In my recent ramblings about the toys I’ve got my eyes on, I realise that I completely forgot to consider the new Playstation incarnations! On the one hand we’ve got the PS3 coming out next year sometime, which by all accounts will be awesomely powerful, has network gaming, etc etc, and is a suitable upgrade to ye olde PS2. On the other hand, at the back end of this year is the Playstation Portable, which seems to be pretty much a portable PS2.

The fundamental problem is that I don’t really have time to playstation, and it also hogs the sitting room and telly – so much so that I can considered selling it or giving it away from time to time (until I find a game like Ratchett and Clank, when I become addicted and play for hours). The PSP solves both these problems, in that I can play the games on the train, or indeed in the sitting room while the missus watches gardening programs. And of course it’s much easier to take any on holiday/conferences…

The trouble is, the PS3 looks so nice, and is outrageously powered so the graphics are going to be just gorgeous… That said, I really like the power and graphics of the PS2, and have to wonder what all this extra power will actually add? I suppose you can have huge and very detailed maps, sort of like Jak and Daxter on speed. By all accounts the price is going to be comparable for the two (I would expect the PS3 to be a bit more) – at around 200 quid. If I am going to get a new organiser and GPS then it’s easily next summer before I can afford it anyway, so I guess I could just wait and see what games are around, and what the reviews have been like.

The sensible option is probably to get a PSP, and then think about getting a new console when young master Ben is old enough to play it in – what – 5 or 6 years time? But it’s ever so tempting to bump it up the priority list, at least to above the GPS…