One Week with a Sony PSP
Although Sony’s portable handheld gaming and media system has been available since Spring of 2005, my job required me to purchase one only last week. I’ve had a great time catching up with the system’s features, sampling demos, and playing some of the best handheld games ever. Now reasonably priced at $169.99 at most retailers, the PSP finally feels like a great consumer bargain. Today is the right time to buy one.
I admit feeling abandoned by Sony when their new products–namely the PSP and PS3–started sporting elitist prices. I know I wasn’t the only one to balk at the PSP’s original $249 tag. With the Nintendo DS debuting for under $150 and featuring Wi-Fi, Internet connection, dual-screen display innovation, touch-screen and stylus game play, voice input microphone, backwards compatibility with GameBoy Advance games (on my old clunky version, not on the DS Lite), recently added ability to download demos from the Wii, several Castlevania games and new Metroid Prime and Zelda on the horizon, the DS was a must-have for an old-school gamer like myself.
However, the PSP’s big, wide screen, recognizable PlayStation control scheme, “PSOne Plus” 3D graphics engine, slim design, and USB connectivity to any PC or Mac gives it some distinctly enjoyable features. The PSP plays games, MP3 music, MP4 videos, and displays photos in various formats. The Internet Browser can be used to connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot or your own wireless router in your house. However, browsing the net with the PSP is slow, and download of demos directly to the PSP takes forever. The best way to browse the net is still with a PC, and the best way to download PSP demos is still a USB cable connected to a computer. The newest PSP system update features instant Internet Search, powered by Google. That’s pretty handy, I suppose, for folks on the go needing quick Internet access to check e-mail or whatnot.
Sony licenses feature films and published them on the UMD format for the PSP. My local Best Buy had a few UMD movies on the shelf like Resident Evil: Extinction and Spider-Man 3. But the library of films on UMD is nowhere near as satisfactory as DVD and other mediums. I noticed a component video cable in the store that allows you to connect your PSP to a HDTV. I suppose this would allow you to play games, watch movies, and play music on a big-screen TV. But I wonder at the quality of movie and sound playback against DVD or set-top consoles, and would appreciate any opinions in the comments for this article before I go out and buy the cable.
I wish the system stored data on regular SD memory cards (since that’s what I already own and use with other gizmos) like the Nintendo Wii. However, Sony’s expensive proprietary memory sticks–currently ranging in size from 512MB to 8GB–allow you to store several albums’ worth of music, several videos, or dozens of game saves or demos on a single card. That’s quite good, I suppose, although I doubt I’ll ever use the PSP in place of an iPod or CD player. I suppose the PSP’s media features are handy to people whom travel quite a lot. But to me, $40 is quite a bit of cash just to save my progress in games and play a few demos.
Finally, the main reason I bought the PSP . . . Games! So far I’ve purchased Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Silent Hill Origins. Both of these games look and play great on the PSP. It’s like having a PlayStation 2 you can play anywhere, including the toilet. Other games I intend to purchase in the near future include God of War and Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. Also, I’m going to see if I can hunt down the original Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops.
The PlayStation Store allows you to download demos, games, music and videos directly to your PSP. I downloaded the classic Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and installed it quite easily. The PSOne emulation runs pretty smoothly and sounds great. The game gives you the option to play in original size (which is a bit tiny, frankly) or to play the game full screen with a slight hit in sharpness. But what a treat to play this fantastic classic and many others on a handheld! But how weird that they scanned the original PlayStation instruction manual, rather than just write a brief new one pertaining to playing on the PSP or PS3.
Overall, I must say I’m quite happy and impressed with my PSP. And I’ll keep updating with further impressions as I purchase more games and accessories for it. If you’re like me and have held out against buying the PSP for this long, now is the time to give in. Hurry, before the best games disappear!
December 3, 2008
The graphics are simply stunning. I just love them. They are so good.