Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sony Hints At PS3 'Homebrew' Linux Plans

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the tux-gets-swank-digs dept.

simoniker writes "Talking to the Japanese press, Sony executive Izumi Kawanishi has illuminated some of his company's PlayStation 3 Linux plans, indicating that it will be possible for individual 'homebrew' coders to create playable content for PS3, something actively blocked for Sony's PSP handheld. He commented: "Other then game studios tied to official developer licenses, we'd like to see various individuals participate in content creation for the PS3"."

6 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. Don't get your hopes up by Guspaz · · Score: 5, Informative

    PS2 linux failed because:

    1) Sony crippled it and didn't give anything close to direct access to hardware, meaning very little hardware acceleration
    2) Sony charged a big chunk of change to "buy" linux support

    And Sony is actively trying to kill off PSP homebrew. So don't get your hopes up!

    1. Re:Don't get your hopes up by _egg · · Score: 5, Interesting

      That's funny, since they shipped the hardware manuals with the kit and even gave a "sample" implementation of OpenGL in PSGL. AFAIK the only hardware they didn't give access to was the IOP, hardly the performance-sensitive piece of the kit. Are you sure you're not slinging second-hand, inaccurate information?

  2. Fool me once! by Inoshiro · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ken Kutaragi will not get a cent from me.

    The PS2 was supposed to support Linux. How many homebrewers bought the PS2 dev kit and actually had success?

    How about the amazing no-show on the PSP?

    And now the PS3 is supposed to be friendly? It'd be cheaper to buy a MacMini and howebrew up something for Ubuntu or OS X than the Sony PS3.

    --
    --
    Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
  3. This will change everything! by Evangelion · · Score: 5, Funny


    Remember how PS2 homebrew development exploded when the PS2 Linux kit came out? Remember how many new and exciting independant games were released for the PS2?

    This is going to be awesome.

  4. Target Audience? by goMac2500 · · Score: 4, Funny

    So Sony is going to go after the free software audience with a $600 console? Someone needs to recheck their math...

  5. Re:So what? by LWATCDR · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "It doesn't matter as long as you have direct access to the graphics processors. Then people can craft thier own libraries. "

    Spoken like someone that has never written a line of code.

    If having direct access is all that you need then where are the free drivers for nVidia and Ati graphics cards?
    Having access isn't enough. You need drivers!
    If we are lucky Sony will give you a frame-buffer. Good enough for Frozen-bubble but not enough to get me to pay $600+ for.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.