jackalbytes

Dark AleX and M33 release 5.00 CFW

2008-10-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

DAX and the M33 team have released 5.00M33 CFW. Click through to go to Dark AleX's forum and get all the details. Two days to release this cfw, DAX must be slipping (just kidding). Thanks for all the hard (and quick) work guys.

Official Firmware 5.00 info

2008-10-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

From the Sony blog:

"Let’s start with the v5.00 update for PSP. In this version, you’ll notice the addition of the PlayStation Network icon on the XMB. You can now sign up for PlayStation Network, manage your account and access PlayStation Store directly from your PSP - meaning you can download games directly to your PSP while connected via Wi-Fi. Getting games, demos and trailers while on-the-go has never been easier!

The current PlayStation Store on the PC will be down in the interim as we take some time to revamp. Don’t worry, it will re-launch soon after we’ve made some tweaks. Please keep in mind, if you already have a PlayStation Network account, simply sign in on your PSP using your existing information. The same account and wallet can be used on PS3 and PSP. You will be able to check out the PlayStation Store on the PSP soon, as we’ll have a video demo featuring Grace Chen posted soon on the Blog.

Update v5.00 adds a sleep timer option that can be used while you are playing music on your PSP. In addition, we’ve added a full screen keyboard option for text entry and have redesigned the background of the XMB. You’ll be able to find all of the information on Firmware v5.00 here once it goes live."

Sounds like a few nice (small) improvements in addition to PSN.

PSPoste beta 7 released: full featured PSP email app

2008-10-12T01:12:00.000-07:00

Want to send/receive email via your PSP? PSPoste is best way to achieve this. From PSPoste.org: "It supports the SMTP and POP3 protocols (possible future IMAP support), and provides a skinnable user interface allowing the user to retrieve, compose and display messages from multiple email servers. Several input methods are included with PSPoste, choose the one best suited for you.

Here's a list of what's changed in Beta 7:

Support more IR keyboards by using the pspirkeyb library, see PSPoste/Data/pspirkeyb/ for configuration of your keyboard.
Better random number generation for TLS based connections, acknowledgements to Zx81 for his work on PSPSSH and Theodore Tso for the original RNG work.
On first start, users will be prompted to press buttons randomly to generate the random seed file.
Use the extra RAM of the PSP Slim.
Fix a crash when opening the settings window when no network connections are defined.
Fix another crash opening the settings window that would occur randomly.
Fix a bug in the logging mechanism that meant errors and output weren't properly being written out to the log files.
Fix a problem connecting using a manually configured WPA connection.
Make the cursor visible at all times while typing (as opposed to blinking throughout).
Explicitly load the IrDA module so IR Keyboards work on firmwares > 3.03OE.
Adjust heap and thread stack sizes.
Fix some memory leaks and uninitialzed variables.
Set the timezone to whatever the PSP has configured."

PSPoste has only been fully tested on the 1.5 firmware but there is some support for recent cfw's (see bottom of news page on PSPost.org). PSPoste is well worth giving a try if you have a serious need for a homebrew email app.

Download via Sourceforge.

Squarez now available for 3.xx and 4.xx cfw

2008-10-12T00:43:00.000-07:00

Akadewboy has done a little modification to allow the classic Squarez game to play on the most recent cfw's. Here is my review and download for 1.5 firmware but now thanks to akadewboy everyone can play this great homebrew game. Well done.

PSP and Xbox 360 chatpad can work together

2008-09-07T01:03:00.000-07:00

Check out this video and this forum post from LordNico at the AcidMod's forums.

This odd combination is possible on 4.01 M33-2, using a special version of piKey, and a custom flash on the chatpad. Jean at ps2dev.org made this possible with the Open Keyboard Project. Well done.

I have an IR keyboard that works very well with piKey. The problem is that the PSP slim doesn't have an IR port so this would allow all current PSP's a better text input experience.

Phoenix Game Engine (LUA) 0.01 Released

2008-08-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

This has to be one of the most comprehensive and impressive engines I seen. InsertWittyName and MK2k (among others) have really put in a lot of work on PGE. It looks to be a LUA coder's best friend. Here is their homepage for PGE and here is a video demoing all of its many features:

Check out their site for documentation, tutorials, FAQs, and downloads.

I have been working for some time on a homebrew game (only so many hours in the day) and I'm only about half done. I am seriously considering rewriting it to take advantage of PGE.

PSP 3000 officially announced; Who gives a sh....?

2008-08-20T17:08:00.000-07:00

Sony officially announced the PSP 3000 at Leipzig. The only changes I've heard of are a better LCD and a built in microphone. Are they kidding with this crap? How about a new model every time they change the color of the PSP. This is a nearly worthless upgrade.

Where is the internal hard drive that was rumored? How about upgrading the wifi card so that surfing the internet or checking email doesn't take an eternity. The internal speakers in the PSP are screaming (although not very loudly) to be upgraded. The GPS unit or camera would be a nice addition for those of us in the U.S. This is a stretch, but touchscreen would be nice. A physical keyboard, either integrated or as an add-on, is another item that I think is sorely missed.

Sony has to start innovating or the PSP will not live the ten year life cycle that they have planned. I am so glad I have the homebrew community because if I were to rely only on Sony I would probably sell my PSP and get a Pandora. I have a feeling this will another (failed) attempt to prevent homebrew and piracy by changing the hardware/mobo.

New Version of Polygunwars

2008-08-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

Ahrimanes has released version 0.6 of Polygunwars (Geometry Wars clone) for the Neoflash Summer Coding Competition. The new version has many changes/updates (from Neoflash entry page):

*PSP dialogs integrated(message,net,save/load dialogs)
*save load game based on profile, gamertag as 360 one
*upload highscores/profile suport
*view highscores leader boards from psp suport
*language suport. there is a folder polygunwars/res/lng and there are some files.lng that any body can edit on a simple text editor and translate it.. the game will take the language from the sistem configuration so, if sistem is set to english it will use text from english.lng if sistem is spanish it will use text from spanish.lng
by now just english and spanish are translated, for all other languaje they have to be translated and here is where i need your help. if you wish to translate it do so and please PM me or email me with your translated file.
*now you have to be more carefull with the black holes as they will suck you too.
*new enemy has arrive.. say welcome to the snakes..
*alot of fixes in game time.. seems that i finaly fix the lags and the crash issues.
*now it includes some credits and spesial thanks under options..
*hint how to play under options. //need to fix that \n not working..
*you can check online highscores from your pc at:
http://www.ahrimanescore.luaplayer.org/
*archivements can be suported now.

I'll be giving this one a try real soon. I suggest you do the same. Previous releases of Polygunwars have been impressive and I expect no less from this one. Check out my previous coverage of this homebrew game here.

PSP Homebrew Touchscreen Project

2008-08-10T00:12:00.000-07:00

Jube808 is on a mission: bring touchscreen, longer battery life, and a better control pad to PSP homebrew. The touchscreen mod and software is nearly complete as you can see from these videos:

I am very impressed. I've seen other touchscreen hacks before but none have looked this clean or performed this well. I am no hardware modder but if Jube gets this completed and released to the mainstream homebrew community I will definitely try it out.

Here is Jube's official site on DCEmu: Pspzproject. I don't know which touchscreen hardware Jube is using but here is a touchscreen add-on that I found at Sparkfun.com for ONLY $24. Keep up the hard work Jube I would love to see this go mainstream. I can only imagine the homebrew games and apps that could be created for a touchscreen PSP.

Despertar del Cementerio V6 released

2008-08-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

Dark AleX has released a new DC for our unbricking pleasure.

Some of the new features are:

New GUI
Installs CFW 4.01 M33-2
Boots 4.01 from the memory stick without installing (for testing purposes)

DC will allow you to install other CFW in conjunction with a pandora battery. You can unbrick any PSP with the exception of TA-88s.

Thanks DAX. Well done.

Geoff Smith's Ones and Os video

2008-07-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

This isn't PSP related but I think Geoff Smith makes some excellent music and thought some of you might like to see his new music video:

Ones and 0s by Geoff Smith from Cali Lewis on Vimeo.

Here are some of Geoff's other music videos:

Download No Gravity Homebrew from PS Store?

2008-07-29T17:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, so No Gravity may not still be called a "homebrew" game but it started out as one. It looks even better than it did and there is a lot more game to be had now too: 32 missions in 6 worlds. Well done, Realtech VR. Check out #14 on my best homebrew list.

QJ PSPUpdates Summer Homebrew Contest starts

2008-07-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

PSPUpdates has started it's summer homebrew contest so get to coding. I wish I had time to finish mine but I still have way too much to do. Good luck to all that enter. I will try to download and review/comment on the apps and games entered.

I'll start posting again sometime soon

2008-07-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

I had to take some time away from the homebrew scene. I was working on a homebrew game of my own, which is very time consuming, but I also had some computer issues. I turned my tower into a htpc and that was a black hole where time could not escape. Getting everything to work properly, display correctly, and have a usable desktop on a 57" tv is a chore.

Another reason I haven't posted is due to the fact that this site fell of the face of the planet (namely Google). For some reason Google quit indexing the site. I have no idea why but numerous searches and hours of research led nowhere so I got a little discouraged since I was only getting one or two visitors a day. Now jackalbytes is back on Google (I don't know what has changed) and you can probably find a hundred posts indexed.

I have put my homebrew on the back burner for now. With my htpc working like a champ, for the time being (fingers crossed), I think I'll try to start posting again. Maybe not two or three times a day like I was before but more than I have in the last couple of months.

Now that the site can be found on Google again I welcome all of you who haven't been here before. I hope you find jackalbytes useful. For those who are returning, welcome back.

I'll be back eventually

2008-05-17T12:08:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted. This is due to the countless hours I've spent on my own homebrew game. I hope that it will be done soon but there is a lot of work left. I will be reviewing/posting again as soon as I get close to completing my game.

On an unrelated note, I have noticed that my site has virtually dropped off the face of Google. I did an error check of my site at W3.org and found almost 300 errors so I decided to go with a plain jane template from Blogger. I was thinking that maybe there were too many errors for the Google's spider to deal with but I haven't seen any improvement in search results. If you have any ideas why Google is ignoring jackalbytes please comment below.

Thanks for your patience.
jackal

NeoFlash Competition Results

2008-04-13T17:01:00.000-07:00

Here is the outcome of the NeoFlash Spring Coding Competition for 2008:

The PSP APP division of NEO SPRING COMPO 2008

1 [PSP APP] Dow! 0.2 - Develop on the go bumuckl
2 [PSP APP] LightMP3 Version 2.0.0 BETA 1 sakya
3 [PSP APP] CTorrentPSP - Torrent client for PSP danzel
4 [PSP APP] Academic Aid Scholastic Suite 6 R769 - Education Mr305
5 [PSP APP] PSP-Maps royale

The PSP GAME division of NEO SPRING COMPO 2008

1 [PSP GAME] Bugz InsertWittyName
2 [PSP GAME] POLYGUNWARS v0.5 ahrimanes
3 [PSP GAME] BlowUp! - 1.0 RELEASED! gambiting
4 [PSP GAME] Orbid V2 Slasher
5 [PSP GAME] Dororo's Adventure b0rk
6 [PSP GAME] Tetriabetes 1.43 dragula96
7 [PSP GAME] Kitten Cannon sg57
8 [PSP GAME] Scogger 0.2 scognito
9 [PSP GAME] Sushi Rubik version 1.2 teamsushi
10 [PSP GAME] Motion Pong 0.2 bumuckl

I am a little surprised with the Apps results but the Games results are right on.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed versions for all consoles including PSP

2008-04-08T19:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a video showing all the different versions of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The video is approximately 7 minutes and you'll find the PSP version shown at about 4 minutes in. Looks like it might be good.

Orbid v2 Review

2008-04-04T00:34:00.000-07:00

Orbid is yet another entry into the NeoFlash Competition. Orbid, developed by Slasher, is similar to flOw. Fly your orb around eating orange orbs and avoid being eaten by other types of orbs/enemies. There are 5 game modes to choose from: normal, survival, time, mine, and dodge. There is a multiplayer option but it requires you to set up a server.

Orbid has a very pixelated look to it. It doesn't look bad just different. The controls are hard to get used to. Your orb maneuvers like a 18 wheeler: starts slow and turns slow. Turning sharp cuts your speed considerably. The A.I. for the orange orbs is o.k. but they are easily caught. The A.I. for some of the enemies is better and they can be somewhat difficult to avoid. I enjoyed the game for little while. It becomes monotonous after extended periods of time. The speed of your orb is the biggest problem. You are always wanting to go faster and turn sharper.

I think that Orbid is a game that everyone should try but expect a slow, laid-back, leisurely type of game play.

DAX releases 3.90 M33-3 and Despertar del Cementerio v5

2008-03-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

Dark AleX and M33 have updated the 3.90 custom firmware to be more compatible with the NO-UMD driver. Also, version 5 of Despertar del Cementerio has been released. It now installs 3.90 M33 and is compatible with TimeMachine. Thanks DAX and M33 for all your hard work.

