Sony PSP gaming system

[PandaBear]

hey hey, anybody on the Oz queue for one of these babies?

http://www.sonystyle.com.au Only 6 more sleeps!

(well 5, if you’re hitting the stores at midnight of 1/9/05)

[z-beam]

sure am, i got ine on pre-order from EB games. luckily they try to better themselves on anyone elses deals. toys r us has an in store pre order offer of the system 3 in 1 car kit (lighter adaptor,screen protectorand spare usb plug) and a game for 449$aud. eb has said to me they wil match it and give me some extras like a hard case as well as all the t’r’u goodies.

toys r us only as 4 games to choose from in the package tho, tiger woods golf, need for speed, spider man and tony hawk.

me being a sneaky devil when it comes to eb’s 7 day no questions return policy means ill be taking need for speed for a test run overnight and swapping it for whatever i realy want!

i have mecury and wipeout pure on pre-order as well so i wont be lacking in software.

what games are you thinking of getting panda?

[leonli17]

OR instead of wait, u should just get it from Ebay. It was on there months ago. I was gonna get one but didn’t have the cash.

[betty.k]

it’s funny, i’ve been hanging around on the u.s. forums alot so i assumed they were on sale here too!

[kevsta]

A few of my work mates have had them for about 6 weeks now. It”s a really nice little unit -if you”ve seen the latest notebooks with the glossy screens, it”s similar quality but smaller.

Apparently aussie versions of it will come with a V2.0 firmware whereyou can’tplay your backups straight off the memory stick.

I won”t be getting one. I prefer to have a steering wheel when playing driving games.. Has anyone noticed that EB have the 4gamers steering wheels for xboxes for only $49 ? Bargain.

Edited by – kevsta on 27 August 2005 18:35:09

[z-beam]

although the games have not been region specific all the umd movies are. so all those who got em early from japan e.t.c. are going to have to do without umd videos. and warranty and sony consumer support.

i made the mistake of getting my original playstation 3 months ahead of release and the extra $200 i paid for it never made up for the extra 3 months…

dick smith is offering $10 off retailon games for 4 days after launch as well… good old eb is going to get it good next week when i show up with all my deals ive found and they have to beat them.

[dgs73]

i ahd plans to, but myr/c hobby pushed it further down the queue, then out of it all together. grrr. As for the PS3 however, hold me back…

[Aaron]

*laughs* Great toy but at the moment I’ll stick with plotting to get a new mobile 🙂

A.

--
Site Owner Guy.

[z-beam]

ps3 without a psp to talk to is a waste… and besides ps3 wont be around for quite some time. when i come by dave i should have it and a copy of wipeout pure so you can check it out!

[PandaBear]

Quote:

Aaron wrote:

*laughs* Great toy but at the moment I”ll stick with plotting to get a new mobile 🙂

Got the SE K750i in June, best phone ever. What else could one want in a phoney companion?

(well, personal choice would be W800i in a classy black casing, but800wasn’t released then)

K750i are out in the stores here now, pretty hot deals available too.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

z-beam wrote:

i have mecury and wipeout pure on pre-order as well so i wont be lacking in software.

what games are you thinking of getting panda?

Been playing Ridge Racer all week.

Fantastic engine, graphics are (supposedly) 60fps *wow* and rock solid, gotta see it to believe. Some more tracks would be nice but supposedly most/all of them are ‘classic’ tracks from previous Ridges. (Not that I know… last Ridge I played was on a SNES or thereabouts.)

On the horizon:-

Mercury – love its concept. Am told its more difficult than it looks.

Lumines – looks like it might not max out the graphics power but hey. Am told its more addictive than it looks (heck, all I ever played on original Gameboy was the freebie Tetris)

Everybody Golf – looks cute.

Wipeout – hmm, do I really need a browser?

GTA when that comes out, maybe.

SIMS2, maybe.

[Aaron]

Quote:

PandaBear wrote:

Quote:

Aaron wrote:

*laughs* Great toy but at the moment I’ll stick with plotting to get a new mobile 🙂

Got the SE K750i in June, best phone ever. What else could one want in a phoney companion?

(well, personal choice would be W800i in a classy black casing, but 800 wasn”t released then)

K750i are out in the stores here now, pretty hot deals available too.

w800i is actually what we’re looking at – ‘cpet I’ve downgraded my own choice to be a 750i becuase I can get it included on in my business plan at no cost, while the w800i is going to be a bit more exxy.

Either way they’re a great phone on paper, have you tried runing a Memory Stick PRO Duo in the 750? we’ve had conflicting reports of it working (or not). Planning on a 1Gb unit 🙂

A.

--
Site Owner Guy.

[PandaBear]

PSP TIP #1…

Go to your local good professional Optician and buy a Microfibre Lens Cleaning cloth. They’re like $10-20, but sometimes you can talk them into gifting you one with your new pair of specs.

One wipe and they remove all smudges off your Raybans… & other shiny black surfaces.

Best $10 you’ll ever spend on your PSP – you’ll not believe how bad fingerprint problem is.

[dgs73]

WipOut. Something that has”nt been done as good since Wip3out (and Wip3out Spec. Ed.) Why oh why did Psygnosis and Designers Republic hang up their hats? Why no PS2 version FROM THEM??? OK, i”m over it… now… Zbeam; how so? How”s my PS3 experience going to be heightened by a hand held PS2? (let”s be honest, not much more to em… plus, i”m sceptical of the mini dvds… last time Sony tried something new (pre PS), it flopped. Beta anyone??? lol) If things look good down the track, maybe. If only for Wipeout Pure… it”s gotta be better than Fusion… and i don”t mind the(year)wait, still got about 6 PS2 games yet to start, so the 2 should see me through until at least, oh, say, September next year…

Edited by – dgs73 on 29 August 2005 12:15:54

[PandaBear]

Quote:

Aaron wrote:

Quote:

PandaBear wrote:

Quote:

Aaron wrote:

*laughs* Great toy but at the moment I”ll stick with plotting to get a new mobile 🙂

Got the SE K750i in June, best phone ever. What else could one want in a phoney companion?

