@Witzbold: OMG Witzbold... is that... is that ATTITUDE? Your weakneses are being exposed!

mariospants

There should be just one blank fill-in box on the survey for everyone to write:

"Because its our damn gizmo that we paid or own hard earned dollars for - and if you want to tell me what I can and cannot do with it in the privacy of my own home you can go to hell."

No other answer required other than "because I can"

squish123

@MURDERFACE:
They'll just filter those out. And why would you want to make a game company have to bother to do that anyway. You're not really a gamer at all are you...

Gam3r

@Neo-Senku:
They'll learn what they want to learn. They will filter out people who don't respond to the survey in a normal manner.

OT, I don't use CFW as it promotes piracy, even if you don't use it to pirate. I pay for my games, to support developers, publishers, & Sony so we can actually see good future games released.

Gam3r

"I don't see anything morally wrong with hacking a PSP" - This is hands down the best 'question' on the survey.

ekkobi

I've read up on what I could have available to me if I used hacked firmware, and honestly I'd have to say that I'm very interested in *I can do more with a hacked psp than with an unhacked psp*. tons of open source free software that enable me to have a much better media player device than software sony charged me for that came with my PSP. the ability to watch any video type and music type for example is excellent. Not to mention other software like better browsers and instant messengers. How can companies charge for crapware and freeware be so excellent? I think there lies sonys answer. Many companies give you crap for what you pay for when it would be much easier to offer better software for free or even for the same charge. Its not just sony but many companies that gimp their machines, look at the 360 and Wii...

ZeroOmegaZX

It Makes me feel like a REBEL!!!!!!!!! hahahahahhahaha nice.

Just answer all ones in the survey to piss them off.

=P

MURDERFACE

Other missing Options Include
I want to play my games in there original Language audio.
Quicker Load Times for games use the MS making some games playable (Final Fantasy tactics)
User selectable Speed so I can Balance Battery life vs game playability (why over clock when you can under clock some games)
Ability to Restore the system when updates mess up

I have to 2nd ones like
I want to develop on a console and not pay massive amounts of money for a dev kit
And emulation even if Sony only really cares about the PSX.

Now I don't Pirate games, I don't even try them out by downloading. If I want to try a game I just put it on my gamefly list.

But I do think 75%+ of people who have a hacked PSP use it to play games they don't own.

acidraven

Rebel? LOL.

Looks like we'll know what the eventual Rebel Without a Cause remake will be about now.

Thanks, Sony!

Musai

Does the psp do everything is can do? No
Does it have the capability to do much more? Yes

That's it. People wouldn't (avidly) hack something that is fully usable. If Sony let thier product do everything it can do then they would 'ave less of a hacking problem. Possible simple answer: homebrew ok but voids of warranty. Perhaps that'd be hard to prove?

00000000

where do we take I want to take

Ruisu

My reasons? Fast loading on games I do own. To play ALL games BEFORE I PAY for them so I know if it is WORTH my money before hand, that is a big thing to me. I don't want to pay for a game and then find out it's shit that I don't want. Lastly for homebrew, though that's less an incentive until something REALLY useful shows up (though I do plan to give IRshell another chance, I always have trouble getting it to work). I still buy games, because I love the PSP, and I don't want to see it go the route of the Dreamcast. One minor fact I should note is that I also have an imported crisis core limited PSP, and unless I use CFW to hack my region, I can't use any of the USA features I would normally have otherwise, and useless JP only ones. Oh and for popsloader and playing my PSOne games, since newer versions of pops breaks some games. Honestly I wish that Sony had given us the ability to put PSOne games that we own on our PSPs, and have the psn versions for people who don't have/can't get them without paying out the ass.

Really what Sony doesn't understand it that CFW allows you to do so many things that wouldn't be such an issue if they gave us these options to begin with. Collaborate with these homebrew developers to create built in applications that are currently available and just lock out pirating. There are many practical ways they can do this. like IRShell's ability to play games over lan. Just build that into the PS3. Allow one single copy per PS3 and link it to your account, or even register the copy of the game by mailing in your UPC and then let us download the game on our PS3s. Homebrewers are intelligent people and should be treated as such, not as scum as they are now. Am I talking to a wall (or more like a lot of liquid crystal filled plastic)? Probably, and that's the sad thing.

Kojiro

I don't think they understand the concept of freedom when it comes to features and other things as well.

Sony is a corporation that decides what functions goes on the PSP, while the homebrew group allows you to choose what functionality to put on the PSP or even develop your own. Its like Microsoft IE browser and Mozilla Firefox; firefox simply allows you to do more and experiment with it.

