PlayStation Portable first impressions?
By Peter Rojas 
posted December 12th 2004 5:25PM
posted December 12th 2004 5:25PM
Alright, so a few of you lucky bastards managed to get your hands on the PlayStation Portable, which debuted in Japan today, and you owe it to the rest of us to give us the scoop: How's the battery life? What's the deal with the startup time? How are the first batch of games? Is it good enough to make you toss out your Nintendo DS? Post up your impressions in the comments.
Oh, let me go check...
the psp sux @$$ don't buy complete waste i bought 30 of em for my family and then bought a nintendo ds much much better
what the hell are you talking about #3? Step away from the crack and then approach your keyboard once again.
right now i am getting battery expectancy rates of 45 mins for ridge racer. 37 mins with wireless turned on. Thats the only game I have so far but I played some audio on the memory stick and it lasted 2 hours.
It takes about 5 hours to completely recharge.
I'll let you guys know more when I do some more tests.
Anyone who uses the phrase "sux @$$" clearly isn't old enough or afluent enough to afford 30 PSPs, and is simply a Nintendo-lover in denial. Now someone who's actually held one post your comments instead...
Thats weird, my friend is getting around 6 hours with ridge racer, med brightness, headphones and volume half way. With wifi he's getting around 3-4 hours though
Oh I'm so jellous... all you PSP owners out there, keep writing! =D
Oh I'm so jellous... all you PSP owners out there, keep writing! =D
Hmm, it really good if the battery time is that much. I for one am going to keep a lookout for a new battery that may increase the time. Btw, sorry for the double-comment, have no idea why that happend... please remove one of the double-comments.
I do not have a PSP, nor do I have a Nintendo DS. I do have a Gameboy Advance SP and I remember when I first got it that I was supposed to charge the battery (like you would a cellphone) and then run it fully and then charge it fully again. I wonder if the PSP has a similar battery and needs to be 'trained'? This could explain the varying amounts of battery life some people are seeing with it.
Any ideas what the retail price on this will be come March?
Im gonna get both so i will not be biased towards them two. :D
Go read this
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/12/12/news_6114909.html
"Ridge Racers seems to last somewhere between 90 minutes and three hours."
Either some people are lieing or the battery on different psps are varying by 4 or 5 hrs....
Well, played through the Ridge Racer for about half an hour. Med brightness, wifi off. Only thing I know is that the battery estimates are not working right. at 15 min my meter still read 100%. After another course it dropped down to 85%. I think the software managing the battery might be a little buggy.
For now I would say forget what the battery screen tells you.
I'll post up my results when I actually get to run the battery all the way down.
IGN has played for about 3 hours now (They did a lot, transfered data, wifi, max brightness, max volume) and the battery has been brought down to 45%
Spent a little time with one last night, and it's definitely sexy. Glossy-glossy screen looked great. Analog control seemed suprisingly smooth (could have been the car I was driving on Ridge Racers). Speakers were loud, but not suprisingly, tinny. Elegant interface for navigating through various media functions. Whole unit felt nice in the hands, solid — but I would not want to drop one on a hard surface, and the screen begs for clean fingers and protection from scratches.
What are the risks I run if I buy an import machine. I'm dying to get my hands on one!
LINES, or should I say Chuck Toolery, I highly doubt you know anyone who has been within 50 miles of a PSP.
Battery "time left" estimation is incredibly difficult with modern batteries. You'll notice that same effect of not being able to do a correct estimate of charge time left on laptops, pdas, etc. Battery estimation devices, at their crudest, go by the voltage drop as a measure of time left. But the voltage curves for modern batteries drop very little, then drop drastically after a certain point. The points where the slope is very small is the part that is difficult to measure, and has accuracy problems.
lol, you've gotta love the Sony nuts trying to justify the news already.
First reply in the link #1 posted...
"and who the fuck is going to play a portable for like three hours without coming near an outlet?"
DS/SP users?
I bet i do... seeing as how i live in Japan...
man...nothing beats watching a bunch of fanboys pummel each other with their nerf bats...
