Moving along....

Over at gamespot they have a Q&A with the chief technology officer Masa Chatani ...


It's pretty decent...

http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-11721-1346-4-4-x

I got mine this morning here at work. If I decide to open and play with it tonight I'll fill you all in on the good stuff and post some pics!

-Edit-

I initially was going to tell Play-Asia to 'stuff it' but after I saw what they were going for on ebay I proceeded with the order.

Screenshots of Tales of Melfes preview. No in-game shots. *sigh*

http://www.the-magicbox.com/0412/game041214h.shtml

I cancelled my preorder. I just couldn't justify paying 3x the cost of the unit to get one a few months before anyone else. So instead, I will wait for the US release and preorder the day Sony announces prices/date. To hold me over, I went out yesterday and picked up a GBA-SP NES LE and a copy of Dr. Mario. I have a serious addiction to classic NES games, and it is great to play them again (still haven't picked up a power cord for my NES).

I must say the PSP is a very sleek piece of hardware. I pulled it out of the box long enough to hold it in my hands and then boxed it back up. Had to use surgical gloves so I wouldn't get any fingerprints on it. According to reports there was a demo disc that was to be included with the PSP? Well, I didn't have one in my box. As for the other nifty items included with the value pack....lets just say I'm probably going to buy the standard edition and just purchase a case and memory card seperately. The case included in the Value Pack was a joke, its a soft cover slip case. I was hoping for a nice hard case or at least something with a zipper. You also get ear phones and a strap...oh and a 32mb mem stick. In my opinion, the extra $50 for this so called 'value pack' isn't worth it.

Now its up on ebay. I'll be waiting until the March release to get one for $190 or so. Hoping that the amount I sell it for actually covers the cost of a new system or at least part of it.

IGN has reviewed the value pack: http://psp.ign.com/articles/572/572566p1.html

This is a disappointment to me as I to preorded the package. I thought it might be a ripoff, but I bought into the hype of not having to buy "any other accessories". Regardless, most people on ebay will not know it sucks and see it as being "better" so it should increase its selling cost.

I got my Value Pack last night. I only played with it for 2 hours since it was late, but I'm extremely impressed. The unit is as slick as they come, and the 3 games I got (Ridge Racers, Minna No Golf & Vampire Chronicles) all play great. No defects, no weirdness. Just really slick.

I didn't get a demo disk either, which was slightly disappointing. That disk might have been only for the charity auction units though.

Aside from the Memory Stick and the carrying sleeve, there's not much I need from the value pack. I can't see myself using the carrying strap or the remote anytime.

how's the analog stick? how's it compare to nintendo ds control for 3d?

does a regular length memory stick fit?

I believe that the demo disc only came with units purchased directly from Sony.

I just had someone send me a question pertaining to my PSP on ebay and they asked if I would trade a Nintendo DS + 3 Games for it.

Where's your auction?

Well, I got mine in today finally. Can't decide if I should open and play with it or sell it on ebay sealed. If I open it I'll post impressions and pix if I can get a friends digicam.

Classic!

I got my PSP today and decided to sell it. I can make some serious rev on the package...might as well. I can wait until March.

So I sold 2 DS's units and now selling a PSP. Man I'm a slave for ebay...or the mightly dollar.

I don't think I'm allowed to post a link to stuff I'm selling....think the board rules state you can't advertise something you're selling.

Anyways, the item sold and I made enough to actually pay for my PSP when it releases here!

That's what I'm planning too!

Well, thats true, forgot about that. however, You can post it now though since you indicate that it is sold.

The analog nub is more natural feeling than I expected. Works fine for Ridge Racers. Vampire Chronicles and Minna No Golf work better with the digital pad. I definitely prefer Sony's nub to the Thumbstrap on the DS for the respective Ridge Racer games. So far that's the only game I can really draw a comparison with.

There are larger capacity memory sticks that work apparently, but it looks like they have to be that size to fit

Here's the preview video for Melfes.

http://movies.rpgamer.com/tales/tom/tom001.wmv

Ipod?

They have to be Duo size.

If you are looking for an expensive PSP, check out Play Asia as they have some in stock (not really surprising with these rediculous prices).

If you are looking to pay like $300 for a PSP, find one of those Yahoo Japan Auction supporters. You tell them to bid on the PSP in the Japanese auction (currently around $300 for the Value Pack), the seller sends it to the support, who then send it to you (for a fee). Or something like that. I'm sort of nervous about trying it out, but $300 for a PSP is good shit.

What's the largest size (mb) for a memory stick?

I was in Tokyo this week and walked around Akibahara on Sunday. They are sold out everywhere. I didn't put my name on a waiting list since I was leaving on Wednesday, but they sold out pretty quick.

I've gotten a lot of stuff this way and you will not be getting it for $300. The deputy fees and shipping will put it at LEAST $350, maybe $400 (seriously).. but it IS still better than $600.

God, shipping from Japan sucks.