To PSP or Not to PSP?

Over the last week I've had several people ask me about the PSP. (This, by the way, brought me back to my senses--this site isn't about funny Flash presentations, it's about the new games, devices, and things we use for fun. Thanks Rolf and Jeff, I'll try to stay more on track.)

Here's the basics on Sony's Portable PlayStation (PSP), which released in the US on 3/24/05:

• It retails for $250
• It has an integrated, 4.3 inch, 16:9 Wide screen TFT LCD capable of resolutions of 480 x 272 pixels, and 16.77 million colors
• It comes with 32MB of internal RAM
• It has built in 802.11b wireless, infrared, and USB 2.0 for connectivity
• It utilizes two proprietary Sony technologies--Memory Stick and optical Universal Media Disc (UMD) drive--for media (the UMD is read-only)
• It has typical Sony PlayStation controls, including: four buttons, a directional pad, an analog stick, and shoulder buttons
• It has a removable (nice touch, Sony) Lithium-ion battery rated for ~4-6 hours of playtime (more like ~3 hours for typical usage)
• It is quite probably the sexiest handheld device on the market (see shot above)

The PSP plays games (see link below), MP3s, and movies. It has wireless connectivity which allows head-2-head game play, but no Internet connectivity (no Web browser, email, etc). So, it falls squarely into the category of portable entertainment device--no PDA functionality here. The PSP titles are pretty slick--lots of depth and plenty of visual bling.

So, do I want one? Hell yeah. It's a sexy beast of a device and I'm all about that. Will I buy one? Nope. Not at the current price point anyway. I don't have much of a need for what the PSP provides (mobile entertainment) and can't justify the expense (remember to add $50 per game, $20 per UMD movie, and ~$100 for a Memory Stick big enough to be useful). Although my Zodiac 2 was ~$100 more, I get a lot more use out of it day-to-day and can do enough media and gaming to sate my need for mobile entertainment.

Should you buy one? That depends. I'd recommend it to anyone who has $250-400 to spend and wants a dedicated, portable gaming/media device. For those that don't have that kind of disposable income, look at the Nintendo DS ($150) or Game Boy Advanced ($80). However those devices don't have the high-end graphical and deep games of the PSP (which might not be your cup-o-tea anyway).

(If the PSP is interesting to you, wait until after the Summer. With the disappointing launch of the PSP Sony is bound to drop the price before next Xmas.)