Resident forum goer mortalinstincts recently caught up for a chit-chat with Alek, the website administrator of Dark-AleX.org. Throughout the years, Alek has aided in coordinating several M33 releases under the guidence of Dark_AleX himself. His influence also helped formed Dark-Alex.org into the lively and respected multi-cultural community that it is today.

To learn more about his involvement in the PSP homebrew scene and his thoughts on recent developments, such as the release of ChickHEN, a homebrew enabler for firmware 5.03, hit the jump.

The complete interview can be found at eXophase.com.

It’s true, apparently. The entire PSP and PS3 XMB interface, otherwise known as the Xross Media Bar, was made a reality by a single person — Japanese-based UI artist Yasuhiro Yamanaka, according to the man’s LinkedIn profile. In it, he claims he “designed PSP and PS3 User Interface all by myself.” Yamanaka is also in charge of all on-screen localization, meaning all those dialogue pop-ups and menu item descriptors were written by him.

Pretty impressive. With products such as the PS3, companies usually have at least a few people working on planning and laying out a design template. Clearly Sony was trying to cut costs here or more likely, they were fascinated with the XMB interface and just went ahead with it, without having others collaborate. For what it is, I think the XMB works well, so I’d say he did a great job. But there are others out there that are bound to disagree. And well, if you are one of those people, now you know who to blame for the monstrosity.

superannuation [Superannuation]

Sony has announced an initiative in which it will cover development costs in exchange for exclusivity. A bold, but smart move. The recently released Burn Zombie Burn is the first PSN title to take advantage of this deal.

It’s all very well for us as platform holders to say ‘put all your money into PlayStation Network, it’s a fantastic idea’, but are we prepared to put or money where our mouth is? The answer is yes.

We’re looking for a number of great games, and in return for exclusivity we’ll match your development budget with guaranteed royalties.

Sounds fantastic to us. If you run an independent studio and have a great idea in mind, it might be time to hit up Sony, as this is one hell of a deal: being able to develop a game with virtually zero risks. Of course, they will likely be very selective in regards to what is chosen, but it’ll be interesting to see what sort of titles make their way to PSN in the future as a result.

Sony to match dev budgets in return for exclusivity [GI.biz]

The PC edition of time-shifting puzzle platformer Braid has been pushed back to April 10, creator Jonathan Blow confirmed today. The title was originally scheduled for release next week on March 31.

In explaining the reasoning behind the delay, Blow mentioned that “some problems that came up in testing with various versions of Windows.”

All in all, we reckon most fans won’t mind waiting ten more days for bug free product. Surely beats having to deal with a myriad of technical glitches on the first day. Look for Braid to be available on all major digital distribution networks, including Steam, Greenhouse, Impulse, and GamersGate.

Looking at the latest batch of NPD charts, PSP hardware sales in North America have taken a dive compared to last year. Figures for February 2009 peg the drop-off at a decline of 18 percent. Not a huge drop by any stretch of the word, but still something to be concerned about. Is Sony planning to cut the price in an effort to increase momentum and combat Nintendo’s forthcoming DSi? The answer is no, not this year at least. Says marketing exec John Koller:

As far as a price drop, there’s nothing planned and we’re not looking at that right now.

Too bad. However, Koller also rightfully points out that there are a number of major software titles on the horizon for PSP, the likes of which include LittleBigPlanet and Assassin’s Creed. Here’s hoping these efforts will be enough to ignite stateside interest in the portable. Sony appears to be banking on the fact that they will.

Q&A: Sony’s John Koller Talks PSP’s Downloadable Future [Wired]

Following an unexpected delay earlier this week due to “technical issues,” Rockstar Games sends word today that the map-expanding South Central DLC for Midnight Club: Los Angeles is now up for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The Xbox 360 version of Midnight Club: Los Angeles South Central has officially launched onto Xbox LIVE. Players now have the opportunity to download our first downloadable content for MCLA featuring brand new cars, more vinyls, tons of upgradeable parts, fresh beats, hydraulics, and more. All of this is in addition to a huge free map expansion that adds four new neighborhoods to an already sprawling virtual Los Angeles. We really appreciate everyone’s patience this past week as we sorted through some technical issues, and we couldn’t be more excited to finally unleash this content on Xbox LIVE for the fans to dive into.

What are you waiting for? Go grab it. It’s completely free, though players can opt for the $9.99 premium upgrade, which includes extra cars, music, beats, and hydraulics on top of the map expansion. The choice is yours.

Irem’s classic R-Type side-scrolling shooter series is making a comeback later this Wednesday on Xbox Live Arcade, Microsoft announced today.

Developed by Tozai Games and SouthEnd Interactive, Dimensions is a recreation of R-Type and R-Type II, sporting fully revamped 3D visuals. Like the majority of XBLA revivals, an option to switch back to the old-style 2D graphics on-the-fly is also included for those feeling nostalgic. Additionally, the game boasts co-op play as well as a novice-friendly checkpoint feature.

R-Type Dimensions will be priced at 1200 Microsoft Points. It’s a small price to pay for two shooters that still stand the test of time today.

For those growing tired of installing the 1.5 kernel add-on for each new M33 release, developer Dark_AleX has a solution: LEDA. A legacy software loader, LEDA integrates with M33 firmware to allow for the loading of 1.5 kernel based homebrew applications. As a bonus, it even works on Slim units.

Keep in mind that LEDA is still in its beta phase and compatibility will improve over time following user testing and feedback. If you run into any issues, report them over at the official thread at Dark-AleX.org. For further details and installation instructions, make sure to look over the included readme file.

Download LEDA 0.1