying Nintendo is a saint. But at least someones not trying to rape my wallet.
Luke @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
I think that another good point though is load times. When you turn on a DS, you can be playing a game within a few seconds. Though I have never played a PSP, I wonder how quickly one will be able to start up a game.
Everyone has a different style, but even when I am playing a portable at home sitting on the couch, I am usually doing it while doing something else (watching TV, watching a movie, etc...) and so I turn the portable on, play a few minutes (during commericals or something) and then put it down. Will the PSP be able to handle that?
Of course, I also remember that the PSP has some sort of "sleep" mode for fast on and off play. So maybe I am speaking too soon.
Bottom line, I think that Kamalot brought up a lot of good points. People who accuse him of being a fanboy need to think about what the definition really is. Read what he wrote again, and it's plain to see he is writing from the perspective of someone who really does care about games.
Jason Pugh @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Yes it's a shame about that battery life. I mean, if only there were ways to charge the battery while in a car or a system of electrical "outlets" in walls!
//Sarcasm. If ya can't tell.
Jason Pugh @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
The laptop I'm on right now has two batteries in it. I get about 2 hours of battery life if I'm just Word processing. Ya see, I don't have a mobile processor in this puppy. It's a full-fledged up to speed desktop version. Hence the low battery life.
To me, the battery life means nothing. I'm never far from an outlet. It's not like I grab my laptop and then plunge into the Indonesian Rain Forests.
Hell (I can say that on here, right?) I have an iPod in my car that never leaves the charger. I'll take performance over battery life anyday. The PSP sounds great to me.
SetupWeasel @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Respomse to #7 (Townsend):
The GC and the PSP's media is not very different. The big difference between the GC and the PSP's load times will be in how they access the disc.
For the GC (and the PS2 and XBOX), spinning the disc is trivial. Developers can have the discs spin all the time, continuously ready to be accessed if they want. The constant power supply allows this.
For the PSP motion needs to be conserved, because motion takes a lot of power. Sony's solution is to limit disc access. Loading times means less wasted motion and better battery life. So if the PSP had the power luxury of the GC you would see less load times.
vj @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
I think Kamalot and most of the posters above are making a bad assumption: that the UMD drive is the major factor in the PSP's low battery life. Consider these rough numbers (pulled from the wikipedia entry):
1. MP3 playback from MemoryStick: ~10 hours battery life
2. AVC video playback from MemoryStick: ~5 hours
3. AVC video playback from UMD: ~4 hours
If the UMD spinning was the important factor, you would expect 1 and 2 to be about the same. I think the real limiting factor for the PSPs battery is how much the processor units are utilizied (in this example, AVC decoding will utilize the VME far more than MP3 playback.) This is not meant as a jab at the DS, but the processing power of the R4000 and GPU in the PSP (even when used at a 4th of the theoretical maximum) is 2 orders of magnitude greater than the ARM7 and ARM9 used in the DS. You can't get that kind of difference in processing power without some increase in power consumption.
Yet that's also the PSPs greatest strength - a game designer can dedicate the VME to just the soundtrack to the game, and that soundtrack alone will have more processing power available to it than the entire DS (of which only the ARM7 a third-party sound engineer has access to.) In fact, the PSP may be more of a sound workhorse than any of the current console systems - that's what makes a game like Lumines, and gets me interested for a game like Wipeout Pure even if the only thing I've seen is the intro movie at http://www.wipeoutpure.com.
I still think the DS is going to have some great games, like Animal Crossing DS, Mistwalker's RPG, and the surgery sim. But making the PSP seem to be a compromise between movies and game performance seems misguided to me - it's more of a compromise between beautiful, great-sound-staged games and battery life (with the ability to play movies an afterthought, utilizing only the VME on a system this powerful,) and that's a compromise gamers will have to live with.
vj @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Sorry, the period in the URL above screwed it up: http://www.wipeoutpure.com
Freeman @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
It isn't how much battery the UMD takes, it is how much space could be used for MORE battery, were the UMD drive not present.
ketch @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Saying the UMD wil be great for the portable video /audio industry is really laughable, Sony should stick to making the PSP a good gaming console and remember that pushing a new format media (Memory Sticks, UMD & MD) to users that already use other media (SD, Compact Flash, CD & DVD) is an error loop they've kept falling into over and over... well that and their "form-over-function" policy.
