35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Making other PSP books obsolete, March 29, 2006
With the complexity of today's gaming consoles, it's no surprise we need books like Hacking the PSP. The amount of things that can be done to this little handheld is astonishing, and there isn't another book out there on this console that covers this much. The flashy, foil cover isn't just for show. It's there to grab attention away from the other books on the same topic because they're nearly rendered useless.
Hacking the PSP is a 300+ page book that offers something for anyone who owns the console. The basics are here, from simple things like getting video onto the console to playing around with photos. The extensive coverage of the web browser is by far the most well written guide on this feature yet. The layout is simple, easy to follow, and the pictures clear enough in black & white to understand.
That's the type of thing covered in other books and the manual though. To make this stand out, Auri Rahimzadeh digs deep to offer some remarkable things to do. He goes above and beyond the call by including a chapter on basic C and C++ programming to get simple code up and running. It would have been expected to toss the code out there for the people who understand it, but Rahimzadeh takes the time to explain the origins of the code, how it works, and why you would want to do this in the first place.
Little tips strewn throughout the book offer tiny tidbits that are useful and possible without any hacking. All of those game save pictures on the memory stick can be changed to your liking, something not covered in Sony's manual. It's not the easiest process (and it's arguable that it's not even worth it), but it's here in plain English if you want to give it a shot.
The side bars, like the explanation of widescreen and various resolutions is informative, not just filler. Rahimzadeh tosses in some light commentary at times too. This breaks up the guide and offers something different than instruction.
Hacking the PSP covers things away from the internals of the system too. If you want to build a cheap car stand for your console, the deeply involving guide is more than enough to do so. It may not look pretty, but it seems functional. There is plenty of information on keeping your battery going, even going as far building an external battery pack if your addiction has gone way over the point of no return and you cry if the included battery dies.
The only complaint here isn't against the author, but time. There's zero coverage on newer firmware updates, and while the hundreds of links provided will guide you in the right direction, it's now history to be discussing the 2.0 firmware. The speed of PSP development is simply too fast to keep up with in a book like this.
It's the same problem with the other PSP-based books too. We'll never see a definitive guide until this console is dead and gone. Until that finally happens, we have Hacking the PSP, and aside from the web, it's all we need. O'Reily's PSP Hacks, while a solid book on its own, pales in comparison to how comprehensive this is.
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not for programmers, March 14, 2007
This review is from: Hacking the PSP: Cool Hacks, Mods, and Customizations for the SonyPlayStationPortable (ExtremeTech) (Paperback)
Despite the obvious reference to programming in the title (alas, the term "hacking" has been used for much less worthwhile pursuits lately), the book contains very little with respect to writing applications for PSP. Instead, it's largely devoted to electronic and aesthetic "hacks" - like making a PSP holder for your car.
The book barely touches on development, only mentioning the toolkit and a few installation steps, which makes its title a lot less meaningful.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Useful book, June 11, 2006
I recieved a PSP for christmas, but until I got this book I had no idea what a powerful machine it is! This book will teach you how to do anything you have ever wanted to do, including; build a battery pack, revert your firmware (without bricking your psp!), turn a one player game into a two player game, write your own homebrew applications, watch Tivo, take documents with you, teach your PSP how to read, instant message, and tons of other cool hacks! The accomompanying website is also a great help, since it is filled with homebrew applications! I also highly suggest his other book, Geek my Ride.
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