LINES, let's travel BACK IN TIME, shall we.
http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000967022923/
And I quote (speaking about the PSP):
"27. Posted Dec 8, 2004, 1:06 PM ET by LINES
MORE EXPENSIVE? Its 5-10$ More than the DS... Say hi to the wrench in the tool box for me. You tool"
I got one yesterday and posted this in the magic box forums - I'll post it here too:
http://www.yongfook.com/images/psp1.jpg
Picked up my PSP today (I live in Japan). I have to say, I'm very impressed. It is a very sexy piece of hardware. The screen is amazingly bright, the XMB user interface is intuitive and going by the one game that I bought (Ridge Racers) this little system is more than capable of creating a gaming experience akin to that which we have been accustomed to on consoles, in terms of both graphics and control (the analog nub feels great!).
I also own a DS and I think its a fairly obvious statement that the PSP has graphical ability far in advance of Nintendo's unit - hopefully they won't try to compete too closely in terms of titles, since cross-platform game franchises will probably always look better on the PSP (we can see this already in the DS version of Ridge Racer).
The plus points are the easiest to spot (oh god, the screen! it is truly beautiful) so instead of those, I'll list a few minor faults I've found:
- the UMD bay doesn't sit quite flush on my unit. It basically looks to me like it has been either rushed through production (likely) or that Sony is cutting costs somewhere (quality control? - also likely).
- the whole front surface is VERY easy to mark with fingerprints.
- the battery life seems to be a bit disappointing (we expected this though). Solidly playing Ridge Racer gets just over 3 hours on a full charge. Anything you read about Ridge Racer getting 6 hours is just complete nonsense. I haven't had a chance to test other games but at least we know that for graphic-intensive games like this (which also constantly access the UMD for music), we can't expect outrageous battery life, which is pretty much exactly what sony said.
- the speakers are, for want of a better word, crap. I had my doubts when I saw that the speakers were just tiny dots on the front face and those were confirmed when I heard them: very tinny and not even very loud. In this respect the DS can hold its head high - the DS speakers are a whole lot better.
- wireless is a bit cumbersome; why do I have to manually switch on and off my wireless? I guess its a power saving thing but surely there could have been some kin of auto-detect on-off thing.
Overall though I'm very pleased. Can't wait until Metal Gear Acid!
cheers
YF
Hmmm...DS seems better...
Games aside (I have an affinity for Nintendo Games), DS seems more sound technical wise.
Sony failed to avoid problems that have plagued handhelds for years
EX: Game Gear + Bad Battery Power = Flop
E-Z Smudge Screen (Any handheld to date has had this, possibly not DS)
No Foldup (Not to worrid bout dis though)
Small speakers (cummon, you coulda improved on the game boy like ds this)
For a system that is supposed to revolutionize, it's sticking to the same old thing.
Personally I think this is like a clash of the titans!
DS vs PSP
Nintendo vs Sony
Innovation vs Graphical Power
Good vs Evil (Just kidding...or am I... ;-) )
Jedi vs Sith
and of course... Spegetti and Milk
Heh, Undergrads... ;-) Inside Joke
DS is very sound. It's not outstanding in terms of graphics, but it "spreads the butter, without spreading it too thin". Heh, english class...
But do "you wante to got down the same road, only faster, or take new paths on a new road" Quote from Reggie Aimes-Fille... or watever
Heh, Reggie's crazy...
One last question, how is the analog stick on it? I heard on some sites it was very good, but I wanna no the truth.
CANT WAIT FOR DEMASKED
I will be free from the chains soon
then i will hate bees
Anti-isolation
demasked.com
Heh, nintendo online...
Look here too:
http://psp.ign.com/articles/572/572548p1.html
I plan to buy both eventually. Nintendo is nintendo, which is great. I like RPGs and look forward to squarenix and other third party developers to make rpgs on PSP (assuming they stick with sony).
I think buying extra batteries and charging is gonna be annoying (not that I play games mroe than 4 hours a day anyway). But, I also think DS lacking a real analog stick is also annoying (not that a good game has to have analog ability).
It is funny watching fanboys argue. I remember when it use to be arguements between snes and genesis or gameboy and turbo express. I gotta say I usually favor the side with a more diverse range of games and good rpgs. Nintendo 64 sucked in my opinion due to the lack of this... what do you DS fanboys and girls say about N64?
oh yeah here's a an interesting link about battery life.
http://psp.ign.com/articles/572/572563p1.html
note that they aren't continously playing the most demanding game on high sound and highest screen brightness (still 4-6 hrs is short, but hey i can charge it, electrical outlets are robust in the area i live).
Please could you guys who have got the PSP help me here. If i want to get a bigger memory stick, what does it have to be? Do you have to stick with the Sony Duo with the Magic Gate or can you go for other brands? Has anyone experimented ?
