Posted by John P. Falcone
The slim PSP.

Ready for action: the slimmer, faster PSP.
(Credit: Will Greenwald, CNET Networks)



It's not hitting stores until September 10, but Sony is already
sending review samples of the new, slimmed-down PSP to various media
outlets, CNET included. Not counting the brief walk-through we got
four weeks ago, this was our first bit of quality time with the final
hardware. A full review is forthcoming; but in the meantime, here are
some first impressions of what Sony is calling "the PSP 2000."

    * Thinner and lighter: While the 19 percent depth reduction may
not look dramatic in the comparative photos, when you actually pick up
the PSP and hold it, the fact that the new model is 33 percent lighter
than its predecessor is readily apparent. (One co-worker remarked: "It
feels like the battery is missing.")

    * Slightly improved cosmetics and controls: The thinner profile
offers a slightly sleeker, more rounded look and feel. Even better,
however, is that all of the control buttons (the d-pad on the left,
the PlayStation circle, X, square, and triangle on the right, and the
shoulder buttons on the top) all seem to have a bit more spring to
them. They feel just a tad more responsive--and that's a good thing.

    * Faster loading times: We need to put this one on the clock, but
a couple of favorite games--Burnout Dominator and Grand Theft Auto:
Liberty City Stories--definitely seemed to boot up faster on the new
PSP compared to the old one. But don't expect miracles: the UMD load
times are still poky when compared to the lightning-fast, flash-based
games of the Nintendo DS and Game Boy.

    * Video output: Sony included the component video breakout cable
necessary to display the PSP's video on a compatible TV. (Composite
and S-Video cables will also be available; each is expected to retail
for around $20.) I had no trouble displaying videos on a 46-inch LCD
TV, but there are several caveats. The larger the screen, the more
unflattering the low-resolution PSP videos will look. Our Memory Stick
Duo-based videos (transferred via TiVo To Go) looked chunky and full
of artifacts--just as you'd expect a YouTube video to look on a big
screen, for instance. UMD video fared much better: Jet Li's The One
looked much closer to DVD quality (or at least TV quality). But the
biggest frustration was that you can't zoom in on gameplay--games
seemed locked in at their native 480x272 resolution. So if your TV
doesn't have a robust zoom function, you're stuck with a window-boxed
experience.

If those early impressions sound familiar, it's because they're right
in line with GameSpot's analysis at the E3 show in July, when the
product was first announced. Now, we already knew this was merely an
evolutionary upgrade--the PSP2 it's not--but as far as product
makeovers go, it's actually pretty cool. Anyone who's been thinking
about taking the PSP plunge will be glad they waited for the new unit,
while die-hard owners of the current PSP may just well find it to be a
worthwhile trade-up as well. The price remains at $170 ($200 for the
Daxter and Star Wars Entertainment Packs, each of which include a game
and a 1GB Memory Stick Duo card).

If you've got any specific questions about the new PSP, ask them in
the comments section, and I'll try to track down an answer for you.

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