Shanghaiist holiday shopping guide: Buying a PSP

So the holiday season is upon us. We at Shanghaiist have always believed that after a year of toiling, we, more than anyone else, deserve the best gift of the season. Now that line of thinking has been established, the next step is, of course, narrowing down our shopping list. This year, we have our eyes on a Sony PSP.

Actually, we’ve been eyeing the portable game console/music and video player ever since it came out a year ago. Our buying decision this holiday season has every bit to do with the PSP being a nifty gadget as it does some of the extra "resources" available to us as residents of Shanghai, or China for that matter. As far as we know, other than maybe the original NES, no video game console has ever been released here in China, and for a very good reason: rampant piracy of games. The PSP is no different. Machines for sale here are from either Europe or Japan, but with firmware downgraded/modified so that they can handle “backup” (read “pirated”) games. ISO images of PSP games are readily available at most BT sites — ISO Hunt and Torrentspy just to name a couple — as are music and videos.

So how much does it cost? Well, our friend paid 1,900 kuai and received a brand new PSP handheld, a pair of headphones, a leather case, a 2 gig memory card, an original game of his choice (one needs an original game running in the background in order to play other backup games copied onto the memory card, though the choices are pretty scant, not that it really matters). What isn’t included is a USB cable linking the PSP to your PC, but it’s on sale at many PC accessory outlets for about 10 kuai. Most neighborhoods should have a video game store selling the PSP. Just FYI, our friend went to a store on Fuming Lu, a few steps south of Julu Lu, directly across from an All Day convenience store.

Happy shopping and an early holiday greeting from your friends at Shanghaiist.

P.S. Piracy is bad.