PSP 3000: Another minor PSP upgrade
Additional coverage: Sony tries to dispel PSP 3000's battery issues
Sony officially unveiled the PSP 3000 Wednesday at the Leipzig Games Convention in Germany, confirming rumors that had popped up online in recent weeks. But before you get excited (or--if you just bought a PSP--exasperated), note that this appears to be an even more subtle upgrade than the slimmed-down PSP 2000 that debuted in September 2007. The main changes, according to Sony:
- An antireflective screen, "which enables users to see the screen more clearly in well-lit places, even when used outdoors." [Update (08/21/2008): According to Engadget Japan (as translated by sister site PSPfanboy), the screen improvements don't stop at the antireflective screen. Sony has apparently also doubled the response time, improved the contrast ratio, and bumped up the color gamut.]
- A built-in microphone, which will allow users to use voice features in certain games and use the PSP's built-in Skype functionality without the need for a mic-enabled headset.
- The addition of 480i output for gameplay when the PSP is connected to a TV screen via a composite or S-Video cable. (The previous model only allowed playback at 480p, effectively restricting the usefulness of the feature to newer HDTVs with component video inputs.)
The PSP 3000 is expected to hit stores worldwide (Japan, Asia, North America, and Europe) in October, with some markets getting up to three colors: black, pearl white, and silver. Pricing and bundles weren't disclosed, but we're guessing Sony will stick with the tried and true $169 barebones/$199 bundle price points that have helped propel the handheld's strong sales.
Personally, if the antireflective screen works as advertised, I might actually be tempted to upgrade--but reflective screens are a major pet peeve of mine. What do you think: is the PSP 3000 a worthwhile upgrade, or are you still holding out for the "real" PSP 2? Or are you a hard-core DS fan instead--or possibly using the iPhone/iPod Touch as your portable gaming platform of choice?
Source: PR Newswire (Sony press release)
On Sale Now: $169.97 - $169.99
View the latest prices for Sony PSP 3000 (black)
John P. Falcone covers home theater and network entertainment products. He's been writing for CNET since 2002. 
I won't upgrade till the "PSP 2" comes out.
Save your money guys why buy this version just because the screen doesn't reflect and the video output at 480i come one it's a freeking handheld gaming device not a PS3. No need to connect to a TV
Save your money guys why buy this version just because the screen doesn't reflect and the video output at 480i come one it's a freeking handheld gaming device not a PS3. No need to connect to a TV
The speaker is almost a slap in the face to folks. It's like, "why wasn't this here from the get-go"?. Some folks bought SOCOM just for the free headset.
480i output...I think that's ignorant. I'll be candid...there's no excuse for ANYONE not to be using a TV that at least has component inputs and supports 480p. No excuse at all. Some people have to get out of the Stone Age.
What's next, a second screen and "new stylus integration"?
The one upgrade I was really hoping for was a flash-enabled and full HTML with a larger cache browser update (in short, a better browser all together). The screen (reflective is fine--if anything, I prefer it)'s gorgeous, but the handling (unless I have that targus PDA keyboard around) is horrible and the capabilities of the browser are too easily limited.
So back to the actual question being asked of us, I think I'll wait for a true PSP 2. I'm still perfectly content with my first love (with some minor quirks on sound quality and video/web capabilities), remembering how I saved up the $300 I needed to get the imported giga pack.
..Oh, and I just remembered the feel of the PSP 2000. It felt like cheap crap.
Kick in the ability to add a hard drive. They don't need to sell it with one. Just let you add your own for content. Then I could replace my Archos and DS. Until then the PSP will just collect dust.
How is it original if it is copying the DS? I do agree that a 2nd analog stick would be a good idea. (just like almost everyone else who has a PSP) You want it to be a Nintendo DS and a media player. A lot of People who have a PSP don't want basically a DS. They're marketed to different people. And I think the DS is an inferior system. :)
Better yet, make an HDTV with a ps3 built into it.
Despite the PSP's flaws, I still like it better than the DS. The PSP is a better value IMO. It crams a lot of useful features into something that's only $20 more than the DS. I actually do use it daily as an PMP. Good audio quality, expandable storage, and I can easily stream media to it from my PC or PS3. Sony does need to start working on the PSP2 though if they haven't already. I give the PSP a five year life tops as a gaming machine. It's pretty much maxed out as it is now.
Aside from RPGs, my other reason for even buying a DS at all was Castlevania. Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin did not disappoint. The new Order of Ecclesia probably won't either. If you're a fan of the Symphony Of The Night style of Castlevania, then those three are probably for you.
