Added RAM makes PSP games load faster

46 Comments by Andrew Yoon Jul 12th 2007 4:26PM
Filed under: Sony PSP, E3

The redesigned PSP makes games load faster. But, how? In a private demonstration with Joystiq, John Koller explained that the new PSP includes more than just good looks. The redesigned system also includes more RAM, which is used to increase the load speed of upcoming PSP titles. In addition, the system has much more efficient battery life. Koller promised between 8 to 10 hours of battery life in the new system, a seeming impossibility when remembering the original design.

See also:
Joystiq hands-on with the new PSP

Tags: e307, JohnKoller, psp, PSPLite

(Page 1) Reader Comments

Anam: Jul 12th 2007; 4:31PM

LOL

Joystiq: The new PSP has this port moved slightly to the left, another thing moved slightly to the right, it is more shiny and supports component cables now. Not any major improvements, but it *feels* better, and that's all that matters, right?

...

Joystiq: Oh yeah, and games play better. We forgot to mention that.

JodyAnthony: Jul 12th 2007; 4:33PM

LOL

damn sony, I dont want to have to spend another $200!

sheppy: Jul 12th 2007; 4:37PM

Jody, totally agree with you. First they have me buying two versions of UT3 (I'll mod on PC, play on PS3) and now another PSP. Not to mention any number of other holiday games.....

sheppy: Jul 12th 2007; 4:38PM

Jody, totally agree with you. First they have me buying two versions of UT3 (I'll mod on PC, play on PS3) and now another PSP. Not to mention any number of other holiday games.....

ssuk: Jul 12th 2007; 4:44PM

Much like the DS Lite, many adpoters who have their original PSPs wont swap over to this new PSP Slim, I for one find the DS original far superiror to the DS Lite, as I'm sure I'll find the PSP superiror to the PSP Slim.

JodyAnthony: Jul 12th 2007; 4:48PM

one thing I don't like is them making it lighter. I LOVE the way the PSP feels. it fees so solid. I like the heft.

Brandon: Jul 12th 2007; 4:35PM

I wonder will the added ram make for more robust webbrowsing? The system running out of memory while loading big sites was the biggest shortcoming to the app.

Brandon: Jul 12th 2007; 4:37PM

Some of the best games on the system have really short loadtimes, Tekken:DR and Daxter have pretty minimal loads. I would love it if this would benefit the webbrowsers cache, which runs out easily on sites like joystiq.

JK: Jul 12th 2007; 4:38PM

I'm assuming the extra RAM is invisible to the game itself, and the system somehow does the caching, because they still need to make games that work within the old PSP's (PSP Phat?) design spec. Or perhaps a new SDK will do this for new systems, and not for old ones somehow.

borland502: Jul 12th 2007; 4:54PM

It says it's for "upcoming games." So I wager the RAM is visible to the game, but the game has to be aware of it.

Nintendo Power: Jul 12th 2007; 6:00PM

LOL @ Invisible RAM - That's adorable...why would they hide it from the software?

The SDK/API probably provides some sort of function to return the available system memory size(e.g. GetRAMSize();) and any developer worth his/her salt would never hard-code those values in the software. So then its up to how well the legacy games were developed. Some will probably take better advantage of this than others, the same way some PC games can take advantage of system upgrades.

vidGuy: Jul 12th 2007; 4:39PM

OMG! What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it gives forth a sound.

I'm glad they gave a private demonstration; I don't know if the public could handle such an announcement as more RAM. Letters confuse us.

megaStryke: Jul 12th 2007; 4:39PM

I'm torn between getting the old model or this one. The biggest reason I had (other than the dearth of games AT THE TIME) for not picking up the PSP already has been the horrible, horrible, I-could-bake-a-turkey-while-I-wait load times. This new model just MIGHT convince to wait until its release just for the improving load times. I couldn't care less about any of the other differences.

Brandon: Jul 12th 2007; 4:45PM

Well, you can guarantee that the old one will drop in price as this one becomes more popular. Or perhaps they will clarify whether the black one (the one without the bundled stuff) will sell for less than the other two that are bundled.

megaStryke: Jul 12th 2007; 5:00PM

I can only hope that the non-bundled one is the same price as the current model.

Wii60: Jul 12th 2007; 4:43PM

Just as soon as I can run homebrew on it, I'll upgrade.

Nate: Jul 12th 2007; 4:46PM

whatever...

Neebs: Jul 12th 2007; 4:56PM

You could have downloaded it anytime, since the PSP goes online!

