Sony PSP Launched With Long Queues In Akihabara 358
Juergen writes "At 7 a.m. JST, the first shops in Tokyo's 'Electric City' Akihabara opened their doors and sold the brand-new Sony PSP to the long queues of gamers (Mirror) who had waited already for more than 24 hours in a chilly 5 degrees Celsius."
What's a queue? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What's a queue? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What's a queue? (Score:2)
weee (Score:2, Funny)
Re:weee (Score:2, Funny)
That line isn't as hardcore.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:That line isn't as hardcore.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:That line isn't as hardcore.. (Score:2, Funny)
thank you
Re:That line isn't as hardcore.. (Score:2)
Re:That line isn't as hardcore.. (Score:3, Funny)
Well, they *are* Mac users. Confirmed certifiable if you ask me.
Re:That line isn't as hardcore.. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Since when do fellow geeks on /. take shots at. (Score:2)
Nerds: Guys who love tech stuff, enjoy but don't obsess over things like star wars, computers, etc. Guys who will talk about physics at dinner if it comes up (why can a saltshaker stand at a tilt when in a mountain of salt crystals? Oh, actually, it's cuz...).
Geeks: Don't know how to dress, can't interact with girls, obsess with uber-geekiness (Know how to "speak klingon,"
Re:Since when do fellow geeks on /. take shots at. (Score:2)
Though I personally prefer not using either and go straight for the term "Techie".
Calling someone a techie doesn't normally bring about any of the negative imagery, yet still makes the point.
Re:Since when do fellow geeks on /. take shots at. (Score:2, Insightful)
Nerd: Often unwashed, can't dress, can't interact with girls, love star trek and babylon 5 and know alien languages. Like techy stuff, but don't actually understand it.
Geek: Likes and understands techy stuff, educated in their field of geekery, can get girls (usually geek girls, but that's a bonus to them). Enjoy 'nerdy' shows but don't obsess over them apart from dissecting the techy stuff i
Re:Since when do fellow geeks on /. take shots at. (Score:3, Insightful)
You have dork right, but nerd and geek backwards. A computer nerd is the guy with tape on his glasses. This use of the word "nerd" predates computers, and goes right back to slide rules. Geek, on the other hand, is a term reinvented (from someone who works for a circus who eats anything, esp. the heads of live chickens - check a dictionary) by the computer nerd/geek communities, originating in college towns (esp. communities around UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, MIT, et cetera) to describe nerds with social s
Re:That line isn't as hardcore.. (Score:2)
s/line/queue/g (Score:3, Insightful)
Since geometry class (Score:2)
Line [wikipedia.org] is an infinitely thin, straight geometrical object of dimension 1.
Queue [wikipedia.org] is any process that ensures first in first out behavior among elements, such as those used with people [wikipedia.org].
Re:Since geometry class (Score:2, Funny)
Welcome to 'English' (Score:5, Funny)
- queues of people
- wonderful coloUrs
- the useful metal aluminiUm
- the exotic herbs (h-urbs), basil (ba-zil) and oregano (o-re-gaa-no)
- specialiSed books called 'dictionaries' that tell you how to spell words correctly
Many people using this bizarre gutter speak also subscribe to the pagan belief that water freezes at 0 degrees and that distances should be measured in the forbidden mathematical system of base-10...
Re:Welcome to 'English' (Score:2, Interesting)
Actually, the country is named after the language. Go figure.
KFG
Re:Welcome to 'English' (Score:3, Interesting)
They're both named after the Angles, a tribe from Denmark.
In any case, I would say that the case for 'color', 'realize' and many other American spellings is stronger than that for their English equivalents.
English English spellings were affected by a wave of Francophilia in the 19th century which resulted in a lot of changes intended to give a cultured, Gallic flavor to the language. I think with the benefit of hindsight most speakers of the language now would say this was a bad idea.
