PlayStation Classic (mini) is coming...............

[deepthaw]

again, apologies if this has been beaten to death, but say I'm 'average Joe gamer' (which most of the time, I qualify, lol) and I buy the Mini.

 

How does the Mini *play* in its current state? If I buy one, turn it on, launch up a game, would I be able to reasonably play the games as they are? Not looking for perfection, but do the games at least play OK?

 

I mean, yeah, I can watch the review vids on YouTube, but I can't separate the ones dogging it just because it's popular to dog it versus not.

 

The games are still playable. It just happens that the games I'd personally be interested in have performance problems that would kill my interest.

 

It's unacceptable to me that they'd sell us slowed down versions of games, but also probably true that most people won't actually notice.

[derFunkenstein]

again, apologies if this has been beaten to death, but say I'm 'average Joe gamer' (which most of the time, I qualify, lol) and I buy the Mini.

 

How does the Mini *play* in its current state? If I buy one, turn it on, launch up a game, would I be able to reasonably play the games as they are? Not looking for perfection, but do the games at least play OK?

 

I mean, yeah, I can watch the review vids on YouTube, but I can't separate the ones dogging it just because it's popular to dog it versus not.

 

I think it's been so universally reviled (regardless of the reasons) that average Joe gamer probably had their expectations lowered. I mean, even IGN hated on it. They get millions of unique visitors. The "average gamer" knows.

[digdugnate]

thanks guys, hehe!

 

I guess my hopes had exceeded my expectations for the device- i was really hoping that games like Ridge Racer and Tekken wouldn't be 15% slower (or similar) because like Deepthaw said the ones that I'm interested in are like that.

 

That being said.. I've been poking around and seeing what the hacking/emulation scene is for this. If I can put isos on the device, those PAL version are gonna get whacked for their NTSC brethren, hehe.

[Flojomojo]

The "average gamer" knows.

Just remember that half of the "gamer" population is, by definition, "below average," and that these will be purchased by plenty of "non-gamers," too. It's going to be a big hit in spite of what the haters say, just because it's cute, kinda cheap, and probably readily available.

 

Lots of things are critical failures but commercial successes.

[derFunkenstein]

Just remember that have of the "gamer" population is, by definition, "below average," and that these will be purchased by plenty of "non-gamers," too. It's going to be a big hit in spite of what the haters say, just because it's cute, kinda cheap, and probably readily available.

 

Lots of things are critical failures but commercial successes.

Yeah, I started to write something like "Sony's only hope is moms of kids who don't know what to buy but know the PlayStation brand" but figured that went beyond the scope of digdugnate's question.

[Hwlngmad]

again, apologies if this has been beaten to death, but say I'm 'average Joe gamer' (which most of the time, I qualify, lol) and I buy the Mini.

 

How does the Mini *play* in its current state? If I buy one, turn it on, launch up a game, would I be able to reasonably play the games as they are? Not looking for perfection, but do the games at least play OK?

 

I mean, yeah, I can watch the review vids on YouTube, but I can't separate the ones dogging it just because it's popular to dog it versus not.

I saw a review by Willie from ArcadeUSA. From what he was indicating, game play seemed fine for him as he didn't seem to have any issue with the games he played. However, his biggest complaints were the lack of an appropriate power source and the game selection. The only games he was interested in were 'Twisted Metal', 'Mr. Driller', 'Demolition Derby', and 'Resident Evil'. The others he really could care less about. He ended the video stating that he thought the system was worth $50. I guess if you don't know these games by heart and have never played and/or played them many, many years ago, it should be fine. But, considering the other ways to play PS1 games that are preferable to this, it doesn't appear to be worth it unless it goes on clearance to $50 or less. Just my opinion.

[Flojomojo]

I kinda want one even though it makes no sense ... I have the originals, I have PSN versions, I have emulation, it would literally be a waste of money, space, and time. But it's cute.

[Flojomojo]

I saw a review by Willie from ArcadeUSA. From what he was indicating, game play seemed fine for him as he didn't seem to have any issue with the games he played.

I trust Willie a lot more than the frame-counters when it comes to finding someone with my attitude towards this kind of thing.

 

Maybe we'll see a backlash to the backlash? Like how I feel about Flashbacks. They're not perfect, but they're neat toys and they're WAY better than the very vocal haters would have you believe.

