Josh H

Yep.

Here's the PSP vs. DS thread where such discussions as above should go.

Let's keep this one on topic.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...ghlight=versus

cleaver

In Lumines I just got to level 53 and got 109,028 points. My eyes still won't focus and I'm hearing trance music in my head.

Get Me Coffee

My contacts get so dry when playing this game!

KissyFurNYC

I agree...they should have made more selectable. I mena just one skin at first? I am quibbling as this is a great game. There are already websites for game saves popping up like: http://psp-vault.com/News.psp

zadillo

I'm curious, for anyone who has bought memory stick pro duos, can you share your experiences with what their capacity has been? The reason I ask is that I bought one of the 512MB SanDisk memory stick pro duos (the one said to be designed for the PSP, at least according to the packaging). But the actual capacity of the stick is only 468 megs.

I did some google searches, and came across some other people complaining about this lesser capacity, which apparently SanDisk said is normal (apparently a combination of how they calculate a megabyte as 1 million bytes, plus some other stuff).

My question is, are ALL 512 meg memory stick pro duos only going to have a capacity of 468 megs, or is this just the SanDisk ones? I.e. will the Sony ones have the same issue, or are Sony memory stick pro duos shipped with more capacity?

I have a similar question about what the actual capacity is normally on 1.0GB memory sticks as well.

Anyone who has them, I'd definitely be interested in hearing about what your experiences are. I understand the notion that a 512 meg stick might not have exactly 512 megs, but not having 44 megabytes of the advertised capacity does seem like a bit much. I just want to know how "normal" this really is before I go and try and return it, or buy another brand.

Thanks!

Get Me Coffee

44mb is alot...I always thought you lose about 20mbs...that's crazy. I'm saving for the 1GB....mean while I'll continue to use my 512mb SD on my pocket PC

zadillo

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. I understand the idea that you might not get exactly 512megs (just from how they are calculating what a "megabyte" is, as 1 million bytes. But even that doesn't completely explain it, as looking at the info on the card shows that it only has a capacity of 490 million bytes or so, which would essentially be "490 megs" based on how SanDisk claims it is being calculated. The "disclaimer" in tiny print on the back of the packaging says something about how some additional storage is also used for other data that isn't accessible by the user, which I guess accounts for the rest.

Either way, just wanted to get some feedback from others with various brands of 512 and 1GB memory stick pro duos to see if it is worth my effort to return this and order another brand, or if every "512 meg" memory stick pro duo will be 468 megs.

darkside

You always lose a portion of of any memory stick or hard drive for file structure. Memory Sticks use the FAT file system so there will be some loss. 44 seems a lot for a 512 stick. You could try reformating it with the PSP and seeing if you get any space back.

I just checked my 1GB SD card that I use in my PDA and it has 968MB of usuable space. So that is only a 32MB loss on a 1GB card.

Gromit

Damn. I just got a personal best of 29,000 points.

I'm not a big puzzle game fan, including Tetris, but I'm really starting to get into Lumines. At first I really struggled, starting off OK but quickly lapsing into a mode where I just can't think of where to put those bricks. I think something is starting to click though as my games are getting longer and longer. It's like I get into a zone and things just fall into place.

At least until the music or background changes and throws my concentration. Damn that 'Shake your body' song.

I'm OK if I get a regular supply of these bricks:

XX
OO

I'm hosed when I get a bunch of these in a row:

XO
OX

I gotta learn how to think at least a couple of moves ahead so I don't just drop those "what do I do with THIS?" bricks into useless locations.

zadillo

Yeah, I actually didn't even use it except for in the PSP, but even when I reformatted it from the PSP, it still only had that capacity.

I guess I'm curious if it's worth trying to return, and buying a 512 meg or 1 gig memory stick somewhere else. I'm also curious if this affects all SanDisk sticks, or if I just got a bad one? I.e. if I shoudl consider buying another sandisk memory stick, or buying a Sony one or something.

