Just a quick shot, it’s always nice to observe things corresponding to what we learn at KISD. This time, it’s regarding product design. Not strickly game design but it’s about the PSP.
During the project “Sparschwein” (Piggybank), Herr Horntrich gave us a hint saying that chamfering all edges is no way to make an attractive form.
Well, what do you know? The PSP slim did exactly that in an attempt to make the handheld more hand-friendly. The result? A cheap, toy-like feel, as if the cheaper material wouldn’t reduce the preceived value and build quality already.
But I didn’t realize so clearly that the form was heavily contributing to that, not until SONY announced the newest model, nicknamed PSP Brite.
To make clear the “evolution” and the differences, I compiled the following image. Red marks the sharp edges and green the chamfered ones. Note how the Slim lost the hard edges (dotted line), and the Brite has now both, giving it a nice rhymthm. The source images were found on gamefront.de, except for the PSP phat.
check out the edges
again, without distracting lines
I’m tempted to buy this revision, since it looks like what it should have been in the first place. (Yeah I know, Nintendo needed a second try, too.)
Now if it only plays Divx/Xvid natively and is less picky about the H.264 profile than up to now… wait, that’s why I got the Archos 605. Hey Sony, take a leaf out of Archos’ book if you want to tout with PSP’s media playing capabilities.
I can’t believe it! Yet ANOTHER PSP? And even one that looks almost exactly as the previous ones? What the?!
Yes, Nintendo had several revisions with both, the GBA and the DS. However, in both cases each revision was a totally different and unique approach and each revision systematically addressed real problems with previous versions.
I think this is confusing and unnecessary. I think the PSP is still just a deeply flawed system and adding some details to the case won’t anything.
And since I’m ranting how flawed the system is: when is GT PSP coming out again?. You gotta love the fake UMD. And thinking that this is already 3 years old… Shame on you, Sony…
And here is the kicker: it has even LOWER Battery Life. Facepalm.