I will die on the hill that the PSP (and its sequels) was peak portable console when it came out, and it hurts so much that Sony gave up on iterating it after the Vita (which is still an awesome...
I will die on the hill that the PSP (and its sequels) was peak portable console when it came out, and it hurts so much that Sony gave up on iterating it after the Vita (which is still an awesome console btw).
It really felt like it came out too early for its own good. The lack of consistent support form 3rd party devs and even Sony ultimately killed its lengevity. But boy is it a blast if you jailbreak it.
With the tech we have today, Sony could absolutely release a killer portable console if they wanted to, but I'm guessing they've given up on the idea with the Switch's overwhelming dominance of that marker sector.
The PS Vita is still arguably the best portable console ever made. It’s really hard to think about the Switch/2 as being a portable console since it’s too big to fit pocket and doesn’t feel like...
The PS Vita is still arguably the best portable console ever made. It’s really hard to think about the Switch/2 as being a portable console since it’s too big to fit pocket and doesn’t feel like it’s sturdy enough even if it were. Sony really shot themselves through the foot with their ludicrously expensive proprietary memory cards which handicapped their digital sales and then basically pulling their support away from it. Luckily third parties provided a pretty awesome library of games.
PSP was the best handheld at its time. Nintendo probably had majority with their Gameboys, but still PSP was superior in some ways - display, proceasing power, size of cartridge (available size...
PSP was the best handheld at its time. Nintendo probably had majority with their Gameboys, but still PSP was superior in some ways - display, proceasing power, size of cartridge (available size for game on UMD), MP3 player, video player, ...
PS Vita - I consider it predecessor of Nintendo Switch. It kinda had everything in place plus even more, lacking the one crucial thing - marketing. Sony itself is responsible for Vita's death. The console was once again very innovative with capacitive acreen, capacitive back, two cameras, once again processing power, dual analogs... Sony had Nintendo Switch in their hands yet they didn't know it, didn't understand it.
I still have both of these in my drawer, played hundreds of hour on each of them. Great portable consoles!
Yeah, I still have both my Vita and PSP. I even break em out once in awhile and I still have game or two that I'm "playing" on each. The PSP I have isn't my original one; sold that one off. But as...
Yeah, I still have both my Vita and PSP. I even break em out once in awhile and I still have game or two that I'm "playing" on each. The PSP I have isn't my original one; sold that one off. But as soon as I could, bought another one. I was in high school and barely had any money, yet bought a PSP on day 1. It was so good. Same with the Vita.
As someone who plays a lot of JRPGs, both were excellent "JRPG consoles." Of course, a console can't survive on a single genre. And certainly not JRPGs, which I felt were starting to become more niche at the time.
Sucks that Sony didn't properly support either of them. I did eventually go back to the Nintendo side of things and get a DS and then a 3DS and eventually a Switch, but I still think the PSP and Vita were far better. At least I have my Steam Deck these days.
I have two PSPs actually, my OG PS Slim (2000) and my brother's Slim (3000). I don'ŧ play on them anymore, as I have many more options to play even PSP games. Fun fact - I finished GTA San Andreas...
I have two PSPs actually, my OG PS Slim (2000) and my brother's Slim (3000). I don'ŧ play on them anymore, as I have many more options to play even PSP games.
Fun fact - I finished GTA San Andreas for my first and (so far) only time on my PS Vita. The best game you can play on Vita in my opinion. When I first played the game on PS2 when it came out, I didn't even dream about playing it on a portable/pocketable device with actual analog controls. And here we are :-)
Speaking about GTA San Andreas and portable device - I have my near future set for me. Steam Deck is wonderful thing, it actually is something I dreamed about and thanks to Valve and their pricing scheme, I could afford one. Best buy in my PC life so far - I have finished more games in last three years than I did in my whole life before I got Steam Deck.
Whenever people ask me about the Steam Deck, I tell them it's one of the best electronics purchases I've ever made. Before mine arrived, I thought, "I'll probably just mostly use it while...
Whenever people ask me about the Steam Deck, I tell them it's one of the best electronics purchases I've ever made. Before mine arrived, I thought, "I'll probably just mostly use it while traveling..." 3-4yrs later, I use this thing weekly at home. Even though I have two gaming desktops and even a gaming laptop. Even though I have a computer hooked up to my living room TV and can do Remote Play with it from the couch.
I never realized how much I wanted to game in bed. Or on the couch. Or while doing anything away from the computer. I've even gamed a bit while in the kitchen, cooking, with my Steam Deck. I might have a problem...
