While we bloggers can differentiate a good site from a bad one, we generally aren't vocal about it. Normal users can rant all day, but when we make a statement, it is counted as an official stand of the parent website. While this is normal, we do feel restricted in a way... We can't warn the people against other "bad" sites because of the sole reason that it would cause nothing but in-fighting in the scene.

But it gets different when some sites start to rip-off other people's great work and modifying it for their own glory. A few hours ago, I got a humble request from Mathieulh, Dark_Alex and harleyg. It was about the fact that a certain site, PS2NFO, was editing the readme files of homebrew releases to remove their names from the credits section. It seems that they even went to the lengths of hex-editing the applications to remove the names of Fanjita, Skylark, psp250 and Mathieulh, all of whom have been hugely responsible to get the PSP homebrew scene where it is today.

That's still not all. We also noticed the fact that the PS2NFO admin started impersonating Dark_Alex in their forums to get more glory. Mathieulh, Dark_Alex and harleyg wanted us to put this statement up on our site. Here's the official statement:

"Dark_AleX never goes to PS2NFO and never will. PS2NFO go as low as impersonating developers to make themselves seem exclusive. They lie to everyone and steal credits. They impersonated Dark_AleX several times despite our warning on Maxconsole. When people post that Dark_AleX is a fake on their forums, they just delete the post and continue to make it look like he is the real one.

Because we fear for the sake of the entire scene due to such behaviour, we have no choice but to warn as many people as possible. They also remove credits from the people they banned such as Mathieulh. When the libtiff helloworld was released, they hex edited the tiff to remove all credits apart from NOPx86. Fanjita, Skylark and psp250's name was removed. We hope they won't repeat such lame acts again and they will leave the PSP scene alone"

Now in case they think of editing their posts after seeing this, we have proof of them doing these malicious acts:

Now while this might be surprising to most of you people, we were not surprised. In fact, Fanjita had this to say in one of his posts in our forums:

"Bleh, standard practise from that site. Low pirate scum, the lot of 'em."

Here's what PS2NFO had to say after news spread that they were impersonating Dark_Alex:

"After it ran it's course for a day, we received unconfirmed reports that it wasn't the real Dark_AleX who actually posted the thread. As a result, we posted the IPs logged from the account and an offer to Contact Us for the real Dark_AleX to (re)claim his account here. Until he chooses to, we have now seized the account and I will personally use it in his absence on our boards. Not much more we can do at this"

Now while I cannot give an official statement regarding this, you guys should realise how we at QJ feel about PS2NFO. Our advice to everyone here: Stop going to that site and make sure to get untampered homebrew from any of the rest of the sites, especially from http://dl.qj.net. And make sure to spread the message to your friends!

---

The article above was created by a user on MyQJ and received enough Jumps to be automatically posted to PSP Updates. As such, it may not be accurate and does not reflect the opinions of QJ.NET or its staff.

Just as he did for the 2.50/2.60 Downdater made by Dark_Alex, Mathieulh and Yoshihiro from the SonyXTeam, Xtrusion is once again lifting the weight off our shoulders by eliminating the need to go through all the steps and instructions needed to make a successful downgrade with Downgrader 2.71 LITE.

It basically functions the same as his previous release. It's an executable with an amazing GUI, with a series of images guiding you through the set up process of the 2.71 Downdater. All you have to do is install the file just as you would any computer program, run it, connect your PSP to your computer and answer the questions with either a yes or a no.

Remember, that this is potentially dangerous to your PSP. You could end up having a bricked PSP. We can't stress that enough and so does Xtrusion. Don't say we didn't warn you.

This software is free, unlicensed and comes with no warranty.

Despite it has been tested and it has worked, a program that rewrites a big part of the flash(flash0) is always dangerous. You are the only responsible of whatever happens to your psp using this unlicensed program.

Many thanks to Nopx86, psp250, Skylark, Joek2100, CSwindle, JimP, Fanjita, hitchhikr jpeg, whackawookie, nopx86, [Having], tyranog, joshrulez, gamefreax.de, pspgen.com and whackawookie.

Download: [Downgrader 2.71 LITE]

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Update:

• Will this work on 2.80?
  Some commenters keep insisting that this works on the 2.80. Some commenters keep insisting that it will brick your 2.80 if you try it. A word of sanity: until the developer says that it works on 2.80, it's probably a bad idea to try it on a 2.80.
• How do I turn off comments by unregistered users?
  FYI for Registered users: some of you have complained about all the spam (we're dealing with the worst of it but the comments are coming in faster than we can handle right now). You have a temporary solution: above the very first comment you see a drop-down menu next to the words "Unregistered Comments." Select "Hide" to hide all comments by unregistered users.

