PSP's and Homebrew

I'm toying with the idea of buying a PSP. There are some pretty neat games out for it now, like Metal Gear Acid and Tales of Eternia, which is more than I can say for XBox360, the only other console I'd consider. With the new Syphon Filter out soon and Metal Gear Acid 2 out tomorrow, there's plenty I'd enjoy.

But I'm not keen to be restricted in what I can and can't run on it. As I recall, Sony released update firmware which stopped you running emulators and homebrew and generally anything unofficial. So I'm wondering if I need to get a second hand PSP, or if I can get a new one and downgrade the firmware without giving myself headaches. And if I do downgrade the firmware, will it compromise me in other areas?

While I'm asking, any must-have accessories if I decide to buy one? I'm thinking I'll probably get a 2 gig official card to go with it, as that's bound to come in handy, and they're down to about 80 quid now too.

Well that ticks me off, I type in a nice description on the sort of factor, then the text-box deletes itself for no reason with undo not working!

Now to retype it down to the case :

- If you want to run home-brew, you'll have to dump ever wanting to play recent PSP games as they force an update to a version beyond current known security exploits to run user-made programs

- latest firmware that's exploitable to run home-made programs in "user" mode (limits the programs accessible, like no wifi, sleep mode dont work, and no home button) is v2.60, down via the GTA:LibertyCityStories exploit (which works on firmwares 2.00 to 2.60)

- v2.00 can use the overflow exploit in a TIFF image which was a new introduced image format in that version (along with the web-browser, which is a bit slow and very memory limited)

- v1.50 is the sweet spot for home-brew, easy to use exploit which requires you to have two folders for your home-made games, one being a dummy, and the other where the real program is (lots of info regarding how to do that on the web, called KXploit I think), and you can run the programs in kernal mode (which is what the actual PSP games run in), straight from the memory card under the game category in the PSP menu. Problem here is that the PSPs released in Europe were v2.01, so you'd have to find an American one, or a Japanese PSP
(though if you were to grab a Japanese PSP, may as well get a v1.0 firmware one, as it doesn't have any security preventing loading of home-brew)

Problem with Sony is that they're pretty anal about home-brew, if you ask me it's mainly because some idiots out there use ISO loader programs to load up illegal copies of ripped UMD games, where-as the rest of us play some of the fun home-made programs (I personally use an NES/SNES emulator, portablising my Final Fantasy collection further till Square Enix finishes porting damn FF3 to DS & FF5/6 to the GBA).......and as such every update they close off every known exploit to the version beforehand.

And near every new PSP release requires an update to the latest firmware of its time, so if you want homebrew, either stick to a low-firmware and forget ever playing real PSP games, or get a 2nd PSP and have one for homebrew, one for games.

Me personally, I'm doing a mix of both, rarely any PSP games interest me, but I recently picked up this fun (albeit slow-paced) action-puzzler "EXIT", and it required me to update from v2.0 to v2.5, couldn't get it to work under any circumstances as it froze mid-loading menu if I tried my little tricks, so I just bit the bullet and updated. Had to resort to switching over to the GTA exploit though to continue using home-brew, but eventually I'll lose that access, more-so if that new MGS3 game for it lives up to my expectations.

Besides, Sony keeps cramming new functionality into the system, odds are people will find new ways around their ever-so-tight security, which they're actually doing a good job of, more-so since their game library is finally getting some decent titles.
(still have yet to pick me up Daxter, looking forward to it)

I'm pretty picky when it comes to PSP games, if the game features console-length (or longer) loading times, I aint touching it, I tend to spend more time waiting then playing.
(which I found to be the case when I grabbed Tony Hawks Underground2, didn't like it on the consoles, but it surprisingly made a decent hand-held game, making no compromises to the gameplay at all, just lower-rez textures, and added new levels, but there was soooo much loading between menu's & levels, got tired of it)

[EDIT] Forgot to mention, regarding downgrading, it can only be done on the v2.0 firmware, which can only be downgraded to 1.5 iirc.
(doesn't work on 2.01, which all I believe Sony did in that version for the EU release was to patch up that downgrade exploit)

Current latest firmware is 2.70 I believe, which fixed the GTA exploit, but also added in some new functionality with regards to peripherals that are yet to be released.
(like a camera, a GPS unit, stuff like that, lookin forward to the camera here if it's decently priced)

Nowadays though, my system is just an MP3 player, takes too long to get into a game to play for short bursts at school (I blame the UMD drive and lack of optimizations on the developers part), my DS comes in handy there, so I mainly do all my PSP gaming at home.
(6 PSP game vs. my 25 {although 5 of those are crap} DS games, I'm a hard to please guy for the PSP game selection)


Hope that's enough information to get you by, if you got any Q's, odds are I can answer, been with the home-brew scene for quite awhile now ever since I learned about it back in the good ol' v1.50 days.

Bah, try the GBA, it's an easier handheld to develop a homebrew game, you can get the dev kit and cartridge equipment from here:

www.jandaman.com

Just go under GBA, and then Dev Kits. You'll find the Linker carts and cables there... Nintendo makes indie development easier and cheaper for handhelds, IMHO. If I'm not mistaken, that same dev kit can work on the DS, as well...

Don't do it ... the 360 is so much better gamewise. I can't believe you listed Metal Gear Acid and Tales of Eternia as games that make the PSP look appealing in comparison to the 360. Heck, the demos you can download for free on the 360 are better then all the full PSP games put together. PSP is highly overrated. Killer hardware ... not so great software. Once the gee whiz feeling wears off you'll be looking for something else.

Not true about only 2.1 in europe, I got my PSP in UK, and it was 2.0.
It was downgraded to 1.5 that week, and has not been upgraded.

I THINK that having Homebrew software is better than new games, I have 50-60 snes games on it, (which like are FREE on the internet). 10 amiga games (Tho the amiga emulator is stupid) and an ebook/pdf reader, some Songs and my current workingdir for BlitzMax.
If I want a new game Ill get one for the pc. (Same as I wouldnt guy a movie in psp format if its the same price as a real DVD)

I'll also second Genexi2 ... the DS is far superior in terms of games. Brain Age alone is worth all the PSP games ... and it's not even really a game.

I'd like to add that My UK PSP was 1.5 :)

Is it possible to play GBA games on the PSP yet?

I recon being able to play SNES and Megadrive games makes the system worth buying for that alone.
Finally can play Streets OF Rage 2 and 3 on the move.

The UMD loaders don't make a difference. It's not possible to run them with the GTA exploit, just the emulators and other goodies, but Sony still patched it up with the latest firmware release. Pure a-hole mentality.

Try to get a psp with 2.00 firmware or below, the 2.00 is the latest version that can be downgraded, if you can't then it's better to just forget about it. Newer psp games won't work with 1.5 as-is but the homebrew scene is very active producing patches for those games to run on 1.5.

Still way too slow and buggy.

Get a gp2x.

Funny, as that's exactly what almost everyone I know who bought an XBox 360 has been saying lately. Bottom line, the 360 has yet to have a single game I'd want, apart from three I can play better on PC. In a few more months, they'll be cheaper and they'll have some new, more reliable hardware inside them, so if they've actually got any games I want by then, that would be the time to get one.

Not interested in any other consoles, as I have no interest in doing homebrew myself, I just want to be able to play other people's stuff on my PSP, but looking at all the information which has been offered, it looks as though this is not possible without a lot of workarounds and patches or by ditching the new games. And I'm wayyyy too much of a Syphon Filter fan to ditch that.

I'll have to reconsider if I still want a PSP just for the official games, or if I'm prepared to buy two of the damn things. Thanks for all the information, guys.

You can get modified Firmwares that pretend to be newer than they are :)

That doesn't work on the newer games, as they appear to try to "check" if the newer files added in said firmware exist, and if they dont, it locks up completely, requiring a nice 10-second hold of the power button to shut-off. ;/

Uhh, no?? The PSP is totally different altogether, nor would Nintendo allow you to play their games on any other handheld and/or console other than their own... On top of that, Sony uses UMD, GBA and DS use cartridges (yeah, Nintendo's still using cartridges for their handhelds, even though they shrunk down since the old Game Boy days). To me, it's easier to program on a flash cart than hacking into a handheld, and it won't interfere with anything else, either.

LOL Ram,

You CAN. there's a GBA emulator for PSP :)

Pain in the arse to use though and requires 1.5 firmware, i beleive it was updated to work on the GTA exploit too :)

Ram, you made me chuckle :)

Dont forget that it currently runs slow as hell.

That too. :)


/me goes back to playing Super Mario 3 on his mobile phone.

I have an eBook on how to downgrade from 2.0 to 1.5 with the required applications (downgrader + both firmware). However, I don't know if it works as I don't have a PSP myself. If you are interested, I could send it to you. Also, the legality of this could be dodgy, as I'm sure Sony doesn't want you to do that.

FWIW, I love my PSP, and it gets FAR more use than my DS.

When I bought it I had thoughts of running homebrew stuff on it, but decided early on I did not want to play the swapping firmware game. I can enjoy all new releases without having to worry about if it will "break" my homebrew ability.

I do wish there was a channel for homebrew, but unfortunately the ISO loaders and blatent game copying forced Sony's hand here.

Games I love on my PSP:
Daxter
Lumines
Burnout
GTA LCS
Virtua Tennis
Me and my Katamari
Hot Shots Golf
Plus I can play my .mp3's, browse the web, have pictures to show people, and many video clips as well. (I have a 1 gig mem stick, and I only have about 250 meg on it now.)

and my DS:
Mario 64
Mario Kart

Yeah, but for the same price that you spend on that, you could buy both GBA SP AND DS for the same price as a PSP. Plus Nintendo's known for higher quality games, and easier development. Yeah, sorry to sound like a Miyamoto fanboy, or to make it sound like a Nintendo vs. Sony thread, but PSP hacking can be a headache... I still feel it's easier to design homebrew games on a cartridge...

Hmmm... for me the Xbox 360 didn't have a gee whiz feeling at all. The first feeling I had was this isn't so great. It just kept getting better and better once I hooked up Xbox Live and began downloading cool stuff. Then I got an HDTV which made it even better so for the 360 it was a slow progression ... and it's still getting better. The PSP just seems so cool at first and then one day you realize it's just not that much fun even though it's a technological marvel. Perhaps with the homebrew stuff it would be more fun. Sony is also adding downloadable game support.

I use my DS to dev GB stuff. I use my PSP to dev PSP stuff.

(However, I can't dev them well so the stuff just sits there...)

Someone asked if you could play GBA games on the PSP, the answer is Yes but slowly, therefore you were wrong, thats all.

I found the way you wrote "Uhh, no??" funny since nobody was actually talking about the hardware itself physically accepting and playing GB games :)

@Gosse,

Ford Might not be happy if I painted my car marroon, and put square wheels on, but it would be none of their buisness.

Same with Sony and the PSP. If you Buy the Thing IT IS YOURS, you can cut it up into little peices and wear them as jewelery. You can Scracth your name across the screen. you can try to make small cakes in the UMD Drive. And you can damb well change the firmware.

What you cannot do is COPY their firmware, (Or thrown One at Mary Tyler Moore's head)

More info here...

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

I think I read somewhere the latest PSP firmware update enables Flash 'playback' from within HTML web pages. Would this not also enable Flash games to be played on the PSP, or have Sony somehow crippled their Flash implementation?

Flash games developers rejoice... or not...

EDIT: Found some information about Flash support in PSP firmware 2.7:

Here.

Thanks everyone for the huge amount of information on all those sites and within your replies. I took my time, thought it over and decided I can probably emulate for homebrew stuff, or possibly get myself a second hand PSP at some stage. Some clever bod may even find a way to play homebrew without downgrading the firmware at some stage.

So I decided to get a new PSP for now. I've bought the Giga Pack ( because games consoles should not be white ) along with Monster Hunter: Freedom, Daxter, Tales of Eternia and Metal Gear Acid. I also ordered Field Commander and Syphon Filter:Black Mirror from Ebay and I should have those tomorrow.

Again, thanks for all the info to help me make the decision. Now since all this - along with HalfLife2: Episode 1, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey and Sin: Episode 1 has cost me about £400, who's gonna help me pay for it? :P

Good to know that Glimmer Games pays well.

I'm sure that someone already said this but, Metal Gear Ac!d 1 & 2 are terrible! Do not buy them! At most rent them!

I already bought #1 ( it was only 20 quid. ) Held off from buying #2 because I want to see if I like it, but judging by all the reviews, an awful lot of people did.

Metal Gear Acid are simply not "Metal Gear" games. They're card games. If you like card games, you'll love em, otherwise, no.

get a gp2x, its open and some of the emulators are outstanding.

gp2x is nice, but the lack of WIFI and 3D acceleration keeps me away. I own a 1.5v PSP. it rocks, but something with the same horsepower and open firmware would definitly get my cash and support.

I like turn-based strategy, so I'm expecting to like them, yes.


Thanks. No thread would be complete without at least one person totally ignoring the questions, and suggesting that I not do what I've already decided to do ( or already have done ) in favour of doing something that holds no interest whatsoever for me. That you managed to do it twice on the same thread is impressive beyond words =)

I'm currently looking at Super Mario 64. On my PSP.

Pff, that's nothing!
I'm looking at HL2 Episode 2 on my DS... with HDR! :P

And, (yes, AND!) I can press the L button to pause!

(Ah, homebrew is great).

A screenshot does not constitute a full game, Picklesworth =]

Joy! Looks like a modchip is around the corner:
http://spillutstyr.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1372

Most of the text is in Norwegian but the function list is in English. With it you can choose at startup to run either 1.5 for homebrew or the latest firmware for games.

Proof I can play Mario64 on my PSP and on my DS;



(The reason? I'm not sure, but it's damn cool seeing my PSP play a N64 game!)

Well, why not? Nintendo already did the DS port automatically after the DS launched back in 2004... No biggie there. It's just like when Nintendo revived SMB 3 in the Super Mario Advance 4 game...

Actually, it is pretty impressive. The Mario64 port to DS had to be directly ported by source, whereas this (I assume) is an emulator.
Does it run any other N64 games, like Perfect Dark?


Edit:
Speaking of emulators...
Woohoo!
A Genesis emulator for DS, at long last :)
I will have fun with this, and hopefully be able to block out how I now am jealous of your handheld N64...

There's a big difference between a ported game, and an emulated game.

There's a version of MAME that runs on a high-end digital camera, emulators that run on smart phones, etc. It's really amazing.

It's just too bad that all systems aren't as open for home brew as the personal computer. :(

Russell

Russel, I also play my NES games on my mobile phone.

Mr P,

I don't own Perfect Dark but I suppose I could download it just to see! :)



I've been playins Sonic,2,3, Golden Axe,2,3, Ecco on my DS for a while.

Can you point me to where i can get the proper DS genesis emulator? i need to grab a passme and one of those flash card thingies for the DS (I'm currently using a GBA EZflash 2)

RAM,

The DS has hardware similar to the N64 so porting from source was easier and it would run much more efficient.

In the above screen, the PSP is emulating the N64 *AND* Mario64.

The DS just has to run Mario64 code :)

Hmm, like to see if there's any plans on Nintendo's part to perfect a handheld to run GameCube-style games, as well... As far as the PSP is concerned, it would be a pleasure to connsider the alternatives in the possibilities of how the homebrew market may look for that.

Somewhat off topic, but I'm really surprised to see how such an itty-bitty GameCube disc can pack a big-time wallop. I mean, that's the power you'd expect from a full-blown Game CD from a PS2 or Xbox. Dunno how Nintendo consoles seem to be getting smaller and smaller every time, yet they can outperform a console at least twice its size. That's unbelievable.

Same thing with handhelds. The PSP seems to carry the same punch that its home console cousin has. Whether or not that'll mean something by the time the PS3 comes around, we'll have to keep our eyes peeled on how the technology'll change again. First UMDs now Blu-Rays, I mean, come on Sony! We can't develop gmaes for EVERYTHING you have!

Gabe, like yourself I was toying with the idea of buying a PSP - finally got one today - the Giga Pack. Very impressive bit of kit - just bought Wipeout Pure so far.

Yep, I haven't been this impressed with anything game-related in a long, long time. I thought I was a jaded old cynic, but the PSP and the games I bought for it have brought out the fresh-faced kid in me again.

This thing has a lot of power, and the games are really great. I took back Monster Hunter:Freedom and swapped it for Virtua Tennis, but otherwise all the games I bought are awesome. I was particularly impressed with my "free" game, Daxter, which is every bit as good as the first two Jak and Daxters, and Virtua Tennis is just like having the Dreamcast version on a handheld.

Figured I should keep my spending down for a week or two, but I'm tempted to pick up Wipeout Pure too. It's the first game I bought when I bought my first PSX, and if it's even half as good as that, it'd be worth having.

I never played Wipeout on Playstation, though it looked like a cool game - and it is.

I really think Sony should be pushing this product - more movies on UMD, more digital photo support (including RAW files and Compact Flash support) MP3 is fully supported already - everything for the holiday experience could be one angle. It would be good to avoid those lousy in-flight movies for a start - and ofcourse games and internet. :-)

Nintendo did the same with the original Gameboy and this is far superior technically. In my opinion they should look at this product again and not just concentrate on the PS3.

Virtua Tennis is good on PSP then - I might get that one.

Yeah VT is great. The same high quality graphics and incredibly smooth animations that the DC version had, and the controls work really well on the PSP's analog stick. And all those minigames, like chasing around dodging the balls, collecting fruit, knocking bricks out of a wall, and all that stuff is back, with a few I don't remember seeing in the DC version as well.

I don't know if you've played any of the Virtua Tennis games before, but they're pure arcade action, by no means a simulation. Pick up and play fun, which is ideal for a handheld. You can probably pick it up for about £20 now too.

Yeah I bought Virtua Tennis for the PC and loved it - graphics were horrible for a PC game though.

Not just MAME -- there's even a version of DOOM that runs on certain digital camera's:

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/doom-on-your-digital-camera

...Or on the ipod: http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/doom-2-running-on-5g-ipod

Yeah, on top of that, now that the Duke 3D and Shadow Warrior source codes are released, I may even consider porting one of those 3DR hot titles into my GBA for all I know. See what happens when I put Shadow Warrior into my GBA, and play it on my DS. The code can be very much made compatible for GBA with a little tweaking. As long as you own the PC version of the game, it probably could be done.