PSP Maps v0.6 Review

2008-03-29T09:15:00.000-07:00

Here is another entry into the NeoFlash Competition: PSP Maps v0.6 by royale. Think of PSP Maps as a hybrid of Yahoo maps and Google maps that you can use on your PSP. You will start off by connecting to your preferred wireless access point. Then enter an address and PSP Maps will find it and zoom in or just use the analog or directional pad to move around and shoulder buttons to zoom in and out. The complete list of controls are:

Digital pad: move the map.
Analog pad: move the map smoothly.
R button: zoom in.
L button: zoom out.
X button: next view type.
[] button: previous view type.
/\ button: enter an address.
O button: show/hide crosshairs.
Start: menu.

PSP Maps allows you to adjust the size of your cache so that you can store a large area of maps. This allows you to use it when you are away from your wifi. It also allows you to save your favorite location so that you don't have to enter the address every time.

There are 8 "view types" available that I have found. They are:

Google Maps/Maps
Google Maps/Satellite
Google Maps/Terrain
Virtual Earth/Road
Virtual Earth/Aerial
Virtual Earth/Hybrid
Yahoo Maps/Map
Yahoo Maps/Satellite

(Version 0.7, just released, adds Hybrid view to Google and Yahoo, and Hill view to Virtual Earth; also added is a Window's version)

PSP Maps has the "Wow" factor. When you start using this app it will blow you away. The map images are stunning and navigation is easy and intuitive. With almost every new move you make to the map the app has to load new images. This is only a slight annoyance because the load times are very short. I was able to move from Columbus, Ohio to Antarctica to Hawaii in a very short amount of time. A nice feature is the adjustable cache, allowing for offline use. I tried it out and found that it works surprisingly well. The size of the maps saved would be a very useful alternative to having a GPS unit in your car, assuming you aren't planning any cross-country road trips. If I were judging the NeoFlash contest (which I'm not), this would be my hands down favorite app. PSP Maps should be on your memory stick. I am adding this to my Best Homebrew list. Amazing work, royale.

Bumper Harvest v1.1 Review

2008-03-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

Bumper Harvest is Kagato's entry into the NeoFlash Spring Coding Competition. Think of Bumper Harvest as a game of bumper pool but your "cue ball" is always shot from the same starting point. The primary object of the game is to bounce the ball off of the red bumpers to remove them from the playing field and advance to the next level. Bounce the ball off of the blue bumpers to increase your score; green bumpers to gain targeting guides; and yellow bumpers to gain extra balls (with enough points). There are also larger "red star" active bumpers and grey fixed bumpers which can help or hinder your progress. After you have gained the targeting guides, pressing the right shoulder button will give you a line along which the ball will travel. The ball will bounce its way to the bottom. If you are good (or just lucky) the ball will be caught by a moving grey object and saved, otherwise it will explode into flames and you have one less ball.

Over the past several days I have played this game more than any other. Controls are simple and intuitive. The ball bounces and moves the way you would expect. Game play is addictive and fun. Trying to get extra balls and targeting guides is a challenge but entertaining. The graphics are clean and nice. Sound effects go along with the game well and don't seem to get annoying. I do have a couple of problems with Bumper Harvest. The ball moves way too slow. After you shoot the ball, it seems to take a long time for the session to complete. I really hope that Kagato speeds things up in the next version. A second issue I have with the game is the graphic for the targeting guide. The green line which shows your trajectory isn't as clean as the rest of the visuals. It seems out of place since everything else looks polished.

Definitely give this game a try. It may be a little slow but it is fun. Well done, Kagato.

Nikwi Deluxe Review

2008-03-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

Nikwi Deluxe is a platformer game in which you are a boy collecting candy. You jump around grabbing candy avoiding the enemies. The enemies vary but for the most part don't let the birds poop on you.

This may be the first game that Deniska has ported that I don't like. Deniska entered this port into the NeoFlash Competition. The controls aren't very good. I would press the directional pad left or right and often the boy wouldn't move. This is a problem in later levels when there are numerous birds dropping poop on your head (what is that about?). The audio and graphics aren't bad but nothing special.

Basically the game isn't that much fun. I wish Deniska had found a solution to the memory problem in Metal Blob Solid. That game would have easily won the contest, imho.

Bugz Review

2008-03-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

Bugz is a homebrew game, developed by InsertWittyName (IWN) and entered into the NeoFlash Spring Competition. The object of the game is to "pop" bugs. Move your cursor to a point on the screen and press X. This will create a circle which will pop the bugs which come into contact with it. Those bugs pop creating more circles and popping more bugs. Create chain reactions of popping bugs until you reach the necessary number of dead bugs so you can move to the next level.

IWN has come up with a very professional looking game with Bugz. It is addictive and includes some nice features like game share, online highscore board, play your own MP3s while playing, autosave, and it uses the official load and save features of the PSP. Here is a video of the game in action:

I have two small issues with Bugz. First, you must disable all plugins before playing. The game locked-up on me several times while I was trying to get screen captures for this post. This isn't a major issue, just a minor annoyance which IWN informs you of in the readme file. Second, the game automatically plays MP3s from your MUSIC folder. I would rather have an option. Let me choose to play my music or in game music. I really like the banjo music IWN has created for the game. Give me the option to listen to it.

Definitely give Bugz a try. It is very high quality homebrew.

DOW! 0.2 Develop on the go Review

2008-03-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

Dow! 0.2 is a PSP app that allows you to write Lua scripts on your PSP. This entry in the NeoFlash Competition includes a text editor with on-screen keyboard (OSK) and lua code snippets. There are extra menu keys which can be assigned to your own presets or functions. Dow! allows you to save and load files for future use.

This app works quite well. There are obvious limitations to developing homebrew on the PSP; the lack of keyboard is the foremost. I and many others have requested that Bumuckl (developer) add IR keyboard support and he said he would look into it. The OSK works well within its limits. The code snippets and extra menu keys are a nice addition. Another suggestion I have (if it is even possible) is to include/embed the Lua player so that you aren't forced to exit Dow! each time you want to run your newly written scripts.

If you are looking for a way to develop homebrew in Lua while out and about then Dow! 0.2 is a fine solution.

NeoFlash Spring Competition 2008 submissions are in

2008-03-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

The NeoFlash Spring Coding Competition has stopped taking submissions. The judging begins now. If you would like to be a judge then try out the apps and games and submit your reviews here. There are great prizes for judging as well as for coding. You can find the PSP apps here and the PSP games here. The competition has really got some talent and the homebrew has never looked better. I suggest you give some of them a try. I'll be reviewing a few of the entries that I find interesting.

NervOS v1.4

2008-03-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

I was going to try out PiratakNervo's shell NervOS v1.4 and give a review but I was unable to get it to work. It just seemed to want to lock up my PSP. I'm not sure what the problem was but I guess I'll wait for the next version and try again.

Metal Blob Solid v1.04 Review (Port by Deniska)

2008-03-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Metal Blob Solid (Blob Wars: Episode 1) is a new port from Deniska. This game puts you in charge of Bob. Think of Bob as the Rambo of smilies. Metal blob is a platformer where you kill a lot, and I mean A LOT of other blobs. These enemy blobs are aliens out for world domination. Will you help save blob-kind?

MBS has many types of weapons to choose from: grenades, laser cannons, machine guns, etc. These weapons are dropped by the enemies you kill, along with cherries (health power-ups) and small red and yellow orbs which give you points. There are many kinds of terrains as well: land, water,ice, lava, green toxic waste, etc. which you will have to navigate to save the MIAs and collect keys and cards which unlock different areas. Be careful while around lava and the green toxic waste because one slip and it is instant death. The water is also dangerous because you have a limited supply of air which is displayed at the top of the screen between your health and current weapon.

MBS is an excellent and very deep game. There are over 25 missions. The levels are quite large and have many areas and objectives. The high number of MIAs and optional objectives means that you may want to replay each level to save/achieve each and every one. The graphics are quite good, as is the music, and sound effects. The particle effects for blood splatter and explosions are excellent. This game may look cute until you see the first spray of blood. The controls work well and the physics feel right. The only time the physics defy belief is when you are crawling across the ceiling or climbing walls; yes, Bob can do these things.

As always Deniska has done an expert job of porting this game over to the PSP. There is one problem that must be mentioned though: Deniska warns of an "Out of Memory" error in his release post. He tells me that this flaw is due to a memory leak in the PSP-SDL implementation and will take some time to sort out. I have gotten the OoM error many times. I had to replay the third level four times to get past it due to this error. Deniska is a pro and I have faith that he will resolve this issue. I have found no other problems with this port and continue to play it. I only play one level at a time and then let it auto-save and exit the game. I then restart the game to clear the memory for the next level.

If you enjoy platformers then this is the game for you. Just be aware that it is not completely bug free and you may have to play a level more than once due to errors. Can't wait for the next version.

Here is an online manual for the game and here is the wiki.

Here are a bunch of screen shots:

World Map:

Level Map:

Mission Cleared:

Blood and guts:

MIAs:

MIA escape:

More blood and guts:

Under water:

Lava and explosions:

Green toxic waste:

Ironman The Game Trailer

2008-03-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

Could this be the first game made from a movie, made from a comic, that doesn't suck? The trailer looks pretty cool. I'll wait and see what the game is actually like.

Site Overhaul (UPDATE 3)

2008-03-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

I am going to have to do a major site rebuild since Blogger saw fit to change something in their code base. I'm not sure what Blogger did but I am no longer able to edit/change the two columns on the right side of your screen. I'm sure you can see how this is a problem. If you compare my site to other Blogger sites you can probably see that I have done some major customization and I'm not sure how much of it I can salvage. I may just switch to a new template and customize it...haven't decided. I will be working on it in the coming days so my posts will have to be put on hold temporarily. Thanks for your patience/understanding.

Update: As you can see, I have done quite a bit of work on the new site template. Hope you like it. I still have a few things to add/change. Post any suggestions in the comments. Thanks.

Update 2: I have completed all the major site work and will now be getting back to adding new posts. Thanks for you patience. Hopefully Blogger won't make any more changes which require so much work to fix.

Update 3: I have finished several other small details which weren't quite right. The most notable issue was the difference between Firefox (which I use) and Internet Explorer. IE doesn't conform to web standards and therefore the layout was a nightmare to get looking right. It is still not identical to Firefox but it is much better. There are a few more small details I plan to address but nothing worth posting about. Hope you like the site.

jackal

New Zack and Cactaur Crisis Core Video

2008-03-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

This may be the oddest Crisis Core video yet. Still looks cool, just weird.

Elephant 2.0

2008-03-15T05:36:00.000-07:00

This was going to be a review but I was unable to get Elephant to work so this post will be about my experiences trying to work with this new app.

Elephant 2.0 is a syncing program for your PC. It is supposed to sync your music, pictures, video, homebrew, and ISOs. The app installed easily and the configuration is fairly straight forward. Input the path to your folders for music, pictures, etc. and Elephant should be able to see the contents. After I configured Elephant, it popped up a window saying that it couldn't find my picture, video, or ISO folders and that it would create them. It didn't ask if it could create them, it just said it was going to and gave me an OK button (see screen shot below). Creating the ISO folder wasn't a problem because I didn't have one. Creating the video folder had no effect on my memory stick. I can't even be sure that it tried to create the video folder. Although, creating the new picture folder overwrote my existing one. Yes, I did have a picture folder which contained 6 pictures and now my folder is empty. This isn't that big a problem because I keep a current backup of my memory stick on my PC since I am always testing new homebrew. I will say that this is bad behavior on Elephant's part. It should never change/create anything on my PSP without giving me a choice. It is irritating that my picture folder was there and Elephant was unable to find it so it overwrote it.

After that problem I didn't have high hopes for the app. It met these hopes by not doing anything that comes close to syncing. I was unable to get it to recognize or display the files on my PSP and couldn't figure out how I was supposed to create a list/folder for new items I want to put onto my PSP. There is no documentation which explains how Elephant is supposed to work which is also an annoyance.

I would steer clear of this app until the next version and if you decide to try it then, please backup your memory stick.

Tetriabetes v1.43 Review

2008-03-13T20:25:00.001-07:00

Tetriabetes is a Tetris clone. If you don't know what Tetris is then I'll explain what it is but you also need to crawl out from under that rock you've been under for the past 10 years. Tetris is a puzzle game in which you try to position differently shaped blocks, which fall from the top of the screen, to create rows. These rows then disappear and you continue to place the blocks until your stack reaches the top and you lose.

Tetriabetes v1.43 is far and beyond the best Tetris clone I have played on the PSP. Dragula96 has done a fine job of recreating the Tetris experience with accurate controls and block movements. An added feature is a "ghost" block which shows you where you are going to place the real block. Dragula96 had some help from littlevish in creating very nice graphics. The game music is a little hardcore but I like metal and it seems to go along with the game quite well. The only suggestion I have would be to make the "ghost" block more transparent because when things get frantic sometimes I get focused on the "ghost" and don't realize that it isn't the real block and misplace the real block. Maybe that's just my own problem, but it would be easier to distinguish between the two if the "ghost" looked less like the real block. If you enjoy Tetris then you'll be very happy with Tetriabetes. Well done Dragula96.

Puzzle Challenge v2.0 Review

2008-03-12T23:03:00.000-07:00

Puzzle Challenge v2.0 is a puzzle game similar to Tetris Attack. The object of the game is to move the blocks into columns or rows of 3 or more (let's call these "bars"). When you create a "bar", by interchanging the blocks inside the brackets, those blocks are removed from the screen. Creating multiple "bars" at the same time will place additional blocks on your opponents screen. If a "bar" of 4 or more blocks is created this will also add additional blocks to your opponents screen. The blocks that are added to your opponents screen can be seen in the screen shots below as chains and ice(?). These blocks will transform into the smaller colored blocks when a "bar" is created which is touching the chains/ice. The Pixelated Poo (developer) has included two opponent modes: play against the PSP or play against another human via adhoc. I didn't test the adhoc mode but the PSP mode seems solid.

Puzzle Challenge is quite addictive. The game play is fun and seems bug free. The graphics are o.k. but the music is not. The music is the only major flaw I could find with the game. I wonder if The Pixelated Poo wanted the music to make you feel anxious. This is the only reason I can find to include background music that is this annoying. With that said, I have played this game more than any other homebrew game for the past several weeks. This is such a good puzzle game it more than makes up for the bad music. You should definitely give this one a try. I was addicted after only a few plays.

I would consider putting this on my "Best Homebrew" list if there were better graphics and much better music.

Breakthrough: An Inventors Tale Review

2008-03-02T19:59:00.000-08:00

Breakthrough: An Inventors Tale is an award winning breakout clone which has been out for a long time but if you are new to the homebrew scene you may not have heard about it. Bounce the ball off of your paddle to break all the blocks and advance to the next level. Sounds easy right?

Breakthrough is by far the best breakout clone I have played. The art is excellent. Graphics, sound, and controls are very good as well. KleptoOne has even created a story to go along with the game. This game is unique to other breakout games in that you can control the ball in flight. The left and right shoulder buttons move the ball left and right which allows you to curve around corners or break that one block that is hard to get to. There are many walls and obstacles in the game which make it quite challenging. KleptoOne has also included some levels where you aren't breaking blocks but are gunning for "the bad guy", Reynoldo. There are also a couple of mini-games included.

The only complaint I have is that the level difficulty doesn't seem to progress quite how you would expect so get used to seeing the screen shot above. Playing through the game as a whole the difficulty increases but from one level to the next the difficulty fluctuates. For me level 2 was much harder than level 3. If you like breakout games then this is one you have to play. This is going on my "Best Homebrew" list.

Awaker Review

2008-03-02T19:28:00.000-08:00

Awaker is a racing game where you play as a square, racing against another square, over hills and valleys. The object of the game is to beat the other square to the finish line while stopping along the way when the "static field" goes active.

There are poles positioned along the route which will produce a "field" that will send you back to the starting line if you are moving while the "field" is active. The AI for your opponent is not very impressive in the early stages but gets smarter as you progress through the levels. The number of "static field" poles increases with the levels. The graphics are quite impressive (see screen shot below) and the controls work well.

I enjoyed this game but I was surprised that there weren't more levels. I was left wanting more, which I guess is a good thing. This is a final release so I guess I can't expect more levels in future releases.

Despertar del Cementerio v4 Install and Pandora Battery Creation Guide

2008-03-01T21:00:00.000-08:00

I have finally caught up with the masses. I now have a DCv4 memory stick and Pandora battery. I know that I am way behind in creating these but I didn't have a spare battery to use. Anyway, here is a little guide on how I created the memory stick and battery:

Creating Pandora Battery:

I used the BatTool v0.5 for 3.XX to create my Pandora Battery. It is easy to use, reversible, and allows you to dump the eeprom.

Connect your PSP to your PC with a USB cable and enable USB mode.
Extract the archive and place the "BatTool 0.5 for 3.xx kernel" folder in your GAME folder.
Exit USB mode and go to the memory stick under Game in the XMB and run BatTool. There are several menu options, pick the one you want.
Assuming you want a Pandora battery for future unbricking/updating then switch you battery over to service mode and then it'll be ready.

note: I dumped my eeprom just in case I had problems in the future.

Installing DCv4:

There are many installers available which will automatically install all the files needed to create a "magic memory stick" but I decided to do it the old fashioned way.

You will need these files:

Here is what DCv4 looks like after extracted:

It would be a good idea to follow along with the readme file Dark AleX has provided in DCv4. His "readme" is complete but not as noob friendly as I hope this guide will be.

Insert the memory stick you want to install DCv4 into your PSP. We need to format it so go to Settings, System Settings, Format Memory Stick and format it.
Next connect your PSP to your PC with the USB cable and enable USB mode.
Open a Command Prompt (CP). Drag and drop mspformat.exe into the CP window. Hit the space bar and type the letter of the drive which is your PSP's memory stick and hit enter. It will ask if you want to continue and press y (no space this time).

Here is what it looks like:

Remove the memory stick, disable USB mode, re-enable USB mode, and re-insert your memory stick.
Next create a "PSP" folder on your memory stick. Inside the "PSP" folder, create another folder named "GAME".
Copy the despertar_cementerio file into the GAME folder. Also copy the 1.5, 3.40, and 3.80 eboots into the root of the memory stick. Rename the eboots 150.PBP, 340.PBP, and 380.PBP respectively.

Here's what that looks like:

Disable USB mode again and also disable any PTF custom themes you are running on your PSP.
Now go to your memory stick under Game and run DCv4. Follow it's directions and after it has completed you will have msipl.bin in the root of your memory stick. Copy this to your PC somewhere you can find it easily, we'll be using it in a second.
Open up the Command Prompt again. Drag and drop msinst.exe into the CP window and hit the space bar. Type the letter of your PSP's memory stick again and hit the space bar again. Now drag and drop msipl.bin file into the CP window and hit enter. It will ask if you are sure and type y (no space) and hit enter.

Here it is:

You can delete the 150.PBP and 340.PBP files, they are of no more use. Leave the 380.PBP because it is used when unbricking/updating.

You now have a DCv4 unbricker/updater memory stick.

Using DCv4/Pandora:

If your PSP's power cord is attached then unplug it. Insert the memory stick in which you installed DCv4 then insert the Pandora battery. The PSP will power-on automatically and give you a menu:

Press X to install 3.80M33.
Press O to install original 3.80
Press [] to dump nand to nand-dump.bin. When done, psp will auto shutdown.
Press L+R+HOME+START to restore nand from nand-dump.bin

I suggest you do a nand dump and save it to you PC for safe keeping. This is to be used in only dire circumstances/last resort. Restoring the nand from a dump has a possibility of bricking so don't do it unless you absolutely have to.

Hope this guide was helpful.

Lots of New Videos of Crisis Core

2008-03-01T09:40:00.001-08:00

There has been an onslaught of Crisis Core video released in the past few days. Bahamut strutting his stuff is the most recent:

PSPFanboy.com has four videos from GDC which are worth checking out also. I can't wait for this game. Is it March 25th yet?!

Space Invaders Extreme Demo Released

2008-02-20T19:36:00.000-08:00

Sony has released a demo for the upcoming Space Invaders Extreme. I didn't expect much in an updated version of Space Invaders but I was pleasantly surprised when I downloaded it and played it. I spent at least two hours playing the single level provided and there seems to be some depth to it. Many power-ups, bonus levels, etc. are included. The graphics are good, as are the controls, There also seems to be a little bit of "on the fly" music creation. What I mean is that when you destroy the Invaders the sounds produced compliment the background music in a way that makes you feel as though you are adding "notes" to the music... sort of. Here are some screen shots.

Powered-up weapons:

Invaders can turn sideways as though they were flat:

Boss battles:

Bonus levels:

Detailed score system:

Give it a try, you'll have fun.

Squarez 0.8.1 Retro Review

2008-02-18T20:15:00.000-08:00

For some of you this game will be old news. Squarez has been out for a few years but I suspect that the many of us have heard about it but never played it. This is due to the fact that it was last updated in 2005 and required a "fix" to work on later custom firmwares. Well, I found a fixed version for 3.10 oe-a (I think) and KXploited it to work on the 1.5 kernel. Globware is the original developer of Squarez. I take no credit in its development. I will provide these downloads [FileAvenue <<(right click and "Save as ...") or BigUpload Mirror] of the game files as long as Globware has no objection. The readme files included with the download are the unaltered originals so be aware that they are not up to date. Leave comments if you have any problems with the download or files. On with the review...

Squarez 0.8.1 is an action game where you play as a blue square trying to avoid and at times kill the red squares while collecting the green squares. There are many power-ups which allow you smash the red squares, drop grenades, add grenades, slow down the red squares, etc. Most of these power-ups have a time limit so you have to be quick on your feet. There are several different game modes which you can try: classic, arcade, survival, bomber, custom, and timed. You can customize the look of the game by adding themes found at Globware's website. Here is what Squarez looks like:

This game is addictive and frustrating. There are games which are hard and make you want to throw your PSP across the room. Squarez isn't one of those, it frustrates in a way which makes you want to play again and again. The graphics are clean and simple and pleasing to the eye. The controls work the way you would expect and respond the way to you want them to. With that said there will be many times where you think you are going to miss that red square and don't, this means instant death and start over. This is going to be your fault not the game's. That is what makes you want to play over and over.

If there is one flaw with this game it has to be the music. It gets a little annoying and repetitive after you spend so much time playing. And believe me you will spend a lot of time playing this game, it is that good. I will definitely be adding this to my Best Homebrew list.

PSP-HUD version 1.31 Review

2008-02-18T19:33:00.000-08:00

PSP-HUD v1.31 was created by Darko for 3.80 M33-4 and is a "Heads-Up Display" plugin showing cpu speed, battery life percentage remaining, and the current time. You install it in the "seplugins" folder and enable in the recovery menu like all other plugins. Here is the readme file which has all the details:

=====================================
PSP-HUD v1.31 - January, 18th 2008.
=====================================

This is a plugin for PSP CWF 3.80M33-4 (update 4 is required) that displays some basic info on screen:
- CPU speed and CPU usage
- BUS speed
- battery status (percent and time left)
- local time

Installation:
-------------
Put hud.prx and hud.lang in seplugins directory on your PSP memory stick
and append ms0:/seplugins/hud.prx to vsh.txt and game.txt files.

Usage:
------
Default configuration is to show CPU speed, battery percent left and local time in bottom right corner.
Default button setup is:
- NOTE+LTRIG to access configuration menu.
- NOTE+RTRIG to turn HUD completely ON/OFF.
When you exit menu configuration will be automatically saved in ms0:/seplugins/hud.cfg
If button configuration is changed and you can't enter menu anymore (or can't rembember) delete hud.cfg and restart PSP.

Known problems:
---------------
Display is not perfect and is usualy best shown in bottom left or right corners but it really depends on program or game running.

Version History:
----------------

January, 18th 2008. v1.31
-------------------------
- updated for 3.80M33-4 (actually droped previously used NIDs for 3.71 and now using NIDs from pspsdk)
- new translations: german (two translations), dutch, italian, spanish, polish and turkish

I won't be accepting any more translations and I'm planing to drop translations for future versions (it's easier for me).

January, 10th 2008. v1.3
------------------------
- added language menu option
- added serbian and french language (thanks to Mizou93 for french translation)

January, 7th 2008. v1.22
------------------------
- fixed cpu usage display

January, 6th 2008. v1.21
------------------------
- slightly improved display

January, 5th 2008. v1.2
-----------------------
- buttons for menu and HUD are configurable within configuration menu
- add custom alignment (adjust with analog)

January, 4th 2008. v1.1
-----------------------
- added cpu usage and bus speed
- menu is now accessed with NOTE+LTRIG
- toggle HUD with NOTE+RTRIG
- redesigned menu selection (looks nice now)

January, 4th 2008. v1.0
-----------------------
- initial version

You can see the HUD in the lower right corner of this screen shot. I play games for review in short spurts because I have limited time. I often wonder what time it is but while in game you can't see the time or battery life left so this plugin comes in very handy.

I haven't had any comflicts with games, apps, or other plugins so I feel confident recommending PSP-HUD. It works well, does what is supposed to do, and takes up very little screen space. Well done Darko.

PSP-280 Stamina Battery Pack 3.6v 2200 mah Unboxed

2008-02-16T19:20:00.000-08:00

For many of you this won't be big news. It will probably be old news in fact but I just received my new 2200 mah PSP battery and thought that people who are new to the homebrew scene may find it interesting. Here are the unboxing pics (click to enlarge all images in this post):

This will become my primary battery and my original (1800 mah) battery will become my Pandora battery along with my 1 gig memory stick. I realize that it am really late to the Pandora party but I wanted to explain a little about these batteries here and I will be making another post in the near future about how I made my Pandora battery/memory stick. Here is my original battery:

There is a lot of confusion about exactly which batteries can be used for Pandora. Here is an ongoing list/thread about which brands and models are Pandora compatible. Post #66 from the thread talks about this exact battery, and says that it works for Pandora.

As you can see in the pic above, I was able to find what I believe is a genuine Sony PSP-280 battery made in China. If this is a fake then the "pirates" creating these are very talented because I can not find anything that makes me believe it is not a genuine Sony product. I bought it from Amazon here. According to the compatibility list above, this battery should be Pandora ready. I am not planning on making this new battery into a Pandora battery but I wanted to have the option if something goes wrong with my original battery.

I hope this helps any of you who are considering buying a new battery and need it to be Pandora compatible. This battery is more expensive than many others but I would rather spend the money on the battery I know I want than gamble on whether the cheap one can be Pandora-ized.

