Pure on PSP slim-- and a question

[Frances_Penfold]

So I took the plunge and picked up a (silver) PSP slim with the Daxter pack. My overall impressions of the hardware are overwhelming positive.

* The lighter weight of the PSP slim makes gameplay more ergonomic, and also increases the likelihood that I carry Wipeout around with me. It's not like the old PSP was heavy but wow, the new PSP is a featherweight.

* The silver matt finish on the Daxter-pack PSP show much less in the way of fingerprints.

* The screen seems slightly improved to me, mostly due to better contrast and perhaps a bit less ghosting.

* The automatic "caching" of the PSP slim seems to work very well IF you turn the music off (click off all boxes on the soundtrack). With the music off, my impression is that you can move back and forth between tracks and the title screen MUCH FASTER than with the old PSP and with limited running of the UMD drive.

* Battery power seems excellent with the music off but actually WORSE than the original PSP with the music on.

The above impressions are based on 3-4 hours of gameplay with the PSP slim-- but I haven't done a scientific comparison of performance with my old PSP. Also, I don't have the cables to play the game on my TV so I can't comment on that issue.

I do have ONE MAJOR PROBLEM that may be unique to my PSP unit, e.g., due to a defect. It seems that when I am holding down the accelerate button (which is 99% of the time while playing Wipeout!) that sometimes the thrust just cuts out-- almost as if I had lifted my finger from the accelerate button. This causes my ship to spontaneous slow down or stop on the track even when I hadn't bumped a wall or an obstacle.

The game is still play-able on my PSP slim because the slow down only happens, well, maybe once every 30 second or so? Also, the effect is diminished (or unnoticeable) when racing over multiple boost pads. But it is nonetheless irritating.

My question to y'all is, have you ever experienced this cutting out of the thrust before, perhaps associated with a broken or damaged PSP, or with a particular firmware version, or whatever? I can return the silver PSP slim for a replacement but want to make sure this problem isn't endemic to the new PSP hardware or firmware before taking any drastic action.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated :)

[mdhay]

The thing about the thrust cut- off has confused me, too. I think it has something to do with the pressure exerted on the button, like I always seem to go faster with a turbo if I have the button held down :?

[Frances_Penfold]

Thanks, mdhay-- is this experience based on using the new PSP or the old one?

[mdhay]

The old one. But the same theory should apply.

Though it may be down to something else. I am on my second psp because of a firmware download malfunction, but the latter remained. Nothing is hardly 100% perfect, right? Unfortunate, but true.

[Frances_Penfold]

Any tips for dealing with the cutting out of the thrust? It just kills some of your runs, and you try again?

I should probably power up my old PSP and really study how the thrust works on my old one, for a proper comparison with the performance in my PSP slim.

[mdhay]

Try pressing the accelerate button with the end of your thumb. Though you may have to hold it awkwardly, it shouldn't happen.

[Frances_Penfold]

So the goal is to maintain constant, steady and heavy pressure? And that keeps the game from having the thrust cut out? I will try this, and then compare vs. my old PSP. Thanks, mdhay, I appreciate your insight :)

[Asayyeah]

Frances , i got a black slim one, i also experimented what you & Mdhay described perfectly about the cut off thrust.
My 1st thought is , as they refined the dpad , they may also have done it for the 4 buttons cause i feel the X button a bit 'harder' to push than the old one : from time to time ( not every 30 sec like you Frances cause i never released the trust in Pure ( except citta ;) ) my thumb is not fully pressing on it and i got that thrust cut-off.
2nd thought is an extension of the 1st one : all new psp slim may be affected by this.
Imo i feel the dpad issue more annoying for me ( pitch up or down i made a diagonale mostly happended for me rather than the X button cut-off )

[mdhay]

My psp has actually been doing the cut off thing too lately, I see what you mean! It really gets on your nerves :blarg!

But, the situation should be remedied now, but if there are still problems, you know where to find me!

(Actually, you may not, that's a typo ;).)

[Frances_Penfold]

Ooo, black PSP slim! You lucky dog, Asayeah :) I don't think those will be released in North America for some weeks.

In your opinion, which d-pad (PSP slim vs. PSP fat) is better for Wipeout Pure? I wasn't sure from your message.

Anyway, just got home from work and I'll try to find some time to compare the thrusting issue for the two PSP versions.