[derFunkenstein]

BTW if you want to play these games the way they were meant to be, Voultar has a selection of modded/refurbed PSOnes available. Yes they cost more than this, but I have at least a little faith that they'll endure.

[Hwlngmad]

Agreed. Willie is a great dude and just gives his honest opinion without worrying about bean counters. There might be some backlash to the backlash regarding this product. At $100, this should be better than what it is. In regards to the (Atari) Flashback products, I have always thought they had more good qualities than bad, especially this years regular edition model sporting HDMI and the SD card slot for expandibility. However, like you eluded to, there are plenty of haters out there for the Flashbacks, that's for sure.

I trust Willie a lot more than the frame-counters when it comes to finding someone with my attitude towards this kind of thing.

 

Maybe we'll see a backlash to the backlash? Like how I feel about Flashbacks. They're not perfect, but they're neat toys and they're WAY better than the very vocal haters would have you believe.

[jhd]

Have any of my fellow Canadians yet bought one?

 

Most of the local retailers are listed as being sold-out, so somebody is buying them.

 

Sadly, it is priced at Cdn$130 (about US$97). I can certainly afford it, but that's expensive enough to make me question how very badly I want it. Like many others, I will wait to see if it is placed on clearance after the holidays. Otherwise, I can easily wait for them to hit the thrift shops (It took me ~10 years to find a Flashback 2 at a thrift shop!).

 

For the record, I have an original PlayStation console and a PSOne still in its original packaging.

[godslabrat]

Ah, so apart from the Merry Season, it's also Open Season on Sony. No surprises there.

 

I don't have a Classic, nor intend to buy one, but I'm 100% sure that it's nowhere near as bad as the predictable, hysterical Internet snowball hate-machine would have it.

The crux "argument" here seems to be "but it's not a Nintendo Mini!". That reasoning comes with all the strings attached, such as unability/refusal to acknowledge the problems with licensing or emulating 3D on necessarily-weak hardware. You know, the ones Nintendo did not have to deal with. In this narrative a really solid line-up becomes a Z-list abomination and the fact that millions of people have played PAL games before and lived to tell the tale is quickly forgotten.

 

Then there's that thing where folks will happily give a pass to other truly flawed products, manufacturers of which quite often can not offer any solid excuses like the ones mentioned above - such as AtGames or similar other retro-cash ins. I'm also sure none of the perfectionist naysayers ever a streamed a movie while dropping resolutions or listened to music on some potato rig. But here, hey, it's Sony so let's shout from the rooftops about how they hate retro gaming.

 

It's funny, these days when I see something totally slated on teh intehnets, it makes me wanna go and at least try it, who knows, it may be quite good actually. It totally worked with No Man's Sky. Perhaps I should buy Fallout 76 too?

So, we should be okay with a shoddy PSMini because making a good one would be like, hard, and stuff?

 

There are plenty of products that never ship because the end result won't meet the standards of the public, or aren't economical at the price point needed. Why shouldn't this have fallen into that category?

[Flojomojo]

So, we should be okay with a shoddy PSMini because making a good one would be like, hard, and stuff?

 

There are plenty of products that never ship because the end result won't meet the standards of the public, or aren't economical at the price point needed. Why shouldn't this have fallen into that category?

It doesn't have to be a binary choice. I'm not buying this at $100, but if someone gives me one, I'm not going to light it on fire. It sounds like it's a 7 out of 10 product, kinda good but with a bunch of problems. Like with anything they make, Sony has to balance their cost of materials with the estimated rate of return. This seems like the right moment to release a mini console, but they don't want to go broke doing it. If they canned it, the same internet crybabies would be making videos about why Sony keeps all its cool toys to itself.

 

People can and should vote with their feet/wallet. I have a feeling this will be a modest success, enough to do better than breaking even, but probably not so much that Sony will pour a bunch of resources into making a better followup.

 

Like with the SNES Mini vs. Nintendo Switch, I kinda wish they'd just put the old software lineup on their current PS4 console instead.

[godslabrat]

I'm more than a little biased, because I can think of lots of products that should have never left Napkins in Sony's cafeteria.

[Pixelboy]

People can and should vote with their feet/wallet. I have a feeling this will be a modest success, enough to do better than breaking even, but probably not so much that Sony will pour a bunch of resources into making a better followup.

It depends on the "hackability" of the system. If word gets out about an easy way to install a better emulator and alternate games, then people (and more interestingly the scalpers) will likely take interest, which will drive up sales.

