How Could Sony Improve the PSP

[wraggster]

Now we as fans of the PSP know it is a great console but what could be done to make it better, what part of the system could do with improving or a new addition to the PSP for say a revised version soon.

My personal favourite would be a TV Out because it would just make the system perfect but also a 100% foolproof way of backdating the flash so it was impossible to brick a PSP,

Lets hope Sony are watching, what do you all think?

answer via the comments :)

[blondieboi]

I wish the UMD door on the back of the PSP would be more secured because one bump i accidently hit will pop that thing open.

and also what wraggster said would be nice aswell

[mr_snake3rd]

A built in hard drive, then the Ipod video would have no chance,

[urmom9388]

harddrive, tv out, shouldn't start the umd when psp is turned on, no region encoding on movies, and of course homebrew support for all firmwares.

[Griffith]

I don't think Sony will ever give us a save back-flashing program for the PSP since most of their releases add new features instead of removing them. My suggestion for Sony would be for them to allow homebrew software, although, in a limited form so the PSP won't have access to ISOs (legal or not).

Sure, all the 1337 kiddies would whine about it, but there aren't that many must have games for the PSP, if you could try out a game by downloading a demo from various sites on the internet you'd still get a taste of the game, and if you really enjoyed it you could buy it.

I have tried illegal ISOs on my PSP, as many others, and even though I have a wide range of games to play on ISO loading if I want, I always end up playing the same ones, and those are the ones I buy, so it really makes no difference.

In short, if Sony embraced the homebrew community, allowed us to have our emulators and programs without having to hack the PSP, they would not only be a menace to all portable consoles, but also all portable devices.

[wraggster]

yeah its a pity that Sony couldnt have a section where we send homebrew to them and they sign it and then allow homebrew to run on any version of their firmware.

[lilvietquoc]

i think sony shud make the psp run at it full potential
instead of just a 222mhz
so games can load fast
as well as emulators i guess
and a better battery

[grayjaket]

two analog sticks.

[YourStillWithMe]

-Ability to take pictures with it
-a folder for rom files to be played (obviously with the consent of Nintendo, Sega, ETC) by mean of like a PSP/GAME/ROM folder and possibly giving some of there profits to those companies?
-Photoshop
-.ini mp3 playback in the MUSIC folder

p.s-agreed grayjaket!

[kyus]

I want them to lift the 4gb limit in their firmware. that's all. PSP can't hope to compete with ipod video with that limit in their console.

[El Payo]

A built in hard drive, then the Ipod video would have no chance,

Well... an iPod still fits in a pocket. PSP, not so much. But I agree, a hard drive with 20-60GB would definitely dent the iPod sales.

[El Payo]

I want them to lift the 4gb limit in their firmware. that's all. PSP can't hope to compete with ipod video with that limit in their console.

Definitely definitely definitely.

This is my #1. You know higher capacity memory sticks are coming, and I don't want to have to carry around anything other than the PSP. No 'mem card wallet' or UMD portfolio. Let me keep all my stuff on the PSP.

[weak]

they could stop releasing updates

[MysticF]

yeah its a pity that Sony couldnt have a section where we send homebrew to them and they sign it and then allow homebrew to run on any version of their firmware.
I can't understand why they don't do that, I've thought about it before myself. A simple service like that couldn't take more than a couple of employee's an hour or two a day (more at first obviously) and would hardly dent their profit margin surely? Only reason I could think that they wouldn't consider this is maybe if they're worried about people cracking these homebrew and working out how to get things like ISO Emulators working on higher Firmware.

Course I don't know how these things work so I am probably totally wrong.

[weak]

it's not that easy. they would have to make sure that no malicious code gets signed. they'd have to dig through tons of code.

[kmerlijn]

Screen with glare reduced, so that you can see it all better when your outside. Damn, that's a hell of a problem to me!!

