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[Vitacat]

Homebrew = yay
Piracy = boo

The Vita is too young for this. If people start pirating this early, third-party developers have no chance on the Vita. That would SERIOUSLY suck.

Please no piracy... please no piracy... please no piracy... Bahhh....

Agreed. Homebrew apps, cool. No problem. But hold off on the ISO loaders and such.

C'mon hackers, be smart -- no piracy for at least 2 years. Let the platform find its legs. Please.

 

[Chavelo]

Sony's handhelds are the only pieces of video game hardware that benefit from piracy when it comes to sales.

 

[JEKKI]

sweet!!! time to dust it off!

 

[DiscoJer]

Agreed. Homebrew apps, cool. No problem. But hold off on the ISO loaders and such.

C'mon hackers, be smart -- no piracy for at least 2 years. Let the platform find its legs. Please.

Yeah, but PSMobile works just fine for homebrew - everything except emulators.

And if emulators are the reason people want this, then why is that they want to play console games of years past on the Vita (people have mentioned the SNES, PS1, PS2, and even Dreamcast), yet don't want to play console style games of the present?

And why can't they just get an open source gizmo to play these games on, if that's all they want it for? Why hope for the Vita to be hacked and not a viable platform anymore for new games? (Which a lot of people in this thread have been wishing).

 

[Vazra]

Somehow I can smell some custom firmware coming on vita's way.

 

[Mechanized]

Hardware is gonna be flying off the shelves now.

 

[WickedLaharl]

Welp I won't be updating my firmware anytime soon and looking at the upcoming lineup the urge will be easy to suppress.

I wouldn't even want CFW if I could just get my PSP games on the thing without having to rebuy them.

 

[To Far Away Times]

Yeah, but PSMobile works just fine for homebrew - everything except emulators.

And if emulators are the reason people want this, then why is that they want to play console games of years past on the Vita (people have mentioned the SNES, PS1, PS2, and even Dreamcast), yet don't want to play console style games of the present?

And why can't they just get an open source gizmo to play these games on, if that's all they want it for? Why hope for the Vita to be hacked and not a viable platform anymore for new games? (Which a lot of people in this thread have been wishing).

Emulators are the biggest part of homebrew for many, especially on a gaming system.

Older console games are much better than current Vita games.

Open source consoles usually have crappy controls, screens, and limited support. If you want the best stuff, you need to use a popular system.

 

[Vitacat]

Welp I won't be updating my firmware anytime soon and looking at the upcoming lineup the urge will be easy to suppress.

I wouldn't even want CFW if I could just get my PSP games on the thing without having to rebuy them.

I must admit, it saddens me when I glance at my little pile of UMD games, only to be reminded that I can't play them on Vita unless I rebuy expensive digital versions on PSN. I would not feel terribly guilty about using a homebrew method to play rips of my PSP games on Vita.

 

[BruiserBear]

Agreed. Homebrew apps, cool. No problem. But hold off on the ISO loaders and such.

C'mon hackers, be smart -- no piracy for at least 2 years. Let the platform find its legs. Please.

Yeah, I'm sure that will happen. If there's one thing I've learned about hackers over the years it would be their rock solid ethics and anti piracy stance.

 

[Man]

Agreed. Homebrew apps, cool. No problem. But hold off on the ISO loaders and such.

"Sun, please don't rise tomorrow".

Too bad Tearaway is not an easily ported game. It seems like it deserve some success.

 

[Haliela]

Proprietary memory cards helped a lot.

 

[Vitacat]

Yeah, I'm sure that will happen. If there's one thing I've learned about hackers over the years it would be their rock solid ethics and anti piracy stance.

Meh. :-/

Well, I can hope in vain if I want to, can't I?

 

[Erethian]

So expectations would be increase in hardware sales?

No, because the effect piracy has on the hardware/software sales of a system (or lack thereof) is wildly overblown.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Proprietary memory cards helped a lot.

Yep. Stupid idea.

 

[TheSeks]

Yep. Stupid idea.

Add in not price dropping PSP1 titles and SCEA STILL not dropping PSP2 titles they price-dropped at retail, on PSN and it's a huge carnival of stupid for the system.

The hardware is great. But the price for the games and memory cards is what is utterly killing it.

 

[RedSwirl]

If that's the case, then why are so many people just so eager to play decades old console games on a handheld then?

Current era console style games bad, old console games good?

Kind of. Old console games are better suited to handhelds I'd say. Most people probably don't have the free time away from consoles to play Uncharted or something like that on a handheld, but they do have the time to play Angry Birds or a couple levels of Super Mario Land. That's why I want to be able to play my console VC games on my 3DS.

 

[golduck342]

wow, I hope this causes sony to ease up on the media transfer capabilities. probably not.

maybe I should get a second, wifi-only, vita. But honestly vita is already doing most of what I want, PSone classics, would love to emulate some nintendo consoles on this sexy beast, however.

 

[injurai]

Proprietary memory cards helped a lot.

Seeing how you can't play Vita roms yet, I'm sure these cards will still help keep that part of the system locked down.

 

[flippedb]

So the near non-existing third party support is going to disappear. Bad news for Vita.

 

[Cipherr]

Ehh I don't know. By now I have had more than my fill of emulators. Some handheld being able to emu SNES PSX and whatnot isn't exciting to me anymore. Emu's are sort of old news. And I have found Homebrew games to be INCREDIBLY over rated.

 

[BruiserBear]

Proprietary memory cards helped a lot.

Proprietary memory cards have nothing to do with what was announced today, and it's still very likely they'll help keep Vita piracy at bay for a while.

I'd be surprised if a year from now true Vita piracy is possible.

 

[RSLAEV]

This is great. If I can use a Vita the way *I* want to, not the way Sony thinks is best then maybe I'll get one. retro Emulators and access to the complete PSP library is very enticing.

A custom firmware that would allow for everything but Vita piracy would be awesome.

 

[Bboy AJ]

I'm torn. On one hand, this machine would be the greatest emulator. On the other, if piracy pops up, the system is doomed.

I've been glad with my Vita purchase since PS1 firmware came out. It's why I bought it.

 

[Boss Man]

If I can play all of my PS1 and PS2 games on Vita with dual sticks then I am going to be buying one real soon.

 

[UpperCaseN]

I must admit, it saddens me when I glance at my little pile of UMD games, only to be reminded that I can't play them on Vita unless I rebuy expensive digital versions on PSN. I would not feel terribly guilty about using a homebrew method to play rips of my PSP games on Vita.

My thoughts exactly. I would absolutely own a vita right now merely for psp upscale and improved thumbsticks for playing them if there was a umd slot. Im a physical copy kind of guy so this would allow me to still buy and collect physical umd games but play them on a vita

 

[rpmurphy]

Just curious, has there ever been a device that could be modded for homebrew/emulation that did not also open the door wide for piracy of the device's software?

 

[OmegaZero]

This is going to end well. :/

Once the door is unlocked, it's only a matter of time.
A long time, hopefully.

 

[LuchaShaq]

The vita hack I am waiting for is an r4 type solution for memory.

I would be PUMPED for that.

 

[wololo]

Just curious, has there ever been a device that could be modded for homebrew/emulation that did not also open the door wide for piracy of the device's software?

HBL on the PSP, and currently VHBL on the Vita, do that.
These loaders have been around for 2 years and a half now, and have never been a vector of piracy of the platform they run on (respectively the psp and the vita).

That's if we assume roms of older consoles (NES, etc...) is not considered as "piracy" in your question (you can't easily have emulation without piracy technically)

But seeing all the crap we've had to deal with when VHBL came out, it seems most people don't make a difference between a harmless work like ours, and a piracy device such as the ones that can be found on the PS3.

For those who ask, VHBL not enabling piracy is not an ethical choice, but a technical limitation. Nevertheless, the result is the same: Homebrews and emulation have been available since day 1 on the Vita through the psp emulator, without any form of PSP or Vita piracy involved.

 

[Raoh]

XBMC for my PS VITA?

Yes Please..


Although, isn't it time XBMC got a name change?

 

[tsumineko]

Sony: "yes, they finally found the exploit."

 

[grap3fruitman]

Agreed. Homebrew apps, cool. No problem. But hold off on the ISO loaders and such.
C'mon hackers, be smart -- no piracy for at least 2 years. Let the platform find its legs. Please.

There's nothing to pirate. =P

 

[Quadrangulum]

I really want to see Crisis Core and BBS on Vita.

 

[Fafalada]

Also, the R4 is custom why can't a Vita memory card adapter be?

R4 at least fits in the damn slot. You'll never get an adapter like that for Vita (not for SD Micros anyway).

 

[Callibretto]

R4 at least fits in the damn slot. You'll never get an adapter like that for Vita (not for SD Micros anyway).

Lol. That must be intentional from sony part. Although if vita got an r4 equivalent, they most likely use custom game cartridge with microsd slot than using tiny vita mem card.

 

[Literalage]

Will ths help Vita sales? Anybody thinking of picking up a second on just to homebrew/crack?

 

[-Winnie-]

Fuck this shit. I don't see the need for homebrew at all, my Vita plays games. That's what I paid for, and I don't really ask for more. It's just going to hurt the platform in the longrun.

 

[RagnarokX]

There's nothing to pirate. =P

They could pirate games from more successful platforms; like Sega Saturn and Dreamcast

Joking aside, it doesn't have to be Vita games. If people start pirating other platforms on it it would be terrible for Sony.

 

[MagicWithEarvin]

Fuck this shit. I don't see the need for homebrew at all, my Vita plays games. That's what I paid for, and I don't really ask for more. It's just going to hurt the platform in the longrun.

Homebrew isn't a bad thing for the Vita, but piracy will be if it fully gets cracked. Two separate entities.

Also, from Yifan's Twitter:

@yifanlu Why would people want to buy games when they can just download my game from the next and load it up. It's not on a cart.

@Ouren ? Because your game is encrypted and again, physically impossible to decrypt or load retail games with my exploit.

 

[rpmurphy]

HBL on the PSP, and currently VHBL on the Vita, do that.
These loaders have been around for 2 years and a half now, and have never been a vector of piracy of the platform they run on (respectively the psp and the vita).

That's if we assume roms of older consoles (NES, etc...) is not considered as "piracy" in your question (you can't easily have emulation without piracy technically)

But seeing all the crap we've had to deal with when VHBL came out, it seems most people don't make a difference between a harmless work like ours, and a piracy device such as the ones that can be found on the PS3.

For those who ask, VHBL not enabling piracy is not an ethical choice, but a technical limitation. Nevertheless, the result is the same: Homebrews and emulation have been available since day 1 on the Vita through the psp emulator, without any form of PSP or Vita piracy involved.

Thanks a lot for the explanation. However, my concern though is that with knowledge of an available exploit, how easily would it be for someone else to take that and instead pursue enabling pirated content for personal profit or other reasons? Pirated content I mean not of legacy systems used via emulator.

 

[AranhaHunter]

Vita is ok (as ok as it can be given its horrible sales).....for now.

@Ouren ? Because your game is encrypted and again, physically impossible to decrypt or load retail games with my exploit.

@Ouren I hate piracy as much as any developer. If it wasn't made clear, it is physically impossible to run "backups" with my exploit.

@Ouren It's never been now. It would take at least months and most half a year to get something working. At any point Sony could close it.

https://twitter.com/yifanlu

 

[rekameohs]

Run Dolphin on it.

 

[wololo]

Thanks a lot for the explanation. However, my concern though is that with knowledge of an available exploit, how easily would it be for someone else to take that and instead pursue enabling pirated content for personal profit or other reasons? Pirated content I mean not of legacy systems used via emulator.

AranhaHunter basically replied above me, but Sony made sure it would be very difficult to go from a usermode exploit to "pirating vita games". I am not saying it is impossible, but I'm confident. It took years to get piracy on the PS3, and even the existing soutions are so impractical that the damage is mitigated. I believe Sony learned a lot from that, and the Vita is probably even more secure than the PS3.

As far as VHBL is concerned, there is no technical way it could ever be leveraged to play Vita games. For one, it would be too impractical so "real" hackers would start something else from scratch, and also, many people have tried to write iso loaders for the psp based on HBL, and haven't succeeded in the past 2 years, so I think we're quite safe on that end.

Finally, with modern consoles, I think the threat of piracy is also mitigated by the fact that hacked consoles lose access to the centralized "network" (in this case, the PSN). A Vita without online gaming functionality, and that has to stay at a "low" firmware in order to keep playing pirated games would not be very appealing to many players. This is what is happening on the PS3, and I would love to see numbers but I'm pretty sure the piracy numbers on the PS3 are fairly low.

 

[Vandiger]

Homebrew, yes!!!! Piracy, oh well....

 

[patsu]

AranhaHunter basically replied above me, but Sony made sure it would be very difficult to go from a usermode exploit to "pirating vita games". I am not saying it is impossible, but I'm confident. It took years to get piracy on the PS3, and even the existing soutions are so impractical that the damage is mitigated. I believe Sony learned a lot from that, and the Vita is probably even more secure than the PS3.

As far as VHBL is concerned, there is no technical way it could ever be leveraged to play Vita games. For one, it would be too impractical so "real" hackers would start something else from scratch, and also, many people have tried to write iso loaders for the psp based on HBL, and haven't succeeded in the past 2 years, so I think we're quite safe on that end.

Finally, with modern consoles, I think the threat of piracy is also mitigated by the fact that hacked consoles lose access to the centralized "network" (in this case, the PSN). A Vita without online gaming functionality, and that has to stay at a "low" firmware in order to keep playing pirated games would not be very appealing to many players. This is what is happening on the PS3, and I would love to see numbers but I'm pretty sure the piracy numbers on the PS3 are fairly low.

IMHO, a more interesting question is what do we/you hope to achieve with this user mode app development capability ? A better web browser ? A better PS Mobile run-time ? PS Home port for Vita ? 8^P

Why not port the homebrew apps to PS Mobile as well so we can pay the homebrewers some $$$ ?

 

[Thoraxes]

It's just a conspiracy to sell more PS+ subs to let you easily download all the upcoming mandatory firmware updates because PS+ is being added to the Vita.

*tinfoil hat*

 

[BocoDragon]

I'm against piracy. But if leads to me able to play my PSP UMD games by ripping them, I will not complain....

 

[Thoraxes]

I'm against piracy. But if leads to me able to play my PSP UMD games by ripping them, I will not complain....

Sometimes we all just want to play Gitaroo Man on our Vitas

 

[ffdgh]

Sometimes we all just want to play Gitaroo Man on our Vitas

or kingdom hearts birth by sleep