(well, personal choice would be W800i in a classy black casing, but 800 wasn””t released then)

K750i are out in the stores here now, pretty hot deals available too.

w800i is actually what we”re looking at – ”cpet I”ve downgraded my own choice to be a 750i becuase I can get it included on in my business plan at no cost, while the w800i is going to be a bit more exxy.

Either way they”re a great phone on paper, have you tried runing a Memory Stick PRO Duo in the 750? we”ve had conflicting reports of it working (or not). Planning on a 1Gb unit 🙂

A.

Am still considering getting a W800i, but the PSP snuck in first. But the bright orange… hmm, I like it but its not as classy as black-n-silver housing in a corporate environment. (to compensate, I’ve loaded a bright orange Theme on the K750i… keeps the 800 urge to a minimum -for now)

Have not heard any troubles with running PRO DUOs in the phone, both Sony & Lexar. Highspeed or not doesn’t make any difference.

Yeah need to get some ‘Sticks here eventually too, probably 1GBs. (Any leads to get them for <$150 appreciated!) Commonest hassle I’ve heard with 750s is ‘hanging’, but hasn’t happened to us. Got both previous version & current version of firmwares, neither has hung on us since June. But cousin says his (latest version) occasionally freezes when left overnight.
Occasionally a non-compliant Java app might hang it; which case I’ve gotta yank out the battery to effect a reset. Sometimes they recover but I’m too impatient.

2MP camera’s fantastic.

Don’t ask me about talking though – barely ever use it (its the ‘personal’ phone) for speech.

Being an Ericsson guy who’s gotten just about every generation … K750i has an all-new butt plug system, so no legacy corded equipment fits (K700i uses old-style plug).

Except for Bluetooth stuff, but I got none. (exception… some Bluetooth earpieces charge off the old-style plug… so it won’t work with the new powerplug.)

Battery lasts forever (so don’t need car charger) and the kit comes with a stereo handsfree & a USB data/charger cable *INCLUDED* so I ain’t whinging about unobtanium accesorries yet.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

kevsta wrote:

Apparently aussie versions of it will come with a V2.0 firmware whereyou can”tplay your backups straight off the memory stick.

Oz gets the UK version… which will be a China-made unit with a Samsung LCD.

Jap-made & US versions use a Sharp screen which is supposedly sharper/brighter.

Firmware v2.0 supposedly has a few extra obstacles to hinder game sharing.

Also lots of ‘homebrew’ applications like MAME and other emulators… most are configured to run in v1.50/1/2 only. But give ’em time, I’m sure they’ll get busy with v2.0 hacks eventually.

v2.0 has built-in Web Browser… but can’t see why I’d want to surf the web on a tiny handheld device with NO keyboard and NO mouse & whose 11b wireless would probably suck the battery dry faster.

All v1.5 owners… don’t hit that ‘NETWORK UPDATE’ function by accident.

[Aaron]

Oi!

Hands off the console, you’ve had it for 5 minutes, now review it 😛

A.

--
Site Owner Guy.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

Aaron wrote:

Oi!

Hands off the console, you”ve had it for 5 minutes, now review it 😛

who, me?

Had it for a WEEK already. Other pals down here have had it since xmas 2004.

Was at JB Hifi last night, they had a PSP playing movie ‘Hitch’. Nothing for sale yet.

Still…. thought I’d join the ‘crowds’ at 9am this morning.

Reportedly some crazy buggers opened at midnight, with 100+ ppl queueing at Myer Dandenong. (Not me, I was curled up nice and warm in bed… playing Ridge Racer.)

About 10 ppl in thecheckouts picking up their pre-orders at city Myer at 9am.

Myer was a bit low on stock on the shelves; sales guy said they had a few more boxes of stuff in the warehouse so I left my # with them to see what stock they had. They had consoles, quite a few UMB movies, most of the games.

(Myers offering $10 off PSP games for Father’s Day, ends this weekend. Plus Myer is giving discount vouchers eg 20% off games with every PSP purchase.)

David Jones… was deserted. Staff still busy shrinkwrapping the items. Games priced at RRP $79.95 but spoke with the boss and he confirmed they’d match Myer’s $69 special.

Electronics Boutique (EB) around the corner did pretty brisk trade -they had consoles & games, some movies. Nice range of 3rd party accessories but all at RRP.

Myer called back at 1030 saying they found what I wanted, so went back and picked up Lumines and Everybody Golf. Noone has stock of Mercury yet, nationwide supply hitch.

Have not yet witnessed a Oz/UK PSP yet to see how the Samsung screen looked.

Don’t know how retailers are gunna demo the PSP as it’ll be pretty hard to lock it down on a pedestal. Noone’s got any display units on show yet.

[z-beam]

ok ive done myself a little research today about the psp. i was due to pick mine up today but ill have to wait till tomorrow when i can borrow the extra $200 i need from my lovely mother. i would have got it today had i not wasted so much dosh on a trajic ski trip to perisher this week, but oh well!

it seems the version 2.0 software isnt downloaded onto the system at purchase, the sneaky buggers have put the 2.0 update onto the free sampler disk that comes with the system and automaticly updates once the disk is loaded. an employee of EB kindly demonstrated the total waste of time that the sampler is to me while i had to get some grocery shopping today. full of demo videos of games and a trailer of a few movies.

the system comes loaded with version 1.52 i was shown but after coming home and checking out the aftermarket apps most little programs only support up to 1.5 which bums me out a little…

http://pspkick.com/

for the musicly minded folks looks like fun, but i wont be getting to try it for quite a while.

midnight club dub edition got a release yesterday

but tomorrow im set to pick up wipeout and need for speed. ive heard that wipeout contains sharable demos of both wipeout pure and fired up! which is kind of like twisted metal meets gta.

as for the screens the guys at eb mentioned that 2 returns had been made allready regarding ‘stuck pixels’. i saw one and it really wasnt that bad. not likethe anoyinggreen dead one on my lap top.

know anywhere to get cheap memory sticks panda?

