I miss the days of hardware storage mediums

posted: *feb 26 2022*

TLDR: where's my PSP discs with the Garand Ping

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.

But I digress

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.

At the end of the day I just want my Garand Ping

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.

*loads MX vs ATV into PSP with malicious intent*

Contact me

Comments? Questions? They go here.

wholesomedonut at tuta dot io