ZivenSeagull

jarri6

let's take a hypothetical situation, entirely hypothetical you understand.
Anonymous: "Let's say in one weekend I can pirate 800 DS games in one massive bittorent file.
Ok, I've just downloaded how much money's worth of games?

At a rought estimate 24,000 Euros worth, in one weekend.
So that means that the company has just lost 24,000 Euros, right?
Well that's bollox, that's what they want you to believe, but that moeny doesn't exists, in my hypothetical situation I don't have that money, so how has anyone lost it?"

Yeah. Probably true at first thought. But try to read between the lines then you'll understand why are you ignorant. Think: If everyone or at least 70% of the gaming market never dish out a single cent to buy a UMD/DVD/Blueray then there will never be no more funds enough to support the developers. Therefore halting any sequels that may follow through.

pspbricker

MavisAmphinomus

The fact is there are a TON of reasons to use custom firmware and... Let me see... trying to think... no reasons? Yeah, no reasons not to. Unless you consider the vague risk that Sony's legal department will express the fact that they're extremely upset with your behaviour a reason not to.

I buy my games, rent them and borrow them from friends like I always used to; I imagine other custom firmware users do the same. My video game spending has actually gone up quite a bit since I got my PSP a few years ago actually, I just don't use the discs much after I buy them. I put them on the shelf in their nice funky little halfsize packaging, where they look pretty.

Nphyx

freespeech

once you have custom firmware installed, you need to create a copy of the PS1 disc. I use MagicISO, other programs like Alcohol 120% are good too. you will also need PopStation.

I suggest you check out [www.dcemu.co.uk]

fillerbunny9

Currently loaded on my memory stick: Ogre Battle, Castlevania SotN, and Vandal Hearts.

Last PSP title I bought? FFT: War of the Lions. Has there been anything released since that I want? Uhm, the new Wipeout? Maybe? Pure was fun I guess, but I didn't put enough time into it.

fillerbunny9

Kokutou

Señor Cagon

Say I have a PSP slim running on firmware v3.93. If I wanted to finally be able to play some of my old PS1 games on it instead of waiting for Sony to (possibly never) release them on the store, how would I go about doing such a thing?

Cathaoir

TheIrishNinja

I think of it like this...imagine that you had a laptop that came installed Windows, and by having Windows it would ONLY allow you to use Microsoft products. You'd want to do something about that wouldn't you?

moonbunnychan

dethkloknirvana

Unlike it was in the past, Custom Firmware is fully user friendly, CFW now even has it's own M33 Network Update, which gets firmware information for Dark_AleX's server instead of yours.

I am highly against piracy (as is Fanjita, from Team N00bz / C+D inventor of your worst enemy and my best friend, Pandora's Batter, a highly skilled PSP hacker) it drastically harms the video game industry and I hate piracy as much as you guys do, but I don't see a problem with ripping your OWN UMDs and putting them on the MS to load faster.

Now for a quick little history of the Pandora's Battery, it's the exact same thing as your own JigKick battery, it runs the IPL from the memory stick and re-flashes the firmware files, letting users choose to install either 3.90 M33-3 or the original 3.90 firmware, this saves the hassle of sending it in or buying a new PSP, along with a way to hack any one else's PSP. :)

There are loads of great homebrew applications, from iR Shell (an application that lets you multi-task, sort of like a in-game XMB for PSP, or use instead of your XMB shell) along with iR Shell, there's a application called Universal Remote that allows the PSP-100X (PSP-200X doesn't work due to the lack of an IR port) to control virtually any IR controlled devices, including the Slim PS2 and the Xbox 360. There are tons of emulators that let you play games that you own on the PSP (GBA, N64, NES, SNES, and there's even a NDS one in the works, along with many more emulators, even Windows 95 & Mac OS 7). Tons of other homebrew games exist too, along with thousands of applications.

And with Pandora's Battery, no matter how many firmware updates you make, homebrew can't be stopped, just give in (find a way to stop the loading of ISOs if you want) and allow user created applications to be ran.

GameBox47

KingDavid73

Kinuki

To me, some of the important bits is that you dont have to drag around your UMDs (you buy them, then back them up to your memstick). Because you dont use the UMD drive you get better battery life, faster loading times and less annoying drive noise.

