PSP Hacks and the Mainstream

pasm writes "The BBC is running article about how "DIY software and hardware experts have been quick to embrace Sony's PlayStation Portable console." Today I have witnessed some colleagues playing a wireless racing game with imported ones in the office. It seems that this will be the gadget of the year for both gamers and programmers with a neat idea and time on their hands."

Comments

Hacks?

[AKAImBatman]

PSP Hacks and the Mainstream

People have been hacking Paint Shop Pro for ages! Why is this suddenly a big news item? (j/k)

Re:Hacks?

[maxwell demon]

You misunderstand. It's about hacking the Program Segment Prefix. DOS is coming back! :-)

Its the...

[Anonymous Coward]

First Hack

Trouble Brewing?

[ackthpt]

The developments are not sanctioned by Sony but the firm has not commented on the homebrew tools.

Yet...

So is this going to be another case where the developer of PSPIRC and other hackers have laid their hands on a PSP-DK (which will likely turn out completely unauthorized, etc.) and Sony will come down like a ton of bricks upon people? IIRC something like this has happened in the past. While I like the idea, you know Sony officially sanctions development for PS games, usually entering exclusive agreements, i.e. Sony provides DK, Developer agrees not to distribute DK, Developer creates game and turns over to Sony, Sony produces the carts and either sells them and splits the revenues or sells them back to the developer to do their own marketing (dunno if it works exactly like that anymore, but I know it was the business model.) So Sony holds ultimate control over what's released for their PS and PSP platforms.

I expect a big shoe to drop. It wouldn't be a good idea to go blathering your name and accomplishments all over the place, particularly to reporters. I expect Sony will make their displeasure known in good time and in no uncertain terms. A shame, but this is part of their plan to protect their investment.

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[Anonymous Coward]

But I thought Donkey Kong was a Nintendo game, not a Sony one. So confused...

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're not funny. Stop trying.

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[John Seminal]

So is this going to be another case where the developer of PSPIRC and other hackers have laid their hands on a PSP-DK (which will likely turn out completely unauthorized, etc.) and Sony will come down like a ton of bricks upon people?

If people know this, then why do they hack it? It is like having a law against speeding. I like to speed. I do it from time to time. But I HATE getting a ticket, having my insurace jump up, and being harrassed by the police. The only difference is Sony writes much bigger tickets and fines. I am assuming Sony can make a persons life a living hell if they wanted to.

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[AnyNoMouse]

Two things:

1) The developments so far have all been browser based. No SKD necessary, just a copy of Wipeout Pure (and later, hopefully, Sony will release firmware with the browser built in).

2) Sony has twice released homebrew SDK's in the past. Yaroze! for the PS1 and the Linux development kit for the PS2. I would not be surprised if they did the same for the PSP (limited, of course, as the other two SDKs were).

In other words, the only problem I forsee Sony having with the "hacks" so far is the multigame "hack" (allowing multiple people to play a wireless game with only one copy of the game). The only thing I expect to happen with this is that developers will either embrace it (explicitly allow this to happen) or code their games so you can't do it.

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[gnuadam]

Why is this modded up. It's completely wrong. The irc "hack" is not executable code, it's just using a cgi script web page using wipeout pure's web browser.

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[Anonymous Coward]

In other words, the only problem I forsee Sony having with the "hacks" so far is the multigame "hack" (allowing multiple people to play a wireless game with only one copy of the game)

This really isn't much different than having four contollers on a PS2 and only one copy of the game.

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[bfields]

If people know this, then why do they hack it? It is like having a law against speeding. I like to speed. I do it from time to time. But I HATE getting a ticket, having my insurace jump up, and being harrassed by the police.

The difference is that hacking the (PSP|XBox|whatever) is cooler than speeding. People probably disagree about the numbers, but most would agree that going too fast for conditions *should* be illegal. Whereas the opposite is probably true for hardware hacking. So if you get in trouble for hardware hacking, maybe you become a folk hero and help change some policy. If you get caught for speeding you probably just feel embarassed.

--Bruce Fields

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[Boogaroo]

It's a huge difference. Even at the four to one ratio, people would have to buy four games for the 16 PSP multiplayer.

If you're counting on selling games to make money, then this is a major problem. Watch for old PSP's for sale on EBay if new ones disable this "bug."

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[cloudmaster]

Speeding isn't neccesarily going "too fast for conditions". Similarly, hacking hardware that *you own* is just using the device in a way other than which it is intended, not stealing ideas for fun and profit. Speeding is definitely cooler, just ask the dumb girl riding on the back of some punk's sport bike. :)

If you get in trouble for hacking hardware, the feds get involved and media spin generaly makes you look like a criminal. Speeding just costs a few bucks and might get your name included in a small listing in the local newspaper.

Then again, I sped to work today, and I'm spending the afternoon looking for ways to hack the PSP, so I'm a big ol' criminal either way (but this is a timely article for me).

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[AdamWeeden]

I think the more important difference to note is that with speeding, there is a decent chance of not getting caught. With hacking the PSP I think the majority of those doing so will wish to share their creation with others, thus admitting their "guilt."

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[bfields]

If you get in trouble for hacking hardware, the feds get involved and media spin generaly makes you look like a criminal.

Really? Doubtless there's some way to spin "Sony sues Geek who figures out how to do something cool with PSP", but to me, from a public relations point of view, it looks most likely to be a loss for Sony....

--Bruce Fields

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[thuh Freak]

But can it run Linux? Seriously though. How far off is that?

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[cloudmaster]

Just say that the criminal in question violated the DMCA or the Patriot Act or some other terrorist-like activity. Damned terrorists. I'm gonna go out and put another american flag no my car right now, as just the thought of such unamerican activities - like hacking that game device - makes me sick. :)

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hacking? There are no hacks for the PSP... Hardware hacking? Where? Spoofing some DNS entries to pull up an alternate webpage is not hacking.

Re:Trouble Brewing?

[Queer Boy]

In other words, the only problem I forsee Sony having with the "hacks" so far is the multigame "hack" (allowing multiple people to play a wireless game with only one copy of the game).

This has been an implicit advantage that Nintendo used to hype the capabilities of the Gameboy Advance (only wired). There is enough RAM onboard to load smaller games and the speed of the connection is fast enough to transfer them. Of course not a lot of games use it but it is cool.

Hacks gone Mainstream?

[wlan0]

I don't they ever will, since many people are too afraid that they will break them. I know some computer savvy people who are, even after having built several computers.

Re:Hacks gone Mainstream?

[bryan986]

I added a high density spring to the PSP so my disks would shoot out 10 times as fast, instant weapon.

Re:Hacks gone Mainstream?

[John Seminal]

I don't they ever will, since many people are too afraid that they will break them. I know some computer savvy people who are, even after having built several computers.

Yeah, but a computer is like leggos. It is hard to screw up. Now if you wanted to open your hard drive up... that would be impressive.

Re:Hacks gone Mainstream?

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Leggos? You mean LEGO? Or, if you insist on being wrong, at least use "LEGOs"

Re:Hacks gone Mainstream?

[fugspit]

I think he meant l'eggos. Which, in case you did not know, are french waffles.

Re:Hacks gone Mainstream?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, his post makes sense -- I love pouring maple syrup on my leggos AND computer...

Re:Hacks gone Mainstream?

[NanoGator]

"I don't they ever will, since many people are too afraid that they will break them."

I would add that I think they'll find they're not as snazzy as they first sound. At the moment, web browsing on the PSP is painful. (Partly due to interface, partly due to lack of DNS etc.)

If Sony makes it easy to rip DVDs to the PSP, that might work out okay. But I have a very had time imagining millions of people ever doing this with the PSP. If Sony were to release iTunes for video, I might change my mind.

Right now, the PSP's mass-market appeal is games. That'll take up most of the pie-chart for quite a while.

Re:Hacks gone Mainstream?

[ReverendLoki]

It's a new mass-produced breakfast waffle that you assemble yourself into new and interesting shapes.

"Let go of my L'Eggo!"

Re:Hacks gone Mainstream?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is there a WIKI?

Re:Hacks gone Mainstream?

[tokabola]

I live in northern Wisconsin, real backwoods chill-billy territory. Yet this morning the local classic rock station (based in Ashland, on the Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior) carried the story of PSP hacking. The DJ gave fairly accurate and complete information - then admitted he had no idea what he just said!

If they're talking about it here, it's everywhere because this is the last place to catch a clue about something new. As far as I can tell, there's only one other Linux user within 50 miles of me. Haven't met him, just heard about him from the guy who sells D-Wav (the linux user lives out in the woods somewhere so D-Wav is his only hope for any kind of bandwidth).

Re:Hacks gone Mainstream?

[jericho4.0]

But I know you. You got purty lips.

Re:Hacks gone Mainstream?

[Anonymous Coward]

[Oblig.]What does John Kerry have to do with this?[/Oblig.]

PSP as Wifi detector?

[crypto55]

I know that there are a bunch of handheld devices available that can scan for wifi networks, but they cost ~$40 for a reasonable model that can detect network security settings. Has anyone heard of using a PSP for this task?

Re:PSP as Wifi detector?

[kidgenius]

but they cost ~$40 for a reasonable model that can detect network security settings

If having a $249 WIFI detector is reasonable can I have what's in your piggy bank?

Re:PSP as Wifi detector?

[Jose]

Thats a pretty good idea, I mean why spend $40 when you can spend 300+?!

(j/k)

Re:PSP as Wifi detector?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gameboy Advance's can.

Re:PSP as Wifi detector?

[Anonymous Coward]

PSP as a Wifi detector huh? Talk about using a sledgehammer to pound in a nail.

Re:PSP as Wifi detector?

[crypto55]

That wasn't my idea- if you have already purchased a PSP for it's gaming, music, or video capabilities, it would be nice to be able to exploit another feature. I'm not intending to buy a PSP, and haven't boughten a portable gaming device since the origonal game boy

Re:PSP as Wifi detector?

[Anonymous Coward]

That is one expensive ass wifi detector. Now if it could capture encrypted/unencrypted packets and store them to the memory card THAT would be something.

Re:PSP as Wifi detector?

[Anonymous Coward]

but they cost ~$40
Sounds pretty cheap compared to the price of the PSP

Re:PSP as Wifi detector?

[SilentChris]

Actually, it's a very efficient WiFi detector. I did my first scan last night in my suburban home and found 4 nearby networks -- 2 more than I ever found on my various laptops. Granted, the signals were extremely low, but I was impressed that this handheld were able to find them at all (and my laptops couldn't).

That said, once you get a connection there's not much you can do with the current system. Unless you hack. :)

Re:PSP as Wifi detector?

[MyDixieWrecked]

I use the PSP for that all the time.

All you have to do is set up a new network and scan for available ones. It will show a list and tell you signal strength and if it's WEP'd or not.

It's pretty nice, but a little time consuming, and if you have the thing is sleep mode in a game, you have to exit the game to do it... which is a serious pain in the arse.

Re:PSP as Wifi detector?

[TechniMyoko]

$40 for a wifi detector is too much $250 for a portable video, audio, jpeg, game player and wifi detector, is different

Re:PSP as Wifi detector?

[x-caiver]

Hmm, you don't seem to understand how money works. $250 is *more* than $40. If $40 is too much to pay for something, then $250 is way too much.

Hmm, you don't seem to understand how money works. $250 PSP + $40 WiFi detector is *more* than $250 PSP that has a WiFi detector program. If $250 accomplishes the task, then $290 is way to much.

See how that works?

Yes, I do - but do you?

Imagine how many they'd sell...

[havaloc]

...if the PSP was even more open. They could open up development, allowing downloads to memory stick permitting 3rd party games to be developed (think Palm) . I think this constant tendency of Sony shoving down our throats things like Memory Stick and ATRAC have really hurt them, instead of enhancing their bottom line like they think it would.

Before you say that allowing anyone to develop for the platform would hurt sales, I say to you that people still buy commercial games in droves.

Re:Imagine how many they'd sell...

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the reason is that they don't make much money--if any--from the sales of hardware. It may even be a losing proposition. So for them to basically donate these machines to the marketplace and never have anyone spend another dime on Sony Software/Accessories/Other Profitable Items ain't the best business model.

Re:Imagine how many they'd sell...

[Anonymous Coward]

They don't care about selling units, they care about selling games. There is no profit in selling the devices themself - the only reason they bother is they know they can make the money back on games sales. If they allowed 3rd party games they would lose their cash cow.

Re:Imagine how many they'd sell...

[Stone316]

Personally, I think Sony hit the nail on the head with the PSP allowing it to do other things like watch movies, etc.

