Hey everyone,

Earlier in the week we reported on a rumour, started by PlayStation Lifestyle saying that Final Fantasy VII would be coming to the PlayStation 3; however they hadn’t commented in what way, shape or form the game would be coming (prequel, remake, sequel).

PlayStation Lifestyle’s “inside sources” have continued to say that there will definitely not, by any means be a Final Fantasy VII remake in the near future. However, there sources did confirm that there would definitely be a Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation 3; through the form or a sequel.

Rumours have also been flying around that Final Fantasy VII would be appearing on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, despite the fact that PlayStation Lifestyle was one of the main contributors to these rumours - they have gone back and denied the credibility of them, saying that it’s unlikely that Sony would give up the license for Final Fantasy VII.

As I’d predicted, it looks as if PlayStation Lifestyle’s sources are indeed there imaginations; as they’ve gone back on several of the things that they have claimed. I guess we’ll just have to wait until Tokyo Game Show 2008 to find out for sure.

Hey everyone,

PlayStation 3 fansite, PlayStation Lifestyle recently reported on some “exclusive inside info” regarding the next installment in the Final Fantasy VII franchise.

The website claims that Square Enix has confirmed a Final Fantasy VII title for the PlayStation 3 console, unfortunately they didn’t have anything in the ways of specifics so it’s unclear as to whether or not they are talking about the final installment in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII; or the rumoured remake of Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation 3.

PlayStation Lifestyle continued to say that the original game, Final Fantasy VII will be released for download on the PlayStation Network later this year. What I will say on the matter is, why would Square Enix talk to a relatively unknown gaming blog like PlayStation Lifestyle; furthermore “exclusive inside sources” usually translates to “my own imagination“.

If you’ve been following news on the Final Fantasy front, then you’ll know that Square Enix are saving a big PlayStation 3 announcement for the DKΣ3713 Party (though this website claims the announcement will be made public at the Tokyo Game Show); so there could well be some truth in it - especially since Square Enix have already said the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII isn’t over. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if Final Fantasy VII did come to the PlayStation Network; because it’s an obvious move on Square Enix’s behalf.

It’s a well known fact that the PSP can play PlayStation games downloaded from the PlayStation Network, however it’s not a well known fact that the PSP can play any EBOOT PlayStation title as long as your system is set up correctly. If you’ve ever tried playing an unofficial EBOOT with Custom Firmware then you’ll know that you’re often greeted by “the black screen of infinite”, this method will show you how to bypass that screen and play absolutely any PlayStation title.

Alright, before you do anything there are several things that you are going to need to play PlayStation games on a PSP running custom firmware version 3.80 M33 all the way up until the most recent release, 4.00 M33. Before you do anything, check that you have what is required to complete this tutorial from the list below.

• PSP Running Custom Firmware Version 3.80 M33-4.00 M33
• Some form of connecting the PSP to a computer, whether it be by USB cable or Memory Stick Duo Pro Card Reader
• Popsloader 3.80 M33
• PSARDumper
• 3.72 Firmware EBOOT
• A PlayStation game EBOOT, our example in this game is going to be a Final Fantasy VII Multi-Disk EBOOT

Note: The following method is a proven, tried and tested method. There is absolutely no chance that doing this will brick your PSP as long as you are running CFW 3.72 M33+, preferably 3.90 M33 as this is the CFW I used whilst creating this tutorial.

1. First things first, connect your PSP to the computer by either using a USB cable or a Memory Stick Duo Pro Card Reader.
2. Once you’re connected, download Popsloader 3.80 M33 and extract the RAR Archive into the PSP/Memory Stick Duo Pro root folder. For example, extract the RAR Archive to ‘X:\’ meaning that the contents of the Zip Archive will be found in ‘X:\SEPLUGINS’ (X:\ stands for the USB slot that your device is connected to).
3. Alright, now you’ve got to download PSARDumper and extract the contents to ‘X:\PSP\GAME’, meaning that the contents of the Zip Archive will be found at ‘X:\PSP\GAME\newspsardumper’. PSARDumper will extract the official PlayStation emulator files from the official 3.72 firmware update that you will put onto your PSP in the next step.
4. Now download the 3.72 firmware EBOOT and copy it to the root folder, in doing so it’s location will be ‘X:\EBOOT.PBP’.
5. Turn on your PSP and navigate to ‘GAME > Memory Stick > NEW PSAR DUMPER’ and press X.
6. This will run the PSARDumper, a series of options will become available once the program is launched – just press Square and PSARDumper will begin decrypting the required files from the official 3.72 firmware update.
7. After a few minutes the process will be completed and you will return to the PSP’s XMB. Turn off your PSP and reconnect it to your computer.
8. The root folder of the PSP’s Memory Stick Duo Pro will contain a new folder containing the decrypted files called ‘F0’, from this folder you need to copy the following files:

