Ten Reasons Why You Should Not Buy a PSP

Save Your Money

Sandra K. Lee
Sandra K. Lee, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Sep 9, 2006 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
You like to play video games, huh? If only you could play them anywhere instead of being stuck at home. Well, with Sony's PSP you can take it with you, but there's a price - a BIG one. And frankly, for what Sony is charging for the privilege to play Gran Turismo and other games in the car, the back of a lecture hall or even the great outdoors, I think you're better off without it.

I'm not comparing PSP strictly to other portable games and video players. I'm simply saying that you should wait for a company to come up with a handheld that won't end up costing as much as a decent home entertainment system. (Buy an entertainment system instead and you'll prefer staying home to play games).

Below are the top 10 reasons I think you're better off saving your money or spending it elsewhere:

10.The screen is tiny relative to the detail of the games you're playing, making it difficult to play the more visually complex games. It's sometimes hard to follow the action, particularly in first-person games, because things are moving off your field of vision.

9.The contrast settings are too limited and you are often battling glare.

8.The screen gets marked up very easily and is prone to scratching. A scratched screen does not help when you are trying to get the bad guy.

7.The biggest gripe I have (that will carry into the next several reasons) is that Sony is ripping you off. You spend at least $199 on the PSP and then you have to immediately buy a memory stick to be able to even play a game.

6.Sony knows they're ripping you off. For $250, they will gladly sell you a memory card (32 MB) and a lovely carrying case along with the PSP. But why would you spend the extra $50 to get a 32 MB card from the Sony "value pack," when you can buy a 256 MB card separately for $40?

5.None of your current PlayStation games will work. You will need to buy all new games. With games retailing for about $40, you'd be spending $200 to buy just five - a meager collection.

4.If you want to play movies, you need to spend even MORE money. You could choose to spend all your spare time converting movies manually on a PC but then you would need to buy a program to convert your current DVDs into a format that the PSP can play.

3.You also need to buy memory cards to save those movies (in addition to the one you had to buy to be able to play a game).

2.The unit is too small and there are too many buttons spaced closely together for an adult to play without getting aggravated. Of course, you could spend more money to buy the grip extensions. If you haven't been put off by anything I've said so far, then at least buy the PSP accessory kit that includes a magnifying glass (to enlarge that small screen), headphones, speakers, the grip extensions and more for $40.

1.Ok. So you wanted to be able to take the gaming with you, but how portable is it really? Think of all the stuff you have to lug around - the unit, games, etc.

Bottom line - For the money you'd spend on a PSP, conversion program, memory sticks, movies and games (nearly $500), you'd be able to buy a Dell laptop (base model going for $485) or you'd be more than halfway towards a decent laptop. And the laptop can be used for more than just games and movies.


Read another take on the topic -The Portable Gaming War.

Published by Sandra K. Lee

A former full-time newspaper writer & animal shelter worker., Sandra now writes freelance, manages ParenthoodNJ.com and chases after her children.  View profile

  • Your Play Station games won't work. You'll need to buy all new games.
  • If you must buy PSP, don't buy the Value Pack. Get a memory card elsewhere
  • Games aren't the only things you'll need to buy.
According to www.wikepedia.com, the top-selling PSP game is Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.

58 Comments

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  • serte4/9/2011

    it just sucks

  • Bravo11/16/2006

    This article simply sucks - LOL
    1. small screen? Its fricking HUGE. WAKE UP! The technology behind the thing is breath taking, it looks awesome, it has great capability.
    2. Compare a PORTABLE gaming CONSOLE to a LAPTOP... this made my day... Its like I would say -don't buy a mobile, choose a TV, better screen etc
    3. "None of your current PlayStation games will work. You will need to buy all new games." Of course it can't run PS2 games, its just one step nehind it. But PS games will work in the near future. Yes, you heard that from me first LOL
    4. learn to use links and spell ffs

    There are OTHER reasons not to buy a psp - the ones you gave are so wrong and stupid it can give you a headache.
    1. Because Sony is stupid - and instead of allowing homebrew and chooseing miniDVD or at least launching an UMD writer - they chose to screw themselves.
    2. Because many of the games released for the PSP are mainly PORTS and not original games (well lately many great games came for the PSP so

  • adrondube11/11/2006

    ...small DVD's versus their new UMD format. Granted, the UMD's are a little smaller, but the small little DVD's are too. If you would have been able to burn your own DVD's to disc from your PC and watch them on your PSP, the PSP would have sold mega millions and made Sony an infinite amount of money. They were greedy and wanted to make money off of the UMD format and memory cards. memory cards would have still sold fairly well since they are so small and would have been used for gaming data. They screwed up. But, it's amazing and an incredible buy none the less. Sandra, wake up.

  • adrondube11/11/2006

    Did this reviewer have the PSP for just a few hours? Sandra is out of her mind. From both an aesthetic and technical standpoint, the PSP is unbelievable. Small screen? Are you CRAZY? This thing's screen is the first thing that WOWS you. Amazing widescreen with great color, detail, and viewing angles. Okay...here's a class in visuals. Non-glare screens do not produce pure blacks (or the perception of pure black). The PSP's screen in reflective so that true blacks are achieved, much like Dell and HP and all laptops are adopting. It started, from an exposure point of view, right here with the PSP and the great reviews of it's screen. In the palm of your hand is a cornucopia of technological marvels. Media center, awesome gamer (almost PS2 quality), MP3 player, internet browser with wifi, file storage, and it's all portable! I LOVE MY PSP. It draws so much attention when people see it. They say, I've gotta have one. Have you played any games on this thing? Sony's only screwup was not using

  • Duh!10/6/2006

    Uhm... surely, the woman did write an interesting review and she's entitled to her opinion. For those that bash what she said... keep in mind, this is an article written to explain to those who don't know. She obviously can't say, "Gee, here's where to obtain illegal software to save you money." She'd lose her job! Shesh!

  • Your Mama10/1/2006

    It cut me off:

    I get the feeling that a lot of these "haters" that commented negatively to your entry are probably wealthy. Either they get free money from their parents or they actually make a good amount of money in their jobs. But let's be realistic, not everyone can afford to go out and spend $300-500 for a mini entertainment system to ignore their girlfriends with. (which I'm sure they don't have...lol.)

    For those of us who are poor, I think it's best to just stick with our desktops, ps2's, gba sp, or nds.

    For all you rich fucks, go buy a hooker.

  • YourMama10/1/2006

    I completely agree with you, Sandra! All these other mofo's can suck it.

    I know a lot of people that have dished out some serious cash for a PSP, Games, Movies, etc... but the amount of time they actually spend using the PSP is nothing compared to the amount of time they spend on their laptops or desktops playing WOW.

    The PSP is a great idea, it's technology is a lot more advanced than Nintendo, but it does come with a cost.

    If someone were to give me one for free, I' d have no problem with it. But I'm not spending hundreds of dollars for it, when I could just save for a decent laptop to game on (and write term papers).

    And does the PSP have video in/out? If it does that would make it cooler, so you can play/watch on your tele...but if it doesn't, that's more of a reason not to own one.

    I get the feeling that a lot of these "haters" that commented negatively to your entry are probably wealthy. Either they get free money from their parents or they actually make a

  • Sha Dough9/26/2006

    I agree with some of it but here's some points I disagree with...
    -The screen is one of the biggest for a handheld system.
    -A scratched screen does get annoying but can be easily prevented with a screen protectore pack no more than $10
    -A memory stick is not required to play games, it's just used to save data if the game requires it. 1 Gigabyte(1000M) memory sticks are commonly found between $30-$40.
    -Obviously none of your current playstation games work...those are full-sized CDs. If the PSP were to use those it would be very large.
    Also you don't have to buy games, back-ups of full games (known as ISOs) can be found over the internet for free download.
    -There are many converters out there (many of which are free), that can convert videos to play on the PSP. You just need to find an MP4 converter.
    -Spacing between the buttons are only a problem if you have rather thick fingers.
    All in all the only things that will cost you are $200 for the PSP and $30-$40 on a good size

  • you poopoo head9/15/2006

    you know nothign about the psp. you have no clue. every reason was riduculous. a dell laptop that cheap is horrible.

  • haha9/14/2006

    you nkow nothing of a psp really do you. huh that value pack also had headohones which put the prcie more and the strap. also you can get over GB's for a memory stick for that price.
    everyone lol

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