Some Americanisms,
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Welcome to 'English' (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Welcome to 'English' (Score:2)
Re:Welcome to 'English' (Score:2)
The term UK isn't really used all that much on the mainland, I think mainly because we'd like to pretend Northern Ireland doesn't exist. I refer to myself as British, although I'm English. I doubt many non-football hooligan English people would mind if you called them British/English/'UKian'. Scottish and Welsh people, on the other hand, tend to get a little upset about it.
Most Amer
Re:Welcome to 'English' (Score:2)
Last time I checked, we didn't call it AluminIm here in the U.S.
Re:Try and tell you that to American software make (Score:2)
Re:s/line/queue/g (Score:2)
read: LIFE -> a stack
Re:s/line/queue/g (Score:2)
The interesting thing is... (Score:4, Insightful)
Right, got mine in like 10 minutes (Score:2)
I guess I was lucky.
Re:Right, got mine in like 10 minutes (Score:2)
Re:The interesting thing is... (Score:2)
Re:The interesting thing is... (Score:2)
but, I go on sunday when everyone is in church.
humph (Score:5, Funny)
Re:humph (Score:3, Informative)
Battery Life (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:humph (Score:2)
Gameboy's are new fangled thingy's..
Green and white, and a football (I *think* it was a football) was the only good portable
CHILLY?! (Score:2, Funny)
Don't know if PSP can catch up (Score:5, Interesting)
As a side note, I may not be as confident as Nintendo [gamespot.com], but I certainly am a lot more interested in the DS than the PSP, despite the fact that the PSP technology is undoubtedly sexy and desirable.
Early reports are that the PSP has 5 hours of battery--and that's with a non-intensive (puzzle) game with no backlight or speaker or wireless connectivity-- and also slow loading times. 2-3 hours of battery life sounds more reasonable for the games everyone is interested in (3D heavy Ridge Racer, etc...), which is just not enough time. Couple this with launch titles that are almost totally sequels or so generic as to be indistinguishable from sequels, and even the still-somewhat-gimmicky DS just seems a lot more fun with a lot less headache.
PSP recharge (Score:2, Interesting)
2-3 hours of battery life sounds more reasonable for the games everyone is interested in (3D heavy Ridge Racer, etc...)
Most major handheld game consoles in North America used alkaline AA or AAA batteries. The PSP battery, on the other hand, is rechargeable. Are people really away from 110*n volts for more than 2 to 3 hours at a time, unless they're already making a decided effort to retreat from technology?
(n = 1 in Japan or USA; n = 2 in most of Europe.)
Re:PSP recharge (Score:3, Insightful)
PSP is a 'portable' (Score:2)
Nope. But it is a pain in the ass to be forced to recharge every 2-3 hours when you're supposed to be able to take the damn thing with you whenever you want. And different genres are going to be affected in different ways, but I think most games will be noticably less fun for it.
One Example:
Imagine playing a 3D RPG, ala FFX (or, less theoret
Re:PSP recharge (Score:3, Interesting)
It's a >16 hour flight from where I live to Seoul. If I'm in business class, I might be able to scrounge up a 12 volt socket. I can buy several handhelds for the price differential between economy and business class.
Re:PSP recharge (Score:2)
And while I'm spreading out my modpoint target by responding to myself, I might as well add that I just spent ~8 hours flying back fron Arizona. In economy, yes. Luckily, I was hoarding batteries for my laptop, and got to play through Golden Axe several times.
The woman in front of me was
Re:PSP recharge (Score:2)
Re:Don't know if PSP can catch up (Score:2)
I am not sure about how easily the PSP can be hacked to run your own software (I'm sure eventually someone will figure it out) but for the DS its easy and a lot of things already run... for instance you can put PocketNES on the thing and it runs perfectly (of course, its for GBA, but it works)
And thanks to the forsight of the guy who wrote pocketnes, there's actually a gameboy emulator for the GBA, which
PSP seems pretty hackable (Score:2)
So I really do like the PSP's hackability-factor, actually. Early on, Sony seemed like they'd lock it up tight--what with their DRM-heavy UMD format and encrypted Memory Sticks--, but maybe their early failure in the portable digital audio market (seems like their Walkman line didn't last two months before The Great MP3 Capitulation) made them rethink things a bit.
