PlayStation 3 Console Discussion

[Deathjam]

When it comes to PAL machines, the 60GB is the only one with backwards compatibility with PS2, and even that isn't 100%. Removing the functionality from more recent models was a huge fumble by Sony, but what are you going to do?

 

Upscaled PS2 games are supposed to look really good on a HDTV, but honestly I'd much rather play an actual PS2 on a good ol' CRT; I use a 1080p monitor, and the games I've tried don't look all that great in my opinion. I do seem to be in the minority, though, as everyone else seems to think the upscaling of old games makes them looks loads better...

 

As for other differences, I believe the 80GB models are more energy efficient and run slightly quieter, but they lack a built in card reader and have fewer USB ports. HDD size is a non-issue as you can buy an appropriate 320GB laptop drive for around £50 these days; Sony tell you how to change your hard-drive in the manual, so you don't have to worry about voiding any warranties.

 

What this man says is, ironically considering his handle spot on.

[Domstercool]

WOO I have Persona 4 HEHEHE:D HEHEE

[S.C.G]

WOO I have Persona 4 HEHEHE:D HEHEE

 

Congrats Dom ^^ seen the pics you posted of the special edition, I guess it must have been promptly been devalued when you have it a good "spraying" upon it's arrival glad you're enjoying it though.

[Dante]

Sony plans to refresh the PlayStation Portable product line with a PSP-4000 model in late 2009 and launch a true successor - a PSP2, if you like - later.

 

Publishing sources, speaking to Eurogamer, were unable to provide any further detail on next year's update, which will presumably follow this year's PSP-3000 in taking an iterative approach. The PSP-3000 launched this October and followed a 2000-series model, the first Slim & Lite, in September 2007.

 

Even fewer details were available on the PSP successor, but we're told that developers are already working on games.

 

Sony has not ruled out either scenario, despite SCEE president David Reeves' assertion in MCV last week that "there are currently no plans for a PSP2". "I go to Tokyo quite a lot and no one has referred to it - I think they have their hands full at the moment," he said, non-committally.

 

Sony UK told Eurogamer today that it would not comment on rumour and speculation.

 

PSP-3000 bundles currently retail for GBP 129.99 the UK following its October launch, and despite sporadic software support and fewer platform-exclusives than Nintendo's DS, strong sales in Japan have propelled it to sales of over 30 million according to Sony's corporate sales website.

[dwarf]

I wonder what the step up for PSP2 will be? Graphics? Dual analogue? More mulitmedia features? God knows, but I'm interested.

[Daft]

Hopefully Sony second attempt at a handheld will go a lot smoother. I look forward to seeing what they do.

[S.C.G]

successor? to the PSP? Do they ever learn...

[Hero-of-Time]

White Knight Chronicles review score from Famitsu.

 

White Knight Chronicles : 7/7/8/7

 

Summary:

Lots of optional content.

Big boss battles.

The combat system is simplistic.

Online chat has some issues that the reviewer hopes get patched in the future.

Reviewer #1 mentioned that he wished there was an autorun option because it's hard to chat and fight at the same time.

 

Offline play is balanced.

You can create your own combos. Fighting is fun.

The SNS system is difficult to use, in the future it would be nice if they patched it.

 

A beautiful world with huge monsters and intense battles.

Descriptive narrative and events in the single player mode.

The combat system can be repetitive.

Armor synthesis to easily strengthen weapons, is good.

 

Not complex, easy to get into.

Creating combos is fun, however, the way the menu works could be more polished.

The online mode's future depends on if they upgrade it.

For the time being, the chat function is inconvenient and needs improving.

[Aimless]

successor? to the PSP? Do they ever learn...

Given that all new PSP games are being made available through the PlayStation Store, which you can now access from the handheld itself, and Sony have said that trying to fit home console experiences on to the portable was a mistake... yes, I'd say they do learn.

 

I wonder what the step up for PSP2 will be? Graphics? Dual analogue? More mulitmedia features? God knows, but I'm interested.

The PSP is a fine machine, it just lacks games that are designed for it. Honestly I don't think having two analogue nubs would help things that much, as if a game is going to require me to use both at once chances are I'd much rather play that game on the PS3 anyway.

 

Were I asked to rough out an idea for a successor to the PSP, I'd go with the following:

 

Ditch UMDs. Moving parts were always a bad idea for a handheld, so instead the machine should come with several GBs of in-built memory and retain the PSP's MemoryStick port. All games would either be downloaded from the PlayStation Store or purchased from a brick-and-mortar store — download coupons or stations would hopefully appease the retail sector and encourage competitive pricing. Speaking of which, games should be released at varying prices based on their content, much like current PSN releases.

 

Improve and expand upon the original's controls. The nub is currently a literal pain to use, so I would suggest keeping the d-pad where it currently is but making it the primary movement control; give it the flexibility to allow 360° movement, not just 8-way. Also, throw in a tilt sensor — I believe LocoRoco was originally going to have one — and add two auxiliary shoulder buttons, like those on the Wii's Classic Controller, to allow for easier playing of PSOne games. A touchscreen would be nice, but not if it will cost the Earth.

 

Leave graphical capability largely unchanged, but throw in more RAM. I'm sure they could make the PSP2 offer up better looking games than the PS2 if they really wanted, but I don't want to be paying near £200 for a handheld device. Chains of Olympus and Crisis Core look pretty darned good already, so I don't think any major leaps are needed.

 

Be backwards compatible with all downloadable PSP games. This shouldn't need explaining.

