The Truth About the PSVita Firmware Update version 1.81

QJ.net: If you've been following the Vita scene for a bit, you're probably well aware that the system just received a firmware update to version 1.81.

[tachy0n]

damn you $ony, i would agree with you if VHBL allowed to pirate any of your games.

almost nobody will use PSMobile since it completely sucks, it has limits everywhere, even the amount of RAM allowed to be used is so tiny, how do sony expect people to develop anything if we cant use the full power of the PSVita?!!

[Snookies12]

Gotta agree with that... The only things I wanted to see come out of Homebrew or PSMobile were some decent emulators like a Genesis or SNES. I've been dying to play old-school games on my Vita... Current Gen. games I wouldn't want, but I seriously don't think it's an issue to play games that are over 15 years old by this point. Not like anyone's going to make money off of those titles again unless they're redone in some way.

[Wolfbiker]

Appearantly you've never heard of Nintendo's Virtual Console or really any of the digital stores on PlayStation or Xbox.

[SaiyanFury]

You can play the Sega Genesis PSP collection on the Vita, and I think it's only like 10-15 dollars to download. Hopefully, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection will make it over so I can play Shining Force II on the go. :)

[MaxXAttaxX]

Well said.
___

Also, since when is it an act of evil for a company like to protect its business and others' IPs?

*sigh* People, including the author, need to grow up.

[MasFlowKiller]

I dont get why go the homebrew route, when you can simply get a PlayStation Mobile developer membership for $99 a year and make money out of your work.

The main argument for homebrew has always been the inaccessibility of development tools but $99 a year and you get to make money of your work

Sony went out of their way to make the vita accesible to anyone that want to make content for it.

At this point, the only reason left for looking for an exploit it to want to make the Vita another pirating heaven

[GribbleGrunger]

PSMobile is for Android devices such as phones and pads. The Vita just happens to run them too. How about we stop this crap, eh?

[jujubee88]

I am also confident it will come to PS3 in the near future, but we'll see if it needs move as a control scheme (hopefully, it only needs ds3).

[Mounce]

I love when you butthurt kids rename Sony to $ony, it just generally invalidates everything else you say since it shows your immaturity and petty emotions you hold for a Corporation looking to protect its product. Selfish and pathetic, all you types are :)

If they want you to use the full power, they will do so, if they don't, then they don't want you to, How hard is it to comprehend that the world doesn't revolve around Minority Opinions and their Wants, it's 'What is the smartest business decision, what will it do for us, is it feasible and will it have a short term or long term gain/loss. etc etc.

So, Buy it and shutup, as it is what it is and isn't. Or don't buy it, and shutup :)

[tachy0n]

so yeah lets bend over to everything the corporations do, while we consumers cant do what we want with the stuff we paid for. love the fanboyism in N4G, they just disagree or say nonsense without knowing the situation. always agreeing to everything Sony says just like the Apple fanboys, look what the new PS3 model brought, nothing, not even a price cut and its made with some cheaply made materials and yet everybody is praising it.

[DarkHeroZX]

@tachy0n

Dude hardly any product allows us to do whatever we desire with it. Almost every product comes with terms and agreements which have to follow or face legal troubles. And as far as being bent over Sony hardly ever gets away with it like Apple, MS, and Nintendo. Remember when Nintendo took us for a ride with the wii? They pretty much resold the gamecube but with a new controller for $249. The Iphones and Ipads are hardly major upgrades from the previous device yet they still charge super premium prices. MS launches a broke console yet consumers still suck up their pride and support them, people also pay MS to use xbox live which charges you to use services which are free else where. Sony is the only one who actually has to innovate to get a positive outcome and even when they do people still look down on them. The Vita was a serious upgrade from the PSP yet it has failed to have the same success. Now don't get me wrong Sony has made some retarded business decisions within the last decade, but if Sony was bending us over then they wouldn't be trying to recoop billion dollar losses due to the ps3. I think we're the ones bending Sony over, they're just trying to adjust to the serious ass pounding consumers are giving them.

[dredgewalker]

@Mounce
I would love for tachyon to purchase a gun and see if that kind of attitude doesn't land him in jail lol. Of course businesses are out there for a profit, but not every company out there nickel and dime every customer. Heck I help run my family business and we make sure that the customers are happy and satisfied with our products and services. We even give loyal patrons gifts during the holidays. People who don't have business or don't manage one don't have any idea what it takes to run one properly.

[Christopher]

I like how the author makes it seem like Sony is evil for protecting it and other companies' IPs from being modified, hacked or pirated.

[sonic989]

cant stand this planet any more i should move to alternative universe cause i am sure this is the evil one

[tiffac008]

For some reason protecting your product and business has become a sin these days.

Not that I have anything against modders but you can't seriously trust that no one will reverse engineer what they have done and will not use it for their own gains?

[yewles1]

"Sure we all loved the idea of Playstation Plus finally making it to the portable space, but what about that little snippet regarding "automatic software updates?""

Considering that 'option' is already on PS+ for PS3, you guys just keep proving that you want to manipulate ANYTHING at all costs.

[maskjaq]

Good for you Sony. Developer won't invest their time and money into a system that is easily hackable. It is a constant battle trying to patch holes that hackers create...just because the exploit doesn't allow pirated games to run at this moment doesn't mean that the exploit is harmless. It weakens the ecosystem and the Vita needs as much bolstering as possible.

