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PSP Hacks and the Mainstream
pasm writes "The BBC is running article about how "DIY software and hardware experts have been quick to embrace Sony's PlayStation Portable console." Today I have witnessed some colleagues playing a wireless racing game with imported ones in the office. It seems that this will be the gadget of the year for both gamers and programmers with a neat idea and time on their hands."
Yet...
So is this going to be another case where the developer of PSPIRC and other hackers have laid their hands on a PSP-DK (which will likely turn out completely unauthorized, etc.) and Sony will come down like a ton of bricks upon people? IIRC something like this has happened in the past. While I like the idea, you know Sony officially sanctions development for PS games, usually entering exclusive agreements, i.e. Sony provides DK, Developer agrees not to distribute DK, Developer creates game and turns over to Sony, Sony produces the carts and either sells them and splits the revenues or sells them back to the developer to do their own marketing (dunno if it works exactly like that anymore, but I know it was the business model.) So Sony holds ultimate control over what's released for their PS and PSP platforms.
I expect a big shoe to drop. It wouldn't be a good idea to go blathering your name and accomplishments all over the place, particularly to reporters. I expect Sony will make their displeasure known in good time and in no uncertain terms. A shame, but this is part of their plan to protect their investment.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I don't they ever will, since many people are too afraid that they will break them. I know some computer savvy people who are, even after having built several computers.
I know that there are a bunch of handheld devices available that can scan for wifi networks, but they cost ~$40 for a reasonable model that can detect network security settings. Has anyone heard of using a PSP for this task?
Due to financial difficulties, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.
...if the PSP was even more open. They could open up development, allowing downloads to memory stick permitting 3rd party games to be developed (think Palm) . I think this constant tendency of Sony shoving down our throats things like Memory Stick and ATRAC have really hurt them, instead of enhancing their bottom line like they think it would.
Before you say that allowing anyone to develop for the platform would hurt sales, I say to you that people still buy commercial games in droves.
Yeah, but you'd look pretty stupid (and stooped) lugging one around, with your car battery, inverter, and monitor.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
True but it's not portable.
So is Sony going to release a programming SDK to the general public? And which programming languages are supported?
If Sony wants to make a deep impact against Nintendo, they should open up the PSP as wide as possible to "non-traditional" programmers. Especially considering how much the ding-dang-thing cost.
One useful hack would be a sony memory stick to secure digital converter, I have 3 gigs of SD cards laying around I could be loading movies onto. The mpeg4 feature of the PSP is no use to me if I have to go out and buy a bunch of sony memory in order to do it, my 1GB SD card would be perfect (probably faster too).
Yeah, but my back gets sore carrying around my TV everywhere I go.
Burn Hollywood Burn
Looks like Wired almost copied this article here: http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,67151,00.ht ml?tw=wn_tophead_8
Enjoy an e-piphany
When it came down to the choice between getting a DS or a PSP now, the choice became the PSP. Granted, I'll get a DS later for other games that I'm interested in and the rumored Palm Pilot module - but it was the usefulness of the PSP *now* that interested me.
I've been using it to watch movies on planes and trains, which is more convienient than even watching it on my 12" powerbook. But I can see where more can be done.
With 512 MB RAM, there's plenty of space for both my saved games, little videos (2 hours of video is about 300 MB or so), and other apps. Where's a *real* web browser that could be hacked from Mozilla, or a mail reader program so I can check up on the go?
Evidently, you can have "games" that run off the memory stick directly (or so it tells me when I'm in the Game menu section an it looks at either the disk or the memory stick), so why not just make those applications?
I know, I could get a blackberry for some specific tags, but if Sony *really* wants the PSP to take off, they should release some sort of light development kit (either free or say $50). Let developers see what a portible wi-fi system with a good screen can run. Could Skype run on it? Maybe, maybe not - but let developers give it a shot.
With a large developer market that's not constrained with having to worry about having a large development start up (like those for the official PSP games), the PSP could become a choice machine for all sorts of things, which would drive attachment sales and, via a sort of "halo" effect, to PSP games. It would be a win-win for everyone.
But - Sony probably won't do it. Fear evidently keeps the managers in line - fear of this station. In this case, it's this gigantic Death Star circling around called "loss of control". Of all the things Sony fears, it's that Loss of Control. After all, if *they* can't control which applications get made for the system, what if someone makes money on Sony's device without Sony getting a cut. What if someone comes out with an iTunes client that can play protected AAC files and potentially take away money from Sony's ATRAC based store? What if monkeys come flying out of the asses of developers that Sony can't make money on! The horror!
