PlayStation Portable 3000 Core Pack System - Piano Black

I must admit for a long time I was not a fan of portable systems. I much prefer playing games on my PC or a big screen TV with the 360 or ps3. Since the mid 80's I have loved playing video games, and over time the Japanese Role Playing game, and Strategy role playing games became my favorite. The problem this generation was that for the most part they were few and far between on the 360/ps3. Sure you had exceptions like Disgaea, Valkyria Chronicles and Lost Odyssey. However, it was nothing like the SNES through the ps2 era. While I love some WRPGs like Skyrim and Dragon Age, I was craving some good old fashioned turn based goodness.For a long time I was noticing decent games in those genres appearing on the PSP. I finally broke down this year and decided to try a portable system, and the PSP had an attractive library of games I wanted. The debate then was should I buy the Vita or the PSP? While the Vita certainly looked great, the library was pretty small and the memory cards were quite pricey. A few games I was interested in were also not available on PSN as a download, and so were only available on disc. I decided to go with the PSP, and perhaps I would upgrade to a Vita in the future when the system had more games available.For those like me who enjoy a JRPG, or SRPG, you have some good games to choose from. Lunar, Jeanne D Arc, Final Fantasy Tactics, Gungnir, Tactics Ogre, Brave Story, Valkyria Chronicles 2, Disgaea 1 and 2, Wild Arms XF, and Growlanser are just some examples. Of course some of those are found on earlier systems, but they often had upgrades unique to the PSP version. Plus they are sometimes quite a bit cheaper than trying to find the game on an older system. I also love the fact that many good ps1 games are available on PSN and can be played on either the ps3 or PSP. Many of the Square Enix, Atlus, and even Working Designs classics are available and play great on the PSP.Another benefit of the PSP being so late in its lifespan is the fact that many of the games can be bought for pretty cheap right now. Make sure to compare prices between the disc and download versions. Sometimes I have found the UMD is cheaper than buying it off PSN. While I am a bit old fashioned and prefer physical copies, I realize download games have many advantages. Like I mentioned before, some games are not available though on PSN. Hopefully they will continue to add more of the PSP collection in the future. I would definitely recommend spending a few extra bucks to get a travel case for the PSP, some headphones, and a decent size memory stick.(especially if you plan on downloading most games).I am definitely happy I finally decided to get a portable system. The great library of games will keep me busy for awhile especially when I am on long trips for a week or two. Even at home I find myself playing the PSP as much, if not more than my PC or consoles. I never thought that would happen.

I'll just start by saying that I've had multiple versions of the PSP since 2007. The first games I played were Lumines 2 and Metal Gear Acid 2. Loved them both and since then I've played Breath of Fire III and the Lunar 1 remake, FFTactics and a few others. The PSP is really amazing if you love RPGs and SRPGs, and also has a fair amount of good shooter and puzzle type games to rival even the mighty DS, which I own as well.I've used the PSP many times just as an MP3 player, also on bus rides as a movie player. It's a convenient device and is a pretty much full on mini entertainment center in your pocket. The screen is beautiful and the sound can be turned up pretty loud and sounds clear and audible. You can even access the internet albeit a clunky browser but it's surely been improved upon with the newer Playstation Vita (which I haven't played yet). I always found the user interface to be pretty convenient, and never really had any gripes with the main menu.Now on to the negatives, which I have a few. The UMDs are nice to look at and at first I had no problem with them, and didn't understand why everyone on the internet did. They are clunky and feel cheap, and they don't play well in the disk drives sometimes. I think this is the biggest flaw of the PSP and the DS definitely has it beat in this department. Next, load times. Some of the load times on PSP games(UMD) are just horrendous, and comparing it to the DS the DS again here has the advantage again with their cartridge based system.The systems battery life is also dismal in comparison to the DS, but in general I think it's OK, but could of definitely be improved upon. I would usually get about 5-8 hours out of normal game playing time. On my DS Lite and even XL I get about twice that. Other than those things I can't really think of anything else to complain about right now, and these complaints are pretty miniscule for me.I still love this system and have recently acquired a ton of new games for it to keep me busy for a long while. I give it five stars but if I had to grade it on a scale of 1-10 I would give it a 9. Thanks for reading!