If Sony wants to lessen the homebrew scene a little, they should just open up the PSP a bit and let people show them what the system is capable of.

bigdude209

@Kyle81:

Except their is no proof about the other point either. Pointing fingers when Gamestop/etc are merely just another one of many factors that is bringing down the industry. It's ignorant to say that piracy has no effect on the game industry.

My reasoning is this.

let's take a hypothetical situation, entirely hypothetical you understand.
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?

Now let's look at buying games secondhand, every penny of that money is money which we know for a fact exists and wont be going to the companies.
This is why I said what I did, and please don't call me ignorant, it lowers the tone. I am happy to follow through with my arguments, You don't have to agree with me, but I assure you my opinions are thought through. Falling back on language like that doesn't do your argument much good.

Cruithne

I don't have a PSP, but I've expressed interest in one...hmmm

MidnightScott17

Nothing like filling out a self-incriminating survey.

cantbeatmegaman

Hmm, I haven't done anything to my PSP. I guess I never felt the need to. I guess I'm one of the few people who actually enjoys the games available on the PSP.

If a couple of more colors get released here, and the price drops again, I'll pick up another one and use this current one to "mess around" with.

Magic Emperor Anima

They aren't gonna learn shit from those questions. It looks like they just copied a "why do you do drugs" or "why do you bully other student" survey

Neo-Senku

I used to hack my PSP until it broke, not to play current PSP games for free, but to play classic console games from SNES and Genesis. That's what made hacking worthwhile for me.

s0lid

I hear hacking your PSP makes you feel like a cowboy!

Sunjammer

I'm with the person above. I never hacked my PSP until I realized that it had been over a full year since the PS3 came out and the PSX game collection STILL SUCKED (name one goddamn PSX game on the PSN store that's worth purchasing). And all this time I was waiting for one game and one game only; Einhander.

After I sold my fat PSP, I was left with two choices: a) keep the cash, or b) buy a slim PSP so I could hack it then use the PSX emulator. I went with option B, hacked it, then ripped EINHANDER, VAGRANT STORY and SoTN (Jap, not ENG) from LEGAL COPIES that I owned, then put them on my memory card and have carried it around since. I got more PSP time since I did this than the whole time I had it since the original 2005 fat-PSP launch.

I pose the following question to Sony: "Would you rather have gotten NO cash from me at all, or at least have made that money from my buying the PSP slim unit?"

iTunes should be the biggest lesson to corporations; the best way to stop piracy is to GIVE CONSUMERS SOMETHING WORTH THEIR MONEY.

orakga

@Kyle81: Yeah that and places like Japan have been doing used games sales for years with no obvious effect on the market here.

Id say its just more a matter of finger pointing and piracy that is a problem.

Since with Japan piracy isnt as big of a problem as it is overseas.

Granted it does exist, but its nowhere as big.

Witzbold

South Park best addresses the 6th question down the list

"It's my PSP, so I can do whatever I want to it"

+ Watch video

Also, there missing a question: "Hacking a PSP gets more bang for my buck."

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

Got this yesterday and decided not to fill it out after it was asking about pirating apps and games.

Just decided not to take part in something that might/might not (most likely not) ruin the "scene"

Keanu

I heard all the cool kids were doing it.

shadow300z

Sony, if you have to ask then some people need to be fired. Probably a whole division of people.

@QualityJeverage: Is it not sad?

Heihachi.vs.Kazuya

@Kyle81: I didn't mean that they should open the hardware. That would most definitely just be a bad thing for them.

But there are lots of other great things that "hacking" can allow the PSP owner to do, and if Sony would get a clue and start helping, rather than hindering that, people might just be more compelled to pick one up.

QualityJeverage

@Cruithne: Except their is no proof about the other point either. Pointing fingers when Gamestop/etc are merely just another one of many factors that is bringing down the industry. It's ignorant to say that piracy has no effect on the game industry.

Kyle81

Hahaha. How patronising.

Bernard McGraw

I don't think the 2 3 and 4 are really necessary options there....

K-Squad! (Badass Edition)

Gales s/b Games.

We all know Pirates don't harm gales, though gales have been known to harm pirates...

Cruithne

@budash2: And those who act like Sony should be giving away free emulators for their software. Here we created a machine for you to pirate games with!

Kyle81

simple answer, MOTHERFUCKING DOOM ON THE PSP. that and ps1 games (that arent released in the store, that i can rip myself, and put on there, yay me. also s/nes emus and the like. but i buy all my psp games legit.

pandafresh

Why didn't they just change every question to "why are you such a big dookie head?" and get it over with?

futurebiblehero

Piracy is NOT harming the gales industry.
Gamespot and other large retailing chains which are selling games secondhand ARE harming the game industry.

