Is all hope lost for Sony? 3.10 decrypted

by Andrew Yoon { Jan 31st 2007 at 12:01AM }

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the homebrew community has miraculously decrypted the latest PSP firmware in less than 24 hours. The homebrew community seems to be at war against Sony, who's desperately trying to close the security holes in their firmware and slow down the rampant piracy that can jeopardize the PSP as a viable platform.

Firmware decryption isn't helpful for the average PSP user, but it will be for other homebrew coders. Undoubtedly, PSP whiz kid Dark_Alex is working on a new open edition firmware for the system. Will Sony ever be able to regain the momentum in this battle?

[Thanks, cyanide! Via QJ]

Tags: 3.1, 3.10, decrypt, decryption, firmware, homebrew

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Tristan @ Jan 31st 2007 12:23AM

I dont homebrew but this is quite strange. In less than 24 hours it is already broked, I wonder if they browse these forums to see what is up.

Thomas @ Jan 31st 2007 12:52AM

I don't think Sony is trying to block out the homebrew... probably they're just focused on updating features and not 'security issues.' Dark Alex has done more for the psp, than Sony has done for the psp. Homebrew is the reason why I bought my psp, and it's bad that Sony hasn't done anything to support it.

Strangler @ Jan 31st 2007 12:58AM

it is just as easy to pirate xbox games and they still made alot more original i[p's like ninja gaiden for the original xbox than they have for the psp, even on the ds its really easy all you have to do is buy a flashcart (instead of a memorys tick like you do on the psp).

Arithmetic @ Jan 31st 2007 2:56AM

"Dark Alex has done more for the psp, than Sony has done for the psp"

So true. Sony should just higher this guy. It's a crying shame that a big, money invested, worldwide known company like sony is getting played by one man army hacker, lol. Sony is loosing the battle, they better step up and do something to make people not use alex versions.

Darren Tilley @ Jan 31st 2007 3:13AM

There are more than 20 million PSPs worldwide, and I'd be extremely surprised if even 1/2 million of those are hacked for homebrew use. I'd actually still be surprised if it were 200,000.

When you are part of an active group like the PSP's homebrew scene, it's sometimes difficult to see the larger picture, that homebrew users are very much a minority group.

I'm sure the piracy among these users has some small impact on overall game sales, but the PSP is doing fine without them. Not quite the DS killer, but it still sells very well.

The security updates from Sony are merely to stop casual piracy. Once piracy becomes so widespread that it hits the mainstream user, it is a worry for Sony, however this is not yet the case with the PSP.

Bored @ Jan 31st 2007 4:42AM

"There are more than 20 million PSPs worldwide, and I'd be extremely surprised if even 1/2 million of those are hacked for homebrew use. I'd actually still be surprised if it were 200,000.

When you are part of an active group like the PSP's homebrew scene, it's sometimes difficult to see the larger picture, that homebrew users are very much a minority group."

Actually, a lot of non-gaming people I come across who never had any contact with a PSP have already heard of homebrew. The PSP is very often associated with emulators, even in mainstream. Having said that, I do agree that people who hack their PSP are a minority though. But probably more like 1 million within 20 million, give or take.

Alien @ Jan 31st 2007 7:10AM

Well , I only homebrew since 2 days , and I have to say , its quit impressive what they had allready made for the PSP :) Its not a most have function , but hey its free , and batter than Sonys online functionality lol

Kade Storm @ Jan 31st 2007 7:26AM

Dark Alex + Sony = TEH SUCK!

That's the whole beauty of this dynamic; you need that external, independant, unhindered wiz-kid. Removing him from that position and placing him under the authority of THE company is effectively killing that dynamic on more levels than one would care to count.

On topic:
3.10 - Cracked? OH! LAWL! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THIS JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER!

chris @ Jan 31st 2007 12:39PM

Viva la revolucion!!!

pixelator @ Jan 31st 2007 5:17PM

Has anyone considered the possibility that Sony is not really *trying* to patch the security holes, now? Maybe going through the motions in terms of security patches is all they intend to do from now on, so they can focus on real content for the updates..?

*shrug*

Either way, I don't see this as a 'failure' for Sony. Why is every effing news item a FAIL for Sony, anyway?

PSpod @ Jan 31st 2007 10:01PM

um, i have both a psp and ds. I homebrew both(mostly cause i savin for a ps3). if you think sony is stopping trying to stop homebrew, YOU ARE SO WRONG. sony makes like 50-60% of it profits right now basically from the PSP and it's games, I do not think that they will stop with the security updates.

Dolphgb @ Feb 1st 2007 5:05AM

It's not a war people...

As has been said, homebrew counts for a small percent. Most PSP users use the device as intended, and I would guess a vast majority haven't even connected the PSP to a wireless network or upgraded the firmware online - they'll have done it because a game they bought needed it.

I still maintain that for me, homebrew is not what I want for my PSP. Others disagree. It's called freedom of choice.

A small minority of people always want to try to do something else with technology than what it was designed for. Some people find that cool. Others find it boring. Back in the day, I made a music application for the Sinclair ZX81 (it had no sound chip!) by hacking into the 'noise on screen' it made when loading programs. These days, I'd see no point in bothering - I'd just buy a keyboard to make music!

If homebrew is about saving money, I manage that in other ways. For example, I don't buy games much any more - I rent them from GameTart (http://snipurl.com/kzyq). I saved over £500 last year alone.

And for the guy who said 'most people I know have at least heard of homebrew', well, most people have heard of doing crack too - doesn't mean that more people actually do crack just because they know about it.

txa1265 @ Feb 1st 2007 7:59AM

Re #11: "Either way, I don't see this as a 'failure' for Sony. Why is every effing news item a FAIL for Sony, anyway?"

The way I see it is this:
- 20 million PSP's
- Assume 500,000 downgrade OS
- Probably 400,000 people cracking the OS for the express purpose of piracy. Sure it is a choice, but having the general perception of your gaming system as 'hacker's paradise' isn't exactly going to lure more developers to build great games.

Thankfully the number of great games is on the rise, so perhaps the loss rate is satisfactory for the publishers. Whatever the case, I don't care if people want to pirate or do whatever with their PSP so long as it doesn't get in the way of publishers working on great games for me to play.

I love that there are three excellent handheld systems with tons of great games available. I don't want anything to threaten that or we will go back to the glacial pace of progress of the GameBoy days.