HTML Keyboard Page For 2.0 Browser

- Zoverlord, a member of ps2dev.org, has put together an HTML page with a JavaScript keyboard which people may find much easier to use than the Sony input method in the new firmware 2.0 browser for entering web addresses.
- Access it at this link: http://www.testing.onlytherightanswers.com/pspkey2.htm

Firmware 2.0 Roundup

- Lots of information has been flying around about this firmware update, so I'll try and summarise here for you all.
- Obviously, Sony says you should not update unless you have a JAP PSP:

"CAUTION: This update is only for customers who obtained PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) for Japan which model number is PSP-1000 or PSP-1000 K. Upon completion of preparing, we will announce update information for the other countries/areas customers via SCE Group Web Site or other channels . For theses customers who obtained PSP® in the other countries/areas, please DO NOT update PSP® through this web site."

- The WPA WiFi compatability works for the web browser, but not for games so far released.
- A big test of the Audio and Video enhancements shows that AAC files from iTunes are playable. From AV Watch, translated on PSPUpdates.
- It has been confirmed that the browser and all new functionality is available in English as well as Japanese.
- A quick instruction manual for the web browser controls is available here.
- The Portable TV service works fine with US PSPs too. There is a great guide with step by step instructions on how to register on the Japanese p-tv.jp site, (so you can download media.)
- Reviews on the firmware can be found here and here.
- Download from Sony's site (translated).

Interesting Tools Roundup

- ExportPBP - Creates 1.5 EBOOTs from 1.0 versions. Click.
- DJSP - MP3 Player with funky visualizations. Click.
- Button Settings Swapper for JAP 1.5 PSPs - From WAB, it swaps the O and X buttons so a JAP PSP's buttons act like US ones. Click.
- Virtual Keyboard - Does what it says. Click.
- Firmware 2.0 JavaScript Homebrew Portal - A website to host locally on your Memory Stick that helps you to easily get at those online hacks, such as JavaScript Games, and AIM. Click.
- GMail as 2GB Remote Storage for PSP - Use Gmail as a 2GB remote hard drive using the Gmail shell extension and a PSP web browser. Click.
- PSP ISO Launcher v0.8 - Only a rumour right now, based off of video "evidence", of a new loader that will hopefully do what WAB have been promicing with their v3 Launcher that has not arrived yet. Click.
- PSP Hook Boot Launcher v0.91 - A launcher that is attempting to be a one-size-fits-all solution to launch all Extracted UMD ISOs. Click.

More WipeOut Pure Content Released

- WipeOut Pure has another addon pack out now for the JAP version of the game. Delta Pack 1 can be found on wipeoutpure.com and includes the following treats:

2 Themes:
- Team Asegai
- Team Harimao
2 Circuits:
- "Iridia" Length: 2680M, Altitude: 290M
- "Anorufasupasu" Length: 5097M, Altitude: 170M

New Game Ported - Hexen

- PSPUpdates reports that Hexen has now been ported to the PSP and is ready to download. There seems to be a bug with the sound in the commercial version, but shareware works just fine.

Web Browsers

- The Firmware 2.0 update may have a web browser in it, but that means you can't run any homebrew apps anymore. So whats a hacker to do?
- Fukko-papa has released one web browser but it seems to only let you visit http://www.2ch.net/.
- Another release is a browser ripped from the game Tenchi no Mon. delta-hawk and inja are members of the PSPCrazy forum and seem to have found the information necessary to rip the browser from the game so it works as a standalone browser. The game is obviously Japanese, but you can make the keyboard swicth to English by pressing select. Download from PSPCrazy.

PlayStation Magazine Offer

- Right now, signing up for a PSM (PlayStation Magazine) subscription for three years is only $36. This is a great offer, saving over $100 off the cover price. You also gets you 10 days of GameFly (the mail order game rental service, kinda like NetFlix for games,) for free plus the chance to win "The Ultimate HDTV Home Theater System" from Sony.
- If you want to take advantage of this, why not sign up through FreePSPs.com which also gives you the chance to earn a PSP by telling your friends about the site.
- More instructions are here for help with FreePSPs.

Memory Stick Data Recovery Software

- If you somehow manage to screw up your precious Memory Stick, help may be at hand. Xanadu has posted a thread on the PSP Updates Forum about his experience with Memory Stick Data Recovery Software, PhotoRescue, for PC and Mac.
- The poor guy dropped his PSP and the battery fell out, corrupting his MS. In his own words:

"I downloaded a demo version of a program that recovers photos on a corrupt stick here. This little program will analyze your entire stick (I even did it via psp with a usb) and locates photos and puts them in a folder called FOUND. Now it won't let you get these photos out unless you pay for the full program, BUT it will let you save everything else!! I recovered all my homebrew, all my savegames, music, and videos!!! I did a format of the stick afterwards and put it all back on and it all works!!"

Firmware 2.0 News

- After yesterday's announcement of the v2.0 firmware, a video has appeared on IGN's PSP site showing the included Web Browser in action. Go and watch it.
- And the P-TV (Portable TV) service appears to be ready to launch for Japanese users too, another feature of the firmware upgrade.

Emulator Updates

- NeoGeo CD emulator, NeoCD, is now at version v0.5u1 which adds memory card support.
- PSP Wiki has a compatibility list up, which PSP Updates translated into English as a GIF image.
- Meanwhile, PacManFan has been busy on his PSX emulator. He has posted some images of his software running Driver and Spiderman on the PS2Dev Forum along the following update:

"I meant to post that "Progress" message to this thread last night, looks like I missed. Well, anyways, for those who missed it, I managed to get some games (Driver, Dragon Ball Z Final Bout) to work with my emulator. I've got .BIN/CUE support working now. The Driver.Bin file was about 650MB, and the DBZ bin was about 150. My mem stick is only a 256 MB, so I had to test on my psp with DBZ.