[Aaron]

ebay… There’s a a few people opn ebay sellig MS Pro Duos for gaming etc quite cheap. Looking so I can load up the K750i (when I get it next week)

The w800i is a bit of a let down Panda… The ‘whiteysliver’ of the case is actually some scudgey dirt and grime attracticing plastic that looks shocking. Very dissapointed. Will have to double check a retail version of the phone but I can’t see why it’d be different.

A.

--
Site Owner Guy.

[z-beam]

thanks for the ebay tip, im checking for the cards right now…

i picked up my psp from civic today and its quite impressive. both need for speed rivals and wipeout pure look,sound and play amazingly.

one stuck pixel is on my screen, but it only is visible when the screen is black (it shows up white). it isnt visible at all when other colours are in the area.

confirmed on the version 1.52 i the system. a red and white card inside the package tries to scare you into updating by saying its really important to upgrade the system software.

when i get a few more hours of play ill let you know about the games.

[bithed]

…WHITE version is out on September 21st fellas…Hopefully it wont show up those greasy fingerprints as much as the black one will…PanicToys is playing with the idea of doing some of the local peripherals hat you guys might not bea ble to get locally or from the bay…Mark-up sux on game stuff but its more like getting you something funky to tell you apart from the hoardes..lol…

[PandaBear]

Quote:

Aaron wrote:

The w800i is a bit of a let down Panda… The ‘whiteysliver’ of the case is actually some scudgey dirt and grime attracticing plastic that looks shocking. Very dissapointed. Will have to double check a retail version of the phone but I can”t see why it”d be different.

yeah the orange/white combo is a bit doubtful. I still like it (and need it to complete my ‘Walkman Firsts’ collection) but the $800 hasn’t got much priority at the moment.

To compensate, I’ve converted the W800i demo video to MP4 and it plays on the PSP.

If W800i was my primary phone, I’d re-shell that in a black case for daily use.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

z-beam wrote:

one stuck pixel is on my screen, but it only is visible when the screen is black (it shows up white). it isnt visible at all when other colours are in the area.

Mine’s got 3-4 stuck greens I think… only canbe seen on a fully black screen.

But them pixels are SO DAMNED SMALL, its not annoying at all.

Nothing at all like the silly bright pixel on the Toshiba notebook.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

z-beam wrote:

confirmed on the version 1.52 i the system. a red and white card inside the package tries to scare you into updating by saying its really important to upgrade the system software.

DO NOT UPGRADE!!

[PandaBear]

Quote:

bithed wrote:

…WHITE version is out on September 21st fellas…Hopefully it wont show up those greasy fingerprints as much as the black one will…PanicToys is playing with the idea of doing some of the local peripherals hat you guys might not bea ble to get locally or from the bay…Mark-up sux on game stuff but its more like getting you something funky to tell you apart from the hoardes..lol…

White looks naff. Maybe if you owned an iBook or something too… otherwise Black is Best.

Ways to ignore/avoid fingerprints…

[*]only handle by the edges
[*]don’t let your friends/family even TOUCH it
[*]play where there’s no sunlight or external lighting*
[/list]

* think I found a flaw in PSP design… when you play in total darkness, none of the buttons are backlit. Think Sony could have found some innovative way to use the light-leakage from the LCD backlighting to light up the buttons too.

BATTERY LIFE…

Managed to get 7+ hrs playing Everybody’s Golf on Fri & Sat.

Backlight and volume both on max low.

ok ok, annoyance #2:

Can’t tell battery life when playing a game; gotta quit and go to main menu.

(Power green LED starts blinking, but by then its too late)

Someone’s selling a USB charge cable for PSP already. But not sure if that’s a good idea, supposedly the PSP can suck 1.2A from its wallwart – that’s way outside USB specs (500mA?).

[bithed]

…;) Rodger that…White is naff…I will pass that on to the thinkers at SONY…I am sure they will be quite concerned that you think so…Hopefully they will do a blood red one like the new DS…VERY snappy indeedy…

…Good point about backlighting the buttons…I will pass that on too 😉

[PandaBear]

ok, some GAMES REVIEWS:-

RIDGE RACER:- Fantastic graphics engine, excellent scenery & track rendering. Easy to drive.

Generic cars and not really that many tracks… bit bored after about ~10hrs playing.

EVERYBODY’S GOLF:- Very cute manga comic style, great gameplay controls – works great for me. Championship style with winning better clubs, balls & fashion accessories is interesting.

LUMINES:- Still not getting it, am still playing it like Tetris. Different backgrounds & music not particularly interesting… rather be driving RidgeRacer to perv on its scenery.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

bithed wrote:

…;) Rodger that…White is naff…I will pass that on to the thinkers at SONY…I am sure they will be quite concerned that you think so…Hopefully they will do a blood red one like the new DS…VERY snappy indeedy…

…Good point about backlighting the buttons…I will pass that on too 😉

Mention to the PSP head inu I want one in anodised matte blue aluminium – to match Walkman #1 from 1977.

Add to the wishlist a Keyboard and Mouse too. (how else to surf the web?!)

