Official PSP Thread!

[Half Japanese]

At my Circuit City we had 61. We ended the day with more than 50 still, so there was definitely some disappointment. The management told us initially that we (employees) wouldn't be able to purchase a PSP for a few months due to the apparent demand for them. By 5 pm (when I came in) an email was sent that any employee that wanted one could buy one. I think the problem stemmed from the unnecessary and unavoidable inclusion of Twisted Metal in the bundle (given a choice of games, I'm sure we would have sold a lot more of them). Either way, from my personal standpoint, it was kind of a disappointing launch, but still better than that which the DS received. I must admit I'm intrigued by the PSP and hope to get one at some point.

[Crush Crawfish]

Before today, I had almost no interest in the PSP, but all the stuff I read about it recently has me dying to get one! Though I think I'll wait it out until June-ish, when I'll have more time to play it and more money to put into it. It'll also give the game lineup sometime to beef up, and hopefully some RPG's will come out. I'd also love to have an emulator on this thing...If it can play Chrono Trigger perfectly, then I'll gladly plunk down the cash, no questions asked!

[Ikari Warrior]

I picked it up tonight, I wasn't expectin to but I caved quickly. My friend said he definitely wasn't buying one at all, and he got one too. It is just so irresistable. I picked up Ridge Racer, Untold Legends, Wipeout Pure, and Darkstalkers. All three are great, with RR being my favorite. The thing is amazing, and my first few minutes playing it truly felt like one of the biggest moments in gaming history, like a new age of gaming had just begun.
I thought it would be cool, but it's actually revolutionary.

[Putney]

I think a lot of the slow sales might just be due to the fact that so many places are requring bundle purchases...I know at FYE where I got mine I only needed to buy one game, but a lot of other places aren't as lenient.

I guess it should also be considered that there's supposedly some 1 million systems out there right now...at $250 each on a weekday, pretty much all the hardcore gamers got theirs with a lot left for the more casual buyers to eventually pick up. I know two Targets I went to today had entire display cases full.

[Jasoco]

Oh no.. People are caving. I'm afraid I might too.

Noooooooooo!!!!!!!

Kaaaahhhhhhnnnnnn!!!!!!

[Dobie]

I want one of these, and they seem to be readily available around here, but I REALLY need to know what the battery life is before I plunk down the $250. Nobody has said anything concrete about that yet. I know the estimates, and what Sony has said, but I want to see what people are actually getting in terms of performance. Lumines is calling me.

[Jasoco]

Lumines is calling me too.

I hear 1 hour with Wireless. 8 hours with games. I don't know. Times are all over the place. Either way, battery life seems to be disappointing me.

I like my SP and DS. I haven't plugged my DS in in weeks and have been playing on and off and it's still going. I just can't see that happening with the PSP. Someone prove me wrong.

Also, I'm not a fan of their little workaround, i.e. releasing a battery pack to plug in you wear on your arm.

[zmweasel]

My FYE sold 4 of the 10 units we had today. No returns. I'm assuming the button layout "problem" and the disc-ejection issue, if that wasn't fixed, will be fixe din the 2nd gen PSPs?

The disc-ejection non-issue only occurs when a retarded PSP owner twists the damn thing like a pretzel. Quoting the PSP manual:

"Do not forcibly twist the PSP system or expose the system to strong physical shock during gameplay, as doing so can damage the system or cause the disc cover to open, ejecting the disc."

In other words, don't be a dumb-ass, and the PSP will be fine.

As for the SQUARE-button blown-out-of-proportion issue, my SQUARE button is working fine, and the issue only affected a small percentage of Japanese PSP units.

The only legitimate reason to wait for a second-gen PSP is if you're fretting over the current hardware's battery life, but it's fine for everything short of cross-country road trips and cross-continental flights, and you can (and should) buy an external battery pack if you're putting in that much travel time.

-- Z.

[zmweasel]

I played one for a bit today at EB when I picked up SpikeOut for the Xbox. The system is pretty, the weight feels just about right and I love the analog nub. That thing is seriously awesome. While I was impressed overall, I didn't think the screen was quite as beautiful as it has been made out to be.

Damn, Dan, you're hard to impress. :) You honestly don't think the PSP's screen is miles above and beyond any previous handheld game system? Or are you comparing the PSP screen to PC monitors?

