If you do not yet have PS+, now is your chance as you will get an additional three months worth of PS+ when you sign up to a years subscription, here is a quote from the source:

We’re continuing to bring you great offers here at PlayStation to start off 2013 right, and our latest deal can help you take advantage of everything PlayStation Plus has to offer for the rest of the year and beyond. For a limited time, we’re giving you three extra months of Plus at no additional cost when you sign up for a one-year membership.

The time to become a PlayStation Plus member couldn’t be better. We ended 2012 with the addition of PlayStation Plus and the Instant Game Collection on PS Vita, for a combined savings of $2,472 for the year. That includes free games and discounts for both PS3 and PS Vita, and we’ve got plenty more plans for PlayStation Plus in 2013. Yesterday we released our brand new Classic White PlayStation 3, which comes with a huge 500 GB hard drive (plenty of room for your Instant Game Collection). The Classic White PS3 package also comes with a voucher for one year of PlayStation Plus — if you redeem the voucher during this special promotional period, you’ll receive the bonus three months of free games, discounts and exclusive features through PlayStation Plus. And those of you who are already reaping the benefits of PlayStation Plus are in luck—you can stack your membership to take full advantage of this great offer!

This deal won’t be around forever, so make sure to act quickly. We’ll be offering the PlayStation Plus 1-year (+ 3 months) deal starting now and running through March 4th. Oh, and don’t forget to check PS.Blog later on, when we’ll have more Plus news, including a new addition to the Instant Game Collection.

Source

Note:
This comes from the US PS Blog, i do not know if it applies to other regions.

VGLEAKS have updated their information on the PS Orbis, here is a quote:

 

LIVERPOOL SOC

• Custom implementation of AMD Fusion APU Arquitecture (Accelerated Processing Unit)
• Provides good performance with low power consumtion
• Integrated CPU and GPU
• Considerably bigger and more powerful than AMD’s other APUs

 

CPU:

• Orbis contains eight Jaguar cores at 1.6 Ghz, arranged as two “clusters”
• Each cluster contains 4 cores and a shared 2MB L2 cache
• 256-bit SIMD operations, 128-bit SIMD ALU
• SSE up to SSE4, as well as Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX)
• One hardware thread per core
• Decodes, executes and retires at up to two intructions/cycle
• Out of order execution
• Per-core dedicated L1-I and L1-D cache (32Kb each)
• Two pipes per core yield 12,8 GFlops performance
• 102.4 GFlops for system

 

GPU:

• GPU is based on AMD’s “R10XX” (Southern Islands) architecture
• DirectX 11.1+ feature set
• Liverpool is an enhanced version of the architecture
• 18 Compute Units (CUs)
• Hardware balanced at 14 CUs
• Shared 512 KB of read/write L2 cache
• 800 Mhz
• 1.843 Tflops, 922 GigaOps/s
• Dual shader engines
• 18 texture units
• 8 Render backends

 

Memory:

• 4 GB unified system memory, 176 GB/s
• 3.5 available to games (estimate)

 

Storage:

- High speed Blu-ray drive

• single layer (25 GB) or dual layer (50 GB) discs
• Partial constant angular velocity (PCAV)
• Outer half of disc 6x (27 MB/s)
• Inner half varies, 3.3x to 6x

 

- Internal mass storage

• One SKU at launch: 500 GB HDD
• There may also be a Flash drive SKU in the future

 

Networking:

• 1 Gb/s Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n WIFI, and Bluetooth

 

Peripherals:

• Evolved Dualshock controller
• Dual Camera
• Move controller

 

Extra:

• Audio Processor (ACP)
• Video encode and decode (VCE/UVD) units
• Display ScanOut Engine (DCE)
• Zlib Decompression Hardware

 

UPDATE: some people is confused about the GPU, here you have more info about it:

Each CU contains dedicated:

- ALU (32 64-bit operations per cycle)

- Texture Unit

- L1 data cache

- Local data share (LDS)

About  14 + 4 balance:

- 4 additional CUs (410 Gflops) “extra” ALU as resource for compute

- Minor boost if used for rendering

Dual Shader Engines:

