Check, and, mate — sucka! ZX-81 has released the first playable version of PSP GNU Chess. There isn’t really much else to say, other than good luck trying to beat its A.I. ZX-81 confesses, “I don’t know if the ‘you win’ message is displayed properly, but the ‘you lose’ is well printed.” And that it is; I can also confirm. So if you have Peter Breschnev skills ($20 PayPal to whomever knows that reference), let us know whether or not “you win” works. ;)

GNU Chess is command line Chess program running on many different systems such as UNIX, windows or MacOS. It was started in 1986 by Stuart Cracraft, who is continuing to develop it with other coders such as Chua Kong Sian, Stuart Cracraft, Lukas Geyer, Simon Waters and David A. Wheeler.

PSP Gnu Chess use the GNU Chess version 5.07 for the Artificial Intelligence, and I’ve added a Graphical User Interface.

Download:
PSP GNU Chess v1.0.1 for fw 1.50
PSP GNU Chess v1.0.1 for cfw 3.xx
PSP GNU Chess source code

- source: ZX-81’s web site

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been constantly refreshing StrmnNrmn’s blog in hopes the release of Daedalus R13 appears. And I’m sorry to say, you still need to wait, just a bit longer… Believe me, I’d rather be posting the actual download instead of saying, “try Daedalus R12 in the meantime.”

R13 is almost ready for prime time, according to StrmnNrmn’s latest blog update. It’s noted that the newly introduced savestates are working well and its current implementation provides for 10 save slots — shared across all roms. You will have the ability to save to & load from any slot at any given time.

Furthermore…

There are just a couple of things I need to finish off now before I can release. Firstly I need to check if the savestate you’re loading is for a different rom than is currently loaded. If this is the case I need to scan through your available roms looking for the correct one, and load it. To make this efficient I need to get the RomDB which I use for the PC build working on the PSP.

The second thing I need to do is come up with a decent way of linking some metadata to the savestate so I can show this in the UI. Just simple stuff like the full name of the rom, time the savestate was created and the total time spent playing when it was created. I figure without this information it’ll be quite difficult to figure out what it stored in each savestate slot. The alternative is to add a text entry system to the UI so you can name each savestate, but I think this will just delay things even more.

So, in the meantime, give Daedalus R12 a try. ;)

- source: StrmnNrmn’s blog

Back down flash portal lane we have the new improved Digiplay v5.0. Edward has devoted countless hours to make what you see available in one easy to install and use package. Digiplay comprises more than 90 flash games, over a dozen PSP apps & game demos, a dictionary, videos, and much more. Everything is accessible using the integrated web browser; meaning, a hacked PSP is not a necessity.

Digiplay v5.0 incorporates a new MP4 video section, podcasts, new graphics, and webcams. Download, copy to your memory stick — instructions included — and let us know what you think.

Happy birthday Edward!

Download: Digiplay v5.0

- source: digiplaystudios

Its been a slow couple of days; however, homebrew developer Slasher has shared some insight towards the next Asterz update — two new enemies! As you may recall, Asterz is a constant work in progress. Slasher is listening to you, the player, and implementing whatever ideas you may have. Below is a snapshot of one new enemy model…

Slasher describes the other, “the second enemy will basically be a spiral which will simply follow you and attempt to crash into you causing MASSIVE DAMAGE!”.

And on a closing note…

Please keep in mind that all these parts will be combined to create an enjoyable gaming experience. This isn’t going to be the entire game laid out in front of you. Expect a video of the new asterz pretty soon, and perhaps another build. Quite a few things have changed.

In the meantime, have fun playing Asterz Build #4.

- source: consolespot

It happened for the Phat PSP, now witness L0rdNiC0’s Slim receive the same sound reactive LED treatment…

Ain’t that snazzy? Not bad for a first timer. More slim mods coming soon, so I hear…

- source: acidmods

Back in ‘95 when I was hittin’ switches, I was also playing Nintendo Virtual Boy at a nearby Walmart. To be honest with you, it absolutely sucked, and that’s most likely the reason why Nintendo discontinued Virtual Boy the following year. Nevertheless, SofiyaCat is breathing life back into the ol’ portable game console with a brand new PSP emulator — Red Dragon. It’s currently in the experimental phase of development, so you never know what to expect — unforeseen issues may occur. Give it a try, leave your feedback below, and enjoy the “true 3D graphics.” ;)

Download: Red Dragon (experimental)

- source: nekomimi

“Pandoraize” your PSP Phat and/or Slim battery without any software related hacks; just take a close look at the diagrams provided by godzivan. If you have a steady hand, it only requires the soldering of one wire. Upon success, create your magic memory stick!

Thanks for sharing MoBillyAla.

psp phat battery

psp slim battery

- source: eurasia.nu

You read this a couple days ago, now see this… An improved version of JoySens from developer Raphael. Uneducated users will be delighted to know JoySens allows sensitivity control over the PSP’s analog stick.

Here’s what Raphael had to say concerning version 1.3…

This release adds a DPad/Analog swap function on popular request as well as provides a fix for analog sticks that completely deny to respond in one or two directions, which is caused by the stick returning too small values even when pulled to the extremes. You now also can change the configuration for the primary plugin button, which was hardcoded to the NOTE button till now. The download also includes a 3.71 compatible (and only!) version of the plugin, so make sure you use the correct one. For 3.71 with 1.5 kernel patch you need both versions actually to make the plugin work in 1.5 homebrew – see the readme for instructions.

Also, look over the new FAQ.txt, should you have any questions.

Download: JoySens 1.3

- source: raphael’s devblog

EvilDooinz has released a 3.xx custom firmware compatible version of PSPWOL — the Wake-On-LAN utility. This app is capable of waking your PC while it remains in hibernation / standby mode, or when it’s fully powered off. In addition, 2.1 is now able to start 255 hosts. Please refer to the included readme.txt for setup & usage instructions.

Download:
PSPWOL 2.1
PSPWOL source code

- source: dcemu

Is there anything these guys can’t do? From the genius minds over at Acidmods, who, to date, have brought us countless hardware modifications, is jair2k4’s latest — an internal PSP bluetooth mod. Simply proving the concept is possible, we may see some interesting homebrew developments using bluetooth in the near future.

Cheers jair2k4. Amazing work, all you guys!

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