 | | The PSP marks Sony's foray into the handheld market, but it does a heck of a lot more than just play games |
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I'll be honest, the Sony PlayStation Portable is the first handheld console I've owned since the original Game Boy. Believe me, I loved that thing too; link-up Tetris kick-started my love for multiplayer gaming alone.
In light of subsequent advances in home PC and console gaming though, the handhelds in its wake just felt so ludicrously dated to me, which is why none since have ever really interested me.
That is precisely why the PSP grabbed my attention however; here's a handheld that doesn't settle on lagging behind the full-blown home systems. As its name suggests, it's essentially a slightly scaled down PS2 that fits in the palm of your hand - one that can bust out games with the speed and graphical finesse of its big brother with absolute ease.
It's truly amazing to see this thing running games that look easily as good as stuff traditionally only seen on your TV screen. While thinking back to the blurry green 'n' black 2D games of my Game Boy, it makes me sigh pleasantly to gaze upon such cutting-edge technology.
First of all I'm gonna run through everything that's great about this thing, then everything that ain't. Finally I'll blaze through a couple of the launch titles for you guys and also give you some details on its other capabilities. Hopefully by the end, you'll know whether or not the PSP is for you.
The Good
The highlight of the PSP is its screen. I'm a big fan of LCDs, and this one is pure
sex. It just has such a glorious vibrancy to it that makes flicking through the menu screens alone a glorious vision. Everything is so razor sharp and the colours are as luminous as they are rainbow-like.
Screenshots and even internet video don't do this thing justice, seeing the PSP fire up for the first time in the grasp of your sweaty, hairy palms is the only way to truly appreciate what a genuine work of art it is. It's an important trait to recognise, because the PSP's display is by far the best you've ever seen on a handheld unit, and its beauty makes every single one of its subsequent activities a sight to behold.
Something you probably wouldn't expect however, is just how surprisingly tiny the main unit is. It's not only smaller than expected, but also incredibly thin. I look at this thing in pure bemusement when I consider it pretty much houses all the inner workings of a current generation console. I consider this a good thing too, as while the unit is bloody small, that screen remains pleasingly large, taking up a good 75% of the front surface, providing us with an impressively large widescreen viewing area to do our business.
When combined with the gorgeous artistic design, the PSP comes off as one of the most glorious looking gadgets you'll currently find on the market. It really is a sexy little bitch, and I can see it scoring some major sales with even (rich) casual gamers looking for the next "trendy" gizmo to show off.
Powerhouse
Aesthetic praising aside, its other prime selling point is just the sheer power of the thing. The PSP can play full DVD-quality movies, store images, act as an MP3 player and even utilise wireless internet connectivity. And that's not even counting the fact that it runs games that are a whole friggin'
generation ahead of its nearest rival, the DS. Just think about all that for a moment.
It's not only incredible to experience the wealth of features that this thing's capable of, but what's great is that none of them feel tacked on - everything feels fully featured and able to stand on its own two legs. The image viewing mode for instance, can display pics as a slideshow, while movies come complete with trailers and DVD-style menu systems. It all just wreaks of such high quality perfectionism right across the board.
The PSP truly is a next-generation gadget. The wealth of its abilities tower over anything else seen in the handheld world, and it's a real testament to how far modern technology has progressed. Fuck, it even makes the iPod look out of date.
The Bad
What lets the PSP down is a number of small but never the less irritating annoyances. It has some minor design flaws you see, that while not huge, all add up to make you love it that little bit less.
First of all, that glorious screen that I can't stop spunking on, is
so damn reflective that - and I'm not kidding you - you can use it as a mirror. This is especially annoying when trying to use the unit outside on a blazing hot summer's day, as the reflecting sun makes it damn hard to see nigh-on anything at all. For those of you with laptops who've experienced similar visibility problems in bright light conditions, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Sun guard accessories are available, but I've yet to try one, and hate the idea of uglying up such a glorious looking contraption with third party abominations.
The screen also attracts epic amounts of dust and grease it must be said. In fact after just a regular play session your fingers will have left smears and stains on this thing to rival the glass panels of a nudey booth.
As a long-time wearer of glasses, I'm somewhat accustomed to the annoyance of having to wipe away grease and gunk on a regular basis, but those of you who can actually see, the constant grooming that this unit requires in order to remain beautiful may annoy.
My biggest gripe though, and perhaps something that others will disagree on, are the controls. For my first few hours on the PSP, I wasn't really a fan of its control system at all, if I'm honest, and playing games didn't quite sit comfortably in my hands. The good news is that after a few solid hours of Ridge Racer, getting to grips with the feel of the thing and such, all that negativity went away.