I have no doubt that the PSP will be a great portable gaming console and a true contender to the Big N's vice-like grip on that market, and as I have stated before the only winners in that war will be us the consummers, but thinking the PSP will be more than that and dividing the company's focus from the gaming capabilities is just another stupid move from Sony, I don't know if anyone else feels the same, but there's no way after I traded my favourite movies from VHS to DVD and tapes to CD's *cough*and burned of the internet*cough* that now I'm going to start buying movies for the same price as DVD's in UMD "lesser quality" format when i could easily burn them to a SD/Compact Flash card wich is more usable and better than Sony's own Memory Stick (how many versions of that darn thing have they made, and don't they still get owned by SD/MMC/CF cards.
Still I am looking foward to owning a PSP, I'll be in the later adpter catogory, don't want to buy the thing and a year later have a next generation PSP come out with better battery life and other things a la iPOD (since they are trying to get that market).
/flame on
Syinidal @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
i just got back from Japan (no, not just to get a PSP non-value pack) and even though I consider myself middle of the road i gotta agree with the Sony fanboys this time. I got a DS. honestly I did. It had some novelty, a few of the games where nice. but honestly, it just wasn't that much more.
Now when i got the PSP, after the initial blow me away screen and gaming. I realized a lot of the "problems" were unfounded. sure, i got one dead pixel which dosent show until i hit the loading screens and its all black. sure, it dosent last as long as my GBA sp in its prime. but I flew from Tokyo to Stockholm, Sweden and my PSP was still running on the tram on my way home. thats after several 20-40 minute sessions of lumies, NFP underground and Ape University with the life saving "hold" button on in the interim. Honestly, I must have gotten atleast 5 hours of pure game time. Sure I had screen brightness to low, but in most situations, you see absolutely no difference.
Does that make me a casual gamer? I don't think so. I think most of us will opt for PS3/XBOX 360 when we're at home with our bigscreen (or bigger screen). PSP is for when your out. the chances of you actually having 5+ hours to spend on portable gaming is ludacris. Forget the UMD feature, get a memory stick (when sony drops the prices a little) and watch TV episodes in all its glory on your behemoth screen.
Zipple @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
One dead pixel and it is only a problem in loading screens? Let me ask you, why do you have loading screens on your portable game system?
dru @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
i think most of you are forgetting that the PSP hasn't even been released yet... how many of you bought a ps2 on the launch and dealt with that systems shortcomings??? and how long did it take for most of those to become irrelevant as developpers got more used to coding for the system?
many of you seem to be jumping the gun on load times and battery life; you cannot accurately judge how the system will perform off the launch titles, especially when most of you haven't even seen it first hand. i remember a tme when the only good game for super nintendo was f-zero (pilot wings was painful, but the only other game that i had access to for a long time.)
also, it is inevitable that PSP will have games that more people will want to play, with so many developers signed on already. can nintendo say the same, even now, four months after launch?
and for all those who say they don't want a pint sized ps2 game, what crack are you smoking? why the hell not? i for one don't own a ps2 and won't have to worry about the double purchases, but the point of the system is to have portable games. do u want to lug the ps2 and a screen around just to play a game or two? plus, if any of you actually checked into it, many of the "ports" have different features and modes than their ps2 counterparts, effectively creating a different gameplay experience.
nintendo has brought a lot to the gaming table, and should be applaluded for their innovation in the industry, but sony also revolutionized the gaming industry with their efforts as well. at the end of the day, these are 2 COMPANIES with competing PRODUCTS. making money is the name of the game, end of story. yes, they may be looking for different shares of the same market, but is the market really big enough to support both?
