Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) Console

In December of 2004, the race for the new handheld gaming system was underway between Nintendo and Sony. Nintendo introduced a system called the DS or Dual Screen in the fourth quarter of 2004. Me, being the sucker I am, purchased the DS as soon as it came out to be Mr. High Tech. Unfortunately, I was greatly disappointed with the gameplay, the graphics, the touchscreen, and just the system in general. After sitting on my shelf for some months, I realized that Sony has finally released their portable system. After going online and researching it, I was amazed! The graphics were beautiful and the machine was as sleek and pristine as any new electronic equipment should be. I immediately sold my DS on Ebay and got myself a PSP.

The PSP comes in a value pack. The value pack comes with the PSP system, an AC adapter, a battery pack, a set of headphones with external remote control, a soft case, a cloth for wiping the screen, a 32mb memory stick, a sampler disc, and a Spiderman 2 movie.

When I opened the package containing my PSP, the first thing I noticed was the sleekness of the system. Unlike the DS, which looks like a toy for a little kid, the PSP is built beautifully and its ergonomics are amazing. It is as if Sony custom made it just for my hands. The system is built kind of like a Playstation controller. On the left side of it, there is a D-pad, an analog stick, and the left button. On the right, there is the right button, and of course, Sony's famous triangle, square, circle, and X buttons. "What is between the right and left sides?" one might ask. The answer is the gigantic screen. The screen is 4.3" in width and boasts a color display of over 16 million colors.

The PSP is not only a gaming device. It is a multimedia center. On it, one can play a game, watch a movie, listen to music, or look at pictures.

GAMES
Sony has released a few games for the PSP so far. Some include, Twisted Metal, Acid Gear Solid, and Ape Escape. Sony is working on future releases such as Final Fantasy, The Godfather, and even Grand Theft Auto. The games are in a format called UMD or Universal Media Disc. Imagine a floppy disc of the future and you have a UMD. The UMD's have 1.8GB of space. Unfortunately, the UMD's are read-only; which means one needs an external memory source to save games. Also, the UMD's eject button is quite close to the other buttons.

MOVIES
The PSP also allows the viewing of movies. One can either buy the UMD of the movie, or download a movie onto a memory stick and put it into the PSP. With the value pack, one gets Spiderman 2. The movies are DVD quality. Now this is where the headphones come into play. One can either listen to the DVD through the two stereo speakers on the side of the system, or use the included headphones.

MUSIC
The PSP can also play mp3's. Unfortunately, a 1GB memory card, which can hold approximately 250 songs, will cost one around 100 dollars. The headphones come with a remote control built onto them that can control the song, the volume, etc.

THINGS I DID NOT LIKE
Unfortunately, nothing is perfect, but the PSP comes pretty close. One thing I did not like was the battery power. Myself personally, I use this system mostly for games. And, just to my luck, playing games uses up the battery the fastest on the PSP. I am not talking about 4 hours; the PSP runs out of battery from gameplay in 2.5 HOURS! Also, the loading time for the PSP is very long. One more thing, the system seems pretty expensive itself but wait until you start buying games, screen protectors, etc. The price goes crazy! Besides those three things though, I can not find any other problems with the PSP. Some people have talked about dead pixels, but I have not found that problem with mine.

OVERALL
I love my PSP and I will be very surprised if something better than it comes out in a long time. The PSP will dominate the handheld market for many years to come.