Monsterdog

I mean, "hacking my PSP makes me feel like a rebel"? Do they have 6 year olds writing the questions? Makes me want to puke.

I own a slim and an original with hacked firmware, I use them both, slim for gaming, hacked for running homebrew apps. I don't play downloaded psp roms on mine, I personally like all the quirky apps and cool stuff (there's a sweet drum machine program!), among other things.

I think this survey is yet another peek into how much Sony does NOT understand the PSP consumer base, at least the hacking community. Speak to us like adults and listen to what we say, and you might start to get a grip on it.

oldbenway

ManekiNeko

btw: i have red slim psp with 3.71m33_4, windows v3 theme. (i like better than applecor) dark-alex rules!

DaDRIZZLE

Why? I like having more control of the PSP than the options that were originally given to me.

I've had my PSFat on custom firmware since 1.5. It's been worth it the whole time.

Sony should just stop worrying about it.

burnman

ShaggyB

Azazel024

Antiterra

DaDRIZZLE

skaldicpoet9

skaldicpoet9

DaDRIZZLE

Before you do, just consider this: you might be seen as a "rebel" or worse you could just be doing this to impress someone. :D

Yeah, you can find an R4 on Amazon actually, pretty cheap too. And there is a crapload of homebrew (yes, HOMEBREW) that is actually pretty damn good. Like DSOrganize, Moonshell, Word Up, NES emulator etc...just look on the DCEMU site and you'll find a lot of good stuff.

skaldicpoet9

DaDRIZZLE

skaldicpoet9

Rebelphoenix83

DaDRIZZLE

DaDRIZZLE

kPod

nxp3

enewtabie

- 8-bit and 16-bit computers emulation (ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Amiga) - most games for these systems are abandonware and can be downloaded and played legally. Check [www.worldofspectrum.org] for example.

- emulating older consoles, which is a bit shade, so let me skip this one. I do play more Amstrad games anyways, in fact other than casual brushing up of GBA favourites, I only played SNES version Final Fantasy VI for a longer period.

- free PDF-Reader. I actually hoped for iPhone to provide me with this feature, unfortunately no chance yet. Having my books on the PSP is really very cool.

- PSPFiler to organize my files, move mp3s around folders and all that. Why this is not implemented in regular firmware is beyond me.

- homebrew games. Yes, there is a whole bunch of those and new ones keep popping up. Old list is available here: [www.bartsnews.net] , but there new ones keep popping up, also there are legal ports of Doom, DukeNukem3D, Quake.

- Light MP3 player, which allows me to get much longer battery time. Crucial on intercontinental flight.

- DOSBox port. I know it sounds a bit silly, but being able to have classic Silmarils games, as well as Another World, Wolfenstein 3D, Fury of the Furries and such in one's pocket means a lot to a gaming dinosaur like me.

- things I don't use and care for, but are important to my PSP using friends and coworkers: Opera web browser, chess game, music creation utility PSP Rhythm ( [www.bartsnews.net] ), GPS and maps, YouTube.

- key point - all these things (ok, except console emulation) are both FREE and LEGAL.

Other than that:

- UMD - loading times and battery drain. Mind you, I always do buy good games, but once I payed for it I feel free to use iso. Plus it spares me carrying around UMD case and swapping discs, which also is a valid reason (for example on the plane).

I actually thought about how Sony could allow all this to happen without catching flak for allowing piracy and I reckon that some sort of homebrew certification process could be an answer

Barts

The rest of it's just for fun, like pretending to quietly sit in the corner of the living room playing my PSP and change the TV channels around :D

StuiWooi

And Microsoft fears the challenge of these guys at the PC level?

Ultrasinc

TeknoVagrant

1) Because your applications suck and I want to run my own homebrew programs, that make much more than your standard software.

2) Because now I.CAN.PLAY.ZELDA.DAMNIT! (Snes version oooooooooofffff coooooouuuuurse)

etc... but yeah, piracy might be the main reason so let's play around and put 10 options saying ''you're a pirate'' but slightly different one from another.

