Raphael's nostalgic recount of how the PMP Mod has turned into what we now know as PMP Mod AVC will surely send loyal followers of this media application tumbling down memory lane. He referred to his post as a "malloc revival" version of PMP Mod, and inevitably lead to how Malloc was the first one to mod Jonny's original and how in turn, that got him started on his own mods.

We're pretty sure that you already have an idea on what changes have been made throughout the years, so I'll spare you the lengthy changelog. And the latest of these changes will also be added to the standard version PMP Mod 2.02, after polishing some more details.

As a reward for reading this article about memories and reveries, we're giving you Raphael's latest FontGen v.06, and as he explains on his post, "It adds back all Windows codepages from 1250-1258. This was necessary, because some of the ISO8859 fonts weren’t compatible with subtitles generated in windows and led to wrong output of the subtitles (cyrillic for example)."

Thanks Raphael for the tip!

Download: [Fontgen v0.6]

Today we are going to break open our precious PSP's once again. This time for some nice cosmetic enhancements. Right off the bat I would like to warn this is a moderately difficult modification. However with the necessary tools and some patience you will be on your way to a sweet looking PSP in no time. I see you sitting there at your PC palming your PSP as  I speak, so without further ado let's hop to it...

Supplies:

In order to perform this modification you will need a few tools and supplies. Everything should be available from Radio Shack. Just this last time when I went in they did not carry 26 Gauge Wire (AWG). I'm not sure if this is only my location or nationwide so I have specified other places to obtain parts.

Two SMT LED's (Surface Mount) - eBay
Soldering Iron and Solder - Radio Shack, Ebay, etc. (many places)
26 Gauge Wire - Sometimes marked AWG - Usually available at Radio Shack [eBay, Mouser]
Shrink Wrap / Electrical Tape
10 ohm resistor - eBay, Mouser
Drill - optional
Small Phillips and Flat Head Screwdrivers

A few items you will need [ Battery and Penny shown for size comparison]

First remove your faceplate. This is what the phillips is for so break it out and get to work. A few screws on the back (including in your battery compartment. Finally a single screw on the bottom will allow you access to the inside of your PSP. Here's the next few steps, check the image below as a guide.

1. First we need to remove the home bar assembly. This is the bottom row including Home, screen brightness etc. Find the clip on the right and use your small screwdriver to flip it up to remove the cable. Then slide your Home Bar Assembly off the LCD screen.
2. This part is a bit more tricky. Take your flat head screwdriver and place it in the square holes marked above. Then press in gently and pry the screen upwards. I unclip two on the same side [left or right] then the screen pops out easily.
3. Now that you are able to life the screen upwards you will have access to the 2 cables that connect the LCD screen to your PSP. Gently pry the larger of the two up like you did previously with the Home Bar Assembly. When you get to the smaller of the two wires carefully pull the wire out. When removing the wire make sure not to pull up on the wire, and just pull directly away from its connection.
4. Now your LCD will be completely unattached from your PSP. Place it to the side and remove the screws that are marked in the image above. There are 7 screws in total (place these to the side as well). Now you can remove the LCD mounting bracket.

Chaos, not quite. A few simple steps and you will be ready to proceed.

First you will need to remove the triggers from their spot on the top left and right of the PSP (Ok, I think we know where the triggers are). So once you have removed them now...

Its Decision Making Time!

Well folks, heres the decisive moment. You need to decide if you are going to drill into your PSP Triggers or not. I personally found it to be better in the long run however there are a few advantages and disadvantages both ways. For example, If you choose to not drill into your triggers the light emitted from your LED will be a bit more dim then it would be if you do use the drill. Drilling could also be potentially dangerous since the triggers themselves are rather small. You could also ruin your Triggers since there is a slight possibility of drilling straight through your Trigger. If you are inexperienced in certain areas theres no harm in asking someone for help. (This feels kinda like one of those pick your own adventure books.)

If you don't want to drill into your PSP Triggers click Next Page...

If you are going to drill into your PSP Triggers click Full Article...