Because 32mb is tiny!!! You can only put about 7-10 good mp3s on that, and thats taking the whole 32mb.
This was the one thing i was surprised about.....any suggestions?
Thanks in advance
Playing for 5 hours now, 30% battery left !
This is GREAT !
You bought 30 PSPs? Did you shoot JFK too? I was there yesterday morning and queued for 3 hours. When the stores opened Sony only let the stores sell one unit and one game to each person only. Did they sell you one for each of your alternate personalities?
Thankfully -- with the help of my girlfriend -- I was able to buy 2 PSPs. One for my personal abuse and one as a Christmas present for my little brother in the UK. As soon as we had them I went home put them both on charge and went straight to work.
After finishing teaching I came back at 4 pm for a long session of Armor command. While I had the time I thought I would test both PSPs and the two games. First UMD all good. Second UMD…….our survey says “Uh Uh”. Oh s$%^! It’s screwed.
So armed with the dodgy UMD I charged back to the store in Akihabara I had bought my PSP from that morning. The shop staff were very efficient and I managed to get the faulty UMD exchanged without much trouble.
The silver lining to this story is that while I was there I was also able to buy more games. So now I have Armor Command, Ridge Racer, Vampire chronicles and Everybody's golf. I hasten to add that all of the other games I purchased were fine. I was just unlucky enough to get probably the only dodgy UMD sold that day.
Based only on my limited experience I would like to offer a word of advice for anyone buying in the UK or US from an importer or through Ebay. Don’t buy ‘box fresh’ and sealed unless you can get a faulty UMD exchanged. Check the kit out first or make sure someone has checked the kit out before you buy. The cards are magic gate cards and Sony has 128 Meg versions available with larger ones bound to come later.
Other stuff
Start up
When you switch on this bad boy the first thing you see is a menu saying Japanese or English. Then it’s a simple matter of setting the date and time. Once you have done this all the menus are in English and its party time.
The UMDs
The UMDs load into a bay behind the screen reminiscent of mini-disks. Games take about 15 or twenty seconds to load into memory after that there is no lag or constant disk searching.
Memory Card.
The games save onto the default 32 magic gate card. The 32 meg seems a bit small but Sony has 128 Meg versions available with larger to follow if 32 meg is too small.
Sound quality
Anyway, moving on…………I disagree with the comments from the previous posters about the speaker sound quality on the PSP being poor. The two I managed to get were fine. Also, with the set of headphones provided the quality was good. My only gripe about the headphones is that they are --like my mum's toaster and Kenwood food processor-- white. These make you look like a bit of an iWannabe as the PSP is black. However this is a minor quibble.
Look and feel
The look and feel of the PSP is similar to the plain black, flip front, car stereo head units made by Sony. While in your mitts the PSP feels both light, and comfortable without at the same time feeling like if you grasp it to strongly you will break it. I played Vampire Chronicles (my current favorite) for three hours last night without experiencing sore thumbs, wrist pain or eyestrain.
Screen quality
What amazed me most was the image quality and refresh rate of the screen. When playing Vampire Chronicles in turbo mode on the highest difficulty setting--which is crazy fast baby-- you get to see the computer kicking the living crap out of you in pixel perfect lag free Technicolor.
Games
I didn’t have much time to play yesterday as I had to work, change the faulty UMD and go on a date.
Vampire chronicles, by Capcom, is a six button beat ‘em up in the Street fighter vein..
Ridge Racer, is ridge racer, what do you expect for crying out loud? Mina no Golf (Everybody’s Golf) is essentially the same as Everybody’s Golf on the PS2. Both RR and MNG scale well on the PSP and (as on the PS2) are fun to play.
Armor Command I have only played briefly so far so I can’t say much. In armor command you have a team of 5 Mechs each with different abilities and you pit your Mechs against other Mechs from different teams across various arenas. It plays like a sort of real time, third person shooter come strategy affair. You kit them your boys out with various types of Armor, Weapons and Miscellaneous equipment, as you make your way through the 6 leagues.
Metal Gear Acid………….I want this but its not out here for a little while.
Conclusion
In short I am very happy with my purchase and would happily recommend the PSP as a mobile gaming platform to anyone with the cash to get one.
N64 was good
Is the PSP region free, those who have it? Also, can you buy a game from Japan, play it on the japanese psp in english? the previous person who posted said that he'd played some games; did you play them in english?
