Awesome PS3 dev KaKaRoTo has released a Homebrew Manager, called Eleganz: The Elegant Homebrew Manager. The app still has some bugs and was made with the EFL libraries and RSXGL.

Hi everyone,

Last year, in January, I decided to have some fun and write a homebrew application using the EFL libraries. I decided to work on a homebrew manager.. basically a replacement to the XMB. It went really well, and the development was really fast, and it was all thanks to the awesome API and capabilities of the EFL libraries. However, I became busy and was unable to continue… also, it was a bit slow and without proper hardware acceleration, it wouldn’t be as good as I hoped for, so I put the project on the side.
After many months, in September, thanks to gzorin’s work, we finally had a working and usable GL implementation and the EFL apps automatically gained from it by becoming hardware accelerated. My homebrew manager was much better! but I still needed to finish a few things and I didn’t have time so I put to rest again.

Today, I have decided to release this homebrew application, *as is* for everyone’s enjoyment! This means that it is not fully working, it might still have some bugs here and there, but it is still a homebrew app that people can use and have some fun with. Most importantly it will serve 4 purposes :

• Maybe re-awaken this dying PS3 homebrew scene

• Be a good “exercise to the community” for finishing it up

• Be a good example of what can be done with the EFL

• Bring non-developers into writing EFL themes for the app

I introduce to you, Eleganz! The Elegant Homebrew Manager! A little homebrew app that lets you install pkg files and run your games directly from it. Here is the mandatory screencast video :

I have published my app in both github and on ps3dev’s gitorious. and you can also download a pre-compiled .pkg for your PS3 to have fun with it.

Here are some highglights of the application (features, limitations and bugs) :

• The whole User Interface is completely customizable with themes

• Installs .pkg files locally to its own data directory (won’t be visible in the real XMB, unless someone reverses the database format)

• Does not yet run games (it’s for you to do it, use ps3load as reference maybe…)

• Current theme is missing proper theme/images for the progressbar windows (default exquisite/E17 theme used)

• System freezes for a few milliseconds when it tries to load a game’s background image (might be fixed if we implement a pthread library and threading support in the EFL)

• Apparently crashes when it exits (bug)

The homebrew app comes with two themes, a dark and light theme. I like the dark one so I chose that as the default (oh, ignore that grey background ‘default’ one from that screencast video, that was just for testing). I wrote the user interface for the theme (the Edje files) while opium designed all the graphics. The theme engine in the EFL is extremely powerful, so I hope I will see tons of themes popping up. And I do not mean “change the images” themes, I want real themes, where the whole UI is different, a vertical XMB, a circular one, a 3D theme with perspective/depth for the icons, a dynamic/moving background, etc… You can learn about the .edj/.edc file format here and don’t forget to check the EDC reference wiki.

I hope to see the community pick this up and have fun with it!

That’s about it, enjoy it, and send me your patches! I’ll be waiting

KaKaRoTo

p.s: Forgot to say that the rules/naming conventions/etc.. of the EDC files are explained here. If a .edj file doesn’t have the appropriate parts/groups, then it will be ignored and will not show on the UI.

p.p.s: You can install the EFL on windows and have access to edje_cc to compile your .edc into .edj.

p.p.p.s: Damn, I keep forgetting stuff.. by the way, the whole Eleganz application works just fine on the PC too, I did all my development on the PC (that screencast was actually on Linux), *then* I tried it on the PS3 and it just worked.. so for theme development, it should be pretty easy to test without the need of a PS3.

Download: Eleganz: The Elegant Homebrew Manager (Debug .pkg)

Source: KaKaRoTo’s Blog

Thanks to kimdalanxa for the news tip!

Its sad to see, that one of the greatest ever company’s, has now been financially labeled “Junk Status”.

Sony haven’t been having a good time over the past couple of years, the PSN hacking cost them dearly, though i cannot say they did not bring this on themselves, with Sony’s ongoing lack of care for their consumers, it was only a matter of time, before they were seen as a financial nightmare.

The “Junk Status” was given to them by the Fitch Ratings Agency, who also dealt the same blow to Panasonic, here is a quote from the source:

Ratings agency Fitch downgraded the debt ratings of Japan’s Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp to “junk” status citing weakness in their consumer electronics and TV operations, further diminishing the luster of the once-great Japanese brands.

The cut to below investment grade, the first by a ratings firm, comes as the floundering Japanese tech giants face weak demand and fierce competition from Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.

A strong yen and bumps in China, where growth has slowed and Japanese goods have been targeted in sometimes violent protests recently, have also weighed on their earnings.

The two companies, along with Sharp Corp, racked up combined losses of $20 billion last year, leading them to axe jobs, sell assets and close facilities.

“Both Sony and Panasonic are struggling to generate operating profits, but each is restructuring and I don’t envision the current situation continuing,” said Masahi Oda, Chief Investment Officer at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.

