Official PSP Thread

thop · Sep 30, 2004

Ty said:
thop said:

Yeah probably with a dev model and some brick size battery attached Or maybe the battery meter was fixed at threee bars Seriously sth. has got to be wrong with battery life, else SONY wouldn't make such a big secret out of it!

Click to expand...

Seriously. Nintendo is not really talking about the games coming out for the DS (no marketing). There has GOT to be some major problems with them.

That's the spirit!

8)

cthellis42 · Sep 30, 2004

Ah, gotcha. Missed the wry sarcasm.

Tysan · Sep 30, 2004

Sony plans power restrictions on PSP games

Concerns over battery life become a problem for developers

GameIndustry.biz

Developers working on PlayStation Portable titles will have to ensure that their games don't over-tax the battery on the device or risk falling foul of Sony's technical guidelines, according to sources working on games for the system.

Draft guidelines sent to developers, which will eventually evolve into the technical requirements checklist (TRC) for the system, are alleged to include a demand that games should not exceed a certain level of power consumption.

This apparent response to concerns over the battery life of the system - which is quoted as around 10 hours for music and two hours for movie playback - places the problem firmly in the developers' court.

Sony apparently intends to include a "battery emulator" as part of the PSP development tool set, which will evaluate the projected battery use of a game over an extended period of play. Titles are likely to be judged based on how many hours of play a single battery charge can provide.

However, as yet it's not been decided what an acceptable level of power consumption actually is, with the draft documentation apparently leaving out hard figures for Sony's battery life projections in games. Some developers we spoke to speculated that the firm may be waiting to see what kind of figures are achieved by headline titles such as Metal Gear Acid and Gran Turismo 4 before "drawing a line in the sand" on battery life.

While the PSP has been generally praised for being exceptionally easy to develop for, this new restriction will add a layer of complexity to the development process - and will almost certainly rule out the type of disc streaming technology which has become commonplace in PlayStation 2 titles such as Grand Theft Auto 3, as constantly accessing the disc in this manner would seriously impair battery life.

Evil_Cloud · Sep 30, 2004

There goes the idea that PSP games would eventually push the hardware to it's limits...

rabidrabbit · Sep 30, 2004

The battery is part of the hardware, thus it will eventually push the hardware to it's limits. The devs learn new, more effective techniques to do things in a way that consumes less power.

London Geezer · Sep 30, 2004

rabidrabbit said:
The battery is part of the hardware, thus it will eventually push the hardware to it's limits. The devs learn new, more effective techniques to do things in a way that consumes less power.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm not sure about that...

thop · Sep 30, 2004

So basically PSP will be fully useable when they release a redesign in ~18 months, with a bigger battery which allows devs to use all the power (or when they learn how to use those precious cycles more efficiently, whatever comes first). About when GBA2 comes out ... that will be interesting 8)

Ty · Sep 30, 2004

Old news. Sony has mentioned a long time ago that there should be NO streaming off of the UMD (heck, I may have mentioned it) due to the concerns of battery depletion.

And yes, GBA2 will be out in 18 months <insert fake picture of GBA with 6 postage stamp screens>

Fafalada · Sep 30, 2004

Mmmmmmmmmmmm not sure about that...

Consider that you can have CPU&GPU&UMD at max thermal/power output by just running an empty loop.
Even if a game drains the battery in minimum amount of time possible, that doesn't mean it pushes the hardware at all.

Optimization in case of portables can just as well serve to save battery while maintaining the same speed (as opposed to just running faster).

ChryZ · Sep 30, 2004

The PSP is a feature rich machine, it does so much more than those single-purpose devices like md players, mp3 players, portable dvd players or current gaming handhelds. Imagine all developers going crazy: streaming all the time off disc-rom, caching data on flash-ram as scratch disk and having WiFi transmitting all the time ... that would kill any battery powered device. It's all about avoiding the worst case scenario.

wco81 · Sep 30, 2004

If they really try to limit power consumption, then it could lead to games without extensive soundtracks (streamed off disc) and maybe fewer Wifi games?

Ty · Oct 1, 2004

wco81 said:
If they really try to limit power consumption, then it could lead to games without extensive soundtracks (streamed off disc) and maybe fewer Wifi games?

Again, streaming off of the UMD was "discouraged" (read forbidden) many many months ago so I don't think there is a developer that would be shocked by this now.

In addition don't forget that the RAM was also upped by orders of magnitude which means the developer has less reason to stream to begin with.

VNZ · Oct 1, 2004

The software submittal checklists for both GBC and GBA feature some similar clauses. It's just sensible, and mainly enforces developers to idle the machines in a battery-friendly way (halting the cpu instead of using polling loops, and feature an option to disable the sound chip in this case). I doubt Sony will disapprove a game that uses near 100% GPU power if it's using it in an efficient way.

rabidrabbit · Oct 4, 2004

Forget PSP and DS.
http://www.exsorbeo.com/

ChryZ · Oct 27, 2004

wco81 · Oct 27, 2004

Hmm , if those are the official prices, it's very close to what was posted as being from OPM before.

How much is the 32 MB MS Duo worth?

wco81 · Oct 27, 2004

Gamespot says 4-6 hours of battery life for gameplay and 4-5 hours for movies.

No word on how Wifi changes things. Extra battery packs are $46.

There is also a list of games.

Nothing about region coding. Can't imagine Hollywood would release movies in UMD without region coding.

And no region coding on games would be a first in the games industry, wouldn't it?

zurich · Oct 27, 2004

wco81 said:
And no region coding on games would be a first in the games industry, wouldn't it?

Except for the GBA

wco81 · Oct 27, 2004

This is how much I know about the handheld gaming market.

But it now makes sense that since people could take these things overseas, they should be able to use games they find in their trips. Plus with built-in LCD, you don't have to deal with PAL vs. NTSC.

Since the PSP market is expected to skew older, this could be boon to travelers.

zurich · Oct 27, 2004

What's that yellow port on the front-side of the PSP, by the buttons? Video out?

Official PSP Thread

thop

Great Member

cthellis42

Hoopy Frood

Tysan

Evil_Cloud

rabidrabbit

A Reformed Member

London Geezer

thop

Great Member

Ty

Roberta E. Lee

Fafalada

ChryZ

wco81

Ty

Roberta E. Lee

VNZ

rabidrabbit

A Reformed Member

ChryZ

wco81

wco81

zurich

Kendoka

wco81

zurich

Kendoka

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