Jake Ludington's Digital Lifestyle

PSP Nation offers a more than slightly biased list of 10 reasons to choose a PSP over an Xbox 360, citing themselves as the number one reason to choose PSP. Of course the top reason to get a PSP now and wait on Xbox 360 is that you can actually walk into any electronics store on the planet and get a PSP immediately. No lottery system, no camping out over night required. I already have a PSP, I have great access to an Xbox 360 over at Chris and Ponzi's house and will purchase an Xbox 360 as soon as I don't have to wait in line to get one. Still, there are a few reasons you might not want an Xbox 360. Here are my top 5:

5. No HDTV - you don't need an HDTV to play Xbox 360 games, but the experience is so much better you won't accept anything less once you've tried it. If you're still living in a standard def world, the small screen on the PSP looks better than your television. There's always one of those TV strap-ons for your PSP to really make the games look like your 1985 VHS collection.

4. No Windows PC - both Windows Media Connect and Windows Media Center Extender technologies are counting on the fact you have a Windows box somewhere in your house. If you're a Mac or Linux only household, something completely disconnected from your computing universe, like the PSP, makes sense. Of course, if you're a Mac only household, you probably won't buy a PSP because it won't play your 320x240 Desperate Housewives collection and you can't easily recompile the kernel on your PSP, so Linux users are out too.

3. No DVDs - if your movie collection stopped with the VHS release of Back to the Future, you won't feel as bad about spending $20 for a UMD that only plays in your PSP. Xbox 360 supports DVD movies, making it a valuable replacement for both your DVD player and your previous gaming console. No need to upgrade your movie collection until the fight over HD-DVD and Blu-Ray goes the way of that other Sony proprietary format. If you like the idea of throwing away $20 for feature-length movies you'll never watch on a screen bigger than your palm, PSP is definitely the way to go.

2. No Home Network - If you have a Windows PC but don't have a home network, the Windows Media Connect and Windows Media Center Extender functions of Xbox 360 are useless to you anyway. You can still rip songs to the Xbox 360 hard drive and browse photos from your digital camera, but the fully connected experience is lacking. Better to get a PSP and carry around the limited number of songs and photos you can fit on a 1GB Memory Stick for that $100 you saved by purchasing a PSP instead of the Xbox 360. Of course, if you have no home network, the PSP WiFi features are also useless, so maybe an iPod video is a better option - it plays a mean game of Break Out.

1. No Friends - sure you can play head-to-head against friends with a PSP, but the experience is nothing like Xbox Live with a headset on talking smack as you frag your buddy in New York from the comfort of your Malibu beach house. If you don't have any friends, Xbox 360 might not look so interesting. The PSP doesn't really require any friends because the game play doesn't really feel like you're competing against other people. Then again, I hear having an Xbox 360 is a gateway to popularity with the ladies.