Stardock and Ironclad Games' Sins of a Solar Empire is a game that should appeal to fans of the 4X (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) genre. While I'm not much a fan of the first two X's in that list, the whole exploit and exterminate appealed to the gamer in me. Hey, you can't go wrong with a game that has the word "exterminate" in its game description right?

In the previous Sins of a Solar Empire Beta Diaries on QJ.NET, both Sally and Charles mentioned that the game was easy. I'd like it to go on record that I only agree with them to a certain degree. Getting into the game is easy enough, and the tutorial proved to be very helpful. However, once you get into the meat and bones of the game, players will find a pretty deep and complicated interplay between the different units.

Suffice to say, I'm not going to go over the technical aspects or basic gameplay of the game. The way I see it, if you have a computer that can run Sins of a Solar Empire and you take the time to play through the tutorial, you should be all set and ready to focus your efforts towards becoming a good player. Over the course of these Beta Diaries, I hope to discuss the different tactics and strategies that players can employ in their bid for galactic domination.

The Sins of a Solar Empire Beta Diary 3 can be found in the full article.

 

The dreaded kid is here, and he's out to make the women cry and the men feel bad about themselves. DreaDNoughT and kid101skater worked together to create the beginnings of a homebrew RPG on the PSP, called Dreaded Kid, and you get to play the titular child everyone fears.

As the two of them mentioned in a tip to us (Thanks!), it's their:

idea of a beginning to a really fun homebrew RPG game i thought of doing like 3 levels before i would release it and i also thought that if i don't make it to the beginning of April i would release it as it is.

features: a really cool menu system that remembers your options, 5 slot save game support, ability to turn on and off sound, and music and intro, and some playability.

The game itself isn't very long as of yet, but they are promising some additional features once they start working on it. For now, why don't you give it a try and see what happens. They've left two different versions to try out, one for custom firmwares, and another for 1.5 firmwares. For now, we've combined the two to make it easier for us to upload, but feel free to use whichever one in our combination package suits your needs. Enjoy!

Download: Dreaded Kid Beta

Mario comes back to save a platform other than his own in v3.5 of Mario Don't Drop The PSP (or else...). v3.5 differs from the last version only in that DreaDNoughT and Kid101skater tossed in a new "Speed Boost" feature, activated by Square, for Mario to run after hard-to-reach PSPs on the other side of the widescreen. Also tossed in for good measure is that Mario is now (kinda) animated.

That Boost bar is highly limited; every level-up, you gain 1/4th of the bar back. Still no enemies coming out from the side, as someone once suggested, but running after a falling PSP is hard work enough at the higher levels. Trust us: after a 9-to-5 of catching falling PSPs, dodging Flying Wiimotes of Doom (TM), and scooping crayons off our backsides, the only thing left on our list is trying to get home breathing.

Thanks for dropping the tip, joshrulez2!

Download: [Mario Don't Drop the PSP v3.5]

Now that kid101skater's got his computer up and running again, he got help from DreaDNought and Birdman, recoded the Deviant Flash application, and sent it out for PSP users to enjoy. Ladies and gents, here's Deviant Flash v2.

Compared to version 1 and the FW2.80 version, this one's equipped with more features. In addition to the usual gameboot and font flashing, Deviant Flash v2 also has the following new things going for it:

• All Wallpaper Flashing
• Enable/Disable Net Update
• Topmenu Plugin Flashing
• Bootsound Plugin Flashing
• Full Dump

According to kid101skater, Deviant Flash v2 works on 2.8, 1.5, 2.71 SE, 3.02 OE-A, and 3.02 OE-B. The standard warnings for anything that writes to flash apply though: check the readme and make sure you know what you're doing or you could brick your PSP. Also, remember what firmware you're using for flashing the topmenu plugin, as he mentions that it will make your life a lot harder - that or you'll hurt your PSP badly.

Before we give you the download though, one last tidbit for you. Here's a video of Deviant Flash v2 in its early stages. Happy downloading, and be careful!

Download: [Deviant Flash v2]

QJ reader DreaDNoughT left this message in our mailbox today:

i know it's a bit late to post something related to Halloween.. but we swedes celebrate it today.. anyway kevin and i decided to make mddp a little more Halloween related and i made some small bugfixes to it.. so now the psp doesn't slow down when u change the direction Mario is facing

So, we downloaded the game. We loaded it into our PSP. We played for a bit. Enjoyed ourselves. Had some fun. Took some screens, and now we're posting it here for everyone else to download. All in a day's fun...er, we mean work. He he.

The controls are easy. Left and right move Mario across the screen. X makes Mario jump. Also be sure that you, just like the game title says, don't drop the PSP... or else...

  

Nice work DreaDNoughT! Keep those updates coming.

Download: [Mario Don't Drop the PSP V3 (Halloween edition)]

There is no denying the fact that despite our difference in opinions, morals and beliefs, the one thing that binds us all is our obsession with anything and everything PSP. DreaDNoughT's first ever homebrew, PSP Obsession, could be the credo of our generation.

"I was cleaning out my computer today.. and I found my absolute first homebrew game for the psp.. I was thinking that I have never released this so I might as well clean the code up and release it.. So here is the first homebrew game I've made," says DreaDNoughT. Think of it as a reverse Mario Don't Drop the PSP where this time instead of just waiting for the PSP to fall onto your lap, you'd have to chase it around the game area while trying not to get hit by an agile Pac-man. Why Pac-man is after you, we have no clue. Nonetheless, it's fun to outrun it anyway.

