It seems that one of the most anticipated titles for the PlayStation 3 will also be released on the PlayStation Portable. The news was revealed by Sony Game Producer Bill Ritch. While Ritch was reluctant to elaborate on Folklore PSP, he mentioned that video game creator Kouji Okada will be heading the development team in charge of the PSP build.

There is no mention if the game will be a ported version of the PlayStation 3 title. Also, could there be some sort of connectivity between the PSP and PS3 implemented in the game? Folklore for PlayStation 3 will be making an appearance at the Leipzig Game Convention this week.

Team M33 have updated their Custom Firmware to version 3. This time, a significant number of features have been added to the firmware including access to flash2 and flash3, as well as the use of popsloader from firmware 3.30. Check out the full change log below.

Changes:

• Added more speeds: 75 and 133.
• Added flash2 and flash3 access via USB to recovery
• Added a setting in recovery to change the USB device to which XMB will connect.
• Added "vshmenu", which is a menu that will appear when HOME is pressed in the XMB.
• Added UMD video ISO support.

Changes in popsloader:

• Support for 3.30 firmware. Instructions are same as in previous release, except 3.30
  firmware did not have libpspvmc.prx, so just ignore that file.
  • Warning: There is an incompatibility between 3.30 savedata and later ones. If a savedata exists from 3.40+, the emulator will freeze.

Some notes about the usage of vshmenu, and umd video isos:

• vshmenu cannot be loaded when the browser is active. If you exit the browser, the firmware will
  still keep it in memory until you enter other area of xmb, until you do so, you will not be able
  to access vshmenu again either.
• video isos and the game isos show in xmb use the same core. Due to this, when you enter in game
  menu and there is some iso, if a video iso was currently mounted, it will automatically be unmounted.
• CSO format is not supported for video ISOS.
• UMD audio ISOs are theoretically supported, but not tested.

[Download Custom Firmware 3.53 M33 v3]

If you are looking forward to getting your hands on Jeanne D’Arc, the upcoming RPG about Joan of Arc, then you may be happy to hear that Sony is giving away a demo UMD of the game for free. Sony did a similar promotion in Japan before Jeanne D’Arc was released. If you are interested in getting your hands on the demo, you will find the link below.

Follow the link below and click on the “Get a free UMD Demo” link. Jeanne D’Arc is a tactical RPG, with similar gameplay to Final Fantasy Tactics.

[Get Jeanne D’Arc Demo]

[Via: Jeanne D’Arc Website]

According to The Official PSP Magazine Calling All Cars, a online game currently available for the PlayStation 3 from the PlayStation Store, is soon making its way to the PSP. Calling All Cars is a cartoonish multiplayer game, which has you zooming around colourful environments chasing down criminals and sending them back to jail. The game will include “comprehensive multiplayer modes in both Ad Hoc and Infrastructure,” according to the magazine.

A release date has not been confirmed yet, and it is also unclear whether the game will be available via the PlayStation Store update of the original game or as a seperate title. Look out for more information soon.

Coincidently, a new PSP firmware will be released around the same time as the new slim PSP (PSP-2000) hits the stores. The update may contain additional features for both models, but will mainly fix a bug that causes PS1 title Biohazard Director’s Cut to malfunction on certain game modes. The new firmware, possibly 3.60, may contain features for the new PSP model to allow the additional functionality the model allows.

The official statements reads:

"If you are using PSP with OS version 3.52 to play PlayStation classic game Biohazard Director’s Cut which is purchased at Playstation Store, there might be malfunction happening in the ORIGINAL, BEGINNER, and ARRANGE modes.

The malfunction is expected to be fixed in the next PSP OS Update (tentatively scheduled in the beginning of September). The game is running properly on PlayStation 3. We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused.

Please kindly be advised to update your PSP to the latest version once the next software update is available."

[Via: PlayStation Asia]

The launch of the PSP download service has been held back due to Digital Rights Management (DRM) issues, which is used to protect content from getting pirated. According to John Koller, head of Marketing for SCEA, Sony is still working on DRM issues. As a result, a solid launch date has not been revealed, however, new details about the service were revealed.

The PSP store will support a variety of content including short form, and once music and movies are made available in the service, Koller promises that they will be of the same quality as UMD movies. Jack Tretton, SCEA President said:

"I think the advent of a long awaited and quite frankly long overdue ability to deliver a downloadable service for the PSP will help us out a great deal… Hopefully we’ll have it out there by the fall."

A few photos of the upcoming PSP Digital TV Tuner have emerged. The 1Seg Tuner is a device that allows the PSP to view digital television and attaches to the USB port like the Go!Cam and GPS device. The TV Tuner is to go on sale on September 20th 2007 in Japan and will only work with the slim PSP (PSP-2000). Check out the photos below.

When using Wi-Fi, the PSP reverts to its old CPU clock speed of 222 MHz, despite the recent firmware update that unlocks the full speed of the PSP. David Karraker, Sony’s Senior Director of Corporate Communications, confirmed the news that the 222 MHz speed cap is in effect when Wi-Fi is turned on. What does all this mean? Slower loading times when playing ad-hoc and infrastructure multiplayer games.

“The article is correct that increased CPU speed cannot be used with the PSP’s wireless feature,” said Karraker, referring to the report. “SCEA [Sony Computer Entertainment America] is working closely with the development community to take full advantage of this new functionality where appropriate for their titles.”

Team Wildcard has again updated their Custom Firmware. This new patch now brings Custom Firmware 3.40 LE to version 3. The patch fixes a glitch that kept power saving options from working, but apart from that, nothing else has changed. The patch can only be run from 3.40 LE or 3.40 v2. The patch contains all the bug fixes from version 2 so if you are still on 3.40 LE (version 1), you can update straight to 3.40 v3 without updating to version 2 first.

Changes in version 2 include:

• Removed non-functional File Manager option in the Recovery menu
• In recovery, detects ms0:/PSP/GAME/RECOVERY/EBOOT.PBP and only launches it if it exists
• Fixed problems that kept UMDs from loading properly
• Added support for %__SCE__/__SCE__ homebrew naming style
• Re-enabled the use of GAME150 and GAME340, though you *DO NOT* need them.

[Download Custom Firmware 3.40 LE v3]

Issue 13 of PSP M4M: Magazine 4 Men is now available to download. DK Jr. has informed us that this issue is dedicated entirely to the Red Bull Air Race and contains over 170 pages of great content, which includes over 140 babe photos. Also included in the issue are some cool babe wallpapers for your PSP.

[Download PSP M4M Issue 13]