PlayStation Portable

The PlayStation Portable (officially PSP), a handheld game console, is a product of Sony Computer Entertainment. It is Sony's first entry into handheld systems. The PSP was first announced during E³ 2003 and was unveiled on May 11, 2004 at a Sony press conference during E³ 2004.

Variations and accessories

In all territories the PSP is available as part of a Value Pack, and in most territories it is also available as part of a Giga Pack. (The standard pack is only available in Japan) The Value Pack contains the console, battery, a 32 MB Memory Stick Duo, ear bud headphones with remote control, a slip-case, a wrist strap, and a Sampler Disc (in some territories), for USD $249.99, CDN $315.98, £180.00, ¥26,040 or AUD $399.00. The Giga Pack contains a console, battery, a 1 GB Memory Stick Duo, headphones with remote control, a slip-case, a stand, and USB cable.

On July 21, 2005, Sony announced in an event in Tokyo, Japan that there would be a ceramic white version of the PSP that was released on September 15, 2005 in Japan and later released in South Korea. This PSP is the same as the black one, with the box, system and slip case now in white. This variation is unlikely to ever be released outside of Japan and South Korea.

On October 20, 2005, Sony announced the PSP Giga pack, which will contain a 1 GB Memory Stick Pro Duo, a USB Cable, and a stand. It will also contain all of the other accessories found in the standard PSP Value Pack, except for the hand strap. The suggested retail price is ¥29,800 in Asia, $299 in North America, and £214.99 in the UK.

The Giga Pack was released in Japan on October 31, 2005, North America on November 3, 2005, and also released on 17th November 2005 in Europe.

Sales and competition

The PSP's major rival, the Nintendo DS, is considered to be in the same market as the PlayStation Portable (though representatives from both companies have stated that each system targets a different audience).

As of Friday October 21, 2005, the PSP had shipped 10 million units worldwide. These are only figures for the number of PSP units shipped to retailers, however. The figures are not for how many PSPs have actually been sold. Sony was expecting a large boost in sales by the end of the year with the creation of the PSP Giga Pack, which debuted at the start of the holiday season. By hitting 10 million units shipped in 10 months it marked the "fastest penetration speed" of any PlayStation platform. [1]

SCEI has shipped the greatest number of PSPs in North America. Shipments there total 4.5 million units and are followed in the ranking by Asia, at 3 million, and then Europe, at 2.5 million, SCEI said. Note that these figures are PSP units shipped, not sold. It is estimated that Sony has sold 2.5 to 3 million PSP units in the US [2] through to November. At CES Sony indicated it had sold 4 million PSPs to consumers in North America [3] including December sales. It is estimated 2.6 million PSP units have been sold in Japan through to 2006 via the Media Create tracking service [4]. Since its launch in September the PSP sold 610,000 through to December 10 in the UK, with the UK having "performed better than any other European territory". [5]

Features

Games

The PSP's inputs are geared for gaming rather than multimedia, with two shoulder buttons (triggers), the iconic PlayStation face buttons start and select buttons, a digital 4-directional pad, and an analog input. There is also a row of secondary controls along the underside of the screen, for controlling volume, music settings (either switching the audio off and on in games or selecting different equalizer presets in the OS), screen brightness, accessing the system's main menu, as well as the standard Start and Select buttons. The UMD disks are small enough to fit comfortably in a pocket, and superficially similar to Sony's earlier product, the MiniDisc, but for the lack of a protective shutter and slightly different cartridge shape.

The PSP's analog input, often called the "analog nub," is not a traditional analog stick, but rather a sliding flat panel. Its odd placement initially led to speculation that it was a speaker (there are two holes on the front of the PSP that are also not speakers, but are made to look like them, the actual speakers are on the bottom). Concerns existed regarding the practicality of the input (its position requires a slightly asymmetrical grip on the unit to adequately use, with the left hand being lower than the right). While it is used in the same way as the analog thumb stick of a modern console, the resistance springs are calibrated differently: They are softer, making quick, coarse adjustments a bit easier, but fine-grained ones a bit more difficult.