Lumines is as engaging as its creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi. That was proven at the Develop conference just today, when he enthralled the audience as he discussed what inspired his colorful career. Described as a "creative visionary" by no less than Sony Computer Entertainment head honcho Phil Harrison, Mizuguchi said that  gaming had been like a sponge for the last 30 years. He's been influenced by different aspects of entertainment, technology, and culture. He said, "You can use influences from anywhere and create anything you like. There does not have to be any shape or format, all you need is inspiration."

With that as a backdrop, he revealed that Ninety-Nine Nights was inspired by a TV coverage of the Iraqi War where media played the harbinger of a multitude of opposing viewpoints. In part, the game was also inspired by the movie 'Rashomon', where different witnesses to a brutal crime tell a different story. In N3, players are offered different viewpoints, all with compelling effect. To Mizuguchi, it's "a deep part of being human; the ability to see things from different perspectives."

Lumines, the puzzle game based on sound and light patterns, was inspired by the PSP, which he called a "visual Walkman". To him, it's the perfect game for the system. While visuals drove him to create Lumines, Meteos for DS was inspired by the multi-tasking environment that has become the way of life in this day and age.

His earlier works - Rez and Space Channel 5 - were influence by dance culture, the idea of invasive media, the musical Stomp, jazz, surreal art and MTV. His stint at Sega led him to create Manx TT Superbike and Sega Rally, both inspired by the popularity of racing events and the idea of movement becoming part of games. This is one guy who finds inspiration from most anything.

Getting a bit philosophical, Mizuguchi ends his speech with: "The deeper you look at people, the more they are the game. A game should fulfill a deep human need or want. Then it can be successful all over the world."

Is it just me, or are there more than the usual number of PSP updates today (compared to other Sundays)? Well, we can't really blame our good devs for being more inspired these days. With the recent birth of the 2.50/2.60 downgrader, there are bound to be more users that can appreciate their work. And nothing is sweeter than seeing your hard work appreciated by a lot of people. The guys working on the NeoGeo Emulator has joined in the fray and have released their first release candidate after four successful betas.

As always, the ever-dependable Jeff C. of QJ.net has provided us a great translation of the changelog:

• Fixed a bug in showing the game names in the file browser.
• Fixed a timer processing bug that might prevented some games from running before.
• Fixed a bug(miss) in the scanline calculation that lead to slow game summary.
• Several fixes to the game name list (zipname.dat).

Known bugs:

• The graphics of spinmast cannot be displayed (Reason: unknown)
• Tempo of the music from crswords and some other games are unstable.
• Sound effect in the demo of sonicwi2 continues. (This cannot be fixed under current specification. I have to stick to the current specification for stability and speed of the sound playback. I really hope that the PSP has faster processing speed.)

Although an RC should be better than its beta predecessors, we should expect quite a few of them released in the coming days. That's why I urge everyone to give this one a go and provide our hardworking devs your own insights on what needs to be done and what should be enhanced. Hey, that's the least we could do with the numerous updates these guys have been giving us lately.

Download: [NeoGeo RC 1]
Download: [NeoGeo RC 1 Raster Effect]

zx-81 is at it again, and this time he has released the latest version of PSPCAP32 CPC emulator for the PSP in our PSP Development Forum. This application effectively emulates the Amstrad CPC 8-bit home computer range (models CPC6128, CPC464 and CPC664).

The following are the new features added to PSPCAP32 version 1.1.0:

• There are new keyboard files from Loic Daneels (games amount to more than 380.
• Designing and adding your own virtual keyboard images is possible in the graphics directory.
• Modifying the file requester to separately memorize the last locations/directory of snapshot, disk image and keyboard has been made more convenient for users.
• Adding a red LED to show CPC floppy disk access is now possible.
• Bugs fixes have been made for the SHIFT and CONTROL keys and for the analog pad handler to work.
  

Two binary versions (for 1.5 FW and 2.+ FW) have been provided in the zip archive. Refer to the README.txt file for more information on how to use this.

Download: [PSPCAP32: Amstrad CPC Emulator for PSP v1.1.0]
Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]