Author Topic: A few PSP questions  (Read 1051 times)

Offline W7RE

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A few PSP questions
« on: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 01:15:20 PM »
I've run into the problem that it seems that on a lot of PSP discussions, people talk as if anyone else reading what they say has a PSP. Also you never get the important details from the manufacturer.

1. Does the PSP support the download of full games directly to the system?
2. Do you have to have a PS3 for this?
3. A special cable to hook it to your PC?
4. A wireless home network?
5. Is it all games, or just some?
6. Does it support online/local wireless multiplayer? Does THAT require a wireless home network?
7. Is there custom firmware available for the newer models, or still limited to the 2000 and earlier?

Offline Cobra951

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Re: A few PSP questions
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 01:39:14 PM »
About the only contribution I can make here is that you can download UMD games to the PSP memory stick and they will run in at least the first version of the PSP with the right custom firmware.  The system thinks the game image on the stick is the UMD inserted.  I don't know if the latest PSPs have been opened up yet.

Offline idolminds

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Re: A few PSP questions
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 01:42:58 PM »
1. Yes. The newer firmwares (including custom firmware) has a built-in PSN store.
2. No, you can shop and download directly from the PSP.
3. No, though if you want to use the PC store you will need to hook up your PSP via USB to download stuff.
4. Yes, if you want to shop directly from the PSP you will need some sort of wifi. Unless you want to go use some free wifi or leech of your neighbors.
5. Only certain games are on the PSN store. Sony is wanting to push it more, so hopefully they add even more titles.
6. Yes, it has local and online wireless multiplayer. Local does not need a home network, but online of course will.
7. Still limited to 2000 and earlier. There is a very promising exploit being worked on that might lead to the 3000 being cracked, but so far it isn't possible on a 3000 yet.

*EDIT*
And what cobra said, with custom firmware you can rip your games to the memory stick. So far thats all the UMD drive on my PSP has been used for.

Offline W7RE

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Re: A few PSP questions
« Reply #3 on: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 02:28:12 PM »
That sucks that not all games are available on the online store. I guess I could browse the store on my PC to see what's available?

See I'd rather not have to carry discs around if I can help it. I"m assuming all games are either on UMD or downloaded, and I think I heard that the upcoming PSP model won't even have a UMD port, so why stock up on physical games I don't want to carry around anyway if I'm not gonna be able to play them on the newer system.

I thought I might just try to find a PSP2000 to play around with until the new model is out. Maybe I can find a used one for cheap. Then I would still have the custom firmware option (which I'm mostly use for my old PS1 games, I imagine).

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: A few PSP questions
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 05:28:12 PM »
<offensive rant>
I will never understand how you people can so tolerate digital downloads, let alone prefer them.  No direct offense meant to anyone, but you people are the fucking problem.
</offensive rant>

But no, in all seriousness, I can't imagine downloading games and dealing with the ungodly hassle of trying to juggle them around on memory sticks.  Fuck that noise.  I have a hard enough time balancing the few ISOs I run off sticks and all the Playstation games I've ripped for the thing.  And I have like 4 or 5 memory sticks, including a 2GB and a 4GB (though they've probably got bigger ones now... it's been over a year since I've purchased one or looked at them).

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline W7RE

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Re: A few PSP questions
« Reply #5 on: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 05:51:20 PM »
How big is the average game, and how big can you get memory sticks? You're going to carry memory sticks or game cartridges, whichever has me carrying less and swapping cartridges/sticks less seems more convenient.

I live 30+ minutes from the nearest store where I can buy video games. Now I could take the time, and use the gas to run to the store to buy a new game, then have one more cartridge, disc, whatever to swap out when I want to change what I'm playing, or to carry with me if it's for a portable. Or I could buy a game online and download it, which takes less time and I can do it while I shower/cook/play something else. Yea, I'm all for ensuring I will have a copy if my system dies or something, but being completely against digital distribution seems more like a knee-jerk reaction to something new and unfamiliar.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: A few PSP questions
« Reply #6 on: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 06:39:10 PM »
Hardly.  I have bunches of PSN games and I'm not shy about downloading things here or there.  But I don't want it reaching any farther than it has.  It's a nice alternative and works fine for smaller games nobody's going to give two shits about in 10 years, but by and large I want my primary game library to be a physical one, and I don't like it when I'm not given the option any longer.

And again, for me personally it would be a far, far bigger pain to swap out games to memsticks constantly rather than just carry a couple UMDs around.  Generally I don't even do that, because these games are substantial and I'm usually only playing one at a time.  The boxes and discs all stay at home, and the one game I'm playing stays in the PSP.  If I happen to be fiddling with two at once, I just throw the extra game into my backpack and swap out as needed.  I find that much easier than trying to keep multiple games on memory sticks, especially since I already use the sticks for tons of homebrew and emulation stuff.

The exception to this is when a game runs like shit off a UMD.  You don't want to try playing Metal Slug Anthology from the UMD, because whoever programmed that game was a moron of the first degree.  Seek times and load times are all kinds of terrible, to the point of extreme frustration, whereas running it from a stick negates those problems entirely.  But that's the only game I can think of that was so botched I'd feel the need to run a copy rather than the disc.  Most others are just fine.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline idolminds

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Re: A few PSP questions
« Reply #7 on: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 08:09:05 PM »
Most games end up being less than 1GB since the max size of a UMD isn't much larger than that. Really depends on the game. Some I ripped myself are only 200MB. So it varies.