The PSP-3000 is the latest offering from Sony in the PlayStation Portable line. The new model offers a few new features over its older brothers and Eurogamer has gone hands on with the new system.
How does it stack up against the competition?
How does it stack up against the competition?
Switching on, the experience is much the same too, with the traditional set-up procedure - picking out a nickname and setting the date - before being plonked on the XMB and left to explore. There's something different about the screen though. In Sony's rather cold words, the colour range has been increased, the contrast ratio is five times that of the old model, the pixel response time has been halved to reduce ghosting, and it should be much easier to play outdoors thanks to anti-reflective gubbins. The "Color space" option on the system menu of the new 4.20 firmware installed on our retail unit is more poetic: "If you set to [Wide], the system's display will appear more vivid."
And it does. The usual four brightness settings are here (three when using the battery, and a fourth super-brightness level when you're plugged into the mains), but the colours at any level are much richer, warmer and deeper than the PSP-2000. As a result, the new PSP's battery-powered third brightness level outshines the mains-powered fourth on its predecessor. If you flick the "Color space" option back to Normal, meanwhile, the colouring reverts to something closer to, though still brighter than, the PSP-2000.
The difference in visual quality between games running on the PSP-2000 and PSP-3000 isn't as dramatic as the difference between games on the original DS and the DS Lite - the last time we found ourselves considering something of this nature, and a good frame of reference - but it's very noticeable when you return to a PSP-2000 running the same game. Lumines II and God of War: Chains of Olympus on the old hardware look pale and sickly after five minutes playing on the updated hardware.
The preview spans a very interesting two pages in length. Is the new model all sunshine and rainbows compared to the 2000 models? You'll have to head on over to Eurogamer for the answer to that one.
And it does. The usual four brightness settings are here (three when using the battery, and a fourth super-brightness level when you're plugged into the mains), but the colours at any level are much richer, warmer and deeper than the PSP-2000. As a result, the new PSP's battery-powered third brightness level outshines the mains-powered fourth on its predecessor. If you flick the "Color space" option back to Normal, meanwhile, the colouring reverts to something closer to, though still brighter than, the PSP-2000.
The difference in visual quality between games running on the PSP-2000 and PSP-3000 isn't as dramatic as the difference between games on the original DS and the DS Lite - the last time we found ourselves considering something of this nature, and a good frame of reference - but it's very noticeable when you return to a PSP-2000 running the same game. Lumines II and God of War: Chains of Olympus on the old hardware look pale and sickly after five minutes playing on the updated hardware.