Acquiring a PSP

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 19, 2006, 8:41 pm

Well after playing the Loco Roco demo and my coworker telling me all the things the PSP could do (homebrew, emulators, etc) I went and purchased one. Unfortuantely I didn't do my research because the newer ones (based on the TA-082 motherboard) can't be used like that. You need to have one you can downgrade to 1.5. So I'll probably bring this one back since while I'm sure some PSP games can be fun I really bought it as a portable emulator. It's also a bit on the heavy side. My hands get sore holding it for too long.

Anyway, does anyone know where a good place would be to try finding one manufactered last year? Preferably new and not on eBay. I've seen a lot of posts by people trying to dowgrade the newer ones and making them inoperable so I wouldn't put it past some people to try selling them there. Basically anything with firmware pre-2.50.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » August 19, 2006, 9:41 pm

So you were interested when you could hack it but notsomuch when you can't huh?

What does it say about Sony and their vision of gaming when people only want the POSP cause they can hack it and add the shit they want.

I'm betting you'll only be able to get store credit back on it.

Trias · Post by **Trias** » August 19, 2006, 10:15 pm

most places do not even allow open product hardware returns/game systems.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 19, 2006, 11:00 pm

Animalor wrote:So you were interested when you could hack it but notsomuch when you can't huh?

Pretty much. Othewise I'd just get a Nintendo DS! Not personally hack it. Just use the emulators and stuff out. A lot of it requires the 1.5 Firmware.

Animalor wrote:What does it say about Sony and their vision of gaming when people only want the POSP cause they can hack it and add the shit they want.

It says that they should stop making it so people can't add the shit they want!

Animalor wrote:I'm betting you'll only be able to get store credit back on it.

Possibly. I checked Best Buy return policy and it sounded like I could return it. If they wont take it I'll probalby just keep it. I bought Lumines with it and it was decent. More than likely will buy Loco Roco too. Just would like to do more with it than what Sony wants.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » August 19, 2006, 11:54 pm

Aslanna wrote:Just would like to do more with it than what Sony wants.

I think we'll be hearing a lot more of that after November 17th.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 20, 2006, 5:08 am

I think I returned an Xbox to Best Buy once although it may have been an exchange...actually, I think it was an unopened xbox that I looked up the serial number on when I got home to find out it wasn't the version I needed so nevermind.

Hope you can return it. I don't think the PSP is worth it unless it's hacked for fun.

Keeping up with the various revisions of game consoles/portables is important if hacking is intended.

Even the Xbox 360 has been changed already with an easy repleacable chip for the DVD hack now being epoxy/glued to the board to make it harder to hack. The first purchasers of 360s (initial six months or so) have an easier time hacking their box.

I would guess eBay would have old PsP listed with firmware versions as there's a market for them. I think it's been awhile since the upgrade so stores may not have any olds ones left.

Post by **pyrella** » August 20, 2006, 2:53 pm

I kept my psp as 1.5 up until the point that I got the Loco Roco demo, but that forced an update. I had found I wasn't using the emu's/homebrew/downloaded games so much anyways.

Upside to it is that I can now play my copy of GTA without borrowing other peoples PSP's, and a lot of the games I had been passing on since they requred 1.7+, I can now get, and they are cheaper =P

I'll have to look in to the ability of downgrading my firmware, as I assume mine should support it.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 20, 2006, 3:26 pm

There's a downgrader for 2.60 assuming you don't have the TA-082 which you probably don't but it requires GTA:Liberty City as it does it via some sort of save game exproit (which was fixed in later GTAs). Nothing yet for 2.70+ which you probably had to get for Loco Roco. All part of Sony's evil plan to get people to update.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 24, 2006, 6:28 pm

I was able to locate a pre-2.50 firmware PSP. Thanks to Sony for indicating the firmware version on the outside of the box. Just wish I had known that before buying the first one. If anyone is interested the best thing to do is look for the Value Packs. It includes a bunch of crap most people don't need and everytime I went to Best Buy they tried selling me the non-value pack version and then a $50 package made by someone else which does have more stuff. So since most people probably go that route the Value Packs dont move as fast. Anyway, there's UC2 sticker on the side which includes the serial number and stuff. On the third line, under the voltage information, there will be a letter. Anything G and less is good. H and above = bad (so far)! Most of what you find in the stores now is I (2.60).

Depending on your version you can either downgrade directly or upgrade to 2.60 and use the downgrader. Only bad thing about this is it requires the unpatched version of GTA:Liberty Cities. I don't know anything about that as I just gave it to someone at work who did it for me.

Upside to it is that I can now play my copy of GTA without borrowing other peoples PSP's, and a lot of the games I had been passing on since they requred 1.7+, I can now get, and they are cheaper =P

Sounds like you needed DevHook! A firmware emulator. My PSP thinks it's 2.71 at the moment. 2.8 mode supposedly on the way. Haven't messed with any sort of emulators yet though as things are pretty busy at work.

As far as returning a PSP to Best Buy. I called them up and he said just bring it in and they'll give a refund. It's not on the list of things that can't be refunded and also not on the list of things that get you a restocking fee so I don't think I'll have a problem.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » September 1, 2006, 3:59 pm

pyrella wrote:I kept my psp as 1.5 up until the point that I got the Loco Roco demo, but that forced an update. I had found I wasn't using the emu's/homebrew/downloaded games so much anyways.

Upside to it is that I can now play my copy of GTA without borrowing other peoples PSP's, and a lot of the games I had been passing on since they requred 1.7+, I can now get, and they are cheaper =P

I'll have to look in to the ability of downgrading my firmware, as I assume mine should support it.

There's a downgrader for 2.71 coming out today if interested. It doesn't require GTA either. So you can downgrade to 1.5 and use DevHook to emulate 2.71 for games that need it.

Unless you upgraded to 2.80. Then you're out of luck.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » September 1, 2006, 4:49 pm

wow! that sure sounds like a lot of work to get a hand held working how you want it to!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » September 1, 2006, 5:41 pm

Funkmasterr wrote:wow! that sure sounds like a lot of work to get a hand held working how you want it to!

Only because I'm picky and emulation is interesting to me. The average person probably doesn't care about all that. I just thought it would be neat to have a handheld that could do a lot of different things. If none of that wasn't possible I wouldn't have purchased a PSP to begin with.

Unfortunately I haven't had much time to actually do much of anything with it yet.