Mame Working on the PSP

An anonymous reader writes "The PSP Wiki site has posted a release of Mame the arcade emulator for the Sony PSP, heres an english site with Screenshots of the Emulator in action." I guess I won't need to go to such great lengths to play Pac-Man next time.

Comments

Wow!

[gstoddart]

People have started maming their PSPs.

What a cruel world we live in. :-P

Re:Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

It looks like CmdrTaco's site is getting slashdotted. When will the editors start warning the poor owners before posting a link to their personal site on the front page of Slashdot?

Re:Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

lol, he's right, taco's /.ed!

Re:Wow!

[Tumbleweed]

"Baby, why you gotta make me hurt you? You know I love you."

Re:Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

Obligatory PA

ugh

[jardin]

reason #21 why i hate myself for upgrading my Jap PSPs firmware :(

Re:ugh

[MyDixieWrecked]

reason #21 why i hate myself for upgrading my Jap PSPs firmware :(

ditto.

Is there any way to roll back the firmware? Or has anyone managed to rip the 1.0 firmware into an updater? That'd be badass.

I mean, with everyone having code running on the thing, surely someone's figured out a way to read the firmware.

Re:ugh

[blixel]

reason #21 why i hate myself for upgrading my Jap PSPs firmware :(

Just out of curiosity, what where the other 20 reasons?

Re:ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

Just out of curiosity, what where the other 20 reasons?

That was it. He's counting in base 0.45.

Re:ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

Please don't say Jap unless you want me to think you're an ignorant bastard, you ignorant bastard.

Re:ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

actually, he was counting in base 0.5 exactly.

Re:ugh

[Trejkaz]

He said 21, so if that's supposed to be 1, it has to be a base where B * 2 + 1 = 1. In other words, B = 0.

Re:ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

He said 21, so if that's supposed to be 1, it has to be a base where B * 2 + 1 = 1. In other words, B = 0.

Can't be. because the 1 in question can't be worth a whole unit, as that's larger than the base. So base 0.45 is pretty close. if everything is scaled by 10, then for 210 (base X) to be equal to 10 (base 10) X would be 4.5. Scaling back down it goes to base 0.45.

Re:ugh

[Trejkaz]

But you're missing the fact that 21 base 4.5 would be 4.5 * 2 + 1. That isn't 1.

In soviet russia...

[geodescent]

...the PSPs maim you!

Can you plug my website next..

[kev82]

It's nice being able to get a little extra traffic by mentioning your site in an slashdot article..

Re:Can you plug my website next..

[Anonymous Coward]

This comment doesn't deserve troll. Nearly all the PSP articles showing up are from people plugging their websites by announcing this or that. It is so extremely obvious to those of us deep in the PSP hacking arena.

Great...

[Anonymous Coward]

Now if only I had an original japanese PSP...

Any news on a way into the new PSPs?

Re:Great...

[m4g02]

Seems like 1.5.x will soon run homebrew applications, the warez group Dynarox did dump UMD games and released promising a loader soon... Wouldn't like if piracy hit the PSP market but homebrew is way cool, can't wait until someone makes a Linux diestrum that runs from the memory stick :)

More info: http://www.psphacker.com/2005/05/loader-in-near-fu ture.html

Re:Great...

[Abcd1234]

Oh please... that article that you link two is one part wild speculation and two parts hacker grandstanding. Until someone actually releases this loader, I'll believe it when I see it... I can see no way they'll be able to get code to load from the memory stick without rewriting the firmware, which would require desoldering the chip, reprogramming it, and resoldering it... not something you average gamer will be willing to do.

Re:Great...

[Anonymous Coward]

Update: Straight from ps2nfo.com - its been confirmed that the exploit only works on 1.50 firmware versions. If you've upgraded to 1.51 or 1.52 you're out of luck, for now.

Well the time we've all been waiting for has finally arrived; well not quite yet - but its been confirmed by various groups that it is indeed real and the "release date" is scheduled for 6/15/2005 (15:00 GTM+1) .

From ps2nfo.com:

"We at Team PS2NFO congratulate our Spanish affiliates, and look forward to LOTS of nice "homebrew" releases to follow along with even more UMD dumps! Please post all related feedback on this VERY COOL news in THIS on-going Forum thread. Finally, we'd like to make it known that the legitimacy of this news has already been 100% confirmed by myself via high-ranking scene elders... so no, this is NOT another "fake video" nor publicity stunt- it's REAL!"

