Hacking the PSP Blog

MAPLUS PSP GPS official website now open

From PSPUpdates:

A few weeks back, we featured an article about Edia Co.'s PSP accessory, the MAPLUS portable GPS bundle. In that report, we mentioned that the add-on is such a hit and is already sold out on Amazon Japan. Unfortunately, the mapping device would only work in Japanese cities and there isn't any word if Edia (which isn't the FFVIII witch) is planning on releasing it in Europe or in the U.S. So you better hang on to Deniska's handy Map This! app for now.

But there are still some developments from the Edia camp as they have recently opened their official website. Nothing new in it, well, we don't really know for sure what's in it as everything is in Japanese. So if you could read and speak the language, do share to us what's in the site.

Anyhow, it sure looks like it could only be used in Japan...for now. It has a price tag of ¥ 7,140 (US$ 61.30) for the software single item and ¥ 10,500 (US$ 90.16) for the GPS receiver bundled edition. Small development for now, but who knows? If Edia comes up with an English website, then perhaps they're planning on selling it outside Japan?

We'll dish out them updates as they come. For now, you could visit the official Edia site via the link below.





Source: PSPUpdates

Dual analogue sticks most wanted feature for PSP 2.0

Put down your weapons, the shootout is over. A two-week long exclusive poll of Pocket Gamer readers has revealed that dual analogue sticks are the hardware upgrade most desired for the next version of Sony's PSP.

In what was admittedly a tight vote, 28 per cent of voters plumped for the two sticks upgrade, versus the 27 per cent who'd most like to see Sony make the screen touch sensitive.

The result won't surprise anyone who's played the likes of Star Wars Battlefront II. Control of certain kinds of games has been a bugbear for PSP gamers from day one. While developers have increasingly successfully compensate for the console's control limitations (for example, GUN: Showdown generous auto-aim feature) there's no doubt the single analogue stick has lessened the PSP's ability to pull ahead of DS in certain genres where its technical smarts would otherwise serve it well, such as first person shooters.

Least desired by Pocket Gamer readers was a clamshell design to protect the PSP's widescreen, suggesting that you feel the soft felt carrying case bundled with PSP is doing the job when it comes to protecting the screen.

The results in full

What would you most like to see in PSP 2.0?

Dual analogue sticks	28%
Touchscreen	27%
Built-in mobile phone	21%
Built in camera and mic	16%
Clamshell case	5%

Owain Bennallack
November 24, 2006

Source: Pocket Gamer

Pricing for downloadable PSOne games announced

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) has announced the pricing for original PlayStation games that are being made available for the PSP. The first batch of titles will be priced between $5.99 and $10.99. The games, full versions of the originals, weigh in between 140MB and 550MB.

The first batch of games will be made available on the PlayStation online store some time "in the coming weeks" according to a statement from Sony. Additional games will be made available over the coming weeks and continually on an ongoing basis. Among the titles in the first batch are Resident Evil: Director's Cut, Tekken 2 and Arc the Lad.

In addition to making these titles available, Sony has released a PSP system update—version 3.0—that will include PlayStation Network support and a remote play feature that will enable PlayStation 3 owners to wirelessly stream media from their 60GB PS3 directly to their PSP. Planned for a later release is remote playing directly from the PlayStation Network from any WiFi hotspot.

Read the full text here...

Jeremy Reimer
November 24, 2006

Source: Ars Technica

Console Screens of Death

Game Brink has posted a few photos of screens displayed by PSP, PS3, Xbox, Xbox 360, and Wii consoles that have kicked the bucket. Hopefully none of you have to see any of these in person.

Xbox




Xbox 360



PSP



PS3



Wii




Source: Game Brink

PSPBlender: Too good to be true?

Are you guys familiar with PSPBlender? Nope wait, it's not a homebrew application that magically turns your handheld into a kitchen appliance. It is actually a PSP-dedicated online site (PSPBlender.com). And if there's anything remotely magical about it, it's about the recently circulating rumors that the site is actually a fraud.

Accordingly, PSPBlender charge players US$ 37 upon sign-up, promising "unlimited lifetime access to millions of PSP games, movies and music" among other files. Knowing that the offer sounds a bit too good to be true, the site specifically mentions a money back guarantee as well as technical support for dissatisfied customers.

Sounds good, eh? But before you visit their site and sign-up, listen to this first. While we are not familiar ourselves with this PSPBlender thingy, there are currently a good number of PSP users all over the internet expressing discontent and shouting foul. According to them, the site does nothing but makes members pay for access to otherwise free P2P and BitTorrent networks.

Furthermore, these users are saying that they have been trying to contact PSPBlender for the promised refunds but to no avail. We personally aren't really bothered by this, as we have here an unlimited source of great homebrew games and applications provided by you, our loyal readers. Anyways, it is up to you if you still want to give the site a go. Don't say we didn't warn you though.

Source: PSPUpdates

AVC recording for PSP

For the PSP, iPod and Mobile phone videophiles out there, we've just picked news on a video converter you might wanna check out. ADS just announced the release of their new InstantVideo To-Go product, which allows for easy conversion to the H.264 (.mp4) format your PSPs and iPod can gobble up easy.

For use between your PC and your portable device, this USB key speeds up the painfully long download time you guys have probably experienced when trying to download your LOTR Trilogy into your iPod or PSP. ADS also claims that a five-hour encoding session can be done in as fast as 20 minutes. The other good news is that this hardware-based encoder should be easy to use even for guys encoding for the first time - most of the process is already automated, with it being able to handle the following formats: MP4, MP3, AVI, WMV, MOV, RM, JPG, and TIFF.

The bad news: Better start saving up, as this little device will go for US$ 79.95 - about the price of one Blu-Ray game for the PS3. Unless you're one rich dude with tons o' dough to throw around, then go ahead and get one.




Source: PSPUpdates & ADS