Official PSP Thread!

[SoulBlazer]

Well, I ended up doing something today I was'nt quite sure I was going to do.

A friend came over and she wanted to go out shopping for a PSP. Her name is Mandy and I've known her for over 10 years now. Anyway, she was surprised when her husband dropped hints yesterday that he wanted one. But she did'nt know anything about it, just knew she had called a couple stores in her area (northern RI) and nothing. So she called me in the early afternoon to see if she could come down and if I could take her out. I said sure.

We know we were'nt going to have any luck at some stores, so we headed for Best Buy, where they indeed had some in stock. I really was interested in one but I knew at the price I could'nt afford to get one and all the stuff that came with it. Once I had one in my hands, though, I was hooked. The unit is so damn sexy! Nice large LCD screen, lightweight, backlit, and really impressive how it handles. The guy was showing us the sampler disc with the unit and talking about his own personal experiences with one since he bought one last night.

At that point my friend pulled me to one side and said she knew about all the crap that was going on for me right now and that since she had extra tax return money Mandy offered me a deal. She told me she would buy me a PSP along with the Best Buy 2 year warrenty -- $40 for that -- if I agreed to repay her in the course of the next year. Plus, since I wanted to do many more things with the PSP, a 512 MB stick for $70 for a VERY early Christmas gift.

So at that point I decided I could sell some more stuff on Amazon and pinch the belt by canceling some pre-orders I had planned and go ahead and get it. I picked up a Accesory Kit -- $30 that came with a carrying case, a cleaning cloth, a strap on, a screen protector, a car adapater, and another pair of headphones. Plus I got a USB cable and transfer disc for the PSP for $10 to transfer movies and music over.

Which just left me with two games I was interested in -- Metal Gear Acid (a card based version of the famous game series) and Untold Legends (a hack and slash game like Diablo) to buy myself.

Plus, the way I saw it, it's a investment. I don't have a music player yet and with a memory card that size I can download hundreds of songs on to it. PLus movies! I can transfer programs and anything else from my PC onto it as well. So the PSP can do three different things, and even more in the future. The only other thing I'll need to get is a battery pack -- none was sold seperatly -- as the one drawback of the PSP is that it only has about a 5-6 hour battery charge.

I've only had a little bit of time to check it out, but I'm really impressied. No dead pixels that I can see on my unit. Spider-Man 2 looks REALLY sharp -- even better then a DVD. The Sampler Disc looks good as well. I have'nt tried my two games or transfering anything over yet. My only complaint is the volume is kind of soft -- even with headphones and turned all the way up. But it's lightweight, quiet, and only needed about 90 minutes to fully charge the battery.

If anyone needs a extra headphone and strap, I'm not using the ones that came with the Sony PSP.

[Cmosfm]

That's excellent Soulblazer!

I'm glad to see that Mandy came and she gave without taking.

[Jasoco]

I have a question-a-rino about video-izing my PSP.

I am using iPSP and, aside from a lot of quirks, it seemed to work fine as long as the video I was converting was MPEG-4 already. But I converted a file that was widescreen, and it forced it into a 4:3 format.

Why couldn't it keep it the ratio it was? Any tips on video importing? It's too bad it's not as easy as music and pictures in that you just drag and drop them into a "VIDEO" folder.

[Griking]

So, if someone were to create an NES/SNES emulator, the games would fit perfectly on it?

Yep! I can't *wait* for emulators to hit. I imagine that even PS1 (ISO image) and N64 emus are within the PSP's capabilities, but I would gladly settle and/or kill for Genesis/SNES/NES/TG-16 emus. The PSP can run game code from a MS Duo, so it's gotta be just a matter of time.

-- Z.

I wouldn't be in the least surprised if Nintendo made a very strong effort to shut down each and every website that they can find that hosts an emulator that can play Nintendo game on the PSP.

[Griking]

Seriously, how the hell do you walk into a store and plop down $300 on something that has a good chance of being defective? What's going on, people? Did Sony drug your Pepsi or something?

wow, a couple dead pixels, boo hoo. I bought a 1500.00 laptop from Dell that has a couple dead pixels. I'm sorry but a few TEENY TINY dots on your screen that you can't even NOTICE without a black screen in near complete darkness is nothing to deter you from buying a system. And it doesn't make it defective, it makes it a normal LCD based product.

and double

What concerns me is the amount of people in this thread who are reporting dead pixels. Dead pixels do happen from time to time w/ laptops and LCD monitors but not at a nearly 50% ratio. To me thats just unacceptable.

[norkusa]

I am using iPSP and, aside from a lot of quirks, it seemed to work fine as long as the video I was converting was MPEG-4 already. But I converted a file that was widescreen, and it forced it into a 4:3 format.

