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In all fairness, I didn’t pay any real attention to the handheld gaming scene after I put down my classic Gameboy, and I was all but in the dark about many of the handhelds to come and go since then. Fortunately, handheld gaming hasn’t been the battleground that traditional consoles have been, since no one’s been able to take on Nintendo’s offerings seriously, and I was all but amused when Verizon proposed that the NGage could be a Gameboy-killer. Fact is, the only thing the NGage showed the world is that there was demand, to a limited degree, for a device that could handle titles that Nintendo couldn’t effectively deliver on their handhelds, namely more 3D-oriented games like first-person shooters (FPSs).

When Sony announced the PSP, I jumped on the bandwagon to decree how optical handhelds couldn’t compare in battery life to Nintendo’s cartridge-based counterparts, and that a handheld that made use of fancier graphics and more computing power was destined to die unless a proper battery technology could power the bugger. Beyond that, my only real complaints about the PSP was the limited gaming library and proprietary storage medium the PSP used, rather than going with industry standards like smart digital (SD) memory.

Nonetheless, despite the PSP’s shortcomings, after doing much more reading on the device, I must make an addendum to my initial post about the PSP versus the Nintendo DS. The fact is, after running the numbers and the complexity of getting emulators to run on the two systems, the PSP turns out to be a viable option not much more expensive than the DS.

Unlike the DS, the PSP doesn’t need additional hardware to run emulators. Since a good device to run emulators on the DS, like the M3, costs around 70 dollars, an emulator-friendly DS that can play movies would run for about $200, and despite Sony’s proprietary memory storage technology, costs compared to SD are fairly comparable. With this in mind, the PSP runs about $50 more expensive than a DS, and both are able to run emulators for older consoles, including the NES, SNES, and Sega Master System (SMS). Add to this the PSP’s ability to play real movies on a nice LCD screen, its ability to play MP3s, stream video over broadband via TiVo-to-Go, control one’s iTunes wirelessly, et al, the PSP is a pretty good option for handheld gaming.

Most importantly, for the average gamer, the PSP offers technically superior games, with graphics more akin to a PS2 than the DS’ graphics which are more comparable to a N64. While the PSP’s gaming library is much smaller than that available for the DS, and may not have the draw like the DS’ new Mario Kart, games like Socom bring online PSP play to a level where Sony can at least make a fair statement that their technology is ready for the type of online service Nintendo is offering with the DS.

PSP hacking revisited.

In my earlier post, I mentioned that in order to get a PSP running emulators, one had to follow a procedure somewhat more complicated than buying a hardware device for the Nintendo DS and simply plugging it in. While this is true, the complexity isn’t very severe at all, so long as one knows what to download and how to run it on the PSP. In reality, the procedure involves the placement of downloaded files on the PSP’s memory card, and executing that code from the PSP. Unfortunately, Sony, who was aware of this and desperately wants to shut down the running of non-licensed code on the PSP, offered numerous patches to “fix” the security holes on the PSP which allow non-licensed “homebrew” code to run.

As of this writing, innovative hackers were able to get homebrew code running on PSPs with a firmware version of 2.0 and below. however, PSP Updates reports that a demo of a “Hello World” program offers to fix even this limitation, using an exploit in a Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories save game file. If development continues, the exploit promises to get even 2.0+ PSPs running homebrew applications like emulators, at least until Sony offers yet another patch.

In the meantime, if you’re serious about running emulators, game backups, and other applications on a PSP, a quick eBay or Google search should provide links to numerous retailers and sellers that continue to offer PSPs with firmware versions below 2.1. So, until the GTA exploit evolves, you may want to grab one of these PSPs rather than going to your nearest retail store and taking the chance of buying a newly manufactured PSP with too high a version number on it.

I happened to find a PSP bundled in the “Value Pack” this weekend for $245, and with a $10 ground shipping price, that’s cheaper than buying a PSP retail after taxes. And, I’m guaranteed to get a 2.0 firmware revision. Soon, the emulation gaming will begin.

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