BTW, I have been playing on the PSP slim with the music turned off, and have found that the SLEEP MODE WORKS PERFECTLY even in the middle of a race?! I have not experimented much with sleep mode in the game previously because it has tended to crash the system.

Look forward to hearing more about folks' impressions of the new hardware :)

Hopefully Wipeout Pulse will be optimized for the PSP slim.

[Chill]

BTW, I have been playing on the PSP slim with the music turned off, and have found that the SLEEP MODE WORKS PERFECTLY even in the middle of a race?!


LOL!! That's gay... sleep mode is a worthless tool for me... I just pause it and switch sleep mode on manually so that my spot isn't lost if I ever have to leave for an emergancy, and this is even very rare...

[Frances_Penfold]

Hah. Well, I guess folks' mileage may vary :) For me, having an operational sleep mode is GREAT! I can pick up the PSP, race for 5 or 10 minutes, then put it straight back into sleep mode-- so that next time I play, I don't have to mess with menus or load times.

Also-- I am pretty sure that battery longevity is actually WORSE on the PSP slim if you are listening to music and (consequently) making the UMD drive run. I gather that the slim actually has a SMALLER battery than the PSP fat and that it is able to have similar battery life by being more efficient-- and that includes caching. Running music means that the UMD drive has to run constantly so it doesn't benefit as much from caching, leading to less battery longevity. Anyway, this is conjecture at this point but I suspect it's true, based on my experience so far.

Looking forward to hearing more impressions from y'all about the PSP slim, in particular about the button pressing issue :)

[mdhay]

....that is why I' m sticking to my old one...

[Lance]

LOL!! That's gay... sleep mode is a worthless tool for me... ~

.
I'm gay and it pisses me off to see this prejudiced use of the word 'gay' to mean something that's ****ed up. Do not use it here again.
.

[il_NIK]

.
...it pisses me off to see this prejudiced use of...


every kind of prejudice, I say

Let's be friends :+

[Chill]

.
I'm gay and it pisses me off to see this prejudiced use of the word 'gay' to mean something that's ****ed up. Do not use it here again.
.

My-my, looks like I hit a bit of a nerve their... it's all good bro. I thought you wouldn't of been so sensitive about it... it's not "****ed up", that's quite a bit dramatic for me... it wasn't used in that purpose. I thought that would've been obvious. Oh well, peace...

****EDIT****

Pobably to back on topic. If you have any more problems with me, just private message me please.

[Lance]

It is not ''all good''. Why would I not be sensitive about it? How would you like it if people said ''That is so Logan Erickson'' to indicate that something was other than what it should be? It would be a public insult to you no matter who said it or why. And people should know that it's insulting; I'm not going to PM or email everybody.

-------------------

Rob, do you remember when I was the calm one and you were the hot-tempered one? :D

[Chill]

It is not ''all good''. Why would I not be sensitive about it? How would you like it if people said ''That is so Logan Erickson'' to indicate that something was other than what it should be? It would be a public insult to you no matter who said it or why. And people should know that it's insulting.

Fine. I said it was all good to let you know I didn't mean anything by it, that's what that phrase means. "That's gay" is used quite more often then "That's Logan Erickson"... so if "That's Logan Erickson" was a popular phrase, I would'nt give a ****, because it's simply common. If that's the words people would choose to use, let them use them...

I would get over feeling like **** and just get used to hearing it, but that's just me. If you can just understand that what I said is a common phrase where I'm from, that would be very nice, but you're so sensitive!!!! It's common around me, Jesus!! Just like that word I just said!!! Nothing personal, and if I thought something was personal, I would PM people... this public chat of personals is not working for me... I'm done talking about it over forums, PM me or I'm not talking about it at all... period!!

[zargz]

well, it is common phrase with poorly educated kids and teenagers, yes, and I know it coz I work with them.
reading your last posts, chill, I thought you've grown up and calm down a lot since your first posts around here.
and that's good, but that doesn't mean this phrase is OK in fact imo it's a no no same as the n-word.
you've learned a lot since last time and may be now it's time to learn to admit when you are wrong.
so all you have to do now is say you are sorry and $7#¤. period.

[Rapier Racer]

the PSP fat

lol! I like that I think Sony should officially refer to the original as the PSP fat in all correspondence

Is it not true then, that there is a way to rig up a slim and light PSP with the PSP fats battery?

