Convince me to buy a PSP

[Hateshinai]

I'm thinking about buying a second-hand PSP but I still have doubts. I will definitely install custom firmware and use it to play emulators. However I am still not 100% sure whether to buy one. So, PSP owners, convince me!
I already got a DS btw, and also a GP2X for portable emulation so you better be convincing!

[Anayo]

If you're happy with a GP2X for emulation, I guess custom firmware won't do much for ya.

There are a respectable number of UMD games that I enjoyed. However, I'm not sure if any of them were "OMG AMAZING" enough to constitute spending $100 or more on a PSP. Here's what I liked, though:

Tekken Dark Resurrection - Best game for me personally, but might be since I never played Tekken prior. On the funomoter, it rates about as high as a portable Soul Calibur 2.
Daxter - It's like Crash Bandicoot, except better.
Siphon Filter: Logan's Shadow - Imagine Gears of War, Resident Evil 4 and 007 Goldeneye thrown together in a blender. The storyline's a crappy James Bond meets Tom Clancy wannabe, but the graphics are pretty and the missions are enjoyable.

Awesomely enough, I found all these pre-owned for under $10 each. PSP games are becoming very affordable lately.

I also enjoy using my PSP to watch movies. Personally I use DVD decrypter and PSPVC. I watched the extended Lord of the Rings trilogy on my PSP and it was great. I think it killed half a dozen pixels in my screen, though.

[thekorean12]

Well, at that point I would say the only big selling point for me would be the PSP's library of games available to you for free via custom firmware. However, not many people on this forum are pirates, so that is up to your discretion. Still, Anayo has a point, the library is becoming pretty affordable by itself and there are some pretty cool games for PSP. Portable versions of Gran Turismo, Littlebigplanet, God of War, Pixeljunk Monsters and Grand Theft Auto, plus many cool originals like Monster Hunter, Locoroco, and Patapon. I find it to have a pretty good set of games available to you. The only thing is that you'll pretty much only be using it for PS1 emulation since you have a GP2X, so if that's what you want go for it.

[Niode]

Yeah, it's ok. If you want a portable gaming system you should just go for the DS. The PSP has a few decent games, but none of them are really worth buying the system for. Most of the games are either (inferior) ports, have had their games ported from PSP to PS2 (Liberty/Vice City Stories) or are just not that good. It's uncomfortable to play, the analogue stick is just rubbish, the PSP-3000s have crappy interlaced screens, the slim has no UMD mechanism - it's just a plastic cover, the PSP-1000 is really heavy but a better screen and worse buttons. There's pros and cons to all of the system revisions. It seems they fix one thing from one revision and make another thing worse at the same time.

Unless there's definitely games you want for the system, I say save your cash for something else, like the 3DS or possibly the new PSP (although I don't have high expectations for that, it sounds like a poor-man's iPhone 4).

[the7k]

... not sure why we should feel the need to convince you to get a PSP. It's not like Sony gives me a cut of the profits.

I've gotta PSP. I love it. I love the games on it and I love the multimedia abilities of it. That's all I have to say. The PSP does have a lot of great games - but you aren't going to find them by reading magazines or watching TV. You will have to dig for information, because Sony (and the third-parties that develop for the PSP) love keeping their stuff a secret.

[Hatta]

If you like tinkering with gadgets, the PSP is pretty sweet.

[Pulsar_t]

Paint Shop Pro? I'm not sure you can even buy that anymore!

[Hateshinai]

What systems can the PSP emulate well?

[Niode]

What systems can the PSP emulate well?

Anything based on the Motorola 68k (Neo Geo, Mega Drive/Genesis, Amiga 600 etc), SNES (to an extent) NES, Gameboy, Gameboy Color. I'm starting to run out now, I know there's more, anybody care to fill in the gaps?

[jfrost]

Buy a PSP or I'll shoot you.