I love gadgets. I also love video games, a love affair that began back in 1980 or so when we brought home the Atari 2600, which begat the Commodore 64, which begat NES, Sega Genesis, Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation, Playstation 2, Nintendo Wii and now Playstation 3. I didn’t get the PSP (PlayStation Portable) when it was released a few years back, but now I’ve borrowed one from my buddy Fred so I can give you my impressions of it.

The display, while small, has decent resolution, and the sound is more than loud enough when wearing headphones (actually, it can be pretty loud when you AREN’T wearing headphones). The graphics seem to be comparable to the PS2, and while I have a meager selection of games (Some futuristic racing game, a first person shooter and a collection of old Activision Atari games), the biggest problem with the device doesn’t have to do with any of that stuff, and everything to do with its design.

Look at the picture above – that black rubber disc at the bottom left is a joystick. the standard PS/PS2/PS3 Controller has two joysticks and is laid out thusly:

Anybody who plays on these platforms is used to the two-joystick method of controlling. The PSP has decided to regress to one joystick, and it doesn’t cut the mustard. A first-person shooter like Syphon Filter becomes clunky and awkward, and I can only imagine how flight simulators are similarly affected. It just makes gameplay less fun, and while my usage is basically restricted to airplane travel, I would like to see a version of the PSP that includes a second black rubber disc. They have the room…

That’s really all I can tell you about the device so far. Am I not playing the right games? Maybe. Is it a good way to kill a few hours on a flight? Sure, and the battery life is impressive. I just can’t get past the lack of a second joystick.

Have you played the PSP? What are your impressions of it?

I was single for a LOOOOONG time before I met Jenn. The first time I saw her I was smitten. She was funny and beautiful, so of course I was too nervous to talk to her. As luck would have it we were cast in a show together at Second City Los Angeles – she was even more beautiful in person than she was on stage (aided by the fact that she wasn’t wearing a crazy outfit). After a long history of not being able to interact with girls I was actually able to flirt with her. It still took an assist from Ben Acker for me to even be able to ask her out. Our first date was on June 11, 2005, and we haven’t been apart since. We first said “I Love You” on July 8th, 2005. I’d never been happier to hear those words in my life.

Jennifer, I love you so much. Thank you for being my valentine for life.

Have you ever been in one of those situations where you felt like you were the last to experience something, and you only hoped that the experience would be as good as you’d built it up to be? That’s how I’ve felt about wifi in airplanes.

Until today, when I boarded American Airlines flight 823 from Wichita to Dallas only to see the wifi sticker above my seat! Right now I’m about 34000 feet in the air writing a blog post. The connection is smooth, too expensive, and makes me feel like I’m staying in touch instead of disappearing into the sky.

I’m just trying to figure out whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

What do you think?