(Don't have a psp, don't have hacked any psp, not any of my other consoles but my xbox and that was for xbmc :P )

Mr. Pie

Lajcik

emulators for discontinued consoles
homebrew games
load games from memory stick saving a ton of battery
stream media from your pc
use the GPS and camera with software in your language since they are not available in America, and I have the feeling they will never be released
Instant Messaging

I guess that's it... in reality, the PSP actually sucks, but the Screen is pretty good and with the right homebrew makes it worthy to carry around. I think the iphone replaced the PSP as the best portable media player... thanks to hacked firmware, lol...

VakeroRokero

Here's a fact, consumers feel they have a need to do things not normally intended for their product. Sony can't really allow emulation to run rampant without attempting to stop it. They'd be liable for not trying to stop piracy of other developers' games.

People will always use their excuses for when they pirate or when they homebrew. Saying they aren't as cool as you because you buy your games doesn't really do shit. It is as effective as saying someone sucks at the game you're good at, it doesn't do anything but make you feel better about yourself.

And just because there's no actual figures of damage, doesn't mean that piracy doesn't harm the industry. Those are details no one will be able to obtain.
I laugh at surveys like this. They don't obtain actual figures, and they will likely be skewed in a sense to try to add more legislation to things like the DCMA. They recently asked 1000 ish people why they download music and their figure was 95% of them takes part in some copying, with physical copying the highest...

Another sad factor is that, many companies do NOT listen to their customers, and they train customer service departments to give consumers the run around.

Developers get money from more sales? I thought they were already paid in advance for their job, and only publishers get the majority of the amount. I recall a developer stating that they rarely ever see extra revenue from more sales, its their usual paycheck and getting that extra 5 cents only works if they get exceptional sales or something to that extent.
I'm talking about actual big name developers and not indie.

Trying to stop people who don't buy your products isn't going to make them have money to spend on your products; in fact, it'll likely turn them away. Actual paying customers who hack for whatever homebrew they want, is probably what they should focus on, not these "rebels" as they name them. I'm sure real customers feel insulted.

超外人

kingofallcosmos

Overlord44

Hacking a PSP is easy with some of the tools that are oUt there now. and most of the real Players in the scene will help you for free. Do not pay for what should be free except there are People "Datel, and others" who decided to charge for soMething they didn't even create and it is not like they give money DA or anyone one who made the Stuff they use.

And before you go off about stealing there are several projects out there that will ban you for even talking about those types of things. So take a look at Projects and start learning, if nothing else you will know what you are doing when you see someone else with a messed up PSP.

acidraven

retards

Desosav

Highlander Wolf

jtraveller

And hey, just recently I wrote about hacked DRM of PSN titles:
[www.bartsnews.net]

I give there more detailed explanation.

Barts

Seriously. I rip all my UMD games to a memory stick and run them off that. The UMD drive is too fucking slow. The breaking point was Street Fighter Alpha 3. I got so fed up with the loading times from the UMD, like 20 fucking seconds per match. When you load the game from a memory stick, it takes about 2 seconds. There are also some slick functions I use that the official firmware doesn't support, namely viewing text and pdf files. Also using the Japanese GPS unit in North America last couple of years was hot shit.

PissedPS3Fan

maiky-nisute

Your hypothetical example would make sense if the 30 euros we're paying per DS cart was purely to cover the cost of printing the cart. If it were, then yes, downloading 800 DS games would not be the same as walking out of the company's factory with 800 DS carts under your shirt.

But its not. we're not just paying for the printing costs. We're paying the salaries of the people who worked on the software. These companies aren't charging you to just own this little piece of plastic they printed. No, what you're paying for is the use of the software on that plastic.

And thats not all. Let's imagine you were the CEO of such a company. you would expect to get a certain amount of profit back from the sales so you can pay all of your employees correct? so you would try and estimate how many units you would be able to sell and try an balance things like printing costs and advertising and come up with a final value of how much the cart would cost. Now imagine if piracy was running rampant, you would have to expect to sell a lot less of the cart than you normally would. This means you would have to hike up the price of the carts. which means the rest of us honest gamers who are willing to pay for our games are paying extra to cover for the cheapskates out there.

