Well, I loves me some PSP. Honestly - Nintendo is screwed in the handheld space. They've been warming over ancient technology for years now, and Sony has them with their pants down. Nintendo's response was to fragment their install base into two different camps and completely screw the pooch on multiplayer. The DS is awkward to hold, and has very few games that are anything other than 2nd class ports. I bought 5 games for the PSP - and every one of them supports wireless multiplayer. Only one tops at 2 players (Lumines) - the next fewest is Untold Legends at 4. I have more multiplayer games for my PSP than my DS, I have more games for my PSP than my DS. How is it that I'm comparing a launch console to a six month old device? Go look at the upcoming release calendar for DS and PSP - honestly what is going on there. The DS is a Virtua Boy. It had better outright be the Revolution's controller or Nintendo is going to orphan it and fast. Mario Party GBA comes out next week. Now, historically I would snap this up for Karin. Ready for the kicker - it doesn't even support multiplayer on the DS - because the DS can't interface with GBA link cables. Nice. So they put one of their strongest multiplayer franchises on the GBA six months after the DS launch so that everyone who traded in a GBA for DS can't play. Smooth. Anyway. The PSP is phenomenal. Can't stress that enough. And if you have a PSP buy Lumines. Great game. In fact, can anybody tell me what other games Tetsuya Mizuguchi has done besides Rez? Based on Rez and now Lumines I would buy his other works on faith. In other news I gave up on hoping Netflix would carry games and subscribed to GameFly. I got Republic Commando (which I haven't even booted yet) and Donkey Kong's Jungle Beat. Jungle Beat is awesome fun - although you have to play it in short doses or your hands really hurt. I was worried it would be too short but it's a good enough party game that I'm going to buy it. If you have a bongo controller I strongly recommend at least renting Jungle Beat. And if you ever have groups for party games I think Jungle Beat would be an awesome game for passing the controller around.

So let's compare notes about PSP launch titles shall we? (Yeah this will go good - everyone who cares is wrapped up in GDC this week. I've gone to every GDC since 1997 - deciding to sit out 2005 still makes sense, but is still sort of a sad moment. Off topic . . . .) Here's the "official" launch list. If anybody thinks I have something on the wrong list, comment! Games that I will definitely buy:

1. Twisted Metal: Head-On - Oh yeah, now we're talking. Internet play Twisted Metal? I don't think PSP supports voice, but I can easily see organizing a TM online game night and getting friends into an Xbox Live chat room :-) Hmm - if I'm going to do that I better work out Xbox networking into the family room so that I don't take up the big TV just to play PSP . . . .
2. Wipeout Pure - It looks gorgeous, and I've always liked Wipeout. I know some local people who want to get Wipeout so I'm in.
3. Untold Legends - Oh good, 3D spiders can now be rendered at something close to scale and really close to my hands. Yay. But it looks pretty, and is the Diablo clone with LAN multiplayer. What's not to like? (Memo to game developers - find some new menacing creatures once in a while. Sharks maybe.)
4. Lumines - Gamespot just posted a glowing review and this looks pretty sharp. Plus it's always good to pick up one puzzle game for Karin ;-)
5. Ridge Racer - The import version got good reviews, and it looks really pretty. Add in (LAN) multiplayer, and I'm sold.

Games I'm on the fence about:

1. Ape Escape: On the Loose - This would probably make the cut in a weaker launch list. I liked Ape Escape quite a bit back in the day. But it was built around the Dual Shock, and would lose some charm without one (shades of Super Mario DS). With so many games to go around on Day One this misses the "must-have" cut.
2. Archer Maclean’s Mercury - This almost makes the cut again. If it was a DS game, I'd have bought it :-) On the PSP I'll wait to see some reviews on it.
3. ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin’ Trails - Online (true internet online) almost pushes this over the top. Basically one or two PSP-enabled friends having this would push me over the line.
4. Gretzky NHL - I'm tempted to buy this just so I can make Tony buy it. :-) I'll probably wait on the reviews - especially to find out just how well internet works. Since the only people I would play with this are east coasters it would be all about the internet.
5. Smart Bomb - Not very much is known about this. It looks potentially interesting, but I'm worried that it's just Eidos slapping together something to throw out there for launch. A solid review would push this up the list pretty easily.

Games that aren't that interesting to me:

1. Metal Gear Acid - OK this could move up. MGS for Playstation was brilliant. And the ship portion of MGS2 rocked an insane amount. Too bad they stuck the stupid second half of the game on. And everything I've seen about MGS3 indicates it was more of the same - too much movies and a really silly/incomprehensible plotline. Card battles is interesting, and I actually like the GBA game.
2. NFL Street 2 Unleashed - No internet play and no west coast sports fans. (sigh)
3. THUG 2 Remix - Tempting - I didn't actually own THUG (Weezie had it while he was moving up here so I had access to it for a few days.) Tony Hawk caters to a hardcore audience that isn't me. I'm enough of a completist to want to be able to achieve all of the goals, but not dedicated enough to practice a line of tricks endlessly to get it right.
4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 - See NFL Street
5. FIFA Soccer 2005 World Tour Soccer - FIFA was enjoyable in the PS1 days. Nobody local plays sports games, and it doesn't support internet, so probably no joy here.
6. NBA NBA Street Showdown - Another case where if somebody said "buy this and I'd play you" I probably would. But basketball isn't that interesting to me.
7. Rengoku: Tower of Purgatory - Diablo clones need multiplayer, and I don't think this has it. Buh-bye!
8. Spider-Man 2 - Played this out on Xbox. A solid game, but I don't need it again.
9. Dynasty Warriors - Dynasty Warriors has never held my attention for more than 10 minutes or so - just too repetitive.
10. Darkstalkers Chronicle:The Chaos Tower - Capcom's 2d fighters have just never drawn me in.
11. MLB MVP Baseball 2005 - Baseball just never has interested me.
12. Need for Speed Underground Rivals - I wasn't a huge fan of the first Underground. Really slick, but no actual substance. With two race games on the must have list, and one on the "maybe" list NFS doesn't make it anymore.

