h-encore PSVita Jailbreak by TheFlow (for FW 3.65, 3.67 & 3.68) released

July 30th, 2018, 21:24 Posted By: wraggster

Heres news of a great Jailbreak for the Playstation Vita:

• On 3.65 Systems you can install and enjoy the Enzo CFW framework and on systems with Firmware 3.67 & 3.68 you can now use the Henkaku Exploit.
  

  h-encore, where h stands for hacks and homebrews, is the second public jailbreak for the PS Vita™ which supports the newest firmwares 3.65, 3.67 and 3.68. It allows you to make kernel- and user-modifications, change the clock speed, install plugins, run homebrews and much more.
  
  Requirements
  

  • Your device must be on firmware 3.65, 3.67 or 3.68. Any other is not supported. If you're on a lower firmware, please decide carefully to what firmware you want to update, then search for a trustable guide on /r/vitahacks (if you know how and want to contribute, you can edit this readme and make a pull request, such that fellow readers have got an easier life). Remember that on firmware 3.65 you have got the possibility to install enso, the permanent hack, whereas on 3.67 and 3.68 you don't.
  • If your device is a phat OLED model, you need a Memory Card in order to install. There's no need for a Memory Card on Slim/PS TV models, since they already provide an Internal Storage. Make sure you have got at least 270 MB of free space.
  • Your device must be linked to any PSN account (it doesn't need to be activated though).

  
  
  Click to expand...

  Installation
  

  Note that the following guide is for advanced users and a bit more complicated than the previous hack that only required you to visit a website. If you don't understand the guide below or how to use these tools, you should neither file an issue here nor annoy me on twitter, but rather seek help on /r/vitahacks (check for duplicated questions first!) or wait for an easy installer by somebody else.
  
  

  1. Download h-encore and extract it on your computer.
  2. Download and install qcma, psvimgtools and pkg2zip (check the releases section for the binaries).
     If you don't know where to put psvimgtools and pkg2zip binaries, just put them in the h-encore folder.
  3. Download the vulnerable DRM-free demo of bitter smile (yes, that's the user entry point).
  4. Extract the demo using this command in terminal/cmd:
     Code:
     pkg2zip -x PATH_OF_PKG
     This will output the files to app/PCSG90096.
  5. Copy the contents of the output app/PCSG90096 to the folder h-encore/app/ux0_temp_game_PCSG90096_app_PCSG90096 (such that the files eboot.bin and VITA_PATH.TXT are within the same folder).
  6. Copy the license file app/PCSG90096/sce_sys/package/temp.bin to the folder
     h-encore/license/ux0_temp_game_PCSG90096_license_app_PCSG90096 and rename the just pasted file temp.bin to 6488b73b912a753a492e2714e9b38bc7.rif. Be careful with the file extension, it should not be .rif.bin. Again, this file should be in the same folder as VITA_PATH.TXT.
  7. Start qcma and within the qcma settings set the option Use this version for updates to FW 0.00 (Always up-to-date) to spoof the System Software check.
  8. Launch Content Manager on your PS Vita and connect it to your computer, where you then need to select PC -> PS Vita System, and after that you select Applications. If you see an error message about System Software, you should simply reboot your device to solve it (if this doesn't solve, then put your device into airplane mode and reboot). This should create a folder at PS Vita/APP/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on your computer (see qcma settings where this folder is), where the folder xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx represents the AID (account ID that is 16 characters long) that you need to insert here. If the AID is valid, it will yield a key that you can now use to encrypt the demo.
  9. Change directory to the h-encore folder in terminal/cmd and use the key to encrypt all folders using (make sure you don't confuse the key with the AID, the key is 64 characters long!):
     Code:
     psvimg-create -n app -K YOUR_KEY app PCSG90096/app
     psvimg-create -n appmeta -K YOUR_KEY appmeta PCSG90096/appmeta
     psvimg-create -n license -K YOUR_KEY license PCSG90096/license
     psvimg-create -n savedata -K YOUR_KEY savedata PCSG90096/savedata
     The folder h-encore/PCSG90096 should then contain sce_sys and all 4 folders from above, and within these folders you should find files called X.psvimg and X.psvmd, where X has the same name as the folder. Backup this folder, since if everything has been done correctly, you don't need to redo all the steps to install it onto another device with the same PSN account.
  10. Copy the folder h-encore/PCSG90096 to PS Vita/APP/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/PCSG90096 and refresh the database under qcma settings.
  11. The h-encore bubble with a size of around 243 MB should now appear in the Content Manager and that's what you finally need to transfer to your PS Vita. If the size does not match or you get the error C2-12858-4, then it's because you did not do it correctly! Please re-read the instructions more carefully then. If you get the error You can only copy applications that your account is the owner of, then it's because you have used an AID that is not of your account, go back to step 8.
  12. Launch h-encore to exploit your device (if a message about trophies appears, simply click yes). The screen should first flash white, then purple, and finally open a menu called h-encore bootstrap menu where you can download VitaShell and install HENkaku. If it prompts the error Cannot start this application. C0-11136-2, then it's because you did not do step 6. correctly.
  13. Enjoy. Note that you have to relaunch the exploit everytime you reboot or shutdown your device. Of course if you only put your device into standby mode, you don't need to relaunch.

