PSP- Worth it?

M

mash

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 16, 2005
Messages
278
Hey, I've been debating whether or not to get a PSP. I would probably get a gig pack (maybe a bundle on ebay) for some videos and music along with game saves. I played Socom online at a friends house and it was surprisingly pretty fun. I also like racing games so the NFS games look pretty fun.

Are there games besides Socom that make the PSP really worth while? I know I would get tired of Socom pretty fast, but for vacations and stuff it would kickass. Also browsing the internet is a great feature. What are the best games, pros and cons, etc? Thanks...

-mash
 
I think there are alot of quality games and the multimedia things and emulators are a plus. It just matters what you want.
 
There's a good amount of decent games out. Plus you have tons of homebrew/emulators at your disposal like Luke_Skywalker mentioned. For racing games I like: NFS:MW, Wipeout (+ its updates), Burnout. Overall its a great handheld with the capability of playing movies/music and going online, so imo its worth it.
 
Emulators are only an option if you don't get one of the newer ones. I'm almost 100% sure that the Giga pack comes with some of the newest firmware. Will it be hacked eventually? Yes...but it could take some time.

IMO, it isn't worth the retail price...getting one used is more acceptable. I would only get another PSP if they fixed the stiff face-buttons and give us a screen that doesn't have more ghosting than a Halloween party. The MSRP is just too steep.
 
I've been also wondering this. Alot of my friends have PSP'S and I'm wondering if they are worth the asking price. I usually buy anything over £80 that has something to do with 'gaming' but the price of this I'm not too sure about.

Is it really worth the asking price?
 
dj_2004 said:
Homebrew on v2.01-2.50
Click to expand...

You do realize 2.5 isn't the newest firmware, right? Do you know how long 2.5 has been out and how long it's taken to break it?

Sony is just going to release another patch or embed it in another new title.

The new work-around is interesting, but it doesn't play all homebrew and it sounds like it would be annoying to go through every time you wanted to play a game (Start system, watch Sony intro, watch GTA intro, go to options, Load Game, watch the homebrew loader, choose a game).
 
ZX6Master said:
You do realize 2.5 isn't the newest firmware, right? Do you know how long 2.5 has been out and how long it's taken to break it?

Sony is just going to release another patch or embed it in another new title.
Click to expand...

I would agree, each time it is cracked you will see the new hot title require a new firmware.
 
I have it and love it.....deff worth the money. Theres just so much you can do with it, and theres a lot of good games out/coming out.
 
I'm thinking about getting a used deal with maybe socom, a racing game (nfs or midnight club) and a 512mb card or so. If the gig has to have 2.5, then I definitely don't want it. 1.5 is the version that can play homebrew, right? And are there some truly good wuality homebrew games? Also, can you get an internet browser with earlier versions?

-mash
 
I love my PSP, but I agree... 250 is pretty steep... I highly recommend picking one up used, but make sure it has no dead pixels!

Great games for the PSP.... GTA, Burnout (one of the best hand-held games ever made), Socom, Lumines..

And look out for upcoming titles like Exit (REALLY looking forward to this unique puzzle game), Katamari & I, Splinter Cell, Syphon Filter... this year is gonna be much better for the PSP.
 
There're internet browsers for 1.5 but they suck (even the 2.0 browser isnt the best, or even close). v1.5 is the best version for homebrew but 2.0 does play around 75% of the homebrew out using the eBoot loader (not the gta loader linked previously). The giga-pack is not going to be 1.5 but get a used 1.5 for ~200 or so and a 1GB sandisk pro duo for 60-70 shipped.

-Check out this place to see what homebrew is out.
-Oh and ZX6Master, looks like homebrew is on v2.6 now :).
 
pass on a psp, and get a ds. I bought a psp with my christmas money and took it back 4 days later and got a refund. 265 after tax = too much for a handheld with some not so great features. mine came with a 32mb stick which was able to hold 5-6 songs and not even a 3 min clip with decent quality. the games were 49.99 each which they had amazing gfx but totally not worth 50 bucks. the webbrowser has lots of problems dealing with certain sites because of the cache available and images & java being loaded. i bought a ds and mkds and its 10x better.
 
I3roknI3ottle said:
pass on a psp, and get a ds. I bought a psp with my christmas money and took it back 4 days later and got a refund. 265 after tax = too much for a handheld with some not so great features. mine came with a 32mb stick which was able to hold 5-6 songs and not even a 3 min clip with decent quality. the games were 49.99 each which they had amazing gfx but totally not worth 50 bucks. the webbrowser has lots of problems dealing with certain sites because of the cache available and images & java being loaded. i bought a ds and mkds and its 10x better.
Click to expand...

Yes, the DS is so much better because it has none of the features PSP has. What a way to solve the problem!

-But now you're probably going to bring up the games....

Well, to the original poster, if you want to play some virtual dog game, pinball, or some rehashed mario game, get a DS instead of PSP.
 
I bought a PSP on the day they came out. I sold it around x-mas time. The system was better for playing emulators then it was for actual PSP games. Meaning the games aren't all the great. There's a few good ones, Lumines comes to mind, but nothing there that are worth buying the system for and the $50 they wanted for them was ridiculous. That's probably the main reason I didn't get into it actually, the $50 games. For emulators and homebrew it's fantastic, that was the only thing I miss. I could see myself buying one again if the game prices dropped.
 
I own one and I use it for movies, talk shows and thats about it.
I don't think the PSP will ever live up to a gaming machine title due to it poor lack of game selection. If you like racing games then you should be in heaven but if you like more forget it. The loading times on most all PSP are DREADFUL...be warned.
Other then that and its bulky, its pretty awesome.
Oh and you can surf the net...have you ever surf the net on your cell phone? Well its just as good as that hehe :)

Then it your lucky enough to have the right update so you can play what people call "homebrew" oh man are you in for a real crashing treat! Plus you get to play all those great games like tetris, pacman.....you get my point ;)
 
Oh, and if you actually pay for movies prepare to pay $25.00 for something like "Elf". Oh and the games, there real cheap, if you "find" a good title say "Burnout Legends" thats been out for a long time you get to pay $39.99, wow! Don't forget the loading times, oh boy! Runs off to watch loading screen times! ;)
 
Circuitbreaker8 said:
Yes, the DS is so much better because it has none of the features PSP has. What a way to solve the problem!

-But now you're probably going to bring up the games....

Well, to the original poster, if you want to play some virtual dog game, pinball, or some rehashed mario game, get a DS instead of PSP.
Click to expand...

I have to agree here, if your a child and find animal crossing fun (trading fruit) or want to own a mario kart clone with poor graphics, then yes...get a DS insted.
People, I'm not trying to be rude or call you children but the DS is for children...I mean I wouldn't buy one for a child older then 13.
 
coffee33 said:
I have to agree here, if your a child and find animal crossing fun (trading fruit) or want to own a mario kart clone with poor graphics, then yes...get a DS insted.
People, I'm not trying to be rude or call you children but the DS is for children...I mean I wouldn't buy one for a child older then 13.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I think the DS games are way more innovative than the PSP ones. A lot of the PSP games are clones as well from old PS2 games. I love the big screen and the amazing graphics of the PSP but the bad battery life and crazy loading times made me hate it quick.

But I would agree that the PSP games are more mature, and if you like the PS2 versions you probably like the PSP versions.

In the end there have been way more DS sold than PSP, there has to be a reason.
 
discochan said:
In the end there have been way more DS sold than PSP, there has to be a reason.
Click to expand...

It couldn't have anything to do with the DS being out much longer could it?
 
I bought a PSP on launch date and sold it almost a year later. I plan on buying one again but maybe in a year or two. the system is completely lacking support from all sides.
 
discochan said:
I disagree. I think the DS games are way more innovative than the PSP ones. A lot of the PSP games are clones as well from old PS2 games. I love the big screen and the amazing graphics of the PSP but the bad battery life and crazy loading times made me hate it quick.

But I would agree that the PSP games are more mature, and if you like the PS2 versions you probably like the PSP versions.

In the end there have been way more DS sold than PSP, there has to be a reason.
Click to expand...

There is a reason...its $150 cheaper for the system, and about $10 cheaper(on average) for the games.
 
Oh btw, if you get v1.51/.52/2.0 then you can downgrade to version 1.5 anytime (and update if you want).
 
dj_2004 said:
-Check out this place to see what homebrew is out.
-Oh and ZX6Master, looks like homebrew is on v2.6 now :).
Click to expand...

...until a week or so, when Sony decides to release another firmware upgrade and put homebrew back another nine months.

Face it. Sony isn't going to lay down to hackers.
 
coffee33 said:
I have to agree here, if your a child and find animal crossing fun (trading fruit) or want to own a mario kart clone with poor graphics, then yes...get a DS insted.
People, I'm not trying to be rude or call you children but the DS is for children...I mean I wouldn't buy one for a child older then 13.
Click to expand...

You're not being rude, just narrow minded.
 
Circuitbreaker8 said:
There is a reason...its $150 cheaper for the system, and about $10 cheaper(on average) for the games.
Click to expand...

So do you judge a console/handheld by the titles? Or the number of people actually playing? :)
 
I wish it was worth it for me. A bit of cash and 7 games later, I'm looking to sell the system for a lot less than I paid for it. Hopefully, I can get enough back. I just don't play mine. I even spent a total of 30 hours on plane rides and I maybe played my PSP twice. I bought it for a gaming machine but the games, while graphically pretty good, just aren't all that fun. The ones that are fun are basically ports of PS2 games. That's one way to make a quick buck I suppose.
 
ZX6Master said:
...until a week or so, when Sony decides to release another firmware upgrade and put homebrew back another nine months.

Face it. Sony isn't going to lay down to hackers.
Click to expand...

How will they fix the GTA hack as its strictly a game design flaw and has nothing to do with the firmware itself (just wondering)? Of course Sony isn't going to just give up, but atleast homebrew is still alive as of now and that lets people play the newer games without losing their precious homebrew. I highly doubt Sony will be releasing a new firmware before March unless they saw this mistake at the very beginning.
 
dj_2004 said:
Oh btw, if you get v1.51/.52/2.0 then you can downgrade to version 1.5 anytime (and update if you want).
Click to expand...

Please don't forget to tell him in order to downgrade from 2.0 and 2.5 he has to go buy GTA hehe and it really doesn't work that good...lag.
 
coffee33 said:
Please don't forget to tell him in order to downgrade from 2.0 and 2.5 he has to go buy GTA hehe and it really doesn't work that good...lag.
Click to expand...

Are you joking or just making things up? First of all you can't downgrade any higher than 2.0. Second, you don't need any game to make this work... all you need is a usb cable to transfer the files. I've done this a few times and takes under 5mins.
 
ZX6Master said:
...until a week or so, when Sony decides to release another firmware upgrade and put homebrew back another nine months.

Face it. Sony isn't going to lay down to hackers.
Click to expand...

No, because Sony has some reason to. Namely, the eboot UMD loader. You know, the thing that will make sony lose money because cheap bastards won't pay money for games?

But, I degress, the Homebrew community (namely a larger programmer by the name of 'Fanjita') will always hack into the new firmware. The same naysayers, such as yourself, said that 2.00 wouldn't be hacked. It was. Then they said 2.00+ would be hacked. It was. 2.6 is on the verge of being hacked. Within days a loader will be launched, and people on that firmware will be able to play emulators of games of past, unable to be found anymore.

You'll be able to use new games, independently made like Rootage. (look it up, it's fun!) You'll be able to use a variety of things that you wouldn't normally be able to have.

If you get into the whole homebrew community, you download player-made games, or prehaps ports of games (Quake 1 and 2 are being ported over to the PSP. Doom has be ported. Wolfenstein has been ported. There's a Half-Life port trying to be made. There's a PSone emulator that is trying to be made.) then you will enjoy the PSP. While the DS has the ability to do the same things with a 100 dollar addon device, I feel it's simply not the same.

I have a DS, I enjoy it as well. However, I have played more FUN games on the PSP. Yes, that's right, I said I enjoy games on the PSP more than the games on the DS. Now, currently, there's only 2 games that appeal to me on the DS. Mario kart and Mario 64. I don't like animal crossing. I don't like Nintendogs. I don't like many of the 'blockbuster' titles that have been out for it. Whether they are 'kiddy' or not makes no difference, I just don't find them appealing to me.

However, games like Socom, GTA (Both mature titles), games like Burnout, X-Men Legends 2 (I think are both T), and Lumines and Madden 2006 (both E rated) appeal to me. Yes, most of these are 'PS2 port' titles. Not really.

- Can you play GTA:LCS on the PS2? No. (Yes, they are making a port to the PS2 for it, but it's not a port FROM the PS2)

- Can I play Socom: Fireteam Bravo on the PS2? no, it's a different game.

- Can I play Lumines on the PS2? No, original game.

- Can I play Metal Gear AC!D ont he PS2? No, original game.

There's multi-platform releases, like Madden 2006, Burnout and such, but that can't be considered a pure 'PS2 port', the same as ESPN NHL 2006 isn't a port from the Xbox to the PS2. It's not the same context.

But, if you want to contest some games are considered ports, such a Ridge Racer, the Everquest game, Prince of Persia (which is a horrible game, don't buy it), or Xmen Legends, then I ask you:

Can you play these games on the go from your PS2? Can you play them while in class (wel... you shouldn't... but still)? Can you play them on the bus? Can you play them on a plane? No, you can't, your PS2 is at home. That's why the portable console exists. For portability. Why then, is it 'stupid' for a console that for once has power CLOSE to the power of a normal console to port over games for on the go playing? Why is it 'not smart' to have games that will allow you to continue your season on the go? Like Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 or Madden 2006 will allow you to do? Please, explain to me why this is just another 'sony gimmick to steal our money and ruin videogames'.