[Sterist]

flash back up would bump the console price up about $50. they are trying to keep the system at "affordable" public prices. if you see a value pack for $250 or a giga pack for $300, they are being sold at market price. no profit.

only think i wana see is no more fraud. memory cards are fraud. all of them. a gig mem card has around 950-980 megs, a 2gig has around 1900 megs, a 32 has 30megs.... just subtract what it actually has from the total storage labeled, then ask yourself what a memory card with that amount only would cost. Sony's mem cards are total fraud.

also, a purpose for the memory card in the Game section (legally). Updates are not games. there should be a separate folder for that. the game section is a total tease

[Junior]

A decent D-Pad with fully working diagonals in all directions on every PSP. Many have problems with it. And I thought I have a normal sized thump, being a 30 year old mobile-gaming freak.

A better version of the analog nub. Probably one that can be tilted.

Better UMD-Slot mechanics with as few moving parts as possible.

Fix switches like the On/Off switch. They feel like they are easily breakable. The L and R buttons don't feel very responsive.

Use more solid material for the case. Todays price could warrant even it having a metal surface. Of all things the design should be changed so that that it is much less likey that something will break if it falls out of your hands. Make it stable, give quality that helps it last 10 years or longer.

Reduce the screen lag.

Try to impove sound output (not necessarily volume -- just better overall).

No more super-smooth surfaces that attract fingerprints. Use matted surfaces that feel good and comfortable to the touch while they do not look smeary after power gaming for an hour -- or just a minute.

Come up with something to protect the screen. This could be anything from a new Clamshell design to a minimalistic black/reflective shutter with a motor that opens and closes the screen depending on the device being on or off.

[Datahax]

-Ability to take pictures with it
-a folder for rom files to be played (obviously with the consent of Nintendo, Sega, ETC) by mean of like a PSP/GAME/ROM folder and possibly giving some of there profits to those companies?
-Photoshop
-.ini mp3 playback in the MUSIC folder

p.s-agreed grayjaket!

Consent from Nintendo? Yea sure that'll happen. OH LOOK A COW JUST FLEW OUT OF MY ASS!

[Hidavi]

The only things I would like different:



it should include a GOOD screen protector sheet
It should have twice the battery life
It should have better, louder speakers
the Wi Fi antenna should be stronger


Thats it. To be honest, I don't want homebrew to be too easy on the PSP because then bootlegging games would be too easy and then the PSP would have a Dreamcast fate. Everything else is great. I won't complain about the thumbstick because its the first handheld to even give an analong option. It takes some getting used to and can be a little annoying sometimes, but I'm fine with it.

[Xarius]

How Could Sony Improve the PSP

One thing and only one thing. Stop f*cking combating hombrew and embrace it.

[Chackan]

First, they should allow for homebrews to run on every firmware, not iso loader's, just homebrews.

Second, they should let the Psp run at 333Mhz.

And lastly,the D-Pad really isn't the best one i've played with. The diagonals doesn't work at all, or really badly. They should've had more attention to that!

[Hidavi]

First, they should allow for homebrews to run on every firmware, not iso loader's, just homebrews.

Second, they should let the Psp run at 333Mhz.

And lastly,the D-Pad really isn't the best one i've played with. The diagonals doesn't work at all, or really badly. They should've had more attention to that!

If they let homebrew run, they automatically allow ISO loaders to run too.

[grayjaket]

only think i wana see is no more fraud. memory cards are fraud. all of them. a gig mem card has around 950-980 megs, a 2gig has around 1900 megs, a 32 has 30megs.... just subtract what it actually has from the total storage labeled, then ask yourself what a memory card with that amount only would cost. Sony's mem cards are total fraud.


are you just babbling because you think you're making sense?

[crazy_biker420]

two analog sticks would be nice
run at full speed 333mhz
if possible in the future a folding one
atathable ps2 molded spape with extra triggers and analog sticks (or somthing like that)

[califrag]

$ony will never allow "homebrew" to be run on their machines. PERIOD. The only thing they MIGHT do, is add some of the functions that homebrew adds to their firmware updates. For example.. PSPersonalize allowed you to change your background.. $ony released new firmware allowing you to do this. PSPRadio allows you to listen to radio over the internet.. the new RSS feature is similar to this, opening up a full range of audio podcasts from the internet.

