Its now March 2009 and time for a new State of the Homebrew Scene for 2009.

Because we are the only dedicated homebrew Network on the web covering just about all scenes, I feel its a good time to give a low down on each scene and some pointers about where they are going from my point of view.

First off though lets remind all that homebrew is not the same as warez.

Also I would like to point out that each scene owes its life to the many hardware and software hackers who discover the exploits we come to enjoy so much today, they are then followed by the many worldwide coders who make the homebrew scene a free and enjoyable place to hang out and make friends etc.

Digg this article

Lets take a look at each scene.

Xbox360



The Xbox360 has been the Next gen console that's been out the longest and while there has been advances we still have not seen any homebrew breakthroughs for this System apart from an Hello World and a Linux Bootloader, Microsofts XNA platform is at the moment the only "Homebrew" for Xbox360 with many games and the odd emulator such as a Spectrum emulator and a port of ScummVM, the only downer with XNA is that its not free at all. If the 360 is ever fully cracked then Nintendo64, Playstation 2, Xbox and Dreamcast Emulation should be very doable in time.

related xbox360 links -

DCEmu Xbox 360 News
Xbox Scene
XNA Developer Centre


PS3



The most powerful console of the next generation is a console that you can install Linux on but for most Linux is too complicated, for a short time there was quite a few BD-J Homebrew releases which used a exploit in the java on the PS3 to release games and some emulators on the PS3, this was killed off by Sony when they released a new firmware. As of this time there has been some unconfirmed reports of exploits working on the PS3 but nothing set in stone so for now the only homebrew for the PS3 is the Linux you can install. Via the PSN Store you can pay for and download PS1 games and for those who love the older releases at least its a way to play something other than PS3. The PS3 when cracked (Lets hope we get a custom firmware like the PSP) should be capable of PS2, Dreamcast, N64 and Xbox Emulators at full speed.

related PS3 links -

DCEmu PS3 Evolution
Gizmodos Linux on PS3 Tutorial
Yellow Dog Linux

Nintendo Wii



Nintendo`s Wii console is already an emulation fans dream, via the Virtual Console you have the ability to play N64, Snes, Nes, Gamecube, Megadrive, PC Engine, Neogeo, MSX and recently Commodore 64 games make the console a great place for fans of retro gaming albeit at a price for each game.

However the Homebrew Community has thrived over the last year and as long as your willing to install the Twilight Hack, which requires you to have a copy of Zelda for the Wii and an SD Card, youll soon be enjoying homebrew on the Wii via the Homebrew Channel. There is a potential risk of bricking but as always ask first. The amount of emulators, games and applications on the Wii grows every day and the 16bit generation ie the Snes, NeoGeo and Megadrive are all emulated very well. Out of all the next gen consoles this is by far the best for emulation and homebrew, the only downer is that Nintendo are releasing updates to thwart the homebrew scene and mainly those who pirate. The Wii should be capable of full speed PSX and N64 emulation in the long run and at this time both consoles are being worked on. The long term future should be great for fans of homebrew on this console.

related Nintendo Wii links -

DCEmu Wii News
GC Linux
HackMii Team
WiiBrew

Sony Playstation Portable



The PSP Homebrew scene although not quite as popular as it was a year or so ago is still the biggest homebrew scene in the world, the releases of Games, Emulators and applications are in their hundreds with most of the consoles emulated on the PSP with a N64 emulator being top of the pile. The Custom Firmwares (which enable full speed playstation emulation) made by Dark Alex and the Pandora Battery have made homebrew accessible to all but the owners of PSP3000 (apart from a small exploit) consoles. The PSP scene has slowed of late but the console has a future like no other with a very powerful system that for emulators beats all handhelds at this time.

related PSP links -
DCEmu PSP News
PS2 Dev Forums
ZX81 Dev

The Nintendo DS



The worlds biggest selling handheld console at this time but surprisingly still not the most popular for homebrew fans. A Flash Cart is all you need for homebrew on the DS.

Once you have the hardware above then the DS with its touch screen has several hundred homebrew releases for it but with the touch screen, microphone and rumble addon you have an excellent base for games and more, not to mention the wifi mode.

As with the commercial games the DS cant match the PSP for pure power but it can easily bypass it in the innovation dept just like the commercial scene. With the DS you can also play the many hundreds of excellent GBA Homebrew Releases.

DS Homebrew has seen many releases such as Quake, Duke Nukem 3D and the recent coding competitions from the likes of Neoflash have added many more to a great homebrew scene. The Long term future of this console looks to be very assured, it will never win any contests for emulation but for gaming and applications its in a niche of its own. The release of the DSI should bring more interest for homebrew developers but will Nintendo let any amateur release for their system, who knows.

related Nintendo DS links -
DCEmu Nintendo DS News
GPF Dev
GBA Dev
DevFR
Nintendomax

Pandora



The Pandora which should be available sometime in April (at this time) looks like a DS but comes with a keyboard, dual analogue and is considered to be the ultimate handheld, this console cum pocket pc hybrid is the most powerful to hit the market and already we have seen many emulators released. The console when released should shake the ...

Having received a few reports on the CK3 Pro burning out for some users we did some major investigating and here are our results:

First of all, there seems to be 2 problems that are happenning, one is the 5V trace burnt out, the other one is PL-2303 becoming hot / failing, and here are our findings:

1. 5V trace burnt out: This certainly happens with users plugging the power cable in the wrong way, if you plugged power cable up-side down, then the 5V power was connected to Ground directly and burnt out the trace when turning on the switch, that's why users always say the 5V trace burned out, but never said that 12V/3.3V trace was burned out, and every piece of CK3 Pro/Lite tested in the factory with PC USB detected test and power output tooling test before they ship out, so it's the ONLY reason to burn out the 5V trace -> the Power Cable was plugged up-side down, anyway, we are now making CK3 with PPTC protection as reported earlier, so this should solve that issue problem.