  
  
  Click to expand...

  Getting rid of the trophy warning
  

  Since the savedata that I provided is not linked to your account id, launching h-encore would eventually show a warning message about trophies. To get rid of that you must do this on your PS Vita:
  
  

  1. Enable Unsafe Homebrews under HENkaku Settings in the Settings application to grant VitaShell full permission.
  2. Launch VitaShell and navigate to ux0:user/00/savedata/.
  3. Press triangle on the folder PCSG90096 and select Open decrypted (you should NOT see the folder sce_pfs within this folder when opened decrypted).
  4. Copy system.dat out of the folder and remove the folder ux0:user/00/savedata/PCSG90096.
  5. Close VitaShell and launch h-encore (this will now not trigger the exploit anymore, since we've removed the savedata).
  6. Close the game after you see the first screen and return back to VitaShell.
  7. A fresh folder of PCSG90096 at ux0:user/00/savedata should have been created.
  8. Copy system.dat back to ux0:user/00/savedata/PCSG90096/system.dat where you need to open the PCSG90096 using Open decrypted (you should NOT see the folder sce_pfs within this folder when opened decrypted).
  9. Now if you launch h-encore you should not see the trophy warning anymore and exploiting your device is therefore even faster.

  
  
  Click to expand...

  FAQ
  

  Exploit
  
  

  • "When I launch h-encore, it stays at a white screen." - Due to the nature of the kernel exploit, this can sometimes happen. If it stays white for more than 5 seconds, you can simply close the application which will result in a crash and your device will be rebooted or shutdown after 10 seconds. If it doesn't, hold the power button down for over 30 seconds to force a shutdown. Then try the exploit again. The success rate of the kernel exploit should be at 80%. If I find time I will eventually try to improve the success rate.
  • "When I launch h-encore, it flashes white quickly and then crashes." - Again, this is due to how the kernel exploit works.
  • "I get a C2-12828-1 error when launching h-encore" - This does sometimes (but very rarely) happen. Just retry the exploit.
  • "When I launch h-encore, it launches the bitter smile demo instead." - Your savedata is either corrupted or not installed correctly, please follow the installation guide above to reinstall it.
  • "I have installed a bad plugin and launching h-encore doesn't work anymore, what should I do?" - You can either reset taiHEN config.txt or skip plugins loading by holding the L trigger while exiting the h-encore bootstrap menu.

  
  HENkaku Settings
  
  

  • "I don't see all folders in VitaShell." - Launch the Settings application and select HENkaku Settings, then select Enable unsafe homebrews. This will grant you full permission in VitaShell.
  • "I can't find the HENkaku Settings." - Launch the exploit and reset taiHEN config.txt and reinstall HENkaku.

  
  enso/permanent hack
  
  

  • "Can I install enso on 3.67 or 3.68?" - Not yet, since molecule's bootloader exploit has been patched there.
  • "Can I install enso on 3.65?" - Yes, you can use h-encore to hack your device and then install the permanent hack using this.

  
  Compatibility
  
  

  • "Are Adrenaline/NoNpDrm/Download Enabler supported on 3.65/3.67/3.68?" - Yes, check them in my repositories.
  • "Can I use SD2VITA using this hack?" - Yes, I have made a pull request on gamecard-microsd that fixed the freeze when using it without enso. If you're using an other plugin and it freezes on exitting h-encore bootstrap menu, then there's the trick where you can simply press the PS Button and return back to finish the boot process.
  • "Can I use psvsd using this hack?" - Yes, people confirmed that it is working finely.
  • "Does this work, does that work? Is this compatible, is that compatible?" - I don't know, and it is not my task to update these tools for you, so don't dare and file an issue here.

  
  General
  
  

  • "Can I switch the PSN account after having h-encore installed?" - Yes, since the demo is DRM-free it does not depend on your account.
  • "Are there any risks involved in using h-encore?" - No, since it does not modify the OS, but only insert temporary patches into the system.
  • "Can I install it without USB connection?" - You can also connect your PS Vita with your computer using Wi-Fi (there's an option in the Content Manager).

  
  
  Click to expand...

  Donation
  

  If you like my work and want to support future projects, you can make a donation:
  
  

  • via bitcoin 361jRJtjppd2iyaAhBGjf9GUCWnunxtZ49
  • via paypal

  
  Thank you!
  
  Source code
  
  The source code and the kernel exploit will be made public after Sony has fixed the bugs used in h-encore.
  
  Credits
  
  

  • Thanks to Freakler for finding the crash in the demo and designing the h-encore icon.
  • Thanks to molecule for their initial work on the PS Vita.
  • Thanks to xyz for giving me some tips on choosing an exploit target.
  • Thanks to Davee and Proxima for http://cma.henkaku.xyz/.
  • Thanks to yifanlu for psvimgtools.
  • Thanks to codestation for qcma.
  • Thanks to mmozeiko for pkg2vita.
  • Thanks to the PS Vita hacking community.
  • Thanks to Sony for this awesome device.

  
  
  Click to expand...

  Official News Source: --> https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/h-encore/releases
  
  via https://www.maxconsole.com/threads/h...eleased.47346/

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PS4 Aux Hax series by fail0verflow

July 30th, 2018, 20:48 Posted By: wraggster

• They go through a number of PS4 chipsets starting off with Aeolia, the PS4 southbridge, then moving on to Syscon, and finally the Dualshock4.
  
  fail0verflow cover several power analysis methods such as DPA (Differential Power Analysis), CPA (Correlated Power Analysis) and glitching techniques. I find the articles really deep and interesting, huge thanks to fail0verflow for sharing.
  
  Perhaps a little bit odd there's no mention of the power analysis pioneer Colin O'Flynn and his ChipWhisperer hardware, which is hard to avoid when doing any kind of power analysis research. I was involved in a skunkworks project back in 2017, not related to PS4, but I was using ChipWhisperer, highly recommended tool.
  
  via https://www.maxconsole.com/threads/p...verflow.47611/

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Sony Quietly Rolls Out New PS4 Model

July 18th, 2018, 19:17 Posted By: Shrygue

via PC Mag UK


If you go out and buy a PS4 today, chances are the model number written on it will be some variation of CUH-2100. But in the coming weeks and months, that will change as Sony just rolled out a CUH-2200 model.

PlayStation model number changes are made for different reasons, and the digit that changes signals the importance of the change. Major hardware revisions result in the first digit changing, which is why when the PS4 Slim was rolled out Sony moved from model CUH-1XXX to CUH-2XXX. The last two digits vary based on which region of the world a console is intended for.

As DualShockers reports, when the second digit in the model number changes it signals minor hardware tweaks, which is what this looks to be. CUH-2200 models have appeared listed on the Japanese online store with a 1TB Jet Black and 500GB Jet Black version both carrying the new model number. Eventually all markets will offer the CUH-2200 as Sony ships out new stock and stops making the CUH-2100 (this may have already happened).

These new consoles are unchanged in terms of power use, weight, and dimensions, which suggests that Sony has tweaked the hardware inside for some reason. Typically this is done when they figure out a way to save money and reduce manufacturing costs. Any saving, however small, can make a huge difference when you're producing tens of millions of consoles every year.
Don't expect Sony to mention the move to model CUH-2200 as there's no reason for it to be talked about publicly. It's also not worth waiting for the new model to be widespread before opting to purchase a PS4. The bigger question to ask is if you should be spending a bit more for a PS4 Pro?

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PlayStation 4 is doing so well - we don't forget why we're here now

July 12th, 2018, 16:00 Posted By: VampDude

Via: eurogamer

Shu Yoshida reflects on 25 years at PlayStation, and the difficulty of hardware transitions.

PlayStation doesn't have a mascot as such, even if there are plenty of contenders - Nathan Drake, Sackboy or maybe even just Toro the cat - but none of them can really hold a candle to Shuhei Yoshida, the president of Sony's Worldwide Studios who's become the friendly face of PlayStation in recent years. This week at Develop in Brighton, he took to the stage with the dashingly handsome Edge editor Nathan Brown to talk through his 25 years at the company, and some of the difficulties faced in the various hardware transitions PlayStation has seen over the years.
Yoshida started his tenure at PlayStation in February 1993, working as part of the small team led by Ken Kutaragi that was behind the original hardware. "[At the time there was a] Silicon Graphics workstation, which was around $100k - and Ken said he's making a machine of that power that'll be available for less than $500," Yoshida recounted onstage. At first Yoshida didn't believe that was possible, but when someone told him Kutaragi wasn't full of hot air he decided to sign up to the project.
Those early years saw Yoshida and those around him sign some deals that would be pivotal in the success of the PlayStation - and in sowing the seeds for future generations - as Square was convinced to move away from Nintendo and bring Final Fantasy 7 to Sony, with Enix soon following suit with the Dragon Quest series. Yoshida himself also found himself working in a producer role on games such as Crash Bandicoot and the first two Motor Toon Grand Prix games from a certain Polyphony Digital - which would then go on to make Gran Turismo, another game that proved instrumental in the PlayStation's early success.



And amidst that rabble of games there was a new adventure game from Fumito Ueda and Team Ico, which found itself suffering from technical difficulties on the original PlayStation. "I moved development from PS1 to PS2," Yoshida recalled of the project that would become Ico. "Sounds familiar, right?"
The transition from PlayStation 1 to PlayStation 2 was an eye-opening process for Sony. "We had no idea how the industry went about it," said Yoshida, whose teams were busy finishing up the original Ape Escape for PlayStation 1 before they were split up to work on smaller projects - one of them being Fantavision, a slim if enjoyable puzzle game that was one of the few first-party games to accompany the PS2's launch, a move that came in for some criticism at the time. ""It's not my fault!" joked Yoshida. "At least I had one game - it was all the other producers that didn't!"
That didn't stop the PlayStation 2 going on to become a success, even if it wasn't necessarily games that propelled it in those early month. "In Japan, the best-selling software [at launch] was actually The Matrix DVD!" said Yoshida. "DVD was just catching on, but it was still an expensive system."
By the time of the PlayStation 2's western release the line-up was bolstered, and throughout its lifespan Yoshida oversaw a shift in emphasis towards western games from US teams such as God of War and Naughty Dog's Jak & Daxter series. It was a fruitful time for PlayStation, though it all threatened to unravel with the arrival of the PlayStation 3, a machine that was notoriously difficult to create games for.
That small crisis led to the formation of a new team within Sony to help create a new team dubbed ICE - which stood for Initiative for a Common Engine - in order to help smooth development, and it led to a shift in philosophy at the company as Ken Kutaragi moved aside to make way for Kaz Hirai. "That was a huge cultural change," said Yoshida. "I met very big resistance when shifting people to this one common engine.