What $ony needs to do is realize a lot of us just want simple things like calculators.. notepads.. address books.. things that the PSP firmware should have come with in the first place! Little games like solitaire and minesweeper to entertain us for five or ten minutes.. rather than waiting five or ten minutes to load a UMD game and get a mission started! Functionality to make the PSP more versatile as a Digital Assistant (PDA), Gaming Console, Movie Player, MP3 player, etc.

I think $ony only needs to keep IMPROVING their software! but rather than take AWAY the functionality that homebrew adds, they should take the extra few hours to verify and add the source coding that someone has ALREADY put together. I think this would be the only enticing reason for a homebrew user to update their system with the newest firmware.

Honestly, I've tried the ISO's.. and I agree that I usually only play the UMDs which I buy! Because of this I'm running 2.0 firmware which allows me to use the simple homebrew that I mentioned earlier.

The 4GB is the biggest crippler of the PSP. Why does it seem like the PSP was DESIGNED obsolete!? There's no reason for this!

The hardware is a bit shakey too. I always feel like I'm going to put the PSP in sleep mode while playing a game because of the loose on/off switch and horrible location choice! Same with my wireless switch, shakey and I feel like I'm gonna disconnect myself during a socom match if my hand slips! The UMD Eject button is also loose and I know there are a lot of you out there who bought a $ony Portable UMD Launcher (PUL).

Bare with me, I know this is a long post already!

I've had to OPEN UP MY PSP! It's only 6 months old, and out of fear of sending it to $ony and getting it back with 2.6 firmware, I decided to open it up! I had to fix my ANALOG STICK, which I know a lot of you have problems with.
IF YOU HAVE BOUGHT THE OVERSIZED ANALOG NUBS FROM NAKI OR DRAGONPLUS, DO NOT TWIST THE ANALOG STICK!!!
When I first put on the analog stick, I noticed it would twist about 10 degrees (imagine on a clock it would twist from 11:55-12:00). After playing SOCOM for awhile the twist developed to about 20 degrees WHICH DESTROYED MY ANALOG NUB AND LOCKED IT UP!! Basically I had to open it up and reset the guides underneath. It works ok, but it still twists about 25 degrees now and the nub is worn on the UNDERNEATH (you can't see it unless you disassemble the PSP and the analog unit!)

There are a billion other reasons that make the PSP absolutely horrid - battery life, load times, screen and game lag, game choices, screen glare and composition (i.e. easy fingerprints/scratches/etc), speaker volume, button arrangement, sticky and nonresponsive buttons, shakey battery door cover, no video out, stupid memory stick duo rubber cover annoying piece of crap I want to break you off thingy.. etc. etc..

But through all this all I have to say, is I ABSOLUTELY CHERISH my PSP... YEP! I even went so far as buying my brother one for Christmas!!

Sorry for the length of this post, but I hope I've covered just about everything there is that should be improved.

[Hidavi]

are you just babbling because you think you're making sense?

Yeah. He has no idea what he's talking about. If Memory Sticks are frauds because of their misrepresented capacities, then so are all storage devices. No 80GB hard drive gives you 80GB, its more like 73GB. No flash card gives you exactly the amount shown. With storage devices, its like the bigger the storage device, the more space you loose. It kinda sucks, but its necessary for the storage and the OS of any computer/device using it to work at all.

[LC_killer]

tv in, so i can watch brodcast network tv. the psp as a portable tv would ****ing rock. that location free sux, its too expensive, and you have to pay a monthly fee..**** that

[gas19d]

The psp could use some improvements sure but there mostly things that they cant change... The psp is still getting tons of customers. Actually today on my way home i was on the subway with a NintendoDS i just got for my little brother. I see a man with a psp next to me and i chuckle and showed him what i had. He asked if i had a psp and i noticed he didnt speak good english. He wanted me to help him run GTA. I told him how to update his psp. He said he just got it to watch movies. Sony is doing what nintendo is doing too its bringing in customers that wouldnt have bought a video game system usually... although i think nintendo is better at it :cool:

[shiftybill]

id like to see a second analog stick as well as better games, most if not all psp games suck!