- 1.6 billion triangles/s, 1.6 billion vertices/s

18 Texture units

- 56 billion bilinear texture reads/s

- Can utilize full memory bandwith

8 Render backends:

- 32 color ops/cycle

- 128 depth ops/cycle

- Can utilize full memory bandwith

Source

As most of you know, Sony have recently stopped producing the PS2, the Official UK PS Magazine has done a great article dedicated to it, here are the highlights:

• 2000-2001 – PS2 release makes DVD the dominant format in Japan
• 2001 – PS2 introduces online gaming to the masses
• August 2002 – SOCOM introduces voice control
• July 2003 – Eyetoy released
• December 2003 – PSX foretells the media hub future
• May 2004 – Singstar released with microphone support
• October 2004 – GTA 3 launches
• November 2005 – 100 millionth console sold

[Release] RetroArch v0.9.8 (PS3/CFW 3.40-4.XX/Unofficial)(MOD by CaptainCPS-X)

Hiyas everyone here I bring you my own build of RetroArch with a nice ROM(s) loading fix, and as a bonus I included SNES9X-NEXT (LIBRETRO CORE) and FB ALPHA (LIBRETRO CORE) builds compiled/signed by me.

Loading of ROM(s) can be done directly from multiMAN (retro column) or other external method now. This should work on CFW 3.40 to 4.XXwithout problems.

Here is the README.txt with more detailed info:

I will release the code modifications later, I been all day/night messing with code and I need to take some rest (sleep xD), but later I’ll get in touch with RetroArch devs to share my “quick” fix for the ROM(s) loading issue.

Download:

[mediafire] RetroArch_v0.9.8_PS3_UNOFFICIAL_R1_[CFW_340_4XX][CaptainCPS-X].rar [7.41 MB]

Enjoy! 

SeeYa!

Going around again with this weeks latest PS3 releases, nothing terribly new this week…but nevertheless here is this weeks scene releases

• Ratchet_and_Clank_Full_Frontal_Assault_USA_PS3-CLANDESTiNE
• Taiheiyou_no_Arashi_JPN_PS3-HR
• Hitman.HD.Trilogy.PS3-DUPLEX
• Little_Big_Planet_Karting_JPN_PS3-MOEMOE
• The.Cave.PSN.PS3-DUPLEX
• Just.Dance.4.Gangnam.Style.DLC.PS3-DUPLEX
• Ni.No.Kuni.Wrath.of.the.White.Witch.PS3-DUPLEX
• Hitman_Absolution_USA_PS3-CLANDESTiNE

Thanks to @brunolee for his work on Iris manager to make it cooler than it is. (Cobras not included)

IrisManager:
Last Update

http://mods.elotrolado.net/~hermes/ps3/irismanager-4-x.rar

*******************************************

Languages:
IrisManager (Language) Catala.pkg

http://www.mediafire.com/?6d1wls6zc6tjf1k

IrisManager (Language) English.pkg

http://www.mediafire.com/?39kn2jcwk7m6957

IrisManager (Language) Italian.pkg

http://www.mediafire.com/?aofz3efu5m83gv6

IrisManager (Language) Portuguese.pkg

http://www.mediafire.com/?89r14pkoyawmak8

IrisManager (Language) Spanish.pkg

http://www.mediafire.com/?oaz1df5bk3cxvcu

*******************************************

ps1_emu_patched2:
IrisManager (PSone Emu) 3.55.pkg

http://www.mediafire.com/?9ylhnpp2z8k2v88

IrisManager (PSone Emu) 4.21.pkg

http://www.mediafire.com/?zrmwocq7i1jk7qd

IrisManager (PSone Emu) 4.30.pkg

http://www.mediafire.com/?kb28cf1jbva8gc1

*******************************************

“Themes”:

IrisManager (Theme) PSone.pkg

http://www.mediafire.com/?fi3oj4jorgk16e8

=================================

Thanks to all the amigos from EOL. Keep this awesome work with Iris manager

Honestly?, I think it’s a good market strategy but..i don’t like the idea of *convicing someone* to buy someone that probably don’t like. Sony being Sony, don’t blame them tough.

