Oh Playstation Portable, can you never catch a break? First, gamers were given a great handheld gaming platform without a second analog stick for some reason (and UMD’s ewww). Then gamers got a Slim version (the PSP 2000), but it wasn’t really a major upgrade, as it was more of a face lift. Finally, they were offered the PSP Brite (3000), only to discover that, while still a great handheld, it too left much to desired.

Find out why the PSP 3000’s screen issues made the list after the jump!

On top of including the small improvements like weight reduction and faster loading times that the PSP 2000 introduced, the PSP 3000 also added features like a tougher setup to protect against piracy and a revamped screen. Unfortunately, the re-imagined screen on the PSP 3000 is not everything gamers had hoped for.

The newest PSP’s high-contrast, low-latency screen was intended to do away with the ghosting/smearing found on the last two models. While the screen is noticeably brighter and does look really good “most” of the time, it DOES have some rather blatant issues. Issues which cannot be corrected by a simple firmware update.

Scanlines and spiked edges on moving items are fairly obvious. God of War: Chains of Olympus, WipeOut Pulse and Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters all show noticeable ”pixelation” and especially in GoW’s case, rather ugly jagged edges on a number of moving objects. Heck you can see the scanline issue just by cruising through the XMB at times. Gamers can make the problem a little less noticeable by turning off the Wide Color Space option on their PSP 3000’s, but it’s hardly a fix.

According to Sony: “Since this phenomenon is caused by hardware characteristics, there is no plan to fix it with system software update.”

Yes the PSP 3000 incorporates all the improvements of the last two models and does look pretty great most of the time, but one can’t help but wonder how this issue slipped by Sony. Did they not play some of their most highly rated titles on the new PSP before it came out? Did they think nobody would notice? Even with the 3000’s screen issues, the newest PSP is still more than game worthy…you’ll still enjoy playing on it. It’s just you’d enjoy it even more if the big selling point for the PSP 3000, which is its new screen, was ACTUALLY a major selling point.

That’s why the PSP 3000’s screen issues come in at number 23 in Sarcastic Gamers Top 100 Moments of 2008!

Source: JoyStiq, JoyStiq & Kotaku

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