9.30.2017

Old Playstation Tomfoolery

In a prior post, I mentioned finding my old PSP Go and regaining interest in the old Patpon game.  I have a dock for my PSP Go! and discovered there an option for sending the video out to my TV via an componet cable.  I also learned I could use a PS3 controller with the PSP Go while for control- put it requires a PS3 to pair it. Luckily I have an old (phat) PS3 in the closet..

Image result for CECHE01 PNGMy PS3 was second gen (CECHE01) and was running firmware 3.51. A google search revealed the PS3 is ‘hackable’ up to v3.55; after that, I would need a hardware device to downgrade to v3.55. 

I could find no explict instructions on how to upgrade an old 3.51 firmware to a modified 4.81.  The process I eventually used:

The last two updates probably could have been combined, but I was unaware of the 4.81.2 release until I began this post.

I also repalced the hard drive in my PS3 with a 1TB drive. 

MultiMan is a file manager tool that allows me to copy my PS3 games to copy and paly my games from the internal hard drive.  It also allows me to run PS2 and PSX games- but this may actually be handled by the Rebug firmware and MultiMan only provides and interface to launch.  I was able to play the orginal PSX Crash Bandicoot from my origial disk with no issues.  (This game also made me realize I do not like this genre of video games as much as I once did.)

During the upgrade proces, I kept my PS3 offline to ensure I would not recive a PSN ban for running a modified console. Rebug 4.81.2 indicates it should work with PSN ‘until the next firmware update’ (Sony’s last official update was Nov 1st, 2016), so I will give it a go; worst case scenario is I will only be able to play local games offline- which is my preffered gaming type.  

So far, I have been able to update the PS store app and download an update for Super Startdust Delta (v5.0 to v6.0) with no problem.

Additionally, there is a large amount of PS3 homebrew applications for console emulators, FTP, IRC, media players…There is even a cloud sync for game save backups.

Final result: I have an PS3 console that can hold all of my PS3 games, play older PSX/PS2 games, run emulators and homebrew. 

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