[stormuk]

Like a few others - a Harddrive

If not a built in HD, the ability to at least directly use a usb2 harddrive.

[bmagierski]

A Flash Player for the brower so we leverage WiFi and can build true mobile Rich Internet Applications.

[rand11]

My wishlist in no particular order:

- longer life battery
- support for homebrew
- clamshell design or swivel screen with protection
- better ergonomics
- full 333mhz speed
- built in hdd
- support for 802.11g
- tv tuner

they should have two models. a budget conscious model, and a fully kitted model coz with all the features we want youre looking at $300-400.

[megaman0]

Reduce the loading times and start making original games

[Hidavi]

Well, what I really would like would be better graphics engine set. One with 2x AA. Thats really all that I could want as an improvement in PSP graphics, 2x AA.

[jwilds73]

Ok this is pie in the sky for the current PSP and probably current technology in some aspects but,

XM Sattelite Radio and TV support

Built in TV output

Blue Tooth support

and it's a Cellphone

oh and why the hell not a Tazer also :D

[Hidavi]

$ony will never allow "homebrew" to be run on their machines. PERIOD. The only thing they MIGHT do, is add some of the functions that homebrew adds to their firmware updates. For example.. PSPersonalize allowed you to change your background.. $ony released new firmware allowing you to do this. PSPRadio allows you to listen to radio over the internet.. the new RSS feature is similar to this, opening up a full range of audio podcasts from the internet.

What $ony needs to do is realize a lot of us just want simple things like calculators.. notepads.. address books.. things that the PSP firmware should have come with in the first place! Little games like solitaire and minesweeper to entertain us for five or ten minutes.. rather than waiting five or ten minutes to load a UMD game and get a mission started! Functionality to make the PSP more versatile as a Digital Assistant (PDA), Gaming Console, Movie Player, MP3 player, etc.

I think $ony only needs to keep IMPROVING their software! but rather than take AWAY the functionality that homebrew adds, they should take the extra few hours to verify and add the source coding that someone has ALREADY put together. I think this would be the only enticing reason for a homebrew user to update their system with the newest firmware.

Honestly, I've tried the ISO's.. and I agree that I usually only play the UMDs which I buy! Because of this I'm running 2.0 firmware which allows me to use the simple homebrew that I mentioned earlier.

The 4GB is the biggest crippler of the PSP. Why does it seem like the PSP was DESIGNED obsolete!? There's no reason for this!

The hardware is a bit shakey too. I always feel like I'm going to put the PSP in sleep mode while playing a game because of the loose on/off switch and horrible location choice! Same with my wireless switch, shakey and I feel like I'm gonna disconnect myself during a socom match if my hand slips! The UMD Eject button is also loose and I know there are a lot of you out there who bought a $ony Portable UMD Launcher (PUL).

Bare with me, I know this is a long post already!

I've had to OPEN UP MY PSP! It's only 6 months old, and out of fear of sending it to $ony and getting it back with 2.6 firmware, I decided to open it up! I had to fix my ANALOG STICK, which I know a lot of you have problems with.
IF YOU HAVE BOUGHT THE OVERSIZED ANALOG NUBS FROM NAKI OR DRAGONPLUS, DO NOT TWIST THE ANALOG STICK!!!
When I first put on the analog stick, I noticed it would twist about 10 degrees (imagine on a clock it would twist from 11:55-12:00). After playing SOCOM for awhile the twist developed to about 20 degrees WHICH DESTROYED MY ANALOG NUB AND LOCKED IT UP!! Basically I had to open it up and reset the guides underneath. It works ok, but it still twists about 25 degrees now and the nub is worn on the UNDERNEATH (you can't see it unless you disassemble the PSP and the analog unit!)

There are a billion other reasons that make the PSP absolutely horrid - battery life, load times, screen and game lag, game choices, screen glare and composition (i.e. easy fingerprints/scratches/etc), speaker volume, button arrangement, sticky and nonresponsive buttons, shakey battery door cover, no video out, stupid memory stick duo rubber cover annoying piece of crap I want to break you off thingy.. etc. etc..

