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PSP 3000 - worth it?

Satanic JesusSatanic Jesus Hi, I'm Liam!with broken glassesRegistered User regular
edited October 2008 in Games and Technology
Is it worth it to trade my psp slim for the 3000 when it's released?

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    LewiePLewieP Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    It's going to be £149/€199, you'll probably get less than half that for a trade in of an old console.

    It has a slightly better screen, a mic, and it will output onto TVs incapable of progressive scan (whereas previous models could only output in progressive scan).

    I am strongly inclined to say that it's not worth it for an upgrade unless any or all of those features are "must have" for you.

    LewieP on
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    wasted pixelswasted pixels Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    LewieP wrote: »
    It has a slightly better screen, a mic, and it will output onto TVs incapable of progressive scan (whereas previous models could only output in progressive scan).

    LewieP is even being pretty generous here. The difference in picture quality between the two screens is nowhere near as striking as Sony's "official" shots indicate. In fact, my gut feeling is that the biggest difference in picture quality -- the overall "vibrancy" -- is being tweaked at a firmware level. There's no difference between the "high" and "low" spectrum saturation, it just has richer mids, and that indicates a software-level tweak.
    psp3000_embed002a.jpg
    See what I mean? It looks like they just turned up the saturation on the top unit.

    The microphone will probably never be used for games (lest a publisher risk alienating the entire PSP install-base to date), and while a friend of mine had a nerdgasm at the thought of using his PSP for Skype, I don't see much appeal in that -- there's already a device in most people's pockets that lets them call their friends, and it doesn't tether them to wi-fi hotspots. ;)

    (My girlfriend just wanted to chime in here that the mic on the DS is "the most annoying part of the console", that "nobody likes using it", and "people don't play games that require it in public".)

    So what does that leave? Well, slightly nicer start and select buttons, and the option to use (lower-quality) composite cables instead of component. When you consider the tradeoff of spending a bundle and probably losing the option to play homebrew titles for the foreseeable future (especially given that Cave Story is the best game on the PSP), it's really, really hard to justify that upgrade.

    wasted pixels on
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    slash000slash000 Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    The mic, I presume, could be used in lieu of a headset for voice-chat enabled games like Socom or whatever.

    Ultimately, though, I agree that the 3k is not really that much of a step up to justify the selling of the slim and taking the loss in buying the 3k.



    Also - there was a rumor that the 3k had a slightly lesser battery life.. was that rumor ever actually confirmed or rebutted?

    slash000 on
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    wasted pixelswasted pixels Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    slash000 wrote: »
    Also - there was a rumor that the 3k had a slightly lesser battery life.. was that rumor ever actually confirmed or rebutted?

    Apparently the SCEA guy who blurted that out (John Koller, I think) caught hell from the mother office for that, he backpedaled shortly after by saying something to the effect of, "the screen uses more power, but our engineers in Japan have found some extra power savings elsewhere!"

    That said, I'd be willing to bet a round of beers that the PSP 3000 will indeed blow through the battery about 5% to 10% faster (or that they've underclocked the CPU or reduced the brightness of the screen to compensate). You don't just magically "find" power savings on the fifth iteration of a board.

    wasted pixels on
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    DeusfauxDeusfaux Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    I am upgrading for the mucho improved screen, and integrated mic.

    now i dont need to lug around the headset to skype on the fly.

    I love how the PSP is a skype phone now, and I can call anywhere in NA anytime for as long as I want for $3/ month

    Deusfaux on
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    LewiePLewieP Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    I should totally pick up an older model now for reduced....

    LewieP on
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    The_SpaniardThe_Spaniard It's never lupines Irvine, CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    edited September 2008

    The microphone will probably never be used for games (lest a publisher risk alienating the entire PSP install-base to date), and while a friend of mine had a nerdgasm at the thought of using his PSP for Skype, I don't see much appeal in that -- there's already a device in most people's pockets that lets them call their friends, and it doesn't tether them to wi-fi hotspots. ;)
    WRONG. I'd be in full agreement with you if a mic was a feature that waws impossible to have on the original one. For example if a new PSP model came out with a second thumbstick and all the new games coming out used it thus making the last models obsolete, BUT anybody can just go buy a cheep PSP mic and plug it into any of the older models so if anything more games might use mic features if it's built right into the system.

    The_Spaniard on
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    wasted pixelswasted pixels Registered User regular
    edited September 2008

    The microphone will probably never be used for games (lest a publisher risk alienating the entire PSP install-base to date), and while a friend of mine had a nerdgasm at the thought of using his PSP for Skype, I don't see much appeal in that -- there's already a device in most people's pockets that lets them call their friends, and it doesn't tether them to wi-fi hotspots. ;)
    WRONG. I'd be in full agreement with you if a mic was a feature that waws impossible to have on the original one. For example if a new PSP model came out with a second thumbstick and all the new games coming out used it thus making the last models obsolete, BUT anybody can just go buy a cheep PSP mic and plug it into any of the older models so if anything more games might use mic features if it's built right into the system.