Now that I've got .BIN support working nicely, I'm going to add compression through zlib so that the .bin files will be compressed to .gz files. After a few tests, It looks like most Bin's can be compressed by 50-65%. I'm going to work on a resource tool to remove/stub psx movies to help shrink things a bit. But for right now, I'm still working on my recompiler...

After replacing just a few file i/o routines with thier zlib equivalant, I now have .bin g'zipped files working. I compressed DBZ Final Bout from 158 MB bin file to a 70MB .gz file, and it actually loads faster! I think this is beacuse the i/o is so slow on the PSP mem stick.

If you want to know more about GZip , Google for it and find youself a nice windows frontend for it. GZip is basically a program like zip based on the ZLib source."

PS Meeting 2005

- PS Meeting 2005 is an event that happened in Japan today with the latest news from Sony regarding the PSP being announced. The best coverage comes from Max Console, but I'll summarize below.
- Firmware v2.0 to be released, with the biggest reason to upgrade being the included Web Browser. It seems Macromedia Flash support is ruled out. There will also be the ability to share picture files. WPA (a type of WiFi encryption) compatibility is included too. This upgrade is set to be available on July 27th (that is next Wednesday folks,) in Japan. No word on other territories, (i.e. will the UK version ship with 2.0 installed?) Google translation of the firmware changelog.
- "Ceramic White" is the name of the new white PSP. Even the carry case that comes with the system will be white. Out in Japan on September 15th, along with Winning Eleven 9 the same day. That is two weeks after the European launch. Other colours were, unsurprisingly, hinted at too.
- A new service in Japan called Portable TV is bring launched on July 27th too, which apparently allows wireless video transmission to the PSP. I wouldn't expect this to appear elsewhere around the world, (any time soon, at the very least.)
- Lots of lovely pictures here, including a nice white UMD soft case.
- PlayStation 3 updates can be found here.

Another Launcher From WAB

- WAB, PSP hackers extrodinare, have gone and taken us a step closer to their full v3.0 launcher release with their latest work, v2.5 F.
- This multiloader features WiFi, Overclocking, and has USB support.
- From the ReadMe:

"Added Auto load the PRX so now you can remove the Common/prx folder. Added UIG "USB IN GAME" now you can play with your games and send another game in same time :=)"

"It is necessary to put the games in folders with 8 characters, not 7 nor 9, has to have 8, the BOOT.BIN has to be the original one, if you want already to throw patched games, rename the BOOT.BIN to PATCHED_BOOT.BIN and do not erase it from the program."

"What works and comments:
Puzzle Booble - A - OK
Lumines - ? - KO (Freeze)
Dead To Rights - A - OK (Require PRXs 1.5)
Smart Bomb - A - OK
NBA 2K5 - A - OK
Glorace - C - Only race mode, history fails
Bleach - ? - KO
Fafner - A - OK
Metal Gear Ac!d - ? - KO
AI GO - A - OK
Puyo Pop Fever - C - OK
Vampire Chronicle - A - OK
Soukyuu No Fafner - A - OK
Word Puzzle - A - OK
Ape Escape - C - OK
More???? - ? - ?"

- News from MaxConsole.

Use PC Keyboard With A PSP?

- Max Console bring word of a hack to hook a PC Keyboard up to a PSP.
- I have no idea if it is real, or if the creator has it working yet, but it looks a little rough. Could be a great peripheral for PSP Linux though!

Two New Bootloaders

- PSP Hacks have posted news of two new bootloaders out there.
- First is HOOK BOOT v0.10. The ReadMe is in broken English which I cannot understand very well, so I'll just recreate it here (from this post):

"API HOOK monitor & API emulation.

- what is HOOK BOOT ?
It patches BOOT.BIN, and it can hook any API.

1.API monitoring to output DISPLAY or FILE.
To analyze API argument and how to use it.
The place of log file is '“ms0:/LOG.txt'

2.UMD emulation.
It can boot some game from MS, for save battery and fast access.

3.Information on the import function can be known.
To analyze.

-– TECHNOLOGY
It is SYSTEM CALL hook with before load patch and after load patch.

1. before load
The target NID are removed from the file, and filled up in the ENTRY point.

2. after load
The entry points are searched with NID in memory and hook it.

- LIMITATION
1.Now supported non-encrypted ELF only.
2.Now supported single module only,sub modules can'’t hook.
3.The UMD emulation is still developing,not a perfect.

-– How to use
1.copy the PSP ELF to '‘ms0:/PSP_GAME/SYSDIR/BOOT.BIN'’.
2.copy the HOOK BOOT to '‘ms0:/PSP/GAME/xxxx/EBOOT.BIN'’ (for PSP Ver.1.00).
3.execute '‘HOOK BOOT'’ from PSP.

-– UMD emulation
1.path is changed from '‘disc0:' to '‘fatms0:' dynamically.
2.loadable KernelModule from MS.
3.emulate the UMD Drive condition.

- FUTURE PLAN
1.A free file name replacement.
The change of the game directory name.
The share of the movie and sound file to make it the smallest.

2.Only dynamic hook.(hope)
If SYSTEM CALL can be replaced or hooked in kernel,
limitation 1 and 2 can be removed.

- Compatibile list
Working
PUZZLE BOBBLE POCKET
KOTOBANO PUZZLE MOJIPITTAN
KOLLON
PUYO PUYO FEAVER
SANGOKUSI-V
WIPE OUT PURE
MAJONG FIGHT CLUB
VANPIRE CHRONIKLE (checked boot and top menu only)

Not working
NAMCO MUSIUM : next version
MINNA NO GOLF PORTABLE : 'UMD1:' RAW data is necessary,protect check?
METAG MEAR AC!D : Probably, a cause is a no-hook the sunmodule '“kjfs.prx'
PIPOSARU ACADEMIEA : It hangs up soon,no idea
NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND : tried a little
RIDGE RACERS : tried a little

- Second is the PSPX Loader from FPL Crew.
- What makes this one different is that it patches the 1.50 PSP kernel so as to allow modules, (the PSP equivalent of DLL files) to be loaded from the Memory Stick. One of Sony's anti-hacking measures was to only allow module loading from the UMD drive, but now you can just patch the BOOT.BIN to look at the MS slot ("ms0:/")instead to use with this loader.
- This is better because is saves preloading all the necessary modules ahead of time in kernel mode, just let the game do it itself. This makes this loader more compatible with features such as sound and WiFi (in theory.)
- PSP 1.0 compatibility is coming in the next release.