[bithed]

K ;D Just on a side note…has anyone ever seen an adaptor / pluggy thingy, to allow you to use a PS2 controller on your pc? either for games or just for regular controlling a’la mouse? I saw a guy with one on the train here the other day and was intrigued…Never asked him about it though 🙁

OK so one mouse and one keyboard for the PSP…I will keep an eye out…third party stuff here is pretty cool like that 😉

[PandaBear]

Quote:

bithed wrote:

K ;D Just on a side note…has anyone ever seen an adaptor / pluggy thingy, to allow you to use a PS2 controller on your pc? either for games or just for regular controlling a”la mouse? I saw a guy with one on the train here the other day and was intrigued…Never asked him about it though 🙁

Thought Logitec did a gamepad like that for PC when the PS first came out?

The gamers in Oz are pretty up-to-date, pretty much anything that’s released worldwide is available retail here after about 1-2 wks. Ain’t too much savings importing stuff yourself anymore, pretty competitive locally.

(so saz some pals in the videogame development biz down here, they should have their fingers on the local pulse)

[z-beam]

i got one of the usb power cables panda, it sucks the power from the usb plug on the laptop and feeds it through the standard dc power jack while simultaniuosly connecting (the cord forks into two ends on the psp side) the psp using usb 2.0 via the top jack.

i have been charging it up using that cord while using the internet and also while watcing dvd’s on the ps2 and using its usb jacks. sweet eh?!

i did notice that when i used the proper adapter for the power point it charged waaay faster. i thought it might be because i have only charged it up twice.

3 pixels! wow thats gotta suck! but your right about them not being a problem as they are sooo tiny.

too late on the update panda, i jumped in and did it. after searching around for anything fancy that would run on 1.52 and coming up with nothing i thought why not jump in the deep end and wait untill someone cracks 2.0.

some of the new features where more picture formats are recognised, a web browser, wallpaper option for any of the stored pc and the ability to wirelessly send pics to other psp’s.

mypsp now has some tasteful naked young lass posing in high definition widescreen as its wallpaper.

that golf game sounds fun, is there a party play mode? like multyplay on one system taking turns?

heres some little reviews for the two games i have:

wipeout pure is so damned pretty it makes my eyes bleed (well almost!). today i reached the third racing class and it hammers along without skipping a beat. im sure in the higher up leagues when a pile up and lots of weapons go off it will slow down a bit but i dont mind that. kinda reminds me of old school gaming when really intense moments when the old megadrive couldnt take the pace and had to slow everything into slo mo. zone mode returns and now the zone mode tracks (ive unlocked 2 now so i have 3) resemble the proto type tracks from wipeout 3 special edition on ps1. tron on amphetamines really! the music is great but sometimes just doesnt pump like the old 2097 did.

need for speed is basicly underground 2 on ps2 without the driving in between events. almost everything is in there and its great for variety of different racing and purty cars to do up. i have an mx-5 and a celica at the moment. cant wait to see some nicer vehicles unlock. the only gripe ve got so far is that the drift events have changed drasticly, you know have a large warehouse space that has poles in it and big wedges light up that are the ‘drift zones’ that have to be drifted over. the free style drift element from underground on ps2 is no more *cries*.

a few more questions panda: where do i transfer mp4 videos onto the psp file on the mem. stick? i managed to make a photo file and save suff onto it but movies are beyond me.

what fancy stuff have you got running on your system and what OS is yours running on?

[z-beam]

http://www.gameseek.co.uk/productdetail/PSPfhyaqce6he5x223r/

keyboard for a psp? looks legit to me… ausmicro in bed here we come!

[merc-blue]

are these really as usefull as people say

what can it do? at the moment im thinking more aobut the NDS casue of its ability to be used as a organiser and wordprocessor

what do you need to do to access thenet via wireless with one??

[bithed]

…mail checking at the most..maybe sniping that auction…but are youREALLY going to BROWSE / surf with it? I know its nice and all but its not THAT good…I would much rather surf with a BIG pc 😀

[merc-blue]

yeah thats y the NDS is appealing to me because i know it can be ‘hacked’ to be aMini PC

[kevsta]

Okay, I spent 30 minutes today playing ridge racer on my work colleagues psp, and the graphics although nice, it’s the game play and it arcadish feel which turned me off. If you turn too much, the car goes into drift mode and you spend the next few seconds trying to correct the drift… if you know what I mean.

I’m still not convinced whether I should get one though… unless gran turismo 4 comes out on it…

[merc-blue]

yeah im sitting here thinking PSP 200 AUD (from a ‘source’) and i have to pay for movies and games etc OR

NDS for 80AUD + passme and software and i can dont watever the hell i want even use game roms even use it as a GPS navigator (with a GPS module)

[PandaBear]

Quote:

kevsta wrote:

Okay, I spent 30 minutes today playing ridge racer on my work colleagues psp, and the graphics although nice, it”s the game play and it arcadish feel which turned me off. If you turn too much, the car goes into drift mode and you spend the next few seconds trying to correct the drift… if you know what I mean.

I”m still not convinced whether I should get one though… unless gran turismo 4 comes out on it…

Why stop drifting your RR? That’s how you pump up your Nitrous!!

GT4 PSP coming soon.

Ditto GTA!

[PandaBear]

Quote:

z-beam wrote:

i got one of the usb power cables panda, it sucks the power from the usb plug on the laptop and feeds it through the standard dc power jack while simultaniuosly connecting (the cord forks into two ends on the psp side) the psp using usb 2.0 via the top jack.

i have been charging it up using that cord while using the internet and also while watcing dvd”s on the ps2 and using its usb jacks. sweet eh?!

i did notice that when i used the proper adapter for the power point it charged waaay faster. i thought it might be because i have only charged it up twice.

PC USBs are rated for only 500mA I think.

The Sony plugpack is 1200mA.

