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[UbiSoftologist]

Eric Hellweg of MIT Technology Review believes that the answer is ''yes.'' But doing so would be a mistake. The following is an excerpt from the article (link ):

Less than two weeks after Sony released its long-anticipated PlayStation Portable, a handheld gaming device with multimedia capabilities, the device's most ardent fans began spreading details about their successful hacks. Among the more ingenious: Web browsing additions, instant-message chats, and TiVo-recording playbacks...

...Sony has been mum on the hacks so far. The company didn't respond to TechnologyReview.com's request for comment.

However, the company's history with product hacks suggests that it will tread this situation very carefully. In 2001, Sony forced a fan of the company's robotic dog toy Aibo to remove code from his site that allowed the dog to do such things as dance.

That fan, known as AiboPet, was served with a lawsuit for his efforts. As a result, Aibo fans boycotted the robotic dog and Sony eventually relented in its efforts when public outcry over the crackdown grew.

The lesson learned: Sony might do well to let the hackers run their course with the device -- it would likely engender an even more slavish devotion to the device.

"The hacks show there's enthusiasm for the platform -- that”s good news," says P.J. McNealy, an analyst with American Technology Research. "If people want to use the device to chat with someone, where's the revenue loss for Sony?"

With Aibo, Sony's hand was forced by the public's reaction, but in the game space, several examples exist of companies succeeding by allowing -- and even encouraging --these hacks.

One particularly striking example came with Valve Software's decision to make the code for its popular game Half-Life available to hackers who then took to the code and created Counter-Strike, which grew to become the most-played online game. Eventually, Valve Software decided to release the game -- with full support --- in 2002, while still allowing the players to use the older, hacked versions.

The decision turned out to be a good one. After its official release, it went on to become one of the most popular multiplayer games of the year...

...These days, companies are faced with the problem of correctly guessing when to embrace their customers and when to clamp down. "Very few companies encourage hacking," says Schelley Olhava, an analyst with IDC. "But at the same time, how do you stop it without alienating your users?"

Clearly, there are times when a company must crackdown on user modifications of its products. In 2002, for example, Microsoft shut down a Hong Kong-based company that was selling modified chips for the company's Xbox game system. The chips allowed users to play pirated games on their Xboxes, and Microsoft move was swift and warranted.

But for Sony, the decision on how to react to this PSP hack is a tough one indeed. Any company has a right to defend its intellectual property, but Sony must weigh the balance between coming down hard on this hack and gently steering users away from more malicious modifications.

Making the decision even tougher, Sony as a company is struggling to find its way in the digital era. Most of its digital music efforts have been disastrous, and the PSP is the first technology hit the company has had in some time.

With a new CEO, Sir Howard Stringer, at the helm, maybe now's the time to strike a new relationship with its most ardent fans, by allowing these innocuous hacks and saving the lawyers for the ones that will hurt the bottom line.

 

[Wario64]

Piracy made the PSone successful!

 

[Tabris]

People won't be able to pirate their own games due to the UMD and smaller size of memory sticks.

So this is a win-win situation for Sony. You get hackers and piraters on board with their emulators and downloaded movies and such (which you might not have before), and that's more people to your installed userbase that may want to buy some games down the road.

 

[DarienA]

The thing is... can what's being done right now with the PSP really be called hacks? redirecting to another website to be able to browse?

What are the details of the IRC and IM clients... (hadn't heard about the IM one), are the apps that are actually downloaded to the PSP? or are they simply using one of the various browser related scripts to run?

 

[slidewinder]

The IRC thing is just a webpage with some Javascript or something to make it a little more interactive (on-screen keyboard, etc). Not really a "hack".

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

Don't worry, Sony. I won't pirate your games.

 

[Skin]

People won't be able to pirate their own games due to the UMD and smaller size of memory sticks.

So this is a win-win situation for Sony. You get hackers and piraters on board with their emulators and downloaded movies and such (which you might not have before), and that's more people to your installed userbase that may want to buy some games down the road.

Memory Sticks of 2 gig are allready being produced and (though hard to find) available.

 

[The Faceless Master]

the current hacks are technically hacks, but just not what people commonly associate with console hacks...

 

[Mihail]

Well, it doesn't have to be piracy to have a negative effect on Sony.

Since they are losing money per PSP sold, ANY user-created content (including browsing of websites, downloaded porn, anything that can potentially take away from game sales) is very hurtful to the company.

 

[DarienA]

Well, it doesn't have to be piracy to have a negative effect on Sony.

Since they are losing money per PSP sold, ANY user-created content (including browsing of websites, downloaded porn, anything that can potentially take away from game sales) is very hurtful to the company.

The problem with the above is that they already walk you through how to download video and copy pictures to your mem stick which takes away from buying games... so that's a piece that's inherent in the PSP itself. I don't know how you can say well if people weren't viewing home videos and pictures, they'd be buying more games.

 

[Sanjuro]

I dream the day I can play Genesis / SNES / NES games on my PSP.

I mainly bought the PSP for other reasons such as future possiblites of playing those on it, comics, and movies on the go.

 

[Keyser Soze]

So some on could bring out emulators and i would play Turtles In Time / Streets Of Rage / Cannon Fodder on my PSP........??

Oh Shit!!!