[VitaOwner]

I understand some people may want the Vita hacked to run emulators or other home brew, but it's a very slippery slope. It won't stop with just that, it will eventually lead to vita games being pirated. Sony released PS Mobile for a super cheap $99 for developers to create all kinds of legal home brew. We need to look at the psp. Hacking will be bad in the long run. I love my Vita and it has so much life ahead of it, so let's not cut it short by losing developer support.

[jujubee88]

Just copy and paste if you do not want people pirating on the VITA,

"I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you stop thinking of pirating on the VITA now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."

... blackmailing works like a charm all the time. Don't it?

[Wolfbiker]

Whoever disagreed with you needs kicked in the taint.

[tarbis]

I did. Come at me. My big ass knuckles are waiting

[MaximusPrime]

Sony rocks!

[Tito08]

People gets too desperate over anything Sony does, if they kept the prices the same it's obviously because they can't afford it at the moment, & everyone knows it, while both Microsoft & Nintendo can.... Basically is most of the articles complaining about no price drop are the USA media, it's easy for journalists to complain rather than research & asks questions on why things are the way the are & haven't changed, & using Michael Pachter as valid opinion since pretty much everyone doesn't like him, U.S. consumers for the most part are known as very cheappy comsumers!!!!!

[ForRealz17]

Also, water is wet.

[stuna1]

@JuJuBee
That is my favorite line from Taken!

OT: The level of entitlement is sickening! Sony has a right to protect their investments.

[2pacalypsenow]

Yeah DAMN! Sony for trying to protect its console from the pirate FA**!

[TronEOL]

Oh no! Damn Sony for trying to protect the things they create.

It's funny because they even created a way for indie, or aspiring developers to develop for their new handheld, and it STILL isn't enough.

If you aren't satisfied by PSMobile, then you simply don't care about the usual excuse of "Homebrew games are the future man!" and all that junk.

Sony could have locked their handheld up like Nintendo and gave you ZERO time of day, but instead they're trying to appease those who cost them TONS of potential game sales on the PSP by creating game development software for the Vita (and mobile phones).

So like I said, if this isn't good enough, you don't care about making games or Homebrew, and you care about pirating games. Fact.

EDIT: Oh, and the other excuse of playing retro games on the Vita is just silly and nothing more than a previously mentioned excuse. There are TONS of ways to play retro games currently (legally and illegally) that you don't NEED to use the Vita. And in fact it takes more effort to get this on the Vita than it does to just use the things that are already readily available.

[BusterFang]

Well said. The ones complaining all know that the "bu bu but fur t3h hoembrew" excuse isn't flying anymore. I mean, really? Does EVERY new thing that hits the market need the same emulators and homebrew on it as other devices? As you mentioned, there are other ways to do it without even bothering the Vita. Hell, I'd recommend they pick up a dirt cheap PSP and hack that before bothering the Vita and it's complications just to get it to run emulators. At least you'd know you don't have to worry about constant updates to the PSP since it's already "dead" and focus is now on the Vita.

Plain and simple: We know you guys who proclaim the hacking is in the name of homebrew are full of it (most of you anyway lol maybe there are a few exceptions to the group) you can come clean and just announce that you want free Vita games lol.

[smashcrashbash]

I love how people keep crying about homebrew when Sony has the tools for you to make apps and games with their own type of homebrew. The only difference is that the parasites don't want to pay for it. I give you something that lets you make what you want legally but you want something illegal so you can do as many wrong things and get a free lunch. That is what you are griping about. You don't want legal means because that means you have to follow rules. I laugh at the people who keep calling Sony greedy when the people who accuse them of doing it are usually just as greedy. They get the angriest because Sony is blocking them from doing the wrong things. Like they say 'Me thinks thou protests too much'

[gtr_loh]

The argument about homebrew's getting old. I can run emulators on my phone, why would I want to run it in the vita??

[belac09]

i dont even know what the hell homebrew and all that crap means, dont people just play games to play anymore?

[BrianC6234]

Maybe these hackers should stop wasting their time trying to destroy everyone else's products and create their own. They can create a handheld gaming system they can all buy and hack. You aren't allowed to just do anything you want when you buy a piece of hardware. There are laws that protect the intellectual property of companies. Sony needs to slap these morons with billion dollar lawsuits.

[rainslacker]

Technically if you do have the skills you are allowed to do whatever you want with a piece of hardware you own. However if you release code, or download code which modifies how the system is intended to run that's when you run into the illegal realm.

If homebrewers want to backward engineer this stuff for their own purpose and they have the knowhow to do it then I have no problem with that. However when they release their code for others to use or modify that's when it becomes bad for those of us who want to see the devices thrive on their own merits. The PSP's support was pretty much obliterated due to piracy and I really don't want to see my Vita go down that same road just so some people can play some homebrew.

If you want to get technical about emulation, it is also illegal. Even dead system emulation is illegal as they usually use a ripped off version of the BIOS which is protected by copyright or IP laws. Then of course the game images (ROMs or ISOs) are also copyrighted. This is why emulators don't usually release with the BIOS included and have to be hunted down.

[Gamerita]

The Truth about the psvita update!! did Sony tell lies about it ?

[Soldierone]

If hackers didn't use stuff to steal games then I'd be fine with it. I remember with PSP custom firmware did a lot of cool things that I enjoyed, but I never used it to steal PSP titles....

Honestly glad Sony blocked it. Can't steal games, too bad. The Vita does a ton more stuff than the PSP, so firmware isn't needed. You want emulators, then create an app and get it approved in PS Suite. If Sony blocks that, then you have a right to complain.

[TheMrMadzen]

Great move Sony