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Nintendo's mustached plumber, Mario, better collect as many coins as he can. The company's handheld gaming monopoly is now officially challenged by its longtime console competitor, Sony.
On March 24, the much-hyped Sony PlayStation Portable, or PSP, will be available in North America, a mobile machine that vows to make the Game Boy and Nintendo DS look like child's play. While not flawless, the PSP ($249.99) is one slick and powerful device that manages to live up to its tremendous buzz spawned by movie theater ads, TV commercials, celebrity endorsements and the images on the covers of more than a dozen gaming magazines. The PSP can play sophisticated 3-D games with graphics that come close to matching those on the PlayStation 2 console, but it can also play movies and music, and display your digital photos. The stunning screen will be the first thing you notice when picking up the device for the first time. The 4.3-inch widescreen LCD is bright and gorgeous, and will be very hard to take your eyes off of it.  Screen resolution is an impressive 480 x 272 pixels, capable of displaying 16.8 million colors. Compared this to the Nintendo DS's two 3-inch screens at 256 x 192 pixels and 260,000 colors. It should be noted the PSP used for this review has two "dead pixels" in the upper right-hand corner of the display, which means these tiny dots cannot display information. They weren't noticeable during game-play or a movie, but can be seen when navigating through the PSP's main menu. At 10 ounces, about the weight of a Nintendo DS, the device is fairly light to tote around, but its size (6.7 x .9 x 2.9 inches) means it's not small enough to fit in most pant pockets. Instead, a backpack or purse may be more ideal. The Game Boy Advance, on the other hand, is a lot more compact at just 3.3 x .96 x 3.2 inches. The dimension for the flip-screen Nintendo DS is 5.9 x 1.1 x 3.3 inches. Games, available for $40 to $50 apiece, are sold on new proprietary 2.4-inch discs called UMDs or Universal Media Discs (about the size of a silver dollar). Prices are higher than the typical Nintendo DS title, which retail for $30 to $35 each. The back of the PSP snaps open to accept this new media. Movies from Sony Pictures, Disney and Lions Gate will also be sold on UMD for about the same price as a DVD. Photos and music must be copied over to a postage stamp-sized Memory Stick Duo card, which fits snugly into the left-side of the PSP. Users connect the device to a personal computer via a USB 2.0 cord in order to copy over the files; this wasn't a simple process because the cord wasn't included, nor is there any software dedicated to transferring the media. Yair Landau, Vice Chairman of Sony Pictures, says Sony Computer Entertainment will soon release software to link the PSP to a Windows PC or Mac, and will also allow the PSP to synchronize with Connect (www.connect.com), Sony's music download service. It should be noted the PSP includes a 32MB Memory Stick Duo card (for saved games and a few songs or photos), so it's recommended to pick up an extra 512MB card, which can be found for less than $100. The PSP also ships with earphones (with in-line remote), a soft carrying case, AC adapter, battery pack, wrist strap, cloth and two UMDs: a copy of the movie "Spider-Man 2" and a video sampler disc with music, movies and game-play footage.  An impressive line-up of 24 games is available within the first few weeks of the PSP launch, including Sony's own first-party titles such as the fast-paced "Gretzky NHL" hockey simulation and a vehicular combat game, "Twisted Metal: Head-On" and third-party games such as EA Games' beautiful "Need for Speed Underground Rivals" or Sony Online Entertainment's action-heavy role-playing game, "Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade." Controlling the games is easy and intuitive thanks to the four buttons on the right of the system that will be familiar to PlayStation fans (X, O, Triangle and Square), two trigger buttons on each shoulder of the unit and a comfortable analog stick and directional D-pad on the left-hand side. Most games support multiplayer modes, and the PSP includes built-in wireless connectivity for up to 16 PSPs in the same room. The device also has integrated Wi-Fi support (802.11b), therefore players will be able to log onto the Internet when in a wireless "hotspot." The PSP does have a few flaws related to the UMD. The problem with a spinning media, is that it can really eat up battery life. Unlike the Nintendo DS, which takes cartridges and therefore enjoys more than ten hours of life on a single charge, the PSP battery life is less than half of that (or even less for a movie). But the PSP does run on a removable, rechargeable battery, so you can always keep a spare for those long flights (price is still TBD). Another problem with a spinning disc is load times, as some titles took a good 20 seconds to load between missions. What's more, there is some doubt consumers are willing to buy movies on yet another media, and a proprietary one that doesn't play on a DVD player. Overall, however, the Sony PSP is one incredible ﾖ and incredible-looking ﾖ machine. 
The PSP is not at all suited to kids under 10 and even then - given the high cost and how easy it is to scratch the gorgeous screen ﾖ most parents should think twice before giving a child this kind of equipment. Also, given the dearth of kid-friendly games (Ape Escape is about the only one currently ﾖ and it's a dog) the system isn't nearly as kid or family friendly as the Nintendo DS or Game Boy Advance. But that said, for dads, this thing is awesome. Perfect for planes, trains, or other long commutes when you're not driving. Excellent for showing off photographs, home movies, and for playing really slick games. This is a dad's dream come true, just be careful when Junior wants a go.
Kid Factor by Andrew Bub
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