“A collapse of their core business would be a problem, but we are not at the point yet, and to me Fitch looks too negative,” Oda added.

Fitch downgraded Sony by three notches to BB-minus from BBB- minus, saying meaningful recovery will be slow. The move came after Sony, the maker of PlayStation game consoles and Vaio laptops, last week announced plans to raise 150 billion yen ($1.82 billion) through the sale of convertible bonds.

“Fitch believes that continuing weakness in the home entertainment and sound and mobile products and communications segments will offset the relatively stable music and pictures segments and improvement in the devices segment which makes semiconductors and components,” it said in statement.

In a separate statement, Fitch cut Panasonic to BB from BBB-minus, a two-notch downgrade, citing weakened competitiveness in its TVs and display panels as well as weak cash generation from its operations. It has a negative outlook on both the companies.

The downgrade sent Sony’s five-year credit default swaps (CDS), insurance-like contracts against debt default or restructuring, 5 basis points wider to 382.5/402.5 basis points.

Panasonic’s CDS for the same maturity were quoted at 295/315 basis points, 15 basis points wider than in Thursday morning Asian trade.

Standard & Poor’s rates the two consumer electronics makers at BBB, the second lowest of the investment grade, while Moody’s Investors Service has Baa3 on them, the lowest of the high-grade category.

With two of the three major ratings agencies still having the two companies as investment grade, institutional investors won’t face too great a pressure to cut their debt holdings in them, analysts said.

SONY SHARES TUMBLE

Sony shares shed 4.4 percent in Frankfurt on Thursday. The shares ended 1.8 percent higher at 834 yen in Tokyo before the Fitch announcement, trading not too far from their 32-year closing low of 793 yen hit on November 15. Sony stock is down 40 percent so far this year.

Panasonic shares were down 0.6 percent in Frankfurt in low volume. The stock inched up 0.7 percent to close at 407 yen in Tokyo trading, near its 34-year closing low of 385 yen reached on November 13.

Last month, Panasonic cut its forecast and warned it will lose close to $10 billion in the year to March, as it writes off billions of yen in tax-deferred assets and goodwill related to its mobile phone, solar panel and small lithium battery businesses.

Ahead of its earnings revision, Panasonic won $7.6 billion in loan commitments in October from banks including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, a funding backstop it says will help it avoid having to seek capital from credit markets.

Sony made a small operating profit in the July-September quarter, helped by the sale of a non-core chemicals business, and kept its forecast for a full-year profit of $1.63 billion.

Source Reuters

Thanks to OoZic for the news tip.

Finally, i would like to dedicate this news article to marty370.

Its almost a year since the PS Vita was released in Japan and it seems to be struggling there, that with the recent Junk Status given to Sony, doesn’t post a great future out look for the company, here are a couple of quotes from the source:

The performance of Vita in Japan has been nothing short of atrocious on so many levels. On week ending November 11, the unit volume in Japan was a shocking 4’021. The eight years old PSP sold 12’000 units during the same week. This is a rare example of a new console failing to dislodge the old one even after one year on the market.

Nintendo’s 3DS continued its rampage, moving 186’000 units during the week – 46 times more than its handheld rival. PS Vita has probably already edged into the dead zone where developers start yanking support for stand-alone projects.

The inability of delivering a strong sales rebound during a major launch is a death knell for a video game console – and this is what Vita has demonstrated all through the autumn. For example, in October, Vita was the launch pad for a relatively big launch of “The Legend of Heroes”. The game sold 21’000 units during its debut week – Vita sales bounced to 15’000 units and then dropped back to 6’000 weekly pace in just two weeks later. It looks identical to the impact that Assassin’s Creed III is now having on Vita – negligible.

Sony’s credit rating was lowered to Junk level this week. The PS3 is aging badly and the PS Vita is about to be knocked out of the portable console market. Nintendo’s portable gaming empire is facing a potentially lethal long-term threat from mobile apps. Apple‘s iPad application market is getting more and more sophisticated game titles, as ambitious games like “The Room” and “Clash of Clans” edge towards console game quality. Google has finally started solving its app market problems and Android app revenue is soaring.

But for now, it can feast on Sony’s corpse and hoover in consumer dollars that it had to split with PSP just two years ago.

Read the full story at the source:
Sony’s Portable Console Dying Ugly in Japan

Glowball1 who is responsible for numerous tutorials on creating dynamic themes for the PS3, has released a video tutorial on how to create a Christmas theme:

For more tutorials and to thank Glowball1, be nice an subscribe to him on YouTube:
Glowball1′s YouTube

Source Opium2k on Twitter, for those of you who dont know Opium2k, shame on you, he is responsible for creating tons of themes/skins for multiMAN and RetroArch, so click below to follow him on Twitter:
Opium2k’s Twitter

deroad has released the source code of his Install Package Homebrew app.

i decided to release my source code of this homebrew.
to compile it, you will need PSL1GHT V2.

if you want to copy partially or entirely the code, please, add me on the credits.

