I have a confession to make.
I adore the PS Vita in all its shiny glory and potential. Yet the PSP was something I missed out on, due to lack of funds and a love of Pokémon over JRPGs. But then I started to hear whispers.
"Final Fantasy VII is in the Playstation Store," the whispers said. "You can get the old PS1 games for the PSP, all of the ones that cost 100+ nowadays."
"But the Vita is $300," I replied. "I can't afford it and the new computer that unfortunate circumstances resulted in my getting. The frequent bluescreening, the inability to play new games... I couldn't deal with my old computer, and that means no PS Vita until its price lowers."
"FFVII... FFVII...." The internet tempted me, but I prevailed.
And then came Black Friday, the blackest of all Fridays, the one where the lure of material things rises from the depths of Hell to seduce the weak.
I knew the PSP would have a major sale on this day, since it is on its way out the door now that the Vita is on its merry way. So after frequent, daily searching and scouring, I finally managed to land an extremely good deal on a PSP. It arrived in the mail, and I russled up a rare hard copy of Persona for it thanks to my friendly neighborhood GameStop, and then it occurred to me that Xmas is only a couple weeks away.
"I should probably wait," I muttered grumpily, and closed Media Go, Playstation's version of Steam, on my computer. I put the PSP materials in a box, and will be waiting until Xmas.
Along the way, I learned a few facts about both the Vita and the PSP that bear discussion, since it required lots of googling and different sources for me to figure them out. There was never one handy source for them, and that's my intention: to make one source for all the necessary information.
PS Vita Fact of the Day: UMD is not supported. This means that the PS Vita will not play your UMD movies or games. In other words, keep your PSP. Although the Playstation Store is good for game downloads, it's not comprehensive. Sony plans on offering a way to transfer UMD to their new format, but it will cost you. Have fun paying twice for your games, kids. Much better to keep your PSP.
Now, for a few PSP basics:
1) The PSP does not have a hard drive. For some reason, I was always under the distinct impression that it did, but this assumption was wrong. Like the PS2, PSP requires a memory card to save games. What the PSP uses is a Memory Stick Duo or Memory Stick Pro Duo. Both Sony and Sandisk make quality products for this. Do not get them in an actual store; they are far too expensive. The best deal is to get the Sandisk 4GB or 8GB from Amazon. If you have extra cash, go for a higher GB size, especially if you plan to download lots of games or store movies/tv shows.
2) The PSP does not come with a USB cable. To download anything from the Playstation Store, you will need a USB cable. The PSP must be attached to the computer while downloading and must have a Memory Stick Duo in at the time of download. The PSP uses a camera cable, with standard USB on one end and smaller USB on the other. I have a Sony e-reader USB cable; this works perfectly.
3) You will want headphones. Though the speakers are excellent, headphones are still the way to go. This is true of pretty much any gaming. Invest in a pair of Skullcandy Chops Buds for super portability and durability. All headphones will break eventually; Skullcandy's warranty is excellent and they will replace them, no questions asked, the moment you send them in.
4) The PSP is extremely prone to pick up fingerprints. I only handled mine briefly to put in the memory card and set it up, but it still bears the scars of my touch. Thus, you will probably want something like a silicone cover as well as a carrying case to keep the screen from scratching. Beware with the silicone cover that I linked-- although I don't mind the things warned in the reviews, you might, so read the reviews first. The crystal case or aluminum case might be more your thing. The PSP 3000 is also extremely light, so anything to give it more bulk is welcome.
And that concludes everything you need to know to get your PSP up and running! Enjoy your new portable gaming lifestyle.
I named the system Cherubim, to match my desktop Seraphim. What'd you name yours? :)
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