Ther's simply no proof that a pirated game means less money in the pocket of the games company, whereas a game bought second hand is taking money out of the pocket of the developer.

Cruithne

@QualityJeverage: And most of those who hacked their psp's are not buying games. So why would SONY want to open up the hardware to the public? People have said for a long time that sony should have opened up the PSP long ago, but then what? Hardware increase? Now your average joe can easily steal psp software. The "hardcore" are obviously not buying games, but if you look at torrent tracker stats, they are downloading TONS of psp software.

Opening up the hardware would likely bite them in the ass.

Kyle81

where is "i don't like to pay for stuff" ?

MakeFragNotWar

Grrr... I hax my PSP cuz' it makes me feel like a big boy! Rawr!

Just kidding, I don't actually own one, although those options they gave really do give off a "You're a stupid little kid trying to act big" kind of vibe.

Pezdispenser

I like how people act like Sony is a bunch of dicks just because they're giving a survey about homebrew.

budash2

@Cruithne:

I hacked mine for one reason: In game music.

Amazon_Chris

Where's the 'because I acutally want a PORTABLE PlayStation(one)' option? Cause highly agree with that one.

And for the record I've NEVER pirated a game in my life, even though custom firmware makes it as easy to pirate a PSP game as, say um maybe, pirating a PC game? My point is: doing the wrong thing is always close and easy, but that doesn't mean you have to do it.

cash

Pirating has been around since the 13th Century BC, why would it stop now?

Tizlor

on a sidenote i haven´t hacked my psp either, not because i´m especially opinioned about that,just because i didn´t use my psp for over a year because most games that interest me on it are either already available on other consoles i have or will come out on other consoles i have (and i don´t travel enough these days to make playing the games on the go a propper argument). Hm, well, thinking about it maybe i would use the psp more if it was cracked open and one could run more other stuff on it,dunno.
Then again maybe not :)

tomsamson

here's how i'd fill the form
31522554412552 :P

coladict

i originally hacked mine for PSX game playing ability, but it also gave custom soundtracks, 4th brightness at all times, unlocked 333mhz processor, running games off memory stick (big in GTA:VCS, for example), etc.
its worth it, and not just for pirates.

pharcotix

I like how there's no option for

"Hacking the PSP opens up a whole new realm of functionality which, if made available by Sony, would probably boost PSP sales exponentially."

QualityJeverage

Sony should always do it like this: They create such a survey which is by itself pointless because of the limited answers options and other points like people not wanting to answer such a survey honestly which could get em into legal trouble anyways. Then someone tips kotaku about it, the readers here are a good overview of the hardcore gamer crowd and bam,there you have propper answers to the survey in the comments section :D

tomsamson

As for myself I haven't actually hacked my PSP as of yet and I don't really have any compulsion to do so due to a large PSP backlog.

On the other hand, I worked feverishly on my PS2 simply because of multiple factors. I had a mess of imports I wanted to play and I didn't necessarily want to shell out another $175+ to play them. One particular homebrew app allowed me to wipe a severely corrupted Sony memory card that I would have had to either throw out or send to Sony and pay $15 to repair. Another app turned my PS2 into a media center before I could easily do so with the XBox. Another app allows me to transfer game save files freely between my memory cards and back to my computer so I can share them with my friends. And, back in my undergraduate days, it was far easier to take 30 of the games I owned, load them onto the HDD, and go to school.

I'm not up to date on the apps available for the PSP but, honestly, if they really started to offer things that Sony never thought of/attempted trying and it really enhanced the system, why not?

First-Chair

Piracy, simple as that. You got the nice guys who are like.... oh I'm going to run some custom apps..... then oh look.... I can download this new game 3 weeks early...hmmmm

Kyle81

Honestly, doesn't Sony at least have, like, people who can read video gamer websites like this one? They'd learn everything they need to know. And some stuff they don't.

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

because it's mine. i agree completely with that. even though i never hacked it. but it's true. they can't tell you what to do with your PSP after you bought it. but hacking isn't fair for online games.

still, it's a good thing they're doing this. they should actually help hackers. or at least do what they're doing. just listen to what PSP owners want, and give it to them.

Akmed

From what I've observed, most people do it to play old Nintendo and Sega games because the PSP has a severe lack of good and original titles. Then those same people whine about how kiddy Nintendo games are and how bad they are, and how cool that person is for being able to play Nintendo games for free.