Nintendo DS Emulator For PSP Is A Hoax

- Turns out the supposed Nintendo DS emulator port to the PSP was a hoax. In a new post on their site today, PSP Domain admit the images were Photoshopped.
- It seems to be a publicity stunt for a future release. Good going guys. Way to get some respect for your work.
- Here's the quote:

"As you may have guessed this is not really a DS emulator for the PSP . It's true that it was photoshoped from respected websites. DO YOU THINK WE WOULD ACTUALLY TELL YOU WHAT WE HAVE PLANED. NO! you will have to wait and no it's not a DS emulator no one in their right mind would do this. But it will be a big development in the PSP Scene.(Nothing to do with iso's what so ever) but not stating what it is for a couple of weeks.
Hope no one got their hope's up about the DS emulator because what we have planned is better anyhow. See you on the 25th 12229psp"

UK Pricing

- Gaming industry magazine MCV has stated that:

"Sony this week revealed that PSP software will retail in the UK for £34.99"

- That is just over $60 USD at the current exchange rate (1 GBP = 1.74600 USD).
- Also, online media retailer Play.com have got UMD Movies listed for between £9.99 and £14.99 (about $17 to $26 USD)
- Best start saving. PSP consoles are listed at £179.99 ($315 USD).

Nintendo DS Emulator, iDeaS, Ported To PSP

- *Update* The URL I gave below was wrong. It should be http://www.pspdomain.net/ but it turns out the project is fake and the site is rubbish anyway. *End Update*

- Some coders at PSP Domain (note that their site is just an empty forum... This news found on PSP Updates) have announced that they have made a start on a Nintendo DS emulator for PSP. Apparently, it is running in a basic state.
- From them:

"Thats right decided to reveal that we are working on a Nintendo DS emulator for the psp. It is a port of the current build of iDeaS emulator for the Pc . As stated before this release is nowhere near finished and wont be for a while. It is currently running at about 4 fps and no sound it only runs a few demos and metroid intro and there is currently no controls. More on the 25th August. For the non believers i will post video as soon as my camcorder is back from repairs."

Heretic For PSP v0.1

- PS2NFO bring us news of another classic game port to the PSP. This time it is Heretic For PSP v0.1, bought to us by bjohnson, a well-known PS2 coder, (he has worked on both DVD Rips and utilities before.)
- Some of the cool features:

* Classic Medievil Action Now for the PSP!
* Analog stick for movement
* CHEAT CODES!
* Sound Supported tho it isn't that great
* Shareware and Commercial version supported!
* Shareware WAD is included
* Save/load works!
* Source code coming soon

How To Make A USB PSP Charger

- Phillip Torrone from MAKE:Blog has just written a great "How To."
- How To Make A USB PSP Charger is at that link as a 2 minute, 2MB enhanced podcast (M4B File.) Use iTunes or QuickTime to view.

Pre-Order JAP PSP Game, Get Free UMD Case

- The Official Japanese PlayStation website from Sony is currently running a promotion for people pre-ordering new games.
- Pre-Order one of the games from this page and you will get a free plastic case that holds one UMD, a lot like the ones Mini-Discs came in (for anyone else out there that ever owned one!) The cases even snap together to make a stackable rack.
- The offer expires as each title is released, and I assume is only open to Japanese customers.

PSP Coding Competition

- PSP Updates are holding a PSP Coding Competition for the next month and a half.
- Some of the rules seem a little restrictive to me, but good luck to all that enter! Prizes are:

"First place: 1 GB Sony Memory Stick
Second place: 1 PSP Game of your choice.
Third place: 1 PSP Accessory of your choice valued no more than $30US"

Lumines For PC

- Totally addicted to Lumines? Can't get away with using your PSP at work/school/wherever you are using a PC? Kaikai may have the answer for you.
- He has recreated Lumines for Windows! Get it from his website to lose even more time to this game.

Video Recorder For Handhelds

- Japanese company RockRidgeSound have announced a new product some of you may be interested in. The VRX-02 basically works like a VCR, but uses SD & miniSD cards and Memory Sticks (Pro, Duo and Pro Duo) instead of video tapes.
- It encodes video for use on Sony PSP, Nintendo DS & GameBoy Advance (using "Play-yan"), and some Mobile phones.
- Might make things easier, or could be a waste of money... depends how technically minded you are I suppose.

WIRE05 WipeOut Pure Update

- At a Techno concert in Yokohama, Japan, this week some exclusive WipeOut: Pure downloadable content was released. PSP Updates have been emailed the file and are now hosting it.
- The pack includes a new WIRE05 circuit and menu theme.
- You can get it from PSP Updates, but it will only work with the JAP version of the game.

"In The Bin" - Online PSP Player Rankings

- "In The Bin" is a new tool for the PSP which extracts your high scores from your game saves. They are then saved in a file on your Memory Stick in a format to upload to www.inthebin.co.uk. Once you do that you can see how you rank compared to other players from around the globe.
- Right now it only works with Lumines, but obviously there are more games coming.
- Go and sign up now!

PSPSOne, PSX Emulator For PSP, Demo Release

- PacManFan on the PS2Dev Forum has continued his work on a PSX emulator for PSP, PSPSOne. In his most recent post he has announced the first demo test release of PSPSOne which has been hard-coded to run the pdx-dlcm.psx demo.
- It is running really slow at the moment, ("It runs at about .5 fps @ 222mhz") but this is great progress.
- Download it here. You will have to find your own PSX BIOS file (scph1001.bin) however.
- Some screenshots have been posted on DCEmu.co.uk too.

