Poll: Should I Buy a PSP?

[geldonyetich]

Strictly speaking, the question about whether or not somebody should buy anything - PSP included - largely comes down to their current needs in life. If you have no handheld platform, suspect you will need a handheld platform, and dislike Nintendo, then yes the PSP is pretty easy to recommend.

Because I've no clue as to your needs in life, I threw my vote on "Eh, Maybe."

 

[Brockyman]

I regret buying mine. The system is good, just are you going to use it. Unless you take the bus or train to work/school or sit in a lot of waiting rooms, when/where would you use it?

That's what I'm worried about! I'm going on a few business trips, so the airport and hotels would be good places, but I don't know if that justifies $200 (w/ R&C) plus $30 for a memory card (4g on sale at Best Buy). And I can borrow games from my buddies if need be.

Ok,. now go through a few of the other alternatives. Some paperbacks, an Ipod Video with some rented DVDs and a DVD decryter, that sort of thing.

Good points... I have an Ipod Touch, and it works well, but most of the game/apps haven't been that fun to me, and it would be nice to have something interactive... well, I guess I could spend it on hookers after all...

I'm also trying to see if it can be enjoyable on a more daily basis then just on long trips.

 

[Say Anything]

It depends on if it has the games you're interested in or not.

These threads go one of two ways, either there's a huge influx of people bashing the PSP to a bloody pulp or there is an influx of people saying yes and listing some games you might be interested in.

Seriously, there is no middle ground, it is either one or the other.

But if you're into homebrew, I've been told taht the 1000 model is the best for that kind of stuff.

I was worried about that, but so far, everyone has been quite helpful, and the flaming has been to a minimum. People who don't like it have been very calm and rational so far.

I bought a Pandora Battery and an 8G memory card off of DealExtreme before. They used to have it as a package deal for $25, but I guess they didn't make enough money from it so they took it off. Anyway, the shipping process takes a while, but they have such good prices that I didn't really care. It took about 1 and a half weeks for me to get the battery and memory card.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12712

There's a 4G for $10, 3 times the memory for what you would pay at Best Buy on sale. haha

 

[dcheppy]

I regret buying mine. The system is good, just are you going to use it. Unless you take the bus or train to work/school or sit in a lot of waiting rooms, when/where would you use it?

That's what I'm worried about! I'm going on a few business trips, so the airport and hotels would be good places, but I don't know if that justifies $200 (w/ R&C) plus $30 for a memory card (4g on sale at Best Buy). And I can borrow games from my buddies if need be.

Tough choice; you can always pack one of the ps2 slims, if you have one, into a suitcase for the hotel. Even the Wii packs nicely. I guess it depends on how much flying you think you're going to be doing in the future. If you're averaging several trips a year a PSP would be an awesome thing to have for the airport/airplane. If its not going to be very often, you can always play games on a laptop,of varying quality dependent on your computer, in the airport and just suck it up and be bored on the plane.

 

[Darkwolf9]

Again it's only worth it if you like the games. I've played one that was modded with the Pandora battery and what not and got tons of game time out of playing old SNES games on it. Alternatively, if you don't care for the games the PSP has to offer you could look at getting a DS.

 

[Shock and Awe]

I would go for a DS

 

[Brockyman]

I regret buying mine. The system is good, just are you going to use it. Unless you take the bus or train to work/school or sit in a lot of waiting rooms, when/where would you use it?

That's what I'm worried about! I'm going on a few business trips, so the airport and hotels would be good places, but I don't know if that justifies $200 (w/ R&C) plus $30 for a memory card (4g on sale at Best Buy). And I can borrow games from my buddies if need be.

Tough choice; you can always pack one of the ps2 slims, if you have one, into a suitcase for the hotel. Even the Wii packs nicely. I guess it depends on how much flying you think you're going to be doing in the future. If you're averaging several trips a year a PSP would be an awesome thing to have for the airport/airplane. If its not going to be very often, you can always play games on a laptop,of varying quality dependent on your computer, in the airport and just suck it up and be bored on the plane.

Good points man, Thanks!

 

[Say Anything]

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12795

I also have two of these memory cards, which are even $2 cheaper than the other.

The only problem with thise memory card is that if you're trying to transfer ISO's onto it, the transfer will take a while. Gameplay is the same, though, and if you're not doing the illegal stuff it's an amazingly ridiculous good price.