Dark AleX releases TimeMachine v0.1 (UPDATE)

2008-02-15T20:38:00.000-08:00

Dark AleX has released the much anticipated TimeMachine v0.1. This allows PSP slims to run 1.5 homebrew and also lets slim and phat users load older versions of DAX's cfw's directly off the memory stick. This sounds like it will be very useful for quick and easy version changes to your cfw, as long as you have a Pandora battery. Here is the readme that comes with TimeMachine:

TimeMachine 0.1
---------------

The Timemachine is a program to load previous firmwares and custom firmwares from memory stick using pandora. Like devhook, but working throgh pandora and custom ipl's, it would work even if the flash and nand ipl of the machine is destroyed.

The timemachine is useful to run software that is not supported anymore, and also as a way of booting psp's even if the internal firmware is destroyed. It can also be useful for developers to test their homebrew in different firmwares.

Currently the timemachine can install the following firmwares:

- Original 1.50 (can only be loaded on the phat)

- 1.50 with some 3.40 hw modules. Can be loaded on both, phat and slim.

- 3.40 OE (can only be loaded on phat)

- 3.60 M33 (can only be loaded on slim)

Rest of cfw will be added in the future.

Requirements of time machine:

- The timemachine itself doesn't require any firmware, only a pandora battery.

Timemachine nand boot in slim, requires, however, 3.90 M33-2 or greater.

- The timemachine installer requires 2.71 SE or higher.

Instructions: Copy the TIMEMACHINE folder to /PSP/GAME and run.

All firmwares can be installed on whatever PSP (slim or phat), but they can only be used in the psp indicated in the option.

Explanations of options:

- Option 1: Install iplloader. This will install the timemachine iplloader in the memory stick.

The iplloader is so small, that doesn't require any mspformat to have been done before.

This step is necessary to run anything else.

The iplloader of the timemachine is a multiipl loader that can load multiple ipl's accorrding to key configurations found in the file /TM/config.txt (this file will be created by the timemachine installer).

The default configuration is to load the ipl's with the following keys:

- 1.50: cross

- 1.50+3.40hw: circle.

- 3.40 OE: triangle.

- 3.60 M33: square

- Pandora/DC1-4 ipl (converted to TM format): digital up

- Anything else: will boot the firmware installed on flash.

(Note: as said before, in the slim, only nand firmwares with 3.90 M33-2 or higher can boot. Neither prvious CFW nor whatever original firmware can boot from nand when booted from a Pandora battery due to a Sony protection that has to be bypassed by the own nand ipl code).

You can modify this configuration following the instructions of the file config_readme.txt that will be written on the /TM folder after installing the iplloadder.

- Option 2: Convert pandora IPL into TimeMachine format.

Because the ipl used in pandora and DC1-DC4 (they are all same) is not compatible with the timemachine ipl format and user may want to load pandora/DC1-DC4 with the TM iplloader, this option is for that.

Requirements: the ipl of pandora/DC1-DC4 in the root of the memory stick, named "msipl.bin".

This file is written by Pandora and DC1-DC4 installers.

After convertion, the converted ipl will be in /TM/pandora.bin.

- Option 3: Install 1.50.

It will install 1.50 which can only be run on the psp phat (for a 1.50 that can be installed on the slim go to the next section).

Requirements: the eboot.pbp of 1.50 in the root as 150.PBP

- Option 4: Install 1.50 with 3.40 HW modules. (PSP PHAT or SLIM).

This will install a mix of 1.50 software modules with some 3.40 hardware modules, so it can work on the psp slim. It will usually run most 1.5 homebrew.

Requirements: 1.50 and 3.40 Sony eboot.pbp in the root renamed as 150.PBP and 340.PBP, and the 360.PSAR on the root too (to know what the 360.PSAR is, read below, in the 3.60 M33 installation section).

From 1.50 it will be extracted most modules, usually the software related ones.

From 3.40, it will be extracted a few modules, usually hardware modules.

From 3.60, it will only be extracted the wlan bios of the slim chip.

Known problems or considerations of the 1.50+3.40hw:

- The media doesn't work fine in the XMB (music, videos, etc).

Yeah, this is known, anyways the main purpose of this firmware is to run homebrew, as for XMB usage is better to use a more modern one.

- The "videocodec bug", aka crappy pmf play, only happening in the slim.

For some hw incompatibilty that coudln't been resolved yet, pmf videos, including the gameboot, will play crappily in the slim.

This will happen also in 1.5 games you try to run, videos will play crappily.

Because PMPAVC videos also use the videocodec API, they will play crappily too.

Normal pmp (xvid) (used on pimpstreamer too) will play fine however as they are decoded by cpu.

- The exit with home with "odd colors" bug.

When exiting with home from a homebrew or game, you may see random colors at the end of the framebuffer.

Nothing important, it even gives it an accidental stylistic look

- The PC os may detect the PSP slim as a new device.

This is normal, psp slim has a different product id (pid), but 1.5 usb driver uses only the old phat pid. Nothing important, the usb will work fine in the slim.

- Wlan. The wlan seems to be working, it has been tested using the network update download, and pimpstreamer 201 for 1.50.

However two things are recommended:

* Turn off the wlan power save.

* Use manual IP and DNS configuration (otherwise you may have DNS problems).

If you don't know the manual configuration for your router, just do an automatic connection in a higher firmware, and write somewhere the data that appear in the test page at the end, and use that info to fill the manual configuration in 1.50+3.40 hw.

* As in normal 1.50, there is no WPA support.

- Homebrew that uses some patching code over some of the module that are from 3.40, will not work and will probably crash. This is obvious, they were coded to patch 1.50 modules

- Option 5: Install 3.40 OE.

It will install original 3.40 OE which can only be booted on the phat.

Requirements: 1.50 and 3.40 Sony eboot.pbp on the root as 150.PBP and 340.PBP

- Option 6: Install 3.60 M33.

It will install original 3.60 M33, that can only be run on slim.

Requirements: 360.PSAR on the root.

Because there is no 3.60 eboot on the net as the slim was shipped directly with 3.60, the 360.PSAR is a file that has to be created on a psp running 3.60 M33.

To dump 3.60: run the program 360DUMPER that is in this release in a psp running 3.60 M33.

The result 360.PSAR is a file that uses the decrypted psar format (what a sce psar would look without encryption), that was already used in 3.51/3.52 M33, and it will have following size and md5 (checked anyways by the tm installer):

Size: 18189502 bytes.

MD5: EAA13343C70D9B0337C75B295 474C69A

-------------

Differences between running a firmware in the TimeMachine and a firmware in the flash.

Usually the time machine will run the firmware or cfw unmodified, including its original not critical bugs.

There are some exceptions:

- In 3.40 OE a critical bug regarding the configuration file descriptor not closed is fixed by the timemachine core patching the OE core in ram

- The TA-086 brightness is fixed for everything that has a 1.50 kernel

- The 4th level of brightness (i cannot live without it) is enabled for whatever thing, either if it is done nativelly (3.40 OE, 3.60 M33) or by the timemachine code (1.50, 1.50+3.40hw).

- The signcheck is patched and the firmware is written unsignchecked, so it can be shared between different psp's.

- 8 GB and greater memory sticks are enabled everywhere.

- 1.50 an 1.50+3.40hw can run not kxploited pbp's too.

- Flash USB doesn't work. This is normal, the flash usb uses the lflash block device, and in the timemachine that device is unnecesary and its implementation is a dummy one. Just use the normal memory stick usb, as the firmware is there

Other considerations:

- Usually the firmware running the timemachine should have more free kernel memory than the normal one, because the lfatfs module is replaced by the timemachine core which should be using less memory.

- IF you see somewhere (probably in the browser) an error 0x80010018, this is because of too many files opened in the memory stick (as normal memory stick driver is shared with the pseudo flash one).

The timemachine core tries, however, to minimize at maximum that this error happens.

- The Time Machine works faster if you install all firmwares you are gonna use after having formatted the memory stick, and then put everything else.

- When booting with a pandora battery in the nand firmware, remember that unless you change the battery, you will need the same memory stick to recover from sleep mode!

- Be sure to distinguish between TM bugs and OE/M33 bugs. For example, in 3.60 M33, if your iso running in March33 no-umd mode hangs at exit, that was a bug of 3.60 M33, not of the timemachine!

Little FAQ:

- What is loaded from nand and what from memory stick?

Only idstorage is read from nand, everything else, ipl and flash files are loaded from memory stick.

Not even a single instruction of Sony regarding the reading of flash files and partitions is executed.

In the future, the load of idstorage from memory stick is planned as an option.

- Why don't you make a 1.50 addon for 3.90 M33 for the slim if it can run now on the slim?

Currently, it is only possible to run this 1.50+3.40hw in a TOTALLY fresh booted machine by the user.

Not even a psp cold-reseted by software can run 1.50+3.40hw after having been in 3.xx, due to some problems related with slim hardware.

There are other implementation problems, but that one is the more critical.

UPDATE: This doesn't happen too often so I thought I'd add this bit of news: Dark AleX on Engadget. Sounds like the guys at Engadget know how cool this is.

God of War: Chains of Olympus Cyclops and Medusa Trailers

2008-02-15T20:12:00.000-08:00

Here are some more trailers for GOW:COO. Wow... 'Nuff said.

RS-GUI PopstationMD Version 3.0 Review

2008-02-14T19:37:00.000-08:00

As you may have read in my previous post I thought that Red Squirrel's RS-GUI was o.k. but had some problems. Well, Red Squirrel has made a major update/improvement with the release of RS-GUI PopstationMD v3.0. Wow, this gui is your one stop shop for single and multiple disk PSX game conversion to PSP eboot. Here is the long list of features (the most important items are in green):

-Added Turkish, Norwegian, Dutch, Polish and Greek translations!
-Added popstation.exe support, now 1CD PSX games can be converted too! Only one program to convert ALL PSX Games!
-Thanks to Brisma, no BASE.PBP or KEYS.BIN is required by popstation.exe
-Added the zero compression level for 1CD PSX games
-Added a Splash Screen with a security check for the presence of program's necessary files
-Possibility to disable and re-enable aforesaid Splash Screen
-Added support for NRG and MDF CD images. Now program read these following formats: ISO, NRG, IMG, BIN and MDF!
-Now popstation.exe and popstation_md.exe will ask user to press any key before closing them, so users can understand what is the error which does not allow the eboot creation (if it exists!).
-Added a list of games titles-codes
-Possibility to search for a game title quickly from the listbox
-Auto-recognition of Game-ID from its title
-Added a security check for Game-ID correctness
-Added a "real time" preview of eboot personalization
-Possibility to enable/disable aforesaid real time preview
-Added the possibility to insert any image as PIC0, PIC1 and ICON0! All formats and sizes are accepted! Program will resize and covert images automatically
-Added the possibility to choose the output folder name (Noone, Game Title and Game Code)
-Added a check for the true existence of selected image
-Added the docmaker!
-Possibility to create a DOCUMENT.DAT standard alone or with the eboot itself
-Possibility to insert any image to DOCUMENT.DAT, program will resize and convert images automatically (so all formats and sizes are accepted!)
-Possibility to add, remove or clean the images list added to docmaker
-If DOCUMENT.DAT will be created together the eboot, it will created in the same folder of the eboot
-Many v2.0b bugs fixed
-Something other that I don't remember at the moment
(This was taken from Red Squirrel's release post)

I have used v3.0 to convert several multi-disk PSX games and they all play as expected. I would like to see the dev make the gui look a little more professional but that is personal preference and has nothing to do with how well the gui works. Here are some screenshots:

RS-GUI 3.0 definitely makes it easier to use DAX's popstations (single and multi-disk) and customize your eboots. I included images which were the wrong size for icon0 and pic1 and, as claimed, it resized them to the correct size. In my opinion, including the game title/code list was essential. The one major drawback for many people will be the installation of the .NET frameworks. I already had them installed but I know many people consider them bloat.

I recommend using RS-GUI 3.0 above other gui's that have come out recently because of it's feature set and ease of use. Well done Red Squirrel.

Valentine's Day Love = Patapon Demo Release

2008-02-13T15:02:00.000-08:00

Sony has officially announced that the Patapon Demo will be released on the Playstation Store on Valentine's Day. Go get it, you won't regret it. Here's a new trailer to wet your whistle.

Hexaxis XXI Updated

2008-02-10T17:07:00.000-08:00

This is one of my "Best Homebrew" picks so I have to pass along the news of an update. There are several added features and levels. This is a very good puzzle game for those of you who haven't heard of Hexaxis XXI. Here is a video of the game in action.

Definitely give it a try.

OpenTyrian: The Review (UPDATE #4)

2008-02-10T01:46:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for some background/history/info on Tyrian here are some links:
Tyrian Wiki, Tyrian Fansite, Tyrian Repository.

I played Tyrian a couple of times many years ago. OpenTyrian brings back memories of fast game play, beautiful graphics, and a never ending onslaught of enemies. This review is about the porting of the game not the game itself so I won't be reviewing the game play but the adaptation of the game to play on the PSP. I will say that the game play is addictive and fun. A great game.

OpenTyrian was ported to the PSP by Deniska, best known for Mapthis! GPS app for PSP. I never have high hopes when someone takes a program, app, game, etc. and adapts it to work on hardware it wasn't originally developed for. The outcome is usually disappointing because it was never meant to be used that way. When I think of PSP homebrew ports that work well, Cave Story is the only one that comes to mind. The Cave Story port is perfect, at no time do you realize that this wasn't originally made to work on the PSP.

OpenTyrian isn't there yet, but it's close. I am pleasantly surprised by how well the game plays on the PSP. While in the middle of destroying hundreds of enemies there are very few hints that this wasn't originally meant to play on the PSP. OpenTyrian has two game modes: Arcade and Full versions.