The graphics and audio capabilities of the PSP lie somewhere between those of the original PlayStation and the PlayStation 2. While most of the available games are less complex than games available on PS2, the graphics nonetheless tend to be much closer in quality to the PS2 than the PS1. This is probably in large part due to the small size of the screen, combined with the fact that unlike the PS1, the PSP's graphics chip performs texture filtering.

Screenshots

UMD movies

Because of the UMD's relatively large storage space (1.8 gigabytes) and the PSP's large display screen, some film studios have released feature films in the UMD format with pricing comparable to DVD videos. Companies releasing UMD movies (or will release) include Disney, Warner Bros. Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Lions Gate Entertainment, Sony Pictures, New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, and Anchor Bay Entertainment. Anime companies, such as Bandai, Geneon, FUNimation, and Viz Media are planning to release anime series, such as Trigun, and Gungrave, and movies, such as Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, the Ah! My Goddess movie, and Ghost in the Shell to name a few.

Most releases provide alternate audio languages and content, subtitles, and special features. (Japanese releases have been somewhat more eclectic, and include UMD/DVD combination packs [6] and pornography.) On June 22, 2005, Sony confirmed that both House of Flying Daggers and Resident Evil: Apocalypse have both sold more than 100,000 copies each[7].

Movies on UMD were first made available in April 2005. The initial North American releases included House of Flying Daggers, xXx, Hellboy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Spider-Man 2, and Resident Evil: Apocalypse from Sony Pictures, along with Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill Volume 2 (Miramax) and Pirates of the Caribbean from Disney Pictures.

Because the UMDs cannot be played on a television via some output cable (due to Universal Studios being late among major American motion picture studios to commit to the UMD format) and because few G-rated titles are available in the format, UMDs have been criticized for not truly being "universal." As in many other shortcomings, a third-party hack can allow the PSP to display on a TV set, however using this hack involves removing the faceplate of the PSP. Additionally, due to the smaller size of the UMD, special features that are on the DVD equivalents are usually cut out.

Multimedia and codecs

• Audio
  • MP3
  • ATRAC3
  • WMA (requires firmware v2.6 and acceptance of licence agreement to activate WMA playback capability)
  • WAV (Linear PCM)
  • MP4 (Container format)
    • AAC

• Video
  • MPEG-4
    • MPEG-4 Part 2
    • MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264/AVC)

• Images
  • JPEG
  • GIF
  • BMP
  • TIF
  • PNG

The PSP is capable of displaying still image, movie, and audio files stored on the UMD disk format or a memory stick. The system supports MP3 and Sony's ATRAC3 plus formats for audio, MPEG-4 for video on UMD discs, and JPEG images. The PSP also has the capability to decode MPEG-4 Part 2 and MPEG-4 Part 3 from the *.mp4 container, if located on the Memory Stick. The file(s) must be placed in the /MP_ROOT/100MNV01 directory on the Memory Stick, and be named in the following format: M4V#####.MP4 (where "#" is any digit). Since firmware version 2.00, users can upload movies with a Sony proprietary AVC codec encoding, by putting them in the /MP_ROOT/100ANV01 Folder, and named as MAQ#####.MP4. A corresponding thumbnail image file (160x120 pixel JPEG files renamed with the .THM extension) with the same file name (besides the extension) of the movie file can optionally be placed in the same directory. Unlike UMD movies, resolution of movies on a memory stick is limited to 76,800 pixels (320x240, 368x208, 480x160, etc.), resulting in lower quality movies than UMD movies.