typecasting your product to just games may be the honourable thing, and may appeal to all you nintendo fanboys out there, but appealing to the masses with a possible ipod substitute that not only plays games and music, but movies as well, plus has sony's patented advantage of geek chic? that's just good business sense.
remember that these companies are not just marketing these systems for all the people on here who have already made their own choice of which they want. they still have to reach out to the casual gamer, the late adopters if you will, who may not already have an mp3 player. plus there's always the future rom updates that could give the PSP more features. need i say more?
i used to love nintendo too, but eventually we all have to grow up...
(please, someone tell the execs at nintendo that they should too, you know, as a company...)
and as for anyone who is worried about scratching a disk that has housing around most of it? how many of you have used cds in your cars or portable cd players? if you can handle those, i'm sure you'll have no trouble with a UMD. and if you're still worried? maybe tech ain't the way to go for you... perhaps a portable magna doodle is more your speed.
peace, all
psdiao @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Sony Fanboys vs Nintendo
Sony Fanboys vs Apple
Sony Fanboys vs Non-Sony Fanboys
Sony Fanboys are very loyal and need very deep pockets and have huge egos. We will fight to the end, if they go bankrupt so be it, who wants to invest in Sony with me when and if it does?
Geez! @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
#36 (dru)
"and for all those who say they don't want a pint sized ps2 game, what crack are you smoking? why the hell not?"
I have a PS2 - I'll stick with the vastly supperior version on that. What reason do I have for spending £80 on two versions of one game, it's not worth that much even if I wanted the weaker version for playing on the move - and the weaker version costs the same, no thanks I personally don't like being ripped off.
Heck after doing it a few times I'd be much better off (financially) getting a screen for the PS2 and playing the console on the go - it would even last about the same time and I'd get the greatly better version.
But I digress as that's not even what portable gaming is for me (PSP or PS2), it's about a quick fix, just sliding on and within a few seconds be playing Advance Wars - joy. As an older gamer, portable gaming and it's brilliance has been from the vastly different experience you get from gaming on the go over console gaming - this is something the PSP is going against and why the games have been far from impressive.
I look at the future releases and I see nothing but boring console ports that would be a waste of my money and generally make boring portable games for me.
Not long for Advance Wars DS (and 101 other awesome new games) - now that's what handheld gaming is all about :D
#25 (Eric Pobirs)
What you're saying is true but remember a few things:
1. SD is now the preferred storage card thanks to digicams etc, and the main focus and expense of solid state expansion/development is going to SD. Developers are releasing a 2GB card this year and a 4GB expected next year - how long till that 128MB card plummets and publishers can upgrade over to 256/512MB. Not very long that's for sure.
2. You talk of the 64MB RE2 ROM pack, that's not very fair considering that was an expensive one off, most games were somehow only on 8MB.
Additionally all these people who are claiming the "advantage" of the UMD and it's 1.8GB - I honestly don't see it as an advantge I see it as a major weakness of the PSP.
Solid State is more relaible than optical.
Solid State is more durable than optical.
Solid State has far better performance than optical.
Solid State is better in every single department than optical, apart from maybe storage.
But here's something to think about, Capcom ported RE2 to the N64. A 1.4GB (potentially) game was squeezed on to a 64MB cart - that's mighty impressive if you think about it.
And the DS, SD cards, are twice that size - that could potentially be near 3GB of compressed and well coded data.
I'll admit that's unlikely to happen but it highlights just how much better Solid State is over Optical.
