Portable Gaming Revolution

Cara and I would like to wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season! You can have a listen to the special Holiday Greeting that we’ve just recorded doing just that! We would like to say a big “Thanks!” again to all of our listeners for sticking with us this long. We are glad that you love to listen to us as much as we love to bring these to you each week.

All of the best in 2006 from the Crew of PGRevolution.com and the PSP podcast.

Standard Podcast Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The PSP OSS team has finally released PSP-OSS Version 0.1b for PSP.

Here are the Features of this long awaited software:

Audio:

* Built-in audio player
* MP3 and OGG support

Image:

* Built-in image viewer
* PNG and JPG support an resolutions up to 512×512

EBOOT Support:

* Run any EBOOT off you memory stick via the “Start Menu” (1.5 firmware)

Filebrowser:

* Easily access your memory sticks files via included filebrowser
* Ability to Open, Cut, Paste, Delete and Rename files

Easy-to-use GUI:

* Restart and shutdown the PSP-OSS from the desktop
* Run any UMD from the desktop (excluding UMDs requiring 2.xx)
* Edit your theme or background from the configuration panel
* Enable/disable USB mode
* Access time and date information

Shortcuts

* Look at Shortcut.ql example on the desktop. Open in a text editor

Folder Locations for Desktop and Start Menu

* Files you want on the desktop or in the start menu go in these folders

Desktop: PSP-OSS\DESKTOP\
Game: PSP\GAME\
Music: PSP\MUSIC\
Pictures: PSP\PHOTO\

Please note that this only runs on Firmware 1.5.

I will be installing this later today and checking it out. I will let you know what I think in the PGR forums.

So far, it appears they are getting pretty good responses on the official forums so I cannot wait to have a chance to sit down and play with it.

Rye Clifton E-mailed PSP Fanboy informing them of an extremely saddening event.

Pet owners take note: your furry best friends don’t give two tail shakes about how expensive your equipment is. PSP Fanboy reader Rye sent us a tale of woe about how a friend of his woke up one morning to discover his PSP had become his dog’s new favority chewtoy. From what we can tell from the damage, chances are Fido became jealous of the attention his master had been lavishing on his new plaything, and decided that the house needed one less wellspring of fun and entertainment.

In addition, Rye says that Best Buy’s extended warranty doesn’t cover dog chewing. All we know for sure is someone’s getting neutered for this dog mauling (or should we say pwning) case.

That has to totally suck Rye and I feel for you mate. So for any of you with pets, take note that they may decide to take revenge on your PSP as opposed to the classic shoes.

Source: PSP Fanboy

Lik-Sang announced that they have dropped the price of the original face plates in addition to getting some new designs.

We have good news for those of you who thought the price tag on the Replacement Faceplates for PSP was a little steep! We have received stock of new faceplates from a second team jumping on the bandwagon, and whose emphasis is on price. Also, our initial supplier has agreed to a price drop below the 30$ mark for the high-end replacement covers that they offer.

The new faceplates come in packs of 5 assorted colors. You got five different covers inside, allowing to change the front color of the PSP depending on your mood or on the weather. Each pack retails for the low price of US$ 36.95, which is less than 8-bucks-a-faceplate actually. Quantity discounts are available for resellers.

I was one of the people complaining that I thought the initial price was far too much on the website, so I am pleased to find them dropping the price. However, the faceplate packages seem to be of a lower quality which makes me wonder if they are worth purchasing.

While admittedly, the “high end replacement faceplates” have been lowered to $28.95 which I still find to be too steep. I think $19.95 is about right considering that by doing this, you void your warranty. I really want to get one, but I am not paying $30 for it.

The Fraglab Team has released Callisto v0.1 homebrew for the PSP.

I have to say this game is awesome. It looks great, plays great and is one of the best homebrew games I have played thus far. If you are running 1.5 Firmware, I highly recommend checking it out.

Thanks to Mike for the heads up!

The official Namco site for Katamari Damacy has been updated with a new video for the PSP version titled Me and My Katamari.

You can watch the video here.

D3 Publisher has announced that they will be bringing their brain training series of games to the PS2 and PSP. The first game is titled Mitsuo Kodama Sensei Kanshuu The Unou Drill which translates as The Right Brain Drill Supervised by Mitsuo Kodama. Mitsuo Kodama is a college professor specializing in intelligence testing.

