Ben-DutkaOne of the downsides to the technology age is the shrinking attention spans of those who are always "plugged in." But Sony is aware of this, and have added a neat little feature to the PSP Go to help people cope.
According to Joystiq , this option was freshly unveiled during the GameSpot UK unboxing of Sony's sleek new portable: the system allows players to save their progress "and perform other functions on the device." When you return to the game, you will begin from the exact spot you left, which means we may as well call this the "Save State" feature. They note that in the presentation, GameSpot's Guy Cocker saves his progress in MotorStorm: Arctic Edge so he can – ironically enough – watch a new trailer of the very same game. Then, he went back and continued playing. For many players, and considering the enhanced functionality of the PSP Go, this could prove to be a very useful addition. Say you're playing a game and you suddenly think to yourself, "hey, I wonder if there's any additional content for this." Well, just pause and save, and hop over to the PlayStation Store to see what's up. The possibilities are almost endless, aren't they?
The PSP Go is scheduled to launch on October 1 and this all-digital handheld will undoubtedly be high on the radar for all portable aficionados and gadget freaks.
This is kinda ancient news :p It was announced alongside the Go itself, I believe.
I don't know why this couldn't work for other PSPs though, so long as the memory stick has the data in it then we should be able to resume from that.
Maybe Sony will release a firmware update for this feature on the UMD based PSPs? Unless there is an incompatibility issue with UMD based PSPs I can't really see them not giving all their units this feature.
Last edited by Evil Incarnate on 9/17/2009 1:35:12 PM
Well i have Custom firmware on my psp and i have a savestate homebrew installed on it, so yes it has always been possible, it saves a hell of alot of time on rpgs and such.
Goodwill program. When will Sony give us more info about this? Save state is cool and all, but more info on the goodwill program will determine whether or not I and many I know will buy one of these fancy devices or not.
You're referring to the proposed UMD transfer program right? At this point I'm thinking there is NONE. Official comments about a month ago said that Sony was "looking into it"… now we are little more than 2 weeks away from launch, and still NOTHING.
If Sony were serious about helping out us UMD-owning gamers already, they should have had announced some kind of program back when the PSPgo was unveiled. My guess is that they strongly believe that the PSPGo! is intended for a different audience than the PSP 3000, thus also a reason for not phasing out the latter.
I hear ya though; I used to own a PSP, and never finished Crisis Core, Tactics and a few others. I'd jump at the PSPGo on day one if they had an easy solution of transferring previous UMD games to the system. But as it stands, Sony has a lost a sale from me.
Yea if Sony doesn't develope a way for us to transfer our older games or just UMD games in general then this is a PSP No Go! for me. I own an iPod but I still buy CDs because we can rip them. I like the PSN but the service isn't perfect and if Sony doesn't change their No Refund(even to PSN wallet) policy, then I don't want to depend souley on the PSN. I've had moments where I've paid for content and couldn't download it for some reason. Twice this happened to me and Sony was gracious enough to refund me but advised me if it happens again Im SOL. I don't want to risk losing $20 to $40 bucks on a game through the PSN. Plus I just like Knowing I have a physical copy incase data is lost. Either changing that policy or providing us with away to buy the UMD then rip it onto your PSP Go! Is really the only way I'll buy one of these. Don't get me wrong, I'm still rocking my 1000 model from launch. But I'm traveling more these days and this seemed like a perfect solution. Carrying around all those UMD's isn't exaclty "portable". But without a "goodwill" program or 100% assurance Sony won't keep my money if their network fails to deliver then I will just have to stick with lugging around all those UMD's. 🙂
Last edited by Jawknee on 9/17/2009 4:00:44 PM
Actually they have something that will help you move games from the UMD to the Go!
They're selling memory cards for the Go! with a slide in function to the memory card for the PSP UMD's and with this you can transfer your information to the Go!
This is mentioned if you Google the issue, I think it was a Best Buy blog… But yeah it's been taken care of. You just have to keep that older PSP till you get them transfered.
If that's the case then awesome. I plan on keeping my PSP-1000 regardless but that's deffinantly good news.
Off to Google I go!
Last edited by Jawknee on 9/17/2009 5:02:16 PM
If they don't have a solution then hopefully the homebrew scene will have a solution. The ability to put all my UMDs on a memory stick on my gen 1 PSP is what has made my PSP so useful. The portability of it. Yes it is a pain to rip the games onto the memory stick but worth the effort. If I had to drag UMD storage cases with me everywhere I went along with the PSP it would have been a major PITA and not worth the effort taking it with me as many places as I do.
Last edited by xStatiCa on 9/20/2009 11:06:54 PM
perfect for the A.D.D. psp go owner!
just like the save state on the ePSXe. not that I use it
lol
now they just need to add this to the ps3
I agree, but it makes some games so much easier, imagine playing demon souls and saving states every few minutes so if you die you can just go back… it takes the challenge out of the game. Id say it should be on the ps3 but game devs should choose weather it can be enabled or not in their games.