It features a D-pad of course, which is what you'll be using for 99% of the time, but this is also joined by a tiny analogue "nub" towards the lower left. The latter is all but useless in my opinion though, and lacks hugely in responsiveness. Don't make the mistake of presuming this is a true analogue stick like on a PS2, as it really isn't - it's more of a disc that you can slide around, and I've yet to find a genuine use for it.
At the same time, the lack of a twin right side nub completely discounts the ability to get any serious FPS games running on this unit in the future. This is a major bummer.
The buttons are fine though, and I especially love the top mounted perspex triggers. We all have different shaped hands at the end of the day, and there's no reason to expect your big sausage fingered hands will find this configuration as bad as my little rat claws did at first, but I feel it my duty to give an honest opinion never the less. As I say though, after "breaking in" my PSP, playing it now is like second nature to me.
The Ugly
Finally, there's the issue of faulty units. There's been a ton of horror stories floating about the net since this thing launched in Japan; PSPs with dead pixels, discs flying out of the machine half-way through games, stuck buttons that don't work, and so on and so on.
Truth be told, I had absolutely none of these problems and my unit works flawlessly. Never the less, as the recently frustrated purchaser of a 19" flatpanel monitor with a dead pixel smack bang in the middle (that Hyundai refuse to replace...cocks), my sympathies go out to any PSP owner plagued with similar such problems.
Baring in mind the incredible breakthroughs in technology housed in such a miniscule unit, occasional errors are somewhat understandable I guess, if not acceptable. Either way, Sony seem willing to replace faulty units with dead pixels and other anomalies, so I wouldn't let the thought of such things put you off a purchase.
It's Game Time
Now despite the negativity featured above, believe me when I say that the good by
far outweighs the bad with the PSP. None of these complaints are earth shatteringly horrible, just flies in the ointment that detract from perfection, and with that out of the way, lets get onto the important stuff; games.
The PSP's games (and movies for that matter) come on Universal Media Discs (UMDs) - Sony's proprietary technology. Thankfully these tiny discs are housed in permanent plastic covers, much like mini-discs, meaning scratches and dirt are a thing of the past. Why regular CDs and DVDs didn't use something like this is beyond me...
One thing that blew me away is the ability to flick the PSP into standby mode at any point while playing, then resume exactly where you were next time you turn it on. This certainly ties in great with how I personally use my unit; grabbing a few minutes of action wherever I can get it, but constantly having to switch off at a moment's noticed. A definite plus point.
It is worth mentioning however, that if internet word of mouth is anything to go by, many of the first generation PSP titles suffer from epic load times, and who knows, perhaps this is a soon to be realised shortcoming of the system. I must say though, in none of the following titles did the load times bother me at all, so we'll have to wait and see on that one.
Wipeout Pure
Wipeout is perhaps the best looking PSP game on launch. It's a throw back to the earlier Wipeout games, much more so than the PS2's offering, and a great showcase of the PSP's graphical capabilities.
As I'm sure you know, it's a futuristic racing game that could be called F-Zero's long-lost cousin. You zoom around Blade-Runner style metropolises while simultaneously blowing your competitors outta the way with an assortment of traps and weaponry. As a racing fan, I'm damn impressed with this one, and with it being the first title I popped in, immediately the PSP was off to a pleasing start.
 | | Not only is Wipeout Pure a great PSP game in its own right, but it's arguably the best Wipeout yet |
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My only real gripe is the difficulty involved with using the top mounted "air breaks". They handle differently than breaking in traditional driving games, and it can make navigating tight bends exceptionally tricky, made worse by the fact the game punishes you hugely for every scrap and knock you take.
The game also feels disappointingly slow at first, however I soon found out the hard way that higher difficulty levels ramp up the speed hugely, and it soon becomes less about the skill of driving and more a sheer test of your reflexes. Still, like all racers, things gets infinitely easier the more you practice.
As you progress through the game you unlock more and more tournaments, each more visually stunning than the last. Glowing neon lights bathe the game in a gorgeous array of colours, the stunning explosions will knock your socks off and it features incredible bloom and lens flare effects seldom seen on a handheld.
It suffers from minor frame-rate lapses, particularly during some of the more visually charged weapon discharges, but this is still an incredible looking title and kinda mind-blowing.
Worth extra special mention is the music - an incredible mixture of underground breaks and DnB by the likes of Aphex Twin and T-Power. As a long-time fan of these genres, I was as pleased with the soundtrack as I was the graphics.
Despite the odd hiccup, Wipeout Pure is a winner, made all the more special by its glorious look, feet-tapping soundtrack and stunning presentation.
