QuickJump QuickPeek 58: Of PSP summer homebrew contests, Square Enix's DKS3713 mania, and real-life mutant-pigs proving stranger than fiction

It's August! It's August! And yes, the end of the world may be looming large already, care of the Hadron Collider, but pretty much everything else is business as usual. Especially since August is filled with some fun events.

In fact, just this weekend, one of them took place: Square Enix's DKS3713 private party down at Tokyo! Yeap, we got quite a doozy of news lined up for you guys, so be prepared. And then later sometime in the middle of the month, there's the Leipzig Games Convention at Germany.

So, hello, Weekend Warriors! Let's get this show on the road!

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DKS3713 brought in new details for PSP fans waiting for KH: Birth by Sleep and Dissidia - and hey! Parasite Eve 3 and FF Agito 13 for the PSP! If you're an FF geek like I am, join us for a celebration of 20 years of Cid!

In other news, we also got a special treat for the homebrew community! The PSP Updates Summer Homebrew Contest has finally kicked off! Interested? Well, we got a sweet pot of US 300 to give away to the winner! New releases include emulators by the bulk: Dreamcast, Mac, Atari, ZX Spec, and more!

Link: The PSP Weekend Warrior: Cid-tastic Final Fantasy, Q1 2008 sales, and Dissidia for the holidays

Link: The PSP Homebrew Weekend Warrior: emulators by the boatload, useful apps, and the PSP Updates Summer Homebrew Contest

New firmware released: PS3 FW 2.42! The Life with PlayStation feature will be scheduled for some time later this month though, and eventually, the introduction of PSN Cards. From DKS3713: FF13 demo in FF7ACC!

Link: The PS3 Weekend Warrior: New firmware, good business, and the dawn of PS3 brew

Some Xbox 360 hacks came in, including one that can supposedly run a leaked copy of the Xbox Live Experience update. New games (Armored Core yay!) have also been announced, and that makes us happy campers.

Link:The Xbox 360 Weekend Warrior: OMGHAXORZ, the Summer of Arcade, and QJ goodies

Wii news slowed to a crawl, but we still had some major updates on upcoming third-party games, and even a hint at the Wii's successor! The big topic this week though, seems to be Nintendo. Have they really abandoned the core community?

On the Wiibrew side of things, we have some wicked new programs for you, including two releases from waninkoko: the Wii Region Changer and updates on his Wii Custom Firmware programs. Unfortunately, it's not all good news this week as waninkoko and Team Twiizers have parted ways.

Link: The Wii Weekend Warrior: of game delays, the next Wii, and... just what is the core gamer anyway?

Link: The Wiibrew Weekend Warrior: 3D homebrew engine, DVD access library coming, a parting of ways between devs, more

There's been more corporate talk on the fate of R4, and it looks like a solution won't be found any time soon. We also got to see Pokemon Platinum gameplay, and from the DKS3713 event, new info for KH 358/2 Days!

Link: The DS Weekend Warrior: talk of successors, Pokemon, and more R4

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Windows has revealed the next-gen in OSes: Midori, the OS to end all OSes, is seen as a computing cloud of various networked devices. Over on the gamer side of things, we got a handful of Red Alert 3 deets and Spore updates.

Link: The PC Weekend Warrior: computers and clouds, RA3 beta queues, little Battle.net thoughts, and a can of whoop ass for Bethesda

The MMORPG community is a buzz with a ton of updates for some upcoming games like Star Trek Online, DC Universe, and Warhammer. There's even talk about a new law in Illinois affecting MMORPG gamers.

World of Warcraft fans can look forward to a healthy dose of information regarding Wrath of the Lich King as well. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures subscribers got a new patch although the developers sure took their sweet time delivering it.

Link: The MMORPG Weekend Warrior: upcoming video game sneak peeks, new MMORPG laws, more

Link: The WoW Weekend Warrior: BlizzCon 2008 updates, WotLK beta's new calendar UI, and Northrend's possible 2008 launch

Link: The Age of Conan Weekend Warrior: the round-about patch and new content

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Did you get to see the Total Solar Eclipse a few days ago? Well, lucky you. The rest of us had to see it on the Internet. Anyhoo, it's potpourri in the Science blog this week - we have everything from the secret ingredient to making life, to... mutant pig-monkeys?

Link: The Science Weekend Warrior: diamonds, icebergs, eclipses, and... mutant pig-monkeys

Yay for shiny new software updates for Mac OS X and iTunes! There's been some rumor of a new iPod Touch model too - think it's better holding off buying a new unit, huh? There's been some good brew though!

Link: The Apple Weekend Warrior: updates from Apple and the homebrew scene, with rumors of a new iPod touch

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Comment of the Week: A comment on commenting (or bashing)

And where does the Comment of the Week hail from? We've heard of Comments of the Week coming from previous QuickPeek articles before, but for the first time ever (since the introduction of the Warriors, at least) we find one which comes from a Weekend Warrior!

The PS3's Warrior, to be exact. And again, just as much as this is PS3-related, that doesn't mean to say it cannot be applied to other platforms in general as well.

This comment from bugga12 is in reply to Glen D.'s closing remarks for the PS3 Warrior. While there's online bashing going around everywhere, it always pays to think about  what you're about to say even before you say it (or type it out and click the "Submit comment" button).

More than this though, bugga12 also seems to understand the weighty responsibility we online bloggers have to face daily, and for that, mad props, dude! Mad props!

Link: The PS3 Weekend Warrior: New firmware, good business, and the dawn of PS3 brew