Article Detail - PlayStation Portable News

Homebrew community to get some Sony love

Posted Jul 24, 2007 at 09:13PM by Ceasar S. Listed in: Homebrew Development, News, Opinions & Analysis Tags: Sony, Jack Tretton, Hackers, Patrick Seybold

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IGN's Greg Miller, venerable reviewer, editor, PlayStation team member and all-around awesome guy - perhaps the guy of sorts you'd want to review your own PSP homebrew game - offered to send a few questions straight to the big three of Sony Computer Entertainment, getting the official and unflinching lowdown from the likes of CEO Jack Tretton, senior manager Patrick Seybold and senior director Dave Karraker on your deepest (and apparently heated) questions on anything and everything Sony-related.

And guess what? A question regarding official homebrew game support by a lucky lad named caterman was apparently selected by Miller and sent to Sony. Though many would have thought Sony would have worn its Gauntlets of Oppression +10 for this segment of the email Q&A, the games division of arguably the world's largest consumer electronics brand wasn't exactly the homebrew antagonist we possibly all felt they were.

In fact, they've expressed a lot of interest in homebrew, especially after witnessing a lot of output over the PSP scene. "We certainly see some of the stuff that has been done via homebrew, and it's incredibly creative. And I think we'd like to try and tap into that a little bit more," said Jack Tretton.

But with all things great, this does come with a condition. Dave Karraker said that in order for Sony to support homebrew software, they've got one main hurdle to cross: how to open the PSP so that enough freedom is given to the homebrew developers, without compromising the handheld's security to third-party intrusion.

How so? Imagine a handheld device, open without restrictions and accessible over wireless connection - an invitation to aspiring hackers. Miller himself states, "You know some hacker wants to brick your baby for fun," and we can't shake the feeling that while not evident, it's completely plausible. And then there's the malicious software option - or installing compromising code into your PSP - which for quite a while has been plaguing the Windows platform for generations on end.

And heck, just for kicks, you'd want to find out how vulnerable you are from potential hackers, too. You'd probably be so curious, in fact, that you'll attempt to hack your own PSP through someone else's. So the concern over security is probably mutual and thus understandable. Sony doesn't crackdown on homebrew as the belief would popularly go; they crackdown on hacks and hackers.

But then it all boils down to how much work would Sony need to make it all happen, after all is said and done. We'd estimate a lot of time is needed, but with support from the best of the best in the homebrew scene, it would slice the time frame favorably.

Such a collaboration would also help Sony become familiar enough with the innards of homebrew development and even open up avenues to some more interested freeware developers (the PC kind, myself included) to try their hand at handheld game development.

We know that this probably raised more than a couple of eyebrows among the most loyal of the PlayStation Portable homebrew movement, but hearing this from the top three guys who'd chew anything that stood in their way (Redmond armies included), this must be especially promising. If it's anything sincere, we'd hear more on this as time rolls on.

Many thanks goes to Mr. Snorlax for the big tip off!

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73 Comments

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by BS (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» Bullsh.t

The FIRST to say SO WHAT IT IS WHAT IT IS

Re: Dunt (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» FBM

FBM MOTHER*****ER

Re: Logic - 2007-07-25

» A SIMPLE ANSWER

Hardware protection. Make it so there is a hardware check of some sort. Much like the PS2 did. That way only a modchip will allow piracy. The problem is that means no legit homebrew of this handheld. Maybe next time.

Re: mohaas05 (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» ...

the problem is UMDs are encoded in the same format as DVDs making it easy to crack. If sony format it in some other way it might be more difficult for piracy

Re: lost4468 (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» woudnt work

Hardware protection woud probally be hacked also if that got hacked then there woud beno way to patch woud there besides theyve already tried this twice and it didnt work remember the dam 82 and 86 the only way i coud think woud to be hvae like the battery hooked to soemthing so it can detect wethter the flash is being accesed without a sony key and it just shuts the psp of but of course it woud still be hackable just harder

Re: Eric (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» DA leaves and now this?

Anyone else wonder if the rumor of Dark_alex working for Sony might be true. They say in the article that working with the "best of the best" would cut down the time...

Maybe an official Sony OE release in the upcoming years?

Re: phattyB (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» No thanks Sony.

I'll stick with 3.52 m33

Re: mohaas05 (Unregistered) - 2007-07-26

» ...

im still on 3.51 m33-7. im too lazy right now to update to 3.52 m33 and have to reinstall all my themes and stuff.

Re: Advertising -

Re: VettaCossX Homebrew Contributer... (Unregistered) - 2007-07-26

» thats why theres a RECOVERY system for our BREW

But with all things great, this does come with a condition. Dave Karraker said that in order for Sony to support homebrew software, they've got one main hurdle to cross: how to open the PSP so that enough freedom is given to the homebrew developers, without compromising the handheld's security to third-party intrusion

this statement is BS if we as a scene can do it so could sony there FINALLY seeing we are here to stay. WE DIDNT EVEN ALLOW A ISO LOADER TO BE POSTED FOR A VERY VERY LONG TIME...as we begged and pleed for freedom and you PATCHED said freedom so YES he is absalutley right! IT IS WHAT IT IS and it IS your fault sony we tried till FW 2.6 ish but you denied everytime our homebrew and lost our support with that we are people not just CURRENCY :( BAD SERVICE DUDE!

by psp (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» thats

pretty cool i guess

by first (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» first

damn thats pretty kool! first b!tches!!!

Re: lol (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» lol

retard. buttsecks?

by BoBisChriS (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» 3rd

3rd Mutha *****ah

by first (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» first

first

Re: me (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» i dont think so

err...maybe not you sad nob

Re: lol (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» lol

retard

by Mr. Snorlax (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» Wow

Wow I tipped this. No thanks at all.

Re: Advertising -

Re: Mabie A. (QJ. NET Staff) - 2007-07-24

» credits

check out the italicized sentence at the bottom of the article. :) thanks, again!

Re: Mr. Snorlax (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» Thanks

Wow you guys actually read comments. Thanks.

Re: Mr.Snorlax (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» im just fat

I am a gigantic fatass who looks at the computer 24/7.

Re: Mr. Snortax (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» What!!!

OMG, that guy is stealing my food and my underwear! HELP POLICE HELP! I'm to lazy to fat to run!!! HELP!!! OMG, omg, omg, my hemoglobin is hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. Better go to mcdonals to get out of hunger and menopause depression (although I am a man). OMFG I'm such a gay ***** whore!!!! Gotta go find cheap male prostitutes in India and get them in my creep in Soth Africa. OMFG do I just see what I see? Only 1 line of written appreaciation for my 24/7 work? OMFG I expected like 350 lines of appreciation and like a free PS3 but not a 360 or wii cause one is too fun and the other is for playing with my friends!!! I wanted at least 50k dollars or something, or at least a Transformers collector's edition dool from the 76 or at least some serf to do things for me cause I'm too lazy and sit in my comp for like 125 hours a week and I need someone to wipe off the Dorito crumps and *****. OMFG I gotta go, my level 99 Paladin is getting it's ass kicked in World of Warcraft!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Mr. Snorlax (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» credit

Why do you not give me credit?

by its official (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» Greg Miller has...

SLEPT WITH JACK TRETTON! the world is goin to the dogs...

by is sony really that nice? (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» stupid idiots

are you all retarded? who the hell cares if you're first, more importantly, I can't believe sony would care about us that much

Re: Aryn (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» I agree with the person ia m replying to...

I agree on both counts.

First of all, do not bother replying to these "ZOMG! FIRST!" idiots, that only encourages them. Just ignore them and if they get no reaction they go away.