Sony has announced that Image Converter 2, a piece of PC software for converting video files to AVC for playback on CLIÉ PDAs, will be available before the end of the year, and may be used with the PSP. A preview version was made available shortly after the PSP launch. It can convert *.avi, MPEG1/2/4, QuickTime and *.wmv movie files to AVC, as well as the "Giga Pocket" and "Do VAIO" files used by VAIO PCs to record television. It will also convert most common still image files into JPEG format. Sony's SonicStage software can be used to copy *.mp3 and ATRAC files to the PSP as well.

Sony's software is not the only toolset for getting music or movies onto a PSP, however. A cottage industry has grown around offering useful tools for converting and copying files for use on the PSP. Some popular alternatives include Media Boss for PSP, PSP Movie Creator, PSP Video Express, Xcopy9, PSPWare, iPSP, Mobile Media Maker, PSP Video 9, 3GP Converter and PSP Multimedia Extender all simplify the task of converting and transferring files to and from the PSP's Memory Stick. Additionally, some FOSS programs, such as FFmpeg can be used to convert video into a properly sized and formatted PSP video file. Using these tools, nearly any digital video file (including movie files ripped from DVDs or digital video recorders like the TiVo) can be played on a PSP, after conversion to AVC.

Video file sizes largely depend on the audio and video bit rates. With reasonable settings (a resolution of 320x240, a video bit rate of 500 Kilobits per second, and an audio sampling rate of 22050 kHz) a 22 minute movie file is roughly 55 megabytes. (This is enough for a 30 minute television episode with the commercials removed) This means that a 512 MB Memory Stick can hold approximately nine of these files. A hundred-minute feature film can fit on a 256 MB Memory Stick.

Many movie files, both free-to-distribute and pirated, have been encoded for the PSP and are available on the internet. Game and movie trailers, in particular, are increasingly available, even from the studio's official site.

Sony released firmware update version 2.0 on July 27, 2005 in Japan and on August 24, 2005 in North America. It was also packaged in the retail product for European and Australian PSPs. The firmware upgrade added the ability to play MP4 AAC audio files, ATRAC3plus audio files from a Memory Stick Pro Duo, MPEG-4 AVC video files (if encoded using a proprietary Sony encoding), as well as view GIF, Bitmap (BMP), and TIF image files. It also added the ability to send photos wirelessly to another PSP system and allowed owners to use an image as background wallpaper. It also added support for WPA-PSK wireless encryption.

On October 3, 2005, firmware version 2.01 was released. This upgrade fixed the image overload buffer problem that allowed the PSP to be "downgraded" via a homebrew hack. After the 2.01 firmware version SONY released the new 2.50. Speculation states 2.50 was launched to attract users to upgrade: blocking any possible means of homebrew. It also included the LocationFree Player [8]. If owners own a LocationFree Base Station at home, they can play streaming movies, over the Internet, from anywhere in the world, on their PSP. Also added were the Korean character set, the ability to play copyrighted movies, form history on the web browser, and time and date synchronization via the internet. Recently the 2.60 update has been released, the main features include streaming of podcast audio directly from the web using an RSS feed; and also playback of the WMA audio format (this requires online activation). Although a bug found in the game Grand theft Auto : Liberty City Stories, a bug has e=been found and has seemed to open the door for homebrew once again. An EBOOT Loader for 2.60 has already been released by Fanjita. It is still at it's beta stages and can only run about 50% of EBOOTs.

Wireless networking

Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b) support allows the PSP to connect to wireless networks, other PSP units for multiplayer gaming, the Internet and Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3. As the PS3 has only recently been unveiled, details on link-up features are slim, however Hideo Kojima has discussed the possibility of a link-up between Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear Ac!d 2. Use of wireless network features increases the power consumption and lowers the battery life of the system.

A version 2.0 firmware update was released on July 27, 2005 for Japanese PSPs, and August 24, 2005 for North American PSPs. The update included a web browser and support for connecting to networks with WPA and WEP encryption.

