Hacking the PSP Blog

PS3 launch inspires jump in PSP and PS2 sales

Last Friday's PS3 launch in the US stimulated a significant rise in PSP and PS2 sales.
For the week ending November 20th, Sony has confirmed that PSP week-on-week sales increased by 29 per cent, while 24 per cent more PS2 units were sold.

The information came from Sony’s top five US retailers, including GameStop and Wal-Mart.

Sony's head of corporate communications David Karraker said the buzz surrounding the PS3 release had provided “a halo effect on other PlayStation products”.

North America’s 400,000 PS3 stock allocation sold out on the day of the console’s launch. Sony expects to have shipped one million PS3 units to the territory by the end of 2006.

Tim Ingham
November 22, 2006

Source: MCV

Finally, an actual demo of Remote Play to watch

Okay, enough with the conflicting reports in Engrish, enough of Casino Royale trailers on Gamers' Day, enough of the wild speculation and rampant imaginations. If you haven't been toying with your PSP and your PS3 at the same time - because you don't have one of each, or you currently are or will be too busy playing games, and you don't know how Remote Play really looks like...

Thank salimdao who sent us these YouTube embeds of his PS3 (FW1.10) throwing itself to the PSP (FW3.0) through Remote Play. That's the PS3, a music CD, a BD of "Talladega Nights", and a Memory Stick full of media files, all on the small widescreen of the PSP. You see everything from PS3 setup, to PSP setup, to the handshake between the two, and then Remote Play getting down, four on the floor. No, really. The PSP was on the floor the whole time.

That's four YouTube videos to look at. The Blu-Ray one, however, is either incomplete, or salimdao wasn't able to make it work, because it ends before the guy could make the movie play on his PSP. Hey salimdao, if you're reading this, can you tell us if the movie did play?

Check out the videos
PS3/PSP Remote Play Network setup
PS3/PSP Remote Play music CD
PS3/PSP Remote Play "Talladega Nights"... maybe*
PS3/PSP Remote Play media on Memory Stick

* Our theory as to why it didn't work is because you have to have the BD disc already playing on the PS3 (salimdao "quit playback" before accessing the PSP) for it to Remote Play on the PSP. On the other hand, it looks like the PSP is supposed to act like a remote control of the PS3's media functions, so again, this is all wild speculation. Again.We really do hope that salimdao reads this and can help clarify things for us.

Source: PSPUpdates

System Update 3.01 Now Available via Network Update

Just as anticipated (well...a little earlier than anticipated) sony has released System Update 3.01 and it is now available via the Network Update feature on your PSP. As of right now this just appears to be a security patch so don't expect any new features. You can get the update network update or via the download link below. Again, don't expect to be able to run homebrew after updating.

Download System Update 3.01

Via PSPUpdates

Do you believe in magic? 3.00 / 3.01 Firmware Dumper and Decrypter

Well as the title implies, within a ridiculously short time from from Sony's 3.00 Firmware release we were welcomed by 3.01 Firmware. Naturally everyone assumed that this was a small patch. Paired releases were somewhat common in the past, so it only made sense that they left a little hole that needed immediate patching. Really now Sony, is homebrew worth constantly wasting energy on this type of blockade?

Noobz must have our collective backs as they have whipped out a firmware dumper and decrypter for BOTH the new 3.00 and 3.01 PSP Firmwares. This handy application that was released only moments ago enables dumping of "all known firmware update PSARs" by a modified version of PSPPet's PSARDumper.

This amazing feat, achieved only a day after 3.01 was released, and two days after 3.00 hit the streets homebrew enthusiasts have to wonder, "Is Sony still trying...?". Now we have gained access to the new firmware files, one could guess that an updated version of Devhook supporting 3.00 / 3.01 Firmware emulation could be in our near future.

Download 3.00 / 3.01 Dumper and Decrypter

Source: PSPUpdates

PSP PSOne Emulator details

A Japanese gamer has today revealed some more information on PSP's elusive PSOne Emulator, which is included with the magical firmware 3.0 that was released 48 hours ago. Using the PS3, the gamer first bought three games: Tekken 2, Biohazard, and Jumping Flash. I hate to burst the bubble of those who are expecting for straightforward PSOne emulation, but Tekken 2 was around 542 MB and it took a very long time (around one hour) just to copy it to the memory stick.

Another flaw of the PSOne emulator is that, by default, the analog stick was made a replacement to PSP's lack of the L2 and R2 buttons. This means that moving the analog left = L2, right = R2 and up = L2+R2. This may be a little annoying, especially because it will hinder your ability to use the analog stick in-game.

Screen Modes available are Original, Normal, and Full. But according to the gamer's blog, there is quite a bit of lag when changing between these two modes. Also, the PS3 assigns a 'usage ticket' to the game, binding it so that it is playable only on a certain PSP. Presumably, you will need to register that PSP with the PS3 for the PSOne games to work.

Check out the video here...

Source: PSPUpdates