I'd love to hear what the forum's resident videowhore, Anthony1, thinks of the PSP screen. Have you seen/bought a PSP, A1?

-- Z.

[mieu_c]

I don't understand how you all are still satisified with dead pixles!! Thats crazy. If I'm going to spend 250. I want it to be perfect.

I'm waiting ... for awhiel... until they figure out there little problem, and lower the price.

[Uzi 9mm]

I don't understand how you all are still satisified with dead pixles!! Thats crazy. If I'm going to spend 250. I want it to be perfect.

I'm waiting ... for awhiel... until they figure out there little problem, and lower the price.

I am not satisfied, but I will accept it.

How far are you guys with Ridge Racer so far? I am almost done with the second tour...

[Anthony1]

I'd love to hear what the forum's resident videowhore, Anthony1, thinks of the PSP screen. Have you seen/bought a PSP, A1?

-- Z.

Yeah baby, I'm a videowhore and a graphicswhore to the max.


Well, unfortunately, I don't have $355.54 burning a hole in my pocket right now for a portable gaming system. But, having said that, I did get to see one in action today, and I did get to see the screen.

My initial impresssion?


Off the hezie, fo shezie!


In other words, "Man, that is so F'ing beautiful".




Honestly though, I really only got to get a good view of the screen for about 10 freaking seconds. Probably not even that. This dude was playing some NBA game on it. The system itself looks absolutely sweet, the media looks sweet, everything about it looks sweet. It also appears that there is actually quite a few really good games avail. for the thing on launch, unlike some other portables that shall go nameless.

Man, this Sucks. I hate to see Sony get even more money and more market share in this industry. But you must give credit where credit is due I guess. As for the dead pixels and the bubbles and dust and all of this stuff, and the fingerprints and smudges and scratched screens and stuff. Man that is my big hangup with this system. That, and the fact that I've never really been into portable systems. Typically the only time that I really have to play games is when I'm at home, and when I'm at home, I might as well be playing some TG-16 in R.G.B. or something like that. Or maybe XBOX Next on my 113 inch HDTV screen.


No question about it, the PSP is in my future, but that could be a more distant future than I would like it to be.

Anybody care to guess when this thing will be $199.99 with a kick arse pack in? Spring 2006? Man I would hate to wait a whole year.

[vincewy]

I don't understand how you all are still satisified with dead pixles!! Thats crazy. If I'm going to spend 250. I want it to be perfect.

I'm waiting ... for awhiel... until they figure out there little problem, and lower the price.

Agreed, there's no excuse for such high rate of dead pixels, if you buy laptops, you want the screens to be flawless, the dead pixel rates for those seem to be a lot lower than Sony's, and those have over 1 million pixels, compared to just a few hundred thousands for PSP.

On top of dead pixels, there're other issues like buddles and/or dusts under the screen, dented screen corners on the edge. I saw the unit and I really want one now, but it's $250, it has to be perfect, just ask Neo-Geo gamers who spend $300 on a game, everything has to be perfect from outside to inside.

[buttasuperb]

Mine had one burnt pixel.

The burnt pixable is noticable against any darker background if you look for it. During gameplay you don't notice it unless you stop and look for that shit. But it is there, and kinda annoying. I dunno if I'll exchange it quite yet, it's not that bad really and I can get a new one anytime. Plus with my luck the new one will have 2 burnt pixels.

Darkstalkers looks and sounds great, but control sucks. Maybe it'll get better if I can get used to it, doubt it though. Tried playing online, no one was there.

Twisted Metal is pretty damn cool. Combination of TM2 and TMB. Tried playing that online, but couldn't get it to connect to any rooms. Maybe that's because I was dling porn.

On second thought, if Best Buy still has any left, maybe I should exchange it for another one. I wonder if they'll let me plug it in right there to test it? I have a feeling that one burnt pixel is gonna bother the hell outta me.

[Oobgarm]

Nice story to go along with mine.

As I mentioned back at the start of this thread, I got mine at Gamerush, taking advantage of their 'trade in a game and get an extra $5' deal. I traded in a good number of titles, netting as much as $40 for a couple of titles. I hit up a few stores, getting the balance put on one of their rechargeable gift cards. I had a little over $88 on the card before my last trip up there to trade in. On that trade in, I got an extra $157, and the guy tried to apply it to my gift card. Something was screwy with the phone service, so after two failed attempts at adding the balance, we just left it on my account. In total, I had enough credit to get the PSP, Untold Legends, Lumines, and, completely unrelated, NARC for Xbox.

