Sony PSP 2000 Slim Vs PSP 3000 - Review

Sony PSP 2000 Slim Vs PSP 3000 - Review - by Antti.K

The recently released Sony PSP Slim 3000 has caused quite a controversy among new PSP owners who purchased their Sony PSP Slim 2000 units within the last few months. It has not even been a full year since Sony released the PSP Slim 2000, with its biggest feature being the ability to connect to a TV through AV output. Many are arguing that Sony's latest addition to its handheld family should not even be considered an upgrade of the current model. Let's take a deeper look into the features of the PSP 3000.

The 3000 was unveiled at the Leipzig gaming conference last week. The unit has the exact same dimensions as its counterpart, the Slim 2000. However, there were a few upgrades. Sony gave the PSP 3000 a new anti-glare screen, which is supposed to make playing the PSP while outside a bit more bearable. This new LCD screen also features a broader color palette than the older model, which accounts for a brighter, more vibrant picture. Along with this new screen, Sony added a built in microphone to the 3000, which will allow many people who have access to WiFi hotspots peppered through-out a large city to utilize the PSP as a phone-like device with the built in Skype software.

Along with these hardware improvements, the Slim 3000 also features a few cosmetic improvements as well. The 'HOME' button no longer exists, as it has been replaced by a PSN button. It functions exactly the same as the old button, but instead has the Playstation logo instead of the word 'HOME'. Also, the brushed aluminum ring which was featured on both the PSP Fat, as it has become known, and the PSP Slim has been replaced with a more polished and thinner chrome ring. The edges of the PSP 3000 have also been smoothed a bit so that it feels more comfortable while holding it in your hand.

Sony PSP 3000 will be available this October, featuring the colors Piano Black and Mystic Silver. All in all, if you're already a proud PSP 2000 Slim owner, you might want to skip this upgrade as the anti-glare screen is only a major upgrade if you find yourself playing a lot while outside. However, if you're looking to purchase a PSP, the 3000 is the way to go.

Source: here

Hackers bamboozled by PSP 3000 security

It's still early days in the life of the PSP-3000, which was released approximately 3 weeks ago, but Sony will be happy to hear that hackers have so far failed to exploit the latest hardware revision.

So far hackers have only been able to swap its CPU with that of a PSP Slim, but haven't been able to exploit the hardware in the same way as previous models.

Dark Alex, one of the most popular PSP sites for the hacking and homebrew community, has been unable to find a work around to hack the hand-held and the community as a whole appear to be stumped as to whether it will even be possible.

If it can't be hacked then Sony will have finally won its long battle against piracy and the homebrew community. Throughout the life cycle of the PSP, Sony has tried to thwart hackers by releasing firmware updates to improve security, but every time it's still managed to be hacked.
PSP hackers have in the past been vocal about the fact that they're not actually interested in hacking the PSP to take advantage of copied games, but believe they should have the right to do whatever they want to the hardware.

Fanjita, a member of the hacker group "N00bz!", stated,

"Everyone has the right to do what they want with their own hardware. Piracy does upset me, and because what we are doing opens the way to piracy it's harder to justify it morally. But our stance on piracy is clear, and we hope to be role models. Sony have never been in touch with me, so I am confident that what we are doing is legal."

However. some people believe that by stopping hackers from exploiting the hardware, Sony is actually doing itself no favours.

Phillip Torrone from Make Magazine recently stated:

"I think the really smart companies should release their products to the alpha geeks for six months and let the alpha geeks play around with them. It seems to me they'd save a lot of money on R&D, and they'd come out with much more solid products."

The PSP 3000 is obviously going to be tough nut to crack, but there lies the challenge - something that the hacking community will relish.

Source: here

PSP 3000 comes before the PSP 2 lol !

July 6th was my last post. Hmm then it seems it's been a while since I posted something here. It seems there's been quite some news about the psp as a new version of psp is released. Thought not much of difference from the older psps (fat & slim) the psp-3000 claimed to be brighter than the older ones I still don't know how true it is. I myself got mixed reactions towards it providing better display after doing some r & d over the internet about the new psp. It was also a step by the SONY to increase their UMD sales too. What I mean is, it was made a little hack proof so that people who buy this cannot be able to get it's firmware changed and which forces them to buy UMD games instead of playing them by download the images (iso & cso) of the games put all over the internet.

