By Adron Gardner (USA) - reviews
I am not a hard core gamer.
I've been through the DS, the Wii and I refuse to buy an Xbox 360 after seeing so many die out in the hands of friends. Gears of War and Halo really never struck me as good enough to pay for a piece of junk that will die after a few months.
My PS3 gets used heavily, sometimes for games, but more often for Blu-Ray in my home theater. When I saw the PSP Go unveiled a few months ago, it sparked some interest. I have an iPhone and I have tons of games for it. However, with some exception - Fieldrunners and a couple shooters - the lack of buttons is frustrating on most games. I really wanted to buy the PSP Go, but then I decided to go with a PSP 3000 to get the best of both worlds; UMD and PSN downloads.
At first, I was skeptical of the Rock Band bundle. I've been down the Guitar Hero road and I"m over it. But I actually think the rythm formula plays much better on the PSP then the stupid guitar peripherals. The game is highly addictive, easy to pick up anytime and the formula works perfectly for a portable like the PSP. Moreover, more than the other music games, it reminds me of an old PS2 favorite, Frequency.
Looking at the PSP-3000, I like the XMB and how it is just like the one on my PS3. The 4 gig card is a good starter for downloads. i like the way it feels for the most part. I like the wide screen and even the loading times aren't that bad for the games I have.
What I don't like? The damn thing in black is a freaking finger print magnet. I wish they offered the bundle in a different color. The UMD tray feels pretty flimsy. The battery life isn't as good as a DS. Sometimes the controls, particularly the shoulder buttons, feel awkward. My biggest complaint is the slow nature of downloading movies and games from the PSN. I think the free School of Rock movie took like 3 hours to download on my DSL connection. Sucks.
If you are going to use PSN, just buy whatever you want from the PS3 Playstation store and then transfer it to the PSP.
Though the PSP has been out for some time, I am glad I bought it now. With the 3000 model, I get the best of both worlds of UMD and PSN downloads when I want. I like the design, the size and the games. Overall I can just say, no matter how much more life is left in this thing, I'll be playing it for awhile. I love my iPHone and some of the games on it are irreplaceable, but I like my PSP more and I am glad I bought it.