PlayStation Interface X

- naoneo, a member of the MaxConsole Forum, has posted a thread concerning a new project now named PSIX (PlayStation Interface X).
- Details are a bit sketchy as the project seems to be up in the air, but the screenshots that have been leaked have provoked a lot of interest.
- I think things are best explained by the man himself:

"PSIX (PlayStation Interface X) Started life as 'pspos', a small application coded and designed by Qubitz and Fluff (naoneo)
Due to personal issues and some disagreements on where it should be taken, not much got done with the program though a new graphical interface was created and not yet implemented, Qubitz did an amazing job of setting up a user environment with mouse cursor, icons and menu systems, so which a few select developers were given the beta of.

one of which let screenshots slip on irc thus there was a flood of people making threads, asking of the legitimacy of the work, and generally making a big scene, shortly after I personally had a major event unfold in my home and wasn't able to work with it for over a week.

The project was renamed PSIX purely to rid itself of the "windows port" questions posed by many, and because 'pspos' was far too predictable, as well as inaccurate, the programs moved to PSP-Group, keeping its original designers and adding some top notch coders well known in the xbox scene, stay tuned for more information on the project, I'm sure with a bigger dev team things will pick up"

GTA For PSP Preview

- GameInformer magazine has a preview of the new Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories game for PSP and we bring you a scan of the page. Check out the images and info by clicking the image below.

- It is interesting to note that they list it only as a single player game in the breakdown at the top of the page.
- By the way, please do not link straight to the image from other websites. You are free to take a copy for you own server, or link to this article. Thanks.

Region Encoded Games After All?

- The new issue of GameInformer magazine (#148 August 2005) has a small news snippet that says despite Sony's claims of only having region encoding on movies and not games, (allowing JAP titles to be played on a USA PSP for example,) new games will be implementing this feature, including Rockstar's port of Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition.
- incidentally, a review for the game comes later in the same issue with a score of 8 and a second opinion of 9. The game would have scored higher since it is a near perfect port of a PS2 game they rated 9.5 earlier, but the load times are said to be totally awful, (they quote over a minute just to play a race which takes about two to play.)
- Other reviews that issue are for the following:

* Dead To Rights: Reckoning 6.5 and 5.25
* Coded Arms 6.75 and 6.5

Find Out What Firmware A PSP Has From Packaging Proven False?

- A thread on the PSP Updates Forum has appeared which claims to have a working method for finding out which version firmware a PSP will have without opening the box! Great news for new buyers, but apparently this theory has been proven false already.
- RaiderX on the PSP Hacks Forum says that this theory is old, and has unfortunately been debunked.
-Just for completeness, here is the theory anyway:

"On the back of the PSP box by the barcodes, there will be either an '‘A', 'B'’, or nothing at all located below '120V'. If you do not have a letter that means it was purchased sometime near the US release. Having the letter '‘A'’ means that the firmware is a 1.50, and seeing a letter '‘B' there means 1.51. Now you won'’t have to open the box to know your firmware, and most people are willing to find you a PSP box with the letter 'A'’ or no letter at all."

Gamepad Interface For PSP

- PSP-Hacks have reported on a really sweet hardware hack.
- PSP Gamepad is a hack from Klesk to let you use old console controllers with the PSP. At the moment, you can use two Sega Master System gamepads, but support for more controllers, such as Sega Genesis Gamepads and C64 joysticks, are in the works.
- You connect the pads via the PSP's infrared port, which takes a fair bit of hardware building.
- After all that, Klesk then went and modified Doom, the Master System Emulator and the Snes9X port for the PSP to work with his controllers.
- Images, videos and source code for everything is on his project website. Fantastic work!

Code For PSP Using Lua

- Shine, member of the PS2Dev Forums, has been porting the Lua programming language to the PSP.
- Using it he created a Snake game, the source for which is in the same thread.
- Another member, ector, has also been working on a LuaPlus port, for those interested.
- Don't know what Lua is? Well, I didn't either, but here is what the developers have to say at Lua.org:

"Lua is a powerful light-weight programming language designed for extending applications. Lua is also frequently used as a general-purpose, stand-alone language. Lua is free software.

Lua combines simple procedural syntax with powerful data description constructs based on associative arrays and extensible semantics. Lua is dynamically typed, interpreted from bytecodes, and has automatic memory management with garbage collection, making it ideal for configuration, scripting, and rapid prototyping."

PocketTop IrDA PDA Keyboard Driver For PSP

- In the wake of Vanya Sergeev's work on IrDA Capture software, which we reported yesterday, another coder, Tundrwd, has written an IrDA Keyboard Driver to allow you to use the PocketTop IrDA PDA keyboard with the PSP.
- From Tundrwd:

"I've spent a bit of time this afternoon knocking together a concept IRDA keyboard driver for the PSP. I have compiled it for V1.5, and the binaries and source are included. It's my first PSP project.

Yes, it works. As it stands, it will only work with a PocketTop (Micro Innovations) IRDA PDA keyboard. If you use other IRDA keyboards, you may or may not get any characters to display without changing the source and recompiling."

PSPMag Looking For More Writers

- PSPUpdates have recieved the following email which some may be interested in:

"PSP Mag has expanded again, and because of that, we’re looking for MORE HELP! As of issue 06, we’ve started a new section in the mag called The Other Side where we will be doing game previews/reviews other than those of the PSP!

If you are applying for a position on the PS2 preview/review staff, send Rainer an email with what makes you a good person for the job, and a review of one of the following games: NCAA Football 2006, and Medal of Honor: European Assault. You may also include a preview for one of the following games: Budokai Tenkaichi, Kingdom Hearts II, and Ultimate Spider-Man.

If you are applying for a position on the Nintendo preview/review staff, send Ness an email with what makes you a good person for the job, and a review of one of the following games: Meteos for DS, Splinter Cell: CT for DS, and Killer 7 for GC. You may also include a preview for one of the following games: Geist for GC, Madden NFL 2006 for DS.

We will be hiring writers for the next issue of PSP Mag if possible, so hurry and send in your application.

Contact Rainer at rainer@thepspmag.com and Ness at ness@thepspmag.com."

Binary v0.1 From Socals

- After news of his SecureText program, Socals, a member of Globware, has now let us know he also made a screensaver-esque demo while learning to code for the PSP.
- It is called Binary v0.1 and here is what he had to say:

"I also created a demo/screensaver/simulator called Binary about a week ago but didn't really consider it "news-worthy" with all the new neat stuff coming out so i just it slide"
"I was mainly just writing some test code to learn new things about the PSP."

Dreamcast VMU Demo On PSP

- VirtuaMUnstaz, Dreamcast Visual Memory Unit (VMU) hackers, have released a demo emulating the system on PSP. Marcus Comstedt is the man who wrote it.
- Download it now and you can play a Tetris minigame, or take a look at the source code!

ScummVM Updated

- The ScummVM emulator has been updated to run the following games:

"This version of SCUMMVM-PSP runs (games we've at least tried):

SCUMM stuff:
* Monkey Island 1 & 2
* Day of The Tentacle
* Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
* Sam n Max

Others:
* Simon 1 & 2
* Flight of the Amazon Queen
* BASS/CD
* Gobliiins
* and more hopefully :)"

IrDA Capture and SecureText for PSP

- Two new tools have hit the scene; IrDA Capture and SecureText for PSP.
- SecureText is an encryption/decryption program from Socals, a member of Globware. It is a port of his windows program to the PSP, utilizing RC4 encryption to secure files on the go.
- IrDA Capture comes from apsd, (who also bought us pspirfile which allowed you to transfer files, via infrared, between PSP's.) In his own words:

"This is a simple program to capture raw data from the IrDA port and write it both to a file (currently preset to ms0:/irdacapture) and to the screen.
Thanks to Arwin for the idea/suggestion of the program.
The source is included."

Another Text Reader

- PSPUpdates have had an email from Yu-Ju Lin, a programmer who has just created "PSP Reader". With it, you can read and edit .txt, .html and .c files in English and Chinese.
- You also have the ability to search, bookmark and jump to places in a document. A slick virtual keyboard is included for editing. In fact, the whole UI looks well refined.
- Check out this post to download.

Loaders Unite! (Loader + Overclock + WiFi)

- MrSiir and VieriCrespo from PS2Dev and Yoshihiro of WAB have come together to release "WAB Auto-Patch v2.5e Multi-Loader + WiFi".
- This is the best launcher so far, functioning as a multi-game file loader, allowing overclocking and also WiFi support (for multiplayer gaming, as the recent releases from MUPS did.)
- All of this happens from the launcher so no additional BOOT.BIN modifications are required!

PSP Media Engine Now Available For Homebrew Coding

- Crazyc, member of the ps2dev forums, has managed to access the PSP's Media Engine (ME). He has also released some sample code that uses the ME as an extra processor, in this case as a counter.
- Thanks Crazyc! Lets hope that SNES emulator gets a boost ;)

ScummVM Ported To PSP

- PSPUpdates reports that three PSP coders, Thomas Mayer, Joost Peters and Paolo Costabel, have gone and created a ScummVM emulator for the PSP, appropriately titled ScummVM-PSP.
- What is extra special is that this emulator appears to be legal, as it was "developed using free open source tools and SDKs" with games being available "legally and for free at www.scummvm.org."

"This version of ScummVM-PSP has been hard coded to run only Beneath A Steel Sky Floppy and CD release."
"A version will follow soon that will play all scumm base games supported by ScummVM."

- For those not aware of SCUMM, here is a brief explaination:

"LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) is used for many games, including Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more"
"ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the game, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!"

New Emulators (Including PSP for PC!)

- Adding to the heap of emulators out there are three new releases:
- PSPcsx (or maybe PSPSOne) - A PSX emulator for the PSP. It is based off the open source PCSX Playstation emulator and is being worked on by PacManFan.
- PSPectrum by ryosaebaa and Hex, a Spectrum emulator apparently being coded from scratch, rather than being a port.
- PSPx - A PSP emulator that runs on a PC, by xwd. We will have to wait and see if this one is real, since it has not been released yet, only screenshots.
- Grab 'em while they're hot!

Play Ape Escape From A Small Memory Stick

- PSP-Hacks.com reader jb jb has sent them an email giving details on how to get Ape Escape to fit on a small Memory Stick (512MB or less, where the game is larger than that.)
- Essentially, you just extract the ISO to put the files onto the Memory Stick as you normally would, but in the folder USRDIR are files named map1xxx through to map10xxx. You should remove these files one by one (starting from 10, backwards) until the game fits on the Memory Stick and you can go ahead and play it!
- Once you get far enough into the game, just swap out the map files to include the later levels.
- Read the full email here. Perhaps this technique can be used with other PSP titles.

Overclock Your PSP

- PSP-Hacks reports that Cpasjuste, hardworking PSP hacker that he is, has released his latest app "PSP OverclockLoad", now at v1b. There is even a FPS (Frames Per Second) counter so you can track the improvments made by your overclocking.
- It is based on the recently released source code of WAB's 2.5b ISO loader.

Another WipeOut Gamma Pack Released

- Check out the WipeOut: Pure Official Website to download the latest free update to the game, Gamma Pack 3.
- The download includes a new vehicle, a new track and a new skin.

How To Use PVNC v1.1 Guide

- Pacote, a member of the PSP Updates Forum, has written an excellent guide on how to use PVNC v1.1.
- Put simply, PVNC allows you to remotely control a PC from your PSP.

