PSP coder uberjack just announced that the SMS Plus emulator homebrew has received an update. This latest release has been labelled as v1.2.3, and features improvements such as enhanced emulation speed, and various other bug fixes:

• 20% speedup in emulation speed with new 8-bit video rendering
• Option to turn off FM emulation (an additional 48% improvement in emulation speed - all games now play at 100% speed with VSync enabled)
• Various small bug fixes
  

In case you're wondering, this application is actually uberjack's PSP port of Charles MacDonald's SMS (Sega Master System) Plus emulator, with this release coded in C. Installation and usage details should be available in the readme provided with the download - make sure to check that to know how to run SMS Plus. Also make sure to check out uberjack's other emulator's works, namely ColEM-PSP and fMSX-PSP.

Download: SMS Plus PSP v1.2.3

A new homebrew emulator for the Sony PlayStation Portable has been added to Uberjack's list of homebrew emulator releases. This time, the fMSX-PSP and ColEM-PSP coder has released a Sega Master System and Game Gear emulator called SMS Plus PSP.

SMS Plus PSP is a PSP port of Charles MacDonald's SMS Plus emulator. The coder says that SMS Plus PSP was written in C and uses GU (Graphical Utility toolkit) for rendering. This is an initial release, so we don't have a changelog to post yet. If you encounter any bugs or would like to make a suggestion, click on the Via link below.

Don't forget to read the readme file included in the download. There, you'll find all the pertinent info including installation and usage instructions.

Download: SMS Plus v1.2.1

Mooser has just posted an update for Ontgem, his email application for the Sony PSP, over on our PSP Development forums. This latest update adds an SMS messaging feature and bumps Ontgem up to version 0.02.

Ontgem is, as stated earlier, a simple email application for the Sony PSP handheld system. Mooser coded this homebrew app in LUA, and it uses Youresam's netlib as well as Cancan's port of Danzel's Danzeff OSK. Here are some of the controls that aren't displayed in the app:

• Save (needs to be done in order to send) - Select button
• Back - Start button

You can download Ontgem v0.02 by clicking on the download link below. For bug reports, comments, and suggestions, don't hesitate to discuss this release on QJ's PSP Development forums by clicking on the Visit link below.

Download: Ontgem v0.02
Visit: QJ's PSP Development forums

PSP homebrew coder xchinamanx dropped by the QJ.Net Forums earlier to announce that the PSP Phone Tool app has just been upgraded to version 1.00.

The PSP Phone Tool homebrew application, for those asking, allows PSP users to send text messages to over 20 different phone servers via the PSP's WiFi connection and built-in web browser - confirmation on whether it runs fine on Fullscreen Browser will be greatly appreciated. Now, moving on to the ever-important changelog:

• Fixed rogers html error
• Fixed telus "send" link
• Added txtforfree
• Added pageme
• Added CBFSMS (for UK)
• Added Gizmosms
• Added new menu/logo
• Added new instructions in phone notify(also resized)
• Gizmo SMS have all networks, so it'll work on every country and every service. (some not tested) note that phone number format must be with space.
• Canada/US users : if you cant find the phone service, you can use gizmo sms.
• UK users : you can use CBFsms which is mainly for the UK, gizmo will also work
• Other country users : again Gizmo sms will work, but pageme might work too.
  

As the bundle lacks a README, we strongly advise readers and future users to head over to xchinamanx's release thread over at the QJ.Net Forums - full installation and usage instructions await there. The download awaits below, which should be your next stop. Enjoy!

Download: PSP Phone Tool v1.00
Visit: PSP Development Forum

Brunni has updated his MMSPlus Sega Master System and Game Gear Emulator for the PSP today to version 1.1. This emulator is undoubtedly one of the best SMS emulators around, with no shortage of updates to add new features and bug fixes so that you can play all of your roms on your PSP at full speed.

MMSPlus has been coded in C and was based off the original source of SMSPlus, a PC SMS emulator by Charles Macdonald. You'll also be pleased to know that most SMS games run perfectly at 166 MHz and Game Gear at 133 MHz. Here's whats been added since the last release:

• Added VGM support for the menu (VGMs are SMS music files)
• Added VGM GD3 tag support
• Added Screenshot option. Screenshots will be saved as png to a MMSPlus folder in Photo.
• Major GUI update
• Disabled returning to game after choosing exit from the menu. Previously after choosing exit from the menu it would show the last game loaded briefly before returning to the xmb.
• A number of minor bug fixes

Thanks for the tip Mister Chief!

