I had been planning to buy a PSP slim but was quite discouraged by an article that IGN just released in which they interviewed one of the top people at Sony about the state of the PSP. The person they interviewed said that PSP was doing quite well and that some very strong titles will be coming out for the system in the next year. However, almost all of the IGN reporters who interviewed the rep at Sony thought that the PSP wasn't doing that great and seemed to give the impression that it really isn't worth it to buy a psp right now. Some of the reporters pointed out that the PSP has some good games but that looking into the future there are not that many appealing games coming out for the PSP in the future. I sure don?t want to waste money on a system there will not be that many game coming out for it. I don?t understand why the major game developers wouldn?t yet announce promising games they are making that are coming out for the PSP; that doesn?t make sense. Are the developers trying to surprise consumers; what is the reason? The PSP has been out for 3 years and I think it has a disappointing game library compared to the DS which has been out for the same amount of time. I know that IGN has its own opinion on the matter but several IGN reporters had this opinion and I have always trusted IGN for any gaming news.
If I had the PSP I would mod it and I know that there are a lot of benefits from modding a PSP. A big reason the PSP appeals to me is because it seems more tailored to hardcore gamers, which I am. I would mainly use the PSP for playing games and watching movies but from what I see, movie files that are not in the PSP format have to be converted to the PSP format with some special program. That is pretty annoying, especially to have to convert a big file like a divx movie. Is there any homebrew software that allows PSP users to watch movie files such as divx, xvid, avi, etc. without having to covert anything to PSP format. If not, is there any homebrew software that will be coming out in the future that will do what I have described.
I know that you can play emulators on the PSP but I don't care that much about that because I have already played many of the old school games many times and I am really looking to play new games.
I am really tempted to just buy a zune media or some other portable video player to watch movies and buy a DS which I would mod to play games instead of buying a PSP slim. The DS has quite a few good games and it is cheaper than the PSP and the DS is constantly putting out games. The DS may be more tailored to casual gamers but I think that it has enough good games to satisfy a hardcore gamer like myself.
So what does everyone think, is the PSP still worth getting? I have an idea of what a modded PSP can do but maybe someone could tell me about some abilities of a modded PSP that they find really cool and that really contribute to the PSP's value.
i have both the psp slim and the limited edition zelda gold DS lite. both have their strong points. DS for the touch screen, and psp for the older type games. psp has the edge in homebrew because it has more memory to play with. but nintendo has the games i've always played (mario/zelda/metroid).
as far as i know, you must convert the video files. the psp uses different codecs.
if you have iRshell on the psp, you can multitask. listen to music while using the browser or game, the ability to play games from the computer via usb or wireless. psptube allows you to watch youtube videos, which is not possible with the built in browser due to old flash player.
once you have custom firmware, it's just a matter of drag and drop, unlike the DS, where you must have a flash cart. your only problem is getting custom firmware on a brand new psp slim, as you will need to have certain things.
I have both PSP's, and have played on a DS, but do not own one, so my judgement on that may be somewhat biased.
The PSP, in my opinion, is the much better handheld. The graphics are far superior, which does matter in my opinion, and can emulate the Playstation and anything up until that point without problem, and you don't need to purchase a card reader. It lacks good titles, but the games it has are have more depth, ie. God of War; have more in the "adult" market, ie. Manhunt 2, GTA; and the analog stick feels better than the often-misused touchscreen, which is mostly used for maps and menus. Plus, the larger screen puts less strain on my eyes. But, durability goes to the DS, which is far superior in terms of strength.
But, that's just me. I don't really get the touchscreen, I prefer mashing buttons to touching small objects on a small screen. I prefer one screen, not two. I love the thought that I am carrying around several retro consoles. I love the Playstation 1 support, and the simplistic layout.
