Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable)

After months of delay, the Sony PSP is finally here in Australia. Should Nintendo be worried? Read our Australian review.


9.1
User Rating


The Sony PSP is set for release in Australia on 1 September 2005.

Design
Colour us impressed, Sony -- if the oohs and aaahs of the CNET.com.au staff are anything to go by, then you've clearly got a winner with the PSP. Gamers and non-gamers alike at our offices were immediately wowed by the sleek design of the handheld, even with the unit turned off. In fact, with its extremely glossy front, it's almost as if people were hesitant to touch it, lest dirty fingerprints or smudges ruin the shine.

It's handy that Sony has packed a cleaning cloth with the PSP, because the glossy finish on the unit's front is certainly a smudge magnet -- you'll find yourself obsessively cleaning this little beauty in no time. The majority of the real estate on the front is taken up by the 4.3-inch widescreen LCD, with the controls flanked on either side -- on the left is a directional control pad, while on the right are the familiar Triangle, Circle, X and Square buttons of a PlayStation controller. Also on the left hand side (underneath the directional pad) is an unobtrusive joystick, which looks more like a small speaker grille than anything you can control a game with. This joystick works surprisingly well and offers excellent response, though its close proximity to the bottom of the unit means your thumb may cramp after long gameplay sessions. Several buttons are arrayed below the PSP screen, including a Home button (which sends you back to the main PSP menu if you're in a game or watching a movie), volume controls, a Select button and Start button. There's also dedicated buttons for Display and Sound -- pressing these will cycle through preset brightness or sound levels. And in another nice design flourish, Sony has included two clear shoulder buttons on the top left and right hand sides of the PSP -- it adds a nice contrast to the otherwise all black front, and means the PSP is only lacking two buttons from a full sized PlayStation controller.



Believe it or not, that's a joystick underneath the PSP's directional pad.

The back of the unit is (thankfully) less glossy, coming in a standard black plastic finish. At the centre is a large silver circle with the PSP logo in the middle -- a nice touch which makes an otherwise bland back look good. The PSP's proprietary UMD discs are inserted into the back of the unit -- a lever on the top of the PSP pops open the UMD slot, with the discs themselves sliding in and telling you they're inserted properly with a satisfying click. The PSP takes Memory Stick Duos, which slide into a MagicGate slot on the rear right.

On the PSP's right side is the Power/Hold button, while the bottom of the unit features the DC In power slot and a headphone input. The PSP ships with a pair of iPod-like all-white earbuds -- and just like the iPod there's a handy remote that can be used to control volume and skip tracks. The remote itself is silver and round, with its play and skip functions arrayed on a circular pad. On the top of the PSP is a slot for a mini USB -- the unit itself doesn't actually ship with one of these connectors, so unless you have a memory card reader or a PC that can take Memory Stick Duo, then you may need to shell out for one of these cables if you want to transfer music, movies or photos onto the PSP.

The PSP with its battery installed weighs about 280g, which gives it a fairly solid heft without being too heavy. Its length of 17cm, however, means it's not really an easy unit to carry around in your jeans pocket, unless you're still persisting with the baggy pants homeboy look. In fact, the overall 'feel' of the PSP certainly isn't one of a rugged, take anywhere, durable handheld gaming unit (like the Nintendo DS). With its glossy facade and sleek design, you'll instinctively want to take care of this thing (and god forbid any kids with their grubby fingers gets their mitts on it). Thankfully, Sony has included a protective carry sleeve for the PSP as standard.



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mrcx
9
Rating
 

mrcx posted a review   

The Good:every thing else

The Bad:umd

it is not that bad it beats the ds in graphics and games but not affordabilaty and fun

Murrummba99
9
Rating
 

Murrummba99 posted a review   

The Good:it has quite a lot of really good games, good graphics, cheap games,almost everything.

The Bad:it could use with another analogue stick, as some of the games controls on it do feel a little clunky. an inbuilt memery would of been nice, but, atleast the PSP go has an inbuilt memory. thats about it, but i guess it has a kinda of short battery life. and i personally think it should have an in-built camera. but atleast you can go out and buy an atachable one.

a very good hand-held, has its "killer apps" and you will find many hours of fun with this.

Redhead
10
Rating
 

Redhead posted a review   

The Good:Games voilent yet fun ,graphic better than ds

The Bad:nothing

it rocks

Rating WIzard
9
Rating
 

Rating WIzard posted a review   

The Good:-good games and features -CFW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -pretty comfy to hold (1000s only) -MORE CFW!!!!!!!!! -beautiful screen (3000 in particular) -skype

The Bad:-internet browser sucks -xmb sounds are annoying -psp go...............it speaks for itself (no CFW o_o) -some games are dodgy -playing online isnt as good as it seems

It's a really good system if you can manage to overlook the flaws.
I had a PSP for about a year, then it broke :P then got a new psp slim and the lcd cracked =0
it was good while it lasted... R.I.P PSP - BEST CONSOLE EVER!!!


