And Datel does it again, dishing out Action Replay for the PSP. Good news for players who can't be bothered with minor things like health points. Their Action Replay pack is going for US$ 39.99. Details in the full article.

Noobz, creators of the monumental Pandora Battery for the Sony PlayStation Portable, has posted a statement on their site refuting the marketing claims of Datel - a purveyor of what Noobz calls a "clone" of their invention.

Noobz says warns that the statement from Datel describing their product as a "Special TOOL version of our PSP battery works in exactly the same way as a standard SONY PSP battery but has the ability to put your PSP into service mode for custom firmware use," is a misleading one that may cause disappointment and problems to those who buy it.

"You might have thought that this means that you no longer need a homebrew PSP to be able to get started with Pandora," says Fanjita in the Noobz statement. "Unfortunately, you'd be wrong. And Datel don't seem to be in any hurry to put you right."

Noobz acknowledges that the Datel battery is useful to some degree "in that it allows you to skip the step of needing a homebrew PSP to modify an existing battery." However, they're reminding everyone that a homebrew PSP is still a requirement to create the files to place on the memory stick.

"Without the special memory stick, Pandora is useless," they continue. "And no-one is able to legally give you the files required to prepare that stick without a homebrew PSP."

To conclude the statement, Noobz says that when you buy the Datel Battery, you only get the red battery. There are no instructions and disclaimers that will tell you that you need a memory stick for its full use. They also invite everyone to read user feedback from people who bought Datel's wares. You can find the link to that along with the full Noobz statement in the read link.

  

Thanks to a tip from EXTER, we've just gotten word of a new Datel product that you might want to place under close scrutiny. It's called the Datel Max Power PSP Battery, and they've got a TOOL version whose description seems a lot like the one we'd attribute to Pandora's Battery.

Here's the description on Datel's website for the TOOL version of their Max Power Battery: "Special TOOL version of our PSP battery works in exactly the same way as a standard Sony PSP battery but has the ability to put your PSP into service mode for custom firmware use (italics theirs)." The ability to place your PSP into service mode is a feature also seen in the Prometheus Project's Pandora Battery.

It'd probably take some testing to make sure that Datel's Max Power is functionally identical to Pandora's Battery. If they are similar, then members of the homebrew community should take note that you can create your own Pandora's Battery for a relatively cheap price, using the tutorials you can find on QJ along with an inexpensive second battery for your PSP. For now, we're putting this information up so that more knowledgeable members of the homebrew community can spread the word and help to sort this potential issue out.

For those who think that the Playstation Portable's out-of-the-box battery is too weak and Sony's higher capacity battery is too little value for money, Datel is about to help you out of your dilemma with the Essential Power Duo Pack.

The Power Duo Pack contains two spare batteries for a whole more bunch of gaming hours. The two MAX Power batteries are each a replacement for the PSP's regular rechargable cell. The MAX Power batteries are boasting Lithium Ion technology and should be up to par with Sony's battery, offering about ten hours per charge - at a reduced price. With a total of three batteries at your disposal, you shouldn't be afraid of having your PSP die on you for quite a while.

Seeing how I do not know of many PSP games with an unfair amount of saving opportunities, Datel's newest product might only appeal to the most paranoid of us or the people traveling for longer periods without access to a power source. But I guess it's always "better be safe than sorry"...

The Essential Power Duo Pack is out now, retails for £29.99, and, like other Datel products, can also be bought at the online store of CodeJunkies.

Having too many memory cards can be too confusing. That's why Datel Design & Development Ltd introduces a memory card that provides you up to 32 or 64 times the size of a standard card. MAX Memory for PSP comes in 1GB and 2GB versions that can store all PSP-compatible files, such as game saves, MP3s, images, and even videos. It features flash memory from Toshiba and Samsung to assure high-speed and reliable data security.

MAX Memory is now available in stores for £39.99 (approx. $74) for the 1GB model and £69.99 (approx. $130) for 2GB. You can also order MAX memory from Code Junkies.

Xlink Kai is "tunneling software" that allows you to connect with other console users around the world, and play online games for free. This means that you can play Ad-Hoc games over the internet with others!

How does it work? Xlink tricks your console into thinking that the other users it is connecting to over the Internet, are actually part of a Local Area Network (Ad-Hoc), and therefore allowing you to connect with and play against people from all over the world.

Xlink Kai has been around for a while now, so why am I writing about this? Well, up until now this could only be done with a few select wireless router models with custom firmware. The drivers used in the Datel's WiFi Max accessory previously weren't compatible with Xlink Kail; but a driver update has changed this. The latest 4.13 drivers from ZyDAS, the maker of the chipset used in the WiFi Max, has a special "PSP Xlink Mode" built in, and you've guessed it, WiFi Max users can now use Xlink Kai.

This not only means that the WiFi Max router is compatible with Xlink Kai, but other routers which use ZyDAS are also compatible with Kai. If you have a router with drivers made by ZyDAS (ZD1211), download the latest drivers now! You can read about how to configure the new drivers here, and how to set up Xlink Kai here.
Thanks for the tip Haaru!

Download: [ZyDAS ZD1211 v4.13 drivers for Windows]
Download: [ZyDAS ZD1211 v4.13 drivers for Mac]
Download: [ZyDAS ZD1211 v4.13 drivers for Linux Kernel 2.4/2.6]