Also, Sony is making it seem like homebrew will get you thrown in jail.

Also also, I might ponder getting a PSP sometime this summer if I can find it around $100 new. There are some stores around here that sell for that price, but I've just never had the money.

Yeux de nouilles

I bought another PSP so one is hacked while the other keeps up with updates. I find it fare enough. I usually play games on it that I can't purchase on my PSP. Thats a hint of how many games are out there that the PSP can play that Sony hasn't taken advantage of selling in their store *cough FFVII anyone cough*

ffmusicdj

@Dreamwriter: If I had a PSP the first thing I'd do is get homebrew games up and running for that very reason. Also, because homebrew games don't have millions invested in them they tend to be a little more experimental.

Kid-A

most of those questions are talking about doing it to be/feel/look cool, or just to get away with it, and only a few bring up the whole pushing the psp to it's limit, or doing creative work with homebrew and what not. i think if they asked a few questions that actually mattered, maybe they could come up with some middle ground, rather than try to stop it all together.
imo at least...

HawaiianActor

It makes you cool and girls want to talk to you.
Or piracy.

Erwin

piracy would be #1 reason...

personally i haven't messed with my PSP but i would like to get the new slim version and start messing with the older PSP to play emulators and take some PS1 games on the go....

icepick314

How about "I hack my PSP because Sony put piece of shit rootkits in CDs my parents bought and I had to clean it up?"

zymase

For some reason I do not foresee Sony getting the most accurate answers from this survey.

Kavatar

wheres the i can't afford games so thats why i get my psp hacked option?

mossberg

Mark me down with 5s all across the board!

yashichi8bit

I always thought it was mostly an ego thing.

Hion

I'll be getting the new slim PSP this summer. At that time I plan on "customizing" my older model PSP.

Lixie

@Dreamwriter: What decent-or-better indy games are available for the PSP apart from Cave Story? Just curious.

emag

Folks also hack to add "features" to the PSP making it a more worthy puchase.

Granted the PSP has evolved quite a bit now and I dont think people should be complaining about its features as much as they used to.

Still I mean there will always be folks who love to crack things so I dont see what the point behind this is.

Then theres the most obvious reason PIRACY.

Witzbold

i can do whatever i want with my nintendo ds..... not.

Maaxxx

psp without custom firmware is BS really ! and "ongoing PSP consumer research" my ass . Sony agrees to disagree on the benefit of installing custom firmware on your psp.

hamidos1

Why are you taking stuff for free instead of paying for it?

Why are you taking games relased in other parts of the world now, instead of waiting an extra six months until it is released in your area?

Why are you using your own property to play and use fantastic homebrew applications that are free?

Cruithne

Wow, those were some loaded statements in the survey.

Lixie

Its because you folks keep changing the firmware.

Its like asking people to constantly crack your guys shit.

Not to mention us regular consumers are getting slightly SICK of having to update the goddamned PSP all the time. Even more so when its not even that big of a change, or when the battery is low so we basically cant play our new games until the FW is updated.

Granted my PSP is legit, thats basically what my friends tell me / you read on forums. Along with my own personal pissoffs with the excessive firmware updates.

I dont mind updates, but enough is enough at times. Just update the shit when you are bringing out something USEFUL for the users.

Witzbold

There's no answer for "I want to play homebrew software" or "I want to program the PSP without spending thousands of dollars and becoming an official Sony developer". Sure, they have their "benefits of free PSP content" choice, but I don't really care that the homebrew is free. It's just indy games without a huge commercial slant that I want.

Dreamwriter

BRB FBI

=p

Fbu

Makes me feel like a rebel. LOL!

DanteODiabo

NO ONE ANSWER IT ITS JUST A SCHEME TO TRACK DOWN ALL HACKERS!>!!!>!>

lifeinthefridge

@Gam3r: FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!! i got my reasons.

MURDERFACE

The only thing that makes MY FRIEND feel like a rebel is when HE wears womens underwear. Look I'm just saying, theres something about a 50/50 poly/cotton blend that feels so right.

GHETTO.CHiLD

I hacked my PSP because you can only play God of War so many times before you remember how little there is to do on the console otherwise.

x999x

I'd mark a 5 down for all of those except the rebel one. I'm not rebelling by hacking my PSP, I'm conforming to the crowd.

DaveKap

With Gamefly I like that I can have a game sent to me on release day and then keep it at used price. And even if it is a old game the case/manual is in Mint because they just slit the plastic and popped out the game.

