[charlie_ps2]

You said from the outset that the Messiah, if it delivered on its promise would shine. It is NTSC ready so far as setting bridges to squirt Region 1 stuff into the controller. It is now reported to work on the v4 NTSC U/C but PS1 games play B&w. There is a $5 fix somewhere (Freedomview is it?).

Messiah won't die. I don't think it can be cracked and a hex released. It's one of those difficult to crack ASICs. There will be a steady (if not slow) supply so long as Sony are unable to touch the Messiah Clonemakers. You can't imagine that the Russioans and the factory that was established have put their legs in the air for the buzzards to come down and bite their nuts off? Those guys are busy.

The wise ones who give up on Messiah take Origachip. That's because Christmas saw the surge that didn't happen last year because of initial production. So all the v5s that came out didn't have a good solution.

Origa did especially well in Europe because MGS2 and FF X still haven't launched. So import original were/are important.

SO that rounds off the picture for you.