Finally... i have some good news to tell.
Yes, i know its been nearly a month since ive posted news, but anyway...
I received a prototype touchscreen overlay the other day and i am currently building an adapter for it.
Now onto 0x89.
I have been told by Raphael that he has nearly finished the video player and in its current state it can play 480x272 avi, mpeg and wma at full speed!
I have also been informed by Insomniac that his image viewer and music player are also nearly finished, but he is still working on a few codecs.
I will contact them both to see if they can get PMF, AT3, VAG and FLAC codecs in them.

So, right now the codecs/file types are...
Video: avi, mpeg, wma, pmp, avc, divx.
Music: mp3, ogg.
Images: png, jpeg, bmp.

We still need a final GUI design... but i really hope that is finished soon, ill have to contact zettablade. (different timezones)
We also need to play around with the prxs, as we intend to flash 0x89 directly to flash0 and store configuration files (xml) and themes etc on flash1, this way if only one prx needs updating its a lot easier for us.

This is how it currently stands, we hope to include more. Also, another little thing i might work on (with help from Dark_AleX and Mathieulh) is 2.xx UMD loading from 0x89 with only the 2.xx kernel and needed prxs, but we will see.

Hope you enjoy reading!

M3 Game Manager V29 + loader V29
=================================
Multimedia:
-----------
-Directly support viewing *.htm, *.html, *.asp, *.aspxºÍ*.mht web document.
-Add more display mode for E-book
-Movie, music, e-book and pictures are supported using "L&R" lock function.
-Support opening unlimited size of *.txt file. (Maximum 262144 lines can be viewed.)
-Change a new "black" style menu for Media-extend.

Games:
------
-Fully support the save function of the "poke" games.

For someone who want to keep the current gamesave data of "poke" games.
1) Run the game and make sure that the gamesave data is still exist.
2) Install the "M3 Game Manager Version V29" and update the "M3 loader V29".
3) Copy the game by using the "M3 Game Manager Version V29" as usual.
4) Choose the game by moving the curcor. Press the "select" button, the saver backup menu will appear. Press button "A" to confirm the process.
note:
-The last gamesave data will be stored into the default gamesave file after doing the step 4.
-Please do not load other ds games or program through the above steps and please do not forget to do the step 4 (IMPORTANCE).

Windows Live PSP Messenger

Windows Live PSP Messenger is one of the best looking messenger applications available for the PSP. It retains the same look and feel of the GUI that Windows Live Messenger has on your PC! Windows Live PSP Messenger is also great for portal makers if they want to include a Windows messenger application as it is very compact (1.33MBs) and has many features.

What it Features

Just because it is a Messenger application doesn't mean it's just a Messenger application! It also includes many handy on-the-go links such as eBay , Hotmail, MySpace, P2PSP and news. It doesn't just include links! 12 fun and addictive games are also included inside Windows Live PSP Messenger.

Adding it to Your Portal

Windows Live PSP Messenger can be added to any portal. It's also an ideal choice because of it's minute size. If you would like to add it your portal, ask me!

Isn't This Just One of Those Log-in Screens?

Nope. Although it does use eBuddy. Then how does it work you say? Windows Live PSP Messenger is basically a fram that surrounds eBuddy so it has the same look and feel as the real Windows Live Messenger!

In the .ZIP PAK you will find:

- Windows Live PSP Messenger
- Documented instructions in .HTML
- Promotional banners

Summing up, the features:

- Identical look of Windows Live Messenger
- Handy web links
- Link to P2PSP
- Games (12)
- Small compact size (1.33MBs)

I just tweaked PAGfx a lot, and the results are pretty amazing...

1. I rewrote the tile optimisation system, now sorts the tiles depending on their corner colors, that way I don't need to comapre every tile with all the others anymore, but just the tiles with the same corners... Much faster...
2. I found some code on the net to make the Image reading much faster... This means that instead of 7 seconds for a 2048x2048 image (palette generation time), it now takes less than a second, which seems like a pretty decent speed increase...

As some of the code rewritten is critical to the final output, I'll need some betatesters, as always El Hobito already found one nice big bug we managed to correct. The version seems pretty stable (no hangs when testing on my computer) and should have correct results (all backgrounds tested had the exact same number of tiles as with the old PAGfx version)...

If you want to give it a try, it's over here : http://www.palib.info/Beta/PAGfxBETA.zip

Please report any hanging, map/tile problems, or if you still see some slowdowns in the conversions, I'll try to speed-up the last parts I didn't touch

Thanks

edit : updated to fix a small bug with RotBg backgrounds, sorry !

I came across some rather funny-looking hardware called the Neo Double Games Lite. As the name implies, this is just a cheap copy of the DS Lite system. Except that, for what it was, it wasn't so cheap. The vendor initially wanted $20 for it, but I got her down to $5. Still, I didn't want to pay $5 for what I knew was a piece of junk. When you've been in China long enough, even 50 cents means a lot to you.

