[digitalwanderer]

Rather than keep bloating up every other PSP thread with questions I thought I'd post up a thread just for it.

I'm picking up a PSP for my son's 8th birthday on Monday, I was planning to get a value pack at either Gamestop or EB.

Any advice on which bundles has the best games? And what will I need to get to let my wife take it to work with her to watch shows on?

[Farid]

Take any bundle that contains Wipeout, Ridge Racer, Metal gear Acid, Untold Legend.
Take a screen protector too, while you're at it.

And for the video encoding:
http://www.pspvideo9.com/

There are other methods (Google is your friend), but this one is very simple.

[see colon]

if you are going to a brick and mortar EB they shouldn't be forcing a bundle at all. just pick up the system and whatever games you want.

ridge racer is probably still the best looking title out, from what i've seen. no game i've played so far has been stand out, they are all pretty decent for what they are.

[PiNkY]

I'd recommend metal gear acid, but definitly give it a rent before you buy it. If you're into turn based games it's pure crack imho!

[fallguy]

Ridge Racer.

[jvd]

Personaly , wait . Wait another 2 months and then buy it

[Xenus]

Whats in two months?

[jvd]

we have a 4th sku that says psp portable system and a price of 175$

We don't know what it is

We have a used sku , new sku and refurbished sku already .

[digitalwanderer]

Originally Posted by jvd

Personaly , wait . Wait another 2 months and then buy it

The PSP?!?

I must be misunderstanding you, or else you are really under appreciating on just how little 8 year olds care for two month delays on their birthday presents. :?

[jvd]

Hmm yea i guess u gotta get them one .
Just saying what i know

[digitalwanderer]

This 1Gb Pro Duo would work in a PSP, right?

(I think "Pro Duo" are the magic words...but I'd like to be sure. :? )

[Kolgar]

Yes, dw, it sure would work.

[digitalwanderer]

Thanks, but I just wimped out and ordered the 512Mb version for $80 shipped.

At least I know it'll work with it, and it's shipping tomorrow out of Chicago so it should be here Monday.

[Dave Baumann]

Well, after scouring the streets of Downtown LA for a PSP with no luck it to a wrong turn on the way back to my hotel from a driver for me to find a Gamestop that had them. I now have Ridge Racer and Wipeout - what else is good?

[jvd]

luminarys is fun . I"m not a puzzle person

[mech]

Lumines is AWESOME.

[hey69]

be carefull with screenprotectors. i had one with a Pelican screenprotector on it and it blurred the image quite a bit..
i dont know if thats normal with all screenprotectors but still...

[london-boy]

Originally Posted by digitalwanderer

This 1Gb Pro Duo would work in a PSP, right?

(I think "Pro Duo" are the magic words...but I'd like to be sure. :? )

Is it me or does Pro Duo sound like a name you could give to a brand of condoms?

[rabidrabbit]

Lumines is great, but I'm not that sure it would appeal to an 8 year old kid. It's basicaklly a very simple tetris style block puzzle game, but the little I got to play it yesterday (about 4 hours) it might be too difficult. But I did get better and better at it the more I played, although first I had difficulties finishing the first "skin".
At it's basic it can be a tad too repetitive, but it really is the music + visual style that is a very big part of it's appeal nad as you get better in it you do get more "at one" with the game, and that feels great.. another of those "zone" games.
If your kid is not into that kind of things and puzzle games there might be better alternatives.

Ridge Racer is very good too, and maybe more into your kids tastes. It has a very gentle learning curve, so as while the later stages are very very hard, there's a plenty to play through and fun to be had even if you're not a Ridge veteran.

Haven't really tried any other games, but that Legend (don't remember the whole name, but that PS2 Baldur's Gate type game) sounds like a game kids would like, not too demanding but a fun hack and slash game. A game that should be easy to pick up and play.

A 512 MB card should be good enough to hold three or four half hour tv episodes.
I have the British "Coupling" series that were originally about 700MB/episode avi, and encoded them with PSPVideo9 to about 120-150MB's each.

I could only fit one of them at a time to my 256MB card. The PSP allows you to use only 227MB, and if I tried to put two episodes on it it would've always exceeded the 227MB (nowm 226MB with a couple of game saves) limit by a couple of megabytes.
I didn't use the maximum quality PSPVideo9 setting, but some less. With max they would have been about 230-250MB.

With a fully charged battery I was able to watch 6 to 7 hours of video from Memory Stick.

[mech]

Lumines is great, but I'm not that sure it would appeal to an 8 year old kid.

I don't think Dave is 8

The PSP allows you to use only 227MB

That may just be the card...

256MB cards are usually only 244 meg anyway...

Hang on, why won't the PSP let you put more on? it shouldn't be a PSP limitation, you can put the movies on via a card reader and bypass the PSP altogether.

[digitalwanderer]

Originally Posted by DaveBaumann

Well, after scouring the streets of Downtown LA for a PSP with no luck it to a wrong turn on the way back to my hotel from a driver for me to find a Gamestop that had them. I now have Ridge Racer and Wipeout - what else is good?

COPYCAT!!!

Damn, you're in the US? How long will you be on this side of the pond? I quick flight out to LA just to freak you out might be fun....

Originally Posted by rabidrabbit

Lumines is great, but I'm not that sure it would appeal to an 8 year old kid. It's basicaklly a very simple tetris style block puzzle game, but the little I got to play it yesterday (about 4 hours) it might be too difficult. But I did get better and better at it the more I played, although first I had difficulties finishing the first "skin".
At it's basic it can be a tad too repetitive, but it really is the music + visual style that is a very big part of it's appeal nad as you get better in it you do get more "at one" with the game, and that feels great.. another of those "zone" games.
If your kid is not into that kind of things and puzzle games there might be better alternatives.

Ridge Racer is very good too, and maybe more into your kids tastes. It has a very gentle learning curve, so as while the later stages are very very hard, there's a plenty to play through and fun to be had even if you're not a Ridge veteran.

Haven't really tried any other games, but that Legend (don't remember the whole name, but that PS2 Baldur's Gate type game) sounds like a game kids would like, not too demanding but a fun hack and slash game. A game that should be easy to pick up and play.

A 512 MB card should be good enough to hold three or four half hour tv episodes.
I have the British "Coupling" series that were originally about 700MB/episode avi, and encoded them with PSPVideo9 to about 120-150MB's each.

I could only fit one of them at a time to my 256MB card. The PSP allows you to use only 227MB, and if I tried to put two episodes on it it would've always exceeded the 227MB (nowm 226MB with a couple of game saves) limit by a couple of megabytes.
I didn't use the maximum quality PSPVideo9 setting, but some less. With max they would have been about 230-250MB.

With a fully charged battery I was able to watch 6 to 7 hours of video from Memory Stick.

RabidRabbit I thank you from the bottom of my heart and most sincerly. This is exactly the kind of information I was hoping to get and you've really relieved me that I'm doing the right thing and it'll do what I want it to do.

The whole "PSP allows you to use only 227Mb" thing has me a tad worried I did some overkill on the memory card, but it's all good and I'm pretty sure I'll figure out what exactly you're talking about when I get it. ("Perhaps, perhaps.....perhaps." I love Coupling. )

[digitalwanderer]

Ok, Ridge Racer covers the racing genre...they got any fighting games similar to Tekken3 or SoulCalibur2 or anything out for it yet?

Oh and on that memory stick thingy:

Originally Posted by Digitalwanderer slutting it up at EB

Yup, I ordered myself a "Sony 512MB Memory Stick Pro DUO w/ MagicGate Technology" last night from MEMORY SUPPLIERS and they said if I put a link on my website for MEMORY SUPPLIERS they'd give me $5 off.

So I had to post up, sorry for the obvious ad-like and greedy self-interested nature of this post....but I'm a cheap bastard and I was glad to find what I was looking for at a good price and having it shipped out of Chicago for me on the same day. 8)

That's MEMORY SUPPLIERS , in case ya missed it.

I got paid $5us to post that at Elite Bastards, and I am now a professional poster. 8)

[mech]

Aaaaaaanyway, I fit 512mb on my PSP no worries

[darkblu]

Originally Posted by digitalwanderer

Ok, Ridge Racer covers the racing genre...they got any fighting games similar to Tekken3 or SoulCalibur2 or anything out for it yet?

darkstalker chronicles. i personally don't have it but i'm considering getting it, as it's got some good reviews plus is the only psp fighter for the time being.

btw, regarding memory sticks - if you intend to watch videos the pro is highly desirable - the non-pro ms has rather measly bandwidth.

you may also want to get the 'magic gate' flavor as that would allow you to liste to atrac files (and possibly other drm content in the future, for that matter), and it does not come at much of a cost either (if any).

[digitalwanderer]

Darkstalker Chronicles, got it.

BTW-I got a "Sony 512MB Memory Stick Pro DUO w/ MagicGate Technology"...so I think I'm safe and actually got the good one, right?