Not entirely related but just reading this brought back a lot of memories of the PSP homebrew scene. I miss those days. Idolizing Dark_Alex was what got me into software.
##psp-programming represent!
##psp-programming represent!
a) I still use it for GBA/Sega Genesis emulation nearly every day but
b) I've never used a single UMD with the device and
c) I don't know anyone who has.
Kinda like the Dreamcast, which was also amazing but had even the most inexperienced users rushing to Wal-Mart to grab a stack of blank CD's to make their very own Kazaa-downloaded copy of 'Seaman.'
If Sony had actually pandered to the homebrew scene (yeah, I know that sounds like a joke, but I'm saying 'if'...) they could have opened up something like the App store even earlier on, where the barrier of entry for indie developers is existent but small.
I'd be interested to actually look up some numbers, but I imagine software sales for the PSP, especially the early generation, must have been fairly abysmal.
I started tinkering with hardware after buying someones psp that had a broken screen for like 20 bucks, and replacing the display through ebay. good times. although the analog stick sometimes broke.