If I could afford to buy only one videogame machine, I might go with Sony's handheld PlayStation Portable. It's an extraordinary little miracle on par with the PlayStation 2, and now there's an even slimmer, lighter PSP on the market. The excellent screen is still a 4.3-inch LCD, which beams movies and games with a crispness that beats iPod and other techy devices.
Plenty of gamers complain that the PSP doesn't offer as many great titles as the PS2 and Xbox 360. This is true. But there are enough games to keep you busy for months, like the recent NBA '08 (rated Everyone), which is just as fun as the slate of basketball games on Xbox 360 and PS3. This summer's Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (rated Teen) lets you zip through a showy action-adventure both as a solo mission and as an online shooter.
Perhaps the best of a new bunch is Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow (rated Teen), a sequel shooting game that looks better than most PS2 games. It allows you to shoot and stab bad guys with aplomb.
