Pro's and Con's of the PSP?

Eric Isaacson

Eric Isaacson

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Dec 19, 1999
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PlayStation Portable. I have seen these before but didn't pay much attention until today when I was in Best Buy. After playing with one for a while I am intrigued by it.

So what are the Pro's/Con's. Also what are the best deals? I see that some store have "package deals" but I don't know for sure what I need if I decide to buy one.

:D:D
 
PSP's haven't dipped below the $200 range...yet.

Pros: Nice (relatively) big screen, plays music, games, music. Software is available to transfer downloadable movies to a version the PSP can play.

Cons: Not sure about range of movies being currently released for PSP. Those that are released tend to be sold at retail, and not discounted. Despite the smaller screen on the video iPods, more of those seem to be sold compared to the PSP, that and the movie releases seem to be more convenient in that those movies can be ordered online then downloaded.

One advantage, the bigger screen, becomes a disadvantage, when carrying the PSP just for music. In this respect, the smaller video iPod gets the nod.

Most of the package deals I've seen have a game bundled with a PSP. All this is in one box, so whether you go to Best Buy, or Circuit City, you get the same thing.

Still, PSP's seem to be holding their own. Time, of course, will tell, in the end.

If anything, the main competitor, IMO, to the PSP is the video iPod.
 
Am I the only one who thinks a PSP is a version of the Baby Browning made by Precision Small Parts company? :D
 
I have a few friends with PSP's, and the only thing that they use them for is to play emulated SNES and NES games.

It's a very good handheld emulator for old Nintendo games, you just have to softmod it first (instructions can be found online, or befriend a geek).

The games that are out for it are not that great, if you want to play games, get a Nintendo DS, but if you want to play old SNES and NES games (as well as doing the occasional bit of web browsing), get the PSP.
 
i disagree entirely. the only "adult" game available for the DS is advance wars. the rest are for kids

the PSP is loaded with "adult" games like socom navy seals...syphon filter...metal gear (3 games)....field commander....virtua tennis....killzone liberation....rainbow six vegas (out this month) etc

the PSP graphics are 10x better than the DS.

i dont watch movies or listen to music on it.....but its a great game machine for teens and adults!!.
 
Hey Guys..

I play my son's.. He has Navy Seals, and Grand Theft..
Fun to play,, but you hands get Cramped like a MF'r from holding onto that damn joystick..
It doesn't allow you to switch from the joystick to the pad,,so that kind of sucks..
Would be more comfortable to hold if you could use the top directional pad..

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
Wireless plus it has a web browser built in. The controls are not as good as a mouse or even a trackpad and entering text is a pain. However I have the bookmarks set in and can pick it up and quickly get info (news sport weather auctions etc) anywhere in the house without having to kick the kids off a computer.
Don't know about the games - the boy likes it.
 
bill_G said:
the PSP is loaded with "adult" games like socom navy seals...syphon filter...metal gear (3 games)....field commander....virtua tennis....killzone liberation....rainbow six vegas (out this month) etc

the PSP graphics are 10x better than the DS.
Click to expand...

I disagree. The PSP is chock-full of crappy ports. That said, I really want to play the new Silent Hill and Metal Gear games. This is more from series loyalty than the system though. Even though good games are finally coming to the fore for the PSP, I still use mine for other media primarily.

The DS is a better gaming system, and isn't 1/10th the PSP graphically. I don't care if the PSP has more "adult" games. The kind of games conducive to a portable system are often incompatible with adult-oriented stuff anyway. Just look at how terribly shooters turn out on portable systems.

My DS has had a lot more play-time than my PSP. The Castlevanias alone could account for this.

Back to the topic.

Cons:
price
battery life
gaming library(improving:thumbup: )
size/weight
I view the proprietary UMD format for movies as a failure

Pros:
fantastic display quality
decent sound from speakers
useable for different media

hackable(if you have older firmware) -I still need to load up Doom
 
If you want a portable gaming system I'd go with a Nintendo DS. The graphics aren't as good, but the games are a lot more fun. There are at least 10 "must have" games on the DS. Great little system.