Let's wait and see what June 15th brings! Stay tuned for updates on this story.

http://psp-hacks.com/

Re:Great...

[m4g02]

Paradox confirmed that Dynarox used a dumper they made to get the games binaries. Since Paradox is located in Europe they couldn't easily find UMD's to dump so gave their dumper to an USA guy. This person lend the dumper to a friend and the friend released the games under Dynarox to steal the glory

I really don't know if this is going to work or not, I never said I was sure, but if Paradox is really behind this I bet a loader will come soon... But I'm not really sure, never said I was, all is speculation =)

Uninspiring

[Icephreak1]

What is emulation without games to emulate?

Let us know when this thing can run more than one game.

- IP

Re:Uninspiring

[poobread]

I'm pretty sure it can run any mame game.

Re:Uninspiring

[runlvl0]

I'm pretty sure it can run any mame game.

Per the Fine Article:

"Only works with Omega Fighter at this time. Left and Right on Dpad is OK :)
...
[NOTES]
There is no sound. Any games with a bit-depth not equal to 8 will not work. This emulator has the drivers for: omegaf, darius, nova2001, and vanguard."

So, it looks like CmdrTaco still needs "to go to such great lengths to play Pac-Man next time." (Or he can just put regulara MAME on his notebook.)

Re:Uninspiring

[imsabbel]

no, it can only run omega fighter.
Most likely because they only ported one of the many many emulation kernels of the "real" mame.

In soviet Russia...

[Phantombantam]

In soviet russia, Linux.. awe forget it heres my damn link. PSP Linux

Useless waste of time

[Anonymous Coward]

Considering the PSP has less CPU power than PS2 and PS2 can barely play Pac Man in MAME. What's the point of this, really?

To play Mortal Kombat 2 in MAME you need about a 1.2 GHz processor. To play Cruisn USA you need a top-of-the-line CPU and still won't get perfect framerate. Heck, even to play Neo-Geo full-speed takes a 2-ALU CPU about 600 MHz, and PSP is nowhere near that!

Re:Useless waste of time

[Registered Coward v2]

Considering the PSP has less CPU power than PS2 and PS2 can barely play Pac Man in MAME. What's the point of this, really?

To play Mortal Kombat 2 in MAME you need about a 1.2 GHz processor. To play Cruisn USA you need a top-of-the-line CPU and still won't get perfect framerate. Heck, even to play Neo-Geo full-speed takes a 2-ALU CPU about 600 MHz, and PSP is nowhere near that!

Well, my Zodiac does a decent job with xarcade ( a pre-mame emulator) playing various games, so I doubt processor speed is the limiting factor.

Re:Useless waste of time

[Anonymous Coward]

you're dumb.

for one, PSP has HARDWARE ACCELERATED DRAWING. for two, it has TWO 300MHz processors which are, combined, more USEABLE FOR EMULATION processing power than the PS2 by far.

Re:Useless waste of time

[TechniMyoko]

Considering the PSP has less CPU power than PS2

Actually it has more power.

Re:Useless waste of time

[FidelCatsro]

I was playing Mortal Kombat 2 the other day rather well on my 400mhzs g3 with Mame .The reason the ps2 can barely play pacman is simply because the ps2 mame is not refined enough , it ran perfectly on the dreamcast which by all accounts had lesser procesing power .
I would say the psp shoudl be able to handle most mame games rather admirably if its programed to the hardware , it does have alot of power beneth the hood(it can do alot more in hardware than the ps2 iirc , not that that would effect 2d games that much though)

Re:Useless waste of time

[Anonymous Coward]

for one, PSP has HARDWARE ACCELERATED DRAWING. for two, it has TWO 300MHz processors which are, combined, more USEABLE FOR EMULATION processing power than the PS2 by far.

Point me in the direction of the multithreaded mame release please (actually, point me in the direction of any multithreaded console/arcade emulator).

Re:Useless waste of time

[Anonymous Coward]

shhhhhh do not tell my ppro 200 or my camera or my dreamcast that its not able to play mame games! I think the words here are, shutup and let him hack.

For gods sakes my 66mhz dc290 kodak camera plays mame. You think the psp isnt up to the task? Its MEANT FOR GAMES. I would say my camera isnt.

Do not belive me?
http://digita.mame.net/download.htm

Mame like linux is being ported to everything. Why? Because its just that cool.

