All right, first things first… Congratulations to all the Homebrew Idol 2 contestants. All developers did an outstanding job with crafting their 3D-enabled homebrew. So let me do a quick round of shout outs to each and every dev. (in no particular order): hardhat, Slippy, pspflashsystem, SG57, Brick, Calv!n (I’m really looking forward to Zombie Desert updates), Xfacter, Code Tactics, HyperHacker, and Greg “xigency” Tourville.

Now lets get down to business. We deviated from last years voting system where I was the one and only person responsible for deciding the developers’ fate. This year we voiced the opinion of the public as well as the forum staff. This spreadsheet explains all that.

So without further ado — The Homebrew Idol 2 winners:

1. SG57 with Light Cycle 3D
2. Brick with PSPMarble: Orchestra SensatioN
3. Xfacter with Battlegrounds 3

Again — props to everyone who participated… The top 3 — check your private forum messages, you’ll be hearing from me shortly.

Homebrew Idol 2 wouldn’t have been possible without the help of PSdonkey, Street Fighter 4 master yoko_kyuubi, oyabun, BCman, and pirata nervo. Kudos team, thanks again.

Tune in next season –
Same Dashhacks Time; Same Dashhacks Channel.

- Homebrew Idol 2 (HBI:2) Recap -

PSX/PSOne/PS1, whatever you wanna call it, now play ‘em all with Popsloader — the full-fledged PSOne emulator — for Custom Firmware 5.50 GEN-A. How? Here’s how:

1. Download Popsloader below, extract it, and copy the contents to seplugins on your memory stick;
2. Create a POPS.txt file under the seplugins directory and add this line to it “ms0:/SEPLUGINS/popsloader.prx” (without the quotes);
3. Download Psardumper;
4. Download the 4.01 firmware eboot;
5. Extract the 4.01 firmware archive and copy EBOOT.PBP to the root of your memory stick;
6. Using Psardumper, dump and decrypt 4.01;
7. Copy ms0:/F0/kd/impose.prx to the seplugins/popsloader directory;
8. Depending on the firmware version you wish to use (see the above screenshot), download the corresponding firmware eboot here;
9. Again, decrypt that firmware eboot using Psardumper;
10. Rename the following:
    • 3.00 - 3.03: pops.prx, popsman.prx, meaudio.prx, pafmini.prx
    • 3.10 - 3.30: pops.prx, popsman.prx, pafmini.prx
    • 3.40 - 4.01: pops.prx, popsman.prx, pafmini.prx, libpspvmc.prx

    to popsXXX.prx, popsmanXXX.prx (XXX being the firmware version, ie. pops310.prx), and so forth for each file;

11. Copy the new renamed files to the ms0:/seplugins/popsloader directory;
12. Enable Popsloader via the recovery console;
13. Copy your PSOne game eboot to your GAME folder and enjoy!

Download:
Popsloader for CFW 5.50 GEN-A
Custom Firmware 5.50 GEN-A
PSP Firmware (EBOOT) Updates

- source: pspgen

Update: Brick has released PSPMarble v2.5b –

• COMPLETED REQUEST regarding the camera system (wrapping is allowed now). Requested by “the underminer”.
• UPDATED physics module, now marble goes a bit faster, but the controls remain accurate, and they won’t make your life harder with “puzzles”.
• UPDATED stacked particle system for smoother animation.
• UPDATED session cache manager, and now the load times while you switch menu-related session are improved.
• UPDATED an input event in the tutorial mode.
• Plus more not-so-worth to mention.

Brick’s PSPMarble is another example of some top-notch ‘brew… It somewhat reminds me of Mark Cerny’s Marble Madness. Carefully guide your marble through the various physics-based 3D environments and rack them points up to achieve the highest possible score.

Highlighted features:

• Uses a heavily modified version of LTE.
• Physics based game play.
• Physics modifiers (platforms/jump pads).
• Stacked events (physics animation & sfx events).
• Advanced scene management with ranged triggers/events/geometry culling & light management.
• Dynamic scenes.
• Event driven tutorial mode.
• Dynamic “session caching” system.
• Hi-score system.
• LEVEL EDITOR.
• Comes with 7 levels (6 mods, plus the tutorial).

Check the release thread for the latest level editor and supporting tutorials. Get down.

Download: PSPMarble: Orchestra SensatioN v2.5b

- release thread -

Kill, kill, kill, murder, murder, murder… Then find the nearest exit and get ghost. That’s what pspflashsystem’s labKillHomer3D is all about. Enter the labyrinth, or create your own, hunt down Homer, kill Homer, then locate the exit and proceed to the next. Included in the bundle is the Windows & PSP version, the map editor, and source code.

labKillHomer3D v2.0 changes:

• Walls are a lot brighter.
• AI implemented: Homer’s moves are more “intelligent.”
• Now just part of the mini map is drawn, so it’s more difficult to find the exit.
• The text is now more clear.
• Added a new splashscreen effect.
• When you shoot new particles are drawn.
• Homer now jumps when shot.