But through all this all I have to say, is I ABSOLUTELY CHERISH my PSP... YEP! I even went so far as buying my brother one for Christmas!!

Sorry for the length of this post, but I hope I've covered just about everything there is that should be improved.

yes, I think the only thing thats really wrong about the PSP is the firmware. They should've had a Palm OS-like firmware with calculator and notepad and all those frills.

Um, maybe you wrestle with your PSP, but my PSP is 9-10 months old and the only thing wrong with it is that the square button has gotten a little sticky.

Did you say that the PSP was designed absolete? Absolete to the PS2, heeeelz jea, but absolete among its peers of 32-bit and 64-bit handhelds? No way man. If anything, the PSP is in some ways even more advanced than its home console counterparts.

[Hidavi]

Oh, and I would LOVE to be able to pay for wireless broadband internet for my PSP. I'd be wiling to pay $10 a month. Like, I can already do that, but thats only when I get a signal, which isn't as often as always.

[sgamemu22]

Sometimes I dont want to automatically load the UMD. There should be a configuration for that. An internal harddrive would be great.

[titch.ryan]

I would love all small homebrews to work on version 2.60 and defenitely a built in hard drive. Also Tv out and the ability to send music to other psps!

[dOOmy]

A TV out and a port so you can connect a gamepad cause the gamepads are the first thing to go, espiciallly if youve got a temper

[ENGL!SH]

why cant they allow homebrew up to a certain size e.g 20 mb ,so isos cant be loaded
i would also like a tv ariel

[MaxSMoke]

Add in some native Voice over IP, or even better, a cellphone radio to work with the headset jack. But then it would really need a camera added in as well.

Lord of the Ring-Tones-
1 Device to Unite them All!

[jimjamjahaa]

i want personal organiser functionality, and reminders/alarms that wake up your psp when its on sleep mode. that way you could keep it in sleep mode, saving ur battery and then it wakes its self up to remind you you were supposed to be somewhere by now :)

giving out the sdk's to homebrew developers. im suprised no one has mentioned that. if they are going to go to the trouble of sifting through peoples source, and then signing it, they may as well give out the sdk's so we can get some sweet looking games coming out.

i thought the 4 gig limit was a limit of the FAT filesystem?

[y0gz]

I gotta do something with the memory cards issue, ITS JUST PISSING ME OFF, I bought a 1 gig sony mem card, and got 950mb instead of 1024 mb, I tried mailing them in their site, no email supplied!, I'm going to make a sign list, the everyone will add their names, and I'll send it to them, It's ****ing annoying me!

[Sterist]

are you just babbling because you think you're making sense?

shut up. back up your mem stick on PC. reformat it. tell me if the total amount matches the label. if it does, i want a photo of both the mem card itsself and the display of the same capability.

what ive said could be understood by even the simplest of minds...

[Sterist]

Yeah. He has no idea what he's talking about. If Memory Sticks are frauds because of their misrepresented capacities, then so are all storage devices. No 80GB hard drive gives you 80GB, its more like 73GB. No flash card gives you exactly the amount shown. With storage devices, its like the bigger the storage device, the more space you loose. It kinda sucks, but its necessary for the storage and the OS of any computer/device using it to work at all.

sounds like you know exactly what im talking about. if they KNOW that an item with an expected amount is going to have so much less, then they lessen what the label says or atleast say so on the package.