Agreed, also one of the best electronic devices I bought. But I miss how small and lightweight the PSP is. The Deck is huge and heavy and hot and got way too many buttons, when I just want to play...
Agreed, also one of the best electronic devices I bought.
But I miss how small and lightweight the PSP is. The Deck is huge and heavy and hot and got way too many buttons, when I just want to play a simple game like LocoRoco, or an exceedingly silly game.
For sure. My hope is that if/when Steam decides to unveil the Steam Deck 2, they'll significantly reduce the form factor. Will it be as small as a PSP? Probably not. Obviously the power of a true...
For sure. My hope is that if/when Steam decides to unveil the Steam Deck 2, they'll significantly reduce the form factor. Will it be as small as a PSP? Probably not. Obviously the power of a true PC means tradeoffs in size.
I actually don't travel with my Steam Deck that often anymore. It's just so bulky and heavy. I always take my laptop (an MBP) with me when I travel. So if I want to game while I'm on vacation, I just use Remote Play, Parallels Desktop & Win11, or hope that the games I'm playing have a WINE-like wrapper so I can play it on MacOS "natively."Luckily a lot more games do have that wrapper these days. I even bought a small, lightweight 8bitdo controller that I can use with my MBP.
Yeah, a Steam Deck is a full-fledged computer, but without KB&M it isn't. And I'd rather have a single device with me that I can do standard computery stuff on easily, as opposed to the ability to game from my hotel bed.
Yeah the deck is a full sized pool house cabana, with a bar, a barn a shower and a bed. I can do my taxes, work from home, create art, edit videos, fly a drone, whatever on it, that I can do with...
Yeah the deck is a full sized pool house cabana, with a bar, a barn a shower and a bed. I can do my taxes, work from home, create art, edit videos, fly a drone, whatever on it, that I can do with a powerful desktop computer. It really sucked travelling with it in my backpack when I already have a work laptop and phone and battery bank. The Deck is for home.
Wereas the PSP is a pocket sized play station: you play on it. That's it. I just want to be outside and play sometimes.
The second paragraph there is written like I wrote it personally. I do the same, I play whenever it is possible. I play daily. Sometimes for a few minutes, other days doing 2-4 hours a day. I...
The second paragraph there is written like I wrote it personally. I do the same, I play whenever it is possible. I play daily. Sometimes for a few minutes, other days doing 2-4 hours a day.
I don't have gaming PC and now I know I don't need one. Steam Deck can't run some new games but I already have queue so long I would need two lives to make it through, so its performance doesn't limit me at all.
And I'm really cueious about Steam Frame - new VR from Valve. It seems like another step for me. I played PS VR2 at my friend's house and I know I have games I'd like to play in VR but didn't buy one yet. This might make me do it. And then I may actually need some powerful (enough) PC to go along with it... My i5-4790 with GTX 1650 grand-dad of a PC won't cope well with VR.
Anyway - Steam Deck FTW! I love to be able to play PC games on the go. And not only those, but also all the Gameboy, PSP and also some Switch games! I still have to play BotW on my Steam Deck (finished on Switch Lite a few years back).
I agree, the PSP was so good. I was quite powerful, had a great screen, and had controls that didn't feel too tiny or hurt my hands like most modern Nintendo handhelds. There were so many good...
I agree, the PSP was so good. I was quite powerful, had a great screen, and had controls that didn't feel too tiny or hurt my hands like most modern Nintendo handhelds. There were so many good games for the system that I liked. My only complaints would be related to the storage media and the analog "stick". The UMD discs sucked, they were slow, loud, and not particularly big and Sony's Memory Stick format sucked. Later on you could get decent SD to MS adapters, but at the time memory sticks were way overpriced. The analog control was "meh", but I tended to favor games that used the D-pad anyway.
Though obviously unsupported, the system was also decent to write homebrew games for (though not as easy as the GBA or DS).
To this day the reason why I haven’t bothered with the Monster Hunter franchise is how bad of a time I had with the loading times on Monster Hunter 3 Freedom.
To this day the reason why I haven’t bothered with the Monster Hunter franchise is how bad of a time I had with the loading times on Monster Hunter 3 Freedom.
I was a Nintendo DS kid but I always think the PSP is cool. I got my first PSP only a few years ago and I was still amazed at how capable the PSP is. Playing GTA, Gran Turismo, Densha De Go on...
