The Sony Playstation Portable or the simply PSP is arguably the best handheld console in the market today, not only for its outstanding features but also for its lineup of great games. Now the Nintendo DS may contest the title of the best handheld but it holds an edge when it comes to game titles. Most of these games are spin-offs of console games, mostly from Sony Playstation 2. And even with the handheld's limited screen size, it has captured the essence and the vivid picture quality of most console games.



The two versions of the PSP—the fat and the slim—are both run by firmwares from Sony. Through this firmware (or command program) you can play games or watch movies via UMD disc, which is a specially made disc for the system. But let's face it: most of these UMD discs are expensive, not to mention that three or four UMD discs eat a lot of space in your bag. Sot it really beats the purpose of handheld consoles, which are supposed to be “portable”. Having realized this, some people decided to tweak the PSPs a bit to maximize its use. They came up with custom firmware which paved the way for movies and games download.

When you buy a brand new PSP, it has the original firmware (the version depends on the manufacturing date of the PSP). All you have to do is to ask someone who knows how to install custom firmware. Or if you are really confident about it, you can get some guidelines over the internet which you can follow to install the firmware yourself. Once installed, then you can download games right away! There are some sites where you can download all the games you want for just a one-time membership fee. For a hassle-free download, check the torrents of these PSP games and download it through torrent engines such as Bittorrent.

After you finished your PSP game download, just save it to the ISO folder of your memory stick and you are ready to play. Most of these games are in ISO or CSO formats and can range between 200MB and 1.4GB.

This development is something of a surprise because when the first came out, Sony only produced memory sticks as big as 1GB—thinking that this will be just storage for MP3s, pictures and saved games. Now memory sticks come in 4GB and 8GB, not to mention other multimedia cards with memory stick adapters. Depending on the file size, you can put as much as 15 games in one 4GB memory stick.

PSP games from Hollywood movies are always top downloads—300, Spiderman 3, Beowulf, Ironman, and Hellboy are some of these titles. Of course great franchises like God of War: Chains of Olympus, Silent Hill Origins, Virtua Tennis 3, Winning Eleven World Soccer, NBA Live '08, Final Fantasy: Crisis Core always attract hardcore gamers. These are the kind of game titles that endeared the PSP to so many users both young and old.