Mini DS review (mainstream press)

[Ty]

Ty, so you (your company, I mean) have the latest devkit that includes the working PSP, right? And it has a screen with bad ghosting that you've seen on your own?

I hope that the other two revisions you are talking about are already improved in that regard, becuase right now PSP is in the mass production, and has been for some time. So whatever screen they have chosen, now it's too late for a change.

It would be very crappy if they included some bad screen now, especially after reading PSP's main engineer talking in a recent interview how screen is definitely PSP's "main trump card". For what it's worth, the PSP shown at TGS was supposed to be a final hardware prototype and it had the same phenomenal screen that everyone was oozing over. Same goes for working PSPs in those subway advertismemnts (those are playing video off the memory stick, and guards are instructed to take them out every 6-7 hours to replace the battery btw) same goes to the recent PSP TV ads (no ghosting to be seen on them from what I've seen)

Latest devkit? I can't say for certain it's the latest (we may not have much pull with Sony). All I can say (again, second hand, I'm not on the PSP team) is that they complain about the screen and how bad it is - no I personally haven't seen it but when several members of the team complain to me about it separately I began to get worried. Maybe the others here working on it can vouch ("R" version I believe) for this as well.

I certainly can't vouch for what they claim at TGS nor the subway. I'm confident they'll get this addressed. Oh, and keep in mind that we won't get out final devkits till sometime in March (but our product goes into alpha January! So we're using Japanese kits). Isn't that funny? Actually it's kind of scary.

 

[PC-Engine]

I wasn't aware you needed to buy a PSP battery for $50 to play it let alone of being able to buy one at all!

I wasn't aware people only pay for the console while the battery is free.

Fact 950mAh NDS replacement Li-ion battery is $20
Fact 1800mAh PSP replacement Li-ion battery is $50
Fact 900mAh cellphone replacement Li-ion battery ~ $20

See any correlation?

Fact NDS gets 7.5hrs of gameplay in MP:H with LAN and speakers on with a 950mAh battery that's $20 at retail. Those are the facts from the mini review. That's pretty damn impressive any way you look at it yes or no? Of course if it needed a friggen 1800mAh to achieve this it wouldn't be so impressive would it yes or no? Comparisons will be made whether it bothers you or not. Wouldn't it be funny if PS3 and Xenon came out and nobody compared them?

 

[Ty]

I asked you this much earlier in the thread.

And what does the PSP battery have to do with this?

Later on you even said

Lets not go off on a tangent here since the issue was battery life which NDS has demonstrated 7.5 hrs.

So again I ask you, "what does the PSP battery have to do with this?"

 

[PC-Engine]

So again I ask you, "what does the PSP battery have to do with this?"

Maybe it has something to do with achieving an impressive 7.5 hrs on a 950mAh battery while the competition needs 1800mAh to achieve 4-6hrs? Nintendo has always demonstrated impressive battery life on their portables compared to the competition in the past and is also doing it in the present...that's impressive whether the LAN was on 100% of the time or only 50% of the time.

 

[rabidrabbit]

I could probably run a single LED for.... huge number of hours with a 100mAh battery that would cost less than $20 , so what's the point???

Something not as powerful is obviously less battery hungry, thus a cheaper battery can be used while still maintaining an impressive operating time. You don't need to be a genius to understand that.

And this is a DS thread, why can't the Sony funbois keep the PSP out of this

 

[cthellis42]

Why doesn't any of this matter? Everyone knows that no portable that costs more than $100 or gives less than 10 hours of playtime will succeed on the marketplace. They're all doomed! DOOOOMED!

 

[PC-Engine]

Something not as powerful is obviously less battery hungry, thus a cheaper battery can be used while still maintaining an impressive operating time. You don't need to be a genius to understand that.

Higher power consumption and higher performance is not mutually inclusive. Just look at Nvidia vs ATI. One needs a leaf blower while the other doesn't which brings up another issue heat. NDS doesn't get warm after extended play, PSP gets pretty hot from what I've heard.

 

[V3]

Fact 950mAh NDS replacement Li-ion battery is $20

Its 850mAh.

If the replacement is indeed 950mAh, I have to wonder why Nintendo don't use that instead.

 

[PC-Engine]

Fact 950mAh NDS replacement Li-ion battery is $20

Its 850mAh.

If the replacement is indeed 950mAh, I have to wonder why Nintendo don't use that instead.

Thanks for the correction. I knew it was either 850 or 950, but chose 950 just to be on the safe side.

 

[rabidrabbit]

Something not as powerful is obviously less battery hungry, thus a cheaper battery can be used while still maintaining an impressive operating time. You don't need to be a genius to understand that.

Higher power consumption and higher performance is not mutually inclusive. Just look at Nvidia vs ATI. One needs a leaf blower while the other doesn't which brings up another issue heat. NDS doesn't get warm after extended play, PSP gets pretty hot from what I've heard.

