It has been over three years since developer Strmnnrmn began programming his Nintendo64 emulator for the PSP, with strong improvements implemented ever since. When progress became inactive, a team of coders took on where he had left off with DaedalusX64. However, Strmnnrmn approved the project and joined their team shortly after the first release.

The DaedalusX64 team remains hard at work into the new year with their latest revision of their Nintendo 64 emulator for homebrew enabled Playstation Portables. Recent changes provide small speed ups and increased quality of sound. I played a few levels of Super Mario 64 and its quite comfortable to play with sound.

While you're at it, drop by their forums to give a "thank you". They have a great forum, filled with compatibility topics, save states, and the team even recruits developers for their project! Enjoy playing a fine collection of classic games.

Download: DaedalusX64 Forums

The French-based team of coders collectively known under the guise of Team GEN have released an update to their 5.50 series custom firmware, dubbed 5.50 GEN-D3.

According to the supplied changelog, this build features compatibility with all PSN demos and UMD titles to date. Additionally, tweaks have been worked in to improve compatibility with non-MagicGate supported aka "fake" Memory Sticks when loading UMD backups, though the changelog notes that this feature has not been tested.

Catch the download below.

PSP Custom Firmware 5.50 GEN-D3

PSP Custom Firmware 5.50 GEN-D3 [eXophase.com]

Time to dig up those classic point-and-click adventure games. The ScummVM crew have released version 0.13.0 of their multi-platform open source game engine interpreter, available on numerous formats including PSP and Wii.

For the uninitiated, ScummVM allows users to run SCUMM based video game titles, including LucasArts-developed adventure classics Monkey Island 1-3 and Fate of Atlantis.

Noteworthy additions in version 0.13.0 include a global main menu accessible from within any game, along with a MIDI driver for the Atari ST (FreeMint) platform. Additionally, the entire GUI stack has been rewritten to use a vector-based approach.

General:
* Added MIDI driver for Atari ST / FreeMint.
* Added a ‘Load’ button to the Launcher (not supported by all engines).
* Added a new global main menu (GMM) dialog usable from all engines.
* Added the ability to return to the launcher from running games (via the GMM).
* Rewrote GUI renderer to use an vector based approach.
* Rewrote GUI configuration to use XML.

New Games:
* Added support for Blue’s 123 Time Activities.
* Added support for Blue’s ABC Time Activities.
* Added support for Bud Tucker in Double Trouble.
* Added support for The 7th Guest.

KYRA:
* Added support for Auto-save feature.
* Added support for MIDI music.

SCUMM:
* Implemented radio-chatter effect in The DIG.

Download ScummVM 0.13.0 for PSP / ScummVM 0.13.0 for Wii

ScummVM 0.13.0 “More Guests” enter(s) the house [ScummVM Project]

M@x and Sleepper have released an update to their popular Java virtual machine emulator for the PSP. Known as PSPKVM, it can run both games and applications compiled with Sun Microsystems’ open-source Java 2 Platform Micro Edition toolkit (J2ME) on PSP, provided that custom firmware is installed.

* Enable input symbol in password textfield
* Fix OSK bug
* Fix drawRGB alpha blending bug
* Fix a couple of bug inside VM interpreter

Download PSPKVM v0.5.1

PSPKVM [PSPKVM - Official Website]

Speaking in a recent interview, SCEE prez David Reeves was quizzed over the possible inclusion of a built-in primary storage device for PSP, such as a hard drive.

In contrast to a couple years ago, Reeves was less than enthusiastic about it but still admitted that the inclusion of such a device is “possible,” further noting that a hard drive would be introduced “later rather than sooner” - if at all. Given there is a possibility, Reeves was also asked for a possible timeframe as to when we might see the device. His response?

There is no timeframe. I stand by what I said. It is possible, yes, to have a fixed hard drive or flash memory. But what’s happened is, the rate at which memory stick prices have come down have surprised everyone.

