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Portables (Games) PlayStation (Games)

PSP Final Specs and Launch Titles 68

Posted by Zonk from the don't-fear-the-reaper dept.
Via Joystiq, the official PSP site has the final specs on the U.S. PSP console and its launch titles. And some nice titles they are, including an Ape Escape game, Metal Gear Acid (the card battle game), and one of most of EA's sports franchises. The system releases here in the states on March 24th.
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PSP Final Specs and Launch Titles More

PSP Final Specs and Launch Titles

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  • Early Adopter vs Mature reflection (Score:5, Informative)

    by bolix ( 201977 ) <bolix.hotmail@com> on Sunday March 06, 2005 @01:04PM (#11858999) Homepage Journal
    The US is getting a rev2 PSP with the current problems (X button and UMD ejection) resolved. The release price is slightly more expensive than the Asian one. I'd hate to think the US consumer is paying for Sony's hardware fixes...
    • It's not more expensive, or if it is, not by much. The $249 price (at which, I've pre-ordered 3 units) is the "value pack" including spiderman 2 movie, headphones, case, and a 32MB memory stick duo.

      The $199 price is the PSP only. That will also be offered later in the US, but Sony found that in Japan, the value pack was far outselling the version that was roughly equivalent to $199.

      Even if it was marginally more expensive compared to the japanese value pack, that could easily be explained by the declining dollar.

      Regardless of its previous shortcomings, I can't wait to get mine and play wirelessly with friends in Wipeout and Ridge Racers, and hopefully shortly after launch, Burnout.
      • It is slightly more expensive but maybe we can blame that on the weak dollar or the trade deficit. The bundle doesn't appeal to me and neither do the launch titles. I'm going to wait for a truely interesting use of the units capabilities. Four player FPS/racer pickup sounds boring.
    • Are you sure they've fixed anything? I though the sony pres. was on record that he would not fix the square button problem.

    • Re:Early Adopter vs Mature reflection (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The square button problem was solved, the UMD ejection problem never existed.

      • The square button problem was solved

        Depends on whether you mean the problem with it sticking, or the problem with it being designed with an off-center sensor. #1: yes. #2: not on your life; it's the most beautiful thing in the world!

        the UMD ejection problem never existed

        Like hell it didn't. The latches didn't hold under stress. The disc didn't fly across the room on its own, but it certainly ejected without being told to.

  • "Value" pack? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Japong ( 793982 ) on Sunday March 06, 2005 @01:09PM (#11859020)

    You really have to wonder what they're trying to achieve by having a "value pack" - that doesn't include a game! I know Sony is trying to market the movie-playing features of the PSP, but having users gameless after forking out money for the unit seems a bit excessive.

    I doubt many users will watch Spiderman 2 more than once on their machines, and probably then more for novelty than anything. It's two hours of entertainment... for $300+. It's kind of difficult to see the "value" in that.

    • Sorry, keep forgetting... $300+ Canadian, $250 for most Americans

    • Re:"Value" pack? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by alatesystems ( 51331 )
      The "value pack" includes "non-interactive demos". You can read that as "videos of people playing the game". When was the last time you got a console that included a game? I know my last time was the original NES, when I got Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt.

      It's not $300+, it's $249. The normal value pack will not include Spiderman 2; only the first million units will. It is indeed a novelty, and the novelty is intended to gain early adopters, like me.

      • Re:"Value" pack? (Score:2, Informative)

        by Mr.Dippy ( 613292 )
        Sega Genesis had altered beast and I remember numerous times they had the special "Buy a Sega Genesis and get 3 free games in the mail". That's how I got Super Monoco GP and Populous from what I remember.

      • Re:"Value" pack? (Score:3, Informative)

        by Servo5678 ( 468237 )

        When was the last time you got a console that included a game?

        Well, aside from the NES the Super NES originally came packed with Super Mario World and later Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World and, even later, Donkey Kong Country. The Game Boy is legendary for coming with Tetris. The last Nintendo console to come packed with a full version of a game at launch was the Virtual Boy in 1995. It came packed with Mario's Tennis. The Nintendo DS comes with a demo of Metroid Prime Hunters.

        Nowadays th

      • Re:"Value" pack? (Score:3, Informative)

        by SetupWeasel ( 54062 )
        When was the last time you got a console that included a game?

        Not to turn this into a giant flame war, but I got a pretty good game demo with my Nintendo DS.

      • Re:"Value" pack? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by gl4ss ( 559668 )
        how much is a single game cost?
        does it bump it up to 300$?

        not having anything playable is just shitty. a pack with nothing to play.. that's crap. doesn't matter if others do it as well, it's still crap.

        • Re:"Value" pack? (Score:5, Informative)

          by alatesystems ( 51331 ) <chris AT chrisbenard DOT net> on Sunday March 06, 2005 @03:20PM (#11859836) Homepage Journal
          Most that I looked at cost $39. The only one I looked at that was $49 was NFS Rivals. The two I'll be buying at first, Ridge Racers and Wipeout Pure, are both $39.

