watch out for what gen of PSP you get. the 1st gens had major major pixal blowouts. if i were you though i wouldnt buy it for your son. not trying to be a jackass or anything. i brought it and brought a shit load of games for it too. 3 months later its sitting in my car acting as a MP3 player hooked up to my HU. just some food for thought. same thing happened to every other person i know who owns a PSP. they say they're always use it but in the end, its useless.

 

It's so useless I'm now using it to watch porrn at work

 

it is my son's $ from his allowances / b-days etc...... i am sure he will enjoy it for a few weeks then it will become useless.....

 

Ah the joys of consumerism....just like a drug... heheheh.

 

$199 is the new regular price, Sony price dropped about a month ago. Given that I am a video game dork, from what I have read and seen on TV, 99.9% of the games on that machine blow and cost $40. That is why they end up useless.

They can be used to watch tv shows if you take it on a plane or something and older models are easier to load MAME emulators on, but I don't think new ones are impossible. Microsoft is coming out with a handheld at some point. (not sure if before the holidays) My guess is they will load it up with all kinds of features the Sony does not have because they get to lay in the weeds for a while.

 

The games are very average, but I use it when I travel. In general I don't think younger kids are as picky when it comes to games though. The emulators are fun if you can get them to run.

There's supposedly some new homebrew coming out that will let you watch tv over wifi streamed from your htpc, like Location Free that Sony sells for $$$. That would be a nice little program.

 

imho the nitendo ds lite is a much better console than the psp....its $139 and has much better games imho...if you really want something to play games on it is much better...

 

ecost dot com has a refurbished "value pack" (w/ 32MB Memory Stick Pro Duo, Headphones & Soft Case) for $169.99