Everything for PsP

4.01 m33 released - Dark Alex/Team M33 Custom Firmware for PSP Released

2008-06-28T20:39:00.001-07:00

Instructions: Copy UPDATE folder /PSP/GAME/ and run.
Put the 4.01 sony update as 401.PBP in same folder, or let the program download it for you using a wifi connection.

Changes:
- Bug fix: vshmenu didn't let change camera mode due to camera_plugin using select button.
Fixed, now vsh menu will not be loaded when using the camera.

- Recovery can now be translated, See how below. Translation to spanish is autoincluded.
- Updated the M33 SDK with a new function and sample, and released the psp-packer tool to
compress prx's and PBP's in the ~PSP format.

- The folder of 4.01 and highre homebrew will be GAME4XX so it won't need change on update.

Taanslating the recovery.
To translate the recovery create a text file in ms0:/seplugins/xx_recovery.txt
or flash1:/xx_recoery.txt (they are evaluated in that order), where xx is the language code
of your language:

es -> spanish
en -> english
fr -> french
de -> german
it -> italian
ja -> japanese
ko -> korean
nl -> netherlands
pt -> portuguese
ru -> russian
ch1 -> chinese simplified
ch2 -> chinese traditional

The file en_recovery.txt in translate folder is included for people to translate to their languages, this file is not needed for english people, as the english language is used when no language file is found.
Just change the english strings to your language ones, and put it in the path mentioned above. Be careful to check in the recovery that the lines look fine, don't use too large text.

The spanish file es_recovery.txt will be written by the program in the memory stick.

1.50 kernel addon for fat will be released this evening or this night.

(Download now)

Update System Software

2008-06-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

The PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system software update may include security patches, new or revised settings and features and other items, which will change your current operating system. We encourage you to check this page from time to time for software updates and to always maintain your system to use the latest version of the system software.

An update to the PSP® system software was released on June 25, 2008. You can use this update to upgrade your system software to version 4.01.

Notices

This update is for customers who own PSP® systems with model numbers PSP-1001 and PSP-2001, sold in North America. DO NOT update your PSP® system through this Web site if you purchased your system outside North America. There is no guarantee of proper operation with models sold outside North America.
Do not perform updates using any data other than the official update data provided by Sony Computer Entertainment over a network or on disc media, and do not perform updates by methods other than those described in the product documentation or in this site. If an update is performed using data from another source, by another method, or with a PSP® system that has been altered or modified in any way, the PSP® system may not operate properly and may not be able to install the official update data. Any of these actions may void the PSP® system warranty and affect your ability to obtain warranty services and repair services from Sony Computer Entertainment.
For customers using PSP® system software version 2.80 or earlier:
PSP® systems with system software version 2.80 or earlier do not correctly recognize high-capacity Memory Stick PRO Duo™ with more than 4 GB of free (recordable) memory space.
The system software included within this product is subject to a limited license from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Refer to http://www.scei.co.jp/psp-eula for further details.
If your PSP® system software version is 4.01 (or later), you do not need to perform this update. To check the version of your system software, go to (Settings) > [System Settings] > [System Information]. The information is shown in the [System Software] field.
Depending on the software title, you may not be able to play without first updating the system software.
This system software update includes all features contained in previous versions.
To connect to the Internet using your system, you must be within range of a wireless access point (or hotspot) that allows connections to the Internet.
Depending on your PSP® system software version, the screen images and icons appearing on this Web site may differ from the actual product.
Some of the features and functions described in this Web site are applicable only to PSP-2000 series systems, as indicated by the icon.

The PSP® system software version 4.01 (with 4.00) update includes the following:

Network

Internet search

(Internet Search) has been added as a feature. You can now perform an Internet search directly from the XMB™ screen. > See details

Other new or revised features in 4.01 (with 4.00):

Video

[Playback Speed (+)] and [Playback Speed (-)] have been added as options to the control panel. You can now change the playback speed of video content saved on Memory Stick Duo™ media.
New for 4.01: Playback of video content under (Video) has been improved for certain file types.

Network

New for 4.01: Display of search results under (Internet Search) has been improved for certain languages.

(Downoad)

Crytek getting into the PSP scene?

2008-06-26T10:58:00.000-07:00

Crytek has a job posting up for a programmer with experince on the playstation portable console. The programmer will be working in the Crytek studio in Hungary, and needs atleast 1 year experince of programming on a portable console. What could this mean? Well for one it looks like Crytek could possibly be porting their popular games over to the PSP, or on the other hand create a totally new ip. Either way it’s good to see Crytek looking in the PSP direction.

Firmware 4.00 Out!

