Pixel power: Yuusha 30 site opened, box art revealed, release window
January 31, 2009
Of all the Japanese games heading out for the PSP, Yuusha 30 may be the most recently revealed title that's been catching everyone's eyes. Pixel perfect indeed!Marvelous Interactive isn't going to let this pass by without some media blitzes. Following yesterday's preview trailer, we now have the box art and some new info.
Despite the heavy use of oversized pixels for its gameplay graphics, the boxart goes for traditional RPG sprite art. No harm there. That's the hero in the game - one of the playable characters getting his own game type (the side-scrolling dungeon crawler).
Now, the official website/blog for the game (think of this site as what Super Smash DOJO was prior to the release of Brawl) is finally open. The first entry has game producer Kenichiro Takagi talking about development.
Apparently, they're well over the 50 mark now. In fact, he reveals that they just might get the game out in time for a release in Japan this May. Oooh, that's pretty soon already! Now let's hope they announce this for the west!
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Time for an online petition: Dissidia sequel fell through the cracks
January 31, 2009
Man, the game hasn't even been released in English yet and already they're talking about sequels?! Apparently, in the Ultimania guide for Dissidia: Final Fantasy, an interview with Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura was published. In it, he reveals that plans for a Dissidia 2 were already in place, however, things sort of didn't go their way.
There are no current plans for a sequel. To be honest, I wanted to do one up until a few months ago. I even called [Mitsunori] Takahashi, the planning director, and [Ryuji] Ikeda, the lead programmer, to talk about sequel concepts -- I told them to think about what they were going to do and prepare themselves [to make a sequel]. However, circumstances inside the company wiped that idea out... to actually make [a sequel] happen would be very difficult given the situation.
It's strange to hear this bit about "circumstances inside the company." As 1Up suggests, one guess could be that the teams had to put all their efforts into getting Final Fantasy XIII released this year. Plausible? We can only assume.
Whatever the case, chin up, kid. Nomura leaves us with an optimistic note about the fate of Dissidia:
If a lot of fans ask for a Dissidia II, circumstances might change. I'd like to think about the matter again if that happens.
Hear that? That's the sound of Final Fantasy fans rushing over for an online petition.
Related articles:
- Dissidia: Final Fantasy North American release mid-year 2009
- Dissidia: Final Fantasy Ultimania guide from Square Enix; a feast for the FF geek
X-Men Origins: Wolverine full CG debut trailer
January 31, 2009
Raven Software and Activision's X-Men Origins: Wolverine is set to come out for the PS3, PS2, PSP, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, DS, and PC, coinciding with the launch of the movie on May 1.
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PSPDictionary v2.2.0: now with Yahoo! Babel Fish support
January 31, 2009
Time to brush up on your multilingual skills - Gefa's PSPDictionary is getting quite a sizeable upgrade. The latest version now has support for Yahoo! Babel Fish, and if you guys are familiar with how the online translator works, having it incorporated in this homebrew means you can actually translate full phrases now - not just words.
PSPDictionary v2.2.0
- Now the servers supported are two: langtolang.com and babelfish.yahoo.com. Using babelfish.yahoo.com now it is possible to translate, besides words, also phrases
Download: PSPDictionary v2.2.0
Visit: QJ.NET PSP development forums
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MaGiXieN explains: why HEN is not online, GripShift exploit and Kernel Mode access
January 31, 2009
Forums have been hot since the release of OFW 5.03, when the GripShift exploit was blocked. There has been a lot of clamor for Miriam's homebrew enabler to be released, so MaGiXieN provides an explanation as to why the HEN is not online yet and the mix-up between the GripShift exploit and the exploit allowing access to the Kernel Mode.
MaGiXieN also addresses the most common comments that he's been getting and he provides adequate explanations for each of them. He pretty much said what needed to be said, so I'm just gonna provide a link that'll take you there. Follow the visit link below and read MaGiXieN's post on our forums.
Thanks for the heads up MaGiXieN!
Visit: QJ.net PSP Firmware Discussion
Related articles:
- GripShift Binary Loader: Euro version (PSPGen edition)
- Vid: Homebrew enabler for PSP-3000 using Euro Gripshift exploit
PSP homebrew - SXLibrary
January 31, 2009
PSP homebrew dev xart has just released his SXLibrary, which is a nice, easy-to-use brew that adds any software to your PSP. Works well without any issues whatsoever with BenHur's intraFont.
xart notes that since the library is just starting, it'll need a bit of time to grow, and the GUI functions and Transition functions are still not ready to be fully usable, so they were excluded for now. Mac OS X / PC support will follow soon after v1.0.
Visit: QJ.net PSP Development Forums
More PSP homebrew:
Help Sony help you, take the PlayStation Survey
January 31, 2009
Wanna give Sony a piece of your mind? Take their survey now and tell them all the stuff you want to see on the PlayStation blog, as well as the PlayStation Network. It'll only take a few minutes, and who knows, maybe your requests may get fruition? "Help us help you," they say.
Questions include your activities with the PlayStation Blog, how often you visit, what you do there, stuff like that. They'll also ask which types of video content you want to see, and if you'd like an audio-only podcast from the site's crew. You'll run into other info about their future plans as well, so it's not a bad news read too.
Why not take a few minutes to answer their survey? Head to the via link below to check it out.
PSP homebrew - PSP PPG v0.22
January 31, 2009
Here's developer agilemonkey's how-to guide:
- Extract the zip file
- Inside the PPG022 folder amend the configuration file (PPG.CFG) to point to the UK listings I have generated
RepositoryURL = http://agilemonkey.co.uk/psp
RepositoryPRGList = freebox
Window users use notepad rather than wordpad etc so dodgy characters are not added to the file
- Download UK image files - These are a wip so please be patient
- Load the homebrew into the game folder on your custom firmware PSP
- When you initially run the application it will download the current listings file
- Optional: Hack the homebrew binary to replace French text with English using a hex editor
Download: PSP PPG v0.22
More PSP homebrew:
The 100 Most Social Brands of 2008, courtesy of Vitrue
January 31, 2009
Look back for a sec and try to remember which brand has been the most talked about, most advertised, and most hyped last year. Well, social media services provider Vitrue did more than just that, measuring the amount of mentions of around 2000 brands, naming the 100 most social brands of 2008.But how exactly did they measure this? Vitrue conducted a daily analysis of over 2000 brands, checking online conversations, forums, blogs, photo and video sharing sites, etc. They measured how much a brand is mentioned, whether in a good way or bad, since even a bad mention would still bring attention towards the brand.
Well enough of that, here is the Top 20 from that list of 100. You can just go to Vitrue's blog (see Via link) if you want to see the whole list. This list shows which companies have been making their presence felt and are doing so quite well.
- iPhone
- CNN
- Apple
- Disney
- Xbox
- Starbucks
- iPod
- MTV
- Sony
- Dell
- Microsoft
- Ford
- Nintendo
- Target
- PlayStation
- Mac
- Turner
- Hewlett-Packard
- Fox News
- BlackBerry
And fanboys, please, no flame wars okay?
PSP seen in Coke’s Super Bowl commercial
January 31, 2009
The commercial has this fantasy avatar theme to it, with people suddenly transforming into fantasy characters such as zombies, superheroes, spacemen, etc. 30 seconds into the ad, you'll see what appears to be a miniature race car driver playing with a white PSP, with the distinct silver ring at the back.
Very nice, and very tastefully relevant to the theme too.
PSP and ads: