Sony PlayStation Portable/PSP hands-on review

 

 
We got our dirty mitts on a PlayStation Portable! Read on for a nice long review with plenty of pics:

Introduction

Ever since the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) was announced at E3 in May 2004, we have been eagerly anticipating the hottest console launch (sorry Nintendo DS) this year, even if it is only for the Japanese market right now. We were fortunate enough to get a unit to test a mere five days after the Japanese release date and have been playing with it all weekend. The Sony PSP features a large 4.3-inch 16:9 widescreen LCD TFT screen with a 480x272 resolution, button layout similar to the PlayStation with a digital control pad, an analog stick, circle, square, triangle, x, and 2 shoulder buttons, USB 2.0 connectivity (via mini-USB), a Memory Stick Duo media slot, and 802.11b WiFi support. It uses Sony's proprietary Universal Media Disc, which stores up to 1.8GB in a format reminiscent of MiniDiscs. The Japanese launch release date was December 12th and the first shipment of PSPs quickly sold out. 

The Box

We got the Standard edition PSP, which comes with the PSP itself, a battery, an AC adapter, and a manual, along with Ridge Racers and Minna No Golf Portable. (The Value Pack adds a 32MB Memory Stick Duo, a soft carrying case, and headphones with an in-line remote.) The box does not come with a sticker seal of any sort, which we weren't quite used to considering anything and everything comes with some sort of factory seal here in the US.

When we shook the product box, we could hear some rattling around. We weren't too thrilled about that, since the unit did come a long ways from Japan. Luckily, when we opened the package, the PSP fits snugly into the surrounding cardboard, the rattling we heard was mostly likely the power adapter cables. We noticed a lack of any type of demo disc included with the unit. Some PSP Value Packs apparently do come with a UMD Demo Disc, but we've also heard from a few people that got Value Packs without any demo discs inside as well.

The Unit Itself

When you first lay your hands on the PSP, you immediately notice the screen. The 4.3-inch display dominates the device, it looks like it takes up two-thirds of the real estate on the front fascia. In other words, massive. The unit feels expensive, and exudes sexiness, much like Apple's iPods (and you know how big of a fan we are of iPods). The unit feels perfectly balanced when held with both hands. It does not feel like a $200 console (Japan MSRP for console only) at all. We're sure Sony is losing a few hundred bucks off each unit sold as the PSP easily feels like it's worth $400 of gadgetry (when compared to portable video and audio players and the DS). We feel Sony could have gotten away with a $300 sticker price, but in an effort to destroy Nintendo's firm grasp of the handheld gaming market, they've set the price just $50 more than the Nintendo DS (which was released in both Japan and US markets just last month). It feels like an extreme bargain for two bills. The screen is immersive, drawing you in when playing videos or games and so big that you may not need your glasses to play. The black color fits well and matches the Playstation 2's color. The dimples across the top row of the screen reminded us of carbon fiber, currently the rage in import tuner cars.

When you pay for a new console, you expect it to be perfect. Alas, ours was not. We noticed two lit pixels (always-on pixels), one in the middle of the screen, about one-fourth of the way down, and one near the very right edge of the screen. So out of 130,560 pixels on the LCD screen, we got two defective ones. It's actually not too noticeable unless you look for it and we didn't notice until we played with the PSP in pitch black darkness. We could make a big fuss, but we'll just deal with it, and hope that Sony will be as honorable as Nintendo when fixing units with dead pixels for their customers.

Another complaint of the PSP so far has been the ejecting UMD problem in which the user in the video appears to flex the PSP quite a bit to get it to eject spontaneously. We're happy to report that we didn't have such problems with any self-ejecting discs and that our PSP is built rather solidly, though we didn't dare to twist the unit as hard as we could. We initially had some light squeaking noises when we pressed right on the directional pad, but after a weekend of use, the annoying sound has disappeared.

The PSP, with battery, Memory Stick Pro Duo, and UMD inserted, weighs 10.3 ounces, making it fine to put in a jacket pocket (with case or cover of course), but not exactly friendly in a pants pocket with its long form factor. We've heard of some Japanese folks wearing the PSP like a necklace (there is a strap handle at the bottom left section of the PSP), but as cool as that may make them look, we didn't think our necks could take the strain.

Unfortunately, with the fine glossy screen comes the problem of fingerprints and smudges. While we didn't use latex gloves while handling the unit, we were very careful to try and handle it with the utmost of care. That said, there were smudges around the control buttons within seconds. It's pretty much unavoidable to smudge the smooth front cover, so we recommend a very soft cloth to wipe off smudges and smears, but make sure the cloth doesn't scratch up the LCD. The back of the unit is textured plastic and does not smudge. Within an hour of playing some games on the PSP and constantly wiping off smudges, there were some light scratches on the screen. We're hoping that Sony will sell replacement PSP faceplates at a reasonable price.

The front of the PSP unit has the directional pad on the left side, and the analog thumb stick (looks like speaker mesh) below that. The analog thumb stick is quite a burden to use since it's so far down, as there is no thumb support from the unit when you use it. It was fine to play Ridge Racers with it, but after 15 minutes, we felt as if we were getting thumbitis with a sore thumb joint. To the right of the LCD is the standard circle, square, triangle, and x buttons any Playstation junkie has become accustomed to. The left and right trigger buttons are at the top of the unit and are clear, looking a bit like jewelry. All buttons on our review unit were easy to press and click fast if necessary.

 

The bottom edge of the PSP is raised ever so slightly, with buttons for Home, lowering and raising the volume, brightness, sound settings for various music genres, and Select and Start buttons. While Home, Select, and Start are quite easy to press since the size of the buttons are a good size, the volume and brightness and music buttons take quite a bit of effort to depress as the buttons are half the size of the other ones and further away if you use your thumbs to depress. Since you may use the volume buttons quite a bit, it's a bit of a pain and there seems to be enough room on the left bottom side to put in larger buttons for volume. But at least the volume buttons are not essential for quick pressing during gaming. For brightness, there are three settings, from Dim to Bright to Brightest (our wording), we found Bright to be the adequate enough. Since there's still not much sun in Seattle this time of year, we were unable to test the PSP in direct sunlight.

