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July 8th, 2019, 18:06 Posted By: wraggster
Light has been shed on Sony's strategy for its next generation console, with a firm focused on attracting the hardcore player.
This in itself is not too unusual -- members of this demographic are usually early adopters for new consoles -- but the Wall Street Journal has shared some insight from two anonymous Sony officials into how much Sony is prioritising this audience.
In a recent company strategy briefing, Sony chief executive Kenichiro Yoshida described the PlayStation 5 (or whatever it is eventually called) as a niche product aimed at hardcore players.
The emphasis for the machine is on 8K resolution, ultra high-definition graphics, as the platform holder believes visual quality to be a key factor in players' purchasing decisions.
The company is said to be concentrating on strengthening relationships with large publishers, as well as working on AAA exclusives from its internal studios.
It is not targeting indie or smaller developers as resources are limited. Case in point, Sony is not planning to showcase independent developers at this year's Tokyo Game Show, which it has done in previous years.
One of the officials explained that Sony believes people will buy the next console for high-quality exclusives, rather than smaller games already available on mobile.
Executives at smaller games firms say they feel they feel snubbed by this strategy. However, one Sony official believes they will still release games for PlayStation 5 even without the platform holder's support because the popularity will mean it will be a key market they cannot ignore.
The sources claim Sony is still concentrating on Microsoft as its main competitor, while Google and it's Stadia streaming service are mainly considered a potential threat in the mid- to long-term, dependent on how internet tech and infrastructures improve.
None of this sounds too dissimilar to Sony's marketing strategy at the beginning of the current generation, using the tagline '4 the players' to emphasise how the line-up would appeal to traditional gamers.
In that instance, the platform holder was trying to reclaim ground taken by a dominant Microsoft. This time, Sony has the clear lead with nearly 100 million PS4 units sold worldwide.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...rdcore-players
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July 15th, 2019, 18:50 Posted By: wraggster
Thanks to Xerpi‘s awesome work, you can stream your PSVita’s screen to a computer via USB giving you a similar experience to the Switch’s TV mode. However, Xerpi didn’t just stop supporting it when it worked well enough but kept on releasing updates to fix bits and pieces. Now, version 1.3 has been released with one major improvement!
Xerpi’s UDCD_UVC is a kernel plugin for hacked PlayStation Vita consoles that lets you stream your console’s screen to a computer over USB.
The latest update to the UDCD_UVC plugin brings the following to the table:
◾ A fix, by u3sh*t, relating to System App detection which means that you can now run applications like Settings and the Browser while you’re streaming your PSVita’s screen over USB!◾From some testing that I’ve done, I noticed that the Settings, Browser, Calendar and Photos apps have been fixed
For a tutorial on how to set up UDCD_UVC, follow this link to get streaming fairly quickly. On the other hand, if you want to tinker with your PSVita, you can check out SilicaAndPina’s recently released CEX2REX homebrew that lets you turn your PSVita to a Testkit at your own risk as I haven’t tried it myself.
UDCD_UVC 1.3 Download Link: https://github.com/xerpi/vita-udcd-uvc/releases
UDCD_UVC’s Readme: https://github.com/xerpi/vita-udcd-u...ster/README.md
http://wololo.net/2019/07/14/psvita-...e-system-apps/
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July 16th, 2019, 16:06 Posted By: wraggster
Following an article on the bounty for GPU acceleration in RetroArch and its cores on the PlayStation Vita, various individuals pledged some money to it in a last attempt to strengthen the Vita’s emulation capabilities. Now, the bounty’s value has increased by over $560 and Frangar has just made some significant progress that we’ll look at in this article!
- Frangar is thinking about writing a GXM specific HW rendering driver for PCSX-ReARMed allowing for rendering of some PS1 games at higher resolutions for a better quality image
 Shaders in 2D emulators on the PSVita are closer than ever thanks to Frangar’s recent work! (Source)
- A status update, published a short while ago, in which Frangar discuss the progress he’s already done. This includes:
- Getting Runtime Shader Compilation to work which is instrumental in allowing cores, such as ones for the SNES/GBA, to make use of filters and shaders on the PSVita thus making games look better in some instances.
- The Vita2D driver has been updated to the latest version
- Scissoring support for the menu driver is being implemented. This is used for rendering the Ozone driver (Switch-esque UI) and menu widgets
- A promise to take a look at the Ozone driver and menu widgets presumably after finishing the scissoring support mentioned above
- Apparently, the final RetroArch driver will be based on Vita2D not GXM/VitaGL as was initially stated. An HW context for cores and shader pipelines will be implemented to it as well
- http://wololo.net/2019/07/16/psvita-...risen-to-1067/
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July 17th, 2019, 16:25 Posted By: wraggster
As the years go by, PlayStation 3 emulation has become more and more viable, as the hardworking team behind the PS3 emulator RPCS3 continues to make major updates and breakthroughs. The most recent addition to the emulator is a WIP feature that allows users to remove the framerate cap for certain games, causing them to run at a smoother framerate than they did on original hardware. It's important to note that this won't affect every game in the PS3's library, though there are a few games that already make use of this removed fps limit without doubling the internal game speed. In the above video test, we can see Ni no Kuni, Tony Hawk Project 8, Sega Rally, Batman Arkham Asylum, Shadow of the Colossus, and Ferrari Challenge running at or around 60fps; a higher framerate than how they played on the PS3.
Three ways to get double fps cap (game dependant):
- Double Clocks Scale value.
- Double Vblank Rate.
- Double Vblank Rate and halve Clocks Scale.
NOTE: it's possible that a game may rely only on timers and not vblank for frame capping, changing time scale in this case will affect the speed of playability as well.
Or even use another method for fps capping unsupported at the moment.
Click to expand... According to others who have tried out recent builds of RPCS3, Final Fantasy XIII, Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus, and perhaps most shockingly of them all, Red Dead Redemption, work too, though some of these games still aren't fully playable even at 30fps yet. The framerate override hasn't been officially added into the feature list for main builds, but if you're curious enough to want to test it out yourself, you can do so by using one of the master builds of the emulator.
To enable it, you'll have to edit each game's configuration file (that you want to try it with) at /config/custom_configs/. Look for the line VBlank Rate: 60, and replace 60 with an integer multiple of it, e.g. 120. If the game was originally 30 fps capped, this will raise the cap to 60 fps (to it's double).
This feature is still in heavy research and will probably improve even further, hopefully making even more games compatible and uncapped
Click to expand...  GitHub Page
https://gbatemp.net/threads/ps3-emul...titles.543666/
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July 17th, 2019, 16:26 Posted By: wraggster
Yet another official firmware update is now available for Sony's Playstation 4 console. Just like other recently released updates, system version 6.72 appears to be yet another " stability update" with no new features added for the end-user. You know the drill: people interested in hacking & homebrew are advised against installing it. Information about what's been changed under the hood is scarce at the moment but if anything worth mentioning is found, this post will be updated with all the relevant info. As previously anticipated, the official changelog reads as follows:
Quoted from Official changelog:
Main features in system software update 6.72
This system software update improves system performance.
Click to expand... Source
https://gbatemp.net/threads/playstat...ilable.543607/
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July 18th, 2019, 16:13 Posted By: wraggster
In May, Znullptr (David Miller) was working on porting various emulators to the PlayStation 4 thus beefing up its homebrew lineup which makes hacking the console more appealing.
Among emulators that were being worked on, we find PCSX-R (PS1), Yabause (Saturn), Blast-Em (Genesis), Reicast (Dreamcast) and mGBA (GB/GBC/GBA). Unfortunately, he stopped working on these emulators earlier this month as he switched focus to developing a usermode virtualizer for the PlayStation 4 but PKGs for Yabuase, Reicast and mGBA eventually surfaced online.
Now, a PKG of PCSX-R for the PS4 has surfaced thanks to Markus95 which means that you can finally emulate PlayStation 1 games on a hacked PlayStation 4 without booting into Linux. However, the emulator isn’t 100% finished and has some bugs such as broken save functionality, cutscenes lagging and sound not functioning properly. Furthermore, you can only load a single ROM at a time so you have to rename the “game.bin” file that the emulator uses in order to play different games.
To grab the emulator’s PKG, check out this link to Logic-Sunrise’s article about it and scroll to the bottom. A video of the emulator in action .
http://wololo.net/2019/07/18/playsta...th-many-fixes/
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July 18th, 2019, 16:16 Posted By: wraggster
If you have a PSVita, like listening to music, want to use a dedicated music playing app and don’t fancy using QCMA to use the stock music player then your best choice is Joel16’s ElevenMPV.
This CyanogenMod/LineageOS-inspired homebrew music player supports playing a whole variety of music formats (MP3/WAV/FLAC/OGG and more) from any directory in storage and also comes with a whole slew of features including metadata support, a shuffle function and more!
ElevenMPV 2.1.0 has been released and this brings along:
- The ability to access any directory on the PSVita thus making it an unsafe homebrew
- This means you need to have Unsafe Homebrew enabled in HENkaku Settings and VitaShell will warn you about it being unsafe before letting you install it; it poses no risk to your device’s well-being!
- Lastdir.txt is removed after switching to another device to fix a bug that caused the homebrew to crash
- Some UI fixes including a tidying up of the menu title in device settings and a fix to the cancel button of the settings menu not being used
- Playing speed on down-sampled MP3 files has been fixed, dr_libs was updated to the latest version and decoder functions got a minor cleanup
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July 23rd, 2019, 17:28 Posted By: wraggster
Bad news for the whole PS Vita scene. Sony has just stealthily dropped a new system update for the PS Vita: version 3.71. No official changelog is available at the moment, as Sony's website still lists 3.70 as the latest one, but it was clear since the beginning that the new firmware was aimed towards fixing exploits and security flaws as no new features were added. However, when scene member and console hacker TheFloW took an in-depth look at it, he found out that every single bug used by his Trinity exploit chain had been patched, making it impossible to run or port it over to the new system software.
Given the circumstances, it should go without saying that users interested in running any kind of homebrew on their PS Vita should avoid updating at all costs. If you don't, you will have to wait until a completely new exploit comes out for 3.71 - if that ever happens. TheFloW recommends anyone running Trinity to downgrade to firmware 3.68 or lower, otherwise, you may be locked out of the exploit chain in the future. On the other hand, if you're already running Henkaku or h-encore, you can spoof your system version to 3.71 directly from your CFW's settings.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/ps-vita-...letely.544150/
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July 23rd, 2019, 17:32 Posted By: wraggster
CLR-DEV9 v0.8.6 is released. CLR-DEV9 is a Dev9 Plugin for PCSX2 Written in C#. Based on PCSX2's Dev9 plugin. This plugin will use sockets instead of Tap or WinPcap, which will hopefully eliminate most configuration issues most users face when setting up.
To connect using this plugin;
Copy the plugin file into the plugin directory in PCSX2
Launch PCSX2, Click Config>Plugins/BIOS Selector, on the window that appears click "Plugins"
Click the dropdown box next to DEV9 and select "CLR DEV9 Test", then click apply.
Click Ok on the plugin selection window.
Set "Auto" to IP/DNS/Gateway Settings in the PS2 Netconfig menus.
CLR-DEV9 v0.8.6 Changelog:
Fix crash introduced in v0.8.5 which causes crashes with UDP ports for LAN games
Fix crash associated with newer versions of mono
Fix crash associated with unloading/reloading the plugin
https://github.com/TheLastRar/CLR-DEV9
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July 26th, 2019, 16:20 Posted By: wraggster
In contrast to the Nintendo Switch, work on emulating the PlayStation Vita started years after the console was released and this was due to numerous difficulties such as the console only getting a full native hack in 2017 with HENkaku, a staggering 5 years after its release. That being said, progress is picking up and a few games are already In-Game to varying degrees.
A few hours ago, the folks behind Vita3K had something interesting to share with us and that is the fact that Persona 4 Golden is close to showing some graphics. This was achieved through significant progress in the shader translation part of the emulator which shows that some developers are indeed interested in making the PSVita fully emultable, like the PSP, one day.
http://wololo.net/2019/07/25/news-an...-graphics-soon
/
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July 29th, 2019, 21:23 Posted By: wraggster
The cloud partnership between Microsoft and Sony was "all driven by Sony," according to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Speaking to Fortune, Nadella explained the origins of the partnership with Sony, which the two companies formed in May.
"First of all, it's all driven by Sony," he said. "They looked at who are all their partners that they can trust. In fact, it turns out, even though we've competed, we've also partnered.
"Basically and fundamentally the fact that we have a business model in the areas that they're partnering with us, where we're dependent on their success. So we will do the best job for them, whether it's in cloud or whether it's in AI or what have you, in order to make sure that Sony can succeed with their own IP creation."
The partnership will influence Sony's games business, but Nadella also highlighted silicon chips and cameras as areas that "can use more cloud computing power."
Historically, Sony and Microsoft have been rivals in the games market, but their partnership reflects a broad shift away from physical products and towards digital services.
In a recent article, Rob Fahey speculated that these changes could signal the end of direct competition between Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo -- generally known as "the console war."
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...driven-by-sony
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July 29th, 2019, 21:44 Posted By: wraggster
Earlier today, Bethesda released ports of the DOOM triology for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and XBOX One thus making it possible to play these games without having to hack your console.
DOOM can run on anything from a toaster to current home consoles and smartphones. However, you won’t be running Brutal DOOM or certain intensive mods at 60+FPS on every computer as they can be pretty demanding!
Furthermore, they also updated the iOS port of DOOM I to finally support iOS 11+ (it didn’t have a 64-bit binary before) and released DOOM II for it. On the Android side, ports of DOOM I and DOOM II got released although they require Android 8.0 probably for no good reason.
Price-wise, DOOM I and DOOM II come at $5 each while DOOM III comes at $10 thus being quite a bit more expensive than the same offerings on GOG/Steam as they’re all 67% off at the moment with the first two costing around $2 and DOOM III BFG costing around $7.50. However, you’re probably paying a bit extra for the porting work although if you have a hacked console, you can provide your own legitimate game files and play away!
http://wololo.net/2019/07/27/doom-i-...her-price-tag/
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July 29th, 2019, 21:48 Posted By: wraggster
It is only appropriate that the PSVita gets a birthday present for the 3rd year of having to endure HENkaku and this present is a port of Deltarune Chapter One.
Make sure you don’t waste too much time on creating the perfect character in Delatrune
This massively popular and highly-rated Indie game is written in GameMaker Studio by Toby Fox, the creator of Undertale which was officially ported to the PSVita. Sadly, Deltarune didn’t find its way to the console but Tijesef, who’s ported numerous GameMaker games to the console thanks to Silica’s G*Maker, decided to rectify the situation and create a homebrew port instead!
If you’ve never heard of Delatrune before, it’s an RPG game in which you end up in an unknown place called the ‘Dark World’ where you and a classmate named Suzie are hereos that have to restore balance. This is done by defeating creatures and their bullet heck attacks either peacefully or through violence. From a short period of testing, I can confirm the PSVita port works pretty well and has good performance along with a nicely mapped control scheme. According to tijesef, there are only two minor issues with the port namely long waiting times when saving (around 5 seconds) and that you can’t remap controls
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July 29th, 2019, 21:49 Posted By: wraggster
For HENkaku’s 3 year anniversary, Yifan Lu has something in store as well although it isn’t in the form of some massive release but of an interesting write-up. This write-up, which was originally written in January 2019 was intended to be published when somebody found the same vulnerability in 0x50002 service that it discuses.
 If you want some interesting reading material, then make sure to read Yifan Lu’s write up on the first F00D exploit!
Unfortunately, this didn’t happen even though there were various hints on the HENkaku Wiki that the service buggy probably due to lack of interest in hacking the obscure F00D processor. As usual with Yifan Lu’s blog posts, it’s pretty well written and the gist of it can be grasped by anyone with limited knowledge of computer security so if you’re into learning how vulnerabilities/exploit work, you should surely give it a read when you don’t have much on your hands!
On the other hand, Xerpi has recently posted build instructions for generating a Linux kernel to boot with his PSVita Linux Loader software. Unfortunately, Vita Linux hasn’t seen much progress after the initial groundwork done in December of last year but Xerpi’s known for making the seemingly impossible possible, which was the case with udcd_uvc so work on Vita Linux might continue someday. The main purpose of these build instructions is probably to help more experienced developers to get working on improving the PSVita more quickly but aren’t very useful for regular users as a precompiled Linux kernel can already be downloaded. It’s important to note that Vita Linux doesn’t support the PSVita’s display so if you boot it, you’ll just see a black screen; output is currently available via UART0 which is a debug interface that requires soldering to use. Thanks for the heads-up on this @TheheroGAC
http://wololo.net/2019/07/29/psvita-...-instructions/
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July 30th, 2019, 21:19 Posted By: wraggster
Sony has released its results for the first quarter of the financial year, showing a dip in revenues for PlayStation but a rise in console sales.
The platform holder's Game & Network Services segment suffered a ¥14.6 billion decline in sales year-on-year, generating ¥457.5 billion ($4.2 billion) in the three months ended June 30, 2019.
Often the company's best performing segment, it was actually outperformed this quarter by Electronic Products & Solutions (EP&S) -- although this encompasses mobile, home entertainment and sound, and Imaging & Sensing Solutions (I&SS), which handles cameras and so on.
Operating income for the games segment slipped 9.6% year-on-year t ¥73.8 billion ($679.5 million).
The segment's decline was attributed to the impact of foreign exchange rates, falling sales of third-party titles and a decreased contribution from first-party software. The latter suggests that Days Gone, the platform holder's big release this quarter, has not lived up to the success of last year's God of War (released around the same time).
However, these declines were offset by increases in PlayStation 4 hardware sales and digital services such as PlayStation Plus.
PlayStation 4 shipped 3.2 million units in the last quarter (as it did in the same period last year), putting its total units sold into retail at 100m million. Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad notes this makes PS4 the fastest console to ship 100m units, overtaking the Wii and PS2.
Meanwhile, 42.9 million games were sold during the three-month period, up from the 40.6 million sold in Q1 FY2018.
53% of these sales were digital -- the highest in two years. Sony's comparison chart only goes back to FY17, but given the global shift towards digital, it's safe to surmise this is a new high.
In total, more than 973.6 million PS4 games have been sold worldwide.
PlayStation Plus subscribers stand at 36.2 million, showing a slight drop from 36.4 million in the previous quarter but a marked improvement from the 33.9 million recorded last year.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...-by-15-percent
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