CrazyIrishBoy, thats the thing isn't it, if people wanna play the game easily then let them. im sick of have to scream at the telly coz a game is too hard. i play games to relax. if i keep dying and losing my progress, no fun. ive got mates for irritating stupidity.
Last edited by Zorigo on 9/17/2009 2:01:37 PM
Yea i agree, there are games out there for that but have you ever used cheats in a game nd made it so much easier to get through that it almost felt like there was no point to it?
Thats all im sayin…
Noooo, they don't. Useful on a portable device but potentially annoying on a console. It'll just spoil the build of hype, enjoyment and emotion during gameplay; it's why I've never gotten used to my PSP. Then there's the kind of sh** Ultima & Knickert0n mentioned.
Zorigo: Demon's Souls was never created for the faint hearted.
I think you guys (including Ultimadream and many others below) are misunderstanding how this feature works. You can "pause" the game at any time to shut down the PSP and then restore the game exactly as it was when you paused it, but you can't play a bit and then go back to it like with a game save. The only ways it could make a game easier are 1) it allows you to break up score runs and the like into multiple sessions and 2) you could pause and check a faq for hints.
I agree with Zorigo. If someone wants a game to be easy, it should be easy. It's their $60 (or whatever) they should enjoy the game how they want.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 9/19/2009 2:50:17 PM
This feature would be good on the ps3. what would be better is in game browser use. the only games i have in which i can save often are fallout 3, pacific rift, lbp. its irritating to have to wait for checkpoints.
I'm not fond of Save States and i'll tell you why. When we're given this oppertunity what people to on a hard boss battle is litteraly save each time they make an offensive attack, if they get hit in a negeative way they just reload the last part and it never happend. I can't imagine any developer having that in for players to cheat like that.
Or worse, I remember playing a game on the PS1 with a save state system. If you made the mistake to save during a boss battle a second before an immediate death moment, your screwed.
awesome stuff. nnow i wnt worry about saving my games
I'd be all for the "Save State" feature on the PS3 because I think if someone wants to save constantly during a boss battle, go for it. The main reason I play video games is for the storylines. I hate it when a game is so hard that it takes you out of the story because your frusteration levels are going through the roof. I may be a seasoned gamer but I wouldn't consider myself a skilled gamer. Games that are "challenging" often piss me off and I quite often find myself missing the days of cheat codes. A "Save State" feature would help me out in enjoying the game. If you think you're too good for saving during gameplay, then don't do it. But don't take an opportunity away from gamers who aren't as good as you by saying, "don't do it, Sony!"
Last edited by tridon on 9/17/2009 2:49:45 PM
I don't see them doing this for the ps3 because of the possibility of getting trophies too easily. They've said the PSP will not get trophies in the future so it isn't an issue on that platform. Not that I wouldn't want to see it. Just let the developers decide for themselves, I guess.
Honestly I'm not one to save my data in a game like this, but I don't see why not on putting it in the system… Seriously if you think it's pansy or whatever you just don't use it… like i happen to think it's pansy to change up the controls… seriously if you can't learn the game don't play it… Learning disabilities are too rampant in video games… lol JK but seriously i do pick on my brother for it.
State save?
Sounds interesting. Have been using that feature in emulation so being able to use it for regular PSP titles sounds interesting.
This thing is really intriguing. It has so much potential, this feature is a plus. What is with the smaller screen though? You seriously couldnt fit another stick in there? More power? It should have been PSP2 and for that reason I'd have to pass.
With its maiden voyage as dlc only a psp2 would have been more important. Bad move Sony, still love you though..
Awesome! So like when theres quiz in the game, and i get one right then save state, get one wrong then start all over, i can load the state and be back where i was when i got the question right?
No. Not at all. That's not how this feature works.
Well I would guess this would make it even more convenient as a portable device. It's strange though that the price of the PSP is geared toward the hard core gamer and yet the features seem to be for the casual player.
In all honesty, I don't really see this as anything more than a slight enhancement unless you wish to exploit the state saves to limit backtracking after dying in a game.
I mean, you can already just put the thing in stand-by mode and use regular game saves. With games running of memory stick, the load times are minimal already.
If this is somehow allowing you to switch from a game to another app or movie or something, then I can see the point. Otherwise it's nothing more than a minor enhancement.
thats exactly what the ps3 needs.
PCs can quick save wherever in the game you are, than once you load that file you go back to that exact spot.
you have no idea how handy that would be, like in KZ2 elite the cruser level the room just after you come up the lift.
heaps of times i spent ages killing the guys there, get to the stairs and die so i have to do it all over again.
god sony WTF are you waiting for?
i can quick save where ever the hell i want on the PC so why not the ps3?