ANOTHER psp!? huh?

[rockman_x_2002]

I would laugh if Sony discontinued the PSP like Sega discontinued Dreamcast. Not that it's gonna happen, but those hackers wouldn't have anything to hack anymore.

 

Why would you laugh? The PSP is way better when hacked. I'm not sure I see what's funny...

 

Oh, and even if it was discontinued, it would still continue to be hacked.

Games wouldn't be released anymore. I would laugh because hackers would be left with a dead system because of themselves.

 

The point of hacking is not to enable copying games. Unfortunately, there are some people who see it primarily as a way to get games they haven't paid for, and there are others that assume the only reason to hack a PSP is to pirate games.

 

The benefits of hacking a PSP are numerous. Better battery life, way faster loading times, less lag, fewer dropped frames, brighter screen (yes, with the 1000 and 2000 series PSP as well), etc.

 

Also, the benefits extend to homebrew apps for the PSP, which expands the PSP to do more than just play games, music, and movies designed for the system. i.e., a hacked PSP can do all it was designed to do plus act as a PDA device.

[AtticGamer]

I would laugh if Sony discontinued the PSP like Sega discontinued Dreamcast. Not that it's gonna happen, but those hackers wouldn't have anything to hack anymore.

 

Why would you laugh? The PSP is way better when hacked. I'm not sure I see what's funny...

 

Oh, and even if it was discontinued, it would still continue to be hacked.

Games wouldn't be released anymore. I would laugh because hackers would be left with a dead system because of themselves.

 

The point of hacking is not to enable copying games. Unfortunately, there are some people who see it primarily as a way to get games they haven't paid for, and there are others that assume the only reason to hack a PSP is to pirate games.

 

The benefits of hacking a PSP are numerous. Better battery life, way faster loading times, less lag, fewer dropped frames, brighter screen (yes, with the 1000 and 2000 series PSP as well), etc.

 

Also, the benefits extend to homebrew apps for the PSP, which expands the PSP to do more than just play games, music, and movies designed for the system. i.e., a hacked PSP can do all it was designed to do plus act as a PDA device.

I know all those benefits but unfortunately they come with the possibility to pirate games. Sony should pay attention to what is useful in these homebrew applications and gradually implement them into the official PSP firmware.

[Lord Helmet]

I would laugh if Sony discontinued the PSP like Sega discontinued Dreamcast. Not that it's gonna happen, but those hackers wouldn't have anything to hack anymore.

 

Why would you laugh? The PSP is way better when hacked. I'm not sure I see what's funny...

 

Oh, and even if it was discontinued, it would still continue to be hacked.

Games wouldn't be released anymore. I would laugh because hackers would be left with a dead system because of themselves.

 

It would be as dead as the 2600

[Lord Helmet]

I would laugh if Sony discontinued the PSP like Sega discontinued Dreamcast. Not that it's gonna happen, but those hackers wouldn't have anything to hack anymore.

 

Why would you laugh? The PSP is way better when hacked. I'm not sure I see what's funny...

 

Oh, and even if it was discontinued, it would still continue to be hacked.

Games wouldn't be released anymore. I would laugh because hackers would be left with a dead system because of themselves.

 

The point of hacking is not to enable copying games. Unfortunately, there are some people who see it primarily as a way to get games they haven't paid for, and there are others that assume the only reason to hack a PSP is to pirate games.

 

The benefits of hacking a PSP are numerous. Better battery life, way faster loading times, less lag, fewer dropped frames, brighter screen (yes, with the 1000 and 2000 series PSP as well), etc.

 

Also, the benefits extend to homebrew apps for the PSP, which expands the PSP to do more than just play games, music, and movies designed for the system. i.e., a hacked PSP can do all it was designed to do plus act as a PDA device.

I know all those benefits but unfortunately they come with the possibility to pirate games. Sony should pay attention to what is useful in these homebrew applications and gradually implement them into the official PSP firmware.

 

Piracy is going to happen. The only thing that barriers to piracy (DRM) do is frustrate honest users. There is no good reason not to allow people to rip their games for backup purposes etc. Pirates are going to find a way to do it anyway, so why go through the trouble of tying an honest users hands?

