David Carnoy, Executive Editor from Cnet wrote an article yesterday about how women prefer the DS over the PSP. While he doesn’t have any numbers, or polls, or analysis behind him, he’s relying on testimonies made by fellow co-workers at Cnet and by some arguments I (and many fanboys) think is true.

“Take the case of CNET assistant editor Matthew Moskovciak. This is his first job out of college. He works like a dog and doesn’t make a ton of money. And while he doesn’t like to admit it, his girlfriend keeps a gentle eye on his discretionary spending, particularly when it comes to items like game consoles. He recounts that her interest in the DS was piqued when she saw an ad somewhere online for a Mario Bros. game and “liked the concept of the touch screen,” he says. “She thought it was more interactive than what you had with the PSP.”

He also notes that the number of good titles for the DS is pretty thin, especially if you happen to be over 21 and don’t worship at the altar of Mario or Pokemon. “If you’re looking to play more “adult” games with any sort of backbone, the PSP is a far better choice with a much stronger game library”, he says, “The initial wave of PS2 ports has given way to a meaty list of games across a wide variety of genres: action/shooter titles (Metal Gear Solid,SOCOM, Syphon Filter, Grand Theft Auto, Killzone), platformers (Daxter, Ratchet & Clank), racing (Burnout, Ridge Racer, Need for Speed), fighting (Tekken, Def Jam, The Warriors), and sports (Madden, FIFA, Virtua Tennis, MLB 07). And all of them look and play better than most of what you’ll find on the DS”

He also says that if you’re looking for something a bit more cerebral, “The PSP even has a decent selection of addictive puzzle games (Lumines, Exit) and retro arcade titles, and even a couple of unique offerings that defy genre pigeonholing (LocoRoco, Katamari).”

Of course, he’s right abaout akk of this, however, I have to agree with the fact that “For some reason, the PSP just hasn’t found that warm spot in the female heart. I’m generalizing, of course–there are women out there who enjoy the PSP–but you just get the sense that women see the DS as a cute, fun toy, and not an evil game console that’s a mindless time suck. And then there’s the whole pick-up-and-play factor that people keep talking about, which also applies to the Wii in a big way.”

After making clear these points, he continues with ways Sony could improve the handheld, such as to increase the console’s pick-up-and-play quotient, and to move away from UMD when it comes to music and movies, scince “it’s become clear that few people want to pay $15 to 20 for a pocket-sized DVD [...] The sooner Sony gets to providing downloadable movie and TV episode rentals, the sooner it’s going to get the hoard of mobile professionals, men and women, to buy into the system. Imagine being at an airport and wirelessly downloading (via the PSP’s internal Wi-Fi connection) a movie or two and a maybe an old Seinfeld episode before boarding your flight. Ideally, of course, frequent travelers could opt for a monthly subscription service a la Netflix. If that includes a nice selection of downloadable games, so much the better.”

These solutions have already been discovered by the fanbase of the system a long time ago, and even if it doesn’t look like it, Sony knows what their clients want, they’re just slow at it. Take the Beats project, isn’t that the next step to getting movies and music over the air? I think so. Feel free to comment on this, I’d like to hear what other people think.

Read the full article.

I finally got my hands on Exit 2, the European release. I didn’t get the import version I tipped PSP Fanboy about some time ago because I prefer the english version of the game. I’ve only played it for some minutes, maybe an hour, taking the tutorial to see what’s new and to refresh my memory (I had forgotten some things).

If you wish to read my first look on the game, click on the “more” link below.

First things first: you might be wondering what has changed. Well, the biggest change, or at least the most noticeable is the color. The first Exit’s main color was yellow, remember? Well, this time is some mix of violet, purple and rose you can clearly see every where: from the UMD box, to the skyes in the game, but not in the interiors: they remained the same color, which is better. In other words, everything that used to be yellow is now replaced by that color (whose exact name I don’t know), but, as expected, the game’s stylish art remains the same.

That’s the new color.

Other cosmetic changes include Mr. Esc’s outfit. He’s changed from the conventional clothes to some kind of coat, or cape, or whatever that is. Personnaly, I like it better this way. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know.

Before (above) and after (below).

Away from the cosmetic changes, let’s see the actual game changes, those who affect gameplay. Let’s break that by parts:

Controls: They are pretty much the same: you move with the d-pad, control the cursor with the analog nub, jump with the x button, etc. One little detail though (and I don’t know if it’s a change, I don’t really remember) is that you can exchange items with fellow escapees by pressing the square button. Leaving that aside, they are the same simple to use controls from the first Exit game.

Companions: In the first Exit, there were 3 types of companions, each one with different abilities and disabilities: the kids, the young adults, and the adults. However, in Exit 2, there are both those from the original Exit plus two more: the “Macho”, who is as strong as the adults and nearly as flexible as Mr. Esc, but with limited horizontal jumping and a big body (due to his muscles) which prevents him from crawling, and the “Dog”, the only animal in the game. The dog can perform huge horizontal jumps, swim (but not dive), crawl like the kids, and take objects. Even if he cannot use them, he can take them back to you.

Theres the macho(above) and the dog (below)

Mr. Esc’s best friend. He’s obidient and loyal too!

Items and accessories: As of now, I have not seen any new accesories, exept for new metal boxes, and a barrel that can role until it fills a hole., which can be seen below.

Other changes: Two other changes have been made to the game: the online interface for downloading games, and the “Options” menu.

• Downloading levels: The interface is still nice, clean and easy to use, but I think they put too much of the new color in it. It bothers me sometimes.

• Options Menu: Audio settings: In the audio settings menu, there is the typical BGM volume, Sound Effects volume, the restore default settings button, but, there is now a music player! Apparently you can unlock songs by completing levels, which seams to be a total of 16 songs for the 16 non-downloadable tracks. If you click play you will listen to the playlist and control the playback mode, foward, backwards, etc. When I saw it I got really exited thinking it was like the custom tracks in the GTA games, but it’s OK, it’s still cool.

The first song is called “Trouble Maker”. It’s not bad.

Up to now, those are all the changes I have seen. To make it short, the big changes are:

1. Cosmetic changes (the color, clothing, etc.)
2. Two new companions: the “Macho” and the “Dog”.
3. The music player.
4. The online interface.
5. Of course, the levels.

Up to now I like the game, and I look foward to play it more so that I can completely review it. If you want to see other screenshots, visit my Flickr stream by clicking here.

Exit 2 Screenshots taken with a 3.xx OE custom firmware plugin. Exit 1 screenshots taken from the IGN (I don’t have it anymore…) You can use my images, but please inform me first.

I know it’s too laaate for getting hyped about this, but hey, it’s pretty hard to get an american game when you live in europe (ps: I’m an american) . So I played through the first 3 missions, and so far I like it. It’s great, and if you don’t have it, get it. Can’t post a review because I’ve got to work.

Ciao.