The M33 team has rolled out another update for their Custom Firmware (CFW) 3.51 M33 which adds quite a few new features and also fixed a couple of bugs. The “NOUMD” driver has been patched to allow better compatibility. Games such as ATV Offroad Fury Pro, Steel Horizons, Tony Hawk’s Project 8 now work on the firmware. A full change log is included below.

• Improvements in M33 NO-UMD driver. The improvements:
  • Fixed a bug that caused incompatibility with ATV Offroad Fury Pro, Steel Horizons,
    Tony Hawk’s Project 8 and probably more games.
  • Speed loading has improved.
• Automatic display fix for TA-082+ with brightness problems in 1.50 kernel.
  • M33 will autodetect TA-082+ with brightness problems, and will correct brightness properly.
• WLAN fix is now done differently, patch is done in 3.51 kernel before going to 1.50 one.
  • For those that don’t read the readmes: we never would include in our files a sony prx!
    The fix was and is done simply with code. The 3.40 mention was to notice that the problem
    was not a M33 bug, but a problem caused by Sony.
• 4th level of brighrness enabled on 1.5 kernel too now.
• An option has been added to recovery, “Hard Reset on 1.50 homebrew”. Use this, only if the Wi-Fi
  fix doesn’t work with your PSP still. It makes homebrew boot a bit slower.

[Download Custom Firmware 3.51 M33-7]

A screenshot surfaced soon after E3 claiming that PS3 Firmware 1.90 will have a in-game music playback feature. According to a post by Patrick Seybold, Sr. Manager of PR, on the PlayStation Blog, the screenshot is fake and probably an “artists creative expression for what they want”.

“I can’t verify that the ‘your music’ screen is real. It’s obviously not a great shot, and I was at just about every kiosk during E3 and didn’t see anything like that on any unit we had there, and yes, I helped set them up, so I would definitely have seen it. I think it is an artists creative expression for what they want..We will definitley have more info on the firmware updates here very soon.”

[Via: PlayStation.Blog]

UPDATE (21st July 2007 at 18:30):

According to another post over at the PlayStation Blog, Patric Seybold has said that more information on the next firmware update will be revealed next week.

“Early next week, we’ll have something on the firmware.”

Kikizo has learned that the second-generation PlayStation 3 controller is in the works, and is set to offer more than just rumble feedback. In a recent interview, Sony Computer Entertainment’s global President Kaz Hirai said that rumble is “obviously” being looked at now that legal issues with Immersion are out of the way, and then added: “We’re also looking at a variety of other things that we can incorporate with the controller, and we’ll come out with announcements when we think we have the right mix of features.”

Hirai pointed out that the PlayStation controller has always been an evolving peripheral, citing the original no-frills PS1 controller. “It’s come all the way to this point… it’s not the final model for a PS3 controller.”

[Via: Kikizo]

Team M33 has once again updated their Custom Firmware, making it their sixth update. This update isn’t major and simply adds a new “noumd” mode to the Recovery Menu. 3.51 M33-6 now allows you to make use of the Sony NP9660 ISO loader to run ISO images. The team state that it should improve ISO compatibility, however, the exact compatibility information is not know.

Instructions on how to update are included in the ZIP package. Please make sure you have 3.51 M33-5 already installed before attempting to update.

[Download Custom Firmware 3.51 M33-6]

The US PlayStation Network Store has been updated with a number of new items, including new movie trailers, game trailers and a new PSOne title. Castlevania: SotN has been added to the lineup of classic PSOne titles and two trailers of Gran Turismo Prologue have been uploaded. See the full list of additions below.

• PSOne Games
  • Castlevania: SotN
• Game Trailers
  • Gran Turismo Prologue Trailer 1
  • Gran Turismo Prologue Trailer 2
  • Ratchet and Clank Future: ToD Trailer 2
  • InFamous E3 Trailer
  • Heavenly Sword “Making of” Video
• Movie Trailers
  • The Brothers Solomon
  • Resident Evil Extinction
  • I am Legend
  • Underdog
  • The Brave One

The UK PlayStation Network Store has been updated with new trailers and a new demo. Included in the update is The Darkness playable demo and trailer, a few other game trailers and a movie trailer. See the full list of additions below.

• Game Demos
  
  • The Darkness
• Game Trailers
  • GTA IV Trailer 2
  • Rainbow Six Vegas Trailer
  • The Darkness Trailer
• Movie Trailers
  
  • Ratatouille

Rumor has it that a PlayStation 3 was stopped at E3 running Firmware 1.90, with in-game options to play music. A unconfirmed screenshot has been included below for you to judge for yourself. Of course this feature could very well make it to the PS3 in the next update, but for now, we are waiting for Sony to confirm it.

Team M33 has been working hard to improve their custom firmware. This time, the team have incoperated the Wi-Fi and noumd bug fixes to create Custom Version 3.51 M33-4. In addition, several other bugs and new additions have been included (see below). After releasing M33-4, the team futher fixed a few more bugs to create version 5 which improved ISO compatibility.

Changes in 3.51 M33-4:

• Bugfix for the previous “noumd” Fix. This should fix the exit to the XMB with error 80020001 that happened to some people, or reduce its appearance.
• Added plugins options for homebrew that use 1.50 kernel. The file to be used for it, is ms0:/seplugins/game150.txt.

Changes in 3.51 M33-5:

• Bugfix for two important bugs in the noumd mode. The bugs affected Socom 2, Virtual Tennis 3 and probably many more games.

[Download Custom Firmware 3.51 M33-4]
[Download Custom Firmware 3.51 M33-5]

Team M33’s Custom Firmware has been updated once again. In this update, the “use noumd” option has now been changed to “UMD Mode” and allows you to select one of three modes, “Normal, “OE isofs Legacy” and “M33 Driver”. Instructions on how to update are included in the readme file included.

[Download 3.52 M33 No-UMD Update]

Sony has announced that they are planning to release the 1Seg Tuner for the PSP, allowing you to watch digital TV using your PSP. The device will attach on to the PSP’s USB port like the Go! Cam and the GPS transceiver. The only drawback is that the tuner will be exclusive to the new slim PSP model (PSP-2000). The 1Seg tuner is expected to launch in Japan on September 20th for JPY 6,980 (approx USD 57, GBP 28).

• Model Number: PSP-S310
• Desired retail price: JP 6,980 (US 57)
• Hardware specifications
  • External size: Approximately 55 x 31.8 x 14.2mm
  • Mass: Approximately 17g
  • Accessory: Private case
  • Interface: USB
  • Broadcast system: ISDB-T
  • Corresponding area: Japan
• Software specifications
  
  • Program viewing
  • Subtitle indication
  • Channel setting
  • Program schedule indication and the like