2008-06-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

Well folks, Sony has finally rolled out their next PSP firmware titled 4.00. Usually whole numbers mean something big for an update, but don’t count in it today. 4.00 has two new noticable funcitons. One being the ability to access Google from the XMB, and the second function to adjust playback functions with the up and down buttons. The second feature would be nice if it applies to game cutscenes too, but we are unsure of that. The 4.00 update can be downloaded from the network via internet update on your PSP. If you do have a custom firmware, and would like to continue using the custom features then do not attempt to download the frimware. I’m sure a custom firmware will be out for Sony’s 4.00 in the near future

Kingdom Hearts and Dissidia Final Fantasy Playable at Square Enix Party

2008-06-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

Early Augest Square Enix will be holding a private party that 2,400 lucky raffle winners will get to attend. What’s in it for them? Well a bunch of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts content thats for sure! Among the PSP Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and Dissidia Final Fantasy will be availbe in trailer and demo form. Hopefully somebody will bring along their camera to get some footage of the gameplay!

4.0 decryped already, changes made

2008-06-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

There doesn’t seem to be an official firmware that coders can’t decrypt these days, with teams like GEN and Dark_AleX around. Anyways, this time, the credit goes to the GEN team, those responsible for the latest custom firmware available today for the PSP.

Actually, Sony seemed to have tried to halt (or at least stall) homebrew developers with some changes that they’ve implemented within the flash0 resource directory, modifying some PRX’s.

Among them, the mlnbridge, npdrm, np9660, pops popsman, sysconf, sysmem, umdcache, and video. Sony didn’t touch the NIDS, however.

If you’re thoroughly confused, then don’t worry too much about it. All you need to know, is that while the changes are there, the GEN team says that they won’t be affecting homebrew developers (specifically, custom firmware designers) that much, and should be workaround-able.

Bioware thinking about PSP development

2008-06-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

Bioware known for making the popular 360 game, Mass Effect has been taking a look into Sony’s direction. Specifically the PSP when he spoke with Gamasutra.

"Yeah, we’re looking into Wii and PSP as a company, as well, but nothing’s been decided, and nothing’s been announced."

If both Crytek and Bioware bring good news of development towards the PSP this could bring the portable unit out of it’s drought.

Custom Firmware 4.00 to feature savestate and XMB recovery

2008-06-26T10:51:00.001-07:00

Only recently we have reported that firmware 4.00 was decrypted, and M33 is already on the front lines developing the next cfw. Besides the features already present in the official Sony 4.00 update, M33’s custom firmware will feature a savestate which will allow you to save your games at any given point allowing you to start it up at that exact location. No need to fall short a few steps! Also a recovery menu will be placed in the XMB allowing one to change his hardware settings without having to restart the PSP. Nice two features I must say.

LIGHTNING Final Fantasy XIII

2008-06-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

For fans of Final Fantasy we got a new theme here that might just fit the bill. Created by vegetano1, this Final Fantasy XIII theme is great for thoes wishing to get in on the title alittle early. This can help tie fans over for a little while, untill a proper release date is annouced. This is available for 3.95 GEN users in both formats. Download below!

Download CTF

Download Flash0

God Of War party in Japan

2008-06-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

Kratos is about to set foot on the land of the rising sun, and in order to welcome this mighty figure, a GOD party has been held in anticipation. Here visiters were able to try out the game, win free items, listen to a live band, and even try out a few of kratos own drinks. God Of War: Chains of Olympus is set to be hitting shelves on July 10th in Japan and will be Ready at Dawn’s last release in the PSP scene. Hopefully we will see their great talents once again in PSP’s brother system, the PS3.

Project4 released! UPDATE

2008-06-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

Well, as promised, Auraomega released Project4, the XMB replacement homebrew shell, as a full release, named 1.618 for some reason. To keep it simple, I’ll simply refer to it as v1. Here is Aura’s own description of what the application actually is:

"Project4 is currently the only true XMB replacement for the Sony PSP. It completely replaces Sony’s XMB, and works directly and independently from the NAND flash. Contrary to the common shell for the PSP, Project4 physically removes the S-XMB from loading, and replaces it with code specifically designed to work all from flash without ever needing a memory card."

Nifty, and somewhat straightforward if you’ve tested out any of the beta versions thus far. Yes, although this has been deemed the official version of the homebrew, many of the built-in features, which include a calendar, calculator, and stopwatch, are slightly buggy at the moment. However, they have already been noted to be improved and fixed in future releases.

Along with a few changes, some of the more notable ones include a more user-friendly application overall, cutting down on the config file, with the addition of shortcut buttons, as well as more support for external plugins.

For the full list of changes, visit Auraomega’s site here, and make SURE to read the readme file for more information before installing.

Download: Project4 1.618 (v1)

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**UPDATE**

A warning to all those who have downloaded this already, and to those who planned to. It seems that there have been some brick-age for some users who installed this. There are some theories to the cause of this, but it’s highly recommended that you abstain from downloading and installing this on your PSP, especially if you don’t have a Pandora’s Battery on hand to unbrick it. Remember, however, that not every user has fallen into this category, as most people have gotten it to work.

