At Learning Technologies I managed to catch a seminar about how the Navy has used PSP devices to deliver e-learning courses. Being involved in an e-learning company I’m naturally interested in how these devices are being used.

..so…I’ve bought one, along with some games and videos. I’m sure that there are lots of reviews of the hardware and the many games and gadgets available but here are my first impressions. The device looks quite robust and fits quite well when you are using it. There is a slot for a memory card and also a USB connection, the quality of the video from UMD discs and also the range of file formats that are supported is impressive.

I’ve bought a copy of FIFA 07 to try the gameplay and interface. I’ve only managed to lose each time I’ve played and never looked like scoring a goal but it was very easy to pick up the gameplay. There are a vast number of in game options using the variety of buttons which I’m sure extends the gameplay.

Personally I’m interested to see how we can use the device to deliver learning content. I’ve spoken to one client this morning who was impressed with the cost and possibilities that the device had. He’d looked at iphones but was put off by the cost of ownership. As we develop our relationship with the NUCA games degree I’m going to be interested to see how the students can make use of the PSP to deliver learning objects.

The PSP also has a web browser and we’ll be looking to see what we can deliver via this and the memory card.

I did buy a brain train game and thought I was doing quite well until it told me that I’m 20 years over my brain age! I’ll need to do some practice.