/---------\
/ \
| |
| R.I.P |
| PSP |
| |
| |


P.S. They need to make more PS2 REMAKES!!! that would definitely make my day ;)

 

Jess posted a comment   

The Good:Almost everything.

The Bad:Doesnt come with memory stick and no inbuilt memory

I bought the newest Psp, the 3002 model and i love it. I got it for $299 with a game (Agent Clank) and accesories pack plus i bought 2 extra games (Diner Dash and The Simpsons game). Im going to buy a memory stick soon so i will be able to listen to music and save my games.
I got the white psp from Jb Hi-Fi in Nsw, Australia. It is one of the best purches i have made in a while.

shanmu
9
Rating
 

shanmu posted a review   

The Good:Pros: Homebrew aplications including retrogames, aplication programs,video and mp3 playback,internet conection,a very entertaining library of games,cooldesing,large screen,very popular,durable,not only for kids.

The Bad:Cons: Only a couple of hours and somethinf of battery power but can be pugged to the electric suply all the time.And ther are car powercord to.Playing to much hours a portable can be a little rough to your neck.The DS still exists,unfortunately.

God of portables.
There are only 2 systems that people must bow that are or were totally wonderful in it's eras:The Psx for the home consoles and the PSP for the portables.This 2 budies talk about what the real revolution was.Oddly enough this 2 systems begin with the sceptisim of the people.Meanwile at first some nerds yell that the ds was the best and there was no reason for the PSP excistence.Only time have told who's right.Hopefully those nerds aren't hanged up in a tree right now.The PSP tells now what the Ds really is,an expensive portable for kids only.
But enough,Let's talk about this wonderful hardware.
The first time I hold a PSP I really feel totally amazed of what technology can do in this days.
I have Darkstalkers Chronicles and my parents were totally agree that how cool it looks.At comparision, not even the game boy ot the advance were cool to me when I was a teen only, I was totally disapointed with the gameboy display of the so big dots totally squared in a green displayed.
But I say nothing to no one about this. With the advance was the same, I was totally dissapointed of the so obscure screen and the feeling of playing just old games of the Super Nintendo.
Well I think that was the top of the technology can get those days , or Nintendo mediocrity can achieve.Ha,ha,ha.
Returning to the review my father said that I musn't expect that the Psp durability will last long,it looks kind of fragile.
And remembering the fate of my Nintendo portables (to the floor at high speed, intentionaly, they crashed) that reafirms why his feelings. But don't know why my PSP is alive and kickin', because this hardware is made to last, (not like the 360) or because I really apreciate the thing and I am careful while handling it, you know, buying it a protector and not leaving it to fall on the floor.
The best thing of the psp is his large screen, I complained to much about how I did't see a thing in the advance, when I know that the Ds have 2 tiny screens I avoid it like plague.
Perhaps I loosing my sight a little,I don't have problems with the PSP, I play it until I get tired.
The library it's pretty decent and there are much very good games.
Now another interesting thing about the PSP is the many aplication programs that you can get of homebrew, if you have a big capacity memory stick for the PSP, much of them are in development yet but some can be useful for some people. To be sincere I used for playing most the time but I still trying to make it play videos without conecting to the internet. Returning to the homebrew never imagine how many old games,nintendo,supernintendo,etc.have I played. Well this games isn't the strong point of the psp because they are what they're: old.
But at first they'll be interest to look at in your portable.
Don'T know why some FOOLS insist in charging oldware, well that their stupid problem.
Finally if you know how much I have save in games...but thats other thing that you'll have to investigate by yourself.
The PSP doesn't achieve the power of a PS2 but comes pretty close.
Don't know if can compete with a Ipod, but Im only interested in playing videogames so that doesn`matter to me.
Mortals, hail the biggest portable of all times, nothing comes close an nothing will be.
HAIL PSP, HAIL SONY!


billbo baggins
10
Rating
 

billbo baggins posted a review   

The Good:Custom Firmware and homebrew apps!!!

The Bad:Very few!

Awesome!! Dark Alex has unleashed the true potential of this great device!

Zachary
10
Rating
 

Zachary posted a review   

The Good:music
vids
internet browser
ps3 connection
pretty much evrything

The Bad:ABSOLUTLY NOTHING!!!!!!!

it is the best portable game manking has eva made. i have a psp and it totally smashes ds!!!!!!!!!

I am gay
10
Rating
 

I am gay posted a review   

The Good:Everything

The Bad:Nothing

It is sooooooo good. The DS Sucks

Diamanta
10
Rating
 

Diamanta posted a review   

The Good:Everything is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Bad:Nothing Watsoever!

I think the Sony PSP is amazing!!
It is sooooo cool and everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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