Earlier in the week we posted news that Blaze/Fire International were making their own PSPTV Adapter for the PSP, now i contacted SuccessHK who seem to be the main Hong Kong Supplier of Blaze products and now they have posted about the PSPTV Device being on Preorder, and for the excellent price of 49$ (around £27), now if you have been following the developments of PSP TV products youll know this is at least 50% of the price of the other adapters, heres more details:

The PSP TV Adaptor lets you hook up your PSP to your home television (NTSC and PAL) via Composite or S-Video and Stereo connectors. This adapter requires no modification of your PSP console. This new peripheral takes a completely different approach and clips on top of your PSP screen, with two screws to fit at the back of the handheld (in these two holes you can see on the top of the UMD drive). Some sort of pyramid grows from the base, with a precision lens and mirror system at the top, capturing the image and light, in a similar way a scanner or camera would. It then converts it into a video signal that is sent through video leads going from the adapter to your TV set.

Features:

Allows you to connect your PSP to your TV
No Modification required
You won't void your standard or extended warranty.
Installation of the PSP on TV could not be more simple
Composite, S-Video and Stereo Sound connectivity

Sounds a lot more interesting now doesnt it, head on over to the PSP Section at SuccessHK for more information. ...

While the 8-bit and 16-bit Final Fantasy games have proven to be popular fodder for rereleases on the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, and WonderSwan Color, the 1990 Famicom game Final Fantasy III (not to be confused with the Super Famicom Final Fantasy VI, released on the US SNES as Final Fantasy III) has for years eluded a remake. However, it's about to lose that distinction, as Square Enix is readying a DS conversion of a game most American Final Fantasy fans have never had a chance to play.

The latest issue of Famitsu contains new details on the game's development in an interview with executive producer Hiromichi Tanaka. Tanaka is best known as the head honcho of the Final Fantasy XI development team, but he's also an old-time Square staffer who worked on many of the early Final Fantasy home console games, including FFIII.

Tanaka was heavily involved in the original game's development as one of its three planners, together with Hironobu Sakaguchi and Kazuhiko Aoki. Tanaka commented to Famitsu that he plans to be very hands-on in seeing the DS project through to proper completion, especially since the members working on the remake are different from the staff that worked on the original.

Tanaka also addressed why it took so long for the game to be remade. Despite it being a Famicom game developed by a team of about 10 people, Tanaka said FFIII used some complicated programming techniques that couldn't be ported to other handheld gaming machines until now.

Tanaka added that having gone so long without a port, gamers will be getting to experience a vastly upgraded FFIII. For one thing, the developers are remaking the DS version with 3D graphics--sort of. Tanaka said that the game will actually use "virtual" 3D graphics so its maps can't be rotated around, but the camera can still be zoomed in to show details. The characters in FFIII are being overhauled for style, as well as technology. While the original four main heroes in the Famicom version looked like quadruplets thanks to reused character graphics, the DS version will have different models for each of them.

The visuals aren't the only thing being updated in the DS version. In the original Famicom release, the four main characters didn't have any personalities of their own. But with the DS remake, Tanaka will give different characteristics to each of them, which will have an impact on the game's storyline. There will also be fixes in the job system's balance so that gamers will have more freedom to choose how to fight in the game.

Finally, FFIII will take advantage of the DS hardware, including the touch screen. In fact, Tanaka said that he plans to make the game completely playable with just the stylus. FFIII will also make use of the DS's wireless capabilities, although the game's main mode will still be a single-player affair. Tanaka didn't go into specifics on how it would use the system's wireless features, except to say he wanted to give people a bonus so they could enjoy the game with friends. ...

Source - IGN

This week's release of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PlayStation Portable has delivered fans of the handheld the biggest game yet for the system. With the game came a couple of surprises, including an unannounced feature on the Audio menu for Custom Soundtrack playback. The feature -- a popular add-on for the Xbox versions of GTA and a heavily requested feature for PSP game releases -- was not mentioned in Liberty City Stories previews, nor was it given mention in the manual, and the feature was non-operational in the game.