Why couldn't it keep it the ratio it was? Any tips on video importing? It's too bad it's not as easy as music and pictures in that you just drag and drop them into a "VIDEO" folder.

Are you using the demo version or the full version of iPSP? I think the demo only allows you to import it at 4:3. With the full version, I think you can do it widescreen, I think.

[evilmess]

Jasoco, give PSP Video 9 a try instread of iPSP.

http://www.pspvideo9.com/

Good luck, let us know if it works. I don't have a large enough memory stick but I've already run 3 full length Movies I ripped from my DVD's thru PSPV9 for when I get a 512 pro duo card.

(edit: I assume you are on a PC, yes?)

[James]

This thread is disorganized. Why isn't there a seperate forum for the PSP Launch? A dozen or so good PSP posts have been unfortunately locked because of this and there isn't nearly as many replys to this thread as there would have been overall if there were several seperate PSP posts. Digital Press when the Xbox Next is released later this year I hope you give its release its own forum as there will be much more variety then. And the same for any other systems released in the near future.

[SoulBlazer]

I'm experimenting with PSP Video 9 right now. I also have Max Media that I bought at Best Buy with the USB cable. PSP Video 9 seems to work fine in converting and moving movie files to my PSP. Now I'm glad I talked my friend into the 512 MB memory card. Max Media, however, is what I'm using to copy my music files over.

I'm trying to convert one right now by boosting the volume to 200 percent. The first time I tried it was so soft I could hardly hear the video clip.

Anyone else have any suggestions to get the best prefomance out of PSP Video 9? I want to try to balance space on the memory card (it looks like it can only hold a few video clips, much less a complete DVD movie!) and preformance of the movie clip.

I'll try ripping a DVD movie over to my PSP later.

On the plus side, it was SO EASY for the PSP to find and connect to my wireless network! I just don't have a game I can play online.

[portnoyd]

This thread is disorganized. Why isn't there a seperate forum for the PSP Launch? A dozen or so good PSP posts have been unfortunately locked because of this and there isn't nearly as many replys to this thread as there would have been overall if there were several seperate PSP posts. Digital Press when the Xbox Next is released later this year I hope you give its release its own forum as there will be much more variety then. And the same for any other systems released in the near future.

Been there, done that for the DS (And the PSP, for counterpoints for PSP discussion at DS launch).

There would be more posts, yes - duplicate ones. I would put money on at least 4 dead pixel threads. This one thread keeps things sane, and the +1ing to a minimum. You get first impressions of system and games, troubleshooting and problems, and technical advice all in one. 6 pages of replies versus 12 topics (half of which are duped and locked) over 3 pages of forum topics. It's cleaner this way and does not stunt discussion at all.

dave

[portnoyd]

Oh, and I can't put down Lumines. God, my eyes are falling out of my skull and I'm still addicted.

dave

[chrisbid]

ive played one, and the PSP is the phantom menace of handhelds. its all sizzle and no steak.

- luminese is the only truly original game worth picking up
- load times are awful
- battery life is terrible
- infamous shoddy sony hardware
- too expensive

the 00's (or whatever decade you want to call this) idea of convergence is a joke. we all know that UMD movies will be about as popular as original minidiscs and beta. the mp3 and movie playback features have some potential, but will cost you an additional 100 bucks for enough storage to do anything worthwhile. In this day of 30+GB ipods, a $350 PSP setup is hardly going to put a dent in Apple's sales.

this is a portable system, features like battery life and durability while not as sexy as screen size and color are essential. if you put your PSP in your pocket, and bump into a wall, you shouldnt have to worry about killing pixels, scratching the screen, or damaging the UMD slot. in 2005, a notebook computer can run for 8+ hours, there is no reason a handheld should have less.

people will disagree, but optical media was a poor choice this time around. the prime advantage of optical media over solid state has always been cost, but UMD's are just a proprietary as a cartridge, so costs will stay rather high even on budget titles. There wont be many games that utilize the extra space for gameplay. instead youll just see a lot of battery wasting FMVs and redbook audio.

i have always set my price limit of consoles at $200, there is no way ill pay more than that for a flawless handheld, the PSP is nowhere near that. The saving grace of the PSP will be the homebrew and emulation scene that is bound to develop. It could become a portable xbox, and the prospect of MAME on the go is very tempting. but that prospect is not yet reality, and its refreshing to see that sony's hype machine didnt drown reason this time around.

[Querjek]

Oh yeah... I forgot to mention earlier, I have 3 dead pixels, but, unlike the ones in my DS, these are barely noticable, unless you're looking to find them.

Exactly how do I unlock more skins in Lumines? I Have 4 so far, from the single-player mode.