Ridge Racer
Ridge Racer however is damn hard to fault, and somewhat overshadows Wipeout for me. Again, it looks gorgeous, with reflections, stunning track designs and a liquid smooth framerate that never resorts to fogging or other cheap tricks. The game constantly projects polish and sheen, and although I personally prefer the more futuristic setting of Wipeout, this is easily the superior title.
 | | Ridge Racer includes a ton of courses from the older games, along with a major graphical upgrade |
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Fans of Outrun-style drifting arcade games will lap this one up. Screaming around bends at stupidly fast speeds while busting out your nitrous boost almost reminds me of last year's Burnout III at times. With 24 courses, over 50 cars and an unobtainable addictive quality made all the more amazing by the fact it's portable, this is a proud moment for the PSP.
You might question what on earth is up with all the racing games mind you, particularly as Need For Speed Underground also joins these bad boys on the launch line-up. Perhaps driving games are an easy way for development teams to explore the PSP's abilities in its early days though, as many of these tracks and courses are spruced up ports from earlier PlayStation titles.
Personally I think driving games are ideal handheld titles though. While they're ultimately simple to complete, the real fun and challenge comes from replaying courses and trying to better your times. That's what makes both Wipeout and Ridge Racer exceptionally good PSP games - any time you have 10 minutes to spare, whether it be waiting for a train, or in the back of a car, it's great being able to whip the PSP out and conquer that 1:21 lap time on Sunset Drive.
I love 'em both for different reasons, and even if not normally into racing games, you'll want to at least grab Ridge Racer, if not Wipeout too.
Lumines
Put racing out of your mind for now though, because Lumines is, in my humble opinion, the launch title to get the PSP for. It's a cosmic, mesmerising experience that I can't really do justice to in text form. But god damn it I'll try.
 | | Looks like any other puzzler? Think again. This is an all-out classic for the ages, and my most played game right now |
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On the face of it, it's a simple little puzzle game...the PSP's Tetris if you will. But in practice it's so gloriously addictive and beautiful that it's bound to become love at first sight to any who gaze upon it.
The idea is simple really; clumps of blocks fall, and you have to arrange them in 2x2 groups in order to score points. What makes it stand out though is the execution.
The music is oh so catchy for one, and the sound effects are like chimes sent down from heaven. Most intriguingly though, these sounds react to every single touch you make, so your actions have the additional effect of remixing the audio.
 | | PSP owners, miss Lumines at your own peril. I never knew silver and orange squares could be so exciting |
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Puzzle games traditionally look ugly and nondescript, but not so with Lumines. Heck, the graphics are one of the best things about it. The game just looks so alive, bustling and forever shape-shifting into new visual styles.
Perhaps most importantly of all though, the game is so damn "more"ish that you'll find yourself playing it for (no exaggeration here) hours upon hours every single day without fail. I'm telling you now, this thing puts World of Warcraft to shame with its addictiveness. If crack was burned to disc, covered in moulded plastic and sold in stores, its name would be Lumines.
All in all, this is a visual and auditory assault on your senses, one you won't put down for a long, long time. I'm curious as to how well time will treat this game, as with the exception of Tetris, puzzle games don't traditionally linger long in the memory. This one however, is worth 10 Tetrises to me...it really is that bloody good.
The Rest
At the time of writing, these are the only titles I've managed to get my mitts on. Consoles are traditionally plagued with mediocre software launches - something PCs will forever have over them - but the PSP has faired much better than most. Puzzle game Mercury looks pleasingly original, and I'll be setting my sights on grabbing Twisted Metal: Head-On and Dynasty Warriors at some point too.
I will however, be extremely interested in seeing what sort of upcoming PSP titles are announced at E3 this month. We know there's a new Grand Theft Auto title in development at Rockstar - one set in Liberty City - but the PSP will need a further assortment of high profile releases if its to succeed in the long run.
Other Abilities
Having said all that, even if the games stopped coming out tomorrow, I'd be able to rest content with the multimedia capabilities of this thing alone. Carrying your PSP around with you is like having an iPod, a portable DVD player and a mini TV on you all at once. I just luuuurve being able to chuck the latest TV shows on this thing every morning and head off to work to watch 'em on the train.
This is all made possible by the PSPs ability to read memory stick duos. Although the unit comes bundled with a 32mb freebie - fine for saving game profiles and scores - you'll want to invest in at least a 512mb supplementary stick as soon as possible, if not larger.
