Customer Reviews

Hacking the PSP: Cool Hacks, Mods, and Customizations for the SonyPlayStationPortable (ExtremeTech)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Anyone who truly wants to harness the power of the PSP needs this book. The book detalis many audio, video, e-book, and game hacks, while also having an indepth step-by-step section on downgrading a PSP. The downgrade enables users to run many different applications. The illustrations and steps allow very easy use with great results. The author also has a web page and e-mail address listed in the book in the case more help is needed. All of this info. makes "Hacking the PSP" the Holy Grail of extreme PSP use.

I managed to get a copy of this book directly from the author, for review on psp-hacks.com (a site I admin). I've been using the PSP for over a year, and knew pretty much all there was to know.

I didn't think this book would cover everything it should, but amazingly enough, it did. It also covered things and explained them in such great detail that I was shocked. The book covers stuff I haven't seen before, such as building a mount to put in your car, and making your own adapter to use other memory stick format types.

If you are new to the PSP scene, I very highly suggest this!

This makes a PSP even more fun to enjoy. It enjoys being easy to read while going deep into detail. The downgrade section was something totally new to me. The illustrations and steps allow very easy use with great results. I appreciate the author putting in contact information even though you probably won't need it since the book is well formatted and illustrated. Well worth the investment!

This book was really good. It shows a whole ton of good hacks and ways you make things such as your own battery pack, a car stand you name it. The even better thing was it explains it really easy well now im not to smart and I actually understood this. If there were more than 5 stars I would definately put more. I reccomend you buy this book.Also the website Auri made is really helpful to hackingpsp.com

Anthony Arellano

This book is worth all the money you pay for it. Even if you are "teh l33t h4x0r", I am sure you will learn something new out of it. It is nearly flawless and the author put up a website for it, a forum, and also his email address and IM names. I even got more help from him over AIM last night and he actually talks to people and helps when I didn't understand some of the terminology. that was a cool experience.

All chapters that make up the 300+ pages have some great stuff. While I am currently at the firmware version that doesn't have homebrew compatiblility yet, which homebrew apps are the cream of the crop of hacks, I can still do a lot with my 2.6 PSP.

Auri does a great job of putting in all the necessary pictures and then some, as well as keeping it in a personal tone to avoid what plagues most manuals and related books. It didn't bore me and I want to do so much more out of the book.

Sheen rates it at 5 stars

This is by far the best PSP hacking book I have ever read. I have read others but none were as good as this one. With its shiny cover and a great looking layout this makes a perfect gift & a good read to anybody who is not sure were to start on PSP's. I learned so much from this book, It covers just about everything. There are lots of picrtures to aid you in your hacking adventure. I highly recomend this book.

Even if you think you know it all, you're bound to learn something here. Some of the info is pretty basic, but there's a lot of stuff I didn't know you could do. There's also interesting mod projects and whatnot. The only drawback is just the nature of print media in a constantly evolving area like this (example, the firmware roll back stuff has changed a lot in the past few months.) Still a recommended book for PSP fans.