Personally, while I think they are cool, i'm not going to buy one unless they open it up more. If i can record TV shows on my PC and then burn them on a UMD disc to watch later on the PSP (say i'm at the doctor, or waiting for the wife shopping, etc) then i'd definately pick on up. But i'm not going to go out and buy a ton of proprietary memory sticks and constantly have to be reformating it to watch a show.

There is a huge potential for the PSP but I don't think sony will take advantage of it. They have already said that their business practices have hurt them in the past... we can always hope they come around.

Re:Imagine how many they'd sell...

[Erwos]

If you open memory sticks to random third parties, you've just nuked Sony's business plan of licensing developers and games. Why bother dealing with Sony when you don't have to? Just sell CDs with the games on them to consumers, and let them deal with getting them on memory sticks.

The current high price of the MS Duo makes this less likely to be an actual business plan, but if it ever goes down (and if the PSP is a success, that will happen), it could be a serious problem for Sony.

A _better_ plan would be Sony to freely distribute an SDK for making non-commercial products. You still get a third-party community, yet it can't be abused for circumventing Sony's licensing scheme.

-Erwos

Re:Imagine how many they'd sell...

[CDarklock]

Sony's real concern is double-sided.

First, the reputation of a console can be seriously tarnished if it has a market glut of crappy games. They're worried that eight million bad developers will release eight million pieces of garbage, and people will be unable to find the good games without having to struggle through several bad ones.

Second... and probably more importantly... Sony makes a boatload of money off their developers right now, and if they open up development some of those developers will jump ship and go it alone. The little guys who have no infrastructure of their own will stay on, but the big boys will undoubtedly try to cut Sony out of the picture. That threatens to leave Sony with all their high-maintenance problem children, while the cash cows move on to greener pastures.

Publicly, Sony is more likely to concentrate on describing the first reason than the second.

Re:Imagine how many they'd sell...

[radish]

But i'm not going to go out and buy a ton of proprietary memory sticks

You have to buy exactly one memory stick. Which is not proprietary as the readers, devices and cards are manufactured by more than one company, just like (say) SecureDigital. It's just less popular, and right now, a bit more expensive.

MS is much better for ripped content than UMD, for one thing the battery life is better. For another, there are no plans for writable UMDs, and even if there were, the drives would certainly cost more than a MS.

Re:Imagine how many they'd sell...

[HeadCrash]

Ahh, but do you really think that Sony is going to let the UMD standard out of its yard to play in the big, bad world?

I think not.

Y'see, as soon as they let it out in the open for people to burn their own, someone will reverse engineer it (DMCA be DAMNED!) and the piracy will begin. No way in hell will Sony let that happen...

Re:Imagine how many they'd sell...

[Jace of Fuse!]

For another, there are no plans for writable UMDs, and even if there were, the drives would certainly cost more than a MS.

The DRIVES would, but the MEDIA would not.

There probably isn't any more than $2 worth of materials and workmanship going into a single UMD. Blanks would probably be about that price.

I'd pay $500 for a UMD writer WAY before I'd pay for $500 worth of memory sticks.

And for your information, the Memory Stick format IS proprietary, Sony controls the format, and the third party manufactured Memory Sticks have been less popular (as you pointed out) for exactly that reason. Even though 3rd parties (reluctantly) make Memory Sticks, they do so under strict conditions set out by Sony.

The Memory Stick and it's relatives are not at all industry accepted standards. I would have much rather liked to have seen any of the other existing memory formats used.

I think the biggest reason Sony has always loved to force Memory Stick down people's throat is because it can be used to employ some kind of DRM, but I believe many of the other formats can as well, so once again this is just Sony being their usual prick selves.

Re:Imagine how many they'd sell...

[Anonymous Coward]

"I'd pay $500 for a UMD writer WAY before I'd pay for $500 worth of memory sticks."

There is no need to spend $500 for Memory Sticks. A single 30 minute tv episode is about 100MB with high quality encoding. With 512MB sticks at ~$60 and the 1GBs going for ~$120, and 2GBs around the corner, there isn't much need for a UMD burner (and we won't see one anyway).

Re:Imagine how many they'd sell...

[radish]

But why would you spend $500 on anything? Just spend $60 on a 512mb MS like I did, and that holds several hours of video. Once you've watched that, put on something new.

And for your information, the Memory Stick format IS proprietary, Sony controls the format, and the third party manufactured Memory Sticks have been less popular (as you pointed out) for exactly that reason.

By that definition, SD is also proprietary. You have to pay a license fee to the SD Card Association if you want to use it. The SD Card Association control the format, if you make a card you do so under their strict specifications. The only difference is that MD is owned by a single company rather than an association of various companies.

Even though 3rd parties (reluctantly) make Memory Sticks, they do so under strict conditions set out by Sony.


That's just insane. Why would a company make something "reluctantly". If Sandisk didn't want to make memory sticks they wouldn't, but they do. So they must want to - they must see a profit in it.

For the record, I'm no fan of memory stick. I use CF in everything else I own pretty much, but it really isn't that big a deal to drop down a few bucks on a MS for the PSP.

Re:Imagine how many they'd sell...

[Anonymous Coward]

> First, the reputation of a console can be seriously tarnished if it has a market glut of crappy games

This has never been a major concern of theirs. The PS2 is awash in games. It may well have more games than all the other consoles put together. A great many of them just suck terribly, however, and one often does feel like they have to wade through a lot of dross to find the good titles.

Of course I bought a PS2 exactly because of the huge aftermarket that such an embarrassment of riches causes. And for GTA3 and katamari damacy of course.

Re:Imagine how many they'd sell...

[Jace of Fuse!]

Reluctantly, being that I've seen it written many times how this company or that company won't support Memory Stick format, and then when 3rd party MS formats do come out, they are very few in numbers.

Amazing, isn't it, that everybody loves to throw the name SanDisk around, but it's the only one being thrown out there? There is a reason for that.

I do plan on buying a 1 gig MS card. I just wish I could have used one of my existing CF cards instead.

Re:yeah...real fun

[ackthpt]

yawn, xbox has more capabilities

Yeah, but you'd look pretty stupid (and stooped) lugging one around, with your car battery, inverter, and monitor.

Re:yeah...real fun

[portwojc]

True but it's not portable.

Programming SDK...?

[__aaclcg7560]

So is Sony going to release a programming SDK to the general public? And which programming languages are supported?

If Sony wants to make a deep impact against Nintendo, they should open up the PSP as wide as possible to "non-traditional" programmers. Especially considering how much the ding-dang-thing cost.

Re:Programming SDK...?

[mypalmike]

The current hacks aren't people writing C and asm code for the thing. It's generally things like PC utility programs to resize jpegs, reformat video to mpeg4, converting text to jpeg for lack of a general text viewer, etc.

Re:Programming SDK...?

[Qzukk]

Well, theres the upcoming PSP Adventure Maker (in Japan anyway) which Sony is supporting. Rumor is that there'll be freely downloadable kits for the PC to develop the games, which are then played on the client and PSP you buy (using the memory stick).

I doubt the RPGs created with this would suck any more than any other user-created content does.

Re:Programming SDK...?

[Travelsonic]

I doubt the RPGs created with this would suck any more than any other user-created content does.

Is this in the context of "Some home-brewed sucks, some home-brewed doesn't?

Re:Programming SDK...?

[Travelsonic]

The current hacks aren't people writing C and asm code for the thing. It's generally things like PC utility programs to resize jpegs, reformat video to mpeg4, converting text to jpeg for lack of a general text viewer, etc.

Granted this IS true to an extent, there ARE people programming in C/C++ and ASM hacks and home-brewed for certain systems, but the technology and skill/howto isn't quite thre with PS/PS2/PSP systems YET, but eventually it wil. Heck, now you can program SEGA Genesis games in C/C++ using a unlicensed C/C++ SDK.

Re:Programming SDK...?

[SquadBoy]

I just wish they would make some more of the Linux on PS2 kits.

Re:Programming SDK...?

[detritus.]

I think they might. They did it with the Playstation 2 with the Linux kit, which flopped, due to cost, the bundling of a "sony-branded" IDE hard drive, a very ancient kernel with closed-source drivers for the sony hardware, for $200.

The PSP is without question capable of a linux kit.
If they toned down the price and opened up the drivers (or at the very least, keep them closed, but
provide compiled modules for newer kernels)

Re:Programming SDK...?

[Anonymous Coward]

90% of everything sucks, its just that Sony controls game licensing and filters out the bottom 70% or so in commercial games.

Re:Programming SDK...?

[CronoCloud]

Just keep pestering the Admins at http://playstation2-linux.com and maybe, just maybe they'll do another run of the discs.

Re:Programming SDK...?

[CronoCloud]

I wouldn't consider the Linux kit a flop since it sold out in NTSC U/C territory and people keep begging SCEfoo to release more kits or sell just the discs.
As for the kernel, the most recent kernel that I know runs on the kit is a 2.4.17. I just stick with 2.2.26 xRhino.

Later on in the Linux kit's life they dropped the price to $99, a steal, and then they sold out. :-)

Wireless Racing Game

[InfiniteWisdom]

I'm getting 351 kB/sec right now... how fast are you going?

When hacks catch on:

[rob_squared]

it means that they're the right mixture of ease of use and utility. Just like when normal windows end users didn't want to phone microsoft they used a keygen that let them product activate. At least this seems more legal, or "less immoral." Whatever that means...

PSP needs a SD slot

[zardo]

One useful hack would be a sony memory stick to secure digital converter, I have 3 gigs of SD cards laying around I could be loading movies onto. The mpeg4 feature of the PSP is no use to me if I have to go out and buy a bunch of sony memory in order to do it, my 1GB SD card would be perfect (probably faster too).

Re:PSP needs a SD slot

[Anonymous Coward]

People are working on it. They've already managed to get non-Duo memory sticks working on the PSP, and they claim that this is a proof of concept to getting non-Sony media in there. From the article, "were not going to rest until weve got it running on SD. Natively."

Re:PSP needs a SD slot

[Anonymous Coward]

"I have 3 gigs of SD cards laying around"

I feel sorry for you :( Who buys SD memory anyway?

How can Sony lose?

[mmell]

First, permit the OpenSource-minded folks of the world to write applications for a closed platform. Don't discourage development; just guard existing copyrights assiduously.

Second, when the demand is high enough, bring lawsuits to make the (previously) free applications the IP of Sony. Voila! Instant FREE R&D.

Works for me!

Re:How can Sony lose?

[DesiVideoGamer]

Atari did this. They, along with other companies, caused the great video game crash of 1983. However, we might see a different outcome this time since Open Source Software has a very different effect on markets than closed source.

Re:yeah...real fun

[Auckerman]

Yeah, but my back gets sore carrying around my TV everywhere I go.

Re:yeah...real fun

[Anonymous Coward]

thats true, ive yet to see a psp being turned into a linux box ^_^

Programming for the PSP & Diversity in content

[Travelsonic]

I really wish they would release a SKD for the PSP, it would make way for more diversity in content for the PSP in terms of games and applications. Attempting to port Flight Simulator to PSP anybody?

This sounds great...

[Anonymous Coward]

Now if only the two units I went through before giving up and returning my psp had 100% working screens. I'm sure I would of had great time.

Re:yeah...real fun

[Anonymous Coward]

i.e, I'm a linux fanboi

Never gonna happen

[John Seminal]

So is Sony going to release a programming SDK to the general public? And which programming languages are supported? If Sony wants to make a deep impact against Nintendo, they should open up the PSP as wide as possible to "non-traditional" programmers. Especially considering how much the ding-dang-thing cost.

I am not 100% sure, but I think the way they make money is by granting licenses to people to program games for their machines. I know Nintendo did that, and only certain companies could make games. It is not something that a group of people could get together and say "we like this device, we want to make games for it".

Re:Never gonna happen

[Travelsonic]

It is not something that a group of people could get together and say "we like this device, we want to make games for it".

Regardless, people WILL do it, licensed or not, organized in a group or not. GBA pirates, Dreamcast hacks, NES/GB/Sega Genesis home brewed games are all examples.

Re:Never gonna happen

[__aaclcg7560]

It is not something that a group of people could get together and say "we like this device, we want to make games for it".

If you want to start a video game company by creating a new game for a console, the cost of developing a console game is high. IIRC, a PS2 development kit cost $25,000, and debug stations for the XBox and GameCube ran about $5,000 each. That's before you do any coding whatsoever. A PC game is a lot less expensive when you can bum the equipment and use open source software to get started. If Sony provides a SDK that allows people to develop for the PSP without having to shell out a fortune for exotic hardware, a lot of people would be interested in learning how to program the PSP.

