In love with the PSP

In today's paper, read a glowing review of Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP to the cognescenti), which launches officially on Thursday (if you can find any left in the shops, that is).

The central point is that, yes, the €255 PSP has tremendous potential as a games machine (the launch titles are a mixed bag but there's precious little innovation and most are ports of old games).

But ignore the other capabilities of PSP at your peril. The big (4.3-inch) screen is practically lickable it's so crisp. Most notably it's the video-playing capabilities which have the potential to be hugely popular, if you're prepared to put in the effort to get clips on to the machine. Ripping your own DVDs is, stupidly, illegal but actually a good source. Then there's a mountain of TV stuff, etc, on BitTorrent. Sony's US PSP site (and presumably from launch day the European equivalent) hosts a small bit of freely downloadable content such as movie trailers and game clips.

Caveat: you'll have to buy a phat Memory Stick (1GB = about €150) to take advantage of this brave new world of portable video play. Trust me, it's worth it.

Of the actual games, Ridge Racer and WipEout Pure are ready-baked classics. Everybody's Golf will grip the less-frantic gamer. Medievil: Resurrection has potential but pisses it away with aimless combat and a drunken camera. Check back next week for more launch-day title reviews.

For the discerning geek, the PSP is a must-have. The battery life is perfectly acceptable at about six hours, the wireless (internet and multiplayer) features open up huge possibilities and TV on the bus is much better than you'd imagine. For my money, the PSP is a thoroughbred winner.