is it worth getting psp?

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

Well, you can lose/break UMDs too you know. Your PSP will break sooner or later - everything breaks sooner or later. Having to looking for replacements or fixes for an "out of production" product seem like a lot of (avoidable) trouble.

Being able to play your PSP games on your PSV seem like a pretty nice thing to have too, bigger screen, 2nd analog stick and all.

If I were to buy a PSP now, I would go full digital. I don't see any down side to be honest. Not to mention they will run better (faster loading) and are easier on the battery.

That's true, which I suppose makes it a moot point. I'd rather have the physical UMD - I reckon they're pretty sturdy. I mean, I've owned a PSP for about 3 years now and none of my UMDs have broken. Admittedly, I take care of my games, and I've never lost any of the few digital copies I own either. Still, it's like with other physical vs. digital mediums - I'll always prefer owning the physical.

I reckon there will still be support and parts for PSPs for a while now as well. They're fragile things if you don't take care of them properly, so there will still be a small market for parts. It does sound like hassle, that's true, but we have no idea what the support will be like for the Vita yet - for all we know it may well be poor, which would moot this point as well.

You're right in saying that the advantages of the Vita - i.e., bigger screen, dual analog support (although, that's only on selected games, by the sound of it) - will be nice advantages, but that's never really sold it for me.

I think the main downside to going digital now is that PSP game prices for digital copies will still be higher than physical copies. Physical copies can come at dirt-cheap prices, especially if you're willing to buy pre-owned, and with the Vita being as expensive as it is, I think it's worth trying to save as much money as you can.

 

[deadish]

That's true, which I suppose makes it a moot point. I'd rather have the physical UMD - I reckon they're pretty sturdy. I mean, I've owned a PSP for about 3 years now and none of my UMDs have broken. Admittedly, I take care of my games, and I've never lost any of the few digital copies I own either. Still, it's like with other physical vs. digital mediums - I'll always prefer owning the physical.

I reckon there will still be support and parts for PSPs for a while now as well. They're fragile things if you don't take care of them properly, so there will still be a small market for parts. It does sound like hassle, that's true, but we have no idea what the support will be like for the Vita yet - for all we know it may well be poor, which would moot this point as well.

You're right in saying that the advantages of the Vita - i.e., bigger screen, dual analog support (although, that's only on selected games, by the sound of it) - will be nice advantages, but that's never really sold it for me.

I think the main downside to going digital now is that PSP game prices for digital copies will still be higher than physical copies. Physical copies can come at dirt-cheap prices, especially if you're willing to buy pre-owned, and with the Vita being as expensive as it is, I think it's worth trying to save as much money as you can.

The way I see it, UMDs are an obsolete medium, support for them is ending. I feel it isn't prudent to invest in them.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

The way I see it, UMDs are an obsolete medium, support for them is ending. I feel it isn't prudent to invest in them.

Which is why we could have this argument for an age I admit my preference for a physical medium.

If you're planning on buying a PSP, like the OP, I'd still say get UMDs. They're cheaper on the whole, and since he didn't mention getting a Vita, perhaps backwards compatibility isn't an issue for him. It's not like if he got a Vita after getting a PSP he couldn't play his UMDs. If he planned on getting a Vita instead of a PSP then yeah, you'd need to go digital, but if not, you might as well save money. That saving is the return from the investment in them.

 

[deadish]

Which is why we could have this argument for an age I admit my preference for a physical medium.

If you're planning on buying a PSP, like the OP, I'd still say get UMDs. They're cheaper on the whole, and since he didn't mention getting a Vita, perhaps backwards compatibility isn't an issue for him. It's not like if he got a Vita after getting a PSP he couldn't play his UMDs. If he planned on getting a Vita instead of a PSP then yeah, you'd need to go digital, but if not, you might as well save money. That saving is the return from the investment in them.

Well, I don't really have a problem with physical medium, just obsolete ones which I feel aren't a prudent investment.

Not to mention, the lines between them are starting to blur. Digital downloads for the PSV are practically "physical media" as they are stored on memory cards and are really no different from the brick and mortar store bought games - it's just that you get to choose which and how many games go on which memory card.

In the end it's all data. The important thing is the data and how "portable" it is - it's resilience to lossage is also be a factor.

 

[thelastmccabe]

I got a PSP in the last year, and I've been quite happy with it. I've been playing Chains of Olympus and it amazes me that this is old, obsolete technology. That game looks ridiculously good for something on a handheld. In addition to all the PSP games you can also buy an entire library of PS1 games--replayed FF7 on there and it was as awesome as I remembered.

 

[Pinhead Larry]

I doubt it's not been said already but coming from someone who got the original then upgraded to a Slim & Lite:

-Fantastic games. FF Tactics, Crisis Core, Patapon, Locoroco, Dissidia, God of War, Exit, Daxter, R&C, Wipeout, Burnout, Medal of Honor, GTA, Lumines, Killzone, Everybody's Golf and Monster Hunter, to name my favourites off the top of my head.

-Using nasty software that I'm not sure will help my forum life if I explicitly mention is really rewarding. Even if you don't download any full games like me, you can run a variety of emulators for the SNES, GBA, GBC, N64 and some others, so you essentially have an entire back catalogue of games from past generations.

It's probably my favourite consoles, because by 'unlocking' it, so to speak, it becomes so many other consoles wrapped together.