[kainemaxwell]

Ok, sold 2 more PSPs today to make 6 out of our 10 units in stock at my store.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

This thread is disorganized. Why isn't there a seperate forum for the PSP Launch? A dozen or so good PSP posts have been unfortunately locked because of this and there isn't nearly as many replys to this thread as there would have been overall if there were several seperate PSP posts. Digital Press when the Xbox Next is released later this year I hope you give its release its own forum as there will be much more variety then. And the same for any other systems released in the near future.

For what it's worth, we did have a forum du jour dedicated to both the PSP and the DS for several months. As that's not a permanent thing, the threads were moved in here to the video gaming area and the forum was reassigned. Also, while it was there, the PSP/DS forum was the home to an awful lot of fanboyish system-vs.-system crap, which was not the purpose anyone had in mind for that forum.

It'll do just fine out here, but this seemed like the best way to keep the entire first page of the VG forum from being flooded with PSP-related topics.

[vincewy]

I went to other towns nearby and check a K-mart store, as of Fri, they've sold ONE! There's no doubt that Sony has the marketing power, hype, zombified fanboys, $$$, but in the end the sales speak for itself, Sony is stil fantasizing on "anything will sell" mentality.

Had all the units they put out yesterday function properly, they would've sold more units down the road over the next few weeks, but instead expect to see avalanche of returns at all retail chains over next few days, I've even asked my buddy (who owns 2 stores in MPLS) not to bother with PSP at this point as soon as I heard about the hardware problems. Wait a few months and see if Sony will piss off all retailers, I'm sure Best Buy, EB, and Gamestop which offers extended warranties will have to take in all those defective units as writeoffs.

In fact you can probably get it for even less on eBay than local stores, some auctions were going for even less than $250 with sellers charging $15 on shipping. OMG, there're like 3000+ units listed on eBay, one guy even bought 7 units and current bid prices aren't even close to retail

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=8180740153

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=8178415653

Even more outrageous are the blatant lies by sellers, presold out everywhere, out til Xmas. If you take those sellers out of equations, the sales would've been a lot worse, I expect to see a lot of returns over the next few days from either 1: defective units (mentioned above) 2: eBay resellers getting stuck with so many units. Don't people ever learn!

[pacmanhat]

My g/f and I caved and got one today...along w/ Wipeout Pure, Untold Legends (which is really underrated) and Lumines (which is just plain amazing). I think my g/f got a glitch when playing Lumines the first time, though...she tried it without really knowing what was going on, and lost almost instantly, but still somehow managed to get over 10,000 points.

[Jasoco]

(edit: I assume you are on a PC, yes?)

Hi, you must be new. Jasoco, Mac user. How ya doin'?

According to the manual, I should be able to just put the MPEG-4's on the card. But it doesn't go into any details or tell of any software or tools. I can convert the things myself. I just need to know where to put them! I like to avoid tools whenever possible.


I am peeved about one thing, though. The damn sample disc didn't have any game demos. Just videos. I'd like to at least try some of the other games to see how I like controlling them. Anyone think they might start putting out PSP Jampack's eventually? I hope so.

[spoon]

I am gonna break next. I will have one by the end of the day. Played one today. We have come a long, long, long way since gameboy. Wow!

[mosesshirai]

So after reading six pages of posts here is my PSP story:

I went launch night here in Hawaii and there were at least 75 people in line at the stpre. It was crazy. They were only letting a few people in at atime so I got mine around 1:10am. I went home plugged it in and went to sleep. Next day(Thursday, Launch Day) I watched part of Spiderman and played Metal Gear Acid. Both were very impressive. Later that night I start playing Metal Gear and notice the Dead Pixels. At least 5-10 of them all over my screen. Nuts. So I call the manager at the store(Friday) and he says come in and we will take care of you. So I go in get the next PSP, and what do you know TWO more Dead Pixels. I checked it over in the store and couldn't see them in the harsh lighting, but when I played in a semi-dark room tonight....BOOYAAA there they are. Double Nuts. This just ruins the experience for me. I have never done the whole launch day, wait in line thing before. I have never had the opportunity. This just kills it for me. I don't want to take my PSP back again and look like a fool, but $250 is just too high to have this type of problem. So Tomorrow(Saturday) I will be going back again for number three. I am just so torqued. Some of you may have seen my topic about considering selling my DS for a PSP. Now I am so glad I kept the DS. $200 bucks for a Bejeweled Clone(Zookeeper) and a system is well worth it. At least the DS is burly and scratch resistant(it folds shut). And a Pixel Problem with my DS? Nada. DRRRGGGGHHHH
Heres to you Sony, for making me really work to get a nice product out of you. I love driving to the store three times for the same thing. I love that your quality control is so high that you put a disclaimer in your manual. And I especially love that you made the PSP so I can have stress and not fun with my videogame system. Rant over. Vented. Thanks.