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posted: *feb 26 2022*
I was talking with people about this a couple days ago. We were reminiscing
about the good ole days (being the mid 2000's, since anything before now feels
like ancient history) and the subject got brought up that the PSP was an
amazing console for its time.
Think about it: back in like 2006 you had a device that was about as capable
as the Nintendo Switch is *now*, and that came out over a decade later!
Granted, Nintendo has a penchant for making really underpowered consoles and
games that can therefore take advantage of the crappy graphics and other
intentional hamstringing to craft experiences that focus on other aspects of
the video games' creative process and expression,
but TLDR it just means they make crappy consoles that are years behind the
curve in regard to other companies' offerings. It also means that Sony was,
for all intents and purposes, ahead of its time for the design of that console
and its progeny. For example, the PSP Go was an all-online device that didn't
actually have a UMD slot. Back when it came out, that was a deal breaker; a
console with that same capability could have come out yesterday and people
would hardly bat an eye at there not being a physical game disk or chip port
in there for individual games.
Oh wait. That happened. It's called the Steam Deck.
The PSP was amazing. Everything from the swanky interface, which I consider to
still be one of the most charming that I've ever had the opportunity to use on
a console, to the little UMD's and memory cards and battery packs, that thing
was the complete package. It really did feel like an all-in-one device, in
your pocket. The internet access and ability to load movies onto the storage
cards (or play with UMD's) was icing on the cake. I could have my movies, music
and games all on a bigass chocolate bar of a device that could still somehow
fit into my back pocket in a pinch.
If anything, in my opinion, we've gone backwards from that design. I hope the
Steam Deck is a watershed moment for mobile game console design; one that uses
modern parts and architecture (ARMv8 and NVMe storage, and a desktop class
APU!), with the design ques we've seen succeed over the years from the PSP,
to the DS, to the Switch, and even weird one-shots like the Nvidia Shield.
I hope the Steam Deck isn't a one-off, but instead the predecessor to a more
mobile and accessible kind of game device.
PC Master Race, REEEE and all that; I could care less for. Give me a 1 pound
handheld that I can stick in my go-bag instead of a 5-pound laptop and an
equally hefty charging brick.
Flicking the little switch on the PSP and having the UMD come ka-chunking
out of the storage slot was still so damn satisfying. I've yet to find a game
console that can even come close. Don't @ me, tiny little wafer chips on the
Tendy Switch. Don't @ me. You don't even come close.
Comments? Questions? They go here.
wholesomedonut at tuta dot io