135w ago - Today SCEA Brand Alliances Theresa Custodio has initiated a countdown to the Gran Turismo 5 PS3 launch, and shared with fans details on how to win a Tissot GT5 watch.

To quote: With the launch of Gran Turismo 5 set for November 24, we've teamed up with Swiss watchmaker Tissot, the official timekeeper of NASCAR, to bring you the Countdown to GT5 launch sweepstakes.

Each day leading up to launch, we'll be giving you a chance to win a Tissot PRS 516 watch customized for Gran Turismo. This watch, valued at $495, features a stainless steel case and rubber strap with folding clasp engraved with the GT logo. It's a true fan collectible that won't be sold in stores - you can only win it here.

Continuing on with the GT5 love, you can now pick-up limited edition Schick razor packs featuring Gran Turismo 5.

Each pack includes a download code that unlocks exclusive content including a dynamic theme and GT5 racing suit for Home. For more details, click here.

135w ago - Update: As confirmed by many users now (including DJLO who posted the pictures below), along with stopping PSN gamesharing Sony has blocked PlayStation Network access for PS3 Debug (8002A212 Error) and PS3 JailBreak users who now are asked to update their console through a message prompt.

Just over a month ago PS3 JailBreak users had a PSN ban wave scare, and today a new PAN/Europe TOS update may indicate that Sony is finally planning to begin banning JailBroken PS3 consoles on PlayStation Network.

Currently Sony's User Agreement and Terms Of Service are last updated as of June 29 of this year, however, several users are reporting that they are now required to agree to...

135w ago - While the PS3 launched in North America four years ago today, SCEE's Ross McGrath of the PlayStation Store Team is here with this weeks European PSN updates, as follows:

There's a good selection of new games for both platforms this week, as well as a wealth of DLC for various titles (not least the PS3 Exclusive Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Copernicus missions).

I don't have much to talk about this week - there have been a couple more PSone submissions that I'm sure you'll all be very pleased with once they're ready to go (don't ask me which, you know I can't tell you!)

PlayStation Store (via PS3, PSP and Media Go)

Special Offers

(Offer prices available until the 24th of November)

TMNT: Turtle in Time Re-Shelled (was - £7.99/€9.99 now - £5.49/€6.99)
Cell Factor: Psychokinetic Wars (was - £7.99/€9.99 now - £5.49/€6.99)
Assassin's Creed II: Sequence 12 - Battle of Forli (was - £3.19/€3.99 now - £1.99/€2.49)
Assassin's Creed II: Sequence 13 - Bonfire of the Vanities (was - £3.19/€3.99 now - £1.99/€2.49)
Assassin's Creed II: Sequence 13 - Bonfire of the...

135w ago - Today we have a few new GT5 PS3 videos available showcasing some rally gameplay footage from the final version followed by the unboxing of Gran Turismo 5 for the PlayStation 3.

The first video comes from rulk at Spanish site PSNow.es spotlighting some amazing GT5 gameplay featuring a rally race in the final PS3 version of the video game.

The second video below is courtesy of gt5launchstuff via Enkeixpress, and reveals a teaser of the Gran Turismo 5 PlayStation 3 unboxing as mentioned above.

GT5 fans can check out both videos below- Enjoy!

135w ago - A few days ago we reported on graf_chokolo's progress in decrypting PS3 Firmware 3.50, and today he has made available to the PlayStation 3 Wiki (linked above) his PS3 hypervisor reverse-engineering work to date, as follows:

HSPRG
The hypervisor stores a pointer to some structure per LPAR in HSPRG0 register. There are actually 2 HSPRG0 values: one for each thread of Cell CPU !!! There is a HSPRG0 array at 0x8(-0x69A0(HSPRG0)) + 0x20.

LPAR
LPAR = Logical Partition

lpar1 starts at 0x(unknown), and its believed to be the memory space wherre lv1 stores its variables, flags and other data.
lpar2 starts at 0x80000000000 and it's believed to be the memory space where lv2 stores its variables, flags and other data.

The pointer to active LPAR is stored at -0x67E8(HSPRG0).

vtable
0x0033CA40 (3.15)

Member variables
offset 0x38 - some pointer
offset 0x50 - LPAR id (8 bytes)
offset 0x70 - pointer to VAS id bitmap
offset 0x78 - power of 2 of word size from VAS id bitmap (4 bytes), equal to 6
offset 0x7C - number of 64-bit words in VAS id bitmap(4 bytes)