E3 2010 big loser - PSP

Man... I can't believe what callous neglect everyone is showing the PSP this E3.

The only announcement seems to be:

"that 70 PSP games will be released "between now and December."

That's it. No details on WHAT most of the games will be (besides Patapon 3).... or anything. 70 games *should* sound awesome. But here's where I think that it goes south in a big way:

• How many of those 70 games are PSP Minis? How many of them are not only PSP Minis, but PORTS of iPhone games or whatnot?
  
  
• How many of those games are movie tie-ins that are put on every console anyway?
  
  
• How many of those games are Japan-exclusive?
  

What if like 50 of the 70 games are PSP Minis or movie tie-ins? That would be a SUCKY 70 games list, wouldn't it?

Sure, we know that God of War: Ghosts of Sparta is in development, and there may be a few other high profile PSP games as well. But the bulk of that 70? PSP minis, or movie tie-ins... or Japanese exclusives that we'll never see here....

Where's the LIST of those "70 PSP games"? The 3DS has a list of upcoming games at least. Don't just announce "there's 70 PSP games coming kthanxbai".

And not getting any announcement of a PSP2..... that just feels like a REALLY BAD sign. You know the end of the movie Se7en where Morgan Freeman's character is all set to retire, but he can't? That's where I feel like that's where the PSP is right now. A dead horse. But I'm not saying that it's not still a good platform-- I use my PSPgo every day (mostly to watch taped TV shows)-- and there's still some joy in the system playing the best PSP games of the past. Just not anything new.

By not announcing a PSP2, Sony is basically saying that they have no idea how to counter Nintendo's handheld strategy. They have no answer to the 3DS. And looking at some of the upcoming games announced for the 3DS, with titles like Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, and Saint's Row it looks like it's going after the PSP audience, like it's saying, "you few PSPers left out there, we hear you and are ready to absorb you into our fold. We know how abandoned you are, so here are a few morsels of games to bring you over from that dead system to our living one."

I have no idea what a PSP 2 should be like... what should it have that would set it apart from an iPhone or DS? Yes, 2 analogue nubs, great graphics, touchscreen, well-rounded media capabilities. But what would position it to succeed more than the PSP? I don't know.

And it looks like Sony has no idea either.


later
don

TiltFX for PSP (1000-3000)

Hey, this is cool. Datel is coming out with a motion sensor for the PSP! Called TiltFX, it's a little dongle that plugs into the headphone/remote port of the PSP-1000/2000/3000.... sadly, not compatible with the PSPgo.

[EDIT]: I was thinking about it... remember, the PSP-1000 has a *DIFFERENT* headphone remote jack than the PSP-2000/3000. They are different shapes; the PSP-2000/3000 port is a bit longer & narrower. Seeing as how the device seems to be demonstrated on a PSP-2000, I wonder if it's PSP-2000/3000 only, and not PSP-1000 as is being reported.

[EDIT 2]: Seems that there is a version for PSP-1000. Hit up the TltFX site, and you can order either PSP-1000 or PSP-2000/3000 version of the dongle.


[Joystiq article link]

The dongle seems relatively small, though it does cover up both the headphone & remote port so as far as I can tell, can't use headphones with this thing. But the control seems to be not bad, as demonstrated in the video:





later
don

The PSP in China

For the first few weeks I didn't see any PSP stuff when I was in China. At first I was in the outskirts of Shenzhen, then toured around Shanghai a little, and spent a bit of time in Fujian province. Now I wasn't exactly in electronics areas... but even in the department stores there seemed to be not much PSP stuff, I saw a lot of cellphones, and a variety of cheap mp3/mp4 players. I even saw "mp5"(?) players... I'm not sure what that means.

But near the end of my trip, I did manage to see a bit of PSP stuff. Well, the consoles mainly. But it was in Huaqaing Bei and in Hong Kong where I really saw PSPs & UMD games.

I mentioned in Huaqaing Bei that there was a little shack where the owner was trying to activate a TIFF exploit of some sort on a PSP-3000. I'm not up on the latest exploits or custom firmwares, but I believe that there's currently only limited (custom) firmware ability on a PSP-3000.

In Guangzhou, not only did I see some PSPs (not many UMD games though) I also saw PSP magazines.... man I wish I'd bought one as a souvenir.... at least one of these magazines appeared to be weekly(!)-- can you imagine a weekly PSP magazine? Wow. But what was more shocking was that I saw magazines dedicated to hacking the PSP. And these weren't just shady printed-out-of-someone's-basement type of underground magazines, these were glossy professionally printed mags. I don't read Chinese, but when they have M-33 printed in big bold english on the cover, you get the picture. Flipping through them, I saw "Chick-HEN" and I'm sure other references to modding PSPs.

