Answers to big PSP questions as first units arrive

[kupoartist]

linky (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=57412)

Some people foresaw the battery problems, but frankly if 90 minutes is true, I won't be touching a handheld Playstation...

[Nelo Angelo]

That's not all the PSP has to endure, I've heard of some problems with first shipment of PSP's in Japan like the UMD just ejecting for no reason at all.

You can find more and some(Comedy gold XD) videos here:

http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=4010

[Urahara Kisuke]

Poor PSP. Hopefully they do something to fix the battery length though and the random ejecting games. Not a necessity, but if it all fails, just let Sony quit the handheld systems and let Nintendo reign. :cool:

[Chara]

Nah... that really isnt true about the 90 minutes. Here is a timeline I saw about the PSP's batery life on IGN:


12:54AM: Turned System On
Following full recharge

12:54AM: Status Report
- Battery remaining: 100%
- Full brightness time remaining: 5:49
- Low brightness time remaining: 7:35

12:54AM: Played Games
Ridge Racers, Vampire Chronicles, etc., using system speaker set to full blast and screen alternating between minimum and maximum settings (videos look better when the screen is set to minimum)

1:54AM: Stopped playing games

1:54AM: Status Report
- Battery remaining: 89%
- Full brightness time remaining: 4:52
- Low brightness time remaining: 6:21

1:54AM: Turned System Off

3:30AM: Turned System On

3:30AM: USB and MP3
Transferred about 200 Megabytes of MP3 files to the PSP and used it as an MP3 player as I went to pick up another PSP unit. Had remote control and headphones attached to system. Listened to such artists as Prodigy, Utada Hikaru, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana, skipping tracks frequently as I determined that the PSP remote control and headphones suck.

4:30AM: Stopped MP3 use

4:30AM: Status Report
- Battery remaining: 76%
- Full brightness time remaining: 3:43
- Low brightness time remaining: 4:42

4:30AM: Turned System On

6:00AM: Turned System Off

6:00AM: Played Games
Played Minna no Golf and Armored Core at full brightness.

7:00AM: Stopped Playing Games
Noticed that remaining battery marker had fallen to two marks for the first time, so I wanted to check what the remaining battery was.

7:00AM: Status Report
- Battery now at two marks
- Battery remaining: 58%
- Full brightness time remaining: 2:35
- Low brightness time remaining: 3:05

7:00AM: Played Games
Continued playing Minna no Golf and Armored Core (low brightness for making videos)

7:45AM: Stopped playing games
Realized that you don't actually control mechs in Armored Core, so decided to stop playing.

7:45AM: Status report
- Battery remaining: 45%
- Full brightness time remaining: 1:39
- Low brightness time remaining: 2:07

7:45AM: Turned System On.

9:15AM: Turned System Off

9:15AM: Played Games
Played Armored Core just to make sure that you really don't control the mechs (low brightness for making videos)

9:30AM: Stopped playing games
Realized, once again, that you don't actually control the mechs in Armored Core.

9:30AM: Status report
- Battery remaining: 38%
- Full brightness time remaining: 1:43
- Low brightness time remaining: 2:19
(hmm... the battery time went up after we played Armored Core more. Maybe playing games where you don't have direct control over in-game characters results in energy being given back to the battery).

9:30AM: Turned System Off.

6:00PM: Turned System On.

6:00PM: Status report
- Battery remaining: 34%
- Full brightness time remaining: 1:35
- Low brightness time remaining: 1:58

6:00PM: Played Games
Played Lumines at high brightness (really bright outside) in order to try and "get" game.

6:30PM: Stopped Playing Games
Noticed that remaining battery marker had fallen to one mark for the first time, so I wanted to check what the remaining battery was.

6:30PM: Status Report
- Battery now at one mark
- Battery remaining: 25%
- Full brightness time remaining: 1:02
- Low brightness time remaining: 1:24

6:30PM: Played Games
Completed addicted to Lumines, so wanted to continue playing (this time, I accidentally played at low brightness without realizing it).

