Edshugeo The GodMoor

A PSP explodes in some kid's pants.
Hmm.
Not good.
Guess where I keep my PSP?
Yep. Pants.
Gonna stop?
No.
Stupid?
Maybe.
If it happens to me, will I blog about it or mention it to anyone who hadn't seen it on the news?
Hell, no!
Still funny though, right?
Mm, hmm.

Too early to tell what the actual cause was. Should be noted that when laptops were exploding a year or two ago, the batteries were made by Sony.

People are gonna wanna know;
Were these 3rd party (after market) batteries or official Sony ones?
Original flavor or the newer, slightly more powerful batteries?
"Phat" (original) PSP, or PSP "Slim"? I saw the burnt model on the news and didn't think of it at the time, but I think it was the original.

Labels: DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER, funny-ass shit, PSP, video games

Cool! I was gonna buy it even at 30-ish. Since Loco Roco (which was brilliant) didn't do all that great (sales-wise), they're being more reasonable on the price, which is good. More kudos for Sony. Aside from GTA IV, Patapon is the only new game I'm looking forward to in '08 so far. I'm sure they'll be others, but right now, those are the two that stick out.



I'm still playing Orange Box on the 360, now on Half Life 2, Episode 2.
Team Fortress will have to wait 'til I finally upgrade my XBox Live membership as it can only be played as multiplayer.

Next purchase will probably be Blazing Angels 2. Tried the demos of 1&2 the other day as well as Ace Combat 6 and enjoyed BA2 the most out of the bunch. AC6 is cool too, but I'll wait for the price to come down a bit.



The XBox Live Demos are preferable to me to downloading whole games for sampling the worthiness of a potential purchase. I'm assuming the 360 is hackable to that purpose due to the presence of those games on newsgroups, but I've found no reason to do that since the machine does everything I need it to do. Except connect to my PC, but I'm still working on that.

This in contrast to the PSP, a different animal, sure. It had to be hacked to do some of the things I wanted. And yes, I "demo" games on it (like the Japanese version of Patapon), though not always from Sony who are only now beginning to make proper use of their online presence for downloadable content. Whether or not they'll host as many demos as Microsoft does right now remains to be seen.



Beats is a game available from The Playstation Store for five bucks. So far, I'm not that impressed, but for $5, I don't feel ripped off. It works with M33 custom firmware, though for version 3.80 you need one of the later revisions (it's up to M33-5 as of this writing).

Labels: downloads, good deal, online retailers, PSP, video games, XBox 360, youtube

Pretty much what I've been doing for a while. This is like my theme song. Comes from a relatively recent album by Sparks, called Hello Young Lovers, which is badass in a Bohemian Rhapsody meets Meatloaf, though not really kinda way. I thought those guys were just a new wave group from the eighties, but there's way more to them than that. I vaguely recall an old Saturday Night Live appearance, where I thought the keyboardist was named Roland because of the prominent logo on the instrument. I also recall they had the movie rights to Mai, The Psychic Girl, and they were gonna make it a musical directed by Tsui Hark. The idea frightened me at the time, but now I wish it got made. Wonder if they went ahead and wrote any songs for it.

I'm still digging Bad Brains' Build A Nation. I used to like the idea of Bad Brains more than I did their records. Now they've made a album worthy of a Punk/Reggae band, though now it's more heavy rock, than punk, in my opinion.

Video Games.

Played through Me And My Katamari on the PSP. The controls are painful compared to We Love Katamari on the PS2, but I love the 8 bit version you get at the end. Sorry if that's a spoiler. Also love the theme, Katamari on the Funk. I doubt I'll get the 360 version (Beautiful Katamari) unless it's cheap and I have nothing better to do, which, I guess, is inevitable. Starting Killzone Liberation on the PSP. Demo was cool so I picked this up a week or two ago (I know it's been out for a while).

Still have to finish We Love Katamari on the PS2. I want to be done with all my games on the PS2 and then say goodbye to them. There's a bunch. I'm bad at finishing games, but lately I'm a bit more into it. Having the XBox 360, it would be easy to move on, but I can't. I won't. Grand Theft Auto 3 was a birthday present dammit! So was Dynasty Warriors 2, I think. And I just bought two or three PS2 games like 6 or 7 weeks ago (Shadow Of The Collossus, Socom II - Socom was used - 5 bucks, and one other?) in addition to a few other decent titles just sitting around like War Of The Monsters. So I will finish them and maybe pass them on to friends.

Finished BioShock and Halo 3 on the XBox 360. Bioshock is the better of the two games, though I've yet to try out the online multiplayer function of XBox Live. I actually let my free one month gold membership lapse without trying it out. Wanted to be a better player first. I can barely shoot straight even at this point, but I'm gonna join up next week or so.

I also play various demos, or Burnout Revenge if I want a quick gaming session. I just bought The Orange Box, primarily for Portal, but it includes Half Life 2 and Team Fortress. Looks like fun. Haven't opened it yet.

Movies.

Transformers was fun, but got annoying during the second hour (I think) with the comedy bit with them searching for glasses while the robots try to hide from the parents and the big bad government goons showing up. Turned into E.T. for a little bit. I was never a fan of the cartoon, though the animated Transformers: The Movie was pretty decent.

Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang was awesome, though. Picked it up at the supermarket a while back for six or seven bucks and finally checked it out. Funny as a muh-fug. Really looking forward to Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man.

Also went to see Jodie Foster's Death Wish movie, The Brave One. I liked it. Not great, but good enough. Really looking forward to seeing Terrence Howard in some kinda armor in Iron Man or maybe it's sequel.

TV?

