Another terrible article that compeltely kills Joystiq. Good work, whoever wrote it.

I would say that the PSP is better than mediocre, but it's still in a rut. For the longest time, us PSP owners only had a few reliant stand-bys when people said there were no good PSP games. "No good PSP games? What about Lumines? GTA? Burnout?" Sadly, those titles and a few others were the only ones worth noting for a few months in a row. Then, in the spring, there was another "burst" of good titles. Daxter, Syphon Filter, Socom etc. It was so surprising that the PSP looked like it would pull its head up out of the water, but sadly, it's still struggling. After that batch of games, we face another rut. Yeah, there are a few titles " kindaworth owning" on the PSP, but none that really make the system a must-have. Thankfully, there are a few games on the horizon: Loco Roco, Metal Gear Solid, Tekken (which is practically here), and a few others.
The PSP has good games, but their releases are sporadic at best. The DS consistantly comes out with good titles-- there seems to be good games coming out for it every 2-3 weeks or so. The PSP has just as good games, but they are farer and fewer between. I wouldn't say it's improving fast, but its "getting there."

Another Nintendo Rip-Off...

You could use your GBA as a Gamecube controller.

Must all news have fanboyist/ silly added comments. There was reseantly an article dipicting this site. The one about highschool kids being hired to attempt to publish articles in news site.

Really, however is the administrator of this place fire the lot and expend a little extra money on hiring profesional journalists not just anyone you find on the streets.

Napoleon Dynamite is allready out. Dowloadable movies = awesome because UMD movies are getting harder to find (not that I bought any but the Family Guy box set, thanks Gamefly!). Pair that with the downloadable PS1 games you have a system that will make me very happy very soon.

PSP has been steadily improving. I think there are quite a lot of good games out for PSP now, covering a large variety of genres, so there's something for everyone.

This article here on Joystiq neglected to mention the PSP Greatest Hits line, which is officially being launched this week (although a few games in GH packaging have already made their way into stores). This should give fans of portable gaming reason to rejoice, as you'll be able to take home some truly excellent PSP games for under $20 each. I'm thinking about getting Twisted Metal: Head-On for myself. :)

Heh, nice ninja edit there Robert.

I'm guessing the 'remote' thing is a use for the COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY IR port on top of the PSP.

Wow, Sony is so innovative! :D:D. They rule!

#6

Rent Twisted Medal: Head on before buying it. I'm a fan of the TM franchise but disliked the PSP version immensely. The controls were off and I just didn't like it in the slightest.

However, despite my hatred of the game, my friend who has the game loves it. So yeah, I recommend that you at least borrow a friends or rent it before buying. Might save you $20.

Or might I suggest another greatest hits title? Wipeout Pure is totally awesome.

As far as I know, the PS3 does not have a IR port, so the remote controlling would not be by means of IR. I can't remember now, but does the PSP have bluetooth?

Either Sony will have added an IR reciever to the PS3 (or sell a USB dongle for it), or it might be limited to wi-fi enabled PS3:s (either as built in or add-on). That, or it will operate over your local home network/internet against your internet/LAN-enabled PS3.

*waves hand in front of KawF*

There was no edit. This is how it looked.

*Finishes wave of hand*

"You could use your GBA as a Gamecube controller."

Coming from somebody who spent near enough a hundred pounds on the release date of Crystal Chronicles (game, GBA, enough cables for three friends), that is the most inaccurate quote when used in the wrong context, which it has.

You can't do that, and I doubt you will with the PSP (it says remote, I'm guessing control of media, maybe some display information on the PSP screen?). You can use it to control two games properly (Crystal Chronicles and Four Swords), as well as piss-poorly implemented features in a small number of other games (WindWaker). I won't go into details about how horribly it came across, either, especially when without it the games were mediocre.

But the point was it was a first step. DS-Wii, PSP-PS3 will follow. Hopefully with slightly more support/better results. Crying "rip-off" is both tired and pointless, this is their first handheld, of course there are going to be parallels, and given the potential this kind of connectivity gives developers, it'd be stupid not to.

I'd say something about the nature of this post as well, but as mentioned, Joystiq has already built itself quite a rep in this regard, so I'm sure you're all aware.

Kawf, I thought even the cheaper version had Wifi. That it just lacked a bigger hard drive and the HDMI?

Great... Just what the PS3 needs, a $200 remote for a $600 system. At least Nintendo thinks of gamers with a budget.