Showed a girl a couple of days ago MAME. First time she had ever seen anything like that. She damn near yanked the usb drive out of my hand to play games. Its just THAT COOL.

Take your half empty glass sorry butt somewhere else.

Re:Useless waste of time

[vasqzr]

For gods sakes my 66mhz dc290 kodak camera plays mame. You think the psp isnt up to the task? Its MEANT FOR GAMES. I would say my camera isnt.

It's meant for playing games that are specifically programmed for the PSP. It's not meant to emulate other machines. Emulation is very slow. The PSP doesn't have the raw, general processing power to do it.

Re:Useless waste of time

[Anonymous Coward]

Also what about the dreamcast? You can use linux on it. AND xmame AND a version of mame for it. So by your logic the dreamcast is a unusable platform for playing mame on. Also the dc290 by your logic is not playable. Was the camera a 'gp' machine? *NO* it was a camera... But you *KNOW* this because you have tried it right?

Wow emulation is slow would have never guessed that. Guess all that mame playing I did on the ppro 200 was to slow for you even though it was full speed.

All you really need to play most games in mame is a semi ok proc (333mhz is not good enough for you but usuable for MOST games), a decent blitter (a built in hardware one), a decent streaming sound device (can decode mp3s and mp4s real time).

Its not going to be running 100% on the first compile. It takes a bit to make a new osd layer for mame. But you know that right?

What you are basically arguing is the same argument why pc's had crappy audio/video for years 'they are not meant to play games'. Yet some of the best games ever have come from pc's.

Also how do you *KNOW* that it doesnt have the horsepower to run MAME? This dude pulled it off and has already started to speed it up by fixing his mistakes in the OSD layer. It isnt like he picked a bottom end game either. It is trying to emulate 4 processors. It may even already be doing the sound processors and just not sending the data out.

You are also arguing the SAME thing people used to say about Amiga emulation. That it was not possible without a 10ghz box. Yet we have decent emulation of pretty much all Amigas now, today. It has been for many years. On much less hardware.

Now is MAME going to be tuned to use every little bit of the psp. No probably not. But I would bet cold hard cash within 6 months this dude (if he doesnt loose interest) has quite a large number of games running full speed.

Also you seem to have missed that people also have the neogeo going on there at a decent speed.

http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/negeocd.shtml

You dont NEED to have a 3.2 ghz boxen to emulate a 4MHZ computer. Something much slower will do just fine. What is it going to do with all that extra horse power? Wait faster?

Re:Useless waste of time

[Anonymous Coward]

Showed a girl a couple of days ago MAME.

Parsing... parsing... parsing...

Nice photos!

[Anonymous Coward]

Were they taken at high speed with a telescopic lens?

Hold on a sec

[Quiet_Desperation]

Lemme send these photos over to Chloe at CTU to be decrypted, and then we'll see what we have.

Re:Hold on a sec

[chman]

You'll have to open up a protocol, and bypass the firewall matrix to do that. If that doesn't work, you'll have to use the powerline to reroute data. And if all that fails, just go to one of those nice big workstations over in an unused room where no one will find you - they have complete access to the whole CTU network. I love 24, but when they get into the techno-crapple it makes me want to remove my brain with a rusted fork.

Re:Hold on a sec

[ImaLamer]

On The Phone: Jack here, Edgar the password is sarsaparilla, can you say sarsaparilla?

Re:Hold on a sec

[bodgit]

Not to mention the cabinets of Dell rack hardware in the offices next to everyones workstations. Obviously fake, given the real things never come with green and red LEDs when I order them and they belch out enough noise and heat you a) couldn't hear what anyone is saying, and b) they'd all be wearing next to nothing and sweating at their desks.

Now hold that thought...

Re:Hold on a sec

[softends]

And cross-reference it with all other references to Mr. Pac-man in the database.

What the hell is wrong with Sony

[delicious]

The DS has a huge advantage over the PSP. Namely, there are thousands of Game Boy games compatible with the system at launch. The PSP has a dreadfully small amount of games for it, and if they opened up the firm ware, they could have the entire cataloge of MAME games available just like that. DS's advantage completely wiped out. Sony is killing their own system, IM not so HO.

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[Anonymous Coward]

It's probably because the thing costs well more than $250 to make, and they can't very well make that money back when you're playing "free" games, now can they?

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[dogbowl]

Just like how all those emulators on the Dreamcast saved it too, right?

