Recovery Flasher v1.30 (CoolGameTips.com)

Recovery Flasher v1.30

Recovery Flasher v1.30 - Image 1

Developer Hellcat has tipped us at the QJ Forums on the latest version of his Recovery Flasher for the PlayStation Portable. This one ups the count to version 1.30.

The Recovery Flasher essentially recovers semi-bricks, and up/downgrades your CFW. It can also flash ANY CFW directly to 3.71-M33 or 4.01-M33, all without Pandora.

In a nutshell, this basically does the following:

  • Flashes a fresh M33 CFW (3.71, 4.01) for recovering semi-bricks or to up-/downgrade CFW
  • does not use Pandora, runns from the recovery menu or the XMB
  • does not use (as in launch) the original Sony Updater (only extracts all required files from the original .PBP)
  • runns fine on CFWs lower than 3.52-M33-3 - handy for upgrading older FWs w/o the “need to go 3.52, then 3.52-3, then higher” odyssey :-)
  • runns fine from TimeMachine (3.40-OE on Fat and 3.60-M33 on Slim)
  • can backup the FW flash and restore selected parts (XMB theme, settings, PSN activation)

But as that is only the “nutshell”, then there obviously is a long version of all that is there to be explained, and you may find it at the file’s readme. That’s why it’s imperative that you guys check it out. There’s a lot of important things to be learned, especially if you’re a newcomer to the homebrew community.

But the most important thing of all is to have fun. So you go do that now, ayt?

Thanks for the tip, Hellcat!

Download: Recovery Flasher v1.30
Discuss: QJ.NET’s PSP Development Forums


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CoolGameTips.com - EA, Activision Blizzard take up 75 percent of console releases in Q3

EA, Activision Blizzard take up 75 percent of console releases in Q3
Logo of Activision Blizzard - Image 1We all know the notorious reputation that Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts both have regarding multi-platform releases, but just how far does the marketing reach of both publishers stretch? According to a report from Screen Digest, both companies will collectively publish 40 percent by the holidays and as much as 75 percent of console releases in the western region from July to September.

As expected, EA is pegged as the busiest publisher by the third quarter of the year, with its usual range of annual sports games. These include multiple Madden and Tiger Woods SKUs, with around 21 to be released around that time.

Activision Blizzard isn’t far behind either, with 19 SKU releases during the period. Combined, both companies will generate around 40 percent during the Q4 (October to December) and 75 percent by the Q3 (July to September) for video game title releases on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii.

Screen Digest’s Ed Barton noted that while most other publishers concentrate on ramping up their releases by the Christmas holidays, EA and Activision Blizzard appear to focus their attention equally for both the third and fourth quarter periods of the year.

The report also states that Nintendo’s Wii will have the largest selection of titles among all the other consoles by the latter half of the year.


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Go!Cam and Skype/Go!Messenger set up (CoolGameTips.com) options

Go!Cam and Skype/Go!Messenger set up options

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Leipzig: Codemasters shows off screenshots of upcoming games (CoolGameTips.com)

Leipzig: Codemasters shows off screenshots of upcoming games
Over at the ongoing Leipzig Games Convention, Codemasters has released screenshots for several of their upcoming games, including Overlord: Dark Legend, which they revealed is being developed exclusively for the Wii. If you’re looking for a hardcore (albeit comedic) game for the Wii, you might want to look forward to that one.

Along with Overlord: Dark Legend, they also released screenshots for Overlord: Minions for the Nintendo DS. This game will star the minions from the original Overlord game back in 2007. There are also screenshots for Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising, an upcoming shooter, and Rise of the Argonauts, an RPG that will send you on a quest for the legendary Golden Fleece.


Operation Flashpoint 2 (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

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Overlord Dark Legend (Wii)

Overlord: Dark Legend - Image 1Overlord: Dark Legend - Image 2Overlord: Dark Legend - Image 3

Overlord Minions (Nintendo DS)

Overlord Minions - Image 1Overlord Minions - Image 2Overlord Minions - Image 3Overlord Minions - Image 4

Rise of the Argonauts (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Rise of the Argonauts - Image 1Rise of the Argonauts - Image 2Rise of the Argonauts - Image 3
Rise of the Argonauts - Image 4Rise of the Argonauts - Image 5Rise of the Argonauts - Image 6


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CoolGameTips.com - Harry Potter videogame being “evaluated” due to movie delay

Harry Potter videogame being “evaluated” due to movie delay
Ron - Image 1 How much grief must a muggle bear? Just days after news hit that Warner Brothers was pushing the release of the sixth movie in the septology into 2009 comes this quote from an Electronic Arts spokesman regarding the fate of the videogame adaptation:

