Sony Remote Play: A Gamer’s Exposé

Sony continues to push the PSP via the newly released PSP-3000. With the new PS button and better LCD screen, the PSP is slowly moving into more of a portable entertainment device. Unfortunately, there is one feature that is overlooked and hardly mentioned: Remote Play.

My setup: I’m using the 40 gig PS3 (upgraded to 160 gig) and a PSP-1000. That’s right, a damn 1000 series model. I got it launch day and skipped out of work to play. You may think using the PSP-1000 model is archaic (it is, I agree) but it’s still a good test. And you can assume how much better the new PSP models will do. I have a wireless-N router, but since the PSP only runs a Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b) that doesn’t really matter.

Before Remote Play can be established, the PSP has to be linked to your PS3. To start Remote Play (RP) the PS3 has the RP option in the Network menu. Once selected, use the PSP menu to select the RP option also. You have a choice of either a general internet connection or private network (home network). The private network is a little more stable in my test; I walked about thirty feet outside my apartment streaming music before it cut the connection. Once the PSP is able to gain an IP address, RP will start. With the general connection, it takes about a minute for the PSP to connect to the PS3. Private network took about ten seconds. Once connected, the PSP screen displays your PS3 menu screen.

The possibilities of RP are varied and great. Videos and music can be streamed over to the PSP. I don’t have any HD content so I don’t know if that is possible. The quality of the video really depends on the original file and the strength of the connection. Sometimes it mimicked the original video and others looked similar to a YouTube stream. I was using headphones while outside, but the sound quality is adequate. There is the occasional skip as the video or music is streamed, though. It really does depend on the wireless connection.

I tried playing PlayStation games over RP, and that was interesting. First I loaded Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. The lag between movement on the screen and the button press is noticeable; it’s to the point where I would actually discourage playing a PS1 game over wireless. The lack of the second set of shoulder buttons made the game unplayable because I couldn’t switch between items. The second game I attempted was Dance Dance Revolution Konamix because of the use of only the direction and face buttons. (Yes, I did play DDR. Yes I did have pads. No, I never memorized any songs.) Wireless lag was much more noticeable. Pressing the button to get a “perfect” is impossible. The delay of the button press was about a quarter of a second, enough to allow me to fail the first track I tried.

Remote Play is a good application, but not for games. Those concerned with battery life: when researching this article I left the PSP running through all the South Park episodes I have on my PS3 and it went around three hours before I turned the PSP off due to heat. PS3 and PSP are good siblings, but the wireless LAN needs the “g” format for sure. It’s clear that Remote Play isn’t just a gimmick, but certain issues hinder its true potential.