Hacking the PSP Blog

PRODUCT RECALL: Pelikan Power Brick PSP Battery Chargers

About 231,000 Pelican Power Brick Battery Chargers, distributed by Electro Source LLC, are being recalled because the charger's circuit board can overheat and cause its plastic cover to melt, posing a fire and burn hazard.



Electro Source LLC has received 143 reports of the recalled battery charger overheating, including one report of fire damage. No injuries have been reported.

The recalled Pelican Power Brick is an external recharging battery pack that sells as a separate accessory to be used with the Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable).

The Pelican Power Brick consists of two lithium-ion battery cells connected via a circuit board and mounted in a small plastic housing.

The battery cells are charged when plugged into an electrical outlet using the PSP AC adaptor.

Once charged, it is used to recharge the PSP.

The model number for the battery charger, PL-6018, can be found on the back of the unit.

The battery charger was sold alone and as part of several kits containing other accessories by Electro Source LLC.

Sony neither manufactured nor distributed the Pelican Power Brick.

The recalled battery chargers were sold at electronics and discount department stores nationwide, catalogs, and various Web sites from April 2005 through March for about $20 when sold alone, and for between $40 and $50 when sold as part of certain kits packaged by Electro Source LLC.

Consumers should stop using the battery charger immediately and contact Electro Source LLC to receive a choice of several replacement products.

Consumers can contact Electro Source at (800) 263-1156 or visit the company's Web site for more recall information.

PSP goes to language school

The PSP isn’t satisfied with just being multi-talented and multimedia – it’ll soon be multilingual too thanks to a new interactive language translator.

As you can see above, the Talkman isn’t just a ‘French for xenophobes’ textbook on UMD – it lets you talk to a cosmopolitan blue parrot called Max via a bundled microphone.

Max is an engaging but schizophrenic chap who changes his personality from language to language.

In ‘talk’ mode, he can offer straight translations and answer questions in English, French, German, Italian or Japanese. There’s also a bookmark function to help you find particular words easily.

If you fancy testing whether or not your German evening class was worthwhile, you can go into ‘game’ mode. Our friend Max will then give you a pronunciation for you to mimic and rate your accent, or let you try and work out the meaning of a sentence in his ‘listening’ game.

Alongside the language functions, the disc also offers handy extras for travelling like a world clock, alarm and voice memo.

It makes a change from the flow of generic, crossover titles like Need for Speed and Fifa. The Stuff office recently discovered the addictive pleasures of Zookeeper on the DS, and Talkman could be a welcome injection of Nintendo quirk for the PSP.

Its UK launch date is 9th June – just when our famously cosmopolitan football fans will be travelling to Germany – and the price is expected to be under £20.


By Mark Wilson @ Stuff Magazine

More "PSP2" News: PSP2 In Development?

It wouldn't come as a great surprise if Sony was already working on PSP '2' and a comment by Nvidia's Mary Burnett to Reuters suggests that may be the case.

She implied that Nvidia had signed a big contract to work with Sony on development work for a new project.

'But that means nothing!" we hear you cry.

Ah, but listen....

Nvidia worked with Sony on the new, but as yet unreleased PS3. Nvidia are big in graphics processing. Therefore they must be working with Sony on some new visual jiggery-pokery. What would need such high-level investment in graphics development - the next generation PSP of course!

It's a long and tenuous path that leads us from an idle boast by Nvidia about how much money Sony are paying them to a screaming headline about a new PSP, but we think that the rumour has legs.

Source: Sony PSP Review

Nyko Releases New Xbox 360 and PSP Accessories

Source: IGN

NYKO, the well known gaming accessory manufacturer, has officially announced the availability of a variety of new gear for the Xbox 360 and PSP. The three new accessories are available at retailers like GameStop, EB Games and others beginning today.

Intercooler 360

Perhaps the most critically needed, the Intercooler 360 is a snap-on fan assembly that pushes more air through the Xbox 360, lowering the internal temperature and improving the machine's reliability. A fair number of the peeps here at IGN have had to send failed 360s back to Microsoft, so it would seem that cooling is a bit of an issue. The Intercooler 360 sounds like a pretty simple fix. It's powered by the 360 itself and shuts off when the 360 shuts down, or via a manual switch. MSRP is $19.99.

Intelligent Remote 360

NYKO's second 360 offering is the Intelligent Remote 360. The remote will be able to command both the Xbox 360 and TV. The remote features a learning capability that allows it to absorb commands when another remote is fired at it, backlit buttons, and an auto power on and off feature. Like the Intercooler 360, MSRP will be $19.99.

PSP Charger Grip

Finally for the PSP crowd, NYKO's new Charger Grip addresses two of PSP user's most common complaints, short battery life and uncomfortable grip. Inside the grip's handles is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack that NYKO promises can extend the PSP's battery life by up to 5 hours. The extra juice is consumed intelligently, topping off the PSP's internal battery and then running dry; leaving a fully charged PSP ready for action even after the Charger Grip has run down. NYKO's MSRP for the Charger Grip is $29.99.

We'll be receiving review samples shortly, so stay tuned for the full reviews!

Stacked To Feature PS2/PSP Syncing

Hook your PSP up to your PS2, and sync your single player game to continue your progress on-the-go!

Myelin Media today announced that their Texas Hold 'Em game, STACKED with Daniel Negreanu will feature interoperability between the PlayStation2 and PSP versions of the game. The game will be released for PS2, Xbox, PSP and PC.

Interoperability between the PlayStation 2 and PSP versions of STACKED will allow players to sync their single player game, maintaining their progress on both platforms whether they choose to play at home or on the road. Utilizing breakthrough new technology, players will also be able to compete online against opponents on either platform, enhancing the overall level of competition while expanding upon the game's online community.

STACKED combines an exclusive learning artificial intelligence system with the experience of seven of the world's top poker players to create the most authentic and in-depth poker video game ever. Players can choose to compete against the Poki AI system in the game's challenging single player mode, learning new strategies from Player of the Year Daniel Negreanu as they proceed, or go online to go head to head with the best players in the world in massive sanctioned multi table tournaments.

Source: PC Game World

PSP Magazine to Ship With UMDs Loaded with Demos

Official PSP Guidebook replaces a series of irregularly-published PlayStation 2 magazine specials, largely covering the PSP console, which recorded an average ABC of 31,859 last year.

On sale from 27 April, this is the third magazine dedicated to the console. Imagine bought the monthly title Go Play from Highbury last year while in January, start-up publisher Evolve Publishing launched the four-weekly title Pure PSP with a print run of 40,000.
Unlike existing titles, the magazine will offer playable demos of new games on a covermounted UMD disc.

Future is also in the process of overhauling its ailing unofficial PlayStation titles, PlayStation World and PSM2, to cover the forthcoming PlayStation 3 console, following Sony's announcement last week of a worldwide November launch.

In 2005, PSW's circulation fell 37.6% to 70,077 and PSM2's dropped 25.7% to 54,442.

Future will relaunch both titles this summer, though Sony has yet to award a licence for an official PlayStation 3 magazine to replace Future's established Official PlayStation 2.

Source: MediaWeek

Homebrew: New PSP Homebrew Releases for March 28, 2006

It's another big Lua day! Most of this homebrew requires the Lua Player, which you can download here.

Games
LUA Luigi Jump Alpha - A simple game where you make Luigi jump. The author plans to add a lot of features soon.
OpenTTD for PSP RC4 for PSP 1.50 - Port of Transport Tycoon for PSP. Four versions: Firmware 1.0/2.0 WiFi Enabled, Firmware 1.5 WiFi Enabled, Firmware 1.00/2.00 WiFi Disabled, Firmware 1.5 WiFi Disabled
PSP Tactics - Similar to Final Fantasy Tactics.

Utilities
Lua Picture Converter - Picture converter. Can convert JPEG to PNG, PNG to JPEG, and PNG to TGA.

PSP Software Development
LUA BMPlib for PSP - Bitmap handling library for PSP Lua development.

Shells and Operating Systems
Ys-OS v1.0 Public - Lua-based shell.