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[JoshuaJSlone]

PSP's battery life will be a problem, but not nearly as much as GameGear/Nomad.

The PSP is a rechargable battery. The big problem with those other portables was that you had to buy batteries every few hours. While it will be annoying to have such a limit on play time, it is just a matter of plugging it into the wall to get a fresh charge. Nobody is going to have to stockpile on AA batteries for when the old ones die.

A valid point. Of course you could get batteries for those devices, but that it's standard helps on cost, size, and knowing it will be of good quality.


I don't see it quickly skimming this topic, but is it known how much juice the PSP's battery will hold, as compared to GBA SP? They're both lithium ion and will both repower from the same wall sockets, so I'm wondering if we can extrapolate what the recharge time will be for PSP.

 

[Culex]

The Nomad had a rechargeable battery pack that you could buy.

 

[Archaix]

The Nomad had a rechargeable battery pack that you could buy.

Okay, fine, then the problem with the nomad was that it was a fifteen pound portable

 

[Mashing]

Hell, even the original Gameboy had a rechargable battery pack.

 

[Azih]

I just don't understand the point of the PSP if it's meant to be played in the home. I mean why not just plug in the PS3 or whatever?

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Culex:

The Nomad had a rechargeable battery pack that you could buy.

Mashing:

Hell, even the original Gameboy had a rechargable battery pack.

Yeah, but when they're built in they're good, and everyone has one. As an original GBA owner I tried to be price-conscious, but instead ended up with 2 crappy third-party rechargeable batteries.



On some previous iteration of this forum 1-2 years back, someone made a post saying they hoped for a sort of hardcore-aimed "portable" system. Higher specs, bigger screen, could be more expensive because of its different target. Seems like PSP is turning out as this person had hoped.

 

[btrboyev]

is this not good enough graphics for you?

Am I supposed to see a pic???

 

[Panajev2001a]

I like Kutaragi a lot, but like most Japanese evil geniuses, he's a bit too stubborn for his own good. Someday it's gonna come back to bite him in his smiley little ass.

Well, Idei is doing the best he can to try to make this happen: of course, he and all the people who dislike Kutaragi's approach and ideals will be able to laugh it all the way to the Chapter 11hearing, if the situation goes to such bad depths, because Sony just lost their last hope ( Sony: we have great technology and fucktard management [Kutaragi's ideas cannot work if all other Sony subdivision do not accelerate faster in the path to co-operation that Transformation 60 wants to achieve] ).

 

[jarrod]

I don't see it quickly skimming this topic, but is it known how much juice the PSP's battery will hold, as compared to GBA SP? They're both lithium ion and will both repower from the same wall sockets, so I'm wondering if we can extrapolate what the recharge time will be for PSP.

GBASP's standard battery is 600 mAH and takes ~3 hours to fully recharge. So using fuzzy math PSP's standard 1800 mAH battery would take... 9 hours to charge? :/

 

[GDGF]

So the recharge time for an advanced 3D game could likely be three times longer than the playtime you're granted on said game? Smooth move, Sony...

 

[MrPing1000]

its a speaker

 

[Chibbi Brady]

Have we actually heard anything about the recharge time?

 

[jarrod]

Over at Tokyopia Fishie revealed the DS battery will be exactly double the charge of the standard GBA battery and last just as long. So for all those wondering, it'll be...

GBA SP (600 mAH) ~10-12 hours gameplay ~3 hours recharge
GBA SP upgrade (1000 mAH) ~18-20 hours gameplay ~5 hours recharge?
Nintendo DS (1200 mAH) ~10-12 hours gameplay ~6 hours recharge?
Zodiac (1450 mAH) ~no idea ~7.5 hours recharge?
PSP (1800 mAH) ~2-10 hours gameplay (game dependant) ~9 hours recharge?

...he also revealed that Sony will be releasing an external PSP battery upgrade for longer lasting gameplay but it'll be bulky and expensive. :/

 

[CrimsonSkies]

3 hours is pathetic for a handheld. No way to defend that.

 

[kaching]

I haven't had a rechargeable Li-Ion device yet that needed more than 3-4 hrs of recharge time...MP3 player, PDA, Laptop, Digital Camera... after the initial "break-in" charge.

I'm not sure the relationship between mAH and recharge rate is strictly linear...

 

[jarrod]

I'm not convinced either... can we get any experts on the subject in here?

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

Yeah, people are forgetting about the long travel times. 5 hours from the East Coast to LA for E3? Forget about it for select games. Not to mention the extra hours it takes to drive to and from the airport. Imagine if you had to recharge the phone every 5 hours? I hate when my cell phone dies out and dies out more frequently. This is a bad choice for Sony. Not a deal breaker but to pay allegedly so much, it's a kick in the pants.

