After much work over the past few days, we finally succeeded - we have an easy-to-use downgrader for v3.03 PSPs!

Some ground-rules:

• This downgrader is for v3.03 firmware only. But if you have v2.81 - v3.02, no problem - you can just upgrade to v3.03 to use the downgrader.
• You need a copy of the unpatched GTA:Liberty City Stories UMD. No ISOs, no patched UMDs, not Vice City Stories. See here for some info on how to check if your version is patched. The most reliable way : the unpatched disks have the v2.0 firmware update on them.
• This downgrader is intended to enable homebrew. Homebrew is NOT the same as piracy. Don't be a thieving loser - buy the games you play.
• The downgrader will work on all current PSP hardware (TA-079 - TA-086). Patching of TA-082+ is automatic in the downgrader.
• You downgrade at your own risk. There is always a chance of bricking, although we have done everything we can think of to make this process safe.
  
  

If you're not keen on the risk of downgrading your PSP, you might prefer to use a homebrew loader instead. Well, we've thought of you - we give to you "HEN 303 - the Duff release" (named in the eLoader tradition!).

HEN 303 (short for Homebrew ENabler) works in the same way as Dark_AleX's HEN for 2.71 firmwares. By running HEN, it installs a patch in your PSP's memory, that allows you to run homebrew almost as if you had a v1.5 PSP. This patch remains in place until you fully turn off your PSP - it will even survive the PSP being placed into sleep mode.

You remember that the only thing holding us back from a downgrader for v3.03 was the lack of a user-mode exploit?

Well, we don't like to be held back from anything, so we went back to basics and looked over some of the old exploits.  And what do you know?  We found one!

Over and over again, we get questions from people asking things like:

• When will there be a 2.81 downgrader?
• Should I sell my 3.03 PSP and buy a 1.5?
• Should I upgrade my 2.81 to 3.03?

A lot of people have asked for a downgrader for v2.80 that's both safe and simple to use.  Well, the Noobz aim to please - we've merged and ported Dark_AleX's generic downgrader and TA-82 downgrader, to bring you what is probably the best v2.80 downgrader!  :)  

 And as a bonus, we made this possible by porting Dark_AleX's HEN-D release to firmware v2.80, which means that if you don't want to downgrade yet, you now have a good platform for launching kernel-mode homebrew.

Another year come and gone, and the PSP homebrew scene moves from strength to strength.

It's been a wild year.  Who could have predicted,  at the start of 2006, that we would have a custom firmware, that takes the best of the latest Sony code (including a PS1 emulator!), and incorporates full homebrew support (plus some slightly less-kosher features... ), available to just about every PSP?

Merry Christmas everyone!

 It's been a busy year in the PSP world, but now it's time to take a few days off to enjoy time with family and friends.