 

The left side of the unit has the WiFi switch, a quick flip up and the WiFi mode is set to on.

At the top edge is an infrared transmitter, a mini-USB connector and the Eject button for loading UMDs. Sony is planning an infrared remote controller for the PSP, and it looks like any future PSP add-ons will be plugged in up top, as there's two locking holes on each side of the mini-USB port.

The combined power and hold switch is on the lower right side, you can push the switch down for hold, and pushing the slider up turns it on. The button always returns to the middle after pushing it up, which we found a bit annoying. A simple On/Off/Hold switch would have been easier to handle. When you power it on, the PSP returns you to where you left off (like returning from a hibernation state in Windows XP, but without any delays at all). When you toggle hold during a game, the PSP buttons become disabled, and the game just continues. Hold is probably most useful when playing a video or a music album and you don't want any accidental button presses to interfere.

 

The bottom right is where the AC adapter plug goes in, which we find is quite an odd placement for it. When gaming with the power line plugged in, your right hand will feel the cord and plug. While it doesn't interfere per se, it would have been much neater if the power port was placed on the top edge of the unit. Not a huge knock, just a slight inconvenience. The left side is where the headphones plug in. When used, the headphone plug doesn't interfere with our movement as much as the AC adapter one because the headphones plug is on the bottom half of the PSP. Also at the bottom edge a sticker in a recessed area, with the product number and serial number in the middle. We don't we see it lasting after a few months of hardcore use nor do we see the point of this sticker, as there is actually an etched serial number in the battery compartment.

USB Connectivity

In USB Mode, if you have a Memory Stick Duo or Pro Duo inserted, you can connect a mini-USB cable to the top of the PSP, and it acts like a USB drive, allowing you to access any folders or content on the Memory Stick. Windows XP immediately recognized the device as a Removable Disk after we plugged in the cable. File transfers both ways were incredibly fast thanks to the USB 2.0 support.

Universal Media Discs

The Sony PSP uses a proprietary 1.8GB Universal Media Disc (UMD) format, in part an effort to thwart piracy and so they can control what gets released for their system. They are much like MiniDiscs (the actual disc just slightly smaller), but with one serious drawback, a gaping hole in the back of the plastic case (no doubt for the PSP to read in data). While we know some of you are very meticulous and careful when handling your disc-based media, we also know quite a few people that have scratched up DVDs and games. We just don't get why Sony didn't put a metal faceplate over the hole like they do for MiniDiscs.

UMD games are packaged in a plastic section which the UMD fits snugly into. But there is no small plastic case for UMDs (ala Gameboy carts) and one can not reasonably be expected to carry around the full game box when transporting extra games with the system. We're sure third party UMD plastic cases will be out soon enough, but for now, you'll have to resort to carrying the whole game box, as we don't recommend just putting a UMD in your pocket to carry around.

The UMD drive makes a whirring noise at times when loading games or levels (but not while actually playing). It's not too obnoxious and sort of sounds like a hard drive spinning up, but you do hear it. After living with solid state handheld games (cartridges), we had to get used to load times again. The original Playstation 1 had horrid load times for some games, but it did improve over time as programmers got to know the system. We hope the same will be true for the PSP as it took 19 seconds after selecting UMD to get to the Namco logo on Ridge Racers. During the game, it took 10 seconds to load the course after selecting all the options. For Minna No Golf, it took 25 seconds to get to the intro screen and 16 seconds to start playing from the menu. It's tolerable but an aspect that could use some improvement.

Targeting the Adult Market

While kids will surely be begging their parents for the PSP (my 4 year-old nephew asked his father for one immediately after seeing it), Sony is targeting a more mature audience. We don't see younger kids handling the UMDs with the open area well and we can just picture screen scratches within a day after little Jimmy has their hands on one. As a friend pointed out, this system is perfect for the Japanese audience, a country where they are known for cleanliness, neatness, and taking care of their electronics well. That, sadly, can not be said for the American audience (in general), we are just more rough with our gear. It will be interesting to see if Sony changes the PSP at all for the American audience and we're thinking the USA warranty should be at least a year.  This may be one of those times where you will actually want to purchase the extended warranty program.

 

First Bootup

At first bootup we were greeted with the option to choose between Japanese and English. Next you can give your PSP a nickname (for network play) via cellphone type text entry (press 2 three times for the letter C, etc). Seeing how the PSP has plenty of room for a keyboard layout on the screen, we would have much preferred that. The Japanese are used to the phone keypad text entry system, so I'm sure it's not a big deal to them, but for the US release, we hope they change it. Another annoying interface aspect was when we entered our IP address for the PSP. We had to scroll up and down through 256 numbers (0 to 255), rather than manually entering numerals. It's not very fun to scroll for 16 sets of numbers.

After setting it to English the menus are pretty self-explanatory, the main options are Settings, Photo, Music, Video, and Game. Some of the options may not be available if you don't have a Memory Stick Pro Duo inserted.

Japanese Differences

As was the case with the Japanese versions of the PlayStation 1 and 2, the button you choose to select with is the Circle button not the X button (like in the US versions). The X button thus becomes the back or cancel option. When you're used to using X to select everything, there will be times you forget and accidentally hit the wrong button. The manual is in Japanese, not that we needed it at all for anything. Other than those two things, the PSP itself is very English-speaker friendly.

Battery Life

The PSP is powered by a 100-240V (5A) universal power adapter, which means you can use it anywhere in the world practically. There have been reports of a weak two hours of battery life when playing complex 3D games. We fully charged up our PSP battery and popped in Ridge Racers for non-stop gaming. We set the brightness to the middle level and set the volume to 15 button presses from 0 (the max volume is 30). That level of brightness and volume is adequate for the average gamer during gameplay. With no breaks in between, we played non-stop for 3 hours and 35 minutes. We also tried another Ridge Racers test, playing one game, then letting the system run through the replay in an infinite loop. That test also resulted in a similar playtime of 3 hours and 31 minutes.