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[Rirath.com]

The PSP has a dreadfully small amount of games for it

You can't be serious. It had one of the best launch lineups I've seen since the Dreamcast, and there's plenty coming this fall. Obviously there are several reasons why Sony has the firmware locked down. The DS wasn't wide open either.

I can't name anyone who still has, much less plays, the vast of the Gameboy's library. Having the ability to play old titles looks ok on paper, but I for one buy my systems to play new games.

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[bogie]

Yea that's what Sony wants. Everyone to play "illegal" downloaded roms on their PSP instead of buying licensed games and media which profit Sony.

I also don't think the DS and the PSP are in the same league long term. The DS just doesn't have the horsepower. If it were not for its wireless feature it would be IMHO a washout.

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[m4g02]

Sony isn't killing their own system, in fact are struggling to keep it alive. Right now Sony is making no money from selling the system, the real cash flow comes from licensing every game anyone wants to release for their product. If the firmware is opened piracy would hit big time since the PSP is equipped with a Memory Stick slot which is faster than the UMD drive... oddly copied games would run faster than original ones :S that would scare away developers and the PSP would be another failure pretty much like the dreamcast

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[TomHandy]

I'm not sure the horsepower is such a big deal though. Remember that the original Game Boy and the Game Boy Color were both dramatically underpowered compared to some of the competition they faced throughout the years (Lynx, GameGear, TurboGrafix Express, Nomad, NeoGeo Pocket, etc.).

It's pretty clear that horsepower can certainly garner some attention, but what it comes down to is the games, and the GBA and DS still have a huge and amazing library (I think the point the parent poster was making was that even though the DS's software library isn't quite that impressive yet, it still benefits from being able to play all the great GBA games).

As far as the DS is concerned, it seems to be doing ok so far (which is pretty impressive when you do think how lackluster most of the lineup of DS games is), and seems to be in good shape for some of the DS titles coming out later (Animal Crossing DS, Mario Kart DS, Advance Wars DS, that surgery game, that attorney sim game, Trace Memory, Lost in Blue, Nintendogs, etc.)

The PSP almost seems to have the opposite problem. And first, just to clarify, I bought a PSP on launch day, and have also bought a number of games for it (Lumines, Wipeout Pure, Twisted Metal Head On, NBA Street Showdown, MVP Baseball, Untold Legends and Hot Shots Golf). It had a really excellent launch lineup with a lot of variety, and it seemed to really drive a dagger into the DS, which looked absolutely pathetic in comparison.

But it seems like the PSP's subsequent lineup has been pretty thin. Hot Shots Golf and MVP Baseball are the only two games I've bought recently (and Hot Shots is excellent), and there honestly isn't a ton of stuff on the horizon. The GTA game is looking pretty good (although I still wonder about battery life while playing it), and the Coded Arms and Ghost in the Shell games look pretty good for handheld FPS's. And GT4 looks good if it ever comes out. But really, beyond that, there isn't a whole lot that is getting me excited about the PSP's future.

In comparison, even though I own only one DS game (Super Mario 64 DS), along with a lot of GBA games, I'm actually much more interested in some of the stuff coming out for the DS. Are they all groundbreaking games? Do they have better graphics than the PSP? No, not really....... in some cases the games look not that different from GBA games (i.e. Advance Wars) or n64 games (Animal Crossing DS)........ but frankly, those were awesome games before, and I'm looking forward to the idea of being able to play them online against other people. And I'm looking forward to some of the non-games like Nintendogs and Elektroplankton and Band Brothers.

So anyway, "horsepower" seems like the less relevant issue. I'm impressed by the PSP's horsepower, and it's made for some beautiful and amazing games. But horsepower only gets you so far......... if the PSP is only going to have a handful of compelling games, it is irrelevant how much horsepower it has. The PSP needs to have more interesting games as well.....

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[Tony Hoyle]

They're doing a damned good job of killing it..

PSP is still only available in the US an Japan, and from what I hear even then in limited numbers.

Meanwhile the DS has been available worldwide since January, and the shelves are full of them. Unless the PSP is a *hell* of a lot better than the DS it really isn't going to make any traction in the rest of the world now... that's a big market to be throwing away.

Unsurprisingly I've never seen any PSP software (the US software wouldn't work anyway... Sony love region-locking their stuff..) so it's a no brainer software wise.

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[joel8x]

Cousin' Brucie says the oldie games are the best!