Sony *could* make the PSP the device of choice that way. Right now, I like the basic hacks that have come out for it, but if the DS gets that Palm Pilot add-on (with extensible memory via a MMC chip or something), then it might swing me to the dual screened little player, since there are a lot of Palm apps out there I could potentially run (like my eBook reader) and a video client could probably run on the DS pretty well. It wouldn't look as good as on my DS, but if it's "good enough" for my train to/from work needs, then it will be an easy buy.
Sony has a chance here to break out. But I'm going to bet they won't take it because of their own fear.
Of course, this is just my opinion. I could be wrong.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
GBA pirates, Dreamcast hacks, NES/GB/Sega Genesis home brewed games are all examples.
There also exist GBA homebrew games such as mine. I hope you didn't intend a subtle slam against the gbadev community.
I *think* I recall hearing the same argument when the robotic dog thing came out from Sony. People were hacking it and Sony started shutting down sites. Then they realized the benefit of the 3rd party hacks and began releasing SDKs for the later versions of the wacky lil beast.
I got my PSP 2 days ago, and got a chance to spend some time late last night going over it. I still don't have any games, so my thoughts are tempered by what I can get out of the hardware. On the whole I'm pretty impressed.
:)
The good stuff:
* Engineering-wise, it's got every piece of hardware you can think of. 802.11, IR, analog stick, USB, memory card -- there really is a "kitchen sink" approach and I like exploring the device to find new stuff. I'm really tempted to take the thing apart.
* The screen is phenomenial. I really think this'll be the screen that all portables will aspire to. If Apple ever makes a video iPod, this is the screen to use. I watched Spider Man 2 last night and it looked fantastic.
* I've been "pleasantly surprised" by some extras. For example, Sony packages a wired remote and headphones in the box (something Apple charges an arm and a leg for). The battery life has been better than I expected: after about 120 minutes last night of watching the movie it was only down 20%. The interface is excellent. The USB port is great because Windows sees the device as just another USB drive. System files are stored on the memory card, so they should be easy to hack. The device makes a great Wi-Fi finder (it found 4 networks in my home, and gave a percentage of their strength.
Stuff I don't care for:
* The front of the chassis is well designed and looks beautiful -- the back looks like it was done by a totally different designer. In particular, it feels flimsy. The discs are inserted in a tray mechanism that pops out, similar to a video recorder. I'm going to be careful with mine, but I can easily imagine a kid dropping and breaking it the first day.
* I'm not sold on the media (UMD - Universal Media Discs). They're essentially really tiny DVDs stored in a cartridge, similar to when CDs first came out. Space wise they're fine, as it really looks like you're watching a DVD, but the cartridge looks fragile. In particular, they look like optical disk versions of classic floppies -- without the protective flap that gets pulled away. In other words, it's fairly easy to scratch the disc.
* Certain aspects of the system are gimped. You have 802.11 but no web browser: the system only checks for new firmware (no official one anyway; someone's already hacked together a simple browser -- look through various articles). Video needs to be in a very specific format to play off a memory card: MPEG4, 29.97 fps, exact resolution (the system is much more forgiving playing MP3s and photos). The analog stick could also use a little work.
I'll have a better idea tonight when I get the games (finally), but so far I likes what I sees.
Other "hacks" include ... playing multiplayer games with only one copy of the game.
That hack involves creating the WiFi game (I've done this with Tony Hawk) on one PSP, moving the UMD into another PSP, having that other person join that WiFi game, switching the UMD back to the original PSP as the original player starts the session (it asks you if you want to quit when you take out the UMD) and then the second player starts the session. It's not as good of a trick as the DS's single game/ multiplayer setup, but it gets the job done if you want to spend the time.
--
Want a free Nintendo DS, GC, PS2, Xbox. (you only need 4 referrals)
Wired article as proof
* ---- Joke
/\
O
-|- --- You
The DS also has a growing development community, and most likely, it'll be the more fruitful, at least in the short term. For one, we can already run our own code on the DS - and who knows when that'll be possible on the PSP?