So finally I'm in Hong Kong.... this is THE place to find electronics, right? And of course, I saw PSP stuff, even PSP UMD games. All through my trip I was searching for a PSP game: Macross. I kept coming up empty, no one knew what I was talking about. In Hong Kong, I came across one store, a great little toy shop at the airport that I *wished* I had more time to explore-- they had mecha toys, Godzilla toys ( just hitting all my buttons!) and PSP UMD games (as well as DS games)-- and the worker there at least knew of it. He said it was a "very old" game, and they don't carry it. Oh well.

Anyway, I'm in Hong Kong and I wanted to see if I could acquire a modded PSP. I know that it's probably fairly easy to DIY, just buy a Pandora's Battery & a cheap memory stick I suppose. But I did see some sweet looking PSPs. There were quite a few of the Carnival Colours, and I saw my fave, the pearl white PSP-3000. Oooooo. Do I need a 5th PSP? Sure don't-- but I can't help but be dazzled by it's beauty. The prices for PSPs overall in China and in Hong Kong were about the same as here, maybe a bit less. But I didn't have time to hit Hong Kong's electronics area, "Computer City", so no new PSP for me.

I was surprised to come across an HMV store in Hong Kong. And they sold PSP stuff, I bought Pixel Junk Monsters, a limited edition UMD version that comes with a little cellphone charm. I dunno, I bought it for the novelty value, and it was cheap. I also bought a Gundam game, which I haven't even played yet, again just to fill the mech-game hole left by not finding that Macross game, and it was fairly cheap, again novelty factor.

But one interesting thing about PSP sales in the big stores in Hong Kong is that if you want to buy a console, you must buy AT LEAST one game along with it. You can't go into the HMV (or other legitimate big store like Fortress) and just buy a PSP system alone. Why is that? I'm not sure, but I guess it's their way of combating buying a console just to hack it? That doesn't exactly make sense, but I can't think of any other reason....

So I'm in the HMV in Hong Kong, which looks like most other big HMVs I've been in like in Vancouver or something, and there's this kid, maybe a teen, who's talking english but he looks & sounds like he's from Dubai. He's talking with his dad & mom about buying a PSP, and he's looking at the models. The PSPgo is also displayed alongside the PSP-3000's, and he points & says, "that one isn't hackable, is it?" So this Dubai family is talking about which PSPs are hackable, and the kid gets on his cellphone to phone a friend to confirm which models are hackable "to put games on"! This seems like just an "average" family, yet they are aware of the hackable rep of the PSP.

All this makes me wonder whether all the panic from third-party game pubs & devs about PSP piracy is maybe justified. I know there's a considerable hacker scene here, but I still think that in North America the average PSP buyer is not aware of custom firmware. But just from my casual experiences in China they seem a lot more aware.

It's really interesting though, that the PSP is a little more higher-profile in China, I saw more people with PSPs than I usually see here in Canada. There was a bored street vendor playing a PSP-3000, I look over and say, "Monster Hunter 2!" and he nods. I saw a few guys playing some multiplayer game in AD-HOC, one had a PSP-1000, the other had a PSP-2000 I believe. Nobody's using the PSPgo, I did show it off to a guy in Guangzhou, and he was freaking out about how cool it was, but then he asked, "can you hack it?" and I had to let him down about that. Then his girlfriend came up, he showed it to her, and guess what her question was.

Her followup statement was, "buying the [digital download] games is too expensive"... Sony should really be paying attention to the overall motivations for custom firmware. Yes we all like free, but maybe the prices of games is also a factor, right?

I was really glad to have found a 16GB M2 (memory stick micro) for my PSPgo at the Sony Store in Hong Kong. As I'm buying it, my dad asks the cashier in Cantonese, "This isn't a fake, right?" to which she replied, (basically) "Umm, we're the Sony Store, we don't deal in fakes!".... so that was funny.



later
don

PSP-3000 ummm... not love

Ennhhhh...... so, I finally got to see a PSP-3000 today, in person (so to speak)

Now I know what people are talking about with the scan lines. Just flipping through the XMB, it's noticeable, even if barely.

If you haven't seen it, let me eloquently describe it in a way that has never been done before because everyone else on the internet is an IDIOT and *I* am a GENIUS (or at least not an idiot. Well, not an idiot about Sony. Ok, just forget that part about me buying a PSPgo. I'm not an idiot about the rest....)

