During the days of the original PlayStation, a little 2D platformer by the name of Tomba! managed to receive critical acclaim and wowed the gamers who played it. For a long time now, folks all over the internet have stated that they want to see the classic PlayStation title on the PlayStation Network. For those individuals, it’s time to celebrate, because Tomba! is officially headed to Sony’s download platform this summer as part of its PSone Classics line.

Because the original developer, Whoopee Camp, disbanded following the launch of Tomba! 2, Sony will have MonkeyPaw Games bringing the title to the PlayStation Network. “Sony and MonkeyPaw have a good working relationship,” said studio head John Greiner in a statement to Joystiq. “I think they appreciate the titles we’ve brought to the Store. And they value the support we give the games. Hence, Sony is willing to work with us on titles that may not have otherwise been licensed out. Support is key.”

MonkeyPaw has been trying to develop Tomba! for the PlayStation Network for quite some time now, and while the developer would love to eventually port Tomba! 2 to PSone Classics, it needs to take things one step at a time. “Tomba! 2 is a possibility but we need to really sell Tomba! 1 well before we can extend our relationship,” said Greiner. “It’s the first time to work with [Tokuro] Fujiwara-san [the founder of Whoopee Camp] so we’re trying to make a good impression. Good sales have a way of opening doors a bit wider.”

Here’s hoping Tomba! does sell well. As someone who never played the original game on account of my lack of a PlayStation, I look forward to getting acquainted with this charming old school classic.

While we’re still awaiting Sony’s implementation of the PSOne emulator for PS Vita, a lone hacker has managed to get PSOne games up and running on the Vita, albeit unofficially. The feat was performed using a kernel exploit inside the emulated PSP environment. That’s right — this is essentially an emulator running inside an emulator.

The hacker, who wishes to remain anonymous, has also shared video proof above of the feat (via PSPKing.de). We couldn’t make out any performance issues, so games appear to be running smooth. However, there’s at least one show-stopping bug made obvious by the lack of sound. The hacker is attempting to fix this and if he succeeds, plans to release the source code.

It’s worth noting however that users of the publicly released Vita exploit (otherwise known as VHBL) will not be able to take advantage of this, as patching the emulator requires kernel-level access. Earlier this month, a complete dump of the PSP emulator flash0 memory surfaced, though the kernel exploit used to obtain those files remains under wraps. So far, Sony has been extremely diligent when it comes to patching up known exploits on the Vita, and with discoveries like this it’s not hard to understand why.

Ubisoft is celebrating the warm month of May with some impressive deals on a bunch of games. If you managed to blaze through Max Payne 3 and/or are currently disliking Diablo III and you need something to play, you may want to check out Ubisoft’s discounts, which were announced on the PlayStation Blog.

PlayStation Plus members get 50 percent off, while all other PlayStation 3 gamers will be able to snag some titles for 30 percent off. The sale covers a wide variety of games, from smaller downloadable titles such as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game to digital versions of retail games like Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. DLC is also discounted, and HD remakes like Beyond Good & Evil HD are included in Ubisoft’s May sale, as well.

You’ll find the full list of discounted games below, with prices for PlayStation Plus users and standard PlayStation Network folks. Personally, I would recommend Outland to anyone who hasn’t already played it. The game is a beauty to behold, and its strong soundtrack and great platforming/bullet hell gameplay make it a truly special little download. more »

The used game market is easily one of the strongest aspects of video games, and it’s also pretty damn important. Not only do gamers get the chance to save a few bucks on big titles, but used games also allow folks to become familiar with a new series, play a game that may be hard to find new, or just increase their ever-growing backlog (because we’re all guilty of taking advantage of sales despite the fact that we have too much to play as it is).

With talk about the next Xbox and PlayStation consoles revealing that these platforms will supposedly block used games, it should come as no surprise that plenty of gamers and developers are kind of annoyed. After all, much like Twisted Metal co-creator David Jaffe has stated in the past, buying a used game allows gamers to become familiar with a franchise, which means that those gamers are likely to directly support the next entry by purchasing a brand new copy. As for those of us who play games, well, gaming is expensive, so if we can save a few bucks, we will.

Apparently, Sony President and CEO Jack Tretton is against the blocking of used games, reports That VideoGame Blog. In an episode of GameTrailers’ Bonus Round, analyst Michael Pachter said that he had talked to Tretton, who revealed that he felt blocking used games was “anti-consumer.” According to the Sony boss, the used game market is “great for consumers,” and he even went as far as to say that he was “opposed to blocking used games.”

