Something worth the read

[dixm655]

I found this while searching around IGN. Anyways, here it is:


Hi, I'm an avid reader of your site and I have recently noticed that you guys are fully against the Homebrew and Emulation scene on the PSP.

It seems that IGN.com and us.playstation.com are trying to scare people into updating their PSP's.

I'd like to clear up a few things about this matter.

For one, alot of people are saying that you can download viruses or a dump of earlier firmware with bad code that can turn your PSP into a "brick". While this is %100 true, it can only happen if you download from a non-commercial site. PSP-hacks.com, psphacker.com and dcemu.co.uk are guarantee'd to have quality downloads that will not harm your PSP.

Second, people saying that you NEED the update's security feature because "hackers" can "hack" into your PSP if you are connecting to the internet or playing a game over infrastructure. While this is also true... come on, what are you? Some kinda idiot? hacking a PSP? No one gives a F^@& about your PSP.

Corrupting your Memory Stick from swapping cards to play Homebrew and Emulators? Not anymore, a single card hack is out and it works perfectly.

The only thing I can see that is wrong with Homebrew and Emulators is the fact that you need to update for future games.

But anyways, I'm really tired of people trying to scare the PSP users into updating.

The PSP is a multi media device isn't it? Why shouldn't I use it to play emulators?

If anything, this makes people want a PSP even more, I showed my friend Super Mario Brothers 3 and he went right out and bought one. Swear to god. He lives with his parents and has a job along with a ton of money, he bought one because I showed him that.

Right now the PSP has a very narrow line up of games, I was VERY happy when I found out that I wouldn't have to rid my PSP of emulators to play it.

I know that IGN probably already knows everything I've told you in this post, but are trying to be ethical.

Using un-signed programs on your PSP is not un-ethical, it's breaking a monopoly that SONY has on the PSP, as stupid as it sounds, the PSP has a much higher potential then what SONY made it to be. It's unlocking the PSP's full potential. And just possibly, It's making the PSP sell better.

I don't care if this get's posted or not, but please at least don't simply discard my e-mail.

-- BlingShyne2 TAA
- Hoke County, NC






I agree that worried about hackers and viruses are unfounded -- they're not going to bother stealing your precious save files, and viruses are really rare in hardware-specific homebrew (then again, I could see an aggravated hacker doing a fake EMU to screw kids over and weed out the leechers who ruin the homebrew scene). There are a freaking ton of PSP hack websites out there for some reason, and not all of them are as proactive as those you mention, but that's hardly an issue. You might get something bad on your PC from the ZIP or RAR if you don't know the site, however, so do watch your ass. I'll tell you this much: if something goes wrong with a file you download from any of those sites you mention, good freaking luck trying to collect on that guarantee. (And btw, who the heck on any of those sites said the word "guarantee'd"? Nobody, right? I'm not crazy, no? The first rule of Hack Club is you don't talk about Hack Club, but the second rule is that you bust it, you deal with it. Legit service or not, that comes with the territory.)

The one big problem is that homebrew and hacking opens up the PSP to burns and bootleg PSP games, and that's something that Sony can't have. They HAVE to be proactive about protecting their hardware. Having people spend time playing bootleg games on PSP does them no good either -- even if it sells a system, if you just use it to play old NES games, that's a wasted system (they lose money on hardware, or at least make very little on it, and publishers depend on the user base to buy games and keep the market alive.) You don't have to be happy about it, they're in the right to do it.

In any case, we're not exactly trying to scare people into updating -- our thing is that all these people who are in a panic about buying new software because it updates your system and makes running illegal software on it not possible...stupid! Hackers will figure out a way around, and in the meantime, you're ignoring new games just so you can play 8-bit games on your $250 new handheld. It's inevitable, if you want to keep playing new stuff on PSP, you'll need whatever update the game asks for -- at the very least, every PSP owner in the country will have to bite the bullet when GTA: Liberty City Stories rolls around.

