PriceSCAN Blog

So far the buzz is mixed. Proponents point to the brilliant 3.75in x 2.25in screen, the ultra-sleek chassis with clever placement of joystick and buttons, and the general thrill of being able to carry this much gaming power around with you. Yet Sony also wants to position the PSP as a player of music and movies, and here detractors have a few gripes. The PSP only plays movies and games from disks using Sony's proprietary Universal Media Disk format, which only Sony currently releases media in. What's worse, you can't even burn your own disks in this format. Further, this handheld has no internal hard drive, and the included 32 MB Memory Stick is a little skimpy in terms of tune storage.


Finally, there's the price. At $250, some may argue its not a bad deal given the amount of gaming power you can hold in your hand, while those more interested in multimedia functionality may find more value in other options. Either way, don’t expect deep discounting on the PSP anytime soon. People are currently paying a premium for the model already released in Japan, and strong initial demand, coupled with margins that are already fairly slim, will put a floor under the price for months. In any case, look for vendors on PriceSCAN.com to start carrying the PSP shortly, and they are already carrying PSP-compatible games.