mikeszekely

There are a lot of people out there who, and probably rightly so, are hesitant to buy the PSP due to quality issues that the original PlayStation and PS2 had, especially with stories of Japanese units having broken analog nubs, sticky square buttons, and dead pixels galore. There are also the people who see $250 as a bit high for Sony's glorified version of a Gameboy. But, as the other members who picked up a PSP can testify, simply hearing about what it can do and seeing pictures of it don't do it any justice at all. Console-ish ports or not, the games really are that much better than Gameboy games, the screen really is that crisp and brilliant, video playback (espcially from UMD) really does look that good, and finally, yes, the PSP is as sleek and (dare I say) sexy as you've heard. I'm getting stuck on Wipeout, though (three tracks left to unlock, with no idea how, and I can only seem to get around 27 zones on the third Zone track). And my wife keeps taking my PSP when I'm not looking to play Lumines...

I don't know about the sports games or Rivals, but Ridge Racer and Wipeout are hugely improved. Pure may actually be the Wipeout to finally beat XL.

Nintendo's been holding DS games from America while releasing them in Japan. Only theory I've heard is they were gonna start blitzing the market once the PSP hit to suck consumer dollars from Sony. That wouldn't pan out, considering that most of their more advertised or more highly anticipated games (including Need for Speed Underground 2, Super Mario Bros, and Metroid Prime Hunters) have been pushed back to late June. That's too late to even compete for the late adopters of the PSP who were holding out for GTA.

It's not actually something that can be dealt with, if I understand correctly. It's not a Sony issue... dead pixels can affect literally any LCD screen. Not sure what causes them, but my computer monitor had one. A dead pixel can be a a white or colored dot, or simply one pixel on the screen that doesn't light. In my case, on my PSP, it's a light, very small dot. You can only really notice it against a dark screen.

Hanafuda cards, actually. I hope it comes Stateside. I'd buy it just for Ace Combat 2. As for Soul Calibur III, yeah, it does look good... but as someone with all three consoles, it sucks that Namco is only going to release it for the one with jaggy graphics and horrid load times. I want Soul Calibur III on the Xbox with Live support, damn it!

There's a firmware update out in Japan. Maybe we'll get one later? Yeah, no one's really sure what the "Game" option is for the Memory Stick yet... there was some talk that Sony would have downloadable demos, but I don't know if that flew or not. Personally, I kinda want a GBA emulator.

Take a look. With news like that, you'd almost believe that Namco loves you. But then you hear about Soul Calibur III being a PS2 exclusive.

I'm all about older villians, too, and I do kind of agree with Jemstone... Venom and his story and not something that can be rushed to make a Spider-Man movie. On the other hand, Venom is hands down my favorite comic book character, including the Web-Head, including all those indie comics and what not. I want them to take their time and do a Venom story right, but I do want Venom.

That's odd. I also have a Netgear router, and mine configured no problem. I even checked to see if there was anything downloadable for Wipeout yet... all I got was a "Coming Soon" screen though.

Got mine today. Would have posted awhile ago, but I was doing A LOT of playing around. For starters, I play tested my games... all eight of them. Some games definately come off better than others on the PSP. Ridge Racer and Wipeout are especially amazing. Then, for shits and giggles, I took my 512mb Memory Stick and decided to play with the other features. I got most of the Love album by the Juliana Theory, some Penny Arcade strips, and the first two episodes of Turn-A Gundam on there. For pics and mp3s, it was sort of like "yeah, that's nice," but it did feel impressive to watch video on it. Getting video onto the Memory Stick isn't difficult, BTW, as long as you know what you're doing. (For those of you unsure, I might post some instructions later.) So far, I haven't had any troubles with the UMD drive popping open, no problems with the analog nub breaking, sticking, or not returning to center, and no problems with the square button. Also, as I said before, the warranty is in fact one year. If I had any gripes at all, it'd be that I do have a two dead pixels. One is near the bottom, and one is just left and above the center. They're only really noticeable when the screen is very dark, though, so even if we have any leftovers at work, I'm probably just going to keep it. If the rumors about a PSP with a hard drive turn out to be true, maybe I'll trade up then. In the meantime, Wipeout's calling me...

Did you import one, or find a retailer that broke the street date? I REALLY want a PSP NOW... I imported. Had mine for about 2 months now You don't have long to wait though do you? The rest of my fellow europeans have to wait till june/july It seems like an eternity now. Anyway, we're opening my GS at 8:00, and I still plan to buy mine, then open the doors. I also picked up a 512mb Memory Stick Duo Pro until we start getting gigs in, and by now I've got 7 of the 8 games I preordered (Tiger Woods still isn't in for some reason, but no biggie... it's Wipeout I really want to play).

I downloaded it... I'll wait to install it and run it until after I have the PSP, and a bigger Memory Stick. I still want to get a gig, then I'll start converting Gundam Seed Desinty to mp4.