Jotsy

Strongly disagree .......... Strongly agree

Chef

daschupa

elislider

Battery Life - I get about double the battery life playing off the memory stick. Being able to play for 8 hours as opposed to 4 (or 12, with a larger battery), is pretty awesome.

Load Times - Everyone knows load times off the memory stick are infinitely better, not too much more I can say about that.

UMD Fragility - This might be a legacy issue, but the first wave of UMDs I bought had a severe tendency to come apart and break under pretty mild stress (I'm always very careful with my media). When I called Sony support to ask if it was possible to replace damaged UMDs, I was told that they could not be replaced, as opened UMDs indicated a piracy attempt. WTF?!? I'm not spending $30-40 on a game only to have the disc break a month or two later! (Admittedly, this could have been an issue that I just got the short end of the stick on, newer UMDs could be much more sturdy)

Not having to change/carry discs - Mostly a convenience, not the biggest deal

I'm not buying a PS3 - I guess buying a PSP just wasn't enough for Sony...if I want to take advantage of the PS1 emulation, I have to plunk down for a PS3. Who thought that was a good way to introduce the feature? Not to mention the limited library is kinda stupid, since everyone knows that about 95% of PS1 games play fine on the PSP anyway.

When it comes down to it, playing games off the memory stick is superior to UMD in every measurable way (load times, battery life, etc.). What Sony has to understand (but never does, and maybe never will) is that some people will ALWAYS hack devices. Instead of running around after them, accomplishing nothing, they need to provide the consumer with more value for their money. I didn't buy my PSP because I was interested in new and exciting ways to give more of my money to Sony, I bought it because I like the hardware and what it can do. If Sony can provide me with useful services and good software experiences, I'll gladly pay for them. Right now, though, the hacked way is superior by every metric that matters to me.

What would make me happy enough to give up my hacked PSP? I'm going to imagine a Steam-like system where I can buy games for reasonable prices and have them loaded straight onto my USB-connected PSP. The software could also smoothly handle video/audio conversion and placement on the unit. Games can cost from $5 to $30, depending...and the PS1 library needs to be available and HIGHLY fleshed out. Continuing along the Steam route, let third parties easily develop PSP software and make a nice SDK they can use that exposes useful functionality while avoiding all the kernel-mode stuff you don't want people doing. Sure, you won't stop every exploit, but you'd be creating a useful community that there would be value in being a part of. I'd happily keep my PSP legit if it left me with easy access to all my games downloadable from wherever I am and a bounty of third-party software I could buy and easily install. When you let your community work FOR you (because they LIKE you and the way you treat them, and don't feel like you're just trying to wring each and every last dollar you can out of them) instead of fighting against them every step of the way, it might even be profitable!

gravaton

If you read what I said carefully and as a whole, you wouldn't be hung up on a few of those points:

"A cheapening of the experience is your opinion, just because you think the PSP is a cheaper experience than the actual Atari doesn't mean other people do."

The psp itself has nothing to do with it. If you take what I said combined with the fact that one is stealing game "x," you will then have my thoughts on why I think it is cheapening the experience. You are talking about being a "purist"...I am not.

"Halo was intended for Macintosh computers, not Xbox. Does that mean that everyone playing Halo on their Xbox is playing them on a console it wasn't intended for? Here's a better question, does it matter? The answer's no."

Again, you are taking what I said out of context. You can twsit the word "intended" to mean what you want it to mean, but it is clear what I -intended- the word to mean.

"I don't think you can tell anyone how much they do or do not appreciate anything. For all you know many people have already bought the games which they download onto their PSP. Old hardware and cartridges weren't meant to last forever. If my system broke and I downloaded the games I had am I stealing as I am not buying the ACTUAL game?"

If you read my entire post you would see that I agree with you here. Period. Also view my answer to this in light of your argument "cheapening the experience." If you own the game, it is yours. Just like a cd.

"Telling people not to download games that are no longer available on the market is very illogical. I recommend you rethink that one."

No, I recommend you rethink it. This is a perfect example of what I meant by "entitlement." Why do you feel that you have a right to play older games? You do not. Just because you can't walk into a store and buy something does not give you the right to steal it.

