Sony Wants To Know Why You're Hacking Your PSP

Kotaku writes: "The engineers at Sony can't be too thrilled with fighting the constant battle against PSP hackers, issuing firmware updates that "strengthen security" in a futile attempt to curb piracy and homebrew applications. Going by a recent survey commissioned by Sony Computer Entertainment, passed on to us by a reader who was asked to take part, the company seems to be looking into the reasons why PSP owners are opening up their portables.

Sony reps call the survey a part of "ongoing PSP consumer research", attempting to learn more about the size of the PSP hacking population and the mentality behind the behavior. Questions like "Do you know of anyone who has "hacked," or modified, transferred and customized their PSP firmware and software?" were included elsewhere in the poll."

[sonarus]

I would hack mine but i honestly don't play it enough to go through the stress. I bought it when GOW chains was announced and now that i am done with that i am SERIOUSLY considering selling it but i won't. That is the problem with buying a console for just one game.

[C_SoL]

That's why.

[Tempist]

More what? More money in their pocket because you know, 20 MGS:PO and 20 Patapon really broke my wallet.

I have one and I hardly use most of what it comes with already, so why should I bother taking the time and risk of hacking my PSP to play pirate games or ROMS.

What serious home brew program out there is such the revelation that I need it for my PSP?

[C_SoL]

Shut ur bit<hing now.

[MikeGdaGod]

only thing i wish it could do that it doesn't already is play custom tracks....just like the ps3

[Amanosenpai]

I hacked it because of that pic...

[ArduousAndy]

i hacked mine so i can carry my games on my memory stick so i dont have to worry about carrying a bag full of games.

If sony would create a feature that you can maybe install the game (via cd key or something to prevent piracy) on to the memory stick then i would be game for that.

[Cicinho]

I hacked mine because I would rather take the games for free than to pay for them.

[MicroDeath SoftStar]

i hacked mine to play old point and click pc adventure games. oohhh and homebrew can be really fun

[Montrealien]

Right now with a Hackable PsP Sony has some Free R&D all over the world people are working on apps, games and other stuff, All they have to do is surf the internets PsP hacks forums, download and bam! People made some cool software for them, for free. Sony can take it from them, do whatever they want with it and there is nothing the maker can say about it.

MS figured this out years ago, so should sony. YOu make a great online service, that's where the money is. I have the most Decked out Xbox with 1000s of games in it, this history of Arcades from a-Z. Yet still, I got a 360 wich I will never hack.

[MicroDeath SoftStar]

just because you think online is where all the money is doesn't make it so , i understand you like wasting your money on every arcade release but understand your in the vast minority

[Montrealien]

Sure, you may think i`m a minority but then again, I don`t care, money is there and Xbox 360 hacking is way down compared to the original Xbox beccause the Xbox was so easy to do it and kind of saturated the modding scene, imo. But that was not my point, it was really about the free R&D that comes with a whole community of hackers.

[Sev]

I used to hack my PSP, back when it first came out. Mostly because there wasnt much content on it yet.

As of right now, there isnt much use for me to hack my current slim PSP. So i just stick with official firmware.

I hate piracy, but I guess a few homebrew hacks never hurt anyone.

[Premonition]

I finished it today, i didnt wanna answer anything on there, I was like wtf, why are they asking questions that people dont really want to answer.

[Rick Astley]

I have NEVER hacked my PSP.

You PSP hackers deserve to die. You're stealing money from devs.

[Azures]

many people just use them to play ps1 games that haven't been released by sony and use roms for previous game generations. i being one of them, i've bought 5 psp games in the last 4 months.

[Sev]

Rick Astley singing to his PSP...
"Never gonna hack you up, Never gonna weigh you down... With Homebrew"

Seriously you have the very funniest avatar/name on N4G. Congrats.

[Sev]

I somewhat agree with you, and I somewhat disagree.

Hacking is ok, playing roms is ok, homebrew applications are excellent but only possibly through hacks.