We are making a great game that Harry Potter fans will really enjoy we are evaluating the impact of the movie date change,

The game isn’t officially delayed yet. It’s not unheard of for a tie-in to be released some time after the movie itself hits, but before? Unlikely. It’s probably a safe bet that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (the game) will also be pushed back to launch alongside the movie.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, more time in the oven is generally good for the development of a videogame. Hopefully Half Blood Prince will be the better for it, the Potter games have always played it safe design wise and as a result ended up kind of middling. Order of the Phoenix was a step in the right direction, with its immersive, fully rendered and explorable Hogwarts Castle, fingers crossed that the dev team sees this as an opportunity to get even more ambitious.

Yes, I totally made up the word “septology”.

disapparates


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EA and Warner Bros announce Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince


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Music industry on game devs fighting illegal file-sharers: you’re on your own (CoolGameTips.com)

Music industry on game devs fighting illegal file-sharers: you’re on your own
YOU could be in the top 500 pirates! - Image 1Earlier this morning, news came out that five British game companies are taking 25,000 pirates to court for illegally downloading their software from file-sharing services. The big five are Codemasters, Atari, Reality Pump, Topware and Techland.

The Times reports that they are seeking 3,000 (about US 5, 600) in payment, apart from demanding contact details from ISPs and preparing to take to court the first 500 of those who refuse to pay. That makes pirate # 501 very lucky, indeed.

Apparently, the legal action was incited by a landmark court-ruling that was held earlier this week, with a file-sharing gamer, Isabela Barwinska, being forced to pay 16,000 damages to Topware for downloading Dream Pinball from a file-sharing website.

Now, even before the day has finished, the music industry has given their own two cents on the issue - another victim of piracy - and surprise, surprise, they’re not backing the gaming industry on this one.

Matt Phillips, director of communications of the BPI (formerly known as the British Phonographic Industry), says “that working with ISPs to educate consumers is a more effective way of combating illegal downloading” instead of punishing those who file-share.

This issue of file-sharing has been growing in significance especially with the boom of the Internet industry. Unfortunately, there is still no sufficient jurisprudence that will streamline the rules and policies defining when an act of file-sharing is held illegal. Piracy, though now a generic concept, remains vague and evasive, and so it is fairly easy for any one to fall in the pitfalls of this title.

But since both industries of music and gaming are the most hurt in all this, and also the movie industry, it would probably help a lot of they take on a united stance on the matter. Unfortunately, with this obvious distancing move of the BPI, it looks like even the industries themselves are not exactly certain yet as to how to deal with the issue of file-sharing. How can we expect to finally kill of the alternate-industry that’s killing off the legit industries when they themselves are at a dissonance?

We’ll be updating you more on this matter, but in the meantime, make sure you’re not downloading any illegal files. You just might wake up one morning one of these days to find an invitation to court waiting for you in your mailbox.


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New Dissidia FF trailer: Onion Knight vs Cloud of Darkness battle gameplay (CoolGameTips.com)

New Dissidia FF trailer: Onion Knight vs Cloud of Darkness battle gameplay
Gino D. is a happy blogger today. Woot! A very happy blogger indeed. A new trailer for Dissida: Final Fantasy has been updated to Square Enix’s official website for the PSP game. The trailer actually comes from the DKS3713 event earlier this month, and since, chances are, you (like myself) weren’t able to see any footage from their closed theater, now’s the chance.

This gameplay trailer shows the Onion Knight battling it out with the Cloud of Darkness. What’s cool is that they actually retained the boss music (enhanced and digitally mastered now, of course) from the original Final Fantasy 3 release.

And get a load of that! There’s a part in the video that shows EX Mode in which the real-time battle system gets interrupted and reverts back to the original FF3 battle system, with the blue menu and all! Sweet. If any of you have played the original game (or its DS remake), you might also notice that the Cloud of Darkness keeps her original pose from her FF3 sprite. Nice touch.

You now have two options. You can go to the Dissidia website through the Via link below (click the “Movie” tab at the bottom, and then click the thumbnail image that appears)…. Or if you just can’t wait, just watch the embed right here!

(See! I told you it wasn’t a nipple!)


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Tecmo president resigns
Tecmo - Yoshimi Yasuda - Image 1Tecmo has been in pretty hot waters for the past couple of months now. Out of the pan, into the fire, ya?

The whole ordeal with Tomonobu Itagaki leaving Team Ninja wrought some other consequences for Tecmo. And now, Tecmo has announced that their current president, Yoshimi Yasuda, will be resigning.