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[Rirath.com]

[i]I bought a PSP on launch day, and have also bought a number of games for it (Lumines, Wipeout Pure, Twisted Metal Head On, NBA Street Showdown, MVP Baseball, Untold Legends and Hot Shots Golf).

But it seems like the PSP's subsequent lineup has been pretty thin. Hot Shots Golf and MVP Baseball are the only two games I've bought recently (and Hot Shots is excellent), and there honestly isn't a ton of stuff on the horizon. The GTA game is looking pretty good (although I still wonder about battery life while playing it), and the Coded Arms and Ghost in the Shell games look pretty good for handheld FPS's. And GT4 looks good if it ever comes out. But really, beyond that, there isn't a whole lot that is getting me excited about the PSP's future.

The PSP needs to have more interesting games as well.....[/i] You really need to have some patience. Games take TIME to make... the DS has a great upcoming lineup because it's been out longer, they didn't launch at the same time or anything. The PSP's large launch lineup didn't just poof out of thin air, and you can hardly expect after a launch of that size to be picking up new titles every 2 weeks.

Seriously, I don't know how you went through that many games that quickly. I'm still working my way through RR, Wipeout Pure, Hot Shots, Lumines, and NFS, plus I've tried Twisted Metal and Darkstalkers.

You yourself list what I would call several upcoming games that look very interesting. I'd add in Street Fighter Alpha, Guilty Gear, and Lemmings. But honestly, how many titles do you seriously expect these guys to crank out for a brand new system? Were you really picking up GBA games this quickly, a system with a huge developer base?

You seem to confuse "There's nothing I want this week." with "There's nothing in the PSP's future." Do you honestly think they've announced every game the PSP is going to see for the next year or so?

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[Queer Boy]

I think "thousands" is a bit of a stretch. DS only plays DS and Gameboy Advance titles unless you run an emu off of a GBA flash cart (which you can). It's more like hundreds, but that's still a distinct advantage. Another advantage is that there is the ability to play two different platforms, Nintendo has stated the GBA is alive and well and just introduced the Micro (which will be out this fall) for super portable gaming with the GBA.

The PSP just isn't "rugged" enough. It looks and feels too precious to just throw into a bag like I am obliged to do with my DS or GBA. Also, that acreen is WORTHLESS in any sort of bright light because it is SUPER reflective.

I'll get one when Lumines isn't the only game worth playing.

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[delicious]

My point was not actually meant to be bashing PSP's current line up of games, which are I must say much better overall then the DS's line up. My point was that some of us (cough cough) shelled out 400$+ for a system that, after we finish with the few good launch titles, can only stare at and wonder where the money went.

Nintendo is not stupid. The DS wasn't meant to compete directly with the PSP per se, only meant to stall it's growth while it readies the GBA2, this is common knowledge. With the PSP going through a dry spell of software right now, and the DS consistantly outselling the PSP, some of us are sitting by watching our investment go the way of the NEO GEO Pocket and WonderSwan. Sony really needs to do something if they are going to survive in the handheld market and keeping the fireware under tight wraps during this pivotal moment in their handheld's life, while the possibility of MAME + other emulation is available, well, let's just say I think it's a huge mistake.

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[TomHandy]

I think you might be reading too much into what I said. First, I didn't "go through" those games that quickly. I still play them regularly and enjoy them a lot.

I realize you have to have patience, and I don't expect a top tier title every week. But I'm looking at what we've seen as being in the works for the upcoming year. I am sure there are some great titles that are currently in development that we just don't know about.

I didn't mean to make it sound like I didn't think there was anything in the future for the PSP. I'm just commenting on the current state of it. As it is, I'm just saying that there seems to be a significant dearth of new titles over the next year or so.

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[Reaperducer]

the US software wouldn't work anyway... Sony love region-locking their stuff.

This is false. I use American games on my Japanese PSP all the time. It's the movies that are locked. If I try to play an American movie in my Japanese PSP I get an unpleasant message.

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[IntergalacticWalrus]

Jesus Christ how many times do we have repeat this here?! Console makers make money by SELLING GAMES. Allowing everyone to do whatever the hell they want to do with their systems goes against the VERY NATURE of their business model.

If you're unhappy about the PSP being closed and all, go get a PDA instead. What? You don't want to buy one because they're more expensive, and not even one third as powerful? Tough luck. Open platforms come at a price, and handheld hardware isn't cheap.

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[fr0dicus]

As a disappointed owner, I have to disagree. It doesn't have a single killer title yet.

