First Thoughts on PSP

Ok...my first thought since getting GTA yesterday are quite positive. I think the PSP is a wonderfully powerful device capable of pulling off what no other handheld has managed to do thus far. A little like the PS1 did to the other consoles of its time (Mega Drive/Dreamcast, N64). The technical achievement that GTA has pulled off on the PSP is absolutely amazing...the whole city from GTA 3 is contained with no load up problems at all. Sure, the graphics are not as sharp as they could be but its a handheld and so should be examined in that light.

Anywayz...getting back to the PSP. I first thought that the analog stick was some sort of speaker. I was like woah...the speaker on here is dodgy...it moves about. Then when I couldn't move the car in GTA...I tried it and was surprised that it allowed me to make moves using it. I think it would have been better if they had designed the analog stick in such a way that it hides inside the hole that it is currently in. Then when someone wants to play a game with the analog stick they would press it down...and out would pop up a small joystick. Something like a miniature version of the PS2 analog stick...but with a bigger sized head would be more useful than what they currently offer. At least with something like that...the user would get feedback on exactly how far across they have pushed the analog stick.

The screen is of a very high quality...the colour of the games really comes out well. I found that the graphics at the start of GTA...the cartoon style graphics...show up really well. I'd love to see a cell shader game like XIII from the PC. Although I doubt very much if something like that can be rendered...or even pre-rendered for the PSP. As with most people I absolutely love the 16:9 widescreen...It adds to the game in a very positive way....you have the feeling like you are in some sort of interactive movie.

The control I think sux for a handheld. The direction buttons are too far apart from each other to get any proper direction. What I mean by that is that if I want to go in the up-right direction you find that you can't do it easily. The up and right buttons are too far apart from each other to do it. Perhaps its just that I have smaller hands than most people...but since Sony often design consoles for japs (who have small hands) they usually make these things work for people like me. A better design would have been to had a 8 way directional pad where the entire circle is a big connected group of buttons. That would make turning in GTA much easier. I'm not sure if there is any controller feedback in the PSP...like the PS2 where pressing it harder is different from just tapping it. Would be a useful addition.

That's all for now...I will write more...must rush off...must...play....GTA.... :)