PSP Impressions

My life, in recent times, has followed something of a rigorous schedule. The day begins at 6:00am when I wake up. I play Metal Gear Ac!d until around 7:45, go to work until 6:00pm, then come home. I then work on my book until around 9:00pm, play some more Metal Gear Ac!d and pass out. Overall, it has been somewhat grueling.

I must say though, that the PSP has been a very welcome friend in these times. I bring it with me everywhere and can fire up a quick couple of moves in Ac!d whenever I have time. Don't get me wrong, my DS will be coming with me as well (especially once Animal Crossing comes out), but for now the PSP is it.

The graphical quality of MGA still astounds me. After finally beating Baten Kaitos, I fired up Xenosaga II last night and was somewhat stunned to find some parts of it not looking as spectacular as MGA...on a handheld!! And Xenosaga II is a stunning game, let me tell you.

My point here is that the graphical quality of handhelds is obviously able to come close to matching a modern day console, something I never really dreamed would happen. Imagine the posibilities; you could have games that could theoretically port between systems. How cool would it be to be able to take Xenosaga II on the road?

Say what you will about the PSP, but I truly think it has upped the bar for the handheld market. I predict that Nintendo's next handheld will have to compete in some way (are the rumors of the portable Gamecube true?), and in order to do that (much as I hate to say it) the graphics and screen have to be upgraded.

All in all, I am quite excited to see where the future will take us. As a gamer who has far more "on the move" time rather than time to fire up my home consoles, I want the most bang for my buck out of handheld consoles. I truly hope to see some serious potential pulled out of the PSP.

Comments (0) | Permalink | Lee Babin | 6.15.2005

For no reason at all...

Kittens!

Comments (0) | Permalink | Lee Babin | 6.9.2005

Me and My PSP

So, I have finally managed to secure myself a PSP (and it even came with a free trial for IOGC, check them out for sure!). It has been quite a task to actually receive and play it however. I had knowledge indicating a Friday (last Friday) arrival date which unfortunately happend to coincide with the date I was set to make a road trip to Regina. I waited as long as I could for the delivery fellow to arrive, but sadly I had to resort to patience and finally receive it this morning.

To tell truth, I was not entirely sure what to expect. I have heard nothing but bad things from a hardware point of view on the PSP. Imagine my glee then as I pulled the beast out of its wrapper. I had no idea, first off, how freaking shiny it was (having not seen one in the stores yet). The PSP practically glitters.

The next few matters to catch my eye were how absolutely huge the screen was and how very Ipod'ish the headphones and accessories seemed. Everything about the PSP says, "I am cool, play with me". Even the way the UMDs go in is awesome.

I shook with anticipation as I finally fired up my shiny new PSP. Words failed me. I am a veteran with handheld machines and nothing could have prepared me for the awe I faced. The comparable moments in my audio/visual life can only be the first time I turned on my original PSX (coming straight from a Super NES) and the first movie I watched on my 57" widescreen HDTV.

I felt as though I was bathed in a wonderful, warm, glowing wrapper of light and sound. I instantly fell deeply in love with this machine and, quite frankly, felt the bell toll for all other competitors. Say what you will about the quality of Nintendo's games (of the highest quality of course), but unless they do something to counter this, they are going to have a real fight on their hands.

I, as a lover of all things Nintendo, look upon my DS in shame now after witnessing the A/V amazement that is the PSP. I haven't even played a game on it yet and already I feel as though the next generation in handhelds is here. If the PSP can turn my (originally rather negative) view of it around so entirely in less than 15 minutes of play time, imagine the posibilities for the future. Sony, as much trouble as I have in saying this, congratulations on a magnificent creation of hardware.

Comments (15) | Permalink | Lee Babin | 6.6.2005

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