On a somewhat more negative note:
Some of you may recall that I've been a bit dismissive of the PSP in the past. I haven't really changed my mind. I was initially a huge PSP booster and I really wanted one. At least until I saw the enormous price tag and the anemic game selection. And although I love the one I have now, I still think the price tag has been too high and still is if you're buying new. As for games...well, there are a lot more of them than there used to be, and enough of them are reasonably high quality that I'm not dissatisfied with my choice. But there's still not a lot of compelling reasons to buy the PSP based on game selection alone. The DS's got quite a bit more going for it on that front, at least in my mind.
There are other issues that I wasn't nearly as aware of before. The analog stick is ridiculous. I don't just mean that there's only one, I also mean that it's awkward to use and does not feel especially analog either. I greatly prefer using the D-pad, but that's not always practical. There's no screen protection built in, which is potentially worrisome. And most pressingly, the battery life is shit.
Seriously. I've never had battery life issues with either my GBA or my DS. Admittedly I don't tend to play either in extended sessions, preferring to complete a couple of levels or missions or whatever before setting it back down and doing something else. But I'd guess that I get a minimum of 6-10 hours of gameplay out of a single charge, which tends to translate into lasting weeks. The PSP has been known to get less than three hours, depending on what you do with it. And unlike the DS, the plethora of things it can do suggests that it's meant to be taking an active role in your life almost no matter what you're doing.
Oh, and of course, much of the stunning potential of the device comes in the form of homebrew software run off one's memory stick. Sony is doing its level best to do away with this wonderful potential altogether. Ah, Sony, when will you stop shooting yourself in the foot? I really shouldn't have had to go through a lengthy (if not especially tricky, once I deciphered the instructions) hacking session just to get my PSP to be the powerful lifestyle tool it's been positioned as.
Meanwhile, on the games front - Metal Gear Acid is still enthralling me, but I do have one significant complaint. To wit: MGA isn't just a card-based stealth strategy game. It's a collectible-card-based stealth strategy game. I'm not especially worried by the translation of a wide variety of equipment, characters, and actions into cards that must be carefully assembled into finely tuned decks. That's neat. But it's extremely fucking aggravating to have to grind points to buy packs of three random cards until you finally manage to luck into getting the card(s) you need. I have never, EVER appreciated the random nature of the basic building blocks of collectible gaming. I really wish CCGs (and the collectible miniatures games for that matter) were Customizable Card Games and not Collectible Card Games. But at least with most of them, you can buy individual cards at a mark-up based on rarity so that if you're missing a couple of key cards, you don't have to mill through dozens of booster packs. Metal Gear Acid offers no such option. Oh, a small handful of cards are specifically placed on the various maps for your discovery, but we aren't talking the actual key cards. Just a few bonuses.
It's not enough to stop me from playing, but I do wish they'd chosen a different path.
Some of you may recall that I've been a bit dismissive of the PSP in the past. I haven't really changed my mind. I was initially a huge PSP booster and I really wanted one. At least until I saw the enormous price tag and the anemic game selection. And although I love the one I have now, I still think the price tag has been too high and still is if you're buying new. As for games...well, there are a lot more of them than there used to be, and enough of them are reasonably high quality that I'm not dissatisfied with my choice. But there's still not a lot of compelling reasons to buy the PSP based on game selection alone. The DS's got quite a bit more going for it on that front, at least in my mind.
There are other issues that I wasn't nearly as aware of before. The analog stick is ridiculous. I don't just mean that there's only one, I also mean that it's awkward to use and does not feel especially analog either. I greatly prefer using the D-pad, but that's not always practical. There's no screen protection built in, which is potentially worrisome. And most pressingly, the battery life is shit.
Seriously. I've never had battery life issues with either my GBA or my DS. Admittedly I don't tend to play either in extended sessions, preferring to complete a couple of levels or missions or whatever before setting it back down and doing something else. But I'd guess that I get a minimum of 6-10 hours of gameplay out of a single charge, which tends to translate into lasting weeks. The PSP has been known to get less than three hours, depending on what you do with it. And unlike the DS, the plethora of things it can do suggests that it's meant to be taking an active role in your life almost no matter what you're doing.
Oh, and of course, much of the stunning potential of the device comes in the form of homebrew software run off one's memory stick. Sony is doing its level best to do away with this wonderful potential altogether. Ah, Sony, when will you stop shooting yourself in the foot? I really shouldn't have had to go through a lengthy (if not especially tricky, once I deciphered the instructions) hacking session just to get my PSP to be the powerful lifestyle tool it's been positioned as.
Meanwhile, on the games front - Metal Gear Acid is still enthralling me, but I do have one significant complaint. To wit: MGA isn't just a card-based stealth strategy game. It's a collectible-card-based stealth strategy game. I'm not especially worried by the translation of a wide variety of equipment, characters, and actions into cards that must be carefully assembled into finely tuned decks. That's neat. But it's extremely fucking aggravating to have to grind points to buy packs of three random cards until you finally manage to luck into getting the card(s) you need. I have never, EVER appreciated the random nature of the basic building blocks of collectible gaming. I really wish CCGs (and the collectible miniatures games for that matter) were Customizable Card Games and not Collectible Card Games. But at least with most of them, you can buy individual cards at a mark-up based on rarity so that if you're missing a couple of key cards, you don't have to mill through dozens of booster packs. Metal Gear Acid offers no such option. Oh, a small handful of cards are specifically placed on the various maps for your discovery, but we aren't talking the actual key cards. Just a few bonuses.
It's not enough to stop me from playing, but I do wish they'd chosen a different path.
DS for pres.