What's in Dave Barry's Gadget Bag? An enjoyable read, but the part that really made me chuckle was this. My phone is a Treo 600. It’s a bit too big, but I like that it syncs easily with my computers, and it has everything in it — contacts, calendars, email, and a really, really bad camera, which I call “The CrapCam.” I take pictures on it and post them to my blog, mainly because the quality of the photos enrages the blog readers and causes them to rant in an entertaining manner. I’m thinking of getting the Treo 650, which apparently has a better screen. But it also has a better camera, and I don’t know that I’m prepared to get rid of the CrapCam.

Apparently some early Xboxes have power cords that can catch fire. Mine does this - how convenient! MS will replace them for free, you just have to register. You'll need your Xbox serial number and manufacture date (both on a sticker on the bottom of the console). Go here to see if you're a lucky winner.

Bwana asked, so here's a spew of techno-babble about configuring the Airport networking stuff: Getting back to the Airport discussion, I found a couple of major problems. 1) The Airport Express needed the Airport Extreme base station set up in a very specific fashion in order to extend the range of the network. This wasn't particularly documented anywhere I could find. 2) If the Airport Express (and to a lesser degree the Extreme) gets borked up, it's not really fixable without resetting the entire unit. Basically the UI for configuring it relies on wireless communication. If you program it to not be functional, it will reboot and the the UI can't connect to it anymore. In more detail this is what happened. 1) I unplugged my 802.11b wireless access point, thus shutting down the Jesternet wireless LAN. 2) I plugged in the Airport Extreme and booted it up. I ran the Airport Setup Assistant to configure it. So far so good. 3) I decided to use the WPA security - that's the best option the Extreme offers. This was the first issue - Airport Express won't support extending WPA. This might be obvious to an expert - it wasn't clear to me. 4) I turned off the ability to provide IP addresses - I wanted those to come from the router/DHCP server on the wired LAN. This was the second issue - it's going to prevent successful setup of the Express later. 5) Got the Extreme working, got both Powerbooks talking to it via WPA. Woot! It's fast, it's good. 6) Plugged in the Airport Express. It comes online, my Powerbook can see Jesternet (via the Extreme) and Apple network whatever (via the Express). Of course, the Express isn't talking to the Extreme, so it doesn't really have internet. But we'll configure that. 7) Run the Airport Express Assistant. Tell it I want to have it connect to an existing wireless network. Whoops, the Express won't use WPA. OK, well, let's change the Extreme back to WEP. Cancelling out of the AirPort Express setup reboots it partially configured and it goes offline. Hard reset it with a ballpoint pen. (Did I mention it was up on top of the TV in an awkward place for poking at?) 8) Go to reconfigure Extreme. Knock it down to WEP. Reconfigure both Powerbooks to talk to it via WEP. 9) OK, JesterNet is back as a WEP network, and Apple_Network_xxxx is back online. Let's configure the Airport Express. Now it won't extend the network due to the fact that the Extreme isn't serving addresses (which it really shouldn't). Cancel that, we're back at the pen and power-cycle routine. 10) Let's try bringing the Express up as a NEW network to see what happens. Go through that process. Woot! That works. I can name it, I can stream iTunes to it. But I have to decide whether I want to join the "Living Room" network, which has iTunes streaming but no internet, or "Jesternet" with internet but no streaming. Yuck. 11) OK, let's try letting the Extreme hand out some IP addresses. You can't use the Assistant for that, you have to use the AirPort Admin Utility. Wheee. Turn on the check box, and hit OK. Wait - does that say it's going to use 172.xxx.xxx subnet? That won't work with rest of my LAN. Change it to 192.168.1.x and hit OK. Wait, did it say it's OWN IP address would be 192.168.1.1? That's an address conflict. 12) So the Extreme just rebooted and dropped off the network. Yarrgh. In order to fix *THAT*, I had to take the Extreme off the wired LAN, power cycle it, and have the Mac connect wirelessly to "192.168.1.1", change it's address to a good one for my LAN, reboot the Extreme and plug it back into the LAN. 13) OK, back to the AirPort Extreme. OK, somewhere along the line it got screwed up again, needed the pen-and-power cycle trick. 14) There were a few more go-rounds of this nature that I don't remember the full details of. Basically if you misconfigure an Airport Extreme it's gone, and you have to hard-reset it. And there isn't any simple documentation that says what settings your Extreme needs before the Express can extend the range of the network.