For all the claims of the DS's innovation, I see 3 major innovations for a portable gaming system:

1. Touch screen.
2. Built in mic.
3. Built in WiFi.

Dual screens don't truly count, those were invented 'back in the day' if you will. If you want to, I can give them 4.

There's the PSP:

1. 16x9 screen style (normal widescreen)
2. Built in WiFi
3. Built in MP3 support
3. Built in movie support (firmware added support of different formats up to Divx and Xvid)
4. Built in picture support
5. 'Region Free Support' (Not 'out of the box' firmware added)
6. Webbroswing (it sucks, I know, and it's also firmware added. But it's still a first)
7. Liscened movies produced especially for the PSP
8. First disc-using portable gaming device

All of these are for GAME systems. Purely game systems. Not a phone that had knick nacks. Not a MP3 player who can do some of those things. A GAME system. If you're going to pit the PSP vs. the DS, then you agree it's primarily made for games. You don't pit the Nokia QD crappy phone against the GBA and they are comparable. You don't pit a Ipod against a PSP and say they are comparable. They are both gaming systems.

So, by my count, the PSP has more 'innovative features' added in. While all of them may not be hardware, all of them are new features never had in a gaming system before.

This brings my back to my point. If you like homebrew things, and will buy games, you will like this. If you don't like homebrew, then the only thing I can offer is to borrow a friends, play it for a while, and see if you like it (as you have said you did.) If you enjoy the games, and enjoy the style of the system, don't listen to the other people, go out and buy it. Enjoy it. Just because everyone else hates it doesn't mean you HAVE to. If you enjoy that little system, then go buy it and play it until its death!
 
Deadly sk1llz, I'm sort of confused by your list of innovations...

I mean, dont get me wrong here I'm not trying to incite any kind of argument, but you list the psp's mp3 playback, movie playback, picture viewing, web browsing as innovations, but then say they are all for a game system.

What does mp3 playback, movie playback, picture viwing, and web browsing have to do with gaming? I mean, the PSP is a great mulitmedia device, but those dont apply to the games.
 
Wow.. this shit always turns into a flame fest.. WHY oh god WHY...

in my opinion.. the PSP is worth it
 
Xerus,

I suppose you are right. Not all of the supposed 'innovations' are for the gaming aspect of the PSP, but that's what I thought brought some of the allure for the PSP itself, that it is the 'all in one' sort of system.

UPDATE: Here is the 2.6 Firmware breakthough

2.6 is officially able to run homebrew. And on some of the most popular eboots, namely the SNES and Genesis emulators! Much thanks to Fanjita. =)
 
dj_2004 said:
Are you joking or just making things up? First of all you can't downgrade any higher than 2.0. Second, you don't need any game to make this work... all you need is a usb cable to transfer the files. I've done this a few times and takes under 5mins.
Click to expand...
lol too funny well have a great night guys :)
 
I work with 100% gamers and lately I havent seen anyone with a PSP. Ive seen about 5-7 DS owners at my work.
 
qbert3 said:
I work with 100% gamers and lately I havent seen anyone with a PSP. Ive seen about 5-7 DS owners at my work.
Click to expand...
Maybe your co-workers dont get paid enough to afford the PSP?
 
I have both a DS and a PSP. Both are very good machines and both have their strengths. I find that I play them both for different reasons. At the present time I tend to play my DS more than the PSP but that is due to a lack of quality titles in my opinion, that and the fact that I am a complete Mario whore. :) At this point I would hazard to say that the PSP's biggest weakness is that it is not a dedicated gaming machine, it is a multimedia device. Right now there is a lack of dedicated support for the machine a gaming device. I have come to this conclusion just on the fact that most of the “titles" on EB Games coming soon list for the PSP are UMD movies. The DS does not suffer from this, it can't. The DS does not have the luxury of falling back on its flashy multimedia playback. Without a steady stream of games for it, the DS will fail. Right now I am so starved for quality titles that I will accept rehashed PS2 Games. They could throw a compilation of Ratchet and Clank games on one disc and I would snatch it up in a heartbeat. At this point the DS tends to have more of the games that I like. If I absolutely had to choose one system I would have to choose the DS, but that is just because there are more platformers, RPGs, and of course there is Mario Kart. :D I hope this helps you out. For me both are worth the money but right now I am getting a little bit more enjoyment out of one over the other.
 
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