Have fun.

Link to the Source Code: https://github.com/wargio/InstallPackageHomebrew

Source: deroad’s blog via Twitter

aldostools has updated several of his apps in the PS3 Tools Collection. Visit his website or read the readme below for more information.

PS3 Tools Collection 2.0.49 by Aldo’s Tools
Copyright (c) 2012 by Aldo Vargas – http://www.aldostools.org/

Supports 22 file extensions:
PKG, PUP, edat, rap, rif, dat, bin, self, sprx, elf, prx, sfb, psarc, sfo, sfx, thm, hip, his, md5, sha1, sfv, 66600

PKG ContentID 1.9.3
——————-
It’s a tool for view quickly the ContentID of a PKG.
It can be used to verify its Title_ID, compare against RAP/edat files, etc.

PKG files are auto-associated to PKG_ContentID.exe

If a copy of PkgView 1.3 (http://ps3zone.ifcaro.net/) exists in the same folder of PKG_ContentID.exe :
>> The program will pass the PKG to PkgView.exe when you double click or press ENTER on a PKG.

Keyboard Shortcuts from Windows Explorer:
Shift+ENTER on a PKG file, will extract the content of the PKG on the same folder of the PKG.
Ctrl+ENTER on a PKG file, will show the ContentID of the PKG and allow open it with PkgView.
Ctrl+CAPS+ENTER on a PKG file, will repack the PKG as NPDRM (CEX).
Ctrl+Shift+ENTER on a PKG file, will repack the PKG for PS3 Development Consoles (DEX).

Shift+ENTER on a EBOOT/SELF/SPRX file, will extract the unsigned ELF file (if the keys and klicensee are available).
Ctrl+ENTER on a EBOOT/SELF/SPRX file, will resign the self file with lowest the key 0×01 for compatibility with all FW versions.
Ctrl+Shift+ENTER on a EBOOT/SELF/SPRX file, will convert the self to FSELF for use on PS3 Development Consoles (DEX).
Ctrl+CAPS+ENTER on a EBOOT/SELF/SPRX file, will convert the self to NPDRM (PSN). It will ask to create a PKG with all the other self files converted to NPDRM.
Ctrl+Shift+CAPS+ENTER on a EBOOT/SELF/SPRX file, will convert the self to FSELF (DEX). It will ask to create a PKG with all the other self files converted to FSELF.

Changelog:
1.9.3
- Now resign SELF applies the original auth-id/vendor-id/app version
- Shift+Enter on lv0.elf split the file in bootldr.elf + lv2ldr.self + isoldr.self + appldr.self + headers
- Added ‘Create PS3 discBOOT PKG’ / ‘Repack PKG for discBOOT’ on folders and .PKG files. The included discBOOT.dat is a creation of Dean Kasabow

1.8.7
- Tweaks for keys up to 4.31
- Added ‘Repack PKG for DEX’ to context menu of .pkg files on Windows Explorer
- Repack PKG for CEX now converts EBOOT/SELF/SPRX to NPRDM prior the creation of the debug PKG (shortcut: Ctrl+CAPS+Enter)
- Repack PKG for DEX now converts EBOOT/SELF/SPRX to FSELF prior the creation of the debug PKG (shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+Enter)

1.7.6
- Added Klicensee to self info
- Improved the klicensee selection
- Added game conversion to NPDRM PKG using Ctrl+CAPS+Enter
- Added game conversion to fself PKG using Ctrl+Shift+CAPS+Enter
- Added conversion options to context menu of bin/SELF/SPRX
- Prompt for auto-conversion of additional SELF/SPRX in the folder

1.6.0.6
- Added support to resign files with spaces in file name
- Repack uses the original PKG Klicensee.
- PKG Klicensee is now displayed using Ctrl+Enter on a PKG.
- Adds support to unself ‘debug’ version of EBOOT/SELF/SPRX.
- Adds support to ELF

1.5.-
- Adds support to scetool 0.2.9.

1.4.-
- Adds support to view edat, rap, pkg (via PkgView), pup (via PupView), pkg content id, self/bin/sprx (via scetool)
- Resign any self/sprx/eboot.bin just pressing Ctrl+Enter on the file on Windows Explorer.
- Pressing Shift+Ctrl+Enter on the self/sprx/eboot.bin will convert the selected file to fself (for DEX).

1.3.-
- Right click on a folder (with PARAM.SFO) to make a PKG.
- Press Ctrl+Shift+ENTER on a retail patch PKG file to extract its content and repack the PKG in debug mode.
- Can view the ContentID of edat files.
- Convert .p3t.edat files to theme PKG, if a copy of the patched make_package_npdrm.exe exists in the same folder the program.
- Drag & drop a folder, PKG or edat on the program’s window, to create a PKG or show the content ID.

