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Reader Comments (64)

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM (Unverified) said

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"why does it have loading screens? every game in existance has had loading screens, some shorter than others."

Syinidal, there are very few if any games on the GBA/DS that have loading screens Actually none of the DS games as yet have any what so ever.

Playing Zoo Keeper takes you straight into the main menu, hit start game and the game starts straight away. Super Mario 64 DS, same thing no loading screens. I haven't come across a single game that has loading screens on a device that uses chips rather than disc. I was playing the old Castelvania the other day (GBA game on DS) again no loading screens.

Gamecube has very few in any games, either they hide it very well or they are not necessary.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM (Unverified) said

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There are a couple of DS games with noticeable load times. This is from an interview with the developer of Spiderman 2 DS:

"IGN: I noticed that many of the DS games had some load times. Is this a limitation of the DS? Why were there load times in a cartridge-based game?

Karthik: In Spider-Man 2, it was decompression. Load times are really fast, but we're compressing a lot of data and decompressing it in RAM. Streaming is an interesting area to explore with the DS in the future since it has to be done a much different way than the GBA. Load times are present in Spider-Man, but they're only a couple of seconds and not a big deal."

Any game with compressed textures is going to have load times; most games mask the load times with simple screens. Resident Evil 2 64 (which someone brought up above) had the same load times as the Playstation version - both were masked by opening door animations.

Tales of Eternia PSP (just released in Japan) has no load screens. The load times in Lumines were removed in the US version coming out in a week. Games with significant time on the PSP beta dev kits will have less noticeable load times than games developed mostly on an alpha kit.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM (Unverified) said

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Just thought that people here would be interested in this, mad catz has announced a higher capacity psp battery but other than the fact that it will be double sonys batteries life and include a charger, not much is known. Price and release date are still mysteries but this is a good sign that we will get several good options for the battery issue right off the bat.

Heres a link to its page.
http://images.madcatz.com/gallery.asp?action=viewimage&categoryid=26&text=&imageid=464&box=&shownew=

On the page click on pdf sales sheet for more details.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM (Unverified) said

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You shouldn't have to buy a 3rd party battery to get decent battery life from your system.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM (Unverified) said

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As a former Navy guy on a submarine, I can tell you that the need for a small PS2 is there! I would have given anything for one. My GameBoy Advanced got me thru many lonely, crowded months. I am sure the PSP will keep doing that for many others

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM (Unverified) said

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Ok, i think some people are complaining about load times on psp before they've even played a game on it! I have a psp, and i haven't waited more than 10 seconds for a game to load, and if you don't have enough patience or time to wait 10-20 seconds, do you really have enough time to play a game? Also, about battery life. I played Ridge Racer for at least 2 hours straight, and the battery was still full. It would have gone to at least 5 hours. Also, Kamalot, the umd movies do have subtitles. Are you sure you've even seen a movie being played on a psp? The movies and music are optional, like others have said. OPTIONAL, THAT MEANS IT IS YOUR DECISION WHETHER TO GET THEM OR NOT!! Sony isn't forcing anyone to get them. Anyways, you're entitled to your own opinion, but i hope you've at least played a psp before you criticize it.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM (Unverified) said

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Ok, i think some people are complaining about load times on psp before they've even played a game on it! I have a psp, and i haven't waited more than 10 seconds for a game to load, and if you don't have enough patience or time to wait 10-20 seconds, do you really have enough time to play a game? Also, about battery life. I played Ridge Racer for at least 2 hours straight, and the battery was still full. It would have gone to at least 5 hours. Also, Kamalot, the umd movies do have subtitles. Are you sure you've even seen a movie being played on a psp? The movies and music are optional, like others have said. OPTIONAL, THAT MEANS IT IS YOUR DECISION WHETHER TO GET THEM OR NOT!! Sony isn't forcing anyone to get them. Anyways, you're entitled to your own opinion, but i hope you've at least played a psp before you criticize it.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM (Unverified) said

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I started typing cuz i was mad, but i realized that all this was before the release of the psp in the US. I don't know if any of ya'll had it shipped early, before release here, but i just got mine on Friday. My psp has no problems with load times or battery life, so maybe mine is just better than everybody elses. If you made assumptions before you even touched the psp, then maybe you should get one, or try somebody elses. I think you will be pleased with it. If not, come try mine, cuz it loads in 10 seconds or less and the battery lasts at LEAST 4 hrs, plenty long enough for me. And umd video picture quality is very good.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM (Unverified) said