To quote:

During the month of February, Sony has launched an incentivized referral program that rewards PlayStation 3/Vita owners with $20 of PSN credit and 1,000 Sony Rewards points, provided they successfully convince a friend or family member to purchase a Vita.

Your referred friend/family member also receives $20 in PlayStation Network credit, in addition to, like, the Vita they just bought, which makes this whole thing a pretty easy sell for anyone who had already planned on buying a new handheld this month. If you don’t know anyone like that, however, might we suggest bribing them with the copy of Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation that you bought with your 1,000 Sony Rewards points?

[Source] = Joystiq

KDSbest again with another trick under his sleeve. Enjoy MAX exp on Ni No Kuni.

Thanks to KDSbest

To create this cheat that will allow you swim in pools of money and tons of EXP you will need KDSBest’s Patch PS3User Cheat to an ELF file tool.
It’s not easy tough. @KDSbest is an active user here in HAX so he will guide you on this *journey*. If you run into problems don’t hestitate to ask.
Also bare in mind that you need to compile that source code.

[Source] = KDSbest’s TwitLonger Source code to Patch PS3userCheat.
[Reference] = Most Updated Cheats DB for PS3 Cheats Editor by @gingerbread

Follow KDSBest on twitter

Use bakodo if you want to see the message.

Without a doubt the most awesome Backup manager in the PS3 Scene, with developers that have true ethics and believe in Open Source, here is a quote from Estwald:

What’s new:

- Added possibility to extract ISO PSX (Game Copy option, press Select on PSX disc) from multiple disks.

- Added possibility to use tricks disk: ISO hits the / PSXGAMES / CHEATS. The iso should be 2352 bytes per sector that can then be used to adapt to other sizes, creating replicas. For example, the Xploder 4 is not even 10 MB, so it’s no big deal to have multiple versions. When asked if you want to start using it and mount it as a first album. See notes for details (the name is the same, I just need an extension and a sector size correct, internally, is list what is in that directory looking for a valid ISO)

- Changed BD Emu options: there are now separate options for internal or external disk:
* In internal: libfs always takes patched, can not mount or play as hard
* In external: if you mount the disk, not taken libfs patched and is the recommended option. With libfs only recommend it for games that have cached data in the internal HDD.

- Enabled L2 to show games. At first, the first option to show only R2 PS3 games, while if you press L2 would PSX

————————————–

And now about other things:

- I see that you are using my Deank ps1_emu patches. That’s no problem, since precisely, if I do things is public for anyone to be able to use, obviously. The problem is that it does not usually release the source code in compliance with applicable licenses and thereby not allowing others we can benefit from their contributions as he takes advantage of ours.

- BD-Emu Theme internally mounted: roll both not flushed the Grid and it works perfectly. How not work was if you used the game on installing external internal data (a waste, since most of the game is in that file).

- PS2-PSP Topic: I’m not going to put up with it.

- Theme D_Skywalk: I know nothing of the boy and has me worried. Other than that, with the whole thing, I’m getting a lot of changes in the sources and I hope there is no problem then …

- Move Topic: besides I have not Move, I can not use v2 PSL1GHT even compile, among other things, because compilers do not support my IF Mode Pointer and is already a pain without having to play more, and to have to settle a new library on the old woman ends up not being consistent. Perhaps we should look at that bear Iris V2, but first would have to have compilers and toolchain oopo as we know it (you throw two hours compiling something to the end, leave a fucking mistake that you do not know where it comes. That at least since Windows)

- Thread Dump PSX disc: in psx.c is a very nice routine called read_raw_sector () to read entire sectors. Maybe someone interested as used

Regards

Source
Download

Thank You Estwald and D_Skywalk

Thanks esmjanus for the new tip

My buddy iT0ny is one of those iPhone freaks :p, he is also a MacOS developer, her recently took anaria NOR Dump Tool and adapted it for MacOS

Here is anaria’s official thread, so you understand what i am talking about:
[Released] Simple Code To Help Checking NOR Dumps

Compiled from the Source Code Here
Download iT0ny’s MacOS Conversion
Follow iT0ny On Twitter
iT0ny’s iPhone/MacOS Website(Russian Language Only)

PSN Stuff v1.4 (by LoOzers)


Changelog

*Added 3 new types (Wallpaper, Demo, Video) *Added Cancel option for download *Added Clickable links in newstab *Added Package integrity check [Package(MD5) vs. ETag(MD5)] As you mentioned the db is now encryptet. This is related to many people who were pisst to see their stuff postet on warez sites and other forums by other people. PSN Stuff is a community project, so you have still full access to all the data through the tool. *PSN links can be copied with ALT+rightclick *Rap´s can be saved easily with one click on the button

Download

PSNStuff_ver1.4.rar
Temp Share : PSNStuff_ver1.4.rar | Free temporary file hosting

- YOU NEED THE .NET FRAMEWORK!
- RUN PSNSTUFF AS ADMINISTRATOR!

Source

UPDATE

PSN Stuff v1.5 (by LoOzers)


Changelog

Version 1.5 *fixed language/location Bug Database should load fine now You need this update to load the db! Version 1.4 *Added 3 new types (Wallpaper, Demo, Video) *Added Cancel option for download *Added Clickable links in newstab *Added Package integrity check [Package(MD5) vs. ETag(MD5)] As you mentioned the db is now encryptet. This is related to many people who were pissed off to see their stuff postet on warez sites and other forums by other people. PSN Stuff is a community project, so you have still full access to all the data through the tool. *PSN links can be copied with ALT+rightclick *Rap´s can be saved easily with one click on the button

Download
PSNStuff_v1.5.rar
Temp Share : PSNStuff_v1.5.rar | Free temporary file hosting

A few days ago i posted here that a site called VGLEAKS had posted some information on the upcoming Microsoft console, they promised to release some info on the PS Orbis, here is a quote from the source:

Currently, there are 3 types of devkits:

1) R10 boards with special BIOS, running in generic PC’s

2) “Initial 1″ — Early devkit

• model number: DVKT-KS000K
• SCE-provided PC equipped with R10XX board
• Runs Orbis OS
• Available July 2012

3) SoC Based Devkit: early version of the ORBIS hardware

• Available January 2013

 

Time to look inside of each devkit:

R10 Board (with special BIOS) assemble in a Generic PC

• Requires Windows 7 64 bit edition
• Recommend
• Sandy Bridge (Intel) or Bulldozer (AMD)
• Minimum 8 GB RAM (system memory)
• 650 Watt PSU
• VS2010 SP1
• DWM (Desktop Windows Manager) must be turned off
• Application will use Windows services for everything except GPU interface
• SCE will provide “Gnm”, a custom GPU interface

 

Do you remember the first Durango’s pictures? This is a very early devkit based on Windows.

DVKT-KS000K (“Initial 1″)

• Runs Orbis OS
• CPU: Bulldozer 8-core, 1.6 Ghz
• Graphics Card: R10 with special BIOS
• RAM: 8 GB (system memory)
• BD Drive
• HDD: 2.5 ” 160 GB
• Network Controller
• Custom South Bridge allows access to controller prototypes

SoC Based Devkit

• Available January 2013
• CPU: 8-core Jaguar
• GPU: Liverpool GPU
• RAM: unified 8 GB for devkit (4 GB for the retail console)
• Subsystem: HDD, Network Controller, BD Drive, Bluetooth Controller, WLAN and HDMI (up to 1980×1080@3D)
• Analog Outputs: Audio, Composite Video
• Connection to Host: USB 3.0 (targeting over 200 MB/s),
• ORBIS Dualshock
• Dual Camera

 

The last devkit is the closer one to the retail console. Expect a machine with these specs or similar to these ones. Obviously, Sony could introduce changes in these features, but don’t expect deep mods.

Source

Themaister and Squarepusher have updated RetroArch for the PS3 to version 0.9.8, here is a quote from the source:

——————————————————————————
WHAT IS RETROARCH?
——————————————————————————
RetroArch is a modular multi-system emulator system that is
designed to be fast, lightweight and portable. It has features
few other emulator frontends have, such as real-time rewinding
and game-aware shading.

—————————————————————————–
HOW TO INSTALL THIS
——————————————————————————

——————————————————————————
ON DEBUG (DEX) PS3
——————————————————————————
Put the PKG file ‘retroarch-ps3-v0.9.8-dex.pkg’ on your
USB stick, put it in your PS3. Go to the PS3 XMB – go to the
Game tab – Select ‘Install Packages’, and install the PKG file.

——————————————————————————
ON CFW P3
——————————————————————————
Put the PKG file ‘retroarch-ps3-v0.9.8-cfw.pkg’ on your
USB stick. Put it in your CFW PS3. Go to the PS3 XMB – go to the
Game tab – select ‘Install Packages’, and install the PKG file.

NOTE: The official release no longer supports Geohot/Wutangzra
CFWs. If you must use them, you have to do pkg_finalize on the PKG
to install it.

——————————————————————————
PLAYSTATION3 PORT
——————————————————————————
The PS3 port of RetroArch is one of the most developed console ports
of RetroArch.

A couple of unique features RetroArch PS3 boasts that is not commonly
found anywhere else:

- Game-aware shading in every emulator now (*)
- Real-time rewinding
- More shader features (motion blurring, etc)
- Switching between emulator cores seamlessly, and ability to install new
libretro cores

Included with RetroArch PS3 are a bunch of shaders – including the
latest versions of the popular xBR shader. It is possible to use two
shaders simultaneously to get the best possible graphical look.

* Check out Opium2k’s manual shaders for Zelda 3 and others – you can
find DLC packs for RetroArch at this site:

https://code.google.com/p/retro-arch/

——————————————————————————
EMULATOR/GAME CORES BUNDLED WITH PS3 PORT
——————————————————————————
The following emulators have been ported to RetroArch and are included
in the PS3 release of RetroArch.

For more information about them, see the included
‘retroarch-libretro-README.txt’ file.

- Final Burn Alpha (Arcade – various) [version 0.2.97.28]
- FCEUmm (Nintendo Entertainment System) [recent SVN version]
- NEStopia (Nintendo Entertainment System) [1.44]
- Gambatte (Game Boy | Super Game Boy | Game Boy Color) [version 0.5.0 WIP]
- Genesis Plus GX (Sega SG-1000 | Master System | Game Gear | Genesis/Mega Drive |
Sega CD) [version 1.7.3]
- SNES9x Next (Super Nintendo/Super Famicom)
- VBA Next (Game Boy Advance)
- Prboom (for playing Doom 1/Doom 2/Ultimate Doom/Final Doom)
- Mednafen PCE Fast (PC Engine/PC Engine CD/Turbografx 16)
- Mednafen Wonderswan (WonderSwan/WonderSwan Color/WonderSwan Crystal)
- Mednafen NGP (Neo Geo Pocket Color)
- Mednafen VB (Virtual Boy)

All of the emulators listed above are the latest versions currently
available. Most of them have been specifically optimized so that they
will run better on PS3 (some games would not reach fullspeed without these optimizations).

Download
Download 2(MediaFire)
Download 3(Mega)
http://www.xbins.org/nfo.php?file=xboxnfo2291.nfo“>Source
Follow libretro on Twitter
Source Code
Homepage
IRC = #retroarch (freenode)

There is also an Android version of RetroArch, check here:
RetroArch Android 0.9.8 released

PS3HaX member and Admin of PS3ITA Rancid-o has made Iris Manager compatible for 3.55 Dex users, here is a quote from his post on PS3HaX

As i’ve promised, now Iris is also compatible with the cfw 3.55dex..

I have not tested to long the payload 3.55dex.. let me know if there are problems..

Download

Source

Via

Timothy Lottes the inventor of Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing (FXAA) has given his thoughts on the upcoming next gen consoles from Sony and Microsoft:

Orbis

Assuming a 7970M in the PS4, AMD has already released the hardware ISA docs to the public, so it is relatively easy to know what developers might have access to do on a PS4. Lets start with the basics known from PC. AMD’s existing profiling tools support true async timer queries (where the timer results are written to a buffer on the GPU, then async read on the CPU). This enables the consistent profiling game developers require when optimizing code. AMD also provides tools for developers to view the output GPU assembly for compiled shaders, another must for console development. Now lets dive into what isn’t provided on PC but what can be found in AMD’s GCN ISA docs,