PS3 Cheats Editor 2.3.1
———————–
Edits the cheats database for ps3usercheat (st.dat). Allows export/import cheats to the database in text format.

BruteForce 2.3.3
—————-
A klicensee finder using scetool (based on Asure’s brute force script) with heuristic algorithms for brute force attack.
Once it finds the klicensee, the tool resign the EBOOT/SPRX/SELF with 3.55/3.40 keys. It also includes my FixELF tool.

* fixed issue where it was not clearing the temporary files

PARAM.SFO editor 2.7.0
———————-
It’s a tool to edit PARAM.SFO files and PARAM.SFX files created by Create PS3_EXTRA.

Features:
+The PARAM.SFO editor supports SFO and SFX files.
+Convert SFO to SFX and viceversa.
+Support for SAVE DATA param.sfo, PS3 GAME param.sfo, PSP param.sfo, and other categories.
+SFO and SFX are automatically associated to the editor.
+Supports drag and drop and command line parameters (use /? for details on parameters).
+Displays the ICON0.PNG/ICON2.PNG found in the SFO/SFX folder.
+Add new fields to param.sfo
+Remove existing fields from param.sfo (right-click on field label or press Del on combo box)
+Account ID button (to make compatible certain saves that don’t check the PARAM.PFD)
+New fields in the GUI that allow to edit some ATTRIBUTE values (like add support for Background Music, disable Move Controller warnings, PSP Vita Remote Play, etc.)

Thanks to ps3devwiki.com for all the information provided and HELLCAT for his PS3SFOEdit.exe.

BdEmu Partition Tool 01.05.05
—————————–
It’s a tool to manage the size of the partitions of HDD formated for BDEMU, used by PS3 development consoles.
It allows to create up to 255 partitions (if your HDD has the capacity) and allows to inject/extract BDEMU files.
It also allows to resize BDEMU partition size (by default is created by ps3gen as 186.4GB, no matter the drive size).

* Replaced the file injection with “Resize Slot size to BDEMU file size”.
* Resize of slot is now available only for the last slot.

PS3 Keys 1.5.3
————–
It’s a tool to edit, verify and create the .ps3 keys in binary format.
Version 1.3 allows to convert scetool’s datakeys to .ps3 keys and list keys in HTML (click on the big blue icon).
Version 1.5 fixes a crytical error in the scetool keys to .ps3 binary keys. Also improved the keys validation.

mmTM_GUI 1.4.1
————–
It’s a tool to pack, unpack and verify multiMAN’s theme files (THM).

New in 1.4.1:
- Preview of theme files, increased size of window

PSARC GUI 1.1.0.0
—————–
A simple GUI to extract and create PSARC archives.

PS3 Game Integrity 1.2
———————-
This tool calculates the MD5, SHA-1 or CRC32 for a file or folder (and sub-directories) and generate a content.md5 file for future verification. If the content.md5 is present in the folder, the program reports if any file was deleted, added or changed. This tool is very useful to check if your game has corrupted files due due bad sectors, virus or cross-links (which are very common when an USB device is removed from the PS3 while it is turned on).

New in 1.1: CRC32 hash support, find in log, size is now optional. Version 1.2 fixes hash for files larger than 4GB.

Note: Several MD5 for known Playstation 3 files is included (PUPs for OFW, CFW, DEX and PSP files)

PS3 File Splitter 1.3
———————
Splits files larger than 4GB to fit in USB drives formatted with FAT32. It also join splitted files. Splits files can be any specified size.
Note: GiB = 2^30, GB=10^9, MiB=2^20, MB=10^6, KiB=2^10, KB=10^3

New in 1.1: Support for more file extensions (eg. part# = part1 .. part9, part0 = part0 .. part9). Version 1.2 fixes join of files.

PS3RIP 1.2.1
————
It’s a tool that should help you gain some space on your external HDD, removing unnecessary files.
It actually moves the files to a RIPPED folder in the root of the disk and replace the file with a 0 byte file.

VERY IMPORTANT: You should verify your game (play it!) before delete any file permanently!!

+The PS3RIP includes the patterns for ripping almost all languages, except English!!

Initial release excluded English & Spanish. This release excludes English only, but allows to exclude other languages.

IMPORTANT: Review the patterns and comment or remove the lines for the languages that you want to keep.

(for ripping files stored in your PS3 use my PS3 FTP Client tool)

PS3_DISC.SFB edit 1.1
———————
It’s a quick way to edit the title id of PS3_DISC.SFB.

Create PS3_EXTRA 1.1
——————–
This tool scans for the PKG, MP4 and P3T files copied to each game folder, its PS3_UPDATE folder, PKGDIR or PS3_CONTENT,
and store them under a PS3_EXTRA structure.

When a game is mounted with multiMAN, there will be 2 BD icons on the XMB:
one disc for the game itself and another with PKGs, MP4 and P3T.

It should make it easier to install the game patches, DLC, fixes, and related videos,
due they will be listed in a neat menu like the one used by “PStore news” (big squares of 486×405 pixels).

How to use:
———–
1) First put the pkg’s at the root of your game folder (eg: BLES00000).
2) Run Create_PS3_EXTRA.exe
3) Click the browse button in the top right corner [...]
4) Select the “GAMES” folder that contains the games with the pkg’s eg: x:GAMEZ and then click the OK button
5) Now tick or untick the folders you want or don’t want the app to process
6) Click the Start button
7) Close the program
Open the folder eg: BLES00000 folder
9) Now your folder should contain a folder called PS3_EXTRA
10) All the pkg’s should have automatically been renamed and moved to the PS3_EXTRA folder
11) Launch the game using multiMAN
12) On the xmb menu you should now see 2 disc icon’s. The top disc icon is the actual game, The bottom disc icon is the dlc/update pkg’s.
13) Click on the bottom disc icon to see and install the dlc/updates

Changes in 1.1:
+Create_PS3_EXTRA now can find PKG files in PS3_CONTENT and PKGDIR folders, and move them to the PS3_EXTRA folder.
+The PS3_CONTENT and PKGDIR folders are renamed to avoid conflicts with the PS3_EXTRA structure.
!Fixed package “size” issue for PKG files >4GB
!Due a typo in the code it was not moving the P3T files to PS3_EXTRA. Fixed.

renam 1.0
———
This tool, if copied to the GAMES or GAMEZ folder, will rename the games sub-folders
from the default “BLUS0000-[Title]” format to “Title [BLUS0000]“.

This name format should make it easier to find the games using Explorer.

Just copy the renam.exe to the x:GAMES (or x:GAMEZ) folder and rut it.

(Do not expect any GUI. It will rename the folders and exit)

All these tools are Win32 and require the VB5 runtime DLL.
XP users should have this already installed (if not, download & install the DLL).

Download the VB5 Runtime Modules from:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/vb50pro/utility/1/win98/en-us/msvbvm50.exe

That’s all for now

av.-

Download: PS3 Tools Collection (2.0.49)

Source: aldostools.org/ps3tools.html

Condorstrike has released CONDOR UPDATER 3.1 which works now on every custom firmware with recovery option, but only on PS3′s with NOR-FLASH.

CONDOR UPDATER 3.1

HI GUYS, AFTER RELEASING CONDOR UPDATER 3 I REALIZED IT WASN’T COMPLETE, SO HERE’S CONDOR UPDATER V3.1 WHICH NOW WORKS ON ANY CFW WITH RECOVERY OPTION (2.50 AND ABOVE). SO NOW THE SAME APP WILL INSTALL AND WORK FOR YOU ON CFWS 3.55, 4.25, 4.30, DOWNGRADE PUP, WHATEVER… IT IS ESPECIALLY USEFUL FOR THOSE WITH DAMAGED POWER BUTTONS OR FOR INSTALLING SAME VERSIONS OF MFWS OVER OFW/MFWS OR GOING BACK FROM AN MFW TO AN OFW, OR ANY TIME IMO… I NEVER TRUST XMB UPDATES.

for the noobs:

This app allows pseudo-recovery mode system firmware update from XMB.

Meaning, one button press on your controller and you’re ready to update/downgrade to your favorite CFW from recovery mode, Once in recovery all you need to do is follow the on-screen prompts. Also, as of now it still only works on NOR-FLASH PS3s, if you’re unsure which model you own click HERE.

CHANGELOG:

• Condor Updater now runs on any CFW with recovery option (2.50 and above).

DOWNLOAD: Condor Updater 3.1

Source: condorstrike.com

r04drunner has published a new online update for Red Ribbon Linux. Visit the Release Thread @ PS3HaX for discussion.

This update includes the following changes:

- Added a 3.6.7 kernel with the Graf_chokolo’s, Marcan’s and Gitbrew’s patches.
- Added PS3-utils.
- Added Mplayer.

You need to connect the PS3 to the internet, open a lxterminal and download the file:
Code:

wget http://redribbon.t15.org/downloads/online-update-2012-11-21.sh

Then, you can execute it:

Code:

sudo sh online-update-2012-11-21.sh

And wait until finished.

The next time that you reboot the system, some new kernel options will appear on Petitboot. You must select the new 3.6.7 option for OtherOS or Asbestos.

