Reviews

Sony PSP

April 25, 2005

You’d almost have to be dead not to have heard about the PlayStation Portable (PSP) from Sony. It has been the object of rumor, speculation, and outright lust for many months, and it finally reached the US on March 23rd. Being the PocketGoddess that I am, I simply had to rush out and get one, along with a few games. I was lucky to find the Value Pack at my neighborhood Target; I didn’t place a preorder because I didn’t want a large bundle of games and accessories.

The Basics

At the moment, the only way to get a PSP is as part of a Value Pack. For $249, you get the PSP, a battery, an AC adapter, a 32MB Memory Stick Duo, a soft carry case, a screen cleaning cloth, a hand strap, and a pair of earbud headphones with an inline remote control. You also get a UMD music and video sampler, along with a free copy of Spider-Man 2 if you got one of the first million Value Packs shipped. Rumors abound that you may be able to get the PSP alone for $199 in the near future, but the added accessories make a more complete package— you couldn’t save your progress in any games, for example, if you don’t already have a compatible Memory Stick Duo on hand.

The PSP measures 6.5 inches wide, 3 inches tall, and 3/4 inches thick. It’s just a bit wider than my Tapwave Zodiac 2, and weighs about the same. Of course the first thing you’ll notice is the huge 4.3 inch screen— it’s big and it’s absolutely gorgeous. All of the buttons and controls are well laid out; the PSP features two shoulder buttons, one on each side. The d-pad and analog stick are on the left, and the familiar square, triangle, circle, and x buttons are on the right. Just underneath the screen is a row of buttons including home, - and + volume control, screen brightness, mute, select, and start. The top of the device features a mini USB port for synchronization, a slider switch that opens the UMD media door, the IR port, and two openings for accessory attachment. The left side houses the Memory Stick Duo slot, and the right side has the dual power/hold switch, The bottom edge of the device has a spot to attach the hand strap as well as a spot to plug in the AC adapter to charge the battery.

How Is It?

I’m pretty much in love with the PSP— it has now become my gaming platform of choice (and I have plenty of choices with the Tapwave Zodiac, Nintendo DS, and PS2). Why? For starters, the unit itself is solidly built, with obvious attention to quality. Some early buyers in Japan had problems with a faulty square button and a self-ejecting UMD door, and users on both sides of the ocean have reported dead pixels and dust under the screen, but I was lucky enough to get a perfectly pristine unit. The PSP seems large at first, but once you hold it in your hands it just feels right. There are slightly raised areas on either side of the PSP, on the back, so when you’re holding it your hands naturally grip the device in the right spot. The surface is slightly textured, not slick, so there shouldn’t be any problems with the PSP slipping out of your hands.

The user interface is perfectly designed and so intuitive I have yet to read the manual for any reason. When you first turn the unit on after charging the battery, you are promoted to set the date and time, and that’s it— time to start playing games. The XBR menu system is particularly cool— just press the d-pad buttons to cycle through the menu options, which are arranged in a grid. From left to right, the main categories are settings, photos, music, movies, and games. When you’re in the right category, go up and down through the options to select the one you want, then press X to enter that submenu.

Gameplay is exceptional— the controls are all in the right spots, and very responsive. The analog stick takes some getting used to, but it really works well once you get the hang of it; it returns to center more strongly than its cousin on the DualShock controller, for example. While I wish that the external speaker were a bit louder when playing movies, I found it to be entirely acceptable. For the best audio experience, you should use headphones.