I was a Nintendo DS kid but I always think the PSP is cool. I got my first PSP only a few years ago and I was still amazed at how capable the PSP is. Playing GTA, Gran Turismo, Densha De Go on this little thing was mind-blowing. The PSP truly was the all-in-one entertainment device before smartphones took over. You had games, movies, TV shows, and music all in one device.
It's a shame that Sony gave up half-way with the PS Vita and then never really tried to put out a real portable again after that. Given the success of the Switch and PC Handhelds, I feel like Sony could've also entered the market with a real handheld with power similar to that of the PS4.
When Sony was teasing what would eventually become the Playstation Portal, I felt like I saw a lot of excitement over what could be Sony returning to handhelds. Because people remembered how good,...
When Sony was teasing what would eventually become the Playstation Portal, I felt like I saw a lot of excitement over what could be Sony returning to handhelds. Because people remembered how good, and how ahead of their times, the PSP and Vita were.
So it was disappointing that the Portal ended up just being a remote screen and controller for a PS5. I've heard good things about it, but obviously it's not a full-fledged stand-alone piece of equipment. In my mind, maybe the Portal is Sony's way of testing the waters.
I will die on the hill that the PSP (and its sequels) was peak portable console when it came out, and it hurts so much that Sony gave up on iterating it after the Vita (which is still an awesome console btw).
It really felt like it came out too early for its own good. The lack of consistent support form 3rd party devs and even Sony ultimately killed its lengevity. But boy is it a blast if you jailbreak it.
With the tech we have today, Sony could absolutely release a killer portable console if they wanted to, but I'm guessing they've given up on the idea with the Switch's overwhelming dominance of that marker sector.
The PS Vita is still arguably the best portable console ever made. It’s really hard to think about the Switch/2 as being a portable console since it’s too big to fit pocket and doesn’t feel like it’s sturdy enough even if it were. Sony really shot themselves through the foot with their ludicrously expensive proprietary memory cards which handicapped their digital sales and then basically pulling their support away from it. Luckily third parties provided a pretty awesome library of games.
PSP was the best handheld at its time. Nintendo probably had majority with their Gameboys, but still PSP was superior in some ways - display, proceasing power, size of cartridge (available size for game on UMD), MP3 player, video player, ...
PS Vita - I consider it predecessor of Nintendo Switch. It kinda had everything in place plus even more, lacking the one crucial thing - marketing. Sony itself is responsible for Vita's death. The console was once again very innovative with capacitive acreen, capacitive back, two cameras, once again processing power, dual analogs... Sony had Nintendo Switch in their hands yet they didn't know it, didn't understand it.
I still have both of these in my drawer, played hundreds of hour on each of them. Great portable consoles!
Yeah, I still have both my Vita and PSP. I even break em out once in awhile and I still have game or two that I'm "playing" on each. The PSP I have isn't my original one; sold that one off. But as soon as I could, bought another one. I was in high school and barely had any money, yet bought a PSP on day 1. It was so good. Same with the Vita.
As someone who plays a lot of JRPGs, both were excellent "JRPG consoles." Of course, a console can't survive on a single genre. And certainly not JRPGs, which I felt were starting to become more niche at the time.
Sucks that Sony didn't properly support either of them. I did eventually go back to the Nintendo side of things and get a DS and then a 3DS and eventually a Switch, but I still think the PSP and Vita were far better. At least I have my Steam Deck these days.
I have two PSPs actually, my OG PS Slim (2000) and my brother's Slim (3000). I don'ŧ play on them anymore, as I have many more options to play even PSP games.
Fun fact - I finished GTA San Andreas for my first and (so far) only time on my PS Vita. The best game you can play on Vita in my opinion. When I first played the game on PS2 when it came out, I didn't even dream about playing it on a portable/pocketable device with actual analog controls. And here we are :-)
Speaking about GTA San Andreas and portable device - I have my near future set for me. Steam Deck is wonderful thing, it actually is something I dreamed about and thanks to Valve and their pricing scheme, I could afford one. Best buy in my PC life so far - I have finished more games in last three years than I did in my whole life before I got Steam Deck.
Whenever people ask me about the Steam Deck, I tell them it's one of the best electronics purchases I've ever made. Before mine arrived, I thought, "I'll probably just mostly use it while traveling..." 3-4yrs later, I use this thing weekly at home. Even though I have two gaming desktops and even a gaming laptop. Even though I have a computer hooked up to my living room TV and can do Remote Play with it from the couch.