Anyways,
Crack this (Score:2)
word on the street is that you can simply put executables on a memory stick and run 'em on your PSP (scroll halfway down).
You have to make the executable first, and you can do that only if you can crack Sony's private signing key.
Re:Crack this (Score:2)
Well, I'm actually wondering--do you know this for a fact? I don't know either way, but since you can just drag and drop pictures and music (and movies?) into the memory stick file system, I don't think it's out of the question that you might do this for executables. I don't know, but it's not clear that it'll be impossible either (unless you know something I don't?).
Still no GBC games on DS (Score:2)
there's actually a gameboy emulator for the GBA, which means you can play all the Gameboy games on the DS after all.
I know what emulator you're talking about [webpersona.com]. Half the games display "This game works only with Game Boy Color" and freeze.
and its only a matter of time before someone comes out with a fully functional SNES and Genesis emulator for this thing.
Has the Xbox been cracked optically yet? From what I've read about the encryption on the DS cart bus, it may prove tougher to crack the DS through
Re:Still no GBC games on DS (Score:2)
On the subject of emulation and hacking...Linux! (Score:2)
Show me Hello World and I'll believe you (Score:2)
A lot of people ... are already making plans on porting NES and GameBoy and possibly even SNES emulators that run on Linux to run on the Nintendo DS
ROM whores can make castles in the sky, but you can't do any coding until you prove that you've written "Hello" to the top screen and "World" to the touch screen of a Nintendo DS. Given that the DS cart bus is encrypted and that the WiFi booting 1. may have to be digitally signed by Nintendo and 2. requires a laptop anyway, I don't see Linux on the DS anytim
Re:Don't know if PSP can catch up (Score:3, Funny)
It's not just the battery... (Score:2)
Does anyone remember the lessons of the Sega Nomad? Console-grade graphics and backwards compatibility (it could play all Sega Genesis games), but
Re:Don't know if PSP can catch up (Score:2)
Re:Don't know if PSP can catch up (Score:2)
Let's not focus so much on the DS and PSP launch titles, and let's actually wait and try and judge things after, say, the first 6 months to a year of each system's existence.
And I highly doubt all of the DS developers with third party titles in the works are sitting around going "oh my god! A crappy Spider-Man 2 game and a bizarre dating sim game that is basica
Remember that the DS can play GBA SP games (Score:2)
That's a tie ratio of less than one piece of DS software per DS hardware sold.
Nintendo DS can play all single-player games that work on GBA SP[1], and it can play most NES and Game Boy mono games and many PC Engine/TurboGrafx games through emulation [passagen.se]. What you're seeing is the effect of parents who lack enough money for a DS and a game but who have agreed that Santa [nohoax.com] will bring the DS and the Easter Bunny will bring a game.
The Regginator said that Spider-Man DS was his favorite launch title, yet it bar
5 degrees Celsius...? (Score:2)
If a person is reasonably well bundled up, they shouldn't have a problem. By "reasonably well bundled" I mean decent socks (wool), long underwear, a warm hat (which covers your ears) mittens, and a proper non-synthetic coat such as wool and/or down. Basically, you'll be warmer if you don't use synthetics (thus is my experience). If you're going to
Re: (Score:2)
Re:In Minnesota... (Score:3, Insightful)
You know, your north is not as far north as our (Canada's) south. The same thing applies to temperatures. Up here, we get closer to 5F right now (normal high). Heck, our geese go to Minnesota to "winter over"! /me ducks
Re:In Minnesota... (Score:3, Funny)
Canawah!?
You must be from FL. (Score:2)
Here in Denver, 41F here is jeans and (borderline) sweatshirt weather.