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

If pirates never would have bought the game they downloaded, how can we say for certain that someone who bought the game used wouldn't also hold out against getting a new one full price?

Too many unknowns to say for certain.

Pezdispenser

@lifeinthefridge: An IP is not a person.

Papa Midnight

I certainly don't like the way they did this survey. It seems very much like they're more insulting the PSP hacking community rather than being genuinely curious about why they're doing it. Most of these statements seem like smug remarks. You can tell some fucking suit came up with the survey.

VergessenHeld

If I owned a PSP, my answers would be: 1, 1, 3, 1, 3, 4, 3, 3, 1, 5, 3, 1, 3 because I'd just use it for NES, SNES, Genesis, and MAME emulation.

Arklop

There's probably a couple of answers I could relate to on there, but my only real reason was because they said their would be 7000 PS1 games available for download by the end of 2007.

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

And also I own 2 PSPs for this reason. I like the games. And I buy new games all the time. Just got Ubisoft's Chessmaster yesterday. Good stuff. I can play my new games on the slim and play the hacked stuff on the good ol 2.6 firmware.

Zombie_Crunch

Problem really is that although CFW lets you do everything you want, too many people are using it to iilegally download games from the net though. It has a negative effect on all of us~

If sony allowed people to do everything they wanted on the PSP that CFW allowed while blocking out access to UMD functionality development of custom firmware would probally be halted since the big brains behind the operation dont make it for pirating purposes.

ninjikiran

How about "Hacking the PSP allows me to play the Nes games that are being denied me by the Wii's shitty VC service".

Zombie_Crunch

I have a PSP, but never hacked it ( too big of an idiot to probably do it right), but besides BEIN A PIRATE YARR, what types of custom firmware and applications can you run?

Kaljin

@Trowble (XBL/PSN): Dude! You need Kenny commanding the forces of heaven to do battle with the armies of hell using a PSP clip! That gold PSP must have been hacked to allow that kind of functionality

excel_excel

i dont know if i can talk about this here. but it's so easy that it's a 5 minute hack with pandora set. i bring the battery and magic mem stick out, a friend who need it hacked bring the psp out, we meet in lunch or whatever, a psp becomes a homebrew fan's best friend before we even order our drinks.

diablofreak

@Witzbold: Really? It makes you sick? Well, I love firmware updates. The psp slim charges quickly like a champ. Updates don't take a long time, and I haven't bought a game that wasn't well behind the update curve. The new Final Fantasy is what? two or three old already? It's 3.73 I think. We are 3.9x?

Anyway, Witz, honestly? You put a game in your psp and couldn't play it. Not only that but your psp wasn't charged? How long have you had a psp and how many times has this scenario happened to you?

I would talk more about haxoring but I'm scared.

Squanderdalfast

Here's why I did It Sony..

(S)NES Emulator to play some of the best games ever created.
8Gb Sandisk card lets me store 8-10 Games without having to drag around 8-10 discs.
Faster loading, and Sony you of all people should know how important "fast loading" are with your PS3 installs

KEELr

For me, I guess the best answer would be, "Hacking is a creative and fun way to play with my PSP." It kind of brings me back to the days when I modded PSOnes.

flashtut

@xMaverick: yea but instead of the hacked PSP user saying "finally", he'll tell the Normal guy that he needs a bigger memory stick:P

featherblade360

The poll options are so superfluous that it just shows Sony has no clue about what its customers really want. They've lost touch with who made them great in the first place.

Furysetzer

Man, they should have a question on there that says "do you know anybody who hasn't hacked their PSP" then I could answer no to it.

One of the biggest reasons most of the people I know have psps is so that they can watch movies, listen to music and most importantly play their PS1 games on the go (legal copies of games they own). Of course a bunch of them also have old school emulators which probably has a game or two that they don't own since it's damn near impossible to find a copy of E.V.O. or Shadowrun for the snes. or Warsong for the Genesis in this day and age.

If the psp wasn't hackable I can guarantee that no one I know would have bought a psp.

juc

Well.... You can completely tweak out your PSP... just like what Acid Mods does.

Then there's the custom XMB which can be easily installed to change the XMB to better fit your style. :)

Pirated games.... I think everyone will agree with me that this is the main reason people hack their PSP's... that and the option of putting emulators on the PSP.

Normal PSP User: Dude, check out this game that I just totally bought.

Hacked PSP User: Oh... Yeah.. I've been playing that for a few days now... It's really fun!...

Normal PSP User: *whips out another UMD and plays another game* Wanna do some multiplayer?