I hope cool things do turn up on the PSP, but if you're interested in DS hacking, check out these:
Possibly Sony relented because the Aibo wasn't a platform for generating money through subsequent sales of software. Remember, PS and PSP are what are called Loss-Leaders. They real money is in selling the games, videos and other enhancements.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
All the "hacks" released to date ( that I'm aware of ... please please tell me if there are others ) depend on the presence of the webbrowser in wipeout pure. Once you hijack the dns, it's yours. Everything else has depended on this. The browser, the IRC, etc. There is no 3rd party dev kit; no one has run a homebrew executable on the psp that I'm aware of.
Even stuff the stuff to sync the iApps to the psp have just made images to be viewed in the builtin picture viewer.
I *wish* very strongly to write for the platform that way you would a pda. It screams for it. Alas, not possible now.
One final thought ... the "hacked" web browser can do javascript, according to the rumors. Maybe something there?
You say
When it came down to the choice between getting a DS or a PSP now, the choice became the PSP. Granted, I'll get a DS later for other games that I'm interested in and the rumored Palm Pilot module - but it was the usefulness of the PSP *now* that interested me.
A lot of people underestimate the usefulness of the GBA and Nintendo DS now. Like the PSP, the GBA or Nintendo DS supports its own proprietary memory card format. A GBA memory card such as the Flash2Advance or the EFA-Linker greatly expands the capabilities of a GBA or Nintendo DS system:
The only thing you're lacking is video, but there's another peripheral for that.
First, the reputation of a console can be seriously tarnished if it has a market glut of crappy games.
Has the glut of Win32 compatible games tarnished the reputation of the console called "PC running Windows XP"?
Sony makes a boatload of money off their developers right now
Even if I could start a development house, Sony still wouldn't sell me a license and a development kit. In general, console makers don't even want to talk to startups.
Sheesh. This article is so light on details, and most of it's implications are just dead wrong. The only truthful part I read was where it admits near the end of the article that most of these "hacks" rely on the web browser in the game Wipeout Pure.
Don't get excited, folks, these "homebrew tools" are NOT code running on the PSP. This isn't a case of somebody stealing Sony SDK tools and writing new software for the PSP or even hacking existing software. This is simply a matter of changing DNS so that you san spoof the scea.com domain and direct an EXISTING browser to a different site and putting server-side tools for the PSP to access. There's nothing particularly amazing about using a web IRC client and portals and the like.
The article makes it sound like they have an IRC client running on the PSP, and an ebook reader. Nope. It's just the existing web browser and photo viewer, no coding changes on the PSP required. Really, there's no news here.
That is like a 1 minute clip at 2 megs. I have seen porn like that, and it is awfully fuzzy. ;)
But for a sitcom or an anime, is 256 kbps for video+audio at 240x136 pixels (QPSP resolution) really that distracting?
Besides, erotic films are supposed to be fuzzy in order to hide the blemishes of the actors' skin. It's cheaper to blur the whole thing than to splurge on makeup ;-)
The Gamepark 32 is already a fantastic little portable gaming device and you don't have to worry about unauthorized uses of SDKs and whatnot -it's all open!
Opening the PSP too much could shoot Sony in the foot.
It's well-accepted that at the price they're selling the PSP at, Sony's losing on every unit. Games and UMD movies are the route to profitability.
Now I'm not denying the attractive power of the extra features, provided they don't comprise an overpowering value proposition. Viewing media on a Memory Stick isn't worth $250 to anyone with half a brain, so Sony's pretty safe in assuming that a raft of people aren't going to bleeding them to death buying PSPs and never buying a game or a UMD movie.
Now, throw in open dev kits. Suddenly, the included 32MB stick can hold a web browser as well as games and software obtained freely off the Internet (or cheaply) that Sony doesn't see a dime off from. In fact, it may even serve to draw attention away from the games Sony does make money on in those people who would have bought them otherwise.
So. Explain to me how this idea is a good thing for Sony?
You misunderstand. It's about hacking the Program Segment Prefix. DOS is coming back! :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
"Today I have witnessed some colleagues playing a wireless racing game with imported ones in the office."
Sometimes you import your colleagues?
God spoke to me.
...if the PSP was even more open. They could open up development, allowing downloads to memory stick permitting 3rd party games to be developed (think Palm) . I think this constant tendency of Sony shoving down our throats things like Memory Stick and ATRAC have really hurt them, instead of enhancing their bottom line like they think it would.