He gives his sincerest thanks to supa_sick for the background image and virons for the EBOOT icon. All the coding and characters including the Pac-man image are all done by DreaDNoughT. His other works include Mario Don't Drop the PSP series, Win Portal and the infamous Hackers vs Sony.

Download: [PSP Obsession]

DreaDNoughT has released the second beta of the homebrew game HvS or Hackers vs Sony. For those of you not familiar with the sidescrolling game, you defend the interests of hackers against the merciless attacks of Sony:

  

Here's what DreaDNoughT had to say about HvS v0.2b:

"as promised here it is, the long awaited second beta of hvs; it has scrolling, stable gravity matrix, smoothened up character movement, a menu that's actually working.. now we have worked on this for about 2 months now and it's very well done, so if anyone that don't want to download this because the previous version sucked, well i can tell u that this is WAY better then the prev version, and all the credits goes to virons (music and graphics) and me dreadnought (coding this)"

If you try it out, let us know how you find it. To play the game:

• analog nub - controls the character (can be disabled)
• directional pad - controls the character
• cross button - jumping
• square button - shooting
• triangle button - shielding
• sound can also be disabled in the menu

Download: [Hackers vs Sony (HvS) v0.2b]

Update: DreaDNoughT's minor jab of a homebrew just received a minor update. The good developer noticed a bug in the winning screen where you get to see a "2.71 upgraders have penetrated the base" sign; according to him, it should have been 2.81 instead of 2,71, so that has been fixed. He also "made a little adjustment in the loading of the music," to address some speed issues.

Download: [Update on HvS v02b]

What has Mario done that no other PSP character, superhero, and mythical figure combined haven't done yet? Save PSPs from falling of course. So what if Superman saves the world on a daily basis? So what if the gods of Olympus can decide to change our fate on a whim? Have they saved any PSPs from falling lately? We thought so.

DreaDNoughT is back, and together with Kevin, has released v3.0 of Mario Don't Drop the PSP. After an agonizing two months of waiting, here are the latest additions to the game.

Changelog:

• Two new levels
• One block who will kill ya
• One suprise level
• Changed menu background
• Music added
• New in game background added
• Code optimised
• Added a mushroom for extra life

  

"Kevin and I have not had much time to code and make graphics these few months because of a few things that got in the way... But these latest days and the coming week I'm able to code again and Virons and Kevin is ready to supply me with graphics and music, so you can look forward to a 2nd beta of HvS in the next week," says DreaDNoughT.

The game isn't half bad, but it lacks difficulty levels. The bombs, the falling DS and the changes in drop speed is a good start, but it gets too easy after a while. We suggest enemies coming out from the sides, like a missile or a Goomba. This way, it'll make much more sense, if you're still planning to add a star for level up.

Don't hold up. Keep the updates coming. Thanks so much for sharing your work DreaDNoughT.

Download: [Mario Don't Drop the PSP v3.0]

It has always been a cat and mouse relationship between hackers (or attackers according to FrSIRT) and Sony. And by cat and mouse by no means do we refer to Tom and Jerry, but the carnage that is Itchy and Scratchy and the nasty ways they've figured out to hurt or in this case outwit one another.

Take the case of DevHook. Some time in August the developer received a Cease and Desist Order from Sony that lead to the site's shutdown. But that little stint only caused developers to get even. Hence, the release of numerous downdaters/downgraders. While others like DreaDNoughT took the more comical approach by releasing a satirical game called Hackers vs Sony.

When FrSIRT reported that "A vulnerability has been identified in Sony PSP, which could be exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary commands," it's like music to hackers' ears. We can only speculate that this urged Sony to take the defensive and release v2.81, with a v2.81 ad flashing across their site. However, it is so far only available in Europe as the US site still has v2.80 on their System Update page. Even the Sony's Official Japanese site doesn't have this release.

QJ Forum members have been so kind as to try and download the World Tour Soccer 2 with hopes that it's bundled in the game, but the experiment only confirmed that it is not coupled with the game. If you want to go see it for yourself you can bypass the YourPSP registration by entering in your PSP's serial number and putting "SB" at the front instead of the other letters you have, and by entering PSP-1003 as the code.

Which can only lead us to speculate, wait and speculate some more on what Sony is up to. At this point, we can only give you a friendly reminder: If you still want to play your homebrew, do not upgrade.

Since Scratchy has made his move, aren't you the least bit curious what Itchy will do?

Discuss: [Forum Thread]

During their GC 2006 speech, Nintendo finally revealed that Battalion Wars 2 is now actually being developed by Kuju Entertainment for Nintendo Wii.

Battalion Wars 2 is a sequel to the GameCube game, Battalion Wars, that revolves around the story of Commander Pierce and Colonel Windsor of the Anglo Isles launching a preemptive strike on the Coral Atolls after being tricked into believing that the Solar Empire is developing a devastating super-weapon.

We are excited to tell you that the game will now feature three online multiplayer modes:

    • Assault: Instant Combat
    • Skirmish: Tactical depth
    • Co-op: Work with friends

Combat will take place at land, sea and air with new naval suits:

    • Battleship
    • Frigate
    • Submarine
    • Dreadnought
    • Transport

There will also be six different races, five different environments, and 20+ single player missions plus 15+ multiplayer missions. In addition to that, player can capture facility buildings to re-spawn units and use Map Screen Commanding to order from afar. With these features, we bet that Battalion Wars 2 is a sure hit among Nintendo Wii fans. The only hitch is, there is no release date yet.