I think it's much more impressive to be a fan of something when everyone else hates it (i.e., a fan through thick and thin).

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The PSP has had great games from the get go. It launched with 24 which included such titles as Lumines and Wipeout Pure. Many more quickly followed filling its '05 UMD slot with a hell of a lot of fun such as Burnout Legends, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Infected, SOCOM US Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo, Virtua Tennis: World Tour. The system truly redefined portable gaming. 2006 was even better with titles such as Killzone: Liberation, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, Tekken: Dark Resurrection, LocoRoco, Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, and the list goes on and on and on and on. In other words the PSP has always been great, Sony's marketing (aka fighting the Nintendo spread FUD) not so good.

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Exactly! Back in the early days when all the forums were awash with all the naysayers and bashers, I was just ecstatic after importing mine from Japan in December 2004. There weren't many games (at all) yet, but after about 8-10 months, some cool stuff started rolling in and ever since I've never had any shortage of games to play (in fact, I have a backlog).

I like my DS and there's a few great games on it, but to me, the PSP just delivers the kinds of titles I prefer - like D&D Tactics, Silent Hill, Dungeon Siege, Jeanne D'Arc, Ace Combat X, Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, Puzzle Bobble, Mercury, etc.

As it nears the ripe old age of THREE, I find the PSP has, contrary to internet lurkers mentioned above, met most of my expectations - even exceeded some. Very happy with it!

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It's great to finally see that lame "no games" argument finally die. But even more importantly, many of the PSP games are highly rated! It IS a great time to be a PSP fan!

Source: metacritic.com/games/psp/scores/

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I bought a PSP couple of weeks ago... I'm quite old in the forty. I bought it for the video, wifi and Internet feature. I play Jeanne D'Arc and i like the game so much.

Sony just need to add a Skype application and a way to connect a keyboard and this will be a perfect device for me. A better browser would be appreciated but i can live with the current one.

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I'm not sure the incredibly lame "Dude, get your own" campaign warrants "wildly popular"

I think the main argument against the PSP's games was that it mostly has games pretty similar to what you were already playing on the Playstation 2, besides like Lumines and LocoRoco. The DS is guilty to a lesser degree but has a more diverse catalog of things you can't play on console.

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Have loved my psp since the beginning as well. I actually love the fact that it plays games that take some time to complete. I dont like mini games at all and really like to feel like I am carrying around a home console. The syphon filter games are awesome and I find myself playing them more than any of my consoles when I'm at home.

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The perfect time to buy a console is when the kit has been tested thoroughly by early adopters and a second version has been released, the firmware has gone through enough iterations to be bulletproof, the library has become viable and the price has gone way down.

I never buy the first iteration of a console unless I have reason to conclude it's classically well constructed. It isn't a question of conformity but of practicality.

The real act of conformity is to waste time reacting to trends. Really -- if an iTouch suits you better than an Asus Eeee with Foobar, then buy one -- only, buy it when it's cheap and unfashionable and you've found the right deal. Don't feel compelled to get something with tech cred unless you'll miss the difference as a user.

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"The DS is guilty to a lesser degree but has a more diverse catalog of things you can't play on console"

The point about PSP was it gets games you can't play on any other handheld.

DS gets games I can play on Tapwave Zodiac, Palm Pilots, PocketPCs, Japanese Cell phones, and UMPCs.

There aren't any other portables capable of the games PSP can do.

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As I recall it, the main argument against the PSP's game library was this: The initial dearth of games was compensated for with ports of PS2 games. The problem wasn't that the games for the PS2 and PSP were the same. It was that teams who did straight ports often didn't think idiomatically about adapting older games for the new controls (the PSP only has one thumb stick and two LR buttons). A few years ago, you had to scan reviews and user reports carefully to find out which games were idiomatic for the PSP and which were not. That meant you couldn't pluck games from store shelves on sight without risking frustration. Liberty City was excellent, but many other games were disappointingly mapped.

Siphon Filter was groundbreaking, but not because it differed from PS2 games thematically. It was the first game of its kind to make superb and thoughtful use of the PSP's controls.

Thankfully, the landscape's changed, and a number of now make excellent use of the PSP. Additionally, I think the feel of the PSP 2000's analog stick is better. The reason the Slim's lightness matters is because the new PSP feels more like a PS controller. The only thing that might improve the feel would be a silicone skin (once better skins become available).

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One word Sony.

Keyboard.

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I got the black slim last month. I still don't like the lists posted by the psp fanboys, but i like its video and music capabilities. i use it as an ipod video with a few games. i'm waiting for gow, ff7cc, kingdom hearts.

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aaron k7 : I totally agree , I hate when people are sticking up to something , just if its winning ...

Anyways , nice to hear , that the PSP is doing more and more batter :D

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Have you seen a US PSP game release list lately? There's like nothing on it. Go to gamefaqs - there's 12 games on it, period. Go to Gamestop, there's 2 pages (some of them just speculation, like Gran Turismo mobile).

3rd parties other than Konami and Squenix are pretty much finished with it. A few movie tie-in games, some shovelware, that's it. Evne Capcom has abandoned it, except for the Monster Hunter franchise (and even that has now moved to the Wii, except for the upcoming expansion pack)

Even Sony isn't do anything much with it anymore. Tactical Strike? Whee, a game no one but PSP Fanboy liked. And then nothing until God of War in March.

Nintendo supports the DS with usually 2-3 of their own games a month, plus games they localize from Japanese 3rd parties. Are they all gems? No. But most are decent. Sony does what, maybe 1 every month or every other month. If Sony doesn't support their own platform, why should 3rd parties?

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the PSP. But only a blind person would miss the fact that game support has dried up to almost nothing and Sony isn't doing anything at all to shore it up.

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Looking at the ads in this weekend's newspaper (Circuit City, Best Buy, Electronics Expo, 6th Ave Electronics, Toys R Us), there isn't a PSP on a single page. Amazing it sells at all.

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Wow, look at the thread hijacking by PSP haters.

I look at what has released lately for PSP and I wonder where people get their information... The PSP support has dried up to 'almost nothing'? Give me a break. I have more PSP games waiting to get played than all my other systems combined.

There's plenty of exciting new PSP stuff on the horizon, including Atari's Godzilla Unleashed, Bomberman Land, Dungeon Explorer, NFS, Harvey Birdman, etc. -- And I'm sure by next Christmas we'll see a much more robust roster of upcoming titles. This is the most dead period of new game announcements, anyway -- all the big names have either released or are pending for the buying season. Not many big games get announced just before the holidays to be released in Q1/Q2 of the following year, folks.

The VAST majority of DS software isn't 'decent' - it's TOTAL GARBAGE. Period. There's at LEAST 20-30 junk titles for every gem in the library. That little blurb above by itself shows the DS Fanboys are behind this naysaying, nothing more. Every time there's ANY pro-PSP news that indicates the system may be on the upswing, two or three haters have to come along to chime in. It's inevitable (and pathetic).

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I just snapped up a slim PSP last month. I'd noticed that there were a bunch of S-RPGs for it and I love that genre. Now I'm fighting for time between Jeanne D'Arc and Disgaea and D&D Tactics and I still have to pick up War of the Lions. I love this little black machine.

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I recently ran into a person at Gamestop who was interested in getting a PSP, but wanted the best value. After looking at used PSPs, I sold them on getting the new model since it was lighter, had better battery life, and loaded faster. If I were to get a PSP, I would get the new version.

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