Why do you hack your PSP

[marcus]

If you have your emailed registered in anything Sony related then you probably got this ridiculous survey in your inbox.



Seriously, WTF is this? I thought Nintendo was the most oblivious Japanese company but man, Sony, this takes the cake and eats it too!

"I like to hack stuff because it makes me feel like a rebel!"

What kind of 12 year old response is that? Only one question even remotely covers how hacking unlocks the PSP's best features but nowhere does it mention "I hack because the homebrew game making community is strong and Sony refuses to accept that the most powerful aspect of their console is its ease of use to amateur game makers." It's ridiculous that to them, every hacker is a teenager with no life who wants to steal games, make a fool out of Sony, and "impress their friends" (seriously, what idiot is impressed by loading games off your umd?? THIS... THIS TECHNOLOGY AMAZES ME!). I wish I could speak Japanese so I could email Sony saying "I like playing ports of Freeware games like Cave Story and NetHack and I like using video players that are actually compatible with stuff other than mpeg4 you guys suck!"

Jeeze.

[Jamos]

Re: Why do you hack your PSP

Actually, not hacking my PSP makes me feel like a rebel.

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: Why do you hack your PSP

It's just their way of fighting homebrew - something that won't pay them after the sale of the device - by completely ignoring it. Then, if some people - who are ignorant to begin with - never hear about the homebrew community, and Sony doesn't officially endorse it, then those people don't know what they're missing, and Sony can go on pretending homebrew doesn't exist.

It's a system that might have worked 10 years ago, perhaps 15, before the internet was as widely used and available as it is in today's market. Word of mouth is stronger than ever because of the internet, and nothing stays secret if you have the internet, or even if you don't and you know people who do. It might not cripple them, but it's had an adverse effect on a campaign that chooses to ignore things when the "truth" is so easily accessible.

[John Mora]

Re: Why do you hack your PSP

Yeah, why's it in Sony's best interest to promote homebrew? It just means opening up their hardware to applications that don't earn anyone any money and their stance on it as a games platform that can compete with the Nintendo DS is shot since no one is actually BUYING GAMES for it.

[Translucid]

Re: Why do you hack your PSP

my girlfriend only goes out with me because I have a hacked PSP. I have to impress her!!!!!!

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: Why do you hack your PSP

I considered hacking mine. Then I realized that I haven't the time or the patience, or the inclination, to downgrade my software so I can upgrade some custom firmware and do whatever I want with it. Which is nothing much. I have a damn laptop for media on the go.

[JLaCroix]

Re: Why do you hack your PSP

If you want a portable homebrew system, get a GP2X, it's easier and made for homebrew.

Homebrew isn't the only thing that's making Sony lose sales. If I had a PSP, and I wanted a game, what would I do? Go to the pawn shop or used game store and get it for $5-$10! Several retail stores are still charging full price for games that are over six months old. Sony doesn't make any money when the game is sold the second/third/fourth/fifth time as far as I know. There are a good number of bargain hunters like me out there.

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: Why do you hack your PSP

SIX MONTHS NO WAI

Gamestop and all its chain stores want you to buy used because it makes THEM money and the game companies and developers get nothing for second-hand purchases. Don't get me wrong. I buy my fair share of used games, but I've heard too many horror stories about how local Gamestop's pull their last copies of New games off the shelf to force people to buy the slightly cheaper Used version that makes them two or three times as much as selling the game New, because all the profit goes to Gamestop at the end of the day. Or of how they strategically order the fewest copies of New games so that they're out of it in a week and can start selling the Used version that people already sold back to them.

Sure, it's a system that works, but it's kind of despicable in practice.

Sony does have the right idea in offering dowloadable games, though. No resale on those.

[Duel]

Re: Why do you hack your PSP

I do not hack my PSP.

[Valkysas]

Re: Why do you hack your PSP

buying used PSP games is a bad idea. UMDs are fragile. the transparent plastic disc can fall out of the shell. the white shell can split in half. and gamestop has no problem taking these damaged UMDs in as trades.

[Red Dragon]

Re: Why do you hack your PSP

I do not hack my PSP.

^This.

However I just use my PSP mostly as a MP3 Player.

[gray]

Re: Why do you hack your PSP

i like the "won't get caught" option


I ONLY HAKZ MY PSP CAUSE I KNOW I WON'T GET CAUGHT! AFTER HACKING IT AND NOT BEING CAUGHT, I THROW IT IN THE TRASH!



WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

[marcus]

Re: Why do you hack your PSP

Yeah, why's it in Sony's best interest to promote homebrew? It just means opening up their hardware to applications that don't earn anyone any money and their stance on it as a games platform that can compete with the Nintendo DS is shot since no one is actually BUYING GAMES for it.

By controlling the market. There are psychological studies that prove that people do things that are against the law because there's no easy alternative. This is why Stardock doesn't bother with any encryptions in their game because they know people who want to pirate will pirate anyways and by not forcing buyers to go through 3rd party protection services like starforce then people will be more willing to buy the game instead of cracking it.

If Sony endorsed homebrew through official methods then they could potentially eliminate the motivation of hackers. Before loading games off the UMD became a feature, I thought that Sony would let you register the games on their website and you could download a patch that let you play them off the UMD. That would have been cool and you purchased a legit copy of the game (and since you could only register one game at a time, it would lower interest in used games so they'd still make money).

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: Why do you hack your PSP

You may be underestimating the volume of people who hack simply to play pirated UMD-based games on the PSP. Go to a torrent site someday and look at their PSP section, or lacking that, just search PSP and you'll see a thriving pirate community, just like all the other systems.

[marcus]

Re: Why do you hack your PSP

You may be underestimating the volume of people who hack simply to play pirated UMD-based games on the PSP. Go to a torrent site someday and look at their PSP section, or lacking that, just search PSP and you'll see a thriving pirate community, just like all the other systems.

Well it's unfortunate that you can't stop thieves no matter what you do but the largest homebrew communities like dcemu are 100% against piracey and will ban you if you ask for any illegal material. I mean, the RPG Maker (pc version) communities used to embrace the illegal versions but once Enterbrain announced RMXP legal version they immediately took a no nonsense approach to piracey. There'll still be pirates but if a company actually supports something there'll be less of them.