The other day I was browsing for PSP items on EBAY, and saw an appalling ad. Some opportunist jerk was selling a document file that he wrote which explained how to play avi videos and emulate nintendo games on the PSP.
Now, if you are unfamiliar with hacking around your PSP to do these things, I am sure you are saying why is this appalling. Well, basically this information can be found anywhere on the web. Just go to google and type "play avi files in your psp" and you will get many hits.
Emulation? Its a bit more tricky, but thats also free information. I am going to summarize my how-to here in order to prevent people from paying for such garbage. After reading this information, pls also read my original review of this awesome gagdet.
First, in order to play your AVI, MPEG or any type of video on the PSP, it needs to be converted to the right format. Sounds complicated? No, its a simple drag and drop. If you can drag and drop, you can play videos on your psp. First of all, you need a MPEG converter. Go to this page and click on the only english line you see:
http://www.nurs.or.jp/~calcium/3gpp/
The page is in japanese, but don't worry. You can easily switch the converter's language into english. Right click on 3GP_Converter034.zip and do a save as. Extract the zip file, and run setup.exe from whatever directory you extracted it to. Choose english as the language, and select MP4 for PSP from the dropdown menu. From this point on, you can run the 3gp executable and drag drop your avi / mpeg files and it will convert them into MP4. If you hate this program, just google for another MP4 converter on the internet -- there are many free ones waiting to be found.
Second step is to drop the converted files into your movies folder in psp. You must re-name the file M4V31340.MP4 or any increments of these digits. Other file name will work. Don't ask why, because I don't know. Ie:
M4V31341.MP4
M4V31342.MP4
Now, connect your PSP to your PC and open up the mini-storage drive your computer detects (most likely E, or F). On this drive create a folder named MP_ROOT\100MNV01, and drop all your MP4 files in here. You can now view these videos on your PSP.
Please note that I did not discover any of this information, I just found it on the web. You can find more detailed instructions here:
http://engadget.com/2004/12/21/how-to-get-videos-and-dvds-onto-your-sony-playstation-portable/
Now, you can also emulate old Nintendo, SNES, Genessis, Neo Geo, and even Arcade games on the PSP. But this is a much more complicated process, so I won't try to summarize it here. Just don't pay someone for this information! The following site explains it as well as it can be explained:
http://forums.qj.net/showthread.php?t=21355
Below is my original review:
I owned a Gameboy once. There was a special at the Virgin Mega store for those with American Express Blue Credit cards. They gave you % off on any purchase. I had been looking for something to do on my 45 minute subway commute. And I wanted to fry my brain rather than read a semi-intelligent book. Well, I sold the Gameboy on half.com within a couple of weeks. I hated it. The games were childish and did not pull me in, and I am very easily drawn into good games.
My next attempt to diminish the subway boredom came when I picked up a portable Toshiba DVD player last year. You see, I am also a DVD junkie. Although the device itself was entertaining (a fact proven to me in the plane), it was too chunky for the subway. And plus I have to stand on my morning ride, which makes the DVD player impossible to use. So I shelved the portable player for long plane and car rides once again.
Enter the PSP. This thing could not only play Playstation 2 quality games, but also play UMD movies which were DVD quality. I was quite excited, and picked one up immediately. Upon a few months of owning a PSP, I realized it can do a variety of insane things such as play downloaded movies, serve as a wireless internet browser, view pictures, play MP3's as a musical device, and most insane of it all, Emulate most classic console systems with some hacking. Overall, this is really the best gadget I have ever owned, and I can not ever imagine having a commute without it. Now, let’s go over the device:
Physical Features (5 out of 5 stars):
---PSP the ultimate Geek Gadget---
Imagine an elliptic curve, except draw a straight line at all the edges, and you have the basic shape of the PSP. Its black vinyl, with a wide LCD screen in the middle. On the right side you have the familiar Playstation buttons: X, O, Triangle and the Square. On top are the right and left buttons that seem more like the body of the player. The UMD disks (propriety format Sony created just for the PSP) go in the middle of the left and right buttons. The back of the PSP is like an old cassette player, you pull the switch on top of the device and the back falls off a little. You will most likely flinch the first time it happens:)
On the left side, you have the analog and the button based directional buttons. Yes, they have included the joystick style controls in the PSP. But, unfortunately, it’s only on one side. I think the device would have amazing control capabilities in some FPS games if it had a joystick on both sides. There are switches at the bottom for turning on the wireless receiver, volume and screen control, and on the right is the power button.