But I suppose it's all relative. A friend went with their family down to Disney World in winter. I guess it was like 60, so naturally the family was in shorts and t-shirts. A couple walked up to their parents and said something to the effect of, "You know...they have programs if you can't afford to get your kids good winter coats."
Wool socks and long johns are for fresh powder on the "da
Nice Shortage (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Nice Shortage (Score:2, Informative)
More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20041212
Shibuya
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20041212
Yurakucho & Akihabara
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20041212
Though it seems many
1500 people in line (Score:2)
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:5, Insightful)
DS has sold half a million units in Japan so far, and has sold more than a million worldwide. This is more than double the units than PSP has even shipped. Do you suppose that the long lines for the PSP have anything to do with the fact that the unit is in short supply?
I think it's immediately clear that both handhelds don't have much in the way of games at the moment. I would be hard pressed buying a game for the PSP right now. I own Feel the Magic for DS, but I bought it mainly because I wanted to get a feel for the capabilities of the system.
So really, in absence of good games, it's early adopters who are picking up the consoles. What will determine the winner in the long run is the quality of the hardware and the game selection.
Square-Enix seems firmly entrenched in Nintendo's territory this time around, and Nintendo seems to have RPGs in the bag, boasting a lineup of things such as Xenosaga, Baten Kaitos, Final Fantasy, and others.
Nintendo also has the benefit of being able to supplement DS's weak launch lineup with GBA games. If you have a PSP, you have to make do with the crappy selection of launch games... which honestly won't go far. I wouldn't ever bring my DS with me anywhere if all I had to play was the demo cart and Feel the Magic. My DS still plays my GBA library for the most part.
In terms of hardware quality, PSP has superior graphics, and a bigger screen. To counter that, DS has 2 screens, and a very innovative input device for a handheld console. PSP seems doomed to recieve mostly PS2 ports and never be far from a power plug, while the DS has the stamina to go for a long time without meeting a power plug, and has a library of games that seem to work well on a handheld. (wario ware, pokemon, dragon quest monsters, etc.)
But I would agree with you when you say PS2 all over again. I remember a year of mind numbingly horrible games, and an extremely limited number of consoles at launch so Sony could show how they were selling out so fast and build up hype. I don't think it will work this time though. PS2 took the market anyways, as it's all there was. This time Nintendo is going head to head with Sony. Sony won't have a whole year to get someone to make a decent game.
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:2)
Nope. Those lines of those who line up no matter what represent enthusiast interest & demand.
>But I would agree with you when you say PS2 all
>over again. I remember a year of mind numbingly
>horrible games, and an extremely limited number
>of consoles at launch so Sony could show how they
>were selling out so fast and build up hype. I
>don't think it will work this time t
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:2)
But... (Score:2)
But...does it run Linux?
(Lame, unoriginal, I know, SCNR, answer: not yet [dslinux.com])
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:2)
Also remember N64 was released in 1996 without nearby releases by competition (PS and Saturn were in 1994).
>What matters most of all is who has the games.
Oh, old shite everyone knows thanks.
> And right now, the ball is firmly in Nintendo's
>court. Nintendo has Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest,
>Wario Ware, Pokemon, Mario Kart, and DS Wars.
>Each of these is GUARANTEED to sell a million
>copies. The only thing I see in Sony's court
>that's guarant
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:2)
If you're seriously in love with that ugly wheel slapped in the 2nd screen, I have nothing to add t your misinformation except for LMAO.
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:2)
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:2)
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:2)
I could imagine building a wearable based on the PSP, were it not for the awfully short battery life and the awkward media. As soon as someone gets it to boot Linux or NetBSD from another media, I'll reconsider it, but fo
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:2)
Gran Turismo 4? I don't know anyone who wants a PSP that talks about that...
It might be different with the Japanese audience, but most Americans I know who talk about wanting a PSP want it so they can play Metal Gear Acid.