Once you have booted using the new kernel version, if you want to remove the old 3.5.2 kernel versions, you can do it using the Synaptic package manager or executing the next command on a lxterminal:

Code:

apt-get remove linux-image-3.5.2-red-ribbon-powerpc64-asbestos linux-image-3.5.2-red-ribbon-powerpc64-otheros
linux-headers-3.5.2-red-ribbon-powerpc64-asbestos linux-headers-3.5.2-red-ribbon-powerpc64-otheros

Source: Red Ribbon GNU/Linux Blog via Release Thread @ PS3HaX

It’s worthwhile to note that this Nielsen graph showing the most-wanted tech gadgets for kids age 6 – 12 in the US is titled “Interest in Buying in the Next 6 Months.” That’s probably an incorrect assertion, since we haven’t seen any 8-year-olds working the late shift at McDonald’s recently. It should be titled, “Interest in Having Someone Buy This For Me in the Next 6 Months.”

Kids’ holiday wishlists are dominated by the iPad, snagging the top spot from 48 percent of respondents age 6 – 12. Right behind that is the Wii U, with 39 percent. More iDevices complete the top five, though Kinect has 31 percent, and 3DS/3DS XL and other DS models grab 29 and 28 percent, respectively. PS3 comes in with 26 percent, followed by the Xbox 360 with 25 percent. Strangely enough, 18 percent of kids want a PSP, while just 14 percent would take the Vita.

In a separate study of people 13 and older, the iPad remains king with 21 percent, making the split more even across all devices. Wii U is fourth in this group with 17 percent, while the PS3 gets 8 percent and the Xbox 360 7 percent. The Vita surpasses the PSP, 4 percent compared with 3 percent.

Check out the complete graphs below.

 

[Source] = Joystiq  via Nielsen

Happy Thanks Giving everyone one , here is the weekly Playstation Store update for 20/11/2012….the biggest release this week is PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

(more…)

deank has released multiMAN version 04.13.00 and a Standalone ‘Install Package Files’ Application. According to him this app will be preinstalled in an upcoming Rogero custom firmware.

Install Package Files.pkg (491.36KB)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ozzgu3

This is a small handy tool for installing PKG files via the “bubble”/PSN method. It may be handy for Rogero 4.30CFW ver. 2.00 users. Rogero is preparing a firmware version which will have it ‘build-in’ in /dev_flash so you won’t need multiMAN and you can’t break/delete it, since it will appear in [/app_home] when you boot the PS3 and will come preinstalled.

It comes with background running FTP server and /dev_blind mounted (for write access to /dev_flash).

Also online is mM 04.13.00 with a fix for Hermes payload for Rogero 4.30CFW v2:

* Fixed issue with Hermes payload on 4.30CEX Rogero ver 2.00
- 4+GB split files caching from USB and “Ext. Game Data” game option now work
* Added standalone application “* Install Package Files”
- RELOAD.SELF from the application can be used in other homebrew tools to install PKG files via the bubble-method
- Install Package Files app works on all firmwares

stDISC and gameDATA apps will be available later for Rogero 4.30CFW v2.

Download Links:
multiMAN 04.13.00
multiMAN 04.13.00 (mirror by CaptainCPS-X)

Install Package Files.pkg (491.36KB)

via ps3crunch

Thanks to AsSiTcH for the news tip!

Through a story on CVG, i decided to buy a digital copy of Xbox World, they have posted a 14 page exclusive regarding what they claim will be featured in the new Xbox.

Features include:

• Kinect 2.0
• Blu Ray Drive
• Quad Core CPU
• 8GB Ram
• Customisable Controller
• Augmented Reality
• Expected release date of November 2013

1. Massive Power
Xbox World states that Durango Dev kits are in the hands of developers and claim the CPU is a monster, they go on to sya that the CPU has four hardware cores, each divided into four logical cores.

2. Putting The Power To Work
Xbox World quotes a statement from Naturalmotions chief technician Simon Mack, “We can simulate more things and simulate those things better.

3. Kinect 2.0
According to Xbox Gamer, Kinect 2.0 can track up to four people and can read the smallest movements of your fingers, thanks to advancements in camera technology and the additional processing power.

4. Augmented Reality
The new Xbox will see augmented reality, with a new peripheral in 2014.

5. 3D Sound
Xbox World didn’t have a lot of fact for this one, they spoke with someone who was working for a gaming company, but could not reveal anything, due to being under an NDA.

6. Blu Ray & Beyond
Xbox World states that the new Xbox “should” ship with a Blu ray drive as standard, they also point out a rumour that the slim version of the Xbox 720, would have no optical drive at all and would be a download only device.

7. DirectX 11
All rumours point to the next gen Xbox having DirectX 11.

8. A New Microsoft
This part speaks of how Microsoft should change to adapt better to publishers.

9. A New Control Pad
Apparently the Xbox 720′s new control pad is in its early beta stages, but it speaks of customisable buttons and perhaps the possibility of a touch screen.

10. Cloud Gaming
Xbox World states that Microsoft has listed Onlive as an acquisition target, so that would go well with the rumour in number #6.