In my personal opinion I feel that it aint that way. Because, since some time psps have got a bit cheap and they are affordable now and most of the teenagers buy it only because they can play the games just by downloading from the internet for free just after getting their firmware changed to cfw (custom firmware). It's unfortunate but even I bought my psp only because of that reason. After all I can't afford to buy the UMD games which cost a bomb for me. I guess it's the same for most of the gamers out there.

I wonder what would be the result of the sales of psp-3000 if it cannot be hacked, as the above article mentions that so far it's not hacked yet. I guess SONY would stop producing the previous versions of psps (fat and slim) so as to boost the sales of psp 3000 and also sales of their UMDs.

Whatever I was expecting psp's next version after psp slim (which came last year I suppose) to come somewhere next year as a PSP Phone. But it was quite a suprise that 1 more version came before that.
Enjoy gaming and keep visiting my blog for more news :)

Custom Firmware 4.01 M33-2 and 1.50 Kernel Add-on Released

It seems the newest Custom Firmware 4.01 M33-2 is released recently, to be specific on 29th of June. Of course it's again by dark alex itself and it can be downloaded at his exclusive website I suppose. Whatever I'm happy with my 3.71 m22-4 cfw as I feel that it's stable and all other custom firmwares which came later on may be unstable sometimes. And I don't wanna take the smallest risk of getting my PSP bricked lol. So I will still be with 3.71 firmware atleast for 6 more months. Whatever it seems by then PSP phone may come as it's highly stated that PSP mobile is under chards and the design is also finalised, I've read it somewhere though not sure where I read it !!

bye for now take care !!

you can download the new firmware at here

PSP outsells top dog DS and Wii, with Devil May Cry 4 incoming

There has been a lot of criticism that the PSP has been loosing steam but things are starting to look up for the system. Right now the PSP has managed top sales and new great games coming out for the system, it’s future looks bright.

I currently own the fat PSP and love it. I have an 8GB memory stick I put music and TV shows for use on the go. It’s truly a multimedia device allowing me to play blockbuster games like Metal Gear Portable OPs and God of War Chains of Olympus as well.

Currently I am playing through Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, a great follow up or prelude to the famed Final Fantasy VII. However lately, it can be argued the system has been getting very stale.

It looks like the dry spell is over now with Worth Playing reporting that Devil May Cry 4(DMC4) has been confirmed to be coming to the PSP very soon. Devil May Cry 4 is a blockbuster game that sold millions on the Xbox 360 and PS3 so you can bet this game will sell well on the PSP as well.

On the heel of this DMC4 news, there is also news that the PSP has out sold the DS and the Wii in Japan yet again. According to After Dawn, the PSP sold around 58,861 outselling the Wii and DS which sold 48,884 and 48,480 units respectively.

The PSP is killing over in Japan, I guess the main driver is Monster Hunter an extremely popular game over in Japan. With good news on the horizon for the PSP maybe the US sales will pick up as well.

The PSP sales have been decent in the US but nothing like over in Japan (relatively speaking). You can bet once DMC4 comes out for the PSP I will be picking a copy up myself.

Source: http://gamer.blorge.com/2008/07/05/psp-outsells-top-dog-ds-and-wii-with-devil-may-cry-4-incoming/

Devil May Cry For PSP?

Rumors of Capcom adding a PSP edition to its Devil May Cry franchise have resurfaced it seems. Okay, they've been around since, oh, say, 2005. We didn't here much about it... until now.

The E3 Media & Business Summit is close now and supposedly we'll now more about it by then.

So far, it appears that the only proof is a DMC title for PSP that's mentioned on Capcom's official release schedule. If this is indeed part of Capcom's plan for the franchise, it will hopefully be a decent addition to your PSP collection.

Hold everything. Do you even have a PSP collection?

Source: http://www.actiontrip.com/rei/comments_news.phtml?id=070508_3

Got my life - psp back

Phew !! a month back my cousins without their own knowing, have changed the settings of my PSP, after all they don't even know what does a PSP is. And when I tried playing games I was like what the f*** as games weren't working. I thought they messed up something with the custom firmware and I got depressed and left the PSP alone for an entire month. But today I got the settings back, it was just a small change in the UMD mode settings of the firmware. I could play the games again, but the sad thing is that I'm not finding much time this time around to still play games on my PSP damn !! Whatever I'm happy that the PSP is back into my life and i don't need to worry about getting the custom firmware again !! he he he !!