"Ken [Kutaragi] was such a brilliant engineer - the team that worked for Ken was so motivated, he was a great motivator. Maybe he was using video games as a stepping stone to realise his vision and dreams - he wanted to become the next Intel or something. He always approached developing game systems, up to PS3 - they work on a system just by themselves. And we weren't given access until it was done. He had trust with the developers - whatever he made, the top developers would be able to work on them and understand them. He didn't see the need to involve game developers in the design of the system - that's how the PS3 was made. And you know how successful it was."
Yoshida headed back to Japan, helping the studios work more closely together as Mark Cerny worked on the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 projects - and in the latter example, the shift towards working with developers and soothing development has helped make it a success, its sales ontrack to eclipse the PlayStation 3 this year. It marks the continuation of a cycle that's familiar from other hardware manufacturers, with Nintendo stumbling after the success of the Wii with the Wii U, and Microsoft also fumbling the follow-up to the Xbox 360 with the troubled launch of the Xbox One. So what can Sony take onboard as it prepares for another hardware transition in the not-too-distant future?
"It's human nature," said Yoshida. "People make mistakes. I don't know why. We're all human - we're not perfect. PS4 is doing so well, but we don't forget why we're here now."
Sony has come under fire recently for standing in the way of cross-platform play, something that will surely become a hot-button topic once the new generation of hardware is unveiled, with Microsoft and Nintendo happily playing alongside one another while PlayStation players are fenced off. Recent statements from PlayStation's own Shawn Layden have offered hope that Sony is taking feedback onboard. "We're hearing it," Layden said at Barcelona's Gamelab late last month. "We're looking at a lot of the possibilities. You can imagine that the circumstances around that affect a lot more than just one game. I'm confident we'll get to a solution which will be understood and accepted by our gaming community, while at the same time supporting our business."

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Metroidvania-Style Chasm Finally Gets a Release Date for PlayStation 4, PC

July 12th, 2018, 15:54 Posted By: VampDude

Via: comicbook.com

For the longest time, the Metroidvania SNES style adventure Chasm has been in development, making a number of appearances at trade shows and promising to deliver some great old-school entertainment. But we were wondering if the game would ever see a release date. Fortunately for us, it looks like it's finally happening.
In a new PlayStation Blog post, game director James Pertuzzi announced that Bit Kid, the developer behind the project, has finally finished up development, meaning that we're getting the game this month!
Chasm is set to arrive on July 31 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and PC, going for the price of $19.99. It’s unknown yet if the game will be Cross-Buy or require individual purchases across both PlayStation platforms but fingers crossed we get a two-for-one deal.
“Although we’ve been very public about our development process, there’s no way everyone can keep up with every game in development, so here’s a quick summary of the game: Chasm is an RPG-adventure in which you play the role of a new recruit who’s sent to investigate why a nearby mining town has shut down. As you explore, you discover all sorts of supernatural creatures you need to battle to uncover the mystery of what’s happening with the town, and how you can save them,” Pertuzzi explained.
“One distinctive feature of Chasm is that the world map is procedurally generated when you start up a new campaign. That feature has led to a lot of questions and confusion, so I’d like to address exactly how it works and why we designed it that way. The latter part is easy to answer. Our entire team is composed of Metroidvania fans. Whether it’s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night or Axiom Verge, we’ve played through our favorite games so often that we’ve long since memorized the maps. We love how those games play but wish we could wipe our memories so we could get that experience of exploration all over again. It’s our hope that people who love Chasm the way we love our favorite games can play it over and over and still have it feel fresh. But at the same time, people who only play the game once should have no idea that there’s anything procedural about it.
“But that’s not to say that everything’s completely random; there is a fundamental structure to the game that never changes. If you’re familiar with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night you may recall that first you get the Jewel of Open, then the Leap Stone, then the Soul of Bat – in that order. As you get these upgrades, new areas of the map become accessible. Chasm, like most titles in this vein, follows this structure. When you start up a campaign, the game always has these key upgrades and plot points in the same place.
“What’s different is how you get from one key point to the other. Chasm has a bunch of pre-designed rooms that are slotted in modularly in different combinations. So you won’t have any rooms that feel like they were designed by a computer. Instead, you’ll encounter rooms in a different order and even encounter new rooms you never saw the first time, and your path will be different each time you start up a new campaign.”