Seriously though, thanks for taking the time to respond to my post (no sarcasm).

newtype2011

It's certainly more effective than that "copying is stealing" campaign, or those truth.com commercials.

boopadoo

sir_carrot

Deviation59

GAMES-ECT

The music player of the PSP is a primitive joke, the visualizations visualize that quite well. Funny equalizer, at least.
Sony's punch to half of EU with inexisting PSN Store (they don't want our money).
WiFi is rarely good enough to play most of your PSX titles through remoteplay from your PS3. And you can't magically change discs remotely...

somarix

I agree with most of your post, but I thought this comment was outright wrong.

"2. If you really love the classic games, go out and buy them. Stop walking around like you are a true supporter of a particular franchise when you have downloaded all of the games and play them on a console that they weren't even intended for. You are cheapening the experience. If you are walking around with 100s of games in your pocket, you don't appreciate any of them the way they should be appreciated. Compound that with the fact that you didnt't pay for them, and you have a person who truly doesn't understand the value of a game."

If I really love games I don't see what's wrong with wanting to play them on a portable system as opposed to trying to find a working older console with cartridges for each of the games I want to play. This part has nothing to do with piracy as any of these classic games that you buy would end up being used and none of the money would go to developers.

A cheapening of the experience is your opinion, just because you think the PSP is a cheaper experience than the actual Atari doesn't mean other people do.

Halo was intended for Macintosh computers, not Xbox. Does that mean that everyone playing Halo on their Xbox is playing them on a console it wasn't intended for? Here's a better question, does it matter? The answer's no.

I don't think you can tell anyone how much they do or do not appreciate anything. For all you know many people have already bought the games which they download onto their PSP. Old hardware and cartridges weren't meant to last forever. If my system broke and I downloaded the games I had am I stealing as I am not buying the ACTUAL game?

Telling people not to download games that are no longer available on the market is very illogical. I recommend you rethink that one.

NeoAkira

Are you hacking your PSP?
Why are you hacking your PSP?
Are You hacking it now?
Where do you live?
Do you work nights?
Is your wife/girlfriend nice looking...ahem...
Thank you for taking part in the friendly Sony survey.

[(benevolent dictators rule!!!)"pun intended"]

who cares

It's the old adage of computer security...you can't do anything to secure a computer someone has physical access to. If they can get to the case, no matter what you do to secure it means nil.

Dragoonkin

I like that option.

Patient

"If (Sony) really want to make the PSP a truly great multi-media machine, all they need to do is update the PSP OS/FW to the point where it can run homebrew without doing anything illegal- and then they've made a very small but capable PC. Think about it- using a 3rd (or first) party keyboard attachment, you could have an on-the-go word processor, or spreadsheet, or, hell....anything. If you have a slim, with the added benefit of video out, you could run a damn presentation off a PSP, if the right software was written. I'd love something like that, so I wouldn't have to lug my laptop around in case of live-blogging or whatnot.

The problem with Sony is that while they will call the PSP something other than just a game machine, they don't -and probably won't- do anything to realize that. They have in their power to make a small, incredibly cheap but reliable and decent computer, which while it can't compete with the big boys, would be perfect for travel or low income families- just plug it into your TV and you're done.

I think with how the PSP and PS3 are handled- like using a rallycar to only do the shopping- Sony is actually trying to lose money. Too bad they are all too single-minded to see that the PSP could usher in a new age of computing."

What I'm getting at is while modders are doing something which Sony doesn't really like, it's mostly due to Sony not realising (or not acting on their knowledge of) what they can do with the system. I used to have a "hacked" PSP (GTA exploit, then TIFF), but I only used it to run PSPRythym so I could make music on the run (everything else I tried didn't want to run on my TA-082). Since then my FW now prohibits me from running HB, but if there were worthwhile enough software out there I'd mod it again (already missing Rythym, but the KORG thing comes out for DS soon, so that'll be cool). I already own all the PSP games I want to play (GTA, BH2K, Patapon and MHP2G) so I don't feel the need to pirate (<- notice "feel," which means my opinions could change).

