A Handheld Love Affair

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I'm a huge Nintendo guy, it's just a simple fact. My love of Nintendo is so great that it's permanently entered itself into any description of myself.

"Derek Haines is a 19 year-old USAF Air Traffic Controller. He enjoys time with his wife, punk music, and Nintendo..."


It would be rather fair to say that much of the fun I had as a child was at least in part due to Nintendo, and I owe them a great deal for producing the games and systems that have given me a lifelong hobby, if a rather lighter wallet. For my part, I've spent a good deal of the past few years online debating in favor of Nintendo products, mainly the DS. I'm a huge fan of it, always have been, and I think it has one of the finest game libraries of any system.

So why in world am I so damn addicted to the PSP?

Maybe it's just the newness of it. I've had a DS since it came out in 2004, so I've been around the block a few times with it. And while good games continue to come out for it, the novelty of the system has long since worn off. With the PSP, on the other hand, I find myself completely engrossed in simply browsing through options and seeing what it'll do. I've already started putting full length novels onto it using a couple of clever programs. It won't be long until I try my hand at ripping movies to it, even though it never leaves my dorm--I want to try just to have tried. Just goofing around with the little things it does often leaves me with a sense of wonder at what it's capable of.

Perhaps it's just the games. One of the biggest complaints I've heard about the PSP over the years is that it really lacks AAA titles, and in my research I've found that to be absolutely true. But it doesn't lack at all those C+ and B- games that I seem to like so very much. Just in the few weeks I've had the system I've bought enough JRPGs to keep me occupied for a long time. And with the DS limited in what it can do in 3D, I find myself amazed when playing games like Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters. It feels like holding a home console in the palm of your hand, a feeling precious few DS games have given me. And, to be truthful, with the system towards the end of it's lifespan I have an entire library of relatively cheap games to choose from, which has caused me to amass a 15 game collection in just a few weeks. Amazon will bankrupt me before this is over...

And yes, it does have it's problems. It can be uncomfortable to hold for extended periods of time. The disk drive can be obnoxious at times and dammit if I still can't get over the idea of loading times in a handheld. But these are all small blemishes on the face of a much prettier overall picture.

All in all I've just fallen for the system. The power, the novelty, and the pure gaming entertainment that I've found in the PSP has caused my DS to aquire a significant layer of dust--the first in a long time--and while I've got plenty to play on both systems, I can't imagine putting the PSP down for quite a while.

...Well, maybe just for a little while. But just until my hands stop hurting.