Today hundreds of PSP's will say hello to the world as they run their first piece of homebrew - the "Hello World" application. This will be made possible by a new exploit found that does not require one to own a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, but rather load a simple image off of your memory stick. This remarkable demonstration can be executed on 2.0, 2.01, 2.50, 2.60, 2.70, 2.71, and 2.80 firmwares!

 

If you are stumbling while reading this sentence, I wouldn’t be surprised. I just told you that you are now able to execute a homebrew application on 2.0-2.80 firmware. Now that you know it is possible, you are probably wondering how. With the combined effort of several dedicated users – NOPx86 (provided the original x86 proof of concept), psp250, skylark, joek2100, jimp, cswindle and Fanjita, they have managed to execute the first piece of homebrew on all firmwares above (and including) 2.0!

 

Less than a week ago, Fanjita dropped by our forums to tell us that a newly discovered exploit is indeed genuine and a usable exploit. This “exploit” started off as a discovery by NOPx86 in libtiff. He managed to find vulnerability and as a result – alter it to crash the PSP and many other image viewers. Fanjita, NOPx86 and the rest of this exploit team have put their hearts and souls into this exploit, and as a result they were able to execute a Hello World application on all PSP’s with the ability to view tiff files (2.0+). This application runs in "User Mode", but kernel mode will be achievable on all firmwares except 2.80.

 

To execute this “Hello World” application on your 2.0+ PSP, please follow the following directions -

1. Unpack the ZIP file to your PSP's PHOTO folder
2. Navigate to your PSP's PHOTO director and attempt to view the newly transferred picture

Note: You may find that the screen does not show correct (occasionally happens) - just restart your PSP (fully shutoff by holding the power button up) and open the picture again.

Here at PSPUpdates, there isn't anything more exciting than news on a new exploit working, and this is no exception. Please feel free to share your shouts of joy below in our comments section as many have or will be going back to school soon - this comes at the best of times! We will continue to cover this breaking news as it happens, so you can rest peacefully without the fear of missing something.

Download: [Hello World Application for 2.0-2.80 PSP's]


[Digg This!]

Adrian (thanks for the tip!) has sent us word of a video that shows the PSP's libtiff vulnerability in action. For those of you who haven't heard of the libtiff vulnerability before, its a vulnerability which leads to the PSP crashing which could possibly lead to an exploit allowing homebrew to be run. Although Sony were supposed to have 'patched' firmwares 2.01+ for any image browser vulnerabilities, it appears that this one slipped the net. This means that although it hasn't been confirmed, this exploit could be present in firmwares up to 2.80.

The video put together by block10 shows the libtiff vulnerability crashing a 1.50 PSP DevHook-ed up to 2.71. As QJ's Jake said a few days ago: Even if this only works on lower firmwares, it will usher in the age of GTA-less homebrew for 2.01+ PSP's, which will be a welcome change for homebrew enthusiasts. Work on this exploit is continuing, and the guys you need to thank for finding this are NOPx86 (for originally finding this vunerability) psp250, Fanjita and Skylark for working on this. Developers can discuss this in the Developers Dungeon whereas normal forum users can find the appropriate thread in our PSP Hacks Forum.

Read: [libtiff Exploit Discussion - Developer's Dungeon]
Read: [libtiff Exploit Discussion - PSP Hacks Forum]

Our PSP forums have been abuzz lately with the talk of a possible new exploit centered around a libtiff vulnerability. Discussion started in our Developer's Dungeon when a message was relayed from NOPx86 stating that he'd managed to crash the PSP using this method. As those of you who follow these things know, a crash doesn't always mean an open door to an exploit.

But after a cumulative 60 hours of work and research put in by Skylark and psp250 (with a little help from Fanjita), they can confirm that NOPx86's method is indeed valid and opens the door for a new exploit. They have confirmed that it will work on 2.0 and 2.01 PSP's, and could potentially work on firmware as high as 2.80 - although at this moment, this is unconfirmed.

But even if this only works on lower firmwares, it will usher in the age of GTA-less homebrew for 2.01+ PSP's, which will be a welcome change for homebrew enthusiasts.

Work and research on applying this exploit into a publicly usable form will take some time, and it will take even more time to put this to use on PSP's with higher firmware, but there definitely are possibilities. As always, we'll keep you up to date on this developing story as soon as more information becomes available.

Feel free to check out the two topics on our forums discussing this latest breakthrough - please note that while the Developer Dungeon can be read by all registered users, only developers may post there so they can work without user interruption.

Read: [libtiff Exploit Discussion - Developer's Dungeon]
Read: [libtiff Exploit Discussion - PSP Hacks Forum]

[Digg it!]