During the arcade campaign the PSP seems to slow down a little when the action gets hot and heavy. This slow down is very slight and does not hinder the game play but it is noticeable.

Now let's get to where I think the OpenTyrian port has a major flaw. While playing the full version you will notice that there are no power-ups like in the arcade version. Upgrades to you ship are made be purchasing better guns and shields with money/points. So if there are no power-ups what do you collect as you play the game? Data. This data is basically how the story of Tyrian is told through the game. The arcade version has cut-scenes between missions to fill you in on what is happening but the full version's story is found in the menu. The full version's data problem is that you can't get the whole story. The text runs off the page and there seems to be no assigned button to scroll the text. This makes it very difficult to follow the story when you only get half the information.

Another flaw, which is more of an annoyance, is that navigating through the menus is quite difficult. Moving through the menu is done with the directional pad (up and down). The problem is that you will constantly go past the item you want. The pad should be pressed each individual time you want to move to a new choice. Currently pressing the pad will highlight the next item, then the next, and so on, with a constant scroll. Believe me, you will go past the item you want several times before landing on the correct one.

If you are only into the game play, and not interested in the story at all, then OpenTyrian is an excellent port for the PSP. The controls respond as you would expect and the only in game problem I found was the slight slow down when there is a ton of enemies and bullets on the screen. Well done Deniska, thanks for all the hard work. I hope that since this is version 0.5 we can expect a solution to these couple of problems I mentioned.

(My first impressions post on this game has download links and some other useful information.)

UPDATE (12/07/07):
Deniska has put out a new version. OpenTyrian v0.6 is a bug fix. All of the bugs I have mentioned have been addressed. Whether they have been fixed is another story. I'll let you know.

UPDATE2 (12/09/07):
Well as far as I can see Deniska has addressed and fixed all the issues I mentioned above. Here is a link to the full KXploited eboot for Deniska's OpenTyrian v06 port. I have nothing but praise for Deniska and the port of Tyrian to the PSP. This is a memory stick "must have". One thing I forgot to mention above and is an issue/problem for me is that currently OpenTyrian isn't able to save games. Since you have to start at the beginning everytime, it can get a little mundane. Since Deniska fixed the bugs listed above in such a timely manner I expect that the "save game" issue will be cured soon too. I will be adding this to my Best Homebrew list soon.

UPDATE3 (2/01/08):
As you will see from the comments, Deniska has released version 1.0 with improvements/fixes. I will find time to play it soon and edit this update with what's new.

UPDATE4 (2/10/08):
I found the time. Deniska has definitely did OpenTyrian right with the latest versions. Version 1.0 has none of the flaws I listed above and I can say it is very close to perfect.

The last major issue I had with OpenTyrian was the fact that you could not save your progress in the "full game". Deniska has granted my wish, back in version 0.7, and now I will be able to slowly but surely reach the end of the game. As you can see from the screen shots above game saves are possible. Unless you read the readme file included with the download you may miss the reference to the OSK (on screen keyboard). I would like to thank Deniska for this addition. I will admit that the OSK is a little buggy. I'll save all of you the trouble of figuring it out:

In the menu, go to Options.
Select Save.
Select an "Empty Slot" and a pop-up screen appears.
Press the right trigger/shoulder button and there is the OSK.
Press up and down to select a letter. The readme file says to press the right shoulder button again, this is supposed to transfer your letter back to the pop-up screen. Sometimes it will transfer the letter, I have gone back and forth several times without the transfer taking place. I found that if you select your letter, then press square, then press the right shoulder button, the transfer rarely fails. I'm sure this isn't supposed to work but it does. Deniska will probably fix this soon, not many bugs last long around him.
Continue to select letters with the OSK and eventually you'll have the name for your game save. See screenshot above. Mine is jackal, go figure.
To load a game, select Options in the menu, hit Load and choose which game save you want to play.

The only thing left for Deniska to do is provide all of us with the holy grail of homebrew: Infrastructure play via the network option. I won't hold my breath expecting Deniska to provide us with servers to play on but it would be nice.

Deniska, thanks for all the hard work.

More Crisis Core

2008-02-09T04:48:00.000-08:00

Here is another video from Crisis Core: FF7. This time in English. Enjoy.

Game and Watch Fantasies v2.0 review

2008-02-07T19:05:00.000-08:00

Game and Watch Fantasies v2.0 is a very quirky, different game. You play as a strange looking guy which can only move and jump at a set distance. In this puzzle/platformer you must navigate platforms, trees, lcd displays, and much more but often you character doesn't line up with the object you need to jump on or through. You will find yourself moving the little guy up against walls or jumping up against ceilings to reset/change the pattern in which he moves.

GWF is unique and fun. The gameplay is challenging and different. Graphics are decent and appropriate for the style of game. Controls work well and respond as expected. The music is quiet and soothing which is needed at times because of the level of frustration which can be reached trying to figure out some of the levels. The score in GWF is determined by the number of moves or jumps you make. The lower the number the better. I was doing pretty good (I think) until I reached level 15 where I proceeded to triple my score. This level stopped me cold (see screenshot above). A nice feature included in Game and Watch Fantasies is autosave. When you quit the game it automatically saves your progress and you can return to the same place the next time you play.

Even though this game can be quite difficult, it is very entertaining and if you like puzzle and/or platform games I suggest you give it a try.

Download Squad give PSP homebrew history lesson

2008-02-04T15:42:00.000-08:00

DownloadSquad.com has posted an article about the history of PSP homebrew. Very interesting and informative if you are just getting into the homebrew scene.

New Ironman Movie Superbowl trailer

2008-02-03T17:41:00.000-08:00

Ironman is really looking good. See for yourself, just press play:

RS-GUI PopstationMD Version 3.0 released

2008-02-03T15:40:00.000-08:00

Red Squirrel has released a huge update to RS-GUI PopstationMD. Looking at the new features, I have a feeling this is what I've been waiting to see. Check it out here, I will be.

The Newton War Review

2008-02-01T21:16:00.000-08:00

Real Tech VR has released The Newton War. In this game you play as a star which has two magnetic fields: red and blue. The red field temporarily disables the enemies giving you time to grab "fragments" with the blue field and relocate them on top of the numbered activation squares. Activate all the squares found in a level and move on to the next level. Difficulty increases with the number, type, and strength of the enemies, as well as the number of squares to be activated. Gravity holes try to suck you in and the "fragments" you are trying to move.

The Newton War has excellent graphics which has become Real Tech VR's trademark. The music is very good and fits the game well. Sound effects are good as well. Controlling your player/star can be difficult at times but I believe this is because of the gameplay and not poor implementation of the controls. I liked the game as a whole but found that it got a little monotonous. This is another quality game from Real Tech VR, check it out.

Jump 'n Bump

2008-02-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

MK2k has released a port of a very cute bunny game: Jump 'n Bump. You play as a bunny and you need to kill the other bunnies by jumping on their heads. When I downloaded and installed this game I assumed that it was a single player game but the readme file mentions 2 player games so I was pleasantly surprised. The problem is that there is no single player mode and the 2 player game is played on only one PSP. One player uses the directional pad while the other player uses circle, cross, square, and triangle. This seems a little odd to me, two people crammed together playing on one PSP.

This game could be fun in single player with A.I. for the other bunnies or if adhoc wifi two player mode was available. The controls are good and play as expected. There is no in game music but the sound effects are appropriate and a little "cute". Graphics are good and clean. I hope that MK2k will release future versions (maybe with single player mode?) where you don't have to sit shoulder to shoulder with your opponent.

Here is DAX's 1.50 slim PSP

2008-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Dark Alex has one awesome FF7 PSP slim. See it here.

P.S. Oh yeah, he has the 1.50 kernel running on it. DAX's 1.50 Time Machine will allow you to run 1.50 homebrew on PSP slims. DAX == GOD.

New Real Tech VR game: The Newton War

2008-01-28T14:41:00.001-08:00

Real Tech VR has released a new homebrew arcade/puzzle/maze game. The Newton War looks very good like all of their games. I'll play it and post a review in the next couple of days.

Last Version of IRShell released: IRShell 3.9

2008-01-28T14:32:00.000-08:00

IRShell is one of my favorite and most used homebrew apps/shells. My heart breaks at the thought of Ahman retiring and there will be no new IRShells, but I wish him luck at his future endeavors. Thank you so much for what you have contributed to the PSP homebrew scene. I'm sure IRShell 3.90 will be excellent, like previous versions, but I'll let you know if there are any surprises.

Hex-A-Hop Review

2008-01-27T20:06:00.000-08:00

Deniska has recently released another port for the PSP: Hex-A-Hop. In this puzzle game you play as a girl who must jump from stone to stone without getting trapped, stranded, or wet. When you jump onto a stone it cracks and after jumping off the stone, it falls into the water. The graphics and music are good and gameplay is addictive and fun. One problem I hope Deniska can fix in the next version is the controls. The directional pad is useless if you need to go diagonal. This leaves you the analog stick which is only slightly better. I spent a lot of time trying to get the girl to go where I wanted. She either goes the wrong way or goes nowhere. It feels as though the stick has to be in exactly the right spot to move correctly. If Deniska can fix this problem then this will satisfy any puzzle hungry gamer. Nice port Deniska. There is even a gameplay video:

Hori PSP Screen Protective Filter

2008-01-27T19:32:00.000-08:00

The Hori screen protective filter is quite impressive. I looked around for a good screen protector for my PSP and tried a few, but none were adequate. The Hori protective filter does it's job well as long as you make sure there is no dust under it. The filter makes the image on screen look crisp and clear. All of these screen protectors collect fingerprints but the Hori seems a little worse than most, thankfully they send a cleaning cloth with the filter. Definitely worth the $5 cost.

Patapon demo only playable at GameStop?

2008-01-26T09:47:00.000-08:00

Does this mean that the demo will not be provided on the Playstation Store? If so this is b.s. and Sony can suck it, as usual.

FreeRadio Internet Radio Guide

2008-01-24T19:05:00.000-08:00

Here is a short guide to help installing and customizing FreePlay's FreeRadio internet radio player.

Download FreeRadio from here. After you unzip the file you will see a "readme" and a folder. Read the readme.txt file. FreePlay wrote it for a reason.

Installation:

Open the folder named "Copy the stuff in this folder into the top folder of your memory stick!". Double click to open it. Then copy the "radio" folder over to your PSP's root directory (ms0:\, ms_root, G:\, etc.). Mine has the green circle around it here:

Copy the "PSP" folder from the download over to the "PSP" folder on your memory stick (circled in red above). It will add the needed files to your memory stick.

That's it. You can close your USB connection and navigate to the network icon on your PSP. You should have a new option: Internet Radio. The included Shoutcast stations FreePlay has included are quite good but if you would like to customize these stations keep reading.

Customizing your Shoutcast Stations:

Here are the instructions FreePlay has provided in the readme file:

"To customize the list of Shoutcast stations, podcasts, or raw streams, look in the 'radio\personalize' folder. 'MyShoutcast.js', 'MyPodcasts.js', and 'MyStreams.js' contain the lists of Shoutcast stations, podcasts, and raw streams displayed in the portal, as well as instructions for adding your own stuff. You can edit them in Notepad or any other text editor."

That's pretty straight forward but here is a screen capture in case you need help.

Double click "radio", then double click "personalize", and finally you'll see "MyShoutcast.js". I used notepad to open the file and here are the station names and i.d. numbers that Freeplay provided for our listening pleasure:

var shoutcast_stations = new Array(
'2680', '1.FM - Blues',
'6951', '1.FM - The Chillout Lounge',
'2541', '1.FM - Otto\'s Baroque Musick',
'7526', '181.FM - Christmas Mix Channel',
'5835', '181.fm - Kickin\' Country (Today\'s Best Country!)',
'2266', '181.fm - POWER 181',
'1553', '.977 The 80s Channel',
'1025', '.977 The Hitz Channel',
'8751', 'ChroniX Aggression',
'3201', 'DIGITALLY-IMPORTED - Chillout',
'1276', 'DIGITALLY-IMPORTED - Trance, Techno, Hi-NRG',
'1790', 'DIGITALLY-IMPORTED - Vocal Trance',
'3674', 'Drone Zone: Atmospheric ambient space music',
'841', 'Groove Salad: beats and grooves.',
'5067', 'idobi Radio: Music that doesn\'t suck!',
'6445', 'Japan-A-Radio',
'8771', 'Radio Paradise-modern, rock, world, electronica, more',
'333', 'S K Y . F M - 80s, 80s, 80s!',
'1568', 'S K Y . F M - All Hit 70s',
'1403', 'S K Y . F M - Absolutely Smooth Jazz',
'1914', 'S K Y . F M - Classical & Flamenco Guitar',
'2429', 'S K Y . F M - Mostly Classical',
'4977', 'S K Y . F M - New Age',
'8613', 'S K Y . F M - Roots Reggae',
'1677', 'S K Y . F M - The Christmas Channel',
'2207', 'Slow Radio',
'5890', 'SmoothJazz.com',
'9581', 'SmoothLounge.com',
'9036', '[XRM] - Alternative'
);

Notice that there isn't a comma after '[XRM] - Alternative'. That's important, make sure you leave out the last comma if you add or remove stations from your list. Also, if you add a station that has an apostrophe like "181.fm - Kickin' Country (Today's Best Country!)" above; make sure that you include the backslash before it \'.

Here is a list of the top 50 stations, with their i.d. numbers, on Shoutcast from Jan. 22, 2008. The additional five stations, at the end of the list, play a lot of game soundtracks. Thought you might like them.

'3394', 'French Kiss FM',
'4757', 'HOT 108 JAMZ',
'942319', 'HOT FM',
'5635', 'The Alex Jones Show',
'526', 'S K Y . F M - Top Hits Music',
'4253', '181.FM - Classic Country Hits',
'8591', '181.fm - The Buzz-Your Alternative Station',
'8848', 'PulsRadio',
'4870', 'POWERHITZ.COM',
'5427', 'Musik.Main',
'9956', 'FREQUENCE3',
'8303', 'HitzRadio.com',
'5327', 'KQED Public Radio',
'6422', 'Musik.Goldies',
'757', 'Blue FM',
'524', 'TechnoBase.FM',
'4866', 'Discollection-Radio.De',
'2897', 'DIGITALLY-IMPORTED - EuroDance & HiNRG',
'4869', 'SomaFM presents: Indie Pop Rocks',
'320792', 'PJ BeeVBoY For Sodazaa',
'6409', '1.FM - Top 40',
'3654', '1.FM - Bay Smooth Jazz',
'9462', 'Radio ENJOYSTATION.NET',
'1057', 'frisky R a d i o',
'6967', 'DIGITALLY-IMPORTED - Lounge',
'7790', '1.FM - Otto's Classical Musick',
'6201', '1.FM - Dance Hits',
'1187', '1.FM - Channel X',
'6617', 'Angel Fire Radio's Classic Rock&Roll.FM',
'1568', 'S K Y . F M - All Hit 70s',
'2502', 'AM 1710 Antioch Old-time radio',
'706105', 'GCN Network 3 Live Stream',
'3103', '181.fm - Energy 98 - Dance Hits',
'3911', '181.FM - The Beat * #1 For HipHop',
'2916', 'Bassdrive - Music Beyond',
'2762', 'Fusion Radio. The Future of Dance',
'185033', 'Beatles Radio.com',
'4267', 'Musik.JaM',
'2399', 'Secret Agent',
'7963', 'Radio Caraibes FM - Haiti',
'706105', 'GCN Network 3 Live Stream',
'1952', 'Play Classical UK',
'1968', 'FG DJ RADIO',
'8589', 'H A P P Y D A Y - New Age EZ1 Channel',
'2464', 'Musik.eXTreMe',
'5295', 'k a w a i i - r a d i o',
'819988', 'yaxiradio 9275 FMz',
'2086', 'KCRW Music',
'5438', 'Radioseven',
'3392', 'Radio VHR',
'209054', 'Power of the Games',
'369667', 'Final Fantasy XI - RGoNots Linkshell',
'463697', 'All Games Radio',
'4177', 'Radio GOSU: 24/7 Video Game Music',
'3292', 'WoW Radio',

Just add these to the list of Shoutcast stations and save the file. Replace your "MyShoutcast.js" file on your PSP's memory stick with this new file and you'll have a bunch more great stations.

If neither FreePlay's selection of stations, nor mine, has what you want then feel free to head over to Shoutcast.com. Find a station that you want to add and right click on the "Tune In" button. Select the "Copy Link Location" option and inside of your preferred text editor program hit ctrl+V and paste the link into a new document. You will find a number toward the end of the link, that is the station i.d. number. Using the format above ('i.d.number', 'station name',) add this info into the list of Shoutcast stations in the "MyShoutcast.js" file.

Two problems I found:

When adding stations, keep only the stations you can't live without because the FreeRadio player starts to lag when you have more than 40 or 50 stations. I believe it is caused by the E.Q. plugin. One thing that helps is to open the "Plugins" folder and rename the "equalizer.plugin" to "equalizer.disabled". FreeRadio will ignore the plugin and the lag is greatly reduced. To re-enable the plugin just rename it back to "equalizer.plugin".
AAC and MMS streams are not supported.

These issues are minor and do not detract from the experience.

I hope this guide was helpful. Please enjoy FreePlay's great homebrew internet radio player: FreeRadio.

PSP Internet Radio Alternative: FreeRadio

2008-01-23T19:23:00.000-08:00

FreeRadio 1.7 is a serverless internet radio portal for Official and CFW 3.80. Due to the use of Javascript inside the PSP's browser/internet radio player this is able to run on official Sony firmware, as well as custom firmware.

Features include:

Shoutcast playback
Streaming MP3/AAC playback
Podcast browsing/playback
Remote playlist streaming
Web browsing
Links to both official Sony radio players
Customizable lists of Shoutcast stations, podcasts, and raw audio streams
Support for custom plugins

This is an impressive internet radio player which FreePlay has created. FreeRadio allows you to consistently and accurately pick the exact radio station you want to listen to, unlike Sony's players which have you pick a genre and then you have to scan the dial to find what you want. FreeRadio also allows you to add your favorite Shoutcast stations, podcasts, or streams. Open the "radio/personalize" folder and find the "MyShoutcast.js", "MyPodcasts.js", and "MyStreams,js" files. Use notepad or another text editor to open these Javascript files to see the lists of the Shoutcast stations, podcasts, and the raw streams displayed in the portal. Instructions for adding your favorites are included (look for my guide to adding Shoutcast stations coming soon).

I can't wait to see some of the plugins that users create. I wish I knew more Javascript.

This is an excellent piece of homebrew and is the only way I will use the new Internet Radio option on my PSP.

OpenTyrian v 1.0 for CFW 3.XX (slims rejoice)

2008-01-22T14:35:00.000-08:00

PSP slim owners should be very happy with Deniska's latest release of OpenTyrian because it allows them to play this excellent port. Previously, the game was only available for the 1.50 kernel. If you have a homebrew capable PSP (phat or slim) this game should be on your memory stick.

Retro Review: Smartdisk Fotochute 20 GB for your PSP

2008-01-19T22:22:00.000-08:00

I'm calling this a retro review because the Fotochute has been around for a long time. I had been searching for a cheaper portable hard drive that would work with the PSP but didn't have much luck until I found the Fotochute. I love this little guy. 20 gigs of storage for homebrew, iso's, etc. and for under a hundred bucks. Transfer times from the hard drive to my PSP's memory stick are decent. The OLED screen is a little small which complicates things because you can't read the entire name of the file you are copying over. The Fotochute is a USB Host/OTG and therefore can read/display the contents of the internal hard drive and the PSP's memory stick. If you are looking for a large amount of portable storage for your homebrew without spending a bunch of money on memory sticks definitely give this a look. Here is a review from Macworld, may not be the best solution for Mac users. Thought this may be of interest to some of you. Hope it is helpful.

Zack and Angeal look badass in new Crisis Core trailer

2008-01-17T23:41:00.000-08:00

Can't wait 'til March. Crisis Core is looking so good.

Double Review: Purple Motion and Eyeliner

2008-01-16T19:02:00.000-08:00

Real Tech VR recently released two new games for homebrew PSPs: Purple Motion and Eyeliner.

Purple Motion:

I would describe Purple Motion as a driving game on rails. The left half of the "highway" are the slow lanes and the right half are the fast lanes. There are obstacles in the form of gaps in the road which must be jumped over and circles which must be shot. If you want to change lanes, you must wait until the road widens and make your move. There are also forced lane changes which can be jumped if you would like to continue your current path. Stars are collected along the way which give you a time bonus.

The controls in Purple Motion are responsive and work as expected. The graphics are excellent. The sound track and sound effects fit the game well.

Purple Motion is addictive and fun but the difficulty increases dramatically when the background colors change from purple to green. You will find yourself dieing often because there are 2 or 3 jumps in a row and you end up landing on a gap. My biggest complaint is that my PSP crashed almost every time I exited the game. This must be a coding problem because my PSP rarely crashes.

I would definitely recommend this game to PSP owners looking for high quality homebrew.

Eyeliner:

I'm not sure what category Eyeliner fits into but Real Tech VR calls it an arcade/puzzle game so I'll go along with that. You play as a three dimensional hexagon finding your way through a maze-like "matrix" collecting pills. Find enough pills and the security on the transporter is lifted allowing you to go to the next area.

As with all of Real Tech VR's games, the graphics are commercial quality. The controls and audio are solid.

I am an anal retentive complete-ist when it comes to the RPGs I usually play. Meaning that I don't mind side quests and usually try to solve, complete, find, and explore every thing. This game pushed me to my limits and beyond. Eyeliner is all about collecting, and collecting some more, and after you have spent so much time collecting every last pill, you get to search and explore and collect some more. I tried my best to like this game because I know someone has spent a lot of time designing and coding and debugging. I want people to enjoy the games I make (if I every finish and release one) but I just wasn't able to enjoy this game. I must admit that I didn't make it as far into this game as I would have liked. Later levels may be better than earlier ones. I believe what this game lacks is something to do while searching for pills. Some enemies to shoot would be good; something to break up the monotony.

If you are a hard core "collector" (I thought I was) then definitely give Eyeliner a try, if you're not then I would look elsewhere.

CFW 3.80 M33 released and updated

2008-01-14T14:39:00.000-08:00

Dark AleX has released CFW 3.80 M33 and a quick update followed. You can download the original and the update from DAX's site. DCEmu posted details about the original release and update. Sounds like the network update feature is working properly. I haven't had a chance to install it yet but I'll let you know if there are any problems. Thanks for the hard work DAX and M33.

Mathieulh responds to rumors, news, and 3.80 update

2008-01-13T15:26:00.000-08:00

Math (friend and member of Dark AleX's team) posted his comments (below) to the homebrew community on Brakken's blog about news, rumors, and the problems with the homebrew scene. One of the primary reason's that DAX is including the network update feature in 3.80 M33 is so that future cfw releases will only be available from his site. This will prevent news sites and others from making money off his hard work. I agree with this reasoning completely. DAX and his team provide a great service to the homebrew community and their efforts should not be taken advantage of.

This was copy/pasted from the comments from Brakken's blog:

"EVERYONE PLEASE BEHAVE.

This is not only about zeus or Maxconsole or even Datel. We wish to only release on dark-alex.org or through network (not even on exophase, lan or anywhere else.) for the time being for our own reasons.

Mostly because we are tired of people making money on our backs, wether it is maxconsole, qj or anyone else. That doesn't only include news sites but also shops that ILLEGALLY make money by flashing m33 firmwares on psps or even selling pandora batteries/memory sticks sets, some will ask over 50 euros per installs !
Some even have the guts to claim sending a percentage of the money to m33 or c+d when this is not true!

We took that decision not only against maxconsole but every other sites that do make money over our work. Of course most/all of news sites do exist for the purpose of making money and yet, those are needed.

We can always dream of decent sites that make news with no earning whatsoever but considering the tiresome job that it is and how time consumming it is for people to actually look for news and report it on a 24/7 basis, I doubt that we will see such a thing happening any time soon.

Nevertheless we hope to be able to move things and that such a change may happen if we keep having a fair release system between each and every psp related sites (by only releasing on our website or through network, then we do not care of what sites do of the binaries once they got those.)

Another thing we are pretty much fed up of is the "news race" that tend to happen between all sites that try to be the first to news stuffs all the time, and everyone of them try to get news from us almost every minutes despite the facts that we do have lives of our own for the sole purpose of getting ranked up on Alexa.

To be honest I like the maxconsole comunauty which seems more mature than the ones of most other sites, this is what kept and keeps me staying here, the fact that we stop releasing from that place does not mean we wont keep posting in there. I think that most sites got carried away and forgot that comunauties are before all created by the users, for the users.

P.S. I do not think that deleting the threads is a solution, and I do not believe that moderators were closing those on purpose. A forums need to be moderated. As long as we discuss of things peacefully there is no reason for a thread to be deleted, if not then indeed there is. If people start flamming, bitching or cursing all over the forums, then indeed those threads need to be deleted or closed. I personally know most of the moderators responsible for the psp section on the maxconsole forums, and I pretty much doubt that any of them would have deleted threads just to prevent anyone from express themselves or share their opinion (wether good or bad) about this forum.

Also a personal message to Brakken: We (the M33 team or even the Prometheus group) never worked for divineo even once, and even if we did, how would this be ANY of your business ? I have yet to see your so called "proofs" about us working for divineo (which do not exist since we never done such a thing) Keep in mind that we were not forced to make free releases available to everyone, we just CHOSE to do so. I can tell you for sure that we would have not if we worked for such company as divineo to begin with. Now please stop making pointless assumptions without proper evidences. Thank you for your understanding.

Have a nice reading."

'Nough said.

iRiver AFT 100 FM Transmitter Review

2008-01-12T08:16:00.000-08:00

I listen to a lot of podcasts and music in my truck on the way to work. I was using Griffin's iTrip for PSP and it seemed to work fine but I soon became frustrated with it's range so I opened it up and added an external antenna. This improved things dramatically. The antenna mod tripled the iTrip's transmitting range. The iTrip (and the iRiver) is equipped with an automatic power-off feature to conserve batteries while there is no audio signal for 30 seconds. This is a feature I could live without but is a nice addition; until the contacts inside the iTrip's headphone port go bad and it no longer gets a consistent audio signal and keeps shutting itself off.

