PSP Games FAQ

Q: Can I play US games on my JAP PSP?
A: Yes. Games from ANY region can be played on a PSP from ANY region.

Q: Is there a problem with WiFi Ad Hoc multiplayer if I have a US game and my friend has a JAP game?
A: Yes. It may not work between different regional verisons of the same game. So if you want to play against your friends wirelessly, you shouldn't import games.

Q: How can I play online?
A: See this-

To play wirelessly, you and your friend will both need to have the game you want to play loaded in your PSP. There are two types of wireless play; Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure.

Ad Hoc - This is the short distance wifi connection between two PSP units. The distance apart you can be varies, but it's usually best to stay in the same room. You can check if a game supports AD-HOC by looking at the back it's box. There should be a yellow oval saying WiFi Compatible (Ad Hoc) if you can use it for short distance WiFi.

Infrastructure - This system lets you play PSP using a wireless router against people a lot further away than your own room. If you don't have a wireless router, you can use a wireless access point, available for use at certain shops and other public places. Don't try connecting your PSP to your personal computer via USB and use your normal internet connection, this won't work.

Before doing anything ensure that your PSP's wireless is turned on. To do this first locate the silver switch on the left hand side of the PSP. Push it up towards the top of the PSP. This is the on position. Also, make sure that you disable WLAN Power Saving. This option can be found under Settings, then Power Save Settings.

If you can NOT connect at all try the following:

Go into your wireless access point / router control panel. Your router must support http configuration in order for this to work. To do this on windows xp for example you:

1) Click START, then RUN, then type in COMMAND, then click OK

2) a window with a black background will pop up, type IPCONFIG, then hit ENTER on your keyboard

3) a list of addresses will be displayed - write down the one next to DEFAULT GATEWAY. Usually this will be 192.168.1.1 for LinkSys routers and 192.168.0.1 for Netgear routers.
NOTE - this will only work if your computer is using the wireless router as its pathway to the internet, if you have some other configuration. If the number is something other than 192.168.x.x then this is most likely the case.

4) open up a web browser, in the address bar type in the ip address you wrote down in step 3

5) if asked for a password enter your password - if you have never set a password before then consult your router manual for the correct default password - then CHANGE IT


Now that you're there check for a few things:

a: make sure that the wireless type is set to either b+g / mixed / or a+b+g - make sure that 'g only' is NOT selected
(the PSP uses 'b' wireless - selecting 'g only' is faster for your computer, but will never work with the PSP)

b: if you are already using any type of MAC filtering be sure to add your PSP MAC address and ALLOW that address to connect.
(the PSP's MAC address can be found in the PSP control panel - refer to the PSP's manual, page 88)

c: if you have any type of wireless security enabled (WEP) then write down the key
(when setting up the PSP infrastructure connection you can have the PSP scan for security, it will then ask you for the appropriate key)
(if you have WPA enabled on your Windows XP machine and your router, your PSP will be unable to connect. Instead, enable MAC address filtering and WEP)

d: ensure that your router is set to broadcast your SSID
(when the PSP scans for an infrastructure connection it will display any networks found by SSID - the SSID is an alphanumeric identifier - a word - that identifies your network and is uniquely linked to any WEP key you have set)
(alternatively you may enable SSID Broadcast long enough to get your PSP set up, and then disable it)

e: be sure to APPLY / SAVE any changes you needed once you make them




If you SOMETIMES can connect and other times can not it is most likely one of two things:

1) The server for the game you are trying to play is getting too many connection requests and can't handle the load - or some other problem (bad network code for example) that resides on their server. You can't do anything about this.

2) Almost all wireless routers in the US transmit and receive over one of 11 different channels. Most are set to transmit on channel 6 by default. Various things can interfere with channel 6 causing you to lose connection. Wireless phones for example. Channel 1 and 11 are both good choices, as they do not overlap any portion of the channel 6 wireless spectrum.

To fix this, first off understand that all wireless portions of a wireless network must be set on the same channel. The PSP does not need to be set. If your computer connects wirelessly then you will need to change the computer's network interface card's channel as well as your router's channel. ALWAYS CHANGE YOUR ROUTER'S CHANNEL FIRST. As soon as you do this you will immediately lose connectivity with the network. This is ok - everything will be fine.

AFTER you change your router's channel go into the device properties for your network card - you can do this from the device manager. Once in the properties for you card go to the ADVANCED tab - there will be a CHANNEL entry - set this to whatever you set the router to, usually either 1,6, or 11. In this case, use either 1 or 11, but it MUST MATCH what you set the router to.

Click OK to apply the changes, and close everything out.


Keep in mind that you can have everything set correctly and still get errors. These errors are due to problems with the system you are trying to connect to, and you can't do anything about it. This is true even of the connection test available for the Infrastructure profiles.
Lastly, the PSP currently only connects to one of three places:

1) Whatever address they're using for "Test Connections"

2) The address Sony has set aside for future firmware updates

3) Game servers, provided by the creators/publishers for that specific game

Each of those locations are constantly being hammered by the five hundred thousand or more PSP owners out there. Each one of those addresses can and have failed in some way over the past 12 hours or so. When this happens the PSP gives you a numerical error.

What does this mean? It means that currently there is no sure-fire way to see if your PSP is configured completely correct. The internet uses a utility called PING to help a user determine if a computer or device is connected to the internet properly. The difference between the two is that Sony has hardcoded their 'test address' into the PSP, whereas PING lets you use any address you like - allowing you to test less congested addresses.

The second best way to determine if your PSP and router are connecting is to access your router settings (how-to is listed above) and check for DHCP LEASES or DHCP CLIENT LIST.

You should see a list of IP Addresses, Host Names, and Mac Addresses, side by side. Your PSP is more than likely the entry where the Host Name is the exact same thing as the IP Address. If you find an entry like that, then odds are your PSP is configured correctly.