When you flip through the icons in the XMB, imagine them turning into a bunch of horizontal lines for a second as they move:

___
___
___


Except really close together. I can see why it would be hard to video record it, but if you see it in person, you can tell. I never got to watch video on the PSP-3000, but I bet it would be much more visible then. It's too bad, because otherwise the PSP-3000 is a nice enough piece of kit.



later
don

PSP-3000 want

There've been a lot of sales on PSP-3000's the last few weeks in Canada & the U.S.... I came *this close* to buying a PSP-3000 a couple weeks back when Future Shop had the core PSP-3000 on for $149.99. That's only $20.00 off though... and I resisted the temptation & held out until my Television de Portable P2 came in. Glad I did.

Right now Roger Video Rogers Plus has all the PSP bundles, the Star Wars/God of War/Madden/etc. PSP-2000 bundles, *and* the Ratchet & Clank PSP-3000 bundle on sale for $129.99. That seems like a really good deal considering they're bundles, not just core PSPs.

I have to admit, I'm very tempted to get the R&C black PSP-3000 bundle. I already have Ratchet & Clank, but at that price it's worth it for the PSP alone.

But... the same arguments against getting the PSP-3000 still apply for me. I already have 3 PSPs (1 PSP-1001, 2 Star Wars PSP-2001s)... I simply don't need a FOURTH PSP. I should get rid of 1 of my PSP-2000's as it is. And with the Television de Portable, I can finally play games on my non-HD tv using my PSP-2000, but it's probably a bit nicer through the PSP-3000..... still, is that really worth it?

The more pressing concern is that all these sales going on in Canada & the U.S. are shaping up to be fairly clear indicators that a NEW PSP is coming. PSP Go! will probably be announced at E3 in about 1½ week.....

Unlike others with their pie-in-the-sky wishlist thinking that PSP Go! will have touchscreen, slideout, camera, kitchen sink, etc. features added on... I don't think it will have any of that, except built-in memory. And maybe a camera... but I suspect PSP Go! will basically be the "PSP-4000", just a minor upgrade by Sony, for the year 2009.

The main point of PSP Go! seems to be download-only game/media content. I would be VERY surprised if Sony offered a way to transfer UMD games we already own to the PSP Go! without having to re-buy them off the PS Store. Rather, Sony probably sees it as a product for those who don't already own a PSP & only want to buy stuff off the PS Store.

But I don't want to buy content off of the PS Store. If that's about all PSP Go! has to offer, then it just wouldn't be all that useful to me. I do like the idea of a really thin PSP though, and with the lack of a UMD drive, it might be very thin.... if they also made the battery built-in.... So maybe getting a PSP-3000 would be better for me. But then comes the point that I don't need a 4th PSP...... sigh.........



later
don

Hannah Montana PSP bundle

Ugh.. I never thought I'd ever start off a post with that title... but it's not as bad as it sounds.

There's been a lot of PSP news lately, clearly Sony has been waiting to drop this stuff on us like an A-bomb... showing us they still support the system. Losta game announcements, and 2 PSP bundles.







From IGN:


LittleBigPlanet Portable

* Developed by Sony Cambridge in conjunction with MediaMolecule
* New SackBoy adventures with the same play, create, share experience for gamers on-the-go
* Brand new levels and environments specifically created for the platform
* Set for this year

MotorStorm: Arctic Edge

* Developed by Bigbig Studios (the folks behind the Pursuit Force series)
* Set in Alaska
* Also expected to hit the PlayStation 2 platform in Fall of 2009

Assassin's Creed Portable

* Ubisoft's exclusive installment of the franchise
* Set for release later this year

Rock Band Unplugged

* Exclusive to PSP MTV Games and Harmonix
* The first PSP game to include a fully-featured in-game store for DLC
* Coming in 2009

Petz

* Ubisoft's bringing the Petz series to the PSP in 2009
* Expect dogs, cats, horses, hamsters, dolphins, tigers and bunnies
* Yay

New $199.99 PSP Bundles

* Hannah Montana PSP Entertainment Pack
o Will launch in July
o Includes new "Lilac" PSP system
o Packs Disney Interactive's Hannah Montana PSP game, an exclusive dancing and rhythm action game
o Packs a selection episodes from the Hannah Montana TV series on UMD, Includes a 2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo and stickers to customize the PSP

* Assassin's Creed PSP Entertainment Pack
o Contains the game and a Piano Black PSP
o Other details to come later



About the Hannah Montana PSP... it's a Lilac PSP-3001, which so far looks pretty nice in the stylized pic. I'm not dying to pick one up, but if I had that colour, I'd probably be happy with it. I wouldn't be so happy with the rest it's bundled with.... among all the Hannah Montana junk "girl-friendly" stuff, apparently there's stickers included to apply to the PSP???? *shudder* I'm not sure I even WANT to know what those will be....

