Well, you heard it right. Sony has updated their firmware (once again) in a desperate attempt to stop the homebrew scene from having fun on the psp. Psp-hacks.com is supposedly keeping score over who is "winning" between either Dark_Alex or Sony. Sony, according to psp-hacks, is leading 17-16. Is such a thing worth Dark_Alex's time to try to create a downgrader or custom firmware for?….well…. not quite. The firmware is pretty much a security patch from what most sources have been able to tell.

The Sony site has not been updated to accomodate the new firmware, but the firmware is available via network update feature. Also, pspbrew must stress the important issue of homebrew. Homebrew is not available on version 3.40. If you update, you will not be able to downgrade/ install custom firmware/ use homebrew – so update only if you understand the repurcussions.

You should all be familiar to the way this works by now. See, a firmware of Sony's gets decrypted incredibly fast by a wise dev or dev team and sooner or later we see a wonderful little custom firmware created by the magical psp God.. errr, I mean Dark_Alex. In any sense, I introduce to you 3.30 oe-a. Now, it is pretty easy to admit that 3.30 oe-a doesn't offer a significant extra that's worth dying for, but the changelog is, for the most part, hinting that 3.30 oe-a offers a few pretty important bug fixes.

One should make note that the popsloader is not backwards compatible with other versions of custom firmware – go figure… but anyways, a new popsloader fix will be out soon for sure. Custom firmware 3.30 oe-a offers:

• Updated from psp firmware 3.10 to 3.30
• Fixed a bug that could have caused instability in 3.10 OE after recovering from sleep mode.
• Patched a protection that prevents the firmware to load higher firmware modules.
• Apparently the pops emulator supports many updates as well!

Download 3.30 oe-a – you will need the 3.30 eboot and 1.50 eboot as well to upgrade.

So maybe you've been looking for a way to easily access the usb connection on the psp… MAYBE you've been looking for a way to access the 4th level of brightness by simply pressing the screen brightness button… or heck, maybe you haven't. Either way, this plugin is definitely going to bring some convenience to PSP users that are using custom firmware 3.03 oe or 3.10 oe. This plugin, USBon, will keep the usb toggled to on at all times so all you would need to do is simply plug in the usb cable (while in the psp menu) and viola – instant access! As a side bonus, this plugin will also unlock that fourth level of brightness for 3.03 oe users. If you need extra help then make sure to read the readme.txt file for further details.

Download USBon plugin

Do you guys remember hearing of a new PSP modchip besides the Undiluted Platinum released a while back? Perhaps you have, but even if you have, you may be wondering why you still haven't seen it available for purchase. To add comfort to worry, listed below are a few screenshots as well as the newest release information for the new PSP mochip, the Devolution (left: front/ right: back). More pictures are available on the psp-devolution website as well!

Features:

• Flash your PSP using the internal USB Port
• no additional USB Port required
• latest ACTEL ProASIC 3 technology
• NO power consumption
• doesn't touch the battery power in any way, powered by USB for the time being used to flash the PSP
• preassembled hi-tech flex pcb for easiest possible conection to the psp mainboard
• works on all available PSP versions incl. the new TA-082 and TA-086
• custom BIOS with a lot of cool additional features (tba)

Source: psp-devolution

It's been out for less than than 24 hours and it's already causing a huge uproar in the homebrew community… yes, that's right, it's StrmnNrmn's next release of the notorious Nintendo 64 emulator, Daedalus.

After toying with this new release you will be BEGGING for more, and if you are, head on over to StrmnNrmn's blog to send your praise. Download Daedalus R10 for PSP below

Daedalus R10 (version 1.00)
Daedalus R10 (version 1.50)
Daedalus R10 (source code)

Looks like Square Enix has given us a new sneak peak at possibly PSP's best new sprite RPG?

As you can see from the picture Square has definately enhanced the sprites from Playstation 1's remake,

as well as the GBA's remake. The sprites, the environment and the lighting also has been remade to perfection!

The due date is expected for early or late June 2007. For the PSP version, the only new additions besides the graphics

and possible sounds, is a new dungeon (like in the GBA version, we had Soul of Chaos) while in this new PSP version, we have

"The labyrinth of Time".

Judged by its name, heres what PSPUpdates are judging:

"In this new dungeon, the player will suffer from a continuous HP decrease. Were not 100% sure since we cannot

read japaneese, but it seems that maybe the use of Magic and Items will not be available either. Also the ability

to run may be disabled. It seems that to survive the dungeon you must make it so the deepest part until

the timer has run out."

Were expected to have no new monsters or anything as of now but you can never be too sure!

via PSPUpdates

When the SIXAXIS controller was unveiled, the response was very lukewarm. On of the main complaints was that that controller lacked a rumble feature. This is a big issue with gamers who like the rumble and use it as a means of conveyance into whatever game they are playing.Well, no more! Immersionand sony have made an agreement to "to explore the inclusion of Immersion technology in PlayStation format products." Yes, it looks like big corporations can bury the hatchet after all. Rumblers rejoice!

You can discuss the issue here

StrmnNrmn, the author of the famed Daedalus Nintendo 64 emulator, has brought his newest creation to us. This version has been tweaked significantly from the previous versions. If you have been under a rock for the past few months (or just want to learn specifics) you should head over to StrmnNrmn's blog to read how this emulator has evolved over time. Even if you know nothing about how the emulator functions, StrmnNrmn explains things in a very understandable way. If you don't even care about the technical aspects of the emulator, you should still feel free to sign up and tell him what a great job he is doing!

Basically, and put in his own words, StrmnNrmn says that the new version changes are:

• faster
• new UI
• audio
• various graphical fixes

In his blog, StrmnNrmn states that he thinks that when the audio is enabled, that it takes up about 20% of the resources that the emulator has, so if you would like to speed up the game(s), it is probably best if you disable the sound. He has also made HUGE advancements in how the memory is being handled which has allowed for just about a 40% increase in speed across the board!

Pick up the download right here in our download section!

for firmware 1.00 and for firmware 1.50

The source code can be downloaded here .