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[MrWibble]

What *do* you expect for $250? Have you seen the price of most other portable hardware? You surely can't be comparing it to the performance of a full console?

For $250 I expect more then N64 visuals with some nice particle effects. I'm not saying that I think PSP won't be able to do considerably better then that. But at the same time I'm not going to just assume that it will, I don't know enough about it for that. So I'm just looking at what Sony are showing me and what I'm saying is at this stage I'm not impressed.

BTW what other portable hardware are you refering to?.. last time I checked they were giving NGAGE away

Well there's a difference between not being impressed, and being disappointed.

I'm referring to almost any state-of-the-art portable hardware really. An iPod mini is almost exactly $250 - "only" a 4G drive, which isn't a removable, and (fairly importantly) no wide-screen LCD.

I'm just saying, for a portable device you've got to make some allowances. There are corners to be cut to cram everything into a small box, and energy savings must be made to keep it running for more than 5 minutes at a time.

I think "N64 visuals" might be a tad harsh - I doubt there's much point having really fine detailed textures and geometry on a screen that size, but the animation, lighting, and frame-rate seems a bit above most N64 stuff.

So while I'm certainly not amazed by anything I've seen, and possibly not really impressed (I'll wait to see actual hardware for that) I'm certainly not disappointed yet either...

 

[V3]

If this thing is running on emulator, then the judge is still out, the final hardware could be better or worst for this particular game.

 

[wazoo]

I'm referring to almost any state-of-the-art portable hardware really. An iPod mini is almost exactly $250 - "only" a 4G drive, which isn't a removable, and (fairly importantly) no wide-screen LCD.

Ipod mini is far from being considered at a cheap price (except for MAC addicts).

IMO, the demo is okay, stronger than some of the ps2 unveiling demos but a bit underwhelming at the current state. The DS will have N64 graphics at a much cheaper price with the strong portfolio of the N64 and at least a new Zelda. The PSP need much better graphics considering the price.

 

[jvd]

I'm referring to almost any state-of-the-art portable hardware really. An iPod mini is almost exactly $250 - "only" a 4G drive, which isn't a removable, and (fairly importantly) no wide-screen LCD

for 300$ you can get a 15 gig ipod . For 250$ you can get a 20 gig nomad player .

But the fact is all the ipod does is play songs and I believe the battery life is only 10 hours .

Just playing songs with a tiny screen to run and power. IMagine what this psp will do .

We know it will be most likely the best portable game system at its launch. But will it be the best at the other things its supposed to do. Mp3 , video , phone crap .

You have to take the product as a whole .

Btw I'm getting an ipod 20 gig 3g for 150

 

[Teasy]

Well there's a difference between not being impressed, and being disappointed.

Yeah but if you expect something to impress you and it doesn't, then that's disapointing. That's all I meant.

I don't really think its harsh to describe that as N64 visuals with some nice particle effects. I think the texture/geometry detail is N64. The particle effects are better and so is the lighting.. but it seems closest to N64 when comparing it to a console.

I realise that allowances have to be made for a handheld when compared to a full console. I certainly don't expect PSP to have graphics one generation ahead of XBox/GC or even PS2, or even equal to them.

Also I didn't expect fine detailed textures and geometry. Just a lot better then N64 level. As I said though my disapointment is aimed at this one video. If another video is released with visuals that are considerably better, then I can still be impressed by PSP.

 

[zidane1strife]

I don't really think its harsh to describe that as N64 visuals with some nice particle effects. I think the texture/geometry detail is N64. The particle effects are better and so is the lighting.. but it seems closest to N64 when comparing it to a console

To me it seems more like low-end dc title, with all that stable frame-rate, nice-iq, and draw distance(about usual dc level.).

But this appears to be just a demo by a no-name on an emu, we need to know more details.

 

[wazoo]

But this appears to be just a demo by a no-name on an emu, we need to know more details.

Digital Eclipse IS NOT a noname. They are responsible for a lot of western GBA games, like the spyro series and so on. They are one of the companies that do the hard work for EA or THQ on the GBA. They will be a large contributor on the PSP, too.

