The PSP's Comeback Trail

Next Generation has up a feature on the rising fortunes of Sony's PSP. Overlooked for quite some time now as the DS dominates the headlines, the article argues that the handheld console still has a lot to offer ... and people are starting to notice. "Sony has always commanded strong third-party support for its systems since the success of the original PlayStation, and [senior PSP marketing manager John Koller] believes that PSP developers are similarly finding ways to get creative and present fun titles. 'Upcoming launches such as God of War: Chains of Olympus from a first-party perspective, and Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron from LucasArts, are certainly good examples of fantastic franchises made unique on the PSP,' he says. 'It's clear that consumers do not want the same game on their PSP that they play on console.'"

Me and my

[bencass]

I've always liked the potential of the system. Just the other week I bought a slim (Mostly for FFT:TWotL). I'm really looking forward to having more games to choose from. I think Sony finally has an opportunity to really get the ball rolling here.

switch media type

[netsavior]

Optical media always has and always will suck. Solid state is the only reasonable media for a handheld device. I think it's short sighted and quite stupid to expect people to carry giant, slow loading UMDs.

I keep 4 DS games in my WALLET at all times, I keep my DS Lite in my pocket and the outside gets scratched to hell, but of course since the clamshell design protects the screens, the device is still as playable as the day I got it. Somehow I doubt the PSP would hold up to the abuse I dish out to the DS Lite daily.

What, more of the same?

[Steeltalon]

The PSP, much like the PS3, is an albatross. Sony got locked into the idea that all that people wanted was more of the same but with better graphics... That and the mistaken idea that everyone wants to play Sony formatted movies on their game systems. I remember when the PSP was coming out and a bunch of my friends were all yammering about how cool it was that the PSP played movies. I'd already had the benefit of tagging along to E3 with a game company that I did some stuff for, and tried out the DS. Right then I knew that the DS had something new to offer. The PSP movies? All that I could think was "Why would I want to buy the same movie twice?" Sony is hugely disconnected with the market. They just don't seem to understand what players want and seem to be more interested in telling them what they should want. That's why the PSP tanked, that's why the PS3 tanked. If each of them is starting to show some life now, it's not necessarily because Sony understands the gaming consumer any better. More than likely it's a response to price cuts and unavailability of the desired alternative platforms (Wii and DS, X360 with Halo 3, etc..)

My PSP story (since others are sharing)

[Pojut]

When I bought my PSP, I originally did so with two purposes in mind: EBook reader (plenty of freeware out there to convert .lit and .pdf files to be viewable on the screen perfectly) and movie player (again, plenty of good quality freeware conversion software out there) Here and there I bought a couple games (Monster Hunter 2, Daxter, etc.), but I primarily bought one for it's uses other than gaming.

A month or so ago, I finally got around to modding mine so as to be able to play roms and utilize the (huge) homebrew scene...best move I ever made. I have since bought a 4 gig memory card, and currently have every NES, SNES, Genesis/game gear, game boy games on it as well as a decent amount of GBA and MAME roms. I use the homebrew scene to help control my home theater, play movies better, and just make the interface look nicer. Unlike many others, I have no plans to actually download any PSP ISO's (except manhunt 2, just to try out the uncensored version...it's just as bad of a game, not really worth the time)

In fact, I like the ability to do all this so much that I recently bought both my fiance AND my best bud a PSP, just so that they could have the same fun I am having. Yes yes eys, I know there is a lot of talk about roms and such, but sitll...doing this has breathed new life into my PSP, and has actually gotten me more interested in buying PSP games than I was before (primarily because I used to simply like the system...now I love it) Add to that the non-shiny outerbody casing I bought, coupled with a very good but very inexpensive screen saver (screws onto the two mounting holes on top, and flips down over the screen when you aren't using it, protecting it from scratches), my PSP is likely one of my favourite gaming objects for the time being.

Despite Sony's efforts to thwart homebrew on it, homebrew is the very reason they got more money out of me and my friends than they would have if it were not possible. If you are into emulation or just plain messing around with your gadgets, the PSP is your best bet as far as portable gaming is concerned...as far as actual games goes, the DS blows the PSP out of the water, but the PSP still has some decent games out there for it...much like a PS3 (for now) however, don't buy it expecting to play a lot of great NEW games on it.

Re:What, more of the same?

[ubrgeek]

Plus, even if you did want to watch movies, it better be damn near pitch black out or else you won't be able to see anything on the damn screen. That's the biggest reason my PSP sits in my office on a shelf: Unless I want to use it outside between the hours of 2100 and 0600, it's only good for playing when I'm inside.

Solid state is the only reasonable media

[palladiate]

I'll agree that "Solid state is the only reasonable media for a handheld device."

I've washed some DS games a few times in the laundry. When in the hospital, I vomited on a cartridge once too. No damage, the labels looked fine, and they play no problem.

I know washing a minidisc will kill it, but I don't know about a UMD. I can't imagine a UMD being nearly as rugged.