Between the Hannah Montana (ok I've typed that name JUST TOO MANY TIMES NOW) stuff and the Petz brand of games... it kinda smacks of *desperation* from Sony to get females to notice the PSP.... though there's no doubt that the female demographic should not be ignored by game companies. It's not for me, but maybe girls will flock to it in droves? We'll see... but I wouldn't put money on it....

Maybe I still need time to soak it all in... but I'm not super excited about these game announcements. I'm glad to see that Sony is rounding up some third-party developers to get them back on PSP, but... these games.... I dunno. I know that a lot of these franchises are from the PS3/360 consoles, so I haven't played many of them.

I hate to sound all negative when the PSP needs good news right now. LittleBigPlanet looks great on PS3, I hope it translates well to PSP. Same with Assassin's Creed. When I think of UbiSoft developing for PSP, I can't help but think of their recent comments about the PSP's lack of direction and how "Ubisoft has no games planned for the PSP this year" (this article was posted June 2008, so I'm guessing that 2008 had no Ubisoft PSP games) From my personal experience with the Ubisoft-developed Star Wars:Lethal Alliance, I'm a bit concerned that Ubisoft will phone it in; making a functional game, but maybe not an outstanding one. But it's way too early to judge.

Overall, new games is good news, right? I guess......




later
don

IGN: Sony PSP-3000 Review

I read this the other day, but it promptly got buried in the IGN site, so it's nearly impossible to find it now... gotta love how sites like IGN are so focused on crashing your browser with overloaded flash ads that they forget about the actual CONTENT that people come to their site for...

Anyway, IGN did a review of the PSP-3000.... it's pretty much in line with the many other complaints about the interlacing issue with the new screen. There are some nice pics there-- and no, they don't show the problem... well, maybe THIS ONE does-- but they do bring up an issue with "yellowing" of white details on the new screen compared to the PSP-2000.

I'm surprised (well, not really, this is IGN after all) that they didn't mention the iPod Touch screen, as that also had more "yellowing" than previous models (iPhone). Even the black & red "Brain Age 2" version of the Nintendo DS Lite apparently had more yellowing than previous DS lite screens. this bugged a lot of people... it's the model I have, but maybe because it's my first DS, I don't have too many problems with it. I can't really compare it to previous models though.

IGN: Sony PSP-3000 Review



later
don

PSP-3000 hands-on at Gamespot

Gamespot has an article on the PSP-3000, comparing the screen with the PSP-2000.

There aren't too many exterior changes, but it is notable that the sides of the PSP-3000(silver) are sharper than the rounded curves of the 2000(white):





To me, the sharper edges hearkens back to the PSP-1000(Wow! Remember that one?) while the overall look is the PSP-2000.


Sony's John Koller gives a basic overview of the PSP-3000 in this video:




I really don't have much to say about Koller. Not necessarily because of him personally, but *ALL* US/European Sony people just come off as puppets given a script that they recite without actually believing in. Someone from Sony Japan tells them that the PSP-3000 is great, they go out & shill that it's "great". That's part of the problem with Sony's PlayStation division, they don't give a crap about anyone outside of Japan.


Gamespot PSP-3000 hands-on article




later
don

PSP-3000: Do I want?

Been thinking a lot over the past few days about the PSP-3000.

I was shocked that Sony would throw out their PSP-2000 model not even a year after introducing it. Over the year, PSP sales increased upwards of 30%. But this is just another example of what a shitty company Sony is. As a Sony consumer, they've treated me terribly. I had problems with their PC PlayStation Store; one day for no reason it stopped allowing me to download content. I phoned up Sony customer support and their response was, "well, then you can't use it." Last I checked there's no HELP link *anywhere* on the site. What kind of commercial website has no way to contact & troubleshoot? A shitty one, apparently.

But Sony's lack of customer service is now extending into their hardware. Not only is PSP-3000 a quickie revision of a less-than-1-year-old piece of hardware, Sony's MP3 player division has been doing the same thing; releasing an mp3 player, then a few months later, discontinuing that model & releasing another model with pretty much the same features except maybe 1 or 2... either added OR taken away. It's random.

