PSP-3000 Hands On

[wraggster]

The first time David Reeves got up on stage and took a new PSP out of his pocket, it was easy to see why he looked so pleased with himself. The PSP-2000 - or Slim & Lite to you and me and the shops - was considerably smaller and lighter, and upon further investigation was clearly a big step forward, introducing USB charging, external video output, and more onboard memory to improve load times.

When he did it again in August 2008 though, we all wondered if he'd brought the wrong one. The PSP-3000 - another unofficial name - looked identical to the Slim & Lite, and Reeves' declaration that the screen was much better and that it now had a microphone built in didn't exactly cradle our nethers the way a built-in hard drive or Keeley Hawes might have done. In fact, we wondered what Sony was thinking.

The clue, we realised about ten seconds later, was in the name change - or rather the absence of one. "PSP-3000" may be the working title, but when it hits the shelves it will still be called the PSP Slim & Lite, because it's not a sequel to the PSP-2000 - it's a hardware revision that also happens to allow Sony to maintain the existing price point, and generate renewed buzz for the platform. Still, we'd never fall for that.

So, we've been playing with the PSP-3000 since it turned up on Saturday morning, and apart from a red bar mentioning the "enhanced screen and built-in microphone" and a discreet "PSP-3003 PB" designation in the bottom-right corner, the box doesn't make much of a song and dance about its brand new occupant.

Nor, initially, does the unit itself. The old "Home" button has been replaced with a brand-unifying PS-logo button, and the tiny microphone hole is located between the volume controls and the PSP logo itself on the front of the unit at the bottom. The promised curvier edges are so similar that we honestly forgot about them until most of this feature was written and we noticed some shadow gradient on a photograph, and went back and checked.

The main superficial changes are the microphone, the PS button and the slightly curvier edges. Can you find them all?
Switching on, the experience is much the same too, with the traditional set-up procedure - picking out a nickname and setting the date - before being plonked on the XMB and left to explore. There's something different about the screen though. In Sony's rather cold words, the colour range has been increased, the contrast ratio is five times that of the old model, the pixel response time has been halved to reduce ghosting, and it should be much easier to play outdoors thanks to anti-reflective gubbins. The "Color space" option on the system menu of the new 4.20 firmware installed on our retail unit is more poetic: "If you set to [Wide], the system's display will appear more vivid."

And it does. The usual four brightness settings are here (three when using the battery, and a fourth super-brightness level when you're plugged into the mains), but the colours at any level are much richer, warmer and deeper than the PSP-2000. As a result, the new PSP's battery-powered third brightness level outshines the mains-powered fourth on its predecessor. If you flick the "Color space" option back to Normal, meanwhile, the colouring reverts to something closer to, though still brighter than, the PSP-2000.

The difference in visual quality between games running on the PSP-2000 and PSP-3000 isn't as dramatic as the difference between games on the original DS and the DS Lite - the last time we found ourselves considering something of this nature, and a good frame of reference - but it's very noticeable when you return to a PSP-2000 running the same game. Lumines II and God of War: Chains of Olympus on the old hardware look pale and sickly after five minutes playing on the updated hardware.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=253828

[jamotto]

Thinking about picking one of these up.

[Veskgar]

I want one, and I want homebrew to be enabled for these. Its that simple.

[Buddy4point0]

I'll get one if it ever gets hacked, but the idea of a PSP without homebrew definitely doesn't attract me know matter how much better the screen is.

[Uberman]

Nope, not gonna bite. I won't throw more money to Sony while they keep trying to lock out homebrew.

I think I'll take that money and put it into a Pandora. At least that's totally Open Source and designed for homebrew.

[Eviltaco64]

*Agrees with Uberman.

Though I do like that screen. That's the only reason I'd buy it.

[gamefreak199101]

ill get one the day it comes into u.s

[mike_jmg]

I just bought my slim about three months ago

Still I'm thinking about picking one up but it depends mostly if I can see the screen first hand and how good it looks under sunlight.

also if I can get the money, if homebrew can be enabled on it, and if it is made from better materials than the slim.

Maybe I'll just wait for a PSP 4000 to apear next year

[devdj]

i like the new screen the new video out and builtin mic but that's all just another psp revision i won't be suckered into buying i allready have 2 psp's phat and slim i don't need a third and thats that.

[DrNicket]

I use my PSP mostly for videos anyway these days, so I'm bloody tempted. I've still got my 4.01 m33-2 Phat PSP and that's fine for 'brew. if the new one gets split wide open... all the better.