However hacks to allow pirated games to play is just horrible.
It almost killed the PSP. No devs were making games for it because of it. Thanks to GOW, Crisis Core, Patapon, FF:Tactics, and Monster Hunter 2, it brought new life, and new sales to the PSP.

[fox02]

you are so full of crap

[Shadow Flare]

I agree with Rick. If you're hacking it to get more functionality, fine. I don't see too much of a problem with that. But when people hack their psp's and download free psp games onto it, those people disgust me. Are you guys so poor that you can't buy games? A game like Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core was created with so much effort from Square-Enix, to give you people a brilliant game. And hackers just steal the game. At the very least, you should want to give the devs something back in return for giving you this brilliant game. But it just shows how dishonest the people who do that are. But whatever. If they feel ok doing that, then so be it. It's down to them

[Keowrath]

Rick Astley, I usually read your comments and agree but in this case you're an ignorant twat. Not everyone that hacks their PSP is a pirate. I've paid for all the games that sit on my memory card, try opening your shortsighted mind a little.

[The Wood]

Some people are not 'absolute' Some buy some games and download ones they feel might not be that good. There is a huge grey area with piracy and its a worthwhile topic to discuss. I know many people who watch pirate movies and go to the cinema and even buy the dvd's/blu ray's when they're released. What about the people who have a hacked psp and 12 + original ps3 games? What about the people who only bought a psp because it could be hacked? What pigeon hole do you put these people in? Huge grey area.

[Shadow Flare]

there really is no grey area. Piracy is piracy. If you buy alot of games but get hold of some free, its still piracy. It may be a crap product, but you're still stealing. Hacking in itself is different, because you're not actually stealing from other companies, you're just modifiying the console you've bought. It gets more difficult when you say, "What about the people who only bought a psp because it could be hacked?". If they bought it for the reason that they could get free psp games, the yeah of course thats wrong. If they're buying it so they can tinker around with the unit then, i can't see too much of a big deal with that. In the real world, it just usually means more hardware is sold and less software is sold.

[Richdad]

I dont think European's or US peoeple are much hacking it but its a really big problem in INdia. The reason is that a whole network of Grey Marketers have been formed and they are even in town which have reach urban life style and not only that these Grey marketers sell the console hacked they also have made such a market that even orignals if any are pourchased through them at higher rate even in my town where there is a Sony store and they also hack it such that Warranty of PSp is not void.

Also they have created a whole scene in India for 10 years by pirating PS and PS2 which have made a lot of arcade stores around and these grey marketers mainly focus on PS2 and PSP and they import there console from Europe mainly since PS2 and PSP is costlier in India then Europe. I think only 1 origanl is sold for say 100 or 150 copy and PS2 I dont think anyone has purcahsed origanls. Also there is not a single raid conducted by Sony in these years. MS already conducted more than a dozen of raids but none from Sony although major market share in grey market is of them.

[Science_NERD]

Shadowflare you're an 1diot. Don't assume that those those hack their psps are poor. One's socioeconomical status has nothing to do with why people hack the psp. I hacked my psp last week and love it. I downloaded FF7CC but before I downloaded it, I purchased it the day it came out, why? Because I respect the developers and wanted the box and artwork. Hacking the psp and downloading games you already have is not wrong and it does not make someone poor, so go learn a thing or two about stereotypes. Here assuming you dont have a hacked psp, I'll assume that youre a complete e-tard because you dont have the technological know-how about how to hack a psp. Dont judge people that want more from the psp.

Bottom line...If sony released more psone games on PSN I would not have hacked my psp, but because they think that games like Jet Moto are more desirable than ff7 or resident evil, I will continue to D/L psone games...there simply put

[vickers500]

Why do people hack the psp? Because some people are not as rich and spoiled as you probably are, and don't have parents that give them anything they want.