11. Live 3.0
This bit just speaks of a new improved Xbox Live.

12. Total Multimedia
This bit discusses how the new gen Xbox, may be even more of a media hub than the 360.

13. The User Interface.
Perhaps we will see a Windows 8 type interface.

14. Always On Gaming
This part speaks of how Microsoft think their nex console should be an always on console.

If you want to buy the article yourself, you can grab the Digital version of Xbox World from here:
IOS Version
Android/Windows Version

Well the Wii U has been out for a few days and we have already seen some interesting developments regarding the console, the console has sold out in many places and seems to be quite popular.

But it seems that not everyone is a fan of the new console, take Oles Shishkovtsov developer of Metro: Last Light for example, who says the game will not appear on the Wii U, here is a quote from NowGamer:

One of these titles will be 4 A Games’ Metro: Last Light. Chief technical officer, Oles Shishkovtsov, explains why Metro’s sequel won’t be appearing.

“[The] Wii U has a horrible, slow CPU,” said Shishkovtsov to NowGamer.

Even his colleage, Huw Beynon, confirmed there would not be a Wii U version of Metro: Last Light, and couldn’t justify the effort required to bring a comparable version to the Wii U.

“We had an early look at it, we thought we could probably do it, but in terms of the impact we would make on the overall quality of the game – potentially to its detriment – we just figured it wasn’t worth pursuing at this time. It’s something we might return to. I really couldn’t make any promises, though.”

Source

Gustav Halling Lead Designer had this to say:

“I don’t actually know what makes it slow, but enough “tech” people I trust in world are saying the same things.”

“GPU and ram is nice to have shaders/textures loaded. Physics and gameplay run on CPU mostly so player count is affected etc.”

Source

Here is last week’s recap of newly updated/released PS3 homebrew apps around the scene for week of 21/11/2012.

• [Released] COD BO 1 All DLC FIXED
• PS3 Media Server v1.72 Released
• [Released] PKG Toolkit GUI v1.50
• [Released] PS3 Lite Tools v1
• Condor Updater 3 – Now Works On 4.XX CFW

PS3 dev naehrwert has reversed some parts of lv0 to understand how the lv0ldr/bootldr/howeveryouliketocallit exploit is working. Read the quote below for more information.

As the exploit that was used to dump lv0ldr/bootldr/howeveryouliketocallit is public now, let’s have a closer look at it to understand what’s going on. Here is what I have reversed from lv0 (it shares the syscon portion of the code with its SPU counterpart):

//In .data section.
static u8 tmp_pkt[0x800];

//Get size from sc packet.
#define GET_SIZE(pkt) ((pkt[4] << 8 ) | pkt[5])

int read_cmpl_msg(/*...*/, u8 *payload_buf /*r5*/, int min_size /*r6*/, /*...*/)
{
    u16 pkt_size;

    //Get packet header.
    memcpy_aligned_64(tmp_pkt, MMIO_SC_PKT, 0x10);

    //Check packet size.
    pkt_size = GET_SIZE(tmp_pkt);
    if(pkt_size - 4 < min_size || pkt_size + 8 > 0x800)
        return ERR;

    //Run first sc_checksum.
    if(!sc_checksum(...))
        return ERR;

    //Read packet again (plus header!).
    pkt_size = GET_SIZE(tmp_pkt);
    memcpy_aligned_64(tmp_pkt, MMIO_SC_PKT, size + 0x1B);

    //Get size again (not checked now).
    //I suspect that this is actually a compiler 'quirk' and not a
    //programmer mistake. The original source probably accesses the
    //packet size through a structure and the compiler noticed the
    //non const access of the packet and generated this read of the
    //size member because it could have changed.
    pkt_size = GET_SIZE(tmp_pkt);

    //Let's have some fun (payload_buf on caller stack).
    memcpy(payload_buf, tmp_pkt + 8, size - 4);

    //Run second sc_checksum.
    if(!sc_checksum(...))
        return ERR;

    //...
}

The syscon library implements some high level functions, e.g. to shutdown the console on panic or to read certain configuration values. Every of this functions internally uses another function to exchange packets with syscon and the exchange function uses the read_cmpl_msg one to get the answer packet. The top-level function will pass a fixed size buffer to the exchange function. So if we are able to control syscon packets, e.g. by emulating MMIO (and thanks to IBM we are), we can change the packet size between the two packet readings and overwrite the caller stack. And if we first copy a little stub to shared LS and let the return address point to it, we can easily dump the whole 256 kB.

Nothing more left to say now, let’s wait and see if this is going to be fixed in future firmware versions (we just have to check lv0 fortunately).

Source: http://nwert.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/the-exploit/

Thanks to jesdaking for the news tip!

DeanK has released yet another version of the awesome multiMAN, now version 04.12.00 is available. Support for the recently released Rogero 4.30 CFW v2.00 has been added + more.