Finished Heavenly Sword, Dragon Sabre (2003), which finishes up the Condor Heroes Trilogy, though it's not really a sequel, in my opinion. In the order I watched them, this followed the 1983 version of Legend Of The Condor Heroes and the 2006 Return Of The Condor Heroes (simply called Condor Hero in the U.S. release).

After the 2007 Legend Of is released with subtitles (fansubs perhaps), I may revisit the trilogy, following with the anime version titled Legend Of but which is actually Return Of (I have some but not all of this series) and then cap it off with the 1986 New Heaven Sword And Dragon Sabre. I also have a few volumes of the comic book adaptations of Louis Cha's novels. Legendary Couple by Tony Wong is based upon Return, and Heaven Sword Dragon Sabre was adapted by Ma Wing Shing. Both were published in English by Comics One, which went out of business before completing either story.

I've got Heroes stockpiled on my cable DVR, but haven't watched any of this season, yet. I will soon.

Audio Books.

eMusic has a audio books subscription service separate from their music downloading site. I joined, but will probably cancel after my second month. Listened to After Dark by Haruki Murakami and started A Briefer History Of Time by Stephen Hawkins. The first was a novel and was a breeze to get through, despite some audio glitches here and there. The second, not so much. Though meant to be lighter reading (listening) than Brief History, it requires a bit more of my attention than I can give it during a morning commute, or while shopping. I have to take a different approach, and will, later.

My previous experience with audio books was limited to Al Franken's Lies and The Lying Liars That Tell Them. A great audio book, but I didn't hold it up as an example of the medium, because it's a collection of funny stories delivered by a comedian who knows well how to perform his work. I've been told that normally, one should avoid audio books read by the authors themselves. Consider Al Franken an exception to this rule.

Comics.

Blood Sword back issues and the new re-translated, digitally enhanced volumes (Chinese Hero - Tales Of The Blood Sword). I'll talk about those another time, but I'll say the new volumes are great, mostly.

My creative endeavors?

All I do now is dick around, but when I get back to recording, I'll use the Vox page to blog about it rather than only using it for audio links and writing a separate blog.

Labels: comics, dorama, DVD, kung fu, movies, music, music video, PSP, tv, video games, wu-xia, XBox 360, youtube

I bought the 360 Elite last week after spending a week debating the PS3 vs. the 360. Prior to that point I went from no interest in a next gen system to "Ooh! The PS3 will be out next year" to "It's gonna cost what?" to "No Fuckin' way am I spending that on a game system" to "It would probably look nice on my 37 inch flatscreen TV." My interest gradually escalated from there and I started to brake down after purchasing three used games for the PS2 and not being overly impressed by the graphics.

I was gonna get a PS3, but I mentioned that to a coupl'a friends, and was advised to avoid it and go for the 360. Their opinions were based on hearsay (about the PS3) and the fact that they owned 360s, so I dismissed them at first. But I was motivated to explore the issue a li'l bit.

There were a number of things that I was concerned about already. Price wasn't one of them at this point, though it had been a major issue in the past. If I wanted to go cheap, I'd have gone with the 360 core system. Not interested in the Wii, though I'm sure it's fine for what it is.

Sony's dicking around with the PSP didn't help (or perhaps it did). The PSP is a great hand held multimedia device. There's nothing like it out there. If you just want games, there's the DS and all the previous incarnations of the Game Boy by Nintendo. If you just want music and/or movies, theres the various iPods and other personal media players. But for all of the above and also wireless internet there's only the PSP which is capable of even more thanks to the efforts of the homebrew community.

The PSP was my first taste of Sony's "sleeping giant" marketing tactic of presenting a device with great potential, but only unlocking it's capabilities a piece at a time via firmware upgrades (usually after a homebrew developer had unlocked it first). Some of these things were fixes to issues that might not have been well thought out at first, like the placement and naming of videos. Other things were obviously being held back, like full resolution video, which was available on UMD video discs, but not supported on the memory stick until a much later firmware. Officially, that is.

When Sony finally provided the one feature homebrewers could not get right, the ability to play PS1 games on our favorite portable, they chose not to allow their limited selection of games to be purchased and downloaded by anyone who did not have a PS3. Apparently this was expected to motivate purchases of the new system, instead of angering their existing customers who already owned internet capable devices (the PSP and likely a computer). Instead, homebrew came to the rescue and modified the software that allowed the playability of PS1 games as well as provide a way for users to convert their existing game library to the PSP. No PS3 needed. No need to buy the old games again. I even bought a used title off Amazon.com for less than the supposed price of a download (not including the PS3 price). Fuck you, Sony, for even thinking of pulling a stunt like that.

Still, I was somewhat convinced that the PS3 was the most powerful game machine, out there. It was expected to be miles ahead of what the XBox 360 was capable of. I was unconvinced, however, that it's power was being fully demonstrated. Games made for both the 360 and the PS3 were turning out better on the 360 (according to many reports). This being due to developers being more familiar with the XBox platform. Sony defenders point out that Microsoft had a years head start on the PS3 and that their strongest games are just being released now. When the PS3 reaches a similar point in it's development we will see it deliver the goods and maybe it'll surpass the 360.

If I was gonna wait another year to get a game machine, that would be fine and dandy. Placing my bets now on a system that might be great eventually? Um, ... no. Buying a machine that does what it's supposed to do very well, right now? That makes more sense.

HD DVD vs. Blu Ray? A non issue for me. I'll wait for a winner in that contest or I'll wait for a cheap HD disc recorder (it'll happen eventually), download whatever HD content I want from each competing format and convert them to the one I have.

