Today is not the 1st April, and we are definitely not joking.

Developer Qwikrazor is going to release a new method for PS Vita Custom Bubbles, which will grant you the ability to use Custom Bubbles on Firmwares 3.50, 3.51 & 3.52+.

But what are the functions & restrictions of these new Custom Bubbles?!

Similar to the old Custom Bubbles, do Qwikrazor’s new Custom Bubbles allow you to pretty much convert any PSP game into a Homescreen Bubble for your PS Vita.

These Custom Bubbles can then be started like any other legit PSN bought title, even though these Bubbles aren’t bought games at all… Sort of.

Restrictions and Requirements

You will need an eligible base game, like with the first batch of Custom Bubbles, to use the secondary batch of Custom Bubbles.

Keep in mind that various games may not be used as a base game, due to the games having special restrictions applied to them, thanks to the strengthened security features of PS Vita firmware 3.10+, 3.30+ and 3.51+.

This means that pretty much all Minis are not eligible as base game, since firmwares as of 3.10 applied restrictions to Minis (without network functions), which limit them to only 24 Megabytes.

The games that were used as exploit titles for the firmwares 3.18/3.20 are also not eligible, since those have special restrictions as of 3.30, which limits them to only a mere Megabyte (1MB).

Various 3.3x exploit games also got this treatment as of firmwares 3.50/3.51/3.52, such as Puzzle Scape. Once again one mere Megabyte.

While this removes a lot of games from being eligible Base Games, keep in mind that every other game, that does not fit the above mentioned restrictions, should be good to go.

If you happen to have downloaded a few PSP Demos back in April 2014 (or was it 2013?), thanks to the PSN glitch, then you can easily use most of these PSP Demos as a base game.

Even if you have missed that 2 day window of the PSN being glitched, fret not, because we have a solution to this.

The PSP Demo “Ape Quest” should still be available on the PSN Store, and it should be downloadable to your PS Vita, as long as you have a Northern American, European or Australian/NZ PSN account.

In the end you will also need an exploit game for the Version 3.52 (or whatever version you want to use the Custom Bubbles on), to set up your very first Custom Bubble.

The highly limited exploit titles, such as Puzzle Scape, World of Pool & PoolHall Pro, should be (assumption!) good enough to set up your very first VHBL Bubble, which in the end won’t have any restrictions at all, the VHBL Bubble that is, as long as you stay clear from the above mention restricted games as base games (Minis, 3.18/3.20 exploits, some 3.3x exploits).

The 1 Megabyte limit of the current 3.5x exploit games should be (assumption on previous bubbles & neutered exploits!) good enough to set up a VHBL Custom Bubble, even though the 3.5x exploit games are kind of trash otherwise.

Features and Functions

After having covered the restrictions and requirements, lets continue with the features and functions of the new 3.5x Custom Bubbles.

As I have mentioned above, the 3.5x Custom Bubbles of Qwikrazor can be used to pretty much add any PSP game as a bubble onto your PS Vita’s Homescreen, just like a legit PSN bought game end up as a bubble on your PS Vita.

PSP games are not the only things that can be bubbled up, though. You can of course also bubbled up PSP homebrews, (nearly) regardless what said Homebrew is, it should work (this obviously excludes PSP-only content, such as OFW Updaters, PSP CFW Installers, Pandora software, and so on).

The only things that do not work (yet) are Playstation One games. PSOne games cannot be bubbled up, since they have a different structure than PSP titles.

These new Bubbles also lost the ability to use a custom Bootscreen (Splashscreen), which was a feature of Tom’s & MrGas’ Custom Bubbles.

Qwikrazor’s Custom Bubbles gained the ability to load Plugins, which seems to be a real deal breaker.

As demonstrated, you can, for example, run the Project Diva titles and apply a translation plugin, which grants you the ability to play these japanese-only PSP games as a partly translated english version (or whatever the plugin is translating the game into).

Cheat software, such as CWCheat & TempAR can also be applied, but keep in mind that this only works with the PSP Custom Bubbles, since Qwikrazor’s Custom Bubbles have nothing to do with PS Vita software titles. While I am at it, remember that you should never cheat in online (multiplayer) titles – only douches cheat online – Cheat in single player or offline.

Qwikrazor’s Custom Bubbles require a functional kernel mode exploit for the firmware they are used on, if the software you want to run also requires one (complex homebrews, PSP ISOs/CSOs). Simple Homebrews & the VHBL Bubble even works without a kernel mode exploit (if the Bubble was set up on an older firmware).

ETA and Everything else to know

Of course people want to know when all these awesome things will be available. Usually it is a bad thing to announce an ETA, because people will get mad really quick if you cannot keep your promised estimated release date.

Nonetheless do we tell you an ETA for the upcoming ARK-2 eCFW, the kernel mode exploit for version 3.51/3.52 and the Custom Bubbles. Since Sony is already beta testing their Playstation 4 system software 3.00, and since said version 3.00 will require a new PS Vita firmware to work with, it was decided that all these things are going to be released after a new Playstation Vita system software has been publicly release (such as 3.53, 3.55 or whatever the next one is).

We are very confident that the next firmware cannot patch these security flaws, since these, Qwikrazor’s, Custom Bubbles have been used since over a year, and no update patched them so far. They didn’t even get restricted or lost functions. They still work like they worked over a year ago, when Qwikrazor found this security flaw.

if you happen to be on version 3.51/3.52, then be sure to grab an exploit title for said firmwares, since you will need at least a bad exploit to set up your first Custom Bubble. Even the heavily restricted 1 Megabyte exploit titles are enough to set up your very first unrestricted Custom Bubble (which can then be used to set up even more Custom Bubbles).

While no exploit game for the new upcoming firmware has been prepared yet (as far as I know, that is), keep in mind that you can set up a Custom Bubble (preferable multiple ones) on firmware 3.52 via the current 3.52 exploit games, and then update to the new firmware, which in the end makes it possible for you to have both: Custom Bubbles and the most recent firmware.

Proper instructions how to set up your very first Custom Bubble (VHBL, eCFW launcher, ISO/CSO Bubbles) will be explained after the release of the kxploit, ARK-2 eCFW and Qwik’s Custom Bubbles, in a similar fashion to how we told you how to use Tom’s & MrGas’ Custom Bubbles.

Like I said at the beginning, these new Custom Bubbles are possible thanks to Qwikrazor’s endless efforts towards the scene, and a neat security flaw that Sony has overlooked (might be explained after the release).

So be sure to show Qwikrazor your gratitude, since that guy pretty much took care of the whole ePSP (PSP Emulator) Scene stuff in the last 15 months, even though he had a hard time doing so. He really deserves it.