Firmware 3.10 Was Just a Knee Jerk Reaction to Latest PSP Hacks

Firmware 3.10 Was Just a Knee Jerk Reaction to Latest PSP Hacks

February 2nd, 2007, 19:48 Posted By: wraggster

IGN have posted something that we all know, that Sony only update when the PSP Scene over rides all their firmware updates to stop homebrew:

Is Sony Computer Entertainment in a rush to try to combat the homebrew underground? Or is the company simply intent on adding as many features as it can cram into its handheld gaming system while also trying to quell piracy concerns? That debate is raging on net forums at the moment, but whichever belief you follow, any PSP update is something to tune your ears for.

We also must mention that this 3.10 release comes hot on the heels of a breakthrough in the hacking/homebrew scene. A BIOS downgrader for version 3.03 was made available just days before SCE released this update, allowing gamers to take their systems back down to a level before Sony's hardware encryption was properly working and thus opening up the system for unofficial homemade applications (as well as, unfortunately, illegal game copies.) And prior to this downgrader, another unofficial breakthrough came with the release of "custom firmware" -- hacker Dark_AleX was able to decompile the PSP update file and recompose it with all the new stuff Sony has added as well as all the old stuff that allowed unsigned apps to run on the system. The release of 3.10 has done little to cork the leaks in PSP, as coders have already decrypted the 3.10 file. Of course, any unofficial tampering with your PSP BIOS could brick your system and make it unable to run any kind of application, but the temptation is there to have everything Sony wants you to have as well as everything else that's out there. The good part of this is the wealth of homebrew PSP applications, some of which is truly stellar and beyond what even Sony so far has offered with the system (including homemade games, media applications, file utilities and more). The bad part of this is that, without a secure system, there's nothing stopping users from running pirate copies of PSP games on their system, and that's something that Sony and its Third Party partners are desperate to stem (especially with PSP still not meeting expectations in game sales.) And the disasterous part of this is that it's possible to foul up your system completely and turn it into a useless paperweight...

Nice to see IGN posting about homebrew