I can't live without my PSP pushing out MP3's to my car stereo so I decided to do a little more research and find the best reviewed FM transmitter I could. I found numerous sites that said that C. Crane's FMT Digital FM Transmitter was an excellent wireless solution because it is designed primarily for home use and therefore has a long transmitting range. Amazon's reviews don't brag as much as other sites do but overall the C. Crane sounded like the best. The problem is that it cost's about $80 and I didn't want to spend that much.

After more searching, I came across the iRiver AFT 100 Mobile FM Transmitter and it also got good reviews. One advantage the iRiver has over the iTrip is that is uses the car's cigarette lighter/power adapter socket for power instead of AAA batteries. As I said before, the iRiver has the auto power-off feature to prevent draining your car's battery. I have used the iRiver for about a week, to and from work everyday, and I am very pleased. I often have time before going into work when I play some homebrew games and they sound great on my stock factory stereo. Out of the box, the iRiver has better trasmitting range than the iTrip and I don't have to buy AAA batteries for it. Living and working in a medium sized city there are only a few empty radio frequencies. I have tuned both my truck's stereo and my iRiver to these empty frequencies and saved them to the iRiver's 3 presets as well as my radio's presets. The audio quality is as good as FM radio and there are only two spots on my way to work where I get a slight amount of static for a couple of seconds. The iRiver has a much better price than the C. Crane and outperforms the iTrip. I definitely recommend it to those PSP owners who want to play their MP3's in the car.

DAX/M33 CFW 3.80 delayed

2008-01-11T14:54:00.000-08:00

Math told us yesterday that 3.80 would arrive today but sounds like Dark AleX has some final adjustments to make. No big deal. Everyone would rather it be up to DAX and M33's high standards than release a firmware with problems. Thanks again for the hard work and take all the time you need. Dark-AleX.org has been down most of the day but maybe it is preparation for the new release or the cause of the delay.

In DAX we trust.

Eyeliner: Another release from Real Tech VR

2008-01-11T14:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the matrix. Your mission is to infiltrate the network of a large international group.

Watching the trailer (below), I'm not sure how this little bit of story goes along with this arcade/puzzle homebrew game but I'll let you know in my review. I'm downloading now and will review Eyeliner after a couple of days of playing it.

CFW 3.80 M33 release tomorrow

2008-01-10T20:04:00.000-08:00

PSP-Gen and QJ have posted that Dark AleX and the M33 team will release their CFW 3.80 tomorrow. A new and exciting feature they are adding is network update. Can't wait to see it. Thanks for all the hard work Dark AleX/M33.

New Game from Real Tech VR: Purple Motion

2008-01-10T19:57:00.000-08:00

Real Tech VR has released a new game for homebrew PSP's: Purple Motion. Like all their other games, this one has excellent graphics. I have only played a few minutes so I will review it in a couple of days. So far it seems as though it is high quality like all their other games. Check it out here.

God of War: Chains of Olympus is looking good

2008-01-10T15:23:00.000-08:00

I hope the game play in GoW:CoO is as good as this trailer looks. Can't wait.... Must have now....

16 GB Memory Stick Pro Duo coming in March

2008-01-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

I've been waiting for the 16GB MS to be released. No, I won't be paying the $300 price tag for it, I am just hoping that this will drive down the price of the 8 GB MS. I really need 8 GB, my 2 GB is busting at the seams with homebrew.

GPS for PSP in U.S.

2008-01-06T20:46:00.000-08:00

Sony has officially announced that the GPS unit that has been available in Japan for quite some time will be available in the U.S. No release date has been set. Maybe we aren't the red-headed step child I thought we were.

Who needs PSP Skype with Fanjita's Furikup

2008-01-06T20:17:00.000-08:00

Sony has officially announced Skype for the PSP slim (only). As I have said before, I am relying on the homebrew community to undo the injustice being done to us PSP phat owners. I am vindicated by the announcement of Fanjita's Furikup SIP Phone for all PSP's. It is full featured and has some advantages over Skype. Fanjita is still working on the beta but we definitely have an alternative to Skype on the way. Thanks Fanjita.

If you want to learn more about SIP look here.

iRiver AFT 100 Mobile Transmitter

2008-01-05T21:37:00.000-08:00

My Griffin iTrip recently gave up the ghost so I just ordered the iRiver AFT 100. (I was never that impressed with the iTrip's range anyway.) I use my PSP as my only mp3 player and the factory radio in my truck doesn't have an auxiliary input. I can't do without my podcasts so a FM transmitter is the easiest and cheapest solution. I'll let you know how it works once I receive it and have a chance to use it.

Details on Skype for PSP piss me off

2008-01-05T04:49:00.000-08:00

A couple of details have come out about Skype coming to the PSP. The most important detail is that supposedly it will only work on PSP slims. This is BS. I have a phat, and now I have to buy a new PSP for no good reason? Are you going to tell me there is some reason Skype won't run on a PSP phat? I'm so glad I run CFW so that I can rely on the homebrew community to undo this injustice.

Skype for PSP coming

2008-01-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

This has to be the biggest news I've heard in a while on the PSP scene. Sony unofficially released news of Skype coming to the PSP. ComputerandVideoGames.com broke the story here.

RS-GUI PopstationMD and ImpalerPSX Eboot Creator

2008-01-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

RS-GUI and ImpalerPSX are gui interfaces for DarkAleX's multiple disk popstation. I was going to do a head-to-head comparison of these two apps but I don't believe either one is really near a final version. I will give you my findings up to now:

RS-GUI:
Pros:

Supports img, cue, bin, and iso
Interface is O.K.
Full preview of icon and wallpaper png's (along with error messages if the sizes of images are incorrect, nice touch)

Cons:

No automatic game codes. This feature is coming but not implemented yet.
I received an error message and that's pretty much all it said: "error occurred" during my first attempt at creating a multidisk eboot. After using PSX2PSP to find my game code, I had input "slus " in lowercase letters. I changed to uppercase and no error.

ImpalerPSX:
Pros:

Interface is nice and clean.
Input the game's name and it will give a list of possible game codes.

Cons:

Only supports iso. Since my game images are img, I had to use UltraISO to convert them to iso.
ImpalerPSX has to copy your game iso's to another folder to work on them. This takes a long time: 4 disk game X 650 MB (minimum) each disk = a long wait.
The app consistently locked up on me. I wasn't able to complete the eboot creation process. I tried to contact Impaler but his feedback page on his website gave me a 404 error and I couldn't find a forum thread to get help. I think that converting the img to iso is the problem.

I am going to put this comparison on hold. Please don't take these criticisms too seriously since neither of these apps seems complete. Here is what I would like to see if I were going to use one of these to create multidisk eboots for all my PSX games:

Red Squirrel needs to add automatic game codes. I hate opening another app to find the code for this app. Also, better error messages: tell me what I'm doing wrong.
Impaler needs to add other image formats other than just iso. I shouldn't have to use another app to convert to iso. I will continue to try and get a usable eboot out of this app, hopefully the problem is something I am doing wrong.

These developers are very good at what they do. I have to utmost confidence that both of these apps will eventually become what we need them to be. Can't wait for updates....just need to be patient....

Happy New Year

2007-12-31T20:57:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to say Happy New Year and I hope the coming year is good to you all.

Polygunwars version 0.4

2007-12-29T22:13:00.000-08:00

I did a head-to-head between Trigonometry Wars and Polygunwars v0.2 soon after ahrimanes released it. Here is an impressive update to the Geometry Wars clone. Polygunwars v0.4 is only available for 3.xx cfw.
Some of the major improvements are:

main menu
take screen shot with select button
improved graphics
improved enemy spawning/added enemies
improved scoring system including hi score table
improved collisions

These advances among others have really brought this game into it's own. One problem that I found after a short time playing is that there is a significant "slow down" or lag in the game which I can not account for. I assume it is due to the number of enemies/graphics which are displayed at one time because it only happens later in the game when things get busy. I suspect this is a coding problem and may be a relatively easy fix.

Even with the lag problem, this is a major step forward over the version I played a while back.

Well done ahrimanes!

site/download

Star Ocean: The First Departure Release, Trailer, and Themes

2007-12-29T07:49:00.000-08:00

Star Ocean on PS2 was one of my favorite RPG's and I can't wait to get a hold of SO: The First Departure for my PSP. It was released on Dec. 27th in Japan. Here is a trailer and a couple of themes for your PSP to hold you over until the U.S. version show up.

Head to Head Multidisk Popstation GUI's

2007-12-20T20:19:00.000-08:00

I was hoping to do a 3 way comparison of the new gui's created for DAX's multidisk popsloader (after the holidays) but Kingsquitter isn't showing signs of updating PSX2PSP anytime soon. I don't feel like waiting so I am going to just compare 2 gui's: Red Squirrel's RS-GUI PopStationMD v2.0 and Impaler's PSX Eboot Creator. Look for the comparison post soon after the new year.

Happy Holiday's and a Happy New Year to all.

Dev Kit for PSP Internet Radio Player

2007-12-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

Is Sony letting up (a little) on the homebrew war? Here is a post on Playstation.com that says Sony will be putting out a development kit for people who want to create their own internet radio player for the PSP. This is a shock to me. Anyone else?

Official Firmware 3.8 released today

2007-12-18T14:48:00.001-08:00

Sony released the official fw for the PSP today. The biggest change/addition to the firmware is now you can access internet radio, Playstation's blog has details, here is a list of what's new. The internet radio player has already been hacked to allow you to use something other than Shoutcast or Icecast. Here is what jas0nuk and Dark AleX have to say about 3.8. Also, it looks like we may get the PSP Media Manager for free, the Japanese Playstation Store did. Of course I will be waiting for a new cfw.

Crisis Core FF7 comes out March 25, 2008

2007-12-17T15:13:00.000-08:00

I am a Final Fantasy junky so I have to mention that Crisis Core will be released in the U.S. on March 25th. Here is a teaser trailer for the game. Looks pretty good.

More PSP Homebrew Games Worth Trying

2007-12-12T22:43:00.000-08:00

I was so impressed with OpenTyrian that I went looking for other ports, by deniska and others. I found a few and some homebrew games that were originally created for PSP. This is only a few that I thought had promise. They may not be very new but are worth taking a look at.

Project Starfighter:
Ported by Deniska.

Space Shooter with RPG elements. Complete different missions to earn money to upgrade your ship.
Pros: Gameplay and game elements seem adaquate.
Cons: Controls feel sluggish in game and buggy in menus.

Kill Everthing That Moves (KETM):
Ported by Deniska.

Very similar to Tyrian. There are a few different skins that you can use to change the look of this game.
Pros: Lots of power ups and different weapons. Skinable is a nice feature.
Cons: Steep learning curve. Lots of enemies right from the start.

rRootage:
Ported by M.R. Brown.

Destroy the "ship" at the top of the screen while avoiding the different styles of missiles.
Pros: Graphics and animations are nice. Gameplay and controls feel solid.
Cons: The instructions in the readme file are hard to follow so you don't know what you are doing or why you are doing it.

Callisto:
by Fraglab

Side scrolling shooter.
Pros: Graphics are decent. Gameplay is fun but challenging.
Cons: The game is so challenging that it becomes frustrating from the beginning. Steep learning curve.

Attack of the Mutants:
by DeNitro

A basic shooter with many enemies, power ups, and mods.
Pros: Numerous mods have been made to this game. Many of the mods are funny and fun.
Cons: Same gameplay regardless of mods. The game is very basic. It is fun but looses its novelty quickly.

Overall:
I will only be keeping Project: Starfighter on my memory stick. I enjoy RPGs and I didn't get very far in Starfighter and I want to see what else it has to offer in the later missions. The other games are solid but not good enough to take up valuable real estate on my memory stick.

New CFW 3.71 M33-4 is here with Multidisk Popsloader

2007-12-12T21:57:00.000-08:00

I mentioned yesterday that Dark AleX and the Devs at Maxconsole were coming out with a Popsloader to allow multidisk PSX games to be created in a single eboot. It is here. DAX and his team have implemented the new Popsloader in an updated CFW to support multidisk games and included in the download is Popstation-md; to create the multidisk eboots. Well done guys. Here is the forum post and downloads (look for the bugfix for 3.71 M33-4 that has already been released). Thank you DAX and M33 team.

New Popsloader for PSX games having multiple disks

2007-12-12T00:52:00.000-08:00

The Devs over at Maxconsole are coming out with a new Popsloader which I can't wait for. This new Popsloader will allow you to play Playstation 1 games having more than one disk on your PSP but all the disks will be contained inside one eboot. Currently you have to have a separate eboot for each game disk. I am excited about this because I created eboots for my FF7, FF8, FF9, Chrono Cross, and Legend of Dragoon disks but I can only fit two of the eboots on my ms at a time. Each eboot is about 500 mb and my largest ms is 2 gig (gotta save room for other games, podcasts, videos, etc.). Can't wait for the 8 gig to come down in price. I am speculating that this should reduce the size of the eboots as a whole. Even if the size of the eboot isn't reduced, this will make playing your old PSX games more convenient. Well done guys, can't wait to see it.

OpenTyrian: first impression (UPDATE)

2007-12-04T04:30:00.000-08:00

I've been playing Deniska's Tyrian port for a couple of hours and it is awesome. I will continue to play and then give a detailed review but for now it seems like this should be on every homebrew memory stick. One problem: this game is for kernel 1.5, no problem most homebrew is; Deniska didn't KXploit the eboot so I had to download, install, and KXploit it myself. I've been in the homebrew scene for a while and I know how to KXploit but it just another hoop that the user has to jump through. Come on Deniska, what is this 2005? You could have KXploited this for us, all other developers do. Besides that, well done.

