Whilst away on holiday in Denmark I discovered that my hosts neighbours had an unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot which meant for the first time I could have a proper play iwth the PSP's online features.

Firstly I managed to get on line and read my emails, which worked fine but had problems with certain sites that were full of pictures, animations or movies. The Java plugin works well sometimes.

Whilst online I thought I've have a go at blogging via it which I managed to doe but realised that both this blog and my other one were displaying black writing on a black background, soon fixed but sadly not whist I was on my PSP.

I also managed to use the PSP's RRS channels and set up a few to be able to down load podcasts and videos. The system works really well and allowed me to be able to down load BBC's New podcasts. I also managed to set up a few RRS with Sony connect's site only problem was that alot of the files were zipped which seems a bit stupid. I did manage to get the new Spiderman 3 trailer and it looks awesome roll on May.

I also decided to have an explore of some sites using the PSP's browser. Which I discovered a few that were really nice and a few that were formated specifically for the PSP's screen. PSPvault was great and so was the US Sony PSP site Playstation underground. The later allowed me to set up a few more RRS channels including an MGS feed which had the trailer for Metal Gear Portable Ops which looks incredible. I also discovered a rather smart video podcast called Playstation Mayhem.

Using the PSP as a basic internet browser worked well but as has been mentioned there were a few problems mainly to do with the PSP runnning out of memory and that it doesn't play videos from streaming sites like youtube. Using the built in keyboard takes a bit of time to master but it really quite nice but more hassle that texting on a mobile.

The main gripe I've got is that it kept having problems with booksmarks. I'd create a certain amount then suddenly it'd loose them all a real pain when you've got it set up to long straight into you emails rather than having to constantly enter passwords.

I managed to use the Online PSP manuals which were added on the last Firmware update. They work really well but are sometimes lacking in certain useful bits of information. A nice addition though.

I'm hoping that Sony start to sort there UK site out as it's no where near as good as US's.

I've managed to download the PSP Firmware version 3.03 which doesn't seem to have added anything since the last update. I gave my friend the data and his Jap PSP gained a new PSP function to do with Japanese TV when he updated.

He got a few games for xmas from his borther that lives in Japan. Bomberman was the only one that I wanted to have a play with. From what we could work out in the Jap instructions the game is supposed to be able to be shared with 3 other PSPs and played linked. We tried for hours trying to work out the options. When we finally managed to get the game data to send the other machine just hung. At no point even when the game had been shared did we manage to play against each other. Possibly to do with my PSP being a European and his being Japanese.

This week he's picked up a couple of absolute PSP bargains for £14.99 each.

Lunines II which games shares but only a single level demo and doesn't share a linked game. Do companies not see the benefits of allow proper linked sharing like with Burnout Legends and Wipeout Pure. It would encourage people to buy the games. Also why when you get a demo level shared is it not available to play at a later date. Cos when you exit back to the XMB there is no demo stored. The game itself has changed much at at a saving of £10 from the cheapest I've seen it well worth buying if you don't have the original. It also comes with a Demo of Every Extra Extend which is very Rez like and has a handy tutorial. The main game is much the same but has a few new modes and thankfully some commercial music with vids on them. There is also the ability to create you own tunes and levels which will extend the game play time by miles. So if you've got £15 to spend on a game buy this from your ocal Gamestation.

Metal Gear Ac!d 2 for less brand new than I paid 2nd hand. My friend had got right into MG Ac!d and we'd played a few linked games but the sequal is an improvement and I'm looking forward to taking him on with a few linked games when he gets into it. A brilliant game and for only £15 from Game well worth it if you're into RPG's, card based games or you ljust enjoy the Metal Gear universe.

I've also seen Wipeout Pure for £5 brand new from Virgin if you don't have this game and see it for that price buy it cos it's the first game for the PSP and still one of the best released.

Gamestation in Bradford had an offer on used UMDs. 3 for the price of two so for £20 I got The Smoking Room (BBC sitcom) on 2 UMDS, Family Guy movie and Silent Hill digital comic.

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The Smoking Room is class and was a personal fav from BBC3, looks lovely and is still very funny. It did get me wondering why BBC seem to be releasing all there comedy on a format that seems to be sadly dying out. Keep up the great work as comedy is such a quality thing to have on a handheld device.

Family Guy movie I'd never seen but had been warned that it would make my sides hurt and it did all the way back on the train from Bradford.

The Silent Hill digital comic is a strange one as it comes as a UMD movie. The comics themselves aint bad with 1 that was originally released on paper and a second one that was made exclusively for the disc. The former is better to read as the speak bubbles stay on longer and it flows better. Both take about 60 mins to go through. The disc also contain all the music from the Silent Hill games. Including my fave Lauras Theme from Silent Hill 2 still brings back warm memories of first seeing the PS2 trailer about 6 years ago. It also includes games trailer, movie trailer and a few specially made music vids and an interview with the films creator.

The idea of a digital comic for the PSP is a promising one but I need to have a play with the Metal Gear one to see hwat can really be done.

Whilst on holiday in Denmark I relised how cheap games are in Brtitain in comparison to Denmark. Due to this fact I resisted buying any games but I got a couple of movie bargains.

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Kill Bill Volume 1 & 2 for the equivilant or £5 each the only problem is that the subitiles for the bits that are in a different language only give me the choice of Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Sweedish. Oh well the movies look ace and are now the cheapest UMDs I've managed to get.

WWW.yourpsp.co.uk

I managed to download a couple of new playable demos from the official site.

One is a set of levels from Archer MacLeans Mercury Meltdown, a puzzle game were you have to move a blod of mercury around a level. This is a lot harder than it sounds as you have to interact with objects to cause it to change colour and move round levels. It's quite nice but the game is hard as hell and very fiddly due to the PSP's nub controller. I don't think I'll be buying it as it's a bit too frustratin.

The other is Killzone demo. This wasn't a bad game on the PS2 but gone is the 1st Person Shooter to be replaced with an isometric viewed shooter. The demo give a good idea of the game but makes it seem like it's really rather hard. Again another game that suffers due to the PSP nub. I will probably get this one due to the Wi-Fi options and I've seen it for £20 new in Game. So it may well be one of my next purchases. If I do I'll let you know what I think to it. 

I managed to reset my PSP and lose all my saved Wi-Fi setting.

My aim was to see if chosing the restore factory setting optionwould roll back the Firmware verion. Sadly it desn't but it does mean that you lose all of you setting that you've currently set. Thankfully it doesn't format the Memory Stick. But I did have to go back and reset my time and date setting, the name of the psp, reset my wal-paper.

This did serve as a warning never try something that may have unexpected effects after consuming a large quantity of booze at stupid o'clock.