I dunno what your PC thinks of the PSP sucking 1200mA …

[PandaBear]

Quote:

z-beam wrote:

that golf game sounds fun, is there a party play mode? like multyplay on one system taking turns?

a few more questions panda: where do i transfer mp4 videos onto the psp file on the mem. stick? i managed to make a photo file and save suff onto it but movies are beyond me.

what fancy stuff have you got running on your system and what OS is yours running on?

Haven’t gotten around to getting a decent memstick yet. Mine’s jap v1.50 and I’ve been gradually accumulating on my HDD all the homebrews I can find.

Everybody Golf can play up to 8 via wireless… I think its like doing multiplayer on PS2? I gotta go find another 7 PSPs with the game to test.

Re videos…

Format your memstick in your PSP.

That makes you all your folders… except the video one.

Now go find this software called ‘PSP9’… that handle all the conversion to MP4, and it’ll also automate making you the right folder (has to be a certain filename) and it transfers the video files over for you too.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

merc-blue wrote:

are these really as usefull as people say

what can it do? at the moment im thinking more aobut the NDS casue of its ability to be used as a organiser and wordprocessor

what do you need to do to access thenet via wireless with one??

Why do you want to hack it to do your wordprocessing?!? — buy a PocketPC or Palm organiser!

The thing don’t have keyboard or mouse or pen for input, f’instance.

Bit like all the clueless dodos walking into Myers & EB asking ‘can I connect to TV?’ Err, its a handheld portable with a built-in widescreen LCD – why do you want to connect it to a TV!?

Accessing Net… well, ‘can be done’ – Why you’d really want to I don’t know.

Wireless 11b is only there so the PSP can do adhoc LAN parties for its 8-player games.

[merc-blue]

yeah panda its a hard decision the GBM is also very aluring not becasue its got great graphics becasue its cheap games are cheap and it looks sexy

but if i cna find a psp 1.5 for 250 im deffently going one

[bithed]

…FYI i will be doing some ‘game’ shopping this month so if there is anything you want me to check on please let me know asap…even if you just want part #’s and pricesetc…I am still new to the game scene as a seller…the margins suck anyway…I am just getting a white PSP for a guy in the States so I have to check it out anyway…LMK if there is anything…

[merc-blue]

could u find out hiw much u can get PSPs with V1.5 firmware?

also if there are gameboy micros around over there find out how much they cost

cheers

Edited by – merc-blue on 08 September 2005 14:47:14

[bithed]

…the gameboy micros are gonna go OFF over here ! big tv ad push on them…I actually forgot about them…

…Is there a link where i can learn about the firmware and stuff you guys are talking about? Like i said…Still a newbie in regards to the industry…ALL our PSP’s are the same price…I COULD go hunting for second hand ones in Akihabara…I think its time to go get the latest PSP magazine 😉

[PandaBear]

Quote:

bithed wrote:

…Is there a link where i can learn about the firmware and stuff you guys are talking about? Like i said…Still a newbie in regards to the industry…ALL our PSP”s are the same price…I COULD go hunting for second hand ones in Akihabara…I think its time to go get the latest PSP magazine 😉

Google around for ‘PSP firmware’.

generally from what I can tell…

v1.00 came out with the first lot.

v1.50 came out mid 2004 – its the one most homebrew hacks use.

v1.51 & v1.52 are the ‘current’ lot.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

z-beam wrote:

wipeout pure is so damned pretty it makes my eyes bleed (well almost!). today i reached the third racing class and it hammers along without skipping a beat. im sure in the higher up leagues when a pile up and lots of weapons go off it will slow down a bit but i dont mind that. kinda reminds me of old school gaming when really intense moments when the old megadrive couldnt take the pace and had to slow everything into slo mo. zone mode returns and now the zone mode tracks (ive unlocked 2 now so i have 3) resemble the proto type tracks from wipeout 3 special edition on ps1. tron on amphetamines really! the music is great but sometimes just doesnt pump like the old 2097 did.

I’m told it doesn’t!

Supposedly PSP has a CPU that normally idles at 200 but can turbo up to 300 when needed.

(Not that I know anything about game design or CPU specs, but it sounds plausible.)

[merc-blue]

bithed we have had NO advertising for GBMs and if i wasnt such a nerd i wouldnt have known about them 😉

supposedly out side of asia they have had very little exposue (waiting till closer to Xmas for hype and to avoid the current PSP/NDS craze)

could u keep a eye on GBM news for me?

Edited by – merc-blue on 08 September 2005 22:56:27

[PandaBear]

GBM is 6 wks away…

http://gaming.thepodcastnetwork.com/2005/08/18/gba-micro-australia-release-date-and-price-2/

The Game Boy micro will be available across Australia on November 3rd 2005, for a suggested retail price of $149.95. The Game Boy micro will be available in five colours at launch. The Platinum silver version will be available everywhere, with four other special colours being individually released through specific retailers. Other than the standard face plate, every unit sold will come with an alternative face plate that can be used to switch the style of your unit.

[merc-blue]

sugested retail of 150 ouch (bet ya i will get one cheaper :D).. already got a few possible sorces.. very exciting

[dgs73]

GBM looks just like the original game & watch from when i was a little tacker… anywho, thought i’d let you’ll know, i got my PSP yesterday, v.1.52. Got the value pack, also grabbed Medievil. (i know i was going to get WipeOut first Z-beam, but i could’nt help myself when i saw this… will get that next week)

[z-beam]

congratulations dgs, whats medievil like?

i might have a spare usb cable i can send your way… let me know if your interested

[peteWah]

I too now want 1 of these suckers Bad and i have not even
played with 1 yet….just watching at the mo…:smiley2:

PSP for me would = :p:smiley2:

Cant wait for a link up with certain game titles…:D:smiley2:
I will be 1 of you soon .

[z-beam]

remember that wipeout pure has a sendable demo of pure and fired up.

meaning that only one copy of the game is required to download the demos via wi-fi to the second system. the demos are multiplayer as well.