Hacked PSP User: Sure! *exits game and access the game from his memory stick*

Normal PSP User: Ok, I'll host.. it's up!

Hacked PSP User: Dude.. I've been in there for 5 minutes, are you done loading yet?!

Normal PSP User: Oh I give up... hack my psp for me will you? :(

Hacked PSP User: FINALLY! :D!

xMaverick

"I won't get caught hacking my PSP."

Is the implication that they will catch you, and that there will be penalties incurred?

Danin

@acidraven: honestly, I don't think it's fair to pay to try out a game. If you want people to like your game, let them try it out, make the decision for themselves. Thin out the hype and free hype for good games. And demos never do games justice.. I've played bad demos and later found it was a wonderful game, and good demos where the final was total crap. A timed full version would be the best bet in a perfect world, but I'm sure something like that will never happen.

Kojiro

lol, I charge my firends 20$ to hack their psp's and they still buy games for it because they're too lazy to learn how to pirate:P

featherblade360

lol, I love my hacked PSP. I just think it's cool. most of the time I end up buying the games if I enjoy them.

!sdrawkcab si x753z

Wish it was an open poll...

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

Ahh sorry Silent_Shark, I must've completely glazed over the part where you said "I don't have a suitable battery to go that route". My bad mang. Keep lookin' for one though or ask a friend and get your downgrade on.

Genocyde

@Silent_Shark: Google is your good friend

[www.google.com]

Genocyde

This poll is more loaded than Ted Kennedy at the end of Happy Hour.

Demonbird

because all i want for x-mas is my consumer rights

buttpwner

Personally I don't have a PSP but I've been told that if you get versions of the games you own and play them off of the memory stick vs UMD that the battery life is improved drastically.

Leathersoup

@firelogic: Your argument made sense until you started admitting to doing things that most people here would consider "more illegal" than hacking a PSP to run unsigned code.

DaveKap

If pirates never would have bought the game they downloaded, how can we say for certain that someone who bought the game used wouldn't also hold out against getting a new one full price?

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 haven't got a easily hackable PSP (an old fat white one, which has firmware too recent to go downgrade, I don't have a suitable battery to go that route, and the motherboard isn't the right one either), so thus don't have a custom firmware.

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

@tomsamson: Oooo smart.

Gladman

@firelogic: A thief condemning thieves.

Oh what is the world comming to.

Witzbold

Every single "answer" given here defending custom firmware is ridiculous. Whatever you really use CFW for, the bottomline is you're also downloading games. If you're in the minority that does not download any licensed software to play on CFW, more power to you. For everyone else, there's no way you can rationalize stealing. Now I'm not angel, I download music, movies, pc games but I freely admit that I'm stealing and committing illegal activities. All of you bitching about expensive games, lack of games, rootkits in music CDs which has nothing to do with Sony's gaming division, you're all really reaching.

firelogic

@mariospants: You obviously dont know me too well if only now you think I have attitude.

Witzbold

I design market research for a living and I can tell you they missed the boat on designing this one...it sucks and I can't imagine what the execs are going to get out of this....

Sony wanna hire me?

Maximus9

Where the hell is the link!? I WANT TO TELL SONY I FEEL LIKE A REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE DAMMIT.

Genocyde

Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free
1 Do not agree at all ----------------- 5 Agree completely

glutto

Dear Sony:
No, of course not, and because I've been such a good boy, and most defintitely NOT hacking my PSP...you should stop putting so much protection in it.

Dreadfish

you wanna know why? cause people want MOAR outta their system! be happy that people are even buying PSPs in the first place and that its the best thing since sliced bread when it comes to hacks and homebrew.

also anyone up for a little PSP FF7?

NocturnOwl357

Haxxorz!

Allen750

Initially I was using my psp to read books and txt files. 1.5 launc firmware didn't have that kind of functionality unless I used a homebrew. It's really strange how my usage of the psp evolved. I went from reading books to using it as an mp3 player then using it to watch videos/media. I have Metal Gear Acid and Lumine UMDs but I'm honestly not interested in either Crisis Core nor God of war so even now I'm not too keen on the psp game scene. I think one of the best thing they could do was adding playstation emulation capabilities, unfortunately they paired that with needing a PS3. I think the biggest draw for my psp right now is that fact that it has a web browser that I use to browse sites like Kotaku in class.

WasabiJoe

It's a Trap!!!!!!

:D

LordMoon

Big companies need to learn they are no longer in supreme control over everything, while they are arguing and being corporate assholes about licenses, rights and property modders and hackers are saying "f**k them, we can give you all you want" u want monkey island, goldeneye on ur psp you got it!

