There might be a lot of things that screwed up for Windows Vista, but you gotta admit, the OS is purrty. PSP homebrew developer fou2psp seems to think so too, hence this Vista-themed shell, which also comes with a PSOne emulator. Developer notes coming after the jump.


Download: vvista v2.0

Feeling kinda incredulous as to the up and coming Custom Firmware 3.95? Don't worry, we have just the thing to soothe all your worries away. Over at the full article is the video proof for the said project. Interested, we're sure you are. Then head on over and see it for yourself.

2006 was a heck of a year for the PSP, ain't it? You got people who wanted to write it off, but in the end the world that revolved around Sony's little handheld that rallied together and punched stuff out that made people take notice. Great released and upcoming games, from Loco Roco to MPO to even Full Auto 2, surprisingly, that show that the PSP can be more than just game-on-the-go and PS2 ports. The launch of the PS3 with its PSOne emulator and Remote Play. (And let's not forget the other side of the PSP world, who've also had their own reasons to celebrate).

Eh, but the champagne corks have been popped, and we're still hung over, and now it seems that in wine there is prophecy... or outright silliness. We've decided to come up with a list of a few forecasts we have for the PSP because, well, it don't hurt to dream. More to the point, with such a great ending for the PSP in 2006, we want to believe that the trend can be continued through 2007. So many dreams, ideas, rumors, speculations, and blue-sky guesses to entertain.

Well, except for the last item in the list. That one's a byproduct of endlessly toasting the New Year.

PSP redesign announced. Not necessarily a PSP2, even if the rumors are flying as thick as the fireworks at the stroke of midnight. The most conservative estimates we've got point to an announcement in late 2007, for potential release somewhere in the following two years - probably long enough to get much worth out of gamers' investments in THIS generation's PSP. Those conservative estimates also point to an 8-12GB flash memory, still the same 333mhz clock speed, a better analog nub, and instead of UMDs, the games will come on proprietary flash chips, or be DL'd off the net.

But hey, perhaps this writer could be bolder. Fortune, after all, favors that. Could it be, you and I never imagined... a dual-core PSP? Or even a Cell (re)designed for the PSP. And finally, the full DualShock2 control suite (four shoulders, two sticks), but still in a slim yet ergonomic format. Who knows?

Even more great games, thank God. This season will get off to a good running start with three words: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (yes, I consider FFVII as one word), and that's just at the previews. And it won't stop there for the PSP, either. Enough said. But guess what we found out? Remember when Kojima Productions' Ryan Payton said they'd like to do an MPO sequel if the sales are hot enough? Well, sales ARE hot, and we just found indicators that there WILL be a sequel! Guess we can't quit you, Big Boss. Hey, let all the devs take notice of this. PSP games can be done right. So do them right.

More images from the crystal ball - or from the bottom of the champagne bottle - at the full article.

If the great news with regards to 2.80 kernel dumping wasn't enough for those who were on lower firmwares, Dark_AleX's latest release of 3.02 OE-A will definitely make your day! Don't worry, while the name makes it sound like a totally different hack, it is in essence, just like the earlier SE firmwares. What you get with the latest version is amazing to say the least.

Here's the full list of new features in 3.02 OE-A:

• 3.02 Custom Firmware - 3.02 firmware environment with 1.50 homebrew capability.
  
• Can run homebrew using 3.02 kernel
• UMD Video region free
• PSP kernel region selector
• O/X button selector
• WMA enabling option
• Flash player enabling option
• Pops (SCE PSONE emulator) - DRM protection hacked (Which means that you can now your game on more than one psp, and share them over the internet)

The installation is just like the previous custom firmwares by Dark_AleX. Nonetheless, here's a guide:

Generating the DATA.DXAR:

1. Copy oeupdmaker and oeupdmaker% to /PSP/GAME/ if you are using 1.50 firmware and to X:/PSP/GAME150 if you are using whatever version of 2.71 Se.
2. Get the 1.50 and 3.02 Update eboots in the oeupdmaker folder with the names "150.PBP" and "302.PBP".
3. Run oeupdmaker. This program will create a file called DATA.DXAR in the same directory (oeupdmaker).
4. The program will verify that the SHA-1 of the generated file is correct.
5. Once that you have done this, you can save the DATA.DXAR file to skip this step in the future.