‘X:\F0\kd\popsman.prx’, ‘X:\F0\kd\pops.prx’, ‘X:\F0\vsh\module\pafmini.prx’ and ‘X:\F0\vsh\module\libpspvmc.prx’

9. Once you’ve copied these files paste them into the ‘X:\SEPLUGINS\popsloader’ folder, renaming each file so that it has 372 just before the extension. For example, popsman372.prx.
10. If you so wish, you can now delete the F0 folder from the PSP.
11. Disconnect the PSP from the computer, and boot it up in Recovery Mode. For those of you who don’t know how to do this, hold down the R Button and flick up the power switch.
12. From this menu select ‘Plugins ->’ and click popsloader.prx [POPS] to enable the plugin.
13. Congratulations, you now have your PSP set up to emulate PlayStation titles such as Final Fantasy VII – if this is the first time you have ever ran Popsloader you’ll be given a list of firmware’s to chose from; just select the ‘3.72’ option. Make sure you chose 3.72 otherwise you’ll have to start the entire process again.
14. One last thing, Popsloader automatically launches upon selecting a game (you should store games in the ‘X:\PSP\GAME’ folder); if you want to play a PlayStation game make sure you have copied the game into the GAME folder - for example in Final Fantasy VII’s case it would be in the folder ‘X:\PSP\GAME\Final Fantasy VII\EBOOT.PBP’.

That concludes the tutorial on how to set up a PSP for emulating PlayStation games, however due to the nature of PlayStation games and the fact that they are not designed for playing on PSP (unless they’ve been released on the PlayStation Network), you will suffer from the occasional glitch. For example, sometimes when you are exiting a battle in Final Fantasy VII the screen becomes engulfed in weird little glitches; however there’s often a common fix such as exiting and re-entering the appropriate area.

By pressing the HOME button on your PSP you can change the emulation settings, for example choosing ‘Other Settings’ allows you to make the game widescreen; whilst changing the ‘Controller Settings’ can allow you to use the PSP’s Analog Stick rather than the default D-Pad. There is also an option to switch discs; however this only works with Multi-Disk EBOOT’s such as the one I used in the example.

Hey everyone,

Not the kind of title you want to read really is it? Considering that we’d all been hoping for a 10^th Anniversary Final Fantasy VII remake. But Nomura quite clearly put his foot down and said there will be no Final Fantasy VII remake anytime soon.

Interestingly though Yoshinori Kitase, overall director of the Final Fantasy VII compilation added:

However, when we ask the staff who are making FFXIII why they entered the company, there are many people who say, ‘I’m an FFVII fan, I also want to do a remake.

Quickly followed up by Tetsuya Nomura with:

We of course know ourselves what the fans want so we’d like to continue thinking up a variety of things. As long as there are people who want to make it and people who are waiting for it, we don’t want to proclaim “the end”.

So put it this way, there is still hope that a Final Fantasy VII remake might exist one day in far future - but right now it’s definitely not on Square Enix’s cards.

Hey everyone,

Whilst browsing the internet today I found something that most Final Fantasy VII and Second Life fans will find very interesting, based on the Second Life engine a group of Second Life residents have managed to recreate Midgar! The game, currently titled Midgar was blessed by Square Enix and judging by the screenshots you can really see why.

This isn’t just a Second Life map though, it has lots of custom features that make this mod really special. For example when starting Midgar you can chose one of three classes, Warrior, Gunner of Caster. From there on you can decide whether or not you want to take on the life of a SOLDIER or join the rebel group, AVALANCHE and save the planet from been sucked dry.

Hopefully this project doesn’t get shut down, because at the moment it only has about 300 players and I’m sure theres a lot more of you out there that would like to enjoy Midgar.

Full Story - Onder’s Game: Midgar