Gamesharing

As the Nintendo DS does with its DS Download Play, the PSP allows one user to share his or her game with a third party, usually—but not necessarily—as a precursor to multiplayer gaming. A self-contained version of the game being shared is sent to the remote PSP over the wireless network, whereupon it boots and runs as though loaded from a UMD disc. Such "Gameshare versions" of software usually have their feature set reduced and are intended, for example, to allow the multiplayer aspects of the software to be used while holding back single player or bonus functionality. First party European titles Fired Up and Wipeout Pure both shipped with Gamesharing features; subsequent titles have followed suit.

Ad-hoc networks

Ad-hoc wireless networking allows for up to 16 PSPs within range of each other to communicate directly, typically for multiplayer gaming. The launch titles Ridge Racer and Lumines, for example, support this. One unit can act as the host for a game, which is available to other PSP units within that systems range, and appears in a list when the client PSP searches for available hosts. Hosting a game in this manner increases power consumption and reduces battery life by as much as fifty percent, depending on the complexity of data transfer. With the update of 2.0 or higher the PSP can use the Ad-Hoc technology to send pictures from one PSP to the other.

Infrastructure networks

The PSP's main menu allows the user to configure the system for use across the Internet via a wireless connection, known as infrastructure mode. The PSP's menu can recognize protected and non-protected wireless networks within its range, and attempt to request a firmware update from Sony's servers.

A handful of titles, including sixteen U.S. launch games (Including the multi-million selling game, SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals) and an as-of-yet untitled MMORPG, have been announced which use this wireless network functionality. Packet tunneling systems are in development by third-parties which allow any Wi-Fi game to operate across the Internet (see External links).

Use of infrastructure networks in PSP software began with a small number of titles at the U.S. launch, supporting online play. South Korean PSPs will ship with software providing web browsing and multimedia streaming features, but only through company-owned Wi-Fi hotspots, and with a monthly fee[9].

Infrared

The PSP features an IrDA port located on the top left of the device; however this is not currently used by any games.

However, there are homebrew applications which use PSP as a TV remote controller, such as PSP IR Remote.

Design and specifications

Technical specifications

The PlayStation Portable (PSP) was designed by Shi Ogasawara [小笠原氏] for the Sony Computer Entertainment company.

The unit measures 170 mm (6.7 in) in length, 74 mm (2.9 in) in width, and 23 mm (0.9 in) in depth, and weighs 280g / .62 lbs (including battery). The most noticeable element of the PSP is its 110 mm/4.3" (diagonal) 16:9 ratio TFT LCD screen sporting a 480 x 272 pixel resolution capable of 16.77 million colours.

The PlayStation Portable's CPU is a dual-core MIPS32 R4000-based CPU, each core being globally clocked between 1 and 333 MHz. During the GDC, Sony revealed that it has currently capped the PSP's CPU clock at 222 MHz; apparently in an attempt to lengthen battery life. Overheating concerns have also been cited as a possible reason for the cap, and gaming site Gamesradar has said this is the "most logical reason for the processor capping." The cap was previously set at the level of add-on software, not through the firmware (though the crossbar runs at 222 MHz). Exploits could, on previous firmware versions, unlock 333 MHz operation to seemingly no ill effect (except a slight decrease in battery life), but changes to the power management in firmware 2.60's kernel have since made this impossible. The primary CPU core is responsible for traditional game processor functions; the secondary core, dubbed the "Virtual Media Engine," is responsible for decoding multimedia, for example the H.264 decoder.

The system has 32 MiB of main RAM and 4 MiB of embedded DRAM. There is no memory management unit for the CPU. No evidence of a TLB has been found to date. The Coprocessor 0 that normally manages the TLB-based MMU seems to be a custom effort by Sony. It doesn't have integrated memory.

