I want to buy a PSP, but I'm confused about some things...

[DaBargainHunta]

Okay, I've been wanting a PSP for a while now, but I'm confused about a few things:

1) Memory sticks: What's the best size, which brands/formats are compatible and not compatible, etc. I have no idea what I should be looking for here.

2) Screen protectors and carrying cases: Are these things essential? If so, what are the best ones to get and how much will this stuff set me back?

3) Emulation and firmware upgrades: Can I emulate right out of the box or do I have to do all kinds of fancy schmancy technical stuff to get this going? I have some experience with GBA emulation and flash carts, but I have a feeling this is a whole different ballpark. I don't want to "brick" my brand new PSP.

4) Older games: Are they out of print and a pain to find? I know this is a problem on the DS (which I have and love), just as it was previously a problem on the GBA. I am particularly interested in some of the older retro compilations or speciality titles like Pinball Hall of Fame (I am kicking myself for not buying it when I saw it at Wal-Mart a year ago for $20).

5) Movies: I'm not particularly interested in UMDs, but I hear there's a way to rip DVDs onto the PSP. How much space does something like that take and how difficult/time-consuming is it?

6) Possible redesign/price drop(?): Any buzz on this at all? I remember reading something about a redesign in PSM (or somewhere) a while back.

7) Ultimate Ghosts N Goblins: Gaming bliss or really too damn hard? This is my personal "killer app" for the PSP.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Richter Belmount]

1.Buy the psp entertainment pack, you can settle with it having a 1 gig stick can ya? (seems reasonable)
2.Need a screen protector? go on ebay and trying get the metal gear portable ops preorder gift , its a plastic skin that snaps on your psp , it has solid snake on the back plus it makes the psp look silver from what I hear.
3.Imo homebrew is not worth all your hassle or trouble unless you already have a 1.50 psp (ive had alot of expierence on the whole homebrew scene , but eventually you give up)
4.Buy sega genesis collection , metal slug anthology if you need some awesome classic gaming
5.oh yeah there is alot of psp converting software , it takes alot of time patience but worth it if your will to go through with.
6.Yeah I heard about a redesign with a keyboard but sony decided to forget about it.
7.Its great but expect modern gaming wussies to tell you it sucks cause of its old school difficulty

[Griking]

I just confused about why you want a PSP

[PapaStu]

1. I've still got the 32 meg card in mine, and its not full (mind you i'm not using it for music or pics or any of that other crap). Getting a 1Gig card shouldn't be all that expensive and any brand Memory Stick Duo card works just fine.

2. You will if you plan on dragging it all over tarnation and back. I've got a cover (The Katamari case) for my system when I feel the need to move it about (which isn't all that often honestly). There are some sticker type covers out there that work great, but I don't know how easy they are to take off the unit should you ever want to.

3. You'll have to do some fancy schmancy stuff out of the box if your buying a new system. I find it troublesome personally when people arn't using the system to play any games made for it, and are just using it to play NES and other things instead. There are numerous threads about the different EMU stuff here in Modern gaming that could answer this question a whole helluva lot better than someone who isn't going to ever run these EMU's on his system.

4. Just a pain to find. I had a REALLY hard time finding a complete Limited Edition Death Jr. Ended up getting one on ebay. However most of the time if you look enough, you'll stumble into what your really trying to find. If EB or GS don't have it, a WalMart, Target, Sears or ebay will. There isn't anything really RARE or in huge demand for the system, so i'd not worry about that.

5. I'm sure it takes a bunch of space on that memory card (and thus a 1 or 2 gig would be needed without a doubt) but again, this isn't something that I personally do so I can't give you the solid answer your looking for.

6. There is no current Re-design in the works. Its been said but absoultely nothing has come to fruition in regards to it. Same with the price drop. I dont think your going to get a system drastically cheaper for a long while (unless your buying a non-bundled one, but they keep releasing new ones of these so who knows).

7. Don't have it, so I can't help ya there.

[Cirrus]

Regarding #3:

What I did was go up to my local "game exchange" store, when they weren't too busy, and asked nicely if I could check the firmware for each of their used systems til I found one that had firmware 1.50. We opened them one by one and found one in a few minutes. Definitely not a good idea to do before Christmas, I'd guess.

Anyway, once you have one that has firmware 1.50 (which you can easily check in the system settings area once you turn it on), it's very easy to just buy any Memory stick, dump a bunch of homebrew and emulators on it, and have at it.

Of course, most newer games require higher firmware versions, and there are supposedly ways to patch a higher version and work your way back, but I'd recommend against it. I mean, it's a killer emulation machine, (Scumm VM is so great on there!), but I don't think there are enough great PSP games to warrant getting a higher firmware version, and ruining your emulation opportunities.

But to each his own. Hope you get what you're looking for.

[jajaja]

I just confused about why you want a PSP

To use it and play with it?

[Joker T]

I'd recommend PSP Video 9 for transferring videos. It's free and quite a quality program.

Download it on this site:
http://pspvideo9.com/