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[fr0dicus]

I'd have to disagree. Portable games machines are not defined by horsepower, else the Gameboy wouldn't have sold 60 million units, and everyone would be playing games on PDAs. Price, game accessibility, convenience are more important. Also, Nintendo just added another: single-pak wireless multiplayer. The delight at first discovery and utilisation of this feature is fantastic.

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[Anonymous Coward]

Well obviously your opinion is not so humble, and not very pertinent. MAME will never affect the market share because most people are not geeks. The vast majority of people buy the hardware and software in retail shops thinking that's the only way to go.

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[superpulpsicle]

Very well said. This should have been first post.

Re:What the hell is wrong with Sony

[Anonymous Coward]

IMHO that was dumb.

Re:cool

[daviq]

Or for that matter Mac OSX?

even worse...

[Anonymous Coward]

they appear to be shooting at the screen too...

All well and good but...

[Rirath.com]

These anonymous readers somehow always fail to mention it still ain't going to run on 1.5 - 1.5.2 yet.

hmmmm

[LewieP]

I'm so gonna make an upright cabinet case-mod for the PSP...

How akward will Sony be about homebrew on PSP?

[Omega Xi]

From what I read here about firmware (it's about the height of my knowledge on how PSP works) I'm guessing Sony is already trying to make it fairly difficult to run unlicensed software on the PSP. Personally I reckon that if there wasn't so much software availabe for x-box it wouldn't have sold nearly as well as it has (though I could well be wrong).

Do you think a console manufacturer is ever going to embrace homwbrew software, or will they always do their best to stop it?

Re:How akward will Sony be about homebrew on PSP?

[mingrassia]

Do you think a console manufacturer is ever going to embrace homwbrew software, or will they always do their best to stop it?

While not really a console, there is the Nokia 770 Linux tablet discussed on Slashdot last week. The SDK is a free download and the device has a well documented developers site. Also, at $350 USD is seems reasonably priced too.

Re:How akward will Sony be about homebrew on PSP?

[Anonymous Coward]

Consoles have, since the origional nintendo, been a loss leader of those who make them. They will lose money selling the consoles and they hope to make it up with game sales for said console.

If they dont have control of what games are being produced and arent getting a cut they are losing money.

Re:How akward will Sony be about homebrew on PSP?

[jfaulken]

In all honesty, the number of people that actually go out and buy the hardware simply to run homebrew, even XBMC, software is extremely small. The problem for the manufacturer is two-fold:

1) If you buy the hardware only to run homebrew games then you're not putting the money into the 'system' the way that you're supposed to. Even now that MS is breaking even or making a little profit on each XBOX sold, the amount is nothing compared to the licensing fees on EVERY game that's sold or the profit on first party games. It's a losing proposition for them. But even more important is the fact that

2) The same methods that allow you to run homebrew software on a system also allow you to run pirated, published media. In a shareholder-centric company there's no way that you can do anything that jeapordizes your ability to make a profit by enforcing copy protection. If someone could solve this problem it would likely go a long way to making a hardware manufacturer more homebrew-friendly.

Re:How akward will Sony be about homebrew on PSP?

[homer_ca]

It's true, Sony released firmware update 1.5 in Japan to disable homebrew software. Article here. Forget about open console platforms. The last one was the PalmOS Tapwave Zodiac, an uncrippled PDA with a good game controller. All it needed was better 3D. Unfortunately it never caught on.

Re:How akward will Sony be about homebrew on PSP?

[fr0dicus]

This is false, and I defy you to provide links to the contrary. Only Sega and Microsoft ever deliberately priced systems in this manner. Sony are cutting their profits to the bare minimum with the PSP, but still not making a loss per unit.

You're half right in that every manufacturer intends to make the most money via software sales.

On this rate...

[ID000001]

I foresee the value of PSP with Japanese Firmware actually go UP.

Re:On this rate...

[Anonymous Coward]

What people keep forgetting, besides the fact that you can't use these emulators on any PSPs other than the original batch of Japanese PSPs, is that if you have one of those original units, don't expect to play any actual PSP games on it and retain any value, as Sony's announced future games will "require" updated firmware, and install it automatically off the UMD.

Re:On this rate...

[FidelCatsro]

unfortunatly at this time , most shipping units have been upgraded to the 1.5+ firmware . I have a japanese unit from a couple of months ago and it was snet out with 1.5 already installed

Re:On this rate...