While not superb, 3.5 hours is acceptable and you can always buy a spare battery (~$45) if you need it. Cheaper third party batteries will show up sooner or later as well. We had really hoped the PSP could be charged via mini-USB, but unfortunately Sony did not include that support. But to be fair, our mini-USB cable was not able to charge our Motorola RAZR V3 cellphone either, though the phone is supposedly capable of doing so. So it may be that we have a bunk USB cable. If anyone has gotten their PSP to charge via USB, let us know. We'd also like to see a cigarette lighter power adapter for long road trips.

After 3.5 hours of nonstop gaming, the unit is just barely warm to the touch. I ejected the UMD and the disc felt just the tiniest bit warm too. So hopefully that's a sign of no overheating problems (which plagued the first-generation Sony Playstations, anyone remember turning it upside down to alleviate the problem?).

Memory Stick Duo

The Sony is hoping that the PSP will help make the Memory Stick Pro Duo a viable memory card format, especially since the PSP does not take any of the older Memory Stick formats like the Memory Stick Pro. It only takes the tiny Duo flash memory card, which is about 85% of the size of a Secure Digital (SD) card. We believe the highest current available size is 512MB, retailing for $130 at stores (or about $85 shipped on eBay), and we have not seen the 1GB version in stock anywhere. You will need a Memory Stick to save your games or if you want to play MP3s or videos on it. The Ridge Racers save game takes up about 700K and Minna No Golf Portable needs about 769K.

After formatting your Memory Stick Duo or Pro Duo in the PSP, you get a PSP directory, and GAME, MUSIC, PHOTO, SAVEDATA folders within that. The game folder will eventually house downloadable games or demos from the Internet, music is for your MP3s, photo for your JPGs, and save data for your saved games. Video files need to go in a different folder which we will get into later this week.

Photos

For photo viewing, GIF, BMP, and PNG files aren't supported by the PSP, but standard JPG ones are. When you have a full-sized 4 or 5 megapixel JPG file, the PSP takes a bit of time for it to load, about 3 seconds for a 1.8MB JPG file. It automatically crops the photo (most photos are in the 4:3 format), leaving white space on the sides of the picture when it is displayed (see above).

For photos that you have cropped or Photoshopped to the PSP's native 480x272 resolution (say hi to my Yorkshire terrier, Yoda), the picture loads immediately and looks sharp with excellent detail. You can get file information (filename and file date), do a slideshow, or zoom in to certain parts of the picture. The photo gallery works much like Windows Explorer, showing a thumbnail of the picture, the filename, and date. You can also create folders within the \PSP\Photo directory in Windows Explorer to organize your photos. In the Photo section, when you press the Triangle button, you can delete folders or pictures, or get more information about a picture, including its full resolution and which camera took the shot by accessing the EXIF information within the JPG file itself.

Playing Music

The biggest knock on Sony in the past has been their insistence of using the ATRAC format, forcing you to convert your beloved MP3s to their proprietary format before their players could play it. They have finally listened to their users and done away with ATRAC only with native MP3 support in the PSP. Just drop files into your PSP/Music folder and your PSP can play them directly. The speakers are at the bottom of the unit, and the two little holes on the bottom produce good sound. We played a variety of MP3s just fine, including some variable bit rate ones, but we're sorry to report that we didn't have any ATRAC files to test out.

Playing Videos

Videos look amazing on the widescreen. The picture is sharp and detailed, and colors are vibrant. While it's fine to hold the PSP in your hands when playing games or watching short clips, it gets a bit tiresome if you're watching something an hour or more in length (rest assured that Sony will be putting out a stand for the PSP).

 

WiFi Setup

Setting up the 802.11b WiFi is easy. Just name your connection (Home, Work, etc), put in the SSID access point name, a WEP key if any, and then setup IP and DNS addresses (or choose automatic if using DHCP). There's a network test when you are done, telling you your current signal strength and whether your Internet connection succeeded or not. Taking a page from Microsoft, you can also update the PSP OS via a Network Update. Our tech geekiness led us to try to update the system (it's less than a week old) before even playing games. Our system already had the latest version, as there were no updates from Sony.

The PSP in Public

Not that we expected anyone to,  but no one noticed when we whipped out the PSP to wait in line at the post office (for a lousy 30 minutes!) to mail a package. But we were surprised when we started playing while standing in line at Best Buy (to get a Sandisk 512MB Memory Stick Pro Duo for a whopping $130) and got no attention, either (though we were only in line for about 10 minutes). The checkout droids didn't say anything either.

But when we took the PSP to the mall for a little tour (just outside a game shop), it was a different story. Within a few minutes a bunch of kids who looked to be aged 10 to 12 were asking questions about it, mainly where we got ours from and how much. (Kids these days must be on a different allowance scale than when we were kids, because when we said it would be just $200 come March or so, they were all over it and said they were sure that they'd get one.) Within 10 minutes we had gathered a small crowd of ten, all drooling over the gorgeous screen. With the Nintendo DS anyone looking over your shoulder may have a hard time to see what's going on, while the PSP is also a watch-while-I-play kind of system, and the people that were looking over our shoulders at the mall didn't have any problem seeing what was going on. We didn't stay too long, fearing a mob scene as people started calling their friends over.

PlayStation Portable vs. the Nintendo DS

We love the Nintendo DS, but it is bulky and feels and looks like a child's toy from the 1980s compared to the PSP, which is definitely one well-designed, slick little handheld. The DS weighs exactly 10 ounces with the thumb strap, battery, and DS game inserted (10.4 ounces if you add in a GBA cart), just slightly less than the PSP's 10.3 ounces. But two 3-inch screens does not beat one 4.3-inch one, at least not in this case.

