Hacking the PSP Blog

Why not built in rumble on a portable?

There sure has been a lot of hoopla over the PS3s lack of rumble. Gamers everywhere are decrying how this missing feature will make games less immersive and enjoyable. But yet, when it comes to gaming, there is a double standard between what is expected on a portable versus that of a console. There have been many generations of portables since the rumble feature was first introduced to gaming and yet, it has yet to be a standard feature on any handheld, it has just been built into a few game cartridges. Wouldn't that portable first-person shooter or driving game benefit from the inclusion of force feedback? The DS has a built in microphone and the PSP can browse the web, but neither have a feature that is standard on nearly every console for over two generations.

Sure, some would argue that they don't need yet another feature that would help drain battery life, but like many feaures on a portable, it could be turned off if the user preferred. A handheld also has the screen built in, so if it were to rumble it would have to be low enough that it didn't have the screen shaking in your hand. But even this problem would be easily solved with minimal tweaking. So it seems that the lack of inclusion has little to do with technical issues. The main reason rumble is likely not included in portables is simply because gamers don't seem to be asking for it.

But why does lack of rumble hurt a console's prospect in so many gamer's eyes, yet is okay when it's lacking on their portable of choice? If you had the option, would you want it included in your next PSP or DS?

Steven Bailey
January 10, 2007

Source: PSP Fanboy

New PSP: not just any Gold, but "Champagne" Gold

Hitting stores this February 22nd - well, in Japan, at least - is the new Gold PSP. Oh wait, it isn't just any kind of Gold, but Champagne Gold. Selling for ¥ 20,790, a quick conversion would have this baby clocked at around US$ 170. With the rolling out of this new PSP, the line up of the Sony handheld is now up to a total of six colors to choose from: Black, Ceramic White, Pink, Metallic Blue, Silver, and Gol - err, excuse me - Champagne Gold.

There's also mention that with the release of Capcom's latest game (also on February 22), there's going to be a Monster Hunter Portable 2nd bundle pack for ¥ 27,300 (roughly US$ 230) that'll include the Champagne Gold PSP, two sticker skins, a strap, pouch, and some cleaners.

As for the firmware version that it will be released in... We'll keep you guys posted. For now, drown yourselves with the Champagne.




Source: PSPUpdates

PSP bags an Emmy for outstanding innovation

Back in 2005, The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences added an award category to recognize original video content for computers, cellphones, and other devices like the video iPod and PSP. Unfortunately, the category is awarded during the Technology & Engineering Emmy Award ceremonies where mostly Hollywood D-Listers attend. Which explains why nobody really takes notice.

Anyway, the Academy recently announced winners of the 58th Annual Emmy Awards for geeks at the CES 2007. The PSP came out as the winner in the category "Outstanding Innovation and Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Best Use of Personal Media Display and Presentation Technology."

Specifically, it was the PSP' s Cross Media Bar(XMB) that got the honors. Sony (in a tie with Nintendo) also won another one of them golden statuettes that look like car hood ornament for "Peripheral Development and Technological Impact of Video Game Controllers".

By the way, we heard Paris Hilton and Britney Spears dropped out of the awards not because it wasn't glamorous enough. But because they couldn't read any of the category names all the way through.

Source: PSPUpdates

3.03 OE-B Released - Movie Madness!

Dark_Alex has just released his newest revision of his custom firmware for the PSP, Revision B of 3.03 Open Edition (OE). Seems like Dark_Alex has been more concerned about the PSP consumers than Sony is, issuing tons of new firmware updates (only updatable on 3.03 OE which was made possible by using firmware 1.50), so be sure to give him a huge thanks! With full resolution support for MP4-AVC videos (previously limited on Sony firmwares), you can now enjoy all your videos at "DVD quality" like it was meant to be. Having used PMP Player (which supported 480x270 resolution), this update adds the functionality directly into this new update.

You'll have to have 3.03 OE-A already installed onto your PSP in order to update to OE-B. Installation is easy as pie, just drag the PSP folder (found within MS_Root of the download) to your PSP's root directory and run the update eboot from your PSP's game directory like any other OE update which will only take a short duration since it is only flashing a few files onto it, not the entire firmware. Here's the newest additions to the world's greatest PSP firmware (at the moment) -

• Patched the firmware to allow decrypted mp4-AVC videos to play at 480x272 resolution.
• pic0.png was not shown in psp isos. Fixed.
• The speed functions were not dummied after setting the speed. This could cause the few games that set the cpu speed not to run at the selected speed in the recovery menu.
• Changed the structure of the program to have more free ram in game mode.
• sysmemp.prx removed, systemctrl.prx splitted into systemctrl.prx and vshctrl.prx
• Docmaker also now allows for 1000 png (images) to be used rather than the previous 100

Download Custom Firmware 3.03 OE-B

Source: PSPUpdates