Hacking the PSP Blog

Sony pulls the plug on Connect, refocuses on PlayStation

After a lengthy, albeit fledgling stay in the digital music distribution biz, Sony has reportedly decided to cut its losses and disconnect the Connect service. We'd already seen the service get shuffled around in an effort to strengthen the division, but it seems like it has finally succumbed to the competition. According to reports from an internal meeting, some 20-plus employees were told that their jobs were being "phased out" as the Connect resources were being shifted to handle the needs of the PlayStation group. Interestingly, it was noted that the eBooks segment would still remain alive and well to service the Sony Reader demands, but Steve Banfield, the head of the Sony Connect division, would be "leaving within the next few weeks." Farewell Connect, it seems we all barely knew you.

Darren Murph
June 17, 2007

Source: Engadget

Off Topic: Microsoft denies "systematic issues" with defective consoles

Microsoft says it takes customer concerns about Xbox 360 hardware quality "very seriously" but denies there are any "systematic issues" and won't specifically address concerns relating to defect or return rates.

"We continue to look into these things very deeply," Todd Holmdahl, Microsoft's corporate vice president of Gaming and Xbox Products Group, told Mercury News reporter Dean Takahashi.

Takahashi pressed Holmdahl on the return rate and what constitutes a normal return rate; how the figures on Xbox 360 compare to Xbox 1; how Microsoft would explain the anecdotal evidence of a high failure rate relative to PlayStation 3 and Wii; defect rates relating to yield; whether yields were good; how poor yields and high defect rates might affect the business model; whether a change of manufacturing partner (Wistron to Celestica) might have been related to product quality; whether a change to 65 nanometer chips will impact quality; whether changes to warranty policy were due to specific problems, like a problem with graphics memory; what the number one reason for a return is; whether, in fact, he could say anything about anything.

In response, Holmdahl stressed Microsoft's pride "in the box" and that people were buying lots of games, accessories and Xbox Live accounts.

Read the full article here...

Tom Bramwell
June 18, 2007

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

Off Topic: Blockbuster Bets on Blu-Ray

A year ago, HD DVD players were touted as the next big thing in home entertainment. Now, industry watchdogs wonder if Toshiba's pet project will become obsolete.

In the high-definition DVD war between Blu-ray and HD DVD, Blu-ray is pulling ahead. On Monday, Blockbuster announced that its next batch of high definition DVDs will be exclusively offered in the Blu-ray format.

The Blu-ray boost, expected in mid-July, will feature 170 titles to be distributed at 1,700 Blockbuster stores.

Shares of Blockbuster were up 0.4%, or 2 cents, to $4.60 in pre-market trading from $4.58, Friday's closing price.

Since late 2006, the movie rental company has offered both formats at 250 stores across the country. Both formats were given equal billing, but Blockbuster soon realized that Blu-ray outsold its competitor by 70%.

Blockbuster will continue to rent the HD DVD titles it already offers and may expand its HD DVD inventory in the future but, for now, the company has placed all its chips on Blu-ray.

“We intend to meet the demands of our customers and based on the trends we’re seeing, we’re expanding our Blu-ray inventory to ensure our stories reflect the right level of products,” Blockbuster executive, Matthew Smith, said Monday.

Read the full article here...

Evelyn M. Rusli
June 18, 2007

Source: Forbes

Daedalus R12 coming in a week...or so...

This weekend Daedalus creator StrmnNrmn posted a response to several questions about the release date for Daedalus R12. Here's what he had to say:

A number of people have been asking in the comments when R12 is going to be released.

There are still a number of things I want to work on. Now that Super Smash Bros. is running nice and quickly with dynarec enabled, I want to spend a week or so polishing the graphics and trying to make it as playable as possible. Although Goldeneye is running with dynarec in R12, it still needs a lot of work before its playable, so I'm not going to spend any more time on it for R12.

I'm going on holiday at the end of June, so I'd like to have R12 released before then. I'll aim for next weekend (23rd/24th June) but it may end up being as late as the 26th/27th.

-StrmnNrmn

So there you have it. It looks like we'll have a new version of StrmnNrmn's N64 emulator here in about a week and a half.

Source: Retro Console Dev

PSP Software Development Kit for Linux Users

Over on Zx-81's website, he's released a compilation of things he's used to make PSP software on his Fedora Core Linux machine. The full title is PSP Software Development Kit for Linux Users, but let's just shorten it to PSP SDK for Linux.

Zx-81 wasn't very explicit as to what was inside, but so far, we see plenty of scripts, C++ information, as well as samples you can try out and study.

In any case, you should probably pick it up if you're a Linux user who wants to expand his current base of programming info. In the meantime, we'll just sit here and wait for you guys to come up with newfangled applications we can cover, so we can give credit to your programming prowess. Enjoy!

Download PSP SDK for Linux

Source: PSPUpdates