I never realized how much I wanted to game in bed. Or on the couch. Or while doing anything away from the computer. I've even gamed a bit while in the kitchen, cooking, with my Steam Deck. I might have a problem...
Agreed, also one of the best electronic devices I bought.
But I miss how small and lightweight the PSP is. The Deck is huge and heavy and hot and got way too many buttons, when I just want to play a simple game like LocoRoco, or an exceedingly silly game.
For sure. My hope is that if/when Steam decides to unveil the Steam Deck 2, they'll significantly reduce the form factor. Will it be as small as a PSP? Probably not. Obviously the power of a true PC means tradeoffs in size.
I actually don't travel with my Steam Deck that often anymore. It's just so bulky and heavy. I always take my laptop (an MBP) with me when I travel. So if I want to game while I'm on vacation, I just use Remote Play, Parallels Desktop & Win11, or hope that the games I'm playing have a WINE-like wrapper so I can play it on MacOS "natively."Luckily a lot more games do have that wrapper these days. I even bought a small, lightweight 8bitdo controller that I can use with my MBP.
Yeah, a Steam Deck is a full-fledged computer, but without KB&M it isn't. And I'd rather have a single device with me that I can do standard computery stuff on easily, as opposed to the ability to game from my hotel bed.
Yeah the deck is a full sized pool house cabana, with a bar, a barn a shower and a bed. I can do my taxes, work from home, create art, edit videos, fly a drone, whatever on it, that I can do with a powerful desktop computer. It really sucked travelling with it in my backpack when I already have a work laptop and phone and battery bank. The Deck is for home.
Wereas the PSP is a pocket sized play station: you play on it. That's it. I just want to be outside and play sometimes.
The second paragraph there is written like I wrote it personally. I do the same, I play whenever it is possible. I play daily. Sometimes for a few minutes, other days doing 2-4 hours a day.
I don't have gaming PC and now I know I don't need one. Steam Deck can't run some new games but I already have queue so long I would need two lives to make it through, so its performance doesn't limit me at all.
And I'm really cueious about Steam Frame - new VR from Valve. It seems like another step for me. I played PS VR2 at my friend's house and I know I have games I'd like to play in VR but didn't buy one yet. This might make me do it. And then I may actually need some powerful (enough) PC to go along with it... My i5-4790 with GTX 1650 grand-dad of a PC won't cope well with VR.
Anyway - Steam Deck FTW! I love to be able to play PC games on the go. And not only those, but also all the Gameboy, PSP and also some Switch games! I still have to play BotW on my Steam Deck (finished on Switch Lite a few years back).
I agree, the PSP was so good. I was quite powerful, had a great screen, and had controls that didn't feel too tiny or hurt my hands like most modern Nintendo handhelds. There were so many good games for the system that I liked. My only complaints would be related to the storage media and the analog "stick". The UMD discs sucked, they were slow, loud, and not particularly big and Sony's Memory Stick format sucked. Later on you could get decent SD to MS adapters, but at the time memory sticks were way overpriced. The analog control was "meh", but I tended to favor games that used the D-pad anyway.
Though obviously unsupported, the system was also decent to write homebrew games for (though not as easy as the GBA or DS).
To this day the reason why I haven’t bothered with the Monster Hunter franchise is how bad of a time I had with the loading times on Monster Hunter 3 Freedom.
I was a Nintendo DS kid but I always think the PSP is cool. I got my first PSP only a few years ago and I was still amazed at how capable the PSP is. Playing GTA, Gran Turismo, Densha De Go on this little thing was mind-blowing. The PSP truly was the all-in-one entertainment device before smartphones took over. You had games, movies, TV shows, and music all in one device.
It's a shame that Sony gave up half-way with the PS Vita and then never really tried to put out a real portable again after that. Given the success of the Switch and PC Handhelds, I feel like Sony could've also entered the market with a real handheld with power similar to that of the PS4.
When Sony was teasing what would eventually become the Playstation Portal, I felt like I saw a lot of excitement over what could be Sony returning to handhelds. Because people remembered how good, and how ahead of their times, the PSP and Vita were.
So it was disappointing that the Portal ended up just being a remote screen and controller for a PS5. I've heard good things about it, but obviously it's not a full-fledged stand-alone piece of equipment. In my mind, maybe the Portal is Sony's way of testing the waters.
No story of the PSP is complete without a look at the most funky fresh ad campaign in history.