Gambit: Jul 12th 2007; 5:00PM

8-10 hours of battery life? It's that bad? What the hell was it on the original, 5 hours?

Wii60: Jul 12th 2007; 5:07PM

more like 3

Gambit: Jul 12th 2007; 5:14PM

Damn! Did it last that long with emulators running as well?

Anam: Jul 12th 2007; 5:20PM

"more like 3" posted by Wii60

Why do I not believe you?

sheppy: Jul 12th 2007; 5:20PM

Depending upon the games and features used, it could be anything from 3 to 8. For example...

Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee with WiFi 4 player local was about 3 hours at the most. Same situation but Twisted Metal Black or Wipeout, 4-5 hours. DJ Max Portable 2 single player was about 8 hours. DJ Max Portable 2 local multiplayer was 7 hours. So shortest I ever experienced was Hot Shots Golf. Longest was running SSB homebrew for 9 hours. Sony's official stat on battery life at PSPs launch was 3-5 hours.

Gambit: Jul 12th 2007; 5:22PM

Well at least homebrew stuff lasted awhile. The only reason that anyone has one that I know is so that they can play some NES and SNES games on the go. :D

sheppy: Jul 12th 2007; 5:57PM

Once again, Emu depends upon the application. Some programs rarely drain, others drain the hell out of your console. SSB, for example, was a game specific port of code and it was optimized for the system itself. Meanwhile, a chess program drains like a mother, forcing me not to play chess from amatuer programmers (not that I would, it doesn't force you to play by the rules. So you can "teleport" pawns to spots and watch the CPU think long and hard about how to beat cheating pawns turned queens).

NeverSage: Jul 12th 2007; 8:55PM

Even if I just leave the PSP off for a week, by the time I get back to it the battery is low. I like when the DS is off, it's actually off, not slowly draining the battery.

Or maybe mine's just fucked up, who knows.

Jonathan Tran: Jul 12th 2007; 5:17PM

More RAM makes games load faster...

wait, the PSP has games?!?!?!

hehe jk

Derka: Jul 12th 2007; 5:43PM

I'm still trying to figure out why they wouldn't mention this when they unveiled it. Great selling point.

Jouten: Jul 12th 2007; 5:52PM

I may even consider buying one now that there are 'more' games out and that they improved upon the current architecture. I'm not that big of a fanboy to deny myself some good games that can't be played on my DS.

Hirsbrunner: Jul 12th 2007; 6:14PM

ssuk replied: "...I for one find the DS original far superiror to the DS Lite,as I'm sure I'll find the PSP superiror to the PSP Slim."

Just curious, in what specific ways do you feel the DS original is far superior to the DS Lite?

Abscissa: Jul 12th 2007; 6:39PM

I can't speak for ssuk, but IMO the DS Phat is better than the DS Lite because of two reasons:

1. The Lite's crappy squishy DPad. Someone other than Sony FINALLY put out a DPad that didn't suck (DS Phat), but then they take it away in the revision.

2. Admittedly less important then the DPad, I find the "GBA Carts Stick Halfway Out" thing to be a very half-assed design. Annoying and impractical.

3. I hate the power "slider". Really awkward, and just annoying and pointless.

4. IMHO, it looks more like a toy than that Phat does.

As far as the DS Lite's improvements: I don't need a brighter screen because I never have a need to play outdoors (I don't really game on the go), and the Phat is as bright as I need it inside. The better Mic placement is only a very minor change. And while the stylus is much better (exactly what I had wished the Phat's stylus was), I've managed to get used to the Phat's shirt skinny stylus.

Abscissa: Jul 12th 2007; 6:42PM

"...because of two reasons"

Heh, sorry, apparently I can't count. ;)

Jaylati: Jul 12th 2007; 6:29PM

They BETTER release that 8-10 hour battery separately, cause there's no way in hell $ony is getting me to upgrade to this "waaaay better" PSP.

Abscissa: Jul 12th 2007; 6:39PM

"increase the load speed of **upcoming** PSP titles" (Emphasis added.)

Between this, and the revelation that the TV-Out on games is Component-only, I've gone from a "Nintendo-to-Sony Convert" back to "Bah, forget Sony" in just one day.

What next? A revelation that the extra battery life is only if you buy a 10 lb. $100 add-on?

Way to squander your opportunities.

(I'm not actually mad about this, I'm just rather disappointed.)

Azurite: Jul 12th 2007; 7:05PM

Good thing I thought ahead and didn't buy a PSP, gonna get this new one instead.