XBox Live vs. PS3's online service - PS3 online is free, but kinda sloppy from what I understand. Sony has some interesting ideas, but they're just promises right now.
XBox Live seems to garner better reviews. So far I like it as far as downloading demos are concerned. Haven't tried online gaming yet, but I will.

PSP to PS3 connectivity seemed like a good idea at first, but makes no sense in it's current application, downloading media to the PS3 and then send it over to the PSP. The PSP can access the internet already. Thank you. If it could be used as a location free player to play PS3 games (and other media) on the PSP via wi-fi wherever you were, that would be a killer app. I don't know what the technical limitations are that keep such a thing from happening. I only hope that it is issues like that that keep it from happening, and not Sony dicking around again. Sony's Location Free player is a device that allows television to stream via wi-fi to an owners PSP wherever he happens to be.
Oct. 18th, 2007 - According to the November issue (#175) of Game Informer magazine (pg 24 - Portable Puppetmaster), Sony plans to allow this very feature sometime in 2008. It'll probably be 2009 until it's up and running. Once it is and a good number of PS3 games are playable on the PSP, I'm gettin' one. Though if Microsoft were to announce a handheld gaming device capable of the same thing via the 360, I might hold off.

The renting movies to the XBox hard drive thing is kinda interesting, but needs to be cheaper. I won't be doing that. I've got decent HD cable service, a DVR and I can't complain about the prices of DVDs. I still prefer to own hard copies of media (less true for music with non-DRM mp3s) and the less DRM the better. Rentals (pay per view) don't need to be as expensive as they are.

Sony vs. Microsoft: which is more evil? Microsoft, probably. Certainly more hated in the PC world. That they've managed to create a product that their customers are mostly happy with is a huge achievement! I mean, a lot of us are Windows users, who won't go near a Mac, but that doesn't mean that Windows doesn't piss us off for a variety of reasons. 360 users really like their machine regardless of how evil Microsoft is with PC software. I've always viewed Sony as a maker of decent electronics. My first DVD player was a Sony. Back then the hardware did the talking. Now when Sony talks, they sound a little like Microsoft, but not the Microsoft in the gaming business.

The games - the 360's got 'em and those that are also on the PS3 are not quite as good (hearsay), though that may change. If Grand Theft Auto IV had been a Sony exclusive, that might've been enough to sway me back to the PS3. I love GTA. The extra content being developed for the 360 wasn't really a determining factor for me though it definitely doesn't hurt. The PS3 will no doubt get great games that can't be found on the 360, but they don't really have them now, and that's a major disadvantage for buyers who aren't waiting. I'll be trying Halo for the first time next week. Haven't tried the first two games and don't feel I need to.

My first games...
Bioshock is a creepy first person story based thriller that takes place in a would be paradise that's gone horribly wrong. I'm enjoying it so far though I haven't played it much, yet.
Burnout Revenge is a race and crash game I bought for simple fun. I played Burnout Legends on the PSP and loved it. I was unaware of the Burnout games before then. Revenge is much more awesome than I expected.
Quake 4 I haven't played yet. Bought it used for twenty bucks.

Also tried a few demos, both on XBox Live and also from the magazine, XBM, which obviously isn't necessary since they are downloadable. Demos don't need hard copies. Sony canceled their official Playstation magazine (the US version) for the same reason.

Hardware failures. Sony wins on that account. Microsoft is handling the issue in a number of ways, but this shouldn't have been an issue to begin with. Still all the pluses outweigh this negative.

The future? Maybe the PS3 will turn out to be hot shit, after all. If this happens by next winter, maybe I'll get one in addition to my 360, PS2 and my PSP (which is still a brilliant console). I don't expect Sony to give up, no matter how bad the numbers get. They stuck with Betamax until after DVDs dominated. Right now, the PS2 is outselling the PS3, so there's still life in that system as well. There are a few games I want to finish on it before I put it out to pasture.

Labels: HDTV, PS3, PSP, technology, video games, XBox 360

Yes. A new album from Bad Brains, and it's magnificent. Listen to some tracks at their MySpace and then get the record from eMusic, iTunes or wherever you get your shit from.

Also listening to music from the Katamari games, two albums worth. My favorite is Katamari On The Swing, only because the opening theme to Me And My Katamari (Katamari On The Funk?), which I'm currently playing on my PSP isn't on here.

Labels: good deal, music, PSP, video games

Try this: "restore your default system settings". Worked for me (I'm on custom firmware 3.52 M33). Thanks Chameleon at DCEmu. I'm not the person who posted the question, by the way.

Restoring the default means losing all of your own settings, of course. Name, wallpaper, specific hotspot info/settings etc..., but not content like audio, video, or pics.

Labels: PSP, solutions?

Playstation.com are giving away UMD discs that demo a new game for the PSP; Jeanne D'Arc.
Only while supplies last. I signed up for mine. You get yours...

Thanks pspupdates.qj.net

For downloadable demos for a bunch of other PSP titles (some are Japanese), click here.

Labels: downloads, good deal, PSP

For the most part, I still listen to albums (set compilations of music sequenced by the artist, traditionally sold on a vinyl or plastic disc), when listening to music on my PSP. Often times, say when doing my food shopping, laundry, or just when I feel like it, I prefer not to make any set choices and listen to random songs from my music collection.

Unlike the higher end iPods, which have hard drives as large as 30-60 Gigs (more?), PSPs are limited to external memory via Memory Stick Duos. I think the largest capacity released thus far is the 8 gig. I have a 1 GB, 2 GB, and a 4. This limits what I can keep on my PSP at any given moment. This is especially true since other data is stored on the memory stick. Game saves, game demos, ISOs (games), emulators & ROMs, photos and of course videos (usually two or more 45 minute Wu-Xia TV episodes*).
I normally have space left over for anywhere between 2-6 albums worth of music.

