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The PSP/DS Thread

mariomessias - Jun 14, 2004

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		M3d10n		Dec 8, 2004
			I think the PSP will have it's place, but I think it'll take a while before it truly takes off. It's a bit pricey, the battery life isn't that good (maybe the worse thing about it is that it's variable - it depends on the application) and now it seems the loading times are sluggish. Those kinds of things counts a lot of points in the portable market, that IS different than the home console market. things might get better when Sony releases a new PSP model and get lower prices. The PSP success also depends on public and 3rd party developer response in regards to original content. It's very likely that the PSP will be flooded with straight ports of existing games (the current launch title list is full of them already), with changes being limited to downscale the graphics (the PSP is miles behind the PS2 in terms of power and RAM) and control scheme changes in a few games (since there are no L2, R2, nor R3). Right now developers are playing it safe and avoiding doing anything too ambitious on it. I also fear the UMD drive will not be used to it's fullest. The budget and development cycles for portable games are much lower than home console games. Due to RAM limits, you can't get much on screen on the PSP, so making a game use 1.8 GB means lots of unique content (many levels/areas/characters, each with unique textures), and such content plays a big part in a game's budget (ever noticed that low budget games are often short, or reuse graphics a lot?). Developers are also being advised to avoid streaming data from the UMD constantly (FMV and music), and will hardly fill a whole disc up. But I can predict nothing. This situation is nothing but an experiment: both the PSP and the DS have distinct proposals as portables. Time will tell which one the public will fall in love with, and that will shape the future market.

		Des-ROW		Dec 8, 2004
			Pricey? The system costs about 30 USD more than the Nintendo DS. RAM limitations? The PSP has 32Mb Main RAM (4Mb embedded DRAM), which is actually a lot for a handheld system.

Cloud121

Dec 8, 2004

	
	
		
		
			RAM limitations? The PSP has 32Mb Main RAM (4Mb embedded DRAM), which is actually a lot for a handheld system.

How much RAM does the DS have?

	
	
		
		
			Right now developers are playing it safe and avoiding doing anything too ambitious on it.

Obviously. They want to get more comfortable with the hardware.

	
	
		
		
			Time will tell which one the public will fall in love with

I love the DS, but the PSP looks pretty good. As long as it doesn't breakdown as easily as the consoles (I've never had any problems with my Sony stuff, but the stories I've heard worry me sometimes).

New Ridge Racer...

	
	
		
		
			It's a bit pricey, the battery life isn't that good (maybe the worse thing about it is that it's variable - it depends on the application) and now it seems the loading times are sluggish.

Doesn't seem that pricey. Look at what all you get in the "Value Pack"

PSP Unit, AC Adaptor, Battery Pack, 32 MB Memory Stick, Headhpones, Remote Control, SoftCase, and Hand strap, all for only $230 USD.

Given how things are more expensive in Japan usually, should the value pack be released in the States, I predict an even $200.

Pretty good deal. The only problem being, the games are being sold for a full $50.

		IceDigger		Dec 8, 2004
			My Zodiac 2 has 128MB ram and an 8MB dedicated ATI video card Plus with 2 sd slots I have 2x 1gb sd cards in them for storage space. www.tapwave.com... you know you want one

		mal		Dec 8, 2004
			Are you on commission Ice?

Des-ROW

Dec 8, 2004

	
	
		
		
			Originally posted by RolfWrenWalsh+Thu, 2004-12-09 @ 09:30 AM-->QUOTE(RolfWrenWalsh @ Thu, 2004-12-09 @ 09:30 AM)How much RAM does the DS have?[/b]

Only 4Mb.