 

[-Seraph-]

It depends on if it has the games you're interested in or not.

These threads go one of two ways, either there's a huge influx of people bashing the PSP to a bloody pulp or there is an influx of people saying yes and listing some games you might be interested in.

Seriously, there is no middle ground, it is either one or the other.

But if you're into homebrew, I've been told taht the 1000 model is the best for that kind of stuff.

more like a) massive amounts of haters or b) "get a DS".

Anywho before you buy any hand held look at the game first. The hardware is meaningless if you don't have a good list of game your interested in. Personally though, I'd say get one. It's multimedia features give it greater versatility and value, it DOES have quite a few good games, the problem with people saying otherwise is that they most likely didn't look. i got a nice collection and a big list of top notch games that any PSP owner should have.

Really it's an overall good system that appeals more to the hardcore/ dedicated gamer more than the casual. it's good to see that now people have an alternative when it comes to hand held's and a little competition is always good. The modding you can do with the thing as well is an extra added bonus if your in to that stuff. If you have owned previous gameboy systems then the DS should be you top choice but if you have never really had a hand held you can go either way, just look into the games before opening your wallet.

EDIT: oh and if you want my personal list/collection of games and upcoming games to look out for I'll compile it and put it up later.

 

[CrafterMan]

Hookers.

Mmmm..

Hookers..

 

[CrafterMan]

On a more serious note. No don't buy a psp, I find them to be a niche, you play them for like a month and then they get chucked on ebay etc

 

[bkd69]

See my decision tree here:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.80990?page=2#1081550

In short, if you're in the market for both a portable game system, and a portable media player, then yes, go for it.

If you're only in the market for a game system, then check if it has games you want.

As far as games go, I like the turn based, so I absolutely love WH40K:Squad Command. And even though I don't quite get the point of music games on portables, I like Patapon because it uses the rhythm mechanic for something other than playing music or dancing.

Most of the other games I like are retro arcade/pinball titles, puzzle games, like Exit, and Crush, or quickie action titles, all of which can be played on that other portable. But I also use the media capabilities of the PSP.

I would suggest going with a later rev of the PSP as you also get video out, and Skype support.

 

[The Mad Prophet]

At the time I bought a PSP for only two reasons: The was one of the only hand-helds I didn't have and I wanted Castlevania: Chronicles (Yes, enough to fork over the cash for a used PSP. At least no one at GameStop realized someone left a 1 gig memory stick in it.)
After about a month I came to realize just why it was one of the only hand-helds I didn't have.
That was a year ago and since then I only have three games for it: Me and My Katamari, Patapon and Castlevania: Chronicles. There's nothing really for it in my opinion, I just can't find any other games. It could be because I'm very picky but judging by the other posters here I can see that I'm not the only one who just can't really find anything good enough to hold my attention, which isn't that difficult.
It's not terrible, I still use it enough so that the layer of dust it collects isn't too thick, but if you can think of other things to spend your money on then wait on the PSP.

 

[The_Deleted]

I would go for a DS

This. But it cripples your hand if you play any game that's not stick specific, so you will get serious hand cramps. There are some great games for it and a sod of a lot more to choose from.
Plus, the DS Lite is region free, so go nuts!

 

[cthulhu257]

No don't!!!! The second analog stick makes it difficult, if not impossible to control the camera.

Ummm, I'm just going to assume you mean the LACK of a second analog stick. Also, get a DS Lite, it has a much better game library. If you want to watch movies on it, you can just buy an R4 card for it.

 

[Fraught]

Metal Gear: Portable Ops,
God of War: Chains of Olympus,
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII,
Patapon.

While the graphics are awesome, and gameplay on these games are awesome and are better than almost all DS games, the DS still has more games with more unique gameplay and stuff.
Like extinguishing torches in LoZ: Phantom Hourglass by blowing into the microphone, and you can only imagine how many unique things you can do with a touch screen.

Although, the PSP has more multi-media capabilities, like a bigger screen, that means better videos, the web can be accessed, while it takes several hundred crackings to get on the DS, you can listen to music etc.

I'd still go for the DS, since RPGs as games last more than your average God of War, and you can do everything the PSP does with the DS, only with a smaller screen(s) and the web is hard to get access to without the special Game Cartridge with Opera on it.

 

[Jandau]

Hookers. End of story.