The independent 166 MHz 90 nm graphics chip sports 2 MiB embedded memory and through its 512 bit interface it provides hardware polygon and NURBS rendering, hardware directional lighting, clipping, environment projection and texture mapping, texture compression and tessellation, fogging, alpha blending, depth and stencil tests, vertex blending for morphing effects, and dithering, all in 16 or 32 bit colour, along with handling image output. Specifications state that the PSP is capable of rendering 33 million flat-shaded polygons per second, with a 664 million pixel per second fill rate [10]

Unlike Sony's PlayStation 2 console, the GPU (PS2 Vector Unit equivalent) is not programmable, meaning that many effects that the PS2 can resolve in hardware must be implemented in software on the PSP. Nonetheless, the implementation of a GPU in the PSP is still a significant technological advance, in that it implements robust hardware-rendering for 3D graphics in the handheld market. The PSP was preceded in this regard by Nokia's N-Gage in 2003, the Nintendo DS, and the Tapwave Zodiac in 2004.

Power

The PSP uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power (an AC adaptor is included for charging and running from the mains). The system's manual states that the PSP is capable of three to six hours of gameplay, depending on the screen brightness or volume level selected.

Battery life is heavily dependent on the game chosen; technically simpler games such as Lumines tend to extend the battery life of the system, with graphically advanced games (or games that frequently access the UMD drive) such as Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories tending toward shorter battery life. Ken Kutaragi, president of Sony Computer Entertainment, has compared the system to the Walkman, in that battery life will be improved with each product revision, and has outlined some steps (switching to a different fabrication process, for example) which will be used to improve the system's endurance. Currently the PSP's CPU is fabricated using a 90-nm process, but eventually Sony will shift to 65-nm and 45-nm when the technology becomes available.

In practice, tests using Ridge Racer have given between three and a half and slightly less than six hours of continuous gameplay, depending on screen brightness and volume. In one test[11], this dropped to approximately two and three quarter hours when using Wi-Fi multiplayer continuously. The system is capable of approximately ten hours of MP3 playback from memory stick on a full charge and around half this for AVC playback. While full-length movie UMDs were not available for this test, a repeating loop of the demo UMD bundled in the Value Pack provided a little over four hours of playback on a full charge.

The PSP's battery is removable for replacement by the end-user. One is thus able to purchase extra batteries as an accessory; at the Japanese launch, they cost ¥5,040 including tax (around US$47, €37, £26, AU$62). A Sony high-speed charger is available as an optional accessory. There is also a variety of third-party batteries that have more than twice the battery life compared to the standard Sony battery. Additionally, in late 2005, Sony released a battery that has a 20% higher charge capacity. It is available in Japan, the U.S., and Europe.

The system ships with a multivoltage power supply for recharging the battery, allowing it to be charged in any country with the appropriate power lead. This multivoltage power supply is internally and externally similar to but not compatible with similar ones used with Sony's CLIÉ PDAs, and the power lead is a standard figure-of-eight cable similar to the power cable used with the PlayStation and PlayStation 2. The PSU itself is about the same size as a deck of cards.

A number of companies are now offering other chargers for the device. These are typically either USB charging cables that allow the PSP to charge from any PC with a USB port or are simply a series of AA batteries with a voltage regulator. These are similar in concept to the cheap battery life extenders available for mobile telephones.

Interface

The PSP's main menu interface is the "Cross Media Bar (XMB)" used by recent Sony TVs and the PSX hardware. It consists of a horizontal sequence of icons (Settings, Photo, Music, Video, Games, Network (added in 2.0; for now only features the tab-supported web browser and the LocationFree Player; 2.60 brought "RSS Reader" to the Network tab, which allows users to stream RSS 2.0 (audio) feeds through the Internet.)) which when highlighted show a vertical sequence of sub-icons (for example, selecting Games allows the memory stick or a UMD to be selected).

The main menu system allows the user to, amongst other things, adjust settings such as date, time, and the PSP's nickname for wireless networking, play video or audio files from the memory stick, load games or movie UMDs, check on estimated battery life, and set the PSP into a "link mode" which makes the inserted memory stick available to a PC via USB. The OS may be accessed at any time in a game by pressing the "Home" button on the console.

