PSP: Playable on show floor, impressions inside.

[Guden Oden]

I'm not saying that thing looks particularly ugly, just that I don't understand how it can be considered sexy. Its merely a rectangular peice if plastic with a keyboard drawn on.

It's sexy because it's a neat, clean idea, a snap-on keyboard whenever one is needed to aid typing without having to use the D-pad lumberingly stepping around an on-screen keyboard.

Just out of interest do you guys also get excited at the sight of acetate?

Like I said, don't be disgusting!

 

[Teasy]

It's sexy because it's a neat, clean idea, a snap-on keyboard whenever one is needed to aid typing without having to use the D-pad lumberingly stepping around an on-screen keyboard

I'll tell you what's a much neater and cleaner idea. A keyboard that apears on a second screen whenever you need it that allows you to touch type easily

 

[Ty]

Just because I am pro Nintendo that does not mean I will "go gagga" over every aspect of anything they release.

Pretty much everyone has come out to say the DS is pretty bad looking. I think that when it undergoes a face change you will be there trumpeting its aesthetic. Then again, now that I've poisoned the pool perhaps you won't.

When have I gone "gagga" over GBA or its design/look? When have I even gone gagga over the design of GC?

Not sure though you certainly are willing to believe that seeing it in person will make it look a lot better.

BTW I don't share your opinion that the final design of DS will change a lot. I'd be interested to hear how you suggest it should change to make it look so much "cooler"?

I guess I'd start first of all by changing the tint of the plastic. Frankly that is what bothers me the most about it because it reminds of me cheap Tiger-like handheld games that you find in the back of 99 cent stores. Heck, even the Platnium color they use for the GCN and GBA-SP would be miles better, don't you think? (Disclaimer my GCN & GBA SP are both Platnium ). The actual curve of the edges also don't agree with me as it once again conjures up images of those cheap hand helds.

Well....

http://image.lik-sang.com/content/pspnews/psp8.jpg

Lesson being pictures can make things look very bad indeed..

Certainly true. Then again, every picture we've seen of the DS makes it look bad and only one picture of the PSP looks bad. In addition the picture you linked can easily be critiqued "why" it makes the PSP look bad (over bright flash - look at her washed out hand, you can see that it's been handled by many grubby & greasy hands, and the angle of the flashed colored the LCD green). Even so, that dirty PSP picture still looks miles ahead of a pristine DS.

Can you honestly say that http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/05/11/screens_6097113.html?page=1 looks as good or better than http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/05/11/screens_6097116.html?page=1?

Well because nobody I am disagreeing with has given me a reason to do that. They're all basing there decisions purely on the same pic as I am, not on seeing it in person. I didn't say it was ugly though anyway, just that I don't understand how that can be considered sexy.

So basically you are willing to give the DS the benefit of the doubt because you haven't seen it in person. And yet the PSP with it's sleek add-ons are dismissed because you haven't seen it in person? I mean, don't you think it's possible the PSP add-ons will look better in person?

What did you think of Minority Report's UI? It universally got praise. The PSP addon with its "floating" UI is similar.

Your comment about @#$% in a bottle are way off the mark (to london-boy), especially for one fighting a charge of blindness himself. In other words have you ever seen him go ga-ga over other Sony products (honest question - I don't know)? The same question you asked of me should be asked of yourself. I think the statement of yours (though likely tongue-in-cheek) was simply a way of lashing out against the universally high opinion of the PSP especially in light of the near-universal disregard for the DS' looks.

Maybe I don't get some of you Brits, what with Charles preferring Camilla to Diana.

Lastly, for the record, what do you think of the two handhelds based solely on looks?

 

[rabidrabbit]

I just hope there's little LEDs inside the bottom edge of that plastic screen, lighting it up in darkness. Damn that would rock so hard, the thing would look TOTALLY hi-tech

A peice of plastic with a little LED on it would look "hi-tech"? I've heard it all now man

Now don't be disgusting, OK?

Discusting but true

I'm not saying that thing looks particularly ugly, just that I don't understand how it can be considered sexy. Its merely a rectangular peice if plastic with a keyboard drawn on. Just out of interest do you guys also get excited at the sight of acetate?

If it had a couple of leds on the bottom, the result would look something like this:

It would light up the keys nicely.

