QuickJump QuickPeek 15: Of Dark AleX’s last hurrah(s), the PS3 40GB confirmation, and Bungie’s goodbye to Microsoft
(Editor’s Note: It’s a fresh issue of QuickPeek for a fresh new month. We’ve finally hit the big “One-Five” edition for our weekly updates, and if some of you’ve noticed, QuickPeek posts seem to get longer and bulkier with the updates! As always, we’d like to give everyone a resounding “Thanks!” for all the fun and the never ending support. This weekly update of updates is all for you!)
The 15th issue of QuickJump QuickPeek sees the start of a new month. We’ve got a couple of weeks ahead of us before Halloween finally hits, and even as early as now, there’s been some hair-raising news that could leave some of you pale and ghastly (not to mention some toothache from all the sweet stuff going on around the gaming industry as well).
The previous edition of QuickPeek had its own fair share of enormous news – including, of course, the release of Halo 3. Today, we’ve got some weekly updates that have been specially carved right out of last week’s pumpkin. It’s big news on top of big news, with some bewitching brew being concocted from the cauldron of the homebrew community on the side.
This has got to be our biggest, meatiest, and most jam-packed issue yet, so you better tighten your bootstraps. You’re in for one heck of a ride.
Check out the rest of this 15th issue right behind the Full Article link below!
Originally posted on October 6, 2007 at 2:20 PM.
(Editor’s Note: It’s a fresh issue of QuickPeek for a fresh new month. We’ve finally hit the big “One-Five” edition for our weekly updates, and if some of you’ve noticed, QuickPeek posts seem to get longer and bulkier with the updates! As always, we’d like to give everyone a resounding “Thanks!” for all the fun and the never ending support. This weekly update of updates is all for you!)
The 15th issue of QuickJump QuickPeek sees the start of a new month. We’ve got a couple of weeks ahead of us before Halloween finally hits, and even as early as now, there’s been some hair-raising news that could leave some of you pale and ghastly (not to mention some toothache from all the sweet stuff going on around the gaming industry as well).
The previous edition of QuickPeek had its own fair share of enormous news – including, of course, the release of Halo 3. Today, we’ve got some weekly updates that have been specially carved right out of last week’s pumpkin. It’s big news on top of big news, with some bewitching brew being concocted from the cauldron of the homebrew community on the side.
This has got to be our biggest, meatiest, and most jam-packed issue yet, so you better tighten your bootstraps. You’re in for one heck of a ride.
PSP: DAX brings some sexy back
Despite Dark AleX revealing himself the other week that he’s back in the scene as the leader of Team M33, we’ve yet to say good bye to him again. It’s a quick hello-goodbye, and this week gives us the last releases before he finally retires. At least, that’s what he said.
The first roll out comes in the form of the PSP Fat 1.50 Kernel Add-on for 3.71 M33. This is what he promised to be his last project. While everyone is rejoicing for this release, a rather bitter after taste has settled among some members of the homebrew community. One simple question is whispered among the crowd: does this mean Dark AleX is quitting?
As for the homebrew itself, do note that it is only for the PSP Fat. DAX notes that this will be rejected by the PSP Slim because the 1.50 kernel simply won’t work on it.
Even though a lot of commenters have already given their thanks and goodbyes to DAX, we saw him pop up again a few days later to release updated versions of his last two projects: the CFW 3.71 M33-2 and 1.50 Kernel Add-on v2. You can probably that he’s just trying to tie up some loose ends. Maybe he just wants to leave the homebrew community without leaving any loophole or pressure point that could kick him in the arse in the future.
Talk about dedication and commitment!
Link: Dark AleX’s PSP Fat 1.50 kernel addon for 3.71 M33
Link: Dark AleX releases CFW 3.71 M33-2, 1.50 Kernel Add-on v2
As if he still couldn’t let go, Dark AleX came back yet again for yet another update of a previous homebrew: the Despertar del Cementerio universal unbricker. Like the previous version, this still works on both the PSP Fat and PSP Slim. According to Dark AleX, this new update is mainly to support the PSP Slim’s screen in the mixed 1.50/3.40 kernel used during recovery. This is also a pretty big step towards 1.50 kernel support in the PSP Slim since the main problem – the screen – is now fixed.