So I get to the store as quickly as possible after work, get my PSP and two games and have the kid ring me out. I knew I had some credit left over, so I got a game for my finacee too. When the guy scanned the $88 gift card, he told me that I had a balance of over $150 left on it. It wasn't the same person who'd helped me before...and this kid seemed kinda aloof anyway. So with my newly found $150 I also snagged a hard case for the PSP, Ridge Racer and TimeSplitters for Xbox, along with a DS game for my fiancee.

The first PSP I got had a couple bad pixels in it, and I was able to take it back in and get a new one. First glance didn't show any bad pixels, even after testing out three of games I couldn't see anything. Then, once I put in SPiderman 2, I saw them. Five little pixels near the bottom of the screen. Only noticable when the screen is black. I'm just gonna ride it out, I think. No need to return it since I noticed them after playing my games on it, which is what I'm gonna use it for anyway.

I'm very impressed with it, pixel problem or not. All 4 games I have are excellent, and Ridge Racer is stealing my attention. Looks a bit flimsy, but it's surprisingly solid. Worth the scratch if you have it available, IMO.

[norkusa]

Darkstalkers looks and sounds great, but control sucks. Maybe it'll get better if I can get used to it, doubt it though. Tried playing online, no one was there.

Wah??? You can play Darkstalkers online? I thought Twisted Metal was the only PSP game out that you can play online with.

Has anyone here actually played against other people online with the PSP yet? I'm not talking about across the room wi-fi link up, but actual online network play. Is it easy to set up? Is there any lag? Is there a mic on the PSP for voice chat (i thought i remember hearing that there was one on there somewhere).

[buttasuperb]

I dunno, there was some network mode and it logged me on to a server, but everything was blank and I couldn't do anything.

[Dangerboy]

Sales at my store went well, with about an 82% pre-sell pick up ratio, which is unheard of on the first day, especially for something so expensive.

We had the majority of sales before my 2pm shift, and closing the store at 9pm, we had no phone calls or walk-ins concerning dead pixels/other issues.

I had a conversation with a friend who works at another, larger chain store, and mentioned they only had a few calls, so I'm guessing it's just a per-batch shipment issue, rather than a complete fluke.

I'd love to have one, but $250 is way too much for a portable. At least to me.

Besides, you know how many PSX variants that can get me?

[Jasoco]

Anyone know the resolution of the screen on the PSP?

[zmweasel]

Darkstalkers looks and sounds great, but control sucks. Maybe it'll get better if I can get used to it, doubt it though. Tried playing online, no one was there.

Wah??? You can play Darkstalkers online? I thought Twisted Metal was the only PSP game out that you can play online with.

Has anyone here actually played against other people online with the PSP yet? I'm not talking about across the room wi-fi link up, but actual online network play. Is it easy to set up? Is there any lag? Is there a mic on the PSP for voice chat (i thought i remember hearing that there was one on there somewhere).

I haven't played online yet, but network setup was breathtakingly easy. The PSP automatically found my wireless LAN and set up all the configuration info in about a minute.

There's no mic built into the PSP, but I wouldn't be shocked to see a headset in the future.

On an unrelated note, I downloaded and registered the $20 Windows version of iPSP (www.kaisakura.com), which totally rocks. PSP Video 9 (www.pspvideo9.com) is free, but iPSP can make screen-filling 16:9 PSP videos out of widescreen-DVD rips, which Video 9 can't. It's also a hell of a lot more user-friendly, such as the way it automatically adjusts the video and audio compression settings to make the most of whatever size Memory Stick Duo is in the PSP. It can also handle just about any video format you throw at it. The only thing it can't do is DVD ripping, for which you need the freeware DVD Decrypter (www.dvddecrypter.com).

EDIT: I played a little more with PSP Video 9, and discovered it can also make 16:9 video clips. I also ran into my first VOB incompatiblity issue with iPSP, whereas PSP Video 9 hasn't failed me yet. Video 9 also has an excellent feature that allows you to boost the audio volume of whatever video clip you're PSP-izing.

-- Z.