I agree with #3, another Nintendo rip-off... You could also connect the DS and Wii.

PSP will only get better with the release of the PS3, and the rest of the PSP PS3 interactivity will be released at TGS.

From all the specs I've read, the proper (20GB) version of PS3 does not include built-in Wi-Fi. It is of course possible to hook it up to a wifi-enabling device by means of ethernet and USB.

Specs available at:
http://eu.playstation.com/ps3/

Didn't realise that Kawf. That does make me question how they'll connect. Well when I do get a PS3 (I'm Hideo's bitch =/) I'm getting the "Premium". Little costs like Wifi (my 360 remains wired, for lack of a £60 adaptor, already halfway to the price of the PS3) will help me justify the purchase to myself at least.

Freddy, you make me laugh. Too many people saying "Oh great, a $200 ". Only the people that own them seem to realise that you can do all of these things with the one PSP, even play PSP games now that there are some solid titles.

This is news? I knew this months ago. The Sony rep at my old job told me they intend to use it for all sorts of wireless things, such as streaming music and movies TO the PSP (but not from it) and using it much like the GBA was used with the GameCube, but "to an extreme."

I asked her when they would figure out how to make the damn thing run for more than 4 hours on battery (without having to use a fat, heavy "mega" battery). She kind of balked at the question, and went on to tell me that some games would have minigames that your friends could play on the PSP while you play on the PS3.

"For like two hours, with the WiFi enabled... Right?" I asked.

She shrugged.

PSP=Dead

freddy, you do not NEED the PSP as a remote, it is just an added bonus for a console that will already be awesome, and it will also serve as much more than just a remote. and I didnt know the wii was out yet, or that nintendo released any info on DS WII connectivity. Soo, if they do now, I guess you could say nintendo would be copying off Sony.

@ 3.

Yeah right ... if you say so ... because for that rule of three that you are applying there well ... then every actual console in the market it is a rip off of the first gaming console invented.

Geez ...

#19

You=Stupid :/

I'm not one for using a poertable as a remote on a console. IF they were to allow for standard integration then thats fine. The whole concept of transferring pokemon from your GBA to your cube was great. It was all about portability not controlling one device with another.

Even downloading demos and mini games to your GBA was great. But trying to get a handhled to work with a console as a controller will only limit the way you play a game.

THAT'S IT! I HAVE HAD IT!

The one thing that would have made the PSP a must have would have been the keyboard. No keyboard, No decent email usage, no decent web usage, chat, office application, PIM usage... nothing worth having a PSP for, because the GAMES SUCK! Load times are pathetic and gameplay is recycled CRAP.

I bought a DS recently. Only for the new Mario. The I got Mario Kart, then Metroid, then Animal Crossing... and I CANNOT put the thing down.

Sorry boys, Nintendo OWNS the portable market. I thought the PSP was the be all end all unit... now I am looking to pawn it off on some fool who still believes that Sony knows the gaming culture and give a shit.

PS3 will fail because of this. High cost and no content. It's like what happened to the internet over the years, great looking sites, great technology, no content... That is why Blogging is so popular, content!

Is the PSP great yet? No. Is it getting better? Yes. Will it get great? Here's hoping.

Developers are getting better at creating portable titles, instead of lazy ports like what plagued the PSP in its first year.

UMDs are a failing race though, unless there is a serious price drop, I believe they are doomed to death.

But with PS3 connectivity, it gives people more reason to own a PSP and owners of PSPs, more options with what they can do with it. If the PS3 will serve as a Location Freeâ„¢ player for the PSP than that will be a nice victory on the music front for the PSP.

Having it be a remote is a nice touch as well, not too terribly exciting but still nice to see them doing something with it.

To anyone wanting to bash Nintendo's connectivity, it wasn't amazing, but you didn't need four friends, four GBAs, and four cables to play the god damned multiplayer. You needed more than one. Aside from that, who DID NOT see this coming?

I'd disagree at PSP being dead, but it's steadily declining at the pace it's going through. I do see some solid PSP games in the future such as Ultimate Goblins N' Ghouls, Loco Roco, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Tekken: Dark Ressurection, and Metal Slug. But, my PSP is literally untouched for weeks.

I hope these titles are going to be worth it or else my PSP will go straight to eBay.

I agree completely with 25 (Silver R. Wolfe). The PSP isn't amazing, but it is getting better.

