now you know that isnt exactly true, you need to do all kinds of procedures to get firmware required games to load.
That's really up for debate. "all kinds of procedures" is hardly how I'd describe my experience. I ripped the UMD with a few minutes work once I saw there was a pack to fix the iso. I spent another 5 minutes replacing and fixing a few files, and that was that. And now I can play Daxter on my memstick and keep GTA in my UMD drive.
Homebrew and loaders are ridiculously easy to install on a 1.5 PSP, and as scary as some people make "ha><0ring t3h isozz" seem.. it's really only replacing a few files. Drag.... Drop.... Done.
here are *my* good reasons to update, not saying anyone should...
-i like the web browser
-selecting the themes and setting the wallpaper, i know you can still do this with home brew apps, but this is integrated and works well
-and a big one for me (but there might be some home brew app for it as well)...
the avc video codec. looks great and is a big plus for me cause i dont want to spend good money on umd movies. some people may not think its so great.
and in the future there will be the ps1 emulator and perhapse a chunk of the playstation online platform. that will turn a bunch of people i would think.
And just to play devil's advocate, here are my reasons why these are irrelevant to me (I want to stress the "TO ME" part... I'm not bashing anyone's decsion)
- Web on the PSP is not that hot IMO. It's clunky, I have a laptop, and if I really want to surf the web on a small screen, I'll use my PDA. I'm all for integration and not having to carry multiple gadgets, but teh PSP browser is not very good IMO. Also, there ARE browsers for 1.5 PSPs that work very similarly to the 2.0+ browser... but again, I'm not a big fan either way, so internet is not a problem for me.
- Once you install the program needed, you can change themes/wallpapers very easily on 1.5. I guess it's not technically "integrated" but it certainly isn't difficult.
- AVC is a good point, I don't believe its possible on 1.5s at all. I occasionally watch videos on my PSP, but it is very rare. Again, for me.... I'll watch video on my laptop. I have to have it with me, so why not? I love the PSP screen... but I don't really find staring at it for a 2 hour movie appealing.
The PS1 emu may very well make me upgrade, but it depends on how well it actually works and how it's implemented. I'm just not sure giving up all my homebrew and emulators for ONLY PS1 emulation is worth it. I still have a PS1 and can play it at home, so I'm not sure just how enticing it will be for me. I'll have to wait and see just how well Sony implements it.