Thanks
A few more notes.
Havn't seen this mentioned yet, but the standby feature on the PSP is awesome. The manual says that this is not available on all games, but it works great on Ridge Racer.
While playing a game you just flip the power switch again and the system turns off (the green light will stay on for a few seconds).
Leave your system alone for a while, then come back and power it on again. The game starts up right to where you left it (for example in the middle of a race) and within a second you are racing again! Sure the load times are harsh (but understandable considering the PSP preloads as much data as possible to extend battery life), but at least you can start and stop the system on a dime.
Another thing I noticed is that now with the game saves going straight to a PC compatible memory stick, does this mean that game saves will be common as dirt (and possible soon to be virus laden?). Will I be able to email my Tekken Mobile savefile to a friend and give them all the unlocked characters? Not sure how I feel about that.
And a quick Q for others with the system. How can I change the red background at the Home menu from that angry red? All the early shots of the OS showed a blue back, but I can't find any settings that let me change the color.
although i dont personally have a PSP, i can say a couple of general things about it...
yes the PSP itself has the option to run in 'ENGLISH' mode, just like tv's and other crap has...
The games are in Japanese, you will find out some buttons in english, but the games are Japanese...
Furthermore... i cant imagine that de Memorysticks have a capacity of only 128mb, since i have a 256 duo (with magicgate, they all do nowadays...) And i know that there are 512mb versions for sale...
Kakyou
The menu background color changes every month, but you could probobly trick the PSP by changing it's date.
"itsgreen":
Yes, there are memorysticks with larger capacity, here is one that you can buy in Sweden;
http://www.cyberphoto.se/index.php?http://www.cyberphoto.se/info.php?article=MS1GBduoproS
The image shows a 256MB memorystick but the description and title says 1GB.
Sony+Software=Garbage...
Check this out from Gamespot..
This is how you put movies on your PSP
"The PSP reads video files using a directory structure that isn't put on the stick when you initially format it for PSP use. So you'll need to create a root directory called "mp_root" first, then place another directory named "100mnv01" under it. You put your MP4s inside that directory, but they must be named a certain way for the PSP to recognize them. The naming convention is m4vXXXXX.mp4, where "XXXXX" is a series of numbers, such as, say, 00001. Once you've jumped through these hoops--and it's really only a hassle the first time you do it--you'll be watching your own videos on a PSP. Why is it like that, you might ask? We're guessing that it's the same file structure that Sony's video recording memory stick devices use."
PFFFFFFFFFT... Screw off Sony.. this thing isn't gonna prop up your lame ass Connect service
Can you watch your own movies on the DS on a large beautiful screen? Didnt think so.
"and who the fuck is going to play a portable for like three hours without coming near an outlet?"
That's deliciously absurd - the point of something being portable is that you DON'T have to be near an outlet for an appreciable amount of time.
That being said, my SP lasts a solid 8-10 hours, perfect for long trips in cars, and me not having to purchase a car power adapter. ;D
(American who has not had one)
Looks good for what I have read but has all the bugs been squashed? I have been wanting a SP for a while now and hoping to get one. I think I will stick with Nintendo for a while.
At least the SP has been out for a while and any bugs detected. DS and PSP can wait. Although both look good.
Just my opinion, but I will take battery life over visual effects everytime.
And one more question, is it any better than the PS2? Mine stopped working recently. Stopped playing almost all games and dvds. Could someone explain this to me? I WANT MY PS2 TO WORK AGAIN SO BAD! If any one from sony is reading this, the PS2 is a great system. I think I might have just used it too much. I bought it in late 90's and used it for PS1 games to. I will be buying a new PS2 soon to replace my old one. Anyone know if the new thinner PS2's are better than the original ones?
On side note. Do you really have to charge up and completely decharge SP when you first get it? I didnt know that. Thanks for bringing that up.
In conclusion:
Great Job Nintendo!
Great Job Sony!
Keep up the good work.
DJ
(American who has not had one)
Looks good for what I have read but has all the bugs been squashed? I have been wanting a SP for a while now and hoping to get one. I think I will stick with Nintendo for a while.
At least the SP has been out for a while and any bugs detected. DS and PSP can wait. Although both look good.
Just my opinion, but I will take battery life over visual effects everytime.
