Playstation Portable PSP Entertainment System – Why I Couldn’t Live Without it
The Upgrades: The PSP used to be at the Firmware also known as the Original Release: 1.00. This was the original PSP, and by the time they released them in the US, Sony Entertainment upgraded the PSP system with security up to FW 1.5. Reason being, hackers were able to play games they themselves had made and added on to the gaming system itself. They were called PBP files. Sony wasn’t happy about the developers making the games and maybe even one day, selling them on the internet, so they added some security to the PSP thinking they could stop the hackers from accessing the kernal mode (or the core of the unit) and being able to play homebrew (or self-developed games). After about 5 months of FW 1.5 releasing in the US, Sony saw the hackers getting close to a crack, and updated it to FW 1.51. A few weeks later, yet again, another update to FW 1.52! Unlucky for me, I accidently updated my PSP to FW 1.51 so I wasn’t able to do anything with it.
The story behind that, was hackers broke the code for 1.5 PSP’s just as 1.52 released. Unlucky for me, I had 1.51… I wasn’t too happy. Now FW 1.5 PSP users could all use the homebrew games and applications like 1.00 PSP gamers could! The hackers tried and tried, but still.. no luck at cracking 1.52! So they were about to give up, when Sony was also annoyed at many people using 1.5 PSP’s to play homebrew games, so they decided to “bribe” some of the PSP owners by releasing update 2.00. This update gave the PSP it’s reputation it has today: It included a web browser for surfing the internet! The PSP’s main capability was a wireless-B built into it using Infrared to connect to nearby wireless routers to play games online, and if you had the hacks, to surf the web online. Now the 2.00 users could all use the web browser, and so many people upgraded from 1.5 PSP’s to 2.00. Many people did not care for homebrew, but then, a hacker on the web broke 2.00’s code! They were able to mess around with a picture file to make the PSP think that it can use the FW 1.5 update to “update” it to a later version. Many PSP’s that night were able to downgrade back to 1.5. I was so happy for this, so I downgraded my PSP to 1.5 and was able to play many new games and have so many new functions with the PSP.
This was just a small history, but to sum up the rest to where I am today, I updated it back up to 2.00 when they made it the official cracked Firmware. Now I am able to play my games, homebrew games and applications, and the best part: my PSP won’t ever depreciate in value since many new Firmwares have arrisen, and many cannot be hacked into since the security is so intense. Many people search for the PSP version I have, but not many have them anymore thanks to Sony’s updates. This is only one reason why I love my PSP so much and could never live without it and it’s hacked capabilities.
Music: The PSP system to start out with could only play MP3’s and .M3U’s (otherwise known as playlists). But when FW 2.00 released, we were now able to play WAV files as well. This helped many users who couldn’t convert their songs to MP3. I have a 2 gig memory stick for my PSP, so I have stored over 1.5 gig of music in it. It’s practically my music player no matter where I go. No need for an iPod anymore!
Videos: Besides the UMD (Universal Media Discs that hold up to 1.8 gig of data) movies you can buy in the store for DVD price, you can add movies to your memory card in MP4 format, or AVC format. AVC format was added in the 2.00 update for some games to play right, better quality, and half the file size. This was a God send to people with small memory sticks. I now store 5 music videos, and some TV shows that someone recorded for me on my PSP and I watch them in high quality frequently.
Games: The UMD games aren’t the only ones I can play anymore. The UMD games are extremely fun and have a diverse variety! My favorites are the racing games such as Burnout, and shooter games such as GTA: Liberty City Stories. The PSP was always doubted at first to not be able to handle games that usually require 2 analog sticks to play right at first, but with the release of GTA, the world was astonished at how well it played with all the buttons being used!
Internet: Wireless internet? Need I say more? Ok, I think I will: If I ever got lost in a city driving and needed to find directions to where I was going, I’d pull over, find someone who is using wireless in the area or go to a coffee shop, and check online with yahoo maps or mapquest. Or if I ever needed to email someone while I was out somewhere with no computers or laptops available, then I’d just pop out my PSP and surf the web, check my email, and send the email. This was the best feature added in FW 2.00 they could ever have put on the PSP.
Photo’s: A great way to look at photos if you love sharing great pictures with people on the go. Along with .gif and jpeg extentions, it also has a magnifying glass to zoom in and the picture does not get fuzzy either! The photo’s section isn’t just for photo’s though, in my 2.00 PSP, it is the place for the hack that can activate the extra games section that isn’t supposed to run on it, but does anyways. It opens up a games menu and I am able to play tetris, Joleem, hack into the font settings, move files around on the memory stick, and so much more!
Settings: change the background picture if you’d like, or check the battery level. Setup a wireless network nearby as well, the settings lets you do everything!
This may not seem like a lot (Oh come on!!! Internet!) but just think, the battery life is about 5 hours on a good day and up to 10 hours with just music or a mixture between many applications, so it’s just as good, if not, better than a laptop on the go. Not to mention, rumors have been spreading rapidly about newer updates that will include GPS tracking, and an Email Server on the PSP. Also streaming television, and downloadable shows.
To close out, I can definetly say the PSP has changed my life around. The FW hacking, the games, the videos, the hacks, the internet, and the updates to come! And to end it all, I leave you with this piece of knowledge that not many people know or understand about the PSP: The internet is free…