Re:yeah...real fun

[John Seminal]

Yeah, but my back gets sore carrying around my TV everywhere I go.

Do you really need more television??

I know this will feel stressful, but try going out for a walk. Leave your cell phone at home, leave your blackberry at home, don't take anything electric. Just use your God given legs and walk. Breath. Wave at the neighbors. Breath. You can do it!

another source

[drunken dash]

Looks like Wired almost copied this article here: http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,67151,00.ht ml?tw=wn_tophead_8

Re:PSP....A quick Question ...

[Anonymous Coward]

You suck.

What Sony should do - but won't

[Dark Paladin]

When it came down to the choice between getting a DS or a PSP now, the choice became the PSP. Granted, I'll get a DS later for other games that I'm interested in and the rumored Palm Pilot module - but it was the usefulness of the PSP *now* that interested me.

I've been using it to watch movies on planes and trains, which is more convienient than even watching it on my 12" powerbook. But I can see where more can be done.

With 512 MB RAM, there's plenty of space for both my saved games, little videos (2 hours of video is about 300 MB or so), and other apps. Where's a *real* web browser that could be hacked from Mozilla, or a mail reader program so I can check up on the go?

Evidently, you can have "games" that run off the memory stick directly (or so it tells me when I'm in the Game menu section an it looks at either the disk or the memory stick), so why not just make those applications?

I know, I could get a blackberry for some specific tags, but if Sony *really* wants the PSP to take off, they should release some sort of light development kit (either free or say $50). Let developers see what a portible wi-fi system with a good screen can run. Could Skype run on it? Maybe, maybe not - but let developers give it a shot.

With a large developer market that's not constrained with having to worry about having a large development start up (like those for the official PSP games), the PSP could become a choice machine for all sorts of things, which would drive attachment sales and, via a sort of "halo" effect, to PSP games. It would be a win-win for everyone.

But - Sony probably won't do it. Fear evidently keeps the managers in line - fear of this station. In this case, it's this gigantic Death Star circling around called "loss of control". Of all the things Sony fears, it's that Loss of Control. After all, if *they* can't control which applications get made for the system, what if someone makes money on Sony's device without Sony getting a cut. What if someone comes out with an iTunes client that can play protected AAC files and potentially take away money from Sony's ATRAC based store? What if monkeys come flying out of the asses of developers that Sony can't make money on! The horror!

Sony *could* make the PSP the device of choice that way. Right now, I like the basic hacks that have come out for it, but if the DS gets that Palm Pilot add-on (with extensible memory via a MMC chip or something), then it might swing me to the dual screened little player, since there are a lot of Palm apps out there I could potentially run (like my eBook reader) and a video client could probably run on the DS pretty well. It wouldn't look as good as on my DS, but if it's "good enough" for my train to/from work needs, then it will be an easy buy.

Sony has a chance here to break out. But I'm going to bet they won't take it because of their own fear.

Of course, this is just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Re:What Sony should do - but won't

[John Seminal]

With 512 MB RAM, there's plenty of space for both my saved games, little videos (2 hours of video is about 300 MB or so

DVD's are over 4 gigabytes for 2 hours, and many people will only buy DVD dual layers that has the 9+ gigabytes of space. What kind of quality will you get at 150 megs an hour. That is like a 1 minute clip at 2 megs. I have seen porn like that, and it is awfully fuzzy. ;)

Re:What Sony should do - but won't

[Dark Paladin]

I meant "shrinking a 2 hour movie from the DVD to fit on the PSP is about 300 MB".

I'm not talking DVD on TV quality here - just for the little PSP screen. Ffmpegx has an interface just for that, and it works pretty well.

Re:What Sony should do - but won't

[Anonymous Coward]

a) Typically, you're looking at ~600 - 800M for a 1.5-2 hour XviD (which is mpeg4).

b) The resolution on a PSP is less than half that of what movies typically get encoded at. So 300M for a 2 hour movie on a PSP is more than reasonable.

Re:What Sony should do - but won't

[radish]

I compress down to about 200-250mb/hour and the quality is superb, not quite as good as native UMD, but far better than any other handheld device I've ever used.

Re:What Sony should do - but won't

[NanoGator]

"DVD's are over 4 gigabytes for 2 hours, and many people will only buy DVD dual layers that has the 9+ gigabytes of space. What kind of quality will you get at 150 megs an hour."

MPEG2 isn't as bit-conscience as MPEG4 is. For example, a 90 minute movie can be saved via DivX or XVID to a CD at only a minor quality loss. Shrink the video down from 720 by 480 to 400 by.. well whatever the PSP's resolution is, you could easily get it down to 500 megs and it'd look pretty good.

Personally, though, I don't see how that dude can stand dealing with that. First he has to transcode his movies, then he can get one or two of them on one stick. That means he either has a bunch of sticks laying around or he's doing a lot of data juggling.

Frankly, I've been giving a lot of thought to a $500 Archos device recently released. It has a 20 gig hard drive AND a docking station so that it'll act as a PVR. That is SLICK.

Re:What Sony should do - but won't

[cloudmaster]

The Archos has a better interface, is more durable, and doesn't force you to name the files in the form "PV00000.jpg" or "PV00000.mpg" in order to view them. Nor does it require you to re-encode using a weird utility - it just plays regular mpegs, images, sounds, etc.

Yes, there's an Archos and a PSP laying on a desk in the next room. The PSP has a lot of emphasis on looking flash, and might have som egames one day. The Archos actually works well, and has a good interface. I see no benefits to the PSP as a media device (but it's a better video game system, or I guess it woudl be if there was an actual game in the package instead of a pile of demos).

Re:What Sony should do - but won't

[Tumbleweed]

The PSP screen is approximately a quarter of the resolution of a DVD.

A DVD is full of multiple language tracks and extra features. You can easily compress the average length DVD movie (the movie only, with one language) into under 800MB to fit on a video CD, so if you take out 3/4 of the movie's video resolution to fit on a PSP, you're going to be able to get them significantly smaller than that. Seriously, this shouldn't be a big problem.

A non-Sony 1GB MemoryStick Duo Pro (remember: must be 'duo', and must be 'pro') can be had for under $130. Since they're reusable (unlike a recordable UMD would be), it's not like you need a lot OF them. Watch what you want on your trip, delete it and put whatever else on there next time. I could see having maybe 2 1GB sticks. One for recorded TV shows & another for a gig of mp3s. Keep the included 32Meg stick for recording game data or whatever. But that's just me.

Re:What Sony should do - but won't

[NanoGator]

Did you get an Archos with the PVR dock? How ya like it?

Re:What Sony should do - but won't

[cloudmaster]

We just have the little thing that plugs in to the side and allows you to record video. The new ones look like they have an actual dock, but I'd imagine the reroding works similarly - but I'd expect things like TV listings, etc to be in a PVR, and the one we have doesn't do that. It does record in realtime, though, and works well for that. And it's well built.

Re:What Sony should do - but won't

[cloudmaster]

reroding = "recording". Argh.

Re:What Sony should do - but won't

[NanoGator]

Check it out: http://www.archos.com/products/overview/pma_400.ht ml

They talk about scheduling recordings. Sadly, I have little use for portable TV right now, but if I did I'd be all over this mo-fo. I've actually thought about replacing my aging Replay with it solely because it can be hooked up to a TV. No more fighting with the GF over the livingroom TV.

Re:What Sony should do - but won't

[cloudmaster]

I was just looking at it. It does look pretty damned cool, but I don't have a real need for it, and can't invent a need that justifies the price. If i rode in cars as much as I drove, I could possibly do it - but I just don't travel enough. A $50 eBay laptop will work just fine anyway. :)

Re:What Sony should do - but won't

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, what an idiot. You obviously haven't seen Wipeout Pure or Lumines - or else you have and you're just shoring up your self esteem pretending that the Archos was really a good idea. Hey, try covering your ears and saying "LALALALALA!"

Nobody has to rename a video file or even care what the PSP calls the video file. Right now I know of five apps that manage your video for you, sync it right to the PSP - two are even on a Mac for chrissake! No Linux tools yet? Go get started - nothing proprietary involved, it's just a USB storage device.

And you expect to get a bunch of great games in the package? Ah, we obviously have one of those slashdot "Free" advocates who chooses to ignore economic reality. Sure, Sony are just going to give you all the games for free. Sure!

Guess what? Your Archos does nothing a PSP can do and it can't do plenty that a PSP can. Better eBay it quickly before everyone catches on.

Re:yeah...real fun

[Anonymous Coward]

I tried to "breath" for a while, until I realized that it isn't a verb, so I decided to breathe instead.

Clarification: GBA homebrew != piracy

[tepples]

GBA pirates, Dreamcast hacks, NES/GB/Sega Genesis home brewed games are all examples.

There also exist GBA homebrew games such as mine. I hope you didn't intend a subtle slam against the gbadev community.

Re:Clarification: GBA homebrew != piracy

[Travelsonic]

GBA pirates, Dreamcast hacks, NES/GB/Sega Genesis home brewed games are all examples. There also exist GBA homebrew games such as mine. I hope you didn't intend a subtle slam against the gbadev community.

I didn't intend that at all, it just slipped my mind. I am learning ARM Assembler to program GBA games myself.

Re:Clarification: GBA homebrew != piracy

[Travelsonic]

"Just slipped m mind" as in that there are home brewed games for the GBA legally made, I mean. Of course the only legal trouble with home brewed games that could POTENTIALLY (if the companies make a fuss about home brewed games, that is) is about whether or not they are licensed.

Re:Aibo

[Superfreaker]

I *think* I recall hearing the same argument when the robotic dog thing came out from Sony. People were hacking it and Sony started shutting down sites. Then they realized the benefit of the 3rd party hacks and began releasing SDKs for the later versions of the wacky lil beast.

My thoughts

[SilentChris]

I got my PSP 2 days ago, and got a chance to spend some time late last night going over it. I still don't have any games, so my thoughts are tempered by what I can get out of the hardware. On the whole I'm pretty impressed.

The good stuff:

* Engineering-wise, it's got every piece of hardware you can think of. 802.11, IR, analog stick, USB, memory card -- there really is a "kitchen sink" approach and I like exploring the device to find new stuff. I'm really tempted to take the thing apart. :)
* The screen is phenomenial. I really think this'll be the screen that all portables will aspire to. If Apple ever makes a video iPod, this is the screen to use. I watched Spider Man 2 last night and it looked fantastic.
* I've been "pleasantly surprised" by some extras. For example, Sony packages a wired remote and headphones in the box (something Apple charges an arm and a leg for). The battery life has been better than I expected: after about 120 minutes last night of watching the movie it was only down 20%. The interface is excellent. The USB port is great because Windows sees the device as just another USB drive. System files are stored on the memory card, so they should be easy to hack. The device makes a great Wi-Fi finder (it found 4 networks in my home, and gave a percentage of their strength.

Stuff I don't care for:

* The front of the chassis is well designed and looks beautiful -- the back looks like it was done by a totally different designer. In particular, it feels flimsy. The discs are inserted in a tray mechanism that pops out, similar to a video recorder. I'm going to be careful with mine, but I can easily imagine a kid dropping and breaking it the first day.
* I'm not sold on the media (UMD - Universal Media Discs). They're essentially really tiny DVDs stored in a cartridge, similar to when CDs first came out. Space wise they're fine, as it really looks like you're watching a DVD, but the cartridge looks fragile. In particular, they look like optical disk versions of classic floppies -- without the protective flap that gets pulled away. In other words, it's fairly easy to scratch the disc.
* Certain aspects of the system are gimped. You have 802.11 but no web browser: the system only checks for new firmware (no official one anyway; someone's already hacked together a simple browser -- look through various articles). Video needs to be in a very specific format to play off a memory card: MPEG4, 29.97 fps, exact resolution (the system is much more forgiving playing MP3s and photos). The analog stick could also use a little work.

I'll have a better idea tonight when I get the games (finally), but so far I likes what I sees.

Re:My thoughts

[Anonymous Coward]

Your gripes are pretty similar to mine.

I have had one of these since release date and really like the layout of the GUI and the over all look and feel of the device.

I would agree that the back leaves a bit to be desired. The UMD tray feels cheap and I can forsee it being a failure point.

One this I would recommend is getting a screen protector. They are about $5 and will save the beautiful display from nicks and scratches.

My biggest gripe is that this thing should have been bundled with a web browser at release. It really is a waste that it doesn't have one.

Re:My thoughts

[questionlp]

Video needs to be in a very specific format to play off a memory card: MPEG4, 29.97 fps, exact resolution (the system is much more forgiving playing MP3s and photos).

