Sony PSP-Why mod?

I own a white Sony PSP and I can say it's a wonderfully great piece of hardware, but lately I'm been seeing lots of websites and videos on modding for the PSP. This happens on both the hardware and software level.

Why do people do this to their PSP's? I think the answer to this is lies in the human nature to customise items that belongs to them. Let me ask you, did you put a nice wallpaper on your office PC or have a screen saver of your own? Most of you would answer yes. Well we all do this because it's the computer that we use, its like marking our territory to say yes this is mine, my spot!! The same goes to modding of PSP's. Its mine and I would like to mark it, so it's uniquely my and my alone. Look around and you can see people doing this to everything from cars to mobile phones etc.

Modding is split into two categories. The first is the physical or hardware kind of modding. This basically is to make its appearances more attractive or to add functions (as shown in the video earlier).

Here are some pictures of some PSP mods.

The last two pictures from the right are for a joystick and a TV output connector.

For all these mods I think you would have to bear in mind that you would be violating the warranty from Sony because you would have to open and add wires, lights etc. But look at how cool they look in the pictures, ya! If you want to keep the warranty you should not open or change anything unless its done by Sony. Well maybe you'll want to do all this after the warranty has expired or get a pre-owned unit. The ones I like are the ones with those flashing lights, but the battery life must be very short.

Now the second type of mods are software based. This basically means that people play a with the firmware (this is the OS for the PSP), this is done so that people can run custom software or better known as 'Homebrew' applications. You can read more of this here.


Most people (this is only my opinion) do this so as they can use unlicensed copies of popular games that is easily downloaded from the internet, this has gotten so serious that there is a rumour that Sony is going to stop this by upgrading all new unsold PSP's with the latest firmware (the current is ver 3.51, which still haven't been crack). Maybe also release a new PSP model (PSP2) that offers better protection against practice. You see when you buy a new PSP from the shop, the firmware installed would likely be a few months old (this is due to Sony coming out with new firmware monthly and also the speed of stock rotation in the shops. The latest firmware would add more functions and security for your PSP).


Well I do hope all this is insightful. My advise is don't mess with your PSP too much cause from the factory, it's a cool piece of hardware.