God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)

Right now, it's not difficult to imagine that Sony are locked in talks with developers Ready at Dawn to try to convince them to continue making games for their PSP console.

Ready at Dawn, made up primarily of ex-Blizzard and Naughty Dog staff, previously displayed their prowess with Sony's handheld with the impressive 'Daxter'. And now, with 'God of War: Chains of Olympus', they have proven themselves as some of the most skilled and imaginative PSP developers in business, despite recently announcing that they were leaving PSP development.

Set ten years before the events of the Playstation 2 classic 'God of War: Chains of Olympus' sees anti-hero Kratos tasked with another seeming impossible mission from the ancient Greek gods. Opening in Attica where you must help drive back the invading Persian army, with the obligatory big boss battle as you take on a massive city destroying basilisk, things start of in a familiar manner.

Following that battle a meeting with the Goddess Athena sets the scene for the rest of the game, leaving Kratos with the epic task of saving ancient Greece from the God of Dreams Morpheus and the shadowy figures who govern his actions. The story and tone fit in nicely with game's already rich back-story and there's the same free-flowing hack-and-slash gameplay that has made the series so popular, with few, if any, concessions made to shrink the game down to handheld size.

The combat is as fast and frenetic as ever thanks to a well thought out and implemented control scheme. All too often PSP ports of PS2 games have suffered because of the lack of a second thumb-stick on the handheld console, Syphon Filter for example, but Ready at Dawn have come up with a set-up that feels both intuitive and natural.

Mimicking the PS2's set-up, the only difference in the controls comes with the evade/roll move, which was mapped on the second analogue stick in the original but now involves holding down both shoulder buttons while moving the controller. At first this seems awkward and fiddly, but soon becomes second-nature and by the end of the opening level it's easy to appreciate how much thought has gone into the control scheme.

Visually the game is as impressive a spectacle as the two previous games were on the PS2, which is no mean feat considering it's been shrunk down to fit Sony's handheld. The cinematic flair that marks the epic battles of the series has been translated faithfully, while the graphics are as good as anything seen on the PSP. The backgrounds and amount of on-screen action push the console without ever hinting at a drop in the frame-rate, all of which is accomplished with no loading times. Indeed, at times it seems a shame that such a spectacular looking game is on such small a screen, although the rumoured PS2 conversion of 'Chains of Olympus' may remedy that.

The gameplay is brought across intact, as most of your time is spent involved in combat, with the occasional puzzle and boss battle to break up the gameplay. All the combat combos and tricks you've learned from previous iterations of the series translate to 'Chains of Olympus', and for the most part the game sticks to a tried-and-tested formula. There is a degree of linearity throughout, with little room left for exploration, aside from the odd hidden room, but the game moves with such a momentum and sense of inertia that this is never really a problem.

Clocking in at roughly seven to eight hours on play-through time, 'Chains of Olympus' is well tailored to the handheld format, with more checkpoints and save points for gamers on the move, delivering the game in bite size chunks that don't demand as much concentration or time commitment as its bigger console brothers.

All things considered, 'Chains of Olympus' is a triumph for the PSP and successfully delivers a full console experience on a handheld with very few concessions. It's just a shame that the development team may not have a chance to reprise their success.

SOURCE: From a game website which I don't remember now!

God Of War: Chains of Olympus.....

God Of War: Chains of Olympus.....

Hmmmm this Game was quite made a big hue and cry in the PsP gaming.....and ppl were waiting for the game for quite a long time.
I wanna give my take on the great game.
I played the game and finished it last month, I didn't play GOW anywhere before I mean on the PS or so, this made me feel that the game was totally outstanding and amazing.

The graphics were like ....great I didnt play a better PSP game before, even though the Syphon Filter Logans shadow was a great game, GOW COO was much greater than that game according to me.
People were saying that this game aint that hard to play, but I felt a bit tough even in the EASY mode, may be it's because i didn't play God Of War before. I could not resist myself from playing GOW till I finish it.
Finally, I would like to say that the game was a superb, worth the money one.

