Psp Buying Advice Required Please

[paulmala]

Hi,
I'm considering buying a PSP. I am however concerned about the screen and controller.

If possible could any PSP owners tell me how good/bad the screen is, ie is there much blurring. Is it different for 2D and 3D games. Also how difficult is it to achieve diagonals on the controller. There seems to be a huge difference of opinion on how good/bad the controller is.

The main reason I want one is to play the Metal Slug Anthology, so if you're reading this Sensible GP32 your opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[Nova]

You joined a GP2X forum to ask about the PSP?

:huh:

 

[paulmala]

Nope,

I've had a GP32 for about three years and a GP2X for about six months and love them both to bits.

I posted here because it is a supportive, knowledgeable and friendly community. Unless your name is Epicenter

In fairness I did post this in the other consoles section. I would possibly like a PSP as well as my GP2X not instead of.

There seems to be a lot of forum members that have both.

Thanks for taking the time to reply

 

[White Demon]

Nova: he'd most likely get better, more informed answers from here than all the fanbois on the various PSP forums.

500gp: if your main reason for getting the PSP is metal Slug Anthology then go for it really. I bought mine purely for the GTA gamesa and Lemmings originally and I don't regret the purchase.

I've never seen any of this blurring people have been talking about, but then again I've only been playing mainly 3D games (got the try out the GBA emulator), apparently it can be worse for some 2D based games (just don't get DaveC started ).

Diagonals are not all that bad on either controller really, on the Dpad side of things it would depend on how good you are with a standard PSX/PS2 dpad as it's the same.

(thinking out loud) I've gotta have a look at that Metal SLug anthology myself.

 

[dosteridge]

I have psp aswell and I can't say that I have really ever had and problems with this blurring everyone talks about, I use it for emulation and psp games, and have only ever noticed any in GTA LCS?

I can not report any difficulties with the controls either, maybe I just got lucky

But I have to say I still prefer emulation on the 2x for everything other that GBA and PSX.

I would say buy one, but if you are going to use it for homebrew, emulators and playing backups of your games then make sure its downgradabe/upgradable to the current open edition firmware.

Im no expert on this but I think you should avoid a T0-82 motherboard and the 2.8 firmware, but in saying that I seem to remeber reading that both of those problems have been sorted, but im sure someone else here will be able to give you more information on that.

I agree, you are more likley to get reasonable and sensible answers here, rather than from a psp forum as they appear to mainly be full of rude fools :unsure:

 

[krosfyah]

The newest PSPs have a raised Dpad which makes hitting the diagnols a lot easier. They also changed the screen that was used in earlier models for a faster one. You may notice the occasional blurring on some games but it's nothing major.

There isn't a PSP available yet that can't be downgraded, and it doesn't matter if it's a TA-082 cause the 3.03 downgrader takes care of the IDStorage problems that the 2.80 downgrader had.

Edit: That should be 2.71 not 2.80.

 

[chaos engineer]

I love my psp, I do not mind about the blurring effect, however, I hate the d pad, especially for the cps2 fighting games. good that we have this emu for the gp2x now.

 

[Nova]

Nope,

I've had a GP32 for about three years and a GP2X for about six months and love them both to bits.

I posted here because it is a supportive, knowledgeable and friendly community. Unless your name is Epicenter

In fairness I did post this in the other consoles section. I would possibly like a PSP as well as my GP2X not instead of.

There seems to be a lot of forum members that have both.

Thanks for taking the time to reply

Sorry. I was thrown off because it was your first post, I just naturally assumed.

But if you've been around for a while, then fair play to you.




Anyway, I don't know if anyone has noticed this, but after about a couple minutes, either the blurring starts to go, or you stop noticing it, it's cool.


I like my PSP, definitely, and if you can get one which can be downgraded and then upgraded to a homebrew firmware, then mores the better.


I'm sorry again dude.

 

[shinneri]

The screen is really as bad as you've heard. The d-pad is one of the worst I've ever encountered. The commercial game selection is disappointing to say the very least.

But is that PSX emulation great, or what?

 

[Steve-O]

I have no problems with my screen or controls. overall I give the PSP 9/10 (personally I think its the best handheld available right now.. )

 

[CUPC4KES]

only really noticed any blurring on the gta games and death jr, the d pad is ok, nothing special but not that bad, the only thing i hate about the psp is the analogue stick thing, maybe would be ok but its just in a really odd place in my opinion.

 

[dosteridge]

the only thing i hate about the psp is the analogue stick thing, maybe would be ok but its just in a really odd place in my opinion.

Yes, agreed I have never liked the analog stick or its position, but its great when emulating something like the amiga, because you get to use it as the mouse and the dpad as the joystick.

That's the only benefit of the anolog stick that I can think of though

 

[epitaph]

PSX emulation is cool. The d-pad is terrible -- it's seemingly impossible to get diagonals on it (forcing you to use the analog stick for PSX games, which also happens to be less than optimal). The blurring is just as bad as DaveC makes it out to be. It doesn't really matter though as long as you're not playing games with a lot of motion (racing- and platform games come to mind) on screen. Has a few tired GTA semi-rehashes for original games. And LocoRoco.

I wouldn't waste my money on one just yet. Wait half a year or so, the price should've dropped at least bit by then.

 

[krosfyah]

I have no problems with my screen or controls. overall I give the PSP 9/10 (personally I think its the best handheld available right now.. )

I couldn't agree more, the commercial games are great and most of the main emulators are fantastic.

I'm fond of my GP2x but it can't really compare.

 

[DaveC]

Hi,
I'm considering buying a PSP. I am however concerned about the screen and controller.

If possible could any PSP owners tell me how good/bad the screen is, ie is there much blurring. Is it different for 2D and 3D games. Also how difficult is it to achieve diagonals on the controller. There seems to be a huge difference of opinion on how good/bad the controller is.

The main reason I want one is to play the Metal Slug Anthology, so if you're reading this Sensible GP32 your opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

It depends on how much you like or dislike the blurring caused by image stretching and filtering. That is a different issue than the ghosting and can never be fixed due to native resolution differences. The filtering makes things look fuzzy even when not moving. It is due to the fact that you are taking a 320 x 220 image (in the case of NeoGeo) and fractionally scaling it to 480 x 272. Because it isnt an even increment (like 1:1, 2:1 etc) you get some pixel averaging and filtering blur.

On the GP2X you can display NeoGeo at 1:1 pixel for pixel(with small bars at top and bottom) and not get any of the filtering and stretching artifacts.

Now again it depends on if you mind that or not. As we know I hate it. Some don't mind it, others actually like a soft image. It depends on what catagory you fall into.

 

[paulmala]

Hi everybody,

Thanks very much for all of the replies. I think I'll get one.

Once again it's nice to part of a community where people take so much time and effort to be helpful.

Nova, no offense taken. Thanks for your help.

 

[Nova]

And look, you have another blue pip!

 

[TelcoLou]

And look, you have another blue pip!

... and you know what happens when you get 7, right?

 

[Nova]

You join a higher plane of existance?

 

[shinneri]

How much does it take to get 7?