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February 1st, 2019, 17:46 Posted By: wraggster
The 14-year wait has done no damage to Kingdom Hearts' appeal, with the latest outing flying off the shelves in its home market.
Sales figures from Media Create, shared by Gematsu, show that Kingdom Hearts III sold 610,077 copies in its first week -- and that only includes retail, so digital sales will push this even higher.
The game more than doubled the sales of Capcom's Resident Evil 2 remake, which shifted 252,848 boxed copies in its opening week. Sales stats for both games are solely for PlayStation 4 -- the Xbox One versions were only made available digitally in the region.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...apan-at-launch
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February 4th, 2019, 16:09 Posted By: wraggster
While the PS4 is a virtual lock to become the third PlayStation console to reach the 100-million-unit milestone, its pace is slowing.
In announcing its results for the fiscal third quarter, Sony today said it sold 8.1 million PS4s in the October-December period with what it characterized as aggressive promotional pricing for the holiday season. That total was actually lower than PS4 sales for the 2017 holiday season, which Sony said was "in-line with our expectations for this sixth year of the platform."
"Although we need to be conscious of potential volatility in profitability due to the console cycle going forward, we are working to mitigate that volatility by leveraging the more-than 91.6 million unit cumulative install base of PS4 to benefit from the new business model created by network services and add-on content sales," Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki said in prepared remarks.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...n-in-ps4-sales
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February 4th, 2019, 16:15 Posted By: wraggster
Libretro’s Twitter account had already teased us by saying a new Retroarch version was coming our way and now they’ve kept their promise!
RetroArch v1.7.6 is now available for download from their website. The new release includes an initial PS2 port (which includes four cores at the moment: FCEUmm, QuickNES, Picodrive and 2048), a new menu driver called Ozone made by @natinusala inspired by the Nintendo Switch's UI, a theme format for RGUI - aka RetroArch' simpler user interface used by default on some cores & ports, and finally Discord matchmaking. The update also announces ports for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (UWP) consoles but due to a few issues, such as slow loading times on the latter, they have not been officially released yet, although unofficial builds for the UWP version are already available to be downloaded elsewhere.
There are also many more smaller changes and improvements of course. Here is the full changelog:
1.7.6 Changelog
– ANDROID: Fix Xperia Play input binding.
– CHEEVOS: Reset when hardcore mode is toggled.
– CHEEVOS: Update the hashing methods to identify NES, SNES and Lynx games (more accurate and accepting headerless ROMs).
– COMMON: Add new JSON playlist format.
– COMMON: Fix playlist corruption when deleting items.
– COMMON: Fix archive progress display calculation.
– COMMON: Fix playlist entries appearing with previously used names.
– COMMON: Fix screenshot filename with no core or content.
– COMMON: Allow compiling without menu support.
– CORE UPDATER: Allow sideloading cores from the menu.
– CPU FILTERS: Add Normal2x filter.
– CRT/LINUX: New Linux switching method partially implemented.
– CRT/LINUX: Linux restore desktop resolution fixed.
– CRT/LINUX: Monitor index switching and auto enumerate for output detection in Linux (still working on the windows method).
– CRT/RASPBERRY PI: Initial support.
– DATE: Add Date / Time style options.
– DEBUGGING: Add an integrated crash handler for debug builds (see https://docs.libretro.com/tech/debugging)
– DISCORD: Discord matchmaking.
– DISCORD: Register the application name properly.
– DISK CONTROL: Remember the last used folder / current active folder to make disk-swapping faster.
– INPUT: Add new menu toggle (hold start button for 2 seconds)
– INPUT: Fix arrow keys being incorrectly bound as numpad keys
– INPUT/SDL: Flush the joypad events. Decreases cpu usage over time with the SDL joypad driver.
– LOCALIZATION: Add Greek translation.
– LOCALIZATION: Update German translation.
– LOCALIZATION: Update Italian translation.
– LOCALIZATION: Update Japanese translation.
– LOCALIZATION: Update Simplified Chinese translation.
– LOCALIZATION: Update Spanish translation.
– MENU: New “ozone” menu driver.
– MENU: Only show CRT SwitchRes if video display server is implemented (Windows/Linux for now)
– MENU: User Interface -> Appearance -> ‘Menu Font Green/Blue Color’ settings now work properly.
– MENU: Add option to enable in-menu sound effects.
– MENU/D3D: Scissoring support (will be used for Ozone and menu widgets).
– MENU/QT/WIMP: Allow building with MSVC2017.
– MENU/QT/WIMP: Add detailed file browser table.
– MENU/QT/WIMP: New grid view implementation that is faster and loads thumbnails on-demand.
– MENU/QT/WIMP: Thumbnail drag and drop support.
– MENU/RGUI: Overhaul custom theme interface + add wallpaper support.
– MENU/RGUI: Thumbnail support and thumbnail downscaling.
– MENU: Hide password values.
– MENU/SOUNDS: Implement in-menu sound effects (not enabled by default for now, still experimental).
– MIDI: Add a Linux ALSA driver for MIDI.
– NETPLAY: Force fast-save-states when netplay is enabled.
– NETPLAY: Allow quick joining subsystem lobbies.
– OSX: Initial CoreAudio V3 audio driver (not yet used in release builds).
– OSX: OpenGL 3.2 Core support for cores.
– PS2: Initial PlayStation2 port.
– PS4: Initial PlayStation4 port.
– RECORDING: Implement recording options in the menu complete with quality profiles, streaming, and proper file naming
– SCANNER: Fix GDI disc scanning.
– SHADERS: Fix auto shader preset loading on D3D10, D3D11, D3D12
– SUBSYSTEM: Allow more than 10 subsystems
– SUBSYSTEM: Cores that use subsystem for complex scenarios can now load content without starting a regular content first
– SUBSYSTEM: Remember the last used folder to make loading subsystem type content faster
– SWITCH/LIBNX: Improve touch scaling calculation.
– SWITCH: Proper button labels.
– TVOS: Initial tvOS port.
– VULKAN: Fix RGUI crashing at startup.
– VULKAN/RGUI: Enable ‘Menu Linear Filter’ option.
– VULKAN: Fix secondary screens in overlays not working.
– WAYLAND: Implement idle-inhibit support (needed for screensaver suspend).
– WAYLAND: Fix fullscreen toggle.
– WIIU: Initial netplay peer-to-peer support. Network information working.
– WINDOWS/WSA: Network Information info is blank until first network operation.
– WINDOWS: Fix an ancient bug that caused wrong mappings for keyboard arrows.
– WINDOWS: Remember window size and position if so desired.
– WINDOWS: SSL/TLS connections now work properly.
– WINDOWS: Fall back to GDI driver if no accelerated graphics driver is found.
– UWP: Initial UWP port.
– VFS: Update to version 3.
– XBONE: Initial Xbox One port.