The Games

I can’t do a full review here of all of the launch games available for the PSP, though I am planning to review each of the ones I’ve picked up so far in the coming weeks. Here’s a quick rundown of my initial impressions for each game:

• Ape Escape—a fun platformer, but not the best I’ve ever seen
• Archer Maclean’s Mercury—marred by long loading times, but a fun puzzler nonetheless
• Darkstalkers Chronicle—fans of 2D fighters will live this one; I found the graphics to be a little dark, but the game is well-done and enjoyable to play
• Gretzsky NHL—avoid at all costs, folks: this one is a real dog due to poor controls
• Lumines—if you have a PSP, you must get this one; the most addictive puzzle game I’ve ever played
• Twisted Metal: Head-On—if you like driving around and blowing stuff up, you need to pick up this one
• Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade—if you’re a fan of hack n’ slash adventure games like Baldur’s Gate, Champions of Norrath, Diablo, and Dungeon Siege, you’ll love this one
• Wipeout: Pure—great sense of speed, cool graphics and sound; if you like futuristic racers, check this one out

Media Playback

Movies are simply stunning on UMD— I was quite pleasantly surprised by both the quality and the well-designed playback controls. Transferring MP3 files over to the PSP was easy for me, since I have a Fujitsu LifeBook with a built-in Memory Stick reader, as well as an adapter that I can use with the Duo to turn it into a “full sized” Memory Stick. (Note that the adapter does NOT come with the PSP Value Pack; I already had one because the Memory Stick Pro Duo I bought for my Sony digicam came with the adapter). Just drag and drop files to the Music folder on the Memory Stick Duo, and you’re good to go. Photos are similarly easy, while getting movies on the PSP (other than preloaded onto a UMD disk) is a multistep process that is involved but isn’t too challenging. (For more details, see this article on Engadget.)

The Accessories

The accessories that come with the PSP are generally adequate, but you’re likely to want some replacements, especially for the carrying case. It does protect the PSP for the most part, but it is somewhat difficult to slide the PSP in and out of the case, and since it is soft it really doesn’t protect the delicate screen from breakage.

There are a wide variety of cases, chargers, and other accessories available for the PSP, and I’ll be reviewing each of them separately. My current favorites are the aluminum case and PSP Screen Protector from Brando and the UMD Game Cases from Intec.

Drawbacks

Unfortunately everything isn’t perfect; the PSP has a few minor shortcomings. One relates to getting music, games, and video content onto the PSP— you have to have a Memory Stick reader on your computer or buy a USB accessory cable in order to transfer content. Getting movies onto the PSP is also somewhat difficult, considering that you have to create a special directory on the Memory stick, transfer the files, etc.— it could have been more intuitive.

The second relates to the somewhat noisy UMD— when the PSP is reading data from the disk, the spinning is quite audible, and rcan be ather annoying. You may not hear it if you’re in a noisy environment like the subway, but it is definitely noticeable in a quiet room.

The third relates to that huge screen— it catches dust and lint like you wouldn’t believe. I wondered at first why a screen cleaning cloth was included in the Value Pack, and why I got one with just about every accessory I purchased for the PSP. The reason is simple— dust is attracted to the screen, and you’ll find yourself constantly cleaning it off. The screen is also very highly reflective, causing some problems with glare. I’m hopeful that a new anti-glare screen protector I have on the way will solve some of that problem. As it is, I find myself angling the PSP to avoid catching reflections, as I’d rather see the game I’m playing than a reflection of my face.

Finally, battery life reasonable, but mobile gamers always want more. Fortunately the battery is user-swappable, so you can carry an extra charged battery to ensure that you never run out of juice. You’ll also be glad to know that if you ever do run down the battery, the PSP will turn itself off. When you get to an outlet and recharge, you’ll find that you’re exactly where you left off, so there aren’t any worries about data loss.

Conclusion

I must admit that I wasn’t really all that excited about the Sony PSP at first, and the hype didn’t really draw me in. After all, I have a PS2 at home, as well as a Nintendo DS, so I wasn’t sure that I was going to buy one when they first came out. But then I started reading the reviews and learned about the extra media capabilities, soon realizing that I was going to have to get one of my very own. Now I’m extremely glad that I did— the video quality and graphics are superb, the device itself is solidly built, and the games are a ton of fun. I haven’t picked up my Nintendo DS once in the last month, and coming from this Nintendo fangirl, that’s really saying a lot. If you’re interested in mobile technology and portable gaming and you have the $$$, you definitely need to get the Sony PSP— it more than lives up to the hype. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to Lumines…

PocketGoddess rating for the Sony PSP:

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