The dual screens and touch screen feature offer unique playing experiences as well.
 
Pro: It has internet access, wireless. So anytime my daughter is in an area that has wireless internet she can go online, access her emails, etc. For Free.

It has free updates and at the website you can download free games.

It has an MP3 player so you can load it up with music, listen & surf the net at the same time.

Con: The screen is too small to really watch a movie but she does. The speakers aren't really enough to make it worth watching a movie but she uses headphones for a little speaker hook up she has. And the games are kinda expensive but relative to all the other games out there.

I think it's cool that she has it. And occasionally, in the car, she lets me play Sudoku on it. :D My kids love theirs and my daughter uses it as a tool, also. She's not allowed to take it to school, though.
 
I bought one a couple of months ago. I love it. True the games arent that great. But you just have to read reviews and the like to find some of the really good games for psp.

I havent seen anyone mention using their PSP for reading ebooks. Which I do a lot. I have to get classic literature from gutenberg.org though. Because Im cheap and its free. Once you download a text file its much easier to convert the text to jpeg files, than loading the text file into the web browser. With the text to image conversion you essentially use a program to take snapshots of the text. You get about 3-4 paragraphs for every image. Which usually ammounts to 4-500 image files. The way the psp is set up once you load the file with all the images in it. All you have to do is hit the R button to "flip" the page so to speak.

So you will have to download a program to do this. I have PSP ebook creator. Very simple to use and its pretty fast.

The only cons I have are its kind of expensive and a little bulky. Also, the screen scratches very easily.
 
Thanks to everyone that provided feedback. I caved in and bought one, I have only had it 1.5 days but so far I love it. Honestly the games are much better than I had anticipated (meaning the graphics) and I enjoy dinking around with them. The main reason I wanted it was to be able to access the internet more easily when the kids where on the PC. It has worked great for this (although the forums are a little difficult to read because of the way in which they are set-up)

If anyone has any experience on surfing the net with the PSP I'd love some assistance as I think I'm probably missing something.

Thanks again, so far I'm very happy with the purchse

:D:D
 
Browsing, agree my experience varies from site to site - depending on how they are set up. I find it pays to wait until the whole page has downloaded as the browser then, and only then, seems to sort out the way it is displayed.
There are tabs, press the left arrow and three colours appear at the top,each is one of three tabs which is handy. Bookmark as much as you can as entering urls letter by letter is a pain, better to only do it once.
 
Eric Isaacson said:
Thanks to everyone that provided feedback. I caved in and bought one, I have only had it 1.5 days but so far I love it. Honestly the games are much better than I had anticipated (meaning the graphics) and I enjoy dinking around with them. The main reason I wanted it was to be able to access the internet more easily when the kids where on the PC. It has worked great for this (although the forums are a little difficult to read because of the way in which they are set-up)

If anyone has any experience on surfing the net with the PSP I'd love some assistance as I think I'm probably missing something.

Thanks again, so far I'm very happy with the purchse

:D:D
Click to expand...


Movies on your PSP....instead of paying for movies you can convert what you own to a format that willwork on your PSP. Check out PQ DVD. I use the iPod version to convert movies into a format that will work on it. Well worth the $40. it works great and I highly recommend it.
 
K.V. Collucci said:
Movies on your PSP....instead of paying for movies you can convert what you own to a format that willwork on your PSP. Check out PQ DVD. I use the iPod version to convert movies into a format that will work on it. Well worth the $40. it works great and I highly recommend it.
Click to expand...


you can also download a program called psp 9 which does the same thing but outomaticaly transfers the video files to your root directory. its also free so you might want to check it out before you slap down 40 bucks of knife monies.
 
Macdo,
Thanks for the suggestions, browsing seems to depend on the websites, it is good on some bad on others.

KV and Wannabemarine,
Thanks for the help and the additional information. I will look into those two programs.

:D:D
 
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