And one more question, is it any better than the PS2? Mine stopped working recently. Stopped playing almost all games and dvds. Could someone explain this to me? I WANT MY PS2 TO WORK AGAIN SO BAD! If any one from sony is reading this, the PS2 is a great system. I think I might have just used it too much. I bought it in late 90's and used it for PS1 games to. I will be buying a new PS2 soon to replace my old one. Anyone know if the new thinner PS2's are better than the original ones?
On side note. Do you really have to charge up and completely decharge SP when you first get it? I didnt know that. Thanks for bringing that up.
In conclusion:
Great Job Nintendo!
Great Job Sony!
Keep up the good work.
DJ
hey mike, you said "Sony+Software=Garbage..."
name me 4 good games that will be out on DS before february. I only looked at release dates on IGN, but it seems like the ported N64's mario 64 is the only decent game for quiet sometime.
many of hte flag ship games (metroid, advanced wars, mario kart, etc.) aren't coming out till the 2nd to 4th quarters of '05! This is why I feel like waiting on DS and PSP isnt even out in america until march.
Four good DS games? Okay:
1: Super Mario 64 DS
2: Spider-Man 2
3: Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits
4: Feel the Magic: XY/XX
5: Sprung
6: Ridge Racer
I guess that was 6 games, huh?
And if you like sports games you can even add Madden and Tiger Woods to that list.
eh.. first of all...DS can already play all GBA games, so rest assured the GBA will continue to be supported..
furthermore.. what I meant was Sony sucks a fat knob at making software (I wasn't referring to their developers)..
But of course, every developer under the sun will be writing kickass new stuff for the DS
Anything on the PSP can be done on the DS.. but the reverse is not true..of course..
---
to darx.. you can't watch movies on the PSP with a big beautiful screen.. you have to settle for a 4 inch screen held a foot away from your face...
it's called a laptop.. look into it.. portable video is nowhere.. Sony's convergence is a joke..
Lastly.. (i'm jumping all over the place here) the DS will be getting some KICK ASS games from the likes of Sega, Capcom, Namco, Square-Enix and...em.. what's that other one..er.. oh yeah.. Nintendo..
Expect to see explosive adoption of games like Zelda DS, Mario Kart DS and an upcoming quasi-Online RPG game from..... yup, they're back...Square-Enix.. and this is on top of all the Crystal Chronicles stuff...
There's also a Mother game coming out.. drool drool drool..
And with 5 million sold by March.. why not.? if you want to make money, you'll make DS games (which by the way.. are about 30 bucks US.. sweet huh?)
goodness..looks like this is gonna turn out to be another coke vs pepsi, mac vs windows, etc sort of war.. =/
honestly though,aren't some of the arguements totally irrelevant?5 million sold by March means its better?okayyyy...so i guess all those expensive hotels are worst than those budget hotels since they technically have less "sales"..haha..the beauty of analogies...
just to be fair...being able to play movies on a portable console also doesn't make it a better product..in a way...or having a wider screen does not necessarily make the gaming experience better..
personally my arguement is,i think both products have its strengths,weaknesses,ups and downs..its just down to the individual preferences of what u want..if u like pepsi better then fine,buy pepsi and enjoy it urself..if u like mac is a godsend and windows is satan then fine,worship it at ur own accord..if u prefer certain qualities of the PSP(screen,design,etc) then get it..if u think DS has more games,better sound,WI-FI then good,use ur own hard-earned cash to get it..unless u work for either side of the company,its not ur job to "convert" either side..4 words,total WASTE of energy..just sit back and enjoy what u bought..the world will be a better place without this petty arguements.. =)
P/S: in case u do wanna know..wana take a guess which i like more?*hint*i'm a sucker for appearences..hey..i do own an apple powerbook.. ;-P
Someone asked a good question about the languages of the available games. Here is the skinny…….
Vampire chronicles has all English menus so it's a piece of cake. However, if you really wanted to know to know why your character didn't like clowns, who really was your father or why the old enemy of your character really detested you.....you are out of luck. It's all in Japanese. However, in all fairness this doesn't really detract from the game or stop you giving all your freakily dressed adversaries the button mashing beat down they so richly deserve.
Ridge Racer is in Japanese but the menu system is simple and even a performing chimpanzee could navigate it. I mean to be fair what do you need to know? Manual? Automatic? Which track? It's hardly brain surgery.....
