Fake trendspotting for views.
The PSP feels surprisingly present right now
31–40 of 47 posts
Re: The PSP feels surprisingly present right now
#32It's one of the devices I really regret selling.
Re: The PSP feels surprisingly present right now
#33What's the reason to prefer the PSP over the Vita? Yes, technically the Vita has Internet but outside of downloading games via that it really isn't a distraction because it's so clunky. I recently freed mine and have been having a great time with everything it had to offer while being so much more portable than anything mainstream sold now as portable.
The PSP has Internet connectivity too, no?
It even got a WPA (AES even, but unfortunately only some unusual WPA1+AES mode at that) with a firmware update, so you didn’t necessarily need a second insecure SSID like you do for the DS (which is WEP only).
Re: The PSP feels surprisingly present right now
#34I mean a PSP is great, but in 2026 I'd rather go for a 2nd hand Android that can not just emulate PSP but a plethora of other platforms as well with much better performance and usecases. Pair that with a 30-40$ controller extension like the Razer Kishi and you have a really powerful retro gaming device.
Sure, but it’ll feel nothing like the actual PSP.
It will be missing the haptics, the original display, the small UMD drive loading noises and vibrations – all that stuff was part of the experience as well.
For example, it took me a wrong time to realize why emulated Game Boy Color games felt so “off” until I learned that the original display had such an extremely narrow color gamut that mapping the GBC display output to full RGB is completely wrong. The same applies to the DMG and its shades-of-green (not grey!) display with its absurdly slow LCD ghosting that needs to be accurately emulated to see anything at all in a few games that made very clever use of the constraint as a feature.
There are some good shaders these days that try to approximate all that, but it’s still just that: An approximation.
Re: The PSP feels surprisingly present right now
#35Really? I still own a psp, but the Steam Deck ate all other handheld for me
Re: The PSP feels surprisingly present right now
#36I do get it, I am sure there is a decent market for a new PSP like device with more modern processing capabilities but I am not sure if that would be a 10 million+ user kind of device. PSP came in right before online made a really large encroachment on game systems. Things like the PSP Go didn't fly because of that, nowadays it might do a lot better. As an aside, I really liked the brief time I got to work on PSP sof…
Why not? Steam deck and nintendo switch certainly were.
And the PSP, unlike both of those (and the steam deck clones) was the right size to be played everywhere.
Re: The PSP feels surprisingly present right now
#37It matches the current "2K aesthetic" revival. Probably the last device that fully incarnates that specific time frame.
You can commonly see it in major fashion adv campaigns, with models using anachronistic Sony CD Players, digital cameras and recorders.
Re: The PSP feels surprisingly present right now
#38It's funny seeing this article pop up as I've been exploring getting back into the handhelds as well recently.
My 9-year old has his old Gameboy Advance SP (those flippy things) but finding games for the GBA is just terribly expensive if you want physical. We're trying to avoid emulating or getting those 500-in-1 types of cartridges for ADHD reasons, but he wants to play Pacman which costs as much as a secondhand PS5 around here.
The PSP sits nicely in the middle of timing, or at least it feels like that. Way more modern, easier to find games for, and way cheaper as well (more stock). It feels like the PSP was one of the last handhelds that you could use offline, without having to mod or hack it.
Re: The PSP feels surprisingly present right now
#39I do get it, I am sure there is a decent market for a new PSP like device with more modern processing capabilities but I am not sure if that would be a 10 million+ user kind of device. PSP came in right before online made a really large encroachment on game systems. Things like the PSP Go didn't fly because of that, nowadays it might do a lot better. As an aside, I really liked the brief time I got to work on PSP sof…
After the PS Vita I doubt Sony will try their hand again in the traditional hand-held market. PS Portal seems pretty nice too.
Re: The PSP feels surprisingly present right now
#40It's funny seeing this article pop up as I've been exploring getting back into the handhelds as well recently. My 9-year old has his old Gameboy Advance SP (those flippy things) but finding games for the GBA is just terribly expensive if you want physical. We're trying to avoid emulating or getting those 500-in-1 types of cartridges for ADHD reasons, but he wants to play Pacman which costs as much as a secondhand PS5…
Seems like you want a custom cartridge
They exist, e.g. https://www.coolspotgaming.co.uk/products/custom-game-boy-ad... ( I haven't used this service )
This seems like a good mid point between a $500 cartridge and having no friction between games