I have a PSP now
I'm now the proud owner of a Playstation Portable system (the original "Fat" model). It was $45, and a 4GB memory stick was $12, so it was a pretty good deal!
I know I'm not the only one with a PSP. If you guys want, share some tips and tricks, tell me what games I should try out, anything like that.
So far the experience has been positive. I had a FW 1.50 unit, so it was very easy to update it to a custom firmware (hello piracy!). I might add that I also own a DS, but I'm not biased towards it despite owning it for a while. I'm gonna make some bullet points:
The console:
+ Very sleek looking.
+ Large, vibrant screen.
+ Speakers are decent.
+ Pirating games is easy.
+ Active homebrew games/programs scene.
+ Analog controller is useful for games that need it.
+ Sturdy. My PSP is actually somewhat broken in a corner (a screw strut is loose from the casing), but even so, it doesn't feel flimsy.
- Screen has some motion blur (ghosting). Also I'm the victim of two dead pixels.
- Glossy surface shows scratches and fingerprints too easily. I'm probably gonna buy an aftermarket faceplate at some point, which will probably be matte.
- The Square button feels different than the other buttons due to it being partially positioned over the screen. But the Right button on the D-Pad doesn't have any problems, and it's positioned the same way.
- D-Pad is imprecise. Gonna do that internal mod to it soon.
- Battery life on the stock battery could be better. The DS does it well.
The games:
Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops:
+ Grpahics are overall nice.
+ Strategy elements are fun.
+ Game starts out at nice difficulty. This makes it easier on me to get used to the controls.
O Why does Campbell sound so similar to Snake? Not a problem, just a curiosity. I guess being a rough and tough soldier does that to you.
- Camera never seems to go where I want it to. Lots of manual repositioning is needed.
- New artwork is out of place. I want to say that the fact that there are really two main distinct visual styles in the game (cutscene illustrations, and ingame 3D graphics) means it would be hard to make them work, but then I remember that there's yet another graphical style present: the HUD and menus. They mesh well with the overall style and feel of the game. So I think it'd be possible to make the cutscenes work better with the rest of the game.
(Homebrew) JzBMSPlayer:
+ Runs smoothly.
+ Many options.
- Does not handle .ogg files. Most BMS files use .ogg, so to convert to .wav is a big ordeal that would take up a large amount of space.
- Default control scheme sucks.
- No longer being developed.
(Homebrew) PSP Revolution:
+ Handles a lot of file formats.
+ Overall, a well done port of DDR/Stepmania.
- Not enough modifier options. Namely the high-speed has too few options.
- Some slight bugs at times.
- No longer being developed.
I know I'm not the only one with a PSP. If you guys want, share some tips and tricks, tell me what games I should try out, anything like that.
So far the experience has been positive. I had a FW 1.50 unit, so it was very easy to update it to a custom firmware (hello piracy!). I might add that I also own a DS, but I'm not biased towards it despite owning it for a while. I'm gonna make some bullet points:
The console:
+ Very sleek looking.
+ Large, vibrant screen.
+ Speakers are decent.
+ Pirating games is easy.
+ Active homebrew games/programs scene.
+ Analog controller is useful for games that need it.
+ Sturdy. My PSP is actually somewhat broken in a corner (a screw strut is loose from the casing), but even so, it doesn't feel flimsy.
- Screen has some motion blur (ghosting). Also I'm the victim of two dead pixels.
- Glossy surface shows scratches and fingerprints too easily. I'm probably gonna buy an aftermarket faceplate at some point, which will probably be matte.
- The Square button feels different than the other buttons due to it being partially positioned over the screen. But the Right button on the D-Pad doesn't have any problems, and it's positioned the same way.
- D-Pad is imprecise. Gonna do that internal mod to it soon.
- Battery life on the stock battery could be better. The DS does it well.
The games:
Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops:
+ Grpahics are overall nice.
+ Strategy elements are fun.
+ Game starts out at nice difficulty. This makes it easier on me to get used to the controls.
O Why does Campbell sound so similar to Snake? Not a problem, just a curiosity. I guess being a rough and tough soldier does that to you.
- Camera never seems to go where I want it to. Lots of manual repositioning is needed.
- New artwork is out of place. I want to say that the fact that there are really two main distinct visual styles in the game (cutscene illustrations, and ingame 3D graphics) means it would be hard to make them work, but then I remember that there's yet another graphical style present: the HUD and menus. They mesh well with the overall style and feel of the game. So I think it'd be possible to make the cutscenes work better with the rest of the game.
(Homebrew) JzBMSPlayer:
+ Runs smoothly.
+ Many options.
- Does not handle .ogg files. Most BMS files use .ogg, so to convert to .wav is a big ordeal that would take up a large amount of space.
- Default control scheme sucks.
- No longer being developed.
(Homebrew) PSP Revolution:
+ Handles a lot of file formats.
+ Overall, a well done port of DDR/Stepmania.
- Not enough modifier options. Namely the high-speed has too few options.
- Some slight bugs at times.
- No longer being developed.