Link: Dark AleX’s Despertar del Cementerio v3 – PSP Slim screen support, 3.71 M33-2 installation
StrmnNrmn is also back. He just confirmed that Daedalus for the PSP Slim will eventually happen in the future. But before anything, there’s a bit of a caveat here though: StrmnNrmn explains that it won’t necessarily give faster emulation speeds. What can happen though is that Daedalus could benefit from higher texture cache and ROM cache. He concludes though that “it’s unlikely to offer much of an improvement over the PSP-1000s.”
Aside from this, he also doesn’t have PSP Slim himself, which means that he can’t directly test his work on the Slim’s firmware. He does say that he’s planning to support 3.xx firmware – and that other people are welcome to compile the Daedalus source for 3.xx. But until he can do so himself, other people’s releases would have to be called unofficial.
Link: StrmnNrmn confirms future Daedalus on PSP Slim
Homebrew legend NJ has dropped by for a quick hello too. The coder has released a whole slew of updates for his Capcom Play System emulators and other projects. Not just one of them, not just two. But all. And the biggest update right now for CPS2PSP, CPS1PSP, MVSPSP, and NCDZPSP is that they all finally support Adhoc connection. Each of the homebrew emulators have been released with compatible versions for PSP Phat and PSP Slim. Choose your own poison, kids! *wink*
Link: CPS1PSP/ CPS2PSP/ MVSPSP/ NCDZPSP v2.2.1a emulators – now with Adhoc support
Developer StoneCut also dropped in to announce the release of iR Shell’s latest release. The biggest feature of iR Shell v3.7 is that it now supports Team M33’s 3.71 CFW on the PSP Phat. Also note that the PSX 2 Player Adhoc that was previously demoed in a video isn’t part of this release just yet. StoneCut and AhMan explain that it was still in the Alpha phase of development, hence was still unstable. All files that you might need for iR Shell are included in the link below.
Link: iR Shell v3.7
So is Dark AleX really leaving or can we expect more releases in the future that allow him to “tie up loose ends?” We don’t want to say anything lest we jinx it; we don’t want to expect. But for all intents and purposes, we take our hats off to the homebrew coder and bid him a farewell (for now?). A graceful exit to you, Dark AleX, and more power.
– QJ.NET’s PSP Team
PlayStation 3: Drama over the PS3 40GB SKU, from rumor to confirmation
The much talked-about 40GB unit had a slew of sources claiming that it was more or less confirmed. Throughout the week, we’ve seen so much evidence about it that everyone was just waiting for it to happen. But before that, let’s hear some gaming-related updates first.
A couple of scans from the Official PlayStation Magazine features a long and meaty preview of Killzone 2‘s third stage. While impressions of what the author had to say about the game was all well and good (got us drooling, that’s for sure), we spotted an interesting comment made by the producer during an interview published on the last page.
It turns out that we could be seeing interconnectivity happening between Killzone 2 and PlayStation Home. When asked about their plans for the multiplayer feature in Killzone 2, Steven Ter Heide replied:
…there’s a lot of interesting things we’re going to be able to do. But we can’t talk about it yet. Home is also very interesting. There’s a lot of opportunity there, and it’s all part of our multiplayer strategy.
Link: Killzone 2 producer: PlayStation Home part of our multiplayer strategy
As for the drama over the PS3 40GB unit, we saw the FCC exhibits list clocking a certain PlayStation 3 product with a model number of CECHG01. But following this up even more was a UPC number spotted on a Best Buy document. Upon checking the UPC database itself, we found that there is indeed a product listing for UPC # 711719800606 (you can even search for it yourself if you want) and it’s for a “SONY PLAYSTATION 3 40GB” as indicated in the product’s description, manufactured by “SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA”.
A few hours later, we heard of Play UK’s evidence of a PS3 40GB unit in their lists. But what makes this rumor (has-been rumor, as you’ll soon find out) even more interesting is that the new PS3 SKU won’t be supporting backwards compatibility with PS2 games. Though an interesting detail about the console having only two USB ports was there, what really caught our attention was this footnote (bold font and italics replicated from product page):
Please Note! 40GB PS3 is not backward compatible with PS2 games.
This information is based on specifications supplied by manufacturers and should be used for guidance only.
As the note in the online retail store suggests, it seems as if they have the specifications already. Which means… it wsa only a matter of time before official confirmation (or debunking) would happen.
