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If you’re in the PSP homebrew community and have an unlocke PSP, a new version of the KVM J2ME virtual machine has been released.

This little software allows you to play J2ME games on the PSP, extending the core MIDP 2.0 API of J2ME with some vendor-specific libraries, like the Nokia API.

The mobile games scenario has its moments, so this little software will probably find a permanent place in my own PSP.

After years of waiting, the fan translation of Tales of Phantasia PS1 is ready! I tested it for good and can assure you that the patch not only works but it is completely compatible with the PSP, so look for a Japanese version of the game (I suppose it won’t come out cheap for a while, but several store owners are still selling it for its real value that is pretty low since there are tons of copies still around), grab your favourite PSX converter and start playing on the go!

The project took an insane amount of time and a huge hacking effort but in the end the quality is simply unmatched by anything else in the realm of fan translations.

Let it be just another monument against years of region locks and stupid product placement policies that deprived (and still ocasionally deprive) lots of gamers of their favourite titles.

Well that Sony was thinking about a brand new edition of the PSP hardware is a widely known fact. In the usual PSP marketing survey Sony is about to send to all the registered PSP users, there’s a section where users are asked to state their interest in a series of improvements. Here’s the list of the relevant ones:

• Mobile phone integration (there’s a Sony patent that is widely known by now talking about the exact same thing).
• Digital delivery of books (nice) and comics (are you kidding? on such a low res screen?)
• Touch screen (Riiiiidge Raceeeeer!)
• Built-in storage (flash memory or built-in HD)
• PDA functions
• New overall design (clamshell or slider)
• Bigger screen (bigger? I also suggest to change the name in PSP Vaio!)
• Longer battery Life (it’s still the Achille’s heel of the whole product)
• Slimmer, lighter design (Since the PSP Lite, this section should be: “shorter design so you can place it in a pocket”)

The list hints that Sony’s going to radically change the PSP (PSP 2?) in the future.

I really hope for a clamshell design or any other way to protect the screen and I’d really like to see the UMD ditched (a possibility, since there are no new suggested features about that technology) in favor of a flash based solution and digitally delivered games.