When should I buy a PSP?

[JasonTerminator]

I've got a PSP 1000, but it no longer reads memory sticks and I'm sick of letting my PSP collection gather dust, so I want to get a new PSP. I've got a feeling that now would be a stupid time to buy one, with the NGP on the horizon and the 3000 overdue for a price drop. When do you guys think the 3000 will drop in price?

And for the record, I have absolutely no interest in a PSP Go. I have no downloadable PSP games except for PSOne classics. This purchase is for playing my UMDs.

Also, I think that a 2GB stick isn't enough space since I want to put a PSOne Classic on the stick, so should I go for a 4 or 8GB stick when I buy a new memory stick?

And please don't just say "Wait for the NGP and get that", since that doesn't play UMDs, which is the whole reason I'm buying another PSP.

 

[cochesecochese]

PSP 3000 probably won't drop until either E3 or after Christmas. I would say wait until E3 at least and if nothing is announced, buy one then. There's also the potential of a revised 3000 (a la Monster Hunter edition) PSP being announced or maybe some sweet new colors.

 

[M-PG71C]

I feel ya there completely man. My PSP 1000 UMD drive is totally trashed so I need to get a 3000 one before they "magically" disappear off the market. I'm waiting to see if a price drop will get announced at E3 first, but if not I'm just going to buy one. It already got one price drop earlier in the year so it's cheaper then what I was budgeting for already so that works it for me.

Besides, I been trying to get a few more PSP games anyway. From November of last year till now, I have bought all three Ys games, Lunar, Kingdom Hearts, and 3rd Birthday. I still need to get Tactics Ogre, FFIV Collection, and a few other minor titles. The PSP wasn't my favorite portable (94 DS games V.S. 20 PSP) but it was still pretty dang solid. I need to finish up my collection and upgrade.

 

[sir-fly]

since you waited this long just wait until the psp hits this nov. and get the 1st psp even cheaper than it is now

 

[Enuf]

Wait till E3 so you have a clear idea of if there's going to be another price drop closer to $100 for a 3000. If you see a good giftcard deal $25-$50 jump on it...even better if a store other than best buy has the giftcard offer you can price match them and reduce the out of pocket cost on the spot by deducting the giftcard amount from the current $130 price.

As for the mem stick "ad watch" I purchased several Sony/Scandisk 8 gig ones from $17-$20 at BB usually price matching Target & Kmart. 4 gig ones are regularly on sale at Target for $8-$10 the usually can be found in the weekly ad, you can also luck up by checking CVS/Walgreens/Riteaid weekly ads too usually 4 & 8 gig $10-$16.

Edit: TRU just had a b1g1 50% off all videogames + accessories depending on if their stock is low you can find the on clearance 20%-30% off reg. price. Combine the clearance price with the b1g1 & you could end up with two 8 gig for under $25.
16 & 32 gig ones are reg. available so if you see on in the $30-$40 range this will pretty much be all youl'll ever need.

 

[CollectiCopia]

I agree with everyone else here; bite the bullet a little longer and wait at least to see if E3 will bring official news of the PSP - current and future - and then if you can stand to wait even longer, hold out until Black Friday of 2011.

There were some pretty sweet PSP deals going on during this year's Black Friday event and I don't doubt that something similar will happen this year, too.

Other earlier sales dates to note (USA-based): Father's Day, summer sales, and Back-to-School

Something to maybe look out for when shopping for PSPs:

Watch out for the PSP-3000s (especially the Mystic Silver) that were manufactured during the time of the Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep bundle release as word has it that there were more reports of manufacturing defects (problems with the UMD drive, the system crashing) for that series of 3000s than for previous releases.

I'm not entirely positive on the legitimacy of the claims (I don't own that version and so all the reports are secondhand from other people), but I would personally rather be safe than sorry.

In regards to Memory Sticks, I have both Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII downloaded onto a 4 Gig 'Stick and I keep both of the games' save files along with Crisis Core's save files on the same 'Stick with no problem. 4 Gigs would therefore be my recommended minimum because it can house a PSOne game + 1 other PSOne game + other save files without issue.

I say 'minimum' because I have had issues before with getting-full Memory Sticks being sluggish in loading and playing game-related files (Birth By Sleep's 'install' file for example). To be on the safe and faster side, I keep my game-related files on a Memory Stick separate from the 'Stick that houses the majority of my multimedia files.

There are decent deals on the 4 and 8 Gig MSDPs that appear in-store and online on and off; everyone's store suggestions have been spot-on.

For the 16 Gig and 32 Gig, there are fewer really good sales that aren't buy-one-get-one-half-off and my recommendation would be to wait until Black Friday or some major sales date to investigate the possibilities. Definitely, $30 - $40 range would be a sweet deal for this size of 'Stick.

Best of luck!