After a week of false rumors and questions, Rockstar has finally come out with an official announcement on the Custom Soundtrack feature in GTA: Liberty City Stories. The feature requires a special converter for use on your home PC that will change audio files into a format compatible with the game.

for Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
A couple of notes are of interest regarding this Custom Tracks application. First, although GTA is all about rhyming and stealing, Rockstar has made the decision to focus exclusively on purchased music. You can only convert music from a store-bought CD -- no tracks downloaded from a music blog, no tracks ripped from your buddy's CD collection. This also means no tracks bought and paid for from services like iTunes or Napster yet, but it could be possible that future versions of the Rockstar Custom Tracks feature might support alternative audio formats.

NOTE: IGN readers are reporting that iTunes' burning option will make CDs that are recognized as bought discs by the Rockstar Custom Tracks application, and have been able to upload tracks to their PSPs after first burning their music to a standard playable CD. We have not yet confirmed what will and will not work within Rockstar's application.

Interestingly enough, this is not called the "GTA: LCS Custom Tracks" converter -- it's the "Rockstar Custom Tracks" converter, and while Rockstar mentions the custom tracks are for play currently on GTA:LCS only, future PSP games from the company may be able to use the same music files. When you play music in the game, it does not mix in with the radio stations as in the Xbox feature for GTA -- instead, it plays like a CD player, with the left and right buttons switching the music track instead of changing the radio station (you will have to turn Custom Tracks off if you want to go back to the radio.) The Custom Soundtrack feature will interface with the FreeDB CD database for picking up the song names and other relevant info about the songs you are converting, showing up in the game so you know what you're listening to and can pick tracks easier from a big collection.

Before you convert, you must also have at least one GTA: LCS save file on your PSP's Memory Stick, or else the custom tracks cannot be imported. The Custom Tracks feature will not read music off of your PSP (MP3 or otherwise), and your PSP will not be able to read Rockstar tracks in the Music menu on the main menu -- these tracks only work inside the game. The program uses ATRAC encoding to massively and cleanly compress your music (it'll typically squeeze a CD down to half of what you get in MP3s of the same quality), but you cannot play ATRACs already on your PSP, or move ATRAC files into the Custom Track folder for play in the game. You must also have a USB cable to transfer the music from a PC to the PSP, and there is currently not an application for Macs to make Custom Soundtracks.

Download via the comments. ...

Source - IGN

This week's release of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PlayStation Portable has delivered fans of the handheld the biggest game yet for the system. With the game came a couple of surprises, including an unannounced feature on the Audio menu for Custom Soundtrack playback. The feature -- a popular add-on for the Xbox versions of GTA and a heavily requested feature for PSP game releases -- was not mentioned in Liberty City Stories previews, nor was it given mention in the manual, and the feature was non-operational in the game.

After a week of false rumors and questions, Rockstar has finally come out with an official announcement on the Custom Soundtrack feature in GTA: Liberty City Stories. The feature requires a special converter for use on your home PC that will change audio files into a format compatible with the game.

for Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
A couple of notes are of interest regarding this Custom Tracks application. First, although GTA is all about rhyming and stealing, Rockstar has made the decision to focus exclusively on purchased music. You can only convert music from a store-bought CD -- no tracks downloaded from a music blog, no tracks ripped from your buddy's CD collection. This also means no tracks bought and paid for from services like iTunes or Napster yet, but it could be possible that future versions of the Rockstar Custom Tracks feature might support alternative audio formats.

NOTE: IGN readers are reporting that iTunes' burning option will make CDs that are recognized as bought discs by the Rockstar Custom Tracks application, and have been able to upload tracks to their PSPs after first burning their music to a standard playable CD. We have not yet confirmed what will and will not work within Rockstar's application.

Interestingly enough, this is not called the "GTA: LCS Custom Tracks" converter -- it's the "Rockstar Custom Tracks" converter, and while Rockstar mentions the custom tracks are for play currently on GTA:LCS only, future PSP games from the company may be able to use the same music files. When you play music in the game, it does not mix in with the radio stations as in the Xbox feature for GTA -- instead, it plays like a CD player, with the left and right buttons switching the music track instead of changing the radio station (you will have to turn Custom Tracks off if you want to go back to the radio.) The Custom Soundtrack feature will interface with the FreeDB CD database for picking up the song names and other relevant info about the songs you are converting, showing up in the game so you know what you're listening to and can pick tracks easier from a big collection.