You can either pay another $250 for a second PSP, you could go buy a PDA or a GP32 or any of a few dozen other handheld machines that are less pricey and just as apt for that function, or you could say sorry to homebrew and swim in the stream with the common people. But you can't ***** about how mean Sony is or how it has a "monopoly" over the system (sorry to use your word there -- I liked your letter, other than that), because it's their system. They made the hardware, they make the OS, they make the runtime libraries, they make the interface standards, they honor the warranties, they ensure compatibility with various versions and updates and software changes ... they're responsible for the system. And they're taking responsibility for it. Now, if you want to go out on your own and bust into it, that's your deal.

No console is open-source -- that's why we buy consoles instead of futzing around with our PCs for hours trying to get drivers to work and multitasking compatibility to stay straight. Sony does a lot to make sure you don't ever have think about your system. And nobody should fool anybody with rhetoric about "untapped potential" and "harmless old classic games" ... you knew when you bought this unit how things work with game systems by big companies, right? If there's a way to bend or break the rules and you want to make use of it, you do what you do. World keeps a'spinnin... And if Sony decides to filter out bootleg programs on the hardware it produces and maintains and provides for, the world won't stop.

--Nix



Courtesy of http://psp.ign.com/mail/

There is also more talk about the homebrew scene if you visit the above address if you're more interested.

[muki]

I agree that most of the propaganda aimed at scaring users away from homebrew is mostly wrong. Hell, I even bought my PSP mostly just for the homebrew and to be used as a portable multemedia station (even though I also bought two PSP games and intend to buy more)!

But I also sympathize with Sony and understand why they'd be worried.

Also..................... .

..the I-showed-my-friend-emu-on-psp-and-he-got-one argument to "proove" that it's good for Sony's business is a common myth. Sony loses money when they sell a PSP that won't be used with games much, if at all. Their business model hopes that on average each PSP user will buy at least X-number of games, and THAT is how Sony makes a profit. Game licenses to third-parties as well as in-house. Currently the PSP costs less in stores than it costs to manufacture, so you can bet Sony will find a way to corner 1.0/1.5 users into upgrading to a rock-hard firmware.

[zakrisk]

So if 500,000 people bought PSP's for emulation, Sony would be losing alot of money, eh? .........wink

[dixm655]

I don't like the part either where they try and scare the users into updating. It does make sense though that people can just go out and buy something like a Palm Pilot to have emus and roms. The other part that makes sense is when he mentions that you paid $250.00 to play 8-bit games. I never really thought of it like that... :think:

well the old games do get boring. Alot of them isn't even worth my time. The only games I got that I want is:

Snes: Zelda, Kirby, Yoshi Island, Megaman 7
Genesis: Sonic 3
GBA: Alot but I want a faster + clear sound emulator!

[philpw99]

Sorry my English is not so good.

I think sony is having another huge profit oppertunity just like they had with the playstation.

Let's think about why Microsoft is so big today. It's not because Microsoft used all their resources to stop the pirating. Instead, they made the software very easy to pirate(at least in the case of office 97/2000). So every time an end user installed a pirate microsoft office, microsoft will lost $200, right? Actually no. By pirating, microsft programs were spreaded like wildfire. Finally most of the users knew how to use MS office, and when a company tried to decide which office program to use, they have no choice but to use Microsofts. Because that's the only program that everyone knows how to use.

It's called market dominance! Once a product owns most of the market. The company will be in a great avantage position to make profit. Bill Gates got rich not because he produced best software, but because he used smartest market strategy: pirating.

Suppose sony can "encourage" homebrews and hacked games, they don't do security updates, or they even make sure the hacked games run smoothly in new games. What will happen?

The one who are regarded as "the expert in computer" will buy the psp right away. He will show his psp to everybody, every one of his friend and say "I can play this, I can play that. I don't need to buy ...." The expert is one who will never buy a game but he will try his best to push psp to everyone.

So after seeing what amazing things psp can do, his friends will defininately go out and buy one themself, under the guarentee of "the expert" that he can play pirate games. And acutally, they can. They got a few games from "the expert" and play them happily.

However, when new games comes up, like GTA, or Grand Turismo 4, you cannot just keep bothering "the expert" to get them. Especially it involves copying and saving big ISO files. Getting a game from bestbuy for just $40 is quite an attractive option for them. So they will buy the games from time to time, especially for the great ones.

