psp…good for the ybp’er on the go

if this is your first time here, welcome! as the description says, you’ll find a plethora of information in the ybp blog and wiki to keep hope alive in the new millennium as a ybp in the 21st century.

ok, on to the good stuff…

psp, for those that don’t know, stands for PlayStation Portable, and it’ll be your best friend for all the ybp’ers out there that do a lot of traveling. even if you’re not a video game fan, there are a lot of options with this little device, and now that the price has dropped, its a viable option for those long flights home, back to the apt, or to the client site.

first off, the psp can play video games…and man do they look sweet! many haters will say that the ds lite by nintendo is a viable portable option if you like playing video games, and i don’t disagree, but i feel the sleekness and expandability puts the psp above it. besides, nintendo’s main goal is to get regular adults to play short, pick-me-up games, while sony’s psp is more of a ‘entertainment device’. see also mylo. a few first time video games to check out are lumines, stars wars legos II, and burnout. that gives you a good mix of puzzle, good ol’ pick me up adventure, and racing.

second, the psp can play mp3’s, movies (in a variety of formats), and old school nintendo and super nintendo games! how you ask? well, you’re resident ybp tech guy is not only a connoisseur of technology for today and tomorrow, but he’s also a resident hacker! but first things first…mp3’s. the first thing you’ll want to get, and is an absolute must, is a bigger memory stick for your psp. make sure it is PRO DUO type memory, at least 1 gig. with the way memory is selling these days, you can find a good stick for under $30. peep the online shopping post we had to find more good deals. if you can spring it, get two!

psp comes with a usb cable. simply connect it to your pc, drag and drop your mp3’s to the music folder with your 1 gig stick, and you’re ready to go!

for movies, you’ll need to first have them on your computer. while i can’t legally tell you how to get uncopyrighted material nor do i condone having illegal material in your possession, i will tell you that googling dvdshrink and bittorrent are good starts. with the movie on your pc, you can shrink it to format your psp properly with psp video 9. since you have a whole 1 gig stick, you can drag and drop from there on.

for old school nintendo games (and even sega genesis games at that) like mario brothers, contra, and tecmo super bowl, check out this post. now, before i continue, THIS IS DANGEROUS AND CAN MAKE YOUR PSP UNRECOVERABLE. this is also known as bricking your psp. what does that mean? it means if you don’t follow the directions, you’ll have to buy a new one. i also don’t claim responsibility if you break it. got it? ok, moving forward. with each new game that comes out, sony likes to upgrade their psp hardware in an effort to thwart hackers. consequently, older psp’s have a hardware version 2.0 and 2.1. newer versions have a 2.5 and even a newer 2.71. how does sony make you upgrade? well, if you bought star wars legos II, you won’t be able to play it until you upgrade your hardware. thankfully, the hacker community has found a way to let you run old-school games and homemade games, also known as homebrew, on your psp. you can check your psp version on the info screen. i’ll link you to a few guides explaining the hack process here, here, and here. if you’re looking for games to play, also called roms, i can’t legally tell you where to find them. i’d also would not recommend asking on any of the boards on the websites i find. i can say that googling the emulator names and the term ‘rom‘ will help.

all of the above guides and probably the best resource to get you started can be found here.

some other cool features of the psp are wireless ad-hoc play, meaning you can play with a friend with a psp wirelessly with only one game. you can also surf the net using the web browser, and do all of the functions of an organizer (calendar, contacts, etc.).

happy psp’ing!