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The Installer writes with news that Nintendo is seeing a significant financial downturn to match the general slowdown in the rest of the industry. "Sales of the once unstoppable Wii console have tumbled for the first time since its launch three years ago, sending the gaming giant's quarterly profit down 61 percent." Meanwhile, Sony is feeling the pain as well; the company sold 500,000 fewer PS3 consoles than in the previous quarter, and PSP sales saw an even bigger drop. Interestingly, Sony also revealed that the manufacturing cost of the PS3 has now dropped 70% since it was released. The drop in sales has caused the resurgence of rumors about console price cuts.

After enjoying several years of popularity, music games seem to be drawing less and less interest from gamers lately. Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles have been conspicuously absent from a list of the 20 best-selling software titles in the past two months, and one report estimates that revenue from those games has dropped by almost half. Analyst Jesse Divnich suggests that there's no longer much room for dramatic improvements in game play, saying, "it would be erroneous to assume that any franchise or brand can grow unless it brings something new to the table. After a while, utility to the gamer will diminish and he/she will surely move on." Nevertheless, the companies are happy to continue to rely on DLC sales while working on new releases. Harmonix is showing off a trailer and a partial set list for The Beatles: Rock Band, and Neversoft has detailed a number of new features and tracks for Guitar Hero 5.

indrora writes "The PSP community was rocked this weekend by the Homebrew Enabler (HEN) from developers Davee and Bubbletune. One of their friends on the Team Typhoon development team posted a YouTube video showing proof of the TIFF Exploit running on Firmware 5.03, changing the firmware version and MAC address for a reboot. This comes after a picture of gpSP running on a PSP-3000 via the HEN exploit. From the QJ.net article: 'First [things] first: No, Davee hasn't finished the HEN yet. Which means it isn't out yet. What we do have today is some visual confirmation that the HEN can indeed run emulators, in this case the GBA emulator gpSP.' And from the more recent article showing the exploit demo video: 'Be patient, everyone. Davee's HEN Kernel exploit will eventually arrive, given time. "This is a demo of the 5.03 firmware running the tiff exploit and booting into a HEN environment on a PSP 2003 (3000 Support also) on 5.03 Official Firmware. This proves that the code survives a reboot and the system software and MAC address can be changed. This is something that only can be done with a kernel exploit. A video launching homebrew will be posted later."' Hopefully, we'll soon have PSP-3000s playing homebrew games and running PSP uCLinux."

indrora writes "The PSP community was rocked this weekend by the Homebrew Enabler (HEN) from developers Davee and Bubbletune. One of their friends on the Team Typhoon development team posted a YouTube video showing proof of the TIFF Exploit running on Firmware 5.03, changing the firmware version and MAC address for a reboot. This comes after a picture of gpSP running on a PSP-3000 via the HEN exploit. From the QJ.net article: 'First [things] first: No, Davee hasn't finished the HEN yet. Which means it isn't out yet. What we do have today is some visual confirmation that the HEN can indeed run emulators, in this case the GBA emulator gpSP.' And from the more recent article showing the exploit demo video: 'Be patient, everyone. Davee's HEN Kernel exploit will eventually arrive, given time. "This is a demo of the 5.03 firmware running the tiff exploit and booting into a HEN environment on a PSP 2003 (3000 Support also) on 5.03 Official Firmware. This proves that the code survives a reboot and the system software and MAC address can be changed. This is something that only can be done with a kernel exploit. A video launching homebrew will be posted later."' Hopefully, we'll soon have PSP-3000s playing homebrew games and running PSP uCLinux."

An anonymous reader writes "My friend Jake just bought a PS3, and he wanted to install Linux on it. Since he didn't know much about Linux, it was my responsibility to help him with it. His requirements — Install a distribution which is easy to maintain and run. He wanted to make the full use of his Linux install, so he needed a distro which wouldn't hold him back with frustrating problems. The only solution was using a distro which had a better package management system, and did its work without bothering you, the end user. Having used Gentoo extensively, I knew that this would be the solution to my problems. What follows is full install instructions, plus personal opinions, on why Gentoo is better than Fedora Core or YDL on the PS3"

Via Opposable Thumbs at Ars Technica, the news at IGN that there are some annoying backwards compatibility issues with the PS3 and the PS2. Specifically, there are about 196 games that are experiencing issues. From the article: "In response to these issues, Sony's PR department pointed out that it, from the start, expected backwards compatibility to be less than 100%. It was also good enough to point out that some people can put up with playing games that lack sound. Regardless of this somewhat arrogant response, an official statement issued at the PlayStation.com site states that Sony will fix the problems with a future system update, and may even resort to individual patches for certain titles. When this will happen has yet to be specified." Qj.net has a list of some of the problem games, with their specific issues. It sounds bad, but to put this in perspective I believe there are still far more PS2 games playable on the PS3 than there are Xbox games playable on the 360.

eldavojohn writes "In a brief QJ article about STO, the Glen Dahlgren (Design Director of Star Trek Online) mentions a few details about STO:

Dahlgren insists that it's still too early to reveal the game's specifics and in-depth details, but tells that players will be able to choose whether to group in space or join a crewed ship. Gamers will also be able to fly more powerful ships and vessels and the captain will have some incredible abilities that players will surely look forward to. He also reveals that they are currently working on ensuring that new players will get the help they need when faced with unfamiliar terrain. There won't be auto-leveling of characters but they will provide tools to make off-line time valuable to the online experience.

