Sure, the console’s dead sexy, but serious questions remain concerning whether or not PlayStation Portable games can really deliver the PS2-quality experiences promised. After months of silence, Sony finally allowed consumers to manhandle its long-awaited PSP software lineup at the 2004 Tokyo Game Show in September...and the answer still isn’t quite clear.

Some PSP titles deliver outstanding visuals, like Konami’s futuristic first-person shooter Coded Arms and Namco’s Ridge Racer PSP, but many of the playable games barely looked better than PS1 titles. The huge gap in graphical quality only served to make the average PSP game look unimpressive, so the entire lineup suffered. Plus, a large percentage of the playable PSP games at TGS will never make it Stateside, and for good reason. We really don’t need portable renditions of traditional Japanese parlor games like go, shogi, and mahjong, and we sure as hell don’t need two different slot machine simulators.

Still, it’s a bit unfair to damn the PSP based on this spotty initial showing—the PS2’s Japanese lineup was similarly uneven, and look how that turned out. That said, let’s take a look at five top titles for Sony’s new machine....

Hardware Concerns

We applaud Sony for including an analog control stick on the PSP (Nintendo offers only a traditional directional pad on the DS), but after hands-on time with the games at TGS, we’re not sold on the PSP’s rubber nub. The small stick re-centers itself in a noticeably different manner than the DualShock, and its overall motion feels very loose, causing us to oversteer in racing games and making just about every game seem a bit off. Also, the PSP’s battery life offers reason for concern: Sony claims that it will last four to eight hours for playing games and a scant two and a half for watching movies. Guess that means no Lord of the Rings movies on UMD. And don’t forget that rumored U.S. launch delay until September 2005....

Basic Intel

Release Date: March 2005 (December 2004 in Japan)

Price: Undisclosed, though $299.99 is expected

Media: Proprietary UMD (Universal Media Disc) optical disc format holds up to 1.8GB of data (roughly half of DVD capacity)

Other:

• You’ll also be able to purchase movies and music on UMD discs

• USB 2.0, infrared data port, and Sony memory stick slot

• Allows playback of both ATRAC3 and MP3 music on memory sticks

• Wi-Fi functionality allows PSP users to network with other PSPs for multiplayer gaming and connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless networks

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Electronic Gaming Monthly.