Do you remember that the Dreamcast (Finest gaming platform next to xbox)? It was a most excellent system. It had great games. It spurred originality. Unfortunatly, one could run any pireted game they wanted, without even needing to open up the system. Sales on games plummeted. The system was killed, despite heavy sales of the consol in Europe, Japan, and the USA. Games are what make or break a system. If people can easily make functional ROMZ, then the system will die.
3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
Three or four years ago, Bleem! developed an emulator which allowed PlayStation games to be played on PC's. The founders of Bleem! figured this was going to be a win-win for Sony - they don't have to sell their hardware at a loss, but receive licensing revenue from the game. Sony did not see it that way, and sued Bleem! out of existence.
Further, note that Bleem! actually won all of the court cases I am aware of. However, the cost of defending themselves in court put them out of business.
The Street finds its own uses for things - uses the manufacturers never imagined.
William Gibson
This is kinda off topic, but since we are talking about the BBC here, perhaps you'll all forgive it. The idea hit me the other day. Apologies to Monty Python.
A customer enters a game shop.
Mr. Praline: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.
(The owner does not respond.)
Mr. Praline: 'Ello, Miss?
Owner: What do you mean "miss"?
Mr. Praline: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!
Owner: We're closin' for lunch.
Mr. Praline: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this handheld what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
Owner: Oh yes, the, uh, the Sony PSP...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?
Mr. Praline: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's pixel's dead, that's what's wrong with it!
Owner: No, no, 'e's uh,...it's in sleep mode.
Mr. Praline: Look, matey, I know a dead pixel when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.
Owner: No no it's not dead, it's, it's in sleep mode! Remarkable handheld, the Sony PSP, idn'it, ay? Beautiful screen!
Mr. Praline: The screen don't enter into it. It's pixel is stone dead.
Owner: Nononono, no, no! 'E's in sleep mode!
Mr. Praline: All right then, if it's in sleep mode', I'll wake it up! (plays with the power switch) 'Ello, Mister Sony PSP! I've got a lovely game of Lumines for you if you show...
(owner hits the case)
Owner: There, it moved!
Mr. Praline: No, he didn't, that was you hitting the case!
Owner: I never!!
Mr. Praline: Yes, you did!
Owner: I never, never did anything...
Mr. Praline: (yelling and hitting the device repeatedly) 'ELLO SONY!!!!! Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call!
(Takes PSP out of the case and thumps its screen on the counter. Throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor.)
Mr. Praline: Now that's what I call a dead pixel.
Owner: No, no.....No, 'e's stunned!
Mr. Praline: STUNNED?!?
Owner: Yeah! You stunned it, just as it was wakin' up! Sony PSPs stun easily, major.
Mr. Praline: Um...now look...now look, mate, I've definitely 'ad enough of this. That pixel is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged blink.
Owner: Well, he's...he's, ah...probably pining for Japan.
Mr. Praline: PININ' for JAPAN?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that?, look, why did it turn pitch black the moment I got 'im home?
Owner: The Sony PSP prefers keepin' it's pixels black! Remarkable device, id'nit, squire? Lovely screen!
Mr. Praline: Look, I took the liberty of examining that pixel when I got it home, and I discovered the only reason that it had been lit in the
first place was that it had been DRAWN there.
(pause)
Owner: Well, o'course it was drawn there! If I hadn't drawn on that pixel, it would have have been blinkin' off an' on, drainin' the battery and VOOM! Feeweeweewee!
Mr. Praline: "VOOM"?!? Mate, this pixel wouldn't "voom" if you put four million volts through it! 'E's bleedin' demised!
Owner: No no! 'E's sleeping!
Mr. Praline: 'E's not sleeping'! 'E's passed on! This pixel is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't drawn it on the screen 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is photogenic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is electronic coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-PIXEL!!
(pause)
Owner: Well, I'd be
The difference, of course, is that the PSP is first and foremost a gaming console that also happens to have lots of nifty PDA-like features. Your gadget is first and foremost a PDA that also happens to play some basic games. Different target audiences.
Hello Mr. Self-Described Non-Troll,
Have you heard of texture-mapped three-dimensional graphics where millions of polygons are rendered at 30 frames-per-second? How about an analog control stick, a direction-pad && familiar action buttons? PDA's && cellular phones are garbage for games. Sure, you can make do if they're all you've got or you barely play anyway. If, however, you are a gamer that's anything beyond casual, PSP is the atom-bomb! Do you see it personally now?
