CNET Editor's rating: 8.1 out of 10
Reviewed by
David Carnoy
Review date: 03/23/05
Release date: 03/24/05
The good: The Sony PSP is a slick portable gaming system highlighted by an impressive wide-screen display and PS2-like graphics. It also boasts built-in Wi-Fi, a Web browser, and the ability to play music and videos, as well as to store images.
The bad: The Sony PSP's multimedia functionality is underwhelming, especially for video, requiring expensive memory cards. The load times on the UMD games can be excessive.
The bottom line: The Sony PSP elevates portable gaming to the next level, but its multimedia functionality falls short of its full potential.
Editors' note: As of September 2007, this original PSP model (the "PSP 1000") has been replaced by a new and improved PSP version (the "PSP 2000," or "PSP Slim"). Check out CNET's full review of the new PSP for more details.
After roughly a decade at the top of the home console industry, Sony decided to tackle the portable system market--one heavily fortified by Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and DS. Sony sought to take down Nintendo by adopting the tactic that made the PlayStation 2 such a runaway success: by offering sophisticated, graphically intensive games and a heavy dose of multimedia functionality. The device is called the PlayStation Portable (PSP), and in addition to playing games of PS2 graphical quality, it can play music and movies (downloaded or via disc) and surf the Web. It may not be the best handheld media product on the market, and the games lack the innovation of ones on Nintendo's portables, but as an all-in-one device, the Sony PSP is king of the hill.
I just want to shake some sense into them. Hopefully the new CEO will actually LISTEN ...
When will Sony learn?
I just want to shake some sense into them. Hopefully the new CEO will actually LISTEN to the consumers (hopefully he is reading this).
Sony could have run away with the MP3 market with its inherently strong brand name, unique designed products and comparative advantage in creating innovating, revolutionary user friendly mini devices (think Walkman the product that helped them build an empire).
But now they are squarely in Apple's rear view and will likely stay there for the foreseeable future.
Why? Simple.
Proprietary software and hardware. Think ATRAC and memory sticks. Think Betamax.
Now add UMD. Why oh why? It comes down to Sony's attempt to milk the golden cow. But it might be laying eggs instead. If you are going to pay through the nose for this machine you should expect a TRUE multimedia product. You should expect a hard drive. You should expect compatibility. You should expect the best.
Will it be a kick-ass gaming machine? Of course it will. Could it have been a kick-ass multimedia iPod killer? Most certainly.
Somewhere in California, the Apple execs are having a good laugh - at least those guys have learned from their own experience with Microsoft. You have to think big and give the customer the freedom to choose. They are the ones who will vote with either their dollars or their feet. Its that simple.
Updated ** EDIT and UPDATE **
See, the worst thing that ever happened to Sony was that it got caught up in the 80s expansion and bought Columbia Pictures and Records.
They lost focus. They started worrying about supporting other divisions that they have no business being in. They started falling for buzzwords like "synergies", "vertical integration".
Basically, they started letting these other divisions dictate what they produced on the hardware end. Hence the creation of MiniDisc, ATRAC, (does anyone remember DAT?), and now UMD.
See folks, as much as a runaway hit as PS2 was, it has been losing market share and prices have come way down. In any given year going forward, Sony will make much more money on a runaway movie hit like Spider-Man 2 - and you'll be sure they'll try to milk it in every way possible (CDs, DVDs, VHS, UMD, etc.)
The way I see it, Sony has NO BUSINESS being in the CONTENT BUSINESS. Stick to what made Sony great: great innovative consumer products.
...and Let the consumers choose the and identify the eventual format winners.
8 out of 10 - Excellent Excellent device with problems
I hate Sony. I just want to say that out of the gate. I've had almost nothing but bad ...
I hate Sony. I just want to say that out of the gate. I've had almost nothing but bad experiences with their products and company. When I saw the PSP for the first time, though, I absolutely had to have one. Overall, I am pleased and excited at the prospect of future games.
The PSP had the best launch I can think of. The only system that was even remotely comparable in quality and quantity of games available at launch was the Dreamcast. These high quality games are also the PSP's first stumbling point. They are all just PS2 games. If you've already played them and if you got a system at launch I assume you to be a relatively hardcore gamer, then the system is effectively worthless. Wipeout Pure is good, and the only other game that is truly ONLY for the PSP, Metal Gear AC!D is really strange and hard to get into. The games are all great, but we've already played them.