While not definite, Reeve’s attitude towards a built-in hard drive accentuates that Sony has thrown out the idea of including one in a later hardware revision - or even the PSP2. With Memory Stick prices falling drastically over the past year, it makes sense - adding an internal device would add considerable weight to production costs and in turn would make the PSP more expensive for everyone.

Sony’s David Reeves [Eurogamer]

Art is starting 2009 with more updates to his "homage to the Amiga family of computers"; the MegaBall inspired Powernoid for PSP is now at version 4c. There's been quite a few changes since we last covered Art's Breakout clone but the most notable in my opinion would be the in game music, the moving bricks/barriers, and the increased pause durations.

I love killing time playing this in large part for it's somewhat unique aspect; unlike most breakout clones, this one features powerups that remain active and can be accumulated as the player progresses through stages until a life is lost.

Read the full changelog since our last coverage after the break.

Discuss and download

We are proud to present, the Powder Toy! A nifty tool that simulates a collection of elements such as Water, Fire, Metal and so many others. You are given the ability to play around with these elements and see their reactions and resemblance to real life elements. You might have seen some games with the same concept, specially in Java, but this one's a lot more realistic!

It's been coded by the all known PSP developer, Skylark (Stand D. Skowronek), originally for the PC and ported to the PSP by Bri3d.

Download Here

Powder Game [Bri3d]

Have any tips or tricks? Discuss here.

Let's face it, not all plugins are created equal. Some plugins seem cool when you first install it but then you realize it doesn't live up to what it promises to deliver and/or it simply isn't updated beyond the initial release. Then there are plugins that don't seem cool at all but you try it out anyway to find out it's a godsend; that's how I would describe Torch's Hold+ power saving plugin. Now updated to version 3.42, this bugfix release carries the following changelog:

Changelog v3.42
----------------------------------
Fixed a bug in the faulty Hold switch detection method. It should now be very resistant to problems such as CPU remaining underclocked due to faulty Hold switch.

Without further ado, please follow this link to download and leave Torch your comments. More details from Torch are available after the break.

Download and Discuss

The "Recovery Flasher" for PSPs that lets you pandoraless upgrade or downgrade your PSP to any (C)FW you like or recover it from most semi bricks has just been updated to version 1.50.
Here is a breakdown of the changes in the new release:

Changelog:
• Updated 5.00-M33 installation to revision 4
• Introduced "Advanced Mode" of operations - potentially dangerous functions (some of the new ones might be) are usually completely hidden and are only available when "Advanced Mode" is triggered. Those functions are meant for the more experienced users that know what they are doing quite well....
• Added support for installing 3.80-M33 and 3.90-M33
• Added support for installing a fresh 1.50 OFW on classic PSPs (a.k.a. Fat PSP) without having made a backup of a running 1.50 first. (Actually it first creates a new "backup" set containing a fresh 1.50 OFW that you can then use to install/restore it to your PSP)
• Changed the menu a bit. Due to the ammount of FW versions now supported there's no longer one item for each FW but one menu option for selecting the desired version and one to engage the installation.
• Added: Creation of NAND-Dump (fully compatible to DDC dumps)
• Added: [Advamced Mode] Writing back of NAND images. Complete dump, IPL only or LFlash only
• Added: [Advanced Mode] Installing selected firmware version as ORIGINAL firmware
• Added: ressurection.prx replacement - with that you can run Recovery Flasher directly instead of of the original DDC menu when booting up a DDC magic stick. WORKS ONLY FOR DDCv7!!!
• When running either as DDC main menu replacement (ressurection.prx) OR launched from a DDC booted FW (from memstick) you have the option to either boot up / exit to the XMB or to jump into the original DDC menu. So when using the ressurection.prx replacement you are still able to use the DDC features.
• Fixed: App-Launcher display mess up when more additional apps/games were available than fitted on screen

DOWNLOAD Recovery Flasher 1.50
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