try searching on the hot deals forums at fatwallet.com. They will most often have some of the best deals posted there..

Gamestop, too. I get my boys used GameBoy, Playstation and PS2 games, plus accessories and used DVDs. Geeks work there, and they can usually relate to my kids,and know their way around the games and hardware. My 'home' one is in West St. Paul, but you've got one at Midway.
Lori

The core unit is single priced. The best you can do is find a bundle that has what you want as far as discount accessories and games.

It's a cool unit. Looks sweet, and it's pretty cool to WiFi onto the net to browse sites with it.

My oldest got one. It's too expensive, though, for casual use.

PSPs go from about $219/229 used to $249 new. You're not going to find one cheaper. Your best bet is to scour ebay for a package with a game or two that you like. This way, you can pick up a game or two and save about $40-50 in the long run by paying a bit more up front for a package deal.

Locally, we think Game Spot has some used ones for sale every now and then.

It really depends what you want to use this thing for. If you are going for straight gaming, we would suggest taking a look at the much less expensive Nintendo DS. If you are going for video/multimedia, take a look at one of the iRiver devices.

Take note...with the launch of 2 new gaming platforms this year, you may want to wait a bit to see how compatable these things are with the next generation of platforms and consumer electronics.

We would make a bet that within the next year, you will be able to buy a device that plays games, can playback Tivo, works with slingbox, etc.

The PSP is also a magnet for theft. Its not everyday that theifs can have their targets with ears in earphones and eyes fixed on a small screen. Never mind the fact that the resale value on this thing is pretty excellent at the moment (see ebay again). Its not something that you would really pull out on the city bus...more of an airplane thing.

What do you plan to use it for? Gaming? Video? Music?

cp

$ony i$ pretty big on the propriatary thing, $o if you're looking for $tuff to work with it, be prepaired to pay $ony price$. I could easily $ee you $pending double once you get the toy$ you want to work with it like extra memory (what they build in i$ crap). The "DVDs" are al$o propietory format and not playable with anything else, and have a limited run length.

If you're looking for a hot game platform, buy it. But if you're looking for a sometimes-game thing that does X, Y, & Z find something else to do the X, Y, and Z part. Convergance is ... comming, but right now you're better off buying 2 or 3 things that do half the job well over one that does them all crappy.

That said, if you're dedicated to the Playstation, I have a 256? 512? Sony magicgate memory stick I can let you have, cheap: make offer...but I think the playstation unit uses a new format that's non-compatible with their other memory sticks.

cp makes a very valid point. It's a sweet machine for gaming with dual ARM processors @400 MHz, awesome graphics, WiFi, online gaming, and great flexibility. The dual ARM will tell you compatibility with all the PowerPC based units in the coming generation is going to poor, though.

The PSP's not really caught on as much as Sony wanted mainly due to the price tag. And for all the other things that it does there are alternatives that do at least as well if not better. If it were $100 cheaper it'd be a runaway hit, but at $250 for the core unit and more $$$ for all the memory cards and whatnot to make it do all those other things, well, you better be made of money (he says looking at the hole in the wallet left by buying one for his kid). It's pretty clunky for checking the web, but you can do it. The audio controls for an MP3 palyer are not as good as others. The screen isn't as scratch resistant as you'd like, etc. My teenager loves it for the online gaming, though.

Go to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas - these guys got 2 free PSP's:
" How To Get Free Stuff At Shows"
http://www.thetechzone.com/?m=show&id=479