Sony PlayStation Portable - Game console - black

For the past 10 years Sony has been the leader in everything "gaming" and in 2005 they launched the Sony PSP. This little gaming device is a great piece of kit, the screen is crystal clear, you have a gaming console which can play games, umd movies, mp3 music and jpeg photos as well as being able to surf the brilliant internet! :)

If you havent bought one of these beauties yet then I ask you, what do you want in a portable gaming device? Would you like a touch screen color gameboy, limited options and based at the children/female market or a gaming device with multi-media options and possibilities? If you want the second you have no choice but to go for the Sony PSP.

The minor flaws with the PSP are that the battery can only last around 5 hours from a full charge. This is not much of a problem as you can simply plug the console in a power source and get straight back into the game. The device is NOT "child friendly!" Its confusing for alot of adults and with the tonnes of options children can easily change a host of the PSP's features. If buying for a child I'd highly reccomend watching them when using the device, or you could save money and buy them the Nintendo DS, its a color gameboy with not as good graphics but cheaper more simple for children.

The great thing about the PSP is the ability to play "homebrew" games and emulators, this basically means you can play gameboy games, megadrive games, snes games, neo geo games, etc on the PSP (who would have thought!) You can be sat on the bus playing mario karts or Pokemon gameboy and people turn their head confused it can be funny to hear people saying: "Isnt that game on the gameboy or nintendo not sony psp?!?"

If you are a new buyer of the sony PSP id advise you not to buy any UMD movies they are expensive and you can only play them on your psp! Id advise you to learn how to convert on your pc to PSP and get movies from friends or the internet pay sites. The mp3 player on the PSP is a little dissapointing, it just has your basic play, pause, rewind, slow forward etc buttons. There is no flash graphic demos or anything fancy to look at, but dont worry you can download much better mp3 players for PSP on the internet.

The games are good, some are not so good as you would expect from a new console. Games to go for are: Metal gear Ac!d (If you like the series tactical game very fun), Lumines (like teris but better!) Ape academy (Girls will go for this but dont be put off its very fun and is full of mini games, great to play on the bus, train etc!) Pro Evo 5 (great footy game), Wipeout pure (great graphics good game for all) Ride Racers (same as last one), Burnout legends (brilliant for you speed and crash freak my faviourite psp game behind MGA!)

The psp fits nice in the hands of an adult, I'd mainly say its aimed at the 20 something male market so thumps up there for the feel of the console! The PSP seems to be quite heavy when you first pick one up, it must weight half a brick lol but this makes you want to hold it more securely. You dont want to drop your psp, the weight and shape would probably end up in a certain deth of the console if dropped! Use the handy wrist band that comes in the pack!

When you buy I reccomend you buy the following:

A larger memory stick 512mb at least! 1gig or 2gig if you can afford it.
PSP protective case, dont cost much but save's your psp from getting scratched!
A PSP umd game, the demo umd has no playable games :(
Insurance: Thieves love PSP's!

The PSP is a great handheld system, with a few drawbacks.

The PSP has a great screen size, and very good graphics. There are already games out for it that I'm hooked on, (Lumines and Tiger Woods Golf for example). There are also quite a few games coming out soon that look great too.

The PSP is a comfortable size, fits easily in your hands, and is not so small you'll get cramps easily (a problem I used to have with Gameboy Advance). Loading cartridges is easy and smooth, and the removable memory card is great not only for storing saved games, but can also be used for MP3s, which can be played through the PSP.

The PSP is also able to play movies, although normally the movies have to have been recorded to the PSPs proprietary media (the little mini DVDs that the games come on)

My biggest beef with the PSP is the sound. The sound is fairly good for games, but in my opinion leaves alot to be desired for movies and music. The quality is fairly good, but the sound volume is only moderate. My problem with it is if I'm watching an action movie, I want the special effects to be LOUD and in your face. Even with the ear buds, the sound doesn't go above a moderate volume level. This doesn't only hurt movies and MP3s, but there are some games that have an sound ambiance that really benefits at high volume.. and the PSP doesn't deliver that. I understand that it may be the best technology could pack into such a small package with so many other functions, but for me sound is so important.

I do enjoy playing the PSP, the games are great, the graphics are great, and I expect great things in the future. For portable movies and music, however, I'll look elsewhere.

I give the PSP a 4/5. It's a great system, and lots of fun.


Edit: Since writing this review, Sony has released upgrades to the PSP firmware that provides a volume booster. This has largely corrected the one thing that I felt was a downside to this product.

You've probably done a lot of research and read reviews already, so I'll just keep this short and hit the highlights.

- The screen: Yeah, it's nice. I have no dead pixels.

- The games: A little skimpy right now, but I can easily imagine REALLY good ones coming to this platform. If you can live without a PSP for a while, you may want to wait for the good stuff. I haven't tried any multiplayer games yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

- The video player: VERY nice. The Spiderman 2 movie looks fantastic. The movies are a little skimpy right now too, but if rental places (Blockbuster, airport stores...) start carrying lots of titles and new releases, the device is worth the purchase as a portable movie player alone. I hope there are plans for making UMD-R/RWs, because the memory stick is not yet practical for day-to-day storage of your own stuff.