I have used PSP Video 9 to recode some DVDs and other video clips in ~15fps. 29.97fps isn't a requirement and you can select a couple of other video sizes as well. So far, I have only tried 320x240 at ~15fps and 29.97fps; I use the former to reduce the size of the resulting file. There is the option to encode video files in 16:9 ratio with the tool, but I haven't tried it out yet.

Re:My thoughts

[ninjagin]

Interesting stuff.

When buzz started to develop about the thing late least year, I was pretty interested in how it would shape up. Apart from the dead/stuck pixel snafu that's been widely covered, I haven't heard anything bad about the display and it sounds like you experience was positive.

With regard to media, I've always had a bone to pick with Sony on their desire to stick to their own proprietary formats. The memory stik was a pretty early entrant into the compact RAM storage segment, but nobody apart from Sony (as far as I know) has been able to license it. Non-Sony PCs, for example, that have built-in flash card readers for cameras, mp3 players, digital recorders, etc., never have the stik option. If someone knows of one, fill me in, but it appears that Sony's very concerned about diluting the brand if they license the stik to others. It's nothing but a storage device, and if it were really the greatest thing since sliced bread, I would have hoped that Sony would have wanted as many of the things to be used in as many player/camera/recorder/handheld/phone platforms as possible. Apparently not.

What I was hoping, months ago, was that Sony would incorporate a small HD inside the unit, a la iPod. Sony has great purchasing clout with hardware manufacturers, and having a shrimpy little 10 or 20 GB disk drive stuck inside would go a long way -- they billed the thing as a little multimedia powerhouse and with multimedia apps being big hogs for storage I kinda thought the HD option would have been a no-brainer.

Of course, when reality sets in I realize that the power consumption of an HD, in such a little device with a pretty power-hungry display and an optical drive, would probably have pissed off many people who wanted better battery life. It had to be comfortably small to be a handheld, and it had to be able to take a certain amount of abuse, I suppose.

I've been considering buying one ever since launch, but I'm not enough of an early adopter to take the plunge. Your observations have given me food for thought, though. Thanks for sharing them.

Re:My thoughts

[Jace of Fuse!]

The front of the chassis is well designed and looks beautiful -- the back looks like it was done by a totally different designer.

Your complains are very similar to mine, but I would also say that the front of the chassis only looks beautiful.

The front of the display is too easily scratched, and the black front is actually painted on the inside, meaning that the entire front face has that plastic glossy look that easily attracts dust and fingerprints, scratches easily, and goes from looking like it's worth the full $250 to $20 in just a few days. I've already seen a few people who have PSPs that look like they're over a year old.

I had to return an unreasonably high number of units for exchanges and refunds due to dead pixels, drives, dust and fingerprings in the screens and so on, but My final good unit is great. Having learned what I had about the previous units, the first thing I did with mine after taking it out of the box was bolting on one of the full face covers. You can find them at most game stores. The one I went with looks like a totally clear replica of the entire front of the unit, with holes cut away for the controler areas. It has two thumb screws you use to screw it into the top of the PSP and it forms a custom fit shield over the entire PSP keeping it free of dust, fingerprints, and scratches.

Because it is a better quality plastic than the front of the PSP (which was obviously chosen for gloss, not durability) it resists blemishes instead of attacts them.

The plastic chosen for the front of the PSP, in my opinion was a totally retarded decision. It would have been better for them to go with a two piece front design. A hard solid black plastic front, with a cut away for a hard clear plastic (or glass) screen. Their decision to go with the cheap, weak, glossy plastic they went with is so bad I fully expect them to release a slightly modified version that fixes the problem. Possibly sooner than later.

Also, one thing I noticed was that the plastic they used has some kind of serious electrostatic properties which draw in dust like a magnet. It's so bad, that my final PSP which finally had no dead pixels and no dust inside the screen became contaminated with dust inside the screen after a few days. It's not too bad, but there is a serious design issue going on if the system can just attract dust to the point that it gets inside the screen if it's just left out.

These are just my thoughts. Overall, I love the system though. I hope an SDK comes out. Also, I see some serious potential for some ground-breaking multiplayer games. Too bad I've lost faith in most video game developer's abilities to innovate.

Re:My thoughts

[Anonymous Coward]

From the PSP manual, the 'game' option is only for loading game updates through the memory stick.

From what I see, however, this can probably be redone to load an emulation shell, for example.

Re:My thoughts

[kindbud]

Engineering-wise, it's got every piece of hardware you can think of.

It lacks an audio input. Shame, since VoIP would be really killer, wouldn't it?

Video needs to be in a very specific format to play off a memory card: MPEG4, 29.97 fps, exact resolution

That's actually a standard for memory stick video, which the PSP follows, but it is not exclusive to the PSP.

Re:My thoughts

[afedaken]

re: UMD

I purchased the madcatz starter kit with my unit, and it came with a bunch of flexible UMD cases that I've found are quite good at keeping out the dust and grit.

Metal Gear Acid and Untold Legends have been alternating thier way in and out of a case in my pocket since launch date, and they both look fine without a spec of dust.

They don't add much to the thinkness of the UMD cart, and being madcatz, I imagine they're pretty cheap.

Re:My thoughts

[jrumney]

Video needs to be in a very specific format to play off a memory card: MPEG4, 29.97 fps, exact resolution

Could this be the real reason for the delayed European launch? Video captured from PAL is generally 25fps, so would need framerate conversion, which unless you're prepared to throw lots of CPU cycles at it and wait a few days, tends to come out looking jerky.

Re:My thoughts

[Hast]

Just FYI, both SanDisk and Lexar have Memory Stick memory. I rather like it compared to the other formats since the form-factor seems smaller than the others. Duo seems to be the smallest standard memory standard, although I have seen really small SD card versions (which did need adaptors though).

I can say that the PSP is a worthy purchase. But they are pretty expensive.

Single UMD multiplayer

[PxM]

Other "hacks" include ... playing multiplayer games with only one copy of the game.
That hack involves creating the WiFi game (I've done this with Tony Hawk) on one PSP, moving the UMD into another PSP, having that other person join that WiFi game, switching the UMD back to the original PSP as the original player starts the session (it asks you if you want to quit when you take out the UMD) and then the second player starts the session. It's not as good of a trick as the DS's single game/ multiplayer setup, but it gets the job done if you want to spend the time.

--
Want a free Nintendo DS, GC, PS2, Xbox. (you only need 4 referrals)
Wired article as proof

Re:Single UMD multiplayer

[MonkeyBunker]

The PSP also supports game sharing, where a demo or multiplayer only portion of a game is sent via WiFi to another PSP. However, no current games support this feature.

Re:yeah...real fun

[Anonymous Coward]

* ---- Joke

O
-|- --- You
/\

Good for the PSP, but it's not the only one.

[kerrle]

It's great any time a device pulls a following like this and shows some unintended utility, but the PSP is hardly alone.

The DS also has a growing development community, and most likely, it'll be the more fruitful, at least in the short term. For one, we can already run our own code on the DS - and who knows when that'll be possible on the PSP?

I hope cool things do turn up on the PSP, but if you're interested in DS hacking, check out these:

• http://www.dsdev.org/
• DS Dev Forum
• http://www.dslinux.org/
• http://www.dspassme.com/

Re:Good for the PSP, but it's not the only one.

[Anonymous Coward]

Let it go... the DS is garbage.

When will the PaintShopPro posts END!?!?!?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Mods, please, please, please, please, please, please, please stop mod'ing these Paint Shop Pro posts up, you're just encouraging this behaviour. I've learned how to deal with the other /. cliche's, this one however is just too obvious and stoopid to accept, please let it die a swift death.

Re:Aibo

[ackthpt]

I *think* I recall hearing the same argument when the robotic dog thing came out from Sony. People were hacking it and Sony started shutting down sites. Then they realized the benefit of the 3rd party hacks and began releasing SDKs for the later versions of the wacky lil beast.

Possibly Sony relented because the Aibo wasn't a platform for generating money through subsequent sales of software. Remember, PS and PSP are what are called Loss-Leaders. They real money is in selling the games, videos and other enhancements.

This is just hype.

[gnuadam]

All the "hacks" released to date ( that I'm aware of ... please please tell me if there are others ) depend on the presence of the webbrowser in wipeout pure. Once you hijack the dns, it's yours. Everything else has depended on this. The browser, the IRC, etc. There is no 3rd party dev kit; no one has run a homebrew executable on the psp that I'm aware of.

Even stuff the stuff to sync the iApps to the psp have just made images to be viewed in the builtin picture viewer.

I *wish* very strongly to write for the platform that way you would a pda. It screams for it. Alas, not possible now.

One final thought ... the "hacked" web browser can do javascript, according to the rumors. Maybe something there?

Re:This is just hype.

[TravisWatkins]

It can do Javascript but it can't do frames or iframes and I doubt it supports XmlHttpRequest.

Re:This is just hype.

[Queer Boy]

I *wish* very strongly to write for the platform that way you would a pda. It screams for it.

Yes, because all the best PDA's lack a touchscreen or means of input. What screams for PDA functionality is the Nintendo DS..

Wow, a whole new "Sony" section - icon and all

[stratjakt]

I guess thats a sign of things to come: endless PSP slashvertisements.

Is there anything in this article that hasn't been posted 3 or 4 times here already?

Re:Wow, a whole new "Sony" section - icon and all

[dustinc20]

I'm going to agree with you, every single "break" in psp news is posted, often being the same thing more or less. it's also funny how each time, someone posts "the psp is better than DS" starting a flame war.

Re:Wow, a whole new "Sony" section - icon and all

[Anonymous Coward]

its about time after all the negative psp articles from slashdots nintentroll population

Usefulness of the DS now

[tepples]

When it came down to the choice between getting a DS or a PSP now, the choice became the PSP. Granted, I'll get a DS later for other games that I'm interested in and the rumored Palm Pilot module - but it was the usefulness of the PSP *now* that interested me.

A lot of people underestimate the usefulness of the GBA and Nintendo DS now. Like the PSP, the GBA or Nintendo DS supports its own proprietary memory card format. A GBA memory card such as the Flash2Advance or the EFA-Linker greatly expands the capabilities of a GBA or Nintendo DS system:

• Like the PSP, the GBA can play music, through the GBA GSM Player.
• Unlike the PSP, which can't run games for any previous Sony platform, the GBA can run most NES games, many Game Boy monochrome games, and even some PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) games, in emulation.
• Unlike the PSP, the GBA does not use digital signatures for programs stored on memory cards. Developers have created several homebrew games and made available to the public. I am one of those developers.

The only thing you're lacking is video, but there's another peripheral for that.

Re:Usefulness of the DS now

[Dark Paladin]

interesting - I'll have to check that out. Thanks for the info!

Re:Usefulness of the DS now

[Anonymous Coward]

You can also get ebooks for GBA. e.g. Cory Doctorow's

All of these applications are a bit hamstrung by running in GBA mode though - DS native versions would have a better screen and processor. I hope DS hacking takes off like it did on GBA.

Re:Usefulness of the DS now

[Anonymous Coward]

tepples, you are the worst example of a blind fanboi.

Who cares if the GBA can play video? The screen is for shit! It's fine for retro gaming but no good at all for video. Even if it was I'd rather not carry some ugly chinese mess to enable it, thanks.

Face it - the GBA is an outdated system. No doubt Nintendo's next handheld will make a similiar leap in terms of performance and overall sexiness but right now the DS is just a lukewarm makeover of four-year-old technology while the PSP is all new.

When you look at the two side-by-side there is no contest. My GBA (and its 10 original carts, and its F2A USB cart with the 100's of ROMs I have stored away) hasn't seen the light of day for some time now.

Y B Rude??? [nt]

[Anonymous Coward]

ASS

Difference from PC?

[tepples]

First, the reputation of a console can be seriously tarnished if it has a market glut of crappy games.

Has the glut of Win32 compatible games tarnished the reputation of the console called "PC running Windows XP"?

Sony makes a boatload of money off their developers right now

Even if I could start a development house, Sony still wouldn't sell me a license and a development kit. In general, console makers don't even want to talk to startups.

Re:Difference from PC?

[CDarklock]

> Has the glut of Win32 compatible
> games tarnished the reputation of
> the console called "PC running
> Windows XP"?

Yes. There are a lot of people saying the PC is "dead" as a gaming platform because individual PC differences cause unpredictable errors and give certain people unfair advantages, when the *real* culprit is bad programming. (Or bad design. It's hard to get a good gamepad for a PC, I've found.)

> In general, console makers don't
> even want to talk to startups.

In general, startups are composed of people who honestly don't know what the hell they're doing. Demonstrate otherwise, and console manufacturers get very interested in talking things over with you.