The game is a lot of fun based upon what we’ve played thus far, so we can’t wait to get our hands on it and run through some more. You can read more about the title here.
Check out the launch trailer above and prepare for some retro goodness!

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[PS4] Shenmue I & II HD - UK Release Date

July 4th, 2018, 00:26 Posted By: VampDude

I've just had confirmation today, from Amazon that the release date has been revised for Shenmue I & II HD on the PlayStation 4.

Originally, the date on the U.S. Amazon store stated a release date of December 31st 2018. Where Amazon's UK store had no such details, until just now.

Via: amazon.co.uk

The release date is now August 21st, 2018 for the UK.


While amazon.com still states that it's being released on December 31st in the United States.

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TheFloW shows off his new upcoming Vita 3.65-3.68 hack, called h-encore

June 26th, 2018, 20:27 Posted By: wraggster

Some awesome news for PSVita Fans:

• On July 1, renown PlayStation Vita hacker TheFloW will be releasing his latest work, a kernel exploit for Vita systems on OFW 3.65 and higher. Prior to its launch next month, though, he uploaded a teaser video, which shows his new hack installing VitaShell. This is the second major exploit for the system, the first of which was Henkaku for OFW 3.60. The video states that the jailbreak is called h-encore, the short for hacks/homebrew encore.
  
  

  supports the newest firmwares 3.65, 3.67 and 3.68. It allows you to make kernel- and user-modifications, change clock speed, install plugins, run homebrews and much more.
  
  via https://gbatemp.net/threads/theflow-...encore.508415/

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HENkaku for 3.68 to release on July 1

June 19th, 2018, 21:40 Posted By: wraggster

Some great news for PSvita fans:

• The long awaited exploit for the PS Vita has finally been given a release date. When we first received news of the exploit, we were told it would likely release in 1-2 years, but luckily Vita hacker TheFloW mangaed to find a second exploit for 3.68 and get us an earlier release. The exploit will work on firmware versions 3.65 to 3.68 you do not need an official Sony memory card or an internet connection to use it. If you are on 3.65, you will be able to install HENkaku Ensō, but unluckily those on 3.67 and above won't be able to. I've included a guide for updating to stock 3.65 from 3.61/3.63.
  
  
  via https://gbatemp.net/threads/henkaku-...july-1.507616/

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Super Robot Wars A Portable - 100% translated!

June 19th, 2018, 21:27 Posted By: wraggster

Heres some good news for PSP fans:

To celebrate SRW A Portable’s 10th anniversary, this is a full translation of the game into English. This translation was born out of friendship, respect for the original work and their authors, and love for Super Robot Wars and their related anime series. Over the 5 years of the project, the Steel Soul team tried to build a translation that would convey the original experience - in the story, in the graphics - to English speakers. They sincerely hope that you enjoy your time with A Portable, even if it comes kicking you hard with its difficulty!
Please read the readme before asking questions on how to patch the game.
The team:

• Translation of battle quotes, items, names, titles, spirits, weapons, bonuses, skills & abilities: TheMajinZenki
• Edition of battle quotes & story: JeftahX, SSJCyberSonic, KyrilSolin
• Texan accent editing: Blaine_Kodos
• Programming, graphics, various reviews: BlackDog61
• Early testing: Lord Oddeye, deets, Greenrose, Kaio Shin
• With expert consulting from Kingcom, Dashman, JamRules & furrykef
• Using Klarth’s (great!) TableLib and also sjisdump
• Thanks to AGundam, MrWorm, Sporky McForkinspoon, MarsRaven, cj_iwakura and others for their interest and helps here and there.

Notes from the Translator: During the robot selection, one may notice that the robot commonly known as “Ash Savior” has been renamed “Aschenretter”. Steel Soul wanted to share an explanation of the reasoning behind the change. This stems from another name change: the Weiss Savior, renamed to “Weissretter”. This robot comes from Super Robot Wars OGs (it was not featured in the original GBA release), as a parallel to Excellen’s Weissritter. It just so happens that “Savior” translates to “Retter” in German, so it seemed interesting to make the parallel between the two names even more evident by making them share the same name convention (Excellen’s Weissritter and Lemon’s Weissretter). Now, with the Savior part changed to Retter, the basic robot name had to be changed too, to match the new naming convention, so Ash Savior was renamed to a full German name: Aschenretter. It being a playable unit, one can still opt to rename it “Ash Savior” during robot selection, according to preference.
Bright’s biography has been completely rewritten, as the original one was incredibly bare. A more detailed biography was written, including new bits of trivia, similarly to other biography entries in game. Hopefully the few who actually go and check the encyclopedia entries will appreciate the change.
Another point deserves adding a few words: the portrayal of the speech pattern of some characters, mainly Jack King, Hidler and Lamia.

