
Conan (pictured, above) knows what's best: a wider screen. PSP's screen is natively 16:9, allowing more screen real estate. This is perfect for games: players will have a better vantage point in games. This is even better for movies:

The PSP can have a very bright screen: and it's adjustable. To conserve battery life, simply set it to the lowest setting by hitting the Screen button at the bottom of the system. But, to crank it up, Sony offers you two additional brightness settings. We're sure your vision will become impaired after long exposure to the maximum brightness, but if you want to burn your retinas, feel free. The screen is usually bright enough that I use it as a impromptu flashlight (for late night bathroom breaks).

32. Official firmware updates
Sony updates the firmware regularly, and we love it. Since its launch, PSP has gained tons of new functionality, such as an internet browser ... and there's more to come. It's incredibly easy to upgrade the system firmware: it's an easily accessible button on the XMB (pictured, above).

34. Dark_Alex's custom firmware
We love Sony's official firmware, which is why we're impressed by the homebrew community's attempts with Dark_Alex's custom firmware. This includes most of the functionality of Sony's official releases, but adds other features, such as the ability to go to the fourth brightness level (ouch!), and play homebrew games.

35. In-game screen captures
Using Dark_Alex's custom firmware, and an additional plugin, gamers can take pictures within their games and save them to Memory Stick. It's a great, easy way of showing off gaming accomplishments (without having to take a picture of your system). Future games, such as Wipeout Pulse, will include an in-game photo capture system, allowing for gamers without homebrew to take advantage of such a cool feature.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-25-2007 @ 2:02PM
[.sm0ke.] said...
"Wider is better" was Pontiac.
Reply
6-25-2007 @ 2:03PM
Erik said...
As a wise Mazda spokesperson said, "Wider is better."
That would be Pontiac who ran those commercials.
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6-25-2007 @ 2:03PM
Stef Geiger said...
"many movies are shot in a widescreen format"? More like "every movie since at least the 60s has been shot in widescreen if not cinemascope (2.35:1)". I'm sure there are exceptions like cheap-ass TV movies, but 16:9 and 2.35:1 have been the two standards for close to fifty years.
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6-25-2007 @ 2:25PM
Afsheen said...
Actually, as far as aspect ratio, the vast majority of films are shot in flat (1.85). Scope (2.35) is very common, but most commonly used for action/adventure films or epics (think "Lawrence of Arabia"). The HD aspect ratio is actually 1.77 (aka 16x9). Some people mistakenly believe that 16x9 is 1.85. This is incorrect (just divide 16 by 9 if you don't believe me). So if you are watching your flat or scope films on an HD set, you should always have black bars on the top and bottom of the screen (left and right for standard TV, which is 1.33). However, most DVDs that are released now say "enhanced for 16x9" televisions, which is just the new "full screen" format; They've actually cropped the 1.85 image aspect ratio so that it will fit 1.77. As far as I can tell they've left 2.35 images alone.
Probably more than you wanted to know, but I'm a projectionist and get paid to think about these things constantly.
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6-25-2007 @ 4:32PM
welda said...
What is this screen capture plugin? I did a search on this site, and didn't come up with any hits, do you have a URL for it?
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6-25-2007 @ 5:03PM
[.sm0ke.] said...
5, it's called SVCapture.
http://www.cheatsync.net/SVCapture.html
Reply
6-27-2007 @ 1:09PM
andyscout said...
"Future games, such as Wipeout Pulse, will include an in-game photo capture system"
LocoRoco already has an in-game photo-capture. I think its the select button while you're playing a level.
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6-27-2007 @ 11:17PM
Marv said...
Go conan!
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