PSP Go

[Red coupe]

lol, so basicly your problems with the PSN store is that you haven't looked at it in ages and your PSP is broken.

Those money grubbing Sony bastards

Sony constantly tweaks and updates their store, and their online services. It all did start off admittedly shaky, but they have unleashed a constant stream of improvements since.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I never called Sony money grubbing bastards. I called them paranoiac distrustful morons.

And the fact that I haven't touched my PSP is only responsible for me being behind the times. The store DID suck, and gave me tons of problems. My previous adventures with the PS store:

zerothread?id=396536

I realize this all does sound like pathetic whining, but my experiences before today with the PS store have been inexpressibly frustrating. My every effort to just deal with the broken and work around it resulted in only more broken. It was not the kind of experience that one wants to repeat...which is why I hadn't messed with the store again until today.

If XBL or Nintendo's stores or Steam were ever as frustrating to use, you'd hear me rip on them as well. Sony's not getting picked on just because I dislike them.

[Red coupe]

Honestly though, I think sony has every right to be paranoid with the PSP. Most people who have PSP's play pirated games on them. So they don't spend the time to make games that are just gonna get stolen.... So people don't bother buying game they just download them... Its a downward spiral that is killing itself IMO.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Yeah, I agree there.

I think, though, that's a sign that they should just stop with the aggressive anti-piracy measures. If it's not working, stopping won't mean a significant increase in piracy...but it will mean an increase in simplicity of use for everyone else. I dunno...I'm of the mindset that it's not worth a poorer experience for your paying customers to punish your non-paying customers. It's in the nature of the game that software piracy will happen. Instead of trying to directly combat it, they should fight it through indirect means, such as making people WANT to pay for the game...

I have never really been a piracy kind of person simply because I like supporting the developers who make the games I enjoy playing. Inspiring respect is a great way to combat piracy. Won't work for everyone, but for those on the fence it'd make a difference I think. Also, if the difference in the ease of obtaining a game legally vs illegally can make a big difference, too. If you make legally purchased games very slick and simple to obtain, I think that would make a big difference for a lot of people as well.

I mean, at the risk of going off on a lengthy tangent, look at things like Starforce and EA's DRM fiasco. The people who really want to pirate games will get around those things, which leaves only the good, paying, honest customers to be harmed by them. I wish Sony would take a step back and realize that. Maybe ease off a little and weigh the situation.

[OldmanPurdy]

Also, if the difference in the ease of obtaining a game legally vs illegally can make a big difference, too. If you make legally purchased games very slick and simple to obtain, I think that would make a big difference for a lot of people as well.

Quite true! look at GOG.com they have a huge selection of older easily pirateable games yet they still have tons of sales because the games are all $5.99 - $9.99, DRM free, and it takes less time to buy and download one than it would for someone to hunt for a working torrent or whatever.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Eh, I'm still having issues with the store. My PSP refuses to work in USB mode so I'm reduced to downloading my latest purchase straight to the PSP. But it's a big one (FFVII...I figure maybe I'll actually play it if I have it on a portable) and the download server keeps timing out. And the PSP doesn't resume the download where it left off, so I'm getting nowhere in a hurry. Hopefully, sooner or later, the download will work. I know other people who have DLd FFVII directly so it has to work...eventually. I hope.

[s13jus10]

^^you get it to finish downloading? I just downloaded FFVII on my PS3 as well.. I miss this game so much hahah. told myself I was just gonna start it, get to the first save point, then stop (because I wanted to try out the new COD5 maps).. ended up playing 2.5 hours straight before throwing in the towel haha

my face looked like this the entire time

[MinisterofDOOM]

I honestly don't find anything drool-worthy about the game. It's fun, no doubt, but...nothing to drool over. And I can find a lot of faults with it. Primarily (as always) the stupid FF random battle system grates on me tremendously. It really puts a dent in the amount of time I can spend playing the game before having to take a break from it.

[Red coupe]

I was never a FF fan but I did try one of them... and the random battles pissed me off to no end. I think thats why I stopped playing... Well that and what always happens with RPGs, me wandering around with no f***ing idea where I am supposed to be, or what I am supposed to do...

I knew UMD wouldn't go mainstream, Sony is infamous for dead formats (Beta) I am still surprised at how Blue Ray won the battle.

Its still bothering me so I will rant a little more. This is like saying "I knew game boy cartage would never catch on" or "Yup, its just like the black faced PS one CDs... notice they don't make those anymore..."Its a game cartage first, its just that they finally made them with enough storage to hold movies. Its not like they made UMDs to hold media then figured it would work for games too... UMDs were made to hold games for a portable gaming system, not quite some failed format like beta max.
Modified by Red coupe at 12:23 AM 6/18/2009

[MinisterofDOOM]

Its a game cartage first

Exactly. UMD's success as a media format is entirely irrelevant to it's viability as a portable game storage media. I doubt Sony lost much on the experiment of trying to branch off into other media. In the end, the PSP still uses UMDs for games and that hasn't changed. Nothing is there to compete with it, it does its job well, there's really no "success" or "failure" anymore than there could be success for an NES cartridge.

[s13jus10]

I honestly don't find anything drool-worthy about the game. It's fun, no doubt, but...nothing to drool over. And I can find a lot of faults with it. Primarily (as always) the stupid FF random battle system grates on me tremendously. It really puts a dent in the amount of time I can spend playing the game before having to take a break from it.

well how much time have you logged into it? it's kinda hard to say that a 90+ hour long game is "nothing to drool over" when you've only put 30min into it. trust me, the drool-worthy story unveils itself as you progress further and further through the discs.

and why should the "random battle system" be classified as a "primary fault"? I love the random battle system. maybe you don't, but it's worked through countless numbers of RPGs. I think it adds to the challenge and strategy of using potions/ethers/other items sparingly, and it also makes the game a little less linear. you don't like any of the Pokemon games??

[MinisterofDOOM]

and why should the "random battle system" be classified as a "primary fault"?

Because I don't like it? Anything that impairs the gameplay experience is a fault. And random battles get in the way. They could easily be recalibrated to be less aggressive. The problem I have is that, combined with the clunky steering (something to be expected from an early 3D game) it can really frustrate. Trying to position yourself just right for that ladder, that ramp, that bridge, etc. often leads to an extra-annoying random battle when you're just trying to effing walk. Certainly random battles are key to grinding your party's stats...but that's no justification...grinding is never fun, no matter how much it pays you back. There are so many better ways Square could have gone with that. Could have done it like Earthbound, where there are monsters visibly walking around which you must walk up to to start a fight. The monsters respawn so you can still grind, but aren't stuck fighting when you just want to get on with something else.

But the biggest hit the game takes from the random battles is that they make me not care to explore. If every step I take is another chance at a battle I'd rather avoid, I'm going to take the LOS path and ignore everything. That's no way to promote exploration. At least make running away from non-critical battles simpler. If I end up taking damage anyway waiting for it to be successful, what's the point of running?

And yes, I liked the early gameboy Pokemon games. But at least those games had the tall grass mechanic so you could avoid random battles much of the time if you wanted to.

[RCA]

For those who are interested

http://technology.timesonline....0.ece