The New Sony PSP

Due Spring 2007 is the new Sony PSP. Well, not really "new" but somewhat redesigned. The differences are that the PSP is slimmer, and you can connect your PSP to your TV. Other features are that it may have a hard drive which you can purchase to store more media and the like for an arm at a leg, priced at US$199, you could buy another PSP with that.

Unfortunately Sony still haven't figured out that the UMD format just doesn't work - they need to stop milking the dead cow. The PSP is still a great multimedia gaming machine but in terms of this being a "new" PSP is quite disappointing. Sad to say the is no dual analog stick and the analog stick is still placed in an awkward position which would be nice if it was more designed for adult hands. As for being able to connect your PSP to a TV... well how useless, who would want to play a PSP game on tv or watch a movie? You would lose all the graphic resolution. Unless you don't already own a DVD player or playstation then fair enough, but if you don't have one I suggest buying a playstation over a PSP any day.

The price of the new PSP has not been announced yet but if you already own one, I wouldn't think about scrapping your old for the new as not much has changed.

How to play PSP backup games

This is probably one of the first things on everyone's mind once they have got their hands on a PSP. There are many places online in which you can download PSP games which can then be transfered to your PSP so you can play the game off the memory stick. Assuming that you have some backups to load on, these are the steps you need to take in order to play them.

Firstly, the things you need to have are:
- PSP, obviously with the firmware downgraded to v1.50. psp-hacks.com contains an abundant of information and utilities which will be of use for this process
- Memory Stick Duo
- Backup game file which you downloaded
- USB mini cable
Step 1: Unzip the backup game if it is in *.zip format. After this is down there will be a folder which looks something on the lines of "ULJM06002_DATA".
Step 2: Connect your PSP to your PC. After this is done click on your PSP directory in My Computer and at the top level you should see the folders "MP_ROOT" and "PSP".
Step 3: Go into the "PSP" folder where you will find folders labeled "GAME", "MUSIC", "PHOTO", "SAVEDATA". Click on "SAVEDATA" and copy your backup game into this folder.

That's all there is to it, and now you are able to play downloaded games from your PSP!