Portable Gaming Revolution

IGN.com
IGN has posted lots of new footage of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Essentials. They also have a a new preview that talks about the gameplay a bit.

PSP Updates
Fanjita and Ditlew have released the first patch for eLoader “Brown Ale”. This patch fixes a few bugs found by eLoader users.

Fixes:

• No more ‘corrupted data’ icons in the save games folder – the backup savegame information is now saved in /psp/eloader.
• Corrected config file path
• Various TIFF loader stability fixes
• Removed most crashes with L+R+START
• Replaced the beta icons
• Improved editability of file paths.

PSP Updates
This latest update from MPH won’t cease to amaze, as MPH announced that they have succeeded in launching Grand Theft Auto on his 1.50 version PSP. Loading GTA as a UMD or ISO for that matter was futile previously on 1.5 PSP’s, since GTA requires files in the 2.0 library in order to function. This resulted in people needing to update to 2.0 in order to play GTA on their PSP or have another PSP with 2.0+ System Software. Needless to say this is a major step forward in fully unlocking the PSP so gamers may do whatever they wish with a handheld that they purchased for their enjoyment.

In order to run this exploit you must have the following:

• GTA:LCS official Game or ISO Backup (that you must create from your legally owned copy)
• You will need umd emulator, umdgen and a tool called DecryptPRX which is no other than a modification of the psardump tool of psppet.

GameSpot has posted new screens of the new puzzle game, Bust-A-Move Ghost, heading to the PSP.

You can find more here.

H4m177 from PSP Updates has released his homebrew Lua game of Connect 4. It’s a two player game and he says he has a few more features planned like 2 player games over IR.

You can download Connect 4 from PSP Updates here.

StaxRip, an all purpose open source video converter, now supports PMP for PMP Mod. It also supports PSP formats and others as well.

Video formats: DivX, XviD, x264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4
Audio formats: MP3, AC3, MP2/MPA, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, DTS, WAV
Container formats: AVI, MP4, MPG, MKV, DIVX

• No spyware, adware or any other form of malware.
• Open Source, Freeware.
• No registry bloat, settings are saved in files within the application’s directory or within the user directory. No lost settings after a fresh windows installation.
• No awkward setup/installer, no system changes, system bloat and trash.
• Easy to use and highly versatile and customizable.
• Reasonable default values for filters, codecs etc.
• Rich help system including, online help (assistant), context sensitive help and forum support.
• Rich and convenient cutting facilities e.g. to remove ads.
• Batch processing (jobs).
• Rich feature set to manage, integrate and download required third party application transparently instead of awkward or dangerous codec packs or application packs.
• AviSynth powered to achieve excelent video quality and support of almost any source format.
• Rapid development using the latest and greatest technology .NET Framework 2.0
• Reportet bugs get fixed quickly, often a new version is available on the same day!
• Many feature requests get incorporated very quickly.

You can download it here.

via PSP Updates

Engadget.com
We’ve heard rumblings of Sony plans to add storage to a new (possibly smaller) version of their PSP, starting with 50GB HDD rumors a year ago, but now we’re hearing of a possible deal between Sony and Samsung to add 8GB of flash memory to the portable. According to “market sources,” Sony has been pressuring Samsung to lower NAND flash prices by toying around with microdrives, but they’re really digging on those low-power flash chips and hope to cram 8GBs worth into a new PSP due the second half of this year — if all this is to be believed, of course. It all sounds rather similar to some Sony/Samsung 8GB dealings that went down last year that we assumed were linked to an iPod competitor in the works, which maybe is still a fair assumption. We sure wouldn’t mind a bit of built-in storage in the already media-centric PSP, especially since UMDs are sort of drying up, let’s just hope they can get over this Memory Stick addiction and do it on the cheap — and soon.

All I have to say is, where’s the love Sony? The PSP hasn’t even been out for a year in North America. If Sony released a new version so soon I would feal cheated. Am I the only one? Sure, NAND flash memory would be an awsome upgrade but I think it’s just too soon.

PSPWeekly has released their 7th issue, this time with more than 80 pages worth of content.

You can download PSPWeekly at PSP Updates here.

via PSP Updates

Peter32892 has released the third issue of PSP Ins and Outs.

You can download here.

via PSP Updates

It was only a matter of time that there would be a game that would measure your intelligence by simply playing it. The time is now, PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient. Is it going to be a mass of questions and riddles? Or does it comprise of a series of equations and algorithms. Slow down a second, I said it was a game!

PQ isn’t far from the normal IQ quiz in the aspect that it is essentially a hundred question test; although these questions are far from normal. You control a white male silhouette and are required to move your character through 3D “cyber” stages. In order to advance through the stages you have to move boxes, press buttons, block lasers, and the such. In essence the game measures your practical intelligence quotient by noting how long it takes to complete stages and the amount of moves it requires you to advance. Moves can be anything from pressing a button to moving a box. Be aware that you are only given a certain amount of moves to complete each stage.

Continue reading ‘PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient Review’

Welcome to memory lane, where real gamers would stand hours on end at their favorite arcade game. Dropping quarter after quarter of happiness, trying to make their name last forever as the high score. For those who grew up with the Nintendo 64 or the Playstation, you wouldn’t have the slightest idea what I’m talking about. With twenty one retro games, Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play should have the goods to make any ol’ school gamer happy… or does it?

I remember back when some of the games on MAT:EP were first released. I say “some” because there are a few games like Joust, Defender, and Spy Hunter that came out a while ago. Making its comeback is the one trilogy that almost everyone knows, Mortal Kombat. Mortal Kombat I, II, and III for your violence inducing pleasure. Games like this have never left our memories… but maybe they should have.

Continue reading ‘Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play Review’

Fanjita and Ditlew from PSP Updates have released the final version of their eLoader, code name “Brown Ale”. Here’s what they have to say:

Hermit time is over! Say hello to the latest eLoader release, codenamed “Brown Ale”. (From now on, each release will be named after a beer style, to liven things up a little).

Brown Ale is the final (non-beta) version of eLoader 0.9.5. It has the following main features:

• Integrated release, supporting both TIFF and GTA launch methods
• Automatic installer for Windows users
• Stable support for all v2.0+ firmwares – no more special voodoo required to improve reliability
• More memory for applications
• Lots of bug fixes
• And the much requested support for PSP-GBA

Click to download the Windows Installer or the ZIP version (for non-Windows users). You can also view the README file here.