Apollo

This is very normal, no matter whatever ystem you use a certain percentage will be consumed for file structure. The larger the drive the more will be used for system info.

bloopbleep

I will wait on the psp till christmas,maybe it will be a cheaper price,more games and most of the bugs fixed (dead pixels).

darkside

It really shouldn't matter what the brand is. My SD card is Sandisk. Sandisk makes high quality memory sticks, so I'm not sure what the deal is. It may just be something about the duo sticks or memory sticks in general. I'm not sure getting a Sony one will make any difference.

zadillo

Right, I understand that some portion of it will be consumed by the file structure. My question is basically if THAT much of it being consumed (44 megs) is normal? I.e. will every 512 meg memory stick I buy from SanDisk or Sony have only 468 megs of real capacity, or would I very likely be able to go and return this and get another SanDisk or Sony memory stick pro duo that might have closer to, say, 490 megs of actual capacity?

-Zadillo

zadillo

Yeah, I actually have a SanDisk brand SD card, 1GB, that I use with my digital camera, and have had no complaints or problems with it.

That's really the main reason I'm posting here, to find out from other people with memory sticks if only 468 megs of usable storage is standard or not (I'm mainly trying to determine if there's any point in trying to return it and buying another one).

darkside

My friend got a 256 card for his PSP that I was putting some videos on for him. Just checked it and it only has 237 usable. That is 19 lost on a 256 card, so 44 is probably about right on a 512. It just has to be something about the memory sticks, because my SD card doesn't have that percentage of lost space.

zadillo

Actually, from browsing through BestBuy, I noticed that the description for the Sony 512MB High-Speed Memory Stick PRO Duo MSX-M512N says that 460 megs are available. So I'm guessing maybe this is normal (the 1GB Sony Memory Stick said 940 megs available).

zadillo

K, thanks. Between that, and seeing that for at least the Sony branded memory sticks they actually include the actual available storage (460 for 512 megs, 940 for 1GB) in their product descriptions, it sounds like it is pretty standard.

That's really the main thing I wanted to know........... that there wasn't something specifically wrong with it, or that if I returned it and bought another one I might get more space out of it.

Personally I kind of wish they'd all be clearer about what the actual storage space available is. I don't mind that it isn't actually 512 megs, but it would be nice if they'd put somewhere on the packaging what to expect (rather than just the fine print about how some storage isn't available to the user).

Apollo

I'm afraid so I got the same total of 468MB on my 512MB. I checked my other flash medias, 1GB thumb drive and 512MB standard memorystick and they all had close to 9% of there space used for fat. This is totally a OS drawback.

Bruce_S

I'm wondering, how much Sony is losing on each PSP sold, if any? As I recalled, PS2 was losing them around $150 per unit during its launch. I think, Sony did the right call to release value pack to minimized their lost...

bootleg link removed. -namja

Sony is making their money back from the increase sales of memory sticks/games/accessories/umd, etc... I think, if Sony sold 60 percent of their shipment for their first week.

darkside

Don't know if they are losing money, but I don't think they could have charged anymore for it. If the sales continue to be slow, I'm betting they will sell it by itself for $200 this summer.

The value pack is a good deal IMO. They are basically giving you the equivelent of 4 PS2 memory cards in the pack so for games you would probably never need another card. The other stuff is okay, but why they choose white accessories I will never know.

Draven

*coughiPodcough*

Scarecrow

Not sure why everyone keeps saying sales are slow. They shipped 1 million units. That's twice as many units as the PS2 shipped at launch & this isn't exactly christmas time either. PS2 didn't even sell out everywhere in a couple days. They wanted to make sure there were enough so folks that wanted one would have a chance without going to eBay, etc. I'd bet sales are doing about what they expected.

Sony said they don't expect it to sell out the first weekend, but maybe the first week or so.

I've been surprised how many times over the weekend I've seen parents buying these for their kids. When I was 10 or 12 if I'd asked for a PSP 3 months after Christmas my parents would have never quit laughing.

Brent L

Is there any truth to the following, posted on CAG?

I'm sure that's not common, but still. Is it really possible that the PSP will only last one and a half to two hours if all settings are set the highest, with Wi-Fi going as well?

I'd like to get some opinions on this here.

darkside

Wi-Fi is a big battery drain. I would definitely say that with the screen brightness on high and the volume on full with Wi-Fi you would be lucky to get 2 hours of use.

That said, who needs the volume on full and the brightness on high?

I have played hours of Tony Hawk and Lumines with the brightness on low (which is still bright to me) and the volume about a third and I'm getting 5-6 hours easy.