PSP web browser?

Someone has gone and hacked the web browser hidden away in the PSP game Wipeout Pure to make it serve as a regular ol' browser — you know, for surfing the "real world" (wherever that is). The site is down as of this writing, but mirrors of screenshots (and supposedly video, though we couldn't get it to play) are available.

[Justin Baker @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

but wouldnt it be a pain in the a$$ to input the url?

[Blurrz @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

This is also very kinky! I got the video to play, so maybe you don't have the latest codecs or something? Not sure.

Anyway, this is excellent news, and will possibly be the thing to push me over the edge and buy one of these suckers.

[Stephen Chan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

probably just an image of the slashdot website... maybe. I tricked a few friends with that trick.

[Jessica @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

The video worked just fine for me in Safari. I think you need a divx or 3vix encoder to make Quicktime play avi files. The video's not that great though, no sound, shaky camera, etc.

[Ben Garmisa @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Steven Chan:

That is definately NOT just a picture, as the video shows the page loading...

Also, my immediate guess for how this works is just by hacking the home page for the game. You can add whatever you want to the page, but I don't believe this will allow you to type in an address, probably only some good old-fashioned linkage :)

[spray @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

downloading the .avi as we speak, could this just a be a video played from the memory stick?

[Stephen Chan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

i admit my immediate conclusion was incorrect. does anyone have a mirror for the video?

[Stephen Chan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

i admit my immediate conclusion was incorrect. does anyone have a mirror for the video?

[Stephen Chan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

sorry, found the mirror...
http://john.gprime.net/~john/mirr0red/mozy.org/psp/psp_haxxed_by_roto-xvid.avi

[asidrephlux @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Shitty video. Unnecessarily long.

Mirror: http://tinyurl.com/3koeq

[roto @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Web server died. Not a hoax. Mirrors coming soon. Summary at:
http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewtopic.php?t=1223

[anonymous @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

The author speaks, here:

http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewtopic.php?t=1223

[BeerBro @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

this is answering Justin Baker's question...

there are already optinonal key-boards available to buy for typing.. :)

[Jim @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Wow..I need this now

[anonymous @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

And the mirrored page with pictures, the video, and most importantly, the authors comments:

http://tinyurl.com/5yzcj

and additional mirrors:

http://www.omlette.net/mirror/up/PSPWebsite.zip
http://www.omlette.net/mirror/up/psp_haxxed_by_roto-xvid.avi

[micael @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

whats the first game i should by for my psp

[Bootes @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

My mirror :)
Http://homepage.mac.com/ablack6596/psp

[anonymous @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

One last mirror, that the author set up himself. Has additional comments and stuff:

http://www.fumanchuu.com/pspdev/

[KNOWITALL @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

He probably just hacked up his dns server so that when the psp tried to connect through it, and asked for the ip of some website like www.wipeoutpspgamehomesite.com, it got the ip of his server or slashdot.

He may have said this himself, didn't investigate...

[Connor @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Jesus, it's been 2 days and this thing already has as many hacks and accessories as the iShuffle.

[wombat @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Cool, I was working on the same thing independently.

http://www.wombatmobile.com/blojsom/blog/wombat/mobile/2005/03/26/Using_the_PSP_as_a_web_browser.html

[Ben Garmisa @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Some comments from the guy who wrote everything up (Thanks by the way!):

(BTW, please don't take all the l33t talk seriously. And to the engadget poster who said the video sucks...THANKS BUDDY! I'LL BE WAITING FOR YOUR PRODUCTION-QUALITY VIDEO CAMERA IN THE MAIL!)

Seems like a funny guy, I gotta say :-)

To update my last post, apparently there IS a keyboard API, but it only becomes available when typing into textboxes, so I'd imagine you could use this with a proxy php script, but there's still no way to natively type in any address.

I was also pretty close with my guess that he hacked the homepage, as he just set his proxy to redirect from the main address to one on his local network. Lucky for us, this doesn't require ANY hardware hacking :-)

[Joey Geraci @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Let's just say I don't think this would work for the average joe schmo

[Jonathan Terleski @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

I actually did the same thing this guy did but didn't post about it because the results were dissapointing. Basically you just set the PSP to look at your own DNS server and then point ingame.scea.com to a local machine with a web server running. Wipeout (the game that has the built-in broswer) requests /wipeout/index.html. So you just change that to whatever you want (a list of bookmarks for example).

The reason I didn't post about it is because the PSP renders any significant webpage *incredibly* slow. Loading a index.php from a forum took ~5 minutes. The rendering at this point is definitely unoptimized and unfinished. That being said, it *does* work. Guess someone could use it to read webmail or something.

[Bootes @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

I don't know why my previouse one isn't working? Capitol h maybe?

http://homepage.mac.com/ablack6596/PSP/

[Virtuous @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

When will someone hack Linux on to the PSP?

[Willman @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

I just got this working with my PSP and the result is TOTALLY POINTLESS! The entire process is so slow it is totally understandable why they didn't include this feature from the start.

Also, anyone who has a PSP also knows the native text entry method is one of the worst on the planet. So frustrating that so much potential is lost on this fragile device.

