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PSP Firmware Downgrader Released
roka writes "SonyxTeam has just released a downgrader for the PSP using the toc2rta 2.0 overflow in libtiff. This has been tested and found working by PSP news sites. This is basically opening all sold models of the PSP to homebrew applications and will boost homebrew software development for Sony's handheld."
Admit it.
Now we're all just waiting for Sony to thow it's Intellectual Property Toys out of the pram and let the attack dogs (lawyers) loose.
A sorry state of affairs.
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
How many people are really using this stuff, vs. the total user base?
The mainstream market isn't even aware hacks like this exist (much less where to find or how to use them), for the most part.
It didn't take long until they patched 1.50. This has been an ongoing process. They will patch the overflow, make the next gen of game require the patched update (Although there is a loader that fakes the psp's firmware). All this means is that everyone who buys a PSP up until the next firmware starts hitting the market will be able to run homebrew, and we will hear whining from all the 2.X people about being locked out of the homebrew scene. But its good news for a little while!
At last, a second chance for those who upgraded their original 1.0 firmware and instantly regretted doing it once the homebrew hacks were discovered. This hack comes at a much better time for enthusiasts to benefit and make use of the hack, if they desire, before Sony patch the hole (not to mention leaving a large number of PSP's out there on the available market running a hackable firmware..). Of course all this would be moot if Sony would just embrace the developer community surrounding the PSP and support it appropriately, instead of them having to go to these lengths.
Business Voyeur
But Sony probably loses money on PSP base hardware sales. Their profit is in the sale of games and licenced accessories. The PSP (or GBA, or any of the consoles out there) don't make money for the company that makes them. They make their money from game sales. They charge a royalty on each game sold. So anything distributed outside that business model doesn't benefit them (homebrew apps) or is a penalty to them (pirated software).
So if someone bought the PSP just to use homebrew apps then Sony actually either makes no money or possibly even loses money, depending on if the price of the hardware is equal to or greater than the cost to manufacture and distribute. Its the whole "sell them the razor cheap, but keep them buying expensive razor blades" business model.
One might make the argument that a typical person who wants to use homebrew apps on it will also buy official games to play on it, but to Sony that's not worth the risk. Anything that opens the potential for a widespread pirate game (or movie) market for the PSP means lost revenue, which I'm sure the beancounters have compared to potential sales to people who want homebrew apps. And the resultant product shows which business model seems more profitable for them.
I don't think people are excited over the ability to play various asteroids clones on their PSP. Oh, maybe they're holding out for that killer homebrew Blackjack game, or they're really hoping they can downgrade their version to play Pong with their $250 device.
No, I think pretty much everyone just wants to run emulators of NES, SNES, and Genesis games for free.
"The mainstream market isn't even aware hacks like this exist (much less where to find or how to use them), for the most part."
They aren't aware YET, and Sony doesn't want them to be aware ever. Unlike Nintendo's cartridge-based portable systems, on which loading homebrewed and pirated games requires special equipment that is being banned in the US and Western Europe as fast as it is created, once the details are worked out people will have little to no trouble burning PSP discs or booting games and watching movies stored on cheap Lexmark memory sticks. That would be the kiss of death for the PSP, a system that appears to many to be floundering now that the initial wave of publicity has faded out of most memories.
One of the biggest nails in the Dreamcast's coffin was widespread distribution of the tools and knowledge required to burn Dreamcast games that booted with no modifications to the disc. Sony was paying a lot of attention to that, and will fight tooth-nail-to stop it from happening on the PSP. They'll fail, of course, but they'll fight.
The benefit isn't great, but I don't see any damage.
If people are hacking the hardware and using free/semi-free/illegal homebrew software, they're not buying the "real" games. If you can explain how that would not lead to lower profits for Sony, i'd love to hear it.
Actually, it's more likely to result in retail-iation as people flock to buy even more devices :) However, I don't think the hardware is where Sony makes its money - it's in the games and the yet-again-released $30 movies.
I have a collection of 3-400 DVDs, and I don't want to pay again for the same content in a different format at a lower resolution. It's bad enough I will probably do so when the High-Def battle has been won by someone..
-- As long as the answer is right, who cares if the question is wrong?
Is "homebrew software development" the new euphemism for "piracy"? You know, how 99.99% of everyone who got mod chips for their ps2 and xbox was just so they could "run linux" ?
"Homebrew software development" is about making legal use of the technology we pay for. Piracy is just along for the ride.
It's sort of like how you can kill someone with a hammer. Murder-by-hammer is already illegal, but that doesn't mean that hammers should be encumbered by use management technology that both prevents homicides and blocks you from using nails made by someone other than the hammer manufacturer.
Whats that???
(get my drift?)
warning: Slashdot does not support Greek. Automatic transliteration engaged.
Losing power while down/upgrading will brick the psp, making it transparent to the user would be a bad idea.
"Please connect the AC adapter to continue, or press D to cancel."
Not true. I've had a Dreamcast since it launched, I've been downloading and burning homebrews for it since I've discovered them, yet I still loved and played the "real" games (when they were making them). The homebrews just gave more funciton to my Dreamcast, but it didn't replace the games.
