I admit that I’ve been a wee bit quick to jump on the gun before but with absolutely zero homebrewable PSPs entering into the store the last few months and the homebrew scene has not been able to find any major breakthrough other than patching, sets that come with the magical 5.03 firmware are now very much sought after.

Here’s the lowdown:

• A homebrewable PSP sets you back for, minimum, $300. And that’s just the console alone.
• A non-hackable PSP goes for less, $245, and there are more colors to choose from but you would have to grab UMDs off the shelf for games.
• Firmware version 5.03 has been a mainstay for over a year now and Sony has just released 6.30. That’s a full numeric jump! Will there be a downgradeable hack or updated hack in the near future? Probably, which is why it does make some sense to get the cheaper PSP and wait it out. After all, owners of the then new TA-88v3 had to be patient for a good six months before the homebrew community made waves once again.
• UMD games are actually falling in price! Gone are the days when a game could cost as much as PS3 title. Now, you could get one from $22 onwards. We have pretty much anticipated the dearth of homebrew PSPs in the months before and are committed to ensure that there still would be entertainment for the months to come. Even newer titles such as LittleBigPlanet would only cap off at $38!
• Newer homebrew hacks for 5.03 are getting increasingly tricky and the potential of bricking or screwing up your PSPs becomes very high. Especially so with TA-88v3 motherboards running chickHEN.

That being said, the big decision maker is your wallet. It never hurts to support the developers who works hard to deliver the games that accompany you through that boring journey from school and back or to kill time while waiting for your friends to arrive.

Notice that despite being hack proof, the PS3 has been able to encourage a community of gamers who actively do their research on good games and trade them off once they are done with it. Thus, there will always be a source for affordable legit games.

I’m sure that a breakthrough is somewhere on the horizon and the sun has yet to set for the homebrew community. And, with no announcement of an upgraded PSP in the works, never say never.

I would love to hear your thoughts in comments or on Facebook!

Contact the author of this post, Gerald Chan, at geraldchan@qisahn.com

Totally fake guys, don’t freak!

Question is, will you be getting Grand Theft Auto or Spiderman?

Pretty thorough Photoshop skills, at least the title font matches.

Contact the author of this post, Gerald Chan, at geraldchan@qisahn.com

So, why not get your opinions heard? The blog enjoys a good number of unique pageviews a day (500-ish to be exact!)

Lets your praises, rants, gripes & shoutouts be heard! Email me and I would be happy to publish it for you =)

Need some inspiration on what to write about? Check the “Write for us!” tab out!

You can find it on the right menu. Pardon the screenshot.

I can’t wait to hear from you! Your efforts won’t be in vain, I have small incentives in the works!

Email me!

This infographic give a good insight into how Monster (the company) tries to ‘add value’ to their product to coerce the consumer into making a bad purchase decision.

Bottom line: All HDMI cables give the same picture quality, price could differ due to brand and quality in construction of the cable, picture quality does not suffer!

Hit the jump to check out the infographic.

[Source]

Contact the author of this post Gerald Chan at geraldchan@qisahn.com

PS3 Slim users, no worry you won’t be missing out on anything as your console never had the ability to install alternative OS-es.

Why no more Linux you might ask? Piracy of course! Since Geohot hacked the PS3 (an older firmware version) back in January sent the less morally inclined in a frenzy. I guess big steps have been made since then and thus Sony is now putting their feet down to stamp out any possible breakthroughs.

So if you decide to be a rebel and choose not to upgrade you can do so but in turn you would be very much be subjecting yourself to forgoing all games in the future.

• Ability to sign in to PlayStation Network and use network features that require signing in to PlayStation Network, such as online features of PS3 games and chat
• Playback of PS3 software titles or Blu-ray Disc videos that require PS3 system software version 3.21 or later
• Playback of copyright-protected videos that are stored on a media server (when DTCP-IP is enabled under Settings)
• Use of new features and improvements that are available on PS3 system software 3.21 or later

I guess at least Sony did many a favour by announcing their intentions unlike what Nintendo did with 4.2

More news to follow this announcement in the coming days I reckon.

*Hacker Update* Geohot says “Don’t update. I will release a CFW.”