All in all, PSP fits very well into 2 palms, the screen is quite big for a portable device, and is rather futuristic and cool looking. They have a few gimmicks that make it an awesome portable device. For example, the power button supports 'hibernate' mode for everything. You are in the middle of a video or a game, you gentle put it in the off position and ease it off, the system will go into standby. It will preserve battery but also freeze the game/video wherever you left it. You will use this feature all the time.
Second, there is a remote control device (although it’s not wireless) for controlling the volume and the music that is playing on the PSP. This extends into a shirt clip into which the headphones are plugged. As the PSP is too big to have it out when listening to music, I usually keep it inside my jacket's inner pocket. Hence, this remote control is one of the most useful features on the PSP.
The Music and Sound (3.5 out of 5 stars):
---PSP the MP3 Player---
PSP, with a big enough memory card, can play your MP3 music. PSP itself came with white in-ear headphones in the IPOD style -- but these were really a piece of junk so I bought new ones. Without the earphones, you can run your MP3's on the internal speakers. It will generate enough noise to listen inside a claustrophobic environment -- like a car. With earphones, unfortunately the music will not be loud enough in the plane or during a train ride. PSP doesn't seem to generate enough sound in a noisy environment. In this category I give it only 3.5 stars.
Music will only be loud enough if you invest on some quality, noise canceling headphones. The options include the Shure E2g which go inside your ear and run for around $100. But, my recommendation is the Sony MDR-NC6 Consumer Headphones. They are relatively cheap, provide decent noise cancellation, and will definitely make the PSP much louder. You can check out my review on those here:
http://www.epinions.com/content_214138654340 Overall PSP can be used as a decent MP3 Player with decent headphones and memory.
Pictures and Videos: (5 stars out of 5)
---PSP the Portable Media Device---
UMD's are too expensive. They go for around $20, and you can not play them anywhere but your PSP. Also, you can not plug your PSP into a TV. However, the quality on the UMD's are amazing, and you can rent them through several online services and Hollywood video. The quality of the video is excellent, however. It’s as good as the Toshiba DVD player, albeit much smaller. The screen on the PSP is not that big - it’s a 4.3inch LCD screen with 480 x 272 resolution. However, anything bigger and you loose on the portability. I think it’s simply perfect. The size, the video quality, everything. In addition to videos, you can copy and view your digital pictures on the PSP.
Browser (3 out of 5 stars)
---PSP the Internet Terminal---
The original release of the device was not able to get on the internet through a browser. Some crazy programmer hacked the browser that was built for downloading Wipeout Pure tracks and made it a generic internet browser for the PSP. You could get on and view any site with it, but you were limited to pictures and text only. Sony caught up on this immediately, and the firmware upgrade 2.0 came with a browser for the system. If you bought a PSP a long time ago, upgrading your OS will also install a browser for you. This can be used to connect to the internet almost anywhere -- since most people do not encrypt their wireless LAN. You are on the road and you want to check your email -- you can. However, you are limited to buttons that are made for games and you have no mouse. Typing login / password with 4 buttons is just not that much fun. Nevertheless, nothing beats getting on the internet anywhere anytime at no cost.