  

Download: [MMSPlus SMS Emulator v1.1]
Discuss: [Forum release thread]

[Bo]Trops has released another version of his homebrew Sega Master System and Game Gear emulator called PSPMaster today, updating it to v009 beta4. PSPMaster is one of the favourite SMS/Game Gear emulators for the PSP for a couple of reasons, firstly for the huge feature list and the amount of compatible ROMs, and secondly for the amount of updates that [Bo]Trops fires out on a regular basis. The last version of PSPMaster was released not even a week ago! Here's the v009 beta4 changelog:

• New high definition renders. Be sure to change the CPU clock to 300MHz to get a decent speed.
• Some minor changes

Now the changelog isn't massive, but the addition of new high definition renders is a huge update and as long as your PSP's battery is charged up enough to run at 300Mhz then you will notice a significant graphics improvement. This is one of the few emulators that still comes in firmware 1.0 and 1.5 formatted eboots so make sure you download the correct one!

Download: [PSPMaster v009 beta4 fw1.5]
Download: [PSPMaster v009 beta4 fw1.0]

Thanks to yoyomacy, text2phone support is now available for PSP eMail and SMS v2 by cools (thanks for the heads up!). It connects to cellphone and an ordinary home phone pretty quickly, even if tested several times. This enables more stability on your emails and SMS.

To get text2phone running, your lua player must be WiFi capable. The Up/Down control in the main screen allows you to choose between To, From, the Subject and the Message, while the Analog pad allows you to choose letters using custom danzeff port. The X button on the Send Screen allows you to send, while the Triangle button lets you leave the Send Screen.

Download: [PSP eMail and SMS v2 Text2phone]

Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]

  

SMS">yoyomacy has created a homebrew application that looks very promising. The Lua Text2Fone allows you to type in messages and a phone number in your PSP, and when the person picks up the phone, they can hear what you wrote (like a computer's voice). It is still a demo version so it only allows about 2 calls every hour or so, for now.

To install the demo version, download the Lua Text2Fone file then place it in your lua/APPLICATIONS/ folder. Then edit your contacts.txt to change phone number and message. Of course, we urge you to read the readme.txt file before installing.

To those who are wondering if there'll be charges when messages are sent, yoyomacy assured users that they won't be charged in any way, as it's not the same as SMS (text message). Future versions of this app might just allow message recipients to send messages back. Now, that would be awesome!

Download: [Lua Text2Fone]
Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]

Cools' (theriddlingsphinx) latest addition to his download worthy games and applications, like PSP Tic Tac Toe, PSP Monopoly and Lua Player Mod is the PSP eMail and SMS. According to his email to QJ, this was sitting on top of his desktop for who knows how long and he just one day decided to finish it. Aren't we all glad he did? Thank you so much cools! Here's what else he has to say about his application:

I found this on my desktop and decided to finish it! It uses the danzeff input to write emails and text messages for ease of use. This is my custom port of danzeff to lua and you will notice that you will not need to hold down L or R when typing some characters on screen, because it will scroll through them (seems a little confusing, but after use its ok). It will use wifi connection 1 be default, you can change it manually if you want, in the future I plan on being able to select which connection. Email works! but it seems like you MIGHT have to exit out if you are planning on sending more than one email... I haven't gotten text messaging (SMS) to work, but it should. This will become more developed in the near future.

Install it as you would any Lua application. After installation, fill out the necessary fields and press the Select button to choose between SMS and Email and presto!

Download: [PSP eMail and SMS]

The NeoFlash Coding Competition seems to be a perfect venue for people with oodles of talent. And it's a good thing too, as users get to have loads of interesting applications to try.

One such interesting application is the MMSPlus made by Brunni. According to the dev, it's a port from the SMSPlus with "improved compatibility and good speed ." Moreover the dev adds that "most SMS games run perfectly at 166 MHz and Game Gear at 133 MHz."

Itching to know more its other features? Take a look at this list:

• It can play GYM music files (Files are placed in a ZIP file, used as a playlist. 6 sample GYMs are included, simply load music.zip in the emulator directory.)
• Nice interface, skinnable and with a lot of options.
• Save state images are generated in real time rather than being stored in the save file itself. Note that sonic blast gradients are rendered correctly.
• You can redefine all keys, including shortcuts (like state change/save/load, turbo mode, pause, reset), and there is an auto-repeat feature.
• You can also set the in-game screen as a background, useful to continue at the heart of action.
• Nice icons by Phoebius
• Backgrounds by Japi.
• MMSPlus features a rich interface with simple effects and good usability.
• It's fully skinnable.

On a final note, Brunni says that he "implemented GYM support during these last days" so you might want to give it a test run to check for bugs. Isn't that an invitation to check out his cool homebrew app or what?

Download: [MMSPlus by Brunni]