Note. Yes I'm an old gamer and cannot wait for SS to become a viable mass market storage again.
dru @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
he geez,
i guess you didn't get my point. i personally won't have to be buying multiple copies of the same game, so that's not a valid argument to me. and i really wonder how many people would agree with rather buying the screen and hauling that ps2 around town. you have fun with your "portable" game system.
i do agree that i would not like to be gouged the same price for a portable game as it's bigger console counterpart, but that seems to be the way the industry is going. i do have a possible solution for that: buy different games. just because the game was good on ps2 doesn't meant that there are no other good games that will be released for psp. and also, you can't honestly call something that you haven't played to compare a weaker experience.
as for solid state? better in in every single department, except storage capacity? what about price? i also agree that it would definately be a preferred medium over optical as far as storage is concerned. that's why the psp incorporates it into its design. but as far as cost effective? we must look at the larger picture. sony is never going to give up on it's memory stick, we all know that horse is going to be beaten to death a la minidisc. would you have rather seen the games come on memory sticks? how would that affect the cost of a game?
i think that in the heat of these discussions, we are forgetting the reality of the situation. sony is a company with a corporate strategy. that's why we see the psp in the format that we do. we can all speculate about what would have been the better move, but let's keep the speculation at least plausible
SuperTom @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
OK, it's time for me to chime in here. First, in reply to post #15 about skip protection. The sole purpose of skip protection is because cd's are so fragile. You realize that skip protection reads for flaws in the music and trys to keep any irregularities from affecting music playback. However a scratched cd will still skip even on the best cd players.
As far as a portable game system goes, it needs to be a few things. it needs to be portable and simple & easy to use. If it wants to be anything else, great as long as they don't interfere w/ it's main purpose, portable gaming. I want my portable system to be able to entertain me on trips to/from work, boring social functions and while out w/ friends. All of this w/o any complications, i.e. cables, extra batteries and the like.
Syinidal @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
why does it have loading screens? every game in existance has had loading screens, some shorter than others.
i have 4 games now for psp, and none of them have loading screens that bug me, and i compare them to PS2 or xbox loading screens.
but honestly, the hostility should be taken with a grain of salt. noone is going to convince someone else to jump to a different camp. all you haters just buy whatever your gonna buy, i just wanted to give some feedback from my usage of the PSP, not turn anyone off the DS. there both good machines, i just personally like the PSP a lot better.
on that note, can't wait for wipeout pure!
Geez! @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
"you have fun with your "portable" game system."
As I said I was digressing as I wouldn't do that, though from a mere technical point of view it was just highlighting how ludicrous expendature is on Sony - I gave up paying for their over priced rubbish over a decade ago, well apart from PS and PS2.
"you can't honestly call something that you haven't played to compare a weaker experience."
Yes I can. I study gaming and the PSP versions ARE weaker - and by a fair bit.
The polygon count is pathetic in comparison as an example.
Or in Spiderman 2 they had to remove the free roaming aspect from the console version and make it linear on the PSP, why - did they think it would make it better? No, the PSP can't handle it.
Not only is it technical but I'd guess that disc streaming is a big player, that is I'd guess Spiderman 2 uses disc streaming. The PSP versions of Spiderman, GT4 etc are all quite a bit weaker than the PS2 verion.
Anyway personally I view the PSP as a crippled system that is trying to force too new a level of technology just to make it in the door, and I'm not willing to make all the concessions - poor technical performance and stupidly high prices amongst many others.
Handheld gaming for me has always been a cheap habbit and a great quick fix with surprising depth.
PSP is an over priced, unreliable machine and with the games for it just now I will not be getting one for several years if at all - Tales is the ONLY game I would even want from the known development list I read recently that cover the next year or two. Thankfully the DS is getting a Tales game to make up for this, and I'm sure the DS version will be far more innovative as well. *insert big wink*
Oh and about Solid State, sorry forgot about the cost - I was kinda rambling on the performance/technical side. Yes it's a shame Solid State is still expensive, one day though :)
Dan Dickinson @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Someone want to tell me where I can get allegedly better console version of Lumines, Mercury, and Metal Gear Acid?