 

[kaching]

did some googling...

http://www.batteryprice.com/BigToe/...4459&ACBSessionID=qxxpjy0bv5sfyPisR6h0&SID=2&

Charging your battery:
Rechargeable batteries will perform better when trickle charged. Rapid or Fast charging can be used with NiCd, NiMH and Li-IOn batteries, but you must be sure that your charger can handle the cell chemistry involved. Please consult your charger manufacturer's user guide for these specifications.

To calculate charge time for your battery, use the following equations:

Slow charger: (Cell capacity in mAh / Charging rate in mA) x 1.4 = Time in hours

Fast charger: (Cell capacity in mAh / Cahrging rate in mA) x 1.5 = Time in hours

For example if you have a 1700mAh battery and a charger charging at 700mA, you will need to charge the battery for approximately 3 1/2 hours.

 

[jarrod]

Thanks Kaching.

Using the forumla for GBA SP...

Standard Battery
Slow Charger: (600 mAH/320 mA) X 1.4 = 2.6 hours
Fast Charger: (600 mAH/320 mA) X 1.5 = 2.8 hours

Upgrade Battery
Slow Charger: (1000 mAH/320 mA) X 1.4 = 4.4 hours
Fast Charger: (1000 mAH/320 mA) X 1.5 = 4.7 hours

...that can't be right, why would the "fast charger" specs take longer? What am I doing wrong? :/

At least the actual results (under 3 hours for GBASP, exactly what Nintendo's quoted) seem on target. Now we just need to know what DS, Zodiac and PSP's chargers run at...

 

[Mashing]

This is why Nintendo handhelds don't have the best possible graphics they could. They design the system AROUND the battery... instead of vice versa... Sony is going to learn this the hard way I'm afraid.

 

[cvxfreak]

Pretty crappy battery life.

 

[B E N K E]

Is there any word on the external battery pack mentioned in the PSP press release. I mean, it's going to be pretty big anyway so if I can double or triple battery life with an external source I'm all for it.

 

[Justin Bailey]

WELL THAT ABOUT WRAPS IT UP FOR THE PS. . .*ahem*

I mean, 2-3 hours? Good lord, I was expecting low (maybe 4-5 hours), but that is just sick. Hopefully that is an extreme lowball estimate, otherwise somebody needs to add a PSP to that gameboy "gravedigging" pic.

 

[belgurdo]

*could care less about battery life, since this thing will spend 90% of its life plugged in indoors like all of his other portables*

 

[heidern]

That is very poor battery life. What it means is every time you play your psp you should probably recharge. It's bad enough you can't use it for long journeys, but if you use your system even semi-regularly it will be a big hassle. If you use it for an hour on a trip one day you'll be halfway out of gas. So do you recharge it, or risk it running out when you want to use it. It is very impractical, I've had enough issues with the GBA and that offers a dozen hours of gaming. It seems to me the psp is like a Ferrari, its really nice to look at with a high desirability quotient and handles great but it won't be practical or affordable for most people and remain a niche product.

 

[Gattsu25]

Most of my portable game time is spent indoors as well…but…3 hours is too damn low. :\


Despite the fact that i think the PSP >>> DS, I'll probably skip the PSP until/unless the thing drops in price, offers great games, and has a larger battery life. (larger battery or something :b)

 

[heidern]

Gotta ask, but for all people who're gonna just use it in the home, rather than buying the psp, why not just buy half a dozen ps2 games?

 

[belgurdo]

Gotta ask, but for all people who're gonna just use it in the home, rather than buying the psp, why not just buy half a dozen ps2 games?

1. Same reason why people don't buy two gamecube titles in lieu of a GBA-original content. Plus, just because you have a portable doesn't necessarily mean you have to take it outside to play all the time

2. Sake of collecting.

 

[neptunes]

it's funny seeing people run damage control

 

[mj1108]

otherwise somebody needs to add a PSP to that gameboy "gravedigging" pic.

 

[jarrod]

1. Same reason why people don't buy two gamecube titles in lieu of a GBA-original content.

Playing devil's advocate here, wouldn't PSP & PS2 stand a much higher chance of software redundancy than GC & GBA? I don't think the comparison really works...