Look at the Goldeneye fiasco with Nintendo and Microsoft bickering while gamers drool over playing a game most of us had fond memories of, with hacked PSP's it's possible, I can play SNES games and watch movies on my DS now, Same with monkey island which DS/PSP gamers have dreamed about playing, but due to license problems, developer problems, rights problems whatever it never happened cos most of the companies involved don't give a crap what many gamers want.

To Sony, I don't play much PSP games, they mostly suck, I mostly use my psp to play SNES, N64 games, Scummvm games, and use homebrew utilities, I think I have like 2 actual PSP games. Companies need to start working together cos if the don't give us what we want, there's a huge community who will....even if (and i highly doubt it) companies start working together, I aint paying $10 for a SNES game, price it right, deliver it right and I'll buy it, otherwise fcuk you!

jigglypoofs

Didn't hack mine yet, planning to. I just want to play Xenogears again =P

shirosan

Andrew Ryan is not pleased.

i_lie_to_fit_in

FEAR SONY!!!

pikemoney

While I find myself satisfied with the current features of the PSP, I would consider it an even more satisfying purchase if Sony had a more open software development policy.

Heyyou27

1
3
5
1
5
5
4
5
5
1
5
5 (Legal risk? Ha!)
5
5

Dark_Alex is a God.

Marios_shadow

Like I posted yesterday, I got this thing, too -- if you read between the lines, they are trying to understand how and why people use their PSPs. The big things in there seem to be about streaming and downloading media on the PSP -- especially watching TV and the like. It was a pretty comprehensive survey.

jayntampa

Stop making games I want to play European or Japanese releases only. I mean I bought God of War, bought Crisis Core, bought a shitload of other games. But there's always games that are never brought over that I want, forcing me to do bad things.

Bill Gates made me do it.

KMatt

Fighting the hackers? They lost about 2 years ago. You can't stop hackers. If they really want to crack the PSP, they will.

jambe

Man, all the answers are written to make you sound like a dick.

eskilla

I 'hack' (I don't consider myself a hacker, since I'm just followed a tutorial someone else put together which guided me through installing custom firmware step by step) my PSP because:
1) Running games from the mem stick gives me more battery life than running them from UMDs. I'm not talking pirated games. I'm talking iso images of games I've purchased.
2) Old school gaming. NES, SNES, Genesis, and even MAME emulators on a portable format are soul candy for my inner geek.
3) Custom firmware lets me run the screen brightness higher than Sony's firmware.

Aliasunknown

The survey questions are loaded questions. They were phrased in such a way to garner a specific answer, or leniency to a specific answer.

r0xx1t

I hacked my PSP the other day - it only took like half an hour and now it has enhanced media capabilities and emulation.

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

syl1985

I hacked mine because IT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE A REAL MAN!! The emulators and homebrew are only an excuse.

AcidFaux

People hack it because the PSP can't do shit with the little great games they got. My loader broke in one of mine so I made it useful again. If these game companies get out more maybe they can please the consumers?

Fireblast

I love my CFW. The features available are so much better than when it was standard. I didn't touch my PSP for a long time after I played Castlevania Chronicles. After broke the chains which bound it, my PSP is getting more use. I love being able to use my stick with a file system and text editors now. The maps app is great and I love how you can toggle the backlight and the processor speed. And, you can play music in the back of your games. When I play Tekken 5: DR, I can do it with my music firing me up.

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.

ForgotMyKeys

ROFL.. makes me feel like a rebel.
Shure, James Dean hacked his PSP, why wouldn't I?

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

I legitimately bought all of my PSP games. But I like having the custom firmware for the homebrew capabilities. I'm able to put all of my legally bought PSOne games on my PSP, as well as emulate other/older platforms.

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

BPMα

It's the cinnamon sugar swirls in every bite!

MetaKz

It's my psp I can do whatever I want make me lol. I don't have a problem with people doing their own thing on their psp, but the amount of people pirating games for the psp is downright depressing.

scarlet

@pharcotix: yeah why Sony won't ask questions like that? I feel they are calling me an idiot with the choose of questions they tossed on the survey...

Drakulakun

No free person likes to be told what he can/can't do with hardware he/she legally owns. This is why the DMCA, which attempts to restrict this right, is unconstitutional.

topaz420

For homebrew, actually to be more precise for emulation of games I already own.(like old 16bit titles and such) As well as streaming audio and other random custom apps.

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

Where's the "I paid $300 at the time for an electronic device and I want to do what I please with it?"

I like that option.