[Sterist]

ok heres the last of my thoughts of what i've read so far (replied as i went along, forgive triple post):

full time 333mhz speed would KILL battery. no no, it wouldnt kill the battery, it would murder it

Built in HDD:
1. oh man, did i say the 333mhz would kill battery? imagine this!! (expect 1hour battery life tops, apon any and all HDD use)
2. have you ever looked inside your psp? it's jam-packed. there is absolutely no room for one
3. (in my opinion) a built in mem card as an alternative to HDD, perhaps 2gig+, or slots for 2 memory cards, would make more sense; much much smaller and a fraction of the power to operate.

forgot who said it but whoever said they had a "shakey power switch / wifi switch / UMD switch", lol thats just your psp.... must have a TON of use

L and R have too much play in them, they dont seem built to last (they can move forward and back by about 20mm)

yes, definitally eliminate the auto-run-UMD on start up, or atleast prompt it

homebrew, in my opinion, is risky (sheer luck, or unluck, that the .0000001% chance of bricking your psp could happen anytime), there should be a "test program" that will give you pointers on virus or virus-like code before allowing any use

2nd analog stick sounds nice but i dont think its needed, everything seems covered except for a few select games that have a bunch of in-game "toggle" options where you hold a botton then push another to do something

definitally use a different texture that is more finger-friendly

id like to see a USB kb capability

put a botton-like lock in the dead center of the Wi-Fi switch, power switch, and UMD switch

fix that ever so hard battery door to take on / off (i have to work at it to get it to latch)

put some sort of a switch / lock on the mem stick cover

i'd like to see sony take full advantage of having an IR port on the PSP (TV remotes, i know programming for TVs isnt hard.)

and that seems to be about all the logical and possible stuff i can think of lol

[Ellises]

The only reason why I bought my PSP was because of the homebrew, if homebrew wasn't possible with such ease (since it's harder with the NDS, hince why I never bought a NDS) I would of never bought a PSP.

But I of course updated my psp to version 2.0 to play GTA, lol.

But the only reason why I wanted homebrew was not because I wanted emulators or such but because I'm a coder, and it always been a dream to make my own games and play them on the fly.
So my advice to Sony if they don't want to include homebrew support, instead add scripting support, for an example offically add LUA or something similar to the PSP for that we can program all of our games, and of course you can't really use ISO support to LUA, so it wouldn't be a no lose thing, they would sell more PSPs due to advance users or newbies trying to make their own playable game scripts and wouldn't have to worry about pirating.

[Cakebox]

If they just could throw out the UMD unit and put in a microdrive small HD on 20 gb would just be great. Althou then I'd feel sorry for Sony, couse then they'd go downhill, just as they're doing now :O

[motormaniac]

i think they should have a digital camera built in. also be able to stream music and videos w/ out buying all that stuff. and a 2 gig harddrive ! and maybe a keyboard that pops out of the bottom, kinda like the umd thing ! i typed this from my 2.6! ;)

[andrewgabriel77]

2 analog sticks, camera, built in hdd, keyboard, built in mic, cell modem....that would make it un-beatable

[kaoss-b]

-Allow Homebrew to run (limited, no ISOs)
-Hear Music and watch images at the same time
-No Autorun
-Maybe a camera :p

I think these things would be great :)

[stellarola]

Better refresh rate, it needs it for faster paced games.

[Chazzmos]

If they just could throw out the UMD unit and put in a microdrive small HD on 20 gb would just be great. Althou then I'd feel sorry for Sony, couse then they'd go downhill, just as they're doing now :O

Yeah, I've been thinking about that lately... Basically UMDs suck a bit. They take a long time to access and the drive is flimsy. Traditionally new medias die, CDs and DVDs are the only stalwarts of discs. Does anyone still use a minidisc player?

[b8a]

Yeah, I agree with those of you who have made posts about the rediculous limitations of the PSP. Anybody who knows anything about internal affairs at Sony knows that the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, and the PSP is proof positive of this.

They've made this incredible system and give it an incredible ammount of security, but all they give us is mediocre (at best) games that aren't even worthy of that level of security. The PSP has been available for over a year now and it seems like Sony is far more interested in fighting would-be pirates than they are in making quality games. The end result: they sold me my PSP at a loss hoping to make up money in the games I buy, but they haven't released any games that I want so I haven't bought any games. And then, to further compound the problem, they want to force me to upgrade to play the newest games, so chances are that when a game comes out that I actually do want to buy and play, I won't be able to because the homebrew functionality is FAR more important to me.