Here is the already KXploited complete original game file for those of you who don't want to bother doing it yourself.

Deniska reports that there is a "black screen bug" that occurs occasional with some PSP's. Four alternative eboots are provided to avoid this problem. Here are the 4 alternative eboots already KXploited. Just replace the eboots in OPENTYRIAN and OPENTYRIAN% with one of these. Leave all other files in OPENTYRIAN untouched. Continue replacing eboots until you find one that does not give you the bug. I didn't provide the complete game files for the "alternatives" due to bandwidth concerns and number of downloads.

I am currently using alternative eboot 2 and haven't encountered the bug yet.

For those of you who want to KXploit the eboots themselves, here is the tool download and tutorial.

Check back for the full review.

UPDATE (12/06/07):
In Deniska's readme file, it states that you may encounter a black screen bug. Well I have experienced it several times which means that some of you who downloaded the KXploited file I offered probably have the same problem. I will KXploit Deniska's alternative eboots and upload those also (tonight hopefully). I plan to post my review tomorrow. It is looking good though.

UPDATE2 (12/06/07, later that night):
Alternative KXploited eboots are uploaded. See link and explanation above. Even later, Deniska released a new version v0.6. This version is a bug fix. See my full review here for complete info and new KXploit download link.

Tyrian port release today? (UPDATE)

2007-12-04T03:50:00.000-08:00

When I heard about Deniska's port of Tyrian (OpenTyrian) to the PSP I was excited. I am not a patient guy and I really need to play this. Is it still coming out today? This post at QJ claims it will. Although I can't wait I would rather Deniska take the time to do it right. I'll give an in depth review of this port when it arrives. Here is a video of Deniska's work so far.

UPDATE:
As I said earlier, I am impatient. Only a few hours after I wondered if OpenTyrian was coming out, Deniska released it. See my first impressions here.

Trigonometry Wars versus Polygun Wars

2007-11-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

First off, I want to congratulate both 71M and ahrimanes for creating excellent clones of Geometry Wars. One strange thing is that both seem to be a combination of the original GW and GW: Retro Evolved. Since this is a head to head comparison there must be a winner and by the time I conclude this post it will be obvious who that is.

Trigonometry Wars:
by 71M

Trigonometry Wars (TW) final version was released on Aug. 19, 2006 so it is a little dated but stands the test of time. TW is only available for the 1.5 kernel.

Controls:
They respond the way you would expect. The SELECT button allows you to switch between 3 different control schemes: Original, Analog fire, and Analog thrust.

Original mode:

Analog stick: Steering
Left shoulder: Thrust
Right shoulder: Fire
Triangle: Destroys all enemies on screen

Analog Fire mode:

Analog stick: Fire
Cross: Thrust down
Square: Thrust left
Triangle: Thrust up
Circle: Thrust right
Left and Right shoulder: Destroys all enemies on screen

Analog Thrust mode:

Analog stick: Thrust/Steering
Cross: Fire down
Square: Fire left
Triangle: Fire up
Circle: Fire right
Combining two Fire buttons will shoot diagonal; IE: Triangle and Circle fires diagonally up and right.
Left and Right shoulder: Destroys all enemies on screen

Graphics:
The graphics in TW are pretty good. The colors seem a little bland but sufficient. The net background is done very well. It will distort with movement, bullets, explosions, etc. very accurately.

Sound Effects and Music:
Nothing impressive but fit the game quite well.

Game play:
I have played this game several hours and it is fun but a little hard. I believe there are four main enemies:

Violet Pinwheels: Dumb and lazy. This enemy just wanders around the screen with no purpose waiting to be shot.
Blue Squares: Dumb and slow. This enemy follows your ship but gets in no hurry.
Pink Squares: Dumb and fast. This enemy also follows your ship but is much faster and will tend to take the shortest route possible to get to you. There are two sizes small and large. This makes it interesting because the small Pinks are harder to hit.
Green Squares: Smart and fast. This enemy is the same as Pinks except they will dodge your bullets.

There may also be an enemy similar to gravity wells in the original GW. I caught glimpses of a grew circular thing but could never live long enough to investigate.

You have a set number of lives and bombs but as you progress through the game more lives and bombs are earned.

Artificial Intelligence:
AI was quite good, I was pleasantly surprised. The Green Squares are the most impressive, dodging your shots with great agility.

You need to try this game. It is quality homebrew but the graphics are nowhere near the quality Geometry Wars.

Polygun Wars:
by ahrimanes

Polygun Wars v.02 (PW) was released for 1.xx and 3.xx on Nov. 17, 2007. This recent release is the reason I decided to check out and compare these two clones. I thought there must be some improvements that ahrimanes had made to release another Geometry Wars clone. I was wrong but this is only v.02 so hopefully ahrimanes will continue to work on this game because it is a great start.

I have a few problems with this game:

First, there is no splash page to start the game. When you start the game it throws you into the game without warning.
Second, there is no way to pause the game. Pressing start exits the game without warning or notice. If you have to scratch your nose you are dead because this game is much faster paced than Trig Wars (more on that later).
Third, stats are in what I believe is Spanish. An English version would be good.

Controls:
There is only one control scheme in PW. In Trig Wars it is called Analog Thrust (see above). I don't mind only having this control setup because it is the one I prefer, other people may disagree. The analog controls are flawless. They perform accurately and as expected. The left shoulder controls the bomb which destroys all enemies but it doesn't work. The net background distorts and there is a lot of sparks but when the light show is over the enemies are still there. Right shoulder does nothing.

Graphics:
Between TW and PW, I prefer the graphics in PW. The color of the sprites are more vibrant. The net background bends and flexes like TW but when your ship explodes the net blends to red where your ship used to be. This is a nice touch not found in TW. The enemy explosions are more colorful and similar to Geometry Wars.

Sound Effects and Music:
As with TW the music is appropriate to the game. My preference leans towards PW for its sound effects.

Game play:
Polygun Wars is a much faster paced game than Trig Wars. Your ship and the enemies move faster which makes for a game with a little more tension.

PW only has two enemies that I have found:

Violet Pinwheels: Same as TW. Dumb and lazy.
Blue Diamonds: Similar to the Blue Squares in TW. Dumb but faster. The diamonds come after you but are much faster than the Blue Squares.

That's it. Only two enemies. I hope the lack of enemies is due to this being v.02. I believe that the increased speed of PW will become a problem in future versions assuming new enemies will be faster and smarter.

Artificial Intelligence:
The AI is adequate. With only two enemies and the pinwheels having no intelligence there isn't much AI to worry about yet.

This is worth trying, it is fun but needs some work. An option to pause the game is essential; a splash screen, more enemies, and English stats would be nice. To his credit ahrimanes states on QJ forums that he plans to work on some of these problems.

Final Word:
If you were only going to have one Geometry Wars clone on your memory stick then it would have to be Trigonometry Wars. Polygun is doing well but has a long way to go. I will update with new info when later versions of Polygun are released.

Playstation Network Store for the PC goes live!

2007-11-20T15:11:00.000-08:00

What we have been waiting for since the PS3 came out is finally here. Download games to your PC and then put them on your PSP without having a PS3. Hopefully the Playstation Network Store lives up to our expectations. I am in the process of setting up my account so I'll update later.

Well it's about 10 mins later. This is the buggiest site I've ever seen. I tried to set up an account and got an "unexpected error" and could go no further. I thought that maybe the servers were getting hammered with the new launch so I would browse the site for a minute. Every page I went to I couldn't "back" out of (with the back button), so you have to click on the header logo to go to the homepage and start over.

Now it is about 4 hours later. I have successfully created my account. It didn't take that long, I had other stuff to do, but the site is still buggy and the content is a little underwhelming. I hope this is like all of Sony's other ventures. Start out slow and shaky, without many games at launch, but after a while it becomes quite good: PS2, PSP, PS3 (hopefully)... Check it out and see what you think.

Best commercial for a game ever: EXIT

2007-11-15T14:54:00.000-08:00

This is the commercial for a new PSP game, EXIT, but there is no gameplay shown. There is nothing from the game shown at all but it is an awesome commercial none the less.

Exit Site

No God of War demo

2007-11-06T01:05:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess I wasn't one of the chosen to receive the GoW demo. This sucks since I signed up just a few hours after the site went up and I've been an Underground member forever. Guess I'll have to wait for the download version. ...grumble....sucks....ass...

originally posted on 10/06/07

UPDATE:

Maybe I was a little naive when I signed up for the God of War demo. They claimed that if I signed up then I would receive a UMD demo of God of War: Chains of Olympus. If you were fooled too, or if you actually received the demo disk, then head over to PSP Fanboy and vote in their poll. Right now 97% of PSP owners who signed up did not get the disk in the mail.

I've been pretty disappointed with Sony's stance on homebrew but I still buy games and other Sony products because for the most part they make good products. For the last couple of years they have been letting their quality and customer service slide. This is probably the last straw. I can no longer support their tyrannical iron fist when it comes to the PSP or their drm/root kits.

Shame on you Sony and shame on us for believing in you.

updated on 10/16/07

UPDATE 2:

Maybe I was a little hasty with my disappointment of Sony. DCEMU Forums has a member who posted that the demos are now showing up. I investigated some other sites and can confirm that others claim to have received their demo yesterday and today. Why would Sony claim that everyone should have received their demos by now? I guess they just jumped the gun. Sony, you need to get your sh...t together.

updated on 10/18/07

UPDATE 3:

I give up it has been a month since my original post and still no demo. Sony you suck, eat ...it. I will be removing my membership in Playstation Underground.

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November

2007-11-05T14:53:00.000-08:00

Sorry but I had to do it. V for Vendetta is one of my favorite movies. To commemorate the occasion here are some wallpapers I created after the movie came out. Hope you like them.

Targus Wireless IR Keyboard PA87OU

2007-11-04T23:45:00.000-08:00

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box containing my Targus Wireless IR Keyboard PA87ou. This thing is small. As you can see it is about the same size as the PSP and only a little thicker. This is a full Qwerty keyboard minus the F1-12 keys. There are some special PDA function keys on the right hand side that won't be used with the PSP. It is amazing how Targus packed a keyboard together in such a small package and still made it very comfortable to use. The keyboard itself is smaller than my laptop keyboard but the keys are larger. That doesn't sound possible does it? Targus was able to make the letter keys larger by making the less important keys like brackets, curly brackets, caps lock, tabs, etc. smaller. Obviously this makes it very easy to type on (if you are used to typing on a laptop keyboard). I am very pleased with this purchase (only $24 plus shipping).

I have a few complaints: The cradle that holds the PSP/PDA seems a little flimsy. The "loops" that the PSP sits on are plastic and could be stronger. Also, the infrared arm that swivels up and down could get snapped off if you aren't careful. There isn't much that could be changed about the arm since this keyboard is supposed to be generic enough to be used on almost any PDA with an ir port. My last complaint is the one that really bothers me. I wish there were arrow keys. There is a silver oval on the bottom right corner of the keyboard which is the arrow keys' replacement. This oval is functional but a poor substitute for the real thing. Often I found myself moving the cursor up when I meant to go right. The oval takes up less room than four more keys, I get it, but at least make it square so that it is easier to use. Don't get me wrong this is not a deal breaker, I love this keyboard. I use the arrow keys quite a bit and I just wish they were better implemented. I would recommend it to any PSP homebrew user that wants an easier way to input text. Now I need to find a homebrew browser or app that supports the ir keyboard, for the web, because Sony's text input is a joke.

UPDATE:

I had heard about πkey (pikey) before but didn't know exactly what is was. Well it is the holy grail of ir keyboard support. Fanjita has developed a standalone and plugin which will allow you to use an ir keyboard in the xmb, games, browser, etc. Here is Fanjita's site (Noobz) and info on pikey. I will do a review of pikey once I have enough experience with it.

PSPWrite v1.0.2 (and 1.0.3)

2007-11-01T01:19:00.000-07:00

PSPWrite is a text editor created by zx-81. This app is very well done like all of zx-81's stuff. You can create, save, and load text files with PSPWrite. Customize your documents by changing the text color, background color/image, and use tab spacing. Write also has ir keyboard support (waiting on my keyboard to get here). You do not have to have your own ir keyboard because PSPWrite has its own virtual keyboard. I will update this post when I can evaluate the ir keyboard support. If it works well then this will be a candidate for Best Homebrew.

UPDATE:

Flawless. This app works as you want it to. All of the above features work without problem and the ir keyboard support couldn't be better. I will have a separate review of the targus ir keyboard but PSPWrite and keyboard are a match made in homebrew heaven. There are some keys on the keyboard that are PDA related, so you wouldn't expect them to work, but all other keys work like a regular keyboard. I wasn't going to give this app a rave review because I thought the font was too small and was difficult to see. Well, zx-81 just released an update (PSPWrite v1.0.3) which makes my complaint less relevant. V1.0.3 now has another font size. Choose between the original or bold. The actual "size" doesn't change but it does make the text bold which helps greatly with readability. Zx-81 has also given you the ability to choose what processor speed you want: 133, 222, 266, 300, and 333. You can also adjust whether the cursor is tied to your text or can move anywhere on the screen. This is definitely going on the list of Best Homebrew.