Those who chose to try out this latest brain maker game will be able to select from a number of modes, including a mode that measures your IQ based on your test scores and a mode for beefing up your right brain. The game’s World Tour Mode trains your right brain while showing you pictures from around the world. For all these levels, you can select to play on three difficulty settings.

On the PS2, The Unou Drill will appear as volume 93 of the Simple 2000 Series. On the PSP, it will be volume 4 of the Simple 2500 series. Yes, the PSP version will cost more, just because its in a series that costs 500 yen higher. Smart.

I personally do not really care about these types of games, but considering the success of Train Your Brain for the DS, it seems many people do. No idea if this will make it overseas, but there are a lot of people who would like it so maybe.

Source: IGN

Game Infowire has posted a plethora of screenshots for the upcoming PSP remake of Valkyrie Profile titled Valkyrie Profile : Lenneth.

Check out all of them here.

Twitch Guru posted an excellent article about PSP Updating and Homebrew.

Sony’s Playstation Portable promised to revolutionize the way people think about handheld gaming devices – - and it has. Along with unprecedented gaming power, personal music player capabilities and UMD movies have come frequent firmware updates and some complaints of failed updates resulting in unusable PSPs. The original firmware in first generation Japanese hardware was v1.0, which was perfectly operational – - it merely lacked an Internet browser, as well as some small extras available in newer versions. Updates have been consistently released to add what amount to optional extras to the portable system.

Sony has released updates within months of each other, and firmware version requirements are being set for many of the latest PSP games. The reasons for this are pretty obvious, with piracy rampant on every major console, making this a serious concern for commercial game producers. The PSP is the first handheld console with the ability to dynamically handle the problem, by updating its firmware to patch security flaws. But what of homebrew, the legal programs made by non-commercial developers, which enhance the functionality of the PSP by exploiting the same flaws?

The article talks about Emulation, Homebrew, Piracy and a number of other subjects. I found it to be a very good read.

Gamer’s Galaxy has released PSP Galaxy Issue #3.

t’s Christmas time, and PSP Galaxy is back with their third issue!

Inside you’ll find an exclusive interview with Tate Interactive, the developers of Kao Challengers, as well as reviews for Prince of Persia: Revelations, PoPoLoCrois and Kao Challengers.

Of course, all your old favourites are back, with Prime’s Rant, Terranova’s R&D, Cooking With Mof, Movie Watch, the Caption This! competition and a special double issue of our free comic!

So enjoy our jam-packed holiday special of PSP Galaxy!

You can download it here.

IGN has posted a slew of new images for the upcoming Metal Gear Ac!d 2 which is due out in North America late March 2006. You can check them out here.

In addition to the screenshots, they have also posted an in-depth preview covering the updated interface, the story, the new cards and more.

If you are a fan of Kojima and/or Metal Gear Ac!d, I highly recommend checking it all out.

Konami has announced Street Supremacy for PSP. This PSP exclusive game is a team-based racing game that has both single player and multiplayer modes although no word on if it it will be Ad-Hoc or Infrastructure.

Due for release in March 2006, Street Supremacy is a high-octane racing title featuring a wealth of licensed vehicles. The game is a team-based racer wherein players partake in ‘five against five’ knockout tournaments in one player mode or can use the PSP’s wireless abilities to compete against a second player. In the two-player mode, players select a vehicle and race against the second player in a battle to be first past the winning post. The game’s ‘Team Battle’ mode, however, ups the ante considerably and sets a fiercely competitive challenge.

Street Supremacy’s ‘Team Battle’ mode divides the game map into 15 areas, with teams vying to dominate the game map. The battles are further split into individual races between the different Teams and individual racers, with points awarded for each victory. Players can then judge who to select against specific rivals, cherry-picking their rivals from the player roster as they look to seize territories. The ‘Team Battle’ also encourages competition within each team, as winning racers are upgraded in their side’s rankings and become more instrumental in helping secure areas of the game map.

In addition to Street Supremacy’s stunning racing action, the PSP game’s cars can also be modified to give you an edge in the races. The game’s authentically modelled Nissans, Mitsubishis and Subarus can all be enhanced with new exhausts, engine upgrades and body kits. These all prove vital in shaving seconds off the lap times, while stickers and fancy lights can be used to enhance the car’s aesthetics, adding a layer of gloss to an already entertaining PSPTM racer.

The game is due for a March 2006 release.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz