FrozenIpaq's rendition of the classic Squarez: Puzzle homebrew game from Socals was released just the other day, and already other coders are getting into the project. Enter this new version from NeilR: it gives Squarez: Puzzle some extended CFW compatibility, since the previous release wasn't able to run on some systems.

Download: Squarez Puzzle 3.xx-5.xx patch

FrozenIpaq has taken it upon himself to release Squarez: Puzzle, a PSP homebrew game originally developed by Socals, who for his part has been silent since 2006. Check out what the excitement is all about in the full article.


Download: Squarez Puzzle

Homebrew developer akadewboy has released an updated version of the old Squarez homebrew game for PSP. This version can now be played on PSPs using 3.xx or 4.xx kernels.


Download: Squarez for 3.xx and 4.xx kernels

This is the latest homebrew by Nicko01 of Cloudpsp forums: DOTS v0.4 (0.1 and 0.2 weren't released). It's a lot like Squarez but more basic. The game works on all firmwares from 1.0-2.71 and 2.71 SE. Developer Nicko01 promises that more features will be added soon.

The game has three modes, practice, normal, and timed. Practice just keeps on going while you score. Normal has an enemy in the form of a green square that tries to tag you. In the game, you are blessed with three lives, when you get tagged you lose a life. There are 3 levels in Normal mode and they determine the speed of the enemy. Timed gives you 60 seconds to score as many as possible.

Scoring in this game basically involves "tagging" the red square.

Great work Nicko01! Hope you update this soon!

Download: [DOTS v0.4]

We really don't know what to make of this as of now. All that SG57 mentioned about his Crucenic BETA was that it was a Squarez clone. More than this, we couldn't get it to play. And neither has anyone in the forums. (Spare us, we're only human!) J_Le_Fou seems to have been able to get it to work though. How? We're not really sure...

The developer plans to update it as soon as he gets home from school, though, so you guys who can't seem to play it (us included) might want to sit tight for more news about this. We'll keep you posted.

There's a readme, though. And for those of you who are lucky enough to get it to play, here's the controls:

• Start: Pause
• Analog: Move
• Up/Right: Change Starfield Color (when Paused)
• Down/Left: Change Starfield Color (when Paused)
• HOME: Exit (when paused)
• Music Note: Screenshot

Download: [TIFF Crucenic BETA]
Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]

Coldbird from our forums has just released a new homebrew application that we're sure will be incredibly popular. Coldbird's 2.71 SE Homebrew fixer is a screaming testimony to the verse that "Big things come in small packages". If you don't know what this application does by just reading the title then it will probably be of no use to you. But for the other thousands of QJ readers that have 'upgraded' to Dark_Alex's 2.71 custom firmware SE-A, this will be like the invention of the wheel, only slightly more advanced.

There have been a few bugs in using this firmware version which is supposed to play both 1.0 and 1.5 EBOOT files involving homebrew launch errors and corrupted data icons. Well now both of these errors can be fixed using Coldbird's 2.71 SE Homebrew fixer application which will fix any 1.0 EBOOT so that it runs perfectly on your 2.71 SE-A firmware PSP. You will Need a little bit of Windows command prompt knowledge to use this but nonetheless it is worth it. Coldbird has successfully fixed any homebrew that he has thrown at it including psplayermt, iR Shell, Devhook 0.45 and Squarez 0.8. If you are having problems launching homebrew on your 2.71 SE-A PSP then you should give this a try.

As we stated earlier, this does only fix 1.0 formatted EBOOTs so you will need to join any 1.5 split eboots into a 1.0 EBOOT using a program like PSPBrew. The files come in the form of MS-DOS batch and executable files which is where the minimal command prompt knowledge is required. Hopefully a kind developer will make a nice GUI for this so that even the most inexperienced Windows users can use this tool too. Happy homebrew!

Update: If you recieve a "cygwin.dll" error please download this cyg dll pack and copy the dll files into the CBEBOOTFixer folder.

Download: [PSP 2.71 SE Homebrew Fixer]
Discuss: [Forum release thread]

Wow, a little over a week ago we saw a "Hello World" application emerge on all 2.0-2.80 PSP's with the newly discovered and exploited libtiff vulnerability. In the past week we have seen both a 2.71 downgrader, 2.80/2.81 decrypter, and a new eLoader (v0.9.8), all of which happened within days of each other!

Today, the Noobz team have released a 2.0/2.01 downgrader that utilizes the new tiff exploit which allows them the necessary access to complete such a task. Even though 2.01 was released roughly a year ago, I'm sure there are still those who may benefit out of this knowing that this is a safe downgrader and hasn't been reporting any bricks so far.

As always, downgrading always has a risk of bricking your PSP if you fail to follow the directions properly, so please use this downgrader at your own risk. So, for those who didn't update to 2.71 to downgrade, you can successfully downgrade by following these steps as listed in the readme file -

1. First you need eLoader 0.98 or later (get it from www.noobz.eu).
2. Install eLoader, and make sure that it is working for you by loading some nice safe homebrew (e.g. Squarez).
3. Next unzip this downgrader package onto your memory stick.  You should end up with the EBOOT.PBP file copied to /psp/game/201downgrader/EBOOT.PBP.
4. Also copy the v1.5 Update EBOOT to /psp/game/update/EBOOT.PBP.
5. Now run the downgrader via eLoader.  Assuming that your PSP passes the safety checks, you should be given a menu of options.
6. To downgrade, you need to select the 'set to v1.00' option (the Circle button).
7. This will fake your PSP to version 1.00.  Once you've completed the process, you can run the v1.5 Update EBOOT, directly from your PSP's Game menu.
8. Note that when the v1.5 Update is 99% complete, it will display an error message that it has 'failed - contact Sony customer support, error code FFFFFFFFF'.
9. This is OK!  Just power off your PSP, and reboot it. You then get a blue screen, saying "Press O to reset your settings" in several languages.  Press O, and your PSP reboots again - voila! You now have a v1.5 PSP.
10. Note that, before you install the 1.5 Update, your PSP is still really a v2.0 or v2.01 PSP, but it will claim to be v1.0.  If you've changed your mind about downgrading, you can choose to rerun the downgrader, and restore your old version number, with either the Cross or Square button, as appropriate.
11. Alternatively, if you changed your mind about running the downgrader, you can just press Triangle to exit without changing anything.

Download: [2.0/2.01 Downgrader]    

[Digg It!]

When we first saw Eaten v1.0, many screamed "Squarez copier", I know I did. However, this game is taken a radical different turn than Squarez now that we look at the recent changes. It now looks like Attack of the Mutants! Seriously, I'm not joking. I am a fan of both Squarez and AOTM, and hopefully this will combine the best of both homebrew games into one solid homebrew game.

PSPOwnage, from our forums, has announced a new update to this new game with some nice adsitions. The game now features bullets in which you can fire in any general direction to destroy your enemies, even having a piercing effect to it! I know back in the Diablo 2 days, Piercing Arrows were one of the greatest skills of an Amazon, allowing you to own any cow level by yourself. Hopefully we will see the same in this great game as it progresses and more additions are made. So, now you are wondering what makes this game so good, so I've listed all the new changes in v2.0 below -

• Shooting; just use CROSS/CIRCLE/TRIANGLE/SQUARE
• Powerup- Speed; Move faster, shoot faster.
• Powerup- Bullet; Your bullets now go through the blocks = massive killings!
• Powerup- Shrink; Shrinks your block, making it easier to dodge incoming squares.
• Powerup- Invincibility; Makes you invincible!
• Story Mode & Dodge Mode now available
• Added Help menu

Download: [Eaten v2.0]