Link: Existence of PS3 40GB unit confirmed by UPC code
Link: PS3 40GB not backwards compatible with PS2 games?
Eventually, things finally started heating up. And before we knew it, a whole hoopla of announcements have been made. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has finally given official confirmation that the rumored 40GB PlayStation 3 SKU does indeed exist. What’s more, it’s launching in Europe next week.
As rumors have suggested, the new 40GB model of the PS3 won’t be compatible with PlayStation 2 titles. Also, the new SKU features two USB 2.0 ports – as opposed to other models’ four ports – and will no longer have multi memory card ports. The 40GB PS3 is to be made available on October 10 for 399 Euros across all SCEE territories.
With this announcement comes an explanation from Sony UK boss Ray Maguire about the decision to ditch the PS3’s backwards compatibility feature. Apparently, it’s to make the production of the 40GB units cheaper. Leaving out the compatibility feature will allow them to save money for other future investments. Maguire’s full statement reads:
As we come to our first Christmas with the PlayStation 3 there’s going to be about 65 games in the marketplace, so we feel now that there’s sufficient choice in the marketplace and that we’re still better off using that money that we’d put into backwards compatibility in either investing in new games or using that money to help support bringing the price down so that people can get into the franchise.
But that’s not the end of it. While the much rumored 40-gees finally got confirmation, SCEE also announced of a price cut for the existing 60GB PS3 Starter Pack. It’s now going down to 499 Euros and will include an additional SIXAXIS controller and two first-party titles.
Fortunately these units will still have backwards compatibility with PS2 games, so that’s an added bonus. The price cut itself will be in effect until stocks last, so you guys thinking of getting one should act fast.
Link: 40GB PS3 launches in Europe on October 10
Link: Sony UK boss explains 40GB PS3’s lack of backwards compatibility
Link: SCEE drops 60GB PS3 Starter Pack price to 499 Euros
Here’s a little treat though. A German website discovered a new PlayStation logo that was recently registered by Sony. The icon sports the symbols of the four control buttons, the square, triangle, circle and the X buttons over a circle. The question is, what will this logo/icon be used for? It may be used for the new DualShock 3, but that’s only part of our speculation.
Link: New PlayStation logo registered by Sony
Probably the burning question in your minds right now is if this will ever hit the US. As of writing, there’s been no confirmation nor denial from the North America arm of Sony. Keep it right here as things could look up come next week!
– QJ.NET’s PlayStation 3 Team
Xbox 360: The week after Halo 3
Does anyone seriously believe that, just because Halo 3‘s already been released, we won’t be hearing about it and it’d be nothing but “old news”? C’mon. That’s hardly the case. Far from it.
First things first: Master Chief is definitely raking in the dough. His first day on shelves was already astounding, and now, current sales figures for Halo 3 have reached the US$ 300 million mark for its first week. No wonder Master Chief loves wearing green on his Mjolnir armor – it’s the color of money.
Bill Gates seems to be more than pleased by this. And we imagine that the sales figures doesn’t surprise most of you guys who’ve already picked up a copy of the game – and this is despite all the problems regarding scratched discs and games not loading at all.
On top of this, Japan (the ever-so-Nintendo-loving bunch) seems to like Halo 3 as well. Considering that the Xbox 360 hasn’t sold nearly as much as the PS3 or Wii in Japan, it’s a huge achievement for Master Chief to land on top of Media Create’s charts. For the week ending September 30, it’s sold about 60,000 units, followed by Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Toki and Crisis Core in second and third, respectively.
Link: Halo 3: First week sales now total US$ 300 million
Link: Japan: Halo 3 tops the charts
Also one of the biggest news that cropped up this week was when a Halo 3 limited editition Xbox 360 console hit the dust and RRoD’ed. Despite Microsoft’s assurances that the new 65nm CPU/GPU (the Falcon chipset) would reduce cases of the Red Ring of Death, the image that surfaced this week shows evidence contrary to this statement.
It seems as if the cause of the problem was the overheating of the GPU. Some sources even speculated that not all of the limited edition consoles had the Falcon chipset. The fact of the matter is though that 360 consoles are still plagued by a host of hardware problems.
Link: Red ring sighted on Halo 3 limited Xbox 360 consoles
Bungie Studios and Microsoft had a bit of falling out. We first heard about it as a rumor from a certain tipster to 8bitjoystick. Apparently, Bungie Studio wants out of Microsoft’s publishing mantle for several reasons. The biggest being that they’re not all too happy with the way the Big MS is doing business. It was also stated that there could be a possibility of Bungie still developing the next games in the Halo franchise.