Also, I pay a lot of money on ps3 games, accessories, controllers, blu ray movies and limited edition game bundles, so I think sony is milking its fair share of money out of me already. If anything, they are stealing from me.

They are not losing anything from me, because the choice for me would be either get the game for free or don't get it at all, since I am already paying a fortune on ps3 related products. They actually would be earning more of my money, since they make and produce quality products, which furthers my respect in the company. Even if the Ps3 someday gets hacked, I will still pay for the games, because they are something I can afford.

I have a psp, but I have not hacked it yet, though I plan to.

Piracy isn't technically stealing, since you are not taking anything from anyone, you are just making a copy of it and sharing it with others. Stealing would be going into a store and taking a hard copy off of the shelf without paying for it.

[Marceles]

lol...i dont think anyone will tell the truth, but I have a hacked and an official firmware PSP for backup.

[Meus Renaissance]

I would consider doing it simply because the games are so expensive in my opinion, they shouldn't cost more than £14.99. But I feel sorry for Sony on this; software sales for the PSP are non-existent sometimes but the hardware sells a ton.

[Jeebs]

I can't say that the games are expensive anymore, as they've gone down from $49 to $19~$29 each, which I believe is a much better price.
I dunno your situation, whether you work or not, but back in the day, paying full price for a game, almost as expensive as a PS2 game, just for a handheld wasn't quite worth it (to me, of course).

[ZeroXMD]

FF7:CC is $40 at launch and alot of games are either around that or cheaper. Really, a psp is a portable ps2 with slightly less graphical capability. So I say the prices are decent on games. I hacked my psp not that long after I got it and did it because of all the cool stuff you can do with it. I bought FF7CC and a few others (when I was borrowing one, I bought Street Fighter Alpha 3, MGS:PO, and wipeout). But it is the fact of all the cool stuff you can do with it once it's hacked. You can backup your games on your stick, turn it into a universal remote, play old-skool games, play ps1 games (ps store's ps1 stock is slimmer than an anorexic flower), overclock a phat psp to the slim's speed, and other cool stuff. Mainly, Devs need to start taking Kojima's and Square's lead and stop making ports to psp and start making good games exclusive for it. Piracy isn't hurting it because you've always been able to download portable games on GB yet it's still bigger than psp (R4 for DS, a $20 universal game cart for GBA that you could fit 40 games on). You can just do so much more with a hacked psp that it's hard not to go the CFW route.

Besides, right now, the psp has the same problem that the Wii has. A few cool games but most games are minigames instead of cool, full games. (Samurai Warriors Katana?!!? Come the **ck on, WTF?!)

[EZCheez]

It started off all nice and easy and then it started to feel like an interrogation so I just quit it. Every single question after about halfway through had to do with illegal downloads, hacks, custom mods, and your PSP. I felt like I was guilty and all I was doing was filling out a freakin' survey.

[v1c1ous]

cause it's so easy?

[Silvia007]

Risk? Too much of a headache? WTF are these people talking about? My 5 yr old niece could hack the PSP. I think those who complain are just to retarded to do much to their hardware. I customize and hack everything that I own, from my cell phone all they way up to my house. Just to name a few, I butcher my sound cards, I volt mod my video card, my car is pushing 480hp on a 4 banger running 93 octane gas at 22psi of boost (s14 - SR20DET). My basement is my home theater. Why do I do it? Because it's damn entertaining. I do all the work by myself or with friends and a case of beer. I hack my psp because I can. That don't mean I don't buy games. Buying decent memory sticks cost just as much as a game, wtf would I just download a game that being the case, I mainly use my hacked psp to play my old PS1 games. I should at least have a right to do that. It's games I own people. I have no problems buying games to help out the dev's. They do great work.

[Honolulu]

One word; Emulation.

[TapiocaMilkTea]

Does it do divx avi files with the latest firmware?

[iamtehpwn]

We clearly just wanna be rebels.
After all, Nothing is more cool than hacking your PSP.
I got 3 girls just last night showing them a hacked PSP.
And now everybody thinks I'm cool, and wants to be my friend!

