THE PSP MEGA REVIEW

[bignds]

Okay in this i'll cover the hardware, Medievil, wipeout pure and a short summary of THUG2remix. Im also going to keep comparisons to the DS to a minimum.

June 2nd 2005 i put my £20 deposit for the psp, and was hyped up for Sonys entry into the handheld market. The beginning of August the excitement really hit me. August 28th and i placed down my pre order on Virtua Tennis and THUG2R.
About 130 GAME stores nationwide were opening at midnight for the launch, and 2 of those were near me so i was bound to pick it up late Wednesday night.
Ok that was a diary of my build up to the PSP launch, below is my hard ware review.

PSP

I waited till i arived home to open the packaging mainly because it was dark in the car and didnt want to lose little bits.
As soon as i got back i opened up the box, passing the manual, and other accessories, till it came down to the psp wrapped in foam. Sony have obviously been taking styling tip from Apple in terms of packaging and the white head phones of course. Upon first opening the box a warning told me to insert the demo disc and install 2.00 straight away, so i unwrapped the charger, popped in the nice looking UMD and got going.
The PSP's menus were well displayed, and at first glance the screen hits you. Its so bight and colourful.
The build quality is outstanding. Applause for the design team at Sony. The system fits very well in the hands, everything is there were you need it. Another design feature, often taken for granted is the outer case is also part of the case covering the screen. What does this mean? It means its virtually impossible for dust to enter.
Obviously the battery issues kept coming up and to be honest i dont have that much problem. I play THUG2remix, a pretty demanding game, at full brightness, with half volume and it lasts me between 5-6 hours. It doesnt bother me too much. It lasts me my average car journeys, which at the most last 2.30 halfs hours. Its good for a day or so then charge it up over night, and if your planning on going anywhere on a long journey, by the new battery pack being released by code junkies, which lasts 12 hours.
Also in the value pack is the pouch, which is pretty handy, the headphones are nice aswell, the remote is a nice addition. The 32mb is great size for game saves but not good for anything major.
Sound on this is awesome. You wont belive it till you actually hear it. The sound control is easy, just like as you would manually on a TV. It is very much so TV quality sound, it isnt too far removed from when your playing games at home.
It goes with out saying the screen is brilliant. You really start to appreciate when you see video on there.
In conclusion im happy with my purchase. Ive had it for nearly 2 weeks, and im still enjoying it. I know people say lack of games but seriously PS2 suited me well this will too.
im giving this a 9/10.

The medievil review comes tomorrow, then wipeout pure the day after, followed by a combo of THUG2 and Ridge Racer.

[Sepharite]

You, my friend, have too much time and money ... (mostly money) on your hands. Nice review! =)

Did you update to 2.0 yet?

[bignds]

Yep, stupid i know, but untill there is a GBA emulator then im not down grading.

[Euan]

I've heard there's been lots of problems with downgrading.

Nice review anyway, 9/10 though! What would you give the DS?

[bignds]

based solely on the system, an 8.
Design quality isnt as up to standard as the psp.

psh i'd give the system a 10 but the games a 4.

and anyway there is a GBA emulator... 2 of my friends have one on theirs...

[ShadowMarth]

I think 8 was fair considering the innumerable (and rediculous) defects on launch. Some still haunt it, but otherwise, no big deal. Oh yeah, and the bad battery life... especially for a handheld. My neighbor (somehow) got one for $80 from those "free" online giveaways. ($80 was the price of all those crazy subscriptions.) His dad uses it to find Wi-Fi hotspots.

[Fatvod]

Ive heard about those. Some people say they steal your money when u try it and some people have I-pods! Oh and i think after u update big letters should come on the screen saying "hahahaha! TRICKED YA! NOW YA CANT PLAY HOMEBREW!"

[Euan]

That wood be teh funny, Fatvod...

The GBA emulator is supposed to run at a very slow speed, though. I think the SNES emulator works very well though, the best of the bunch I have been led to believe...

mi amigo's GBA emulator runs fine