More on Sony PSP

After work last night I had more time to play with my new PSP and I also read more PSP reviews, etc. on the web. I like the reliance on the UMD micro-DVD style disks: the NAMCO Ridge Racer game has an unbelievably rich set of different race courses that to me more than make up for longer game loading times (as compared, for example, with game cartridges). I watched more of the bundled Spider Man II movie also: the PSP really is a good portable movie viewing device.

My brother in San Diego also just bought a PSP. When I see him, we will be able to try out the automatic networked game functionality. My brother bought a 256 MB memory card so he could load up his PSP with music and some family pictures, etc. I am not so interested in that: my iBook is portable enough and also has a cloned copy of my entire development environment.

The Ridge Racer car dynamics are not realistic (I took a three day professional racing class at Laguna Seca race course, so I have a valid opinion on this :-) but the important thing is that the game play is superb.

Unfortunately, the cost of entry for game developers is probably high for the PSP. I would like to see Sony do two things:
  • Provide a free or very low cost development system that worked by having a special boot loader use the USB interface to use a PC development system as a simulated UMD drive
  • Market UMD disks that hold many individual games written by individuals and small gaming companies

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