 

The DS has a touchscreen on the lower LCD, which makes for more interactivity than the PSP, and the PSP would make for a great PDA if it had touchscreen functionality. While Nintendo is planning to add music and video to the DS for $50, the PSP has both features already, and video just won't be the same on a 3-inch DS screen, especially when compared to the PSP's 4.3-inch one. When we consider that the primary purpose of the PSP is to play games, the graphics of the PSP just blow away the Nintendo offering. The two powerful 32-bit MIPS R4000 CPUs overwhelms the Nintendo DS ARM7 and ARM9 processors. One direct comparison would be Ridge Racer DS vs Ridge Racers for the PSP, both created by Namco. The DS version has some chunky pixelated graphics (see above picture courtesy of GameSpot) and the lower touchscreen looks rather useless in terms of gameplay usage. The PSP's Ridge Racers is Playstation 2-like, with smoother graphics and more detail in the cars. The one redeeming factor of Ridge Racer DS is that only one copy of the game is needed for up to 6-player wireless multiplayer action.

 

PlayStation Portable vs. Creative's Zen Portable Media Center

The Creative Zen Portable Media Center (PMC) is a portable media player with a 3.8-inch 4:3 screen and a 20GB hard drive, but beyond the hard drive (and perhaps 7 hour video battery life and TV output), it does not compare too favorably with the PSP. Since we do not yet have the Sony Image Converter software, it is easier to transcode video files to the PMC. But the PMC is a lot thicker and uses the 4:3 screen format, which in the current age of HDTV is going the way of the dodo bird. Interestingly enough the Sony PSP AC adapter can actually charge the PMC as well since the plug fits and both units use the same voltage power. Watching standard 4:3 size videos is okay on the PMC, but when you go to 16:9 format shows or movies, you definitely notice the annoying black bars on the PMC. In direct video comparisons, the PMC picture looks washed out (as you can tell in the pictures) and much grainier. I'm not sure why the 4:3 video on the PSP wasn't bigger, but it's still more clear and detailed. In the 16:9 Shark Tale trailer, I have no idea why the PMC didn't set the video to 16:9 format, as the original source was widescreen, but again, the PSP handily wins that comparo as well. 

The PMC has only one speaker (at the bottom right corner of the screen) for mono sound, whereas the PSP has two little speakers for stereo sound. The PMC has slightly better sound (even with only one speaker) and has a higher maximum volume, but when using a pair of Shure E3C earbuds to listen to some MP3s, we found audio fidelity to be great in both devices, with no noticeable quality difference.

PlayStation Portable vs. Apple's iPod photo

Apple's iPod photo handily beats the PSP in terms of the MP3 interface, ease of use, playlist creation, and storage space. We didn't have an standard iPod or iPod photo to do direct comparisons with, but we did do a listening test with an iPod mini. Again using Shure E3C earbuds, we found no discernable difference in audio quality between the PSP and the iPod mini, as both were equally superb with a variable bit rate MP3. When viewing JPGs, the 2-inch iPod Photo screen size just doesn't bode well for viewing pictures, plus you need to use iTunes to convert any JPGs into a format the iPod Photo can read. The PSP can directly read any JPG file (and fits the JPG onto the screen) and the pictures look gorgeous on the 4.3-inch screen, but the only downside of the PSP is that you can not listen to an MP3 file while browsing photos and it doesn't output the picture to a TV.

Is the PSP an iPod (or iPod Photo) killer? No, but could it be an iPod video killer (when and if that finally comes out)? Perhaps, but only if Memory Stick prices go down in price and storage sizes go way up. Or if Sony opens up the UMD format (we can hope, can't we?) and lets people write to their own 1.8GB UMD discs. We're not sure what Apple has in store in terms of a video iPod player, but obviously they'd have to make the screen at least somewhat comparable to the one on the PSP and loads better than the iPod Photo's 2-inch screen.

Games

Ridge Racers is definitely a hit, and we've yet to hear anyone buy the PSP without buying RR too. Just like the original Ridge Racer was a success when the Sony PlayStation came out, Ridge Racers is a system seller. The intro CG looks amazing, and when you play the game, you get a sense of speed, which you need in a racing title. There were no graphic pop-ups, but you can notice jagged edges (jaggies) if you look close enough, namely the edge of the course (the bottom of the side walls) as you are driving. It may be a little distracting to some, but we aren't that critical to count it as a major flaw. The game itself has some intentional motion blur (we hope intentional at least) when you see the computer controlled cars turning in corners, their brake lights will blur a bit on the screen. There is some Japanese language in Ridge Racers, but overall, there's plenty of English and one can navigate through it reasonably well without knowledge of Japanese. We had to tear the PSP unit away from our test group of gamers to even try our other game.

 

Minna No Golf Portable (Everybody's Golf, or Hot Shots Golf in the US) is a good golf title. The graphics are solid, but it is golf, and we didn't experience anything spectacular from this one. We do find it weird that our character runs at hyperspeed immediately after striking the ball, and waits at the spot for the next swing, even as the ball is rolling to that point. You can put topspin or underspin on the ball, and you can also hook and slice the ball around trees. It uses the familiar old three click method for the golf swing, click once to start your swing, once to set the power, and once for accuracy. It's the same method that's been used since Links for PC has been around. The menus are heavily in Japanese, and while we were able to start a game by pressing the Circle button a few times, we had no idea what we chose. There may be guides or FAQs at GameFAQs by the time you read this.

 

Conclusion

The Sony PSP is a great handheld gaming console, one that could prove to be as revolutionary as the original Nintendo Gameboy was, not only because it's basically a handheld PlayStation 2 with powerful graphics, but because of all the other value-added features it comes with, namely the photo viewer, the audio player, and video player. The most amazing thing, hands-down about the PSP is the large 4.3-inch widescreen LCD, which is simply amazing to see in person, and at two hundred bucks retail, it's definitely a good value. There is no handheld gaming competitor that comes close to it right now in terms of gaming power, and if weren't for the low storage capacity and high price of the Memory Stick Pro Duo, it might even hold its own as a portable audio and video player. The photo viewer is superb and sharp and the sound quality of the audio player is at least on par with the iPod mini. The videos when played back from Memory Sticks are superb, there's no doubt that movies on UMD will look just as great on the widescreen.