    Wrong is a pretty bold word to use, there, chief. All caps and everything, man.

    wasted pixels on
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    wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Deusfaux wrote: »
    I am upgrading for the mucho improved screen, and integrated mic.

    now i dont need to lug around the headset to skype on the fly.

    I love how the PSP is a skype phone now, and I can call anywhere in NA anytime for as long as I want for $3/ month

    wow, sony/skype pimping much? You sound like a press release.

    I'd never use the integrated mic for skype in public anyway, you know, as the rest of the world can hear your entire conversation. Although I do admit I'd never use it for anything, because frankly, I don't trust having to find a Wifi hotspot to use it.

    if you have a PSP 2000, it's not worth the upgrade. I still have a PSP phat, but I rarely use it. If I used it more I'd probably upgrade to the 3000, but I won't get $200 worth out of the new PSP that the Phat doesn't already do for me.

    wunderbar on
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    The_SpaniardThe_Spaniard It's never lupines Irvine, CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    edited September 2008

    The microphone will probably never be used for games (lest a publisher risk alienating the entire PSP install-base to date), and while a friend of mine had a nerdgasm at the thought of using his PSP for Skype, I don't see much appeal in that -- there's already a device in most people's pockets that lets them call their friends, and it doesn't tether them to wi-fi hotspots. ;)
    WRONG. I'd be in full agreement with you if a mic was a feature that waws impossible to have on the original one. For example if a new PSP model came out with a second thumbstick and all the new games coming out used it thus making the last models obsolete, BUT anybody can just go buy a cheep PSP mic and plug it into any of the older models so if anything more games might use mic features if it's built right into the system.

    Wrong is a pretty bold word to use, there, chief. All caps and everything, man.
    You know, you're right. Sorry if I came off a bit strong. Let's kiss and make out.. err up. :winky:

    The_Spaniard on
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    PeregrineFalconPeregrineFalcon Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    LewieP wrote: »
    It's going to be £149/€199, you'll probably get less than half that for a trade in of an old console.

    It has a slightly better screen, a mic, and it will output onto TVs incapable of progressive scan (whereas previous models could only output in progressive scan).

    I am strongly inclined to say that it's not worth it for an upgrade unless any or all of those features are "must have" for you.

    Progressive scan or not, does the TV output no longer suck?

    PeregrineFalcon on
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    LewiePLewieP Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    LewieP wrote: »
    It's going to be £149/€199, you'll probably get less than half that for a trade in of an old console.

    It has a slightly better screen, a mic, and it will output onto TVs incapable of progressive scan (whereas previous models could only output in progressive scan).

    I am strongly inclined to say that it's not worth it for an upgrade unless any or all of those features are "must have" for you.

    Progressive scan or not, does the TV output no longer suck?

    I'm just reading from a press release, but I bet that's the first thing reviewers will look at when it releases.

    LewieP on
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    DeusfauxDeusfaux Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    wunderbar wrote: »
    Deusfaux wrote: »
    I am upgrading for the mucho improved screen, and integrated mic.

    now i dont need to lug around the headset to skype on the fly.

    I love how the PSP is a skype phone now, and I can call anywhere in NA anytime for as long as I want for $3/ month

    wow, sony/skype pimping much? You sound like a press release.

    I'd never use the integrated mic for skype in public anyway, you know, as the rest of the world can hear your entire conversation. Although I do admit I'd never use it for anything, because frankly, I don't trust having to find a Wifi hotspot to use it.

    if you have a PSP 2000, it's not worth the upgrade. I still have a PSP phat, but I rarely use it. If I used it more I'd probably upgrade to the 3000, but I won't get $200 worth out of the new PSP that the Phat doesn't already do for me.

    Somehow using the headset prevents people from hearing you speak vs using an integrated mic?

    Are you sure you thought that one all the way through?

    And gosh yes, finding hotspots in the city these days is soooo difficult.

    Maybe in Boise, Idaho.

    Deusfaux on
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    slash000slash000 Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    LewieP wrote: »
    It's going to be £149/€199, you'll probably get less than half that for a trade in of an old console.

    It has a slightly better screen, a mic, and it will output onto TVs incapable of progressive scan (whereas previous models could only output in progressive scan).

    I am strongly inclined to say that it's not worth it for an upgrade unless any or all of those features are "must have" for you.

    Progressive scan or not, does the TV output no longer suck?

    I wonder that too. I'm going to go ahead and presume that the TV-out will support interlaced output, but will still suck.

