It is no secret that since its launch on March 24th, 2005 the PSP has had a less than stellar reception. Plagued by underwhelming software choices and a difficult to design for control scheme, the PSP failed to live up to its lofty promises…or did it?
My relationship with the PSP started in Dubai. Yes thats right, Dubai. I was stationed aboard CVN-65, otherwise known as the USS Enterprise. Needless to say, six months on a carrier can get a bit boring, and sometimes you just need to escape. I brought a laptop with me, but it was a bit difficult to use it while laying down in my rack.
So when we pulled into port, my first task was to find something better. After browsing one of the world's largest malls, which includes an indoor ski slope — in the desert — I found a store aptly named "Electronics". I bought a PSP and some games, which I later found out were bootlegged. Go figure. I also bought what I thought was an iPhone, but it does not quite match up.
OK, so I got owned by crafty Chinese made fakes, but the PSP is real and the games actually work so I was happy with it.
Anyways, after my tour of duty I did not find much use for the PSP so it went into a box. Fast forward to December 2009, marriage, honeymoon and buying a house. Moved into said house and unpacked and there she was, my ol' PSP. Mostly out of curiosity I plugged it into my computer, downloaded the Media Go thing for the PlayStation Store, and was off and downloading demos and free stuff.
One of the demos was Pixel Junk: Monsters, and I was hooked. Little Big Planet and God of War Chains of Olympus were soon to follow as I don't own a PS3 and these are my first exposures to these games.
Suddenly I am in love with my PSP, which still has amazing graphics — and with recent updates — has some cool features like the comic reader and the bar style OS.
Then came the realization that I can download old PS1 games and suddenly I am fighting Soldier again in FF7.
In the move I also found an original Gameboy, which is amazingly huge and comically colorless.
Sony sometimes stumbles out of the gate, but the longevity of their products is amazing. Consider the PS2 and you will see what I mean.
So my question is this Bitmobbers: Have you given your PSP a second — or perhaps fifth — chance lately?
