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Sony fights back: their battle against homebrew
The battle between the homebrew community and Sony has been a long, bloody fight. With Sony finally playing the legal card against homebrewers, PSP 3D takes a retrospective look at the history of Sony's struggle. They claim that Sony has been getting more desperate, and a bit angrier, as seen by this quote from a Sony programmer: "Overall it's [homebrew] frowned on. Our tech guys have gotten madder and madder lately, and it does void your warranty."The complete article has tons of interesting tidbits. Of particular interest is the infamous GTA exploit which allowed for homebrew to be run even with the most recent firmware release during that time: "The GTA hack operated in a way which utilized the game's in-game SYSCALLs (system calls) in order to run arbitrary code. This is why kernal (full PSP hardware/software IO access) mode via the hack was impossible; you are only allowed to code as much as the SYSCALLs availability, therefore, advanced SYSCALLs, like those for VSH (update mode) or kernal mode were unavailable for use, simply because GTA: LCS didn't utilize them. This fact brought upon the problem of concern for Sony's engineers. They'd have to release a firmware update which jumbles up the method of loading SYSCALLs in order to prevent homebrew from being loaded. Not easy stuff, really, especially when you need to maintain the working status of all the retail UMD games already released and sold."[Via PlayStation.com boards]
GTA Vice City Stories: first screens, details exposed
GTAPortable.com has posted the first screenshots, scanned from GamePro (Australia), of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. In addition, the GamePro article reveals a number of new gameplay details, including the game's lead role, Victor Vance. Remember him?Vic, Lance's brother, is a 28 year-old Marine, and unlike Tommy Vercetti, he can swim (hint, hint). He was gunned down in the beginning of Vice City. So, as speculated, VCS occurs before the original Vice City. In fact, VCS is set in 1984. Expect subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences in the city you conquered four years ago on PS2.
First-ever GTA: Vice City Stories screenshots
GTA: Vice City Stories is a game that's so important, that we're willing to do box art stories on it. Every single morsel of info that trickles down to us seems so very precious. Well, it appears that the Australian version of GamePro has a cover story on Vice City Stories, and thanks to the beauty of the Internet, all of us can share in the details: The game takes place two years before PS2's Vice City: 1984. The game will feature multiplayer, similar to Liberty City Stories. VCS is "much bigger than Vice City." Helicopters now join the list of usable vehicles! Unlike Tony, you won't drown instantly in water: you can swim! New weather effects, including hurricanes. Better graphics: more crowded streets, better animation, greater draw distance, more variety of character models. I have to admit, just thinking about all these features makes me giddy with anticipation. You can read more at PSP Hacks, and then check out screenshots here.
Down under Saints Row playtest
Our Aussie friends at My360.com.au got a chance to playtest a near final build of Saints Row. In short, it sounds like great fun."Gamers will be pleased to know that Saints Row, from what we saw from the preview code, is far from a GTA-clone. It offers so much more in terms of customization and interaction that it really makes a run for the best GTA-type game out there, considering GTA is pretty much a genre in itself."Some of the high points:
