uesday, April 5, 2005 Posted: 4:42 PM EDT (2042 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Sony Corp.'s new PlayStation Portable is turning into a great tool for Web browsing, comics reading and online chat -- and it also happens to play video games, movies and music, if you prefer that sort of thing.

The $249 PSP handheld video game player went on sale in the United States on March 24, and it took very little time before techies added the kinds of functions to the PSP that Sony did not include -- and may never have intended. One man needed only 24 hours to get a working client for Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, an older messaging platform.

"I was on IRC, and someone mentioned how cool it would be to use their PSP on Wi-Fi at Starbucks to talk to people over IRC. I said, 'I can do that', so I began working on it immediately," said Robert Balousek, creator of PSPIRC (http://www.pspirc.comexternal link), in an email interview.

Balousek said as many as 100,000 people may have visited the IRC client, and he is starting work on a new project that would let PSP users chat on the AOL Instant Messenger network.

Hacking new video game hardware is old hat -- rare is the console that does not get its own version of the Linux operating system from enterprising developers. But the gaming and hacking communities embraced the PSP with speed rarely seen in the console world -- a nod, perhaps, to its portability.

Other "hacks" include a way to transfer TV shows recorded by the TiVo digital video recorder to the PSP, a program for reading ebooks and a viewer for comics downloaded from the Internet.

Much of the new PSP functionality comes from using the Web browser built into the racing game "Wipeout Pure," which was meant to go to a Sony site. By changing some of the PSP's network settings, the browser can be pointed to an Internet portal.

A number of people have already set up such portals, formatted to fit in the PSP's screen and offering links and a place to enter Web addresses. The technology blog Engadget has rounded up a number of those links.

Sony Computer Entertainment of America, the Japanese conglomerate's U.S. gaming unit, did not respond to requests for comment.

But the tinkerers suggest Sony probably did not have their work in mind when they released the PSP. Balousek said the company had only left small loopholes for outsiders to use.

The development community wishes that would change, as evidenced by an open plea to Sony posted April 5 on the Web site PS2dev.org (http://www.ps2dev.orgexternal link), which is dedicated to the development of open-source software projects for the PS2.

"I suggest to Sony that they should work with us to develop a method to allow home-brew software" using technology to protect Sony copyrights," the site's editor "Oobles" wrote.


http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.gam...eut/index.html

 

no keyboard h:

 

 

^

 

i wonder how badly this thing buried the DS in sales.

 

Whoa, what the hell is that keyboard thing?!

 

man, i so want one.

 

i was thinking... dont they support games based on the memory stick?... so in theory couldnt someone write the program based directly for psp.. made they will release a DEV-kit for programs... the only problem is sony is losing so much money in selling the hardware it might not be in their best intrest not to market certain types of products themselves (eg...web browser)

 

Heres a compiled list of known PSP hacks.

PSP Web Browsing
http://mozy.org/psp/

TivoToGo on PSP
http://www.zatznotfunny.com/ttg.htm#psp

Read webcomics on PSP
http://www.8bitjoystick.com/archives...n_portable.php

Manga on psp
http://psp.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3139112

Creating Sony Thumbnail files
http://www.breakyourself.com/creatin...thumbnails.htm

PSP Dead Pixel Checker
http://psp.ign.com/articles/599/599236p1.html

How to use your Mac to play PSP games over the web
http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/forum/vie...263c36 9a433d6

How to take apart PSP
http://www.informit.com/articles/art...?p=380915&rl=1

Reading RSS feeds on psp
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000013038102/

How to get videos and dvds on psp
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000980024404/

edit fixed links

 

March 31, 2005 - Most game system launches are followed up by wild boasts from the publishing company on the sell-through rate and sell-out status of the hardware (even the humble but hungry Gizmondo made headlines for its first 800 sales.) Game industry followers watching the PSP's launch, however, are still waiting a week later for official numbers (or even boastingly exaggerated sell-through-as-sale numbers) on how the system did its first week in America. PlayStation Portable's launch in America comes in a quiet time for retailers, and although many expected Sony's handheld to carry enough momentum from the PlayStation brand name to push units out at sell-out rates, estimates of launch sales indicate sales that are good for the season but still short of past PlayStation successes.

As reported by CNN, a survey by the American Technology Research of 150 retailers nation-wide estimates that between 475,000 and 575,000 PSP units sold through in the first seven days of the system's release. Distribution is approximated to be close to SCE's 1 million units shipped in North America, with 250,000 to 300,000 of inventory left on shelves through in the launch period (the remaining stock out of the one million, we assume, either unaccounted for in the distribution channels or held for restocking.) Out of the retailers polled, 1/3 had sold through its stock, with remaining stores having as little as three units left and as many as 100 still waiting to be sold.

Analyst P. J. McNealy states in the report that mainstream stores like Wal-Mart and Target received more inventory than expected, and many locations have left-over systems from the large stock. Specialty stores like GameStop and EB are reported to be through their stocks entirely (many of these stores had already sold through their incoming stock before launch day due to extensive pre-order campaigns.) Toy stores and electronic shops, however, are also reporting inventory in various locations.

McNealy describes the launch as "solid but not spectacular." He also writes off a lot of the concern for the launch as a result of the slower, out-of-season launch period. The Nintendo DS was able to sell through a similar 500,000 units in its first week at retail, although exact comparisons may not fit -- the DS was launched during the 2004 holiday frenzy, but it was also released in carefully portioned numbers and was difficult to find on shelves for much of the period and beyond.

Numbers for PSP game sales were not mentioned in the report. Tie-ratio of games sold per system will be an important figure for Sony and Third Parties to look at, as the health of the game sales will be critical to the system's continuing life no matter what the hardware numbers are. It is unknown how the multimedia functions of the PlayStation Portable will factor into buyer's purchasing activity -- the multimedia features of the PSP are considered by some to be a distraction away from the games waiting on shelves, although success with DVD playback on PS2 have shown that getting the hardware in peoples' hands is a success that can be capitalized on later with games catering to the mainstream entertainment enthusiast.

Official numbers are still being tallied, so if you are running a gamble riding on how the launch sales end up, there's still time to raise your bet.

http://psp.ign.com/articles/600/600453p1.html

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also consider the price difference between the two