Brian @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Isn't MGA supposed to be a bit on the rubbish side side of things, gimme Snake Eater any day ;-p
stagl @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
regarding the cost of UMD vs. solid state(flash) media. how much do you think that sony has invested in the fabrication/development of these proprietary UMD drives?
psdiao @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
#43 Almost all of the games on any recent handheld console it ported from a play at home console. Of course the PSP titles aren't as good as the PS2 ones, but porting games from the Gamecube to DS is alot easier because they are both weak system.
Like in my last comment, Sony people will fight to the end.
Geez! @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
#47
None of my two dozen SP games are ports apart from FFTA - where's the original console version of Advance Wars or Golden Sun.
ALL of the major GBA games are new and unique titles!
And if your'e suggesting for one second that the Cube is a "weak" system compared to your fanatical love for Sony and the PS2 (btw I have one) then you need to pull your head out of the sand.
Maybe add ignorant or blind to your Sony fanboy list if that's the case?
Now then how many ports for DS, let's see:
From N64 - 1 total.
From GBA - 1 total.
From Cube - None.
I'll admit there is the odd EA semi-port of things like Tiger Woods, but that's EA for you.
The DS is stuffed with new games being developed soley for the system hence the longer wait for them.
The PSP is stuffed with watered down PS2 games hence the larger amount of "familiar" games for the US launch.
Give me new and original any day, and I even get the PSP games but on a vastly supperior format, the PS2.
Enjoy forking out twice for your blind love of Sony though.
Peace... @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Alright, time for my piece in this thread.
The reason why Sony opted for a Optical drive is because Optical Discs have high capacity storage media but with a low manufacturing cost. Some games that i played on psOne require as much as 4 discs. Considering that psOne uses the standard 700mb CD-R in those days. That's a total of 2.8Gb of data. And you think that the 1.8Gb UMD disc storage is too much? For high quality 3D games (RPG, GTA etc), storage space is a crucial part. This allows developers to develop their games to its best.
Some of you were saying that Sony should opt for SD cards or MemorySticks (Flash Memory) as storage. Well if Sony were to store some 2.8Gb of game data into these Flash Memory Cards, Imagine how much would you need to pay for such games considering that 2Gb SD cards can cost up to $500. Would you pay $500 per game? It would be a laughing stock if the game is more expensive than the Hardware itself.
So please stop dissing at Sony's decision on opting for UMD drives. Every hardware has gone through planning and decision-making and this is the best option for High Quality Portable Gaming which Sony is aiming for and i think that they've done it quite well for starters.
Someone in this thread said that Sony's idea of selling movies and music on UMDs is a failure and i totally agree. To me, i don't think im buying a PSP to watch a 1.5hr movie while im on my way to school. I'd much rather play videogames during the 30 minute short trip and save it when i've reached the school.
And for the battery part, Sony is beginning to adopt new Rechargeable Batteries for the PSP that has higher capacity than the current one. You can also get more than one of it since the batteries for the PSP is interchangable. Read the article below.
Article: http://portable.joystiq.com/entry/1234000590032020/
Now im not saying that the NDS isn't good. Both are great systems. My brother has NDS and i had so much fun playing Mario DS. NDS has games that PSP doesn't have and PSP has games that NDS doesn't have. Or even some games that the PSP have, PS2 might not have it. So what im trying to say is if the system has some great games on it (Which is highly possible on the PSP and NDS in the future), it is worthwhile to own the system.
Well i've said my part and hope i did some justice to Sony.
SetupWeasel @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
See, Peace, the problem is that you can't like UMD discs for both price and capacity. While it is true that the DS's cards have less capacity, the games are substantially cheaper than the PSP UMD games.
You are right that you need more media space for the better graphics, but that is part of the reason the DS does not have the same graphical power. If you are hell bent on near PS2 graphics, you will need the optical discs. Nintendo, on the other hand, was hell bent on durability and power conservation.
Sony also put restrictiond on developers for power consumption, so it isn't like the added space gives the developer a blank check. Compromises will need to be made in graphical power and disc access for the PSP games.