PSP: Online at launch. ... good job dropping the ball, Nintendo

[A Black Falcon]

Your facts are wrong, as usual. Only short-range personal wi-fi networks are sometimes limited to a few dozen feet in the house, but even that is rare thanks to new wireless network standards. I can sometimes get a connection from my next door neighbor's house, and in areas with actual hot spots, you can get online just about anywhere in the town. That's how people can use laptops in parks and such. For a HANDHELD system, wifi is the only thing that makes sense. Nintendo knows that, and Sony knows that. And I'm pretty certain that they know what's best for their handhelds more than a little hermit in Maine.

Yeah, all two towns in the country that have big wi-fi networks, how helpful...

For everyone else, like 99% of the people in this country I bet, the use is quite limited. Perhaps it'll catch on stronger in countries with higher rates of broadband penetration, but here... lots of places don't even have cable, no to mention wireless! Despite all the articles in tech magazines about how great and how common it is, I am highly skeptical about the actual extent, and usership, of wireless internet... and even among that market, how many of them are interested in handheld games? I wouldn't think all that many! Yes, yes, Sony is trying to attract that older market, and they'll probably have some amount of success, but as much as you (or they) hope? I really don't know. Sure, the PSP is aimed older than the child/teenager market Nintendo mostly goes at, but adults? I don't know...

What Nintendo is doing, with the system setting up a small-range local network, makes perfect sense though of course. And doesn't Sony also have that kind of multiplayer? Since that requires no external systems it works fine, and is obviously easier to use than cables...