PSP "No Update" UMD Starter

- Homebrew hacker Placasoft has written a potentially very useful app called 'PSP "No Update" UMD Starter'. What it does is act as a launcher which opens the BOOT.BIN file on the inserted UMD, but without checking the version of the PSP's firmware. Only two JAP games force an upgrade so far, (Coded Arms and Space Invaders Pocket,) but you can be sure more are to follow. This app will allow PSP owners to buy games, but keep playing their homebrew software. A good thing for all involved.
- In related news, there have also been "No UMD required" loaders with full sound support for both Soukyuu no Fafner and Darkstalkers Chronicles: The Chaos Tower.

Text Input On PSP

- Some members of the PS2Dev Forum have been discussing alternative methods of keyboard input for PSP homebrew applications.
- They are interesting examples, some from past PS2 projects, that developers may want to check out for ideas for their projects.
- Anyone want to port/develop a simple T9 (mobile phone) input method for PSP? There are plenty of buttons!

Nano-X / Microwindows On PSP

- News from PSPUpdates is that Nano-X has been ported to PSP by coder Madc.
- Some comments from the man himself:

"Standalone mode nanox demos and microwindows demos runs on PSP now. There are still some bugs. Microwindows game "Mine" works fine. Currently, the porting can run with graphic modes of 16bit(555) and 32bit(8888). And I can debug with pspDebugScreenPrintf in 32bit mode. Pad inputs are mapped into mouse and keyboard.
It's still an unstable version. Only hackers may have interests in it. It will take weeks to make the porting stable. Then porting of Mozzilla is possible."

- For those not familiar with Nano-X, this excerpt from their website might help explain some things:

"The Nano-X Window System is an Open Source project aimed at bringing the features of modern graphical windowing environments to smaller devices and platforms. Nano-X allows applications to be built and tested on the Linux desktop, as well as cross-compiled for the target device. The Nano-X Window System was previously named Microwindows, but has been renamed due to conflicts with Microsoft's Windows trademark."

PSP File Managers

- PSP File Assistant has been updated to v0.02 by Linjr with some cool new features:

1. Added battery status
2. You can custom Back ground image (WALL.BMP)
3. Can copy files from PSP Bios (Flash0)
4. Can display Chinese characters
5. Other small changes

- Similarly, Cpasjuste has updated PSP File Manager to version v0.3b with these features:

* Remove Files
* Replace a target file with a selected file. (Nice for all emus/homebrew with no roms/file selector)
* Copy/Move a selected file to a selected folder. (For moving delet the copied file…)
* Launch BOOT.BIN files (you still need to patch/edit your boot.bin file to reflect your directory structure.. )
* Launch some 1.0 eboot’s and DATA.PSP directly (If someone find why it can launch some cant with some other, your welcome to help)
* Ftpd Server Added ( Thanks to pspkrazy )
* UmdRip tool added ( Thanks to ?? )
* And more...

- May be worth checking out if you want to mess with files without using a PC.

News From WAB

- WAB have gone and shown on their site that the UMD drive has a switch which is 'on' when a UMD is in the drive.
- They say that many games do not require a UMD in the drive, they just need this switch held down somehow so the PSP 'thinks' there is a UMD there.
- Also, a compatibility list has appeared for the WAB Launcher 2.5x on the MaxConsole Forum. So far, around 10 games work.

Connect PSP To Serial Port

- PSP Remote v1.00 is an effort to connect the PSP to a serial port on a PC. It comes from Nil, one of the great firmware hackers out there (who has been making DVD drives region free for years for example) at RPC1.org.
- Here is a short quote:

"It turns out that we have a readily available serial port on a PSP, through the Remote Port, which is very interesting indeed."

- Instructions on how to build the hardware connector are included with the software.

Get A Free PSP

- I updated the Free PSP page to help people out who may have trouble getting credit for completing their offer.
- If you have not seen it yet, this really works and you can get yourself a PSP for nothing!

More Tools Released

- First is WAB's Auto-Patch v2.5, which allows you to load PSP extracted UMD ISOs without modifying the BOOT.BIN file. This is getting closer to the v3.0 release, which should run ISO files directly.
- Second is PSP ASM Dump v1.0.0.1 by Shsan, which generates annotated assembly dumps of ELF files, mainly for use with BOOT.BIN files.
- Third, Vanya A. Sergeev brings us a file transfer application allowing users to transfer files between PSP's via the infrared port.
- Finally, a loader for Dead to Rights: Reckoning, (which supports full sound and does not require a UMD in the drive,) has appeared thanks to eddie11d from psp-spot.com. Others also turned up for World Puzzle Mojipittan, Ape Escape, NBA 2k5 and Puzzle Bobble.

1emulation.com Radio Show Tomorrow

- 1emulation.com are organising a radio show for tomorrow, Sunday, July 10th, 2005 at 11:00 EST/16:00 GMT. The show is all about the hacking scene and includes many guests from the PSP world.
- To quote them:

"Our motive is to present the causes and effects of the latest news in the emulation scene, sony psp, nintendo ds, pc gaming and the arcade scene. As time has progressed we were finally given the opportunity to do so. With the coming updates of all these frequently updated and popular scenes, we bring you a radio talk show not only to entertain you, but to show you what it's all about even behind the scenes."

- Might be worth checking it out. The link to the stream will be posted on their site 10 minutes prior to broadcast.

Homebrew Software Updates

- A whole load of different homebrew software has been pouring onto the net for the past week or two, but I have mostly been ignoring it since almost all of it is early, limited, buggy releases. But, it is quite interesting to see what people are working on and what may be possible to do with the PSP with little more work. With that in mind, here is a short rundown of some of the stuff out there you may like to try or keep an eye on.
- ST-SOUND GPL YM Music Player by Jim. Plays all those old Atari ST and Spectrum 128 YM tunes.
- PspFileManager v1 by Cpasjuste. Manage all the files on your PSP without a PC.
- MikMod module player V3.0.3 also by Jim. Plays most MOD, XM, IT, S3M, STM, MTM, 669, FAR, DSM, MED, ULT and UNI tracker files.
- PSP Web Browser(using PVNC) by MikePiP. A web browser to run on your PC you can use with your PSP using PVNC, (that's a lot of P's!)
- pspWeather v1.0 by mcdongle. Connects to the internet via WiFi to give you your local weather report.
- vCard Reader by cwbowron. Lets you view the contents of a vCard, which is basically an electronic business card which you can export from your contacts list in programs like Microsoft Outlook.
- PSP Universal Remote by Melman101. Control Sony Wega TV's and switch slim PS2's on and off.
- AVI Play for PSP by Myungwoon. Plays 320x240 DivX video, but no sound yet.
- PSP Media Center v0.5b by John_K and adresd. Currently plays MP3, MOD, and OGG files.