Atari Anniversary Advance Resources: board previews review screenshots
Publisher: Infogrames Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 8.0 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
Disney's Lilo & Stitch Resources: board previews review screenshots
Publisher: Disney Interactive Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 8.0 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
Disney's Tarzan: Return to the Jungle Resources: board previews review screenshots
Publisher: Activision Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 7.0 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
Dr. Muto Resources: board screenshots
Publisher: Midway Developer: Digital Eclipse
The game "Dr. Muto" was cancelled.
Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat Resources: board review screenshots
Publisher: Vivendi Universal Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 4.0 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
Kim Possible Resources: faqs cheats review screenshots
Publisher: Disney Interactive Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 5.0 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
Monster Force Resources: board cheats previews review screenshots
Publisher: Universal Interactive Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 6.5 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
Mucha Lucha: Mascaritas of the Lost Code Resources: board review screenshots
Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 2.0 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
Muppets Pinball Mayhem Resources: board cheats previews review screenshots
Publisher: NewKidCo Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 7.9 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
Phantasy Star Collection Resources: board cheats guide review screenshots
Publisher: THQ Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 6.0 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
Rayman Advance Resources: board faqs cheats previews review screenshots
Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 9.0 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
Spider-Man: The Movie Resources: board previews review screenshots
Publisher: Activision Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 8.8 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
Spyro the Dragon: Attack of the Rhynocs Resources: board review screenshots
Publisher: Universal Interactive Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 8.0 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
Spyro the Dragon: Season of Ice Resources: board faqs cheats previews review screenshots
Publisher: Universal Interactive Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 8.0 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
Spyro: Season of Flame Resources: board cheats previews review screenshots
Publisher: Universal Interactive Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 8.5 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 Resources: board previews review screenshots
Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 8.0 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection
X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse Resources: board faqs cheats previews review screenshots
Publisher: Activision Developer: Digital Eclipse IGN score: 7.0 write a review | add to watchlist | add to wishlist | add to collection

 

[Lazy8s]

The performance from the tech demos and Death Jr. falls somewhere near the overall quality of graphics from the proposed M2 system, a step up from the N64 in speed and a step away from the Dreamcast in detail and fidelity. The glistening shader effect on the water demo is similar to current consoles, yet the surface is not tesselated as finely. Of course, this footage would logically not be very representative of its host system's potential (not to the extent that Sonic Adventure 2 is, for example):

D2 on the M2 from 1997:

60fps Dreamcast Platformer from 2001:

 

[Squeak]

Maybe the difference between PSP and DS isn't going to be so big as you should think by comparing the specs?

 

[Lazy8s]

It's probably a case of sustainable performance more than anything. The specs for the PS2 are way up there too, yet Performance Analyzer testing shows its games are in the range of around 2-5 million tris/sec.

 

[zidane1strife]

Come on, we could use some bigger dc screens, some ps2 games look cgish at that size.

 

[Lazy8s]

A small size is what is needed to be compared against the PSP. Those screens are fairly presented - actual captures from the game (true res) sized down.

Displaying a screen closer to its original size would just show off even more detail in this case.

 

[zidane1strife]

A small size is what is needed to be compared against the PSP. Those screens are fairly presented - actual captures from the game (true res) sized down.

Displaying a screen closer to its original size would just show off even more detail in this case.

The psp screens in this thread seemed bigger than that...

 

[Lazy8s]

They're poor captures and poor displays; I can't help that. I just made sure the examples I presented tried to conform to comparability.

 

[zidane1strife]

Well, we saw the vince ones earlier, I think bigger ones would allows to see and compare the geometry detail levels better...

 

[PC-Engine]

Anyone notice the superduper 7.1 ch surround sound is now plain 2 ch stereo?

 

[Paul]

Anyone notice the superduper 7.1 ch surround sound is now plain 2 ch stereo?

Jokes on you Jr. It's still 7.1 channels, he was just saying that PSP wouldn't have 7 damn speakers on it. Hook it up to capable external hardware.

 

[PC-Engine]

Anyone notice the superduper 7.1 ch surround sound is now plain 2 ch stereo?

Jokes on you Jr. It's still 7.1 channels, he was just saying that PSP wouldn't have 7 damn speakers on it. Hook it up to capable external hardware.

Ascending closer to the surface of the system, and issues laymen can get a slightly better handle on, Coombes addressed some questions about the PSP's sound hardware and video playback capabilities. The mention of 7.1-channel surround sound support in Sony's earlier spec lists raised a few eyebrows, but he brought that speculation a little closer to earth -- the PSP will have only ordinary stereo sound output (whether with its speakers or headphones), and sound development for the system will use the same tools developers are familiar with from the PS2. The PSP's H.246 video codec support, meanwhile, will play back movies from both the UMD drive and users' Memory Sticks, so you won't be limited to watching commercially-released UMD movies.

Paul, you're probably the only one on this messageboard capable of imagining 7 tiny speakers and a tiny subwoofer being designed into a handheld. Why in the world would you want 7/8 speakers located within a 4" radius? If you were the size of an ant then that logic may make some sense.

 

[marconelly!]

7.1 was overkill anyways. Noone is going to miss it, that is for sure.

Death Jr game is, I would say, of quality of lower-end DC games. Definitely not as high geometry or textures as good DC games, but quite solid particle effects (up there with best on DC) and very smooth framerate. Not so bad for a game running on some alpha emulator, from what I consider to be a no-name developer, when it comes to modern 3D games.

Water effect demo however, is better than waters I've seen in games on DC, and more upto stuff I've seen on PS2 recently, in R-Type Final for example. I couldn't see any flaw in water surface tesselation, but again, video is very poor, so I might be wrong.

 

[Ty]

They're poor captures and poor displays; I can't help that. I just made sure the examples I presented tried to conform to comparability.

Far better than the captures of the Death Jr. though. And I think the water effect (what little we could see) was already better than anything I've seen in a DC game.