 

Besides that...it's my psp...I bought it, so I'll do with it what I want

Edited September 12, 2008 by Lord Helmet

[AtticGamer]

I would laugh if Sony discontinued the PSP like Sega discontinued Dreamcast. Not that it's gonna happen, but those hackers wouldn't have anything to hack anymore.

 

Why would you laugh? The PSP is way better when hacked. I'm not sure I see what's funny...

 

Oh, and even if it was discontinued, it would still continue to be hacked.

Games wouldn't be released anymore. I would laugh because hackers would be left with a dead system because of themselves.

 

It would be as dead as the 2600

Don't compare the flow and quality of homebrew PSP games with official games.

Edited September 12, 2008 by AtticGamer

[Lord Helmet]

I would laugh if Sony discontinued the PSP like Sega discontinued Dreamcast. Not that it's gonna happen, but those hackers wouldn't have anything to hack anymore.

 

Why would you laugh? The PSP is way better when hacked. I'm not sure I see what's funny...

 

Oh, and even if it was discontinued, it would still continue to be hacked.

Games wouldn't be released anymore. I would laugh because hackers would be left with a dead system because of themselves.

 

It would be as dead as the 2600

Don't compare the flow and quality of homebrew PSP games with official games.

 

Good point.

[shadow460]

lol, you mean homebrew apps are better?

[rockman_x_2002]

The point of hacking is not to enable copying games. Unfortunately, there are some people who see it primarily as a way to get games they haven't paid for, and there are others that assume the only reason to hack a PSP is to pirate games.

 

The benefits of hacking a PSP are numerous. Better battery life, way faster loading times, less lag, fewer dropped frames, brighter screen (yes, with the 1000 and 2000 series PSP as well), etc.

 

Also, the benefits extend to homebrew apps for the PSP, which expands the PSP to do more than just play games, music, and movies designed for the system. i.e., a hacked PSP can do all it was designed to do plus act as a PDA device.

I know all those benefits but unfortunately they come with the possibility to pirate games. Sony should pay attention to what is useful in these homebrew applications and gradually implement them into the official PSP firmware.

 

Actually there is a fairly simple fix to the whole situation, but Sony refuses to do it. Release a publicly-available, easy-to-use software development kit for the PSP that homebrewers can use to safely compile programs for the PSP. This would disable the need for hacking the PSP (which opens the system up to piracy) while allowing homebrewers to write apps for the system safely and without fear of bricking the machine (i.e., do not allow access to the flash memory where the firmware is stored but do allow access to the system's RAM and memory stick devices).

 

Granted this still takes away the ability to back up games in the event of a disc failure (because Sony would never release an official firmware that helps a user copy anything). But on the homebrew app development side of the coin, that would seem to answer the issues nicely enough. I'm not so much worried about backing up the discs though because I do tend to take the utmost care of them. As a programmer, my concern is developing software for the system. An official SDK would be so nice for that.

[shadow460]

I don't think there's going to be much of a problem with UMD failures. The thing you really gotta take care of is the disc itself-as long as that's OK it doesn't matter if the cartridge is trashed. They clean up and polish like DVD's do, even though they're much thinner. Replacement cases are available if needed.

 

The problem with barring access to flash 0 is that you may not be able to control certain functions like clock speed, brightness level, etc., without going to that level. Sure, the PSP can be software overclocked, but IMO it's better to do things like that at the hardware level. This also doesn't address the loading times. If you could install a UMD to the memstick and have it protected by the MagicGate junk, that would be almost permissible IMO. If you buy a bigger memstick, you simply install the game again to that one. Either way, let's say this was possible--you'd have to have the system online so that the game's serial number could be registered to a particular user or PSP. I still don't see how this would prevent illegal copying of said game unless the entire uninstall/install process between MS es was monitored by Sony. Maybe it would work as if you had "checked out" a game to your memory stick.

 

For example, let's say that I'm ripping wipEout purE to my memstick and my UMD has a serial number of 001. The reseller I get that game from would first have to get it online and see if it's checked out to a memstick. If so, they'd have to declare that they had purchased the game, it would be checked in, and it would not be able to be installed until it was re-sold. I'd get it, go online with a 512 MB MS (it's a small game even with all the add ons) and then dump the disc to that MS. It would check the game out, and keep a record of that with the serial number, 001. I download the expansion packs I want (they are all free) and play away.