[Anonymous Coward]

That is VERY dangerous... what if the power fails or the user decides to switch the unit off as he changes his mind to finish that other game first? It's turned into a brick while secretly flashing new firmware? $ON¥ will have a hard time denying it wasn't their game responsible!

wow, a good reason to buy a PSP!

[inteller]

If they do a good job I'll be in line to get one. So sad they could never get one for the Xbox.

Re:wow, a good reason to buy a PSP!

[MoriaOrc]

A good mame port?
Like this one?

That one uses virtual memory to allow you to play most games in the Mame library (since XBox has so little). Load times for bigger games can get up pretty high, though they usually run well once they're done (Most of my experiance here is with Neogeo stuff, Kof 98/2000 in particular).

Oh I'm sure

[Anonymous Coward]

It can play one game... with no sound... only 8bit color is supported. It's not really MAME if it only runs one game... For pete's sake what does MAME stand for?!

THIS IS NOT NEWS YOU IDIOTS.

Lemme guess...

[Zorilla]

Like every other emulator ported to console/portable, it doesn't actually do anything useful...

[NOTES]
There is no sound
Any games with a bit-depth not equal to 8 will not work
This emulator has the drivers for: omegaf, darius, nova2001, and vanguard

Yup. Not news.

Re:Lemme guess...

[RaboKrabekian]

Every other console?

Ever tried mame or nes/snes/genesis/neo geo emulators on an xbox? They work perfectly.

Re:Lemme guess...

[redJag]

He said consoles, i.e. not PCs.. :P

Re:Lemme guess...

[snuf23]

Try some PocketPC or Palm (especially on a Tapwave Zodiac) emulators. Admittedly playing GB, NES, Sega Gamer Gear/Master System, Turbographix, Commodore 64, Apple 2 games isn't useful as in productive - it sure is fun.
Gameboy Advance also has an excellent NES emulator.

Re:Lemme guess...

[Anonymous Coward]

The homebrew space invaders emulator recently made avialable for the Nintendo DS does something useful. Works pretty well infact:

http://www.double.co.nz/nintendo_ds/space_invaders /index.html

Re:Lemme guess...

[iamhassi]

"playing GB, NES, Sega Gamer Gear/Master System, Turbographix, Commodore 64, Apple 2 games"

...and GBA. New PPCs play GBA games rather well using morphgear. SNES too.

Re:Lemme guess...

[Zorilla]

When was the last time the project was actually updated? August 24, 2004. That's a port of version 0.84.3b and many of the roms that worked in the PC version of MAME during that time don't work at all on XBox.

Re:Lemme guess...

[snuf23]

Yeah the older ones (like my 400mhz Xscale) had a bit of a hard time with speed on the GBA games. The big problem I have with SNES is the buttons - I haven't seen a PPC with a good layout for any with more buttons than a Genesis.

hahaha

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm doing one right now, will be 3m tall and weight 100kg

Incorrect/trash news post

[dostick]

All PSPs are sold with 1.5 / 1.5.1 firmware witch does NOT support unauthrized programs like MAME.
You can say technically you may run it on PSP only if that psp was made in 2004 with old firmware.

So this story is correct if you talk about 0.01% of PSPs out there.

Re:Incorrect/trash news post

[Anonymous Coward]

That's technically not true - is it? After all if you order a JPN version from some Asian company - you're still able to get 1.5 firmware. Mine certainly was :)

Re:Incorrect/trash news post

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but you need 1.0 to run it. Don't be a tard.

Re:Incorrect/trash news post

[Anonymous Coward]

Firmware 1.5 has been cracked and will be released June 15th or 16th. However, this information won't be modded up and so no one will know about this fact unless they actually do some investigation - which apparently you didn't do before blessing us with your "informative" post.

my hopes

[ehershey]

keep getting raised by these stories, yet they're meaningless for most psp owners

Not region locked

[gorim]

Game software on the PSP is *not* region locked.

Movies and music may very well be region locked, as Sony stated more than likely they will region lock that stuff, but games so far have not been region locked, per Sony's stated intention.

This truly shows the versatility of hand-helds.

[CyricZ]

Developments like this truly show the versatility of hand-held computers, whether they be PDAs or microgaming systems. Indeed, these systems are just as capable as the most powerful desktop systems of even just four or five years ago. It's amazing that so much progress has been made in so little time.

Forget Alpha PSP Mame, PalmMAME works now

[Anonymous Coward]

If you want a portable MAME machine, grab a Palm (Treo 650 cell phone is what I use) and get PalmMAME:

http://www.pocketdimension.com/PalmMAME.html

Works with most games that will fit the small screen and fits into memory. The classics pretty much all work as well as some smaller Neo-Geo games.

--Striker

One SHITTY game!

[topper24hours]

Has anybody mentioned the fact that only one game can be run currently?

Emulation on a console

[tepples]

Ever tried PocketNES on a Game Boy Advance system? If handhelds don't count, then what about GameCube with Game Boy Player?

Re:Emulation on a console

[rohlfinator]

FWIW, the GB Player isn't an emulator, but stripped down Game Boy Advance hardware in a different form. There's no reason that the GameCube couldn't emulate the GBA, but for one reason or another, Nintendo chose to use existing hardware instead of software.

GP32

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd recommend the korean GP32, it's an excellent choice, it embraces open source and can emulate many many systems.

Don't get all excited

[M3wThr33]

Unless you want a dedicated Mame machine, don't get too excited.
These only work on LAUNCH PSPs from Japan, Sony started requiring hardware signing after that. It's not going to be "cracked" for 1.5.x anytime soon.
On top of that, most games released now won't play unless you update your firmware, meaning you're stuck with a 20 game library of japanese games (5 of which are Mah-jongg), plus old emulated titles.

Re:Don't get all excited

[gartogg]

I agree; just like linux was only written for PC's, and so only runs on them, and didn't have support for almost anything at v1.0, so too I will assume that the somtware devolpers on this project have suddenly decided that they have better things to do than continue developing the program, and we will never see a version that's useful.

Kudo's on the insightful, not to mention original, post. If more people thought like you, people still wouldn't use wheels, because v1.0 kept rolling away.

Re:Don't get all excited

[Anonymous Coward]

These only work on LAUNCH PSPs from Japan, Sony started requiring hardware signing after that. It's not going to be "cracked" for 1.5.x anytime soon.

http://www.psphacks.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=162 9&sid=515e249b01a46d9f804953bcd8e76aee

No he doesn't...

[ReKleSS]

The Namco classic collection thingo pack has pac-man, as well as some other old namco games... I don't know if it's available in the US yet, though.
-ReK

Count the GBA titles carefully

[Trejkaz]

FYI, there are over 2000 GBA ROMs available... I'd say that's more than your "hundreds."

But you're on the side of Nintendo here, so I'll let it slide. In a few days I'll be drawing rainbows for Kirby, and won't give a fuck what comes out on the PSP for the next three months. :-)

MK2 on MacMAME with a PowerBook G4 1 Ghz...

[antdude]

Hmm, odd. My PowerBook G4 (1 Ghz; 15". 512 MB of RAM; Mac OS X 10.2.8) with MacMAME v0.96u1 had choppy problems. It wasn't smooth on it even with its GL (Q3A runs nicely ;)).

Re:MK2 on MacMAME with a PowerBook G4 1 Ghz...

[FidelCatsro]

Have you tried it on linux PPC , its far smother than MacMame in my experiance

Re:MK2 on MacMAME with a PowerBook G4 1 Ghz...

[antdude]

FidelCatsro: Nope. Does OS' really make that much differences on the hardwares?

Re:MK2 on MacMAME with a PowerBook G4 1 Ghz...

[FidelCatsro]

No it doesn't but linux mame is far more mature than mac mame and in my experience I've found it to be allot smother.

Re:MK2 on MacMAME with a PowerBook G4 1 Ghz...

[antdude]

FidelCatsro: Ah, thanks. I will try that if I ever replace the OS with Linux then. ;)

Re:MK2 on MacMAME with a PowerBook G4 1 Ghz...

[FidelCatsro]

Duel boot ;) , Well i have linux(Debian perhaps switching it to Ubuntu) on my old g3 and OS X + Ubuntu on my emac , Emulation is defiantly smother on linux

Re:MK2 on MacMAME with a PowerBook G4 1 Ghz...

[AdamWeeden]

Duel boot? Is that where the Operating Systems fight to see who gets to serve as your OS for this boot? :P

Jesus

[Anonymous Coward]

Are the games so bad on this thing that we need to play pacman and old nes games? I'm glad I didn't waste the cash on this P.O.S.

PSPRand

[drewolanoff]

This is a sweet proggie for the PSP http://gamecoder.mindsay.com/