Sony sucks, basically. But by some miracle they created a wonder device back in 2005, the Sony PSP. And even though the promise & legacy of that great platform is being watered down, the PSP-3000 is still a fairly impressive piece of kit.

For me, I wouldn't have been all that concerned about the PSP-3000 based on the initial news of its new features: I don't use Skype, so I'd probably never even use the built-in mic. A less reflective screen sounds really nice, but that alone isn't enough to make me want to upgrade.

What really makes me mad is the added "enjoy games on a non-progressive (non-HD) tv".... because that's a feature I *REALLY* want. I love being able to play video on my standard-definition 27" 4:3 Mitsubishi tv. I love that I can watch video on my PSP Slim when I'm out, then finish it off when I get home on the big screen, or vice-versa. That's what I'd do with games if I could have. Why couldn't Sony have had that feature in the PSP-2000, instead of crippling it like they did?

So that, and the new screen, are the big reasons I want to upgrade to the PSP-3000. But I already have 1 PSP-1001, and 2 PSP-2000.... they are both the Star Wars white edition. I bought the 2nd SW white PSP Slim early July 2008, to replace my broken one if it isn't/can't be fixed properly. I don't really want a 4th PSP. And I sure don't want to send a message to Sony that I like what they're doing, far from it.

I'm now eying everything Sony-related with suspicion. I saw a great sale on some games next week, one of them is Secret Agent Clank, on for $20.00. Normally I'd jump at that, but now I'm wondering if Clank might be part of a future PSP-3000 bundle, like for the pearl white PSP-3000. They haven't given any details about that model, if it's going to be released as a bundle, but it probably is. So stores might be trying to blow out copies of Secret Agent Clank before it hits. This is all speculation, but I saw the exact same thing with Daxter a few months before the Daxter pack came out, and with God of War: Chains of Olympus before that bundle hit stores. If I decide to get the pearl white PSP-3000, I don't want to be stuck with a game I already own if it comes bundled with it.

I don't know if Sony just thinks they made their $$$ off of past customers, so forget them, or what? That's the way they've been treating their customer base lately. Not just PSP-3000, that's only the latest symptom.

If I was sensible, instead of shelling out that $200.00 for a PSP-3000, I'd put it towards getting an HD tv, I guess.....



later
don

PSP-3000 announced

Today Sony confirmed the rumour of a new PSP model is true, they are releasing the PSP-3000.

It looks like a very slight modification to the current PSP-2000 (PSP Slim) design; the HOME button is now a PS-logo button, and there's a built-in microphone. The other announced feature (as of this writing) is that the screen is supposed to be glare-reducing, making it easier to see outdoors. PSP-3000 also allows games to be played on non progressive-scan (non- HD) tvs (PSP Slim can only play games on HD tvs)

Ugh. Basically this is still the PSP Slim, with a mic added in (presumably for Skype) and overall, that's both good & bad.

Good - it doesn't really alienate current PSP Slim users, and all the PSP Slim accessories (what few there are right now) should still all be compatible.

Bad - why bother making such tiny changes? Just come out with a whole new PSP with 2 analog nubs, and major improvements over the current system. If you really want a new PSP model, make it a new generation of PSP already.

I am not impressed with Sony releasing a new PSP model less than a year after the previous PSP Slim, with only very minor changes. This follows the Apple trend with iPods, and maybe Nintendo's history of (Gameboy series) handhelds too... but as a customer, I think it's very wrong for companies to do this, it just screws us over. Pisses me off.

The only new feature I can use out of that list is the glare-reducing screen. I like that idea because you really can't look at the PSP screen outdoors. It gets washed out, even on an overcast day.

EDIT: an article at IGN just stated that the PSP-3000 will allow gameplay on non-HD tvs! Now *THAT'S* a feature I REALLY want, as I use the video out feature on my current PSP Slim quite a bit. It's just awesome to be able to playback movies on my tv, you can watch with friends, etc.... but I can't play games because I don't have a progressive-scan (HD) tv.

This is just me wildly speculating, but I think that we'll see the previous PSP Slim colours (white, red, etc) but without the Darth Vader or Kratos artwork on the back. But I'm sure they'll have other models with artwork on the back of some kind.

Integrating the mic into the system, and the PS logo on the HOME button might be a sign they're going to do something big with those. But then again, it could just be the PSP Slim's version of the IR* (on the old PSP)....

Joystiq's PSP-3000 gallery



*for those who don't know, there was an IR port on the original PSP-1000 (PSP fat) model. Sony never figured out a use for it, so it just went away with the PSP Slim.



later
don