Warm, not hot
In it's part it's the UMD disc rotating that also generates heat, and you can feel the device getting warmer on the downside where the disc mechanism is.
Of course higher power and performance are not 1:1, but as the gap between DS power and PSP power is so much larger than the gap between current Ati tech and nVidia tech, it is a no-brainer to figure out why the PSP is generating more heat and draining more power than DS

Edit: Hey, it is actually good the PSP gets warmer than DS. Now you can play it outside at cold weather, and at the same time it keeps your hands warm! SONY are geniuses! They even thought about that

 

[Ty]

Maybe it has something to do with achieving an impressive 7.5 hrs on a 950mAh battery while the competition needs 1800mAh to achieve 4-6hrs? Nintendo has always demonstrated impressive battery life on their portables compared to the competition in the past and is also doing it in the present...that's impressive whether the LAN was on 100% of the time or only 50% of the time.

See, that's the kind of thinking/writing that gets you labeled as a troll. It's obvious you feel the need to play up the DS even when the PSP wasn't mentioned. Is the DS run time impressive? Certainly seems to be the case. And you don't need to compare it to the PSP whatsoever. Are you inviting more lame comparisons (as if we didn't know the DS was going to run longer), heck ya. I said this a long time ago, "relax, the DS is going to do fine regardless of the PSP."

 

[TheMightyPuck]

Maybe it has something to do with achieving an impressive 7.5 hrs on a 950mAh battery while the competition needs 1800mAh to achieve 4-6hrs? Nintendo has always demonstrated impressive battery life on their portables compared to the competition in the past and is also doing it in the present...that's impressive whether the LAN was on 100% of the time or only 50% of the time.

See, that's the kind of thinking/writing that gets you labeled as a troll. It's obvious you feel the need to play up the DS even when the PSP wasn't mentioned. Is the DS run time impressive? Certainly seems to be the case. And you don't need to compare it to the PSP whatsoever. Are you inviting more lame comparisons (as if we didn't know the DS was going to run longer), heck ya. I said this a long time ago, "relax, the DS is going to do fine regardless of the PSP."

Nothing wrong with playing up the DS. It's the playing down of the PSP (a) in a thread that has nothing to do with the PSP and (b) without any truly useful information regarding the PSP that gives it the smell of freshly baked troll

 

[one]

Instead of PSP, PC-Engine should have picked up Nintendo Game & Watch, or if it's too weak, another 32-bit handheld machine by Nintendo. 8)

 

[Ty]

Nothing wrong with playing up the DS. It's the playing down of the PSP (a) in a thread that has nothing to do with the PSP and (b) without any truly useful information regarding the PSP that gives it the smell of freshly baked troll

That's what I meant. Apologies if I wasn't clear on that.

 

[PC-Engine]

Maybe it has something to do with achieving an impressive 7.5 hrs on a 950mAh battery while the competition needs 1800mAh to achieve 4-6hrs? Nintendo has always demonstrated impressive battery life on their portables compared to the competition in the past and is also doing it in the present...that's impressive whether the LAN was on 100% of the time or only 50% of the time.

See, that's the kind of thinking/writing that gets you labeled as a troll. It's obvious you feel the need to play up the DS even when the PSP wasn't mentioned. Is the DS run time impressive? Certainly seems to be the case. And you don't need to compare it to the PSP whatsoever. Are you inviting more lame comparisons (as if we didn't know the DS was going to run longer), heck ya. I said this a long time ago, "relax, the DS is going to do fine regardless of the PSP."

I think the point I was trying to make is that the realworld battery performance of NDS is better than what Nintendo said. Grasping for straws about whether the LAN was on 100% or not isn't going to change its impressiveness...

Oh and I'm not worried about NDS since I have one and am enjoying it tremendously along with a few million other gamers. Backwards compatibility is a nice bonus too. NDS will probably sell more than 10 million units the first year. I'm really more worried about PSP and it's $50 games and low battery life since I may get one eventually.

Instead of PSP, PC-Engine should have picked up Nintendo Game & Watch, or if it's too weak, another 32-bit handheld machine by Nintendo.

Actually the NDS is basically a new version of the Game & Watch which was a hit then as NDS is a hit now. I wouldn't be suprised if Nintendo eventually releases a VB update with lightweight goggles, full color, and full 3D. Heck it might even be what Revolution is going to use. Hell of a lot more interesting than just higher polys and bigger numbers.

 

[cthellis42]

It's people like you all who give my beautiful Virtual Boy a bad name and prohibited the development of more games! I was one of at least a dozen people who didn't get a headache using it, and damn was it fun to play with! Now stop bitching about it all the time, or I'll brain you with my Jaguar.

 

[Ty]

I think we all know what your point was. Puck nailed it.

 

[PC-Engine]

I think we all know what your point was. Puck nailed it.

whether the LAN was on 100% or not isn't going to change its impressiveness...

 

[Ty]

whether the LAN was on 100% or not isn't going to change its impressiveness...

Don't be silly. Of course it would. If the lan were completely off, then 7.5 hours isn't necessarily a decent test.

 

[PC-Engine]

whether the LAN was on 100% or not isn't going to change its impressiveness...

Don't be silly. Of course it would. If the lan were completely off, then 7.5 hours isn't necessarily a decent test.

How can it be completey off if the reviewer said he used it during the 7.5hrs? Wasn't he playing MP:H?

It's not like he had to turn down the screen brightness and plug in headphones along with turning off wireless LAN to achieve the superduper 7.5hrs.