• Jack King (from Getter Robo) is meant as a very stereotypical American, in Japan. His original lines tend to be hard to understand because he uses a lot of gratuitous Engrish. To convey that in translation, it was decided to play his “Texas” origin up, giving him a heavy Southerner’s accent during editing.
• By choosing to play as Lamia in the Super Route, one will probably notice that the character of Hidler speaks in a… peculiar way. Started a bit as a joke, it was decided to write him with a highly stereotypical German accent, due to the obvious reference. Some German words were added here and there to spice it up (mostly words that are similar to English), and capitalized nouns like in their grammar. Some messed up things are bound to be found here and there, but they should give players a good laugh out of this silliness (while sincerely hoping none of the German players get offended by this!)
• Regarding Lamia, the portrayal of her speech quirk deserves an explanation. In the Atlus release of OG2, her speech problem was portrayed as a stutter, something that opinion doesn’t really work in the translator’s opinion (why would the other characters call it a weird accent, or think she’s trying to be funny?) In the original Japanese script, Lamia has a “bug” in her speech function, which makes her polite speech (”keigo” in Japanese) come out wrong, with redundancies within words and awkward phrasing overall. It was decided to write this quirk as a mix of awkward words positioning, and inserting made-up words created by mixing two different words of similar meaning. This way, it seems like she’s trying to sound polite, formal or cultured while failing miserably, which suits the reaction of those who listen to her.

Usage: incompatibilities with the Japanese version:

• Using a Japanese “intermission” save will actually prevent some texts from being translated (as they come from the save itself). “Continue” (suspend) saves from the Japanese games will probably have undesired side-effects.
• Savestates from the Japanese game won’t work properly (as the memory layout is different).
• Hacks to give yourself more money, skills and others may or may not work.
• The save editor still works, although it is unable to render text properly or let you rename your hero & robot in a way the English game likes.

Known Limitations:

• Renaming heroes and their robots is more restricted than it would be in modern entries in the SRW series, and entering a long name can result into a “bad display of text”. The game will assume the name is less than 80 pixels, and the number of characters in the name is limited, but the game doesn’t check the pixels at the time you rename heroes/robots, so it’s up to you to be reasonable.
• The “Gundam Deathscythe Hell” has the hell of a long name. The team couldn’t get themselves to use an abbreviation for it, so it does “overflow” out of the small status box at the bottom of the screen when the cursor hovers over it.
• Puru appears after Puru Two in the Pilotpedia. Black couldn’t find how to change that, though that shouldn’t prevent anyone from enjoying the game.
• A unit that is underground will be offered to surface with a menu item that reads “Land” (like it would for a flying unit). While this isn’t elegant, there are few units that go underground and we wanted to keep a verb here (rather than going with “on surface” or things like this). It’s still fairly understandable.
• The combo attack “Darkness God Finger” has Domon’s line incorrect (as it is the same line in Japanese for another attack). It still sounds cool, though. If you have a fix for this, we’re interested!
• This translation has been tested on PSP “fat” with 6.60 ME-1.8, PSP-2000 with 6.60 PRO-B10, PSP 3000, and the ppsspp emulator. Other setups may or may not work.

Limitations from the original game:

• Like the original game, the Counter skill item doesn’t really grant thepilot who uses it the Counter skill (although the Pilot will list it in his/her skills). Black couldn’t find a fix for this - do let the team know if you have one!
• The battle animation for the Stoner Sunshine has Shin Getter Robo split into Getter Robo machines instead of their newer counterpart.
• The battle animation for the Dendronium’s large beam saber uses red, instead of pink.
• The battle animation for one of Light’s attacks cuts the audio for his attack a bit short. But who understands Japanese, anyway, right?

A note from the programmer: As a first game translation ever, this project has been an interesting challenge for Black. He thrived to give the best quality he could - even with limited assembly skills. In all honesty, this has been a great learning exercise. The game is overall on the “easier to get into” from a programming side, thanks to its being on the PSP (which offers a great emulator with debugging capabilities, has known graphical formats, has known assembly toolchains and whatnot), and thanks to its internal structure. As a sharing of experience with others, Black would like to mention that he set out hoping for this to be a project for “2 years or so”. It ended up as 5 years, and they felt very busy, for the most part, turning both the translator and programmer into no-lives. But they were great, and Black strongly believes that this translation reached this state thanks to the great relationship that was established and entertained. This is a prety big game, when one thinks about it: 58 missions, 26k lines of story text, 13k lines of battle quotes, 7k short lines of other text, 490+ weapons, 428 mechs, 88 playable characters among a cast of 199, 61 musics. So that would count as 2 takeaways: always care for the people in your team, and don’t ever think you understand how long the project will take. Black hopes the friendship shows through in the translation.

via http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=19055

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PlayStation 4 sale transforms EMEA games charts

June 19th, 2018, 20:47 Posted By: wraggster

FIFA 18 was the best-selling game across EMEA for a second consecutive week.
It was the best-selling game both physically and digitally, boosted by recent PR and marketing activity surrounding the World Cup.
The game beat off new competition from Vampyr, Focus Home Interactive's new RPG from Life Is Strange developers Dontnod.
Vampyr's results are missing Xbox One's digital sales - the nature of these charts is that some data may be late coming in and cannot be verified in time. These instances should hopefully reduce as the charts become more frequent - this is only the second EMEA combined digital and physical chart.
This GSD chart is the new charts project from ISFE, run by B2boost. Most major publishers contribute to the charts, but there are some notable absentees such as Bethesda, Nintendo and PUBG Corp.
Also, not all countries contribute retail data to the project yet. Including the UK as GfK currently holds the exclusive rights to retail sales data - this will change from January next year.
However, it's a vast improvement over most available charts, which are typically missing all digital download data. And over time, GSD will become the default charts across the majority of EMEA markets.

