Posted on: Sunday, April 17, 2005

Juicing up your PlayStation Portable

By Victor Godinez
Knight Ridder News Service

Sony's PlayStation Portable is living up to its billing as a technological wonder, even if the gizmo may not have achieved the total launch-day sellout the company was hoping for.

While the games so far have ranged from the sublime (the puzzle game "Lumines") to the forgettable ("NBA"), there's no doubt the PSP has a healthy future as a game device.

What's been more fascinating to watch is the emergence of a cottage industry of hackers discovering all sorts of cool things that can be done with a PSP.

For example, TiVo shows can be downloaded to your PSP (learn how at ZatzNotFunny.com), or iTunes music can be synced to it (PocketMac.net).

But the most interesting development was the news that there's actually a small Web browser embedded in the PSP game "Wipeout Pure." Learn how to access it at Base2.org.

With a couple of easy changes to the network settings on the PSP, you can hop onto any wireless network to browse the Web.

I tried it and got it to work, but it's not flawless.

Browsing is a hit-and-miss affair, since some sites work and others don't, and the connection is not always reliable. But it's a neat little trick, and it's dumb that Sony didn't offer an official Web browser right out of the box.

That could have gone a long way toward convincing casual buyers to shell out $250 for a system that doesn't come bundled with even a single game.

A Web browser might also have stimulated some interest in Sony's online music store, Connect, if music could be downloaded to a PSP directly without having to plug it into a PC.

In fact, Web browsing capability for the PSP opens the door to all sorts of nifty stuff, such as being able to download free demos of PSP games, as well as movies, TV shows and other applications. An official browser is almost certainly in the works for just those reasons.

But if the developers of "Wipeout Pure," an excellent racing game that all PSP owners should check out, could find time to throw one together while they were making their game, then Sony has no excuse for being so pokey.

Fans of older handheld systems might be feeling a little left out. The PSP is the new kid on the block, while Nintendo's portable DS is still a pretty swank piece of hardware.

But there is a fun add-on technology out now for the relatively venerable Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Advance SP platforms.

Majesco's Wireless Messenger ($29) plugs into the expansion slot on the back of a Game Boy Advance and allows gamers to transmit instant messages and e-mail through the air to a similarly-equipped Game Boy Advance.

The text editor is fairly rudimentary, and if you've ever played with the similar PictoChat software on the Nintendo DS, you'll really wish your Game Boy Advance had a touch screen on which to draw pictures or scribble messages.

But the Wireless Messenger is still a lot of fun, and a good way to jazz up a system that's starting to look a little primitive next to its cutting-edge cousins.

Learn more about it at MajescoGames.com.