Handhelds and Me

by Steve "Slurms" Lichtsinn

I’ve never been much of a handheld gaming guy. I think it mostly has to do with how little I travel, and the lack of situations I’m in that would allow me enough time to bust out a game. On the few occasions I needed to travel for work purposes over the last few years, I’ve liked having my PSP. I got one when the 2000 series came out. At the time, I did debate getting a Nintendo DS instead. They were right about the same price, they both had games that I wanted to play, but when it came down to features, the Sony machine had the DS beat. Between better internet browsing, expandable memory, media capabilities and at the time upcoming features like Remote Play, I was sold. Plus, some of the exclusive titles that were either out or on their way really struck my fancy.

Then last year, I got my iPod touch. I bought a 16 gig version when they were insanely overpriced, but seeing my pops’ after he bought one made me want it like a crack fiend looking for the next hit. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve left this thing at home (I have 6 fingers on my left). It’s mostly filled with music, a handful of my favorite podcasts, a couple videos, and until recently when I needed to make some room, the first two seasons of Futurama. It also carries a slew of games. Yes, the tic-tacs of gaming. The once you pop, you can’t stop mini games that cost nothing or next to nothing which I’ve wasted more of my time on than I care to admit. Some of the games are good, most are bad, but all require less play time than any of my PSP games. Sure, you can put the PSP into sleep mode, essentially pausing it, but once I get into a battle on Final Fantasy Tactics, or start a series of races on Wipeout, I don’t want to stop. Then there’s the ease of portability. Obviously the iPod is much more easily taken on the run than the PSP. It’s easy to throw the touch into a pant or shirt pocket. Not so with the PSP. During the winter it’s not a big deal . I wear my Scott e-Vest most of the time when it’s cold out, so I have plenty of pockets to keep myself entertained. Wait…did that sound right?

I only own about 6 games for it, and none of them ever scream, “Play me!” . Escpecially at home, there’s just always something else I’d rather play. But now I’m being tempted. Ever since the PSP go was released, Sony has been putting a serious effort in getting games on the Playstation Network. I was stunned by the amount of games I saw as I went through the store last night. Some old PSone classics like Suikoden (for 6 bucks!) immediately grabbed my attention. It’s one of my favorite RPG’s, in fact I still own a PSone copy. Then when you see the amount of actual PSP games that were added to the store, it becomes even more apparent that I may be a poor man before the year is out. My only gripe is the cost. I really hope that Sony does a weekend sale on much like Stardock does with its Impulse buys, or like Valve does with its Steam Weekend sales. I know you pay for convenience with digital download, but I have a hard time picking up a game online when I can run a mile down the road and get it five or ten bucks cheaper.

I’d love to have a PSP go. I love the portability of it, and the 16 gigs of on board memory. I just can’t justify the $250 price tag. For 50 bucks more I could run out and fill the empty space in my console collection with an Xbox 360. Instead, I’m thinking of picking up a couple sticks of memory for the PSP. The 2 gigs I have now just won’t cut it for all the new games I now must own. So, for around $50 I can have the same memory as the PSP go, just with a potentially larger library by keeping the UMD drive.

Or maybe I’ll skip it and go buy Demon’s Souls…..or Uncharted 2….I need to go sell some plasma or something….