And played them for longer as well. The battery life is very, very poor. I played Tony Hawk via wireless and the battery pooped the bed in less than 3 hours. I immediately had flashbacks to the Game Gear where it gobbled up 6 AA batteries in 3 hours. Without any wireless play I was able to play for over 4 hours. I also bought a second battery (Which I recommend everyone do) effectively increasing on-the-road life to 6-8 hours. I pine for the days of 20 hours on my Game Boy Advance.
I also pine for the tank-like structure of my Game Boy Advance. If Nintendo has ever done one thing well it's make systems that take a licking and... well you know. I have an old NES that has been punished for the last 2 decades and continues chugging along. If you can find a single Sony product from 2 decades ago that still works at ALL, I would be impressed. The PSP is no different. I get the overall feeling that the device I hold could spontaneously disintegrate at any moment. The DS, on the other hand, feels indestructible (although I'm sure I could manage). The screen especially feels delicate. It can get scratched with immeasurable ease and sucks up finger oils like an Oxy pad. I found myself cleaning it multiple times per day.
The quality of the screen materials is somewhat lower than I expected. I have noticeable LCD shadow in many applications. This may seem like a small complaint, and to be true, I didn't notice it much playing games. But watching movies it was VERY noticeable. Spider-Man 2, which the unit came with, is a giant blur during the fast action scenes. This severely limits the devices ability as a true, pocket-sized, multimedia hub. This is especially disappointing since Sony has hyped the movie-playing aspect of the PSP to a great extent. Now I discover the screen isn't up to the task. LCD shadow aside, the screen is insanely crisp. Games all look bee-u-tiful.
The screen is also the largest source of complaint from everyone I know. I was lucky. I received a screen with some chips, and a couple scratches, and a little dust, but no dead pixels. I also made the point to buy the extra warranty, so when a fresh batch of fault-free PSP's come in, I can trade mine in for one. Even if you didn't buy the extended warranty, Sony should replace it. Do not take the excuse that "LCD screens are made with highly precise technology, but in some cases black spots may appear... this is not a malfunction." (PSP Manual, P. 118). That is, for lack of a better word, BS. For $250, the screen should work.
Just below the screen lies the other problem; the speakers. They, well, they suck. It's apparent that Sony intends for you to use the headphones, but if you're going to bother putting the speakers on there at all, you should put good ones on. In the end, if you're in a quiet environment, the speakers will get the job done. Anything more than a murmur, though, and you can't hear a thing.
Overall quality and design is good, and I feel I got a $500 toy for half the price. It's incredibly sexy, and sexy is the only word for it. Sony got the aesthetic design down wonderfully. The device feels good in my hand, looks even better, and just screams "I'm a kick ass toy!" with the brushed aluminum circle on the back.
You're going to pay for the "kick ass" factor, I'm afraid. And this is the one reason the PSP's usefulness as a combo device is severely limited. $250 will net you the system. But you NEED the warranty, so that's another $25, and you likewise need game cases, another carrying case, second battery, screen protectors, and better ear-buds. That's $50 right there. If you want to do anything besides play games, you'll need a memory stick. The 32MB stick included sure as hell won't cut the mustard. Music will require 256MB or more, and for video you really need a 1GB stick. The 1GB stick will set you back $150-175. Combined with a high game price of $50, you'll want like 2-3 games to start with, let's say you're broke (From buying everything else) and you only get 1. That's another fifty bucks. 250 + 25 + 50 + 150 + 50 = $525 + 36.75 (at 7% sales tax) = 561.75. That absolute steal at $250 just got a whole lot more expensive. Don't even get me started on buying movies, which range from $20-30 each.
If I had expected more from the movie angle, I might have given this a lower grade. But I went in expecting a game machine, and I'm rating it as a game machine. And as a game machine it's very good. The quality control issues will soon be forgotten, but the poor battery life and high price will not, I feel. Those matters aside, I have had a great time with mine, and expect to continue having a great time. That is why I give it an 8. A wonderful game system, if that's all you expect.
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by Jive01 (see profile) -
March 30, 2005
9 out of 10 - Spectacular One SWEET gaming system, multimedia playback is a bonus
The people on here saying the system if over hyped clearly don't know how to read the reviews because ...
The people on here saying the system if over hyped clearly don't know how to read the reviews because they note all the shortcommings. Yes THIS SYSTEM ISN'T PERFECT, NO SYSTEM IS. For a handheld gaming system, the PSP brings current generation home console graphics on the go. The fact that the current crop of games out now and to come out this year will only use 222mhz of the 333mhz CPU is simply amazing and provides much room for improvement in game quality, as if they needed to go much further. THERE IS NO COMPETITION TO THE PSP IN THE HANDHELD MARKET, yet. As for the multimedia capabilities, they are really extra bonus features. Yes sony doesn't make it super easy to put movies on the PSP, but it doesn't take that much effort and the programs on the web are free and do a good job. IT'S BEEN A WEEK...wait for the killer apps like GTA and GT4 mobile to be out, as well as EAs whole sports lineup and we'll see how the DS fanboys and PSP haters become so jealous they will scream about the lack of battery life (the really only major negative about the system FOR NOW)... when someone releases a higher capacity battery there will be nothing to complain about.
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by icspeedracer (see profile) -
March 31, 2005
9 out of 10 - Spectacular It does it all!
I currently have the Japanese model (Value Pack) which I got while I was in Nogoya... and I love it.. ...
I currently have the Japanese model (Value Pack) which I got while I was in Nogoya... and I love it.. the screen is the best i have ever seen at that size.. the controls are tight.. the battery lasts at least 6 hours (right now at least and the games are great! (only have Japanese games at the moment) I find myself using the PSP more then my iPOD lately because it does everything I want it too and is still small enough to take anywhere.
The price is a little more then i expected... but for all that you get I couldn't be happier with the PSP...
I only hope that Sony keeps thier promise and doesnt Region Lock the games... I would hate to buy another one just to play USA games.
6 out of 10 - Good Evil MiniDiscs ruined it for me!
Though the presentation is impressive and the comercial with Franz Ferdinand makes us all want to throw caution to the ...
Though the presentation is impressive and the comercial with Franz Ferdinand makes us all want to throw caution to the wind and give Sony all our money, in this gamers opinion the PSP comes up sub-par. The big upset is the choice in media. Sony made use of their HiMD technology to create the game discs, take it from someone who owns a HiMD player these dics are completely unreliable. I just bought this thing this morning and got a little dust on my game and now whenever Ape Escape tries to load the thing freezes and eventually goes dead. Apparently I'm not the only one having this problem, I work in customer service at a local Best Buy and have had to tell about 20 people we couldn't replace their $50 game beause the damage was considered abuse. I feel a bit more secure with the NRam of the Nintendo DS. On another note it feels akward. In it's defense the NDS isn't exactly pocket friendly either but I just miss the days when a handheld was made to be small and not a burden to carry around simply for graphical purposes. My last "beef" with this system is the speaker. Though Sony hyped how great the sound was going to be, I was simply playing music on my stereo to escape the sound quality (When My game was working 2hrs. ago that is.) Though I have alot of issues w/ the system I do have to admit that it offers great graphics and though cumbersome, a nice sized screen. My advice is to stick with the pros in the portable gaming buiseness (Nintendo) simply so you don't find yourself paying $50 for a game that works for a couple days, or a few hrs. in my case.
Updated REcently I've been reading some of the other reviews and had some more of my own experiences and found some more upsides and downsides to the product. Fist the good: -I've Had Metal gear for a day and it's still working (Knocking on wood).
Then the Bad: -Returns have been pooring in at the BB w/ a dead pixel problem. Luckily for those customer's who purchased the $40 replacement plan, it was replaced. But anyone w/o it is going to have some trouble. -Battery Life is pretty mediocre, I'm averaging 3 to 4 hrs. And if you read the booklet sony says you can't play while it's charging???
10 out of 10 - Perfect Another great hit from Sony
In the beginning I was a bit skeptic when Sony was entering the Portable Gaming Market as I been a ...
In the beginning I was a bit skeptic when Sony was entering the Portable Gaming Market as I been a loyal Game Boy fan since the beginning. Even when I had a chance to test drive both the DS and PSP side by side at my local gaming store I didn't quite feel the need to own such a device since my Sony Clie could play movies, and MP3s and just using my GBA SP for the games. However this all changed when I actually had a chance to own the PSP and found it as useful as the GBA and my Sony Clie combined.
After having a large amount of Store Credits left from trading in used games, I decided to pick up the PSP rather then the DS because of one factor. There were way too many DSes that were Preowned at the counter waiting to be sold while there were no PSPs at all for Preowned so I felt kind of awkward to pick up the DS with so many already being sold as Preowned. With that as my deciding factor to purchase it (along with Ridge Racer and Wipeout Pure), I was soon to realize how much use I got from this device. To help break things down quickly, here are some things I discovered on my own that made me proud to own a PSP:
+ Graphics of the games with the Wide Screen are incredable. Also the movies on UMD seems like HD quality.
+ Reading Digital Manga (Manga Scans and E-Books saved as JPEGS) read clear and with excellent quality. With the Analog Nub for scanning was excellent.
