Should I buy a PSP?

[Ben Sprinkle]

Well today is my brithday, I have saved up 150$ so far and tonight I will probly get around 250 or so.
I was first going to buy an ipod viideo for my music and movies, but then I found the DS a little cool, my bro bought that.
Then I came across the PSP and was amazed. Video + Music + Games + Linux + Web browsing all in one.

I was looking for cool FPS shooter games and a cool looking RPG for classes.
I found Coded Arms was kick butt and Dungeon Siege was pretty decent looking also.

So should I buy it? I will probably make up my mind later tongith but I could use some advice. :D

[gosh]

My son has one and is an absolute addict!
Need for Speed, Tony Hawk, Fifa Street are his favorites

[Ben Sprinkle]

I was thinking about Need For Speed also, but probly won't have enough money for it. I am 16 BTW. :D

Not enough money for a car but meh.
I probably will only use the game portion in schools or on buses when I am bored, else I just listen to music and browse the web. :)

[Brunellus]

No. Sony's consistent pro-DRM stance totally nullifies whatever goodwill it attempted to engender by moving to a GNU/Linux development environment in the PS2 and PS3.

Boycott Sony.

[gosh]

No. Sony's consistent pro-DRM stance totally nullifies whatever goodwill it attempted to engender by moving to a GNU/Linux development environment in the PS2 and PS3.

Boycott Sony.

What would you recommend for a portable gaming device?

[Brunellus]

What would you recommend for a portable gaming device?
get a Nintendo DS, or do without.

[patagonik]

If i were you i would use those 150$ to travel, to do something special with friends, or to keep them a bit more to have time to think about "what could i really do with them"... that's just if i were you!

pata

[Ben Sprinkle]

No. Sony's consistent pro-DRM stance totally nullifies whatever goodwill it attempted to engender by moving to a GNU/Linux development environment in the PS2 and PS3.

Boycott Sony.

Woah woah, wait a minute. That crap that microsuck has on thier Zune??
So if I put my music on my psp it will delete in x amount of days?!?!

[Valinski]

I have a PSP and its pretty addictive. The only thing is first person shooters (Which you want) are a little ropey due to the available buttons. They havent found a way to convincingly look around. The DS is much better for this as it has a touch screen that can have a fast responsive feel (with a little practice) but the graphics can suffer for FPS's. Metroid is probably the best FPS i have played on a Hand Held!

[kebes]

Woah woah, wait a minute. That crap that microsuck has on thier Zune??
So if I put my music on my psp it will delete in x amount of days?!?!

The DRM on the PSP is not exactly like on the Zune (I don't think it will delete your music, for instance). But be aware that alot of the neat things you can do with a PSP (like change the OS, run emulators, etc.) are "not approved by Sony" and they will intentionally break those functionalities in firmware updates. Of course you can just opt not to implement firmware updates...

I certainly understand the "anti-Sony" sentiment. They have done many nasty things and I am boycotting them. (That doesn't mean you shouldn't buy one: just do a little research on their business practices and decide for yourself.)

I have played with the nintendo DS, and it is alot of fun. The games are amazing. However it's purely a game platform: no music and not hackable.

It's a tough call.

[RChickenMan]

Yeah, sony is always the one to push heavily proprietary technology (i.e. minidisk, or worse yet, memory stick).

I, too, would go with the "mature" response of using it on something more fulfilling than material posessions (travelling was a good suggestion) or saving it, but I guess buying things can be fun as well.

[Ben Sprinkle]

The DRM on the PSP is not exactly like on the Zune (I don't think it will delete your music, for instance). But be aware that alot of the neat things you can do with a PSP (like change the OS, run emulators, etc.) are "not approved by Sony" and they will intentionally break those functionalities in firmware updates. Of course you can just opt not to implement firmware updates...

I certainly understand the "anti-Sony" sentiment. They have done many nasty things and I am boycotting them. (That doesn't mean you shouldn't buy one: just do a little research on their business practices and decide for yourself.)