The PSP has a shuffle feature that randomizes whats on the mem stick, but only within each folder (each folder normally representing an album or otherwise group of songs). That's pretty useless. In other words, the PSP will shuffle tracks from Cntrl-Alt-Delete-U (The Paper Chase), move on to EP C (Battles) to do the same, and then Planet Earth (Prince). When not listening to albums as originally sequenced (or newly sequenced by myself or others), I'd prefer to shuffle tracks from all folders on my player.

When PSP Shuffle came around (or when I finally found out about it), it was great. It scanned all the music on my PC, and whenever I wanted to fill up my memory stick with random music, it did it's thing, and I was good to go. I disabled the photo and video feature. Throwing random photos from my PC onto the PSP wasn't a good idea (for a couple of reasons). The only video that can play on the portable is video specifically encoded for use on it or similar devices. Still, I mostly watch serialized material, that works best in chronological order. Sometimes I encode YouTube videos to show friends at work, and those are chosen specifically.

PSP Shuffle cleared out the contents of the mem stick before filling it with music. Even though I set it to only import music, it would erase all videos and photos as well as music (after giving a warning). This wasn't a big deal to me. I would use a mem stick that didn't have any current videos on it and game data was untouched.

At some point (I don't recall when), PSP Shuffle stopped working. I attributed it to a problem with my PC. Something I installed or un-installed. Who knows? The program acted like it was working, only much faster than usual. It would erase the mem stick, but not fill it with music. I tried uninstalling and re-installing, adjusting what little settings there were and then just gave up on it. I figured that maybe a firmware update might've had something to do with it.

When hooked up via USB, it used to be that music was found in "drive letter"/PSP/MUSIC, but fairly recently (don't remember when) the music folder was placed on the root of the PSP (as was VIDEO), so it would be found on "drive letter"/MUSIC. The old music folder is still there and still works (still needed for 48 Hour Pong), so I don't know if one thing has anything to do with the other.

A few attempts were made using Google to solve this problem with no success until a couple of days ago when I came across a guide to using a program called Media Monkey with the PSP. Media Monkey is primarily a music organizing tool that looks like it's inspired by iTunes. I've used iTunes to convert CDs to MP3s and M4As, but not much else, since I don't have an iPod. The free version of Media Monkey does everything I need it for, but I'm tempted to pay for a license, because it's so good at it. For one thing, it's not as CPU hungry as PSP Shuffle was. For another, it doesn't automatically erase the memory stick, of other music, video, etc. All the other stuff it may or may not do (I'll find out later) is gravy.

On the guide, where it addresses synchronization options, Kingbee116 suggests synchronizing tracks to \PSP\MUSIC\"artist"\"title".mp3. He correctly points out that once in MUSIC, you can only go one folder deep. I would normally put the music in \MUSIC\"album"\"title".mp3, preferring to name the folder after the album title rather than artist name, which can usually be seen on screen. Also using the root MUSIC folder as allowed by recent firmwares (official and custom).

Since the main purpose of this program (for me) is to randomize tracks, I avoid sub-folders altogether. I set it to \MUSIC\"title".mp3 so that the MUSIC folder is not filled with other folders with music in them, but with tracks from all over my computer. And rather than play these tracks in alphabetical and numerical order, I then use the PSP's shuffle feature, and everything is as it should be.

I still have to edit my music library inside of Media Monkey, as I have samples, program sounds, podcasts, DAW tracks, unrecognized (on the PSP) formats and other audio I consider undesirable for this particular task.

*At the moment, I'm watching Jubei-Chan, soon to be followed by Jubei-Chan 2. These are Anime, not Wu-Xia. Soon as I'm done with those, I'll finish watching Return Of The Condor Heroes (2006), which is Wu-Xia.

Labels: downloads, good deal, music, PSP, solutions?

Kudos to Team M33 for picking up the torch from retired coder Dark Alex. Updated custom firmwares allow PSP users to both purchase contemporary commercial games and use their favorite homebrew programs. When faced with a choice between the two matters, I choose to keep homebrew, and not buy new games. Custom firmwares also allow piracy, which is a legit concern for Sony, but one I doubt they'll ever combat successfully.

If there were some way for Sony to allow homebrew (non-commercial programs created by enthusiasts) on official firmwares, it might, reduce piracy of current PSP software. However, some of the most popular homebrew are emulators of older systems. I don't know whether or not they constitute some form of piracy.

Anyhow, the battle rages on and users are winning.

Labels: civil rights, downloads, Heroes, PSP, video games

On TV

Craig Ferguson
is what David Letterman was like, about twenty years ago and Conan O'Brien was less than ten years ago (before Andy Richter left). Funny. A guy trying to make the best of what the network will spring for.
Apparently, multiple shows are recorded on the same day (which ruins the topicality of some shows). Also it's not shown in HD, which might be a good thing as Hi-Def has made Conan harder to look at (Dude looks ghastly).

No complaints about Jay Leno's show which is a solid, entertaining late night show in the tradition of Johnny Carson, whom he replaced. I have way more respect for the guy now than I did when he first took over The Tonight Show. I don't really make it a point to watch the show, though. If I think I can stay up, it passes the time till CF comes on.

The Showbiz Show With David Spade
here's where showbiz news belongs, aside from Entertainment Tonight, which isn't quite as funny. He should be on five nights a week.

The Sopranos
Do I keep HBO now that it's done? Hmmm. Maybe, if not, I'll need another HD movie channel. I thought it was a great ending. It won't please everybody, though.

The Daily Show and sometimes The Colbert Report.

House M.D.
I normally come in during the last ten - fifteen minutes. There's no way I'm gonna guess what's wrong with the patient anyway.

On PSP

Return Of The Condor Heroes (2006)
The box set in U.S. stores is simply called Condor Heroes, but it's based on the sequel to Legend Of The Condor Heroes, a serialized novel by Louis Cha. The anime, which is titled Legend Of... pulls the same trick, though in that case it isn't only the U.S. version, but the Japanese version as well that's mis-titled.

Anyway, it may not be completely necessary to see the prequel to enjoy this, but if you don't, you might get the impression that West Venom, Ouyang Feng is simply a crazy, funny old guy as I did when I first encountered the character in The Legendary Couple (only read the first four volumes), a comicbook adaptation of Return from a few years back (It only lasted 8 volumes in the U.S.). It remains to be seen (by me) whether his true colors re-emerge.

Prior to this, I watched the fifteen disc (59 episode) 1983 version of Legend, and decided to follow with the 2006 version of Return, instead of the eighties version with Andy Lau (which I don't have, anyway). I was gonna wait for the 2007 version of Legend, but said eff it, and bought the DVD set of the 80s version instead. Great series, but it didn't need 59 episodes to tell that story.

I downloaded the 2006 Return of... from usenet, and the 2004(?) version of the third part of this story, Heaven Sword, Dragon Sabre, from D-Addicts, which I'll watch next. I also have a 1986 version of HSDS starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, but I'll save that for another time.

I'm up to episode eight (of forty-one). I stopped for a bit, and re-read the first four volumes of the comicbook, 'cuz I remembered some other stuff happening near the begining that didn't seem to be covered here, particularly, Yang Guo's relationship to Guo Jing's and Huang Rong's daughter, the Wu brothers, and his first meeting with Ouyang Feng. I'm seeing some of that stuff pop up in dialog and flashbacks now. Also, I found watching Yang Guo (Yang Gor) as a young boy annoying with all the crying and what not. I thought we'd be past that when he grew up (end of ep 3), but at this point he's still wandering around yelling for his Gu-gu. Otherwise, it's starting to get pretty good, though confusing with all the characters popping up outta nowhere.

I'm concerned about what's gonna happen when he finds out who killed his father, the douche-bag, Yang (Wayan) Kang. Also, that thing that happens to Gu-gu/Mistress Dragon is pretty disturbing both here (ep 6?) and at the end of vol. 4 of the comic.

The effects are very well done, but the action is a bit floaty.

Demi-Gods & Semi-Devils (1982)
TV series also based on a serialized novel by Louis Cha. A few of the episodes I had of Return Of The Condor Heroes were found to be corrupted (particularly the subtitles), so while I searched for replacements and re-read The Legendary Couple (the four volumes I had), and started this series. I now alternate between this and Return.
I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a prequel the Condor Heroes trilogy, but the Beggar Clan figures prominently as well as their two well known techniques, The Dog Beating Stick and The Eighteen Dragon Repelling Palms (passed on to Huang Rong and Guo Jing in Legend Of). It clearly takes place during the Song Dynasty, where Condor is close to the end.
Wikipedia places Demi-Gods at the 11th Century, Legend at the 12th, Return at the 13th, and Heavenly Sword at the 14th.

Initially, I wasn't sure if this show would hold my interest, but now that Leung Kar Yan has shown up (as Beggar chief Master Kiu), things have gotten much more interesting. Especially the fighting.

Tuen Yue who was the focus, up until recently (I'm somewhere around ep 18), is a bit annoying to me. He does have a fascinating dilemma, though; His father was such a player, any girl Yue meets is potentially his half sister. This has only ruined one relationship, so far, but I doubt it'll be the last...

edit: I should mention that the above shows aren't available for the PSP (that I know of). They had to be converted from the DVDs to MP4s using XviD4PSP by Winnydows. There are other tools out there. This is the one I use.

Labels: comics, dorama, downloads, DVD, kung fu, PSP, tv, wu-xia, youtube

Create beats and songs while on the bus or on the toilet.

I've actually been playing games on my PSP, lately (Burnout Legends and Every Extend Extra), so it's been a while since I've started a new song on it. It's a great program, though. If you have a PSP and it's homebrew capable, get PSP Rhythm, here...

Labels: downloads, good deal, music making, PSP, PSP Rhythm, video games

Alt.binaries.multimedia.chinese has a trio of English subtitled TV series being uploaded. All encoded for the iPod, but should be playable, as is, on the PSP. Official firmware 2.8 and up, or custom firmware 3.02* and up is required. The mp4 file, which doesn't have to be renamed, would be placed in the /VIDEO folder (in the root directory of your memory stick), instead of one of the various folders found in MP_ROOT. I haven't watched these series yet, but a previously uploaded shows that was iPod encoded, Face To Fate, played with no problem, other than three or four episodes (out of thirty) didn't have English subs.

Okay, so what I see being uploaded at the moment are:

The Brink Of Law - Looks like some sort of legal/cop drama. No kung fu, but some action is involved. Here's a YouTube clip.

The Heavenly In-Laws - Weird (to me) supernatural comedy. Yuen Wah's in it (I think that's him), so maybe there's some kung fu. A YouTube clip.

The Devil's Disciples - Here we go! Now, this is more like it. Looks like Eddy Ko as the bad guy. Flying swordsmen and CGI. Hope it's actually good. Preview below:



How does one download the great stuff to be found on alt.binaries.multimedia.chinese and the thousands of other groups on usenet? I'm never good at explaining how it works, so I'll just point towards TimDoc's page, and let him explain it (his downloading guide has been a great help to me over the years). There are other guides on the net as well. You can use a premium server like EasyNews, but your ISP may provide access to usenet at no extra cost, so find out how this whole thing works before paying extra.


