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Sony patches PSP processor potential; perplexed patrons ponder prior pertinence photo

(Editor's Note: Five bones to the first one of you who provides me with a proper synonym for 'Sony' that begins with a 'P'. Otherwise it's suicide for me, yet again. -- Nex)

In the terribly one-sided handheld race, no one has ever claimed that the PSP was a "gimped" machine, and yet, apparently it was.

With the latest firmware update (version 3.50), Sony has confirmed that it has unlocked the PSP processor's true potential, and that now games can utilize its full 333MHz clock speed. Up until the patching, the PSP had been capped at 222MHz (unbeknownst to many) presumably to enhance battery life. While the longevity of Sony's tiny black wonder has never been something to write home about -- realistic averages put it at around five hours -- it never sunk to the Gore-infuriating levels of previous handhelds (Game Gear, I'm looking in your direction).

While it goes without saying that boosting the power of the processor in any handheld is going to be detrimental to its battery life, until developers start taking advantage of the full capacity of the system we won't know just how many thousands of phone calls angry parents will be making to Sony's Customer Service hotline when little Johnny Blu-ray and Susie Universalmediadisc start to complain that their favorite handheld is running out of juice well before mommy and daddy stop "wrestling". 

(Editor's Note; I updated the picture because I apparently can't add. Stay in school kids! -- Nex) 








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30 comments | showing # 1 to 30
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BlueWolf72's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 02:47
BlueWolf72
http://www.synonym.com/synonym/sony
Aaron Mxy Yost's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 02:56
Aaron Mxy Yost
I remember hearing about the processor cap a while back, nice that they finally took that off. Will this improve existing games, or will developers have to program their titles specifically to take advantage of it?
emotaku's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 03:00
emotaku
@mxyzptlk,

unless it's an actual option to toggle through in the menus, it won't improve exsisting games. that side, if you overclock it and play certain games, there will be an advantage.

wipeout pure + 333 mhz = silky smooth
Detry's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 03:00
Detry
Proper synonym for Sony?


Whore.
donkeykong's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 03:03
donkeykong
excellent first comment, bluewolf.

Is it really five hours only? At least you can charge it, the gamegear probably needed new batteries every time. In fact, let me go confirm everything I just said on wikipedia before I click Add Comment.

Oh man did you guys know the game gear used Six AA batteries? That's way too many. That must be a typo, Wiki.
BlueWolf72's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 03:08
BlueWolf72
thanks DK

I needed the 5 bucks.. I fail
tehdopefish's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 03:13
tehdopefish
if you use custom firmware, then you have probably known about this for quite some time... custom fw had it around version 2.0, which was over a year ago. pwns your batteries, makes emulators run beautifully.
XeroxMe's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 04:19
XeroxMe
That's no typo DK. The GameGear ran on 6AAs for about 3 to 2.5 hours on average. It was a monster, and it was also about the size of a VHS tape.
DanielO's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 04:45
DanielO
Penurious PSP producer patches processor potential; perplexed patrons ponder prior pertinence
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=penurious

Perpetually price presumptuous PSP producer patches processor potential; perplexed patrons ponder prior pertinence

Previously prominent PSP producer patches processor potential; perplexed patrons ponder prior pertinence

Pernicious partnership patches PSP processor potential;

Profitless Pursuit: PSP processor patched; perplexed patrons ponder prior pertinence... (punctuation propagates)

Powerless portable planned: PSP processor patched

DrXym's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 05:02
DrXym
I think Sony is doing a smart thing by "gimping" it's machines. It gives them space to improve the firmware in cool ways while encouraging devs to produce tight games and not just crappy PS2 ports (though some still did just that). Then they open up the specs a bit at a time and the games and fimware get better and better. I wonder if this recent speed boost even means that it's on par with the PS2 in CPU performance. I sure hope so since God of War on the PSP has the potential to kick serious ass.