Isn't Spider-Man 3 supposed to be the last one with Raimi at the helm? I know, realistically, it won't be the last... Sony will keep cranking them out as long as they keep bringing in the green.

See, Battlecry seems like it was a decent game... until you play the PS2 Macross. Both games have you flying VF-1 variants against Zentraedi mecha. Both are set during or just after Space War One (some levels, like the one that took place during Bursting Point, actually show up in both games). Both give you VF-1 variants and paints in a vain attempt to make you think you have more choices than the VF-1. But the PS2 Macross game is better in every concievable way. That said, I still think that VF-X2 is still the best. I never bothered with the VF-1, since you could fly the VF-11 from the outset, and the VB-6 was kind of useless. But I loved flying the VF-17, VF-19, and VF-22. And I definately loved that they gave you choices.

Why do they need more villians? They already have enough threads going with Kurt Connors and Harry finding his dad's Goblin stuff. If the next Spidey villian isn't the Lizard or a new Green Goblin (hell, they could even break continuity a little and have Harry become the Hobgoblin), then the new villian better be Venom.

Whatever. Episode I was pretty lame, but Episode II was pretty good, I thought. I think it gets ragged on just because it isn't what the fanboys dreamed it would be in their fanfics. And I can see how the original Trilogy wowed people back in the 70's when those special effects were just amazing, but at the end of the day they're just above average sci-fi movies... I've seen better, I've seen worse. As for the Clone Wars, I haven't seen any yet. I did pick up the first two seasons on DVD today, though.

I know... but see, I've been wanting one since I got a taste of the Japanese unit. I got nothing for Christmas, nothing for Valentine's Day, and nothing for my birthday, except money or gift certificates to use toward my PSP. By now, I've also traded in most of the games I'd picked up and finished since Christmas, including Ace Combat 5, Star Wars Republic Commando, Mercenaries, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005, etc, so I could afford more PSP games. So even though we're down to just about 39 and a half hours until I can pick mine up from work, I don't have a hell of a lot to do for that time. Sure, I'll sleep for part of it, and work for part of it (which, when you get down to it, work doesn't do much to alieviate boredom). I do plan to see the Ring Two before work tomorrow. But that still leaves me with tonight and tomorrow morning to entertain myself. (And, my wife is out preparing taxes for Jackson Hewitt tonight, and she'll have to go to her regular job tomorrow morning...)

So far, just the bundles. I've thought about it, and I think it's because a lot of the people picking one up are mostly going to be interested in the games, and not so much the other multimedia functions. So, most people are going to just want a smaller Memory Stick... and AFAIK, the smallest sold in America is 64mb. Well, whatever the case, I'll be happy to let you know how I think about it later. I'll also post if Sony is going with a 90-day or 1-year warranty.

try using passive mode. If you are behind a router you should use passive mode. The problem about it is that 2 users in passive mode can not connect to each other. So, the best choise is to forward the port from your router directly to your DC client and then you can use active mode normally. look here: http://www.portforward.com/cportsnotes/dc++/dc++setup.htm Thanks, switching to passive worked.

Yeah, the announcement of the square button fix came after Kutaragi's infamous speech comparing the PSP to the work of a brilliant architect. Sony is now repairing PSPs in Japan with square button issues, and the US release is supposed to be free of said square button issue. As for the the UMDs popping out, yeah, that's still a problem... if you like strangling your handhelds as you play them. From what I read, it's not like a bomb ready to go off if you touch it the wrong way, you really have to twist something that you really shouldn't have been twisting in the first place. First hand view on square button and umd ejecting: No issues with the button sticking on mine. Tis a tad more clicky when pressed than the other buttons but nothing severe. UMD ejecting? Hasn't happened once. I reckon I'd practically have to break it to make that happen and I'm definately not doing that! Did you import one, or find a retailer that broke the street date? I REALLY want a PSP NOW...

That's true. But, take my wife for example. She likes Mario Kart. When she plays it on the Gamecube, she leans and waves the controller in all sorts of directions. But not so on the GBA version. I think even the mist exciteable people will hold handheld more carefully because they need to keep the screen steady.

The little bitty PSone was kind of nice. The PS2, and most of the VAIO line, is a bit lacking. But the PSP is damn sexy... maybe Sony ought to have those guys design the PS3, too.

My buddy called me... a lot of people have been calling to ask for the PSP today. The movie industry has everyone thinking everything comes out on Tuesday... Me personally, I'm going to buy my PSP, then open the doors for everyone else.

If I just say that was amusing, am I contributing? Perhaps I should rephrase it as a question. As long as I load it with info, I'd be in the clear, right?

Am I doing something wrong? I've got logged in, and I can see boinger and Get Free, but I can't see any file lists.