 

Entrench the machine into PSN. Have a unified Friend list with your PS3, earn Trophies in portable games, and perhaps have some kind of Home integration — not the world itself, obviously, but some kind of peripheral functionality.

 

Integrate current peripherals. In-built mic, camera, and GPS if financially viable. They don't have to be cutting edge, merely functional enough for use with the existing Skype and mapping services.

 

And now I'm going to shut up.

[dwarf]

I think Dual Analogue would be a great feature - I'd love to have a PS2 that I could hold in my hands - but I also think more original/pick up games should be made as well.

[Hero-of-Time]

Heres 2 new trailers for 2 big PSP games. The first is Kingdom Hearts BBS and the second is Final Fantasy XIII Agito.

 

Kingdom Hearts

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/43758.html

 

Final Fantasy Agito

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/43763.html

[S.C.G]

Given that all new PSP games are being made available through the PlayStation Store, which you can now access from the handheld itself, and Sony have said that trying to fit home console experiences on to the portable was a mistake... yes, I'd say they do learn.

 

 

Good to hear! it took them long enough a lot of places in the high street have been decreasing the amount of shelf space they dedicate to the Playstation PORTable with even some independant retailers stopping stocking titles alltogether cos sales were so bad.

 

Hopefully they will get it right this time.

[Ashley]

All games would either be downloaded from the PlayStation Store or purchased from a brick-and-mortar store — download coupons or stations would hopefully appease the retail sector and encourage competitive pricing. Speaking of which, games should be released at varying prices based on their content, much like current PSN releases..

 

Download stations are a nice idea but impractical in anything other than large stores, and even then Sony are going to have to pay the stores to give up space that could otherwise be filled. Game boxes on a shelf take up far less room and electricity.

 

Unless you mean just coupons which you redeem online but even still, a physical copy is nice. Imagine how many parents would be confused...

 

"Can I have Kloana 4 please?"

*hands coupon*

"What the fuck is this shit?"

 

Anyway...

[Choze]

PSP2 i doubt they would change it much. Its still really good hardware wise! Good for afew Nintendo generations :P

[S.C.G]

PSP2 i doubt they would change it much. Its still really good hardware wise! Good for afew Nintendo generations :P

 

Yeah, shame about the software though, seriously I've barely bought any PSP games, theres just not much on the system that really "grabs" me, my DS on the other hand... I have stacks of games for and have found many of the games very entertaining from start to finish.

 

So the PSP hardware wise can do more yes, UMD movies? no ty I'd rather watch them on the big screen where they belong (plus many UMD films are overpriced) Music? got an iPod, portable web browser? handy but only used a few times.

 

The only other thing is the graphical capability, sure a handful of 3D games look and even play very nicely but the rest of the machines Library seems to be mostly ports of exisisting PS / PS2 games.

 

Now the DS may be graphically inferior but genuinely I've had a lot more enjoyment out of it, it has 3D games too, from the start it had Super Mario 64 DS, a port yes but a worthwhile one, Metroid Prime Hunters which was technically impressive when it was first release if only not as good as the console versions, Mario Kart DS speaks for itself, and games like Zelda and Ninja Gaiden were quality and thats not even mentioning the tonne of decent 2D games on it.

 

Sure the PSP has it's own original titles, Loco Roco etc, it's just a shame that it didn't have a lot more of those and was less plauged by ports, it's all very well having the hardware but using it correctly is another matter, still they seem to be learning that now at least.

[Domstercool]

I have a large amount of PSP games myself, so I'm satisfied with what it's getting to me. Just got myself Star Ocean 1 the other day ^_^ I love the idea of getting remakes or ports of RPGs that never came out in English. If the DS and PSP keep this up, I'll be a super happy bunny. * Bunny Humps Persona 4*

[S.C.G]

I have a large amount of PSP games myself, so I'm satisfied with what it's getting to me. Just got myself Star Ocean 1 the other day ^_^ I love the idea of getting remakes or ports of RPGs that never came out in English. If the DS and PSP keep this up, I'll be a super happy bunny. * Bunny Humps Persona 4*

 

Now you see that I can understand, it's just the myriad of PS2 ports etc that I dislike.

[flameboy]

I have been thinking of getting Star Ocean is it worth it?

[dwarf]

I think if you can buy a PSP for £40 and play Crazi Taxi on it then it's a success in my book. I love that game, well ported too. (disagree with the reviews).

I may need to pick one up somewhen, just don't know what version...

[Chris the great]

psp for £40 where? i want crisis core more then i want to find love.

[dwarf]

Lots of my friends have sold their PSPs for around that price (the old one that is). So I assume you can get one online for near that.

[flameboy]

anyone else thinking of downloading crash commando? up on the store today.

[MATtheHAT]

anyone else thinking of downloading crash commando? up on the store today.

 

Yeah but don't know much about it. Was gonna wait for some reviews to come on the internetz first.

[Deathjam]

anyone else thinking of downloading crash commando? up on the store today.

 

Saw this and the other shooter game, Himmel-something. Want both but wanted to know if others would get them. Pretty sure I will get himmel but Commando i will only get if others get.

 

EDIT: Also does anyone know of you can use your disk copy of burnout paradise to get the version of the PSN store? Would really love to have this game on my HDD as its a great game to just pick up and play, and would be one less game I have to get up and change this disk for...actually I see the answer being no as it would allow me to trade in my disc for a different game...darn.

[dwarf]

Crash Commando looks aweseome, have already heard good things from smaller sites but I may have to get. I don't really want another side-scrolling shooter like Soldner-X though.