+ In addition to reading Manga, I was able to use my PSP to hold Map Quest Maps (Saved as JPEG) and use my PSP as a Navigation Device.
+ With PSP Video 9 and a 1 Gig Memory Stick Duo, I was able to watch all my recorded shows from TV, and DVDs on it on the go. (Also was surprise how fast conversion to PSP Format was as a 30 minute video took less then 10 minutes at high quality)
+ Surfing the Web using the Wipeout Pure Trick was also impressive and mainly used for reading news when at college and near the library that has Wi-Fi.
+ Listening to MP3s when unable to hold the unit such as while biking/walking or too tired and away from home and just need something to listen to.
==================
Though I gave the PSP a 10, it still isn't quite perfect which is not because of the device itself but with the company.
It would be very nice to be able to use some of the Open Source programs made for the PSP. Such as SNES Emulators for example. (Developers were able to make emulators and such for the PSP before Sony released a update that disabled this feature or atleast made it harder for developers to make such applications) If Sony would let Open Source programmers tinker with this device such as a new Web Browser, new Music Player that could support WMA and OGG, and give it third party apps like Calendars and Drawing Tools would make make this an ultimate portable machine.
5 out of 10 - Average Yawn factor high; hasn't awakened yet.
When I bought mine, I was excited to get a portable gaming device that I could also play movies on ...
When I bought mine, I was excited to get a portable gaming device that I could also play movies on during road trips. I'm not all that excited, now.
Problem 1: Not enough games.
Oh, sure, there are games out there, but the variety is horrible. Ooh, gee, ANOTHER driving game! Ooh, gee, ANOTHER sports game! Whoopee. C'mon, we can only take so much of a couple genres! Puzzle games? Sure, Lumines is supposedly very good, but I can't help but feel games like that are a waste of the PSP's potential, and therefore a waste of my time and money. In the end, when it comes to the games out there that are not sports or driving games, they pretty much just enhance the Yawn Factor. They are very mediocre games, if not flat out poor. Sure, it's early yet, but the buyer's remorse is definitely high, right now. We don't really have a definitive "killer app," and we need one terribly.
Problem 2: Transferring movies
Could Sony have made this any more of a pain in the arse? Sure, there are free tools out there that get the job done, but they often don't do it as efficiently as they could or should. Sony promised us a program to do it (I believe they promised it would only cost $20, too), but it's long overdue. Why? Gee... can anyone say "UMD movies"? Sony pushing their proprietary format shows that they just want to gouge us, and it was a huge mistake. Anyone who buys movies in this format is wasting their money, IMO. I already own over 200 movies on DVD format; why should I spend money to buy them all over again on UMD?? Will even Sony's own video-transfer software give us the quality it should? Of course it won't, because they won't want your fair-use home-transferred movies to look as good as their UMD movies, because they want you to pay for the quality by buying the UMD instead. What if it's a movie I don't own yet? I'd still much sooner buy it on DVD than on UMD, since I can't play UMD movies on my home theatre system.
Problem 3: Watching movies/playing games in the car
".... .... . ... .. ... . ..... .. .... .. . ..... ... . . . .... . . .. .... . ... . .. .. .. ..." That's what you hear from the PSP's pitiful speakers, even at full volume, even with headphones. External amplified speakers? FM transmitters? Sure, they are out there, but why should we have to go through the expense? Even without road noise, you could be at home on the couch and still have to turn the volume all the way up in order to hear it.
As it stands, if there isn't a great improvement in PSP games and features soon, I'll be making use of the extended/trade-up warranty I got at Best Buy when the next-gen consoles come out (and not necessarily for the PS3).
Still, it's better than the NintendoDS situation. You would not believe how many used DS'es they have for sale at my local GameStop. I have yet to see a used PSP for sale.
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by ack-thbbft (see profile) -
July 8, 2005
8 out of 10 - Excellent Good System -- A Few Concerns
Ok, I have my PSP and I'm thrilled. I've sold my PS2 because I rarely use it, but ...