[peteWah]

Now played with 1 and i am hooked big time

[dgs73]

damn, that is one thick instruction book!!! Now that i’ve plowed through that, all is good. Z-beam; Medievil is wicked, the graphics are top notch (and these are first gen. titles!!! oh yeah…) Got WipEout Pure on Sat., have opened the Beta league and thats about it. Going to look into this Lumines game next week, anyone seen/played it? Thoughts? Oh, Z; the usb cable, is it genuine? How much you want for it? Other than a bigger memory card that’s the only other item I can see myself wanting… other than the speakers for it… lol… time to hide my cashcard again…

[PandaBear]

Quote:

dgs73 wrote:

GBM looks just like the original game & watch from when i was a little tacker…

no way, GBu has ‘Gameboy’ standard buttons.

Nintendo G&W have custom buttons for each different game. (for all you kiddies, the G&W was from 1980 and is a pocket handheld LCD game… oh yeah, it also had a time/alarm function.)

Nintendo did a retro run some yrs ago of classic G&W games on a matchbox-sized keychain unit shaped like a minatureOriginal Gameboy. This one had Gameboy buttons too… playing that is so different to playing original G&W units.

Dug out my original Gameboy the other weekend. Cool – still works… but the LCD is missing a few lines (damned!). Its still running off its 1st set of Energizers so it can’t have been overused; some of the old game cartridges have also lost their hi-scores too (imho must be a battery-backed RAM chip in there).

[dgs73]

showing my age there… yeah, you’re right Panda. I was going by a tiny image and my faded memory of g&w’s… but was more meaning the styling. Closest to their g&w counterpart. Oh, like Zbeam, i missed the point you made in this topic about not updating the system to 2.0, and have also done the same upgrade… enclosed printed materials stating it was necessary saw me following the instructions to the letter…

[z-beam]

haha! it wasnt necisary at all dave! but really, after 4 hours of searching the web i came to the conclusion that if the homebrew applications cant get into version 2.0 then there is something wrong. that and 1.52 (which is what our systems had on it when we bought them) doesnt have any homebrew applications either so why not grab the new added features right now.

dave, none of them are genuine sony usb cables. you cant get them yet. the one im keeping can suck power from the usb interface. i have two spare that dont power up the psp and your welcome to have one for free.

ive unlocked ascension league and one classic track so far, and 2 more zone mode tracks.

have you checked out the extras/teasers section of the disk and had a go at fired up yet?

[PandaBear]

USB cable is just a standard thing, same as what Sony uses for Cybershot & Handycam cameras.

[dgs73]

noted.. ta guys. Zbeam; expect a call at about 7pm tonight…

[kevsta]

Quote:

PandaBear wrote:

Quote:

dgs73 wrote:

GBM looks just like the original game & watch from when i was a little tacker…

no way, GBu has ‘Gameboy’ standard buttons.

Nintendo G&W have custom buttons for each different game. (for all you kiddies, the G&W was from 1980 and is a pocket handheld LCD game… oh yeah, it also had a time/alarm function.)

Nintendo did a retro run some yrs ago of classic G&W games on a matchbox-sized keychain unit shaped like a minatureOriginal Gameboy. This one had Gameboy buttons too… playing that is so different to playing original G&W units.

Dug out my original Gameboy the other weekend. Cool – still works… but the LCD is missing a few lines (damned!). Its still running off its 1st set of Energizers so it can”t have been overused; some of the old game cartridges have also lost their hi-scores too (imho must be a battery-backed RAM chip in there).

I’ve still got my nintendo game & watches at my parents place. Donkey Kong, Chef, and some other one I can’t remember… Those were extremely fun in the day…

Have you seen how much they go for on ebay ? Close to $100 each depending on condition.

I’ve got an original game boy as well, pulled out the 32 games in 1 cartridge and hell yeah it still works after all these years….

[dgs73]

yeah, i’ve still got Snoopy Tennis and Oil Panic (i think the top screen on that is dead) at my parents place… Snoopy’s in top nick (the box ain’t… lol), but loathe to sell it. Got the keyring version of the single screen Donkey Kong at home Panda, these were available up to late last year at our local post office, 10 bucks. Mate they really condensed up the internals…

[bithed]

…i just sold a limited edition ‘Tamagotchi’ GameBoy, NIB, MINT on the bay for 150 USD so there IS a demand for them…

[merc-blue]

i WISH that nintendo would ‘simulate’ game and watch for GBAs would be soo computer geek but very cool im pretty sure they did a limited run of them or sumthing

any one heard anything more about the GBM or any new PSP versions allowing homebrew

[z-beam]

yes, psp version 2.0 has been cracked. a 1.5 downgrader is available but the added features of 2,0 are making users want homebrew on that system.

at the moment the exploit uses the picture buffer memeory to use the programs, such as file sharing using the picture sending feature. its in early days so far and sony are expected to release a 2.1 version to combat it.

gta liberty city stories is on its way soon as well… 21st to be exact… 7 modes of multiplay.

going by the excelent multiplayer dgs,pete and i had on saturday night ill be definatly after the fun of gta…

[z-beam]

oh and that battery pack i mentioned. it doesnt charge the battery but acts like an auxillery power source when the psp battery is too low to run things… nimh aaa’s kept the system going for an extra 2 hours last night… works like a charm!