I have played with the nintendo DS, and it is alot of fun. The games are amazing. However it's purely a game platform: no music and not hackable.

It's a tough call.

Hmm, so I will need like version 1 or whatever to run emulators and stuff? :D
And they will disable being able to change the OS?
Hmm going to have to read about this ALOT lol.

[Xzallion]

I would say go for it. I don't have one, but have played them and they are nice. Listen to Kebes about the FPS games, they won't be that good on it.

[Ben Sprinkle]

I would say go for it. I don't have one, but have played them and they are nice. Listen to Kebes about the FPS games, they won't be that good on it.

Yeah but I saw like 3 videos for Coded Arms, that looked so awsome man. FPS didn't look laggy either.
:D:D:D:D:D

[Engnome]

I was gonna buy one but Sony kept pushing new updates out that stopped all the things I wanted to use it for so I decided it wasn't worth it, sure I could have bought one with firmware 2.0 (later versions could have been hacked since) and never updated it but I don't wanna spend that much mony (you need a memory card as well) on something that might not work the way I want it. Looked some at the GP2X but it lacked wifi so no thx. Now waiting for the XGP but wondering if I wouldnt be happier with a wii instead.

Good luck with your decision.

[kebes]

Hmm, so I will need like version 1 or whatever to run emulators and stuff? :D
And they will disable being able to change the OS?
Hmm going to have to read about this ALOT lol.

Yeah it seems like firmware 1.5 can run "homebrew" code but firmware 2.0 cannot. There are ways to downgrade from 2.0 (which a new PSP will have loaded) to the 1.5, but this may make some modern games stop working (they will check the firmware version). Thus you have to decide what you really want to use the PSP for. More info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable_homebrew

(This "lock-in" to prevent you modifying your own PSP is part of the DRM that many disaprove of.)

So, yeah, if you want to do fancy/homebrew things with your PSP, you should do some more research.

[deep.tinker77]

I have one of both. The only time I use my psp is when my ds is charging ;). I kid, but seriously the psp is losing support and alot of dev's aren't looking to attempt to make games for it. But, it does have 1 helluva homebrew follwing and now, thanks to them, you can play your psp 1 games on it (as long as you have a big enough memory chip). The ds takes up any free time I think I have, I am absolutely hooked. Hope this helps some.

[mips]

It's your money, you decide. Why ask others a question which is pretty much personal choice ?

[Ben Sprinkle]

It's your money, you decide. Why ask others a question which is pretty much personal choice ?

For support, I clearly posted that on the other page.

[Kernel Sanders]

I have a PSP and its ace :cool:

[Ben Sprinkle]

I have a PSP and its ace :cool:

Cool man. :)

[kebes]

For support, I clearly posted that on the other page.

Well a friend of mine got one and he loves it. (Er... he did love it until it was stolen... be careful!) He hacked it to be an emulator, too.

I'd say if it's something you're interested in, go for it.


Oh... and one more thing: Happy Birthday! :D

[seijuro]

So if you could care less about homebrew and just want it for games, movies and once in a while music is it worth it then?

[teaker1s]

ds lite neater also is it worth spending extra to watch movies on a format that studio's have given up on? personly I'd buy a ds lite and spend the spare cash on games or browser module if you want internet access

[Dual Cortex]

I have a PSP too, great games, runs PSX games. Playing all those games from my young childhood that I never played.

"Be cheap" and get a v2.8 or lower PSP and you'll have loads of free fun.

[Ben Sprinkle]

Thanks guys, my brother had the DS Lite so I know what it looks like. A few more hours and it's cake time. Then MONEY!!! :D
I think I want to hack mine up so I can play my old GBA roms and mabey try PSX roms, I heard it can play N64?
I wonder how to do web browser too. Hmm.