 

[Simon F]

PS2 doesn't support DOT3 Bump mapping as a native texture mode. You have to do a " bit of a hack" to do it. IIRC according to Sony (in "Develop" magazine) you need to

• put your bump mapped objects in first.
• Texture them with four passes using 4(?) variations of your normal map

• 
  Shouldn’t that be 3 variations (X,Y and Z)?

• 
  It was something vaguely like (and I'm really stretching my memory here)
• Add Light direction "positive" with "forward normals"
• Subtract Light direction "negative" with "forward normals"
• Add Light direction "negative" with "reverse normals"
• Subtract Light direction "postive" with "reverse normals"

or some such thing. It was basically to overcome not having signed maths.

Is that article from Develop online somewhere?

Not that I know of. I can't even find what I've done with my print copy

On a related note, I just thought of a cheap way to do “high qualityâ€￾ bump mapping, here is how:
Make a CLUT bump map like described in this article: http://dienst.isti.cnr.it/Dienst/Re...2000-B4-01-03/pdf?tiposearch=cnr&langver=
....

Obviously this can’t be the first time someone thinks of this, so I would like to know, does it work? If not, then why?

No, you aren't. The EPO website was not up so I can't get a link, but "Argonaut" have a patent doing exactly that. If you want to have a search I think it's titled "Bump mapping in 3-D Computer Graphics."

 

[London Geezer]

So in conclusion, I'll state what I've already stated in the previous post. PS2's strengths over DC are polygons, lighting, and fillrate. That's exactly what I said before, but I guess that wasn't enough for some people so they had to find ways to say "Well technically PS2 can do DOT3, VQ, blah blah blah". To those people I say, well technically my GBA can do photon mapping...

If anyone is doing that, it's not me. I'm not the one saying DC could do all sorts of effects without having seen them in a game, like, EVER.
The fact that Lazy8s saw it somewhere along the road doesn't prove much. And i mean, it's Lazy8s we're talking about. Like saying "Paul saw PS2 do Doom3 level graphics at 60FPS!". See my point...

So, "well, technically PS2 can do real-time raytracing" is as stupid as saying "technically DC can do this, that and the other"...

Only i never said anything about "theoretical" capabilities of PS2.

 

[Guden Oden]

I'll tell you what's a much neater and cleaner idea. A keyboard that apears on a second screen whenever you need it that allows you to touch type easily

Teasy, you ONLY say that because that is the path Nintendo chose to go. That's because whereas I am a nintendo FAN, you are a nintendo FAN-BOY. Big difference!

And like I said, the idea of a detachable keyboard saves the front of the screen from wear and tear (and you don't need the second screen just to get access to a keyboard), and look at Rabid's picture why a side-lit piece of plastic would look sexy. It would look a bit like a floating hologram in darkness.

 

[PC-Engine]

I think those clear plastic pieces aren't very convenient. You have to carry them with you separately. Having a touch screen is a lot better IMO. SONY didn't incorporate a touch screen not because they're afraid the screen would be damaged, it's because it would add to the overall cost of PSP. With a separate attachment, they can offload the cost to an accessory instead of it being a standard feature already in the PSP. Anyway if SONY was afraid the screen would be damaged, they would've had or displayed some kind of screen protection at E3 anyway

 

[rabidrabbit]

It's still a bit stubid why the plastic transparent control plate is above the device :?
It's usb connection right? usb connection is tight enough so that it wouldn't drop if it were below. What use is there for the usb port to be on top anyway?

If the transparent plastic control panel were on the bottom, it would have other advantages than just ergonomical too.

As the plastic transparent control panel is detachable, it would be natural to use it on the table, with the PSP on the table on a stand like some mini monitor, and the plastic transparent control panel (ptcp from now on) being your keyboard on the table (attached with usb cord).

But in it's current form, it can not be used on a tabletop keyboard. Why?
Look at the pic with the screen on top. The ptcp has a base that extends to the rear of the panel. If you place this on a table, the base would raise the front (or bottom) of the control panel, i.e. the edge that would be towards you in desktop keyboard placement. Not the rear (or top) as would be natural for a keyboard on a desktop.

If it were attached to the bottom of the PSP, the base attachment would be mirrored, and so the ptcp would be perfectly aligned for tabletop use.

 

[Teasy]

Teasy, you ONLY say that because that is the path Nintendo chose to go. That's because whereas I am a nintendo FAN, you are a nintendo FAN-BOY. Big difference!

Oh ok if we're going to be honest Guden I think your being a complete and utter idiot here. It doesn't take a Nintendo fan-boy to see which design is cleaner and neater between a peripheral that clicks onto the top of a system and a touch keyboard that can apear on the screen anytime you need it.

P.S. thanks to rabidrabbit I now understand what you meant about the light on the keyboard. I thought you just meant a light normally illuminating the keyboard. Which would be anything but high-tech looking. But you meant the light illuminating the lines of the keyboard, yes that would look nice.

 

[London Geezer]

To be honest i agree with Rabid. Why is the keyboard on top...?

I mean think about typing something... Your hand would cover the screen... Not sure how that's gonna work.

 

[rabidrabbit]

Wait! I just figured out why it is top, not bottom.

I tried holding an approximately same sized object in my hand.
Then imagined the keyboard on the bottom, trying to type with it while holding the PSP stand-in in my hands, holding it at the same way one would hold a PSP.

It is actually impossible to type and hold the machine, if the keyboard were on bottom!
As it is on the top, typing is actually quite easy using mainly your thumbs, and it would look like the screen is not too much covered while typing.

Try it yourself, take some approx. 14 cm long, suitably shaped object in your hands and hold it with your both hands.

 

[London Geezer]

Try it yourself, take some approx. 14 cm long, suitably shaped object in your hands and hold it with your both hands.

Ok, i've held considerably bigger objects in my hands, i think i can do this.

 

[rabidrabbit]

I suggest everyone tries it, it's not hard!

 

[Teasy]

Ty

Look I have never gone gagga over the aesthetic design of any system and I'm not about to start now. Its not something I care to much about, never have. So please allow that to sink into your head and accept it

I guess I'd start first of all by changing the tint of the plastic. Frankly that is what bothers me the most about it because it reminds of me cheap Tiger-like handheld games that you find in the back of 99 cent stores.

I agree, and this is one of the ways that the DS looks better in reality then those shots we saw (when I say reality I mean in someone's hand in a video... a lot closer to reality then a pic). Its suprising how different it looks to those images infact, much smaller and a lot less plastic-like.

Can you honestly say that http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/05/11/screens_6097113.html?page=1 looks as good or better than http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/05/11/screens_6097116.html?page=1?

Well I've never claimed that the DS looks better then the PSP aesthetically, especially not in that image. I just posted the PSP pic to make a point. That you shouldn't assume that something can't look a lot better in real life then it does in a pic.

So basically you are willing to give the DS the benefit of the doubt because you haven't seen it in person. And yet the PSP with it's sleek add-ons are dismissed because you haven't seen it in person? I mean, don't you think it's possible the PSP add-ons will look better in person?

I'm not giving the DS the benefit of the doubt because I haven't seen it in person. I am saying that I have seen the DS in video's in use and it looks much better then it does in the images we saw. Were as nobody is telling me that they have seen the PSP keyboard addon in video's or in person and that it looks much better in reality then in those pics. Some are just saying that they think the keyboard looks sexy from seeing the same pics I've seen. Of course that keyboard addon could possibly look better in realife, I have no problem with that. But, just like with DS until I actually saw it in video's, I'm not going to assume it looks good.

P.S. Charles prefering Camilla to Diana is a mystery to anyone appart from Charles himself, nothing to do with being British.

P.P.S aesthetically PSP looks better then DS from what I've seen.

 

[StefanS]

I suggest everyone tries it, it's not hard!

you little furry perverts. I've just spilled my coffee. again...

 

[London Geezer]

I suggest everyone tries it, it's not hard!

So what's the point then...

 

[rabidrabbit]

I suggest everyone tries it, it's not hard!

So what's the point then...

But you did notice it feels better when top than bottom, didn't you?

 

[London Geezer]

I suggest everyone tries it, it's not hard!

So what's the point then...

But you did notice it feels better when top than bottom, didn't you?

Personally i love it whether it's on top or bottom... Just not on the side...

 

[Natoma]

You two are nuts.