The Games (5 out of 5 stars)
---PSP, well, as a PSP!---
Jerkus Maximus! Look at all the things I counted you can do on the PSP. Well gents and dames, these aren't even things that PSP is designed to do -- its first and foremost meant for games, and I haven't even begun to cover that aspect. PSP games simply blow any perception you had of portable games. Gone are the 1994 style graphics and chunky game play better left dead with the original Nintendo. The easiest way to describe it is this: Take a Playstation 2 controller, shrink it and put a LCD screen in the middle. Now imagine that you can play any PS2 game with this, and you get the PSP. Unfortunately, you can not play any PS2 game with it. If you could, SONY would not make any money. However, as time goes I think most PS2 titles will be slowly ported to the PSP and packaged with a $50 price tag. The games, overall, are simply amazing. They are involving, graphically superior, and have dept. Unfortunately, there aren’t THAT many games out for the PSP yet, and some of those ports do lack luster. Here are some of the games I highly recommend for the PSP: Lumines Puzzle Fusion, Popolocrois, Ridge Racer, Kingdom of Paradise, Prince of Persia (if you liked warrior within), LOTR tactics, and Grand Theft Auto. They are all excellent games, and will last a long time. And these do not even cover half the games that are excellent for the PSP. If you have no idea what to get for the PSP, than let me cover these 3 must haves:
Lumines Puzzle Fusion:
Sort of like a platformer puzzle game. You can pick it up for 20 dollars on half.com, this game is worth having as it will pull any non-gamer into the PSP. It’s a puzzle game, where you match the colors of falling squares. It’s like Tetris where the blocks aren’t attached. Heck, I don’t know how to explain this thing. But the fact that makes Lumines shine over the 20 year old Tetris is the fact that it incorporates Techno / Pop style music with the game. The music will change and modify itself based on how you are playing the game, which blocks are falling and how far you are from certain death. The music will change with upcoming stages, but will always pay attention to what is happening in the game. Its quite enjoyable and a must have for the PSP.
Grand Theft Auto:
It’s like vice city, with a completely different storyline and a new city (Liberty City). The game play and the physics of the latest GTA (San Andreas) is gone. It’s back to pure mafia roots. I personally like it much more than the gangsta storyline, which was more than a bit lame if you ask me. Don’t glorify gangsters, glorify the mafia!:) Joking. The graphics of the game resemble Vice city a lot, as does the game play.
Kingdom of Paradise:
This weird cross between a 3D fighting game (such as Dynasty warriors) and a YS style RPG. . This is not a port for the PSP, and it has some unique features that you will not find in any other RPG. For example, you are a martial artist and collect different attacks through your fallen enemies. These attacks belong to several schools of fighting, which also have different combination scrolls. You complete combination scrolls by finding all the attack styles for it, and once a scroll is finished you can unleash it on your enemies through the attack button. Also, there are free style scrolls which you configure as you like. I spent hours trying to find the best formula on the freestyle scrolls. Although the game is easy to beat through using its magic system ( something most people wined about ), if you rely on martial arts only and try to come up with the best freestyle attack, you will find that the game play factor is multiplied exponentially.
The Cost (4 out of 5 stars)
---PSP as a Pocket Burning Device---
PSP can get expensive, very, very expensive. But do I need to tell you that it’s worth every penny? PSP itself comes with 32MB of memory. Trust me when I say this, this is not enough. I highly recommend buying at least 1 gig of memory, which will cost you about 100 dollars. With this additional memory, you can convert any video into MP4 format and watch it on your PSP. Considering a UMD movie costs 20 dollars, this is a worthy investment. Also, 32MB is not enough if you want to use the PSP as a MP3 player as well. You also will want to invest on a decent pair of headphones, which will cost you $30 dollars. Considering the fact that the games go for around 40-50 dollars each, this will probably the most expensive portable device you own.
The Verdict
---PSP as a MUST HAVE---
Let’s say you bought an MP3 player. What will it cost you? A decent 1MB player is 100 dollars. Ok, let’s go for an IPOD which everyone does, $200. Now let’s say you want to get a portable DVD player. It will cost you around $150. You are definitely going to want good headphones, so you spent the $30 already. So now you have 3 devices that have cost you $380 and you can not play any games. You buy a PSP, and with everything I have recommended here it will cost you about 350-450 dollars. Is it worth it? You decide. I already did, even though I have an MP3 player and a portable DVD player. Make the same decision as meƒº you won’t regret it.
