PSP is OUT! (NA)

Have any of our North American members picked one up yet?

Impressions? Pics? Anything?

Im waiting for mine to be shipped from VGP (with that sucky Gretzky game bundled.. Ugh! )

[GmanJoe]

Not me. Waiting for all the kinks to be tweaked out.

[CHIZZY]

Picking mine up today... let you know how it is.

Originally posted by GmanJoe
Not me. Waiting for all the kinks to be tweaked out.

I was thinkin about buying it, but I think Ill wait for it to go down to $200 and have some more games.

Well I bought it on the way home. Walmart had a bunch in stock.

I picked up Need for Speed Rivals.

First impressions.

It\'s overpriced. If it was $200 instead of $250 it\'d be ok. But dropping $300+ and getting one game is hard even for me.

The PSP is sexy. The thing shines. The shoulder buttons are clear. The screen is almost too wide. Which of course when it comes to wide screens means it\'s just right. The joystick will take some getting used to.

The memory stick makes MP3 use a snap. I need to get a memory stick port thing for my PC. You can save video photos or music to view.

EA games let you play their licensed soundtracks.

Haven\'t tried the game yet, just looked at the sampler videos. The graphics will impress you. Stylistically and graphically, Nintendo has been blown away.

It comes with headphones. But cooler, it comes with a remote that has a clip and passthrough port for the headphones.

So you put the PSP in your pocket, the remote clipped to your clothes, and the earphones up to your ears and you\'re jamming with a portable mp3 player.

It comes with a case like a cloth eye glasses case. The charger or headphones can still be connected if you slide it into the pouch from the right angle so you can protect the screen at all times. It comes with a terry cloth. Nice touch.

If only it came with a fifty dollar bill.

Comes with Spiderman 2, also.

It\'ll definitely be impressive to anyone who sees it. If it sells, I think the video library will open up a touch.

Overall, my first impressions are higher than I expected. The price is up there, but the unit is sexier than pictures of the hardware would lead you to believe. That coupled with the graphics and mp3 playback and it actually is impressive.

Anyone who is into this type of thing would look at those features and be wowed. I look forward to showing it off a bit.

-Dan

Nice review. I really want to get this but when i saw that the games were in the 40 - 50 range it really put a damper on my plans of getting one. Handheld games should never be as much as their console counterparts. I might as well just play the games on ps2 you know? I really need a new mp3 player too since mine has a very low storage capacity but this has even less and im paying for the storage on the psp more or less. There are some cheap storage sticks but sony\'s are expensive of course.

I want to wait but by the time i do, ill either have to pass or i wont be able to buy the components i want from the bundle for the same price as the bundle itself.

2 questions: Can you view movies that youve downloaded to the memstick from your computer? And how much is the cable that you have to buy to link the psp to your computer?

I can\'t answer those questions, but there were a couple things I forgot.

The first was that the UMD discs come in a hard case with a cut away slot so the laser can read them. The entire thing, disc and case, goes into the system.

I\'ve played some Need For Speed. My eyes burn from not blinking, heh.

My thumb is a little cramped on the right hand from using the buttons and the start/select buttons are hard to find.

The joystick is decent, but Need for Speed is a bad game to judge it. It uses obviously digital controls so I just stick with the d-pad which is positioned better.

I\'m done playing with it for now.

-Dan

[Bobs_Hardware]

It\'s a shame that Lumines doesn\'t come bundled with it. From the sounds of things, that could have been the next Tetris.

And why Need 4 Speed? Aren\'t there better games out?..

Yeah.Wipeout Pure and Ridge Racer I believe would have been better choices

My buddy busted his out today with Twisted Metal and the Spiderman movie.  From what I saw the screen is amazing and the game was real fun for the limited time I played it.

The joystick was different but easy to use, other than that I didn\'t see too much.  But like people said, its a real crowd pleaser.  Its a wow when you first see it.

Originally posted by Eiksirf

It\'s overpriced. If it was $200 instead of $250 it\'d be ok. But dropping $300+ and getting one game is hard even for me.

I would have waited for a price drop if i were you. Certainly with such a game as NfS with only d-pad control.

ugh...EA.....(I\'m glad their stock dropped 17 %)

btw. Here in the Euro PAL region ; it seems we might have to wait until xmas 05 for PSP. ow well...

I haven\'t enjoyed Metal Gear much but still wanted a big name title to start.

I might pick up another game before too long. Lumines looks neat. But I might wait for Hot Shots Golf.

I went for the big name brand because I wanted flashy graphics and a fun game. I didn\'t want to accidentally pick a dud and since I haven\'t played the others much before, I went with the safe bet.

Too much money to risk it.

-Dan

Originally posted by Bozco
My buddy busted his out today with Twisted Metal and the Spiderman movie.  From what I saw the screen is amazing and the game was real fun for the limited time I played it.

The joystick was different but easy to use, other than that I didn\'t see too much.  But like people said, its a real crowd pleaser.  Its a wow when you first see it.

Awesome.

I want to play one so bad. I think ill be on a hunt for any floor displays that i can try in my area to make my decision. If its as good as people are saying then i think i might have to dish out the cash.

WipeOut Pure, Ridge Racer, and Lumines are on my top list right now. Its just that the damn prices for games is killing me.

Sigh*

Im not very good with decisions.

Don\'t you guys get creeped by those PSP dead pixel reports and Sony unwilling to refund it ?

I\'d rather wait for \'PSP rev1.1\' and a price drop.

If you\'re getting one now though...like Eiksirf.... going the EA way is not a safe bet... heh, yeah a safe bet for mediocre PSP expierence probably...

you might wanna try trading that NFS for Ridge Racers psp.