Been a while since you dusted off the old PSP? Perhaps you’re one of the die-hards that just won’t put it down. In either situation a coder named Acid_Snake has developed this little beauty to help ensure your PSP will last for years to come.

Included in this software you’ll find several different testing applications. There is an analog tester, a pixel fixer, a file sweeper that helps clear space in the NAND, and even a directory checker to make sure everything is in the right place.  If you are worried about getting back into the PSP scene or can’t be bothered remembering how badly you goofed up your NAND, catch the download link below from our downloads section.

[_Download: PSP Tools Beta 0.2_]

Coinciding with the release of PS3 Firmware 3.70, Sony has released a minor update for PSP — PSP Firmware 6.60 — which is said to patch some1′s 6.39 kernel exploit … and that’s about it.

The good news is, if you’re following neur0n, you’ll see he’s already made some progress — new tags, new keys … he even posted this picture:

Source: psp.dashhacks.com

Yes, you’ve read it correctly! The PlayStation Store is finally up! This is the latest part of the PSN update that brings back the entire PlayStation Network. One thing many people were looking forward to was the customer appreciation package where, in America, you get your choice of 2 free PS3 games, 1 PSP game, a month of Qriocity and PSN+, a lot of free virtual stuff on PlayStation Home, and many, many more cool things. If you live somewhere else, your appreciation package will be slightly different, but rest assured, you will be getting a lot of nice goodies.
No word on when the customer appreciation package will be released, but it’s rumored to be very soon. (Within the next few days!)
If you live in Japan, you will still need to wait for he return of the PlayStation Network. Sorry about that!

What are you guys looking forward to in the appreciation package? Or are you just happen to be able to play games online? Do you think this is coming too late? Click here to tell us in our forums!

Discuss this on our forum!!

Alright, everyone. We are on day 6 of this PSN outage and many people are hating it while fanboys of other consoles are rubbing it into PS3 owner’s faces. Do you guys have a PS3? What have you been using it for during this near-week of PSN-less features? No Home, no PSN Store, no online play, no Netflix… etc. Have you guys picked up any games to take up your time?

On another note, Xbox Live is now unbanning consoles! On top of that, it is kinda suspicious that they offered a ‘free Live weekend’ during the weekend the PSN is down. Of course, the 360 was planned to have this for a while, but it makes you think, right?

neur0n has released updates for both of his custom firmwares! Both 6.37 ME v7 and 6.35 Beta v18!
Like the others in the past, 6.35 is for PSP 2000 models only, but its update brings some cool improvements:
• Adding PluginManager to the VshMenu
• Removal of “Execute BOOT.BIN” option from RecoveryMenu
• Update of the NidResolver
• And supports custom PS1 DOCUMENT.DAT files
Of course, v7 of 6.37 ME has the same updates of:
• Adding PluginManager to the VshMenu
• Removal of “Execute BOOT.BIN” option from RecoveryMenu
• Update of the NidResolver
• And supports custom PS1 DOCUMENT.DAT files

To install the 6.37 ME v7 custom firmware, first, you need to install CFW or HEN like 5.00M33 or 6.35PRO onto your PSP, and then:

• Copy UPDATE folder at ms0:/PSP/GAME/.
• Put 6.37 official update at ms0:/PSP/GAME/UPDATE/637.PBP .
• Run installer from xmb.

What is probably the best feature on this is that if you hold the Right trigger whenever you turn your PSP on, it turns it to the recovery menu like most custom firmwares. But when you hold the Home button, you can boot official firmware!

Discussion: Here
Source 1: Here
Source 2: Here
Download 1: Here
Download 2: Here

• OLED touch screen that is a tiny bit bigger than the PSP 1000’s screen but 5X the resolution.
• Back-panel touchpad
• Front and rear camera
• Dual analog sticks
• PS3-like graphics – Amazing!!!!
• SD-like game carts
• WiFi
• 3G
• Bluetooth
• GPS
• Electric Compass
• Gyroscope
• Accelerometer
• Great launch titles like Uncharted, Resistance, Killzone, Little Big Planet, Call of Duty, MGS4, Monster Hunter, Dynasty Warrior
• Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, quad-core GPU as well!!!!!!!

Hideo says that this clip of MGS4 on the PSP 2 is a direct port of the PS3 version, running at 20 FPS.

WOW! PS3 graphics on the PSP 2 at near-full spead?!?!

Comes out this coming holiday season. <3

Just yesterday, RoxFox64 met up with Hellcat and Davee who were in the final stages of making their new, signed downgrader. As it turned out, he had upgraded to 6.35 from 6.20 recently and needed to use it, imagine that coincidence! After waiting for Davee to give him the compiled version to test, he was more than happy to see that it had worked 100%!
With this downgrader, it will be very simple, and very safe, to downgrade from 6.35 to the 6.20 firmware!

From the ReadMe:

[What does it technically do?]
It uses the utility/power exploit to gain kernel access and reboots into the updater with a special PRX running. This PRX uses the pspdecrypt functionality to decrypt the updater PRX when needed. This allows the updater to boot in the newer firmwares.
So, in order to use this you need the official update for OFW 6.20 (SPECIFIC TO YOUR MODEL)
Installation is very simple:
Place the 6.20 update in X:/PSP/GAME/UPDATE/
and extract the downgrader’s folder into X:/PSP/GAME/

Why OFW 6.20?
Currently, 6.20 is the latest firmware we have full Kernel access on. This is the firmware you’ll find the absolute most functionality on along with HEN TN-C.

Discussion: Here

Downgrader Download: Here
6.20 Official Firmware (1000, 2000, 3000): Here
6.20 Official Firmware (Go!): Here

Well, it turns out that Sony has an update to add to the overall system stability and help out with preventing piracy that can be enabled with the latest pseudo-signing tricks that the PSP hacking community (most notably Mathieulh) has sent out. It’s said that our signed homebrew will work on all of Sony’s official firmwares, though, right? Well, does it work?
The answer is yes, our homebrew does work! This is great news! But, what does this new firmware add? Well, it adds preventative measures to using an HEN to enable homebrew launching from the XMB and a few other naughty PSP homebrew. So, should you update to it? For the first time ever, I think we can safely say that if you want to, go ahead. There’s plenty of homebrew that works and it will take very little time for a new release of the HEN to work on these official firmwares. Sorry Sony, but you cannot stop what has started…

Source: Wololo & Sony

Discussion: In the forum

Yes, you read that correctly. All firmwares ever released or to be released by Sony will have homebrew. Why? Well, the company has no way of making their gaming machines know what is homebrew and what is officially released programs.

How is this possible? Well, the makers of both products have added a secret encryption to everything that is ran on either machine. Without this encryption, your programs will not run. But, that secret key has been released for both of the devices and this year, we will see both devices explode with homebrew and Sony won’t be able to do anything about it!

Thanks Geohot, Team fail0verflow, Mathiuel, and the others! We love you and truly appreciate everything you’ve done for us!

Source 1: Mathieul’s Announcement
Source 2: Geohot’s Love
Source 3: Self-Signed Hello World For PS3
Source 4: PS3 Keys Found