Now maybe the time to put in your pre-orders for the February or March 2005 US PSP launch, that is if you can resist importing a system (around $500+ right now, check our PSP price watch). We really hope Sony holds to their word of no region coding on PSP games (we don't mind so much if UMD movies are region encoded), because we'd rather not have to rip apart our PSP to install a region-free modchip (which will surely come if there is region coding for games). You will pay a bit of a premium for a PSP now, unless you know someone in Japan that can get you one. The question of worth is of course dependant on what your income level is and how much you value having the latest system.

Sony PlayStation Portable Price Watch

Dead or lit pixels will continue to be an issue for any PSP buyer (as it is for any sort of LCD screen) and it's the only main gripe of our system. We're more forgiving than most for the slow load times, as it is the first generation of software, so this should get better over time. The battery life isn't amazing, so another battery is a necessity if you plan on playing the PSP more than four hours a day away from an AC outlet, and we do wish that it could be charged via USB. Other issues: it'd be nice if Sony made text input in the menus a little easier, and we would have loved to have found an Internet browser within the OS, seeing how easy the WiFi was to setup and get working. Greater Memory Stick Pro Duo storage sizes at more affordable rates should come as the system matures, as the PSP would an amazing powerhouse with a cheap 4GB of storage.

A special thanks goes out to Siu-Wai Ho of Kicks Hobby in Seattle, WA for providing the Sony Playstation Portable unit to us a mere 5 days after it's Japanese release. Thanks!

 

 

Dan Wu's personal reviews and commentaries can be read on his personal site, http://www.wooba.com.

[Dean @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

I guess if they fix that popping of the UMD's and lack of battery...I would buy it 4-5 months after NA release.

[Hooty @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Thanks for the great review...

[wol @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

oh my my
simply amazing

[Semi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

best review!!
i got all the information i was lookin for from this review!

[Bollocks Mate @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

I've been playing with the PSP for the last 5 days now, right here in Los Angeles, making my friends and co-workers DROOL, and they follow me around like possessed Zombies out for another fix, but I won't let them touch it......

I've almost completed MIN-NA NO GOLF (Everybody's Golf), I am on the last set of stars to get to the highest rank. I can tell that Dan here is not a golfer, nor does he appreciate it, nor has any coordination to play the sport anyways hehehehe, but for me, this is the perfect game for a hand-held, a perfect game to pass the time. And in fact, it is very realistic, with all the difficulty in the sport's elements factored in to this game - spin, wind, trajectory, power, club selection, slope, weather (gotta love the snow and rain screens when they do show), and the challenge to climb to a better skill level brings you more courses to play. It is true that you have to have PATIENCE, just like the real sport. I am almost at the highest level with only 2 Stars to collect, after playing it for 5 days.

LUMINES is astoundingly beautiful and the music is just so perfectly RAVE-TECHNO to keep my eyes glued to the game, this game is glorious, glorious, glorious, I can't seem to get beyond Level 21, my eyes hurt and I keep losing! The background images flash and change with the tone of the music, and it's almost a sensory overload.... but man it is beautiful........

VAMPIRE CHRONICLES is the usual arcade style crap that makes my thumb ache and ache...

ARMORED CORE FORMULA FRONT is impossibly complicated, all the Japanese words are even hard for me to follow, there's so much detail in the game, this one will take some serious patience - oh yeah you have to be patient and go though all the details bit by bit as you build your figher robots and figure out a war time strategy as you place your machines in combat simulations/situations and watch the whole thing happen (kind of like being a Head Coach)....

About the only game that my friends could follow without having to have to read the Japanese, without having me sit there and explain everything to them every screen, is RIDGE RACERS, of course! I do have to set it up and bring it to the Race Screem before I hand it over to my friend to enjoy. Pixelation in the bottom corner? Are you nuts? What are you looking at, Dan? THAT's what you have to complain about?

Everyone says the Screen is amazing, and it is, this small High Definition screen is a marvel, and the refresh rate is tremendous, crystal clear, unlike any hand-helds/PDAs out there - so if anyone talks trash about it, they're crazy -
In fact, I know they're nuts because they would go and spend $250 for a stupid CELLPHONE with a Camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


What idiot out there goes around TWISTING this unit in their hand? Would you do that with your Cellphone?
Would you do that with your digital camera?
Would you do that with your Laptop?
Would you do that with your PDAs?

What makes you want to twist the unit so much that the Disk pops out? All I can guess is that you're really CRAP at the games and can't play for shit, and you're hanging on to it way too hard.
Stop jerking off with it! You might find you don't need to whack the buttons so hard to make the thing work.


This is a great machine. I'm certainly going to enjoy it for a good year until it breaks (probably), and then I'll buy another one. A whole year's use is pretty darn good considering, I'll be using it every day, just like my Computer -
I don't even shoot with my DSLR every day, and I expect that to last me 5 years or so with steady use before something goes wrong with it -

I think there are people out there who expect these machines to be indestructible, when all they have to realize is that their own comments about how everything is obsolete in 6 months means they'll want a new thing anyways -


I can tell you that there are a lot of people at my work who play with their cellphone games a lot, and when they saw this thing, they flocked to it like flies.
At home, they said they would rather "watch movies than play video games" but they have moments when they're out by themselves when they wished they had something like the PSP to play to help kill the time, especially when travelling by air or riding on trains.

The machine in the nice soft pouch fits perfectly in the inside pocket of my leather jacket.
Yes, I got the Value Pack, even though I will never touch the remote and headphones that came with it. But I figured it might be a nice thing to have, this Value Pack, when I decide to give it some kid down the street when I'm bored with it.

I think most people will remember to keep their hands off the screen area in the future........ at least when you touch the face, we're not physically touching the LCD itself (unlike laptops and certain other machines), rather the whole face plate is one piece - so I am sure the face plate can be replaced once it gets scratched up too much, just like the Car Stereos.

