Wednesday 17 March 2010

PSP: Bollocking Useless?

Gavin Cheshire, who is a vice president of Codemasters, told Edge that “Well, speaking as a person who bought a PSP, the problem was that I always thought, because it was a better screen than iPod's, that I'd be doing more with it. But it was such a bollocking useless waste of space; just getting stuff on it was ridiculous. That was its downfall.”

Apparently, the PSP problems at Codemasters extend to the new Go version, which has no removable battery and no UMD drive, with one vice president needing assistance from the customer support department immediately after he bought the handheld.

/// To be honest i bought mine on the promise of the fact i'd be able to use it with my PS3, that turned out to be fail generally thanks to Remote Play being next to useless over public wi-fi. And what happened to using it with PS3 games too, i don't mean as a method to unlock new content but as an extention of the game itself in real time, an example would be using the PSP as a live Pipboy while playing Fallout. The only thing i use it for is playing GT:PSP before that was the Sega Collection. What do you use your PSP for, if anything?

[mobiletone]

9 comments:

  1. I read some comments on the 'bollocking useless' thread elsewhere, his point is a game console should be solid fun from switch on to switch off, and PSP fails to deliver that, requiring updates out of the box, fiddly network options etc. Us die-hards cope with all that, but as a mass market product, it's frustratiing. I've still got my Mk1 PSP, I've only played half a dozen UMD games on it in all these years, I just get more out of my daughters DS - sad but true.

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  2. waiting for kingdom hearts and Peace Walker on PSP, currently wading through Star Ocean: First Departure....(mk1 psp also)

    I <3 my PSP...but agree that it is a rocky relationship - once in a blue moon i'de pick it up again to use...tis a bit of a shame.


    Saying that though - the original XBOX had a slow and rocky lifetime but its successor zoooomed into the limelight - no reason PSP2 couldn't do the same!

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  3. i used to have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more fun with my Atari Lynx.

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  4. My ipod touch is a lot more fun. The PSP hasn't left my sock drawer for at least a year - probably longer. It's only saving grace is that it can play UMD movies (of which I will be buying some kids ones when my son is old enough to watch them in the car).

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  5. I've been using the comic reader app quite a bit (Wormwood/Ben Templesmith FTW). GT PSP, Motorstorm: AE, LBP, GTA: Chinatown Wars. The GF and I both have a PSP, adhoc Pixeljunk Monsters and Fat Princess Co-Op are both great.
    I still play Resistance: Retribution on HDTV using a combination of component AV cable, Resistance2 & DS3. It's pretty much like playing a really good PS2 game.
    Really looking forward to ModNation Racers & the new Resi game shortly.
    I find this guys comments a bit baffling tbh.

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  6. ... After playing GoW I, II, & III this month I'm sure I'll find time for another playthrough of Chains of Olympus too :)

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  7. @ divine - i almost used the comic reader but then realised i could buy all six comics of that series bundled in a graphic novel with an extra art gallery section for less than i could get the digital version off the Store.

    it's issues like that that stop me using it generally.

    i'm dying to know just how much the Store is going to sting it's users for the Liberty City DLC, especially as i ordered the stand alone pack on blu-ray for £24.

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  8. @mobiletone - wow...the Lynx, i agree with you on that one. mind you, i never played any handheld more than my Game Gear. So much so that even my mum remembers what it was, and thats saying something.

    My PSP (mk1 too) is mostly used by my daughter to play Loco Roco, but apart from that, and before she was old enough (recent) it wasn't used since about 6 months after i got it at launch. I hate to admit it, but the problems Codies identified are only a tiny part of it for me. The main reason is i just dont get the gaming/entertainment time day to day anymore. The time i do get is usually late, even at weekends, and im at home. i mean c'mon, my ps3 is right there.
    That said i wouldnt let it go for anything.

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  9. @ mobiletone:

    I think some of the features and abilities of hooking up the PSP to a PS3 have just been overrate by Sony.

    Developers just aren't interested in doing all these extra things, because they take longer to develop and test and that means (probably) adding to the time that a game takes to come out.

    Besides, looking at it from a developer's perspective, if they write a game for both the PS3 and X360, the last thing they'd want to do is write some extra stuff that's specific to one or the other console. Proprietary code is just not desirable, in my opinion.

    But if they were to write an exclusive, well then, they have plenty more time to perfect it (like GT5 has had) and therefore, developers can afford to put some 'special features' in.

    As John Sketch says, as far as the PSP is concerned, we always seem to be "waiting for..." the next release and that's a testament to Sony's utter failure and complete incompetence at keeping the PSP fed with good games and payment for their arrogance and greed of not making the platform more open to homebrews.

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