Upon release, the default background color changed depending on the current month of the year, as follows:

• January – Gray
• February – Yellow
• March – Green
• April – Pink
• May – Dark Green
• June – Purple
• July – Aqua
• August – Sky Blue/Blue/Dark Blue
• September – Violet
• October – Gold
• November – Light Brown
• December – Red

Firmware 2.0 and greater allows manual choice of color theme, or specify a wallpaper from any photos that the user has stored to the PSP memory card. For older versions of firmware there exist homebrew programs, such as PSPSet or PSPPersonalise, which allow changing the PSP's background.

User skins can also be made available through downloads or by game publishers within their game discs.

Firmware

The PSP's firmware is updatable via Wi-Fi infrastructure connection to a Sony server, by downloading the update application with a PC and transferring to the PSP via USB, or from a UMD disk (allowing games to update the firmware automatically). While firmware updates can be used with PSPs from any region, Sony recommends only downloading firmware updates released for the corresponding region. The current firmware version is 2.60. Various updates have included WPA-PSK encryption; a built-in web browser; the ability to stream audio using RSS; Location Free player (the PlayStation 3 will have this function built into it), keyboard input mode for Web input; AVC video playback from memory stick; audio switch function and 4:3 mode for memory stick video; GIF, BMP, PNG, and TIFF image viewing; AAC, ATRAC3plus, WAV and WMA audio playback from memory stick; wallpaper function; an image sharing feature; region-free streaming television and higher security for a recently discovered exploit in the Photo menu. Version 2.0 of the firmware was supplied on the demo disk inside the box of European PSPs, with version 1.52 preinstalled on the unit. (Some European PSPs had version 2.0 on the demo disc, but came preinstalled with version 1.5.) *See External Links for Firmware Release ChangeLogs

Region locking

The PSP supports region locking for games and movies, which limits which software may be played on each region's hardware. This scheme is based on the DVD CCA's DVD regional lockout scheme; Japanese PSP hardware already has a R2 logo on its box. However, support for regional lockout does not necessarily mean it will be used for all software. Sony has recently stated that PSP games will be region free while UMD Movies are region locked.

Games for the PSP are currently being encoded as region-free, and an official Sony statement [12] states that this will continue indefinitely. There will be no limitation as to which country's handheld can play which country's version of the game. This follows the lead that Nintendo started with their Game Boy line, leaving open the "portability" of the handheld, as well as enabling gamers who want to buy a PSP game while visiting another country will still be able to play it on their native PSP's.

Movies, on the other hand, are usually region-locked. There are ways around the region protection through such programs as UMD Emulator (currently this is only possible through firmwares V1.00 and V1.50). It should also be noted that, despite what many websites say, Region 1 PSPs are capable of playing Region 2 and Region 4 UMD movies, and Region 2 PSPs are capable of playing Region 4 UMD movies (except the Region 4 version of Be Cool for an unknown reason). Note: however at least some region 1 PSP's with V.1.5 cannot play region 2 (European) movies. Probably there is a difference between the Japanese and European region 2 settings.

However, multiplayer compatibility across regions is not preserved. A Japanese version of a game cannot be played against an American or European version of the same game. For example, a user running the Japanese version of Ridge Racer cannot play (via wireless) with another user running the UK version of Ridge Racer. Similar cases also applied to the game Coded Arms.

Launches

The PlayStation Portable was first introduced to the public at the Tokyo Game Show 2004 (see: http://www.eurotechnology.com/tokyogameshow2004/ ) and released on December 12, 2004 in Japan. It was later released in North America on March 24, 2005 and in South Korea on May 2, 2005. Ten days later this was followed by a joint launch in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan on May 12, 2005.

The European and Oceanian launch took place on 1 September 2005 [13]. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe had delayed the launch date originally set for March to meet demand from other regions. This resulted in PSPs being imported without authorisation, from Japan and the United States into Europe.