[Sugarbear @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

I couldn't help but notice that in your rather awesome collection of portable systems there in the end you failed to showcase the Neo Geo Pocket Color.

clearly you've never even played that bad boy, for all intents and purposes it is the greatest hand held system that has or probably will ever exist.

Sure the graphics don't knock your door down, but who cares, you get great playing games. For my money the NGPC did everything right, except for the lack of contrast and brightness control.

Personally I'd like to see a review of that, or even see someone admit that it existed. I'd review it for you but I'm not sure you'd be thrilled about my one game.

[Dan Dickinson @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

completely forgotten aspects such as innovation, gameplay, the games, battery life, and price.

Innovation? Last I checked, throwing a touch screen onto a handheld device wasn't a new gaming thing - I was playing touch screen games on my Palm ages ago.

Gameplay? The games? After reviewing almost every DS game that's coming out from now till February (as the release dates are showing NOTHING in January - and Zoo Keeper isn't out yet), IGN has pegged the DS launch games at an average of 6.47. Don't trust IGN? Gamespot has an average of 6.71. There are very few compelling reasons to buy a DS right now if you're truly looking for *games*.

Battery? They talked about the battery. 3.5 hours on Ridge Racer alone - which is supposed to be a battery hog - is far from shabby, and certainly better than the "90 minutes" all the naysayers were brandying about.

Price? It's ~$30 more in Japan. We'll see what it is when it hits over in the US. But again, so? The Xbox and PS2 are both $50 more than the GameCube - you don't see the GameCube having supply issues this holiday.

Saying "I'm no Nintendo fanboy" right after saying "You can't possibly produce a decent article without comparing these" is good for a laugh.

[Stephen @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Has anyone tried to plug the usb jack into a mac or what? I want to know how hard it is going to be to get videos on to one of these from my powerbook.

[Kurt @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Oh man, you totally made me long for my long-dead Atari Lynx with that shot of all of the handhelds. Good bye, old friend...

[dalton @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

"Wait a year, and we'll see which system is flourishing, as developers get excited with new options for development."

While that may be true in some sense, developers *really* get excited about the number of systems in households around the world. That's why there are still tons of games coming out for PS2, and almost none for Gamecube, even though the Gamecube is technically a better system.

No one can say for sure who will win this battle. While I, for one, love my DS and will definitely not be buying a PSP, there are obviously a lot of people out there who will. If anything, I'm looking forward to a close match-up, because it will encourage competition in both companies. I just hope Nintendo sticks with it, encourages lots of 3rd party support, and gets the games on the shelves. With Sony setting such a low price point, the PSP is going to be hard to beat.

[quanta @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

All I have to say is this: you are a brave man, Dan, to show to the entire world you still own C+C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat".

[Joshua Ochs @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Unfortunately for the DS, I have the sinking feeling that Nintendo will create a lot of innovative games for the DS, and everyone else will create games for the GBA and PSP. The PSP will allow developers to reuse existing games, coding styles and deliver impressive games NOW. The DS is more tricky, requires a lot of rework and innovation to take advantage of, and I don't see third-party developers doing that. Even Nintendo acknowledges that the DS may not be the end-all be-all in that it does not replace the GBA, but will coexist side-by-side. Usually that means you're not terribly sure how well it will do, and you're hedging your bets.

Finally, while graphics don't sell a system (games do), if you saw Ridge Racer DS next to Ridge Racer PSP, can you honestly say you'd want to play the DS one? How many developers will make DS-only games versus how many making both, or making PSP-only (due to its better graphics)? Any games made for both will almost be worse for the DS, s they inevitably won't take full advantage of the DS's unique capabilities, but you can be sure they'll take advantage of the PSP's graphics horsepower.

This round goes to the PSP, hands down.

[Sean Clark @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

A lot of people are complaining about the opening on the umd discs. If they do use similiar technology to mini discs, this should not be a big problem. Mini discs hold data magnetically. The trick is the bit must be heated before it can be changed, so a laser is used to heat it, then change it. so scratching should not be a problem on these discs.

[Brandon @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

no need to call it a high definiton screen, it isnt even close. look up the max resolution specs.

I will also wait 4-5 months after NA release to get a well built unit.

this is the best review I have seen online. great job!!

[Hideki Watanabe @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Jack, I wouldn't be too concerned with how engadget compares the PSP to the DS. These guys love gadgets. The big screen sexyness is much more important than the fact that the Ridge Racer screen shot shows Mr. Wu in last place with no other cars visable. I know it's tricky to show a good action shot, but he didn't even try.

[MaxiMaro @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

well you've covered just about every aspect of this PSP. Well done!

[Joshua Ochs @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Hideki, how good are you at playing a game and photographing it at the same time? Especially given this isn't on a TV where someone else could easily photo it while you play.

[Christopher MacManus @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

This is the best review I've seen of the PSP since it debuted. Good job, Dan Wu.

[Nick! @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

It's interesting. Most people who are on about the PSP are because of the way it looks, while most people who are on about the DS are because of the potential for new games. Some people want Hollywood, some people want art house. :)

I can't say I don't find the PSP attractive, but I've yet to see a single game announced that I would want to spend time on. Most of them look like games I already played on Playstation 1 and 2... which is my big worry for the PSP. When you can easily port what you already have cheaper, why bother coming up with something new? It's going to take a while for PSP to come into lots of games of its own. PS2 took a while, too. (Besides, I like niche games... fighting games and racing games and the like are dreadfully boring)

I do see my future with the PSP, just not at launch time. I'll be waiting for a stronger games library and a newer, more robust PSP hardware revision. Judging by Sony's history, we haven't seen the best of PSP's hardware faults yet...

... and what I really wish for -- A PSP revision that doesn't have the insane finger print magnet front. I'm way too OCD to deal with that.

[idave03 @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Can we expect to have the same 200 price after say 6-8 months after the release (in N.A.)..how the hell does sony expect to make profit after losing hundreds per console?

[rihooligan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

this is gota be the coolest handheld ever!!i dont care what anyone says the graphics rock!!!!

[Clint @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Amazing! Why would anyone want the Nintendo BS after seeing this baby?!

[Raj Roogooluvic @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

You're right Clint, who would want the Nintendo 'BS' after seeing the BSP? After being blinded by glare and intense ugliness of 'this baby', no one would be able to get over to the store and buy a DS. Oh wait! They wouldn't be able to get one anway, they're sold out...I wonder why.

[Artemiy @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

So, it seems I still can't choose between these two systems... The DS is mainly for gaming, and it's touchscreen rules. PSP is for many things, but not so good for gaming... By the way, does PSP have an internet browser? Maybe I should consider taking both? (oooh... It was hard to type this text on my lovely 6600)

[GTi-VR6 @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Hyperion,

Why would the battery life be worrisome to you? If the battery life on a launch title is 3.5 hrs, when the game developers have yet to really work on efficient disk access etc, the battery life (and load times) will only get BETTER. Where are you getting 90 mins from?

Don't say gamespot until you see their latest "onthespot" review:

http://www.gamespot.com/onthespot/?tag=gs_lnav_onthespot

[michael @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

it will take Sony a long time to even come close to getting near Nintendo's hold on the handheld market. were not talking the DS here, we are talking Gameboy. how millions sold? no one even bothers to compare the market share of the Cube to the PS2. think of that in reverse when it comes to the PSP and the Gameboy.

[B. Hawker @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

I believe when he mentions that the battery life is worrisome he is referring to what will happen with the PSP 8-12 months down the road, when the internal battery can't hold a charge as well, so the 3.5 hours of Ridge Racer might go down to 1.5-2. Of course then you need to buy another battery.

[dfd @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

And I'm sure a lot of people are playing their non-GBA gameboys right now.

Let's face it -- if Nintendo controls 100% of the market (and relies on that for its future income), then any advance Sony makes in that area will hurt Nintendo.

Nintendo has done the same thing for too long -- that is, repackage 10 year old games as new games for the GBA. Hell, Mario DS is a prime example of this.

Without any challenge, Nintendo has sat on its ass and sucked up the cash. It knows that it can't do that any longer.

Without the PSP, there would be no DS. Nintendo would have been content just to let the GBA be a cash cow.

Now that Nintendo is actually being challenged, we'll see how it responds. And so far, its response ain't lookin too good.

[Airwave @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Wow, what a nice review ! Probably the most complete and well written PSP review I've read so far. Thank you so much :)

Well a couple of thoughts :

- give us a web browser, i can't wait to browse the web on such a gorgeous screen !

- i'm sure someone will soon find either how to boot games from the memory stick or to boot games from the usb cable (store on your computer) Don't get me wrong, I don't care for pirated games but I do care for the underground scene (emulators, web browsers, tiny apps and so on !)

- some "perfect fit" leather cases are already available for as cheap as 20$ ! I can't see the point of buying the value pack considering how bad is the case and how "small" is the packed memory stick. I'll also go for a standard pack with a custom leather case and a bigger memory stick.

Anyway, once again, thank you for such an in depth review

[Adam @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Actually there are 4 brightness settings - when you plug it in, you get one more brightness setting(brightest).

Was that the Ron Artest brawl that you used in the video section? :D

[Mark Sumner @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Forget the DS. What I'd like to see lined up against the PSP is the Tapwave Zodiac.

480x320 screen, analog controls, dual SD slots, and a Palm OS that supports an array of apps - including some great games. Video. Audio. Bluetooth for multiplayer.

The Zodiac is currently occupying the handheld entertainment niche at my house.

[Ernie Longmire @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Why would we bother playing our non-GBA gameboys when the GBA plays GB and GBC games natively? (I do still have my old GB, GBC, and pre-SP GBA stashed away somewhere though. Fifteen years on that platform! Damn!)

The DS can better weather an early drought of good dedicated titles, since you can still play all your old GBA games on it. I'm curious about the PSP and look forward to playing with one to see how it shakes out, but I *know* I'll be buying a DS once I actually see one available for sale.

[Jack @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Hi,
To the reply to my post.
The touch screen isn't the only innovative thing on the DS. There's the two screens, Instant Messaging, Online Play, Alarm, Rumble Pack (Using GBA Cartridge). Since when did the PSP do something innovative anyway that the DS hasn't done?
For games (sorry, I emitted the *'s, please excuse me), there are only a few titles on the PSP that really sort of excite me. Like Gran Turismo, and MGS. But otherwise - there are really none. The DS has so many, Metroid Prime, Animal Crossing, LOZ are to name but a few.
Concerning Battery, you neglected to note that the play time of the DS can reach 9 Hours. Yep, grab your coat, that's right.
Price? $30 more in Japan? Still, $30 can go a long way. Like buying a game. Or buying the media add on. Plus, the games are also more expensive on PSP. The reason the Gamecube doesn't have supply issues even though it is cheaper is because the perception of the console is not macho, it's got nothing to do with the price. I find it funny that you can correlate price with sales figures, since there are numerous factors that play a part in sales figures other than price.
Finally, your humour is also questionable. How on earth could you find the sentence: "You can't possibly produce a decent article without comparing these" remotely funny? It really does display the kind of audience the PSP attracts, does it not?
Anyway, good greetings from UK.

[Semi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

this is what people said when sony came with the playstation...they said nintendo n sega were rooted in and couldnt be moved...

but more competition the better! cheaper units!

[V @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

I've not had the glowing experience with the PSP that this biased reviewer has, but I do love the screen. It's quite lovely. Unfortunately, the PSP I've used is riddled with design flaws. Creaking controls, ejecting disk, etc, etc. And I can't tell you how frustratingly dirty that screen gets in very little time.

Those issues aside, however, I can't see why anyone who already owns a PS2 would want the PSP. This, to me, is the main reason people outside of Dan's nerdy gadgetsphere will pass on the PSP. First, the games are going to be exactly the same. There will be no innovation on the PSP. The DS has the potential for serious innovation in video games, although it hasn't shown itself yet. I've got a friend at EA who says there are some serious real-time war/strategy games in production for the DS, ones that have the potential to completely revolutionize mult-player strategy games.

