A Guide To Sony PSP Firmwares And What They Do

Firmware 1.0

The Orignal Firmware Allows any homebrew or backup games to be played without the need for a eloader this is only available on first launch japanese consoles

Firmware 1.5

This firmware require the need of a eloader to play homebrew or backup games and is the only firmware capable of doing this other than firmware 1.0

Firmware 1.51/1.52/2.0

Requires downgrading to 1.5 to play backup games but they can play homebrew games with the use of a eloader

Firmware 2.01/2.5/2.6

Requires a copy of GTA Liberty City to play homebrew games since 3rd July a downgrader was made by Dark Alex allowing this firmware to be downgraded to firmware 1.5 this downgrader does not work on TA-082 Motherboards which can be found by looking for the writing IC1003 on the inside of the UMD tray

The motherboard to avoid TA-082

Firmware 2.7/2.71/2.8

can now be downgraded to 1.5 to play homebrew games as long as your motherbaord is not ta-082 which a downgrader is expected for by christmas and can also play Flash Games

Software

The most common software being used to play homebrew games is UMD Emulator with the release of Devhook 0.46 it is know possible to play 2.80 games without the need for updating