Brandon: Jul 12th 2007; 7:47PM

I wonder if the umd drive any faster. If so, it would result in faster loads across the board.

Triforceowner: Jul 12th 2007; 9:12PM

So if I were to pick one of these up, what games do people suggest? Things along the DS style like Locco Rocco or whatever its called.

NeverSage: Jul 12th 2007; 11:33PM

Personally, I loved Loco Roco. Killzone is good as well. But Lumines and Wipeout Pure are basically the must have titles for the system. I say if you don't get any others, get those two. Plus they're launch titles so they're mad cheap.

Jamesology: Jul 12th 2007; 9:58PM

LMAO... like always DS fanboys not playing with their DS' cuz it got boring fast like always. And pls. don't start listing games of good DS' games b/c I have them all. (thnx to the R4DS).

So far the only good games was Trauma Center and Simcity. Mario is Mario, no matter what character it is, it's still pretty much MARIO BROS. Mini games can only go so far.

I'm not saying PSP is better but I'm sure DS is not. The only thing that makes me play with my DS more is cuz of the awsome Clamshell design, for faster tuck away when at work; and the R4DS, for "free" and fast downloading games. I love racing games and kiddy Mario Kart will never compare to Gran Turismo. (But hopoefully GT Mobile will be worthwhile; Rainbowsix LV was a disappointment). Now, let the Nintendo Fanboys ruch in twice as fast.

NeverSage: Jul 12th 2007; 11:40PM

I would assume that DS fanboys play their DS...

And why would you play Simcity? No wonder you think the DS is crap. Get some good games, then we'll talk

Triforceowner: Jul 13th 2007; 10:39AM

Yeah, Sim City was pretty poorly received. I've played four games on my DS (Mario 64, Mario Kart, Castlevania, and Planet Puzzle) and all of them have been very good titles worth the $30.

Adv2k1: Jul 13th 2007; 2:07AM

I can't imagine anyone to think dslite is worse than original. brightness makes games look better, not only that but if you know you can't charge you can save, turn down the brightness and that keeps you playing,sliders are non-issue, control pad I feel better than original , GBA games I stopped playing maybe a year or two ago, if I need to I'll use my GBA SP to play them. The smaller size is just better to hold. If you don't like DS lite you have no taste in hardware.

Now the RAM on psp is a interesting development it could help out the PSP make more games, however I doubt many publishers will bother really since DS is so kicking PSP's ass it doesn't matter. I wonder if Sony will drastically change interface of new psp to stop home brewing, thats sadly a selling point even if for the wrong reasons. Why do they need firmware updates anyway? DS lite never has firmware updates and works fine with 100% of games.

Jamesology: Jul 14th 2007; 10:23AM

You are well aware that the Sony PSP has way more third-party support.

And again, like said several times, Nintendo and Sony views are different. Sony believed in many features and these updates provide that. Nintendo, does not like updates so they make new systems like every couple months. How Gameboys did they make again? But once in a while they would copy each other. Sony copied the Wii with the sensor control (which was pointless to the PS3 since PS3 doesnt even have that many games that use it) and Nintendo copied the Webrowser on the PSP for the DS lite (which is pretty unusable).

Jamesology: Jul 13th 2007; 2:16AM

WOW... NeverSage your an idiot. Seriously, you have just proved how ignorant and idiotic "most" fanboys on both sides(Nintendo and Sony) are.

It shocks me that you can even type. Please NeverSage take the time to read my comment again. Here I will copy and paste it for you:

LMAO... like always DS fanboys not playing with their DS' cuz it got boring fast like always. And pls. don't start listing games of good DS' games b/c I have them all. (thnx to the R4DS).

So far the only good games was Trauma Center and Simcity. Mario is Mario, no matter what character it is, it's still pretty much MARIO BROS. Mini games can only go so far.

I'm not saying PSP is better but I'm sure DS is not. The only thing that makes me play with my DS more is cuz of the awsome Clamshell design, for faster tuck away when at work; and the R4DS, for "free" and fast downloading games. I love racing games and kiddy Mario Kart will never compare to Gran Turismo. (But hopoefully GT Mobile will be worthwhile; Rainbowsix LV was a disappointment). Now, let the Nintendo Fanboys ruch in twice as fast.

Actually here let me bullet point some important phrases that should be considered in your next comment.
-"don't start listing games of good DS' games b/c I have them all. (thnx to the R4DS)."
-"the only good games was Trauma Center and Simcity"
Please start with that.

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