Of course, I eventually bought it. I had to try it just to see how bad it really was. At a glance, it actually replicates the DS quite well with its smooth, white edges. It isn't until you heft it that the differences become apparent. The Neo Double Games Lite feels very cheap and light, like there's nothing in it. But when you open it up, it almost falls out of your hands. It's incredibly clunky and awkward to hold. The hinges aren't very tight, so the heavy top screen keeps flopping around. The D-pad is more akin to the Playstation D-pad, and the X, Y, A, and B buttons have been replaced by two big arrows: A and B.

Hi All,

I'm in the process of porting Angband 2.8.3 to the DS. I picked 2.8.3 because it was the version I played the most when I was in school! The port is in a state where I think the game is playable (I've played a few hours and died plenty of times).

As such, I'm looking for some play testers before I release it. It is pretty much a straight port and only uses the top screen. I wanted to retain the same tactile feel as the original, so touch screen entry, virtual keyboard on the touch screen are all out. All the commands have been remapped to button presses. Some commands have become multipurpose to accomodate the lower number of buttons. For example the inventory command is used to eat, use an oil flash, wear equipment etc.

I mostly made this port so that I can play Angband on my DS lite. I have a G6 lite, so Angband plays entirely out of GBFS and SRAM. I didn't want to play angband with something sticking out of the slot. It shouldn't be difficult to add fatlib so that the port supports carts without SRAM (if there is demand). The other good reason I went this direction is that the port generally works in an emulator, which is much easier for me. The port seems to work well in no$gba and dualis. The sram support doesn't work in these emulators, but it's possible to use the snapshot features.

Requirements
o A DS capable of playing homebrew.
o A flash cart with 64KBs of SRAM. I'm not sure how large the save files get. If they start getting too large, I should be able to zlib compress them to fit.

Features
o High score list saves to SRAM
o Save file saves to SRAM
o subpixel rendering font by Sylfurd
o All commands remapped to DS button combinations. Buttons generally have similar functions. ie x button for inventory, x+RSH for drop item, x+LSH for take off item, LSH+RSH+x for destroy item.
o Implemented console style text and numeric entry.
o Implemented console style selection for menus.

Possible Enhancements
If I have time, I might add some additional features to the port.

o I was thinking about using the bottom screen as an informational screen. It can be toggled to show a zoomed map around the player (normal large sized font with colour) and a screen that describes the available key combinations.
o Remappable buttons in game.
o Port the newest version of Angband.

If you're interested in play testing, send me a message. Only prior players for now please. I basically need people who have different types of cartridges and who will play different types of characters to test their playstyles. I'll have a build ready in a few days for those interested.

Hi All,

I'm in the process of porting Angband 2.8.3 to the DS. I picked 2.8.3 because it was the version I played the most when I was in school! The port is in a state where I think the game is playable (I've played a few hours and died plenty of times).

As such, I'm looking for some play testers before I release it. It is pretty much a straight port and only uses the top screen. I wanted to retain the same tactile feel as the original, so touch screen entry, virtual keyboard on the touch screen are all out. All the commands have been remapped to button presses. Some commands have become multipurpose to accomodate the lower number of buttons. For example the inventory command is used to eat, use an oil flash, wear equipment etc.

I mostly made this port so that I can play Angband on my DS lite. I have a G6 lite, so Angband plays entirely out of GBFS and SRAM. I didn't want to play angband with something sticking out of the slot. It shouldn't be difficult to add fatlib so that the port supports carts without SRAM (if there is demand). The other good reason I went this direction is that the port generally works in an emulator, which is much easier for me. The port seems to work well in no$gba and dualis. The sram support doesn't work in these emulators, but it's possible to use the snapshot features.

Requirements
o A DS capable of playing homebrew.
o A flash cart with 64KBs of SRAM. I'm not sure how large the save files get. If they start getting too large, I should be able to zlib compress them to fit.

Features
o High score list saves to SRAM
o Save file saves to SRAM
o subpixel rendering font by Sylfurd
o All commands remapped to DS button combinations. Buttons generally have similar functions. ie x button for inventory, x+RSH for drop item, x+LSH for take off item, LSH+RSH+x for destroy item.
o Implemented console style text and numeric entry.
o Implemented console style selection for menus.

Possible Enhancements
If I have time, I might add some additional features to the port.

o I was thinking about using the bottom screen as an informational screen. It can be toggled to show a zoomed map around the player (normal large sized font with colour) and a screen that describes the available key combinations.
o Remappable buttons in game.
o Port the newest version of Angband.

If you're interested in play testing, send me a message. Only prior players for now please. I basically need people who have different types of cartridges and who will play different types of characters to test their playstyles. I'll have a build ready in a few days for those interested.