Now let's say I want to put it on the same memstick as wipEout pulsE, which has expansion packs available for sale. Let's say pulsE has a serial number of 002. I buy the packs I want and download them to my PC. The initial copies of those packs could be checked in and out from the PC the way the games are checked in and out from their UMDs. Better, perhaps I could order a UMD of the expansion packs for whatever their total cost is ($20, I think).

First, I have to unload purE from the small MS. I get back online, check the game back in, and it is deleted from the MS. My save file is not affected, neither are the expansion packs since they are free. I copy all of that to my PC. Next, I get online with the purE UMD and a 1GB MS (both games are small, actually). I check out purE again, this time to the larger MS. It dumps. I switch discs and check out pulsE to the memstick. It dumps as well. I check out pulsE's expansions that I paid for and they transfer via USB to the memstick. From there, I copy purEs expansions and all my save files to the memstick. Job done, games ripped, have a nice day.

 

Here's another way for Sony to make money from this: Release a program for the PC that can do all of this automatically. It could control the PSP via the USB port, and even transfer files via USB for those that don't have wi fi.

 

If there's any concern that someone might loan out the UMD for a game they'd installed to MS, then simply have users "register" all their UMDs before they use them. Registration would have to include the PSP's serial number AND the serial number of the actual UMD. Plug the PSP in to any PC's USB port, drop in the UMDs one by one, and let the PSP make a registration file on the MS, or, better, make that file in flash 4 or flash 5 (both are unpartitioned on the PSP). If the game is checked out, you gotta play it from the memstick it's checked out to (that's the only one that will have a copy of it). Inserting that memstick into any PSP will bypass the check in flash4 to see if it's been checked out, since you obviously have the memstick it's checked out to. This all might be able to work over wi fi, also, and just about everyone in the US has access to wi fi somewhere. If nothing else, go to the local library or have the reseller register your games in the PSP.

 

Seem that's just some redneck (me) cooking up something off the top of his head, but a big company like Sony could probably take a few redneck ideas and run with 'em.

 

Sony, are you listening? Make a couple of steps toward user friendly DRM, and we'll make a couple of steps toward trusting you with your DRM. Until then, no deal!

Edited September 14, 2008 by shadow460

[Lord Helmet]

I just don't like carrying around a bunch of UMDs. I just have a couple of memory sticks crammed full of emus and games.

 

If sony doesn't like that, they can come to my house

[Underball]

I would laugh if Sony discontinued the PSP like Sega discontinued Dreamcast. Not that it's gonna happen, but those hackers wouldn't have anything to hack anymore.

 

Why would you laugh? The PSP is way better when hacked. I'm not sure I see what's funny...

 

Oh, and even if it was discontinued, it would still continue to be hacked.

Games wouldn't be released anymore. I would laugh because hackers would be left with a dead system because of themselves.

 

It would be as dead as the 2600

Don't compare the flow and quality of homebrew PSP games with official games.

 

I agree.

 

Most of the Homebrew games are far better/more advanced than some of the Official Releases. The PSP's official release catalog has gotten buried with shovelware garbage lately. The only reason I bought a PSP was for the homebrew side of it, and it's what makes this system great.

 

If opening up the system to proper homebrewing were such a terrible prospect, how do you explain the insane amounts of money DVD and Movie producers STILL make, even though full quality DVD copying ability has existed for 8 years?

 

the percentage of PSP owners who have hacked and used their devices for pirating games is a drop in the bucket. The problem is that the Games have, for the most part, sucked hard. So people will use the system for other uses.

[shadow460]

For what it's worth, those super fast 4GB memsticks are $35 at Wal*Mart now. I might've got another one tonight but I was there for something more important: rechargeable batteries for my Lynx.

[Lord Helmet]

The only reason I bought a PSP was for the homebrew side of it, and it's what makes this system great.

 

[AtticGamer]

Actually I was saying that homebrew games on the PSP are not as good as official ones.

 

As for homebrew apps, that's different.