PlayStation's pre-E3 sales activity has had an impact on this week's figures, with God of War up from No.5 to No.2, Gran Turismo Sport rising 72 places to No.5 and Horizon Zero Dawn up 56 please to No.8.
There are four PS4 exclusives in the Top Ten, with Detroit: Become Human dropping down to No.6 from No.2 after a week on sale.

via https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...a-games-charts

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Is the PSVita still worth it today? : A look at what you can do on a hacked PSVita

June 11th, 2018, 21:31 Posted By: wraggster

In the age of cheap smartphones with surprisingly good specifications, some may think that buying a 6.5 year old portable console that was a commercial failure doesn’t make sense. However, that isn’t exactly case since many talented scene developers have worked hard to make the PSVita more and more worth buying!

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PSVita FW 3.65-3.68 hack News

June 11th, 2018, 21:28 Posted By: wraggster

Heres some great news for PSVita owners (like myself)

A couple of hours ago, TheFlow revealed that he had been working on another exploit chain for the PSVita during the last month and now, he has almost pieced it together! That by itself is great news since it means that even after he releases the exploit he’s been promising, he’ll still be sitting on yet another hack for a higher FW. This is great since Sony will presumably release a firmware update to patch his FW 3.65-3.68 hack.

However, the good news doesn’t end there as TheFlow also announced that he will be releasing his upcoming hack in September 2018! This new ETA is more specific than ‘not before next September’ which he revealed to us a short while, so that means that in 3 months or so, you’ll be able to hack your PSVita/PSTV running FW 3.61-3.68!


Obviously, this is very exciting news since those stuck on a firmware higher than FW 3.60 will be able to hack their PSVita/PSTV to make it more useful but there are still things to look out for!
What should you do now?

This is the question on everybody’s mind after major news and it’ll be explained here so that you won’t regret any impulse actions!


You should do the following:

• If you have a PSVita/PSTV running firmware 3.60, stay there or use TheFlow’s CFW Updater if you really want to install firmware 3.65. Currently, you should not update since FW 3.65-3.68 still aren’t hackable since TheFlow hasn’t released his upcoming hack just yet!
• If your PSVita/PSTV is running firmware 3.61 or 3.63, you’re safe to update to firmware 3.65 NOT firmware 3.67/3.68!!
  
  • You should update to firmware 3.65 because TheFlow’s upcoming hack won’t support firmware 3.61 and 3.63. However, you shouldn’t update to firmware 3.67/3.68 because they won’t be getting untethered HENkaku (HENkaku Ensō) so you’ll have to reapply HENkaku/taiHEN every time you reboot!
  
  
• Those on firmware 3.65 should stay there for the above reason.
• However, if your PSVita/PSTV is running firmware 3.67 or 3.68, there isn’t much to do at this point except for waiting.While not necessary for hacking the PSVita, HENkaku Ensō will save you the headache of having to reapply taiHEN every reboot!
  
  You’re safe to update to FW 3.68 if you’re on FW 3.67 so that you can still use PSN since not much has changed between the two.

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PsNee news roundup and more...

June 10th, 2018, 23:19 Posted By: wraggster

Heres some news from Eurasia:

This news update is long overdue, but there are reasons for that. Back in 2015 marvin96 posted a story here at EurAsia titled PsNee, an open source Arduino based stealth modchip for PSX (Sony Playstation 1). The project development progressed over at assemblergames.com until the website was shut down for several months in 2017, during that downtime I forgot about the project, but fortunately the developers didn't and moved the project to psxdev.net, and now there is also a PsNee Project at GitHub. There has been a lot of progress and this impressive open source modchip is now working stable according to several reports. The source code is multi-region, meaning it will unlock PAL, NTSC-U and NTSC-J machines, handles antimod games while remaining stealth, it supports Arduino ATmega based boards and ATtiny MCU.

via http://www.eurasia.nu/modules.php?na...ticle&sid=3688

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PS4 Cheater updated for FW5.05

June 10th, 2018, 23:03 Posted By: wraggster

The cheater app for the PS4 has just been updated:

• Hackinformer informs us that handy-dandy PS4 Cheater app, has now been updated from the previous exploitable firmware v4.55 to the latest of holy grail's of firmwares the v5.05, which opens up now cheating in some of the latest PS4 games like GoW.
  

  There are a few ways to cheat on the PS4 from trainers/mod menus for games like GTV 5, to Game Save Editors like the Save Wizard, to even in-game injection with PS4 Cheater for FW4.05, 4.55 and now 5.05. The PS4 Cheater is an app that lets you find cheat codes by changing the values of the game and then injecting them on the fly, think of it as a cheat engine for the PS4.PS4 Cheater
  
  Now the PS4 Cheater is not the easiest thing to get working and it does not work for every game like some games have encrypted values that can’t be changed on the fly. Some game addresses change from level to level or some changes won’t work at all and change back to their default value automatically. Also, this can be a very tedious and time-consuming but when you do manage to change something in the game it’s all worth it in my opinion
  Click to expand...

