PSP / Vita Would I like a PSP?

I hear the PSP is great for homebrew (see emulators and downloaded games) and as a media device. I can't say so much about the games. I prefer the DS in that department. Not to mention all of the upcoming games for DS...

 

of course, you would. what can be cooler than a psp?

 

2 psps

 

a PSP and a DS lite.
*looks at bedside table*
would you look at that!

 

Lol, ditto.

The PSP is a technical masterpiece, if not a smidgen less fun than the DS... which is like saying an Aston Martin is a little less fun than a Ferrari...

 

the psp was technically great when it first came out, i bought one n had homebrew on it when it was fanjita who was working on the homebrew at the time. I sold it within a few weeks as there were no decent titles on it (burnout and GTA were the only good ones at the time) but bought one again a few years later when theres more games, got a 8gb memory card for cheap from play, and i must say its def worth getting one.

theyre only about £70 now second hand, coupled with a 4 or 8gb memory card means youve got a decent machine for homebrewing and watching stuff on, bargain

 

Not to flog a dead quadruped into brutalized sentience, but I thought this thread was interesting due to its levels of familiarity with the PSP's various iterations over time.

While I own both a DS and a PSP, I find my DS getting less use for the reasons stated by the OP. Mind, the DS's usefulness just spiked with the release of the Korg DS-10 (I'm a writer and studio musician), but for most purposes, I find I prefer the PSP. For movies, it's superior to all but the latest widescreen PMMP players of which, I believe, it was the first. For music, it's inferior to the Zune, anything by iRiver, the Cowon line, the iPod 5G and even the classic, but it's still decent enough, and far less noisy than a homebrewed DS.

(Interestingly, the iPhone's cpu is much faster than the PSP's (and something like three times the speed of the DS's), but the iTouch is too expensive, the iPhone 3G, too crippled, and both gnaw mandrake pizzles for gaming due to the lack of tactile controls.)

The Skype implementation is great, but requires you to buy and tote Sony's special headset for that purpose, the sound and look of which don't thrill me, Sailor.

I'm having difficulty getting a fix on the OP's prefs. He likes RPGs but not Zelda (which is technically more of an adventure franchise) and doesn't like the GTA series. It sounds as if he likes FPS (he mentioned Metal Gear Solid), most of which are controversially implemented on the PSP due to that missing second analog stick.

OP (please tolerate my references to dollars as opposed to pounds, as I'm quoting US prices from memory):

In the FPS vein, the most acclaimed comprise the Syphon Filter series. Dark Mirror is a good place to start. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is rather less successful at being idiomatic but is still good. Personally, I prefer the card SRPGs Metal Gear Acid 1 and 2 to PO, but the public didn't, and a third installment is unlikely.

Good RPGs, JRPGs and SRPGs for the PSP include Jeanne d'Arc, Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth and Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. If you're a fan of the Shin Megami Tensei series, then Jewel Summoner is worth a look, but I find it decidedly mediocre. For non-turn-based action RPGs, I recommend FFVII: Crisis Core and Monster Hunter 2 -- both can now be found new for under $20. If you're musically inclined, the rhythm-based RPG, Patapon is recommended if you have the patience. If you made it through the blossom song in Okami without wanting to bayonet some passing foont, then you won't have a problem with Patapon. The best Castlevania 2D ever made (Symphony of the Night) is part of the package called the Dracula X Chronicles, which is a bargain at under $20. If you're a gaming vet, you should be creaming your Diesels that an updated Yggdra Union is about to be released for the PSP.

I happen to heart survival horror, which is why I found Dementium completely frustrating (the DS remake of PSX Res Evil is still the only decent SH game on that platform). If you SH, too, then Silent Hill: Origins provides an intimate SH experience with decent headphones (mine are Shure e4cs). I can't imagine your liking Manhunt 2 (I enjoy long walks on the beach and pulverizing asylum inmates' skulls with a Y wrench), but safe to say games like that fit the PS2 as they never will the DS.

If you have a more subdued interest in catharsis by violent epic, then God of War: Chains of Olympus might be your style (and so might that bundle). Not terribly subtle, of course, but you've already got the Metal Gear franchise to provide you with subversive and covertly ironic shooters.

 

Wow, a nice chunky post there

Welcome to the forums

I picked up a PSP for £35 the other day... hacking her now

 

Thanks for the welcome, modgodtanvir. I've been lurking ever since I noticed two of your mods' literate and refreshing comments on an otherwise homophobic thread. Not the norm for a tech-based hobbyist site (though of course it ought to be). My girlfriend's twin sister is gay, but I wasn't a fan of intolerance before I knew either woman.

That thread introduced me to the quality of these forums, and to the level of discussion that's possible on a hardware-specific/gaming site.

If only I were more comfortable hacking a Slim! My DS runs homebrew, but my PSP has yet to meet Pandora.

 

Glad you've joined

You'll find we're an intelligent and open minded bunch on here (unlike a lot of forums I've looked at). Always good for a discussion of all things tech, modding or just pure cheesecake and the moderators are always there to step in when things are getting out of hand.

Be ready to read paragraphs if intelligent discourse from Nexxo, paragraphs of exclamation from CK, and general banter from everyone else.

And don't ever start a thread to ask who this guy is

I've never tried hacking my DS... could you point me somewhere to help me get started?

MGT

 

I used to have a DS i loved it to begin with played mario 64 ds, metroid prime hunters, mario kart, sonic rush ect. and the i hit a wall with it, that wass was brain training, scince then there has been too much shovelware for the DS and nintendo's games havent been up to scratch on it either.

There was nothing coming out for the DS that i wanted so i sold it and got a PSP, and i havent put it down yet! metal gear solid: portable ops is a gem the control scheme works well with the psp, along with other games like loco roco. patapon, ff7:cc and GoW:coo. i habe really enjoyed it.

homebrew just keeps it going even further, there are emulators for just about every console made before 2000, theres even a dreamcast emulator! it doesnt work very well mind you, but it has been done! i have megadrive emulators and regularly play on the games (retro Cheesecake)

i think you will enjoy it.

 

An excellent place to start is this site -- particularly its forums and reviews:

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showforum=37

========================

Now to the necessary equipment.

I picked up an AceKard2 from DealExtreme for under $23 (shipping is free worldwide):

http://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/category.604

I bought it after reading this review (though I nearly bought a CycloDS, which is reputed to be incredibly stable):

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=79371&hl=

With it, I bought a 3-in-1 expansion pack for around $18:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2967

For memory, I use an A-DATA 4GB Micro SDHC Class 6; it's been frighteningly accurate, with little to no lag (unlike other SDHCs). At newegg, it was $14:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211196

I don't use the included USB reader; instead, I picked up a Kingston MobileLite 9-in-1 for under $10 on Amazon.uk.

Total investment with all the extras: $65.

Every game I own is on my A-DATA currently, as well as 1GB of mp3s (I tend not to use my DS for music playback), every theme and every homebrew app I could want, and my card isn't even half full. I dislike using game carts at this point because they don't allow me to back up my saves -- I only buy them to support developers. I can't wait until someone hacks the Korg DS-10 and uploads a utility to convert saves into MIDI files. I love Korg and own the expensive import cart, but I want a MIDI export path as well.

The denizens of gba are more than willing to help people configure their carts, but I never needed to consult them, since AceKard has that covered on their web site. To see the kinds of themes that are possible, have a look at this user-uploaded "skin" page:

http://skin.acekard.com/skin/

 

Lastly:

So I've noticed!

I wasn't going to name anyone, but Nexxo's posts are one of the reasons I joined this site.

hodgy100:

The DS has had an influx of good RPGs of late. Etrian Odyssey I and II are particularly good if you crave a vintage crawler with no dilution of difficulty or insult to the intelligence. Valkyrie Profile is also about to be ported to the DS.

That said, I, too, prefer the PSP to the DS. I'm not a Nintendo/Famicon purist, though I respect that; being a hedonist, I choose immersive sight and sound as afforded by the PSP. All it needs is a keyboard and a better web interface.

Your mention of homebrew envelope-pushing is making me fiend to find someone local with a pandora battery.