Playstation Portable (Anyone have one?)

[MidnightSensi]

I've been travelling overseas a lot lately, and the 8-10 hour flights are getting really really boring, even with a nice pair of headphones and my iPod.

Even though I'll look like a weirdo playing video games on a airplane, I was thinking of getting a PSP. Anyone have one/used one? Any advice about buying them for travelling (hows battery life, etc.)? I think you can watch movies on them also, right?

What are the good games?

Cheers for any advice.

 

[jamie2112]

I have one for that exact reason(flights). It is a lifesaver you can watch movies and play games.....golf is good gta is good soccor is good......

 

[Sounds Good]

i have one...

i highly recommend it... i am 27 and i play mine (games and movies) in the evening in bed when the wife goes to sleep..lol

there are quite a few games that i find very fun and can easily appeal to an adult... tiger woods golf, baseball games, hockey games ect...

personally i play SOCOM and virtua tennis, and i have blackhawk down and casino royal on umd disk.

oh i almost forgot, if you get the new 3000 series it has skype too... so you can stay connected with family and friends cheap when over seas....

i never have really "timed" battery life... i assume it is pretty good. i play all week about one to 1 1/2 hours a night and i charge it once a week... there are extended batts available also and quick recharger things...

 

[MidnightSensi]

Thanks guys.


I'm not much of an adult (mid 20s), haha, but, I just meant I wouldn't look very professional on an airplane playing video games. I'ma gunna order the 3000 before my next trip.

What's the best source or game reviews? Or do you guys just browse Best Buy?

 

[Sounds Good]

its kind of hard to find a review thats good because you have to consider the demographic for the game.. but i find ebgames.com, amazon.com, playasia.com, ign.com good sources...

the psp imo is a very sexy system, gloss black, very sleek.... if you get weird looks its looks of jealousy...

 

[majorloser]

I like the game idea, but it never fails that somebody looks over your shoulder watching you play. Or even worse, wants to talk about the game.

I think watching movies with one of these would be awesome!

http://www.myvu.com/Myvu-Crystal-C24.aspx

(now I just need something to block out the smell)

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Sensi,

I've had one for 2-3 years so it's the original version. On trips it's a life saver! We just drove to the Charlotte area from here in PA. It's about a 9hr drive and I played it for at least half the drive down and back without having to recharge. The battery in the original is slightly bigger though.

Games, movies, mp3's, picture storage, internet...why not!

By the way, my wife gets mild motion sickness in a car if she tries to read or play games or whatever so she drives to occupy herself.

Doug

 

[jamie2112]

I like the game idea, but it never fails that somebody looks over your shoulder watching you play. Or even worse, wants to talk about the game.

I think watching movies with one of these would be awesome!

http://www.myvu.com/Myvu-Crystal-C24.aspx

(now I just need something to block out the smell)

I have always wanted to see one of those Dave. Have you ever checked it out?

 

[majorloser]

I've seen the older units. The newer ones at least have 640 x 480 resolution. It would be REALLY nice if they were at least widescreen for movies. But for $300 it's a little too damn pricey. It should at least have noise cancelling headphone, too. And they only last 4 hours to a charge???

 

[jinjuku]

I've seen the older units. The newer ones at least have 640 x 480 resolution. It would be REALLY nice if they were at least widescreen for movies. But for $300 it's a little too damn pricey. It should at least have noise cancelling headphone, too. And they only last 4 hours to a charge???

You can get an external battery. I am just not sure which one to get. There seems to be a lack of credible reviews for those.

 

[Matt34]

I had one for a deployment overseas and it was nice to travel with. I played it at nights ocassional too but I didn't buy any UMD movies for it as I have my ipod for that and ended up selling it to another soldier as I wasn't getting much use out of it. Didn't care for a majority of the games expect golf and socom.

 

[Sounds Good]

the psp 3000 allows vide out. so you might be able to use thoes glasses with the psp too. and once you get to your destination you can hook your psp to a tv and game or watch movies that way also

 

[STRONGBADF1]

I had one for a deployment overseas and it was nice to travel with. I played it at nights ocassional too but I didn't buy any UMD movies for it as I have my ipod for that and ended up selling it to another soldier as I wasn't getting much use out of it and didn't care for a majority of the games expect golf and socom.

That's funny because I got rid of EA Sports T.W. Golf (can't remember what year) and SOCOM 2. I found putting ridiculously hard and Socom was just boring to me. To be honest though I have never been overly into "shooter" games. (I don't know why because I've considered taking up target/skeet shooting as a hobby)

I've played poker games (some good some bad) and I like Mortal Combat, Fight Night 3 and NHRA 2 and some baseball and football.

I guess one of us just ain't right Matt.

 

[Taifun]

For the record the PSP2000 and 3000 both do Skype and have the video out. The only real difference is the 3000 has a brighter screen. The downside is some games have been reported to have heavy interlacing lines on the 3K. I have compared both side by side with the same content(game and movie) and the quality is near identical. The 3k lowest brightness is = to the 2k at medium.

So either is a good choice.

I play mostly RPGs but enjoyed the following games:

Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (I rate 4.5 out of 5)
Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade (still playing, I give it a 4)
Lego Batman (4.5)
Loco Roco 2 (puzzle/action 4 out of 5)
Dungeon and Dragons Tactics (4 but I LIKE turn based games)
God of War Chains of Olympus (still playing, 4 so far)

With some movies going for as little as $4 its a no brainer for travel. Just watched Terminator and was very happy with the quality. The stereo track is well done and easy to hear the dialogue.