Patient

I wrote this in the article about the Blue-ray recorder PSP crap thing, think it fits here about modding PSPs:

"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

I may say to sony that here in the third world the only way to play videogames without being rich is hacking/modchiping. With that help PS2 ans PSP are doing good here in Brazil and so are the DS and Wii. Having to pay aprox. U$1500 for a U$599 console and U$150 for U$50 games its just not duable. They don´t care for the third world, but look at last gen console looser the GameCube... it wasn´t hacked. Now look at this new gen and see the one falling behind.
Sony should thank the hacking/moding comunity! if not for them, PS2 and PSP wouldn´t be doing so good around here. Probably they would sell as much as the PS3 has so far.. NOT MUCH IF NOT AT ALL!
See... So just sit down and relax Sony, because as soon as the PS3 is hacked, your expansive/rushed to the market/screwed up lunch strategy console will be saved by those you are trying to censure and ignore >>> Hackers and third world game "consumers"
and that is that!

coronelxupomoses

I don't have a problem with people hacking thier systems. What I have a problem with it people hacking thier systems and then installing games that just hit the market. Its one thing to play games that are out of circulation at brick and mortor stores through emulation or other means...but it's entirely different when you take the potential money from a developer who's worked hard to produce a product. Ultimately you're weakening the system that provides us all great games. If there's no money there won't be any games. I for one love my games. And clearly you hackers do to.

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

Those are some loaded answers. How about just a fill in the blank survey?

evslin

Since a majority of people use the psp for piracy, my comments will revolve around that:

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

I don't hack my PSP but...

Games Cost Too Much For a Handheld 5

Asurastrike

lol. that survey had some hilarious questions.

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

Lol. Sony thinks they understand the consumers with the lame survey. Yeah... I hack the PSP because it makes me feel like a rebel. Why don't they try out the custom firmware their selves and find out why people are hacking the PSP.

NeoAmon

If hacking is really what you want to do, why even buy a PSP at all? Why not buy a GP2X?

ymm

Because it's fun!

dairyking

Dear Hacker...we mean PSP owner,

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"]

Heywoodjabloume

Sony fails to realize (as usual) that if physical hardware is in the hands of consumers, no security exists that is unable to be circumvented.

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

@Witzbold: Everyone says this and I'll take you at your word... but the vast majority of people who hack their PSP do it so they can pirate PSP software. Sony definitely has reason to be concerned there.

Deviation59

Simple - Sony is great at making hardware, but not so good at software. We've got the hardware, and we need more software than the UMD games.
It'd be an entirely another matter if one could install third-party software like BlackBerry/WinCE/... can.

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

@newtype2011:

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

@NeoAkira:

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

How clever, Sony; leaving messages in your survey to discourage hackers with negative inferences. Color me impressed.

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

boopadoo

If I knew how and it enabled me to play PSOne roms, that would be a reason why - Sony needs to bring more ports to the PSP!

sir_carrot

I'm sorry, but is hacking a psp illegal or morally wrong? BTW, Sony and morals? Really?

daschupa

ive played my roommates psp, and i think the single best benefit of playing games off the memory stick is that its way faster, especially in games that load a ton like burnout and GTA. he owned those games anyways.

elislider

Because of homebrew: games, emulators, PDF-readers, Kanji-drilling and all that crap that you Sony won't ever give us. Plus it's free.

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

I give there more detailed explanation.

Barts

Um, 6?

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

why? because i can play nintendo, sega and neo-geo games on it in stead of the crap that they bring out on it!

maiky-nisute

@Cruithne: With regards to second hand selling, i guess i can see your point. But i can't see how anybody can think piracy is not harming the industry...

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

Because the GPS accessory is near useless with Sony's available software, but amazingly useful with code written by unlicensed, rogue software hackers that are bad, bad people and probably ran over your dog just now.

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

Chef

"hacking my psp makes me feel like a rebel"..."impresses others"...come on sony, that's kindergarden stuff, people hack their psp so they do not have to pay $40-50 for shitty games...but you knew that already, huh?

retards

Desosav

@QualityJeverage: Bingo. You hit the nail on the head. Sony, recognize!

Highlander Wolf

i think the owners of a device should be more entitled to add or enable any possible funcionality to their device, its just stupid to have hardware features disabled for no good reason.
more or less is the same with the iphone.

jtraveller

It would have been much more interesting if it asked separately about emulators, PS1 games, extra homebrew features and games, enhanced load times, and pirating PSP games. I think that there are real distinctions within the gaming community about support for those various applications.

kingofallcosmos