Flashing DATA.DXAR:

1. Copy the directories oeflasher and oeflasher% to /PSP/GAME (or /PSP/GAME150 if you are on 2.71 SE)
2. Copy the generated DATA.DXAR from oeupdmaker to oeflasher directory.
3. Run the flasher. If your battery is less than 75%, the program will show the error saying so and will return you to the XMB. This check can be by passed at your own risk by executing the program with triangle and L pressed.
4. The program will continue showing an agreement. Press X to accept and flash the custom firmware, or R to cancel and exit to the XMB.
5. If you accept, the program will flash the custom firmware. Don't shutdown the PSP and don't remove the memory stick.
6. Once finished, shutdown the psp and restart manually to 3.02 OE :)

Again, the latest release is nothing more than revolutionary, the key features being 3.02 VSH and the PSONE emulation hacks. Unfortunately, this release is not aimed at TA-082 users, so all the TA-082ers will have to keep wishing and praying for some magic. For the rest who're on their 2.71 SE firmwares, this represents the next golden firmware...Enjoy!

(A last minute note - occasionally this program will result in a blue screen error, but this is not harmful. Just restart and try again.)

Download Link: [3.02 OE-A by Dark_AleX]

Even if the only French that you know "Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir. Voulez vous coucher avec moi" (which If I'm not mistaken means something suggestive), you'd have a good time browsing through PSP Gen.

Especially with updates on the PSOne emulator PSX-P, who would mind the language barrier? According to magiXien, PSP Gen's Site Administrator, Yoshihiro (yes that Yoshiro) came to one of their LAN parties with his latest version of the emulator. Admittedly, there isn't much changes made since the video has been released, except that a small window of opportunity and a glimmer of hope has appeared when he saw Ridge Racer launch (we reiterate on "launch" the FPS isn't much to speak of) using PSX-P.

I leave this quote from magiXien open for interpretation, because the online translation failed to give a comprehensive translation: "Then, as opposed to what I had promised to you, I indeed did not put on line the very first version of this emulator at the request of Yoshihiro because it wishes releaser beta more succeeded a little. The negotiation continues…: -)…

And at the same time, the exit of the downgrader 2.71 seems to have made its office with more than 3000 connected people, at the strongest moment of the evening, on PSPGEN including 784 on the forum. It should be noted that our very new waiter of yesterday after midday, did not support the shock…

Once again, I point out that this adventure is in hand and that the project advances as quickly as possible. The objectives are a challenge and PSP-GENERATION supports the project and our team hopes, like you, that that will succeed."

Here's something that caught the eye of just about everyone back at QJ. It's a scan of what appears to be a UK PSP magazine that has appeared across the Internet. The magazine claims to know what dates the EyeToy, GPS, PSOne emulator, Video calling and PS3 connectivity will come into effect.

Although we cannot be sure what the dates actually mean as we don't have a scan of the full page at our disposal, it is safe to assume the magazine has either predicted these dates or got them from a source inside Sony. According to the page, the PSP EyeToy adaptor will be the first of these new features to be available to the public, coming in as early as September. Then comes the GPS adaptor in October, followed by the long-awaited PSOne emulator also in October, along with video calling. PS3 support will bring up the rear in what we suspect will be a firmware launch around November.

This all seems great, but the question on the tongue of every homebrew fanatic out there at the moment is one of two: Will we be able to use the features somehow on firmware 1.5 (hopefully through using something like DevHook), and will these firmwares be compatible with Undiluted Platinum?

Its a sure bet that Sony will try their best to make 1.5 users upgrade with all these updates, and I can just see Sony making an order for an Undiluted Platinum modchip now to test out it's functionality and figure out how to stop it working on future Sony firmware releases. Lets just hope that another developer will come along and rescue us,  just like Fanjita and Ditlew with the eLoader, MPH with his downgrader and Booster has with DevHook.

Update: Thanks to Link88 sending us some scans by "logic 3 keyboard", we've got some more complete images of this article from the UK's Official Playstation 2 Magazine, as well as some new details. Most of the information comes from the 2006 PlayStation Business Briefing which states that 15 million PSP's have been shipped across the globe, which they claim has made it "the fastest selling console ever".

Aside from the peripherals mentioned above, Sony also plans to make the PSP Browser capable of watching streaming video over the internet, as well as the possibility to save these videos to the PSP for later viewing.

The GPS peripheral will interestingly enough have an impact on various games! In the next version of Hot Shots Golf the GPS will be used to determine your location and allow you to download game content only available for that area. The big surprise here is that Ken Kutaragi said that there are GPS-ready games "on shelves now." Who knows, you may have one of these GPS-enabled games in your PSP right now. The magazine even hypothesizes that the GPS add-on could be used to track down nearby PSP owners for multiplayer madness.

Of course there's a bit of talk about the PSOne emulator, mentioning that you'll be able to download and save games to your memory stick using Sony's "E-distribution system." And as you can probably see clearly in the image, 7,000 PSone titles will be available for the PSP, including favorites such as Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Final Fantasy VII & VIII, Silent Hill, and Tomb Raider.

And last but not least, there's a slight mention that the PSP will be able to be used as a controller for the PS3... and while that's expected, I would suspect that it will be more of a peripheral than a "PS3 controller with a screen".