Topic: Thoughts on the PSP line

[Lumi Kløvstad]

So. Most of you have owned or still own a PSP system of some type. Others likely coveted a PSP, but never actually muscled up and bought one.
It was a remarkable system, and an ambitious move by Sony against Nintendo's decades of absolute control over the handheld market. While it did not unseat Nintendo completely, Sony became the first company to go toe to toe with Nintendo on Nintendo's home turf, and not only survive, but steal a significant amount of Nintendo controlled territory, shattering the image of Nintendo's once invincible monopoly on handhelds.

The PSP brought amazing graphics, clear audio, and a stellar library of titles to Playstation fans who wanted to take their favorite franchises on the go with them.

With the Vita now out and establishing itself more each day, the PSP's time on the beachhead of portable gaming is fast drawing to a close in favor of it's successor (although I'd still like to buy a PSP e1000, just to get the final model).

But let us not cast aside such a stalwart companion so easily. The PSP was a hero who stood against a tyrant. And good heroes need stories to be told of their exploits.

So let's bust out the drinks and tell some damn stories.

My first PSP was a model 2000 (PSP Slim and Lite), which I got alongside Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles.
It was a lovely machine, and I really enjoyed my time with it. True, it's plain black surface was one hell of smudge magnet, but it was still gorgeous. The controls were intuitively placed, although I always wished for a second analog stick that the PSP would never see.

A while later, I saved up for a PSP-3000, which I bought after a long amount of research and a final judgment call regarding the system's infamous scanlines (turned out to be not much of a problem; you just sort of learn how to tune these things out after a while). The much vaunted screen improvements were spot on: a noticeably clearer picture, deeper blacks and more vibrant colors. The built in microphone meant I no longer needed a headset to chat on Skype, and I had little reason to part with the system... until it fell and the flimsy disc drive broke. I'm fairly certain that wouldn't have happened on a 2000, which had a sturdier disc drive.

By then, the PSP Go was causing an uproar in the gaming community, and I thought "What the hell. I can get a new one on eBay for cheap."

And cheaply it came too, at a sweet $170 price point.

But, alas, there was no way to get my already bought UMDs onto the device, which was a technical marvel of a machine. And the games were priced the same on the PSN, making rebuying my extensive collection a financial nightmare.

And then I realized that I could just slap some custom firmware on the sucker and load some pirated ISOs onto it and my problem was solved. Having already bought the games I was pirating, I felt no guilt in doing just that. And neither should anyone else who bought the games on UMD.

The deed accomplished, I realized that actually, the PSP Go is a wonderful machine once you cross it's barrier to entry. No need to carry a bunch of UMDs around; they're already right there, with you, no matter where you go. Get bored? Don't worry about swapping discs! Just open a new game up from the menu! Worried about battery life? Even with the brighter screen, the elimination of the PSP's UMD Drive (a huge power hog) resulted in a more efficient battery life than the old PSP models. And when closed, the whole system is no larger or heavier than a decent smartphone. An amazing, beautiful machine.

When I buy my Vita later in the year, I will largely be saying goodbye to my PSP collection. Oh, I'll still visit a few old favorites from time to time, but as time goes on, I'll increasingly favor Vita games.

It's exciting to start a new chapter in portable gaming, but honestly? It's a sad event too, and I'm going to miss that little line of tiny heroes.

What have you to say, in memory of the Playstation Portable?

[beingthehero]

I have the PSP 3000, and I'm currently playing Metal Gear Acid on it at the moment. 

The biggest issue is that it simply did not have the extensive library that the DS commanded, and not as many legitimately great games. I think the fact that it only had one joystick was its greatest disability. It could have been a great outlet for portable first person shooters, but the single joystick just made them too awkward. As it is, there was only a single Call of Duty title released for the PSP (and it blew), while every CoD title starting with 4 received a DS version. I understand that the Vita remedies this well, though I believe the FPS market is rather tired by this point. If Sony tried to make the PSP as more akin to a dual-shock controller with a screen in the middle, I think it would have done better.

But the system has some excellent titles out that I still replay to this day. Peace Walker, Chains of Olympus, Shattered Memories, DXC, Metal Ac!d 2....

I understand the system was an RPG powerhouse, though. The only RPG I have for it is Valkyrie Profile. Otherwise, it's the first handheld to seriously challenge Nintendo, which had naturally dominated the market since the Game Boy created it. All other attempts, like the Neo Geo Pocket and the Sega Game Gear were fascinatingly bad.

[shelverton.]

I am buying A LOT of psp games right now, even though I've had the system since 2006 (I think). I love how many niche games there are for it, especially RPGs. This last year I have bought tons of stuff, such as Star Ocean 1 & 2, Breath of Fire 3, Tactics Ogre, Jeanne D'Arc, Ys: Oath in Felghana, Ys Seven, Valkyrie Profile, Tales of Eternia, Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, Lunar Silver Star Harmony, Valkyria Chronicles 2 etc etc etc... I just can't stop collecting.

Next I'm gonna get Persona 2, Fate/Extra, and Ys I & II Chronicles. And I really want the Salamander and Parodius collections from Japan too! And a million other things.

I love my PSP more than ever now. Dunno what happened. I used to think it was kinda meh.

Eventually I'm gonna get myself a Vita, but right now there's really nothing I want for it. With Mirror of Fate coming up I'm gonna get a 3DS first.

Oh, and I still have the very first PSP model. Some people tell me that I MUST buy a newer version because mine sucks, but I don't really know what they're talking about. I've heard the loading is much faster on later models, so that sounds good. But I've gotten used to it so I'm not complaining.

[Abnormal Freak]

Still got my PSP-2000 which sits in a case so that I don't have to constantly dust it.

[RichterB]

I have the first PSP. The Metal Gear AC!D games are some of the most underrated games in the Metal Gear franchise and the last decade. The system has an amazing fighting game lineup (Darkstalkers, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Guilty Gear, BlazBlue, Power Stone, etc), even if the system's controls aren't the best suited to them. I have yet to play Peace Walker, but Portable Ops, after a large learning curve, was a lot better than I thought. I got more pure fun out of it than MGS4, I think. Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles was an interesting game in terms of visuals and sheer amount of content. However, SotN has worn off its novelty for me, and Rondo of Blood isn't one of my favorite Castlevanias, despite being a solid game in its own right. So, the game isn't as enjoyable as it could have been for me, even though in theory it's great. Megaman: Maverick Hunter X was a nice remake, and Ultimate Ghosts N Goblins, while too uneven in design for my taste, was a lot of fun. Capcom Classics deliver a lot of good classic games in one place. Siphon Filter has some strong entries (I played the entire first one), and there are other games I never got to play much of that intrigued me when I tried them: Killzone Liberation and Pursuit Force. PSP took a long time to get a good library, but it ended up with a strong one. The only thing is, Vita hasn't really shown a lot of content yet, and is not backward compatible. I'm leaning more toward 3DS than Vita, but don't want either yet, really.