Some of you may remember Yoshimi Yasuda. When Itagaki slapped a court case on Tecmo, he singled out Yasuda, saying the president had been committing unlawful acts against him - namely, not getting paid the full amount supposedly agreed upon after finishing Dead or Alive 4.

On top of that, there’s also been some grumbling from other Tecmo employees, saying that Yasuda has been implementing unfair business practices such as unpaid overtime hours, falsified contracts, etc.

According to Tecmo’s board of directors, Yasuda’s resignation - which was done for “personal reasons” - has now been accepted.

The new president will be the chairman of the Tecmo board of directors, Yasuharu Kakihara, and will be starting his new post on September 1.


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CoolGameTips.com - Leipzig: Kororinpa 2 found still raw for display

Leipzig: Kororinpa 2 found still raw for display
Kororinpa 2 - Image 1Hudson Soft’s original ball-rolling maze title Kororinpa launched last year around the same time as the Wii and proved to be fun enough to merit a sequel. While we haven’t heard much about Kororinpa 2, they did bring it with them to the ongoing Leipzig Games Convention this year.

However, it seems like Hudson rushed their way to the convention as the video display for the sequel posted at the company’s booth appeared to be… raw. Apparently, the camera just kept going through the maze that you needed to tilt around, and the ball kept reacting to surfaces incorrectly. It’ll stick to wood and bounce off the edge when you try to tilt the board to get the ball unstuck from the surface.

We know Hudson probably felt a bit pressured to present something at the convention, especially if it’s for a title that needs more airtime. But if the case will be that what will be shown won’t exactly entice people to watch out for it more, then it probably would have been best if they held off the presentation for later, when it’s more polished and.. well.. presentable.


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The Many Wii Wheel Prototypes

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Rumor: PSN Cards not coming to Gamestop until 2009 (CoolGameTips.com)

Rumor: PSN Cards not coming to Gamestop until 2009

GameStop memo on PSN Cards - Image 1

Tipster StormShatter wrote to us here at QJ tipping us about the PSN cards not coming to GameStop until 2009. He says he’s a GameStop employee, and even sent us a picture of the memo (click on the image above to enlarge, and take note of the clause enclosed in a red box) that was circulated in their office regarding this bit.

According to the email they received yesterday, GameStop will not be carrying PlayStation Network cards until next year because of a register software upgrade. Says StormShatter (verbatim):

…. one reason that nobody probably would’ve expected for that. Not sure how register software will have to do with selling these things, unless they’re activated in-store, as opposed to MS Points cards, where there is no activation involved. Hopefully other major retailers won’t follow GameStop’s example this holiday season.

Well that kinda sucks. I mean, a lot of people in North America have been waiting for the arrival of the PSN cards ever since. We’ll be following up on this bit of news, so keep your eyes peeled out for more updates.

Thanks, StormShatter!




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Peter Moore on fight against illegal file-sharers: I’m not a huge fan of trying to punish your consumer
Peter Moore of EA - Image 1Peter Moore has spoken out about the ongoing battle of the British developers against illegal file-sharers, and unfortunately for the big five, it’s not in their support as well.

Speaking to Eurogamer at the Leipzig Games Convention, the British head of EA Sports said,

I’m not a huge fan of trying to punish your consumer… Albeit these people have clearly stolen intellectual property, I think there are better ways of resolving this within our power as developers and publishers.

He does, however, agree that there should be a crackdown against piracy, but apparently, this is not his preferred method. While he did say there are other ways of dealing with the issue, he did not give a clear counter-proposal to what Atari, Topware Interactive, Reality Pump, Techland and Codemasters are doing, suing 25,000 people across UK for illegal file-sharing.

[Piracy] is absolutely wrong. It is stealing. But at the same time I think there are better solutions than chasing people for money. I’m not sure what they are, other than to build game experiences that make it more difficult for there to be any value in pirating games.

And commenting on the music industry’s stand on the matter (which is to also disagree and distance themselves with what the publishers and developers are doing), Moore said that it’s something that the gaming biz should have learned from them: you don’t win any friends by suing your customers.

But these statements, of course, are his own, and does not in any way reflect the position of the EA as a company. He says he doesn’t know how EA will react to these developments, although it is without a doubt that EA does not condone piracy and that they take the issue seriously. “… People deserve to get paid for the content they create, but as far as I’m aware, we have no plans, that I know of, to partner with Atari and Codemasters and chase down consumers.”

And so the chasm deepens.