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I got my PSP on Thursday, and, as one who likes to consider themself a Nintendo fanboy; I gotta say the PSP is a really-really-POWERFUL machine. As far as battery life goes, I got over 5 HOURS on my PSP with full volume and full brightness while keeping the Spiderman 2 movie in loop. In other words, the PSP's battery life doesn't suck, amazingly enough. either that, or mine's just special. Plus, while playing THUD2-REMIX, I got almost 10 hours of battery life(with medium brightness and headphones)

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM (Unverified) said

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Well Camelot's comments about psp are true. Sony hopes that psp will bring more money to the music and movie division of the company. I believe,after hearing a Sony executive, that psp's target isn't only the first place in handheld gaming but sony wants to get out of the way ipod. So sony wants psp to be a multimedia device and thats where all the problems start. It seems to me that trying to be at the top of everything is a big mistake.
Nintendo did it in the past and the cost was to become the third player in the console war.
Sony is doing the same mistake. The decision
to include optical drive is bad decision.
People that buy portable consoles do care about
battery life and loading times. Psp and ps2 have nearly the same graphical power. For example why do i have to buy an inferior version of Gran tourismo for psp when i have the brilliant ps2 version? Psp is a powerfull
3d machine and trying to fill a 1.8 MB of space with data cost too much. can small developers bear the cost of producing a game for psp having in mind that Sony is a newbie in handheld gaming? So about the future i have to say this. April is a critical month for nintendo ds. A little game called Nintendogs will be released. Either this game will be a massive hit (something like Pokemon) or a complete disaster. The predictions are that nintendogs will be a massive hit even grater than pokemon and nintendo ds will fly far far away from psp (in sales of course)
For psp i believe it will have a good start for a period of time but after that it will be very difficult to continue. Nintendo knows better what peole want from portable games . The arrival of GBA 2 will end the life of psp.
As for Europe, i predict that psp will be a disaster.It will be too expensive and everyone knows that Europe loves Nintendo. Well we'll see what happens.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM (Unverified) said

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*cough*

I'm all but a sony fanboy, but I have to react on #60's last sentences...

Europe loves Nintendo eh? I wish... They don't really... The PSP will also gain good sales around here, if I'm right. I know some people who are looking forward to it (I tried to talk it out of their heads but alas... =p)

We'll just see. Usually Europe follows the US in sales... except for the XBOX... ;)

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM (Unverified) said

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Blah Blah Blah, Portable gaming is fine, if you can't get or find time to play 'em at home. But the console giants have you guys by the grapes.Constantly changing consoles, and making inferior products just for a buck.Then they gladly sell you things to make them better. Nintendo took 12 or so years to have a portable backlit display.If ya wannna go hardcore go PC, cheaper games, modifications out the wazzoo, REAL game controllers that work with 90% of the game market. Have you ever noticed how many huge hit games on pc trickle down to consoles? Modification, adaptation, personalization,Freedom. This is the vocabulary of a PC gamer.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM (Unverified) said

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look the big thing here is that sony has set the playground for the ps3. the compatability will be there and the add on will come out as well. the improved batteries will be out later and it will be up to the programers to improve the quality of films and games to be played on the console. there will probably be an attachment for the psp to connect to the ps3. this is all speculation but i think sony has a bigger plan than throwing a monkey wrench in nintendos sale as if they could ever compare. sonys revenue is not affected by the sale of gameboy whether it is advanced or DSed. it could just be a play to see how the ps3 is going to fair with having a little sister in the market at the same time with all the same supports. picture this playing all your ps3 games at home and then having the adaptability to pause...go to your friends house and pick up excactly where you left off over there.

pure genius

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM (Unverified) said

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just thought id add my bit. i have both the DS and the PSP and so far i would say that i definatly prefer the PSP. the grapics have been far better so far and the gameplay has kept me going a lot longer. the battery life is actually very good (after all the stuff i heard about it) and considering i have been buying games at about the same price as DS games, and they have yet to release something as good as metal gear (which is very good indeed). the disc do not get scratched as long as you dont attack them with something sharp and all in all im very pleased with it.

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