PSP3000 series - my thoughts

As announced some time ago here are my thoughts on the new PSP in my own cheesy-humour style. I only meant to write a quick review but somehow it ended up about 500 words so here we go...

Review on
SONY PSP 3000 series

It was earlier this week and with a release date two days later then expected that I came to lay my eager hands on a new Slim&Lite PSP-model 3003 - the newest model in a series of consoles by the name of Playstation Portable or PSP for those who prefer abbreviations. The two-hour charge time gave me an excuse to read the instructions before I got carried away and by golly they were boring but they did explain the off/hold/on switch that would otherwise have baffled even the likes of myself.

The first port-of-call is the brighter screen, which is immediately noticeable, although that may be because the screen is one of the first things one looks at after switching a games console on, one may also notice that this does make the console a lot easier to use and in terms of being eco-friendly the console is saved via the use of improved equipment elsewhere in the machine. This is followed by the well placed controls and the headphone socket that's easily reached at the bottom of the machine (presuming it's not upside-down like I held it initially). The built-in microphone however seems to be very well hidden, unless it's integrated into the analog stick I can't find it anywhere. The console itself is lightweight and a nice size for large jacket pockets while being big enough not to slip through thin fingers. The smoothly shaped case fits into the insides of hands with ease, it also comes in two different colours.

Gameplay is occasionally disturbed by the noisy drive but except from that it runs smoothly and is much improved from some older handheld consoles. There are no exclusive games as yet but the good news is that any existing PSP game will work on this model. The 4.3' screen can display a fair 24bit colour depth and the stereo sound quality is very good.

All of the features one would expect from a modern games console are present here including a wireless LAN capability, room for an attachable camera, up to 4GB removable storage media and a huge array of system options like the ever annoying/useful parental controls and the option to read the UMD's automatically allowing you to keep one in the drive without worry that it'll start itself up at any moment. Another clever option is the ability to change the background colour on the console's main menu, it can even be set to change by itself every month.

Overall to ask if this console is worth buying, well if you're new to the PSP or your old one looks like mechanical mashed potato wrapped around a set of headphones then this is a nice machine and makes a good handheld console, however if you have a working PSP it's hardly worth the £150+ for a new model boasting on the box an enhanced screen and a built-in microphone.

Console overall : 7.5/10





Who else has a new model and what are your opinions?