Sony Europe took legal action against small importers [14] in the UK citing trademark infringement. One such importer, Electricbirdland Ltd., claimed they had sold several PSP consoles to SCEE staff [15]; they were subsequently singled out and taken to court. UK is the only European country in which Sony has taken any form of legal action against importers of the PSP prior to its European release.

Homebrew development

In May 2005, it was found that PSPs using the 1.00 version of the firmware (meaning original, first launch Japanese-only PSPs) could execute unsigned code. What this meant in practice was that these PSPs could run homebrew software, as the mechanism for checking to make sure that software has been approved by Sony had not yet been activated. Later exploits have allowed for PSPs using version 1.50 of the firmware to run homebrew software nearly transparently. Using a buffer overflow exploit, it is possible to install 1.50 firmware onto a 2.0 firmware PSP, thus downgrading it and allowing for the execution of unsigned code. However there are limitations with running homebrew on 2.0 being programs will be run in user mode and not kernel mode. Recently, an exploit, for firmware version 2.5, was found in the game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories that allows homebrew code to be run from a save game file when loaded into the game. This exploit now works on firmware version 2.60 also.

To help buyers be aware of what version they are getting, there is a letter near the bar code on the PSP merchandise box. Each letter corresponds to which version it represents. For the value pack in the U.S., A is 1.5. B is 1.51. C is 1.52. D is 2.00 (unconfirmed). Letter varies to the version depends on the country.

Portable Applications

It is possible to use the PSP Pro duo memory card inside the PSP as a container from which portable applications such as Firefox, Open office, and many other usefull portable apps these run from the memory card in a similar way to U3 usb memory sticks. Portable application used in this way vastly increase the funtionality of the PSP. Whilst the PSP does not have input devices (yet)such as a keyboard using a usb cable one can connect to any PC run the portable apps and save Photo,jpeg and other user files in the PHOTO file on the PSP Pro Duo card for viewing later somthing a U3 usb drive is unable to do portable apps can be downloaded from http://portableapps.com/

Criticisms

The PSP is often criticized for a perceived lack of quality games, as many of its titles consist of ports or remakes from console systems. A possible rebuttal is that the first year of a new system usually sees a drought in quality software, as seen with the PS2.

Some early models have more "ghosting" than others, meaning that one can see a trail left from moving objects on the screen. For example, in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, when an explosion occurs near the character, he will exhibit ghosting.

Due to its use of high density optical media, loading times exist on many games, over half a minute long in some.

The PSP also suffered from a plague of dead pixels straight out of the factory, along with an extremely high defect rate at the time of its initial release. However, recent PSPs seem to be free of such defects. Issues from sticky "square" buttons, to analog nubs that do not work properly, and even systems that simply cannot power on, are also noticed on occasion. Please note that systems that do not power on correctly (the green power button is on, but it will not boot) are considered "bricked," and all data stored on the internal flash memory has been deleted or corrupted. This can be caused by two things: the interruption of a program writing to the flash (Upgrader, Downgrader) or a trojan downgrader that purposely deletes all data on the flash. This trojan downgrader is fairly rare, unless a downgrader is downloaded from an "untrustworthy" site.

At launch, the PSP was criticized for its lack of support for popular file types, following Sony's trend in preferring to use proprietary formats. However, firmware releases since then have added new formats, including Microsoft's WMA, and more may be forthcoming.

The PSP has also been criticized for its high price, more comparable to that of the Playstation 2 console than competing handhelds.

Finally, users who utilize emulation software have been discouraged by firmware versions 1.52 and above, each of which added new blocks to prevent unsigned code from being executed. Compare to the GP2X handheld by Gamepark, which supports and encourages homebrew software. However, due to dedicated users like Fanjita, at the time of writing at least some unsigned software can be run by any firmware version through the use of a special loader program.