– XMB/OZONE: Add more icons
– XMB: Add Automatic Inverted theme
– ???: Easter Egg
Here are also some more changes that were not yet mentioned in the changelog, including various Switch-specific ones (thanks @m4xw ! Links to his posts: #1 and #2)
Warning: Spoilers inside!
libnx additional changes:
-Added Overclocking and underclocking Menu
-Added Docked native 1080p Support
-Added Ozone as default Menu driver
-Added software keyboard implementation (if started via Title)
-Changes to accommodate for libnx's 2.0 NWindow API (mostly affects legacy driver)
-Timezone fixes
Core updates:
Introducing Mupen64Plus-Next:
This is the WIP new Mupen core @m4xw has been working on.
It is developed with a close-to-upstream approach, which eases the maintainability
and provides a easier way to update core components.
Some notable changes:
- New Repository approach based on `git subrepo`
- Updated *everything* but GlideN64
- Full feature parity to old Mupen
- Additionally:
- Added LOD Core option
- Added Noise Core option
- Added "Fullspeed" Core option (simliar to ParaLLEl)
- Added VI Refresh Overclock (simliar to ParaLLEl)
- Savestates for Version 1.4
- Added Frame-duping option if Framebuffer Emulation is disabled
- AArch64 Dynamic recompiler (by Gillou68310)
- x64 Dynamic recompiler (by Gillou68310)
Current supported platforms:
- Libnx (buildbot)
- Android AArch64 (buildbot)
- Windows x64 (buildbot)
- Raspberry aarch32/armv7 (via RetroPie)
- Linux x86/x64 (buildbot), arm7neonhf (supported but not active)
What is next?
- Updated GlideN64 (currently runs already, but still many Issues to tackle down)
- Adding Threaded Angrylion (for desktop platforms)
mGBA:
-Added accelerometer support for libnx based on standalone mGBA (thanks to p-sam)
This adds support for games like Warioware Twisted, Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble etc..
This new version is currently available for all platforms except Mac OS X (PPC) and Xbox. If you are interested, you can download it from RetroArch's downloads page.
via https://gbatemp.net/threads/retroarc...leased.530532/
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February 4th, 2019, 21:26 Posted By: wraggster
PlayStation 5 news is quite scarce and the rumours that have surfaced didn’t shed much light on Sony’s plans for this hypothetical upcoming home console. However, something substantial about a potential PS5 has now surfaced and that is possible backwards compatibility with all previous PlayStation models!
What do we know?
From what could be discerned by flicking through various websites, the news about the PS5 being potentially backwards compatible with previous PlayStation models comes from an article on a Japanese website (Hokanko-alt) who reported about Sony registering a patent having to do with backwards compatibility. Apparently, this patent discuses a more accurate method for achieving backwards compatibility by deceiving software written for older systems that it’s running on the original CPU. According to Sony’s patent, this method can eliminate synchronisation errors which may lead to data being written over prematurely and other side effects while emulating an older system on newer hardware. Other than this, it’s also been revealed that the PlayStation 5 could have helper CPUs like the PS2’s Emotion Engine as they might be too difficult to emulate through software.
When looking at the above information, it seems that Sony is patenting common emulation techniques but some individuals online have pointed out that the current description of the patent is somewhat vague. As a result, the patent in question could be referring to some type of hardware-assisted emulation, a more accurate way of switching between multiple CPUs of different architecture and/or more accurate CPU clock governing to provide the most accurate emulation experience possible. On the other hand, Ars Technica says that the PlayStation 5 might be a PS4 Pro-esque update and the patent might not be referring to backwards compatibility with PS1-PS3 consoles.
What would this mean for the normal user?
Undoubtedly, a PS5 system that would allow you to play PS1-PS4 games would be very convenient and you wouldn’t have to wait for remasters (or classics) to play older games.
If the PS5 were to have backwards compatibility with all previous PlayStation models, it would be quite huge for many console gamers. This is because:
◾With one console, you’d be able to play through the library of a 5 different home consoles which would let you play thousands of games without having to switch consoles
◾To complement the PS5’s hypothetical backwards compatibility features, the PlayStation Store could get many more older games added to it which would make acquiring older console games much less of a pain especially if they’re priced decently
◾Such a PS5 console could have a great deal of hacking potential as the PS3/PS2 emulation software could be more prone to hacking than the native software similar to the PSP emulator on the PSVita
◾Technology using Artificial Intelligence to upscale lower resolution images to a higher resolution is currently being developed which means that the PS5 could potentially have upscaling capabilities that make older games look better!
◾If the PS5 gets native hacks, more emulators could be installed on it which would allow you to emulate almost every console released before it with the exception of 8th generation consoles.
http://wololo.net/2019/02/03/playsta...-ps5-be-the-u/
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February 4th, 2019, 21:28 Posted By: wraggster
As of right now, Zombiebound Reloaded, which is the successor of Zombiebound by the same developer, has the following features:
- There are 4 weapons namely a pistol, a pump-action shotgun, a semi-automatic shotgun and an AK-47
- The latter 3 are to be bought through in-game points while the pistol is always available and has unlimited ammo
- Good performance with no lag and short load timesA pretty good controls scheme that uses the right trigger for shooting
- It comes with two levels
- These are named Farmhouse, which is a small map, and Abandoned Store which is a medium-sized map which is good if you like it when things get a bit hectic
To grab Zombiebound Reloaded, check out this link and install the VPK you download from it; the VPK is 94MB large so it’ll take a while to install. Zombiebound Reloaded is also vailable on VitaDB but VHBB crashed on my PSVita when I chose the Zombiebound Reloaded store item so your mileage may vary.
VitaHEX has said in a Patreon post that he plans to add more features to the game so make you sure you stay tuned for future updates to Zombiebound Reloaded if you’re a fan of tearing zombies to shreds
https://www.patreon.com/posts/zombiebound-is-24328525
http://wololo.net/2019/02/02/vita-ho...port-and-more/
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February 4th, 2019, 21:29 Posted By: wraggster
It seems that Rinnegatamante never quite gets tired of developing stuff for the PSVita and this time, he brought us vitaQuake II 2.0 which takes this 1997 game to a whole new level! Among the new features that vitaQuake II version 2.0 brings along, we find:
- Support for high resolution texture packs so that you can play Quake II with textures that are much more detailed(Texture pack used is this one)
- These will surely lengthen load times and might hit performance so expect these to happen when using higher resolution texture packs.
- Textures in TGA and JPG format are now supported which means that many mods found online can be installed
- Official mission packs can now be played on vitaQuake II so you can get more Quake II action if that’s your thing!
- There are 2 official mission packs which are called The Reckoning and Ground Zero
- The keyboard in the Quake II console is now accessible by pressing SELECT while in-game
- Better performance thanks to optimisation of rendering code, reduced memory usage and improved analogue stick accuracy
Thankfully, VitaHEX and Rinnegamante are still working on cool stuff and it seems that the former is currently experimenting with a Silent Hill clone made with Unity and the latter is hard at work porting Super Mario War to hacked Vita and PSTV consoles!
If you wish to get more updates from these two, check out their Twitter page and you can also support them on Patreon by following the links below.
