DCEmu have posted up a picture of the new Sony PSP camera, which it got from ITMedia.

If the photo is to be belived, and theres no reason to doubt it as far as I can see, the PSP camera looks to be a slightly industrial looking device with a small rotary dial to one side.

The camera is apprently going to be a whopping 1.3 Megapixels, which puts it on a par with the sort of camera built into mobile phones – about 3 years ago.

Now I understand that this is perhaps not aimed at the pro-level photgrapher, and is intended to be more of a fun accessory for the PSP, but the specs hardly look promising. If Sony wants people to ditch using their camera phones, they are going to have to come up with some pretty cool features on the software side, otherwise this may not take off like Sony are no doubt hoping.

If the camera is integrated into some video conferencing ability then I can see it being a popular choice for those people who want to see who they are speaking to (thoughts of late night sex chats instantly springs to mind). Of course, before video conferencing can take place, Sony need to get some form of VoIP system in place.

Another thing that may help sales of the PSP camera is some photo editing software built into the PSP, which would allow for some fun games, especially if they created an online flickr’esq type service that allows users to upload their PSP created photos to be shared.

Perhaps most importantly is the need to get the camera integrated into some decent PSP games, other than for customising the face of your avatar within some third person shooter. Imagine playing SOCOM or similar and having a small video pane open in the top right of the screen, showing your teammates in real time as you play multiplayer co-op matches. Then again, if you play multiplayer co-op matches with ugly people who like to play naked, this might not be the best idea.

On the back of the post about the PSP downgrader for firmware 2.5/2.6, its also worth mentioning that some recipients of the Undiluted Platinum ModChip have had some serious issues fitting the device.

It looks like a few have managed to break their PSP’s, meaning that the device is bricked and no further action can be taken with it. This has occurred even with people experienced in fitting ModChips and the technicalities of modifying electronic equipment.

So again, a warning – please be sure of what you are doing when it comes to fitting the ModChip, getting it wrong can leave your PSP bricked. The only solution to this is to then go out and purchase a new Sony PSP.

If in any doubt, consult an expert, and if you are not confident enough to perform the modification yourself, find someone who has performed the update before, and who is willing to modify your PSP for you and cover the cost of replacing the PSP should something go wrong (good luck with that last one).

The PSP is a complex piece of electronic equipment and should be treated with some respect.

I’m hearing lots of rumours after yesterdays news of flash access (for PSP’s running firmware 2.5/2.6) of a potential downgrader that will revert a PSP back to firmware 1.5.

At the moment, as far as I am aware, there is no such software and nobody should attempt to use software on their PSP. There are several stories doing the rounds of people who have used software they believed to be a downgrader on their PSP only to find the device has become bricked (ie broken/dead/not working anymore).

Please do not attempt to use any software that is intended to downgrade your PSP running firmware 2.5/2.6 until there is an official announcement from a reputable source that such software exists and will not harm your PSP.

Bear in mind that the time to create a downgrader and fully test it will take longer than 24 hours from the time the exploit was announced. Also consider that the people who have spent a lot of time developing software for the PSP are still unsure if the exploit is going to allow the firmware to be rewritten. The likelyhood is that the access will not be sufficient to change the firmware version.