Everyone's Golf is in Japanese with some English -- the most useful part the attribute menus. This is not an issue as Golf is Golf and once you have navigated the menu system its all good. Actually I found the commentary really adds to the game. For example when you have just succeeded in getting your spiky haired protagonists golf ball onto the green you are rewarded with a cry of "Nisu approachii" [Nice approach]. For those who don’t know this all words in Japanese end with a vowel except those ending 'n'. Even the character set they use for foreign words so ‘Ice Coffee’ becomes ‘Isu Koki’. I don't know how to convey this in words but for some reason it's just much cooler in enthusiastic Japanese than some chick with an unenthusiastic preppy accent telling you the same in English.
Armor command has English menus but the technical stuff is all in Japanese. This is a problem because of the games technical content. You need to configure your mech properly before each battle or you can get your a$$ handed to you in a bag. I can read Hiragana, Katakana and some Kanji so for me having a game in Japanese is not normally a big issue for me. However, as this there is a lot of Kanji here which I can't read so I think unless you have a buddy to translate or someone to show you the ropes I think you will need to be very patient to get the most out of this game.
The other two currently available titles (Mahjong and the strange puzzle music game), I haven't seen so I can't comment. I hope that answers your question dude. In short don’t worry about the fact that the available games are in Japanese. It doesn’t impede your enjoyment.
This is a mixed blessing as last night I played Everybody’s Golf until five this morning……..not good when you have to be in work at 8am. When Metal Gear comes out I am going to lose my job I swear. The worst part is that as I write this post I am finding myself fidgeting and counting the minutes until 1pm. At which time I can wolf down some sandwiches and get 55 minutes in on Everybody’s Golf at a caf?ear my work place. This is deeply sad to admit but I couldn’t bring myself to leave it home I tried to leave it charging but it 'just jumped into my bag'. Only 15 minutes to go. Soon precious soon.........;).
P.s. As mentioned by the poster above the pause feature is cool. You just turn your PSP off in the middle of a game and then turn it back on an hour later and you are back where left off. I personally found no trouble with load times for Everybody's Golf. It's instantaneous.
Hey does the Japanese Version of the PSP come with a world wide warranty? Or is it only valid in Japan? Because it would suck for people to buy it outside of Japan and not get a warranty thats valid...wouldnt be so screwed if you just return home from a Japan trip, or you bought it off ebay or something and say the PSP monitor gave way?!?!? How shitty would you feel :p .So you guys with one, could you tell us if it does??
Just got my PSP delivered to me here in California, for my Christmas present..... my mother happened to be taking a trip to Tokyo, so I gave her the cash of $500 so she could grab me the Value Pack and 5 games.
I would have the game in my hand a DAY EARLY had I been there, since my family over there has connections, but alas, I am working in L.A., so there you go.
Anyways -
my screen has a blemish.
It's got those "water spot" or "air bubbles" from the silicone layer to give it that "glossy" look - I guess my one just happened to be one of those that got unlucky during the bonding process.
There's nothing wrong with the LCD, but to the inexperienced eye, it may look like a damaged PIXEL. But it isn't. It's in the coating.
Other than that, I can't complain.
The games look great, the controls are simple, and the overall build of the machine is about as I expected - flimsy, makes your hand sweat a lot, and the fit and finish is so-so. But I didn't expect any more than that these days with the way plastic quality has gone.
But be-jesus the plastic case that hold the UMD is BIG! The case is bigger than the PSP itself! With the UMD being so small, I thought it would be those sqaure sized cases just to hold the UMDs.
Not so great to carry those large plastic cases around, I can assure you - 5 cases takes up the bottom end of a backpack.
I hope they will hurry up and come out with the UMD Holder accessory that can hold 10 disks all in a nice little sling.
The UMDs -
I am assuming that eventually, DUST will get in to the underside of the plastic of the disk, and wreak havoc...... at 5000 Yen, this may seem a little steep, considering how we are going to need to buy new ones once the dust gets in and the game no longer functions.
Why they did not simply make these the mini version of their MDs is beyond me. A nice sliding cover such as on the MD would have been so much better for the disk, to be thrown around, etc etc.....
Now I would have to treat these just like regular CDs and in fact, be MORE CAREFUL, since I won't be able to rip copies of these for safe keeping.
There you go.
For those of you who need them, we have 8 Gb memory sticks in Japan for about 200,000 JPY and 4 GB for about 108,000 JPY.
Please spam me: hansl@neuroscienceinc.com