But yes, the DS is nowhere close to the PSP, and yet it's winning. The PSP has a better retail game lineup, emulators for classic games, and can play just about every PSX game. How is the DS beathing it? No surprise I guess. People usually make the worst choice when given one. VHS over Beta, x86 over RISC, IBM over Amiga, Genesis over Turbografx, PS2 over Dreamcast (Sega's bad karma for beating the Turbo?), Apple iPod over Cowon X5L, DS over PSP, Wii over PS3, don't even get me started on this last Presidential election (I guess it's really true that those who can't remember the past are condemned to repeat it, and apparently no one remembers Jimmy Carter, lol). Fortunately at least the MiniDisc and SACD failed (the SACD replaced by Sony's own Dual Disc format oddly enough, guess they got tired of other people's open standards killing their proprietary formats and decided to do it to themselves for once), and both the DVD and Blu-ray succeeded against Divx Rental Discs and HD-DVD.
OK, sonymaster101, I've never seen so much BS in a long time. So, optic drives are safer theoretically because they can't be changed? The fact that the data is permanent is a weakness unto itself. You've got a digital signature that might as well be carved in stone, it can be attacked until it's cracked because it can never change to avoid such detection. How many disc-based formats can't be copied again? None! Your knowledge of PSP history is a bit lacking as well, long before custom firmware there was homebrew such as FastLoader, UMD Dumper, and UMD Emulator. Then there were several apps that emulated newer firmware, to run newer games, like Devhook. You further demonstrate your ignorance in that you don't know that modified firmware is actually not being distributed. Only a custom installer, or in some cases, unbricker is being distributed. All of these require you to actually download and copy over the official Sony update file. The installer modifies the files while using the original update, so, Sony can't do anything technically, because none of their intellectual property is being distributed in a manner which is illegal. The update file containing the firmware remains unmodified. The end user modifies it when they run the installer or unbricker. And why would anyone in their right mind not have an unbricker after all, very handy in case some malicious code messes up your PSP, you can still reflash it. So it modifies the reflash, this is still private use, it's all on your PSP before any modification even happens. There's really no legal action Sony could take, so no, they're not at risk of being sued, lol.
Now as far as DS ROMs, they certainly aren't readable by a conventional PC, the DS cart slot certainly isn't in anyway conforming to anything easily readable by the PC. But they built in a weakness by including the GBA slot since the GBA was already hacked (and it was hacked so quickly because it was GB/GBC backwards-compatible, and the GB/GBC had been hacked long ago). To back up a DS cart, you need a GBA flash cart (or Slot 2 DS cart) and a dumper app. Compare that to running a piece of homebrew called FastLoader, or switching the USB port to UMD mode and connecting via USB and reading the ISO directly from your PC. Which is easier to copy again?
And no, DS games aren't easier to find, I can find any game for either system quite easily. You won't find a torrent containing every game for PSP like you will for the DS, but that is because of the smaller size of cartridge-based games. Rest assured, I can find any PSP game I want, if you can't, that just means you don't know where to look.
And about it being harder to play DS games, how is that? Copy ROMs to a Micro SD card, stick Micro SD card in Slot 1 device, stick Slot 1 device in DS, play. Yeah, really difficult. My guess is you just haven't been looking for said device very hard, they're sold by many online stores. Now if you started with a a PSP 1000 running 1.50 to begin with, as I did, chances are you didn't have to work very hard to install UMD Emulator, custom firmware, etc. You just copied it over and it worked. If it came with something higher, well, you had to go through a much more complicated process of upgrading and downgrading via a complicated procedure that uses exploits in JPEG files that cause a buffer overflow just to get it to 1.50 so you could then install the custom firmware, which is a far more complicated procedure than dragging and dropping DS ROMs to a Micro SD card. If you're a latecomer to the PSP scene, you actually had to buy a service battery and make a Pandora memory stick just so you could put the device in service mode and reflash it, which is definitely way more complicated than copying files to a Micro SD card for use in a DS Slot 1 device.
- by jordosbaloney August 21, 2008 8:36 AM PDT
- People are acting surprised that Sony has only made minor upgrades throughout the life of the PSP. It's a marketing strategy that all products - especially electronics - use. Companies use it to keep consumers buying the same product, sometimes repeatedly, throughout its planned lifecycle. Sony is just tryin to squeeze every last penny it can get out of the PSP, just like it's doing with the PS2.
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- by krose161 October 15, 2008 2:39 PM PDT
- i was thinking the same thing as i was reading the comments, sony is just tryin to squeeze every last penny out of consumers. its a marketing ploy. i also think that they should sell that cammera in the us that they only sell in japan.
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