The rumor mill has chucked out another one on the PSP 2.

The rumor now goes that Sony will be introducing the PSP-4000, the successor of the PSP Brite, in late 2009. This will be followed with the release of the next-generation PSP 2 "later."

If you've been following the recent chronicles about that PSP 2 rumor, here's some more fodder. Image renders have surfaced from labs of Imagination Technology, the guys who are supposedly providing the graphics chip for the PSP 2, showing the potential of the SGX core.

Epic Games CEO and founder Tim Sweeney expressed his opinion on the flagging state of the PC gaming industry. In an interview conducted by TG Daily, he pointed out the different problems the PC marke t is facing as well as some possible solutions the industry can take if it wants to make some headway against its rivals. You can check out the rest of the interview by reading our full article, accessible through the "read more" link below.

Homebrew developer Zx-81 dropped by our forums to announce the release of the PSP-ZX81 v1.1.0 for the PSP. This version introduces IR keyboard support, compatibility with custom firmware 3.x and the PSP Slim, a new and improved speed limiter function and more. In case you missed our previous coverage on this application, it is an emulator for the Sinclair ZX81 computer running on Unix systems.

The download link and change log can be found in the full article.

It's been quite a while since Zx-81 last updated his homebrew emu PSPColem, a ColecoVision emulator for the PSP. After releasing v1.0.7 nearly two months ago, we're glad to inform you that he has rolled out v1.0.8 which packs in a whole lotta changes, fixes, and updates.

Changelog:

• Save state files are now saved using gzip compression (with STZ as file extention). It's much faster to save or load states now. You can use gzip or 7-zip to convert old STA to STZ. STA file format is still supported for loading, so you convert your previous saved files inside the emulator.
• Save state dates are displayed in the emulator window (it's now easier to identify and to load the right save state slot)
• New graphical functions with new smoother render modes. It uses the PSP GPU for rendering, it does not run faster, but it's a lot smoother.
• Add a new fullscreen option (render mode max)
• Bug fix in Rom file requester
• Multiple keyboard mapping feature (Thanks to Pou-chan): You can now toggle between three differents keyboard mapping
  

As you know, this release is under the GNU public license, so if you're interested, make sure you read the COPYING.txt file for more info. And as usual, we recommend you check out the readme file in this one as it includes the installation and usage instructions.

Download: PSPColem v1.0.8
Visit: PSP Development Forum

LTE Studios showed their support to budding and even seasoned homebrew developers when they took the wraps off a free, custom made 3D engine- the LTE 3D Engine. Now, they continue to show that support as they have recently updated this helpful app to version 2.0. Aside from that, the app now sports a different name, so let us all welcome the LTE Game Engine 2.0.

The first release was not free of some bugs and the recent version definitely provides a remedy to most of its known issues. To start using this app, you can refer to our earlier report as the process is still the same. It also wouldn't hurt if you read the provided readme file, and while you're at it, go ahead an also read the license file that comes with the download. The latest version has a lot of features and general speed improvements.

And on a more personal note, we would like to thank Alexmae for the tip. So with all that aptly mentioned, let's go over the changelog:

• Changed name from LTE 3D Engine to LTE Game Engine
• Added support for Mipmapped textures. Mipmapping gives an high speed improvement. By default all textures are mipmapped, you can disable this feature with driver->setTextureCreationFlag(video::ETCF_CREATE_MIP_MAPS, false);
• Clipping comes necessary when your meshes has big triangles, but for model and object meshes (like the character) this is not necessary. By default now clipping is not enabled by default: if you need the engine to clip your mesh type node->setMaterialFlag(video::EMF_CLIPPING, true);
• Mesh triangle subdivision: Now it's possible to subidive the triangles of your meshes wich sides are greater than a value. You can do this using the Mesh Manipulator: SceneManager->getMeshManipulator()->subdivideTriangles(YourMesh, MaxSideSize)
• Added support for rendering into textures. This feature is very common, and the engine now can do it. Look at the RenderToTexture example for further information.
• Multitexturing is now supported. This feature is limited because it doesn't support multi texture coordinates, and it takes one more rendering pass (PSP GPU doesn't support one-pass multi texturing). Look at the SpecialFX example for further information.
• Added Sphere mapping: this effect is now supported. To enable sphere mapping for your scene node type node->setMaterialType(video::EMT_SPHERE_MAP).
• Added B3D Mesh support with full bone animator.
• Added celshading effect for your IAnimatedMeshSceneNode. To enable this feature for your scene node simply do: node->addCelshadingSceneNode(). Look at the documentation for further information.
• Added support for Dynamic Shadows. Look at the Dynamic Shadow example for further  information.
• Added ATRAC3 Audio support. Note that you can set position, get position, get duration, only for mp3 audio files.
• Now the File Browser sort the list pushing the folder on the top of the list.
• The speed of the mouse cursor is proportional to the current frame rate, this allows to use the cursor also at lower framerate.
• General speed improvement
• A Lot of Bug fixes
• Changed the intro logo screen and music effect

