Dark_Alex has released a new version of his Custom Firmware for the PSP, heres whats new:


REMEMBER READ THE READ ME FILES BEFORE USAGE

Download and Give Feedback Via Comments
via dark_alex ...

Via the Washington Post

There was a showdown between the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PlayStation 3 at The Post's game testing lab last weekend.

Here's how it went down: I invited a bunch of my friends, five guys and three gals, over to check out the new systems. Few of them play or care about video games, but they were all curious to see the PlayStation 3, the cutting-edge game console that sparked real-world mayhem on its release Friday.

The Nintendo Wii system controls use motion-detecting technology. In a tennis game, the wireless control can be swung like a racket. (By Shizuo Kambayashi -- Associated Press)

By comparison, most of my friends arrived having heard little about Nintendo's new system. But, as it turned out, that device was the hit of the party.

Here's the deal with Nintendo's Wii system, in case you missed it. The system's controls contain motion-detecting technology. In some games, you don't have to punch any buttons to play. In a tennis game, for example, you swing the wireless controller like a racket. When you hit a ball in the game, the controller shudders as if you'd hit a real ball. The controllers also contain speakers that make a satisfying "thwok" whenever you connect.

It's the same for the bowling, baseball and boxing games designed for the system. Players in all those games use motions with their hands, arms and wrists that roughly replicate the movements you'd make in the real world.

The graphics on the Wii aren't the system's strong suit, however. One of my friends, who liked the system, summed up its games' looks as "cheesy."

Speaking of graphics, I gave the PS3 an unfair advantage in this department. You could have called it a fixed fight if my friends had fallen for the new PlayStation over the Wii because the $600 Sony system was running on a new $4,500, 50-inch plasma TV set from Pioneer, borrowed from the company just for this test. The $250 Nintendo, meanwhile, was running on an old tube set half the size of the plasma screen.

It was that tube set that got most of the traffic. While the people in my group preferred looking at the PS3's games, they preferred playing the Wii.

My friends played the Wii's sports games against each other all weekend, using goofy, cartoony avatars called "Miis" that they constructed to represent themselves in the game. Give a couple of newlyweds a pair of Wii controllers, pop in the boxing game and the entertainment value is priceless. We started out playing the game sitting down, but eventually we took to our feet to get a better range of motion with the controllers.

I have never seen a bunch of non-gamers get into this stuff like this, and I have never heard anybody laugh so much while playing any video game. A few of them now say they plan to buy the system for themselves.

My friend Andy has always seemed to dislike video games, but he was immediately taken by the Nintendo system in a way that I -- and he -- did not expect. "I'm surprised by how much I like it," he said. "The controller is so intuitive."

A few minutes later, he was cursing the PS3. Most of my friends who picked up the PS3's controller ended up frustrated. The typical game for the system requires players to have memorized where all the buttons are, and it's much harder to just pick up a controller and have a good time. Some of the verdicts they offered are unprintable.

My friend Jon, a technophile who likes racing games, reached first for the PS3 and wrestled with the menus and controls for the driving game Ridge Racer. Eventually, we played some races on the system and enjoyed some crisp and realistic-looking racetrack scenarios. But, for a while, he gave up on that and watched Andy and me fall over the furniture as we boxed each other on the Nintendo system. "I'm having more fun just watching you guys play that," he said.

Jon gave the PS3 a thumbs up in at least one area. He was eventually impressed with the quality of the Blu-ray movie format when we watched "Talladega Nights," the movie that Sony is including with the first shipments of the PS3.

The Nintendo Wii system controls use motion-detecting technology. In a tennis game, the wireless control can be swung like a racket. (By Shizuo Kambayashi -- Associated Press)

Game developers say the PS3 is so powerful that they haven't exploited the system's full potential. I have no idea what the system is capable of, but I can testify that you have to be pretty sharp-eyed to tell much of a difference between the first batch of PS3 games and Xbox 360 versions of the same titles.

When it comes to accessing all of the multimedia features that Sony is promoting with its console . . . well, I still prefer the Xbox 360's approach.

With the Xbox 360, a Microsoft product, using the interface and getting online has been easy and almost as intuitive as using an iPod. Trying to get online with the PS3, on the other hand, was a vale of tears because I didn't have a USB-compatible keyboard to plug into the console, and using the ...

"While the new controller on the Wii is proving to be a success, it's turning out to be more effort than some die-hard couch potatoes bargained for. The Wall Street Journal reports on the newest workout regime for nerds."
From the article:
...

News from Divineo China


More info :



Overview of the product

Low wire count, 4 or 5 wires
one chip for Toshiba-Samsung drive
one chip for Hitachi - LG drive
Auto boot NME360 type backups.*
Auto boot backups that is in dual format (xtreme/NME360). *
Auto boot original games.*
Mod360 will disable patching if an original game is detected. (perfect for xbox live)
* This is region specific. However, some games are region free ...

Decalgirl.com have today informed me that they now have a total of 63 Skins for the Nintendo Wii, heres a few of them:





Awesome colours eh, $15 for each set for the Wii from Decalgirl.com ...

Vexed is a freeware puzzle game in which your goal is to move similar blocks together, which causes them to disappear. Once all the blocks are gone, you've solved the level and you're presented with a new level to solve. This UIQ3 Java Personal Profile port by SVSoft is based on Symmetric Dog Productions' Personal Java Jexed game for UIQ 2.x phones.

Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

Rich has released a new version of his port of NesterDS for the Nintendo DS.

Heres whats new:


Download and Give Feedback & Compatibility Reports Via Comments ...

Via Pocketgamer:

Put down your weapons, the shootout is over. A two-week long exclusive poll of Pocket Gamer readers has revealed that dual analogue sticks are the hardware upgrade most desired for the next version of Sony's PSP.

In what was admittedly a tight vote, 28 per cent of voters plumped for the two sticks upgrade, versus the 27 per cent who'd most like to see Sony make the screen touch sensitive.

The result won't surprise anyone who's played the likes of Star Wars Battlefront II. Control of certain kinds of games has been a bugbear for PSP gamers from day one. While developers have increasingly successfully compensate for the console's control limitations (for example, GUN: Showdown generous auto-aim feature) there's no doubt the single analogue stick has lessened the PSP's ability to pull ahead of DS in certain genres where its technical smarts would otherwise serve it well, such as first person shooters.

The results in full

What would you most like to see in PSP 2.0?Dual analogue sticks 28%
Touchscreen 27%
Built-in mobile phone 21%
Built in camera and mic 16%
Clamshell case 5% ...

Via Pocketgamer:

Put down your weapons, the shootout is over. A two-week long exclusive poll of Pocket Gamer readers has revealed that dual analogue sticks are the hardware upgrade most desired for the next version of Sony's PSP.

In what was admittedly a tight vote, 28 per cent of voters plumped for the two sticks upgrade, versus the 27 per cent who'd most like to see Sony make the screen touch sensitive.

The result won't surprise anyone who's played the likes of Star Wars Battlefront II. Control of certain kinds of games has been a bugbear for PSP gamers from day one. While developers have increasingly successfully compensate for the console's control limitations (for example, GUN: Showdown generous auto-aim feature) there's no doubt the single analogue stick has lessened the PSP's ability to pull ahead of DS in certain genres where its technical smarts would otherwise serve it well, such as first person shooters.

The results in full

What would you most like to see in PSP 2.0?Dual analogue sticks 28%
Touchscreen 27%
Built-in mobile phone 21%
Built in camera and mic 16%
Clamshell case 5% ...