Datel Charger Extends Life Of PSP Battery

- IGN have posted news of a new product from Datel that will extend the life of your PSP battery.
- From the article:

"Rechargeable batteries have a finite lifespan, and the PSP battery is no exception. A PSP's battery has a preset limit of 500 charges, after which it rolls over and dies, and cannot be charged again. This charge limit is set by the manufacturer, and cannot be overridden when charging your battery in your console. However, Datel's Battery Charger contains an intelligent system that checks the state of your battery, and if it's still in working order, recharges even if it's reached its 500-charge limit. In most cases, the Datel Battery Charger lets you charge up to 600 times, extending its lifespan by 20%"

Win A PSP With McDonalds

- The fast food megalomaniacs everyone loves to hate, McDonalds, have teamed up with Sony for an Internet giveaway. Play a Big Mac eating game, get a "Mac Code" and try and win.
- Click to give up your soul and play.

Another Neo-Geo CD Emulator

- After "NeoCD Emulator for PSP" comes "NeoCD PSP v0.1", this time from YoyoFR.
- Features so far:

* Initial release of the new NeoCD PSP emulator!
* Neo-Geo CD emulation
* Memory Card emulation
* Zipped/Unzipped game
* Sound Support
* Music Support (with MP3 tracks, using libmad)
* Multiple rendering modes with hardware stretching
* 222/266/333 Mhz

No Firmware Downgrade Device To Be Released

- According to some other PSP sites out there, some naughty people, (such as Paul Owen and Team Xecuter,) have gone and developed a hardware device to help roll back your PSP firmware. This would allow you to buy new games with the confidence that you could always downgrade firmware if an upgrade was forced.
- Turns out this was all a load of rubbish and was blown way out of proportion. What has actually been happening is that Team Xecuter have been working on a USB memory card adaptor for the PSP to make storage cheaper than having to buy those MS Pro Duo's. It will be known as "PSPX Mass Storage Controller."
- They added:

"It will not downgrade your PSP firmware or patch for any illegal or even legal activity - we made a comment that we had discovered how to do this using discoveries made by dev hardware but we are not going to be making any such hardware to perform this task - there will be no need - groups like WAB will be doing all this via software soon enough."

London Bombings

- As a Londoner, (living in the US right now, but I just so happened to be back this week,) I have to give my condolences to the families of those killed in this morning's bomb attacks.
- It was a cowardly act on a city while the world had its back turned, focusing on the G8 summit in Scotland.
- It is impossible for me to comprehend how you can hate a group of people so much as to try and destroy them. Why can't everyone get along? Seriously, its like these terrorists are children that need to grow up and realise we all live here on this planet together. We don't get a long run at life, so just enjoy what you have, not go out and hurt others.

UMD iSO Launcher Update

- So it turns out that the UMD iSO Launcher mentioned in this post is the same upcoming launcher mentioned in this post from WAB, not from PS2NFO themselves.
- Either way, the scene is dying to see this one.

Devkit Pro Now For PSP

- Devkit Pro is a fantastic, free and open source development kit that many homebrew coders have been using for years to work on GamePark 32 and GameBoy Advance projects. They recently added Nintendo DS support and have now gone and done the same thing for the Sony PSP.
- Visit the Devkit Pro Homepage or download from here.

Portable VNC Beta 1

- NHD, member of XBox coding group Team XOS, has released a beta version of PVNC (Portable VNC, previously PSPVNC.) As with most early releases, it is a little slow and the on-screen keyboard seems to be broken, but improvements are being worked on.
- This software is based on the palmVNC source, and using it allows you to control your computer using the d-pad as the mouse and an on-screen keyboard for text input, all via WiFi!
- The author says he made PVNC "to work with my Xbox Dashboard/OS and use the PSP as a controller for the built in emulators and games."
- VNC (Virtual Network Computing), as stated on their website, is "a remote display system which allows you to view a computing 'desktop' environment not only on the machine where it is running, but from anywhere on the Internet and from a wide variety of machine architectures."

PSPKrazy's PSP FTPD v0.01

- PSPKrazy, a member of the PS2Dev Forum, has modified psppet's networking example and theno23's HTTPD program to create PSP FTPD v0.01, an FTP server for your PSP.
- This means you can send files to your PSP using this software and a WiFi connection. No more cables needed, although this is an early release so there are some bugs.

UMD iSO Launch Utility Coming Soon

- Incredible news from PS2NFO is the promise to release their new project, UMD iSO Launch Utility, soon to the scene.
- In their words: "To use it, simply put your PSP iSO in the MS root (no file extraction is required at all) and then rename it xxx-umdgame.iso. The UMD iSO Launcher is loaded via exploit (as is done with emulators/homebrew) and press X to launch the game!"
- So no more patching necessary, all games will just work from the ISOs. For now, there is no expected release date, but we hope to see this hit servers soon.