Download: [LTE Game Engine 2.0]
Link: [LTE 3D Engine Official Documentation]

OpenBoR (Beats of Rage) is back with the latest update and we can tell you there's a lot of new things in here. SamuraiX and Fugue continue their winning collaboration on this game and here is just a few of the spanking new things you'll find in v2.0049.

From SamuraiX:

• New variables are used in levels.txt

• completebg 1 Shows complete.gif for stage complete.
• pscore x,y,x,y,x,y This controls placement for players name, dash, score.
• p1namej x,y & p2namej x,y This controls placement for Select Hero, Name Text, continue, credits and gameover when joining in game.
• scomplete x,y,x,y,x,y This controls placement for Stage, #, Complete.
• cbonus x,y,x,y,x,y This controls placement for Clear Bonus, #, #.
• lbonus x,y,x,y,x,y This controls placement for Life Bonus, #, #.
• tscore x,y,x,y,x,y This controls placement for Total Score, #, #.

• Implemented Hardware Acceleration on the SDL Version for better and smoother appearance in full screen mode
• Removed times completed from settings.sav
• Various fixes from v48
• Implemented GPU support on the PSP. Mods now run at 150+ fp

From Fugue:

New Attack Types. There are three new attack types: attack2, attack3, and attack4. They work just like shock, burn, and attack. The only difference is that they don't change to the last frame of the normal FALL animation when their FALL animation is finished (shock and burn both do this). These also have custom PAIN, FALL, and DEATH animations, naturally (PAIN2, FALL2, DEATH2, PAIN3, FALL3, etc.).

Download: [OpenBoR (Beats of Rage) v2.0049]
Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]


More of Fugue's updates after the jump!

With all talks of Custom Firmwares rounding the PSP scene, jas0nuk has thought of making apps that will make the contribute to the hype. First, he came up with the Custom Firmware Recovery.ELF Tester that allowed custom firmware users to test a recovery.elf file in the memory stick before doing it in the flash memory. Today, he presents us with a "module adds 'extensions' to your 1.50 VSH/XMB that can be accessed via keypresses".

VSHExtender v0.1 is partially based on Booster's code but was rewritten for firmware 1.5. The developer suggests that this application be used with Dark_AleX's custom firmware or any custom firmware which allows users to add external modules (Harleyg's counted).

jas0nuk admits that the features of the VSHExtender may not seem impressive for now, but with this base he says that it will be easier for him to add new features later on. With that, here are the features:

- Press HOME + SELECT in the XMB to change the CPU and GPU speeds, steps are 133/66, 222/111, 266/133, and 333/166
- Press HOME + CIRCLE in the XMB to change the CPU speed to 30MHz and the GPU to 50MHz. This makes the XMB become a little laggy but is fine for playing AT3 music or AVC video as this is hardware decoded
- Press HOME + L TRIGGER to execute ms0:/PSP/SYSTEM/DEVBOOT.PBP - this is yet ANOTHER way of booting DevHook instantly into 2.71 firmware, but now you can do it after startup
- Press HOME + R TRIGGER to get battery percentage, voltage and temperature information.

Installing this application is easy. Just add the line loadmodule0 = "ms0:/PSP/SYSTEM/vshex.prx" to the config.txt in ms0:/PSP/SYSTEM. If the said line is already taken, an alternate line will be loadmodule1 = "ms0:/PSP/SYSTEM/vshex.prx" or loadmodule2 = "ms0:/PSP/SYSTEM/vshex.prx" or loadmodule3 = "ms0:/PSP/SYSTEM/vshex.prx", etc...

The developer said he's tested this mod 'countless times' and claims that it worked fine with Dark_AleX's and Harleyg's custom firmwares.

If you want to see other features in later releases or you have encountered any bugs or you just want to give a shout-out to jas0nuk, feel free to voice your thoughts in the comments section or in the forum release thread.

Download: [VSHExtender v0.1 for 1.50 with Custom Firmware]
Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]