          Still below 300 for a full game plus PSP value pack. After a while, the PSP will be available by itself for $199 without the value pack. Due to supply issues, they have to supply it in the format most people are going to buy anyway.

          Who's going to buy that tight ass screen without a cover for it?? Where are you going to store your gamesaves? You need a memory stick.
      • My PS2 came with Gran Turismo 3. My Xbox came with Jet Set Radio Future and Sega GT. My gamecube came with a whole bunch of Zelda games. What were you saying again? :)
      • My, admittedly very early, Sega Saturn came with an incredible port of Virtua Fighter in the box. Sega later sent all registered users a free copy of V.F. Remix in the mail too. Much later they sent a free copy of Christmas Nights in the mail. So that would be 3 rockin' games for free, one of them in the box.

  • Games (Score:2, Insightful)

    by durtbag ( 694991 )
    I have a feeling that the PSP is going to trounce the DS pretty quickly here. I've had a DS since it came out and the game selection is awful. I don't like sports or driving games so that leaves me with Mario, Sims, Robots, Spidey, and a couple puzzlers. Of course there is a huge library of GBA games I can play, but when you shell $150 for the "new hotness" you don't want to play Midway's Arcade Treasures...

    Sony looks like they're throwing more effort into getting games out.

    • Re:Games (Score:3, Informative)

      by 88NoSoup4U88 ( 721233 )
      It's easier to develop for the PSP as it's so similar to their console, whereas the DS asks for a totally different approach to make full use of the two screens/touch screen.

      • Re:Games (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Fisch2 ( 857454 )
        It's easier to develop for the PSP as it's so similar to their console, whereas the DS asks for a totally different approach to make full use of the two screens/touch screen.
        I wonder if the difficulty third party developers are having with developing games for the DS will also happen with the supposedly revolutionary next-gen Nintendo console. If Nintendo is really going to produce a home console as innovative as the DS is compared to other handhelds, the same alienation of developers will probably occur

        • Re:Games (Score:3, Insightful)

          by SetupWeasel ( 54062 )
          The DS isn't alienating developers, it is just taking them longer to code games, because they can't port existing code as easily.
        • The main problem I see is that the DS is nowhere near the home consoles when it comes to power. Touchscreen and dualscreen support can be hacked in, downscaling assets and code complexity to make it run on the more limited hardware is a much greater issue.
          While it is universally assumed that the Rev will be less capable than the competition the difference will not be significant. Perhaps cutting a few effects might become necessary but nothing major. I doubt the controls are going to be all that different,

      • Most PS2 games are developed in 3:4 ratio, tho I've played one title that has an optional 16:9 mode.

        PSP games are natively in 16:9 mode. It's a big difference, unless you're playing Darkstalkers or something.

      • Re:Games (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Grey Ninja ( 739021 )
        You got some evidence to back that up? I've seen the register layout of the DS, and it looks like a very powerful GBA to me. The GBA was an amazingly easy console to develop for, and I can't see the DS being any harder.

        The PSP on the other hand, gives the developers two HUGE problems. First, you have to worry about battery life, or else your game will kill the batteries in under 3 hours. Second, you have to worry about load times, or else the player will spend 1.5 hours of that 3 hours in a loading s

      • While I believe it is indeed easier to develop a bog-standard game on PSP than current PlayStation consoles -- rumors pegged it having a GL-alike API as opposed to the horrid PS API -- your statement does not follow. As a more powerful console, it will generally require more work to make the pretty things that buyers demand.

        It's probably more accurate to say that it's easier to come up with a PSP concept, simply because it's an extension of what folks have been doing all along. Developing a concept for

    • Sony looks like they're throwing more effort into getting games out.

      Sony makes games? I always thought they paid third parties to make games for them

      • Hey, if it works, don't knock it...

        There's no reason why a game developed by Bioware, Rare or even one of the Electronic Arts studios should be any worse than a game developed by Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo.
    • I agree that Nintendo really does need to put some more decent DS titles out if they want the platform to do well.

      Sony have managed to put out a great deal of titles, but I wonder how many of them really work as handheld titles, and how many are just lazy implementations of existing IP?

      I'd really like to see both platforms do well - especially with their potential to expand the video game audience, but I can't help think that a little more thought needs to be put in to some of these games..
      • Recycling: You know they could sell 8 mil units just by tossing ff7 in there.

        Not to mention other classics like RR4 and Bushido Blade and those were all for the ps1.

        The damn thing has an analogue stick! It's control scheme matches with it's console! It's *#(*$#* genius!

        • Re:Games (Score:2, Troll)

          by Lynxara ( 775657 )

          Wrong. PSP is 1 rather painful-to-use analog stick, PS2 is 2 comfortable analog sticks. Games coded for a PSP as if it were just a shrunk-down PS2 will be the ones that suck.

          (You can code for it like a shrunk-down PSOne, though....)

          • Other than katamari Damancy name another game where both your thumbs are on the sticks?

            • Basically all Grand Theft Auto-type games and a lot of action games require it (left analog to move, right to control camera). Also shooters - the Punisher, for instance, requires left analog to move, R3 analog for precision aiming.

              The lack of that 2nd analog makes a big difference in PSP gameplay, trust me on this.

          • Shrunk down PS2? It's better than PS2 in a lot of ways. I agree on the analog stick, though. It's pretty painful to use.

            • It should be, but I've played with a Japanese one, and... it's not. For the most part, the software tends to resemble PSOne and early-gen PS2 titles more than anything else. Like... think Sega Saturn.

    • Re:Games (Score:5, Informative)

      by Zigg ( 64962 ) on Sunday March 06, 2005 @09:50PM (#11862197)

      It's true, Sony has pulled out all the stops for the US release. With the possible exception of Lumines, nothing on that list interests me personally, but it's a damned good list for appealing to the "mainstream" gamer.

      It's a sad fact that the US DS lineup is growing too slowly, primarily because games are taking so long to cross the Pacific. In a few days, Japan will have Meteos -- arguably a killer game -- in addition to highly-rated titles such as Another Code. NOA needs to push those titles over here fast, but (i.e.) Another Code isn't even announced for US release yet.

    • No doubt. I jumped on the DS wagon because I've always enjoyed Nintendo's mobile game selection for the original gameboy line and really liked the new tech in the DS. I didn't purchased a GBA - but the DS was too cool to pass up. Now I feel I need to buy GBA games just to enjoy the platform. The DS looks like it's getting more support from GBA games than from anything else.

      The big N needs to get some good games out - fast! Or the PSP is going to PP on the DS.
    • I don't own a DS (yet), but I've been playing with my friends DS and I've really loved it. Mostly playing "Wario Touched!", which is damn cool, and makes innovative use of the controls.

      My friend has Zoo Keeper (I think that's what it's called), Wario, and Mario. Wario is by far the most fun, and zoo keeper is surprisingly addictive. But lack of games is really hurting. The DS has sooo much promise and there could be some really great games (RPG's, even RTS's) for it in the future, because of the capabiliti
  • Was slow loading for me, so i pasted it here (don't karma me, but i never post AC)

    LAUNCH TITLES:
    Ape Escape: On the Loose SCEA Rated E
    Archer Maclean's Mercury Ignition USA Rated E
    ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails SCEA Rated E
    Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower Capcom Rated T
    Dynasty Warriors KOEI Rated T
    FIFA Soccer 2005 Electronic Arts Rated E
    Gretzky NHL SCEA Rated E
    Lumines Ubisoft Rated E
    Metal Gear Acid Konami Rated M
    MLB SCEA Rated E
    MVP Baseball 2005 Electronic A

    • I thought Sony was supposed to gear towards the 'mature' audience..
      • Sega Genesis IMHO is the only system to ever specifically target the teenage/older crowd at launch time (golden axe, shinobi, last battle) with kiddier games like sonic later.

        Every other console I have seen are launched with play-it-safe, no-controversy 1st generation games.

    • While the DS has a really slight launch line-up (Mr. Driller DS is the game I've been playing the most of), there's not on the PS launch list that engages my interest.

      Of course, I own a Gamecube and not a PS2, and the differences in launch games between the DS and the PSP go along similar lines.

      I've been thinking about picking a PS2 up in order to play Katamari Damacy, but the fact that I'd be paying $150 to play a $20 has given me uncomfortable flashbacks to the time I bought an X-Box just to play ToeJam

    • Re:(mirror) (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Pxtl ( 151020 )
      Looking at that list, I'm surprised that Twisted Metal and Wipeout aren't getting more loving from the waiting fans - these games are two of the most stylish, fun franchises for Playstation.

      I'm curious about the new Darkstalkers title - they were cute fighting games, but fighting games generally flop on handheld.

      And where the fuck is Armored Core? I saw promo footage of AC on PSP - to me, that's enough reason alone to own one (AC is hands down the best giant robot experience available - all you Mechwarri
  • Does anyone else find it a little funny that the icon for this story is a Gameboy? Even if it does have a dual shock below it.
  • I cringe every time I think about the price, but $249 is still far lower than importing (a viable option as there is no regional encoding) from a retailer like Lik-Sang, which at this moment is asking $279 before shipping for *just* the handheld and $329 for the value pack.

    I'm disappointed that Infected didn't make it as a launch title (see March issue of Game Informer mag.), because evil, explosive zombie mall-Santas would make summer more bearable.

    A pre-Christmas price drop might be too much to hope for

    • Sony have said they are making a 'considerable' loss on each PSP, selling for much less than the manufacturing cost: http://spong.com/detail/news.asp?prid=7878 [spong.com]

      This price is much less than the PS2 was at the time of release and I think it's important to remember that the PSP has a 16:9 LCD screen, MP3/4 playback, WiFi, etc, etc to make it different from the GameBoy's pricing.

      The price is reasonable enough for many people (myself included) to spend over-the-odds for an early PSP without regrets (except

  • I find it interesting that the processor speed isn't listed. From what I've heard, even though it runs at 333MHz it has been software locked at 222MHz to help battery life. Can anyone confirm this?

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