Over the past few months, I've spotted something a little odd and unexpected happening to Sony's old PlayStation Portable. There's been no corporate push, no announcement of the truly portable Sony handheld we used to hope for (sorry, Portal). Instead, through something far less predictable, considering it's 2026, people are
@PerfectDark
I had the PSP-1001 a few months after launch & felt like a huge tech upgrade over the DS at the time.
I was wayyy into modifying it, (just going from memory) downgrading to firmware 1.50 & running games off of the magicgate pro duo to get faster load times & better battery life cuz that UMD drive sucked down juice fast.
The modded in web browser was very cool, of course it was basic but neat. Typing was a pain.
The custom firmwares were amazing.
It was way ahead of its time.👍
There’s a post somewhere on the internet comparing a racing game available on the DS and PSP, and the gap is HUGE between what they were both capable of. What that game was escapes me now, but it was an interesting time!
@PerfectDark
Absolutely.
My battery bloated & was desposed at the time where I was still actively using the thing.
I just dug mine out of the closet & it won’t fully boot into the xmb for some reason, but the custom M33 VSH Menu comes up.
… I don’t remember how to work the custom firmware any more lol it’s been too long.
The UMD drive no longer works either.
Bleach Heat The Soul 3 & 4 I think was the last game I bought, but was crazy the pirated games could be played online.
Time to update that firmware and get yourself some new tricks! I saw someone has ported Spotify (or some version of it) to the PSP a little while ago.
And I interviewed Barcode Studia a little while ago too, they brought GTA III to the Liberty City Stories engine so it is playable on the PSP :)
Definitely time for you to jump back into the PSP!
@PerfectDark
You know, I’ll check out that sort of port of GTA III to Liberty City Stories.
I am not really a fan of GTA III but after reading that write up about it does sound worth while to check out.
I’ll try to get it running on real hardware but I’ll likely play it within PPSSPP because my psp unit has been opened multiple times & has grime plus bubbles on/in the screen.
Just checking out custom firmware now is crazy how dated the software I currently have installed. Like another world