The big news is that there has been a discovery for running homebrew on current firmwares. Using the game Lumines and using a modified save, you are able to run homebrew apps. This lead to the potential of downgrading/upgrading to custom firmwares. If you've been looking or are interested in the PSP scene, it's definitely a good time to buy the PSP so make sure you grab the Lumines game. Sony will probably get word of this and release another firmware to block the exploit and patch up the Lumines releases, so buy it when it's hot.

there are downgraders for almost every firmware up to 3.50 according to my knowledge. im not sure about the game Lumines, but i do know that you can upgrade you firmware from 2.81(the undowngradeale firmware) to a higher firmware then downgrade it back to 1.50. after that install custom firmware up to 3.40-A.

there are certain downgraders for different motherboards. make sure you can verify your motherboard before you downgrade or else it will be useless as sh!t. well it used to be hard downgrading but i guess the have all these noob-proof downgraders. its worth a shot. but you could brick your psp at anytime downgrading.

btw psp games are lame. however it can emulate:

nes
snes
playstation(psp is capable of ps emulation on its own)
n64(slow but works)
game boy
game boy advance