Also, gaming, for the guys I know, is primarily a social activity. We get together in front of a big TV and play until we're zombies. With the PSP not offering anything new, it would seem unlikely that any of this group of guys will pick up a system that can only have one player. (With each additional player having to buy the system and another frickin copy of the game.)

Anyhow, I certainly agree on the screen. Man that thing's nice. But the system will never get my money. (And the DS won't, either, until the truly innovative stuff comes out.)

[dfd @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Why would we bother playing our non-GBA gameboys when the GBA plays GB and GBC games natively? (I do still have my old GB, GBC, and pre-SP GBA stashed away somewhere though. Fifteen years on that platform! Damn!)

That's not the point -- the point is that including old gameboys with the tally of all the gameboys sold (GBA, GBA SP, etc., etc.) is like including IBM ATs with the current number of PCs being used worldwide. I

Yes, a lot of GBs have been sold, but that was five years ago. Also, when you own a hundred percent of the market, and the market is able to absorb millions of units, you will, as a result, sell millions of units.

However, now that there's serious competiton (and Sega GG, Neo Geo Pocket, Wonderswan, etc. were never serious competition), Nintendo is in trouble.

And you have to admit: It has done more than its fair share of rehashing. Much more than its fair share.

So if DS is truly the superior product (in terms of "gameplay", which is already an extremely subjective element to judge), then let it stay on top.

But one look at the PSP's screen (which appears to be bigger than both DS screens combined) and its quality, and how the games LOOK on it...

I think Nintendo's going to have some serious problems on its hands.

(P.S. -- And what happens to the DS when the next Game Boy comes out?)

[jc @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

just wanna drop a couple comments:

ridge racer ds is basically a port of the n64 ridge racer game. had namco actually bothered to make a new ridge racer game from scratch, i'm sure it would probably look a bit better. not as good as the PSP one, but better. metroid prime hunters doesn't look that good by pure fluke. the developers just took advantage of the hardware better.

the psp games DO look better, and ultimately will have more appeal to people because of that.. but you have to ask yourself if you really want to be playing games like gran turismo or even ridge racer on the go (for usually short bursts) on a portable system or would you rather play it at home with no time limit (battery life) on a big tv and stereo surround sound?

the thing i can say for the DS is that at least you can't play those kinds of games anywhere else, so whether you're on the go, or at home, the DS is still enjoyable.

given the choice between the ps2 or the PSP, i would rather just play my ps2 at home. from what i've seen so far, it looks like all the games on the PSP are shrunken ps2 games..

the PSP is a SEXY machine, but sony's challenge will be to get compelling software for it. let's not forget all those systems that had better screens and graphics than the original gameboy.

[sammo @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Wow, I can't wait until I give a PSP to a 10 year old child, and have him not scratch up the screen or have it destroyed within a month.

[V @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

I think it's absolutely hilarious that the reviewer thinks 3.5 hours is acceptable for a portable system. Honestly, what a joke that is. Tell me again, if I have to be chained to a power socket anyway, why wouldn't I want a PS2? At least then I can do multiplayer FPSs with all me pals. (Only need one copy of the game, too.)

[Hi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

I think the DS will sell more with little kids, say ages 8 to 12. But an adult with a DS would probably be seen as a loser who still lives at home with his GANMAMMY and gets breast fed every night before he goes to bed. Be honest, the PSP is a more attractive and sexy machine, than some gimmick dual screen game boy.

All Nintendo has done is sit back and re-realease the same games for all their systems, i am fucking tired of Super Mario, and fucking Diddy kong Racing.

HEY MOMMY LETS BUY ANOTHER NINTENDO SYSTEM SO I CAN PLAY MARIO WHEN IM SHOPPING, IN BED, IN SCHOOL, AND BEATING MY MEAT!! (we all know thats why they have touchscreen) so you can one hander your your way through the 14th super mario game for nintendo.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

"I think it's absolutely hilarious that the reviewer thinks 3.5 hours is acceptable for a portable system. Honestly, what a joke that is."

I completely agree.

Simple fact is no handheld has ever been successful with less than 8 hours of battery life. None. Not even in the face of technically inferior competition. Is 3.5 hours even close to that? No.

Now, I'm not saying battery life is all that matters. But nobody who looks at systems like the Lynx, Nomad, or Game Gear would ever tell you that poor battery life (in their cases, around 5 hours) wasn't part of the reason for their failure. Yes, we're dealing with rechargeables now - but the problem with those earlier systems wasn't the expense, it was the lack of convenience. This is the Lynx vs. the original GameBoy all over again.

3.5 hours, I mean I'm sorry, that's just not acceptable in any portable device, game system or otherwise. If I have to keep the thing tethered to a power cord or charging up every single day, then what's the point? I honestly have a feeling that Sony will package in a higher capacity battery when it's released here, because if they don't, then this thing's gonna have some major problems.

[JL Reyes @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

Simply beautiful. IMHO this game is perfect for the all-around tarveler; music, gaming, video, and internet all in one. The graphics are apalling and easily a contender to (and probably champion over) the Nintendo DS. Hopefully, by the time the PSP comes to the U.S. market, problems such as the UMD launch and dead pixels would be fixed. I would most definately grab the PSP (only with a protective case becasue of that screen ^_^) around June/July if it truly is coming out in March.

[pokeman54 @ Dec 19th 2005 1:48AM]

hmm...it seems like the battery life and the games for the PSP are the main complaints for the system right now...however this is just the beginning for PSP, it hasnt even been released in teh US yet so everything right now is just temporary, methinks. So its too early to be judging the system on these little details jus yet. Sonys most likely gonna make a newer better battery to solve the power issue. and teh games...since this is a relatively new system, developers are most likely testing out the new software by importing old games to see how things turn out, and to test how popular the psp would be(I personally am waiting for all of the finalfantasy VII games coming out on teh system)...yeah...byebye

oo and another thingy...i went to gamestop yesterday and they had two DS for sampling...i tried one DS while