Basically if Sony made an OS for the PSP that allowed HB they could probably put in better counter-measures for limiting piracy as well. Piracy will always happen, but piracy is just one of many uses that modders are getting out of their hacked shit. That does it, I'm modding mine this week, until Sony provides a new OS.

denki

coronelxupomoses

As for firmware updates and the fequency of them. I don't have any problems with this. I like the fact that they provide updates often. It lets me know thier still involved!

The big issue is games though. If you can't afford them, you shouldn't be playing them. Get a job, learn to save and respect others. Do you think those game developers slave long hours to have thier products stolen. And I'll bet none of them have college educations to pay for?! If you don't think this pirating trickles down and damages the game development industry; you're wrong.

MUCKRAKER07

evslin

1. Once everyone learns that you don't have a right to play any game you want, you will start thinking differently about video games, property, etc. I think people have fallen under the illusion that because a game is available on the net and is easy to steal (yes, steal), than that makes it okay. It is not. If you have a game on your psp that you did not pay for, you have stolen it plain and simple. I know many of you don't care about anyone but yourself and your own interests, but creating games costs real money and real time. It truly makes me sick how so many people think they are entitled to play whatever they want just because they can. If you created a game and that is your lively-hood, I think you would change your mind about piracy.

2. If you really love the classic games, go out and buy them. Stop walking around like you are a true supporter of a particular franchise when you have downloaded all of the games and play them on a console that they weren't even intended for. You are cheapening the experience. If you are walking around with 100s of games in your pocket, you don't appreciate any of them the way they should be appreciated. Compound that with the fact that you didnt't pay for them, and you have a person who truly doesn't understand the value of a game.

3. I firmly believe that developers don't make more games for the psp because of piracy. People complain that the psp doesn't have many great games, yet, they applaud people who pirate games. Remember how many people pirated GOW COO!?

4. If you own a game, I think Sony should give you the option of downloading a digital copy of it for free. I think this would answer many people's pleas of having the games load faster, as well as carrying around more games in your pocket as you would able to run them straight off the memory card.

5. There should be more downloadable demos, as well as better quality demos.

6. I have no issue with people who mod the software in an effort to manipulate the hardware, but I understand Sony's stance on it. If you personally created something, you don't want somebody taking it and twisting it without your permission. Having said that, I think Sony should work together with the modding community (because there are some really smart people out there!) to create an even better psp that benefits everyone. Not only would we have a better product, but the positive PR for Sony would be huge.

newtype2011

Games Cost Too Much For a Handheld 5

Asurastrike

i know that a friend of mine had tons of old SNES games, and everything packed onto his hacked psp.

at some point it just seemed stupid though, because he was off playing his old games, and i was playing ACTUAL new games, like GTA, on my psp, it was indefinitely more interesting that way.

although, i guess people who really know how to hack their psps, can manage to play new games as well, for free. so i can see the appeal of that.

but i don't want a bricked psp, by any means! i'm fine with paying for the games i really want.

joelface

I couldnt care less about the pirating new games myself, While I dont like having to insert a disk, the truth is I dont really like any of the new games enough to even bother downloading them. Even if one did come out, if its good enough to dl, than its good enough to buy.(ie. pirating sucks, people deserve thier money)

Sadly though, I think that the reason most hack thier PSP's is to get free PSP games. And not the ones that are supposed to be free.

RuneX

MetaKz

Sugarbloodsuckers

Drakulakun

topaz420

NeoAmon

Screw keeping it stale - there's so much homebrew to enjoy.

syl1985

AcidFaux

Fireblast

ymm

It's obvious that we as consumers want more if they can't/don't deliver. Those who aren't looking to pirate aren't asking for outrageous features that are impossible; we're just asking for them. And if Sony doesn't want to give them to us, we'll program them ourselves.

Shalashaska

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

If Sony were to release an official tool to make PSP versions of PSOne games, I'd be really pleased.

BPMΣ

Heyyou27

Dark_Alex is a God.

Marios_shadow

jayntampa

Bill Gates made me do it.

KMatt

jambe

eskilla

Aliasunknown

r0xx1t

glutto

Dreadfish

also anyone up for a little PSP FF7?

NocturnOwl357

Allen750

WasabiJoe

z357x

In their words: It's my PSP and I can do what I want with it. That applies to anything I own, and if it has a flash chip somewhere in it, I probably already have done it.