VitaHEX’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/vitahex
VitaHEX’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/vitahex
Rinnegatamante’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rinnegatamante
Rinnegatamante’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Rinnegatamante
http://wololo.net/2019/02/02/vita-ho...port-and-more/
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February 4th, 2019, 21:36 Posted By: wraggster
This modded version of Vita Homebrew Browser has one main aim and that is to use a source other than VitaDB as its homebrew repository. VHBB was created by devnoname120 but this mod was made by Davis Nunez who is part of Team ONELua, a team of programmers whose software is banned from VitaDB.
 With this modded version of VHBB, lots of homebrew like those created with ONELua will get the exposure they deserve
From my experience with it on FW 3.60, I could discern the following:
- This version of VHBB can be installed alongside the normal VHBB application as it has a different TITLEID so you’ll be able to use both of them at the same time
- The Wiki Homebrew Vita, which this version of VHBB uses as its source, has significantly less homebrew on it compared to VHBB
- As a result, it’s recommended to keep both versions of VHBB for quite some time since Wiki Homebrew Vita has only around 3 dozen homebrew titles as of writing this article
- This modded version has an issue in which it sometimes crashes your PSVita when you press O (Circle) when you’re in a homebrew listing to return to the main homebrew list.
- My PSVita returned the text mode “An error has occurred. The PS Vita system will be powered off” message
- If you get encounter this, you can hold the power button for a few seconds to power off then reboot your system
How do I get it?
To grab this modded version of VHBB, you have to do the following:
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February 4th, 2019, 21:38 Posted By: wraggster
Developer Markus95 has leveraged the PS2 iso functionality of hacked PS4s to run ports of emulators (PGen and QuickNES Retroarch core, respectively). As he mentions himself, these ports are not native PS4 code, but running within the PS2 emulator on the console, and will soon be made obsolete by the expected (hopefully soon?) release of Retroarch for the PS4.
Nonetheless, it’s always great to have options.
The issue with using the iso format for your emulator needs is that you have to go through a bit of re-packaging in order to add your roms. As the developer explains:
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February 4th, 2019, 22:24 Posted By: wraggster
rpcs3 v0.0.6 Alpha is released. RPCS3 is an open-source Sony PlayStation 3 emulator and debugger written in C++ for Windows and Linux. The emulator has been in development since early 2011 and currently supports modern DirectX 12, Vulkan and OpenGL renderers. The emulator is capable of booting and playing a decent amount of commercial games and PlayStation 3 SDK samples. Many more titles are also becoming playable with future development by contributors.
rpcs3 v0.0.6 Alpha Changelog:
Changelog TBA, will be announced when published
https://github.com/RPCS3/rpcs3
http://www.emucr.com/2019/02/rpcs3-v006-alpha.html
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February 7th, 2019, 18:22 Posted By: wraggster
If you thought that no exploit existed for FW 3.70, think again because xyz (@pomfpomfpomf3) posted a video on Twitter proving the opposite.
 Obviously, FW 3.70 has been hacked and Team XYZ has decided to show off their work to us all!
In this video which can be seen in the tweet linked below, xyz boots up a PSVita 1000-series model running FW 3.70 (latest version of the Vita’s system software as of writing this article) in unhacked state.
After that, he opens the web browser and runs the exploit from a local server since Team xyz’s hack targets WebKit similar to FW 3.60’s HENkaku. Towards the end of the video, MolecularShell (VitaShell) 1.43 is opened which indicates that some homebrew has already been fixed to function on FW 3.70. From the video, it can be seen that the main people behind this exploit chain (hack) are xyz, st4rk and davee; all of which are PSVita hacking veterans.
As of right now, there is no mention of a release date or whether the exploit chain will be released or not. However, if you’re waiting for a hack to get HENkaku/taiHEN capabilities on FW 3.69/3.70, you’ll be getting a hack later this year by TheFlow for sure so you needn’t worry about being left out for too long!
via http://wololo.net/2019/02/07/team-xy...itas-firmware/
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February 7th, 2019, 18:23 Posted By: wraggster
Cryptic tweets are nothing new in console hacking scenes and yet another one has surfaced to make us scratch our heads. This time, it’s a tweet by TheFlow teasing a homebrew utility called ‘modoru’ and Reddit users were quick to point out that “modoru” means “to return” in Japanese which might be hinting at a utility allowing for firmware downgrading.
 When presented with a tweet that only contains this image, speculation is rife. However, everything’s pointing to one conclusion which is that “modoru” is a firmware downgrading utility!
To further this suspicion, modoru’s LiveArea screen (by Freakler) features a clock with an arrow going back which makes it quite likely that this homebrew is indeed software which lets you downgrade FW 3.67/8 to FW 3.60/5. If this is true, it would be quite useful since a downgrade to these firmwares would allow you to use HENkaku Enso thus granting you a hacked PSVita at boot-time therefore eliminating the need to rehack/rejailbreak your PSVita/PSTV every time you reboot it!
Similar to the exploit mentioned above, it is uncertain about when/whether ‘modoru’ will be released or not. That being said, TheFlow has a history of releasing great stuff such as Adrenaline and H-Encore and downgrading a PSVita’s firmware is apparently possible according to Yifan Lu. This is because on Discord, he said that downgrading may be as simple as modifying an encrypted min_vers buffer sent to syscon during a firmware update.
via http://wololo.net/2019/02/07/team-xy...itas-firmware/
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February 18th, 2019, 20:03 Posted By: wraggster
For all that Sony has done right in this console generation -- and it's done a hell of a lot right overall -- it is still prone to occasional blind-spots; moments when the pro-consumer, pro-developer attitudes it has worked so hard to cultivate around the PlayStation 4 slip, and we see a glimpse that reminds us how bad Sony once was at maintaining those relationships.
The ongoing mess around cross-play functionality on PS4 -- which would allow PlayStation players to enjoy multiplayer games with friends on PC, Xbox or Switch -- is a textbook example; a flash of Sony's old stubbornness has turned this molehill into a mountain, risking souring the company's image among game creators and players alike.
The substance of the issue is that after refusing to enable cross-play for a very long time (citing some hazily defined concerns over player experience), Sony finally caved last autumn and allowed cross-play to be implemented in Fortnite. This was likely a response to the out-sized popularity of that game, which was cross-play enabled across almost all other systems, making PS4 into the odd man out at a pretty commercially important party.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...f-bad-old-sony
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February 18th, 2019, 20:15 Posted By: wraggster
Shawn Layden's opening keynote at the DICE Summit today was sprinkled with remarks one might not expect to come from the most visible public voice of a platform holder.
The chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios hailed the success of the Switch, noting that Nintendo's latest platform was the best-selling console in the US for 2018. He celebrated the Microsoft-owned Minecraft for reshaping the way the industry thinks about online social play and creating an experience parents and kids can enjoy together. And then he talked candidly about some of Sony's mistakes, the PlayStation 3 in particular.
"Many of you know that PlayStation 2 was an industry triumph," Layden said. "It remains one of the best-selling consoles of all time. But coming off the heels of that was PlayStation 3, a stark moment of hubris in the nearly 25 years of PlayStation history. As we sometimes call it, PS3 was our Icarus moment... For our business, the fall was sharp. We hadn't listened to our customers. We created a devilish development environment. We reacted too slowly, and our network was under-developed. And worst of all, if you remember, was the price point.
"While the PlayStation 3 and our fight to stay relevant has been well-covered, what wasn't as well-covered was the call we made at the time to transform our company into what we are today. We doubled our efforts to develop incredible games and strengthen our partnerships for the next generation. We listened to developers and gamers. We listened to Mark Cerny. We created PS4, a console for developers as much as it was for fans. We focused on the quality of our games, on making titles that would stand the test of time the way the best pieces of art often do."
That focus on quality was instilled in Layden by his time working with Sony's founder and chairman Akio Morita.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...-hubris-layden
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February 19th, 2019, 18:15 Posted By: wraggster
Sony made a rare appearance back in the news last week.
We've not really heard much from the console market leader since last June (outside of, you know, launching the smash hit Spider-Man and selling a huge amount of hardware). Sony is between worlds right now. It is working on its next-gen strategy, but it can't talk about that just yet. It has a new structure, but it's still tweaking and finalising. It has some big games coming out, but we know about them already. Sony, at this point in time, doesn't have a lot to say.
That is backed up by the absence of its usual European press conference or the PlayStation Experience last year, and its decision to forgo E3 for the first time in almost 25 years. Sure, this does open the floor for Nintendo and Xbox to waltz around unimpeded. But I'm sure the top brass at Sony will make do with its award-winning games and record-breaking console sales in the mean time.
So it's nice to see Shawn Layden pop up in the news last week, with a handful of interviews and a keynote talk at DICE.
"Layden's comments feel a bit harsh, especially when you consider how some of the most significant PS4 moments took place during E3" Layden was candid, but in a controlled away, with plenty of talk about past mistakes and how great its competitors are -- it was right out of the Phil Spencer PR playbook. Yet Layden couldn't resist dishing out a bit of criticism, too, and he reserved it for the world's biggest video games event: E3.
"When we decided to take video games out of CES back in 1995, during the PlayStation 1 era, E3 served two constituencies: retailers and journalists," Layden told CNET. "Retailers would come in -- you'd see a guy come in, and he'd say, 'I'm from Sears, and I handle Hot Wheels, Barbie, VHS and video games. So what are you about?' There was a huge educational component.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...fied-l-opinion
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February 19th, 2019, 18:18 Posted By: wraggster
Sony is poised to end production of PlayStation Vita in Japan, the last bastion for the eight year old handheld.
The official PlayStation Japan website lists only two models of the PS Vita as still being available: PS Vita Black and PS Vita Blue.
In both product descriptions, it states that "shipments are scheduled to end soon". This is in line with comments from PlayStation Japan last September, when it confirmed its intentions to end hardware production in 2019.
While no date is mentioned, this is the first indication that the moment will soon arrive. As Gematsu highlighted, when Sony ended production of the PlayStation 3, the official Japanese website featured the same notice two months before.
In addition to the Black and Blue models still in production, PlayStation Japan lists another 55 models that were previously available -- a huge number, a testament to both the Vita's status in Sony's home territory and also its waning popularity.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...vita-shipments
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February 19th, 2019, 18:20 Posted By: wraggster
Recently, we got contacted by old PlayStation scene team - True Blue, and they gave us a exclusive details on their new product, True Blue Mini, which add hours of gaming fun to the recently launched PSX Classic by Sony, which sadly ships with very limited set of games, and not so great selection either, well as you can see below, True Blue Mini, solves all that:
The PSX Classic is a wonderful little console that brings back memories of the good old PSX days. But those memories are limited to a few games only, with most of the best games you spent so many hours playing missing.
True Blue Mini is the answer to that problem. For a low price, you can enhance your PSX Classic catalog tremendously. Currently available in 3 separate packs, 2 of which include 101 games each with a 3rd one specialized in fight games that contains 58 PSX classics, you add months of gameplay your PSX Classic console.
Plug & play, no installation process, anyone can use it in seconds. The games will simply show up in your PSX Classic menu. And we even packed a free USB hub so you can use multiple controllers.
True Blue Mini 64GB 101 games pack are available for $19.95, while the 32GB Fight Pack that includes 58 games is $17.45
And trust us, as true PSX fans, we included the very best of what the original PlayStation had to offer.
Click to expand... For more information, head to their official website: www.truebluemini.com
via https://www.maxconsole.com/threads/e...classic.51335/
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February 19th, 2019, 18:31 Posted By: wraggster
Sony have released firmware 4.84 for PS3. There seems to be doubt regarding what this update actually does, so going with Sandungas post over at psx-place.com on this one: 'I guess we can nickname 4.84 as 'the valentine's day' update. Changelog: Additionally to the usual system stability this update improves love. A rainbow with unicorns has been added to the theme settings.'. I have updated the Ps3OsRels wiki as usual where the updates also can be downloaded (or at least could be at one point). This time there was an incremental update (PS3PATCH.PUP). In related news, Evilnat has released our beloved mitigation for boring stability updates, namely SEN Enabler v6.2.1. There is more new console stuff to leech in the download section if you feel like it, have a good weekend, love is in the air.
via http://www.eurasia.nu/modules.php?na...ticle&sid=3727
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February 19th, 2019, 19:44 Posted By: wraggster
TheFlow has just released a new version of his PS Vita homebrew enabler, h-encore.
A few highlights of the new release are the ability to bypass and auto-exit the bootstrap menu, automatically spoofing the firmware version as 3.70 and a way to personalize the save data to get rid of the trophy warning.
The full changelog is available below:
Changelog
Changelog h-encore 2.0:
- Added ability to auto-exit and bypass the bootstrap menu. You can force launching the bootstrap menu by holding R while launching h-encore).
- Added ability to personalize the savedata in order to get rid of the trophy warning.
- Added confirmation dialog for Reset taiHEN config.txt option.
- Updated default spoof version to 3.70.
- Updated kernel ROP chain to use fewer and better gadgets.
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February 19th, 2019, 19:54 Posted By: wraggster
New release from rsn887
This is my Switch and Vita port of the classic multiplayer-only MS-DOS game Jump'n'Bump by Brainchild Design, based on the SDL2 port by @felixhaedicke.
Jump'n'Bump is a simple but addictive multiplayer game. The goal is to stomp as many other rabbits as possible to win the game.
Download: https://github.com/rsn8887/jumpnbump/releases/latest
Thanks
======
Thanks to my supporters on Patreon: Andyways, CountDuckula, Greg Gibson, Jesse Harlin, Özgür Karter, Matthew Machnee, and RadicalR.
Thanks to the many developers of the game, such as Mattias Brynervall, Andreas Brynervall, Anders Nilsson, and many more.
Thanks to Felix Haedicke for porting the game to SDL2 and Cmake.
Installation Instructions
=====
Switch:
- Extract the contents of jumpnbump_switch.zip into the `switch` folder on your SD card, so that you have a folder `switch/jumpnbump` with `jumpnbump.nro` inside.
Vita:
- install the .vpk file using Vitashell
Switch/Vita-exclusive features
=====
- Split Joycon support (Switch only): To toggle between split and combined Joycons, press L on joycon 1.
- Physical keyboard support via Bluetooth (Vita) and USB (Switch)
Controls
=====
Left analog stick / Dpad = move the character, up to four controllers are supported
B / Y / A / X = Jump
Plus/Minus/Select/Start = ESC (restart game/advance through statistic screens)
R (on controller 1) = toggle aspect ratio between original (default), 4:3, and 16:9
L (on controller 1) = toggle split Joycon mode on/off (Switch only)
Physical keyboard controls via Bluetooth (Vita) and USB (Switch):
Cursor keys = white rabbit move and jump
a d w = yellow rabbit move and jump
i j l = gray rabbit move and jump
Keypad 4 / 8 / 6 = brown rabbit move and jump
Build Instructions
=====
Switch:
````
cmake -DBUILD_NX=ON -DCMAKE_RELEASE_TYPE=Release
make jumpnbump_switch.zip -j12
````
Vita:
````
cmake -DBUILD_PSP2=ON -DCMAKE_RELEASE_TYPE=Release
make jumpnbump.vpk -j12
````
Changelog
=====
v1.00
- First release on Switch and Vita
via https://gbatemp.net/threads/jumpnbum...d-vita.531420/
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February 20th, 2019, 20:38 Posted By: wraggster
The PSP and the PSVita have a decent amount of homebrew in common such as Tyrian, Super Mario War, Minicraft and others. However, there’s one homebrew that few expected anyone would try to port to the Vita and that is DaedalusX64, the PSP’s Nintendo 64 emulator which only works somewhat well because the N64 and PSP share the same CPU architecture (MIPS).
DaedalusX64does a pretty admirable job at emulating the N64 considering the hardware it’s working on and can actually deliver playable framerates on titles like Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64. Recently, there’s been some work to improve its performance, stability and compatibility with some titles by z2442 and others; updated versions resulting from this work can be downloaded from here.
As of right now, the folks behind this porting effort haven’t been able to compile/build it for the Vita but this might change in the near future although it’s unlikely that it would perform too well. From some comments on the Reddit thread about this port, TheMrIron2 (who contributed to the aforementioned updated DaedalusX64 builds) states that there may be an attempt to access the PSP hardware found inside the Vita’s SoC to improve emulation performance although this idea has never been employed in any homebrew in the past and it’s unknown whether it’d work.
For more information about the matter, you can check out this Reddit thread and get on the PSP Homebrew Server Discord channel as that’s where TheMrIron2 and other people behind this port seem to be discussing stuff.
via http://wololo.net/2019/02/18/emulati...to-the-psvita/
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February 20th, 2019, 20:41 Posted By: wraggster
If you like city building and the Roman Empire, then your PSVita’s value has increased drastically as devnoname120 got it a Caesar III port called Julius with some help from Rinnegatamante and rsn8887!
From my observations throughout a short playing session, I observed that:As the source code of Caesar III isn’t publicly available, Julius is an open-source implementation by @bvschaik_ of the classic 1998 game that was created by Impressions Games and published by Sierra On-Line. Julius aims to use the exact same logic as Caesar III and is also fully compatible with save games from it.
- Performance-wise, Julius is quite good and I observed no lag in a mostly empty map
- The touchscreen is used for main input as it controls the cursor
- Unfortunately, tapping the screen doesn’t register as a left click so you have to press X/O for a left/right click respectively
- Audio and sounds work as intended
- There doesn’t seem to be any way to pop up the on-screen keyboard so your governor’s name will have to stay “The new governor”
- Sadly, you can use the left/right analogue sticks for mouse control which makes it a bit difficult to point to smaller elements if you don’t have a stylus
To grab Julius and go back to Roman times on your PSVita, you can grab the VPK from this link or through VHBB as it’s available on VitaDB. As Caesar III isn’t a free game, you must supply the data files yourself,which can be obtained legitimately for a few bucks off GOG/Steam, and put them in ux0:/data/julius. I can personally confirm that the GOG files work just fine.
via http://wololo.net/2019/02/16/psvita-...y-released-ca/
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February 20th, 2019, 20:42 Posted By: wraggster
As recently mentioned, the Switch already has a port of Super Mario War and while the PSVita also had a port of this game by Rinnegatamante, it wasn’t fully stable.
 Super Mario War is a competitive multiplayer game that also has to do with stomping on other characters but gameplay-wise it’s more advanced compared to Jump’n’Bump
Now, the PSVita’s Super Mario War port has been updated to version 1.0 which comes the following updates:
- Random game freezes have been fixed thanks to some fixes in the AI code
- The controlled crash function when pressing the R trigger has been removed as it was only there in version 0.9 to make debugging easier
To grab this updated version of Super Mario War, follow this link to get the VPK or grab it directly off VHBB because it’s available on VitaDB.
http://wololo.net/2019/02/16/psvita-...y-released-ca/
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February 20th, 2019, 20:44 Posted By: wraggster
VitaBright by devnoname120 is an essential plugin that lets you take control of the PSVita’s screen brightness. In other words, it allows you to set the maximum brightness above the limit set by Sony and the minimum brightness below the limit.
Support for Slim PSVita models (2000-series models)This is extremely useful if you have an OLED PSVita and want to play in the dark since the screen is a bit too bright even on the lowest brightness setting. Now, VitaBright has been updated to version 1.0 with two major changes which are:
- This means that you can now use this plugin on virtually every PSVita you own
- A bug, that occurred when you were using the lowest brightness setting, in which the brightness would go back up after the screen dims due to inactivity was finally fixed!
To grab VitaBright 1.0, follow this link and download the ZIP file provided. The ZIP file contains the plugin in SKPRX form which you have to copy to ux/ur0:/tai. After copying the plugin, all you have to do is add the plugin’s directory under the *KERNEL section by inserting something like “ux0:/tai/vitabright.skprx”. You may also make use of custom gamma tables but the plugin has default settings built in which are fine for many users, myself included.
Other than VitaBright, another plugin also saw an update and this is VitaGrafix by Electry. VitaGrafix 4.1 is a technical update that mostly aims at making the life of people who create game patches easier.
Parsing for the configuration file and patchlist is now case-sensitive so potential conflicts are now avoidedThese updates include:
- Support for Arm A2 MOVW encoding is now present in patchlist.txt
- [MAIN] now accepts the same options as the GAME section
- Recent commercial game patch releases include internal buffer resolution patches for Fate/EXTELLA [US/JP/ASIA] and Valhalla Knights 3 [EU/US/JP] along with offsets for all regions of RESOGUN.
While VitaGrafix 4.1’s updates have to do stuff that the end user doesn’t directly mess with, it’s still a good idea to update your VitaGrafix plugin since newer game patches may make use of features introduced with this release. To grab the updated version of the plugin, check out this link and follow installation instructions from here.
http://wololo.net/2019/02/10/psvita-...-game-patches/
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February 20th, 2019, 20:45 Posted By: wraggster
If you’re a fan of the crazy chipmunks that go by the name of Chip ‘n’ Dale, then you’ll be pleased that Reddit user “tijesef” ported Chip And Dale Remastered to the PSVita with help from YellowAfterLife! This Chip & Dale game is a remake of the NES game “Chip & Dale: Rescue Rangers” and it’s made with GameMaker 8.0 so it was obviously ported to the PSVita with SilicaAndPina’s G*Maker.
From my brief testing session on my PSVita, I can say the following about the port:
- Performance is great and the controls are properly mapped (O-jump/X-pick up boxes/apples and throw)
- Game sounds and background music work as intended
- The game’s VPK is 79MB large but it only takes a few seconds to install through VitaShell which isn’t something that can be said for some other large homebrew
Some people have reported that the game crashes on the main menu but I encountered no such issues on my FAT PSVita running FW 3.60 so your mileage may vary. To download Chip ‘n’ Dale Remastered and mess around with these two chipmunks, simply check out its Reddit thread and download the VPK from the Google Drive link. Hello to you too “tijesef”; I’ll make sure to forward the message to The_Zett if it were intended for him xD
via http://wololo.net/2019/02/10/psvita-...-game-patches/
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February 21st, 2019, 16:22 Posted By: wraggster
Undoubtedly, Adrenaline is one of the most (if not the most) used PSVita homebrew available since it lets you turn your Vita/PSTV into a fully-fledged PSP. As a result, most of its bugs have already been ironed out and releases have slowed down but occasionally, TheFlow allows it an update and now, Adrenaline 6.8 has been released.
Adrenaline, by TheFlow, is an ePSP hack for HENkaku/taiHEN-enabled PSVita/PSTV consoles running FW 3.60-3.68.
Adrenaline gives you the full XMB experience which you can further customise to your liking!
Originally released in late 2016, Adrenaline has come a long way and nowadays, it’s pretty beefed up and has a large number of great features such as:
◾ Support for almost all PSP and PS1 games.◾If you’re into compressing your games, CSO and other space-saving formats are also supported
◾The full XMB experience with support for the PSP’s plugins such as CXMB and others
◾Save states so that you can make some games less frustrating
◾Screen filters, such as Advanced AA, to make games look better
◾ Support for mapping the right analogue stick to control games with through game patches like Camera Patch Lite and TheFlow’s own patches
◾Many other features including WiFi support, the ability to use the PSP’s USB transfer mode for copying files and 64MB RAM for homebrew requiring the PSP Slim or newer
What does Adrenaline 6.8 bring along?
Adrenaline 6.8 is an incremental update which brings about some important things namely:
◾ A fix, by rsn8887, for the slowdowns encountered when emulating certain PlayStation 1 titles.
◾ The addition of a sharp bilinear without scanlines screen filter also by rsn8887 (Patreon)
◾ Support for h-encore 2.0 which can come in handy if you’re still on FW 3.67/3.68 even though you shouldn’t be since modoru lets you downgrade to FW 3.60/3.65 thus letting you use HENkaku Enso (hacks at boot time).
Even though it’s a somewhat small update, it’s recommended you upgrade to it especially if you play PS1 games. Updating Adrenaline is pretty simple and can be done by following these steps:
1.Download the Adrenaline VPK from the link below
2.Open it with an archive viewer and extract all the files from the “sce_module” directory
3.Copy them to “ux0:/app/PSPEMUCFW/sce_module” and replace the existing files
4.Open Adrenaline and enjoy!
5.Obviously, this requires you to have Adrenaline already installed and should only be done if you have Adrenaline 6.0 or above or installed.
If you don’t have Adrenaline installed or have an ancient version, you can install it by downloading the VPK, installing it through VitaShell and then copying the PSP FW 6.61 PBP file to “ux0:/app/PSPEMUCFW”.
Adrenaline 6.8 download link + change log: https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/A...eleases/latest
TheFlow’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheOfficialFloW
TheFlow’s Twitter (further updates): https://twitter.com/theflow0
via http://wololo.net/2019/02/21/adrenaline-6-8-released/
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February 25th, 2019, 20:56 Posted By: wraggster
PPSSPP can run your PSP games on your PC in full HD resolution, and play them on Android too. It can even upscale textures that would otherwise be too blurry as they were made for the small screen of the original PSP.
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UPDATE: 1.7.4 are just additional crashfixes. 1.7.5 fixes an Android issue.
Fix for insta-crash on Galaxy Note 9, some Xiaomi devices, and the new nVidia Shield (#11441)
Vertex range culling on most platforms, fixes DTM: Race Driver and similar (#11393)
Major speed boost in some Gundam and Earth Defense Force games (#10973)
Fix for issues with post processing shaders in GL 3+ (#11182)
Fixes to sound output switching on Windows (WASAPI) (#11438)
Detects DirectInput devices when running (#11461)
Simple Discord integration (#11307)
New debugging APIs (#10909)
Task switching made a lot more robust (fixes GPD XD problems) (#11447)
Texture decoding optimizations (#11350)
Tons and tons of miscellaneous bugfixes and compatibility fixes |
https://www.ppsspp.org/#news |
| via http://www.emulation64.com/view/2940...-175-released/ |
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February 25th, 2019, 21:04 Posted By: wraggster
Yesterday, CelesteBlue released Memecore, a port of h-encore for older firmware 3.60. Support for 3.5x firmwares is scheduled for the days to come.
Memecore is the successor of memekaku, that enabled us to install henkaku on older firmware such as 3.55. This release announces the end of memekaku support and a new way of exploiting your PS Vita (using the h-encore exploit) so it’s more reliable than memekaku. And guess what? You can also use it on 3.60 so now you have both the browser exploit and the h-encore exploit.
If you have problems using the web browser to install henkaku, you can now count on memecore. This release enables us to rediscover old exploits such as rejuvenate, failmail, TN-V while keeping HENkaku, but will also helps developers to reverse engineer old firmwares. This release was possible thanks to the latest release of h-encore 2.0, which has updated the kernel ROP chain to use gadgets that are also available on lower firmware so it is easier to port it to said firmware.
The developer credits TheFloW for h-encore exploit and Princess of Sleeping for cross-FW offsets porting
Download Vita 3.60 Memecore
You can download memecore from the developer’s github here.
From CelesteBlue: You can use the provided system.dat, or build on Linux it by typing ‘bash memecore.sh ‘.
via http://wololo.net/2019/02/22/ps-vita...firmware-3-60/
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February 25th, 2019, 21:06 Posted By: wraggster
A couple of months ago, we all saw the reveal of several low-level breakthroughs in Vita hacking, such as the “octopus” F00D exploit, BootROM exploitation through voltage glitching, and more. A “master key” was unveiled, and several new opportunities such as reF00D and memory card readers became possible. But was ittruly the end for PS Vita security?
As we learn from the new article published by hacker Yifan Lu on his blog, it wasn’t there just yet. One could already say so, given how the 3.70 firmware update changed the above “master key”, and even though it was possible to recover the new one using the glitching setup and crypto engine vulnerabilities, there was no direct knowledge of one of the console’s biggest secrets: hardware keyslots. After all, if something is changeable, there has to be something else above to protect it. Something permanent. And as soon as it’s found, the protection is no more.
What do “hardware keys” mean?
Hardware keys are cryptographic keys that are stored in such a way that only special crypto hardware on the Vita can access and operate with them. Naturally, such keys are permanently fused onto physical components of the hardware (so they can not be changed, and are extremely difficult to obtain through external observation). Here is how Yifan Lu describes their purpose, and the motivation towards finding them:
If we want to see how content (games, data, firmware, updates, etc) is decrypted, we have to look at the F00D processor, which is a satellite processor that handles all the cryptographic and security critical tasks. F00D runs on a largely undocumented architecture but we were able to hack it in due time. However, even hacking F00D is not enough to fully “own” the system. There are many cryptographic keys inside F00D code, but the most important keys including the ones that decrypt the bootloader are hidden away in the silicon and only accessible by the hardware AES engine we call Bigmac. There are 250 of these keyslots. 30 of these keys are called “meta” or “master” keys because Bigmac is only allowed to use them to encrypt data to another keyslot (i.e. to derive keys). It is not possible to directly use the master keys to encrypt data and see the ciphertext.
Most of the keyslots (including all the master keys) are locked before the bootloader is executed. That means only the boot ROM is allowed to use them in Bigmac. So, to summarize the roadmap, here is what we had to have hacked before even getting to this point: WebKit to gain initial execution, ARM kernel, ARM TrustZone, F00D kernel, and F00D boot ROM. Starting from scratch, it took us six years to get to this point and with the exception of F00D boot ROM, it was all done with software vulnerabilities. (We have dumped all our knowledge in a community-maintained wiki.) A reasonable observer might wonder what the point of all this is. For all practical purposes, hacking ARM kernel is enough to jailbreak the system, run homebrew and mods, and (unfortunately) pirate games. However, the reasonable observer would likely have no fun at CTF events. Six years ago, I set an arbitrary goal for myself: to get the decryption key for the bootloader. The idea is that if we can decrypt the first piece of loadable code, then there is nothing Sony can do to hide code in future updates. Later on, this “root decryption” key gained a name: slot 0x208 (a meta key). This post is on capturing that final flag, the last leg of this six year journey.
In his blog post, Yifan Lu provides an extensive description of the methods used to attack hardware AES and obtain the keys. It even comes with an academic paper that goes into technical details of the attack, and how it works to exploit the Vita’s keyslots, with a good bit of linear algebra in-between.
The series of attempts started in January 2019 on his Twitch channel. The original focus was on performing the so-called DPA (differential power analysis) attack, which consists in analyzing the power consumption of the crypto engine while it is running an encryption or decryption process in order to retrieve the key. Faced with issues such as large amounts of external and internal noise, this method had to be abandoned. However, some of the discoveries made during the tests proved useful in the implementation of another method called DFA (differential fault analysis). This latter type of attack focuses on introducing minuscule corruptions, or “faults”, at specific stages of the AES encryption/decryption process, which, after being processed in large quantities using scientifically established algorithms, can eventually lead to the discovery of the complete encryption key. DFA proved successful, and Yifan Lu has been able to dump pretty much all hardware-only keyslots found on the Vita.(The note about becoming a Switch hacker was a joke.)
How is this useful in the end?
Below are some, but not all, of the practical advantages gained by this research.
DecryptionThe direct result of this accomplishment is that all components of the PS Vita system software, as well as other software such as games, are now permanently decryptable, no matter what changes Sony decides to make in future firmware updates. It also considerably simplifies the process of decrypting new firmware files standalone (e.g. on a PC) without having to perform the hardware attacks to find the master keys every time. Decryption of firmware files ensures that hackers always have access to finding more vulnerabilities and other goodies in newer Sony updates. This includes, but is not limited to, always being able to spoof the latest firmware (in all of its senses) in case Sony re-introduces harsh verification measures for activating your console and downloading content from the PSN.
Interoperability
For anyone working on emulating the PS Vita, as well as creating open software and hardware to interface with its storage media, this opens the doors to their proper implementation and removes much of the dependency on a real PS Vita to do its job. For example, standalone dumps and creation of authenticated SD game carts, as well as Sony memory cards, are now much closer possibilities given that the crypto barrier is effectively removed.
F00D substitution
This also removes the need in F00D-level and BootROM-level code execution exploits in order to perform most crypto tasks. However, some of the hardware keys are device-specific, so the aforementioned attacks technically have to be performed on every single device in order to get them. Among those are your NAND (internal memory) decryption key and the key used to uniquely encrypt the idstorage (which securely stores information identifying your Vita). The latter still warrants F00D-level code execution as the most practical way to clone (decrypt and re-encrypt) an idstorage from one console to another, which is currently thought to be one of the ways to lower the “Factory Firmware” requirement in the recently released modoru downgrading utility.
Will this help with 3.69+ hacks?
While this does mean that the Vita is completely “owned”, there is still a distinction to make between being able to decrypt code and being able to execute it on the device. The latter heavily relies on another type of security called “asymmetric cryptography”, which, when implemented properly, is impossible to break without pure brute-force (because it relies on private signing keys that only Sony themselves have). Therefore the only “universal” way to run code on any firmware is via Yifan’s BootROM glitching, which technically gives you the freedom to run almost anything you want on your device, all the while being a very impractical “modchip on steroids” solution. As it stands, the most accessible ways to hack your Vita and run HENkaku on it are still software-triggered exploit chains such as h-encore, and you still have to wait for new exploit chains to be released for your firmware. This was previously mentioned in the context of a possible F00D hack: hacking lower levels of the PS Vita security is not directly associated with what we understand as a “Vita CFW”, but mostly serves the purpose of demonstrating how to crack even the toughest “nuts” of the device’s security.
Conclusion
All in all, while not being of any obvious benefit to the end user, this is a serious technological achievement. It demonstrates to what lengths console manufacturers can go to secure their devices, and what effort hackers need to put into cracking all of the protections. Experience gained hacking the PS Vita may eventually be useful when new, potentially more secure consumer devices come to the market, and it reinforces the natural desire for knowledge that drives so many researchers to do their job.
It is worth noting, however, that (for legal reasons) the hardware keys will not be released by Team Molecule. This is why Yifan Lu has only posted hashes and not the keys themselves. Fortunately, all the tools used for this endeavor are publicly available on Team Molecule’s GitHub, so anyone who is keen on obtaining such secrets can now try and reproduce the setup at home.
Last but not least: even though this is the end of the Vita journey, there may still be more reveals that we can look forward to…
via http://wololo.net/2019/02/24/ps-vita...y-is-defeated/
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February 25th, 2019, 21:09 Posted By: wraggster
Yesterday, homebrew developer VitaHEX released The Hallway, a horror-esque game made using the Unity engine running on the PS Vita. It’s based on P.T., a horror game that was meant to be a new addition in the Silent Hill game series.
Below is a quote from the developer himself about the game.