I just find it kind of funny that everyone was expecting the PSP to be amazing right off the bat. It has always took a good year or so for developers to 'get' the system. To start putting out good games. For a recent example, let's look at the beloved DS. For a good six months, there were only a handful of good games for it. By November '05, however, a bunch of good games popped up, and it's still going strong.

Oh, and #24? How can you bash the PSP for having recycled games (ports/sequels) then go on to praise the DS for having Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime Hunters, New Super Mario Bros. and Animal Crossing: Wild World? Do you even look at what you type?

ZeroCorpse, abuse your battery much? I get 8-10 hours video on a single charge, albeit I admit with a homebrew pmp movie player (though at higher res than the official PSP formats). With mini-games not running from the UMD drive, expect far longer play periods on your battery.

amiga_tone, whilst Pokemon transferring was a nice touch, the extra screen in the controller can really be put to good use, you so nearly felt the potential when playing 4-player Four Swords, but it just wasn't quite there yet. Give it time. Honestly, just a Ridge Racer title using the PSP as a rear-view mirror would make me happy.

Korexz, keyboard just isn't feasible. Office applications? Sounds like you need a smartphone, not a PSP. PSP was never designed to replace your laptop, just give you quick access to a few of your favourite sites, not write essays/articles on the thing.

So you prefer the Nintendo games to the Daxters, Syphon Filters, Socoms, Locorocos etc of the PSP. So sell the thing, get your money. But no, no, I get you, TELLING us you're gonna sell it, FAR more satisfying.

Just understand the limits/advantages of each of the handhelds, if you do you'll make the right choice (or none/both) and you'll be happy. Don't buy a PSP and moan that it doesn't have the kind of game you like (given recent reviews, it's clearly got decent titles now), just like people don't buy DSs then piss and moan that they can't play videos or flash.

"To anyone wanting to bash Nintendo's connectivity, it wasn't amazing, but you didn't need four friends, four GBAs, and four cables to play the god damned multiplayer. You needed more than one. Aside from that, who DID NOT see this coming?"

Played Crystal Chronicles or Four Swords 2 player? Painful. Not even worth it. It was a good test for the idea, but practical/the best thing evar it was not.

Dan, I literally haven't put my PSP down, apart from when DS-playing friends come round and my Lite gets its multiplayer on. There's new homebrew to play with everyday, and since Devhook can now emulate 2.71, I ordered a bunch of games I couldn't play before, and it's been awesome. Micro Machines and the MGS graphic novel have been my recent timekillers.

Damn, spending too much time in these comment thingies, I need to find a real forum.

Ethan, I know you do not NEED the PSP as a remote, But how is this going to boost sells for the PSP or PS3, they cost too much? "hey kids buy the PS3 for $600 and a PSP for $200... They connect!!!"
Another thing, I know the Wii is not out yet, but Nintendo released info on DS / Wii connectivity

http://wii.ign.com/articles/711/711657p1.html

Freddy, it's just another incentive for PSP owners to go for the PS3. And the PS3 owners that can afford it fairly easily will have incentive and means to buy a PSP. Obviously not a feature geared towards kids, I wouldn't expect there to be a "Spongebob Squarepants! Now in HD, DD and PSP-connectivity!!!".

The PSP was touted with console connectivity features before it was even released, though pitched more in a "take your games with you" kind of way.

Mmm, thinking about Four Swords DS...

I posted on that topic in this thread:

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/21/japanese-hardware-sales-10-july-16-july-rapid-weight-gain/#comments

6 months ago, PSP was not an option for me, not at all...during the past 6 months, things have change greatly: There are now great games on PSP.
Better, a lot more are coming by the end of this year.

Lee... What do you have against Spongebob? The videogames are not good, the the cartoon is alright. But seriously, do you expect PSP owners who have not yet decided to buy a PS3 will buy one just to connect them? yea... maybe IF the price is good... But for $600?
I just what to play video games, I don't need blu-ray, and all that junk in there raising the price of the PS3.

Okay, everyone who is complaining about Sony copying off of Nintendo need to cool it. You all sound like ten year olds. (Sony is coping off of Nintendo because they will be using the PSP as a controller for the PS3, cry! cry!)

You know, by using that logic, I could just as easily say that Nintendo should give a cut of their profits to Atari, because they copied off of them for bringing out a second game console. That would be stupid of course, because it would almost be as silly as saying that Sony is mean because they copy Nintendo. Here is a news flash folks, whenever your product is successful, everyone else is going to copy that product in order to compete. It's called American capitalism.

So going on websites and complaining that Sony copied off of Nintendo is about as much as a waste of time as Ford owners wasting their time on Internet websites, complaining that GM copied off of Fords innovations.

Freddy I think people with PSPs who are still on the fence have another reason to want a PS3. I don't know how many, neither do you, but it will make a difference.

You don't need blu-ray, sure. Personally, I'd like to give a few HD movies a whirl, but let's say I don't have an HDTV. As mentioned built in Wifi alone helps justify the increased price, especially given the price tag they're shoving on the official 360 wireless. The 60gb hard drive should get a lot of use if the online distribution service akin to the marketplace is what they'll claim it to be. The usable 13gb on my 360 is already needing to be managed, and I've only had the thing a couple of months. If it's as backwards compatible as promised, that leaves probably about 10x as many triple-A titles as the Xbox had.

Then there's more unknown (yet hinted at) stuff, the kind of thing that'll make it from kinda worth it to totally worth it. IF the online service is playable and free, that's another £40 I don't have to spend. IF the media streaming are as good as they say (Media Center XP my ass), that's either functionality my 360 doesn't have, or x amount of money not spent on a new OS. IF the PS3 controllers have built in rechargable batteries, then that's £15 per controller (or over five years worth of AA batteries x4) I don't have to spend.

I'm still on the fence on how worth it is myself, but if things go well at TGS06 and the launch, it could very well be, before you even think about blu-ray. There's an article here on the Joy about accessory sales for 360, I'm not surprised given the stuff the 360 can't do out of the box.

By the way this is all regarding the $600 PS3, the $500 IS purely just extra money for blu-ray+cell, which I do think is ridiculous.

And I've never watched any Spongebob. =P

The thing is Fandel Sony reps bashed the Ninteno connectivity. So there is a huge amount of anger that is rightly directed at Sony. Sony reps are now claiming all the Nintendo innovations they had bashed are now great and were made by Sony. This should piss off anybody. If they were honest they would admit they judged Nintendo wrongly and want to do their own take on connectivity.

So far the lamest example shown of the psp/ps3 connectivity is that rearview mirror.

Great how in the hell are people supposed to see it if the psp has to be right next to the tv in order to make use of it as demonstrated at E3? Why would that be better then an ingame rearview mirror like what has been used since the N64 mario kart days?

DS/Wii connectivity blows every PSP example connectivity shown so far.

From the press meeting where Pokemon Battle Revolution was shown off the DS can display it's content on the tv set by using the Wii and you use the DS to control the action. All the game sounds come through the Wii sound connection to either your tv or audio system. It's more for showing off the DS to other people though.

A thought on this. It would be kinda neat if you can just plug a gba into the system by using the connectivity cable and use a regular controller to play the gba game. GBAs are dirt cheap and they cost as much as that gba player for the gamecube right now. So if the wii can do that it would be pretty nifty.

The DS will also allow editing of certain wii game content by using the touchscreen. Certain 2D DS games will have their content be displayed using certain wii games in 3D.

Also the DS can be used as a controller for certain wii games or functions.

Why do people seem to forget that xbox live has a silver service that is free to use?

They forget because it's barely worth mentioning. Trailers and friend lists? Who'd pay money for that?

I'm bashing GBA-Cube connectivity, and that's because it's wank. Still looking forward to this generation's connectivity though, it was just too early for it, and it didn't work.

The rear-view mirror isn't a bad idea, it's always a distraction having it on the screen, to the extent that it's a very rarely used view. A button to look behind you is also awkward, a glance down at your controller is not.

It's all in testing stages now anyway, stop boasting features that have just been technical demos rather than definite features in games.

#36
I do know some who are on the fence, all five of my frineds actually... all have PSP, still on the fence about PS3, because they're cheap bastards.

"IF the PS3 controllers have built in rechargable batteries, then that's £15 per controller (or over five years worth of AA batteries x4) I don't have to spend."

You still need to pay electricity.

Freddy, you're really going to even try to compare 5 years worth of buying AAs to the same amount of almost negligible electricity (compared to the 360 power usage, don't know how much the PS3 uses, I imagine it's similar)? It'd still be more expensive than buying four play and charge kits and using your own electricity to charge those.

Don't know about your friends, most of mine are gonna Wii it. But regardless, a survey of "all five" of your friends leaves something to be desired.