[dgs73]

Zbeam; thanks again foryour onfo on Saturday night, very handy!! Expains why my battery was”nt lasting… and yes, wasvery impressed with the multi-player ability, now i”ve just gotta get Novin to bring his PSP with him more often when he heads over… WipEout Pure linked is a MUST…

Edited by – dgs73 on 10 October 2005 16:07:37

[dgs73]

Bithed; ta for the package, recieved yesterday… many, many things we gotta chat about that were in that catalogue dood (WHAT????? FFVII movie??? On PSP??? Where do I sign?????… hahaha *not kidding* hahaha), plus nice to find out about stuff like Soul Calibur 3 and Biohazard 4 (Resident Evil, for the casual gamers out there…) for PS2…

[z-beam]

ah bithed, i got a favor to ask you… i have heard about the local japanese market for umd disks of a dubious nature… movies of local beauties and the like doing things we shouldnt talk about here… things your wife would get angry at you for possesing… can you do some research into the titles and availability of such titles for me?

[dgs73]

don’t leave me out of that loop… Zbeam – have a catalogue of umd movies and games (plus the usual ps2, Xbox, Nin., etc.) from Japan (cheers Bithed!!), might be a good place for you to start… raised my eyebrows… i’ll leave it at that

[bithed]

…im on it…You know me…I will sell ANYTHING 😉

[dgs73]

…and I buy everything!! Works out well, don’t you think?

[z-beam]

i just viewed the ausmicro site via my psp, unfortunatly couldnt post because i needed to log in on a pop up and psp is pop up unfriendly…

i did get a photo of it though! i should get it up on the web by the weekend… ausmicro on the psp in bed= awesome!

this is what i hoped for 10 years ago when i imagined what 2005 would be like. oh, that kyosho mini-z awd vid converted into mp4 looks amazing on psp… great entertainment while having a smoke…

ok bithed, what are these dubious umd’s going to cost us aussies?

[dgs73]

Ausmicro on PSP… whatever next?

[z-beam]

just you wait dave! by the end of next year ill have a keyboard for it and ill be posting on ausmicro…. oh wait… thats crap. i can look but i cant touch!

[Aaron]

z-beam. It’s very liely that ausmicro.com v4 will let you logon and post 🙂

A.

--
Site Owner Guy.

[dgs73]

Zbeam; and ofnext year? why the wait??

[z-beam]

what, you mean you can get keyboards allready dave?

[dgs73]

no no no… nothing like that… thought they’d be available already. Maybe a bit soon eh?

[z-beam]

yeah, there are no retail releases yet for a psp keyboard yet…

panda, do you know what the little jack is at the top of the psp is called?

84 gold medals on wipeout now dave, all without rapier class+. go get yourself a larger memory stick and download the new tracks, trust me its worth it… its like ive gotten double the tracks for free. when i visit you i should be able to copy one of the track packs to your card i think. also the qirex skin is on one of them (purple is a background!)

did i mention lots of new craft to fly as well? i unlocked the team medievil craft as well, its very fast but has little shields…

[PandaBear]

Quote:

z-beam wrote:

panda, do you know what the little jack is at the top of the psp is called?

Only hole up top I can think of is the ‘Micro USB’ plug? That it?

That’s the 3rd style of USB connector, found on all Sony Cybershots & Handycams and probably a heap of other digicams too. Just get any generic USB digicam cable and plug it into your PC and the PSP becomes a DUO cardreader.

[PandaBear]

Was flicking thru the Myer xmas flyers whilst on the john last nite.

GTA is out?!

Sims 2 should be out in about a month!! this xmas gunna be fun(ner)

[z-beam]

micro usb eh? now to work out how to convert a normal usb keyboard to micro usb…

december 2nd aparently panda for gta here in australia. but if you treasure your 1.5 firmware then dont hold your breath for it, it wont run without an upgrade to 2.0. something to do with the 2.0 firmware being compatible with more video formats than 1.5

if you are going to upgrade firmware, make sure to only go to 2.0.

[PandaBear]

All USB signals are ‘standard’ and plug adaptors are easily bought, but dunno how you can hack the PSP OS to recognise any KB?

Quote:

z-beam wrote:

december 2nd aparently panda for gta here in australia. but if you treasure your 1.5 firmware then dont hold your breath for it, it wont run without an upgrade to 2.0. something to do with the 2.0 firmware being compatible with more video formats than 1.5

if you are going to upgrade firmware, make sure to only go to 2.0.

Dang! guess that 2.0 requirement that’s ‘worldwide’ too, so no point shipping a copy in from Japan.

[z-beam]

Quote:

PandaBear wrote:

All USB signals are ‘standard’ and plug adaptors are easily bought, but dunno how you can hack the PSP OS to recognise any KB?

Quote:

z-beam wrote:

december 2nd aparently panda for gta here in australia. but if you treasure your 1.5 firmware then dont hold your breath for it, it wont run without an upgrade to 2.0. something to do with the 2.0 firmware being compatible with more video formats than 1.5

if you are going to upgrade firmware, make sure to only go to 2.0.

Dang! guess that 2.0 requirement that”s ‘worldwide’ too, so no point shipping a copy in from Japan.

who said anything about hacking? if youd ever plugged in a mouse in the usb slot of a ps2 it worked fine (creating emblems for the fantastic armored core2). im guessing it’d work fine…

and as for importing, no point at all. unless you need it now rather than be at the mercy of australian distrobution.

[PandaBear]

I’d be the last person you’d ask on Signal Comms … but I’d have my suspicion that the PSP (natively) wouldn’t know how to deal with a USB keyboard…?

PS2 & xBox (the controllers use USB signals) are like PCs themselves, the USB is for ‘input’.

Whereas the PSP’s USB is like ‘line out’ sorta like the USB on a digicam or a mobile phone? Like the USB is used to connect to a PC which treats the memcard like a mountable disc.

hmm… how to test if PSP knows what’s going on? Anyone got a PSP wordprocessor??

I got a few dissected USB cables that I can rig up with jumper leads, and a USB PC keyboard won’t be too hard to dig up.