“This game is a recreation of my all time favorite PT demo. In the PS Vita version I call it “The Hallway” (for obvious reasons). It’s a complete recreation of the original with handmade 3d models and environments I created as close as possible to original.
All the lighting, fog effects and the atmosphere is highly optimized for the PS Vita.
In this short demo you will be able to experience the horror in “loops” again and again but with some new small surprises. The game features high quality 3D sound so I highly recommend playing the game with headphones!”
After playing it myself, I can guarantee that this game will keep you on your toes the entire time and seeing his other projects such as Zombiebound Reloaded and Vitamon GO!, I’m sure what’s next in store for us will be even better.
Download The Hallway for PS Vita
You can download the Hallway here.
via http://wololo.net/2019/02/25/ps-vita...ay-by-vitahex/
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February 27th, 2019, 18:15 Posted By: wraggster
Heres some PSVita Hacking news from Yifan Lu
For the past couple of months, I have been trying to extract the hardware keys from the PlayStation Vita. I wrote a paper describing the whole process with all the technical details, but I thought I would also write a more casual blog post about it as well. Consider this a companion piece to the paper where I will expand more on the process and the dead ends than just present the results. In place of technical accuracy, I will attempt to provide more intuitive explanations and give background information omitted in the paper.
DFA
For a nice practical introduction to differential fault analysis, check out this article on using DFA to attack white-box software AES. The authors give a good explanation that is not overly academic and actually presents code at the end (which we use for our attack). The main idea of DFA is this: we can use glitch attacks on AES hardware just as we can on processors, but instead of using it to control code execution, we use it to make faulty AES encryptions with the right key. Since AES is a brittle algorithm, slight modifications will cause it to leak information about the key in unintended ways and we abuse this fact.
Unfortunately, there is not much interest in AES DFA outside of academia. A search on Github shows a handful of results and overall we only found two serious implementation of AES DFA attacks. dfa-aes is an implementation of a 2009 paper where a single precise fault in round 8 and 2 32 232 brute force can yield the AES-128 key. phoenixAES (from the authors of that article linked to above) is an implementation of a 2003 paper which requires two separate precise faults in round 8 and no brute force (although later on, we will later describe some modifications that relaxes the “precise fault” requirement and increases the required brute force to about 2 8 28). There has been many other papers published from 2002 to 2016 describing attacks that assume faults in earlier rounds or more bytes are affected by a fault or other parts of the algorithm. However, we were not able to find any source code attached to these papers. In the end, we derived our work from phoenixAES even though it was not state-of-the-art because writing code is boring and most of the improvements in the literature do not mean much in practice (one hour vs five minutes is a lot of time but if you only have to do it once, the time it takes to write all that code and debug it would negate the gain).
With that rant aside, the main bulk of work is in perfecting our glitching setup in order to inject precise (as in corrupting no more than a single byte) faults on the AES engine during round 8. Once we have that in place, we can feed the collected samples into phoenixAES (or dfa-aes) and it should Just Work.
DPA
Before getting into how we designed the setup for DFA glitching, it is worth sidetracking into our (failed) attempt on a DPA attack on the Vita as context for some of the design decisions made later on. Differential power analysis is a type of side channel attack where if the attacker observes the power consumption of the AES engine while it is operating with a secret key, then it is possible to leak the key. First she hypothesizes the value of a part of the key. Next, the attacker defines a power usage model of the AES engine to predict how much power is consumed if a random input is encrypted and the hypothesis was correct. Finally, she actually runs the engine with that input and measures the actual power consumption to see how close the prediction was. By repeating this many times and for different parts of the key, it is possible to find the entire key. Chipwhisperer wiki has a great introduction to how differential power analysis works that goes into much more details but is still approachable.
More https://yifan.lu/2019/02/22/attackin...-aes-with-dfa/
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February 27th, 2019, 18:30 Posted By: wraggster
If you’re thinking “Doesn’t the PSVita already have a native Duke Nukem 3D port?”, you’d be right since it does.
However, Duke Nukem 3D Megaton Edition was taken off the PSN store over 2 years ago and it doesn’t have nearly enough features as Rinnegatamante’s EDuke32 port especially with the latest update.
EDuke32 1.5/1.5.1 for the Vita brings about:
- Mod support which is one of the main selling points of EDuke32!
- An update to a more recent version of EDuke32 (r6862)
- Higher quality sprite rendering and fix for graphical glitches like mirrors not working as intended
- Support for add-ons like “Nuclear Winter” and “Duke It Out in D.C” which are great if you’re a Duke die-hard!
- Many other improvements like an increase in available RAM, bilinear filtering to the final rendered framebuffer and more more!
- The above are all features brought by version 1.5. Version 1.5.1 brings about a bug fix regarding memory allocation, a fix for a crash relating to autoload and the ability to give savegames a name.
To grab the latest version of EDuke32, you can download it via VHBB or by following this link to its VitaDB page. You need original Duke Nukem 3D files to play the full version but you may obtain the demo files for free.
http://wololo.net/2019/02/26/psvita-...-stable-audio/
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February 27th, 2019, 18:33 Posted By: wraggster
mGBA is a GameBoy Advance (and Colour/Original) emulator that aims to deliver accurate emulation while performing well on lower-end devices.
This emulator is available on multiple hacked platforms, like the Switch, 3DS and Wii, and PCs but the folks behind it still manage to keep the same codebase for all the available versions so all supported platforms get the latest goodies!
As this emulator is still actively in development, it regularly receives updates and the latest one is version 0.7.1 which brings along:
- A fix for the Vita port in which save files weren’t flushed to disk if mGBA crashes or closes unexpectedly.
- This could cause save files not to be updated with the latest save data and progress to be lost
- Freezes in the menu on the 3DS and bugs relating to opening the application and gyroscope orientation on the Switch were fixed
- Internal core improvements relating to memory, DMA and video were made to increase accuracy
- Other minor features and bug fixes such as an updated Italian translation and a fix for the window icon when using X11
To grab the latest version of mGBA, check out this link and download the appropriate version for the platform of your choice.
http://wololo.net/2019/02/26/psvita-...-stable-audio/
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February 27th, 2019, 18:36 Posted By: wraggster
DaedalusX64 is the only working Nintendo 64 emulator for the PSP and PSVita and it can emulate some titles like Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64 quite well. However, it’s still quite far from being a perfect emulator but thankfully, some people like z2442, TheMrIron2 and wally4000 seem to have taken an interest in making it better.
Through their efforts, many updated builds have been released and the most recent one is 1.1.6, which was released a few days ago and it brings along:
- Improvements to the job manager which improved the performance of the audio emulation routine and made it more stable
- An update to the toolchain being used to compile the emulator which has unexpectedly brought about performance improvements
- Faster memory copying routine
- Work is also being done on a PC (Linux) port of Daedalus which may make it easier for debugging and improving the performance of the PSP version
In order to get this updated version of Daedalus, click on this link and grab the ZIP file linked in it. If you’re using a PSVita, this must be run via Adrenaline as there isn’t a native port of Daedalus yet.
http://wololo.net/2019/02/26/psvita-...-stable-audio/
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