Well what do you know, UK's first magazine dedicated to the PSP - Go>Play - has featured homebrew in their 10th issue with Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories on the cover.

SteveV2 was kind enough to share screens of the magazine with us. How kind? He actually ripped the pages off to make better scans. The 300dpi images covers the 2.80 FW getting cracked, a GBA emulator being developed, and even a step by step guide to set up PSPMaster.

If you enjoyed browsing through these scans, why not get the real glossy deal? Just head on to Go>Play's official site through the read link to get your monthly dose of PSP madness.

Dark_AleX and Mathieulh have formed a formidable partnership which doesn't look like it will slow down anytime soon. And yet again, Dark_AleX has updated his ground-breaking piece of work, the homebrew enabler for FW 2.71. The big feature in this latest version is the ability to launch static ELFs. To those who've just joined us, all the current homebrew is basically compiled as a static ELF. Up to this version, it was not possible to launch them, which meant that any homebrew which had to be run on 2.71 had to be re-compiled keeping a few guidelines in check.

With this new update, you can run almost all your user-mode homebrew. Here's the full changelog:

• User mode static ELF's are now starting to work. Tested with SNES TYL 0.3 (user mode version), PSPMaster and  CPS2PSP 1.0 (user mode version). Kernel mode static ELF's are still not supported, they are a very odd case in 1.XX of kernel code loaded to user memory. Kernel Homebrew for 2.71 has to be written with a user main ELF/PRX that load kernel PRX's. Note that the homebrew must be in a true PBP, not KXploited!.
• User mode PRX's could load other user mode PRX's, but kernel mode PRX's couldn't load user mode PRX's. This is fixed.
• Patched the firmware to allow it to understand the old SFO format(avoiding the error of data is corrupted).
• Added a small win32 binary that will give you a hint about if a homebrew can work or not in the current release. Note that this is only a hint.

Also remember that this version will happily run on the TA-082 PSPs, so everyone can join in the fun! If any of you have already been using an older version of the homebrew enabler, there are some specific instructions which you must follow to upgrade it:

"To update from HEN revision A to B, hard reset your psp (to make sure that hen is not running). Then copy the new files to the memory stick and run the tif. The new files will be automatically updated."

For those who're gonna be doing this hack for the first time, the instructions are included in the readme. Make sure to check it out before doing this hack. Since it modifies the flash, you have to take care. It has already been tested many times, and it will work properly. If you're still scared, you can even use the homebrew enabler as a Devhook mod. The files are included in the same file.

Finally, it has been known that some sites have been modifying homebrew for their personal glory. We have received word from Mathieulh that editing the files can possibly corrupt the eboot, or in worst cases, brick your PSP when using it. To make sure this doesn't happen, please download this file from either Dark_AleX's site, or from our download site linked below. We have the original file, directly, from Mathieulh's IRC channel and you can be rest-assured that our file is clean and safe. So without further ado, here's the download link below. Enjoy!

Download Link: [Dark_AleX's Homebrew Enabler for FW 2.71 (Revision C)]

[Bo]Trops has released another version of his homebrew Sega Master System and Game Gear emulator called PSPMaster today, updating it to v009 beta4. PSPMaster is one of the favourite SMS/Game Gear emulators for the PSP for a couple of reasons, firstly for the huge feature list and the amount of compatible ROMs, and secondly for the amount of updates that [Bo]Trops fires out on a regular basis. The last version of PSPMaster was released not even a week ago! Here's the v009 beta4 changelog:

• New high definition renders. Be sure to change the CPU clock to 300MHz to get a decent speed.
• Some minor changes

Now the changelog isn't massive, but the addition of new high definition renders is a huge update and as long as your PSP's battery is charged up enough to run at 300Mhz then you will notice a significant graphics improvement. This is one of the few emulators that still comes in firmware 1.0 and 1.5 formatted eboots so make sure you download the correct one!

Download: [PSPMaster v009 beta4 fw1.5]
Download: [PSPMaster v009 beta4 fw1.0]

A few days ago, [Bo]Trops just released the BETA 2 of his PSPMaster Sega Master System emulator. Now, it's up to BETA 3 with some new features. There's not a lot of changes, but the changes made make the whole emulator work way better. The BETA 3 changes include:

• Show real ROMs names in the ROMs browser instead of files names.
• More accurate PSP and YM2413 sound emulation, now voices are ok.

Now that the ROM name thing is fixed, it makes ROM hunting in the browser so much easier. Regarding the YM2413 sound chip emulation, if you disable it, the emulation will run at full speed, clocking in at 133MHZ. However, if you want to use the sound chip, just make sure you change the CPU clock to 266MHz.

As always, [Bo]Trops releases two versions of his emulator, one which is compatible with firmware 1.0, the other is compatible with firmware 1.5. We've zipped them up together into one neat little folder (download link below), so just take whatever file folder will be compatible with your firmware.

Download: [PSPMaster v0.09 BETA 3 firmware 1.0 & 1.5]

Just a while back, [Bo]Trops served up his PSPMaster v0.0.9b. But now, his homebrew Sega Master System emulator is updated to a Beta-2 version. In the previous beta version, he was only able to improve on video and rendering, and added sound filters of interpolation and reverb.

Here's what's new:

• Support for 3 colors fonts
• VGM music player added
• Fixed a video palette bug
• Improved render and video routines, making SMS games run at 133MHz and game gear at 100MHz

A lot of us grew up with Sega (back in le olde dayse, when Sega was still a major game developer). It's good that some of the homebrewers allow us to tap into the past and relive the glory of the 80s.


Download: [PSPMaster v0.0.9 Beta-2 for firmware 1.0]
Download: [PSPMaster v0.0.9 Beta-2 for firmware 1.5]

After having just released version 007b of his Sega Master System and Game Gear emulator PSPMaster a few days ago, [Bo]Trops has now released version 0.08b.

At this time, PSPMaster can be used with firmware versions 1.0 and 1.5, and the creator of this emulator has created files that would suit the mentioned firmwares.

For version 0.08b, [Bo]Trops has made the following adjustments:

• Fixed Game Gear screen.
• Fixed a stupid bug that caused the emulator to not save SRAM!!
• Screenshot bug fixed.

Download: [PSPMaster v 0.08b]

[Bo]Trops has released a new version of his PSPMaster">PSPMaster, a Sega Master System and Game Gear emulator for the PSP today. Version 007b of this emulator adds quite a lot of new features once again. Homebrew emulators are great, but there's nothing better than a homebrew emulator which keeps being updated. Here's what [Bo]Trops said:

The emulator uses the old Marat Z80 emulator by Marat Fayzullin. VDP source is based on SMS Plus by Charles Mac Donald. All the source is heavily optimized for the PSP system. PSPMaster is running at full speed without frame skipping when the YM2413 sound chip emulation is disabled. Please do not change default options if you don't know what you are doing.

Here's the changelog:

• Users can now save and load states from main menu
• Turbo key added.
• Fixed a bug that made some Game Gear games reset when user presses the start button

The download comes packaged with both firmware 1.0 and firmware 1.5 compatible Eboots.

Download: [PSPMaster v007b]

    

[Bo]Trops has released a new version of his PSPMaster Sega Master System and Game Gear emulator for the PSP today. Version 006b of this homebrew emulator adds quite a lot, along with a few other updates which have been released in previous versions.

The first thing you'll probably notice about this emulator is that PSPMaster is running at full speed without frame skipping when the YM2413 sound chip emulation is disabled so don't edit the default settings unless you know what you're doing. Here's the updated changelog:

v0.0.6b:
- YM2413 speed optimizations.
- YM2413 bug fixed.
- Configure emulator keys menu.
- Use hardware acceleration to draw menu images.
- 32 bits color menu.
- Read menu images from PNG files instead of custom format.
- Fixed a bug that was stopping emulation.
- Save screen shots in PNG format instead of GIF.

v0.0.5:
- Sound volume option added.
- Improved script files and fixed a bug.
- Improved cheat files (one cheat can change multiple memory
addresses).

v0.0.4:
- Fixed a bug in draw text routine.
- Support for cheats.
- Menu improvements.
- In game screen messages.
- Faster render code (Assembly).
- Added bios mode.
- More speed optimizations.
- Fixed a bug in screen shot routine..

Download: [PSP Master v006b]

A couple of days ago, [Bo]Trops released version 0.02b of the PSPMaster, a Sega Master and Game Gear emulator for the PSP - much to the delight of PSP-loving Sega Master/Game Gear fans. Now, the developer updated the emulator to version 0.0.3b to make your nostalgic gaming experience even better.

PSPMaster v0.03b reflects the following changes:

• Fixed a bug in the Master System background render code.
• Fixed a bug in the state files.
• Fixed a Game Gear screen shot bug.
• User can select the language file from the main menu.
• Start to rewrite render routines in assembly to gain some speed. Function Render_UpdateBgCache() done.

Check out these screenies and relive your Sega Master- and Game Gear-playing days with Shinobi, Alex Kidd, The Simpsons, Black Belt...and the list goes on...

   
  

Download: [PSPMaster v0.03b]