*I can't remember if there was a custom firmware between 2.71 and 3.02, but any PSP firmware (official or custom) 2.80 and over would enable the /VIDEO and /MUSIC folders (in the root directory of the memory stick). Not all MP4s work in that video folder however.

Labels: dorama, downloads, kung fu, PSP, tv, wu-xia, youtube

Had that problem with my Seagate external hard-drive and my PSP. Other USB devices worked, so I searched and tried a few things which didn't work. I did manage to connect both to a USB keyboard (with two extra connections). Unfortunately, it was a USB 1.0 keyboard, and made for a pretty slow connection. I made do with that until I typed the title of this post into Google and found this page at NTCompatible.com, which included the following advice from Vital Viking:

I have just experienced the same problem with my printers working on USB ports but not my USB memory stick or card reader and I got exactly the same error message as yourself.
I phoned my computer manufacturer's helpdesk and they told me I would have to re-format my hard disk and re-install Windows XP which I did only to find that the problem still existed.
Someone on one of the newsgroups to which I am subscribed suggested not only closing down my computer but also switching it off at the mains socket. Seemingly this allows any residual current on the motherboard or any stray capacitance to discharge.
Believe it or not it worked! I now have all my USB ports and devices working as I want them.
Hope it works for you - it must be worth a try :-)
--
Vital Viking
.............................................................
Worked for me, though what I did, was shut down the computer, then turned off the power switch in the back, and then discharged the residual electricity or whatever by pushing the main power button in the front of the computer until the power lights stop flashing. That's how I interpreted what was written above, anyway.

Apparently this problem is fairly common. I'm hoping that linking to this solution (as well as others on that page) and reprinting it here, makes it easier to find.

Labels: computers, PSP, solutions?

This stupid; "...the PSP isn't well suited for homebrew." - Sony Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison.

Labels: bullshit, funny-ass shit, PSP, video games

Don't know much about this series, except it has Raymond Lam from Twin Of Brothers, which I liked as well as that guy from John Woo's Heroes Shed No Tears. Eddy Ko (Thanks imdb).

Torrent download and info at D-Addicts. Opening theme below via YouTube.




I've probably got enough of these Wu-Xia series that I could watch an episode a day (on my PSP, of course) and still not be finished in a year. Currently I'm watching Hero In Black AKA Wo Lai Ye (Here I Come), a Zorro like comedy that features Cheng Pei Pei (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Come Drink With Me) as an overbearing mother. I've recently downloaded 35 episodes of a Monkey King series that has Sam Lee in it.

This isn't all I watch. Before starting Hero In Black, I watched the first season of The Wire (My brother hooked me up with the first two) and I'll probably check out the second season next. Also recently bought the final season of Angel, and season one of Smallville, so I'll be looking at those eventually as well.

Update 01/24/07: I finished Wo Lai Ye last week. While not completely bad, it's the worst of these dramas I've seen, yet. I just didn't like the characters or their relationships to each other. Especially Song Dou's affection for the owner of the Top Chef restaurant. It contradicts his hatred for the greed of corrupt officials and the wealthy who live at the expense of the poor in his town.
She appears to share this sentiment, yet also shares the characteristics of Wo Lai Ye's sworn enemies. I found the ending unsatisfying as well.

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, PSP, tv, wu-xia, youtube

Was made by a fan (supposedly). Obviously the ad agency Sony's using isn't doing it's job, so some kid or group of kids came along and decided to avoid talking dustballs, squirrels, and other imagery that has nothing to do with the device they're trying to sell, and simply show what the PSP is and what it does. Now, is that so fucking hard?

A few years ago a guy named Sergio Zyman wrote a book called The End Of Advertising As We Know It. I don't think I read the whole thing, but what I got out of it was basically that a lot of those quirky, creative commercials that tend to win awards for their makers, rarely did their job of actually selling the product. The HNIC over at Sony ought to read a few chapters of this book. The maker(s) of this homebrewed ad might not have done so themselves, but they appear to understand how to sell a product.

Labels: advertising, independent film-making, PSP, youtube

Yes, it is...

Sony Issue Cease and Desist Order For Devhook

---

The Japanese Site which hosts the Devhook application have been slapped with a Cease and Desist Order over the Devhook app which lets users use different firmware on their PSP.

From dcemu.co.uk

Labels: bullshit, downloads, PSP, video games

Swiped from the home page:

PSP Rhythm 6.0 is Released!
PSP Rhythm is the homebrew drum machine for the Sony Playstation Portable.
Inspired by classic drum machines such as the Linndrum and Roland TR-series, PSP Rhythm has been created to use a similar simple, yet effective sequencer.

PSP Rhythm uses a parameter feature that enable you to change the pitch, volume, balance, start, end times, cutoff and resonance per step to create moving, changing melodies and effects. This control over your sounds will give you much more creative freedom.

The on board Bass Line synthesizer in PSP Rhythm is similar to the classic Roland TB-303. TB-303 style features such as Accent and Slide are available. The real time control of the Cutoff and Resonance give you that authentic "Acid" sound that made the TB-303 Bass Line Synthesizer so famous.

Included effects are: Distortion, Slicer, Delay, Time Stretch, High/Low Pass Filter and Monophonic Sample Mode.

But wait! There's more;
PSP Rhythm 6.0 Song Contest!!!

The top 3 song entries will win a 1gb SanDisk Pro Duo memory stick.

