Hacking the PSP Blog

PSP games not much more expensive than DS games

Think PSP games are expensive? You'd be wrong. Things have changed greatly since the system's release more than two years ago, with the $50 price point for some UMD games a thing of the past. Curmudgeon Gamer took a look at the upcoming releases on both handhelds, and noted that only one game currently has a $50 MSRP: Oblivion. The average cost of a PSP game is $29.89, only $2 more than the DS average of $27.29. Curmudgeon Gamer has a few other interesting statistics:

• EB Games lists 102 new games for the Nintendo DS and 94 new games for the PSP. There's no games for PSP? Incorrect.
• The median game price for each system is $29.99
• About 33% of all PSP games retail for under $25. (DS has about 41%.)

This doesn't come as surprising for long-time PSP fans. Hopefully, the rest of the gaming world will soon understand that although PSP games feature better graphics, they don't have to cost more.

Andrew Yoon
April 9, 2007



Source: PSP Fanboy

All I Need To Know To Be A Better Programmer I Learned In Kindergarten

The Codist has a cool post listing 15 rules for being a better programmer that was inspired by an essay from Robert Fulghum entitled "All I Need To Know To Be A Better Programmer I Learned In Kindergarten." You can check out the list for yourself if you'd like but here are the first few:

1. Share everything.
Use open source where possible, and contribute to it when you are able. The collective wisdom of the entire community is better than the limited vision of a few large companies.

2. Play fair.
Give other technologies, frameworks, methodologies and opinions a chance. Don't think your choices are the only ones that work. The other choices may very well be better than yours; it doesn't hurt to check them out with an open mind.

3. Don't hit people.
Like #2, don't attack people just because they happen to use .Net or Java or PHP (I learned my lesson there!). Sometimes they might be more usable and useful than you think. You can learn a lot more from someone when you are not pounding them to a pulp.

4. Clean up your own mess.
Strive to deliver code that works. Never expect QA to find all of your bugs for you. Test your code often, both narrowly and broadly.

5. Don't take things that aren't yours.
Follow the licenses for stuff you use, don't just steal it and claim innocence later.

6. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Code reviews are a good but rarely used idea. Mentoring programmers with less experience than you helps the entire team. Just don't criticize people openly. Learning is not belittling people. Sometimes people will listen and sometimes they won't. Sometimes you might learn a lot from people you think are inferior to you.

Check out the full list of 15 here...

Source: The Codist

New PSP-Devolution Modchip To Be Released April 16

After somewhat of a delay, apparently due to some last minute improvements, the PSP-Devolution team has provided a release date for their highly anticipated modchip for the PSP -- April 16, 2007. They will be informing all resellers that have expressed interest in the product on this date, but they are also accepting new inquiries. There still aren't any details concerning installation procedures but, when I posted about this a few weeks ago, they had promised that this will be much easier to install than the nightmare-ish installation process that the Undiluted Platinum modchip requires. Oh yeah, and this one supports PSPs with TA-082 and TA-086 mainboards. :)

Here's what the PSP-Devolution site has listed in the way of features:

• Flash your PSP using the internal USB Port
• no additional USB Port required
• latest ACTEL ProASIC 3 technology
• low power consumption
• works on all available PSP versions incl. TA-082 and TA-086
• custom BIOS with a lot of cool additional features
• preassembled hi-tech flex pcb for easiest possible conection to the psp mainboard

Via DCEmu

Tutorial: Playstation Portable and Guitar Recording

Joel Van, creator of GuitarHelper, has posted a step-by-step guide on how to use Art's Audio Mechanica application to record guitar music on the PSP. the guide explains how to use the software to record as well as how to make the appropriate cable to plug a guitar into your trusty portable. If you happen to own a guitar and a PSP then you'll probably want to at least give this a peek.

Joel Van's PSP and Guitar Recording tutorial

Download Audio Mechanica v6c

Via PSPUpdates

Off Topic: Get-Well Gamers Foundation Facing Shutdown

From Game Politics:

Sad news this morning from Ryan Sharpe, head of the Get-Well Gamers Foundation, a volunteer organization which provides donations of used video games and systems to a network of children’s hospitals around the United States.

Ryan, a longtime GP reader and contributor, sent an e-mail which describes the difficulty he is experiencing in keeping GWG going. The issues seem to be of the time and space variety.

Ryan, who is trying to juggle his degree program with the operation of the Foundation, also mentions that the donated games and systems are overwhelming his capacity to store them. Coupled with the loss of two dedicated volunteers, the wheels of GWG are grinding to a halt. Ryan writes:

The Foundation has grown tremendously since I first started it. Unfortunately, my capacity to deal with the foundation has not grown accordingly.  If anything, it has decreased, as my workload increases the closer I get to graduation…

I had two staffers who I could trust to help me run the foundation… (GP: great guys, I met them at E3 last year) Unfortunately, one of them recently moved to Washington, and the other has full-time school and a part-time job to contend with…

We need a shipping manager… We need a secretary… We need someone to handle our website.  We need an accountant…  Most of all we need an office…

    So, barring some miraculous occurrence, this can’t happen…  So when you notice the website is down and you haven’t heard of any new hospitals or whatnot, it’s because of this.  The foundation has grown beyound the capabilities of its founder, and there’s no one available to take the reigns.

Again, thank you very much for your support over the years, and I hope we can work together again when the Foundation starts back up.  I can promise at least that I’ll never let the Foundation die - it just has to rest for a while until there’s someone that can take care of it.

Source: Game Politics

Off Topic: Tilt Sensitive Accessory Coming for Xbox 360

If you think SIXAXIS for the PlayStation 3 controller is cool then keep an eye out for the tiltBoard accessory for the Xbox 360. This especially caught my interest after reading that the upcoming tilt sensitive add-on for the Xbox 360 controller was designed and developed by a fellow Purdue University College of Technology student by the name of Adam Thole. The tiltBoard will see mass production thanks to an agreement with Talismoon but there are currently no details regarding distribution or the products release date.

The tiltBoard works by attaching to the Xbox 360 controller and replicating the left analog stick's max/min values for the X and Y axis when the controller is tilted to 60 degrees and/or 45 degrees respectively. You can check out the video that Engadget posted with their report using the link provided below. While it's no Wiimote, it does bring a little bit of spice to the Xbox 360's controls. Be sure to check out Adam Thole's website, www.adamthole.com, for more details.

Check out the tiltBoard in action here...

- Chris, T.A.G. Intern


Via Nintendojo