Imported Sony Playstation Portable (PSP)

pspWith an unconfirmed European release date of July 2005, many European gamers are certainly eyeing imported alternatives. They are however weary to how an imported system will perform in Europe and UK. I picked up a Sony PSP value pack during a recent trip to Japan and can report that using the console and one Japanese game has been very easy (and highly enjoyable).
My main worry was whether the Japanese console supported English menus. I was happy to see that when you turn on the PSP for the first time, it let’s you choose between 15+ languages (English being one of them). From then on, you will not see a single reference to Japanese.
#PAGEBREAK#
I purchased the much raved about game Lumines. The game is 99% in English making it very easy to play. All in all I have seen two “pop-ups” in Japanese but they were not relevant to the game. Good news. There were several RPG games on the shelves that seemed to be in Japanese only so I avoided them.
Previous PS console games had region encoding which meant that a game purchased in USA would only work in North America. Sony decided to unlock the PSP to make it a truly portable system: if you travel from Europe to USA, you should be able to purchase games in the USA and be able to play them on the way back. With the recent PSP release in USA, you can now get hold of many new English titles.
The UMD movies are region encoded at the moment. The Japanese PSP is region 2 which suggests it is better suited for future European UMD movie titles. USA is region 1 as usual.
The PSP is delivered with an electricity adapter that supports 100-240 Volt and 50/60 Hertz. This means that it can be used in most (all?) countries provided you have a socket adapter. The end that plugs into the socket can even be removed and replaced with your local version.
#PAGEBREAK#
So is the Sony PSP any good? So far I have been mighty impressed with the big bright LCD screen, graphics, sound, photo and video viewing from memory stick, MP3 listening and WiFi support. Dead pixels seems to be a common problem so it is good being able to switch on the unit before purchasing it to test for any dead pixels. However 2-4 separated dead pixels are very difficult to spot during game play.
At the time of writing a PSP value pack was YEN24,000 which is roughly £120. It will be interesting to see how much the PSP will sell for in “rip-off” London when it finally launches.
Update
Comments have been closed. Please use the Sony PlayStation Portable PSP forum to ask any questions.

7 thoughts on “Imported Sony Playstation Portable (PSP)”

  1. hi david,
    i am currently in the us and i am very interested to bring back a psp in europe (i live in france)
    you said that “Sony decided to unlock the PSP to make it a truly portable system: if you travel from Europe to USA, you should be able to purchase games in the USA and be able to play them on the way back. With the recent PSP release in USA, you can now get hold of many new English titles.”
    so if i buy a psp in the us ,can i play with english or french game ?

  2. You will be able to play games purchased in any country.
    You will NOT be able to play movies sold in Europe. USA is region 1 and Europe (and Japan) is region 2.
    You should be able to get a Japanese PSP on the high street in the US. A Japanese PSP is identical but will be able to play future European sold movies.
    The PSP has a common problem with a few dead pixels. Insist on turning on the PSP in the shop and check for dead pixels. If not possible, ask about the return policy so you can check the PSP in your hotel room and in the worst case go back to the shop.
    You will not notice 1-2 dead pixels while playing but any more than that could be annoying.
    good luck

  3. i brought a psp from hongkong off the net and ordered 2 movies from the us but it does not play is there anyway you can play these movies or adjust the setting for the region regards arran
    i brought a psp from hongkong off the net and ordered 2 movies from the us but it does not play is there anyway you can play these movies or adjust the setting for the region regards arran

    David says:
    That is very bad luck Arran. The PSP was most likely from Japan which is Region 2 while US movies are region 1.
    Currently there is no way to play region 1 movies on a region 2 psp but the PSP hacking development community is very active so maybe in the future it will be possible.
    A consolation is that future European PSP movies will be region 2 and thus compatible with your PSP.

  5. hi
    how sure are you that a japanese psp will play european umd movies as sony japan and sony usa have both said that european umds will not work on a japanese psp.
    thanks

    David says:
    Please the above article again.
    Movies from other regions will NOT work.
    Games from other regions will work.
    cheers,

  6. u have recently said that european movies will not work on the japanese PSP but they are from the same region so they shuld work, is this true?
    David says:
    Can you please point me to where I have said that? If anything, I have always said the opposite: Both Europe and Japan are Region 2 and as such, it will be possible to play future European movie UMDs on a Japanese PSP and vice versa.
    Please note that games are region free so that game UMDs from any country will play on any PSP.

  7. i am ordering a psp from a website but the PSP itself is Japanese and i was wondering if the Japanese PSP will play UK games.
    I already know that a Japanese PSP will play European UMDs.

    David says:
    As things are now the Japanese PSP will play UK games. In fact, any PSP will play games from anywhere in the world as Sony wanted a truly portable gaming system.
    Please remember that both GAMES and MOVIES are distributed on the UMDs so when you say “to play an UMD” it could be either a game or a movie 🙂

Comments are closed.