The -What have you been playing on your PSP lately?- Thread

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Tue May 13, 2008 12:02 am

Vexorg wrote:I only got my PSP back in January, so I'm far from an early adopter.

I was referring to the people here having a phat PSP.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Tue May 13, 2008 12:16 am

Turrican wrote:Yeah, I'm staggered at how many early PSP adopters we have - what did the trick guys? All too excited to get Sengoku Cannon at release?

In my case, need you even ask? UMD pr0n! Er, well that's the bigger reason why I sold my R1 black PSP to buy a R2 white PSP, I already had the UMDs that I couldn't play

Now that I think about it I don't know why I was so excited to get one at launch. Lumines was pretty cool, but it was not until DJMax Portable came along that I thought PSP was truly awesome. And back then the emulators were not so good, I upgraded from 1.50 OFW to 2.00 rather early on and quite regularly updated my OFW up to 3.52, then recently made a switch to CFW 3.80. The emulators are now working well enough that I am happy I made the switch.

All I need is a SNES emulator that plays Wild Guns full speed with sound and no frameskip, and my life will be complete.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Tue May 13, 2008 2:31 am

Turrican wrote:Yeah, I'm staggered at how many early PSP adopters we have - what did the trick guys? All too excited to get Sengoku Cannon at release?

Well, having had mine for only a few months since the new models came out, I needed to get FFT, Dracula X, and the Mega Man games. Yeah, I had all of the original games they were based on and needed more; the original Rondo of Blood was my favorite CV for a long time while I used to play/know an insane amount about FFT back in the turn of this millennium. But poor Mega Man won't get any more remakes...

jonny5 · Post by **jonny5** » Tue May 13, 2008 2:50 am

ya...with a modded older (phat) psp yo can simply convert a battery to a service(pandora battery) and make a copy of the original flash kernel so you can change it back if ya want....

then you just have to set up the memory card with some command line stuff, although ive heard there is a one click solution now that does it all for you.....

then you just insert mem card...insert battery....it boots itself up....press x....scrolling text ensues.....finishes...press x....it turns off...done!!!

you can also buy premade 'service batteries' from places like divineo or modchip stores

same as a homemade pandora...it boots into whatever you have on the memory card rather than the psp's stock XMB....allowing the install of custom firmware....you set up the mem card as if using the pandora method

if anybody is interested i can make pandora batterys and ship em out for cost....you can even send me your phat batteries(it has to be the ones from a phat psp...slim ones wont work) with return postage....but it would prolly work out to be cheaper to order one of those service batteries

themachinist · Post by **themachinist** » Tue May 13, 2008 3:56 am

My current avatar is Yuko Ogura, some japanese model idol something. She's mad adorable. My old avatar was Kristen Kreuk.

I wasn't really an early adopter, I got it like 1-3 yrs after it was released. It floated around and every now and then there was I game I wanted to play.

Anyway, I haven't done the d-pad mod because I don't feel comfortable opening up my psp and all that, dust etc. I might get that thing at ncsxshop though. For those of you that have it, does it add to the thickness of the psp? I ask because I have the Logitech Playgear Pocket (best hard-case for the o.g. psp) and I want to make sure it'll still fit in there. Does it make the psp d-pad feel/function as well as say a PS2 controller's dpad? How easily does the dpad cover come off?

For those of you who have Pulse, we should set up a time to try online! I'm in the pacific time zone, currently.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:12 am

themachinist wrote:Anyway, I haven't done the d-pad mod because I don't feel comfortable opening up my psp and all that, dust etc. I might get that thing at ncsxshop though. For those of you that have it, does it add to the thickness of the psp? I ask because I have the Logitech Playgear Pocket (best hard-case for the o.g. psp) and I want to make sure it'll still fit in there. Does it make the psp d-pad feel/function as well as say a PS2 controller's dpad? How easily does the dpad cover come off?

Mine does add a bit to the height of the PSP, and it is stuck on there real good. If you really must use a Playgear Pocket, you might want to try cutting out a circular bit of foam above the D-pad. That's if there is any foam at all. I don't own a PGP so I don't know for sure if you can do that.

It feels a bit odd and the added height does change the properties a bit. In my opinion it doesn't function as well as a PS2 D-pad but it is still a big improvement over the stock PSP pad.

jonny5 · Post by **jonny5** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:36 am

can you post pics of this d-pad add-on...the specific one you have....and perhaps a link to where you got it

ive seen these kits but ive heard mixed reviews and they often look very cheap

but ya....psp dpad=fail

the slim ones are slightly better but not much

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Tue May 13, 2008 5:47 am

This is the exact one I have. Also available in black, and if you are just interested in the D-pad cover without all the extra crap, there is a cheaper one with 2 D-pad and 2 small nubs for $2.