It's all politics. If you can't play the political game, you need someone in your startup who knows what he's about -- i.e. he's in the credits of a game worth playing. Or, on the other hand, just go XBox instead... Microsoft will happily jump into bed with more or less anyone that doesn't seem TOO profoundly retarded.

Re:Trouble Brewing? NOT!

[gasp]

Sheesh. This article is so light on details, and most of it's implications are just dead wrong. The only truthful part I read was where it admits near the end of the article that most of these "hacks" rely on the web browser in the game Wipeout Pure.

Don't get excited, folks, these "homebrew tools" are NOT code running on the PSP. This isn't a case of somebody stealing Sony SDK tools and writing new software for the PSP or even hacking existing software. This is simply a matter of changing DNS so that you san spoof the scea.com domain and direct an EXISTING browser to a different site and putting server-side tools for the PSP to access. There's nothing particularly amazing about using a web IRC client and portals and the like.

The article makes it sound like they have an IRC client running on the PSP, and an ebook reader. Nope. It's just the existing web browser and photo viewer, no coding changes on the PSP required. Really, there's no news here.

What's so bad about 240x136 pixels?

[tepples]

That is like a 1 minute clip at 2 megs. I have seen porn like that, and it is awfully fuzzy. ;)

But for a sitcom or an anime, is 256 kbps for video+audio at 240x136 pixels (QPSP resolution) really that distracting?

Besides, erotic films are supposed to be fuzzy in order to hide the blemishes of the actors' skin. It's cheaper to blur the whole thing than to splurge on makeup ;-)

Why bother with PSP when GP32 is open already!

[ptcheezer]

The Gamepark 32 is already a fantastic little portable gaming device and you don't have to worry about unauthorized uses of SDKs and whatnot -it's all open!

Re:Why bother with PSP when GP32 is open already!

[Blacken00100]

Because, sadly, the GP32's hardware is gimpy as all hell.

Re:Why bother with PSP when GP32 is open already!

[Anonymous Coward]

Too bad is sucks though :(

Why open PSP devkits are a bad idea

[Zigg]

Opening the PSP too much could shoot Sony in the foot.

It's well-accepted that at the price they're selling the PSP at, Sony's losing on every unit. Games and UMD movies are the route to profitability.

Now I'm not denying the attractive power of the extra features, provided they don't comprise an overpowering value proposition. Viewing media on a Memory Stick isn't worth $250 to anyone with half a brain, so Sony's pretty safe in assuming that a raft of people aren't going to bleeding them to death buying PSPs and never buying a game or a UMD movie.

Now, throw in open dev kits. Suddenly, the included 32MB stick can hold a web browser as well as games and software obtained freely off the Internet (or cheaply) that Sony doesn't see a dime off from. In fact, it may even serve to draw attention away from the games Sony does make money on in those people who would have bought them otherwise.

So. Explain to me how this idea is a good thing for Sony?

Re:Why open PSP devkits are a bad idea

[Travelsonic]

Suddenly, the included 32MB stick can hold a web browser as well as games and software obtained freely off the Internet (or cheaply) that Sony doesn't see a dime off from.

IF sony didn't make the software (IE: Not pirated, legal) and IF (IF, this may not be true) the games/software are anywhere like the diversity/availability of hme brewed GB/GBA/Genesis games, what is the problem? This circulates the "I made something, so pay me every time somebody makes something to add to it" attitude that fails. Do you pay M$ every time you make a PC game or somebody makes a Windows XP compatable game?

In fact, it may even serve to draw attention away from the games Sony does make money on in those people who would have bought them otherwise.

That is a big may, wouldn't you say? I mean, yeah if they are good enough in comparison then Sony will have to worry, but if not, I din't see the need for concern. And I would also go to say it isn't wise to assume a certain person would buy {Game X} if an alternative game, or even pirated versions of the game were freely available, I mean, I download certain games, and buy copies of them after, some people just download games, some people just buy games, it really is a crapshoot, you never know exaqctly what will happen.

Re:Why open PSP devkits are a bad idea

[Jackie_Chan_Fan]

So. Explain to me how this idea is a good thing for Sony?

Its quite simple really. Sony makes the hardware. Hardware sales will increase as new usability becomes widespread as a result of the "open" software.

Sony also makes the memsticks... Everyone will be buying a 1gig or 2gig mem stick as soon as they can find one in stock :)

As the news of the "open" software travels, people will be interested in using it on their PSP. IF this "open" software, is usable, innovative, fun etc... It will further the life of the PSP, which will of course result in more game sales because people will want to use their PSP more.

So the open software would inspire people to buy PSPs, buy official games for their PSP, and prolong the life of the PSP by creating a scene for it where it's users are involved in making their PSP do new and cool things.

Yes Sony could of course lose a little in the area of competing with some of the open software options... But they could of course take the ideas, improve on them and sell it in a better package to compete. AND like i said, the sales of UMD games/movies will increase as a result of the usefullness of the PSP.

I'm just itching for MAME or final Burn on the PSP.

The PSP is brilliant. I have 2 Japanese versions (flawless btw, no problems) and the PSP really is one hell of a device. It is unbeleivable that they managed to put so much power into a handheld device that lasts pretty dam long on a battery!

Think back to SGI indigos etc... and compare them to PSP's 3d hardware. Its just amazing that today we have anything like a PSP. It's a phenominal peice of hardware. It really is landmark in handheld devices.

The DS in comparison to the PSP, is just underpowered. The DS is nice but its obsolete already. It has no texture filtering, 1000 poly's per frame, no ram etc. With the PSP, you're getting a full featured 3d accelerator, 1mil polys per frame (30 mil per sec), more colors, bigger better screen etc.

The PSP could have used a touch screen/pen device. Thats the one thing that Nintendo did right with the DS. Sony probably didnt want to completely destroy their handdheld PDA product line, so they probably decided to keep that feature out of the PSP.

Shame.

Re:Why open PSP devkits are a bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

The PSP could have used a touch screen/pen device. Thats the one thing that Nintendo did right with the DS. Sony probably didnt want to completely destroy their handdheld PDA product line, so they probably decided to keep that feature out of the PSP.

It's hard to make a touchscreen as nice as the screen on the PSP. And if you put a stylus on the screen all the time it will get scratches. And it will raise the cost of the hardware even more.

It's not like Sony sat around and said "We could just snap our fingers and magically put a touch screen on the PSP, but we won't because we are evil bastards."

Re:Why open PSP devkits are a bad idea

[kindbud]

Viewing media on a Memory Stick isn't worth $250 to anyone with half a brain...

I must have something more or less than half a brain, then, because I enjoyed watching a rip of my "Todd McFarlane's Spawn" DVD on a 2 1/2 hour airline flight last night, which when converted to Memory Stick video format at 15 fps is totally watchable and squeezes onto a 512Mb stick with about 18Mb to spare.

I need a 1Gb stick to store "The Matrix" or "Blade Runner" which come in at 527Mb and 489Mb, respectively. The biggest downside to movies on the PSP memory stick is the time it takes to rip and transcode. It's not a grab-and-go proposition, you have to plan ahead. But eventually I will have a library of PSP videos, and no doubt there will be torrents available soon, too.

So. Explain to me how this idea is a good thing for Sony?

It makes the Nintendo DS ("Do Something!") seem like a cheap toy in comparison.

For the same reason it was a good thing for Microsoft/Intel.

Re:Why open PSP devkits are a bad idea

[tepples]

This circulates the "I made something, so pay me every time somebody makes something to add to it" attitude that fails. Do you pay M$ every time you make a PC game

Yes, as the Xbox is in essence a PC with a closed bootloader. And if the local telephone company has chosen to offer its Internet access "with MSN", yes. And if your game runs on Windows, yes. Or are most Windows games made with MinGW rather than Microsoft Visual C++?

Re:Why open PSP devkits are a bad idea

[Travelsonic]

...And if your game runs on Windows, yes. Or are most Windows games made with MinGW rather than Microsoft Visual C++?

You are forgetting that VC++ and MinGW ARE NOT the only languages you can program windows based games and applications., there is C and C++, Java, Assembler too.

Re:Why open PSP devkits are a bad idea

[tepples]

You are forgetting that VC++ and MinGW ARE NOT the only languages you can program windows based games and applications., there is C and C++

C and C++ are the languages compiled by VC++ and MinGW. Which other compiler were you thinking of? Or do you claim that commercial outfits use a free IDE (e.g. Eclipse) with the downloaded version of VC++ and the downloaded Platform SDK?

Java

Java technology is widely thought (correctly or incorrectly; only dollar signs count) to be too slow for a real-time application with a highly detailed 3D world, and the Java 3D scene graph model is different enough from the OpenGL or Direct3D model that it's hard to find good engine coding talent.

Assembler too.

Not at the level of functional complexity characteristic of modern PC video games.

Re:Why open PSP devkits are a bad idea

[stud9920]

So. Explain to me how this idea is a good thing for Sony?

So. Explain to me why I should care about Sony's wealth ?

Re:Why open PSP devkits are a bad idea

[Travelsonic]

C and C++ are the languages compiled by VC++ and MinGW. Which other compiler were you thinking of?

DevC++, Borland are two others, compile for Windows platform, linux, the point is that VC++ is not the only compiler for C/C++ windows programs. Assembler too. Not at the level of functional complexity characteristic of modern PC video games.

Maybe you are right about that one.

Re:Why open PSP devkits are a bad idea

[Zigg]

But Microsoft doesn't lose money on every copy of Windows sold -- quite the opposite, in fact.

The situation is not analogous.

Re:Why open PSP devkits are a bad idea

[tepples]

(Context for moderators: I compared the requirement of purchasing a Sony devkit to the requirement of purchasing a copy of Microsoft Visual C++. Travelsonic disputes this, claiming that other compilers are available.)

DevC++, Borland are two others, compile for Windows platform, linux, the point is that VC++ is not the only compiler for C/C++ windows programs.

Dev-C++ is a shell around MinGW, which I mentioned. Borland C++ I'll grant you, as I originally learned C on a Borland product, but is it actually used for any major titles? In other words, is the number of Windows games made exclusively with MinGW or Borland products significant?

Re:Why open PSP devkits are a bad idea

[Queer Boy]

I enjoyed watching a rip of my "Todd McFarlane's Spawn" DVD

The biggest downside to movies on the PSP memory stick is

That it's mostly illegal? I've never seen an unencrypted Hollywood studio movie.

So far all the "PSP is better than the DS" statements have all been centered around "You can watch movies on a tiny screen after you circumvent DRM and re-encode it to a crappy format and buy expensive Memory Sticks!"

Yay

Re:Why open PSP devkits are a bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

I must have something more or less than half a brain, then, because I enjoyed watching a rip of my "Todd McFarlane's Spawn" DVD

While I respect your overall point, you could have ended that sentence there. :)

Re:yeah...real fun

[yotto]

I read slashdot in unthreaded mode and even /I/ knew what he was talking about. Hint: He doesn't actally carry a TV around with him everywhere he goes.

Outsourced employees?

[CrazyJim1]

"Today I have witnessed some colleagues playing a wireless racing game with imported ones in the office."
Sometimes you import your colleagues?

Re:Outsourced employees?

[Anonymous Coward]

You've heard of H1-B of course? I've worked with lots of imported colleagues. The great part is you only have to pay them half the regular wage, and they eat kitchen scraps! The English ones don't even need showers!

Remember the warning of the Dreamcast:

[Upaut]

...if the PSP was even more open. They could open up development, allowing downloads to memory stick permitting 3rd party games to be developed (think Palm) . I think this constant tendency of Sony shoving down our throats things like Memory Stick and ATRAC have really hurt them, instead of enhancing their bottom line like they think it would.

Do you remember that the Dreamcast (Finest gaming platform next to xbox)? It was a most excellent system. It had great games. It spurred originality. Unfortunatly, one could run any pireted game they wanted, without even needing to open up the system. Sales on games plummeted. The system was killed, despite heavy sales of the consol in Europe, Japan, and the USA. Games are what make or break a system. If people can easily make functional ROMZ, then the system will die.

Re:Remember the warning of the Dreamcast:

[Dwedit]

Tell that to Nintendo, where the GBA has been Romz Romz Romzed to death.

Re:Remember the warning of the Dreamcast:

[edwdig]

If people can easily make functional ROMZ, then the system will die.

Look at the GameBoy Advance. You can buy a flash cartridge capable of holding several games for about the price of one game. GBA ROMs are very small to download - the average game is 8MB. Hasn't hurt the GBA though.

Re:Remember the warning of the Dreamcast:

[kryptkpr]

You're missing the point.. to run Romz on your GBA you must go out and seperately purchase special hardware (a flash cart of some type).