I am a bit skeptical about this article due to SONY's past actions, but I suppose that if they communicate with people who create custom firmwares they can create a firmware that provides better homebrew support while blocking ISOs and attempts to use software to rip UMDs. If that ever happens then the only people who suffer would be those who desire to pirate games, and we can stop using firmware versions that allow piracy or in some cases ISO loaders simply to enjoy both homebrew and commercial games/software. I suppose that this will take a bit of effort on the part of all parties and plenty of thinking outside the box but it can be done.

Re: Those Stupid @#$($%|%u20AC!"·%!"$ (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» Nevermind

I dont trust Sonys word, they will deffinitly do something to prevent us... from continuing using our Homebrew...

by hush404 (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» IT'S SIMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sony is all for homebrew.... AS LONG AS IT DOESN'T MEAN PEOPLE ARE ABLE TO RIP THEIR GAMES AND PIRATE THEM.

It's all about how they can safely allow homebrew without loosing money to piracy, thats the underlying point.

!

!

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Re: goemon4 (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» ok

I think the fun of getting homebrew to run, is hacking it, if i wanted an open device id get another gp2x, i just love tinkering with something i shouldnt... But if they need a way to allow brew and protect it from security, is just release liek 2 firmwares, one that is the norm, and a homebrew one, not available on the network update so when you DL it you have to agree to the dangers of anything possible..... idk it could go somewhere.....

Re: dragoonadept@gmail.com - 2007-07-24

» I R FIRST OSHT

No, really, that's interesting. I could honestly see this working. Sony could make a stand-alone program that runs "homebrew" from inside itself. This would allow us to make stuff and use it. I would love to see hundreds of free puzzle games, adventure, fighting, or even RPG games.
*cheers* Here's for speculation!

Re: Nicko01 (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» good idea

if sony would use a launcher, then there would be pretty much no change in it being hacked (not many people would try) and they could block out access to things they dont like. Or they could make your program need to be sent to them for their approval (just the src) and they would make it runnable if they thought it would be ok.

Re: manaox2 (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» I'm pessimistic...

Why would Sony bother letting us make homebrew to solve problems when they would rather release their own software and products after seeing our creative ideas? They are a business, they want that money.

Re: VettaCossX (Unregistered) - 2007-07-26

» MORE LIKE YOUR FKING SIMPLE DUDE! LMAO where you been?

dude where the hell have you been all this time
ive had my original 1.0 psp for lets say since it was possible to have a psp..as homebrew slowley emerged and was born onto a fully kernall enabled psp sony patched it as homebrew continued to grow WITHOUT ANY ISO LOADERS ON ANY OF OUR SITES MIND YOU they continued to make a statment by PATCHING our HOMEBREW NOT ISO LOADERS JUST HOMEBREW and this happened with every single TIME CONSUMING CONTRIBUTION and HACK! we in the scene created....This is STILL happening ...the difference is while we in the real HOMEBREW scene pleeded to sony they ignored us and DID NOT MAKE A HOMEBREW SDK for us to LEGALY DEVELOPE ON!...NOW DID THEY??? my point is ACTIONS speak louder than words and there ACTIONS say they WILL NEVER SUPPORT HOMEBREW i say..... SHOW ME MY PSP SDK THEN SONY AND THEN WE WILL SEE!

by Philbert - 2007-07-24

» So few options

I'm no programmer, but the only option I really see for Sony to do this would be for them to keep an eye on the HB community and see what's out there or accept submissions, then look it over to make sure it's safe, edit the file to make it work on official systems, then make it available on an official site. All of that costs a lot of money.

Re: scamalert (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» hb artists beware

trying to get you to come out in the open so
they can have you arrested and take your ideas

by skeptic (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» still....

i think DAX had alil bit to do wit this sudden welcoming of homebrew by sony. So basically if they do collab wit the homebrew scene they all ready have one of the best ;]

by CutThroatJake (Unregistered) - 2007-07-24

» bleh

if they don't want ppl to pirate games they should make them cheaper. £10 a game is more than enough. i'd buy loads then. haveing to copy the game you want to play to the ms everytime is a pain in the ass. i'd much rather insert a umd.

but theres no way i'm chanceing £30 squids on a game that might be *****e. about half the games ive tried seem like betas! and half of those seem like alphas!!

the psp should have had video out from the begining if the umd movie was to be a success. i don't want to have to buy 2 copies of the same movie for full price!