 

But if it does get hacked enough to become really interesting, there will be no point in Sony making a "follow-up".

[JBerel]

I'm just gonna wait for the inevitable & identical looking "Polyomegasuperjoyhappyfuntimestationmeganewedition" that will be release within 3 months and probably support a variety of hacks and other emus.

[thetick1]

I kinda want one even though it makes no sense ... I have the originals, I have PSN versions, I have emulation, it would literally be a waste of money, space, and time. But it's cute.

 

Agreed. The killer for me is the 9 PAL games with the North American version which is completely asinine with extra emphasis on the ass part!

 

I want to get one on clearance or Goodwill (hopefully around $25) just for the cool case. I would just throw the PCB board in storage with my big pile of old unused PCBs. The Playstation Classic Mini case would be awesome for a Raspberry Pi 3 with RetroPie.

Edited December 5, 2018 by thetick1

[derFunkenstein]

But if it does get hacked enough to become really interesting, there will be no point in Sony making a "follow-up".

My concern about the day-one hack is that Sony will absolutely make a "follow-up" in the form of a quick revision that takes that debug code out. Nintendo hasn't yet, but they sell all they can and would do so regardless.

[dj_convoy]

Dunno how much PSTV is going for these days (and yeah, the memory cards are probably still overpriced) but you could pair a Dualshock 3 or 4 to it and get a metric ton of games (including import games) off of PSN for cheap that all work great if you really had your heart set on something like this. Don't fall for the form factor.

[deepthaw]

thanks guys, hehe!

 

I guess my hopes had exceeded my expectations for the device- i was really hoping that games like Ridge Racer and Tekken wouldn't be 15% slower (or similar) because like Deepthaw said the ones that I'm interested in are like that.

 

That being said.. I've been poking around and seeing what the hacking/emulation scene is for this. If I can put isos on the device, those PAL version are gonna get whacked for their NTSC brethren, hehe.

 

Ridge Racer runs at the correct speed - it just doesn't run quite as well as on original hardware. Tekken 3 runs at 83.33% speed.

[power]

Dunno how much PSTV is going for these days (and yeah, the memory cards are probably still overpriced) but you could pair a Dualshock 3 or 4 to it and get a metric ton of games (including import games) off of PSN for cheap that all work great if you really had your heart set on something like this. Don't fall for the form factor.

 

PSTV is a luck of the draw thing, better off modding a PS3 if that's the way you want to go.

 

People are now reporting the controllers work on a Pi. Teardowns of the controller have also revealed the cable is just micro usb internally something I have never ever seen before - but it's cool!

[Punisher5.0]

Dunno how much PSTV is going for these days (and yeah, the memory cards are probably still overpriced) but you could pair a Dualshock 3 or 4 to it and get a metric ton of games (including import games) off of PSN for cheap that all work great if you really had your heart set on something like this. Don't fall for the form factor.

 

You can hack the PSTV and get a Micro SD card adapter. Thats all you would have to buy to play what you wanted.

[thetick1]

Should only be a few days until the Playstation Classic Mini can be exploited for something more than what Sony provided. Linux memory dumps are being analyzed... http://wololo.net/2018/12/04/famous-vita-hacker-digs-hole-into-playstation-classics-motherboard-heres-what-happens-next/. Considering how half assed, unpolished the console is, I'm a bit surprised to hear the games are encrypted.

 

Thanks to the GPL for the list changes Sony made to the emulator: https://gist.github.com/xyzz/5861868db529c0866ada8b8dc51380fa

 

The list of titles Sony tested is very interesting as it also includes what was tweaked for each title. Titles like Crash Bandicoot, Gran Turismo, Toy Story 2, Harry Potter...

Edited December 6, 2018 by thetick1

[Tanooki]

I'm just gonna wait for the inevitable & identical looking "Polyomegasuperjoyhappyfuntimestationmeganewedition" that will be release within 3 months and probably support a variety of hacks and other emus.

You know what the funny yet I guess sad thing about that would be? It may actually be that very rare case the cheap chinese knockoff actually does a better job than the original. This won't be the crap emulation 100s of ROMS coolbaby NES copycat mess with the lagged menu and other issues. Instead, Sony put that kind of uncool baby unit out, and the ripoff guys will just source another set of cheap chinese parts that can run their stolen hacked PS1 games at full speed.

[0078265317]

I saw the add for this last night.