Then we have the friends of friends, or the bystanders who happened to watch a guy play video in the subway. Those are actually majority of our people, and they dont have the luxury of knowing an "expert". But they can see the greatness in the psp, so they will go out and buy one too. Those guys don't even know what "homebrew" means. They just buy the games at full price.

It's like a pyramid. The top ones, the experts, are the smallest portion of users, but they have the most influence. The lower one, their friends, have bigger number but not many, they are the best sells who show all the good things about the psp everywhere. The lowest one, bystanders, have the biggest among, and they are the one who sony should really focus on.

If sony can allow this pyramid to live, they can easily squash nintendo's DS. Since there are no other competitors. Sony can get a lot of profit from each game by the majority of the gamers. PSP will dominate the handheld game market just like playstation 1 did to the home-gaming market. The profit will be huge.

Imagine by that time, every youngsters in a subway show up with a psp and watch video, play music, watch pictures or play games in it. Wouldn't you want one yourself?

I watched a movie in a food court in a mall. A group of young girls passed by and one of them pointed to the psp and said "That is sexy!" Others were also smiling...

Well..., do I need to say more? It's even a perfect thing to attract girls. Soon I will buy one for my girlfriend and buy her all the original games. Because I don't want the trouble of teaching her how to copy a game to the memory stick and make a iso loader.

And please tell me that $250 is enough to cover the cost of plastic and chips inside a small device like this. Dell is selling their handheld pc X30 for $265. It has similar spec components like psp, and they are making a profit. How come sony cannot make a profit from the psp?

[ghost9]

Originally Posted by philpw99

(whole article)

that is a very interesting way to look at it, and i agree with you whole-heartedly. most people do NOT want to take the time to learn how to rip an iso, make a launcher etc etc..

and the english was fine. well written article.

[dixm655]

I agree with that as well Philip. The way I see it all is whether I should update the firmware because it does make sense that Bill Gates obviously got rich from pirating an OS. Sony could, and probably won't, do the same thing.

[Gryphon410]

If Sony is truly making a solid profit off of hardware sales, then yeah, I can see some legitimacy of your statement. There is a huge problem though that the industry is faced with. Take the HDLoader which was made for the PS2 for example (which I own).

The way the HDLoader is designed, it allows a user to put full PS2 games onto a hard drive and play it from there. Ultimately it’s a very useful program, however as I’ve stated in another post, it opens the doors to piracy. Suppose every PS2 user pays the $29.99 for the HDLoader, $50 for a 160GB HDD after mail-in rebate from www.outpost.com, and a $20 game pass to Blockbuster. All in all, about 2 brand new PS2 games worth of cash, for about 40+ games that would cost the same price or lower.

Taking into consideration the cost it takes to produce the games, and the fact that Gaming companies such as EBGames, Gamecrazy, Gamestop, and more pay about $40-45 wholesale for a game sold for $49.99 (correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s what I found when I worked at Babbages). The first companies that would take the hardcore hit from loss of sales, due to fact that every PS2 owner is now pirating (not all would, but let’s say they did), would be places such as those just mentioned – the video game retailers. They make a purchase at $40-45 for each new game, and the games aren’t selling. Eventually they have to lower the price to $9.99 just to attempt to get the games out of the store, and they lose huge profit. Because sales are low, they stop buying as many games from the distributor.

Now the distributor, being EA Games, Capcom, Squaresoft, etc. are taking a hit because the game retailers aren’t buying a huge amount of games from them. They get minor sales, and now their biggest buyers are places like Gamefly, Redoctane, and Blockbuster. Rental companies. But that doesn’t provide enough income for the games produced, so they limit the quantity produced, and are eventually forced to lower the price on the games when launched, which doesn’t make up for the cost it took to make the game in the first place.

Eventually, this hit would be so bad that gaming companies wouldn’t be producing games as hardcore as they once were, and now our selection of “top of the line” video games is extremely limited because we were too busy getting games for free, rather than forking up the dough. And, even though there are some games that won’t copy over, only hardcore gamers will actually buy them because other people are in the mentality of “If it doesn’t copy, oh well, I have plenty of other games to play that will”.