[z-beam]

im thinking the text entry function used in the web browser and any game that asks for a user name would suffice as a test panda. in your psp’s system settings there is an option to ‘name’ your system so that whenever you play multiplayer games it becomes your machines id. theres your psp word processor.

i see what you mean about the data input/output of the plug but ive used that little jack for equal amounts of downloading and uploading… wait… now i think of it there is a huge problem.

im pretty sure that jack has to be activated in the usb mode option in system settings so while the usb keyboard might work the psp is effectivly frozen in ‘usb mode’ while the port is activated… bummer…. oh well if you got some time handy and all the bits needed you may as well give it a try!

[peteWah]

It will all come soon enuff Z, somebody will find a way… When you coming back for a psp and z bash :smiley2:

[TallduDe]

Forget PSP the Gzmondo is coming out next year with a wide screen version.

same size screen as psp plus the thing has sat nav, bluetooth, movie capable, mp3 capable plus you can play games on it.

When that comes out it should bring some competion to the PSP thats why im holding off buying a psp. i want sat nav damnit.

http://www.gizmondo.com

[peteWah]

Interesting,

I had never heard of these guys till now but i dont know if it will produce the hype of the Sony or take its market share in this country…

The site had a lack of info i feel, thats just me…

It looks and sounds the part :smiley2: but lets wait and see :huh:

Edited by – peteWah on 25 November 2005 08:38:22

[z-beam]

its all about the games tho talldude…sony has some good contacts in the industry at the moment and this being there 3rd console im pretty confident in them as a entertainment company.

im sure the gizmo will spend most of its life as a sat nav in your focus eh? and as far as multi tasking goes, the psp has enough features that im allready not using… much…

i picked up liberty city stories today and its blown my mind. how the hell can they code more than gta 3 to run on the little psp. its damned amazing to see working.

also found a game save that someone had written to be a debug mode with switchable cheats, great to see homebrew running on 2.0 firmware. helicopters are in LCS despite most reveiws stating that flying is a no go on the psp. the flight models arnt as polished as san andreas, but they work and thats an acheivement in itself.

now, i cant wait to have a crack at the open city multiplay options…

[z-beam]

hey pete, has dave had a crack at the new track on wipeout yet? or is space invaders still the gaming dominator at the moment?

[PandaBear]

Quote:

z-beam wrote:

i picked up liberty city stories today and its blown my mind. how the hell can they code more than gta 3 to run on the little psp. its damned amazing to see working.

Z-B:- can you pls confirm or deny that Liberty needs v2.0+ to run…?

Or can it live on v1.50.

[TallduDe]

Z-beam the gizmondo will come out with better games plus its mp3 player movie player and i wouldnt use it just for sat nav i dont need sat nav for everywhere im going (i hope).

just sayin there are other game consoles besides psp.

[peteWah]

Z beam i’m not sure but am of the knowledge that he just got TODAY a copy of GTA for the psp…

I have not seen the stuff you put on his card but i am sure he is using it because he takes it to work with him…..

I will also let him know of you purchase of gta :p:smiley2:

[z-beam]

Quote:

PandaBear wrote:

Quote:

z-beam wrote:

i picked up liberty city stories today and its blown my mind. how the hell can they code more than gta 3 to run on the little psp. its damned amazing to see working.

Z-B:- can you pls confirm or deny that Liberty needs v2.0+ to run…?

Or can it live on v1.50.

sorry panda, my psp is and will be staying on 2.0 so i have no idea if a 1.5 will be able to run it. forums from the states have mentioned it might need it, but some of there opinions i wouldnt trust… thing is, if it does only need 2.0 and nothing higher and there is a downgrader from 2.0 if your game to use it (2.0 into 1.5).

you gotta ask yourself the question, do you use any homebrew? is it as enjoyable as gta?

talldude, tiger electronics are behind the gizmondo. last games they ever made where lcd things like nintendo game and watch, only tiger was still making them when game boys had been around for a while… i used to have their moon buggy game, it was just like moon patrol on really old pc’s and amigas.

it certainly is a step up from those days, and the game colours for it sounds great in concept. only problem is how many others do you think in australia are going to get this device?

id really like to put one side by side with a psp for comparison, but at the end of the day i am really a sony fanboy. they allways deliver for me, the shape ofthe gizmo reminds me of an old controler. i like the adultiness of psp…

and as far as better games, show me one game released here. how can nothing be better than something? i dont doubt there eventually will be good games for it, but for now lets just focus on the topic in my hands. the glorious sony psp system…

[PandaBear]

Quote:

z-beam wrote:

you gotta ask yourself the question, do you use any homebrew? is it as enjoyable as gta?

Haven’t quite had time to investigate homebrews yet…

Plus the big Duo stick I bought last month is taking the slow boat, probably won’t arrive for a few mths… so I got nothing to load onto anyway.

ahh, if it does insist on v2.0 — methink that’s a good excuse to buy a new WHITE machine…

(unless bleeding Sony brings out a shiny Chrome or a shiny Gold one first!!)

[z-beam]

ive heard awfull things about the white ones that lik sang sells, aparently the plasic is prone to staining an awefull yellow when exposed to acids in human sweat… only play while wearing cotton gloves…

2.0’s web browser has a bguilt in wireless internet scanner. very handy for finding free isps to leech a connection from…

[Impreza]

http://www.us.playstation.com/psp.aspx

Haven’t been around here for a while, thought I would come back and visit for xmas. I have the psp as well, with a few games and movies. I am usually a homebrew kind of guy, but with this little baby I am sticking with the updates. RSS Channel, internet, Location Free TV support, Theme Settings etc, all come with the latest update. Please don’t make me sway you to update thou, as there are alot of benifits to staying with a 1.5 system. Socom FTB online is very fun btw:)

z-beam, I hadn’t heard about the ability to do a wireless scan with the unit yet, I thought you had to go through the settings to set up each connection. I will have to try this out, thanks.

[Author]

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