  Grab the updated downloads below, and then head over to our PS4 Cheating Forums which are hosted right here on MaxConsole UnderGround!
  
  NEWS SOURCE: PS4 Cheater updated for FW5.05 (via) HackInformer
  
  via https://www.maxconsole.com/threads/p...-fw5-05.47158/

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PS4 Jailbreak Exploit Forever - No need for an ESP or PC anymore!

June 10th, 2018, 22:26 Posted By: wraggster

This is very interesting news for me as i have a 5.05 ps4 firmware:

• With a 'web cache' exploit, means you only have to load up 'payloads' via PC or ESP device once, then you are forever 'exploited' on your PS4 v5.05 unless you decide to 'wipe out the cache', nah, whom would do that silly idea, check out the details and video below:

  All credits go to somebody called ps4dev for his comment on github about using Webbrowser application cache (https://github.com/Al-Azif/ps4-exploit-host/issues/108).
  
  To install offline exploit, you have to:
  

  • For 5.05 PS4 : go to https://renpdrm.customprotocol.com/PS4/505/
  • For 4.55 : soon.
  • For 4.05 : soon.
  • For 1.76 : only devs have this firmware so no need.

  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  PS4 Exploits - No need for an ESP or PC anymore !!!
  
  NEWS SOURCE: @CelesteBlue123 (via) Twitter
  
  via https://www.maxconsole.com/threads/p...anymore.47178/

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PPSSPP v1.6.3

June 6th, 2018, 21:49 Posted By: wraggster

The PSP Emulator for Windows and Android has got a new release:

PPSSPP v1.6.3 is released. PPSSPP is a fast and portable PSP emulator for Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux, written in C++.

PPSSPP v1.6.3 Changelog:
* Crashfixes, task switching and one in Phantasy Star Portable
* Improve graphics in PoP on some devices

android download http://play.google.com/store/apps/de....ppsspp.ppsspp

download http://www.ppsspp.org/index.html

via http://www.emucr.com/2018/06/ppsspp-v163.html

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PS4: Kernel dumper updated with direct USB support

June 6th, 2018, 21:42 Posted By: wraggster

Awesome to see the PS4 scene progressing well, heres the latest news:

Developer Wildcard has updated his kernel dumper for the PS4. The tool supports firmware 4.05, 4.55, and 5.05.
For those of you interested in digging into the PS4 Firmware, you’ll want to have a look into this tool which lets you dump the PS4 kernel for further analysis. This includes, but is not restricted to, looking for vulnerabilities in the firmware. (And if that’s your thing, you’ll probably want to have a look at Belf, the recently released ida pro loader for PS4 Elfs)
Since some people were apparently having issues dumping the kernel through the original technique of a network socket, Wildcard has added direct support for dumping on the usb drive.
There’s no compiled payload release though, so you’ll have to build the payload yourself from source.

via http://wololo.net/2018/06/06/ps4-ker...s-dump-to-usb/

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PS4 exploits: the status for 5.5x owners (5.50, 5.53, 5.55)

June 1st, 2018, 23:42 Posted By: wraggster

Heres some news for those on PS4 Firmwares above:

Mathieulh has made a few statements in the past few days/weeks that are completely clear:
1) A group of hackers (himself at the very least) have access to kernel exploits (or better) that Sony haven’t patched yet. He’s proven it by revealing some content from the 5.55 kernel a few days ago.
2) There’s no planned release of any exploit for firmware 5.50 or above, that he’s aware of. Again, given how spot-on he’s been recently, that’s probably as good a prediction as you’re going to get for the time being.

Of course, nothing’s impossible. My experience on the hacking scene tells me a PS4 exploit for 5.5x will happen eventually, but it’s hard to tell “when”. Given how recent the 5.05 exploit was, my personal opinion would be that people who want to jump on the hack bandwagon sooner than later should try and get a PS4 running 5.05. If those are getting too expensive for you, my second suggestion is: buy a second PS4, and keep one on a shelf until the firmware it’s on gets hacked. That’s what I did for 4.05 (it waited on a shelf for about 16 months).

via http://wololo.net/2018/05/29/ps4-exp...-50-5-53-5-55/

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PS4 5.05 hack: Homebrew SDK status

June 1st, 2018, 23:37 Posted By: wraggster

Wololo has posted news concerning developments on the PS4 Scene:

With the amount of new releases every day from the PS4 scene, it’s very easy to get confused as to what is possible and what is not with a hacked PS4 today.

My perception is that we still don’t have a “noob friendly” way to build homebrew for the PS4. However it is great to know that a few teams and individuals do intend to make some Toolchains available to the community sometime soon, for firmware 5.05.

via http://wololo.net/2018/05/31/ps4-5-0...ew-sdk-status/

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PPSSPP 1.6 released

May 30th, 2018, 22:02 Posted By: wraggster

Always nice to see some news on the PSP Emulator front:

PPSSPP has released a new version of its emulator today, now at 1.6

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