Now what cause does Sony have to manufacture more PS2s? Hardware sales? That’s about all that they’d be getting, and I don’t think that would be enough to make it worth it, especially if eventually ¼ people end up having one, then their sales stop and they have to develop a new system to stay on top of things.

This is all speculation, of course, on if every PS2 owner were to pirate their games. But we can see where this kind of mentality could lead, if everyone is advertising “look what my PSP can do without me having to buy any UMDs/games”.

As it is, I haven’t stuck a UMD movie or game into my PSP since the emulators came out. I probably won’t put one in until some sweet RPGs come out for the PSP. My PSP is definitely worth its weight in gold for the emulator aspect of things, but come on…Sony can’t expect to hold the market if all they’re doing is releasing hardware. Once every home in America, Europe, and Japan have a PSP, then what?

[philpw99]

Well, as the old saying, "If you can not beat it, join it." Pirating is always No. 1 problem in the software and gaming business. If any company release something that is popular, sooner or later there will be a lot of pirating happening.

So you can put out many data and facts that says pirating hurts the selling of ps2 games, while at the same time I can also say many examples that pirating actually can "help". It's a never ending arguement.

The key is how to get profit when something so good like psp was hacked and pirated.

It's the marketing strategy. If this strategy doesn't include the possibilities of pirating, then it's a not-well-conceived plan. I personally don't think sony will make such one.

Why sony is not selling psp at $199 or just give it out for free, because $249 is the best balance between profit and market. So they can get some profit from each unit or the lost is "affordable" even in large volumns.

I don't know why you say every ps2 owner were to pirate their games. Cause all the ps2 owners I know buy originals, some of them buy old-and-cheap ones in the blowout sales. 2 of my friend even decline my offer to hack their ps2 because they think it is not necessary. So so far I know the trick but didn't do it yet.

Think about it: if a kid ask his father to buy ps2 and games, then later ask his father again for the money to hack the console so he can play many many games. Will his father approve it? How much trouble the kid must go through to save the money and hack it by himself? Maybe begging for a new game in the Bestbuy is a much easier approach.

[Herby]

Gryphon you are totally correct.
Phillip your scenario is a perfect scenario, it doesn't happen. I do agree with you on one part, the marketing. I have been to Venezuela where you cannot find an original PS2 game even if you tried, forget about a PS2 system, to expensive. ALL the games that the Street Vendors(many street vendors) sell are "Backup Copies" for Modded PS2's. Where do these Venezuelans get these PS2's? The U S of A. Take them back to Venezuela and somebody mods them for 50 bucks. How does Sony use this? Marketing for New systems. Sony has sold close to 100 millions units of hardware worldwide. Market Dominance, worldwide. Thats all they say to the developers, and there eyes turn green. It is just numbers though. It doesn't really help. Look at XBOX. One of the easiest systems to hack but it still does not dominate the market. How does XBox make its money? The online experience. Just like Sony somewhat does and is going to do. I buy the games to be able to play online. Sony's DNAS system is what keeps the software sales going. I am not going to play XBOX via Kai when I can play it via Xbox live(Don't have XBOX by the way, but I know). I am not going to spoof my DNAS id or go Kai when I can pay 20 bucks for Socom 2. It is not worth the hassle. I believe many people feel that way. That is why millions bought Halo and Halo2, and millions bought Socom and Socom 2. The online experience will rule the day for PSP, PS2, PS3, Xbox, and 360.

I did not buy the PSP to play SNES or NES games. I bought it for Socom: Fire team Bravo. I bought it for Lumines. I bought it for GTA. In the mean time I play homebrews why? Because of ****ty games like Dead to Rights. Just to hold me over. But as soon as they require me to update my FW for a good game I will do it in a heart beat. I was ready to update it for Coded Arms(Which is a great game). Sony is totally in the right to stop us from making homebrews on our systems.
Everybody that has these awesome talents and ideas for making brews should use them in a benificial way. Help us non-geniusus. Save us from bad games.
To quote Alone Trio:
"to sony:
Need someone to check your v2.0 firmware ?"