[mike @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

here is a link to how he did it:
http://psp-vault.com/module-pnForum-viewtopic-topic-156.psp

[mike @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

sony is also selling a keyboard.. but. then again.. that just makes Nintendo look good...

admittedly, portable internet is better with.. hrmm... A LAPTOP... but a PSP websurf experience would require A LOT OF BOOKMARKS...

also you'd be hopping from link to link with the D-pad.. clunky

[Atom @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

You can't do this through any wireless connection correct you have to have access to the DNS server through the point. Or can I set up a page and use it through any wireless connection. It would be great for me to have small address book online to access from any wireless point.

[pspimp @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Wicked cool!
As for me, I am hoping that Sony gets us a good working browser update sooner because of this.

Yet another reason this thing rocks the house!

I love dead pixels!

[Derrick @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Is there a need for more mirrors? Mail the file or the yousendit link to me at [e-mail] and I'll mirror them. Even the html files too.

[Bryan Campbell @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

If this works with Java then will it work with Java AIM? What about that NES emulator that runs purely on Java? The possibilities seem endless... Also, because the PSP supports MP3, can you stream MP3s through the web browser? (I'm thinking Airport Express type ideas but with a PSP instead)

[Uchendu Nwachukwu @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Anyone who expects this to be more than an interesting proof-of-concept at this point is going to be disappointed. Let's face it, this thing was built for one purpose: to facilitate downloads from SCE.

[Bill @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Indeed. These guys have a DNS server setup.

http://www.base2.org/~fugimax/weblog/archives/000296.html

Screenshot
http://www.highiq.com/PIC00001.JPG

[Bill @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Slightly less bad photo's

http://www.highiq.com/PIC00002.JPG
http://www.highiq.com/PIC00003.JPG

Don't confuse it with being fast. The speed makes my Blackberry 7100g look like NEC's Earth Simulator

[Max @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Saw the video, kick ass.

[tpp27 @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

to all of you who downplay this, screw off, this is great news and itll just get better as time goes on. to the guys who shared this info, a big thank you goes out to ya from me.

[All Music Site @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

This is fun for 3 minutes, than you never look at it agian.

[sstudio @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

try this link for more details
http://www.fumanchuu.com/pspdev/
and video clip:
http://www.fumanchuu.com/pspdev/psp_haxxed_by_roto-xvid.avi

[pspfan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

that would be quite cool to have a browser in there. so what's the deal, how are you connected to browse and how much is it charging you? on a tangent to this topic, does anyone know if this garbage actually works? http://www.FreePSPs.com/?r=16662487

[Bootes @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

It may just be there to get downloads. However, what's interesting is that it has other features which would not be needed for that. Such as an on screen keyboard..

http://homepage.mac.com/ablack6596/PSP/

[El Payo @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

I want to know when the Universal Remote software will show up. Hasn't anyone else noticed the infrared remote port next to the L shoulder button? Give me a 'Pronto' style remote control capability please! And if I can use a browser to access my SlimServer via a PSP, I'll take that too.

[Dee @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Hey just wondering,has anyone been able to add an external hard drive to the PSP for music and such rather than the memory sticks all the time?!

[Parastie @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

It would seem that someone could write a web browser and upload it to the memory stick and run it like a game. Eventually, someone will release an opensource SDK for this thing and then all hell will break lose as far as apps go. I think it would be easy to compile Java to run on the PSP. It does use a similar processor to the PS2 and since you can buy a Linux kit to run on the PS2, then it should not take a giant leap in development to get programs to run on the PSP.

Also, as far as putting linux on the PSP, this could be possible. Someone would need to write a new ROM that with the boot loader and have it point to the memory stick/USB drive/Wireless network for rest of the Linux files. I'm not certain how easy this will be as I have not found any source information on the software the PSP can run.

Mouse emulation would be VERY easy. The game Untold Legend has a mouse and uses the analog disk for control and it works very well. I would think that in less then 6 months freeware apps running from the memcard will be released.

[Tas @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

I THINK THE PSP HAS ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES IN TERMS OF SOFTWARE.ALTHOUGH THEY COULD PRODUCE A BETTER INTERNET BROWSWER VERSION ONCE UPDATES ARE AVAILIBLE.

[Poppyhittan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

What is the PSP text input system?

[Vahid Mirjamali @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Use this browser tutorial for the easiest wipout browser tutorial!
http://www.pspcrazy.com/pspwipeoutbrowsertutorial.htm

[Defender @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

There is also now a free PSP Proxy with user homepages at http://www.pspproxy.com and you can get more info about it at http://www.pspforums.com

Check them out when you get a chance. The Proxy site is rather nice.

[keemo @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

yeah this info is good but to a point the ability to connect to the net wirelessly sounds great but some places it might not be able to connect. Like where I'm from finding an acess point ain't that simple. overal the psp abilities are superior to many other thing such as the ipod, mp3 players, and portable dvd players, and much more. my rating for the psp to me 9.9 out of 10. (mainly the fact I wasted money to buy a wireless router for the net :).