Some Sony PSP^™ Stuff

Some time ago, I acquired a brand new gizmo for the hefty price of £250 (inc. 2 games). Yes, I had finally succumbed to the hype and bought a PSP . This is a portable gaming device, that really shows off the technological advances available today. It doesn't just play games though:

• Internet; This is a very basic web browser with, currently, no flash support. It's also much easier to input text via a laptop rather than the annoying keyboard interface the PSP has. However, the RSS capability is great, allowing you to internet stream music to your PSP via the Wi-Fi connection.
  
  • To set up the PSP for WiFi access via your home Apple network:
    Firstly, you probably have either OSX.3 or OSX.4...the best router by far is Apple's own Extreme BaseStation (allows you to share printer's as well as act as a router, access point and gaming point etc etc).
    Turn it on...it sets itself up.
    Now click on the "Airport Admin Utility" for some fine tuning (within the 'utilities' folder in 'Applications').
    The types of encryption range from none (NOT a good idea), the next step up being WEP (this has been succesfully compromised rendering it all but useless), all the way to WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access; created to be more secure than WEP). This newer WPA hasn't been compromised, but for added security, they renamed it WPA1 and created the second gen WPA2. As well as this, you can specifiy MAC filtering (called RADIUS) but I don't bother as it's mainly business's that use that kinda high level security.
    Now set up the basestation with WPA2 security and specify a 13 character password. The basestation will work well with mac's with any >8 length password, but non-macintosh systems mainly work well with specifically 13 character keys only.
    Now specify that you want to allow both WPA1 and WPA2 computers to have access (not just WPA2). This way PC's (that mainly use the older WPA1) as well as most Mac's (that can use the newer WPA2) can all connect (provided they have the password of course).
    You can also set to allow devices that use the even older WEP technology to access, but I disabled this as PSP firmware 2.5 or above allows access via WPA1 (i.e. why allow an inferior encryption technology access to your BaseStation?).
    Set the BaseStation onto "automatic channel selection" and also remember to use "interference robustness" (this allows for a better signal, especially if that signal has to go through/bounce off walls).
    Finally, in the advanced settings, set the transmitter power to maximum and set the multicast rate: If you set the multicast rate too high, only clients on the network that are within range and can achieve the speed you set will receive transmissions, whereas if you set the multicast rate to 1 megabit per second (fairly low) this will extend the range of your network beyond the default, and allow more people to access.
    Now send this info to the Basestation (it will turn off and boot up again) and that's it. You should now have a BaseStation with a 13 character WPA2 key which you can save in your keychain. The baseStation will also allow PC's and PSP's that use WPA1 encryption to connect as well. And finally remember to use firmware 2.5 or above on your PSP.
  
   
• Photo Viewer; Make the most of the wonderful screen and use this as a photo album. The advantage is that the photo's are stored on the memory stick, so a 1Gb stick should be plenty.
  If you want to create your own themes I recommend using Adobe Photoshop CS, and feel free to modify with my own template that I created to ensure a snug fit around the icons in the GUI:
  

  Simply drag and drop this image to your desktop (or right click if you're a windoze user). It's shaped the way it is to completely encompass all the icons. I've come across quite a few templated designs that are quite nice, but tend to miss out bits of icon/misalign, so i made this.
  Use it on the PSP and go to "Photo Settings" to see how snug it is.
  The "bump" below the square allows room for the shadow of the "...ngs" lettering under the briefcase. The only thing I think I did wrong was maybe extending the date/time box a bit, but with some dates (all double figures for instance) it's a good fit again.
  The reason I didn't use a transparent .png is that I can't align the layer using it in photoshop cs. This way (using this preferred image), just select all and copy. Now open the background to work with (background size should be 480x272) and paste. Now magic wand the surround and "delete". I find it much easier to work this way and the template aligns perfectly.

• JukeBox; My iPod far outclasses the PSP so I don't use this function at all.
   
  
• Videos; Unfortunately, UMD video's are very expensive and come with less content than their equivalent DVD. Most people simply convert their existing DVD's to a PSP recognisable format (either 320x240 4:3 ratio or 368x208 16:9 ratio in one of two formats: MPEG-4 or H.264 AVC (both using AAC audio codec)). Programs you can use on a Mac to do this are either altShiiva or ffmpegx. Once done, you can run vid's off the memory stick and they look nice and sharp and clear with good sound too. Nice alternative to playing games when you're bored.
   
  
• Gaming I've got ProEvo Soccer5 and Coded Arms (which I got bundled with the pack) and later on, I bought Mercury, Twisted Metal Head On, Wipeout Pure and Everybody's Golf (I've since traded most of these in).

I ended up buying a UK (1003) Giga Pack, which comes with a 1Gb Sony ProDuo card, along with two games as a bundle. It started life as FirmWare v2.01 but I immediately upgraded to v2.60 via Sony's official site. I advise you to ONLY upgrade from the official UK site (see 1^st link below).

I've also had the opportunity to compare screens from different PSP's:
Before I bought my PSP, I kept reading about various myths here and there that Jap PSP's have better screens etc etc.....you've all heard the ones. Ebay seller's go as far as using this to promote selling imported models. In case you weren't aware, the myth going round is that the Jap PSP screens have a different manufacturer (Sharp as opposed to Samsung) that therefore have clearer, sharper images than UK ones.....this is rubbish, the screens are the same. In the original batches of PSP's for the Jap market (only first couple of months before release anywhere else), the manufacturer was Sharp, but manufacture then switched wholesale to Samsung with the same spec screen for everywhere in the world (including current Jap models).
Just to put this to rest THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE.
I have a UK PSP. My Bro has a USA one. My nephew has a Jap one. Placing them all side by side (with none of them having screens protector's...v important to get a good clear view of what the screens are like alone) and there is no difference between any of these consoles.
All in game footage and UMD movie footage look identical.
Therefore: Pro's of getting an import PSP? None....everyone I know who got one eventually also got "got" by the taxman and paid nearly equivalent prices....and you also don't have the UK Sony Warranty (I also can't stand my nephews Jap PSP having the O and X button switched in the menu screens but the other way round in games).
Finally: If you notice on the web/forums, people who swear there's a difference invariably have one or the other, whereas everyone who has done side by side comparison's (like me) will swear blind that there is no difference. It is a myth perpetrated by importers to entice you into buying their stock.
I'm just saying this to help those who are considering getting an import to realize that the current batches of PSP around the world are all the same re: screens as far as the human eye can tell..........might help you to decide wether to risk buying from abroad or not and end up with no warranty come-back for a similarly priced machine. To repeat: ALL PSP's from around the world have the SAME clarity and sharpness wrt their screens, no matter where you buy them from.

EDIT: I've finally gotten rid of my old PSP (and bought a better handheld ). Why?...well, in retrospect there are some real problems with this device:

• The inability to play for more than ½ an hour straight. The PSP, let's face it, is an ergonomic nightmare. I tend to get severe thumb-ache after playing, the buttons are all in the wrong place, the analogue nub should be towards the top of the device rather than at a completely different height to your right thumb position which is controlling the symbol buttons. Terribly poor design here. I could play for HOURS on my old PS2...not so the PSP.
• Talking of analogue stick, why is there only one? The analogue nub in the PSP is very thin and they could easily have found a way to squeeze another one in on the PSP. Not having two means that FPS games are absolutely terrible, with very poor control systems. This was purely a case of greed on the part of Sony, who thought they could get away with only spending on one analogue stick. Well they were wrong, they have created a serious flaw in the PSP especially when it comes to FPS's. Hopefully they'll learn their lesson with the PSP2.
• I want to play original games. I DON'T want to just spend time re-playing ports from the PS2 (a lot of titles on the PSP are ports). For instance, I had GTA liberty city stories and it played exactly the same as the GTA vice city stories I had on the PS2. Whilst not a direct port, there was nothing new or original about the PSP version (so I don't, in fact, just mean direct ports of the same title, I mean that the games offered nothing different to what was already on the PS2). Again, this is Sony and the developers being lazy here. No real originality on the games so far (and it's been out for nearly 2 years)
• GT5 mobile. Where is it? Yet again, Sony have deliberately lied in order to sell a product. This was promised 2 years ago as a launch title and still hasn't materialised. No more lies Sony, please...just grow up (for once)...
  EDIT: Well whadyaknow, lo and behold they've FINALLY released it (only 4 years too late)! Not worth buying another PSP for though...

                

It's a good job they seem to have bucked up their idea's a bit with the PS3 & PS4 .

Read on to find out some hints'n'tips and links to great web resources:

• Official Sony PSP Sites:
  • The Official Sony PSP^™ site; This is where you register your PSP
  • The Official PSP Forum
  • Your Gaming Name; use the gaming code you got with your pack and register it here
  
  
• AV Forums; great unofficial forum
• VG Chartz; worldwide sales figures: DS 133M (69%), PSP 59M (31%)
• ffmpegx forum; forum for sorting out ffmpegx issues
• GameRankings; wondering what game to buy next? This site collates useful reviews from around the web