For those interested in the technical aspect of this issue, the p4ml.prx file won’t load properly, and the following error message also displays when attempting installation:

Error code: 0x80010002
In function: loadplugins
In file: main.c
Action: pspSdkLoadstartModule

Description:
error Loading p4ml.prx

For those looking for more information on what Project4 is, here is another description, quoted from Auraomega himself.

The major updates for this version come in usability, and user friendliness. The first update is a new easier to read configuration file, which now supports comments and more options, this gives an easier and more varied look for Project4, by simply changing icon placement or colors, and there’s no more in depth thinking as to which part you are editing, the information is all there in the file. The next thing is shortcut buttons, a file located in flash1:/P4/ can be used to link programs to buttons (and I may hazard a guess to say files too, but I’ve not tested), meaning if you want to have something like iRShell on there for loading the web browser or whatever, you can simply press the key combo and its launched. The main update though, the one that’s driven me over the barrier of insanity and back into sanity in a full circle… plugin support of files. This expands Project4’s usage far beyond its original capabilities, simply editing the shortcut file in flash1:/P4/ will allow a program to load a file thus supporting any file that can be used by another application, its still not working how I wanted it working, because some files will not be opened by the application, I am currently looking into possible ways to fix it.

There’s also some nice graphic changes, namely in EBOOT loading, in old versions you just got the “Request” menu screen, in this version it will strip out the background image and icon image of the application, and blit it to the screen giving you a far better sense of what it is you’re loading. This has caused some minor problems with loading odd files, in some cases it causes the system to crash (I’m not sure if this is just my PSP or others as well, had no reports and a lot gets corrupted on my card whilst testing), if this is the case loading the file while pressing the left shoulder button will bypass this.

.0m33 to NOT HAVE 1.5 kernel

2008-06-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

It’s not a mistake. It’s not a joke. It’s not even stupid. It’s right. And it’s probably gonna happen.

It looks pretty good that Dark_Alex won’t be incorporating a 1.5 kernel with the latest custom firmware that he’s to release (by the way, which could be released sometime this week). Some of the features are supposed to include in-game recovery mode from the XMB (borrowed from the GEN custom firmwares), as well as savestates for UMD games! Take note that these features may not arrive all at once, and come with updates or as plugins.

Anyways, back to the removal of the 1.5 kernel. The plan is, by removing it, to intergrate it with the 3.xx and 4.xx kernels. Think of it as a "hybrid" kernel that can handle everything that can be done on the 1.5 kernel, with the benifits of the newer kernels. These benifits range from better security to fixed problems. Not to mention, it would likely save developers of homebrew from coding an additional piece to support more PSP homebrewers.

We’ll keep you updated on the news, and we’ll be sure to have the custom firmware as soon as it’s released, for you to download. For now, keep and eye out. If you want to check out where the news originates from (Dark_Alex’ blog), then click HERE.

PSPhone Rumors are back!

2008-06-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

Remember the rumors of the PSPhone surfacing in a magazine? Well more juicy info on this device is back! Well now Marketing Week is claiming that Sony is converting the PSP brand into a phone format for christmass of 2009. It’s still unknown on weather Ericsson will be working with Sony on this project, and it’s still considered a rumor but news of this PSPhone can be great news. Hopefully their will still be games developing for the PSP by christmass 2009

Over 49 million Playstation units sold!

2008-06-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Kaz Hirai today has released statistics on the Playstation brand. So far combining the PS3 and the PSP, over 50 million units have been sold. What’s even better? That over 37 million of these units are PSP units! This leaves the other 12 million (abit more than that) to the PS3. This is great news, but the PS3 still needs to do some major catchup with it’s competition (i.e. 360, and Wii) and the sales reports show it’s doing just that.

First Look at PSN Video Service

2008-06-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

Above you are looking at what will be soon be the video service available on PSN. As you can see it’s quite similar to the theme already on PSN just with movie catagories. The service will be available something during the Summer of 2008 (yep this summer!) and from there it will spread across laptops, and phones becoming something that you can even access from virtually anywhere, that being you have a Sony branded product. The image below shows you a timeline so you can expect when your favorite Sony product wll be receiving this service.

Everything for PsP

4.01 m33 released - Dark Alex/Team M33 Custom Firmware for PSP Released

Update System Software

The PSP® system software version 4.01 (with 4.00) update includes the following:

Network

Internet search

Other new or revised features in 4.01 (with 4.00):

Video

Network

Crytek getting into the PSP scene?

Firmware 4.00 Out!

Kingdom Hearts and Dissidia Final Fantasy Playable at Square Enix Party

4.0 decryped already, changes made

Bioware thinking about PSP development

Custom Firmware 4.00 to feature savestate and XMB recovery

LIGHTNING Final Fantasy XIII

God Of War party in Japan

Project4 released! **UPDATE**

.0m33 to NOT HAVE 1.5 kernel

PSPhone Rumors are back!

Over 49 million Playstation units sold!

First Look at PSN Video Service

Project4 released! UPDATE