And this isn't an issue of ISO's with me. I've never even used one, because, like I said I haven't seen any games for the PSP that look worthy of my money, much less my time. Rather, it's because I have far more everyday use for a programmable, portable media player than I do for a mediocre game machine that has crippled 2D games capabilities. And since I've never been able to get into full 3D games the way I did with 2D ones, emulators playing all of my old favorites are preferable to the newest, flashiest, but ultimately less interesting 3D games.

I'm sure that Sony will release many more firmware updates in the future (we all know that an official Flash player is in the works), and some of those updates may be rather enticing, but there's no way I'm giving up homebrew compatibility and Sony's going to have to make some major change to the hardware in order for me to justify buying a second PSP. A/V output. Built in hard drive. Better battery life. Cut 2D game makers some slack and make it easier to run 2D games on the hardware. It needs to be more solidly built. But, more than anything for me, it needs to offer MD compatibility. I'm probably alone on this board in this opinion, but MDs are only SLIGHTLY larger than UMDs, so the fact that the PSP can't use them is entirely and unfathomably rediculous. My library of MDs is larger than my library of MP3s and I have no plans to spend countless hours converting, which means that I have to clunk around BOTH a PSP and an MD player. Thankfully both are relatively small, but, come on, Sony's the major purvayor of MD technology, you'd think they'd try to support their own internal interests. Yeah, UMDs in and of themselves are a doomed, flawed technology, but why did Sony go out of their way to make a format so similar and yet totaly different from their pre-existing one?? (Just read Chazzmos' post and while MDs never really cought on outside of Japan, there are millions of Japanese who own stacks of MDs and could sympathize with my frustration. I suspect that Sony could help out their Japanese PSP sales by fixing this incompatibility issue since the Japanese public is notoriously obsessed with convergance and compact, portable technologies. Just look at the tremendous success of the game boy micro. It didn't offer anybody anything new, but people snatched it up over there simply because it was easier to carry and therefore more convenient to use. Spend a few hours riding the trains in Japan and you'll see just how popular MDs still are over there, and the missed potential for the PSP to replace so many of those devoted MD players which can't do anything but play music)

But then again, they've had memory sticks for years and they're only beginning to implement the technology in their very successful game products. Honestly, Sony either needs to get their act togeather or just entirely break up into smaller, specialized, focused companies. I personally think the Nintendo DS is a bulky joke, but it's games lineup and the ammount of users out there are making me take a second look (I'd never get one though... that whole dual screen setup is just way too gimickish to me.). Sony should be ashamed. There's no reason it should be this way...

Several people have mentioned PDA features... These would be great, but I'd like to take that one step further. I would easily plop down an extra $400 if I could run full versions of Photoshop or Illustrator, or any of my other oft-used software on the PSP. I have more fun with those software packages than I do with most of the games that are being released these days.

[stormuk]

Remember children its a games machine not a pc!

[Psphreak]

I gotta do something with the memory cards issue, ITS JUST PISSING ME OFF, I bought a 1 gig sony mem card, and got 950mb instead of 1024 mb, I tried mailing them in their site, no email supplied!, I'm going to make a sign list, the everyone will add their names, and I'll send it to them, It's ****ing annoying me!

This is NOT the issue with memory cards. It's just the overhead of the FAT system that takes up that space. Haven't you noticed when you get a hard drive that it says 40 Gigs, but after formatting you only get (usable) about 38 gigs?

[htn85]

I gotta do something with the memory cards issue, ITS JUST PISSING ME OFF, I bought a 1 gig sony mem card, and got 950mb instead of 1024 mb, I tried mailing them in their site, no email supplied!, I'm going to make a sign list, the everyone will add their names, and I'll send it to them, It's ****ing annoying me!
that's not really an 'issue'. you should have checked on sony's memory stick website to see how much end-user memory capacity is available on the 1gig stick before you bought it. i have a sandisk with only 942mb end-user capacity. it's the same deal with all memory sticks/cards (i.e. my 256mb TransFlash/microSD only ends up having 249mb end-user capacity). if you checked your computer's HDD as well, it would have less space than commercially specified (i.e. mine is a 60GB HDD and only 58GB is end-user capacity).