[Source] [Source]

Contact the author of this post Gerald Chan at geraldchan@qisahn.com

Formats Supported:

PMP Format V2( *.pmp ):

• Video:
  AVC, main profile, level 2.1, <=480*272
  MPEG-4 Part2, <=480*272
• Audio:
  MP3
  AAC

MP4 Format( *.mp4 ):

• Video:
  AVC, baseline profile, level 1.3, <=480*272
  AVC, main profile, level 2.1 or 3.0, <=720*480
  MPEG-4 Part2, <=480*272
• Audio:
  AAC

MKV Format( *.mkv ):

• Video:
  AVC, baseline profile, level 1.3, <=480*272
  AVC, main profile, level 2.1 or 3.0, <=720*480
• Audio:
  AAC

FLV1 Format( *.flv ):

• Video:
  AVC, baseline profile, level 1.3, <=480*272
  AVC, main profile, level 2.1 or 3.0, <=720*480
  Sorenson H.263, <=480*272
• Audio:
  AAC
  MP3

One of the few Media Players with full control!

Here’s a personal story: There I was lugging my PS3 to my room thinking how awesome it would be to game in the privacy of my own domain. Once everything was plugged in, PS3 to monitor using a HDMI to DVI cable of course, I realized that I only had video and no audio!

It’s been awhile since I’ve used speakers with my PC. So naturally, I went with the headphone route but I reckon that using speakers would be far easier affair in terms of set-up.

There a few things that you would need to be able to connect your headphones successfully to your PS3.

Click to read on more!

Firstly, the supplied composite cables that came with your PS3.

Next you would need 2 adapters. Essentially you would need something that is 2 X Female (for the red and white inputs) to a 1 X Female (for the audio jack).

I got the above from Sim Lim Tower from a ground floor hardware store for a total of $7.

Assume this plug is your headphone jack.

Combine all of them together, and voila! You can now receive audio!

Once that is done, power up your PS3. You would need to now adjust your audio settings as it should be currently set to HDMI for output.

Navigate to “Settings”

Select “Sound Settings”

Select “Audio Output Settings”

Select “Audio Input Connector / SCART / AV MULTI”

Fin!

My headphones are Sennheiser HD-555 and the sound is absolutely amazing.

I hope this guide served you well, any suggestions for the next guide?

Contact the author of this post Gerald Chan at geraldchan@qisahn.com

I’m betting this would go viral very soon.

Anyone interested how to learn to fold one?

Show me how did yours’ turn out! Post on our Facebook Fan Page!

Contact the author of this post Gerald Chan at geraldchan@qisahn.com

In case anyone was wondering why I took so long to post this up, I did have to take the issue into greater consideration with regards to how sensitive this piece of news could be us as a company.

Let us emphasize once again that we do not support piracy and nor does the gentleman who has successfully hacked the PS3.

So, the PS3 has been hacked, so what now? I am pretty sure that many in the hacker community would be already rubbing their hands in glee as once a homebrew environment is created, programs can be easily be written to unlock DVD region codes or even offer true backward compatibility. Pirates rejoice! It could even mean pirated games for the PS3 in the near future.

Just like how the PSP enjoys update after update to keep out piracy (not add new features!), efforts have been more or less futile as many custom firmware applications are able to play the latest games. Score one for the hackers.

However, the game isn’t the same as it was in the past. Many games come with the form with connectivity to the Internet. Unless you are a serious gamer and just one that enjoys local multiplayer (think the Wii), you can bet that Sony would be more than willing to unleash their right to kill any system that they suspect has undergone illegal modifications the same way Microsoft did.

I’ve explained to many a customer that the cost of Blu Rays and their burners would not be cheap. But this has just hit me. Many games are multiplatform, and if most games can be squeeze into a single DVD for the Xbox 360 this means that pirated games on DVD format may very well exist. Not every gamer/ developer has that much time and resources to squeeze so much data to fill a Blu Ray. Even if they did, by the time they take advantage of the space offered, the price of the tech may have already fallen to more-than-affordable prices.

Bottom line is that piracy on the PS3 appears to be more or less inevitable. But with much emphasis on the social, multiplayer gamer & downloadable content, how much are you willing to trade enjoyment for the dollar? I suspect many do not care.

On the Playstation 3 [Source]

Contact the author of this post, Gerald Chan, at geraldchan@qisahn.com. Follow his tweets @changerald