2. PL-2303 (CK3 PRO IC) became hot: A few users post about they found the PL Chip getting hot by plugging the USB cable only; we thought the PL chip was burning out for an unknown reason as we couldn't reproduce (for your information, the PL chip gets power from USB port only, it doesn't get any power connected to the CK3 Pro, and there are only 2 data traces connected between PL chip and CK3 Pro, no more!) So we have discovered that it is damaged from the input power of the PL chip, which it gets from the USB port, and if the USB port supports 5V power which is not stable or if another USB cable is used that is poor quality, then it might let the PL chip work with not reliable 5V power, then it may become damaged. We will change the layout to add more protection components on the power circuit of PL chip to compensate for unstable USB 5v sources.

RECOMMEND: Try a Motherboard USB port in the back of the PC (Not add-on card or front usb connector)

Please not that over 80k have shipped and we have received a total of 203 returns which have all been replaced. Please follow your suppliers warranty instructions on purchase as they are all different. If we receive any faulty stock we replace immediatley. Please bear in mind that if the 5v trace is burnt out then some suppliers may not swap out due to the instructions not being followed regarding the DVD cable being the correct way around and this may be classed as physical damage.

We take great care in providing a quality product and many many thousands of users have reported great success. You will always expect a returns rate, however we stand by our warranty and are committed to giving the greatest of customer care.

We have attached a few images to show our test procedures.

http://team-xecuter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48672 ...

3d rendering shot of Wiz Network Adaptor is released.

It uses 24-pin connector, and there is USB port at back.

You can use wireless network by connecting USB WLAN card or Bluetooth module to USB port.

I don''t know there is built-in Wi-Fi. (maybe you need WLAN/Bluetooth module for use wireless network.)

thanks to iAmGhost for the news ...

Roboprez has released App Viewer v0.1:


Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

thanks to Christuserloeser for this news:

...

Given DUX is receiving many delays since its first release date announced at april 2008, I'd like to explain a bit how these delays have been occurred and how its all for the good of the game.

Originally DUX has been intended just to be side-project with only 5 stages and simple scoring system. During the development our quality bar to meet has been increased from time to time, so upgrading and expanding is what we're using the delays for. Now the game is a full-scale project with 6 instead 5 stages. Additionally, most stages are longer and featuring way more enemy types then before. The game also now features a more advanced scoring system, given the bullet soaking ability of your pod. The difficulty settings are more balanced as well, to make the game a fair but still challenging experience. All in all the game has a lot of advantages from its extra time given, which is of course a good thing for players.

To give an exact release date is currently hardly possible, because this depends on very hard to estimate factors. From now on I'll report how thing going with the release of this game once a week, so more on this in the next week.

http://www.blog.hucast.net/ ...

One of the key elements in Avalon Code is the Book of Prophecy. This item starts the quest and it’s your job to mark items worth saving into the books pages for the new world. The book is also used as a weapon since you can hit monsters with it and rearrange their weaknesses. Players do this by switching code fragments with the stylus.

In the early stages of development Avalon Code’s Book of Prophecy was a virtual book. “The inspiration [for the Book of Prophecy] actually came from the DS game system itself,” Yoshifumi Hashimoto, Scenario Writer and Producer at Marvelous Entertainment, explains. “When you hold the DS sideways it looks like a notebook, so I thought it’d be fun to write things in there. From that concept I thought of making a game that you can rewrite what happens in the game.”

Unlike the final game Hashimoto envisioned players would actually write and edit text in the book. “I thought it would be fun to see an enemy that read ‘Fire resistant monster’ and erase the ‘Fire’ to make it an ordinary monster.”

What do you think of the theoretical system Hashimoto described? Would you want a book you could write in or is flipping codes more efficient?

On Monday we’ll have more about Avalon Code where Hashimoto shares his thoughts about the combat system and details the game’s romance system.

http://www.siliconera.com/2009/03/06...y-to-write-in/ ...

Square Enix eager to remind us about Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days uploaded a new old video. Sounds paradoxical, but this clip was shown at some other event since the tail end says coming in spring when we know the exact release date is May 30.

Still always nice to see four player wireless footage of Organization XIII even if the screens are contained in a rotating polygon.



http://www.siliconera.com/2009/03/06...ecial-trailer/ ...

Look, Bubble Bobble Plus has always been on track for an international release. An ESRB leak (thanks Justin!) just reaffirms Bub is coming to our shores sometime in the future.

Also found on the ESRB is a rating for Silver Star Chess, a WiiWare chess game published by Electronic Arts in Japan. Agetec, who has been very quiet recently, will publish it here.

I know you must be jumping out of your seat because a WiiWare chess game is coming, but seeing Agetec license Silver Star chess is more interesting than the actual release. Plenty of small Japanese publishers released titles on WiiWare which have been for Japan only since they don’t have an international base. Silver Star Chess, even though it’s published by a local US company, was one of WiiWare’s orphaned games. Now we know Agetec is starting to look at licensing some of these games. Perhaps, they will be brave enough to pick up Sorcery Blade or the wacky Shootanto.

Sudoku - We All Play and Battle Poker sound like other WiiWare leaks from the ESRB. See if you can match the description with the title.

This is a puzzle game in which players arrange groups of jumbled cards to create five-card poker hands. Players earn points for each hand created and are rewarded more points for higher five-card combinations.

This is a puzzle game in which players assign numbers to a grid to solve various mathematical sequences. The game provides varying degrees of difficulty along with thousands of number grids.

Easy right?

http://www.siliconera.com/2009/03/06...-chess-leaked/ ...