The Bungie-Microsoft drama was later confirmed by a press release from Microsoft themselves. They announced that Bungie Studios will be embarking on a path to become an independent company. This isn’t the last bit though. Microsoft will still retain an equity interest in the development studio. Together, they’ll also still continue their publishing agreement for the Halo franchise plus other future projects.
Link: Bungie and Microsoft separating? Not so fast says MS
Link: Bungie-Microsoft split now official
A little off topic and a bit of a novelty news item though… Something to lighten up the mood. We’re sure a lot of things have kept you busy in Halo 3 since the first time you put it in your disc tray. But how are you doing with your Achievements? Have you guys found all of the skulls yet? In case you haven’t, you might want to know that collecting all of them unlocks Master Chief’s Hayabusa Armor.
If it weren’t obvious enough, it’s named after and is inspired by Ryu Hayabusa of the Ninja Gaiden series. It’s a bit of a wink to the audience who’ve been geeks enough (myself included) to have spotted the Easter eggs distributed between Bungie Studios and Team Ninja. Consider this Hayabusa Armor a shining example of how developers give a friendly “Hello!” to other developers.
Link: Master Chief’s halloween costume: the Ryu Hayabusa armor
Wonder what next week brings? Probably more sales for Halo 3. More Easter eggs found. Oh and all of you 360 owners reading this might want to scroll down a bit to the General Gaming section. We’ve got a little something for you guys.
– QJ.NET’s Xbox 360 Team
Nintendo Wii: New stuff, free stuff, and shareable stuff
Lots of good news and updates for the white-and-blue happy campers. We’ve got a mixed bunch of surprising rumors and well-received confirmations. Let’s start with the speculation first though.
As if following suit of Sony and their newly announced 40GB PS3 SKU, Nintendo seems to have something up their sleeve: a new SKU for the Wii. From what we’re able to gather, it seems to be a new bundle of sorts. The “New Pack” reportedly has the UPC (Universal Product Code) number 045496880088, which was traced as belonging to Nintendo. The rumored price for this item will be US$ 290.97.
Link: Nintendo to manufacture new Wii SKU?
A new title from Nintendo is also making its rounds in the rumor mill. Supposedly, they’re going to be coming out with a new snowboard title that’ll be utilizing the Wii Balance Board. Aside from Wii Fit being the “main protagonist” for the Balance Board, this snowboard title could also do for the Balance Board what Link’s Crossbow Training is doing for the Wii Zapper.
The Wii console’s only dedicated snowboard title at the moment is Electronic Arts’ SSX Blur. At the very least, the Nintendo employee who made the slip of the title might just have been referring to one of Wii Fit‘s sports mini-games. Or if you’re being real optimistic, we could be looking at a possible revival of Nintendo’s celebrated 1080 sports games.
Link: Rumor: Nintendo developing new snowboard title for Wii Balance board?
From the rumored to the more concrete, Nintendo’s just announced the release of anti-slip Wii Remote Jackets. They’re to be bundled free with the next batch of Wii consoles and retailed Wii remotes.
The jackets themselves are made of silicon; it provides the gamer no just the cushioning, but the anti-slip factor as well. The first batch of the jackets are to come out October 15. Those who already have Wii consoles can still get these jackets for free by calling the Ninty hotline.
Since this is all for free, you could expect some money being dished out and all. Japan’s Asahi newspaper just gave a ballpark figure of what it’ll cost Nintendo: US$ 18 million. Not surprising, considering they’re going to be distributing around 20 million of these silicon jackets across Japan, Europe, and North America.
Link: Nintendo to give away free Wii Remote Jackets
Link: New Wiimote jackets to cost Nintendo US$ 18 million
We’ve got two big updates for those anticipating Super Smash Bros. Brawl. First up is the confirmation of the newest contender in the Smash arena. Following hot in the heels of Ness, it’s Lucas from the Earthbound series finally showing up as part of the roster of playable characters.
Actually, Lucas was supposed to have been part of Melee on the GameCube, but due to the delay of MOTHER 3, his debut in Smash was put delayed as well. But now he’s here, and he’s going to be wreaking havoc with his wide array of psychic abilities.