    Personally, TV out was a pretty important feature to me, and everyone talked about how great it is to have on the PSP. When I finally got one, boy was I disappointed by the feature. Everyone that had mentioned out nice it was to be able to TV-out the games had failed to mention that it only outputs to the center 40 percent of the screen.

    slash000 on
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    greeblegreeble Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Yeah if the TV output now includes a scaler for games I'll upgrade to the 3k. Otherwise I'll pass. I still find the TV output a nice feature, but I sure would like it better if it used the full screen.

    greeble on
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    -poe--poe- Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Deusfaux wrote: »
    wunderbar wrote: »
    Deusfaux wrote: »
    I am upgrading for the mucho improved screen, and integrated mic.

    now i dont need to lug around the headset to skype on the fly.

    I love how the PSP is a skype phone now, and I can call anywhere in NA anytime for as long as I want for $3/ month

    wow, sony/skype pimping much? You sound like a press release.

    I'd never use the integrated mic for skype in public anyway, you know, as the rest of the world can hear your entire conversation. Although I do admit I'd never use it for anything, because frankly, I don't trust having to find a Wifi hotspot to use it.

    if you have a PSP 2000, it's not worth the upgrade. I still have a PSP phat, but I rarely use it. If I used it more I'd probably upgrade to the 3000, but I won't get $200 worth out of the new PSP that the Phat doesn't already do for me.

    Somehow using the headset prevents people from hearing you speak vs using an integrated mic?

    Are you sure you thought that one all the way through?

    And gosh yes, finding hotspots in the city these days is soooo difficult.

    Maybe in Boise, Idaho.

    Nope, shitload in Boise. Maybe in Idaho City, where the Pioneer Cemetery is the big draw, but Boise's covered.

    -poe- on
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    MorinokoMorinoko Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Ok, what would you suggest to someone who doesn't own a PSP but is considering buying one?

    Wait for the PSP3000?

    Buy a PSP Slim?

    Buy a PSP / game bundle (God of War or Battlegrounds + PSP) ?

    Buy a DS? (sorry)

    Morinoko on
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    slash000slash000 Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    If I didn't already have a PSP, I'd probably wait and get the PSP3k.

    slash000 on
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    DredZedDredZed Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Yeah, my brother has an original PSP, which I enjoy when I get to play it. I've been holding off getting myself one, but I'll probably wind up picking up a 3000 sometime after it comes out.

    The good thing is, my brother is always fine with sharing his games, so I'll have full access to several games as soon as I get the thing, and can take my time picking out some good ones to buy for myself.

    DredZed on
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    The_SpaniardThe_Spaniard It's never lupines Irvine, CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    edited October 2008
    I just got lucky. Two year warranty on the PSP 2000 and the left trigger JUST stopped working very well when the 3000 was announced. I mean it was uncanny, I saw the 3000 and though heh that's interesting I'd get it if I didn't already have the 2000. Then I went to play a game and the left trigger stopped responding to all but the hardest button presses.

    The_Spaniard on
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    freakish lightfreakish light butterdick jones and his heavenly asshole machineRegistered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Morinoko wrote: »
    Ok, what would you suggest to someone who doesn't own a PSP but is considering buying one?

    Wait for the PSP3000?

    Buy a PSP Slim?

    Buy a PSP / game bundle (God of War or Battlegrounds + PSP) ?

    Buy a DS? (sorry)

    I went with a PSP fat, used, for $120. The USB connector on mine is loose (as in it disconnects a few times every second and is unusable) so I'll probably have to take it back. The d-pad also feels loose, but that might be a system feature and not a failing of this one. Other than that, it's not too bad. The glue they use from the stickers is kind of gooey, though (and directly on the screen), so I had to scrub at it for about a minute to get all the traces off.

    Otherwise, it works fine. It's a very slick device, and there's no stylus to lose like with my DS. Colors are nice and vibrant, too, and it's hard to get used to such a wide display after the tiny dual screens thing. Overall I enjoy it so far, and as soon as I get custom firmware on it it'll probably be that much better.

    My only other minor gripe is that this memory stick is exactly the length of my card reader, so I have to use a pair of tweezers to get it out.

    freakish light on
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    LupintheThirdLupintheThird Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    -poe- wrote: »
    Deusfaux wrote: »

    Somehow using the headset prevents people from hearing you speak vs using an integrated mic?

    Are you sure you thought that one all the way through?

    And gosh yes, finding hotspots in the city these days is soooo difficult.

    Maybe in Boise, Idaho.

    Nope, shitload in Boise. Maybe in Idaho City, where the Pioneer Cemetery is the big draw, but Boise's covered.

    Idaho City barely has cell phone reception, much less hotspots. :P

    And seconded on the Boise matter.

    LupintheThird on
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