Hacking the PSP Blog

Beware: “Ljk-Sang” Phishing Scam

PSP-Hacks posted a phishing email that one of their readers recieved as a warning to former Lik-Sang customers. If you didn't already know, Lik-Sang closed shop last week after a legal battle with Sony in the UK over grey importing of PSP units. Deciding to use this to their advantage, someone has begun a phishing scam to lure former customers. Below is a sample of one of the emails. The Paypal link in the email apparently went to a "ljk-sang.com" URL.

Your Login/Email is: xxxxx
Your password is: ********

As of today, Lik-Sang.com will not be in the position to accept any new orders and will cancel and refund all existing orders that have already been placed. Furthermore, Lik-Sang is working closely with banks and PayPal to refund any store credits held by the company, and the customer support department is taking care of any open transactions such as pending RMAs or repairs and shipping related matters. The staff of Lik-Sang will make sure that nobody will get hurt in the crossfire of this ordeal. To read the full article please visit: http://www.lik-sang.com/news.php?artc=3901

Our records indicates you can retrieve an additional $ 9,99 USD refund in your PayPal account. In order to successfully retrieve the refund please confirm your existing PayPal account on this page. Please notice that the confirmation of your PayPal account is needed to have this refund send into your PayPal account.

If your PayPal account is no longer active on this (xxxxxxxxxx) address you will have to create a free PayPal account at: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_registration-run to retrieve this refund. Once your account is created and activated please confirm your account information at the above page.

We feel very sorry for any inconvenience and trying to make all refunds to take place as soon as possible.

Team Lik-Sang

Via PSP-Hacks

PSP Push-Activated Shoulder Button Lighting

Everett has put together an article explaining how to make those conveniently clear shoulder buttons on your PSP light up when they're pressed. In the article he uses surface mount LEDs from an old cell phone and limit switches from a CD-ROM but these are things you can most likely find at your local electronic supply story or online. Be aware that this does involve soldering and will void your PSP's warranty. Everett gives very detailed instructions on how to place the LEDs and run the wires as to no affect the movement of the shoulder buttons or any of the other buttons. Below is a link to the how-to and an image of his finished product.

Read

Via PSP-Hacks

Sony Makes Major Donation to Get-Well Gamers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sony Answers the Call from Get-Well Gamers Videogame Charity to Receive Approximately 200 Games, with Retail Value of over $5,000.00 Donation to Go Directly to Newly Expanded Network, which Includes 41 Care Facilities in 26 States; More Encouraged Huntington Beach, CA, October 31, 2006—The Get-Well Gamers Foundation, a California-based public charity dedicated to bringing electronic entertainment to children in healthcare facilities, today announced that it had received a donation of approximately 200 games from the Sony Corporation, with a retail value of over $5,000.00.

The donation comes on the heels of the news that the charity had recently expanded its network to 41 care facilities in 26 states; a 25% increase in capacity since last year owing to the success of recent campaigns with corporate partners, in addition to the efforts of private individuals stepping forward to support the cause.

“We are deeply grateful to the Sony Corporation for its wonderful generosity, especially with the holiday season upon us,” said Ryan Sharpe, President of The Get-Well Gamers Foundation. “It is the kindness of such acts that sustains an organization such as ours and truly saves the day for the children we serve.”

“Of course,” Sharpe adds, “with our expanded network comes an even bigger responsibility to fulfill our mission. That’s why we’re encouraging everyone to use the Sony donation has a shining example and not hesitate to give as well. No matter how small, every donation makes a difference.”

The Get-Well Gamers Foundation accepts console games and equipment as well as hand-held systems and the games supported by these platforms. To make a tax-deductible donation or to recommend a treatment facility, visit www.get-well-gamers.org.

About Get-Well Gamers:

The Get-Well Gamers Foundation is a California-based 501© (3)-certified public charity dedicated to bringing electronic entertainment to children's hospitals for the benefit of entertainment and pain management since 2001. For more information, please visit www.get-well-gamers.org.

Media Contact:

William Lessard

PRwithBrains for The Get-Well Gamers Foundation

(914) 476-6089

wlessard@prwithbrains.com


Via GamesIndustry.biz

The Clear-Up: Does Vice City Stories play on 2.71?

From PSPUpdates:

We would like to start this article with a sincere apology and by admitting that yesterday's article claiming that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories required PSP firmware 2.81 was incorrect. We based this information on data we had obtained from what we thought was a trustworthy news source, but it appears we were wrong. The fact of the matter is that you can play Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories without updating to 2.81, using Booster's amazing DevHook. All you have to do is emulate firmware 2.71 and select the 2.xx to 2.00 UMD option and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories will work fine. The 2.81 update is on the UMD disc, but you do not have to use it.

Discussion has been rife on this subject both in the comments section and in our forums, with many PSP owners confused on whether to buy Vice City Stories or not because of this. We have had it confirmed by many of our forum users that it works with 2.xx to 2.00 UMD option in DevHook and firmware 2.71 emulation. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you, but it was a mistake that we highly regret. Most of you will have probably discovered that VCS works on 2.71 with DevHook, but this post is an informative article and is an apology from us to you. How will we repay you? By giving you the best news 24/7 of course!

An 11-page discussion in our forums has been going on since yesterday, so if you want to get in on the action, all you have to do is head over to our forums. This may be an apology, but it is clear now that you can have Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories playable with homebrew on 1.5 and with Dark_Alex's 2.71 SE-B custom firmware using the miracles of DevHook. To me, that sounds like more of a success!

Source: PSPUpdates