The DreamCast on the other hand would play Romz out of the box.. just burn a CD and pop it in. Combined with the fact that the DreamCast's release and the rise in popularity of CD-RWs coincided, this served to kill an otherwise excellent console (to my knowledge, the first to ship with a modem adapter right from the factory, ready for online play and light web browsing).

Re:Remember the warning of the Dreamcast:

[rpdillon]

Actually, *you're* missing the point: the point was to explain why Sony would not release specs on UMD.

Considering releasing UMD burners and media would be even more expensive than a flash cart for GBA, the argument that providing a way to write media for it would kill the console doesn't make sense. It happened with GBA, and obviously the GBA has done wonderfully.

Re:Remember the warning of the Dreamcast:

[ppp]

I've heard this argument before, but I don't think it's true - and I was a BIG Dreamcast fan. What killed the Dreamcast was lack of 3rd party support, particularly EA Sports (they're a huge factor in the console market), and the Sony Playstation 2 hype machine ("Toy Story - quality graphics"). When the pirating on the Dreamcast started getting big, Sega was ready to put in a new ROM chip to stop it, but by that time they had already decided to let the Dreamcast die.

Putting DVDs onto PSP

[vincecate]

You can rip DVDs onto the flash. With a 1 GB flash I can do 4 movies with reasonable quality compression or 8 with low quality. So not only can it entertain my 3.5 year old with games, but my 1.5 year old also with "Bing and Bong" movies.

I use the software at http://makayama.com/ which sells for $35. As long as you have enough memory it works well enough.

Re:Putting DVDs onto PSP

[zardo]

whew, I wouldn't hand a $250 toy to a 1.5 year old barf-o-matic, hehe. The compression is great, I'm glad it supports mpeg4, its those proprietary sony memory sticks that bug me. SD cards are where its at right now.

Re:Putting DVDs onto PSP

[vincecate]

Keeping your kids happy while traveling is, as MasterCard would say, priceless.

I got the SanDisk 1 GB "memory stick pro duo" which you can get for about $115 (though a bunch of places seem not to have it in stock).

Re:Putting DVDs onto PSP

[Hast]

If you want it free (beer) I'd say PSPVideo9 is a good choice. They have a tutorial on how to recode from DVD source and from avi source.

If you want to pay for it I seems more generous to give money to eg FFMpeg or the other programs these tools are front-ends for.

I do find that the video quality on the PSP is really good. I still have to try getting a widescreen movie to work though.

Re:Putting DVDs onto PSP

[Lynxara]

I think you get 16:9 video to play at fullscreen by cycling through your playback options with the triangle button. I know I've gotten HD TV shows to display properly on my PSP.

Re:Putting DVDs onto PSP

[Lynxara]

If you just want to keep kids happy while traveling, give them a DS. It'll do the job and it's much sturdier.

All the manufacturers of Memory Stick Duos have had an extremely hard time meeting demand for 1 GB sticks. Right now most stores are waiting on second shipments of them.

Re:Putting DVDs onto PSP

[vincecate]

We also have a DS and it can keep the 3.5 year old happy for hours, but not the 1.5 year old. Videos seem best for the 1.5 year old.

BE VERY VERY CAREFUL - Remember Bleem!

[buccaneer9]

Three or four years ago, Bleem! developed an emulator which allowed PlayStation games to be played on PC's. The founders of Bleem! figured this was going to be a win-win for Sony - they don't have to sell their hardware at a loss, but receive licensing revenue from the game. Sony did not see it that way, and sued Bleem! out of existence.

Further, note that Bleem! actually won all of the court cases I am aware of. However, the cost of defending themselves in court put them out of business.

Re:BE VERY VERY CAREFUL - Remember Bleem!

[RipTides9x]

They won most cases, not all. They lost a final key licensing case which said they could still offer their most current version of the software for sale but were required to get a license from Sony to sell any future versions/upgrades. As you said, at that point they were burning on fumes financially, so they pretty much folded.

Gibson Quote

[cybergrue]

The Street finds its own uses for things - uses the manufacturers never imagined.
William Gibson

My PDA is better than a PSP.

[cualexander]

My ipaq has bluetooth, wireless, an SD card slot which I can buy new memory for $70/Gig, I can encode movies in wmv and fit several hours of very good quality(360kbps) video. I can do thousands of more things than the PSP and it costs me $320. Sure the PSP has a bigger, better screen, but my ipaq rx3115 fits perfectly in my pocket and I can use it in public without causing a lot of attention. The only other thing the PSP has is better games, but the pocketpc selection suits my tastes. I just don't get where the PSP is so "revolutionary". I can do everything and so much more on my pda. In order to get the same functionality in the PSP I would have to spend several times more than my PDA costs just to buy memory sticks and deal with sony proprietary crap. It just doesn't seem worth it to me. I'm not trolling I swear. Someone just explain this phenomenon to me and how it rivals pdas or tablet pcs because I just don't see it personally.

Re:My PDA is better than a PSP.

[Daagar]

The difference, of course, is that the PSP is first and foremost a gaming console that also happens to have lots of nifty PDA-like features. Your gadget is first and foremost a PDA that also happens to play some basic games. Different target audiences.

Re:My PDA is better than a PSP.

[*BBC*PipTigger]

Hello Mr. Self-Described Non-Troll,

Have you heard of texture-mapped three-dimensional graphics where millions of polygons are rendered at 30 frames-per-second? How about an analog control stick, a direction-pad && familiar action buttons? PDA's && cellular phones are garbage for games. Sure, you can make do if they're all you've got or you barely play anyway. If, however, you are a gamer that's anything beyond casual, PSP is the atom-bomb! Do you see it personally now?

-Pip

Re:My PDA is better than a PSP.

[cloudmaster]

The article has nothing to do with games and everythign to do with using a PSP for non-game uses. And "familiar controls"? Why in the hell does Sony use the "X" - you know, the universal symbol for closing/exiting/canceling in everything else electronic - as the friggin' *select* button? Familiar my ass - maybe familiar to the people who have another playstation...

Re:My PDA is better than a PSP.

[dougnaka]

maybe familiar to the people who have another playstation...

How many people is that? I'd wager 90% of their target audience.. how many playstation 1's and 2's has Sony sold???

Re:My PDA is better than a PSP.

[cloudmaster]

I dunno. I don't have either one. I've got a computer that plays games better *and* is useful for other things. None the less, the X was a stupid choice for "select" on the PS1, and is still a stupid choice on the PS2 and PSP. The flashy but cumbersome interface was a stupic choice. The decision to use a telephone-like pad to type characters was a stupid choice. It's rife with bad interface, though it does have a nice screen and some nifty stuff from a hardware point of view. The interface, though, is piss-poor.

Re:My PDA is better than a PSP.

[palmem]

Have you heard of texture-mapped three-dimensional graphics where millions of polygons are rendered at 30 frames-per-second? How about an analog control stick, a direction-pad && familiar action buttons?

Yes
http://www.tapwave.com/

And you can ogg and xvid on the zod

Re:My PDA is better than a PSP.

[Bilestoad]

It's worse than just 'X' - it can be any key, and every game makes up its own UI. Right now I have just two PSP games and they use different keys for familiar tasks - even between different screens within the games different keys are used for accept/back. You have to read EVERY piece of text to see what the buttons are going to do - this is the number 1 annoyance with using a PSP.

Apple's consistent UI policy was genius. (Use of past tense is intentional.)

i don't have any legs

[Anonymous Coward]

you insenstive prick.

Re:i don't have any legs

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't have a prick you insensitive clod!

dslinux.com

[Anonymous Coward]

The original dslinux site

All i have to say is....

[222]

Hope its ready for an epic battle! http://www.hcn.zaq.ne.jp/cabic508/rsf/frame1.html

Can play very good video

[monopole]

The Play-Yan cartridge from Nintendo (presently japanse market, available from Lik-Sang) produces much better video than the MovieAdvance module and incorporates an amplified earphone adapter (indispensable when used with the SP). It takes SD cards and will hold a full movie in 512M or so. It also plays MP3s directly at good quality. Finally the cartridge only sticks out less than a centimeter from the GBA. Very fussy about conversion software but if 3GPP can read the input file it can generate an appropriate output file.

While the Play-Yan has spectacular quality on the DS display it really becomes a killer app on the SP in that it provides a complete video player with the same form factor as the SP. If Nintendo has any sense it should release an english version as soon as possible possibly with an SP bundle.

The Movie Advance is larger but takes CF cards and incorporates ebook, NES emulation and photo viewing as well as a lower grade (but easier to encode) video player and music player.

Re:Can play very good video

[Anonymous Coward]

While the Play-Yan has spectacular quality on the DS display

LIAR!

PC joypads, etc.

[tepples]

(Context for moderators: discussion of the PC as an alternative to console platforms but with fewer legal restrictions)

There are a lot of people saying the PC is "dead" as a gaming platform because individual PC differences cause unpredictable errors and give certain people unfair advantages

Then does there exist a video gaming platform of fixed hardware (console advantage) that doesn't have a restricted bootloader (PC advantage)? Or with the demise of open fixed platforms such as Amiga, shall those advantages be forever segregated in the marketplace? Would the Mac mini count?

It's hard to get a good gamepad for a PC, I've found.

PS1 digital controller through an EMS USB2 adapter works wonderfully.

In general, startups are composed of people who honestly don't know what the hell they're doing.

...assuming that publishers know better, which they may or may not. Anyway, do you have any tips for a shareware developer to market a game to publishers with console contracts?

Re:PC joypads, etc.

[CDarklock]

> shall those advantages be forever
> segregated in the marketplace?

I think openness naturally kills the fixed hardware advantage, because as soon as you open up the software side to all manner of hackery, you inevitably find something for which the provided hardware is inadequate. This creates a need, the market perceives that need, and new hardware is produced to remedy the situation.

> PS1 digital controller through an EMS
> USB2 adapter works wonderfully.

I haven't tried any of the console controller adapters. I probably should.

> do you have any tips for a shareware
> developer to market a game to publishers
> with console contracts?

I've never had any luck "marketing" anything to the game industry; they get a lot of marketing hype, and they tend to be turned off by it. Just hang around the same places they do, make intelligent conversation, and occasionally mention your latest ideas; if they're *good* ideas, the interest comes to you, and you don't have to expend a lot of energy generating it.

YMMV, of course. I seem to have extraordinary luck meeting "names" online, but it's not anything I do consciously.

Re:PC joypads, etc.

[tepples]

as soon as you open up the software side to all manner of hackery, you inevitably find something for which the provided hardware is inadequate. This creates a need, the market perceives that need, and new hardware is produced to remedy the situation.

So when "new hardware is produced" in the context of new fixed platforms, why does it necessarily have to have a restricted bootloader?

Re:PC joypads, etc.

[CDarklock]

I'm not talking about new fixed platforms, I'm talking about hardware alterations to the existing platform that destroy its "fixed" nature. Without a restricted bootloader, you essentially guarantee that someone is going to open up the system, and that leads to the loss of a fixed hardware platform.

You may, for example, upgrade your console's memory only to find that most games on the market are designed to handle exactly the number of bits necessary to cover the console's address range. As soon as something gets loaded outside that range, these games can't figure out how to access it, and instead access whatever garbage is addressed by the lower-order bits.

Which is, of course, the console manufacturer's fault... as far as the ignorant public is concerned. ;)

Re:PC joypads, etc.

[Anonymous Coward]

"PS1 digital controller through an EMS USB2 adapter works wonderfully."

I use the super dual box. It allows you to connect 2 PS or PS2 controllers into one USB port. Works very well.

Re:PC joypads, etc.

[Anonymous Coward]

PS1 digital controller through an EMS USB2 adapter works wonderfully.

He said he wanted a good controller.

Re:PC joypads, etc.

[tepples]

Without a restricted bootloader, you essentially guarantee that someone is going to open up the system, and that leads to the loss of a fixed hardware platform. You may, for example, upgrade your console's memory only to find that most games on the market are designed to handle exactly the number of bits necessary to cover the console's address range. As soon as something gets loaded outside that range, these games can't figure out how to access it, and instead access whatever garbage is addressed by the lower-order bits.

If it's important enough that the hardware remains fixed that the manufacturer thinks it has to monopolize the bootloader, I'd imagine fixed hardware that can be upgradable, but for which a switch can turn off the upgrades. For instance, that's why there's an A20 gate on the PC.

Re:PC joypads, etc.

[tepples]

He said he wanted a good controller.

It depends on what you mean by "good" controller. If you mean a requirement of analog control, the EMS USB2 can also handle a Dual Shock. If you mean console fanboyism, there exist USB adapters for N64, GameCube, and Xbox controllers as well.

Re:PC joypads, etc.

[CDarklock]

> I'd imagine fixed hardware that can be
> upgradable, but for which a switch can
> turn off the upgrades. For instance,
> that's why there's an A20 gate on the PC.

No it isn't. The A20 gate is on the PC because starting with the 286 processor, an old technique for "wrapping around" system memory didn't work the same way. In other words, an *expected* condition caused *older* software not to work. What I'm talking about here is an *unexpected* condition that causes *current* software not to work.

The simple fact that it is an unexpected condition invalidates any concept that you can build a switch to turn it on and off. Otherwise, Sony could simply turn off mod chips to prevent game piracy.

Re:PC joypads, etc.

[tepples]

The simple fact that it is an unexpected condition invalidates any concept that you can build a switch to turn it on and off.

Not all upgrades are unexpected. The N64 had a memory expansion slot. The "Expansion Pak", available separately or bundled with Donkey Kong 64, doubled the internal RAM from 4 MiB to 8 MiB.

Bottom line: Is there a way for a startup video game development firm to break into the industry anymore?

Re:PC joypads, etc.

[CDarklock]

> Not all upgrades are unexpected.

Was the GameShark an expected upgrade? It plugged into a standard control port and used the standard interfaces, but Sony eventually answered InterAct's continued refusal to "play ball" by removing the port.

> Is there a way for a startup video game
> development firm to break into the industry
> anymore?

Depends on the industry. If you just want to make games, http://www.garagegames.com/ is a decent place to start. If you want to make *console* games, or PC games that debut at E3, you will need someone willing to put up millions of dollars for the project.

In order to get those people interested in your project, you will of course need a game that looks like it will *make* millions of dollars in profit for those people.

I usually find that people wanting to get into the game industry are missing the single most important thing they need: a GAME. Go build a game. Without that, you're not going anywhere.

Re:PC joypads, etc.

[tepples]

I usually find that people wanting to get into the game industry are missing the single most important thing they need: a GAME. Go build a game.

How can I if I can't get past the bootloader?

Forgive me...

[Anonymous Coward]

This is kinda off topic, but since we are talking about the BBC here, perhaps you'll all forgive it. The idea hit me the other day. Apologies to Monty Python.

A customer enters a game shop.

Mr. Praline: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.

(The owner does not respond.)

Mr. Praline: 'Ello, Miss?

Owner: What do you mean "miss"?

Mr. Praline: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!

Owner: We're closin' for lunch.

Mr. Praline: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this handheld what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.

Owner: Oh yes, the, uh, the Sony PSP...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?

Mr. Praline: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's pixel's dead, that's what's wrong with it!

Owner: No, no, 'e's uh,...it's in sleep mode.

Mr. Praline: Look, matey, I know a dead pixel when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.

Owner: No no it's not dead, it's, it's in sleep mode! Remarkable handheld, the Sony PSP, idn'it, ay? Beautiful screen!

Mr. Praline: The screen don't enter into it. It's pixel is stone dead.

Owner: Nononono, no, no! 'E's in sleep mode!

Mr. Praline: All right then, if it's in sleep mode', I'll wake it up! (plays with the power switch) 'Ello, Mister Sony PSP! I've got a lovely game of Lumines for you if you show...

(owner hits the case)

Owner: There, it moved!

Mr. Praline: No, he didn't, that was you hitting the case!

Owner: I never!!

Mr. Praline: Yes, you did!

Owner: I never, never did anything...

Mr. Praline: (yelling and hitting the device repeatedly) 'ELLO SONY!!!!! Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call!

(Takes PSP out of the case and thumps its screen on the counter. Throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor.)

Mr. Praline: Now that's what I call a dead pixel.

Owner: No, no.....No, 'e's stunned!

Mr. Praline: STUNNED?!?

Owner: Yeah! You stunned it, just as it was wakin' up! Sony PSPs stun easily, major.

Mr. Praline: Um...now look...now look, mate, I've definitely 'ad enough of this. That pixel is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged blink.

Owner: Well, he's...he's, ah...probably pining for Japan.

Mr. Praline: PININ' for JAPAN?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that?, look, why did it turn pitch black the moment I got 'im home?

Owner: The Sony PSP prefers keepin' it's pixels black! Remarkable device, id'nit, squire? Lovely screen!

Mr. Praline: Look, I took the liberty of examining that pixel when I got it home, and I discovered the only reason that it had been lit in the
first place was that it had been DRAWN there.

(pause)

Owner: Well, o'course it was drawn there! If I hadn't drawn on that pixel, it would have have been blinkin' off an' on, drainin' the battery and VOOM! Feeweeweewee!

Mr. Praline: "VOOM"?!? Mate, this pixel wouldn't "voom" if you put four million volts through it! 'E's bleedin' demised!

Owner: No no! 'E's sleeping!

Mr. Praline: 'E's not sleeping'! 'E's passed on! This pixel is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't drawn it on the screen 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is photogenic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is electronic coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-PIXEL!!

(pause)

Owner: Well, I'd be

I have a counter-example...

[LighthouseJ]

Back in the 1990's when the Playstation 1 came out, the disc swap was pretty mainstream.

I talked to people that definitely aren't computer savvy as far as underground hacks that at least knew about and some that did the swap trick. The proliferation of this swap trick was helped by the fact anyone could copy the disc on a CD recorder and then swap it to play the copy, no soldering skills needed, you don't even need to void the unit by opening it. Granted it's not a high tech hack, but it's a hack nonetheless.

uble Brewing? Trouble my ass

[adavidm]

Perhaps you should read around the subject before posting? Last time I checked there was no need to use a stolen SDK to write a flippin' web page. PSPIRC is just that, a web page that is designed to fit the PSP screen.

The only true hacking has been the dissection of updates and save files in order to better understand the PSPs file structures. Since the executables are AES(?) encrypted, there's not too much chance of learning much more that way.

The most likely way into the system now without Sony's help is to find a buffer overflow and exploit it. The media and picture views seem to be the most likely suspects, as several bugs have been found already.

adavidm

Re:uble Brewing? Trouble my ass

[Anonymous Coward]

> Since the executables are AES(?) encrypted, there's not too much chance of learning much more that way.

Doesn't matter how much they encrypt it -- the key is sitting around somewhere.

More like "Does Something"

[tepples]

[Sony PSP's media playback capability] makes the Nintendo DS ("Do Something!") seem like a cheap toy in comparison.

In fact, the Nintendo DS does something.

Re:More like "Does Something"

[kindbud]

Can't anyone have any fun anymore?

I've seen the DS screen. It looks like crap compared to the PSP. So there.

duh!

[Augusto]

This makes sense for people who already have or want to buy a PSP for *gasp* ... playing games.

C'mon people, use your brain!!!

Re:duh!

[Anonymous Coward]

The games themselves cost $40. If you can afford PSP games, you can afford a wifi detector...

...but they don't fall down

[tepples]

[Instead of playing video games,] Just use your God given legs and walk.

What legs?

Too bad it's not the DS getting this play

[RobDogAlpha]

This press and the hacks are great for the future of handheld gaming, but I wish the Nintendo DS was getting this play, too. Web browsing on the PSP is cool, but how much cooler would the hacks be if you could use the DS's touch screen for keyboard emulation? How are you supposed to IRC with 6 buttons and a joystick?

Re:Too bad it's not the DS getting this play

[Keamos]

Same way you would on the DS--a virtual keyboard.

Re:Too bad it's not the DS getting this play

[Anonymous Coward]

Except that it's not technically "virtual" on the DS.

Re:Too bad it's not the DS getting this play

[JackAxe]

Nintendo Licensed Palm OS, so expect this to a viable option in the future. Plus the same GBA dev peeps are now focusing on the DS. There's a large communtiy behind this, it's just that the PSP has all the glamor press right now because it's newer.

http://www.gameboy-advance.net/nintendo_ds/dreamin g/nds-netpod64-web-2.htm

I wouldn't necessarily use either portable for browsing, but the DS is in a better position to do so, since I think it's kind of silly.

What I'd like to see....

[John Pfeiffer]

...is someone figure out how to replicate Namco Museum's multiplayer functionality, and use it to run apps designed for the PSP over your wifi.

Namco Museum, which has such classics as Pac Man on it, can be played multiplayer, with just one UMD, because it beams the software over to another unit via the wifi connection. Like the GBA games that you can play multiplayer with just one cartridge. (And infact, in the GBA's case, people did reverse engineer that functionality to load games and software into memory over the link cable.) It'd be cool to see neat utility software being loaded into the PSP, like advanced media players and stuff.

As it is, I'm in the process of assessing just how little food I need to survive, in an effort to save for a PSP :P Armored Core Formula Front is crack... :o Need...play...online... *runs off to play the PS2 version*

free remote!

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony doesn't pack in a free remote. You paid $50 for a case, remote, wrist strap, (awful) earbuds and a 32M memory stick.

The PSP is supposedly $199. The Value Pack PSP is $249.
So you paid $50 for that remote. Pleasantly suprised?

Re:yeah...real fun

[Mordaximus]

True but it's not portable.

AC Xbox fanboy probably thinks more capabilities means "More Mhz" and more memory. Out of the box, PSP has more capabilites, ie. things you can do with it, than Xbox, even discounting portability.

My Laptop is better than a PSP.

[managementboy]

Has a huge screen, a fast 3D card, gigs and gigs of HD, cheap RAM, a DVD drive and burner, wireless, expansion slots, ethernet, 4x USB, 5.1 sound and runs the latest games! Well it does not fit in my pocket, but at least I don`t have to encode my audio in WMA (I feel dirty thinking that I could).

I just don't get how iPaqs are so revolutionary... ;-)

Re:My Laptop is better than a PSP.

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't have to encode your audio in WMA? Do you even know what you're talking about. Fuck I hate idiots.

Re:My Laptop is better than a PSP.

[managementboy]

I hate idiots, too! Well for starters, how _do_ you know that I don't know what I am talking about? Seems like you lost your sense of humor somewhere. Check out sarcasm, that might help you out.

Why doesn't Sony make a hackfest device?

[Morgaine]

Hacks gone Mainstream?

They haven't, but what interests me is that Sony is in a unique position to make hacks (or independent development) go mainstream and capitalize on it to become the market leader in this area, or if it doesn't work out, just write it off as a failed experiment.

After all, they've produced hundreds of thousands of different consumer devices, many of which have undersold their projected targets and hence are failed products in a business sense, and this mega giant just goes from there on to the next idea. Pocket change.

Like many have said, Sony is probably paralized from creating an open device by business dogma that would make it akin to consorting with the devil. However, at some level it definitely sees open source in a favourable light of some kind otherwise it wouldn't have released those Linuxes for some of its consoles.

Maybe there is hope in this direction yet. I certainly don't see any such hope from the smaller console developers owing to issues of scale and significance of possible losses, nor from Microsoft for obvious reasons, but Sony just might be able to pull this one off, if it ever wanted to.

Why is this mere 480 x 272 screen so great?

[Anonymous Coward]

The screen is phenomenial. I really think this'll be the screen that all portables will aspire to.

I hear this from everybody, and don't understand it.

OK, the screen is quite large physically, but 480 x 272, which is a lot worse than old VGA! That's 130k pixels, less than the rear LCD on my camera, which is barely usable for examining any detail in photos.

So why is the PSP screen considered so good?

Fillms on a digital camera

[Anonymous Coward]

I much prefer to watch films on my digital camera. (Casio EX-Z50).

2" screen. 1GB MMC card.
4 hours of video with mono sound through a speaker.

Or I just encode the sound separately to mp3 and listen to the sound on my mp3 player headphones while watching the video (MJPEG format, 25 fps, 320x240 res) on the back of the digital camera.

Sony wants PSP indie developers. Check the facts.

[Paradox]

No one can burn UMDs but Sony. They have locked the professional game market in a way similar to the old days of Nintendo, where you just couldn't copy the media without undue (and potentially illegal) effort.

But Sony explicitly has the ability to play games from memory sticks. Why would they do that? It is an obvious hole for Sony to allow people to make games and utilities for the PSP, but forever relegate these utilities to a small subset of the market.

From a marketing and image standpoint, this is a stroke of genius. In order to be a real contender, you have to go through Sony like all the big kids. But the device can benefit from "underground" development work without a threat to Sony's normal sales model, for people willing to spend more money and time on the device.

Also, they'll sell more Memory Stick Duo media. How else are you going to hold these fancy games? And if you want to hold a fancy memory stick game and one of these movies they plan to use to push the PSP as a video iPod? Well, pony up for the media.