It's a fun challenge, mainly due to awful documentation on the hacks.

I use it WAY MORE than enough to make hacking worthwhile.

They won't catch me, even if they read this, pfft. That's not a consideration. Those boys have NOTHING on companies like NagraVision. ;) If they did, I think they'd lose more paying customers than they expect.

And I can do so much more on it hacked. I read books, play emus, run utils like file managers and even fix their mistakes - I run 3.90, but emulate FFVII at 3.71 because it worked then. (Ripped from legal commercial discs, not distributed. Not sold on PSP either, so is it theft?)

Also, I run ISOs. I still download out of print games that aren't available, or titles not even sold here, though I have an import binge from time to time and order the nice region-free UMDs. I preview too because otherwise I would NOT gamble on games at retail price - there are too many stinkers. I buy good games when I can, which is pretty often now. Funny enough I had the Patapon UMD and God of War ISO. Then I bought GoW, got a ripper and put Patapon onto my card and GoW in the UMD drive to optimize memory stick and physical space. Others like to run off the stick to reduce load times.

So there are many reasons to hack, and not all firmware modders, not even all pirates, seek only to rip them off. I bet many, as with MP3s to the music industry, are also frequent customers and the whole issue is deeper than they care to consider.

fuchikoma

Genocyde

:D

LordMoon

[www.google.com]

Genocyde

Demonbird

iao_

Leathersoup

DaveKap

The difference is this.

Let's say I download X game from the internets, I still have the same amount of money to pour into the game insdustry, and I'm still buying stuff with that money, that disposable income is going to games companies, one way or the other. My cash is till going to games companies, even though I may have some games I took for free.

On the other hand, let's say I buy a secondhand game, well that's less money I have to give to games companies they are losing tangible cash.

Cruithne

I would like to have custom firmware for one reason: To rip my own PS1 games.

If Sony want to combat the PSP hacking they need to start offering some of the features available to hackers. Firstly, they should provide their own software for converting PS1 games. If it's coded to only work on real PS1 disks, that's fine, can't argue with that. Following that, a Java Virtual Machine or something along those lines would be nice. They could sandbox it enough to prevent playing ripped ISOs, but open enough to allow a range of apps to be made.

Silent_Shark

Gladman

Oh what is the world comming to.

Witzbold

firelogic

Witzbold

Sony wanna hire me?

Maximus9

Genocyde

MURDERFACE

GHETTO.CHiLD

x999x

DaveKap

But honestly yes they could Release real Demo's. I remember a day when we used to DL the first world of a game, Be able to save and quit and come back when ever. and once you got threw that first world, you got to save. and then it said BTW you like this part of the game you have seen nothing yet, Buy the full version. and it even used your save files.

Now a real full time limited version won't happen way to much data do DL. Now the first section of Say FF7:CC and a few missions could easily be made into a demo and distributed on the PSN.

But yes a demo that is 100% comparable to the retail version should exist, but not released till after the game comes out. The types of Demo's we have now are fine for pre-release. Just make a Final demo that maybe even has a save file, that lets you resume where the demo ended. For the Pre-Release games Make a save file that Unlocks something when it is loaded by the real game.

acidraven

Too many unknowns to say for certain.

Pezdispenser

Papa Midnight

FutureEmperor

VergessenHeld

Arklop

In Western markets they actually just about scraped into double figures, and even then, for most of the year you could only buy the games if you owned a PS3.

I got sick of waiting and just ripped my own games instead. Vagrant Story, FFVII, GT, Einhander, Abe's Oddyssee, Rollcage, Colony Wars 1,2 and 3 all live on my memory stick, as do a load of other games that I would have cheerfully bought again for a few quid each. Instead of reaping an absolute fortune by releasing this stuff themselves, Sony pissed around trying to get the DRM locked up and drove everyone to CFW's which handily enabled them to run downloaded PSP ISOs as well as self-ripped PS1 EBOOTs.

Sony were so busy trying to make sure no one could steal the eggs, they didn't notice everyone was out the back stealing the chickens.

JudgeNutmeg

Zombie_Crunch