Update April 01, 2005 at 01:17PM EST
If you reside outside of the USA, please do not select USPS Global Priority Mail as your shipping method. USPS Global Priority Mail is not trackable nor is it insured. If the package is lost or damaged, there is NO RECOURSE with the Postal Service. We recommend ONLY shipping with USPS Express Mail which is trackable and insured. Thank you for reading.

Update March 31, 2005 at 03:52PM EST
Due to price increases that were instituted by local distributors late this afternoon, NCS is forced to raise the price of the PSP Value Pack for any new orders placed after 03:52PM EST to US$310. If you placed your order before this time, you will be charged the original rate of US$290. Apologies for this change but we have little control over the pricing being set by distributors in a volatile market.

We are but one cog in an ever moving machine.

Update March 29, 2005
All backorders for the USA PSP Value Pack are shipping today and new orders are welcome to ship this afternoon. If we sell out of Value Packs later this afternoon, restock should arrive again within 1-2 days. No worries.

Update March 24, 2005
Preorders are shipping today and we have a few surplus units for new export orders. Since we have a backlog of customers interested in the USA Value Pack, we will contact everyone today with offer details. If we sell out later this afternoon, we expect additional supplies of the PSP Value Pack by next week for new orders. Our price is US$310 for the PSP Value Pack which includes the following items:

• 32MB Memory Stick Duo
• AC Adapter (120V to 240V compatible for use in USA/EUROPE/ASIA)
• Battery Pack
• Carrying Case with Wrist Strap and Cleaning Cloth
• Headphones with Remote Control
• Sampler UMD with game/movie/music previews (Kung Fu Hustle...)
• Spiderman 2 movie UMD

We are forced to charge a premium over the normal PSP price of US$250 because we had to purchase 5 PS2 games for every PSP unit which added to our cost of procurement. What do PS2 games have to do with the PSP launch? Nothing. But it helps the PSP supplier/distributor get rid of old and stale PS2 inventory in a jiffy....at our expense.

No Shortage
After cruising to a few local retail chain shops this morning to evaluate the stock situation, it appears that no PSP hardware shortages are apparent and units are available for anyone to walk in, plunk down $, and walk away with their own PSP. The only caveat is that many retail chain shops are only selling the PSP in bundles for upwards of US$400.

Dead Pixels
We've tested three USA PSP units so far. Two of the units have 1 dead pixel each but near the edge of the screen. The third unit is perfect. The USA user manual mentions the dead pixels under the Troubleshooting section except they're called "black, red, blue and green spots." We're guessing the word "dead" is never good when describing a product. Similar to the current policy in Japan, we're fairly certain that Sony will not accept returns for units with dead pixels although the Gamestop employee we spoke to earlier didn't know the official stance.

Import Price Drop and Firmware Update
With the launch of the USA PSP, we are lowering prices for the Japanese Value Pack to US$320 and Regular Pack to US$270. Stock is readily available for import systems and we expect to keep them in stock for the foreseeable future. For our Japanese PSP customers, please note that a 13.2MB firmware update was released last night and may be downloaded here. To install it, copy the file from PC to your memory stick (dir X:\PSP\GAME\UPDATE\) and then select the memory stick in the PSP browser. Once detected, the installation will begin.

Import Software Compatibility
There is no region lockout for PSP game software and we've tested every single game in our library to verify the compatibility. USA games work on Japanese PSPs and Japanese games work fine on USA PSPs. Please note however that the USA Spiderman 2 movie does not work with Japanese PSP units and we expect all future PSP movies to be region protected as well.

Europe Next
No date has been set for the European PSP launch but now that the Japanese and USA debuts are behind us, news should be forthcoming in the next few weeks. We expect European PSP software to be region-free.

Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can you check my PSP for dead pixels before shipping?
Unfortunately, we cannot do this. Dead pixels are acknowledged by Sony themselves as unavoidable on some PSP units and we cannot go through a dozen or more factory sealed PSP units to find one for you that is dead-pixel-free. What would we do with the opened PSP units? We cannot return them to Sony as they are not taking ANY returns for dead pixels and we would not be able to sell them as new stock.

2. Will my PSP order ship today?
To view the inventory status of any product on our shop, please check the "Status" field to the right of every product. If it reads "Ships same day if ordered before 5PM EST" then your order is shipping today. If it reads "Ships in 4-7 days," please note that this means the product is currently sold out but we expect restock within 4-7 days.

3. Will a Japanese PSP play European UMDs?
No. You may be thinking about how Japan and Europe share the same DVD region code (2) but this does not necessarily mean that PSP UMDs from Europe will play on Japanese PSPs.

4. But aren't USA PSPs capable of playing Japanese games?
Yes, but PSP games are not region coded. However, PSP UMD-Video movies and possibly even UMD-Audio discs are region protected. The protection allows publishers to control the distribution of movies within the regions that they are meant for.

5. How about a hack that will defeat the UMD region check on a PSP?
That's a possible solution that may become available in the future. For example, DVD player region hacks are fairly easy to find/execute/perform.

6. I heard from my cousin's neighbor's best friend Timmy that the USA PSP uses Samsung LCD screens that are inferior to the Japanese PSP. True?
False. USA PSP units use the same Sharp LCD that's in Japanese PSP units. Samsung supplies NAND and DDR memory chips that are used in the PSP.