Teki post #2: Home-Grown PSP…
I was chatting with my friend Mick during the wee hours of the morning and was asking him about topics to discuss on my teki post since I was not in the mood to think of one on my own. He actually wanted me to write a topic about something about his much adored PSP. I gave in any way since I am having the usual weekend slump.
Frankly speaking, the ever delectable PSP is one of the gadgets that I have really been avoiding ever since it was unveiled way back in E3 2004. Not that I am sick and tired of Sony doing beautiful things such as the almighty “Bravia” and the oh so glorified Play Station 3; the darn thing is just so flexible in any possible way that I might not be able to anything but just glue my greasy nose in front of it doing “God Knows What” (‘Echhi’ Mp4 anyone?) eventually turning my life into the path of addiction once again.
Surfing the web, playing games, playing MP3’s and yes, watching porno; to me, this is much more useful to me than buying myself a more, work-oriented laptop. But among the hundreds of things that you can do with it, I always wanted to question why oh why did Sony make a “Prodigal Son” that is capable of freeing itself from the loving arms of its creators.
The Firmest of the Firm…
To anyone who owns a PSP and knows how to play Gameboy games on it, I’m pretty sure you already know what I’m talking about. I did say that I don’t own a PSP but it doesn’t really mean that I won’t help my cousins crack theirs. Ah the endless possibilities that a single handheld device could do…
I know I’m not explaining much to the people, who think I’m talking in Ancient Chinese language here but technically, giving your beloved PSP some ‘Homebrew’ lovin’ will make it do all sorts of stuff; like playing downloaded games. I mean who else plays PSP games using UMD anyway?
Home-cooked goodness…
The word “Homebrew” is a terminology which is pretty much applied to video games using gaming platforms that can be coined as “User-Programmable”. To all of the gaming platforms that were ever released, with respect to the early Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the first generation Play Station, the PSP is the most flexible one yet.
It all started one fateful day when the world was still in awe on the little contraption that the bored PSP owners who got tired of playing on those official “UMD” (Universal Media Disc) cartridges found a way to rummage through the contents of the game itself; due to a small hole that some game developers left off on their games. This incident paved the way for persistent hackers to crack the very technology that the platform itself is running on; bending its rules to accept their own, in a really fun and productive sort of way.
Sony actually released their own set of updates to prevent the use of modified firmware that defy that of their own, but homebrew modifications like that of “Illuminati” and “Dark AleX” really showed Sony how ‘open’ their platform really is. I don’t know what went wrong here but I’m not complaining.
And the Battle Continues…
I did not write this one here to explain to you the joys of having a PSP and how to unlock its hidden possibilities. Sony already has too much problems about firmware revisions sprawled over the web and writing another guide about it just isn’t my cup of tea. If you wanna learn more about cracking your shiny new PSP over there, Mr. Google is your friend; not me.
Piracy is everyone’s best friend and a developer’s worst enemy; that goes even for games nowadays. Not everyone who can afford a PSP can afford its menagerie of “Official” games; I mean like most internet buffs here always say why buy it when you can download for free? Touché’…
The mere fact that such a simple device would pose a threat to the market share of such a big powerhouse like Sony just shows how persistent end users can be. I’m not saying that Sony created a defective product; even the ever adorable Nintendo DS has its own share of mishaps with the Homebrew crowd. People nowadays are just hard customers I think; not easily satisfied and always wanting more than they are offered to.
(photo taken from www.islandgazette.net)
