Gamertell

While the DS has won fans the world over with its unusual gimmicks and touching interactive games, the PSP is getting love for its mature games and practical applications. Rather than trying to beat the DS by making the PSP appear even more foolish with strange extras, developers have decided to take the higher road.

With its peripherals the PSP tries to make itself more useful in everyday life. There are no card readers or additional controllers here. Rather than relying on gimmicks, the add-ons are ingenious items that you don’t even realize you need until you see what they can do.

And while the DS add-ons are designed to work only with games, the PSP’s are designed to make life in the real world easier or more interesting. Even when the extras don’t work as well as they claim, they still deserve points for trying.

Sadly, all of the following extras are only available overseas. It is a tragedy, because each add-on could be immensely useful to PSP owners the world over. All of the extras in Japan allow the PSP to act as a translator, camera, television and GPS unit.

PSP Microphone (with Talkman)

Despite possibly being the most useless of all of the PSP peripherals, the microphone add-on still manages to be an interesting device with a lot of promise for the system. PSP owners feeling mic envy when watching DS owners can buy a mic for their PSP. The thing is that the microphone really only works with one type of game, the Talkman series.

Talkman is an ambitious project, it proposes that the PSP can become a translator. There are two versions of the title, the original Talkman, which translates Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean, and Talkman Euro, which translates Chinese, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. In both you choose your language and then the game’s feathered star Max will act as your translator in any of the other language.

The quality and actual abilities of this title are suspect though. Max isn’t as accurate as he could be and the voice recognition isn’t perfect and as a result the translations might not say what you really want. Probably the most practical part of the Talkman series is that each title also includes a number of included phrases which can be chosen and used to communicate with native speakers. If you’re really interested though, the mic and game combo will cost about $43 dollars online.

PSP Camera (with Chotto Shot)

The next peripheral is one I’ve found to be not only handy, but a lot of fun. There is an add-on which turns the PSP into a digital camera. You can then use it to take pictures and videos. The camera comes with Chotto Shot application.

I really hesitate to call Chotto Shot a game, even though it is a lot of fun to work with. It is an editing program that lets users work with the various pictures and movies taken with the PSP’s camera. It is far from Photoshop, but it does have some fun options for adding extras onto images.

Like the Talkman games and microphone, the camera isn’t perfect. Its fun for joking around with friends, but is far from functioning as an actual digital camera for meaningful events. I found it was practical to use for daily outings or fun, but when I really wanted to cover something important I’d get my real camera out. Its still a fun peripheral and not a bad deal for a digital camera and editing program, considering it is available for around $50.

PSP TV Tuner

The TV Tuner for the PSP is really pretty handy. The 1seg tuner lets Japanese PSP owners watch digital TV on their PSPs when they normally wouldn’t be able to. It also is pretty affordable, considering the tuner costs about $70 and a separate, portable TV would probably cost the same and be one more thing to carry.

There are two downsides to this device. The first is that it only works with the new slim models of the PSP, and there is no way it can be adapted for use with the older model. The second is that it only works in Japan. This is one of those cases where you can look, but not buy. Well, you could buy, but you’d only be able to use it while vacationing in Japan.
PSP GPS

The PSP GPS receiver is probably the smartest PSP peripheral in existance. The device basically turns the PSP into a GPS unit. The unit alone is about $60, which makes it a great buy for PSP owners. Imagine how handy it could be. If you’re walking around in the city you could use it to find locations, or you could have a passenger in the car hold it and dictate directions.

The GPS is also designed to work with both additional programs and games. The unit comes bundled with not only the Japanese map software series Minna no Map and Maplus: Portable Navi, but also the Minna no Golf game series. When the unit is bundled with a game, the price rises to around $95.

I can’t grasp why this device hasn’t been released in the US. It is just so practical. It is popular enough in Japan to merit multiple map software releases and even works with some games. It is simply the best peripheral created for a portable system.

COMING NEXT WEEK: Important Portables finds the best Gameboy Advance import games.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last week Important Importables looked at the strangest DS peripherals.

Site [Play-Asia] Site [YesAsia] Site [NCSX]

Keep up with the latest Gaming news! - Subscribe to our feed →