HTH

 

[Matt34]

That's funny because I got rid of EA Sports T.W. Golf (can't remember what year) and SOCOM 2. I found putting ridiculously hard and Socom was just boring to me. To be honest though I have never been overly into "shooter" games. (I don't know why because I've considered taking up target/skeet shooting as a hobby)

I've played poker games (some good some bad) and I like Mortal Combat, Fight Night 3 and NHRA 2 and some baseball and football.

I guess one of us just ain't right Matt.

The game selection was quite slim in iraq so those were the two out of the three game ihad that I actually played. The other one was one of the xmen games.

But you are correct, I'm not right in the head, just ask my wife.

 

[MidnightSensi]

I've seen the older units. The newer ones at least have 640 x 480 resolution. It would be REALLY nice if they were at least widescreen for movies. But for $300 it's a little too damn pricey. It should at least have noise cancelling headphone, too. And they only last 4 hours to a charge???

That's interesting about the battery. A lot of my flights are upwards of 8 hours, plus time in airports, etc. so, that's a really good point. I might need a battery pack.

Sounds like I need a PSP, battery pack, some games and a few movies.

I have Shure SE530's, so, headphones are no problem. They actually cancel out noise a lot better than the noise cancelling headphones I have tried as well.

For the record the PSP2000 and 3000 both do Skype and have the video out. The only real difference is the 3000 has a brighter screen. The downside is some games have been reported to have heavy interlacing lines on the 3K. I have compared both side by side with the same content(game and movie) and the quality is near identical. The 3k lowest brightness is = to the 2k at medium.

So either is a good choice.

I play mostly RPGs but enjoyed the following games:

Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (I rate 4.5 out of 5)
Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade (still playing, I give it a 4)
Lego Batman (4.5)
Loco Roco 2 (puzzle/action 4 out of 5)
Dungeon and Dragons Tactics (4 but I LIKE turn based games)
God of War Chains of Olympus (still playing, 4 so far)

With some movies going for as little as $4 its a no brainer for travel. Just watched Terminator and was very happy with the quality. The stereo track is well done and easy to hear the dialogue.

HTH

Thanks much for the reviews man!!!! I'll go off those when I start shopping. I need to soon, because my next trip is coming up.

 

[Taifun]

More Specs: video

Majorloser,

The PSP has a 16:9 ascpect ratio.

PSP-2000:
* 4.3 inch, 16:9 Wide screen TFT LCD
* 480 x 272 pixel, 16.77 million colors
* Maximum luminance 180/130/80cd/m2
* Maximum luminance 200/180/130/80cd/m2

PSP-3000:
* 4.3 inch, 16:9 full transparent type
* TFT drive
* 480 x 272 pixel
* Approximately 16,770,000 million colors displayed

Note I just took the stats from the Sony site. They don't appear to have the specs on the increased luminance. This at least gives you some idea of the capability.

To the OP, you may wish to look into the travel kits. They include adapters that may be used on planes? I haven't traveled in a while so I am not certain what power options there are anymore. I am surprised that airlines have not widely embraced USB ports for charging portable devices. The PSP will charge while plugged into a USB port provided it has enough power to boot first. I was looking around and found an adapter that uses AA rechargeable batteries to power/charge a cell phone with a USB port. I plan on testing this soon.

 

[Sounds Good]

I was looking around and found an adapter that uses AA rechargeable batteries to power/charge a cell phone with a USB port. I plan on testing this soon.

thats what i was going to suggest... i think you can find them for sale just about everywhere.. i wouldn't be surprised if there were ones just for the psp that plug into the power socket of the psp instead of usb...

i think i remember seeing one on buy.com or maybe thinkgeek that came with a ton of different tips you could swap out, it would power just about every possible device.


also, you can get a gps unit for tomtom like functionality and i think there is also a camera for the psp too... video skype eventually????

 

[Ito]

Hack it and put an emulator on it and you are GOLDEN!
I have most of the super Nintendo library on my PS2, and that is a beautiful thing. Tetris, Bust-a-Move, Super Mario World, Super Metroid... The list goes on
I know one of my friend plays some ps1 and N64 games on his as well, but so of the time they run like crap.
As for PSP games, if you like RPG's, get valkyrie profile: lenneth. I've got a good 16 or so hours in that game based solely on vacation and it damn fun.

 

[Ksetrat]

one of the things that i noticed has not yet really been talked about is the screen brightness.

if you set this to a lower setting, the game quality is still there, and actually having the screen brightness set lower can increase the battery life quite a bit. i think my max was roughly 6-7 hours on one battery charge with the lowest setting playing... Blade Dancer i think it was. (a nice little RPG game, however, quest objectives are slightly obscure, and hard to track).

as for reccomended games, what i like may be different from what you like, but, i do agree that crises core was fun, RPG games tend to last a lot longer if those are interesting to you, sport games have a good replay factor as you try to complete the seasons.

if you know anyone who has a few games, you can always to borrow them and see how things are going. If i remember correctly, you can return used games to Gamestop for 7 days i think? im not 100% certain if that has been changed though.