[EZCheez]

You're kidding right?

You must have had a hack that made the PSP a mirror.

[iamtehpwn]

Of course I'm kidding.
isn't that blood eyed Obvious?

[whitesky]

lmfao

[tatotiburon]

maybe sony should start to payoff dark_alex and not the dumbass engineers

[hfaze]

When Dark Alex stopped with the custom firmwares for a few months, the PSP hacking scene STOPPED.

Sony should just offer him a lucrative salary, and get him working on making the official firmware better. There are a LOT of features that are not there that I would LOVE to see (integration with the Sony Connect online store, Playstation Store, etc.)

Once the PSP is able to access the PSN Store directly, start offering MORE PSP game downloads. I'm glad to see that Sony is starting to do this, but they need a LOT more titles available for download. The UMD drive in the PSP is teh suck...

[Horny Melon]

To get rid of that god awful OS. The PSP came so close to being portable electronic nirvana, it pains me to see it in it's current state.

[PSh1t3]

LMFAO. It's called to play games which don't suck. Not too bright there, Sony.

[Danja]

lol....really...the PSP has released some of the best games on the market in the last couple of months...

but then again...ur says it all..Micro-$lave....thats why the 360 was built with PSP integration....lol

[OJ_juice]

your 360 will blow up.

[Archaeox]

Are you turdstationpee?

[PSh1t3]

well, if he's gone, and I'm here, you do the math. haven't seen GETPWNED much recently either, have you? now you're getting it.

[PopEmUp]

this cunt is GETPWNz you know the multiple accounts one who always got ownz

[captainpwn]

Free Games.

[George Washington]

cause its so easy to do. and cause of free games, and emulators

[Rice]

Dat girl in the pic is so hot!!!

[iamtehpwn]

Her name is Jessica Chobot. google her name, and have fun.

(She's actually a huge nerd...And yet sexy. A Rare Breed indeed. She works for IGN if you're curious.)

[Rice]

woah thanks...bubbles for such great information...

[Darkiewonder]

to run homebrew apps or games but to play actual games that were meant to stay on UMD is another story. but as far as UMD movies go. well that's totally another story and i don't really care much for that lol.

[brocool]

That is err.. Im getting mine next week, In 2 minds at the moment.. Its probably going to be clean.. since I'm too lazy to do otherwise

[Skerj]

Because I'm playing River City Ransom EX and Xenogears on my PSP now alongside PSP games.

[Fux4Bux]

Homebrew and free games. Sony should make it open to anything except PSP games to play from a memory stick. They'd gain a huge market for people who want to play ROMs.... kill some of that overpriced BS from the virtual console.

[TrevorPhillips]

people hack their psp cause they dont wanna waste money on buying games so they just download them on torrent sites

[BlackIceJoe]

If I wanted too I could for Custom Firm-ware but I have no reason to. At least right now. I know Custom Firmware can add a lot of things but
I really just want to use my PSP for gaming. But if I wanted to use it for more then gaming I could.

[Mystery_Person]

It lets you download games and other stuff I don't know about. I'm giving my friend my PSP tomorrow so I can get custom firmware

[djt23]

i hack my to play Nintendo games, homebrew , psp games and more nintendo games

[Charlie2688]

I think everybody here knows want to pretend or not that people ALWAYS hide behind the "roms/extra features/different OS" to justify in at least 90% of cases: blatant piracy and in do in it dragging the PSP software sales down the gutter...but hey its cool we like to pretend that majority are using the custom firmware for "other things"

[Asurastrike]

I've never hacked my PSP but...

Games Cost Too Much ----------- 5

[Silellak]

Because I like to buy games and rip them to ISO for the speed increase and battery power savings, not to mention the convenience of not having to lug around UMD's.

Because I like to run at the Level 4 Brightness without being plugged into an AC outlet.