-Pip
This press and the hacks are great for the future of handheld gaming, but I wish the Nintendo DS was getting this play, too. Web browsing on the PSP is cool, but how much cooler would the hacks be if you could use the DS's touch screen for keyboard emulation? How are you supposed to IRC with 6 buttons and a joystick?
...is someone figure out how to replicate Namco Museum's multiplayer functionality, and use it to run apps designed for the PSP over your wifi.
:P Armored Core Formula Front is crack... :o Need...play...online... *runs off to play the PS2 version*
Namco Museum, which has such classics as Pac Man on it, can be played multiplayer, with just one UMD, because it beams the software over to another unit via the wifi connection. Like the GBA games that you can play multiplayer with just one cartridge. (And infact, in the GBA's case, people did reverse engineer that functionality to load games and software into memory over the link cable.) It'd be cool to see neat utility software being loaded into the PSP, like advanced media players and stuff.
As it is, I'm in the process of assessing just how little food I need to survive, in an effort to save for a PSP
Friend: "The NIC is misconfigured..." Me: "No prob, I'll just telnet in and fix it." *Silence*
How many people is that? I'd wager 90% of their target audience.. how many playstation 1's and 2's has Sony sold???
My Linux Command of the Day site : LCOD
Hacks gone Mainstream?
They haven't, but what interests me is that Sony is in a unique position to make hacks (or independent development) go mainstream and capitalize on it to become the market leader in this area, or if it doesn't work out, just write it off as a failed experiment.
After all, they've produced hundreds of thousands of different consumer devices, many of which have undersold their projected targets and hence are failed products in a business sense, and this mega giant just goes from there on to the next idea. Pocket change.
Like many have said, Sony is probably paralized from creating an open device by business dogma that would make it akin to consorting with the devil. However, at some level it definitely sees open source in a favourable light of some kind otherwise it wouldn't have released those Linuxes for some of its consoles.
Maybe there is hope in this direction yet. I certainly don't see any such hope from the smaller console developers owing to issues of scale and significance of possible losses, nor from Microsoft for obvious reasons, but Sony just might be able to pull this one off, if it ever wanted to.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
I am just in the beginning stages and am trying to gain an audience, if you come come maybe post something in the forums it would be great. Also I am looking for help with it, so if you are intrested check the site and email me if you are still intrested. http://www.winbeforeyouplay.com, if you wanna help winpsp@gmail.com
He said he wanted a good controller.
It depends on what you mean by "good" controller. If you mean a requirement of analog control, the EMS USB2 can also handle a Dual Shock. If you mean console fanboyism, there exist USB adapters for N64, GameCube, and Xbox controllers as well.
I can't argue about the PSPs screen. :) But the option is already here for emulating the SNES on a game portable and that's with a DS through a GBA cart. I've commented on this before, but with the DS you get the "exact" same button configuration and "design" of a SNES's controller.
m s_ on_gba.htm
_ up _03
:)
http://www.snesadvance.org/index.html
http://www.gameboy-advance.net/emulated/snes_ro
With the DS there are 2 ways right now to get SNES games onto it, one is with a GBA flash rom, the other with a GBA/SD cart.
Here's a Nintendo DS emulator. This is always the first step to home-brew games and emulators.
http://www.ndsemu.com/
Another thing, the games you mention are available for the GBA and some are even being updated for the DS, so I ask why don't you just buy a GBA or DS to go along side your PSP, since they can play these games "right" now? Wouldn't you rather play "Mario Kart DS" this year with network play?
http://ds.ign.com/objects/682/682877.html?ui=cb
I wouldn't buy a Nintendo DS to play GT4 or PSOne games, so why go with a PSP to play Zelda or other Nintendo games? I've already played both "Zelda Link to the Past" and "Zelda The Minnish Cap" all the way through on my DS. I didn't need to wait for someone to make an emulator and then for its bugs to be worked out. And that's a "big ify" until it happens.
And you can get Darkstalker's Chronicle for your PSP and I'm sure a new Street Fighter will be released aslo. These games are always much better when they're designed exclusively for your game system.
Cool when a SNES emulator does happens for the PSP, but until then you do have a "real choice" available from Nintendo for these types of games. Tis why I bought a DS, just imagine how great Zelda DS will be with the additional touch-screen.