Sony has everything to gain by encouraging indie developers, and their control of the UMD media means they have little to lose.

By the way, this is heresay, but I've heard the hardware calls to read a memory stick and the calls to read a UMD are different. This means that Sony realized that game piracy might be a threat, and so they further protected their interests. If you could buy a game, use a utility to image it, then distribute it and play it on memory stick, Sony would have a real problem.

don't think so...

[Cryptnotic]

I haven't seen anything about anyone running anything from a memory stick. The only thing that has been shown right now is how to redirect the web browser inside of Wipeout Pure to go to a different page, one that runs a web-IRC frontend. The other "hacks" are things to take texts and render them to a sequence of JPEGs that can be put on a memory stick to "read" the book by viewing the JPEG's in the PSP's JPEG viewer.

If the PSP can run programs off of the memory stick as far as I know, no one knows how to do it yet. My guess is that the likely solution will be exploiting a buffer overflow in saved game loading, similer to what has been done on the Xbox or GameCube.

Re:don't think so...

[Bilestoad]

It certainly can run programs from memory stick, the recent v1.5 firmware update for Japanese-market devices was a download to MS and then ran from it. The problem is that such code must be signed. Once the encryption mechanism is broken homebrew development will be a reality.

Re:don't think so...

[Cryptnotic]

Once the encryption mechanism is broken homebrew development will be a reality.

I wouldn't hold my breath, especially if it appears to be a public key system. If that's the case, the weakness would likely be in other parts of the code. The math for public key systems is pretty solid.

My Site is A PSP hacks site

[ksaville00]

I am just in the beginning stages and am trying to gain an audience, if you come come maybe post something in the forums it would be great. Also I am looking for help with it, so if you are intrested check the site and email me if you are still intrested. http://www.winbeforeyouplay.com, if you wanna help winpsp@gmail.com

Zaurus - was Re:My PDA is better than a PSP.

[speculatrix]

a Zaurus has a higher resolution screen - full VGA

- runs linux natively
- free development environment, no cryptographic locking down of hardware
- no proprietary protocols/interfaces (excepting the connectors are, which is the same problem as all mobile devices) - just regular IRDA, compact flash, USB, SD slots.

I've found my Zaurus 860, running Cacko replacement ROM to be far more resilient than my previous Palm T3 when networking. A full firewall on a portable device? Only with linux.

Check out www.oesf.org for more details of the community around the Zaurus, and places to download movie players etc.

There are quite a few games, as well as emulators for other handhelds; people have even managed to run POSE, the Palm emulator on it, which means you could run a lot of PalmOS4 games.

However, the killer to the PSP and Nintendo DS and the Zodiac are their accelerated video, something not all Zaurus models have or can take full advantage of (older ones have the ATI LCD accelerator/controller in them, newer models are PXA270 which controls the LCD itself).

If you really want a specific title...

[tepples]

The screen is for shit! It's fine for retro gaming but no good at all for video.

And some people, such as myself, don't yet give a flying intercourse about handheld video players.

When you look at the two side-by-side there is no contest. My GBA (and its 10 original carts...)

How many unique original UMDs even exist for the PSP?

One problem with the PSP is that it doesn't have any form of Tetris. Lumines is a falling block game, but it is not a game where you move falling tetraminoes of seven different shapes to make a complete horizontal line across the screen. GBA, on the other hand, has Tetris (GB), Tetris DX (GBC), Tetris Worlds (GBA), and TOD (GBA homebrew).

Re:yeah...real fun

[Anonymous Coward]

i'm no fanboy, just stating the obvious. you can actually make something useful out of the xbox (media centre, linux, etc) aside from gaming. it just has more room for modding than the psp to me. thats not to say you can't make something good out of it

PSP UI conventions

[LionMage]

Why in the hell does Sony use the "X" - you know, the universal symbol for closing/exiting/canceling in everything else electronic - as the friggin' *select* button?

Actually, I've read that on Japanese PSPs, the O button is used instead of the X button for selection by default. (Basically, the roles of O and X are the reverse of the roles these buttons play on the U.S. PSP, at least for the built-in UI. With games, all bets are off, though I imagine Japanese localized games probably try to stick with the Japanese convention, and U.S. localized games probably try to stick with the U.S. convention.)

This is similar to how the Macintosh localized the behavior of check boxes (well before the advent of OS X). In some older versions of what we now call the "classic" Mac OS, the Japanese-localized version used a real check-mark inside checkboxes, whereas the U.S. version of the OS used an X mark inside check boxes. The reason these changes were made had to do with cultural differences -- in Japan, X denoted that you were de-selecting something, or that you were negating something, whereas in the U.S., putting an X mark in a checkbox was a synonym for putting a check mark in a box. (And drawing an X is easy to do procedurally, whereas a check mark would require blitting a small bitmap. Not that this is necessarily why it was done this way, but it's a possible reason.)

Eventually, Apple decided to use the check mark universally, as its meaning seems to be unambiguous regardless of the locale.

Familiar my ass - maybe familiar to the people who have another playstation...

Which is a lot of people. Most folks who buy a PSP are going to own a PlayStation or a PS2. And this also hearkens to another UI lesson we can take from the Macintosh! If you've ever used a Mac, you are probably aware that the trash can's meaning has been overloaded. Dragging a file onto the trash means scheduling that file for deletion (i.e., moving the file into a trash folder which will later be "emptied"). Dragging a disk icon, such as the icon for a floppy or (later) for a CD, onto the trash causes that media to be unmounted and ejected. Well, OK, disk images and external hard disks just get unmounted, but you get the idea.

Now, this is a pretty brain damaged UI metaphor, because intuitively, you'd think that dragging your floppy icon to the trash would erase the contents of the floppy! But once this shortcut for ejecting floppies (and later, CDs) became widespread, Apple didn't dare remove this UI metaphor. Why? Because people were familiar with it.

This stupid metaphor even persists in OS X, although Apple now causes the trash icon to change to an "eject" icon (similar to the eject button on most CD and tape players) whenever a disk icon is being dragged on the desktop. But that's a kludge to clarify the meaning of dropping the disk icon onto the trash.

I'm honestly not sure how the "X = select, O = go back" convention got established for the PlayStation in the U.S. The first few games that came out for the original PlayStation didn't have a lot of UI consistency for how to navigate menus and so forth. Somehow, one convention stuck, and that's what developers have been using ever since.

Re:PSP UI conventions

[cloudmaster]

My favorite "bad use of the trash" is with CD-Rs on OS X. To burn a CD with the finder, you put a blank disk in. It appears on the desktop, and you can drag files to it + rename it. Then, you drag it to the trash in order to commit your changes to the disk. Granted, the trash can turns into the "warning, radioactive waste - this might burn something, maybe even a CD" symbol, but that's still an awful design decision. If I want to erase a disk, I can't use the trash can, I have to use the disk image utility (or the terminal).

Anyway, consistency still doesn't imply intuitiveness, no matter how many people have learned to work around the stupid interface. :)

BTW, I tend to waffle between Gnome, KDE, and Windowmaker on my primary systems - and I always choose a theme that uses checkmarks for checkboxes. They're called *check* boxes for a reason, IMHO.

Re:PSP UI conventions

[LionMage]

To burn a CD with the finder, you put a blank disk in. It appears on the desktop, and you can drag files to it + rename it. Then, you drag it to the trash in order to commit your changes to the disk.

That's one way to burn the CD. There's also a "Burn" button in the finder window representing the volume you're creating (accessible by double-clicking the icon for the CD-R to open said finder window). Or you can even Control-Click (or right-click if you have a 2 button mouse) to bring up the contextual menu and do it that way.

I think there's also a menu item for burning.

If I want to erase a disk, I can't use the trash can, I have to use the disk image utility (or the terminal).

That's one OS deficit I find unfortunate. CD-RW disks should be eraseable from the Finder. You shouldn't have to use a separate utility (OS provided or 3rd party) just to erase a CD-RW!

Re:PSP UI conventions

[cloudmaster]

Yeah, you can also burn disks from within the disk utility, but those are sensible UI choices. I was knocking the "trash = save" idiom. :)

The lack of an easy way to erase a CD-RW, or to append to a multi-session CD-R/CD-RW, has been the primary thing preventing the adoption of CD media in our graphics department. Instead, they're subbornly stuck on the use of those awful DVD-RAM disks.

I haven't seen Tiger yet, but I don't hold out much hope that this will be fixed, either...

Reverse Compatibility

[measure]

There is only one mod I want for the PSP: A Super Nintendo emulator that plays off of a memory stick.

Yes, this is a long way off, but let me get this meme kicking for a moment.

There are many reasons why the PSP is the perfect choice for this:
First -- the PSP screen is beautiful and would be perfect for Super Nintendo games.
Second -- Super Nintendo has exactly the same number of buttons as a PSP.
Third -- the PSP has plenty of processing power to handle emulating a Super Nintendo
Forth -- the games can be easily read off of memory stick storage and probably directly into memory.

Now let's think about the games that would now be playable on that big beautiful portable screen:
Super Mario World,
Donkey Kong Country,
FF3,
Chrono Trigger,
Street Fighter 2,
Legend of Zelda,
Super Mario Kart
...

Just imagine it! You too might even buy a PSP if these were the games offered - Yay reverse compatability.

Re:Reverse Compatibility

[JackAxe]

I can't argue about the PSPs screen. :) But the option is already here for emulating the SNES on a game portable and that's with a DS through a GBA cart. I've commented on this before, but with the DS you get the "exact" same button configuration and "design" of a SNES's controller.

http://www.snesadvance.org/index.html

http://www.gameboy-advance.net/emulated/snes_rom s_ on_gba.htm

With the DS there are 2 ways right now to get SNES games onto it, one is with a GBA flash rom, the other with a GBA/SD cart.

Here's a Nintendo DS emulator. This is always the first step to home-brew games and emulators.
http://www.ndsemu.com/

Another thing, the games you mention are available for the GBA and some are even being updated for the DS, so I ask why don't you just buy a GBA or DS to go along side your PSP, since they can play these games "right" now? Wouldn't you rather play "Mario Kart DS" this year with network play?

http://ds.ign.com/objects/682/682877.html?ui=cb_ up _03

I wouldn't buy a Nintendo DS to play GT4 or PSOne games, so why go with a PSP to play Zelda or other Nintendo games? I've already played both "Zelda Link to the Past" and "Zelda The Minnish Cap" all the way through on my DS. I didn't need to wait for someone to make an emulator and then for its bugs to be worked out. And that's a "big ify" until it happens.

And you can get Darkstalker's Chronicle for your PSP and I'm sure a new Street Fighter will be released aslo. These games are always much better when they're designed exclusively for your game system.

Cool when a SNES emulator does happens for the PSP, but until then you do have a "real choice" available from Nintendo for these types of games. Tis why I bought a DS, just imagine how great Zelda DS will be with the additional touch-screen. :)

Re:Sony wants PSP indie developers. Check the fact

[Bilestoad]

Compared to flash media of various kinds, a UMD is big and spacious.

What if you could build a solid state UMD device? Then the difference between reading a memory stick and a UMD would be defeated.

Such a device would have a slot for some kind of media (CF, SD etc.) or just built-in storage and an optical output device to mate with the laser in the UMD reader. Some kind of trickery would need to be worked out to keep them aligned. Or the output could be a simple light bar, UMD width, with discrete output cells spaced the same as UMD tracks. Power could be by integrated rechargable battery.

I don't know if such a thing could be built affordably but if a hard drive can be made smaller than a CF card for a cell phone then I know it's possible. Sony must know that they can't keep the PSP closed forever, they just want to make it harder and own the whole thing for as long as possible. Even Nintendo tried to shut down various flash cart manufacturers.

Re:404

[Anonymous Coward]

No. Just you... I checked in on it.

Re:yeah...real fun

[Anonymous Coward]

you fail it

What we don't know..

[Paradox]

Is if it's signed in order to run, or if it's signed in order to gain privleges to the PSP's firmware.

Either is a possibility.

X == select

[dougnaka]

I own 2 ps2's, and have mostly quit gaming on my computer and game almost exclusively on the ps2 or xbox. I think that you have a point that X makes sense logically for a "cancel" action, but we've (the millions of ps/ps2 owners) already all been programmed to think of X as accept and triangle as exit.

I just ran into this on a new game, Metal Gear Solid 3, Snake Eater. Fun game, but the X is go back, and the circle is accept. I spent at least 5 minutes thinking I had a bad version of the game since every time I tried to start playing it just went back to the start screen. I was almost ready to return the game for a new one that "worked" when I decided (against my male tendencies) to RTFM and whaddya know.. circle is select...

*weird* was all I could think..