Because I love the SNES and PS1 emulation. Please show me what other handheld I can play FF4, FF6, and FF7 on.

How's that for starters?

[Prototype]

At my job a lot of people hack their PSP to play games that are either discontinued (Marvel vs Capcom) or to play games that aren't available on the PSP (Tekken 3). It's not to infringe copyright (bootleg for my people) but to play what's not available for the system.

[Jeebs]

I love my Super Mario Brothers & Nintendo Ice Hockey (just to name a few)!

I do purchase anything I deem worthy though, and I have a library of about 15 games for the PSP at the moment.

[WeZz]

I hacked mine cuz i got sick and tired of waiting for sony to pick up the pace!

1-frequent "useless" firmware updates
2- hardly any PS1 games i want to play. (the only game i'm willing to buy right now would be MGS but guess what ppl its only for the japs!)
3- My PSP can support more files when hacked!
4- I'm not willing to pay for half assed PS2 games! (alll games on PSP resemble their PS2 counterparts with worse framrates, worse controls "no second analog stick", and worse graphics. why should I pay to get disappointed? i cud do that for free!

ADVICE TO SONY: JUST TURN THE DAMN THING INTO A PORTABLE PS2! and pick up the damn pace. i was willing to purchase the PSP slim but i just can't help but feel ripped off! i'm not gonna cough up more money for one feature (video output) that should have been there since day one!

[HelghastGeneral]

there are so many playstation games that should of been brought out for the psp but instead they haven't thats why.

[Keowrath]

I hacked mine to play old Playstation games. Castlevania SoTN (although PSP available) MGS1, FF7, FF8, Vagrant story and Xenogears all sit happily on my memory card.

I've paid for every game I play on the system but having a number of games sitting on the memory card is much more convienient.

Not everyone that hacks a PSP is a game pirate... Yarrrrrr! =p

[Matpan]

I am hacking my PSP because it brings 100% plus value to the thing! There are loads of homebrew, emulators... too much going on on the scene to ignore it. Instead of trying to stop this, sony should realize it is a fact and embrace this. By backing homebrew applications development sony would make a much greater portable console, able to rivalize on par with the DS IMO.

[kercon]

I hacked my because i cant have most of games. I must w8 for games so long and pay great amount of money for it or i can't get it. Secondly I like users freeware programs.
Charlie2688 ok easy to you if i could spend 180 - 200+ PLN on my games i love to buy it but i can't. And i said it before most of games cant be found in my city and i must spend even more

[TheJBag]

well beside the obvious reasons of having emulators.
I can
-Have custom xmb's, not just themes but actually alter the xmb
-Change what displays when my psp starts up, and when i start a game, currently when it starts up it says "we missed you jacob", and when a game starts the xbox 360 starting thing shows up.
-I can backup my UMD's and play them from a memory card.
-The thrill of hacking, knowing i am breaking the rules.
-I can play full throttle on my psp. nuff said.
-play Import games
-changing the cpu speed, along with a plethora of other tweaks.
-the vhs menu, awesome.
-playing any game on ANY system ever made up until the ps1.
-changing visuals, like the music player.
-Homebrew games, and apps.

PSP hacking and homebrew is here to stay, sony should have embraced homebrew instead of giving dark alex a challenge :P
with the mms it is easier than ever to do
the real question sony is why not?

EDIT: also pirates are bad, i support developers where i can buy the game.

[brocool]

Full Throttle!.. Where Have I been.. tell me you can play Grim Fandango or Monkey Island on the psp and I'm Headed over to bestbuy right now.

[AliC]

I have an original PSP, and I've not had the incling to mod it. I for one don't like piracy which is why I choose to buy all my games.

I can see why some people would and can the the point in why they do. Sony is much to blame to a degree.

