Sony’s Playstation Portable pales somewhat in comparison to the Nintendo DS and the Gameboy Advance. But let’s be fair, Nintendo has been in the handheld business a lot longer than Sony. Also, Sony puts more emphasis on multimedia entertainment with the PSP than on handheld gaming. (The same can easily be said of the PS3, but that’s another topic.)
The one thing that may kill your interest is battery life. Unlike the GBA SP and the DS Lite, the PSP does not come with rechargable batteries. Its battery life fluctuates, “from less than 3 hours while accessing a wireless network and having screen brightness on its highest setting to more than 10 hours during MP3 playback with the screen turned off”.
Also:
-GameFAQs PSP Hardware Guide, Battery Life (by CVXFREAK)
Basically, the PSP is a portable entertainment system, use it for gaming, pictures, movies, and music. If you’re interested in playing video games and mp3s, audio/video (movies, music videos), pictures, and things of that nature the PSP is for you.
In addition to the above, the PSP also comes with an RSS channel player. The player essentially allows users to listen to content (news and commentary) that is on an RSS channel.
The PSP can also play releases of downloadable Playstation games. However, that can only be done (legally/officially) through the Playstation Network (for Playstation 3). The PSP has many games available, and basically lives up to its namesake with ports, remakes, and downloadable versions of PSone and PS2 games, in addition, to sequels and side stories of the original series, along with original PSP games.
Additionally, demos of PSP games can be downloaded, along with Firmware updates, which can add new features to the OS. Downloads and updates are gotten through a wireless internet connection.
Also, while the PSP itself is capable of handling multimedia (pictures, audio, video), the controls are geared for gaming. So typical Playstation/Playstation 2 controls/buttons can be found.
Like its Nintendo contemporaries, the PSP can connect to the PS3 and games (and other media) can be played on the TV and content can be exchanged. Additionally, you can stream music and pictures from your PSP to your Microsoft X-Box 360 (assuming you have one) via USB and a USB mini cable (there will more on that in the 360 page).
The Playstation Portable has similar graphic capabilities to the DS and GBA, however, given its multimedia capabilities, the PSP is the winner in terms of graphical power.
Overall, it’d be nice to get if you’re looking for a multimedia entertainment system, rather than just gaming. If you’re looking for just video games, I would suggest either a DS or GBA, depending on which one fits your interests better.