Re: phattyB (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» While I agree that UMDs are too expensive...

Playing from MS is way better, especially with the np9660 No UMD driver. Faster loading and better battery life. I keep Syphon filter in my UMD drive, and the rest of my games I ripped to my 4gb MS. I have most of the games I own with me at all times without having to carry around a bunch of bulky UMDS.

Re: jockstrap (Unregistered) - 2007-07-26

» bluh

You think your games are expensive? Try sweden! MGS : Portable ops has got a 50£ pricetag! Everybodys Golf + 30£.
Sweden sucks in game sales.

by F!RST (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» FIRST!!!!!!

HA HA HA HA HA IN YOUR FACE!!! FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!

by jhonny (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» how to do it

can sum one tell me how 2 down grade firmware 3.51 thank you u can post it here http://www.freewebs.com/the-jfc/forums.htm?forumID=861517&page=1&topicID=419034

Re: ... (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» ...

its impossible at the moment, sorry
only firmwares up to 3.50 can be downgraded using the lumines exploit, although buying a modchip (not recomended) can hack any firmware

by dtom2444 (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» uhh...

the best place for sony 2 collab with homebrew would be over the upcoming sony online store. theres supposed 2 be an online psp store in the near future n sony could release homebrew like microsoft n the live arcade

Re: HEHEHE (Unregistered) - 2007-07-26

» YEAH AND IT COULD REALLY REALLY SUCK 2! :P

yeah and then we 2 could play double dragon instead of any danm backup rom i OWN anyway because im an avid gammer i kept my nintendo cart of double dragon and can simply use a open source emulator on my HOMEBREW SDK thanks to ALL you guys here in the scene. NO THANKS TO SONY ALL YOU WANT IS TO GET MORE FOOKING MONEY DOOSHBAGS! $ONY WE ARENT AS DUMB AS YOU LOOK EVERYTIME YOU RELEASE A NON FEATURE RICH FW.........

by god0fgod (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» YAY

Sony are smart. I allway have sensed sony liked homebrew in some way. They just didn't like the illegal parts.

by Harp (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» ..

Who cares, we already have homebrew.

by aNILEator - 2007-07-25

» sandbox homebrew

a sandbox style loader for homebrew would be the best way of preventing hardware crunching with a block on anything accessing the UMD drive (old style iso loaders) possibly a restriction on file size also eg no files over 400MB will be allowed to run (most compressed iso's) just some ideas

by Unregistered_Coward (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» Not interested

The complete flexibility we have with our Psps now is nothing compared to what Sony could ever officially offer without shooting themselves in teh foot.

Further more, many Devs would lose interest if the Psp was more open. I once contacted Fanjita and asked him if he was interested in coding for the new GP2X and he said part of the challenge on the Psp is the fact that you need to work around the protection so the fact that the GP2X was open made it uninteresting.

by duALdEAth (Unregistered) - 2007-07-25

» $oNY

i think its impossible for Sony to allow this to happen... based from what they said... i think they're just amazed in how these homebrew developers made their product w/c is the PSP far more functional than before... thats why theyre keeping an eye in the Homebrew scene is to gain more idea on how to make the PSP... far more better and gain a lot of money... maybe they never thought that the PSP can do far beyond what they were expecting it to be... the only problem they have is the vulnerability of the PSP... because of these "hacks"... not only Sony but the game developers are loosing a lot of money... the sad scene is if the game developers loose a lot of money... they'd probably stop making games for the PSP... if only they would sell their games... more cheaper... at least they earn money...

just my thoughts... m/(///-)m/