- More Demos, freeware/homemade released games.
- No more timed demos (the latest Socom PSP game was on my to buy list until it timed out)
- Better worldwide release dates (FF 7 Crisis Core still isn't out in Europe, that would give me a reason to hack my PSP)

[djt23]

if you live in Europe go right now and hack it
go you need to go hack your psp now

[Hercules]

ok..this has been going on for about two years now..they are JUST NOW asking why we hack our psps? well i will tell you what..it unlocks many things you couldnt do for sure, like the psx emulator, what if we had a whole bunch of PS1 discs...without CFW, we couldnt use them on our psps...also the old emulators, who doesnt enjoy playing Mario on the psp? lets not forget all the apps (psptube, irshell, etc.) i mean its giving us the TRUE potentional, until sony joins it, we will continue to take advantage of it. and trust me, there no way they will stop us, unless they say they bribe us with something worthwhile

[CRIMS0N_W0LF]

mine is not hacked but I would like to hack it to play Final Fantasies from PSOne

[TheJBag]

pspmod.com

[running rampid]

i hacked mine because of the cool apps you can get e.g. irshell and to play pirate games. and it is so god damn easy!

[Salta_nelas]

OMG the fanboys even bash the PSP...curiously people also hack 360.

[LiquifiedArt]

However, what is the reason for hacking... What a F@#$@in DOLT to STEAL SONY's GAMES. I mean it don't take a genius to figure that out. Steal them games (aka FREE games) and the ability to have them all portable (no disc).

STEAL STEAL STEAL. These days its OK to steal. People steal more things now then ever before, because the line between digital theft and physical theft is so smeared.

Regardless it is still THEFT.

[Harry190]

and you even get emulators.

[LiquifiedArt]

THIEVES. 90% of the people with a hacked psp have a FREE PSP game. most of them have a TON of FREE PSP Games. END OF STORY. Only a fool would really fight for "But soem people buy there games and just like to play around with teh psp's hardware.." You need to shut up. If a serious study was done, it would agree with me.

[Hercules]

have to disagree with you on that...most people do buy games to back up, but c'mon you can not tell me you havent download a n64 emulator on your pc, and a 500kb rom, and played it, or even a nes one, and played mario, without owning the game. i mean if its there, then its there, no one is going to stop people for doing it. its sony fault they made it so vulnerable, right now they dont care about the psp, as much as the ps3, why do you think a year later no one has been able to hack it (unlike 360, wii) ? because that is their main focus...so lets us be us with a modded psp, and be happy

ps. if you owned a psp, and used pandora, wouldnt you want to play old games?

[heyheyhey]

its like asking "why do you take a dump when you feel like having one?"

[Figboy]

because for the past 6 months or so, i was unemployed, and i couldn't afford a lot of games like Jeanne D' Arc, God of War, Patapon, and Crisis Core.

i downloaded the iso's, and i'm having a blast with the games.

now that i'm working again, i fully plan on buying the games i've downloaded (i like to have the purty packaging and instruction booklet), once i catch up on bills, that is.

and that's all, honestly. i used to hack it for emulating my long gone consoles, but that's just not important anymore (i really wasn't playing any of the old games), then i discovered iso's, and got hooked on that.

i've used it to "test" games that i couldn't afford to rent (unemployment sucked so hard, and for more reasons than just not getting my gaming fix).

during the dry spell on consoles, my PSP was my best frigging friend due to it being hacked.

[kwasirubonkerz]

i'm about to hack mine and nobody can stop me haha

[FAT MAN GO BOOM]

Is it me or am I the only one that hates this f***ing picture that goes with this artical...

I mean really is there not something with better class...

[moujahed]

So I can play the PS1 games I own on my PSP, aswell as the snes, genesis, and ect. So I can use the youtube program and watch youtube, there are so many reasons.

[sumfood4u]

I enjoy my gameshark after i ebat a game for extra difficulties an infinity spells!

[olLANDSHARKlo]

I'll tell you why I hack my psp as soon as you tell us why you lie about everything. Where is home you promised and the great games?