Andrew (#9) said: "Rent Twisted Medal: Head on before buying it. I'm a fan of the TM franchise but disliked the PSP version immensely. The controls were off and I just didn't like it in the slightest.

However, despite my hatred of the game, my friend who has the game loves it. So yeah, I recommend that you at least borrow a friends or rent it before buying. Might save you $20.

Or might I suggest another greatest hits title? Wipeout Pure is totally awesome."

That's good advice. I got Wipeout Pure as one of my first PSP games on the day of the US launch. I agree that it is totally awesome. It still gets a surprising amount of play from me, considering it's been out almost a year and a half.

I rented Twisted Metal: Head-On for PSP about a year ago, and I had a lot of fun with the game. I just never really got around to getting my own copy until now.

#3 I wouldn't call connectivity a rip-off. That's like saying the Wii ripped off the PS2 because the PS2 was the first system to use DVDs.

Whats so great about this "Rear view mirror" feature? There was a trucking game on the cube that had this feature and that game pretty much came and went.

Besides adjusting your vision to look from your tv to your handheld would cause serious headaches!

The limits of the GBA as a controller were mainly due to the fact that it had much fewer buttons than the cube controller and I would say the same for the PSP in regards to the PS3 controller.

Trying to save the PSP with last minute trendy UMD movies? And another sure to fail attempt at handheld-console interactivity? Sony really lost me on this system. I don't see how never upgrading your firmware helps either. The homebrew games are the quality of newgrounds.

amiga_tone, the PSP is no GBA. This will merely be glancing down at non-HD PS2 like graphics, not going from Gamecube to GBA.

Mumford, why is this sure to fail? The lack of support for GBA-Cube connectivity is understandable given the hassle, but with the advent of wireless far more people will be happy to connect their handhelds to their consoles.

Never upgrading is the way to go. Don't get me wrong, the homebrew games are predominantly awful, but the emulation, superior video/audio playback at fractions of the original battery use are reasons to keep older firmware. And with the advent of full 2.71 (latest firmware) emulation, there's not a feature you don't get from a homebrew PSP.

But don't get me wrong, UMD movies are awful and deserve to be failing the way they are.

so it's official now that Joystiq is a Sony bashing site?

Fanboys need to stop this childish crap.

Sony fanboys; you need to just admit to yourselves that Sony has made some pretty stupid decisions regarding the PS3 (if they want it to be successful in the first year) and stop assuming that every feature on the upcoming console is automatically going to be executed to perfection.

Nintendo fanboys; you need to quit boasting about past features that even Nintendo has admitted were executed poorly (ex. GBA-Cube connectivity) and also admit that Nintendo has made some stupid decisions regarding the importance of graphical capabilities of their upcoming console (if they want it to remain competitive in two years).

BOTH groups need to give credit where credit is due.

The PSP is not faltering because of Sony's decisions alone. Third party support has been the main weak link. But the SAME thing can be said for the DS. If Nintendo wasn't so good at making fun games, the DS would be a sunken ship.

Bottom line:

Nintendo makes fun, addictive games (even if the technology running them is graphically limited).

Sony makes some beautiful, high-performance equipment (even if it's sold at a ridiculous premium).

In this next generation, BOTH systems are going to offer an experience the other can't touch. Make your decision based on your own needs and be happy with it. Don't put down other people because you feel your opinion is the "right" opinion. Even if the PS3 outsells the Wii, it doesn't mean it is the "right" system for everyone (and vice versa).

In closing:

EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES. There is NO exception to that rule. Your favorite company is not run by Gods.

cringer8, congratulations, your medal is in the post. Of course all of that is true, if it wasn't the companies in question would have failed or be hugely unsuccessful.

As it stands MS has some decent 360 sales, and whilst not profitable the Xbox gained them a decent marketshare. Nintendo rules the handheld roost despite competitors, but with a lackluster performance from the cube. Sony have a reasonable handheld that's faring fairly in US/EU but being raped by the DS in Japan, as well as the ludicrous success of the PS2.

But branding anyone who has an opinion either way as a fanboy is SO 2005. Sure most of these people are fanboys, doesn't mean that the points discussed aren't relevent. Otherwise what's the point of the comment section?

"Looks like a good feature, I'll buy one"
"I believe it to be an unimportant feature, I am going to buy a Wii/DS"

Riveting stuff, no?