[Ben Sprinkle]

I am in the spirit of anti DRM. I bought an iPod video. :)

[tshirtz1013]

I recently purchased a PSP with firmware 2.7 . I foolishly upgraded it to 3.03 from sony's website. Let me try and clear some things up for people if I can. At this time of writing there are downgraders for EVERY VERSION of the firmware EXCEPT 3.03. However these downgraders when used in conjunction with Home brew Firmware replacements (3.03 Open Edition or etc) can emulate and run all the applications that would regularly require the latest firmware. This being said, it is possible with any psp under 3.03 firmware to be modified to play emulated games, install windows (95 hehehe), or Linux (Whooot !), play psx games and the whole kit and caboodle. As for how it functions, the wifi is B compatible only. if your router is set to anything besides B the psp wont connect, also the browser sucks (runs out of memory and the flash is outdated). Once you use the USB mode it will auto mount (in Edgy) and you can transfer files back and forth easily. The media format iot plays is MP4. I have had alot of issues converting videos to MP4, However there are several suggestions you can find in these forums on how to do so. Well thats it, my experience so far and I hope it helps some ppl.

[creigscofield]

I bought a PSP way back when it was like firmware 2.0 and haven't regretted it at all. It does not add DRM to files you add to it that arent already DRM (my PSP is full of music off bittorrent) in fact I didn't even know that it would play files with DRM. As for video format if you dual boot there is a program for XP called PSP Video 9 that works great for converting videos to an appropriate format/size/bitrate for viewing on your PSP, and its free. In addition a number of IPTV vidcasts offer downloads pre-formatted for PSP. As for games the PSP looks impressive next to the DS but more important is the kind of games you find on each. I just cant see the DS ever having games like Metal Gear Ac!d, Liberty City Stories, or Valkyrie Profile. So I wouldn't base my decision on which had the more attractive spec sheet, but on which platform has the games you are more excited about playing. If you are looking for a device to all those other things and dont care about gaming there are PDAs that do a better job for less money.

[tedrampart]

I have a PSP, and its all modded now, you can get all sorts of tweaks/firmwares/apps for it off of www.psp-hacks.com .. pretty good and no DRM's.. plus you can backup your UMD's to ISO's and run them off the memory card. thats pretty rad.. PSP is definately the way to go.. too bad I'm late on the topic.. I just got it a week ago...

[Choad]

Well today is my brithday, I have saved up 150$ so far and tonight I will probly get around 250 or so.
I was first going to buy an ipod viideo for my music and movies, but then I found the DS a little cool, my bro bought that.
Then I came across the PSP and was amazed. Video + Music + Games + Linux + Web browsing all in one.

I was looking for cool FPS shooter games and a cool looking RPG for classes.
I found Coded Arms was kick butt and Dungeon Siege was pretty decent looking also.

So should I buy it? I will probably make up my mind later tongith but I could use some advice. :D
i love mine. especially the homebrew and ps1 emulator and such like

when you get custom firmware on it its really awesome

edit: coded arms isnt supposed to be that good. games of legendary status include wipeout, syphon filter, loco roco, gta, killzone etc. killzone is really good imo, and online mode will be released soon.

wipeout is my favourite game but i've always been a fan

[kondormid]

be very carefull with tweaks, make sure that they suit your firmware. For instance if you are using an OE firmware and a new version comes out do not try to use your plugins without checking (i do not use plugins at all for this reason) Some did manage to brick a PSP by doing this with version 3.0? OE-A even though they were warned.

So as long as you check first you should be OK.

[sinaen]

i read your story and can see why you hesitate. :) i have a friend that thinks of selling his psp, and maybe ill buy it. it would be nice cause im going on vacation. 8 days on Kreta,
and it would be nice to have something to do while those lazy days roll by :) watch some movies etc... :)

http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS4326330478.html

i found this link about putting linux on a psp. and i know there is a video-converting program (that i dont remember what its name is) that can convert to many many different shapes and video-codecs, ipod amongst them so it should have for psp too

get that and its rock n roll baby! :popcorn: