Topic: I went to get a DS and got a PSP instead. :O

[idolminds]

After looking around, I think her name is "Ashley Robbins".

[Pugnate]

Hey the PSP is region free correct? I can purchase a game from Europe and play it on my US PSP?

[Cobra951]

Sony?  Region free?  HA!  No, but games are usually not restricted.  UMD movies definitely are.

[idolminds]

Ohhh, I found a guide to finding out the PSP firmware before you buy it.

And according to a guide I found, you update to 3.03 (official) and then downgrade from there, but it requires an unpatched copy of GTA: Liberty City Stories. Will have to see how hard those are to track down.

[Pugnate]

Mine has been flashed to a hacked version of 3.10

I am able to play anything from any period.

Anyway I bought the UK version of Lumines, and didn't go for Lumines II.

[Quemaqua]

Are you actually using hacked firmware or did you get a modchip, Pug?  It sounded like you took it somewhere to have a chip installed from what you said befor.

Anyway, from the DAX 3.10 OE-A2 custom firmware (and probably the others, though I never looked) you can actually select a fake region if you have any need to do so, or even a "free region" mode.  It's a pretty brilliant piece of work.

[Pugnate]

No they didn't install a mod chip. They just flashed the PSP with the DevHook's firmware flash. I hadn't done that before so I didn't want to try myself. I can find out what software it was exactly, but he said in the past you had to downgrade to 1.5 in order to play hacked titles, but with this I am pretty much able to do anything. I am still buying the games I really want though, but this will be useful for retro gaming.

I didn't even know they made a mod chip for the PSP.

Also so like you guys said, the UMD movies are locked by the games are region free:

Source

Source 2

[Quemaqua]

I just wasn't aware DevHook did any kind of flashing.  There's another couple of hacked firmwares but in my estimation they're all quite inferior to DAX's, which is why I was curious.  Haven't even heard of yours.  And yeah, there are at least 2 modchips with another supposedly being released on the 16th that'll supposedly work with the lower voltage motherboards from the newer units (which I think were made lower voltage just to thwart the original modchips).  The chips work by basically just doing what the other hacked firmwares do - one chip has one kernel, the other chip has another.

[Pugnate]

Yea the latest DevHook apparently has some sort of flash utility. From what I understood at the shop, in the past you had to go through a complicated process of loading a game with Dev Hook but not any more.

As for DAX, yes it can play DAX files. I just played the Midnight Club III DAX I downloaded, but the cut scenes aren't working. Being a fan of the series, I just bought the game on eBay for $12. Good deal on a lot of PSP games on eBay.

Anyway if anyone is interested, there is a sweet program called CiSO converter that can convert files between DAX, ISO and CISO. If you are going to download, go for version 0.65. The earlier version didn't convert DAX files properly.

[Quemaqua]

Heh, by DAX I didn't mean DAX files, by the way.  I meant the abbreviation of Dark_Alex, the maker of the OE custom firmwares.  And DevHook was never really all that complicated as you basically just mounted an image like you would an ISO on your PC.  Though all in all I never really liked DevHook.  I only used it early on to experiment with Loco Roco.

[idolminds]

The world is tempting me into a PSP. I saw Lumines at CC for $13.

[Quemaqua]

Quick update on Metal Slug Anthology - I picked it up today and while it plays perfectly, I can see why some people are pissed.  The load times are pretty ridiculous.  That isn't to say that each load is very long, but the game loads way, way more than it has to.  Even selecting your character at the menu screen entails a load despite the fact that you see no visual change (it should have just loaded your character selection concurrent to the level loading).  It's a great collection of games that's hard to beat, and the games themselves are all presented perfectly, but it's a shame they didn't take a little more care.  It's a bit of a sloppy port just where the data shuffling is concerned.

[Cobra951]

As for DAX, yes it can play DAX files. I just played the Midnight Club III DAX I downloaded, but the cut scenes aren't working. Being a fan of the series, I just bought the game on eBay for $12. Good deal on a lot of PSP games on eBay.

With, er, unofficial releases, very often FMV is cut out, or relinked to the shortest movie available.  This cuts back the size tremendously, so it will fit in smaller memory cards.

[Pugnate]

haha I can imagine. I just wanted to check it out to see if it would be something I wanted.

I bought Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops today as well as Tekken. Both are looking pretty good, though they are expensive here.

Oh and man Loco Roco is a blast. It is so cute and funny! My sister just gave it a shot and loved it.

[idolminds]

As if I needed more incentive...Crazy Taxi on PSP.

[Pugnate]

haha sweet!

Man the only valid reason for not buying a PSP right now is that it keeps sucking my money. All these titles that I want to play are about $15 on average and I keep buying.

Hey are the two GTA games worth a buy? What do you guys think?

[iPPi]

All this talk has sparked my interest for the PSP again.  I might go buy Loco Roco and MGS: Portable ops.

[Pugnate]

hehe I am glad.

If you don't have a problem with eBay you can get a good deal for Loco Roco. MGS is still at $30. I will post impressions when I get around to it, but Virtua Tennis won't let me go.

[iPPi]

Virtua Tennis was kinda fun... but I didn't like the World Tour too much... all these mini games and only some tournaments.

[Quemaqua]

Uh, your link seems to have nothing about Crazy Taxi in it.  I are confused.  I even searched the site and got the same page.  What gives?

Anyway... yay Crazy Taxi.  Right now what I really want to try is Bounty Hounds, though.  Well, I have tried it.  Demo and full game.  I just can't find anywhere to buy it!  The demo totally fucking sucks, so don't bother with that (in Japanese too, or at least the one I tried), but the game is pretty cool.  It's extremely simple, probably to a fault, but I enjoy it.  You basically run around and kill mass quantities of nice-looking enemies in fairly no-frills environments with a variety of weapons.  The killing is super basic, but it looks good, and there's some fun character customization stuff.  Once it gets cheaper I'll order it online probably.

Right now I'm too busy with Metal Slug for much else, with a little Oddworld on the side.

[idolminds]

Really? Link leads right to a story with a CT PSP vid.

[Quemaqua]

Okay, that's fucking weird.  I clicked it twice the first time, both times got a random huge page of news.  Then at the site I searched for Crazy Taxi and got the same page.  I just clicked it now and sure enough, CT vid.  Weird.

[Cobra951]

haha sweet!

Man the only valid reason for not buying a PSP right now is that it keeps sucking my money. All these titles that I want to play are about $15 on average and I keep buying.

Hey are the two GTA games worth a buy? What do you guys think?

Liberty City Stories is a miniature of the SA generation of GTAs.  I played it for a while, but this sort of huge game is not something I get into on portables.  But if you do, yes, by all means.  Bang-up job.  I can't speak for the . . . other one?  Didn't even know there was another one.  Out of touch, remember?   

[iPPi]

Well, I almost bought LocoRoco today, but instead, I got Burning Crusade and a 2GB SD card for my camera.

[poomcgoo]

This thread basically sealed the deal for me.  I've been wanting a PSP for a while now and I think it's time to just break down and get one.

A few questions though:

Since I'll be buying a new one, will I be missing out on all the homebrew/emulator stuff?
Where are some places I can go to learn how to mess around with it (ie. play PSX games/other emulators)?


I mean, I don't want to buy one if I wont be able to get all the good stuff.

[Quemaqua]

Look around, there's links all over the place here and elsewhere.  There's a lot to find and not really any one good place to find everything.  My experience with homebrew and such has been a lot of learning and studying before taking some leaps.  Expect to do a lot of the same.  You'll find "the scene" is a little bit infuriating at times.  Lots of old information, dead projects, and pages with archived stuff that seems horribly outdated.

As for whether or not you'll be able to do homebrew and such... well, it'll depend on what version of the firmware you get when you buy your PSP.  It seems like the hackers have gotten remarkably good at cracking all this stuff, but there are a variety of issues you have to pay attention to (especially what motherboard your PSP ships with).  So my suggestion would be to go find out what the highest official firmware version is that's actually downgradable, then find out what potential problems there are with newer motherboards (there are several).  Once you figure that out (and I believe you can actually tell what's in the guts of a PSP by its SKU on the back of the box), then just go find yourself a PSP and get ready to spend a little time setting it up.

Also, make sure you reserve quite a bit of extra cabbage for a good sized memory stick or two.  If you want PS1 games on the go, expect 300-700MB on average (and way more if you've got one with a lot of disks).

[idolminds]

This is what I've found so far.

Highest official firmware you can downgrade from is 3.03. Buying a new PSP you'll probably get 2.8 or 3.03. If you get lucky you might find older firmware, and you can tell from the box with this guide. You will need an unpatched copy of GTA: Liberty City Stories to downgrade. New copies are all patched, so you gotta look used. A guy on IGN sent me this info on it:

You will also need a copy of the original Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories in order to run a kernel needed to downgrade a PSP that is higher than Firmware 2.8.. This version is extremely rare now, but if you're persistent like me, you should be able to find an original copy either from a friend or in the used game section. All new copies are patched and worthless.

You'll see the following:

- The Copy of GTA LCS has firmware 2.0 in it's update section before you start the game

- The Serials "ULUS 10041" and "UPDL DD4850" are imprinted on the front of the disc under the "BLACK" Playstation Logo

- The Color of the UMD is a Dark Brown/Red with a Desert Eagle being held.

Then the only other thing to worry about is the motherboard, which unfortunately you cant check untill you buy the thing (unless you buy used, of course). Google search and you'll probably find a guide on that as well.

Hopefully I can make a little extra scratch if these shirts turn out and I can buy my PSP.

[Quemaqua]

Damn it, I just keep finding stuff I want to try.  Where did all these games come from all of a sudden?

Chili Con Carnage
Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure
The Warriors (didn't play the PS2 version)

And there's still the aforementioned Bounty Hounds, Daxter, and Ratchet & Clank.

[Pugnate]

Well Lumines came in the mail today. I also bought Puzzle Quest so let's see when that comes in.

So I gave Lumines a spin and it seems pretty cool. Is it as simple as it looks, or is there more to it?

Also I've gotten a 'hold of' Dungeon Siege PSP to see what its worth, and it seems pretty cool. Diablo on the go.

[Pugnate]

Lately I'm playing a lot of Test Drive Unlimited for PSP and as of last night the Metal Slug Anthology (which is fucking awesome... Metal Slugs 1, 2, X, 3, 4, 5, and 6... all in one package with unlockable art and wallpapers and junk).  Still some Loco Roco, too.  Before that it was mostly just Wipeout Pure, Lumines, and lots of SNES stuff and some Genesis stuff (a lot of the latter I still can't get to work, which makes me sad).  Now I'm moving on to trying more PS1 games.  I played Silent Hill, Legend of Mana, some of Vagrant Story (which for some idiotic reason I still haven't been able to finish), Castlevania: SOTN, and am as we speak ripping the two PS Oddworld games.  Oh, and there's Sid Meier's Pirates! for the PSP which, while a little wonky with sound and graphics here and there, is an awesome port that plays perfectly.

Well I am going to try Metal Slug. If it is worth it, I will pick it, but it sure sounds like it is!

[Quemaqua]

Fuck that.  Just get Diablo.  I got the PSx version working the other day.  =)

As for Metal Slug... the games are awesome as all get out, but the port is pretty wonky.  The games play just fine, but personally I don't think I'd have scored it very high due to some of the loading issues and stuff.  I'm not unhappy to own it, but some people might not deal as well with the problems.  I think I'll end up playing it from the memory stick most of the time even though I have the UMD.

[Pugnate]

So it is faster when running off a mem stick? Also lots of games are sluggish unfortunately, but I am putting up with it. Midnight Club III is so far the best looking PSP game I've tried, but has loading time and frame rate issues. In the end I don't mind as I just like the fact that I can game mobile.

And I am going to find Diablo now. Exciting stuff!

I read a few previews on Oblivion. It will be the only Oblivion game that doesn't include any of the original. Looks interesting.

[Cobra951]

So it is faster when running off a mem stick? Also lots of games are sluggish unfortunately, but I am putting up with it.

That's a fact.  I'm not sure that sequential reading speeds would be better from the memory cards, but there is a heavy random-access penalty attached to optical media (which vanishes when the same digital image is read from flash memory).  In fact, it seems some of those unofficial releases have had a lot of dead space removed which is there only to optimize performance from a UMD.

[idolminds]

I'm waiting for SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters for the DS since I love card games but have no one to play them with. Then someone mentioned there is a Warhammer card game on PSP! Warhammer: Battle for Atluma...and its good!

[Pugnate]

I am really enjoying Lumines, but ordered both Lumines II and I by mistake. I am going to sell one of them, and it will probably be II. From what I read, they replaced the  music from the first game with pop shit.

[K-man]

Yeah the original Lumines had awesome music.  It's still the only reason I regret parting with my PSP.  When they get uber cheap i'll pick one up again with this game.  Probably Metal Gear Solid:  Portable Ops as well.

There have been rumors of a redesign, which I think the PSP sorely needs.  So I'm holding off

[Pugnate]

Yea once the redsign is near I will sell this. It has a 8GB flash drive! But that's about all I know.

[Pugnate]

Oh man Lumines is so awesome. While I am not fond of all of the music, most of it is good, and I like the subtle ways the sound effects compliment the song playing.

[Cobra951]

That's the whole attraction of the game, how the artsy visuals and the music complemented by related sound effects go along with the puzzle gameplay.  The puzzle game by itself is good, but would never have risen above the crowd of other such games, I don't think.  While I don't care for the micropayment schemes of Xbox Live, I'm glad I got the 360 version of the game.  It's awesome on a 23" LCD screen, with audio from decent 2.1 speakers.

[Pugnate]

Hey what is your highest score?