KXploit Homebrew Pack v3.0 for PSP

- Cr4igp4lmer on the PSP Updates Forum has put together a great updated package of all the PSP homebrew releases out there in one simple zip file.
- The package includes the following emulators:
DGen v0.50, fMSX 0.61, HuE for PSP v0.051, MAME for PSP v0.71 r0.2, Megadrive v0.22, NesterJ v1.07, NGPSP V1.2.1, PCEP for PSP v0.7, PSPGenesis v0.13 for PSP, PSPsms v0.4, PSPuae v0.2, pSwan v007, Rin v1.26(ee), Snes9x v0.03a, uo Snes9x v0.02y21, VBA for PSP v0.03
- It also includes the following games:
Bejeweled v0.2, Blackjack v0.2b1, Casino Addict v0.6 for PSP, Doom/Doom2 v0.02, Duke Nukem*, PSP Rick v0.2, PSPacman v1.0 (Fun Pacman), PSPCalc v02, PSPFileManager v0.2, PSPSokoban 0.9, PSPuzzle v0.5, Quake 2*, QuakePSP, Snake 10, Solitaire
* Needs unpacking, WILL replace Doom but will have correct theme.
- It is packaged for both v1.0 and v1.5 PSPs and I recommend going and downloading it!

GTA 1 & 2

- Disturbed0, a coder on the PSP Updates forum has modified RIN, the GameBoy/GameBoy Color Emulator, to play the GBC versions of GTA 1 and 2 on your PSP.
- In his own words: "This is a program that will play Grand Theft Auto 1, and 2 GBC version on the PSP. It is an edited version of RIN GBC eumlator. Why would you want to use this when you could just use RIN? Ill tell you why!

* Bug FIXED when you go to X2 screen in GTA2
* Has CUSTOM GTA background
* Is very cool, has the customized menu saying listing your games.
* Perfected the speed, timing, and sound with my own configuration.
* GTA Icon, and music
* Supports custom roms

---DO NOT ask me for the roms. You HAVE to find them on your own. This package does not come with any roms, and is not intended to.---
- While not strictly a necessary download as RIN works on its own, this is supposed to play these specific ROMs a little better.
- Some (bad) pictures were posted by the author here.
- Download it if you want it!

More PSP ISO Launchers

- After Lumines now comes Puzzle Bobble, Coded Arms and Mercury Launchers. Put the extracted ISOs of the games on your Memory Stick root, patch one of the files and have one of the following real UMDs in the drive:
* Untold Legends
* Twisted Metal
* Tiger Woods
* Wayne Gretzky Hockey
* WipeOut: Pure
Then just launch as you would any other KXploit app.
- Mercury actually only works with the Ridge Racer UMD.
- The Lumines, Puzzle Bobble and Coded Arms launchers have also been combined into one launcher to make things easier and allow you to have all three games on one Memory Stick. This one requires the WipeOut: Pure UMD.
- In related news, tantalizingly, WAB have a new listing on their website, "WAB Launcher V3.0 (soon...)" with a link to a RAR download that does not exist on the server yet. More as it breaks on this one.

Quake-PSP

- Apologies for these late updates, I have just flown back to the UK for a while. So lets begin the catch up.
- Quake has been ported to the PSP now by coder PacManFan, with the imaginative title Quake-PSP.
- At time of writing it is v0.3 but looking pretty good. Go and get it.

Compression Lib For PSP Homebrew Developers

- Henoheno has written a compression (and decompression obviously) library for the PSP for homebrew developers to work with. It uses much of Ruka'’s UnZipLib and Tenchu has created an English translation.
- From the Read Me:
"On how to use the library, link deflatelib.a, and just include deflateInterface.h.
Two commands:
int do_compress_m2m (char *pIn,int nInSize,char *pOut,int nOutSize,int level); /* compression */
int do_decompress_m2m(char *pIn,int nInSize,char *pOut,int nOutSize); /* decompression restoration */"
- Now get back to coding! *whip-crack*

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories Interview With OPM

- 1UP.com has a story about a story in an upcoming issue of Official PlayStation Magazine, and this is a story about that :)
- From the article: "OPM also talked to Rockstar VP Dan Houser and Studio Director Gordon Hall about the technical limitations and issues involved in making a free-roaming game for a portable system:
"We changed the way the city was structured -- seek time is a killer on the PSP, not the actual loading, so we have adapted Liberty City's world structure to enable us to burst in the data we need when we need it."
As well as the problems of portable battery life:
"The process of laying the data and code paths out to facilitate elegant streaming automatically ensures we are as battery friendly as possible."
And how Liberty City Stories is far, far from a simple port:
"We never looked at it like it was a portable game... I would really be surprised if there were more expansive handheld games ever made, but content-wise, I can be very confident in saying there has never been anything on a handheld like this.""

PSP HTTP Server

- Someone from Microsith.com has made a program which allows access to a PSP's Memory Stick and the two internal flash devices with your web browser via httpd.
- From The Read Me:
"- Full of security holes, don't put it public if you value your data
- Only works with infrastructure mode and a static IP assignment.
- Only supports the GET method with HTTP"
In the download are the usual v1.0 and v1.50 PSP binaries and the source code too.

Lumines ISO Loader

- So Lumines is the first playable ISO with the release of two special patchers. They cleverly change a value in the Lumines BOOT.BIN from "disc0" to "fatms" to make it play from the Memory Stick rather than UMD.
- Just extract the Lumines ISO to a Memory Stick at the root, leaving you with X:\UMD_DATA.BIN and X:\PSP_GAME\.
- Find BOOT.BIN in X:\PSP_GAME\SYSDIR and patch it using the PPF patches in the release using PPF-O-MATIC v3.0.
- The first version requires you to insert any UMD in the PSP then use a launcher, (either WAB's or the one included in this release) to play Lumines. A second newer version requires no UMD at all.
- The newer version comes from Team Xecuter who some may recognize as a major player in the XBox scene. They claim full audio support will be implemented in their next release. Many PSP websites are refusing to host their patch due to legal issues, but you can get the file from the Team Xecuter Forum.

Amiga Emulator

- Another clever coder out there, this one named Fcorbier, has released another Emulator for the PSP. This one is PSP UAE, a port of the UAE Amiga Emulator so you can play some of you old favorites on the go. It isn't perfect just yet, but then few emulators are, but a revised version (v0.2) has already been released that includes preliminary sound support and it does already work well with the vast majority of games.