PSP Still Ahead In Japanese Hardware Sales

hey! guys !! sorry for not posting for sometime....was busy with ma project work !!

Market research firm Media Create has revealed data for weekly hardware sales in Japan for the week ending April 13th, following details of the software top thirty.

Despite the number one success of Mario Kart Wii in the software charts, it is the sustained popularity of Capcom’s Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G which continues to drive hardware sales.

The PSP hit helped maintain the position of Sony’s portable as the best selling console in Japan, with 85,721 unit sold – down 35,000 on the previous week.

Despite the success of Mario Kart Wii, the Nintendo DS remained in second place, with sales down around 8,000 units at 47,158. Wii sales did increase slightly, though, up over 1,500 units to 46,296.

As previously predicted, the PlayStation 3 finally passed the 2 million mark for lifetime sales-to-date in Japan this week. Weekly sales, though, dropped by 3,000 units to 8,232.

PlayStation 2 sales were down by over 3,500 units to a total of 8,232, while the Xbox 360 fell by a few hundred units to 1,147.

Overall in the software top fifty, there were twenty-five Nintendo DS titles, nine on the Wii, seven on the PlayStation 2, five on PSP, three on the PlayStation 3, and one on the Xbox 360.

About my PSP

I bought my very recently in the december of 07, PSP which is a Slim & lite one. First before buying my PSP i didn't had much anticipation regarding the PSP but when I got one and when I played my first game: Syphon Filter Logans shadow I was like crazy about the PSP. I couldn't stop myself from playing the PSP for hours and hours long. The PSP was so addictive that even my elder sis started playing SONIC RIVALS and got addicted to the game and we two became busy playing without giving a single hour rest to the PSP lol.
Currently I am running the 3.71 m33-4 Custom Firmware and I did not try any of the homebrew applications yet and I hope I dont brick my PSP soon.

PSP takes second place in Japanese weekly hardware sales chart

It seems the good old PSP has been given a whole new lease of life, with last weeks sales of the hardware taking the little chap up into second spot, ahead of Nintendo’s all dominating DS.

Though sales were down over 5,000 units from the previous week, the 72,528 PSP consoles that Sony shifted during the week saw the PSP reclaim second place, with the DSs huge drop of nearly 12,000 sinking them down into third position.

The PS3 was forth with over 40,000 units, the PS2 fifth with little over 12,000, and the 360 was languishing with a mere 6,060 consoles sold. The Wii won the big prize however with close to 95,000 units sold during the same single week.

But hey, with the PSP in second spot, and over 7,000 PS3 consoles sold this week over the last, it really does look like it could indeed be Sony’s year. And that’s twice I’ve said that today. Go me.

Source: Gamasutra

PSP Catches Fire

A Detroit youth escaped injury when his PSP caught fire – in his pants pocket.

There have been several incidents of lithium-iron batteries catching fire, but they’ve mostly affected laptops. On Wednesday, however, 12-year-old Henry Clay from Detroit found that his Sony PSP burst into flames in his pants pocket, Vnunet reports.

On Click On Detroit, the boy’s mother, Sheila Clay, explained,

"He said it wasn't a gradual heat. It really started heating up. He's always been taught burn - fire - smoke, you drop and you roll. So, he dropped and rolled."

The handheld wasn’t on, as it was nine a.m. and the boy was in class. A teacher was able to remove the PSP from his pocket, and as a result Clay was treated for second-degree burns to his leg. In a slightly ironic touch, the Burn Out game was in the handheld at the time.

Sony has had battery fire problems with its notebooks before, but not a PSP. If this turns out to be the tip of the iceberg, it could seriously hurt its position against other devices like the Nintendo DS.

P.S : hey did u guys read that phrase "even burn out game was present" lol so what do u guys out there think about it ? Do u think the burnout game caused the BURNS ha ha haa !!
Take care C ya with a lot more PSP news .

Introduction

Hello everybody !! I will be posting everything about the crazy portable gaming console, the so called SONY PSP . I will also be posting my own opinions about various things related to a PSP or various other gaming consoles out there. First I am posting an interesting news related to PSP.