*click on the image to enlarge it*

* Added full support for Rogero 4.30CFW Version 2.00
- LV1 peek/poke support
- PS1 disc backups support
- Direct Disc Access support
* Added new function in “Home” column – “* Install Package Files”
* Added new option in “Settings” – “Install Package Files Method”
- User can pick from either “Standard” or “PSN Style (bubble)” modes
- Bubble mode shows installable packages as PSN downloaded content in Game column (or under Rebug’s Package Manager/PSN Content)
- To select a package file (*.pkg):
– Use [* Install Package Files] option in Home column or
– double click on a pkg file in mmOS/File Manager (when “bubble” method is used the PS3 will reboot)
* Fixed copying of AVCHD/Blu-ray movie backups from Video column

Download: multiMAN ver 04.12.00 BASE CEX (20121120).pkg

Source : TortugaCove

Thanks to for MJ999 the news tip.

While the Playstation Network isn’t exactly perfect, there’s a lot of good going on with the service right now. Playstation 3 owners aren’t just getting free online gameplay, but they’re getting full retail games for free (provided they are PS+ members) and plenty of sales to boot.

Of course with Black Friday just a few days away, Sony is running sales on their PSN Service for both Playstation Plus and standard PSN members. They’re called PS3 Ultimate Editions, which are games that include all of their respective DLC packs and pushed out (of course) digitally.

While you could just say these games are Games of the Year editions, and you’d be right, not all GOTY editions are offered digitally, and we’re getting to a point where people just don’t wanna run to the store and get a psychical copy anymore.

The sale is currently going on and will run until Nov 26, plenty of time to get some cash and stock up on some game. There are nine games in total, with PS+ members getting the games with up to 73% off and standard users getting up to 66% off.

Here’s a complete list of the games and their reduced prices:

• “Alice: Madness Returns” – ($20 for standard players, $16 for Plus)
• “Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood” – ($28, $22)
• “Assassin’s Creed: Revelations” – ($50, $40)
• “Deus Ex: Human Revolution” – ($35, $28)
• “Homefront” – ($20, $16)
• “Mass Effect 2” – ($35, $28)
• “Red Faction Armageddon” – ($25, $20)
• “Saints Row 2” – ($25, $20)
• “Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine” – ($30, $24)

On top of having the games on sale, those that spend a total of $60 or more on these games will get a $10 PSN voucher on Dec 6, and is valid through January 6, 2013.

There’s plenty of great deals going on here, even if you have the games already if you haven’t played the DLC for said games it might be worth picking a few of them up.

Check out the Playstation Blog for more details.

[Source] = Examiner

Good news another Rogero’s release, thanks to @BobbyBlunt for this one

To quote:
Rogero has released another version of his 4.30 MFW as well as his 4.21 MFW

4.30 v2.00
- Rebuilt from scratch using OFW4.30 files only (no DEX/SEX files) with official XMB and full features working as in OFW4.30
- All known problems like XMB icons sorting and Demo Mode issues from v 1.04 are now all gone with the use of the official XMB.
- Removed the classical “Install Package Files” Icon from XMB to have a 100% original XMB (no DEX/SEX files used).
- Installing Package Files can be done from multiMAN 04.12.00 (XMMB Home column or MMOS File Manager).
- Patched LV1 to disable LV2 Protection.
- Patched LV1 to add peek/poke support to replace hvc 182/183 (multiMAN Direct Disc Access is now working fine with CFW4.21/4.30 v2.00)
- Patched LV1 to disable SYSTEM MANAGER INTEGRITY CHECK (to prevent Bricking on non-dehashed downgraded consoles)
- Patched LV1 Core OS Hash Check (to prevent Bricking on non-dehashed downgraded consoles)
- Patched LV2 to add peek/poke support. (for both LV1 and LV2)
- Patched VSH to enable ReActPSN compatibility (Allow Unsigned act.dat and *.rif files, Disable Unlinking/Deleting of act.dat)
- Spoofed the system version to latest OFW version 4.31.
- PSN/SEN access is available as long as the current “passphrase” still the same.
- Loading games from App_home Icon is now fixed.
- It can run games signed with Keys up to version 4.30 without any Eboot/Sprx patching needed
- Games can be loaded from Disc Icon (with Original game in BD) and from app_home (Disc-less, but not all games).
- Current 3.55 homebrew applications can’t be loaded on this CFW, applications must be re-signed properly for FW4.21/4.30

4.21 v2.00
- Same Features as CEX_4.30 v2.00 plus the following add-ons:
1- It does have the default “Install Package Files” node on XMB. (no need to have multiMAN installed before using it)
2- It does have LV1 Checks Disabled and can be used directly instead of Rogero3.55 v3.7 while downgrading with Hardware Flashers.
3- It does have the Proper Cinavia Disabled Files for the users who needs it.

More information can be found at the source Tortuga-cove