Never get lost with DS while MIA hunting on PSP
Week seven of our regular homebrew round-up is all about location, location, location
As the rest of the games world draws its breath before the big Easter releases of 2008, we find that homebrew marches steadily on. In the considerable shadow of the upcoming Mario Kart, GTA IV and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, we turn our attention instead to some more productive software for our favourite handheld systems.
It's not been easy, swearing off commercial games on the DS and PSP, but the last six weeks have shown the impressive diversity and quality of produce available from the homebrew community. And this week has been no different.
Bearing in mind the amount of time I'm likely to be spending on my home consoles next month I thought I should head out and get some fresh air. But before hitting the road I had the good sense to set up DSmaps. DSmaps is a map viewer that uses a wi-fi connection to download satellite map images from the Google Maps 'keyhole server'.
Once you have DLDI patched the software for your particular homebrew cart and configured your wi-fi connection, you can pan, zoom and navigate your way back home to your heart's delight. What's more, it really does work. I found it more than invaluable as I visited a local, not entirely familiar city. Navigating the narrow back streets had never been easier. And not looking like a tourist struggling futilely with a massive map in the wind was something of a bonus.
After trooping around the streets for a few hours, I headed to a coffee house for some much needed sustenance. As useful as maps are, I was nevertheless glad to have something a little more entertaining on my Slim & Lite (which of course I also carry around with me) while I casually sipped my Americano.
Metal Blob Solid v1.04 is homebrew coder Deniska's update of his port of Parallel Realities' 2D mission-based platformer of Metal Blob Solid. It's available for firmware 3.xx and just needs to have the Blob folder copied to ms:/PSP/GAME3XX on your PSP.
Both games are quite obviously inspired by Metal Gear Solid. Here, players go through more than 25 missions in control of Bob, a fearless stooge who has to try and infiltrate various enemy bases to rescue missing in action chums. Needless to say, I whiled away a few happy hours (and a few strong coffees) playing through the current set of levels.
Eventually, the coffee shop shut although not before chucking me out. As I started the long journey home, my thoughts turned to this column and my hope that you've again found something useful in the wonderful world of homebrew, whose breadth and quality of software continues to impress.
As ever, we'll have more for you next week.