By Ben Berkowitz
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Corp new PlayStation Portable is turning
into a great tool for Web browsing, comics reading and online chat --
and it also happens to play video games, movies and music, if you
prefer that sort of thing.
The $249 PSP handheld video game player went on sale in the United
States on March 24, and it took very little time before techies added
the kinds of functions to the PSP that Sony did not include -- and may
never have intended. One man needed only 24 hours to get a working
client for Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, an older messaging platform.
"I was on IRC, and someone mentioned how cool it would be to use their
PSP on Wi-Fi at Starbucks to talk to people over IRC. I said, 'I can
do that', so I began working on it immediately," said Robert Balousek,
creator of PSPIRC ( http://www.pspirc.com ), in an email interview.
Balousek said as many as 100,000 people may have visited the IRC
client, and he is starting work on a new project that would let PSP
users chat on the AOL Instant Messenger network.
Hacking new video game hardware is old hat -- rare is the console that
does not get its own version of the operating system from enterprising
developers. But the gaming and hacking communities embraced the PSP
with speed rarely seen in the console world -- a nod, perhaps, to its
portability.
Other "hacks" include a way to transfer TV shows recorded by the
digital video recorder to the PSP
( http://www.zatznotfunny.com/ttg.htm#psp ); a program for reading
ebooks, ( http://gamefries.blogspot.com/2005/03/how-to-get-e-books-on-
your-psp.html ); and a viewer for comics downloaded from the Internet
( http://www.8bitjoystick.com/archives/jake_how_to_read_web_
comics_on_a_playstation_portable.php ).
Much of the new PSP functionality comes from using the Web browser
built into the racing game "Wipeout Pure," which was meant to go to a
Sony site. By changing some of the PSP's network settings, the browser
can be pointed to an Internet portal.
A number of people have already set up such portals, formatted to fit
in the PSP's screen and offering links and a place to enter Web
addresses. The technology blog Engadget has rounded up a number of
those links.
Sony Computer Entertainment of America, the Japanese conglomerate's
U.S. gaming unit, did not respond to requests for comment.
But the tinkerers suggest Sony probably did not have their work in
mind when they released the PSP. Balousek said the company had only
left small loopholes for outsiders to use.
The development community wishes that would change, as evidenced by an
open plea to Sony posted April 5 on the Web site PS2dev.org (
http://www.ps2dev.org ), which is dedicated to the development of
open-source software projects for the PS2.
"I suggest to Sony that they should work with us to develop a method
to allow home-brew software" using technology to protect Sony
copyrights," the site's editor "Oobles" wrote.
Lisa Minter (lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com)