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:2)
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:2)
Frankly, I have a hard time taking it seriously myself... but, what I report has indeed been my experience. I know a lot of people who are taking Metal Gear Acid seriously purely because it's a Metal Gear title and Hideo Kojima is involved. I think I know one guy who has expressed interest in the PSP for reasons other than Metal Gear Acid.
Maybe I just know an unusually high number of Hideo Kojima fanboys?
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:2)
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:2)
I'm sort of neutral on Kojima. He gives a good interview, but tends to make games that just don't appeal to me.
Most of the Kojima fanboys I know swear by everything he touches and wave most of the sillier aspects of his games away as artistic craziness, of course, but that's to be expected.
Re:More launch images @ Impress Watch (Score:2)
The main difference is that the PS2 ran PS games, so you weren't limited to whatever games were available for the PS2 platform. IMHO this is still one of the key reasons for the success of the PS2, because it could build on the vast selection of games for the original Pla
Stop the presses! (Score:4, Funny)
In other news, the sun rose yet again this morning and a woman gave birth to a child - 9 months after having sex!
All these slash dot replys... (Score:2)
Played it! (Score:4, Interesting)
Having said that, it's wee bit expensive for my taste (if you get the value pack with the memory card). The exposed screen seems risky and after a few of us got our hands on the thing it had quite a few smudgy fingerprints on it, ruining the shiny front. And I'm skeptical of the little joysticky button thingy in the corner(and why is there only one? Shouldn't there be two for FPS games?) Dunno about the batteries -- he had it pluged in and charging at work, so I sat by the outlet and played it -- though given the battery life estimates, I don't think I'd buy one.
I'm more of a Nintendo kinda guy, anyway, and though I haven't tried the DS yet I'm inclined to buy it instead, given the possibilities for FPS and RTS games with the touchscreen and despite the less impressive graphics. Still, I'll wait and see what games come out before I buy anything. (But with a 12 hour plane ride back to Canada for Christmas next week, it sure would be nice to have either the PSP or the DS).
Totally off topic (Score:2)
Re:Played it! (Score:2)
I camped out in Ikebukuro. (Score:2)
To save my blog the hammering, I made a Journal entry here on Slashdot chroncling the timeline from when I first got in line until I got my last system (of the three I scored).
State side scalping (Score:3, Interesting)
Current EBAY prices [ebay.com]
Battery life, actual playtesting (Score:5, Informative)
Limited run - part of the strategy? (Score:3, Interesting)
1) Limit production run to 200,000 units at launch and christmas. /.ers) would hold off until some user reviews come in, each secretly hoping the battery life or limited games lineup will tank the thing.
2) Hardcore japanese/ sony gamers would line up in subzero temperatures for 48 hrs to buy the thing.
3) The skeptics (read:
4) Hardcore japanese/ sony gamers (remember kids, these are people who'd brave subzero temperatures to be first in line, or to secure the christmas package) post glowing reviews, obviously biased by the fact that they're already sold on the PSP and Sony brand.
5) positive reviews cause the skeptics to finally enter the stores, when production 'coincidentally' becomes large enough to cope, after which the numbers mean negative buzz doesn't matter anymore.
6) break open the champagne?
Not entirely plausible? You see, by limiting the run such that only the die hards get a hold of the thing, they are also limiting bad buzz.
Re:Slashdot is too Eurocentric! (Score:2)
Queue - A lot of use are programmers, and a queue is a basic data structure that we can all understand. A line is a 1 dimensional object in geometry.
Celcius - Do you realize how much easier it is to communicate with the rest of the world and to make simple conversion when you work in Celsius?
Should have happened by 1985... (Score:3, Informative)
The Metric Conversion Act 1975 [colostate.edu].
Re:Translation for Americans (Score:3, Funny)
Re:48 Hours for the Regent St. Apple opening. (Score:2)
Re:Heh (Score:2)