Wishlist: Ten changes to the PSP

[Amiga]

digital tv reception would be good.

[jaws365]

Would be nice if Sony put more effort in the controller. Playing games on various consoles/computers even for hours was never painful. But with PSP I became a mongo after a month.

[TimmyJ]

I love my PSP, but there's definitely room for imporvement. Here's my own little list:

1. Keep UMD
I'm getting tired of every idiot under the sun screaming that they want some sort of enormous hard drive in place of UMDs. No. That's the simple answer, can anyone that pushes for that possibly comprehend how much Sony would be lambasted for such a horrific decision?
The fact is that there are only two real problems with UMDs: battery life and load times. How could this be better solved than entirely removing the UMD slot? Add a 1.8GB cache for UMDs, this way there would be no need whatsoever for the disk to constantly spin, it could simply be cached and played off of the much faster flash.

2. Get on the ball with PS1 games
We have some decent official PS1 downloads, but the majority of decent PS1 games come either from our own collections or from the Internet, there are so many great PS1 games out there, why not give us all access to them?

3. Definitely dual analogue nubs
If it's for a second version of the PSP then let the second stick work in place of the face buttons, if there's a second PSP.. just give us a second nub.
Also, I wouldn't mind 'feeling' the analogue nub a bit more, currently it's difficult to move it slightly i.e. it's either all or nothing. Please fix that Sony.

4. Shift the power button and USB port
Having the power button in a position that wouldn't lead to me locking the buttons just as the dragon charges towards me would be hugely helpful. Having the USB port along the bottom of the device along with the DC and headphone ports would be perfect for a cradle type of device.

5. Use the IR port or get rid. Add Bluetooth
If the PSP came with the ability to control my PS2 via IR then I'd be a happy chappy, Bluetooth for some wireless headphones would be more than welcome too.

6. OLED screen
I've converted a whole bunch of my favourite films to the PSP's format, but can't enjoy any that involve a decent amount of movement/contrast. The amount of ghosting that goes on with a GAMING screen is simply unacceptable, especially considering that the screen was always one of the PSP's big selling points.
Making the screen OLED in place of LCD would allow for a higher contrast, a larger degree of viewing, and better battery life. All positives in my book.

7. Clamshell
I don't want to feel the need to put my PSP in a case before I move it anywhere, making the PSP a clamshell device would rectify this as the screen and buttons would both be covered. Take into consideration that aside from the size of it's components (something that ought to be reduced fairly soon) the screen's current position is a limiting factor in reducing the size of the PSP, avoiding thumb prints all over it just because I pressed the square button would be a welcome side-effect too.

8. Two memory stick slots/spare MS holder
Most people carry around or have a couple of memory sticks, being able to use or hold both of them in their intended device would be a brilliant convenience.

9. Music player
Sony wants to compete with the iPod right? The most popular music player on the market right? And they hope to do that with the most basic music playing function available?
I use my PSP for music all the time, but let's not pretend for a minute that it's got any of the bells and whistles that ought to be standard now.

10. Pay the PSP some attention
Throughout the runup to the PS3 I've felt like the third wheel with my PSP. It doesn't get anywhere near the first party support that it should do, and if it does then why aren't I aware of it? I follow PSP news more than the average Joe but I barely know of any games coming out for it apart from the biggest of biggies.
If the PSP has the games, market them. If the PSP hasn't got the games, make them.

Bonus: Lower the game prices
Currently it costs £40 for a new PS3/X360 game and £25-£30 for a new PSP game. Currently the development costs for PS3/X360 games are far greater than those for the PSP (or PS2 for that matter). Stop charging me through the nose for PORTABLE games.
I don't know anyone who feels it's justifiable to buy a portable game for the same price as a fully featured PS2 game, I certainly don't.

[AM4A1]

8. Two memory stick slots/spare MS holder
Most people carry around or have a couple of memory sticks, being able to use or hold both of them in their intended device would be a brilliant convenience.

I would love this feature the best. :thumbup:

[StuiWooi]

Firstly id like to shoot any developers who (if they are planning on making a update to psp hardware) that listen to things like touch screen and 2 analogue nubs - I mean what do you want two for? Playing FPSs? Completely unecessary...

What the PSP does need:
=A screen with a higher refresh rate
=Built in holder for at least another memory stick (maybe even have 2 plugged in)
=Organisation of music (say by artist) without having to create all the folders manually
=Inclusion of free video converting software in the box (admittedly it's easy enough to find yourself, but I've had to show a few less computer literate friends how to go about putting videos on)
=Possibly move around components (I've personally never turned it of by accident, but see how it could happen - put all switches on the top, and I'd like it if the analogue nub was above the d-pad)

[csd-san]

TimmyJ, I agree with you a lot. While I made my opinion of the PSP clear in an earlier post, I look at this as a wishlist for a PSP2.

However, I have a few constructive comments

1. Keep UMD
I'm getting tired of every idiot under the sun screaming that they want some sort of enormous hard drive in place of UMDs. No. That's the simple answer, can anyone that pushes for that possibly comprehend how much Sony would be lambasted for such a horrific decision?
The fact is that there are only two real problems with UMDs: battery life and load times. How could this be better solved than entirely removing the UMD slot? Add a 1.8GB cache for UMDs, this way there would be no need whatsoever for the disk to constantly spin, it could simply be cached and played off of the much faster flash.

I agree, sort of. The UMD isn't a bad format. But it's not good either. There's no problem with bootleg UMDs, and the little disks hold a surprising amount of information, plus you don't have to baby them too much to keep them in good condition. They just need a little more applications, instead of just limiting the format to the PSP. However with that said, the read times are simply too lengthy for portable use in some people's minds.

Your solution is a silly band-aid to cover a format flaw. There's no way loading and entire disc into internal solid state memory should be acceptable. Not only would adding the memory add to production costs, but it's much less of a waste to stream information from the media already at hand (UMD). The drawback of slow loading should have been rectified during the initial creation and development of the UMD. Besides, slow loading is subjective. I don't mind waiting a few moments to load Grand Theft Auto, personally.

As for the battery issues, that's due to the nature of using a disc based medium: it has to be spun to be read. Solid state is better at this admittedly, as it is for read times. But frankly, when the PSP came out, the trade off wasn't decent enough to move away from disk based mediums. UMDs are a lot cheaper and a lot bigger than using solid state memory. At least, this held more true during the period when the PSP was released. Thus, it makes sense that Sony took the route it did, even though it has drawbacks.

6. OLED screen
I've converted a whole bunch of my favourite films to the PSP's format, but can't enjoy any that involve a decent amount of movement/contrast. The amount of ghosting that goes on with a GAMING screen is simply unacceptable, especially considering that the screen was always one of the PSP's big selling points.
Making the screen OLED in place of LCD would allow for a higher contrast, a larger degree of viewing, and better battery life. All positives in my book.

Yes, the PSP screen kind of sucks in certain areas. OLED would be certainly nice, but it doesn't have a very long life compared to LCD. So once again, it's a subjective trade-off. The technology is improving, so maybe someday, but it might be too soon to make a move to OLED.

[benn]

personally , i think the load times on some psp games are horrible - most noticable on ea games.
it doesnt matter what sony does - as long as it involves disc loading, some devs will always screw it up. but for the graphics, sounds etc, i would prefer disc to cartridge anyday.