 

[Yossarian]

Gotta ask, but for all people who're gonna just use it in the home, rather than buying the psp, why not just buy half a dozen ps2 games?

because they won't be in a cute format or on a small screen

 

[neptunes]

get a small lcd screen

 

[Yossarian]

I really, really hate that picture. First of all, if what it appears to be depicting is real, its completely fucking tasteless, and God knows its gonna be thrown in everyone's face when the situation finally does turn-around.

 

[Yossarian]

actually, now that I think about it, shouldn't the various Gameboys be throwing the DS into the pit as well?

 

[Chrono]

With a 3-hour battery life Sony better ensure some ground-breaking exclusives for the PSP. And not just PS2 ports. I wonder though if a developer can make such a game would prefer the PSP over the PS2/PS3. It's much riskier. We're not talking about a 2D game here but a full-blown 128-bit level product. If you have those resources you better dedicate them to the leading console and not some 3-in-1 wannabe going up against the 800 pound gorilla that is Nintendo.

I don't see square, for example, wasting a new game/franchise on the PSP then porting it over to the PS2. I think the opposite will happen and it will be PSP's biggest flaw. A remake of Chrono Trigger for example should be on PS2/PS3. The PSP would just ruin it. =\

 

[neptunes]

Does anyone have that pic of the external battery ?

 

[sohka88]

so the guy says the battery life will fluctuate by the game from 3-10 hours yet every one took it as 3 hours. Haters.

 

[neptunes]

depending on what game is played.

 

[jarrod]

so the guy says the battery life will fluctuate by the game from 3-10 hours yet every one took it as 3 hours. Haters.

Everyone took it for 3 hours in something like GT4mobile... don't worry, I'm sure Tetris Classic will last the full 10 though.

 

[DCharlie]

will BC be a big factor in the PSP v DS battle?

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

so the guy says the battery life will fluctuate by the game from 3-10 hours yet every one took it as 3 hours. Haters.

Actually, he said 2.5, not 3. And that it would be for games "cycling through and putting the CPU to good use", which seem like things that will happen a lot outside of Tetris.

 

[Bebpo]

Playing devil's advocate here, wouldn't PSP & PS2 stand a much higher chance of software redundancy than GC & GBA? I don't think the comparison really works...

Errr, so what? Are you trying to say there won't be original games?

Say the % of the GBA library that is ports is maybe 15-25%
Say the % of the PSP library that will be ports is maybe 50-75%

The bottom line? There will still be a good amount of original games on the system, and even people who don't play handhelds on the go will buy a PSP for these games, plug the system in and play them because in the end they are good games.

I've own a GBA and GBA SP and a ton of games, yet I've only taken the system outside my house maybe once or twice. I buy GBA games because they are good games, not because they are portable.

 

[SolidSnakex]

will BC be a big factor in the PSP v DS battle?

It's a definite advantage, there's no denying that. There's nothing Sony can really do though to combat it though.

 

[jarrod]

will BC be a big factor in the PSP v DS battle?

Heh, hadn't thought of that. Will bc suddenly not be a big issue when Microsoft's not pushing the platform?

 

[Wario64]

They did say whether DS is compatible with regular Gameboy games as well? The only thing I heard about backwards compatailbity was that it could play GBA games...didn't hear anything else about regular GB games though

 

[neptunes]

people who don't play handhelds on the go will by a PSP for these games, plug the system in and...

you mean plug the system into a wall outlet.

 

[jarrod]

Errr, so what? Are you trying to say there won't be original games?

Say the % of the GBA library that is ports is maybe 15-25%
Say the % of the PSP library that will be ports is maybe 50-75%

The bottom line? There will still be a good amount of original games on the system, and even people who don't play handhelds on the go will buy a PSP for these games, plug the system in and play them because in the end they are good games.

I've own a GBA and GBA SP and a ton of games, yet I've only taken the system outside my house maybe once or twice. I buy GBA games because they are good games, not because they are portable.

I agree with all that but it seems to me generally that GBA and Gamecube have rather different libraries overall, while PS2 & PSP seem to be doing rather similar things. If I still had a PS2 I'd be far less inclined to invest in PSP, but having a GBA didn't keep me from anticiapting Gamecube fully. A direct comparison just doesn't work imo...

 

[DCharlie]

"Heh, hadn't thought of that. Will bc suddenly not be a big issue when Microsoft's not pushing the platform?"

he he - that's what i was getting at.

 

[jarrod]

They did say whether DS is compatible with regular Gameboy games as well? The only thing I heard about backwards compatailbity was that it could play GBA games...didn't hear anything else about regular GB games though

It can't unless it somehow emulates them (which is entirely possible btw), DS is missing the Z80 it'd need for GB/C playback. It can manage GBA thanks to it's ARM7 slave CPU. though