Ok, I have my PSP and I'm thrilled. I've sold my PS2 because I rarely use it, but now when I travel or do want to play a game I have a very good system. First and formost people need to remember, the PSP is a gaming system. And it does that extremely well. I know, the games are the same as the PS2, blah, blah, blah. But for me, that's what I want. I want to be able to travel and play games that are very similar to the PS2. So as a gaming system this is is great. The problem I have is SONY has tried to market it right out of the gate as an Entertainment system. And while it can be ... to do so will cost a bit. So it's not for everyone. Right now Memory Sticks cost a lot compared to other media storage cards. I know because I'm a photographer and have a pro Canon Digital SLR. So I know how much Compact Flash has come down in price. But look at it this way. If the PSP gains a lot of popularity, more people will want the Memory Sticks, and that means more production and cost will come down. So yes, right now Memory Sticks are a bit steep, but by the holidays we'll probably see them for a lot cheaper. My other only real concern is the UMD. It is very similar to the MiniDisc. Now I've owed 3 MiniDisc players ... right from the big black MZ-1 to the one I use now the MZ-707. The thing with these are the drives are very delicate. I can't tell you how mnay times I've had them in for repairs because it refuses to read disks. And it's not like I don't have protective cases and the whole outfit. It's just they are delicate. So my advise, buy extra warrenty. It has saved me so many times. If you don't use it great. But if you do need it ... it pays for itself the very first time. My newest Minidisc player has yet to require fixing and I've had it over a year, but I still have the 5 yera warrenty. So yes there are a few concerns about the PSP, but overall this thing is great. I want it to play games while I'm on the road, and it delivers big time for that. In the coming years it will probably be a good alerternative for a portable media centre once prices go down (but what right now offers you the choice of games, movies, music, and soon web browsing al in 1? -- just costs a fair penny to enjoy all that right now) But for now it is a great gaming system, and again, first and foremost that is what it's intended for.
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by photoman33 (see profile) -
March 29, 2005
5 out of 10 - Average Poor game library, extremely short battery life, and price takes its toll
The PSP does not look good. Good hardware and design, but horrendus titles and battery life. Say you want to ...
The PSP does not look good. Good hardware and design, but horrendus titles and battery life. Say you want to take a plane trip. It won't last from the time you sit waiting to board and the whole flight if the plane trip takes 3 hours since the battery has been said to last 3.5 hours. The graphics are good, but the games are terrible(and at $50, bad price). It proves that good graphics doesn't make a good game. The movie player/music player capabilites sound good, but that is just more money to shell out for the memory stick($50 for 128 mb) and movies($20) to go along with it. The Nintendo DS, while it doesn't have amazing graphics, makes up for that with its fun and original first person gaming titles, innovative system capabilites like touch screen and microphone, and decent battery life, with a price that won't break the bank. If you want portable gaming, go with the DS.
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by threeball (see profile) -
March 1, 2005
4 out of 10 - Mediocre I give it about 5 months...
In theory, this thing is great.. but so is communism. Where to start... The prospect of Movies is nice, but ...
In theory, this thing is great.. but so is communism. Where to start... The prospect of Movies is nice, but I can garuntee you UMD will not catch on, it's pointless, the only upside to it is that it's small. UMD has less than half of the storage capacity of DVDs, and DVDs are a pretty convenient size for in-home viewing, so i cannot see people sacrificing the storage on a DVD for something that's smaller, therefore, UMD will probably be limited to PSP, and possibly some other portables, and i can't see the PSP having a large enough market to carry the UMD movie business. And the memory stick, nice, flash storage, but it's Sony's format, and it is more expensive, but this isn't MUCH of a problem, since SanDisk is making cheaper ones, and the PSP itself works as a card reader. The battery... on games with high-quality graphics, you've got about 2 and a half hours of play-time, which effectively defeats the whole "portable" aspect of it. The PSP is also not going to be successful as a music player, not at all... it is much bigger, and has a much lower capactiy than players that cost $50 more, an Ipod holds 20 gigs for $300, each 1gig memory stick costs $150, so multiply that by twenty, then add the $250 for the PSP itself... it's not gonna happen, not to mention that an Ipod is much smaller and easier to use than the PSP... aahhh yes, the file-transfering interface... have you heard anybody say anything good about it yet? nope, because it's crap... that's the only way to put it, it's crap... The only thing the PSP has over the DS is graphics, and even then, they're not MUCH better. The DS's touchscreen can be used in the future for Palm OS (keeping my fingers crossed), web browsing (ditto), and adds a lot to certain games. The DSs touch screen acts much more like an analog stick then the PSP's "analog" pad, which is only capable of moving in 8 directions... with the Play Yan coming for DS, which is said to have a better interface than the PSP, i can't see how anyone could prefer the PSP, it's going to fail in 5 months, it's a novelty, once the new-ness wears off, it'll be over.... anyone remeber the Sega Game Gear?
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by happynoodleboy (see profile) -
March 24, 2005
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and the games are great! (only have Japanese games at the moment) I find myself using the PSP more then my iPOD lately because it does everything I want it too and is still small enough to take anywhere.