[Chill]

And I apologize Lance. ;) I guess zargz is more on track about the use of the phrase than I am... but just please remember, it wasn't in any way to make any kind of prejudice comment, just the way I talk... please forgive me my friend...

Back on topic!!! :D

[zargz]

nice one, chill 8):+
Is it not true then, that there is a way to rig up a slim and light PSP with the PSP fats battery?it is true RR. http://www.pspfanboy.com/2007/07/19/the-truth-about-psp-lites-battery-life/

[mdhay]

Switch on all of the power save settings, and check the light level. It may be the cause of the batteries longevity.

[Frances_Penfold]

I've put more time into the PSP slim, I am pretty confident that the battery life IS less than on the PSP fat if you run the game normally, i.e., with the music tracks on. The UMD drive runs A LOT when you have the music tracks on.

As noted in various sources, the PSP slim has a smaller battery but supposedly the unit can "break even" with the PSP fat because the slim is more energy efficient, and that includes more memory caching. When you have the music on, the UMD drive runs constantly, my guess is that this prevents the unit from being energy efficient.

If you turn the music tracks off, the difference between the PSP slim and PSP fat becomes more apparent. Load times are substantially reduced, the UMD drive is used much less, the sleep mode works flawlessly even when executed in the middle of a race, and the battery life is as good (maybe better?) than the fat. Of course, one of the best things about Wipeout is the music, so not everyone is going to want to shut down the music playing just to enjoy these advantages :)

The option of using a more powerful battery is intriguing but I want to see just how much the battery is going to hang out the back of the PSP slim, and how this affects the ergonomics of the system. One of the best things about the slim is it's smaller size and lighter weight, and I'm not willing to give that up.

--
Also, I'd be curious to hear more from Asayeah and other folks that have picked up the slim-- what's your feeling now about the d-pad difference and the issue of having to press the acceleration button harder?

[defor]

I've been out of the scene on and off over the last 2 years (job and life change).. just getting back in and suddenly see a new psp version with component out and pulse shipping shorty, this is great! I'm curious if anyone has tried the component/composite output, and how well it compares to the old PSP2TV signal. As my PSP2TV is pretty heavily used and the stand has been cracked numerous times, I'm looking for a replacement for output, specifically for wipeout....

If no one has compared the two, I suppose if I end up upgrading I might do a review of the two...

[Asayyeah]

Here's my comment on the 3 systems i used ( check point number 4 )http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showpost.php?p=71636&postcount=4

[Chill]

So, basically, the PSP Slim is better than the original right? :) Meaning a successful mission for Sony right?

[Asayyeah]

I haven't got any regret about it atm, but you know i make all things as safer as possible to avoid Sony from time to time lake of reliability of their console : i took a 3 years guarantee on the slim one.

[Rapier Racer]

You'd think there would be a picture of you in the shops and a big sign under it that says DO NOT GIVE THIS MAN EXTENDED PSP GUARANTEES!

[Asayyeah]

lol, insurance companie who provides this guarantee seems not knowing me very well :g
I ve worked for similar companie years ago : so it's time for PAYBACK :robot

[defor]

very cool Asayyeah... I think I'll pick up a slim tonight on the way home from work... I was unimpressed with the move from sd to hd with the psp2tv when i finally got my projector, mainly due to the wierd scaling the psp2tv was doing...

Edited:
wow... this is amazingly smooth compared to both the psp's internal video and the psp2tv. The scaling seems a little wierd as my projector will display the psp menus at full 720p/1080i, but crop down pure's.... still, playing pure at 30 inches at a very high framerate is hard to beat... Sony did well indeed. (now if only I had a way to connect a controller....)

[MarcoM]

I have the slim version now as well. I do not experience the thrust cut off.

It's lighter and especially the viewing angle of the screen is better. You can now tilt the psp further and still be able to see enough :rock

[Asayyeah]

The scaling seems a little wierd as my projector will display the psp menus at full 720p/1080i, but crop down pure's....
Menu of psp, films, pictures will be display full screen Sony said. About games it seems it wasn't possible to get full screen without enduring really weird result on screen.
On my lcd it's being displayed like an almost 22' to have a crystal clear picture : that suits me perfectly

[Sausehuhn]

Isn't it possible to zoom into the picture with some TVs or projectors? At least our old SDTV can do that. Has no component-input, though...