PspDirectOnline.info

Well, thats some surprise considering it to be from Sony themselves trying to cause the extinction of the UMD.

"I think we definitely thought about it," he said. "I think that's the trend moving forward."

With the recently announced ability to purchase movies on a Playstation 3 and move them over to a Playstation Portable, and as the cost of memory continues to drop, the chance that a new Playstation Portable would include some sort of internal storage option is becoming increasingly likely, Tretton said.

New of the push toward digitally distributed movies through the Playstation Store is also like to impact UMD's already flagging movie sales, he added.

"I think the UMD has struggled," he said. "And that's an understatement. That's been a very frustrating thing. I don't think (UMD movies) were handled very effectively."

Source: Kotaku

According to some sources, the newer firmware already have some HDD functions in them, which means they have been thinking about this for a while.

Last note:
If they were to really give the PSP internal hard drive, lets hope they give it a big storage space to be on par with the advancement of the memory sticks. With more memory space comes more movies and songs. With more of that, Sony will have to further improve their battery life.

Dark Alex has released a new tool called the USB Version Fake. This tool is useful for those who download stuff for their PSP from the Playstation Store.

Brief description:
This is a plugin to fake the version that the PSP reports via usb to the PC and PS3. It should let users avoid the firmware version check on the PSN downloader.

By default, the firmware version is set to 4.05, but according to the readme (which you should really check before you install this plugin), you can easily set it to whatever version you need. Installation and usage instructions are also included in the readme.

Eric Lempel, Director of the PlayStation Network Operations, has given us a quick heads up that a new PSP firmware update, version 4.05, will be released soon. This update is primarily for the people who listen to music on their PSP. It brings brand new visualizers for music playback, among other features.

To update to Official firmware 4.05, you can either update it via the Update in your PSP or download the firmware below.

Note: If you update to official firmware from a custom firmware, you will lose the ability to play ISO backups on your PSP, and also not being able to run homebrews.

Hold plugin developed by homebrew developer Torch has released v2.4 which includes bugfixes to the previous version 2.3.
This plugin is made in order to save more battery on the PSP.

What it does:

* Switches off the LCD backlight.
* Switches off the actual LCD screen.
(This is important because the backlight and actual screen are two different things. You can have an image being displayed on the screen while the backlight is switched off, such that you can see the image if you use a flashlight. You can also have the screen switched off while the backlight still illuminates the powered off screen.)
* Underclocks the CPU to 61MHz
(Sony has changed the clock speed functions such that only certain combinations of speeds work correctly. Simply trying to underclock to arbitrary values will result in the CPU simply running at the stock speed. I have verified that Hold+ successfully underclocks to 61MHz.)
* The original screen brightness and clock speed are restored when the Hold switch is released.
* Prevents the PSP from going into suspend mode if you accidently push the power switch too far when turning off Hold mode.
* Allows operation of the PSP with the display turned off, to change volume, skip songs etc.

Usage:

Turn on the Hold switch to automatically disable the display and underclock the CPU. Turn off the Hold switch to return the CPU to normal speed and enable the display.

If you hold the UP d-pad button when turning off the hold switch, the display will remain switched off and the CPU will remain underclocked, but you can operate the PSP. This is useful if you just need to adjust the volume, fast forward/rewind, or to skip to the next song, without unnecessarily turning on the display. To return to normal, just press the Screen button.

Installation:

You can install it in the seplugins folder, and make an entry in VSH.txt. Thus it will be active in the XMB. Its also possible to use it in games by adding it to GAME.txt, but some games may crash etc., if the CPU is underclocked to such a low value.

Remember the post on how to download PSP ISOs? If you have forgotten, here it is:
http://pspslim200.blogspot.com/2008/07/where-to-find-psp-games-isoscsos.html

Now, the problem is that some ISOs can be really big in size and may not be able to fit into your memory sticks. The solution? Buy a bigger one xD...no just joking.

With UMDGen tool, you can convert your ISOs into CSO with presses of buttons. =)
Here's what UMDGen looks like(download provided at bottom of post):











Ok, now to convert your ISO.
First, open your ISO with UMDGen, to do it, simply drag and drop your ISO into the UMDGen window.