Tretton explained that he was speaking only on his behalf, and that he didn’t represent any other Sony employee’s stance on used games. That said, it’s great to see someone so high up in the company making a bold statement against blocking used games for next-gen consoles. Because seriously, that would be pretty disgusting.

While the PSP may have been a great device with some outstanding games, it’s no secret that it hasn’t sold very well. Following the launch of the PlayStation Vita, the need for a PSP dipped exponentially. As a result, 25 percent of all GameStop stores in the U.S. will no longer carry games for Sony’s previous handheld.

The news comes courtesy of a GameStop rep, who told Kotaku, “The consolidation is occurring to maximize the merchandising space in the smallest 25 percent of stores. It will also provide a greater assortment in those stores that will continue to carry the category.”

Gamers with an itch for tangible PSP games will still be able to obtain them through larger GameStop stores, as well as on the retailer’s website. So if you still haven’t gotten those copies of Patapon 3 or Prinny 2, you’ll have the opportunity to do so. Which makes me wonder, why did you wait so long to get such great games?

This news should come as no surprise. The PSP isn’t all that popular, and with a new Sony handheld, it’s easy to see that PSP games go ignored at plenty of retailers. To be honest, that’s still kind of a mystery when you take into account the overall lack of Vita titles.

Last March, well-known homebrew developer Davee revealed that he gained kernel access within the PS Vita’s PSP emulator and released a partial reverse of Kermit, an API used for communication between the emulated and native environment. Now another developer who goes by the Twitter alias “The Z” has leaked a complete dump of the PSP emulator’s flash0 memory – which was obtained from Davee’s private exploit.

The contents are decrypted and include user and kernel keys.

With this latest episode, it seems the underground PS Vita “scene” is heading down the same road as PS3, full of drama and no respect for fellow developers.

Sony has yanked PSP title Motorstorm Arctic Edge from the PlayStation Store following an announcement from homebrew developer wololo that said game was vulnerable to a savegame exploit, which allows Vita users to run homebrew code through the built-in PSP emulator. It’s worth noting that this is based on the same exploit showcased by teck4 not long after the Vita launch. To date, it still has not been patched through firmware.

We can confirm that the title is no longer showing up for purchase on the associated US and EU storefronts. A swift response, though we can’t say it was entirely unexpected considering Sony was also very quick to remove Mercury when a savegame exploit surfaced for the PSPgo years back.

This comes despite the fact that the exploit code still has yet to be released in the wild. Wololo noted that he’ll have it ready for public consumption within a few days, coming in the form of a Vita-tailored Homebrew Loader (VHBL). Evidently Sony isn’t taking chances when it comes to hackers fiddling with their new baby. That means those who haven’t already downloaded and installed the game are essentially out of luck.

Sony continues to roll out minor system software updates for the PS Vita, deploying firmware 1.52 via Network Update today. While there’s no supplied changelog – as is the norm for these types of updates, word has it an instance where the 3G Vita would not recognize a SIM card has been fixed.

Apart from that, there appears to be no other noteworthy changes, but we’ll let you know if we stumble upon any new features.

Additionally, the firmware update is a mandatory one. Users attempting to access to the PlayStation Store will be greeted with an update prompt upon connect. This marks the third firmware update since the Vita’s December debut in Japan, and we doubt it’ll be the last we see before it launches in the US and Europe next month.

Another coder who wishes to remain anonymous has managed to pull off a ‘Hello World’ on PS Vita. While the feat isn’t based on teck4′s earlier exploit, it does share the same approach, in that it executes code from within a PSP environment.

It’s a proof of concept at this stage, with some timely visuals added for good measure. Take a gander at the video above to see it in action. Firmware 1.510 was used for testing, the latest available at the moment.

more »

Although the limelight has been set on the PS Vita as of late, Sony hasn’t forgotten about the PSP. The company today announced three new PSP dual pack bundles.

Carrying a bargain-bin price of $14.99 each, the dual packs feature two UMD games a piece. The packs are as follows:

* MotorStorm: Arctic Edge and Twisted Metal: Head-on
* Patapon and LocoRoco
* Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee and Hot Shots Tennis: Get A Grip

Look for these bundles to show up on US shelves beginning this January, unfortunately missing the holiday shopping season. For those that prefer to go digital — which is a must for Vita backwards compatibility, downloadable versions will also be available via PlayStation Network at the same price.