What makes this interesting is that there have been a lot of indicators that STO will be aiming to achieve 'high-end content' and not just combat content. It's becoming obvious that MMO's new to the scene need to offer consumers more than just combat content. Will STO be able to coax both the Sims Online and World of Warcraft crowds?"

Cyraan writes "PSP owners rejoice! Hot on the heels of the recent exploit discovery & bricking that resulted from early test versions comes a confirmed working downgrader. The method uses a GTA eLoader that will turn any version 2.50/2.60 PSP, with the exception of those with a TA-082 motherboard (how to check without opening/voiding warranty), into a version 1.50 capable of playing all forms of homebrew. One thing that may not be mentioned specifically in the article: it is recommended you NOT use the 32mb Memory Stick that came with the PSP, as the process creates alot of log files that can fill it up, possibly causing a brick."

Cyraan writes "PSP owners rejoice! Hot on the heels of the recent exploit discovery & bricking that resulted from early test versions comes a confirmed working downgrader. The method uses a GTA eLoader that will turn any version 2.50/2.60 PSP, with the exception of those with a TA-082 motherboard (how to check without opening/voiding warranty), into a version 1.50 capable of playing all forms of homebrew. One thing that may not be mentioned specifically in the article: it is recommended you NOT use the 32mb Memory Stick that came with the PSP, as the process creates alot of log files that can fill it up, possibly causing a brick."

Cyraan writes "PSP owners rejoice! Hot on the heels of the recent exploit discovery & bricking that resulted from early test versions comes a confirmed working downgrader. The method uses a GTA eLoader that will turn any version 2.50/2.60 PSP, with the exception of those with a TA-082 motherboard (how to check without opening/voiding warranty), into a version 1.50 capable of playing all forms of homebrew. One thing that may not be mentioned specifically in the article: it is recommended you NOT use the 32mb Memory Stick that came with the PSP, as the process creates alot of log files that can fill it up, possibly causing a brick."

quickjump writes "PSP Updates and Lik-Sang yesterday kicked off their second PSP coding contest, the Summer Homebrew Competition. Programmers now have 45 days to submit a new program, to be screened by people such as Fanjita and others, and then put up for a popular vote to determine the 3 winners with over $500 in PSP prizes, including a 4GB Datel drive, Blaze TV adapter, faceplates, battery packs, cases, a 1GB memory stick and more!"

quickjump writes "PSP Updates and Lik-Sang yesterday kicked off their second PSP coding contest, the Summer Homebrew Competition. Programmers now have 45 days to submit a new program, to be screened by people such as Fanjita and others, and then put up for a popular vote to determine the 3 winners with over $500 in PSP prizes, including a 4GB Datel drive, Blaze TV adapter, faceplates, battery packs, cases, a 1GB memory stick and more!"

m3lt writes "Hackers have purchased the XBox 360 so they will have generation 1 models, which are more prone to security flaws. At hackaday there is an article about Xbox 360 First Impressions. More importantly though, it looks as if homebrew browsers are already showing up for the Xbox 360." Additionally, geekylinuxkid writes "It looks like another bounty is being offered for linux on a console. This time it is for the xbox 360 and is provided by the guys at free360.org. Join in, donate, and contribute to the community."

Mike wrote to mention an apology from the creator of the DS Trojan. From the article: "I won't release any more of this crap for DS and I don't think parts of this trojan or the idea itself will emerge in future homebrew releases. The point is probably clear. Do not run any form of untrusted code that just suddenly appears without any name."

roka writes "SonyxTeam has just released a downgrader for the PSP using the toc2rta 2.0 overflow in libtiff. This has been tested and found working by PSP news sites. This is basically opening all sold models of the PSP to homebrew applications and will boost homebrew software development for Sony's handheld."

Doomstalk writes "PSP news site PSP Updates is reporting that a buffer overflow flaw has been found in PSP firmware v2.0's photo viewer. So far it's only been used to corrupt the menu display, but it holds great promise for running homebrew code on upgraded PSPs." From the article: "Thanks to the unknown author(s) for this great starting point to have homebrew on 2.0, all that is needed are coders to extend this knowledge for full homebrew usage on the v2.0 firmware. We cannot say when someone will step up to the plate and write the code for users to run homebrew on a 2.0 using this exploit, but we will definitely have our ears (and email boxes) open and be sure to let you know as soon as we do."

Doomstalk writes "PSP news site PSP Updates is reporting that a buffer overflow flaw has been found in PSP firmware v2.0's photo viewer. So far it's only been used to corrupt the menu display, but it holds great promise for running homebrew code on upgraded PSPs." From the article: "Thanks to the unknown author(s) for this great starting point to have homebrew on 2.0, all that is needed are coders to extend this knowledge for full homebrew usage on the v2.0 firmware. We cannot say when someone will step up to the plate and write the code for users to run homebrew on a 2.0 using this exploit, but we will definitely have our ears (and email boxes) open and be sure to let you know as soon as we do."

Doomstalk writes "PSP news site PSP Updates is reporting that a buffer overflow flaw has been found in PSP firmware v2.0's photo viewer. So far it's only been used to corrupt the menu display, but it holds great promise for running homebrew code on upgraded PSPs." From the article: "Thanks to the unknown author(s) for this great starting point to have homebrew on 2.0, all that is needed are coders to extend this knowledge for full homebrew usage on the v2.0 firmware. We cannot say when someone will step up to the plate and write the code for users to run homebrew on a 2.0 using this exploit, but we will definitely have our ears (and email boxes) open and be sure to let you know as soon as we do."