If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I thought I would answer some questions posed by a very persistent American who regularly comments on my blog regarding the PSP or Playstation Portable. (Comments by any (both) of my readers are much appreciated and dare I say encouraged?)

Being bimbo (ie. poor) in the Japanese sense I am not able to purchase any of the latest technology. We bought a second hand PS2 and I have a Gameboy Advance as it is small and the system and games are cheap to buy. I have been addicted for the last six months to a game called Greatest Nine in which you guide a Nippon Pro Baseball Team (for me being the mighty Osakan greats called the Hanshin Tigers) to glory in tournaments and a seemingly endless season.

This Christmas in the videogame world in Japan a battle is being fought between the dual screen Nintendo DS and the new PSP. This is shown in saturated advertising slots and A-list celebs in Japan selling them including the talented Japanese singer songwriter Utada, in my opinion foolishly trying to break into the American market with a song whose chorus contains the lines “I`m easy breezy and I`m Japaneasy” and the PSP advertised by an Antonio Inoki who is a professional wrestler.

If I could afford it I would buy a PSP they look amazing, the adverts show games that look detailed, involved and playable. They are cheap. All hardware in Japan is cheap. 20GB Ipods cost about 150 quid, the Nintendo Ds is 75 quid and the PSP is only 20,000 yen or 100 quid and it plays high quality games and movies.

Not having enough free cash to devote to these mortal pleasures, I shall play them solely in the numerous games and technology shops liberally scattered around Japan. The Nintendo is available to buy but I haven`t been able to play on them in the few shops that selll them. From first opinions the Nintendo DS looks gimmicky with it`s bulky body, touch sensitive dual screen and pen and a set of games which seem mildly amusing yet I`m sure the novelty factor would wear thin. It has far worse graphics than those of the PSP but the Japanese seem to be ones for gimmicks and retro cool which the DS oozes in the numerous quirky and inventive games in its collection.

In my humble opinion the PSP outruns the DS by far in Ridge Racer (the game being most pushed by Sony corp. I think the PSP will win in the long run although games play an important part in any systems success. As a Christmas present, I would be happy for any of them. Hint hint.

Links

Nintendo vs PSP 1
Nintendo vs PSP 2