PC gamers have been getting that extra little "oomph" from their game machines through the magic of over clocking, and it now seems as though the PSP will be utilizing a similar technique for its own software.
Chris Kohler from Wired has reported that Sony has given developers the freedom to max out the PSP's potential by allowing overclocking of the PSP so it can run at 333mhz, instead of the current 222mhz.
Although this is great news for owners and fans of the PSP, it will negatively impact the handhelds already slim battery life and have owners using the system in a "not-so-handheld" fashion. Surely an enhanced CPU will greatly benefit the graphics as well as some elements of gameplay, but along with the positive come the negatives and one such negative (other than a poorer battery life) is the amount of heat, or energy, the system will give.
In an overclocked PC setup, usually the PC gamer will compensate for this increased heat by having the system cooled by special modifications so it will run at optimal settings with little strain to the components. If not handled correctly, this may pose a problem to the delicate internal components of the handheld system.
An overheated CPU due to overclocking will lead to the system's motherboard potentially frying, something that Sony will not be too happy to have to deal once consumers start complaining about bricked PSP's. And this is just what the over heating can do to the system itself; just imagine what it will do to a person's hands! Chris Kohler summed it up by saying that “with PSP being eviscerated by the DS, they need to do whatever they can to make it appealing.”
Although this is a positive move and may draw more console gamers, who usually are concerned with top-notch graphics and gameplay, to jump on the PSP's bandwagon, it definitely puts Sony in a position of making significant decisions to thoroughly evaluate this new step forward. Sony may eventually find the need to pre-emptively address the situation as opposed to waiting to react and then having negative attention brought to them from something that was supposed to be a positive.
Source: Ripten
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