Day: May 14, 2003

The PSP

Sony’s making a handheld that is capable of 3D and uses 1.8-gig minidisks as its medium. Sounds great, but I’m interested in what the actual size of the screen is. 3D actually needs a larger viewport than 2D to get the same information across, so if the screen is too small, the 3D aspects of the device probably won’t be used to a great extent. Of course, it will be nice to finally get some MP3-quality audio on a handheld console. I just hope I can get a copy of Street Fighter Alpha 3 for it.


Rise of Nations

Played the Rise of Nations demo today. I’ve had my eye on this game, since it’s by Brian Reynolds, one of my Favorite People. A game that combines Civilization-style technology research and diplomacy with Age of Empires-style overall gameplay could be delicious, like strawberry syrup on cheesecake. Unfortunately, the game plays more like filet mignon on cheesecake. The two “halves” of the game aren’t as integrated as I’d like – the “Civ” half runs much slower than the “Age” half.