Contest Rules:

1. Your song must be created with PSP Rhythm 6.0.
2. You can submit as many songs as you like but can only win one prize.
3. You must include your samples and bank file.

Bonus Points:

1. Using Effects
2. Using the Bass Line Synthesizer
3. Using Extended Mode

Submit your song to rconlives@yahoo.com before August 31st.

In our effort to give back to the PSP homebrew community we are using all the donations received for our project to sponsor this contest.

Good Luck!!!


I should also mention that it's free, though donations are accepted. I gave a li'l bit. It's a great program that makes the PSP that much more worthwhile to own. Too bad Sony has to be a dick on the issue of homebrew.

More details, downloads, and lessons here.

Labels: Awesome, downloads, fun, good deal, music making, possibilities for creative expression, PSP, PSP Rhythm

Came across an interview with the creator of Loco Roco, Tsutomu Kouno. It's a good, short read that goes into some of the issues with many video games today. Particularly the lack of intuitiveness. I feel I shouldn't have to study a chart to figure out what buttons to push to do x, y, or z. He doesn't say any of that exactly, but that's what I kinda got out of it.

I've chosen, at the moment, to ignore what he says is the backstory to Loco Roco. Something about a planet invaded by Mojas or something like that. In my mind the game is about coming forth into existence, the joy of discovering the world around you, and the pain of realizing that not everyone loves you, nor is every experience pleasant. But by and large, the world is a wonderful, wonderous place of adventure and discovery. Mojas are the natural predators of Loco Rocos. Why they are there does not matter at this point. I could change my mind as I get further along, but I probably won't.

This game is awsome, in case you don't get that from reading the previous paragraph. If you're in Europe or Asia, pick up this game now. If you're in the U.S. like me, wait till September or figure out an alternative. I'll still buy the game when it comes out here, because games like this (and as good as this) are few and far between and deserve to be supported. Sure I could buy the import, but I'm hoping the game becomes a hit in this country. Imports won't help in that regard.

I believe a game demo can be downloaded from the official site. If you have a PSP, you'll need firmware 2.7 or higher. If you have 1.5, you can use the latest DevHook which now emulates 2.71. I haven't tested it's effectiveness. The website itself has a Flash facimile that might give you some idea what the game is like if you don't have a PSP. It's not the same, though.

Labels: Awesome, fun, japanese, PSP, video games

230 years and going strong. The oldest continuous democracy on the planet.
Okay, I swiped that directly from James Hudnall. But it's true.

As much as I love the USA, I'm actually here today to reflect on another kind of independence. It's a bit trivial, yes, but as it happened to coincide with this particular weekend, this kind of discussion was unavoidable.

When I first bought my PSP back in the end of December with X-Mas money, all I wanted was a portable video/mp3 player that also played Grand Theft Auto. In my research, I may have read a little about homebrew (independent video game apps, etc.) and ISO piracy, but I wasn't really interested in all that.

I don't remember what firmware the machine was on when I bought it, but I think I recall using the 2.00 update that came with GTA. It wasn't too long afterward that I happily upgraded to 2.6, which added things like a web browser. I didn't live near a wi-fi spot, and I still don't have such a thing installed on my computer, so the browser thing was just pretty to look at for a minute. 2.6 also locked out homebrew, but I didn't care. I wasn't using any of them at the time.

I'd been watching a couple of PSP sites, or perhaps none with any regularity, I don't remember. At some point there was news of an eLoader for GTA that allowed homebrew to be played on 2.6 PSPs. Curious, I gave it a shot. I soon found myself visiting PSP-Hacks on a regular basis and found myself addicted to a few homebrew apps which I played alternately to GTA.

It wasn't too long until I found that waiting for GTA to load before I could use PSP Rhythm, play K.E.T.M., or read a PDF with BookR was getting tiresome. In addition to that, the necessity of using GTA meant that having any other UMD in my PSP would render my favorite homebrew apps useless, without switching back. That's an added hassle and it put me off buying more UMDs, which is where Sony is supposed to make their investment back (Video game hardware are traditionally money losers).

I'd regretted being on 2.6, when I could've been on 2.00 which would've, via a different GTA exploit allowed me to access my homebrew apps at will. That would still limit my UMD purchases, but that would be a small price to pay. Actually that would be no price to pay, because Sony is asking my money to stay in my wallet with higher firmware required games.

Over the last few weeks, there was news that newer versions of GTA:LCS had come out with the exploit patched. This, quite a bit after firmware upgrades 2.70 and 2.71 (which I didn't fall for) were released, mostly to achieve the same purpose. I think the latter also allowed users to download game demos, of which I believe there is only one (the excellent Loco Roco - more on this later).

Some time last week there was more news (at some point, I don't remember when, I started getting most of my PSP news and homebrew downloads from DCEmu.co.uk). A new GTA exploit (not on the new GTA discs, though) had been found that utilized kernel access. Nothing had been done with it yet, but the PSP online community was on fire! Kernel access!! This is great!!! Except I had no idea what that meant. Apparently, some of the homebrew apps that worked on 1.5 PSPs, but not 2.xx, used kernel access. Also a way had been found to speed up a SNES emulator using kernel access. This was fine and dandy, but would I still need to load GTA for my homebrew to work? The general consensus was yes. I would.
Crap.

Some factions started rambling about ISO loaders and other stuff. I didn't pay any attention to it, and site adminstrators did their best to shush them down, as they didn't want their sites to be seen as encouraging piracy.