7:10PM: Status Report
- Battery remaining: 14%
- Full brightness time remaining: 0:30
- Low brightness time remaining: 0:40

7:10PM: Played Games
Lumines is toooooooo much fun (this time, I made sure to play at high brightness).

7:20PM: Stopped Playing Games
Noticed that remaining battery marker had fallen to zero mark for the first time and power meter had started flashing, so I wanted to check what the remaining battery was.

7:20PM: Status Report
- Battery now at zero mark
- Power meter now flashing
- Battery remaining: 10%
- Full brightness time remaining: 0:23
- Low brightness time remaining: 0:31

7:20PM: Played Games
Lumines is still toooooooo much fun (again, at high brightness).

7:45PM: Battery died
And I was right in the middle of a huge score in the Industrial skin on Lumines! It's okay, though, because the PSP goes into sleep mode when the battery dies, allowing you to continue play exactly where you left off, once you've gotten more power to your system.

7:45PM: Began recharge


So we've at last played our way through a full battery charge cycle. In case you don't feel like counting, the battery died after about four hours and fourty-five minutes of five different games and one hour of MP3 play. We didn't use the WiFi features of the system at all during this time.

Keep in mind that we avoided charging the system a number of times that we could've easily plugged it in (in particular, as we slept). Unless we plan on playing games for more than five hours in a row, the battery seems like it'll be okay to us. Of course, for long trips, we may find ourselves picking up a spare just in case (they're about $40 at retail).

We'll continue to track our battery use as we play around with more of the system's features over the coming days. From here on out, we're going to start charging whenever we feel like it, as this will be a better way to get an idea of how long the PSP will last when you're actually using it.

Stay tuned for updates in this space shortly.

[Spank-A-Thon]

From what I've read, disc access is the biggest battery killer. Ridge Racer wore down the battery in 3.5 hours (according to Gamesradar) but that has massive amounts of disc access.

They do state however, that the battery can be charged back to full within 2 hours.

If it means carrying more batteries then so be it - but owning a (currently gathering dust) 1st generation GBA which is unusable in anything other than perfect light, I'd happily sacrifice battery life for actually being able to see what I'm doing!

To be honest though, having been bitten a couple of times now - I'm gonna hold back on buying a PSP cos I just know in a year a better version will come out (yes GBA - I'm talking about you, you Judas!).

- S

[Ozzy]

You could let Nintendo take over the handheld buisness but they never had a straight forward head to head opponent like sony so thats why they steped in to see how well they will do and i`m betting they will do just fine so why don`t these debates just end about Ds and psp (which won`t happen) like the creators said they are completly different systems which shouldn`t be compared.

[Frozen]

Well, if it works out just as it worked for the guys at IGN, the battery problem won´t be an issue for me, at all. I mean, damn, you´ve got to have no damn life to be playing with a handheld for 5 hours straight. And I consider myself vicious when it comes to my GBA.

[Chara]

Yesterday I actually played one of these things. My friend has one import and his psp has no problems with it. The disc does not pop out when you twist it. Hell, you cant even twist it like that unless you are on a serious mission to destroy that thing. If you twist it that hard you are just asking for the screen to break. My friend said that the dude hit the open button in that video. I dunno about that but it may be so.

But he had zero dead pixels, the battery life was good, and the quality of movies is just outstanding (HDTV quality). It seems that nintendo fanboys are just making things seem worse than they actually are. The dead pixels are bound to be in some units because that is just what happens. No one can stop dead pixels on a LCD, it is just sometimes made like that. Even some DS units had dead pixels on em.

And as Frozen said, if you do play till the battery runs out, you do need to find yourself a life. Or you are just on an extremely long road trip. There will be car adapters you can buy also. It isnt like you have to constantly buy batteries, it has a rechargeable lithuim battery.

You also can purchase new memory sticks if you want to use it as a serious mp3 player. It is only a little over $100 for a 512mb one also so you can get a nice selection of music in that little thing (well, if you can use the sony duo memory sticks, which are the same size as the one that comes with the PSP). As for the screen getting scratched, there is a case the thing comes with. Well... that is if you get the value pack, that is (which does cost quite a bit if you import it). The value pack also comes with these neat little headphones that have the playback controls on the cord.