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CoolGameTips.com - Leipzig: Kororinpa 2 found still raw for display

Leipzig: Kororinpa 2 found still raw for display
Kororinpa 2 - Image 1Hudson Soft’s original ball-rolling maze title Kororinpa launched last year around the same time as the Wii and proved to be fun enough to merit a sequel. While we haven’t heard much about Kororinpa 2, they did bring it with them to the ongoing Leipzig Games Convention this year.

However, it seems like Hudson rushed their way to the convention as the video display for the sequel posted at the company’s booth appeared to be… raw. Apparently, the camera just kept going through the maze that you needed to tilt around, and the ball kept reacting to surfaces incorrectly. It’ll stick to wood and bounce off the edge when you try to tilt the board to get the ball unstuck from the surface.

We know Hudson probably felt a bit pressured to present something at the convention, especially if it’s for a title that needs more airtime. But if the case will be that what will be shown won’t exactly entice people to watch out for it more, then it probably would have been best if they held off the presentation for later, when it’s more polished and.. well.. presentable.


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Batgirl playable in LEGO Batman: The Videogame
Batgirl in LEGO Batman - Image 1Who else will be playable in Warner Bros. Interactive’s oober multiplatformer Lego Batman: The Videogame (PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, DS, PC)? Why, Batgirl of course!

Okay, so she may not hold as much qualifications as, say the Penguin or Joker. She is, after all, but the daughter of Commissioner Gordon in costume. BUT. She does have access to all of the caped crusader’s gadgets.

How’d she get in his top secret closet? We don’t really know. What matters is she can borrow stuff from Batman, and that makes her more than just qualified in our books for her to be playable.

Now here’s hoping she can use the gadgets properly and not crash the bat mobile on the sidewalk as she attempts to parallel park.


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Postcards from Leipzig: LittleBigPlanet team
More Games Convention 2008 now, straight outta Leipzig. I just received this update from Pete Smith, Senior Producer of LittleBigPlanet. Day 1 We’ve arrived for the first day at The Leipzig Game Convention and I’ve been blown away by the PlayStation stand - even though I say so myself it’s the best thing here and considerably bigger […]

More Games Convention 2008 now, straight outta Leipzig. I just received this update from Pete Smith, Senior Producer of LittleBigPlanet.

leipzig postcard LBP

Day 1
We’ve arrived for the first day at The Leipzig Game Convention and I’ve been blown away by the PlayStation stand - even though I say so myself it’s the best thing here and considerably bigger than the other stands. Within the stand, the LittleBigPlanet area is buzzing - we’ve got 25 pods with the game on and they’ve been full all day long. We’ve had a crowd before we let the public in, so we’re expecting some queues. THERE IS a special 3 pod area set up for Danny, Jim and Craig (the designers from Media Molecule) to show off the Create mode from LittleBigPlanet. They’ve been doing an awesome job at showing just how crazy this part of the game is.

I’m sure some people saw the Sony press conference where I was demonstrating the game - I was interrupted by a famous comedian from Germany (although I’d not seen him before) and he did a good job at making my presentation more ‘entertaining’. Apparently he asked me my name and my response was ‘hello’ - perhaps I need to brush up on my basic German.

The main thing to report is that the game is very popular indeed! Whenever we do a demo, people start playing and creating they don’t seem to want to leave! Everywhere you look around the LittleBigPlanet area you’ll see people laughing as they’re playing, which for me, is the best thing ever.

LittleBigPlanet @ Leipzig

Day 2
Uh Oh! The public have arrived! It’s much more busy than yesterday, the guys from Media Molecule are working their socks off demoing constantly. There are over one hundred seats available to play the game from and every one is occupied - plus there’s a queue.

Once again, everyone is really enjoying themselves. The level we’ve chose to demo is the construction site from the Metropolis theme and it’s pretty tricky, people seem to be loving the challenge, and there is plenty of laughter as SackBoy gets it wrong on numerous occasions!

Danny, Jim and Craig are looking exhausted!!! I would be too after demoing non-stop for 2 days! They’re talking about getting an early night, which I can’t say is surprising, however I’m going to take a look around the rest of the show - some of the booth babes are demonstrating some really interesting games…

I saw the SackBoy on the side of the tower block last night - it looks ace! LittleBigPlanet is absolutely everywhere, our team in Germany have done an incredible job.

It was also good to see Rag Doll Kung Fu being demonstrated today! That was the original concept behind LittleBigPlanet believe it or not! Look for it on PSN soon!

LittleBigPlanet @ Leipzig LittleBigPlanet @ Leipzig

Thanks, Pete! Still more to come from Leipzig !


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