Pic of mine:

I started out using the one with the hard cross, but DJMax Portable got pretty intense and the corners were really shredding up my thumb, so I switched it to the smooth one. Yes, it looks cheap but I'll take the improved control over streamlined aesthetics.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Tue May 13, 2008 6:00 am

Looks like they come out easily.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Tue May 13, 2008 6:06 am

Do you mean "come off"? It's stuck on there like a MFer. I had a hard time ripping off the hard cross to use the smooth pad instead. Trust me, the glue pad is really sticky, so you'd better pray you have it perfectly aligned when sticking it on, but also make sure the D-pad is clean and free of oil and grime.

themachinist · Post by **themachinist** » Tue May 13, 2008 7:39 am

Hentai thanks for the details and pics. The ceramic white psp is so sexy~.
Are you a DJMP pro? I got good at 4B but I found 6B and 8B to be completely frustrating. 6B I can only pass 1-3 bar difficulty

. Any tips? (Practice?

)

Etrian · Post by **Etrian** » Tue May 13, 2008 7:43 am

I am not a fan of that dpad cover, personally. It looks like the cheap ones you'd see on a third party PS2 controller. Now if only they had those covers, Satapad style..

UnscathedFlyingObject · Tue May 13, 2008 12:49 pm

iatneH wrote:Do you mean "come off"? It's stuck on there like a MFer. I had a hard time ripping off the hard cross to use the smooth pad instead. Trust me, the glue pad is really sticky, so you'd better pray you have it perfectly aligned when sticking it on, but also make sure the D-pad is clean and free of oil and grime.

Ah yes, that.

subcons · Post by **subcons** » Tue May 13, 2008 3:11 pm

The black version with analogue (got mine from NCS):

It does add height, as do the analogues, as you can see from the pic. Also, if I'm not playing a game that uses the analogue, I put the stock analogue back on there because the higher analogues slightly get in the way when using the d-pad. They snap on and off real easy. The d-pad never comes off though.

It really doesn't look that bad on there to me, and I really don't understand the idea of it keeping your PSP from looking cool. Who cares? It makes playing games on it more enjoyable (at least to me it does). I think if anything, some of those snap-on hard cases make PSPs look ridiculous. I keep mine in a nice soft case, so the added height of the d-pad isn't an issue for me. If you keep your PSP in something tight and solid though, that could definitely be a problem.

Bottom line, regardless of mixed reviews, I think anyone that doesn't want to do the d-pad mod themselves should give these a shot. It kind of comes down to personal preference; you'll either like them or you won't. Worst case scenario, you're out a few bucks... big whoop.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Tue May 13, 2008 3:54 pm

Subcons, if I played any games at all that required analogue control, that's the nub I would use also, but I also don't like the height of it. The set I bought comes with two of that shape nub, have you considered cutting the stem so it fits on at the same height as the stock nub? I just use the official "sock" soft case too.

mrmachinist: I was never good at DJMP. Level 7 comfortably on 6B maybe, and I cannot manage anything above level 2 on 8B. Now that I haven't played it in months, maybe I can pick it up again but start over with 8B. I don't have any tips at all...

subcons · Post by **subcons** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:31 pm

iatneH wrote:Subcons, if I played any games at all that required analogue control, that's the nub I would use also, but I also don't like the height of it. The set I bought comes with two of that shape nub, have you considered cutting the stem so it fits on at the same height as the stock nub?

The height of it doesn't bother me at all. The only problem I run into when it's on there is that I can feel it rubbing against my thumb when pressing down on the d-pad. But any game that uses the analogue would only use the d-pad for going through menus and such any ways, so it's a non issue thus far. It doesn't rub the other way though (i.e. I'm not touching the d-pad when pressing up on the analogue). It really makes playing Katamari way more enjoyable. The stock one just feels vague and I can't really tell which direction I'm pushing in.

Squirrel · Post by **Squirrel** » Wed May 14, 2008 12:33 am

iatneH wrote:This is the exact one I have. Also available in black, and if you are just interested in the D-pad cover without all the extra crap, there is a cheaper one with 2 D-pad and 2 small nubs for $2.

Pic of mine:

I started out using the one with the hard cross, but DJMax Portable got pretty intense and the corners were really shredding up my thumb, so I switched it to the smooth one. Yes, it looks cheap but I'll take the improved control over streamlined aesthetics.

OH MY GOD I have to get a set.

I have been *sooo* pissed at my d-pad. Now I can finally play SFA3, Dark Stalkers, Tekken, rRootage (without getting pissed off), etc.

The only thing my PSP has seen for a month now, is rRootage.