After playing with this thing first hand, I am starting to want one for myself, and I never was really a fan of handhelds. I am not worrying about how much of a battery drain transferring mp3s are because why the hell would i be transferring a lot of music at any place other than my house? It will be plugged in while I am at home. If I am getting music from a friend, it isnt like I will be transferring 200mb worth of mp3s. :/

Oh, and we were able to fit a 2 hour long movie, full res & full screen on the PSP and still have room left over for music. This was with 512mb of memory.

As for things I hated, the analong stick is placed in an odd spot and I can see how the power cord can be a problem.

[Vic Viper]

thats good to hear, man. thank you. i cant wait for the psp. :smirk:

btw, chara what games did you play on the psp ? :smirk:

[Chara]

I just played Hot Shots. A lot was in Japanese so I had no clue as to what I was dong, but I didnt care since i was in love with the graphics. After fiddling around with the menus for a while I got into a game and it looked great. Well, a bit watered down PS2 game... but still much ahead of the DS graphics.

And to further emphasize how clear the screen is, click here (http://forum.lik-sang.com/other/psp-release/psp-release3.jpg). It really does look that nice.

[Chara]

Here is a screen from his PSP running Shenmue: The Movie

http://img150.exs.cx/img150/90/shenmue1fx.jpg

[Spank-A-Thon]

Well, if you're in the UK Amazon will be selling the PSP for £179.99 as of March 18 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002S9JAM/qid=1105132296/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-7805109-1853425).

- S

[Vic Viper]

Well, if you're in the UK Amazon will be selling the PSP for £179.99 as of March 18 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002S9JAM/qid=1105132296/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-7805109-1853425).

- S

how much is that in U.S. $ ?

[Nelo Angelo]

Oh yea, here's a review of PSP for you folks that are interested in it.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000510024287/

[kupoartist]

how much is that in U.S. $ ?
336.760 USD

[Vic Viper]

336.760 USD

wow, i know the psp isnt going to cost that much. amazon is ripping you U.K. guys off.

[Vic Viper]

http://www.the-magicbox.com/gaming.htm

- Bloomberg reported that at CES, Howard Stinger from SCE said PSP will launch in both North America and Europe before the end of March, and the PSP will be sold for less than US$200.
..

[kupoartist]

wow, i know the psp isnt going to cost that much. amazon is ripping you U.K. guys off.
Often, prices in Europe Particuarly the UK are an absolute goddamned rip-off. However, Amazon's price most likely reflects the fact that no official RRP exists, so they don't want to sell them off too cheap and are making an uniformed guess. I thought they were supposed to retailing at about £129.99 (243.821 USD)

[Vic Viper]

Often, prices in Europe Particuarly the UK are an absolute goddamned rip-off. However, Amazon's price most likely reflects the fact that no official RRP exists, so they don't want to sell them off too cheap and are making an uniformed guess. I thought they were supposed to retailing at about £129.99 (243.821 USD)

oh. i see. are you getting the psp ? :)

[kupoartist]

oh. i see. are you getting the psp ? :)
Well, at £130 i'd consider it, but I think I'll wait to see how it pans out in software terms. Sooner or later, I could imagine getting one of the next batch of handhelds, I'm just not sure which yet :)

[Chara]

Apparently the cost for a US PSP will be $249 with no choice of getting the value pack or not. Man... that kinda sucks. But I guess in america they are try to market it as an all around system more than a gaming system. That is my only logical guess as to why they are making people buy the value pack, doesnt seem they are trying to compete with Nintendo at all.

Or maybe they are just donig this because they can since they are Sony.

[Vic Viper]

yea i had a thread about that..

i'll hold off on the psp for now, unless sony releases a standard pack like they did in japan. :shame:

[Billyum7]

anyone have it yet? or am i the only one on here who does..