[MaxSMoke]

Legitimate Homebrew Support.

[RedKing14CA]

i like what there doing with the whole you must have 2.0 to play GTA and Lord of the Rings... if they can just stick with that, and not require 2.5.. im cool...

[Hidavi]

3 things I would really like:

The ability to stream video from remote servers that aren't LocationFree.
The ability to transfer save files from PSP to PSP.
Cell-phone, or at least PSP2PSP calling.

[Sterist]

This is NOT the issue with memory cards. It's just the overhead of the FAT system that takes up that space. Haven't you noticed when you get a hard drive that it says 40 Gigs, but after formatting you only get (usable) about 38 gigs?

bolded = lie

want proof? 5 simple steps:

step 1. activate usb
step 2. go to MY COMPUTOR
step 3. find " Removable Disk (G: ) "
step 4. right-click it and go to Properties
step 5. check out your "Maximum Capacity".

and even if it was taken up by that other crap, why would it take different amounts on every single memory card (it varies 950-1024 for gig sticks, mine is labeled gig and has 956mb)

do the same type of check on your C-drive (hard drive), maximum will be under what the label says

[Hidavi]

bolded = lie

want proof? 5 simple steps:

step 1. activate usb
step 2. go to MY COMPUTOR
step 3. find " Removable Disk (G: ) "
step 4. right-click it and go to Properties
step 5. check out your "Maximum Capacity".

and even if it was taken up by that other crap, why would it take different amounts on every single memory card (it varies 950-1024 for gig sticks, mine is labeled gig and has 956mb)

do the same type of check on your C-drive (hard drive), maximum will be under what the label says

You're right about this. MS DUOs use a FAT file system, so this is the case with MS DUOs. All storage mediums use file systems, even floppies. Floppies actually have 2MB, but since overhead takes it down to 1.44MB on PCs, thats what we've always been told. Without a file system, you can't even use files on a storage medium.

[Sterist]

i really doubt the psp uses that, and that they even exsist. you wouldnt need one to use files anyways because all the memory card needs to do is hold the data. it does not have a processor in any way shape for form, therefore, uncompatable with any format recognizer, operater, or whatever the "FAT system" is supposed to be

btw i have a 80gig hd, but the max capacity is 69.2gigs

[Sterist]

i like what there doing with the whole you must have 2.0 to play GTA and Lord of the Rings... if they can just stick with that, and not require 2.5.. im cool...

www.us.playstation.com 's update section for psp (towards the bottom of the firmware feature list) clearly states that firmware upgrades are not able to go higher than 2.00 on UMD's. if they cant put the update on the disk then they cant require it.

[Hidavi]

i really doubt the psp uses that, and that they even exsist. you wouldnt need one to use files anyways because all the memory card needs to do is hold the data. it does not have a processor in any way shape for form, therefore, uncompatable with any format recognizer, operater, or whatever the "FAT system" is supposed to be

btw i have a 80gig hd, but the max capacity is 69.2gigs

yes, the MS Duo does use a FAT file system. All flash media uses it to work with PCs and the devices they fit into (PSP, camera, pda, etc). If you check the properties of the PSP Mass Storage Device in My Computer, it clearly states that its a FAT File System. The MS Duo does not have any processor for working with files, but neither does any harddrive. Please stop debating this with me. I've been a computer nerd for 10 years, I know what I'm talking about.

[ish420ism]

$ony can improve the psp by making it visible outdoors in daylight. The psp is playable, if you don't mind wearing a jacket over your head while playing. And with a 20gb hard drive... :eek: HOW MUCH and WHERE CAN I GET ONE

[Hidavi]

$ony can improve the psp by making it visible outdoors in daylight. The psp is playable, if you don't mind wearing a jacket over your head while playing. And with a 20gb hard drive... :eek: HOW MUCH and WHERE CAN I GET ONE

Don't expect a 20GB for your PSP that won't make it outrageously big. That won't happen for maybe 4 years.

But the visibility idea is great. Yes, if the PSP needs one improvement its that one. Good job.