The PS3 is also "gimped". IIRC Sony have reserved something like 90Mb for system services. That's a conservative chunk of memory and chances are it doesn't need all that and its bound to drop to 30-40Mb eventually. But they reserve the space because it means they have space to toss in stuff like XBM or Home integration at some later date.
seamonkey420's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 07:53
seamonkey420
what, unknown?? this has been known since the begining of homebrew on the psp. most emulators allow you to run it at 333mhz and even let you adjust bus speeds too (ie snesx, nester, etc). i guess i wasn't aware that sony had set the cpu at 222mhz, i assumed it would adjust according to the game, function.

must not be many psp haxors/homebrewers on here.. peace
jerrt's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 08:17
jerrt
i've been running 333 for a while now. it makes 300 run smooth. [;

i've seen breasts and i play liberty city stories. it really is the best of both worlds for me. [:
BluDesign's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 08:28
BluDesign
@jerrt

They're like bags of sand right?

I recall breasts fondly.
infinity's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 09:07
infinity
pony.
MaxVest's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 10:00
MaxVest
Psony - silent "p," like "psychic" or "penis." Wait, you've been saying it how?
mo1518's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 10:00
mo1518
"Playstation purveyor" patches PSP processor potential; perplexed patrons ponder prior pertinence
casinogrande's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 10:07
casinogrande
Playstation Producer seems the easiest
Crunshii's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 11:18
Crunshii
first game I heard was going to be enhanced using fully the 333mhz was God of War. and after seeing some screenies it does look like PS2 full graphics...

and I had the game gear... 6 batteries would be EATEN in 1 hour... not only that, after 1 hour of playing, the thing would turn worse than a PS3+360 overheating oven... I think I got burn marks for playing columns for so long...
mix's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 11:43
mix
Yeah Game gear had 3 batteries per side if I can remember right, my brother threw mine against the wall when I was like 12 and he broke it. I had Mortal Kombat and Sonic.......thats it

But yay for Sony, I also downgraded my PSP been playing GBA and snes games on it.But if something sweet came out that made me have to upgrade, I would.
Xeniteone's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 12:02
Xeniteone
Oh man, I'm out to grab one of these suckers now!......... Oh, geez, sorry, I almost dropped my DS, I was laughing so hard. I really dunno if the processor speed was the problem that most people were having with the PSP.
Xtrm21's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 13:52
Xtrm21
Sony = Pwned
Wedge's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 13:54
Wedge
They were gimping it because of battery usage. If you have proper firmware, you've been doing this to run most emulators already anyways.

And if standard PSP games weren't written properly to deal with anything but the standard clockspeed, they will fuck up running this.
Amethystine's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 14:33
Amethystine
Sony equals: Playstation Producer(s)
keener's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 14:56
keener
sony synonym using P: Poor
Axewave's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/23/2007 15:55
Axewave
Five bones to the first one of you who provides me with a proper synonym for 'Sony' that begins with a 'P'. Otherwise it's suicide for me, yet again. -- Nex

Punks. pay up.
mexa's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/24/2007 04:11
mexa
sunami88: Nope, Ratchet and Clank does not run at 266...

http://www.exophase.com/psp/confirmed-full-psp-cpu-speed-unlocked-1291.htm

Same info as Gamasutra.
nightmareci's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/24/2007 04:46
nightmareci
This sort of reminds me of the early firmware problems of the GP2X, before I actually owned one and only read about them. With the GP2X, early versions of the firmware only allowed access to one of the CPU's (the system has two ARM9 processors clocked at 200MHz, mine can go up to 270MHz stable in Picodrive, a Genesis emulator), but eventually access to the second CPU was added later on. Of course the GP2X wasn't "gimped" in the same way as the PSP is, as custom firmware is completely possible on the GP2X (hell you could probably make freakin' BSD run on it), and you aren't as limited by what GPH does with their system as what Sony does with theirs. The GP2X has similar battery life to the PSP from what I've heard of the PSP, but it takes two AA batteries instead of a fancy-pants custom battery cell, so you can get batteries with more mAH if you can afford it, thus longer play times.

Hey, I think I should make a proper review of the GP2X and post it on the community blog! Maybe make some of you buy one! I haven't really dug into all it's features and software, and it'd be a good reason to!
entropyman's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/24/2007 16:32
entropyman
@nightmareci: please do a review- I have been interested in the gp2x, I have a ds with a slot 1 flash and I would be interested in seeing the capability difference that linux makes do with on the arm processors
xenon's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/25/2007 08:22
xenon
Hmm... Petamax?
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