I don't like to sit. Sitting is for people who like to sit.
I'm not going to lie that there aren't pirated psp games out there. But I look at my psp. VNC Client, a text reader, sudoku, pspCalendar
I've even dabbled in coding for it myself.
I would gladly pay a reasonable amount of money, for a "Homebrew Compiler".
Look at bittorrent. Same arguments. "Look at all the piracy it supports!!!!*fap*" meanwhile, its legitimatized.
People will -always- pirate software. This isn't something that can be solved. I paid for my PSP with my honestly earned money. If I want to keep ebooks on it to read, or utilize it to its greater potential above and beyond a game machine, I -will-.
Woah, that's not an accurate analogy. Because hammers are generally used for the purposes of construction rather than for illegal purposes. And that's an important point, at least practically speaking, and as the laws appear to often be applied. The right analogy would be about bongs/water pipes. Many states outlaw them outright because they are considered drug paraphernalia, because while they "can" be used for smoking tobacco, they rarely are. Other states allow their sale and the stores which sell them claim they are intended for tobacco use only, but of course, they know they will not be used that way. Anyway... not saying which is right. Just saying that is at least the right analogy, IMHO.
Quincy
Don't vote for Eugene Papansanovich for Congress!
Sony sells the PSP at a huge loss (the fancy screen and marketing blitz couldn't have been cheap) and is designed to make up losses with PSP movie sales and PSP game sales. Neither of which have amounted to anything (yet).
Unless Texas Instruments launches their own 'Virtual Boy', they're pretty much the Nintendo of professional, high quality calculators. Don't expect double digit percentage growth, but constant and consistant growth. Sony on the other hand is already in the ditch. Yes they've made some headway into the market, but so did the Game Gear (arguably the Gameboy's strongest competitor) as did the Neo Geo Pocket/Color and they both lost, horribly for the latter.
The PSP isn't going to go anywhere if it just pushes itself with homebrewed software. It needs games. Badly. Movies are nice, but the DVD versions blow PSP versions out of the water. Sony needs to stop bashing Nintendo and give Sony fanboys something substancial to bash Nintendo.
If people are hacking the hardware and using free/semi-free/illegal homebrew software, they're not buying the "real" games. If you can explain how that would not lead to lower profits for Sony, i'd love to hear it.
Easy. Make it marginally difficult to mod so that only those interested pursue it.
Now, what happens? A minority of people dedicated to doing so hack the PSP (don't fool yourself, this was going to happen anyway). The less you harass them, the more these people rant and rave on every G3 Attack of the Show! episode and slashdot article about how cool the PSP is and how much it can do. This becomes, in effect, free advertising. Moreover, when every geek has a PSP, you achieve something far more special--a trend.
But being marginally difficult to mod, MOST people do not. Instead, you get those people to buy the PSP b/c of the coolness factor and then hook them on your games and movies that are offered at a reasonable price. Profit.
It's really not a hard concept. The majority of people are not hackers, nor will they ever be. Put bluntly, the majority of consumers are lazy. They will follow the path of least resistance, which you should provide them at every opportunity--for a reasonable price, of course. Why do you think Alienware is still in business when you can build your own top-notch computer for much cheaper? Why do most people pay for an oil change in their cars? Why do people buy music off of iTunes, when they can get songs free via P2P software?
The problem is that Sony doesn't get it. Instead, they harass the mod community with updates that block patching and so forth. They don't offer a good selection of games, and the movies they offer are obviously overpriced and incorrectly packaged. (Why the hell aren't those movie UMDs included w/ the movie DVDs for like $5/10 dollars more?--PEOPLE WOULD BUY THOSE). They don't offer floor models, so most people will never even see one, apart from pictures.
It's as if Sony thought they could design a badass handheld system and then do no nothing to promote or maintain it and still succeed. It's ridiculous. And it's no wonder analysts are starting to criticize them--the gaming community has for months.
-Grym
The point is that safety devices can be removed or disabled, and they otherwise don't prevent you from making legal use of the tools to which they are attached. Not so in the electronic world, evidently, as these "safety devices" have the added bonus function of permanently restricting the legitimate uses of the tool.
If you buy a CD, do you have the right upload it to a torrent and obliterate the music marketplace?
No, of course not. And such activity is already illegal - there is no need for an additional measure to prevent me from doing that, if said measure also prevents me from accessing the music on the CD in every possible legal way.
If you buy a student copy of Office, do you have the right to install it on all the PCs in your company?
No. But see my answer to the previous question.
If you buy a GPS device, do you have the right to hack it to use military grade accuracy?
I'm not sure what the law is on this, but if it is illegal, then I'd say no (the government gets a special break because we're talking about national security).
If you buy an iPod, and you hack the ability to play WMA, do you have the right to use it for that? how about distributing your hack? how about cracking Fairplay AAC? How about WMA encryption?
Yes, yes, yes, and yes, as long as you don't then use the hack/crack to make infringing uses of copyrighted works (which is already, of course, illegal). It's unfortunate that the law conflicts with our rights in this case, though there has been legislation introduced to fix that problem.