Download: labKillHomer3D v2.0

- release thread -

Wanna code and create homebrew like a champ? Then you should check out Brick’s LTE LITE MOD. A couple HBI:2 projects already use it:

1. Brick’s own PSPMarble;
2. SG57’s Light Cycle 3D.

Those who have tried in the past to develop games with LTE, they probably know that it’s nearly “impossible” to create a full featured game without suffering from low FPS.

This mod improves the rendering part, and actually turns Irrlicht port into a clean and fast renderer (well, as it could be with this old pspgl driver).

All the technical/modification details can be found in the forum release thread. Happy coding!

Download: LTE LITE MOD v1.2

Homebrew Idol 2 contestant, SG57, has released a new version of his Tron inspired homebrew game — Light Cycle 3D. You’ll no doubt get lost in time playing this one…

The Light Cycle objective: zigzag this way and that way through the cyberspace arena leaving behind your trail. Avoid colliding with the enemy’s trail, and should your trail eliminate all the enemies, you win.

Light Cycle 3D v2.01 changes:

• You can now turn while looking to the side and behind you.
• You can now skip the AI dukin’ it out amongst themselves after you die by pressing Select (onscreen instructions say this as well).
• The game play now speeds up to 3x the pace after you die to speed things up - enjoy seeing who won in fast-forward.
• The race now starts when I say ‘Go!’, ready or not!
• Fireworks for the winner! Hazahh!
• Fixed a bug where cycling through your mp3’s too fast would cause a crash - it is no more, cycle as fast as you want.
• Tweaked the lighting of many things to more illuminate the playing field and tracers/rails.
• Extended the flare trail you leave behind you.
• More graphical tweaks here and there (moved the tracers down a bit, etc.)
• Adjusted sound effect levels to balance them with the music level.
• Replaced the name of an AI; it was tasteless, dry humor. I hope those who it upset can forgive me.

Download: Light Cycle 3D v2.01

- release thread | visit SG57’s dev. site -

Released in its beta stage — for the new Custom Firmware 5.50 GEN-A users — an unofficial version of Poison’s CXMB.

CXMB enables the use of custom created PSP (CTF) themes without writing to the PSP’s flash memory. Try it out and voice your experience via the comments. Remember, this is beta.

Download: CXMB for CFW 5.50 GEN-A (BETA)

- source: pspgen

Should we have been aboard the same boat; then you would’ve missed it too… Over the weekend WilLoW (or Wololo) released a new version of the increasingly popular homebrew game: Wagic the Homebrew (WTH) 0.7.1. What is Wagic? –

Wagic is an heroic-fantasy collectible card game for your PSP, in which you battle with your creatures against the CPU. It is based on the rules of a famous card game. A nice credits system allows you to improve your army as you win battles. The game features a cool deck editor, extra modes to unlock (such as Momir Basic), and allows you to create your own cards with a simple text editor. Wagic made it to the top 10 of this year’s Neoflash spring competition, and each new release is extremely well received by international PSP sites. Thanks to the community, you can play with completely original cards from Final Fantasy, Naruto… (even wrestling superstars!). This gives the game a high replay value (close to what commercial games can give you), and once you get hooked, you will spend hours on Wagic!

WTH 0.7.1 changes…

Download:
Wagic the Homebrew ?! 0.7.1
All “official” CARD IMAGES & “Real Magic” Graphic Mod

Thanks for the email, Eric.

- source: wololo

And with the quickness, back to the PSP-3000… Xenogears and Becus25 deliver Custom Firmware Enabler v3.30 –

• Improved menu options.
• Fixed bug in network update.
• Now you can change version.txt to 5.51.
• Spoof Mac address in XMB.
• Improved the ChickHEN patch system

Download:
ChickHEN R2
CFWEnabler v3.30 for ChickHEN R2

- source: sceners

Prepare yourself — you’re about to experience some of the most well crafted and coolest homebrew to date, I’m talking Homebrew Idol 2… So get up off your chair or couch and give these fine developers a round of applause. Check it…

Listed in no particular order are the final entries for Homebrew Idol 2:

(click the title for the forum thread; image for a larger screenshot)

Chronicles by xigency

Hardhat’s Battle Arena by hardhat

faintRedux by Slippy

labKillHomer3D by pspflashsystem

Light Cycle 3D by SG57

PSPMarble by Brick

Zombie Desert by Calv!n

Battlegrounds 3 by Xfacter

Apollonia v0.04a by Code Tactics

Luna by HyperHacker

Official HBI:2 voting is underway and you may participate right here. You will need to be a registered forum user for your vote to count.

Download:
Homebrew IDOL 2 Download Pack (All Entries)

Individual Downloads:
(coming soon…)