Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP)

Up until now handheld gaming devices have been a rather hit and miss affair, yes there have been occasional gems like Nintendo's Gameboy but more often than not the results are more likely to follow the Nokia N-Gage and the Sega Game Gear into the abyss of poorly thought out and poorly marketed gadgets we'd rather not have. Now Sony have decided that holding the monopoly on the household gaming market is not enough and have launched a portable gaming system with the hope of taking a large chunk of that market as well, and while the Nintendo's Gameboy is a competent little system the Sony PSP (Playstation Portable) offers so much more to the person who needs to be entertained on the move.

● What's in the box? ●

Well most importantly you get the PSP itself, two hundred and sixty grams of finest black plastic and moulded buttons with a TFT screen neatly positioned in the middle. Of course a battery to keep the unit running for up to fourteen hours continuously and an AC adaptor to recharge it when not in use are next, while depending on which package you have purchased there may also be an AC power cord to save the battery if the unit is being used near a power outlet. A pair of in-ear headphones complete with attached remote control ensure those around are not disturbed by noise while you are enjoying any of the features and a 32MB memory stick means game saves, movie preferences, internet settings and MP3`s can be kept for future reference. A soft pouch and wrist strap complete the accessories. Again depending on the particular package purchased a film or game may be included in UMD™ format, in all packages a demo disk is supplied to show the full capabilities of the PSP. Finally a selection of leaflets and flyers detail warranty details and the like while the instruction manual weighs in at a hefty one hundred and forty pages.

● Setup ●

Setting up the PSP is simply a matter of popping the battery into the unit and charging it with the supplied AC adaptor, this can take up to four hours to complete the first time and is signified by an orange charging light on the unit, this light extinguishes when the battery is fully charged. Once charged the unit can be switched on whereupon a number of options need to be set including language, time and date and even a nickname for the unit if so desired. Once these options are entered the unit is ready to go, simply plugging in the earphones or inserting a UMD™ game or movie into the UMD™ drive at the rear of the unit or listening to some saved MP3 music files or viewing pictures on the memory stick. In addition the PSP can be used to browse the internet once a few settings are selected in infrastructure mode. All of these functions are reached by pressing the home button positioned near the bottom left of the screen.

● Key Features ●

● 4:3 ratio TFT LCD screen:- Displaying up to 16.77 million colours in 4:3 and 16:9 (widescreen) mode through 480 x 272 pixels the screen is about the same size as a full ipod. Images on the screen can also be zoomed into or shown in their original format size. Brightness can be altered as required.

● Ergonomically positioned controls:- Gaming controls are similar in style and position to the Playstation 2 joypad with four directional buttons and an analogue stick to the left of the screen and the familiar circle, cross, square and triangle selection buttons to the right. Other buttons and switches are grouped for common sense usage while the remote control attached to the earphones duplicate the controls for music playback.

● Internet option:- Using an existing wireless local area network setup the PSP can be used to connect to the internet for webpage browsing. In Ad-hoc mode up to eight PSP`s can be connected remotely for game multiplayer or photo sharing although all users have to be within twenty to thirty feet of each other and all have a copy of the game you wish to compete in.

● Synching with a PC:- Using a USB cable system updates can be uploaded to the PSP as well as upcoming film and game trailers. This is also the easiest method to add music and picture files to the memory stick as well as additional game content.

● UMD™ disks:- The PSP uses UMD™ (Universal Media disks) for games and movies, each disk can hold approximately 1.8GB of files in either data or film format. The six centimetre disks are protected by plastic casing and slot into the rear of the PSP.

● Exclusive games:- Games like the maddeningly addictive Lumines are exclusive to the PSP while other Playstation 2 titles have been given a twist for the console. Grand Theft Auto 3 has been adapted and tweaked to become Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. At the time of writing there are Sixty-three PSP games available with the number growing at the rate of one a day. The games are similar in graphical style to the Playstation 2.

● Parental controls:- Parental controls can easily be set so that ratings on games and movies can be effectively adhered to. There are also rumours of a password update arriving soon which will render the unit useless should it be stolen.

● Preset sound settings:- Songs can be altered with heavy, pop, jazz and unique settings depending on the style required and song playing.

● My Thoughts ●

Aesthetically speaking the PSP is gorgeous, all sleek curves and shiny surfaces wrapped up in a package not much bigger than an ipod. The screen is amazingly crisp - far better than a portable DVD player for example - and is surprisingly easy to watch a film on. The inbuilt speakers are adequate without being excessively loud while the earphones give a far stronger and personal listening experience. Game loading time is on a par with the Playstation 2 as are the graphics, sound and speed. Transferring music or picture files from a computer to the PSP take little more than a USB cable and some dragging and dropping, with the memory sticks loading these files far faster than a UMD™ can, however copy protected MP3`s downloaded from iTunes cannot be added yet which is a shame. Battery life is ok but not remarkable - I managed to watch three UMD™ films on one charge before the unit switched off, and approximately seven hours of on and off Gameplay. Playing music gives a far better return on battery life with over ten hours enjoyed by me more than once. Another boon is the fact that the battery is replaceable (Apple take note!) and you can purchase additional battery packs for a quick change when one goes flat. The supplied 32MB memory stick is perhaps a little on the small size if you want the PSP to rival the ipod for storage of music but additional sticks can be purchased to get around that problem - a 1GB memory stick should cost around £90.

With the size of the PSP it was never really an option to used standard DVD`s so Sony decided on their own UMD™ format media, loading times are good and storage adequate - Sony also have no plans to market blank UMD™, a move they hope will greatly reduce pirated and illegal copies of games and movies appearing on the console. At present games cost about the same as those for the Playstation 2 or Xbox, with UMD™ movies matching the price of a standard DVD. I am not sure how strong the market will be for UMD™ movies, currently you cannot play them on a standard television or in a standard DVD player which means you would have to by the same film in two formats to enjoy it on the PSP and in the home - the option to link the PSP to a television would alleviate this problem so maybe this is something Sony have in the pipeline. Setting up an internet link is amazingly simple providing you have an existing network setup, while multiplayer Gameplay is amazing fun and one of the PSP`s strongest facets.

Without doubt the PSP is a phenomenal gadget, it performs a plethora of actions well, a super little MP3 player, a crisp portable theatre and powerful game machine, all for under £180. There is little doubt in my mind that Sonys PSP could well become as iconic as the ipod, and rightly so - five stars out of five.