- The MP3 player: More bulky than most that are out these days, but good enough. It's a nice extra feature, but don't buy it for this functionality alone. (Is anyone anyway?) The included remote is handy.

- The geek features: USB connectivity is kind of slow, but that's probably because of USB, not the PSP. I had a little trouble connecting to my Linksys wireless router. I had to assign an IP address because it wouldn't get a DHCP address automagically. Speaking of wireless, it SURE would be nice to be able to move files back and forth using a wireless network instead of USB, but I don't think this functionality exists (yet). Haven't used the IR port yet, don't know what it's good for since USB connectivity is included. Also, there are already hacks to make the PSP a Web browser and IRC client. This functionality was already built in, which tells me that Sony has plans for more functionality coming down the pipeline.

- Spiffiness: Very. They put a lot of thought into the design of this device, and I think it really paid off. I appreciate little things like the button to disable the wireless and the switch to disable all of the buttons (for watching movies or listening to mp3s) except the remote buttons. I wish the case were a little more ergonomic, but with the right grippie/protector, it's fine.

- What you'll need in addition (if your buying the Sony PSP Value Pack):
1) A bigger memory card. For it to be useful at all, you'll want at least 256MB. I would recommend at least 512MB, but they're curiously hard to find anywhere now. 32MB just plain sucks.
2) Some sort of screen/unit protection, such as the rubber cover. You do NOT want that screen to get scratched!
3) Some games. It comes with none. I don't like the bundles that everyone is selling, because there's no discount. (Add up the price of the bundle and compare it with the prices of the separate items...) I suggest getting the Value Pack and picking your own games and accessories.
4) A carrying case and some UMD disc cases would be nice, otherwise they'll get scattered all about. The games and movies do NOT come with a protective case, so unless you plan on ALWAYS returning the disks to their almost DVD box-sized boxes, you'll need something to keep the discs from getting scratched.

If you're the kind of person who has to have a PSP now, I think you'll thoroughly enjoy it. If you're not, then don't let all the hype change your mind. It solidly earns four out of five stars right now, and as more games and movies are released, that rating will crawl towards five. If you're somewhat interested in buying one, though, I do thin

Several months ago I was looking to buy a new gadget. I was seriously considering the iPod, but I changed my mind and got a PlayStation Portable. Why? I'm no fanboy, but it was because the PSP is simply the best portable entertainment device available today. In addition to playing games, it handles music, movies, web browsing, and photos. I realize that the PSP isn't really for working out like the iPod is, but the PSP's $199 retail price gives you a lot more bang for your buck. Yes, the iPod can do music, movies, and photos, but the screen is just too small for anything serious. But with the PSP's widescreen, watching movies and viewing photos are a joy. Another reason I got the PSP is because of its looks. This is one of the few things that can compare to an Apple product. It's has a sleek, beautiful black exterior that looks absolutely gorgeous.

Since this does have PlayStation in the title, how does it do on games? Quite well. The quality of the graphics are much better than the PS1 and on some games come very close to the quality of the PS2. The only problem is that there aren't as many quality and really fun titles available compared to the Nintendo DS.

Pros:
- Great screen. I really can't say enough good things about the screen! It's a 16.7 million color, 480x272 pixel widescreen and looks absolutely wonderful!
- Multimedia capability. Watch movies and listen to your music. The built-in speakers aren't very loud or exceptionally good sounding, but with a pair of good headphones, the audio quality is excellent! With the widescreen, you can easily watch movies on the go.
- Photo display. Take your photos with you and show them off to your family and friends!
- Web browser. While the text input method isn't the best, being able to check your email or read the news while at a friend's house or at a hotel without a laptop is very handy. Believe it or not, the included browser is actually pretty good at reformatting pages for the smaller screen so they still look good. As a bonus, the web browser also supports Flash so you can load certain free Flash games from the Internet onto the PSP and play them as well as regular disc based games. Also, you can download Podcasts really easily with the new Podcast feature.
- Backup game saves. When you plug it into your computer, the MemoryStick in the PSP shows up as a removable drive so you can easily backup your game saves to your hard drive. This is one of my favorite features since I won't have to lose my hard work if my PSP is ever lost or damaged!

Cons:
- Too few good games. With some exceptions, there aren't many really good games for the system. Hopefully, there will be more good games to come out.
- No built-in memory. This is related to the MemoryStick complaint below, but the PSP has no built in memory so you have to buy something else to really use it.
- Only can use MemoryStick for saving. While MemorySticks have dropped in price recently, they are still usually more expensive than other options like SD cards.
- Smudgible screen. Okay, admittedly this isn't a major problem, but it is a little annoying how easily the screen can get smudged with fingerprints.
- No TV out. I'm not necessarily referring to playing games on your TV, but why is there no way to view photos or movies on your TV?

If you are looking for a portable device to play games, movies, music, web, and photos on, you can't find a better working or better looking device! I love my PSP, and I highly recommend it!