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REFUND

Don't misunderstand my concerns...I still love the PSP.

    My PSP == returned to retailer. I only got the PSP to tinker with it, I have no real use for a portable gaming system (the last portable I had was a GameBoy Pocket, and even then I got the GBP in 2001 or so just to do some GB coding). The PSP turned out to be a real expensive toy; I might be speaking for myself but I can't afford to have a $250 toy laying around and waiting for me to see what else I can do with it every other week or so. Don't get me wrong, I love the PSP. It had it's quirks but it was a nice experience and I'll be able to say "I owned a part of the next generation of portables...bla bla bla".
    It was fun to just play around and see what can be done with this thing, but the negativity of people ruined it all. People feel the need to put down anyone who thinks differently or comes up with weird ideas. I now see that HOMEBREW is running on the PSP, and thats great. We've all waited for that, but doesn't anyone remember how much the "no commercial code/sdk" fact was so loudly proclaimed in the beginning only to be swept aside as soon as we see a "hello world" on a PSP screen? I just find that funny thats all. Whats that word? Oh yeah, hypocrisy. We see "homebrew" code running off the PSP, and we see file access through the browser (thanks to the Paradox team for dumping the ISO's, we can now dump strings and figure out such things as what is needed to access the UMD and MS...but lets not forget Paradox's main purpose: piracy). The "I'm better than you" attitude remains. I guess thats just part of the Internet. Keyboard cowboys. I don't know why I'm surprised. Actually, I'm not surprised...just sickened and annoyed.
    So, in the end, I don't want any more part of this. As cool as the scene is starting out to be right now, ultimately it will still lead to the pursuit of piracy, thats just a given. You might think "oh he's just whining and complanining"...yes I am! Welcome to the internet!
Good job Paradox and good job to that guy who had access to the SDK to create the first "homebrew" app for the PSP...heh. Way to uphold the "homebrew" spirit...

Oh, I just found my old list of stuff I'd like to complain about that pertains to the PSP (it was laying on another machine's disk):
Why I got rid of my PSP (an objective perspective from a semi-fanboy):
   
1) Shoulder buttons stick, minor glitch, no biggie.
    2) MemorySticks are absurdly expensive, no biggie again.
    3) WiFi with WEP is finicky on my home connection, I can semi-deal with that.
    4) Random out of the fucking blue and totally weird problems with playing games (e.g. Twisted Metal just completely shutting down the system when I went to save a game. Battery is fine, checked it after rebooting. The game just totally shut down the whole system. WTF?
    5) Fucked up "hold" button, at one point on the second day that I bought the system the "hold" thing would NOT turn off. I even slid the slider all the way up and still nothing. The buttons wouldn't work but the D-Pad worked. Hold was COMPLETELY off and I even rebooted a couple of times. Ok, I fixed it somehow but that left a bad feeling in my gut.
    6) The analog stick is a shitty design that, well, probably couldn't be done any other way.
    7) The MemoryStick flap is shaky, I can always feel it jigling when holding the system.
    8) The speakers suck total ass. (Nothing new from a portable perspective).
    9) I just can't get used to staring at a small screen...Twisted Metal almost makes me car-sick!
    10) Honestly, I have no time to just sit and waste time playing a portable gaming system...and playing action/intense games on something portable pretty much forces you to completely disregard the outside world...and I just don't see myself doning that. Spending $250 on something that I'll use maybe once a day (if that) for ~30-40 minutes is just not economical...
    11) The glare is unbeleivable.
    12) The UMD slot/door is shaky and seems like a great place for a major malfunction.
    13) The shiny black surface of the PSP is grease/finger-print heaven. Black is NOT beautiful anymore.
    14) Sometimes in the main menu when you go to "game" the UMD isn't there to be selected! I have to eject it and reinsert it...and even then I get "The disc could not be read" errors...haha could be just my stupid ass unit.
    15)
Overall the system doesn't feel solidly made.

I'll admit it, I got the PSP because of the hype (I almost fell for that with the DS...but kept away). Sony had me hooked on the PS2; so when Sony flapped her eyelashes at me with the prospect of a PlayStationPortable I threw my jacket over the puddle and signed the deed to my soul. That bitch. I'm just afraid to see what will happen to an optical-based portable system. There is one upside though (that I haven't fully tested). Sharing discs, take one disc load the level (say in Twisted Metal) then eject it (say no to Quitting game) and pass it to a friend to load..heh. Oh well, it was fun. Back to reality.




- roto
(old wipeout browser site here for you to peruse
and find out why the haters say it's not a "hack" even though it
was never proclaimed to be a "hack" by me or anyone near me...
you figure that one out)

PS:  So what did I do with the $250 I got back from returning the PSP?
Why, I went old-school of course...I bought some SNES/Genesis flashcarts!
Ah, back to the good days of video gaming. More to come.