Dual Asynchronous Compute Engines (ACE) :: Specifically “parallel operation with graphics and fast switching between task submissions” and “support of OCL 1.2 device partitioning”. Sounds like at a minimum a developer can statically partition the device such that graphics can compute can run in parallel. For a PC, static partition would be horrible because of the different GPU configurations to support, but for a dedicated console, this is all you need. This opens up a much easier way to hide small compute jobs in a sea of GPU filling graphics work like post processing or shading. The way I do this on PC now is to abuse vertex shaders for full screen passes (the first triangle is full screen, and the rest are degenerates, use an uber-shader for the vertex shading looking at gl_VertexID and branching into “compute” work, being careful to space out the jobs by the SIMD width to avoid stalling the first triangle, or loading up one SIMD unit on the machine, … like I said, complicated). In any case, this Dual ACE system likely makes it practical to port over a large amount of the Killzone SPU jobs to the GPU even if they don’t completely fill the GPU (which would be a problem without complex uber-kernels on something like CUDA on the PC).

Dual High Performance DMA Engines :: Developers would get access to do async CPU->GPU or GPU->CPU memory transfers without stalling the graphics pipeline, and specifically ability to control semaphores in the push buffer(s) to insure no stalls and low latency scheduling. This is something the PC APIs get horribly wrong, as all memory copies are implicit without really giving control to the developer. This translates to much better resource streaming on a console.

Durango

My guess is that the real reason for 8GB of memory is because this box is a DVR which actually runs “Windows” (which requires a GB or two or three of “overhead”), but like Windows RT (Windows on ARM) only exposes a non-desktop UI to the user. There are a bunch of reasons they might ditch the real-time console OS, one being that if they don’t provide low level access to developers, that it might enable a faster refresh on backwards compatible hardware. In theory the developer just targets the box like it was a special DX11 “PC” with a few extra changes like hints for surfaces which should go in ESRAM, then on the next refresh hardware, all prior games just get better FPS or resolution or AA. Of course if they do that, then it is just another PC, just lower performance, with all the latency baggage, and lack of low level magic which makes 1st party games stand out and sell the platform.

 

To read the full article, visit the source here:
Timothy Lottes Blog

PS3HaX Member anaria has compiled a code to help with the checking of Nor Dumps, here is a quote from his thread:

Hi Guys,I’m no dev nor a PS3 expert, but I’d like to try some stuff in there…
So I’ve wrote few lines of code in order to help me, and who else want, to validated and analyse a PS3 NOR dump.

I’ve read what I could from ps3devwiki as well as on ps3hax in order to gather as much as possible information to help me in writing my lines.

I’d come to it shortly, but first I’d like to thanks all of you who participate to this scene, I’m not good at naming people and I’m worry to forget some.

Now my code may not look beautiful and may definitely be improved/enhanced, but as of today it seems useful to me and I hope it can be for others, so please enjoy it as much as you want.

I have no pretension for it but I’d like from anyone who enjoy it, to keep it as an opensource project, if this code or any part of it is used for another application I ask you to make it public as well, if you like this code and write some changes please share it with everyone.

I’d also appreciate if anyone want to propose some code and English correction.

Source code is now to be found here 
Windows binary (MinGW32) Version 0.9.5

Thanks anaria

Iris Manager 1.52 has been released, here is the change log:

• Added check size when copying games (for the HDD if it is greater than the size + 1GB, aborts, in the case of USB if it is greater than the size + 1MB gives the possibility to abort).
• Added the default BD-Emu not mount the HDD: now you have two options, new and old, with a touch more later.
• Some parts of the code have been retouched, if influence random crashes when starting the program.
• The patch tools have been unified in the same zip file.

[Official Thread] IrisManager PSX Compatibility List By lolz50

Thank You  to all the guys that have conributed to that thread

Thanks to Faxtron for the video

Source
Download
(The download contains source code, certain people need to take heeded and understand this is how a scene is, open source and free for all).

Thank You Estwald and D_Skywalk, you guys are awesome

Thanks to Theeze and Hannibal1471 for the news.