So, I'd been watching DCEmu and a couple of others over the last week, visiting these sites several times a day. Sometimes several times an hour as activity was huge. There was some expectation that Fanjita, the god who, with Ditlew, conceived the GTA eLoader would unleash something on the world soon, but as the end of the week approached, it seemed unlikely. I believed the holiday weekend would bring a slowdown to everything.

On Thursday, there was talk of an experimental firmware downgrader that was "bricking" (permamently disabling) the PSPs of those brave enough to try it. This was interesting, but I didn't think it significant, as fake downgraders had been around before.

One day later, this article was posted, which shed some light on the controversy. Some details raised an eyebrow or two, but I was tired after a long-ish day at work and went to sleep early. Of course, I wouldn't see the big news till morning.

The downgrader that would allow 2.5 and 2.6 PSPs to "downgrade" to a 1.5 had become a reality. Better yet, it had been tried by many with an overwhelming success rate, with about three known instances of bricking. Not sure how I felt, I did a bit of reading up on the experiences of those who tried it, and resolved to wait until I got home from work, that night to do it, if at all. Wasn't too long until I changed my mind and took the plunge, though. Actually, it took long enough that I was almost late for work. Not just with the downgrading, but installing DevHook and experimenting with stuff.

Oddly enough, the first thing I did afterwards, was download and tryout some pirated ISOs, which was not my main inspiration in all this, but there you have it. Sony likely understands, that as long as any homebrew (unsigned code) is possible, so is piracy. Their concern is understandable, but I think their efforts haven't really helped them much. With DevHook I can now load UMDs with firmwares up to 2.5, and higher firmwares are likely around the corner. I am now more likely to buy more games than I was at 2.6.

All of my favorite homebrews work like a charm, with no waiting and I can go from watching Duke Of Mount Deer 2000, to playing Rise Of The Triads with no inconvenience.

I'm not sure what my first PSP game purchase in half a year will be. Me and My Katamari is a possibility. Of the games that I've "tried", I'm really looking forward to Loco Roco. Already released in Europe, it's not due out here until September 5th, which is insane. I plan on buying it whether or not the UMD itself can play in my PSP. I can access and play the game now, and it's the most fun and brilliant game since Jumping Flash! on the PS1, from years ago. This is the type of thing Sony should be doing more often. Fun, experimental and colorful. I like violence and lawlessness as much as the next guy, but I also like a little variety. Shoot 'em ups can get boring.

By the way, Loco Roco is not racist! If they change the fucker before it comes here, I'll be pissed.

Labels: Awesome, downloads, PSP, video games

Could be a fake, but things look promising as a UK retailer has confirmed it was stocking the item.
Question to myself; Do I want to void my extended warranty (good till December 2007) by messing about in the innards of my precious PSP by attempting a soldering operation? If the answer is yes, will I be able to wait untill competing modchips hit the scene at lower prices? Should I wait a little while to see if some other (software) exploit is revealed, that'll make it no longer neccessary to load Liberty City Stories in order to enable Homebrew (in firmware 2.6)?

So many questions, and no doubt, more to come...

Labels: PSP, video games

From DCEmu.co.uk

Boy cited for taking porn to school

A 14-year old boy was cited with a class C felony after bringing digital images of pornography to school on Friday.

Bismarck Police Lt. Dan Donlin said staff at Wachter Middle School called police after finding pornography on the boy's Sony PlayStation Portable. The boy was charged with promoting obscenity to minors for showing other students the pornography.

Donlin said the boy also was cited with simple assault, a misdemeanor, for scratching another student with a key. Donlin said the student who was scratched was the one who told school officials that the boy had pornography on the PlayStation.

http://www.bismarcktribune.com/artic...cal/113696.txt

Labels: funny-ass shit, porn, PSP, society

The newest version of this great drum machine for the PSP has been released.

From their homesite;

"With the release of version 4.0 a Bass Line synthesizer similar to a Roland TB-303 has been added to make this the most versatile homebrew drum machine for the PSP. TB-303 style features such as Accent and Slide are available, along with the real-time control of the Cutoff and Resonance you can get that authentic "Acid" sound that made the TB-303 Bass Line Synthesizer so famous.

"Version 5.0 adds Real Time Audio Effects. Included effects are: Distortion, Slicer, Filter, Delay and Monophonic Sample Mode. Effects assist in creating new and unique sounds. They assist you in getting the most out of your samples and the bass line synthesizer. With effects, Rhythm goes beyond a typical drum machine and is now a well rounded production suite."

Haven't tried it, yet, but I already know I'm gonna love it. Download it from the above link.


By the way, if you want to keep playing great programs like this on your PSP, DON'T UPGRADE YOUR FIRMWARE!!!! EVER!!! 2.7 has been realeased in Japan, and reportedly knocks out homebrew capability.

I made the mistake of upgrading to 2.6, enabling features, I've yet to make use of. I can still play homebrew on it, but it's a hassle having to wait for GTA: LIberty City Stories to load before I can do anything. Firmware 2.0 is optimal in my opinion, as it allows GTA to play as well as loading homebrew from the memory stick instead of the UMD. More info here. Many will find 1.5 better as it allows for pirated ISOs (not my thing, but if I could, I probably would) and there's a prog that will load 2.X firmware games on 1.5 PSPs.

Labels: Awesome, fun, music making, possibilities for creative expression, PSP, PSP Rhythm

Actually I just realized "Qi" would be a cooler spelling, but then some people wouldn't know how to pronounce it. Oh, well.

The PSP (PlayStation Portable) can now be used as a songwriting tool, or at least a beatbox with a homebrew program called PSP Rhythm. Excited about this, I decided to give it a shot and write this weeks song with it. Actually, I'd been playing around with it for the last coupl'a weeks.
I've been using