Before you convert, you must also have at least one GTA: LCS save file on your PSP's Memory Stick, or else the custom tracks cannot be imported. The Custom Tracks feature will not read music off of your PSP (MP3 or otherwise), and your PSP will not be able to read Rockstar tracks in the Music menu on the main menu -- these tracks only work inside the game. The program uses ATRAC encoding to massively and cleanly compress your music (it'll typically squeeze a CD down to half of what you get in MP3s of the same quality), but you cannot play ATRACs already on your PSP, or move ATRAC files into the Custom Track folder for play in the game. You must also have a USB cable to transfer the music from a PC to the PSP, and there is currently not an application for Macs to make Custom Soundtracks.

Download via the comments. ...

First with the Emulation News on PSP as you would expect from the Worlds Premier site for PSP Homebrew and Emulation, anyway onto the newest release from E who has released both PC Engine and Nes Emulators for the PSP.

Todays release is an update to Hue which is now the best PC Engine emulator for the PSP, i cant tell you whats new at the moment but you can download below. I did change the original release froma 7zip file to a normal zip file as its much easier that way.

Download Here --> http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/huepsp.shtml

Our sister site Xbox Evolution has a zipfile of nearon 200 Homebrew/Public Domain roms for the PC Engine, download those here --> http://xbox-emulation.dcemu.co.uk/pcengine-roms.shtml

(If other sites want to use the collection then seek permission first and dont hotlink the files.) ...

xxxdvlman has released a new starwars mod for the Attack of the Mutants game for the PSP, heres the info:

Here is my first mod for the greatest homebrew game on the PSP, Attack of the Mutants. Be sure to download the latest version of Denitro's AOTM_v0.4 then drop this entire folder into the Mods folder. Boot the game and then go to load mod. Voila! Enjoy!!

Credits:
Overall theme and mod design by xxxdvlman
Title and background pics provided by the Hubble telescope
BG Music "The force (star wars remix)" composed by Sean Sindahl
Core AOTM game and most credit to Denitro. Thanks for the wonderful game!!

Download here --> http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/attackofthemutants.shtml ...

News from C&VG

We love Mario Kart. The diehards whinged that Double Dash was a blaspheme against the series' roots, but we loved the utterly unfair at time co-op whacky races action. Oh the joy. Sod the diehards - it ruled.
Since we found out about the track remixes from all the past Mario Kart games too, we've been *even more* excited about the up coming DS game... if that's even possible.

Anyway, let's cut to the chase. Here's a selection of videos from Nintendo's very first online Mario Kart title out in Europe this November for the DS. Don't forget - you can play LAN multiplayer with 8 players and when the online dongle comes out (big online-related announcement coming next week apparently so stay tuned for that), you'll be able to plug into a game with three other Kart enthusiasts from anywhere in the world. Except maybe third-world countries as they don't have proper/any internet.

Of course, if you don't have enough friends Nintendo suggests that you could always hire in some Escorts*, as they'll be anyone's friend for a price. Or just set the multiplayer characters to 'com' controlled. But of course, that would be boring.
Till the game's out, have a gander at the videos we've enclosed. We're sure you'll agree that they're rather lovely indeed.

Check out the 4 videos here --> http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=128344 ...

Another freebie is a good thing, heres the scoop from Joystiq

If you’re interested in getting a free copy of NBA ‘06 or checking out the Black Star alliance then the Breed Love Odyssey Tour is just the ticket. Even if you’re not interested in purchasing a ticket to see Mos Def & Talib Kweli—along with Pharoahe Monch and Jean Grae—perform on behalf of PlayStation, you can still hit up the “Street Team,” which will be giving away 50 copies of NBA ‘06. Follow the link below for a list of venues.

Link --> http://www.us.playstation.com/Events.aspx?id=154 ...

Source - Gizmodo

This handheld runs on Linux, and we all know that means it can do everything but clean the crumbs from under your keyboard. The GP2X player has a dual core ARM processor, 64mb NAND Flash RAM, SD memory card slot, a 3.5” TFT screen. It plays photos, movies, music and games, you could even read an eBook because you are probably smart like that if you own this gadgy. Utilities and emulators? Don’t bore me with your silly questions. Think Quake, Doom, SNES, Megadrive, MAME, and media players galore. You can even connect the GP2X to a TV. For a more than reasonable $190, you’ll get the player, USB Cable, manual and 1-year warranty. Oh, also, it runs on two AA batteries. What does PSP stand for now, huh? Pretty Sucky Peripheral? Poor Sony Poo-poo?

More info at http://www.gbax.com/main.pl ...