With that said, another Brawl matter you guys might be pleasantly surprised to hear is the confirmation that the Adventure Mode will allow co-op play. Though it was officially announced to be single-player only, it’s possible to have two players working together in the Adventure Mode after all.
So how does it work? The first player will be the acting as the main protagonist in the adventure, while the second player gets to tag along. They’ve both got a stock of lives per stage, and when a character dies, they automatically switch to the next available member in their current roster.
Link: Here comes a new challenger: Lucas joins Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Link: Super Smash Bros. Brawl update: Adventure Mode co-op action
It’s a new month ahead for everyone, and the Nintendo fans are stepping up. If you happen to also own a DS, then we’re sure you know what’s up on that side of town. If you don’t know about it, then just scroll down a tad bit to find out under the General Gaming section. See ya guys next week!
– QJ.NET’s Nintendo Wii Team
General Gaming: Phantom DS titles finally come out of the fog
Lots of interesting news for all kinds of gamers out there. Some of you guys might want to be aware of these little tidbits that have happened this week.
First up, one of the most-anticipated (and much delayed) games this season finally hits retail. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass sees Link’s next adventure following the events of Wind Waker. Released October 2, the game utilizes DS touch screen controls like we’ve never seen before. If you haven’t been keeping tabs on this title, you’re missing out.
Link: On Shelves This Week: October 1 to October 7, 2007
Meanwhile, yet another phantom title for the DS that has much eluded many a gamer surfaced this week. IGN Editor Matt Casamassina finally revealed the Halo DS “tech demo” that they got to try out. Man it looks awesome. Too bad it’s never going to see the light of day. Just to make things clear: it was never officially released, and it will never be officially released.
Matt Casamassina says that big names were involved in developing this kick-ass demo (which he previously mentioned played a lot like Metroid Prime: Hunters). The graphics are actually very good for a DS game, and really – to quote Matt – “prove that Halo DS wasn’t a garage project by a two-man team.” You can check it all out in our post via the link below.
Link: Halo DS screens, videos finally revealed
Science and Technology: Mylo going mile high for PSP features
It’s high time we renamed this section formally to “Science and Tehnology” – whereas before we would simply categorized it under “Honorable Mention”. It’s because items that somehow find themselves here aren’t deserving of a simple honorable mention when they in fact are pretty big news. Some of you guys might be visiting just the site for gaming news, but it wouldn’t hurt to occasionally hear from the outside world as well. *wink wink*
The QJ.NET gadgeteers have sniffed out the new Sony Mylo care of some sources close to the company. The information, however, is unconfirmed, but as rumors go – if this turns out to be true – it’s going to be big, big, BIG. It just could be that the second-generation Sony mylo would have intergration with PSP software.
How far the integration will go, only time will tell. Will it be able to run PSP game or will it be limited to PSP firmware and applications? But another interesting tidbit is that Sony is angling to bag Sprint as a carrier for the new mylo.
Link: New Sony mylo to have PSP software integration?
Link: Rumor: PSP – Sony Mylo image surfaces
In other news, the format wars is raging ever so intense now in Europe. Just recently, the Blu-ray Disc Association announced that their disc format’s sales figures has surpassed HD-DVD title by a 4-to-1 ratio. Which means that for every HD-DVD movie sold, four other Blu-ray titles are purchased.
Interestingly, other independent movie studios have decided to join the Blu-ray bandwagon. For example, Germany’s Universum Film and UK’s EiV have decided to release Blu-ray titles for the coming holidays. Meanwhile, even Studio Canal from France, who we previously heard to be supporting the HD-DVD format over Blu-ray, will now also be cashing in for the Blu-ray party this Christmas.
Link: Blu-ray sweeps Europe, winning 4-to-1 against HD-DVD
But who’s to say that the format wars are indeed between Blu-ray and HD-DVD? That seems to be the common notion, but see, there’s still something else that we all have to think about. Something that some of us seem to have overlooked despite all the barrage of attacks being thrown from side to side… Which leads us to our comment of the week…
Comment of the Week: When the format wars need reformatting
Nice segue from that format wars article, huh? This week’s winner/winners involve a two-part comment that talks of the unseen side of the format wars. It was started by none other than QJ regular DVSDevise and got a reply from Thinker.
Originally posted on October 6, 2007 at 2:20 PM.
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