One downer is the fact that the PSP doesn't come with any free software for handling this side of things, however freeware apps like
PSP Video 9 more than fill that gap. This program converts MPGs, AVIs and other video files into the PSPs native format, while subsequently shrinking the file size and priming them for upload.
MP3s and images on the other hand can simply be dragged across in Windows explorer, where they subsequently show up in the PSPs onboard menu system for easy use.
Accessories
The PSP comes with a soft black carry case which looks great and will certainly help avoid any nicks and scratches from befalling the screen. Beyond that though, it's useless, and I'd definitely recommend grabbing a more durable protective holder in the long-run. This incredibly expensive piece of kit is worryingly fragile, and there's no doubt in my mind that just a metre high drop onto hard ground would shatter it into a million pieces. Having it jostle around in my bag at work all day alone makes me worried.
You will find a wrist strap included with the PSP, a nice failsafe feature in case you do drop the bugger, but unfortunately it comes decked out in white, in stark contrast to the sleek blackness of the PSP itself.
The same can be said of the bundled headphones. They sound great, and even include a fabulous on board remote control for volume and MP3 shuffling, but bizarrely appear once again in white. You'll find yourself using these for the majority of the time though, as while the PSP has onboard speakers, they're rather quiet and also lack hugely in bass. While not quite as tinny as the average laptop speakers, the system just sounds so damn good that it deserves to be heard through proper headphones.
Porn Surfing Portable
I should also make a special mention of the wireless connectivity functions. Firstly there's multiplayer gaming to make use of, which lets you link up to nearby PSPs with little to no effort. Both Ridge Racer and Wipeout for instance support a whopping great 8 players.
It doesn't stop there though, as by linking up to your PC's wireless network, you can also play online games via tunnelling software like
neXBC. This is an
awesome feature, and feels like yet another gap that the PSP has bridged between handhelds and home consoles.
But it gets even better. Sneaky hacker types have also found ways to use the PSP to surf the
web, check e-mail and even use
MSN Messenger...all via wireless.
Hopefully by now you're starting to realise the true power of this baby.
Handheld Hollywood
 | | Even action movies fare great on the PSP's massive widescreen display |
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Finally let's talk movies. As mentioned, not only are games released on the UMD format, but full blown flicks too. Spider-Man 2 came included with the value pack I nabbed, and it looks amazing I must say. The small screen defies any kind of loss in visual quality, and the result is an image that looks pretty much like the very best DVD you've ever seen. So gloriously vivid and razor sharp, it looks, well...real.
My gripe is that besides Spider-Man 2, there's very little else out there right now that tickles my fancy. Plus, hey, these buggers aren't cheap either. Due to the systems recent popularity in the US though, additional production companies have recently announced plans to put out more movies on UMD in the future, and the fact that Napoleon Dynamite is among those titles slated for release has alone got me giggling with masturbatory glee (perhaps I can finally find out if the chickens have large talons). I would also expect the price of these flicks to drop hugely over time, much like DVDs have.
This cost is neatly sidestepped mind you, by the fact you can use third party PC software to convert your existing DVDs to the PSP format and watch them via memory stick anyway. The sticks are increasing in size every day, with 2gig sticks able to hold a couple of full length movies at exceptional quality.
In the same way we throw a selection of tunes on our iPod before heading out every morning, the PSP lets you chuck on entire
movies. I love that.
Pretty Steeply Priced
Hopefully my ravings have in some small way put across how much I dig my PSP. For starters it's a sodding great games system, one that I'll admit I often turn to over my PC, even when at home. That speaks volumes alone, but when coupled with the ability to chuck all my media on it too, whether it be nudey pics or the latest episode of 24, the PSP has become the most incredible piece of gear I've laid my hands on since that battery operated vagina I got for my 16th birthday.
But that's just me. The PSP is an incredibly expensive piece of equipment after all, and your use and need for it may well differ to mine. If you already own an iPod, a portable DVD player
and a laptop, chances are you may find the PSP trying to fill shoes that aren't empty.
As a games system alone, it does indeed offer some great titles, but ones I wouldn't necessarily recommend buying the unit solely for. If you plan on using the PSP primarily for games and nothing else, with the current lack of info surrounding future releases you might be better off waiting a few months to see how the land lies in regards to its upcoming gaming line-up. Preferably until the European launch in September where it'll debut at ?180 with all the bits and bobs mentioned above, minus games.
Have fun waiting in the meantime though ya cheapskates, meanwhile I'll be spending my laborious train journies to work every day burning rubber around glorious tropical race courses and watching Spidey bitch-slap Dr Octopus on the side of a skyscraper. Oh PSP, how I love you...
...and all this coming from a proud PS2 hater.
