The kids and I are going to get my husband a PSP for his birthday. I want him to be able to use it right out of the box. I know I’ll need a couple of games, but what else do I need? Does he need a docking station? What about a Memory Stick? Batteries? Can I get all this in a bundle like I did with my son’s Game Boy Advance?
Also, I prefer to order it online. I want him to be totally surprised.
[sub]Geez, do I sound like a doddering old lady, or what?[/sub]
It comes with pretty much all you’ll need, aside from the games. Battery? Check. Docking station? I don’t know that there is one available yet. There is a power cord included for charging though. And it comes with a 32MB memory stick, which is more than enough unless he’s planning on using it to store a lot of picture and video data. It’s plenty for its main intended purpose: gave saves.
What kind of games does he like? The one that’s definitely a must buy is Lumines. It’s a puzzle/music game akin to Tetris, and oh so addictive. In the same vein, Mercury is also pretty cool in its own way, though it gets hard as hell in the later levels.
If he likes a good racing game I hear Wipeout Pure is excellent. Metal Gead Acid is a cool card-based strategy game. Tony Hawk Underground 2 translated pretty well to the system too.
One game I’ll go ahead and not recommend is Smartbomb. A promising premise, but it’s a shoddily made game if I’ve ever seen one. You’re supposed to be making split second decisions and moves to defuse a ticking time bomb, and the controls are horribly unresponsive! It’s easily the most frustrating and most unplayable game on the system.
Hope he enjoys the system! I haven’t touched mine in a while (nothing has come out lately), but I’ve had lots of fun with it, and I’m looking forward to what’s coming out through the end of the year (Namco Museum, GTA, etc).
Wow, thanks for all the info, Slacker. Is it true the PSP can be used as a controller for the PS3?
I think that yes, they will be using the PSP as a possible controller, a la the Gameboy Advance and the Gamecube.
Another game recommendation:
Hot Shots Golf
I hate sports games in general I didn’t particularly enjoy HSG on the PS2, but I’ve been addicted to it on the PSP for the last month or so.