Portable Gaming Revolution

Battery life. It’s like blood to us portable gamers. With plentiful battery life the world is our oyster. We can see far away places, race through exotic cities, or vanquish evil foes; all without leaving the comfort of our home. Without it, well… It’s all we can do sometimes to not throw our devices through a window when the battery conks out just as we are getting settled.

When Sony first announced the PSP’s projected battery life estimates way back at E3 ’04, 2 hours didn’t seem like much play time at all. And when it was compared to the Gameboy Advance’s 10 hours riots nearly broke out.

It turns out that we didn’t have much to worry about. The PSP launched and it turns out that we can get an average of 3-5 hours on a battery charge, not too shabby at all for the powerhouse in portable gaming that is the PSP. But what if 4 hours isn’t good enough for your marathon gaming sessions, and you want more? Enter Nyko Technologies and its Charger Case.

The Nyko Charger Case is a sleek neoprene lined anodized aluminum case for your PSP. It offers durable protection for your pricy little toy, but also contains a little surprise. This case comes equipped with an internal 5 hour Lithium Ion battery to help supply you with juice when you can’t bare putting the system down to charge the batteries.

On the front of the case there are 2 lights (indicating when charged, charging and when the battery is low) and a small rubber flap protecting the 2 power ports from dirt. One of the ports is for you to connect the PSP’s power adapter for charging, and the other is used as a power pass through. Inside the case there is a small little power port as well for charging your PSP while not using it.

I’ve been using this case for the last couple of weeks and I can say that I am fairly impressed. This case can be used to charge your PSP when you aren’t playing it (and can usually do that 2-3 times before having to recharge), or as an external battery pack when you attach the included power extension cable to the front of the case and attach it to your PSP’s charge port. While working on a couple game reviews recently I was playing my PSP for upwards of 7-8 hours at a time and loved having the extra juice available to me, as I’m not always near a power outlet. For most games when your case and PSP are fully charged you should get around 9-10 hours of total playtime before needing a recharge. Plenty for even the most hardened gamers.

Nyko setup the way this case uses and provides power quite intelligently. When you are charging the case and PSP, your PSP is charged first allowing you to take your PSP out and with you if you should ever need to quickly go out. And similarly, when you are using it as an external battery the case is drained first leaving you with a fully charged PSP battery for when the case dies.

I did have a couple of issues with this case however, the first being the charge time. It seemed a little bit long for me, taking a full 6 hours to charge this case when it’s empty; 9 hours if you have a fully drained PSP inside. But when I thought about it, this will rarely ever be a problem for me. I’ll just leave it plugged in overnight so it can change while I sleep leaving me with a freshly charged PSP and case in the morning.

I also think that this case may be a little bit too expensive for the average gamer. This case will set you back around $59.99 US, nearly double the price of a second Sony battery. While that doesn’t get you a rugged case to go along with the extra battery, cases can be bought in all shapes, sizes and prices, so that will have to weigh in while you are making your purchase decision.