Next, click File>Save As>Compressed (*.cso)Select where to save your CSO file and wait for it to complete compressing.

You are done! Congratulations, you now have a CSO copy of your ISO!

Download UMDGen :

If you have been reading my blog since I started out, I had posted last year on how to get PSP Games ISOs/CSOs online, via FTP servers instead of torrents which can be quite slow sometimes.
Here's the link to the last post:
http://pspslim200.blogspot.com/2007/10/psp-games.html

However, the website introduced was using FileFactory and QShare which sometimes did not allow free users to download all the parts at a same time or that some parts had broken links. Frustrating, isn't it?

Never mind, what I am introducing to you now is PSPISO.com
The website itself is merely a forum for people to share their stuffs. So, thanks to a member by name of Hako. He has graciously uploaded many ISO/CSO games including the latest stuff such as Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress and so on.

The files are split into a few parts and are hosted on iFile.it.
So what's the good thing?

1. Free sign-up required
2. Many parallel downloads at once
3. Use of download manager to boost speed
4. Fast servers and high uptime
   

Ok, I'm not advertising anything here but just to give you all there a tip on how to get game backups and so.

So, if you're ready to go, make sure you have done the following:

1. Register at pspiso.com
2. Go to Hako's thread http://www.pspiso.com/showthread.php?t=83780
3. Register at ifile.it
4. Download a free download manager, just google it
5. Watch this tutorial on how to download http://mihd.net/tutorial
   

Now, you're ready to download your game backup from Hako's thread at pspiso
Enjoy!

When you have obtained your ISO/CSO of your game, watch this video if you haven't know how to place it into your PSP.
http://pspslim200.blogspot.com/2008/03/putting-games-isocso-on-your-psp.html

Done installing 4.01 M33 and realise that your old CTF themes could not be used in this custom firmware?
Never mind, with the CTF Manager v2.0 by homebrew developer Red Squirrel, you can now create your own CTF themes.

This major change is supported with flanking updates of file compatibility with the official CXMB v3.2 and CTF file-naming, such that the homebrew support application is much friendlier.

Other changes include the packaging of the program into a single executable file, the incorporation of security checks to avoid .NET Framework errors (it will also ask you for the PRX files you may extract from via Miriam's CXMB update), plus the ability to automatically recreate the directory structure required by the program to operate.

One thing to note though, that is currently only for Windows, so Linux users may have to use their Windows emulation to do the trick.

So what if you are too lazy to make one on your own? I have found Consolespot's large variety and creativity of PSP-Themes quite nice so you may want to get one there.
[Consolespot PSP-Themes]

To start off, the things you will need are CTF Manager v2.0 and CXMB 3.2.1 and most importantly, 4.01M33

CTF Manager v2.0:




CXMB 3.2.1:

Not long after 4.01 M33 was released, some bugfixes were made and 4.01 M33-2 is out.
Changelog:

* Nids resolver: Fixed scePowerGetCpuClockFrequency issue. This is the same bug that happened in 3.80 M33-1, it won't happen again ¬¬
* Fixes recovery problems that have appeared in prior version (incorrect position of back string in language others than english, enable, and disabled strings not translated in plugins, hide pic0 pic1 couldn't be changed, language file in flash1 wasn't working..
* Spanish recovery translation typos fixed.

It's finally here! Dark Alex and the rest of Team M33 have been popping in and out lately with their messages about creating a new custom firmware. While their previous release had CFW 3.90, the release of the official 4.01 FW prompted them to follow suit with one of their very own.

In comes CFW 4.01 M33 with the following changes:

* Bug fix: vshmenu didn't let change camera mode due to camera_plugin using select button. Fixed, now vsh menu will not be loaded when using the camera.
* Recovery can now be translated, See how below. Translation to spanish is autoincluded.
* Updated the M33 SDK with a new function and sample, and released the psp-packer tool to compress prx's and PBP's in the ~PSP format.
* The folder of 4.01 and higher homebrew will be GAME4XX so it won't need change on update.

Note that before you attempt to install this long awaited M33, make sure you have enough battery and be sure to take a look at the readme too.